Human Nature

One song can tell the truth about your whole week. I start with Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and why it still hits like a deep breath after a long day, then I pivot into a spoiler-free take on the new Michael Jackson movie and the theater experience that almost ruined my mood before the film even started. What surprised me most wasn’t just the production or the performances, it was how much the story re-centered Michael as a person, not a punchline.

We talk about the moments that made me rethink how the world treated him, from the way the film shows his inner life to the bigger context people love to skip: Michael Jackson pushing MTV to play Black artists, the pressure that comes with unmatched fame, and what happens when a Black man holds cultural and financial power. It’s part movie review, part music history, and part real-time reflection on how quickly “public opinion” turns into a pile-on.

Then I zoom out to the other theme I can’t shake: unplugging. If you’re tired of social media drama, propaganda, and nonstop timelines, you’re not crazy, you’re overstimulated. I share what I’m doing to protect my mental health, why I refuse to go back and forth online, and the reminder I keep hearing in my own head: potential has a shelf life. That leads into a personal leap-of-faith story and a challenge to put your energy back into the book, script, trip, or fresh start you keep delaying.

If this connects, subscribe, share the show with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can find Heavy On The RB. What’s the one song or one decision that helps you come back to yourself?

Transcript

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Warm Open And Setting The Vibe

SPEAKER_00 0:44

It's just a little bit that way. I'd like to this way. I'd like to this way.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yes, yes, yes. Welcome back to another edition of the Heavy on the RB podcast. Week five. I'm your host. This is K Way, and we are back again, man. Another week. Hope everybody had a successful weekend

Why Human Nature Hits Hard

SPEAKER_01 2:25

and relaxing and all of that good jassy stuff, man. It was it was pretty good. We're gonna get into a lot uh today. But yeah, nonetheless, I'm the host. Go by the name of K way. You can find me everywhere. Um, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok. That's heavy on the RB everywhere, Instagram, everywhere except Facebook. Someone said that there was a profile of me on Facebook or something like that. Um, not me. I don't even have Facebook right now. I'll deactivated it just because I think Facebook and Twitter are um sess pools for negativity, and we'll we'll get into that. But nonetheless, I'm a creator, the host, the proprietor of this show, your professional inappropriate commentator in some of these YouTube streets at times. And it's another edition, man. Heavy on the RB week five, where we go through the rhythms and the blues of life. We cover a wide range of topics and just try to keep the negativity at bay. I think the world does enough for that already. So, nonetheless, yeah, as you could tell, that was Human Nature by the great the GOAT Michael Jackson, greatest pop star of all time. Um, to me, the king of everything. I'll give him that. Uh, RB, pop, music, just um, everything. And and that's probably I probably I would say right now, that's my favorite song by Michael Jackson. I think human nature just it evokes emotion. Like if you just having a long day, if you're just tired of the world, um, if you even if you just want to be a better person to the people that are around you, I think human nature sets the tone for that. I love the chords, the consistent rhythms of the song. Um, I love I love the subtle beat. Um, man, I just love that song. That's one of my favorite songs. So shout out to Michael Jackson, Human Nature, and we're gonna get into that. That is uh today's topic. Um, and that's one of the I think one of the songs that kept me going, you know, when I was down and out. I told you I would listen to Optimistic by Sounds of Blackness, You Will Know by Black Men United, and uh Tell Him by Lauren Hill, and then Human Nature, man. I think it was appropriate to start the show off of that, considering we did see the movie this weekend and this past weekend, and that show or that show, that song is just it's it's amazing. Um, and I think SWV did it justice. One of the few times a song was sampled and it competed with the original. Now, I still got Michael Jackson's original ahead, but I just I love the way SWV put their rendition on it. Shout out to Sisters with Voices to me, that is the goat of all female groups that includes Xkate, TLC, Destiny's Child. I don't think none of them can hold a finger to SWV. Now, I'm not saying be like you know, the beehive don't come after me. I'm not saying individually, I'm saying as a group, if SWV and Destiny's Child were to do a versus, I'm rolling with SWV. Now, things get a little tricky if Beyonce just started doing things by herself. It it turns that W turns into an L. But, anyways, man, that's neither here nor there. So, um, yeah, today, first off, I want to start off by talking about the movie, man. I think I think uh the Michael Jackson movie was incredible, it was amazing. I have no negative things to say about it. Um, and even if I did, I probably

The IMAX Timing And Ad Overload

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wouldn't bring those to the airways because we got enough people trying to do that before the movie was even out. They were trying to give it like a 26-27%. That's because they wanted them to, I guess, bring up dirt and and old things like that. I think it was stupid. But first off, let me talk about my movie experience. I'm sorry, I'm dealing with allergies. So the movie started at 2 15. We went to an IMAX, and you know, we get there. I like to be punctual, I like to be on time. My fiance, on the other hand, man. I know she's gonna hear this, I know she listens to every episode, but she got an issue with being on time. Me, the way I grew up, you on time if you early. Her, you on time if you on time. Like, if something starts at 8 a.m., she's walking through the door at 7.59 and 43 seconds, like cutting it raised within close. Me, if something starts at 8 a.m., I'm there at 7:35, 7:40, 7:45 at the latest. I want to give myself time, I want to get acclimated, you know, whatever I gotta do. So I was already stressing about that. So we got there on time and said the movie's gonna start at 2.15. We got there, probably like two, probably like two o'clock, somewhere around there. Enough time to get in line, get popcorn, snacks, whatever. And you know, we sitting there, so by the time we get our seats, it's like 2.13, 214. I'm I'm very anal about time. Pause. So 215 roll around, and I'm thinking, you know, cool, let's get let's get it started. You know, I hadn't been to the movies in a while because everything has been coming to like prime video and Netflix. So I think I think what annoyed me the most is it was just ad after ad after ad after fucking ad. Not the previews, we're talking about ads. People are literally buying ads now, car dealerships, local anesthesiologists, um uh uh gyms, what you name it. Whoever was in the greater San Diego area, they bought an ad for 10 minutes. So after that go by, then the previews start. It was 20 minutes of previews. There gotta be like 12 movies coming out, and the only one that made sense to me was the Street Fighter movie, just because I grew up playing that game, and and I always say to my fiance, perfect. Like I always do that, it's just you know, playing the game, uh growing up. That's that's I don't know, that's the only one I identify with, and you know, 50 Cent is in a movie. I don't really care to support him. Um, if it flops, good good for him. So, you know, I don't know, shit. 20 20 25 minutes of preview go by, it's like 243, 244. The movie started. I'm like, damn, y'all said on the ticket, the movie, the ticket movie said 215. Okay, I didn't know, I didn't know it was gonna be this late, so I'm already annoyed. And you know, whatever. That was just my gripe. Movie started about 240, 244, somewhere in there. Now, I don't I ain't gonna do no spoilers. I'm gonna all I'm gonna say is from the opening scene to the ending credits, I was captivated, and I think one of the biggest takeaways I took from the movie is it just gave

A Spoiler Free Movie Reaction

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me another side of Mike, and you know, growing up, my era of Michael Jackson is uh remember the time. I'm I'm thoroughly because I'm RB kind of so I'm thoroughly aware of of thriller and and bad and off the wall and the whiz, and I know about all of that. I got I got those albums, I got those playlists, um, you know, I got I got all of that. But what I remember vividly as a kid, I remember remember the time because it was it was it was a time where he was getting redemption, you know. Uh I don't think he had put on the album in a little bit. And and when we remember the time came, the video, the title track of that album, the video. Um uh actually, I don't think that was the uh the name of the title track. Let me see, what was the name of that album? Forgive me. Um, y'all in the uh y'all listening on the airwaves. Uh Dangerous was the name of the album, and that came out in '91. So I know Teddy Riley was a big part of that. He co-wrote a lot on there. Um I think um, and and what really kind of was weird was um I think Dangerous. It came out in January. And um I think the song peaked at number three, but I think remember the time was oh my god, was that um how many weeks was that at number one? Um peak chart position. Uh no, I was right. Yeah, remember the time it peaked at number three, which was like weird. But uh the album reached number one. Um so uh I don't know. Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number three, and I you know what? Fuck this shit. Don't done this shit matter. Because we ain't start paying attention to charts until that I don't even want to mention this fuck nigga. To that, you all know who I'm talking about. Y'all know who I don't like and I don't care for to you know, he um he and his fans of of dummies, anyways. Back to the movie. The movie was amazing, it gave me another side of Michael Jackson, and I and that's the era that I remember was remember the time. I'm saying all that to say it was great to go back because I mean we've all saw um Jack the Jackson 5 movie, the first one, um American Values or something like that, American Family Values. We saw that I saw that a bunch of times, but I think this one from a motion picture uh theatrical release, it was amazing. I mean, from start to finish. One thing that I took away from this was I think a lot of people around Michael failed him, and thank god they cut the movie off. They ended it on a good note, they ended it. The movie ends with him on stage uh performing bad, and that's before you know a lot of the craziness started, a lot of the rumors and and things like that. So um I'm glad that they ended it on a high note. I think Neil Long killed it. Um Jafar, the young man that played Michael Jackson, his uncle. Um, I I can't put into words how much he killed his role. If if O'Shea Jackson Jr. did ice cube, his father, justice, this is on another level, man. This is this is otherworldly, and I hope that young man wins every award that is ever created. He deserves all of that. He deserves Oscars and Um Golden Globes. I don't even know if it could be nominated for that. Whatever the category is, whatever the theatrical production, all of that, man. He killed it, Neilong killed it. Um uh man, just everybody, you know, everybody that was in the movie, um, everybody just did an amazing job. The guy that played Bill, the driver, um, he killed it. Uh Coleman Domingo killed it. Uh Juliano Valdi, he played Young Michael, killed it. Um man, everybody, everybody just, everybody just killed it. And you know, and there's a lot of uh Lorenz Tate playing Barry Gordy, he killed it. There was a lot of things that didn't make the movie. Uh, I heard Derek Luke was supposed to be in the movie um as Johnny Cochran, but you know, though that was uh taken out as well. Um there was a young uh that Kat Graham was supposed to play Diana Ross, that didn't make it. Uh shout out to Laura Harrier, she did kill it. Um uh Keeland Duro, Keelan Duro Jones played Bill, Michael Jackson's driver, killed it. Everybody just did a great job, and I just left kind of feeling a little ashamed. You know, I'm not I'm pretty sure at some point in time I've joined in on the Michael Jackson hate train or you know what was jokes. It really wasn't nothing funny, man, because if you looked at his life

Michael Jackson As Activist And Target

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and the way he stood up for his blackness and black people, I think that's a misconception. Now that man went into the office and demanded CBS records. I put my put my music video on MTV. Because this was at a time where MTV was not playing any black artists. Michael Jackson's the first artist to get his uh video played on um on MTV, and it was um it was either uh I think it was Billy Jean um was the first video that got uh played on MTV Airways. So, like the scene, the way he went in there, he demanded it. And CBS, I mean, this is at the time, I think Michael Jackson, they said he has sold 25 million records. This is this is off one album, this is thriller. 25 million? This is crazy. Like 25 million that's that's double diamond and a half, if I'm not mistaken. Um, so the way he stood up, so it was it was just it was just amazing. And you know, it human, yeah, it was Billy Jean, um, that that got played, and it just humanized him seeing him reading a Peter Pan book and why he called Neverland, Neverland, uh purchasing the monkey um bubbles, and him trying to connect with his brothers, where he was kind of still in this kid state where he just wanted to be a kid, but his brothers were older, they were growing up, they would they had dates, they had wives and serious girlfriends and things. Um, you know, it just it just kind of showed just another side of Michael, and I think uh probably the most powerful thing is when he brought together the Crips in the Bloods to uh to do beat it. And like, man, this was at a time where gun or uh gang violence in Southern California was at an all-time high. Like it was it was it was crazy back then, you know. I've seen stories and clippings and articles and things like that. So shout out to Michael. Um my apologies to Michael Jackson if I've ever said anything publicly that was a joke or demeaned him in any shape, form, or fashion. Like that's I'm not proud of that. And I think a lot of people do owe him an apology, and um yeah, you know, because I'm a prince guy, I'm a prince fanatic, but I have a I have a newfound appreciation for Michael Jackson. I mean, I've I appreciated him before this, but there's always two sides to every story, and I think you know, kind of going down a rabbit hole and realizing the FBI investigated him for 17 years and found absolutely nothing and how he owns Sony and like owned the Beatles catalog, purchased it for 50 million dollars. A black man with all that power, I think people will go to the ends of the earth to try to demean and end him. And I think it's a shame the the way he went out, you know. Um the whole Pepsi commercial, a piece of his skull was missing, you know, him being on a pain, man, since then. Man, go see the movie if you get a chance to. It's it's really, really, really fantastic. It's one of the better movies I've ever seen in my life. And shout out to Michael Jackson, man. I'm I'm uh I'm choosing to remember Michael Jackson in uh Love, Light, and Peace. He is the GOAT, he is the greatest to ever do this. And anybody that thinks they can come and even walk a centimeter in any shoe that he's ever put on, you are sadly mistaken. And that goes for any of you, any of your favorite entertainers, your rappers, it's not even close, and it never will be close, and that goes for everybody. And I ain't gonna say no names, you can just insert whoever you think is close to Michael Jackson or can do what Michael Jackson is doing, you are sadly mistaken. It's not even close. He will lap whoever you put you have in mind, take it from me. So, yeah, man. Shout out to Michael Jackson, you are dearly, dearly missed, and um, it's good to see that you're getting your just due. I think opening night was right at 100 million. The weekend was about 297 million. Um, so y'all go see that, man. Go support it, go see it one, two, three, hell, four times if you get a chance to go see that. So, yeah, man. Um, anyways, what else I wanted to talk about today, uh, week five here on Heavy on the RB with K-Way. Is I uh I think I think with the announcement of Old Boy's

Social Media Drama And Unplugging

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album coming out on the 15th, there's a lot of hit pieces, there's a lot of propaganda going on, and I just want everybody to take a step back. Take a step back. Um, you know, we we're aware the album's coming out, we're aware of Meg and Clay situation, we're we're aware of so many things in black-centered gossip, and it can get it's really easy to get addicted to this social media drama, and it's not that I don't care, and I know everybody has a role to play in all of this, but it gets redundant at a time. You know, one time I stopped watching CNN for like two months, and when I watched CNN again, they were talking about the same thing. The world was still whatever it was at that time, the president was still doing what he was doing at that time, and it I think it showed me that unplugging from all of this, you ain't gonna miss nothing. And thank God that I have the means and a partner that I'm doing life with where we actually can just unplug from this and go somewhere every quarter because we're getting ready to take a trip out of the country. And I don't plan on the rest of this week, we leave uh this coming weekend, but the rest of this week, like I'm not I'm not really in too many, too many live streams, too many chats. Like I'm I'm taking a break from all of this just because a lot of this don't even serve me. It's two things in this world that I'm never gonna do, and that's go back and forth with any of you niggas. I don't care what your belief system are, what fan club you belong to, who you trying to put on a pedestal, how you trying to down my favorite rapper or my belief system. Like, I'm not gonna go back and forth with you. There's 8.2 billion people in this world. Somebody thinks like me, and somebody that that is like-minded like me will support me. I don't really need your support, I don't need your approval, I don't need to go back and forth with you, man. Like, have at it. That ain't really something that I indulge in. And I think a lot of people kind of need don't you don't have to be like me. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is if this is all you do day in and day out, every day, it's gonna wear on you. And just imagine what you can do if you put all that energy, time, and effort into yourself and not going back and forth with everybody that don't give a damn about you. Like I said, it gets redundant, and sometimes you just gotta unplug from all the madness and go touch some grass. Too much of anything is bad for you. Anything. I love craft fingers from Papados, ain't had them in years because ain't no Papados out here. But I used to go out all shit every weekend when I was in Houston until I started swelling up. So, you know what I'm saying? I had to uh I kind of just, you know, that's just where I'm at with it. Man, I'm not expecting everybody to think like me, but I just I want everybody to be better humans. I I really believe that, you know, I always say if we if we put value in ourselves and put value on each other, then we can have a value society. I really believe. That and I'ma keep believing that because I believe in us. And I'm mainly talking to my black folks. Like, man, we got enough of that of tearing each other down. Now I like I said, I understand everybody got a role to play. Keep fighting a good fight. But man, please look after yourself, look after your mental. Because if you look up, the world is passing you by, you've been doing the same thing, there's no growth. Like, and next thing you know, it's just it's a whole bunch of regrets. And especially to like black men right now, you know, we got to feel like we gotta wrap our arms around our black women. If you look at what just happened with the young lady in Tanzania, very, very, very sketchy situation. I'm not here to say what she said or her stance on black men or none of that because I don't care because a life was lost, and I feel like more of us need to step up and really kind of do right by the people that are in it, whether it whether it's romantically or just on a friendship level, like it's it's a very sad thing. And when I look at the state of the world, when I look at social media, that's why I don't spend that spend much time on there. Um, I found my tribe, I say what's up, I go about my business, I live real life, and I go outside and smell real air because all of this, man, it could it could become too much. So, you know, from my voice to your ears, I'm taking my own advice, man. Unplug, you ain't missing nothing. Life is bigger than all of this, all of these countries, all of these destinations, all of these ideas and things, man. It's it's a it's a lot to accomplish out here, it's a lot. So, yeah, man. Um just keep that in mind, you know. And I think along with that, somebody out there right now is sitting on a book you want to read, a script you want to write, um, something that God placed on your heart. And one thing I do know,

Leap Of Faith And Personal Rebuild

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if you don't use your gifts, like your gifts will leave you. Potential has a shelf life. My pastor used to say that all the time. He should tell me all the time, potential has a shelf life. And I'm just here to encourage you to take that leap of faith. Because I did it. Um I was listening to Les Brown one time when I was like going through my transition of being um homeless and just trying to find a new outlet in life. And I moved out of my hometown, um, you know, moved moved west, went through some trials and tribulations. Y'all know the story. If you don't know the story, go back to lit and listen to episodes one and one and two. Long story short, basically, um moved out west, was homeless, pursuing a degree, found what I thought was love, moved back across the country to Texas, didn't work out, got a divorce, mom died a week before the wedding, grandparents died within six months after that. Auntie overdosed, all of that. Moved out here to San Diego with no friends and just the will to be better. That's it. And I took that leap of faith, and the seeds that I planted in 2021, I'm just now starting to see them sprout. Finding love again, um, getting a promotion, graduating, you know, from UCLA with a with my master's. And it's just it's just crazy. The journey, like you can get so caught up in the journey that when those flowers start to bloom, you forget it. It's the process that you fall in love with. So I'm I'm telling anybody that comes across this, man, take that leap of faith. Like forget what anybody thinks, forget any doubt. And I'm taking my own advice too. Like, man, do that, do that shit. Write that book, write that film, travel. You know what I'm saying? Take a chance on love again. Do whatever is on your heart because God put it there, He ain't gonna just put something empty on your heart for no reason. Now, of course, use discernment and realize and understand that if you got a sin to get it is not a blessing. I don't want, I don't want to get that wrong. So, you know, man, I needed to hear that from myself because you know, you can get complacent in this world and and just kind of you know, all of this, all of this stuff, all the world is gonna move with or without you. One thing that is constant in this world is time and change, and you can't stop either. Time is always gonna keep ticking with or without you. Change is always inevitable, with or without you. And like I said, the richest place in this world is the graveyard, is where the people die with the things they should have done, the books they should have written, the destinations they should have visited, um, the ideas that they never put to action, the truth that they never spoke to power. Don't do that, you know. Um, I say it, I say it all the time. Our lives are just mere movies, and we basically auditioning for the eternal role. Sometimes you gotta stop and ask yourself, does God like the movie I'm making? If not, you're the main actor, you're the main actress, you the director, you're the producer, you're the writer, you're the creative director. It's up to you to change it. And um, yeah, that's uh that's pretty much my two cents on that. I just felt like I needed to share that message to the world because everybody's in disarray. I feel like we're all going through a revolving door. Stop, take a breather, go outside, look at the sky, man, like touch real air. All of this internet stuff don't mean much. I promise you it don't live your life for people that you'll never meet. It don't give a damn about you. So, yeah, that's this week's episode. It's short. Like I said, I'm fasting, um, just taking a break, unplugging from things, coming back with some new ideas. The video is coming, and um, you know, wedding planning, definitely about to dive into that. And I think one of the most humbling things is picking out groomsmen. This time around, I'm picking out people that I think are gonna, well, I know that have shown up for me, and

Wedding Planning And Real Friendship

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they're gonna be there for the marriage and not just the wedding. Because you know, the wedding ain't nothing but 45 minutes, but I think the true character of friendship, it'll show you like who's like really, really, really gonna be there for you through trials, through tribulations, who's not gonna disappear on you, who is gonna be a good friend, and you know, just kind of be accountable. So, yeah, man. Um, that's it for this week. And man, I just want everybody to go out, be great, take, take time to unplug. And y'all know my slogan. Every week I say put value in yourself, put value in each other, and we might fuck around and have a value society. Peace.