The Life N Times Network

Of Music & Men #46

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This episode we talk hip hop maturity, Black identity being packaged for entertainment, celebrity accountability, Kanye’s apology tour, Jay-Z speaking on the system, Kendrick vs Drake as business, Gucci Mane vs Pooh Shiesty contracts, 360 deals, LaRussell, Atlanta influence, J. Cole’s interview run, ghostwriting hypocrisy, and what we want from hip hop in 2026.


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Offset Getting Shot And Growing Up

SPEAKER_00

It's late in a late Life and Times Network of Music Event episode 46. What's up, Dre?

SPEAKER_03

What's up?

SPEAKER_00

There's a lot of shit going on. Me and Dre are just giving our two cents to these rich people. In cur a canon event for offset here. I feel like this is time to choose. I think it's time to choose what you want to do and be. You are not a young man. You are not a man without children. You are not a man without means. Isn't like there isn't more things for you to be doing. You have the resources to get help. You just have so many things. I mean, there's so many things going on with this scenario with offset. If no one knows offset has been shot, he survived. He was in Las Vegas. He got into an incident where it looks like little TJ and some people of his crew, we don't know who shot him. They let little TJ out. Here's the thing there's a lot of background chatter about offset owing rappers and all these other people. Money. This is what happens when you're still trying to be a street dude and you're grown. And I think that's that that's like what people need to understand. And this is what we're getting. Like that entire subculture of black culture is the most used and most dangerous form of the black identity that we have right now. And it is killing us, quite literally.

SPEAKER_01

And I do think it's interesting that rappers specifically, not just entertainers overall, though there's an issue, but rappers specifically are the prime ones for they'll get money and they don't want to leave that environment. That environment that kept them around harm and some of the, as you said, like the worst parts or safe parts of like the black community being a street person, being all this. You you did things to make it out, and now you have kids, you had a wife, you had like family, you have people that depend on you. And as an older person, why would you still want to be a part of that?

SPEAKER_00

You know, we're arguing, we're not arguing, but we're talking about offset and little TJ, right? Offset should be nowhere near a little TJ, even a young man. He even has little in his name.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like, it's just it there's some indicators that you should change your path. Now, I don't get, and this is like if you're a street dude and you listen to the podcast and you're upset or anything like that, I'm not saying street dudes are bad. I'm just saying it doesn't have an end where you win. It doesn't. Like it sucks, bro. I watched, you know what's crazy? I watched Belly recently. Well, I didn't watch it, I saw a clip of it, right?

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00

And that's like a classic movie, right? Like a classic hood street dude movie. But you know one thing I seen in that shit that like disgusted me, and I didn't see it, and I didn't even peep it because when I first watched it, I was just a kid. I was just a young boy, I was just idolizing the drug dealers, right? You know that Shorty, the the iconic in the room pink scene, he says that she is 16 years old. Yeah. And then we get a sex scene with her later on in the movie.

SPEAKER_01

That's another topic.

SPEAKER_00

And then we get some of Walker, she recreated that shit for our album cover. Now we don't like I I didn't know, I didn't even think about that. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's it's a it's a lot of things, bro. It's a lot of things, and I think it's a point in which we have to understand what is made, you know, certain versions of life for black people incredibly hard, is this type of motif. It doesn't get us very far. You know, I've been talking to people, especially our age, you know, black men, black women, professionals. It wasn't a street dude that was walking with Dr. King who was going to listen to Malcolm X. It wasn't those guys funding these the civil rights movement. It was black professionals, black professionals. And that's what we need to be leaning into and listening to from this point on. Like, I'm kind of done with offset. I feel like if you don't understand where you're at at this point with all the money and access, and you still want to be a street dude and not a father, I'm cool, bro.

Kanye Apologies And Moral Memory

SPEAKER_00

Speaking of maturing, speaking of a turning of the leaf, after Kanye has apologized to every group, he's offended. He is now partially, you know, you know, he got the partial apology and then he dropped some music. Classic.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

People are saying, oh, oh, uh, Kanye finally got control of Ye and making all these memes and this and that. Nobody's talent can make them escape their bad actions, what they've done, and who they are. Kanye has done rancid things. I don't, I I didn't listen to the album. I don't care. I just heard about the chatter of it. You feel me?

SPEAKER_01

I I didn't I've heard other reviews of the album. I did not listen to the album. I made a conscious choice not to listen to the album. I did see the the show out that he got at his concert and performance, and obviously he's showing that he can still get and demand an audience and attention, and you know he's uncancelable. And there are uh aspects of that that I think uh people should uh learn from, but I don't think we should praise it with him specifically as an individual because Kanye has done a lot of bad things, and just because someone did good things in the past and your emotions are tied to those good events, does not mean this person is a great person currently. And yes, he just apologized for things he's done, he needs to apologize for the way that he's represented black people. Because as we know, black people are only on the on one of the few groups of people in the world where something one of us does, especially a high profile person, gets reflected on all of us, even though we are a small minority group, and so his actions as an individual and as an entertainer representative for the culture, as he likes to say himself as well. Uh well, then you should apologize for the way that you've had us be represented on an international scale. But people are still going to support him, they're still gonna be like, Oh, this guy made graduation, he made all this. You can enjoy and give credence to what those songs and that music did for you at that art in your life and be critical of the man that that artist says today. And people are refusing to do that because they feel like if they're critical of him, it's the same thing with Diddy, it's the same thing with R. Kelly. Like, well, if we criticize them, what does that mean about us who still hold these moments and all this? And it's like that's I won't be protective of someone who's causing harm.

SPEAKER_00

And it's a choice, right? I I think we're seeing a lot of older acts make certain

Jay-Z Narratives And Billionaire PR

SPEAKER_00

pivots. Another older act that's making a pivot is Jay-Z. He's on a tour, he's doing interviews, he's talking about man, what is it Jay-Z talking about? I feel like bro, I think this is like a rinse. You know, he got a lot of bad media press because of that lawsuit, and then because of the Epstein list situation. And he's trying to wash that all off, right? Now he's against people being called a pedophile, and he platformed that on the Super Bowl. You know, what I learned from Jay-Z and I learned from his interviews is that he goes in there with a narrative in mind, and that is what he's going to portray. It does not matter if it's true, it doesn't matter if his actions go against his own words. He is going to say what sounds good. And if you do enough interviews and you pay enough on the algorithm, it will seem like people are now giving this guy another shot. Oh, Jay-Z's always done this for us. Jay-Z uh Jay-Z is a businessman and he propagates and makes money from a culture that he's no longer within nor cares for in an intimate way.

SPEAKER_01

And he's he's basically said, first of all, shout out to the guy, the younger guy who interviewed him. That's big for your career, right? As GQ interviewer. Jay-Z said some things in that name, right? He was asked about he was asked about the allegations. He was asked about how people feel about billionaires, right? And his position as someone who has been a lot of black people look up to as a leader and an economic leader. He's like, you know, people are gonna be people are gonna be mad at billionaires because they don't understand the system, is basically what I got from what he said. He also says something about like, you know, we have been disenfranchised, and so sometimes you have to play part of the system that you previously weren't allowed in. You know what? I'm not here to say whether that's right or wrong. Uh what I am here to say is he did not acknowledge necessarily how that's his decision, his actions do reflect as someone who is a a figure in in black American a lot of things, right? Even at this point, political. I don't think he's gonna be a billionaire and not be political at all.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

So you have a lot of weight in how black people are viewed based off your decisions and the rooms that maybe we can get in, based off the positive or negative things you do. And so yeah, I think I don't know exactly how many of these he's gonna do. Is he gonna do another interview? Is he thinking this one type of thing cleans his slate? And people are just gonna be cool waiting for the next album. I actually don't think anyone's waiting necessarily at this moment for a Jay Z. I think his 444 was great. I think it was a good wrapping up of his uh problems and his maturity and then his mistakes. And I think now I would like to see personally more initiatives come out of him in the community. You've made it you've commented before why is there still a project where he's right, like like why does why is his project still a project? Why isn't a better place? Why isn't an affordable care or affordable living for why people why doesn't he help take it over? Like that's the kind of things I want to see to see people do once they make it. And he's kind of like, Yeah, I made it out of a situation, y'all can't do you know, keep getting it out the mud instead of like, oh, I knew the conditions from this environment change, even if you don't physically have to go back, right? There's still other things you can do to to help.

SPEAKER_00

He also talked about the Drake and Kendrick beef. He said that they went too far, more so on Kendrick's side, I guess. And and this is what I mean when I'm talking to people about Jay-Z and how he moves. This and this is why I I I honestly I'm always gonna say Drake won this for me because there's too many people holding Kendrick's hand throughout this beef. If there's no Super Bowl moment after Not Like Us, it would have died down, it would have died down. It the summer would have been different. And I'm not saying the song doesn't deserve that, but the opportunity, the people involved, is so hypocritical. And it it's just it's the opposite of the narratives we are propping Kendrick up upon.

SPEAKER_01

Right. He's on a black culture moment. This is like he's him and the NFL, the board, they're like, this is a black culture moment, which we know drives plenty of revenue in the US. And they were like, okay, how can we capitalize this on the biggest televised moment in the US each year? And he said it in the interviews, he's like, well, Kendrick had a monster ear. Yeah, but don't act like this wasn't about the money, the viewership. You knew if you got Kendrick, it has nothing to do with talent or anything like that. You knew if you got Kendrick during this moment, like people were the most invested, y'all could get by dollars. And that's all this was.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And we we don't even want to talk about the business of it and the people who profited more. Like the people like Lucian made so much money off of not like us, it positioned him greatly in business against a uh artist that before this beef recouped $400 million. That's not a joke. That's not how I feel. That is a real concrete thing. Now, I'm not discounting Kendrick, I'm not discounting anybody, but I know they wouldn't outpace that $400 million contract. It's just not gonna happen. Even this is Kendrick's big biggest year. I know he didn't touch $400 million.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00

So it's just like you gotta cut it out and not and act like it's not a business move. A lot of the things behind that beef was a lot of business. But let's talk about beef and business.

Kendrick Drake Beef As Business

SPEAKER_00

Gucci main and Pooh Shyisty. There's been an incident. Gucci Man has implicated Pooh Shyste and his father, Big Thirty. I think it's like, yeah, things. I don't want to fuck it up. So, you know, Mr. 30, I'm just a podcaster and I'm just reflecting on the case as a citizen. And as a citizen, I've heard that Pooh Shyisty. Pooh Shiisty went over there and allegedly said, yo, I want out my contract, sign that shit. And he pressed the issue and then he got arrested earlier. But there's an update in the case. They can't find a gun, they can't find this, they can't find, they can't find nothing concrete but what with besides what Goo Gucci man says and one of his workers said. He's gonna get so now you think he's really getting out that deal?

SPEAKER_01

Because signing on the coercion doesn't count for anything.

SPEAKER_00

Well, Gucci released a song as well talking about this whole scenario.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Gucci says he's not out the deal. Okay. But also Gucci, if he wants to make money, so like I I think Gucci's gonna sacrifice his street cred to do the corporate move, keep him in jail, and make as much money off of Poochhici as he can. I think that's what's gonna happen. I think that I mean, he dry snitched already on the on the song. Like everybody's in Atlanta says he is a now a snitch because of the song and because of his actions during this. Now, here's where like this is all funny, right? But Pooh Shisey just got out of a a fed situation. Like he just came home. First day out. I heard the song, it's great, and now we're doing it again. And his father is helping him do this. Yeah, his role model and his mother said she raised a slime. So, like, yeah, he's fucked. Yeah, he's fucked.

SPEAKER_01

And you know what? And and this is where I wish people understand it, it definitely comes down to both parents, your environment, your parents, your parents' perspective on the situation. Yeah, right. It's looking like he has no positive models on either end of family or something like that. You don't gotta do this. But who make money? You're in a position to make money, and there is something to be said about I do I agree with 360 deals at all? No, do I think that it's good that these artists who used to be artists in the early 2000s, late 90s, or 360 deals went and made their own labels and then continued uh that oppression? No. We do know that's a thing though that people are doing, they're continuing the things that were done to them. Knew about these things and then agreed to sign. This is not how you get out of it. This is not how you get out of those deals. And I'm not saying do the same thing Wayne did, right? Where he got stuck with his crappy deal with Burman for a long time, but there was a better way to get out of your deals than to do this and to go back in the jail.

SPEAKER_00

I think Gucci forgot who Pooh Shisey was. You know, he's given us a lot of lot of hints.

SPEAKER_01

And his music.

SPEAKER_00

In his music, back in blood. Yeah. Like I I would never like like just listening to his music if I was in a room with him, I'm never gonna like relax.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01

That's the thing. Gucci, you know, these people who are like, oh, well, we're from this, we're part of this in the environment, and you know, we everybody knows this. Well, if you that's how y'all knew y'all really moved, then you would know that he wasn't gonna stand around and just take taking his money.

SPEAKER_00

Like, you should have worked something out way beforehand, but you know, the communication is so trash.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, oh, and you wrong. And and you know what? And you know what it really came to be is, and this is why these things are gonna change, because yes, I could have blamed it, right? I could have like, oh well, these label artists now who have their own labels used to be part of bigger like Interscope and all those other labels who were doing them in the 360s. They should have done better when they got out of those deals and made their own labels, but why would they? Because one of the biggest things that people were doing in the hood before was grown men taking money from little kids and making them go work. So this is just a corporate version of that. They say, Here's some work, go move this. I'm gonna get most of the money. You're gonna be fighting for scrap stuff. It just transitioned from the street to the music industry, and they just learned a better way to do it from the people who did it to them. So that's why they continue to operate like this.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, it's extremely predatory. You know, Gucci has gone through the industry, he understands contracts, he's playing contracts in front of kids who don't know how to read or comprehend at the levels you need to to even understand what you're signing. Um and he's doing it to people just like him. So it it it's kind of it reminds me of the Nipsey situation where he was talking about like when you're about to go, when you're looking to go murder someone, right? Like in their set or in their neighborhood and shit like that. You're looking for somebody that looks like you. Yeah. You're not like you see somebody that's wearing uh uh glasses and a and a dress up and a button up, you oh, that's a square. You let him live. But you see somebody that looks like you and you kill them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you put on the uniform that said you was ready to die.

SPEAKER_00

Right. And and and here's another thing that I'm starting to see, which is like, I mean, it's not even dangerous, it's haunting. Some people are proud of Pooch Eistie for him getting his for doing this. For uh getting it back in blood. Some people are disappointed in Gucci man for behaving like a like I feel like the only thing that Gucci messed up at is that he claims so much street shit. So it's really you're just in a pickle with your own narrative right now. But if he was just a regular businessman and this happened to him, everything he's done is what he should have done.

SPEAKER_01

Would Pushaise have even done this to a regular business?

SPEAKER_00

Would Poochy think he could get away with it either? You know what I'm saying? Would would push the even think he had that type of uh like if you because people are making this claim, but here's the thing Gucci was started off like yo, that his pitch is that I'm not like them, I'm moving this way, and I came from this. I understand you. I'm really on the street tip. I got you. Right. You you already know if I if you say you got me, you don't got me, and it's a street situation, that's gonna escalate. Right. Because you said something to me and you're not, I don't care. Like, you know, I don't know how to read that shit, dog.

SPEAKER_01

I signed up because of what we said, because what you said, what you said, and then when I asked you questions about it, you know what? You probably gave me one of your lawyers.

SPEAKER_00

One of your lawyers, come on, dog. And then I find out when I I find out I'm next to Big 30. You telling me I'm about to find this out and Big 30's right next to Big Digital.

SPEAKER_01

You know what's crazy? Because how long push that shit been trying to get you, man? It's probably been great. So it's like, what probably happened is heat just and it's what happens when people are making money, they're excited, they're not paying attention, and then something happened, and they'd be like, all right, well, you're good, and you're not good, and you really go look through your stuff, you feel like you don't have the freedom and the the what you thought you had. And it took you years because when the money's coming, everyone's happy you're silent. You'll get over it. As soon as something happened, now there's a oh, what happened to this deal? This should just be an example. Yes, we should be upset at personally. There's a point in the way Goodman handled us, and the way he wants to handle his deals. I think Fushai should have should have been smarter about getting out of the deal in a different way. If you were an artist, you were signing to anyone, another artist, a label, anyone, you are not getting deals or conditions that are favorable to you. Because it's gonna be favorable for them, they're gonna get theirs. If it's not favorable to you, don't sign it.

SPEAKER_00

I urge all artists to have a nine to five. If you're a creative, have a nine to five and create capital, right? So when you go to meet UMG or whoever, they're gonna offer you 50K, but you have 5K in your bank account, right? You know how to save money. You know that you will make that 50K in a year, so that's not nothing. You need to have some sense of financial security before you talk to people with more money than you. Like it it's really like the most basic thing because like they will use what money feels and means to someone who is impoverished very differently than they would use to use it against somebody who has some bread is talking. It's like, yeah, I want to hear your offer. Instead of I need no, no, no, Gucci. I need this shit.

SPEAKER_01

Someone who can feed you will starve you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, someone who can feed you will starve you. Someone that teaches you to fish actually wants you to eat. Yeah. It's big differences in that. And I mean, this is predatory, right? Like, this is the culture right here in itself. Pooh Shaisty is the young boy on the block that went to the store or Gucci. Got older. Now you don't want to go to the store. Now I don't want to be in the deal. You know what I'm saying? So like it it it really uh it's it's it's pretty corny to see grown men say this and that. And I think at a certain point the culture is gonna get over this this narrative that is cloaked in because we're not improving. Mm-hmm. And you know, obviously, it's not like the biggest of tragedies and you know things of that nature.

SPEAKER_03

This could be handled better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Collectively, black people are going in a great direction. I just think like this can be knocked out.

SPEAKER_01

Now what do you before we even transition to you just

Gucci Mane And Pooh Shiesty Contract War

SPEAKER_01

say something? Collectively, black people are going in a better like transition. Like we we are in a positive uptick. Why does it always seem like we're not moving nowhere?

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's because we're constantly shown Gucci Mang and Pooh Shyste. Like, I know uh a homie that I grew up with, same neighborhood. He got his master's degree, right? Like my cousin, he's an engineer. And my other cousin, he's in corporate. My other cousin, he's in sales like me. So it's like, and we're all young black men. So I can see that. Like none of us are on some bullshit, none of us are caught up in some shit that shouldn't we shouldn't be in. That's a lot of like like, and that's a growing population. I mean, I talked to you, I talked to Deontay, I I mean, talk to Miles, like it's so many people that are just adults progressing. And I think we're not talking about that, right? Because I mean, who wants to talk about oh, Nature just goes to work every day? You know, people liked it when I was turned every day. You know, it's the crazy thing. Like, when I was I was thinking about life, I was like, back when we were younger, I would get like a hundred likes on a post on Instagram for doing the dumbest shit. And then I get I I'm doing like actual good shit, like with my life, family, and all this stuff. And I would post something like that, and it it won't get the same amount of attention as if unless I was doing some dumb shit. And I think that's what it is collectively. The black people doing the things that actually pushes us forward. We're not gonna get highlighted in this society because it's this society. It's for a reason. You know, we're we're not listening to Big 30. Big 30 could provide some advice. Probably I probably decline respectfully. No. Hip hop, we

Why Black Progress Gets Less Attention

SPEAKER_00

wait, wait. First of all, hip-hop hasn't been on, you know, we haven't had any billboard hits since 2025. What did I miss by Drake? People are saying that because of the beef and because Drake's not putting out the album, and because people are saying, Hey, people are telling me, I don't know if you agree with this, this is the dot era. For the past 10 years, it's been Kendrick's Punch from TDE said that. I I'm just telling you what I'm reading. I'm reading this stuff. Punch from TDE says it. I'm like, that's Punch from TDE.

SPEAKER_01

He's just trying to he's just trying to maintain his connections.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, Punch from TDE, I think he wouldn't do some shit like that. I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have him down for some shit like that, bro. I feel like we're in the dot era, and as we're in the dot era, right, we had to, we gotta, we so people, people not paying attention to the dot era, right? He said, watch the party die, and then did the Super Bowl. He was he was subverting your expectations. So right now, because we're not on the on the billboard, it's because hip-hop's not for that. It's not about sales and making money and hitting the billboard. It's about the dots.

SPEAKER_01

Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Yeah. Correlation and causation don't always, you know, it's not always the same. Absolutely. And so here's the thing if people don't understand, it's not incorrect to say hip-hop's purpose was not to be for billboards, not to be the pop hitch, right? That's not a wrong statement. That being said, hip-hop has dominated American music and culture for so long and been the influence for other people's styles that it doesn't make sense for us just to not get there due to the nature of people's music. Yeah, like that wasn't our intention, but due to how much people gravitate towards our stuff, it made sense for it to be there, right? You got the military, you got the US government using our music to do horrific things around the world and they're making ads and crap. But it's just the point, like, our music is what brings energy to people, right? It's not always good energy, and I'll admit that, but our music brings energy to people. So for it not to be on the boat boards, it's crazy. That being said, we're being a dot era. This is what the dot era looks like compared to Drake's era when Drake was running hip hop because Drake was running hip-hop. If you're looking at numbers, Drake was running hip-hop. And I'm talking about, yes, does everyone is there botting around? Okay, I'm not gonna act like there's not botting, and a lot of people are using botting. But even before botting blew up and we figured that out, even before people were making moves like Jay-Z when he just partnership with Sprint, they had bought a certain amount of his albums. So on day one, you know, it would go to everyone like platinum. See, like before even before that, Drake was pretty much had been running hip hop. So if this is the dot era, we're in a decline.

SPEAKER_00

Now, as a member of the dot era, I'm gonna say it's because Drake is a culture vulture, right? We had to get back to only one sound at a time, okay, and all the regions being as territorial as possible. Shout out wham.

SPEAKER_01

I used to I used to actually agree. You know, it's crazy as I used to actually agree that the Drake was a culture idea.

SPEAKER_00

So did I, bro.

SPEAKER_01

And till I had to sit and look, and I was you know, someone made a comment. I was like, okay, wait. If if in any other place, in any other place, and you know, this is actually a similar situation um in like for how J. Cole came up. In any other place, if someone gives you a connection with the greatest artist out of the time, are they supposed to keep holding your hand on your journey? Or is that supposed to be here's your shot? People would die for this shot. Take the shot and do your thing. They can say Drake's a culture culture, but if Drake gives you an opportunity, mutual. I I'm using your sound, I'm using you to get in, right? If Drake wants to do a dance hall thing and he needs someone on the inside, cool. I need you to get that in on that inside, or I'm getting part of the dance hall community, we're collabing, and you're getting a feature from the greatest hip hop artist at the time. Am I supposed to keep am I supposed to like do 10 songs with UDEX? Am I supposed to, you know, am I supposed to keep holding your hand or are you supposed to take this moment and make something out of it? And if you fall off after that, is that my fault?

SPEAKER_00

Jay-Z and Kanye West are probably the most prolific in doing this. They have always strategically done features and hopped on waves and have been applauded for it. We have to stop the bullshit.

SPEAKER_01

But they're not vulgarists because Big Sean made his own way and Jake Cole made his own way. And to this day, people complain about the fact that Jay-Z hasn't helped Jake a lot, and J. Cole defends Jay-Z on that. But because Drake collabs with people, and then they stopped doing, and I'm talking about not besides people that he signs. Because once you're signed to OVO, no, you are on the slave ship. I don't know why people doing that. They should probably stop doing that. B and D's looking great, man. They like the signing the OVO.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, what if they got good snacks and shit there? You don't know what type of benefit package people don't know.

SPEAKER_01

They sign an OVO, bro, and then they go into a basement never to be heard from again for years. The OVO situation is crazy in there. We could talk about that. But just for like, yeah, what is the name? JB Blockboy and all these other people and like four backs on each other. It's like, y'all, if you falling off after getting something from Drake is a like, it's a point on your talent. Maybe you were just a one-hit wonder. And something that people forget, we talk about this all the time. Everyone's an album artist. Maybe you're an EP artist. Maybe you're a feature artist.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, Jay-Z strategically did features throughout his whole career and was applauded for it. It's not a real argument. The top rapper does that. Yeah. That's what they do. Lil Wayne did that when he was becoming the top rapper. People were mad that he was hopping on their beats. And being back. Why are you hopping on how are you hopping on my beat, bro? You're a culture vulture. It was similar things. Like, oh, he can't do his own beats.

SPEAKER_01

And people were telling those artists, just get over it. Be happy. Wayne chose your beat.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_01

That's what they were saying.

SPEAKER_00

So just be happy. Drake got on the song. He did well. Do better next time. And be like, like the consistency is crazy, bro. But I know this is your man. So like I just want to hear what you think about the situation. I I understand, right? Yeah. I understand what he's trying to say.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Execution is everything. And reception is reception. Yeah. So how you accept your reception is gonna show what you're

Hip Hop Sales Slump And Dot Era

SPEAKER_00

gonna get. And to me, LaRussell in this heaven-cent situation was improperly handled top to bottom from himself and his crew. Musically, I understand what he's trying to say and do. Socially in the room, you have to read it.

SPEAKER_01

So I will say, yes, you're not wrong. Okay. No, no, no, no. I'm trying to we love critiquing. And funny because this is actually this is actually a big issue that we're seeing. I'm seeing a lot now, and it's just he's getting flagged for it because he's uh an individual.

unknown

Uh uh.

SPEAKER_01

But I would say since like the year 2000, there's been slogans that have this I I can understand and agree with your intent and a message and disagree with the way your message was portrayed. And I think since like the year 2000, when everyone thinks everyone's just accept what people say, that's been a big thing. People are well, if you understand my intent, then I should go say how I want. I've had years of training in public speaking. If you want your message to be accepted by a particular audience, then you need to care about how your message is relayed to them so it doesn't come off antagonistic, so it doesn't come off to turn them left, right? If you want your message to be heard, uh, then you need to decide uh the best way for this message to be received so that the people you want to hear it can receive it. He and I don't I don't blame his team because he said his engineer told him not to say it. He went to relief. I will say this maybe wouldn't have been an I can't even say this isn't something that would have been under control because they still say a lot of stuff. Russell has his independence, right? And he has built his own grassroots community, and so he can't be silenced the way maybe other people can, which is why he was able to even go off and say this and then reiterate, and he did double down, and I can disagree on doubling the double down as well. Uh, I understand what he was saying. I also get what some people are saying, right? They're like, you know, you don't get to pick and choose how Christian you want to be and what your messages and stuff like because I've heard that argument too, and I can see the argument for that. Giant, that's giant, that and and that's a whole other issue, and and that's something he's talking about as well.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, for me, and not to cut you off, but for me, if you are religious, right? Or you are talking religion to me, you better follow every letter of that book. Because if you aren't doing one thing, you because you got your playbook and you saying it's the one, right? If you skip one of those things, I know you're on bullshit. I'm cool.

SPEAKER_01

I was telling that, I was having a conversation with the city. If you can't do it all, bro, get away from it. But someone, I was like, I would rather someone be not religious than half religious because that's a whole issue. But yeah, so we're picking and picking choosing religious. His message, I get it came off wrong fuel. If you're a non-religious person, this is gonna sound horrendous to you. But especially a lot of people who listen to his positive music are religious people. The word don't always sound good, and technically, if we're gonna be for real, his message, you may have hated it, but if you believe the Bible, honestly, you can't disagree with, but yes, I can say even if still his if you agree with the Bible and you are following the Bible, uh, his intent in that message, you would have to believe. That being said, what he said could have made made you upset. People talking about well, why do you have to sit around this? Why do you have to include those people? Did he just do it for shock? I mean, uh, if you really believe uh technically what he's saying, it's preordained, yeah. So it's and it does not gonna sound good now. Overall, if we're just talking business, marketing, and nothing like his music and his intent. Do I think it's the greatest business move? No, does this mean true or false? No matter how people react, he's gonna stay true to what he believes in his music. It's an example of that, and as fans, it's not always going to be something you're going to agree with. That that's also a big part of that. It's it's if do you want an artist who sticks to his word and sticks to his guns no matter how he feels? And you know, I'm not saying I'm like I said, I can agree with his intent, I don't agree with the message. Same way people who are fans of J. Cole, like we love J. Cole, they're never gonna get over the fact that he apologized. Do you want this artist for who he is, or do you want him to follow a playbook that makes you feel good for liking him? Do you want to feel good for being a LaRussell fan, or do you want to like LaRussell based off of what he stands by? And that's what people are gonna have to decide.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, every artist, you I treat every artist, and people should do this with every form of entertainment they have. And as simple as this: just like how YouTube I can unsubscribe, I can unsubscribe. You can stop listening. You can stop listening, you can stop supporting, you have control of

LaRussell Intent Versus Delivery

SPEAKER_00

that. I want to get to like D1, he also is a well, LaRussell isn't a Christian rapper, but D1 is definitely a Christian rapper. And he helped stop the Atlanta Hawks from doing the stripping night. Congratulations. I don't have any problem against that.

SPEAKER_01

I just think that like the the Magic City collection. Yeah, yeah. First off, as a person, I don't have personal, I don't have an issue with sex work. And we actually possibly a lot more freedoms with it. That being said, is this what I want to see promoted from the highest levels of entertainment, especially through the highest levels of something that is typically black dominated? No.

SPEAKER_00

Also, we gotta think about the culture we're creating for these young men, right? And the culture we're creating for the young women and the young boy, young boys and girls that are watching this. Yep, right? That the girl that could have been Angela Reese, now she wanna be Diamond. She wanna be Diamond at the Magic City Club because she was on TV with the Atlanta Hawks. So it's just about influence, especially in Atlanta. And there's ugly.

SPEAKER_01

In Atlanta.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it it's because they're trying to they're trying to use the lowest hanging fruits of black culture as a branch to black culture too. Like, it it's just business. It's like, oh, this is the best version of y'all. It's the ones I like using, most controllable. Um I know you like them. You know, like it like the the the culture of it, even the culture of strip clubs, going to strip clubs and like killer Mike and him being married, and like, oh, I go to strip clubs and fight so hard for bro, cut it out. And once again, uh like I'm like, it's not even a religious thing. It's like a basic maturity thing as a man.

SPEAKER_01

I just I don't think we have to promote it. I'm not saying it needs to go away. I'm gonna say it needs to be abolished. Yeah, I don't have no problem with it. But like, come on. I'm not I'm not even telling you that you, I'm not gonna tell you that you shouldn't be a dude motherfuckers just making money. They're making money, they're making bread. Not all of them wanted to do that. It's not they grew up with drinking, but I'm not saying not. I'm saying, is that what we should be promoting? It's like, is out of everything you can be, is that what we want to promote? Is that what we want our sponsors to be? Is that like, and to me, no? If you want to and you want to be a dancer, you want to do this, that's on you. But is that what you want for your children?

SPEAKER_00

You don't want that to be an option for a kid to see around. It's just another way for instead of the kid that isn't in a bad neighborhood, right? We me and you experienced this in college. Like the kids from the best neighborhoods want to act like us. They do. They do. Like, you'll be somebody whose parents are like well off, and you are a little literal street urchin. Like, like you got you don't got any skills.

SPEAKER_01

Their whole thing from their favorite rapper.

SPEAKER_00

Their favorite rapper, and now their basketball team, what's at the Atlantis Hawks game? Trippers and basketball players. I'm trying to do that.

SPEAKER_01

That's about to be their new cheerleaders.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I'm saying. That'd be crazy.

SPEAKER_01

But um, bro.

SPEAKER_00

That'd be crazy.

SPEAKER_01

Imagine that was the promotion, so they did something for them, and then they switched that for one game. It was the cheerleader.

SPEAKER_00

But how do you feel about the the D1 situation and his commentary? I mean, I understand it. I'm glad it got done. I I see what he's doing. I also think, you know, sooner or later or beforehand, or sometime in his tracks, he's played a lot of different sides. And that's that's all. I don't I don't have to do much research. Uh, all religious dudes do it, bro. I would say it's because they gotta get the forgiveness. So they had to do something to to be forgiven for. So it won't take long to find it.

SPEAKER_01

I would I I would say just people in those positions, you know, just be careful how we judge, right? You know, because I like you saying, I'm sure his track list isn't squeaky clean. And if you've come on the other side and you seem different now and you want to be better, that's fine. Am I upset that they got it stopped? No. That that's where I got it at.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I don't I didn't really care. I I think like sensible people didn't care. Like stripping strip club culture isn't culture. It's just like street street guy culture. It's just a destructive path. Ultimately, you only have so many options in that field. As far as progression and growth in outcome.

SPEAKER_01

So it is not a long life career.

SPEAKER_00

It's not. So like I I don't know, bro. People be like championing like or pushing for certain narratives as far as like strippers and this and that, like, oh, we should respect them and this and that. Do you respect a fucking plumber?

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's like like most people, most people, most people do that. Most people see these, most people look at their kids and like, I don't want you to be a plumber, I don't want you to just be a laborer, I want you to do more. And it's like, okay, well, if we're not gonna praise these other kids, if you don't want your kid growing up being a plumber, people who are in colour of society, plumbers electrical, stuff like that. You don't want your kid doing that, why would we promote and that's and that's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00

How do you feel about this shit?

Strip Night Debate And Cultural Influence

SPEAKER_00

There's a UK news anchor that's probably fired as fuck. He went on national news talking about Kanye's concert being canceled and wireless and how Drake got wireless for three days and he raps about raping women. I don't know, a Drake lyric that could sound like that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, so two things. Because I had to go look up this place. First of all, this news, this UK place, this whatever this was, they're basically the equivalent to any far-right news media we have in the US. That's basically so that's that. Also, that lady wasn't even an anchor. Apparently, it was the like the dude's daughter, right? Yeah, on the topic. I don't know if that was her intro. You can get what you can get out of the fact that it's just basically a far-right platform. That being said, Drake, you know, and once again, I'm all for critiquing. Drake has some questionable uh lyrics, Drake has some questionable lyrics, but for you, but I don't know if you watched the whole thing. Basically, when she was talking to the guy, and he would, they were like, Yeah, that's basically all their music. That's all their type of music is drugs, murder, and raping women. Hold on, this is all these entertainers, all these kinds of people, all these rappers.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01

So they're I see people is yeah, right. That's why she was, you know, it's like looking at Charlie Kirk get off stage, right? This is basically what this was, right? What if that including or not including gang violence, right? So that's basically what that that media situation was.

SPEAKER_00

But you know, that's a crazy thing. All this stuff in division with the not like us song and stuff like that, you are still seeing Kendrick and Drake are still looped in the same boat.

SPEAKER_01

Still niggas.

SPEAKER_00

That's the wildest thing. I think I hope he sues the fuck out of her. I think it gives validity to his uh defamation case he has going on.

SPEAKER_01

Because look how people will judge.

SPEAKER_00

Because look how people. So I think that's definitely gonna help him in some aspects.

UK Media Panic And Drake Defamation

SPEAKER_00

We we have heard that Charleston White and Young Thug have gotten into a uh a bro haha.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I can't believe you think Slum would do that, allegedly. And I heard that allegedly Wham was with him.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't hear that part.

SPEAKER_00

You usually don't hear about Wham. Yeah. Well, I mean I'm sorry, I gotta stop. Charleston, right? Yo, Wham's a crazy nickname, though. It's just wham, big 30. Like, I I was asking my sister, like, because of like, I was like, man, if I stayed in a city, like, what do you think my hood name would have been? Bro, would your name be like, yo, call me D. Call me D.

SPEAKER_01

Crazy. Charleston White's an interesting man. He's an interesting man. He's an interesting character in the overall space of like music entertainment. Interesting that he's managed to remain relevant. But this man, y'all know he's He's police. No, police. He's police, bro. The way uh the way he was talking on that video, I was like, I have never seen a more educated hood person use court speech to. Describe the way that you're about to get handled. Like that's funny.

SPEAKER_00

He's gonna either get paid under the table, which he probably does do. He a double dipper, bro. He played, he played a corporate shit street in the street shit corporate. Smart.

SPEAKER_01

And you know what? I guess like dude you gotta do to survive. Y'all knew he was like that. So you wham knew. Doug, if you want to go back to jail, just say that.

SPEAKER_00

Just say that, bro. I think he bro, first day out, first day back in, bro. I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01

Didn't he just get Mariah pregnant?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know, bro. I thought he proposed to her or something, bro. I think he's pregnant, and like you about to go back to jail. Pink Slump gotta chill, bro.

SPEAKER_01

You got off on one of the most high-profile cases. You about to go back to jail.

SPEAKER_00

How do you feel about this, man?

Charleston White And Young Thug Drama

SPEAKER_00

You know, people get out of court, court proceedings are over, couple months passed, they got movies coming out. Wheelie is saying that DDG is a good father after all the court battles, after all the campaigns to discredit him and who he is and who he is, after doing all that to a fellow black American with no actual credence, no actual proof, with looks like mutual abuse or defense of each other. It looks like you did the more life-threatening things to the child, and now we get this a quick little, he's a good father now. And I I have to highlight this because this is what they do. You know, this is the level of business they're operating at. If they cannot destroy you and you have survived and you have maintained your money, your status, all this, they gotta work with you. Now they gotta work with you and all good. I I wouldn't be surprised in a couple of months or two, a year, after some time passed, she's gonna be on a fucking stream with bro.

SPEAKER_01

So one, I would say the timing of this is not it's not hard to guess why. So her movie just came out Friday. Fire movie. Today's Sunday. You saw it? Okay. So you should see it. And the reason why you like it. And the reason why, and I will say this, I will say this, because I wasn't gonna watch it, but I was like, we need to do better in supporting black films so that we can get black stories out that are not just slave-related, poverty-related, right? I love sinners. The way black people showed up for sinners, the way we need to do a lot more. Produce movies that have black stars, and even as much as I love sinners, that was still a Jim Crow poverty driven story. So it's still driven off of black pain. And so if we don't show up for ticket sales for people to produce movies that had black positivity, they're not going to do that. So I went to go see the movie. It was actually a good movie.

SPEAKER_00

It's like a romance, right?

SPEAKER_01

It's a wrong com. But yeah, I'm not like a wrong comment. And I'm not either. But the for the point of that being, I can support and sit down for an hour movie to go watch it and get some numbers up, and it ended up turning out to be a good movie. Go watch it with your girl. That being said, the timing of this makes sense for the fact that her movie came out. Now, one thing we do know, they had a high-profile case last year. They all settled in around October. Judge is basically like, all right, y'all can't post things about each other online, and you are gonna have a court order split custody of Halo. Right. There is no gonna be no public apology, right? There's gonna be a public drag, there's gonna be no public apology. And what came out and then the reason y'all settled, y'all were both abusive. It is simple as that. Y'all were both abusive. You came up with your side of the story when you thought you were gonna get control, right? These are two rich people because I won't think like it's not always a situation where it's a rich man taking a banner. There are two rich people, you're a a Disney baby, right? You're a Disney star, right? So you got woke, you know, behind you and behind your banner. But uh it ended in the reason you didn't win is because y'all were both bad. Now, this whole thing of her saying he's a good father, she didn't need to say that. We see him, he's he's with his kid. We we watch him with his kid. Uh if you watch your streams, I don't I've seen clips and stuff like that, but people watch him with his kid, he has kid a lot of the time.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And so that is yes, you could be a good father and not a good partner, not a good partner. Absolutely. Your relationship to one person is not your relationship to another. Everyone's gonna watch him out and saying this after all the things that she said he did. He could have been a bad part of her, they were bad partners for each other, they were abusive to each other. I don't think ever that he was a bad father. So yeah, her coming out and saying this now, I think she's trying to get the narrative so that when people look up her name, it's not attached to that, right? The the the the last thing when people look up her name is gonna be her movie. It's gonna be this clip of her saying her baby dad is a person. For this movie, it was a clip of her saying her baby dad was abusive, and now people are gonna deep diving that and then they're gonna find out all the things she was doing. So you have to get new media out, you have to get new content out. The next time people look up you and your kid, it doesn't need to be a court case. It's gonna be a video you praising your baby dad, right?

SPEAKER_00

It's marketing, it's marketing, it's business, and I think this situation has resolved itself for now.

Halle Bailey DDG And Image Repair

SPEAKER_00

Now, J. Cole, it has been on an interview tour. Um, he's revealed certain things. He's revealed that uh he doesn't know what Kendrick was talking about, you know. Uh, he's revealed that Drake was supposed to be at the Dreamville situation before he apologized. Um, he also revealed why he went to the Cam situation and they figure out that situation. But uh you know what this all his interviews show me? Jake Hull is a guy that went to college and really loved and wanted to be a rapper, and he's got himself in deep in in a world of ego, violence, death, and the people he's looked up to are great rappers, not so great people. And I I I would say that for both Kendrick and Drake. I feel like he thought there was a brotherhood and camaraderie that did not exist in Kendrick's heart. Kendrick is from the block, he's from West Coast culture, he wants to be the big dog. Now, him and Drake come from similar but not the same situation. Yes. I think the biggest thing and the biggest deciding factor, and why Drake and Kendrick bump heads so much is Drake had to be the guy for him for him to succeed. He had to be himself, but he had to be competitive enough to get ahead of he got his music from Toronto to the entire world. That's a hard task to ask when you are culturally being pushed out and you are being bullied in certain senses because you have an acting background, but you're also a lot more savvier than your contemporaries like a Kendrick and Drake or J. Cole because of his, you know, his influence in the acting scene. I bet you even though he signed some bad contracts, they had something involved that benefited him in the long run.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I and I think that J. Cole is coming to the end of his career and uh realizing he would have he's never going to sacrifice what Drake has sacrificed to be the number one guy. He's never gonna do the things that Kendrick or like he doesn't want it that bad in that retrospect. And that's okay. And I and I think that makes him like out of the big three, the realist.

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm. I will say, so before I get into the interview itself, and you talk about where each of these guys are coming from, you're right. J. Cole has not come from. Each of them have pros and cons to where they come from and what they had to do to become artists, right? We can talk about Kendrick first. Kendrick is from the West Coast, right? So if you're an artist and you're in America, especially coming from that, right, there's about three to four places that music, right, that had a big impact. If you were from the West Coast, if you're from, or if you were from pretty much California, if you were from New York, if you were from right, like Atlanta, and I would say around that time, probably if you were from Chicago, right? And that had a big impact specifically on the on if you were trying to get in music, if you were something like that, like it boosted your reputation, but it also put something on your shoulders because the competition and the expectation was different. So that was Kendrick's J. Cole had a different thing. He wasn't directly from those places, so he could come into music with a different outlook of people who were being pressured to fit into boxes. If you were in the East Coast Union in New York, you were doing a certain type of rap, right? You were doing boom bap, you were doing a certain type of rap. If you were in LA, you had a certain type of rap you had to do. Who could have entered it without the uh stereotypes that were coming from being from those areas and with a different perspective? But as you said, he was coming at from like, I can't wait to get in. I look up to these guys, this looks great. The the competition, the flair, the everything. I'm gonna go to the big city. He talked about a lot, right? Going to the big city and being in that environment. And it's different when you glorify that environment. Not to say that he didn't come from a bad place, but when you glorified the rap scene in New York compared to what it was in North Carolina, or the rap scene and the competition in California compared to where he's from. So there was a pro and con he didn't have an actual like, oh, this is what it's really like till he got there. He also, and he says in his interview, he didn't even plan to be a rapper. And he got in by being an engineer. Hey. Cole to this day still makes a lot of his own beats. He was like, Yo, I tried to handle my CD to him to listen to my beats. I was just gonna be an engineer, and then he ended up making his rap, and he's like, I just gonna put some hooks on it, and boom, then he ended up being a rapper. So this wasn't even his original plan. Uh and then Drake coming from where he's from, he was an actor, he was in, so he had music knowledge, but his con was, you're Canadian, a little too light skinned for what's popular in the scene right now. And we need you to be the hook guy. He could sing, right?

SPEAKER_00

So he they will yo, if Drake was just the hook guy, he would never have any problem.

SPEAKER_01

He would never have problems. But that's what the industry wanted to shoehorn him, shoehorn him into. They just wanted Drake to be the hook guy. But through all those different positions, as you said, so Cole has less, right? Because as Kendrick from the West Coast, he has a lot more that he has to give credence to. He has to be that hungry. He has to want to be the best.

SPEAKER_00

Because if not, then he's conceding and he looks like a also he's for me, Drake and uh Kendrick are ready to die about this. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, whatever happened on their their journey along the way, whatever dangers they face have changed these people.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00

Like, bro, like on nine, when you listen to Drake, he's like, bro, I'm ready to die for this shit. I'm like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, just even the amount of times that Drake has been attempted robbed, right? Yeah, definitely. Like, like, even if he didn't want to be, and I'm not, and yes, and all a lot of rappers do this, and people are very aware of this now. A lot of them put on fronts. But Drake has legit had to, before it was a front, and then he had to turn a certain weight because people legit want to rob Drake, want to hold him up with a gun, want to do all this other stuff like that, right? I will say that all these motherfuckers J. Cole doesn't want who slapped Puff, right? Right. I'm gonna say everybody's so tough. J. Cole saft, he apologized, but none of them would have slapped Puff. I'm gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00

Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. I don't think Kendrick Drake would say something on a man-to-man level to J. Cole. It's always gonna be like stature-wise, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01

Like because it's like thinking the the the kind guy is soft. And it's like, no, just because I don't choose to weaponize my masculinity doesn't mean that that I'm soft. But yes, he talked a lot on that interview. It's a good interview. The way that they handle and the way he explained himself about why the payment, why he was getting sued and stuff like that, and the way they handled it, and the miscommunication, that's the maturity. I this is why I think Jacob, my Jacob's my favorite rapper. Yes, he might not be the most popular, he's not all, but the maturity that he chooses to display when everyone else is like, you should have done this, even the thing with Kendrick, and he's on that. He was like, I didn't even know what he was talking about. He's like, Look, my first instinct when I heard the song was that this is good. But as soon as I'm getting phone calls, like, no, they're talking bad about you. You gotta do this, you gotta do this. He was like, and he talks about it, he's like, he didn't really want to because he was you can hear this. Sorry, hearing but he was saying that he didn't even want to respond, but he talks about it in the thing. He was like, I was ready to drop my album. The album got delayed basically two years due to this beats. He said, I was gonna drop my album, but I can't drop my album if I don't want to respond to this now, because they're not gonna want to hear it, they're not gonna want to hear that, and the fact that Kendrick chose to do that when Kendrick was supposed to be on two songs on the album that we're never gonna hear now, right? So that's another, and they're like, Oh, what about this? Um we could have got J. Cole, Drake, and Kendrick on this one album, but because they decided to beef at that moment, we missed out on what could have been some of the best records of our generation, and so he had to delay the album two years, take stuff off of it. But it's like, why did J. Cole respond and then apologize? He didn't even want to respond, but also he strike if he would have dropped that album and never said anything, it wouldn't have been received at all.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, first of all, all the features will look funny. Um yeah, it would look weird, it would look very weird, and he did exactly what he's supposed to in that scenario. I mean, listen, bro, a lot of people like this industry stuff is so crazy,

J Cole On Pressure And Identity

SPEAKER_00

man. I uh like just to go into the next topic, like we have found reference tracks for King Push from Quentin Miller for several songs. Now, people are telling me it's just hooks. Um, that's the exact same thing he was doing with Drake, and people lost their minds.

SPEAKER_01

I don't we know Pusha T can write. He was Kanye.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we know he can write, but having something written for we know Drake can write. And Drake was writing, he didn't write bro. Before he got signed, where he's hired by Dr. Dre to write some shit.

SPEAKER_01

But now it's Penns Week.

SPEAKER_00

Now it's Penn's Week, now it don't work, and all this other shit. And now the it all goes back around. You know, Jay-Z saying, oh man, this is just too far. Pusha T's probably gonna be saying, how, huh, man, I've been running every bar, man. It's just a hookup. I know, man. I know. Yeah. So I I think a lot of people are getting exactly what they put out. Obviously, Pusha T's gonna go against this, but the the facts is the facts. This actually came out around the Drake era of working with Quentin Miller, like this hook and stuff like that. So Quentin was an industry guy. Meek Mill was supposed to be supposedly supposed to was trying to work with Quentin before everything happened. That's how that's how you found out and all these other things. So it's just like there's a level of insecurity and this hypocrisy with these older rappers that like I'm out of it, man. Like, pusha T, you did this, you know, it happened. I can hear it, and it doesn't discount your pen at all. It just makes you look like a hypocrite.

SPEAKER_01

That's all. And that's kind of I mean, once it we knew that. We knew the the whole rap game is throwing, throwing stones at people. And then when they come back like, well, you did this too, they're like, it was different, right? We talk about Kendrick calling Drake, you know, those allegations, but he had to pop out with people who have the same allegations, but in their allegations, they're confirmed. Some of these people did time for them, uh, and they've done other things and worse, right? So the the game from a lot of these people is hypocritical, and that's why I can't be making entertainers your idols. These are people. Stuff they're saying, like, you know, everything on social media is not real, but people be looking at it. It's the same way these people live their lives. They're not take what these people say as like the gospel and the way they act. It's like y'all are not in the same position as these people. You don't know what's going on behind the scenes. There's been a lot of weird stuff going on behind the scenes for years. And yeah, there's probably a lot more than it's gonna come out in the future.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, apparently this link and video has been out for two months. It's just picking up steam now. So it's a wild time. I think people need to operate on the side of just, bro, just make your bread. You don't have to do all this weird shit. What's your what's your final takeaway as far as all this stuff in a state of hip hop media today?

Ghostwriting Claims And 2026 Predictions

SPEAKER_01

I think we are far enough removed now from Beef from Kendrick's era for all this. J. Cole's dropped his last potential. I know there's actually another album he's made, but his quote unquote last studio album. And I think this year we're going to get more music, more projects, stuff people have been waiting for from a lot of bigger acts. I'm hoping to see new artists come out. I'm hoping I think 2026 is actually gonna be a year where we see a lot more new artists and maybe different types of music. I hope we also phase out some music. You know, I think it's been like 10 years since drill blew up. I would like to see some of that stuff phase out, right?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I don't think it's popular anymore. I think that's why that's another reason. Like it's kind of watered down, right? And it's kind of like it's get these guys are getting arrested so much that it's kind of like, all right, people are chilling off of it.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, I'm like, I think 2026, we let go of the drill, we let go of the fiend music. That like is there's still gonna be artists who do that. That's their thing, sure, but like let's not popularize it anymore. Let's get other kinds of music out here, right? Let's get newer artists out. J. Cole dropped this year, Drake's gonna drop this year, right? Like 2026 can be a big recovery for music. We also gotta cut out some people this year. Not to dive too deep into it. Jack Harlow can't get black people. Oh, yeah, tossed. It's like we give we give pedestals to people, right? People still listening to Kanye when he should be cut off. We we need to practice cutting people off.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, I I already cut Jack Carlo off of my mind. I forgot he did anything.

SPEAKER_01

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like people left, but we need to push people out. Like, Post Malone left. We need to push Jack Harlow out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, Jack Harlow's a clown. It's just comfortability, right? They made him very comfortable. This is what happens.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's I mean, shoot, him, who's the Mexicano T like people and it's people who I liked their music. Yeah, it's great. I originally I liked Jack Harlow's music to an extent. I actually liked his last album because the content of it was deep. You were telling me you liked it. He was talking about very mature things. He was talking about like male accountability, keeping around friends who do bad stuff and cutting them off. Like he was talking about stuff that most grown adult men don't talk about and most artists don't speak about. I was like, okay, we're seeing mature rap make a return. And then he goes and does this, and it's like, okay, I can see what music people can make, but I can see your insides now. I can see how you feel as an inside of a person and how you view the culture and the people. I mean, it's the same way when I talk about I said half apology with Kanye. Kanye apologized in the Jewish people, but Kanye has made comments about black people that he's never apologized for. Kanye has co-signed stuff, Candace Owens has said, right? So black people giving this pedestal to Kanye when Kanye does looks at y'all the same way white corporations look at black people as just prime consumers, right? I don't, why would we keep feeding Kanye? So, yes, Jack Horo, it's time for him to be pushed out.

SPEAKER_00

That's it, man. We can't keep not everybody could go. Yeah. Not everybody could go. That's that's where I'm at with it. And it's okay to express some exclusivity in your in your goals and where you want to go. The clown stuff is always gonna be clown stuff. Can't really change anybody when they're not even invested into doing so. You know, these guys are grifters, they want the culture, they want to sell it and keep it moving, they want to step on it. You know, honestly, this Jack Carlos shit is like stepped on product, bro. It's poisoning people out there because if this is like the first time you thought you were listening to like Neo Soul hip hop, and that's the problem.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like that's the issue because what if this is someone's first introduction? It's like that's what I'm saying. People kind of like like, oh, he made it, he made it big. And it's like, no, he's being pushed and it's washing away the other creators and the people who really made it and even gave him a space to go and think that this is possible.

SPEAKER_00

And it's like we just can't the same thing as the state of jazz music right now. Like most of the musicians now are all white, and you know how jazz music even started.

SPEAKER_01

But and but to that credit, I think we this is a we also have some responsibility that we've pushed so many of our great musicians to rap when rap is just a sub like mean even Jay-Z forgot about when he was in this interview and they were talking about the subsets of like hip hop, right? Like rap is a subset of hip hop overall, and we need to get back to that, right? Beatboxing, mixtaping, mcing, the fashion, the dance, like all of those were parts of it. And we need to just rap rap cannot just be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We haven't had like a dance song, you know, like like I'm talking about a record that like even in Nokia, like it was not, it was it was a dance song, but it wasn't like like it's time for the percolator or or something like that, or hammer time, like like an iconic win, like watch me you, like like there it hasn't been, there used to be a certain rhythmic sound.

SPEAKER_01

Movement used to be of hip hop. And we've lost that. You know what's crazy though? You know who's adopted that?