BET on Black

Maybe we should stop pretending the “glory” is worth the cost. I open with grief and a hard look at how systems can treat Black men like assets, then I pivot to something we can actually protect and pass down: Black music, Black story, and Black joy.

We celebrate Frankie Beverly and Maze because their work is more than a soundtrack, it’s a memory bank. I walk through the real history of Black Music Month, founded in 1979 to preserve, protect, and perpetuate Black music and ensure we benefit from what we create. From there, I get honest about the creator crossroads a lot of us feel right now: staying underground versus chasing reach, being heard instead of being constantly seen, and refusing to let salacious content train our attention.

Then we go deeper into the media pipeline. I break down how BET once functioned like a town square for Black discourse and how corporate shifts changed the programming, the priorities, and the perception. We talk ownership, the long shadow of algorithm driven junk food, and why supporting independent Black journalists, podcasts, and platforms is not charity, it’s strategy. If you care about Black culture, Black Music Month, and media literacy, this is a conversation to sit with.

Subscribe for more, share this with one person who cares about the culture, and leave a review with the song that always brings you back to your happy feelings.

Transcript

Grief, Sports, And Being Treated

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Maybe we should stop pretending that the glory of the game is worth the cost of a man. I want to take a moment and send my deepest condolences to the family and the loved ones of all this men. Another young brother gone too soon. It's a tragic story we've seen many times in the past few years. The way that these men are treated like assets in a paycheck into the game. And the support system that's supposed to support them just vanishes. I know that word intimately. I know what it's like to be recruited, to be measured, and to be treated like a commodity. And all that process that feels more like an auction rather than an opportunity. It's a blues that don't get enough airtime because it's wrapped in a billion-dollar uniform. So rest in peace, my brother Alden. We appreciate the sacrifices you made, even when the institution that was supposed to support you didn't give a damn to do so. Today we're keeping it real about the games they play on the field and in the industry and the legacy we're trying to build off of it. Let's start the show. Another episode of the Heavy on a RB podcast. I am your host, your creator, your proprietor, all things RB K Way. Today's gonna be a doozy. But in a good way,

Frankie Beverly And A Living Legacy

SPEAKER_03 1:52

man. Y'all hear the sweet sounds of Frankie Beverly and Maze in the background. I'm playing Happy Feelings today to honor him, um, his band and Black Music Month. Um Frankie Beverly passed away. He transitioned, I hate saying that word, in September of 2024. He and his band, Maze, they were the ultimate architects of our soundtrack, man. Um, when you think of just togetherness and family and unity, man, I think why no other better way to honor him during this black music month where you know we get to honor our black music, which it should be every day. But yeah, man, a lot of people don't know. Um, they really wasn't interested in being a household name like today. That would be like somebody chasing the algorithm. So, you know, they wanted music that lasted generations, and I think they set what they set out to do, they did a damn good job, man. Hailing from the city of brotherly, brotherly love, Philadelphia, PA. A lot of people don't know they was discovered by Marvin Gay. That is a fun fact, man. Um, and we just gonna continue to keep them alive and honor their legacy and try to keep going, man. So, yeah, shout out to Frankie Beverly, rest in peace, and I think Maze is still too. Shout out to y'all, man. Yeah, all right, man. So today we are going to be getting into a lot. It is Black Music Month, and I don't see a lot of people um talking about it. I see a lot of motherfuckers talking about black drama, but not black music. So have no fear. Um, yeah, RB man Kway is here. So, yeah, here we go, man. Um, Black Music Money, it originally um was coined in 1979. So uh Kenny Gamble, who was uh an executive at Philadelphia International Records,

The Origins Of Black Music Month

SPEAKER_03 3:46

uh Ed Wright was a radio executive. Um, they co-founded it in 1979 with the uh the BMA, uh, which used to be the Black Music Association, and they just wanted to preserve, protect, and um uh perpetuate black music. You know, they wanted to make sure we was trying to get you know money off of it. This is way back. I think my brother was two years old. I wouldn't even thought of I wouldn't even hair on my daddy's sack, but you know, here we are. So on the 7th of June 1979, um President Carter, he had like one of the first, one of the first like black um performances on the line. And um Chuck Berry actually performed, you know, the person they stole rock and roll from, but we'll get into that another day. And then uh Diana Williams, uh, she she helped getting you know get the bill passed on the house. Uh Resolution 509 was the bill, go look that up. So shout out to uh Diana Williams, Kenny Gamble, Ed Wright, the architects of Black Music Month. And um, yeah, they're still pivotal to this day. I think Kenny is still active. Um, he continues to be uh underground titan in the industry. And Diana Williams, she she still I've I've seen her in interviews, I've read articles. Um, she remains a pivotal voice of music. And um Ed Wright, I think, passed away. Yeah, he passed away a year right before Frankie Beverly and Maze. Riddle me that, man. So, but I think they left it in good hands of people like me and people like mine, and where we could continue to try to honor the the music that paved the way and keeps us going. Because a lot of times, you know, it's like Kendrick Lamar says, even when I couldn't find find God, I could find myself to a song. I'm not gonna go that far because I got very strong faith. But I get what he was saying, I get the uh the sentiments of what you know what he was saying. So yeah, man, it's it's black music month, and we're gonna continue to to honor those before us and continue to try to pave away um even after us. Tomorrow I'll be doing a day break with K-Way where I'll be playing the music that inspired this week's episode. So yeah, man. But I don't know, man. I'm feeling I've been feeling stuck lately. Like I haven't been in the mood to create or even speak. Like I did a DJ set

Staying Underground In A Loud Internet

SPEAKER_03 6:12

yesterday, it was dope. I didn't get on the mic, I just played the music because I just wanted to feel something. And I'm I don't know. I'm in this uh I'm in this crossroads where do I want to be you know a big creator, grow my channel, and try to like impact the masses, or do I want to stay underground? Because I really I don't really like you know what I see when I see some of my people get doxed, they go, they get attacked. Um, you know, some of the bigger creators, and and it's all coming from like, you know, right wing and uh fan bases of your favorite, like skinned Canadian rapper, um, and people like-minded like that, you know, like the the red pill and all that. I don't I don't really know if I want to subscribe to like really opening up my opening up myself and really my life. I mean, I I'm I'm the type I like to be seen, I like to be heard rather than seen. That's why this is audio only. I don't really care to be on camera. I think eventually I will because I mean as you can see, I got I mean, I got all the equipment even when with cruising with K-Way. I got cameras and I got two drones, so very capable of doing that. Um, but to me it's bigger than that. I'd rather I'd rather be uh heard than than uh seen. So I don't know, it's it's just something I'm thinking about because it's like why does the salacious content like public beef and rumors and diddy and drake etc. like they they thrive but the content about you know like I put up a YouTube short about men really mastering themselves, and if you could any man that could control his sexual desires and his diet, like his appetite, can can accomplish anything. But you post a YouTube short like that and it was like at six views, but you know, the salacious content um rants that sometimes I go on, you know, thousands of views, so it gets discouraged, and uh, and it's like, is it worth it? You know, that's the question. So I don't know. I'm I'm figuring it out in real time. I do I try to do what I can do when I can do it, in the words of Chris Tucker from Money Talks. That's a uh an old old movie y'all gotta go check out. But yeah, man, um I know a lot of people ask why, and it's somebody asked um in the chat uh yesterday uh two days ago in the live why I'm not on camera. And then um I think uh my so I met my godson for the first time this weekend, and his mom mentioned it to my fiance, like, you know, gotta get on camera. I don't know. I don't think I don't know if that's my ministry. So, you know, we'll figure it out. But hey man, whoever supports it, supports it, whoever don't, don't. It's just for me, I'd rather be seen, I'd rather be heard than seen. And you know, I think video portions and all of that, it might come with a lot. But the more y'all nudge and push and encourage me, y'all probably end up doing it. Peer pressure's a bitch. But at the same time, I ain't gonna never change like my integrity and stuff. If I change who I am to chase a click, then I lose everything my mother prayed for, my mother and father prayed for, and everything they raise me to be. And I think one of the worst things you can do in this world is disappoint your parents, let alone yourself. So I think for me, the audience that I'm trying to build, it ain't a crowd, it's a community. You know, it's each one teach one. Everybody do a little, nobody has to do a lot. The team of we, whether than I, like that's that's what I'm trying to build. So, you know, meeting my gun, meet meeting my godson for the first time and um you know, interacting with him, you know, he's still very shy. But I I can tell he's gifted and he's gonna he's gonna be a bright brother, and I'm honored to be a part of his life. But at the same time, I struggle with damn, every everything my parents raise me to be is the antithesis of what's going on today. Like, I'm not a person that posts a lot on social media, I don't be in everybody's business, I'm kind of recluse. I'm you know, I'm I'm out the way unless you hear my voice on this pod or when I'm spinning, and that's for a cause. So I gotta find different ways to connect with these kids, you know, because if you don't know, I'm a former teacher and educator. Uh, I've taught kindergarten, third grade, 10, 11, 12th grade. Um, I taught abroad in China. So I understand the dynamics of children and and how it changes and how you got to keep developing. But at the same time, you how do you balance that with your moral compass and trying to pour into kids that are raised, you know, by parents of a generation? Babies are having babies now. The the the kid can be 12, and the mother can be 24, and the grandmother can be 38, and a great-grandmother is like 52. So it's like this is this is the dynamic that we're dealing with right now. So um, I don't know, man. I'm uh I'm uh I'm gonna think about it. I'm gonna keep it going. Um I'm I'm still gonna shy away from the salaciousness, and I think the market is so saturated right now. I I to me, to this day, and I'm not throwing shots at nobody, I just I'll never understand the dynamic of a reactor reacting to a reactor's reaction. I don't like it don't make no sense to me. Like you watching other niggas watch other niggas watch other niggas, like it's just I don't know, man. But you know, maybe I'm old school, but I think I have a responsibility to pour into my godson's life and also continue to grow as a man so I can be the best husband, you know, that that I could be. Because damn that wedding is I know I say this every week, but it's coming up quick. And when I realize, when I look back at the the journey it took for me to get here again, man, it was seamless. And I'm appreciative of it. And I'm I think every day I wake up just the first thing I do is I pray, and I'm just asking God, like, how can I not squander this blessing? Because the problem with K-Way is he's gotten in his own way a lot. A lot of times I got in my own way, and I've got out of my own way and maneuvered and finessed some situations too. But um, man, I'm just I'm I'm working, and I think as long as we all, whether you're crawling, you walking, you running, as long as you're going forward, we'll be all right. But anyway, I say it out, say all that to say video will come soon in due time, but for now, this is where I'm at, this where I'm comfortable. I'm still trying to build my community, and I'm learning not to engage with everybody, you know, because even even as a small channel that I am, I see I've seen some comments, but I just block them because it's like I'm not gonna engage with you. For one, my temperament ain't set up like that. Like, I'm not the type where you're just gonna be talking crazy to um, I'm the type like I'll find your IP address and pull up on you and beat your ass and pray for you and then take you out for a burger. Like that's that's all encompassing K-Way, that's my personality. Like, that's just how I operate, you know what I'm saying? So, but I think the thing that keeps me out of these situations, I don't even put myself, I I treat engaging with online communities and online people like a relationship, um, a committed relationship, whether I'm with uh uh my fiance or I was seriously dating in prior situations. Like, don't as a man, the best thing you can do to avoid you know your woman questioning you and your intentions is don't even put yourself in that situation. If somebody sends you a DM, delete it. Don't even fucking read it, don't don't even engage with it. You know, don't go to the bar with a single people gonna be at, and you know that your flesh is still weak. Don't even engage. So with me in the online community, I just hurry up and block them because I'm like, I ain't built like that, man. Like you, I done been through way too much. Like, I don't it plus it ain't nothing you can say to me that ain't been said already by a family member or you know, people in my in my in my hood growing up in the in the city. Like, so I got I got thick skin, but for the safety of others, I don't even want to go back and forth with you because it ain't gonna be what you think. And I'm not like a tough guy or a badass. I'm very like I'm chill, but I'm real well-rounded. But if it needs to go there, as a kid says, if it's up and it's stuck, that's my personality. Ain't no great with me. It's either gonna be black or white. I'm either with it or I'm not. And if I'm with it, everybody's having a bad day that day. I and my fiance said this. So her friends came into town, um, and we all went out, and um, you know, God's son was there, he's he's knocked out the whole time. And we were just, you know, introducing ourselves and and going through our traits and stuff, and she was like, Yeah, if he's mad, everybody's mad, everybody's gonna know it. And I was like, you know what, you're right. That's that is exactly everybody gonna because I think for me, like if you get me there, if you if you if you push me to the point where I want to put hands and feet on you, you've done something incredibly egregious to me because that's not who I am at my core. But I think there's always like my mom growing up, um, growing up, she would call me Hawk or Bruce Banner, because it was either one or the other. I could like flip like that, or I'm just like really chill, I'm helpful, I'm thought, I'm thoughtful, I'm very selfless. So um, but yeah, that's that's that's kind of my personality trait, man. If you if you push me, if you get me there, it's a bad day for everybody. I promise you, it's a very bad day. And I'm not I'm not the type where I'm gonna move off the motion. Like I'm just I might I might sit on something for a year, two years, six months, I don't know, and just come up with a master plan to really mess your life up. So, to all the bots and trolls out there, you know, getting at people in the in the in the community, the larger people, like chilling with Moni. Um, I don't I've never met her, but uh she she would be like a virtual sister of mine. Miss Hummus would be a virtual sister, Justin Hunt is a virtual brother. Stack quote, you know, and everybody part of the 30 verse community, glasses Malone, like these people, we've never met, but they mean something to me because I could tell they appreciate culture. And the things that I see them put up with, it's like, man, I ain't got the temperament, man. Because y'all, these people, and it'd be different if if it was warranted, you know what I'm saying? But these are good sisters, these are good brothers that do not deserve any of this BS that's coming their way. And I just I pray for them, I pray for their sanity and they and just like their comfort because you could catch somebody on the wrong day, and it it'll be bad. And and that's me. Don't catch me on the wrong day. So, but yeah, man, a lot of my milestones um have been achieved today. Last year, is the day I graduated um with my master's uh and my uh cybersecurity cert from

Milestones, Work, And Keeping Integrity

SPEAKER_03 17:35

UCLA. So um, kudos to me, man. One year later, still gangfully employed, thriving at my job. Um, yes, I do have a rec regular corporate America job um that that funds my lifestyle and allows me to buy equipment and get on here and shoot the shit with y'all, but that's another milestone. So a lot of good things are happening, and um, yeah, I'm I'm gonna continue to try to create, man. Y'all really talking me into this video thing, but yeah, so anyways, moving right along. Um I really want to get into so you know, we talked about Black Music Month and where where it was founded, um, when it was founded, who it was founded by, and I don't see

Black Drama Gets Clicks Over Music

SPEAKER_03 18:23

a lot of people talking about it. I'm I'm a little disappointed in some of the larger channels that are dead up at least a segment, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't have a large channel, but uh, you know, I've done the DJ set, I'm speaking on it now. Um, I'm doing posts. I'm I'm trying to do what I can to preserve um and also push forward black music. So I haven't seen that a lot with a lot of uh a lot of of the uh larger channels. What I'm seeing though is the black jobs versus black music. So I don't know. I'm I'm really annoyed by some of these channels, and you and these are the people that ain't even a part of the culture, these are the people that we hate, and I ain't even gonna get them no shine or try to you know call them out publicly because it's for what they don't care, they they they don't have a moral compass like to say they live, so but a lot of these people are just looking at black culture, black music as a job, you know what I'm saying, rather than sacred art. And I think you also see that reflective in a lot of the political landscapes that we see. Trump basically just had a manigo contest, and one of the white people, one of the white um UFC fighters called Michelle Obama a man. It's like, man, why every time y'all get together, y'all gotta call, you know, say something about the Obamas or bring them up? And all y'all doing is reminding us of how good we once had it. And I don't subscribe to the people that say Obama ain't do nothing for black people. I mean, because my mama's insulin was low as it's ever been when she was alive. Um, thanks to uh, you know, Obama care and Obama bill. My kids at school, they had uh healthy school lunches thanks to Michelle Obama's um initiative. I mean, a lot of kids had free and reduced lunch, and and it actually got even cheaper under them. Um, black home ownership went up the most um while Obama was in office, and it just wasn't as stressful. So I don't really subscribe to that, but you'll never know that because of the black jobs versus black music, um, conversations that people just don't want to have. Like, we just so focused on black drama. Let's get to the music. Vince Staples came out with an incredible album, is eye-opening. It um it is it is an album that I feel should be the most important. It's up there with the Mr.

Vince Staples And Media Junk Food

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Morales and the Tappa butterflies and the Miss Educations of Lauren Hill. Um, hell, even chance to rap a coloring book from a quote unquote independent perspective, you know. We'll talk about that another day. But it he took a risk and he swung, and that nigga hit a grand slam, in my opinion. It's an incredible album, it's more of the um rap, pump rap, pump rock. I guess you could you could classify it, but I appreciate it, and I feel like a lot of people aren't talking about it, and it's it's unfortunate, and it sucks that we're being fed junk food, you know, for our own brains rather than eating something, something of substance. But that's the world. You don't go to McDonald's to get a salad, I guess. You know, um, the lettuce might be red or brown or spoiled, whatever, but I don't know. And as I was going down that rabbit hole, I started to think about how our own music was pushed out of our own home for salacious programming. Um, basically, effectively turning the one network we had, BET, into a singular pipeline rather than a platform of diverse black ideas, and the the erosion of BET is. Egregious, it's erroneous, all of the E-words, like it's it's crazy, and I and I and I got receipts because I think you could break

How BET Lost The Town Square

SPEAKER_03 22:10

this down in a few parts. The first part is we lost a village, like we lost a town square. BET began in 1980, and by 85, we had hella diversity. It was like news, comedy. How many of y'all remember Comic View? We even had a BET sports section. A lot of people don't remember that. The BET sports. And created a hub for just black like discourse. So my gripe, you know what? Before I even start going in, man, let's let's let's let's cue the music because I feel like Moesha is going to be the soundtrack of my entire pod in my life. So as I was saying, we lost a village. We essentially lost the town square. BET began in 1980, and and by 85, we had, like I said, hella diversity. We had news, we had comedy, comic view, we had um BET sports. Um it was just it was a hub for black discourse. So my gripe, Kway's gripes, as we move forward, like we moved from a network that hosted lead story. How many of y'all remember that? Lead Story, Ed Gordon, and Team Summit, and and we changed that of of um, we changed those programs that facilitated intellectual growth and gave us substance to uh reality show Tyler Perry Network. Goes back to the junk food. I just wish I think the solution would be to reclaim our own village, our own town scare uh town square. Like we got to intentionally support and share independent black uh journalists, podcasts, digital platforms that prioritize intellectual growth and and like mindful consumption of media. Because it's a lot of junk food out here. You can get a burger on every corner, you know what I'm saying? But you you you can't get a beignet on every corner, you can't get a good cup of gumbo or some smoke ribs that's gonna fall off the bone. Like, you gotta be real intentional. I remember the golden era, and it's like it was a timeline of losses now that I think about it. God, it's so sad. You know, in 2002, um, BET was a part of a massive corporate reorganization. And and I've gone through those. Hell, we just went through and went through one at my job, and after that, Viacom acquired it. Viacom was home of like MTV and you know, MTV2 and all of that. So BET had to cut a lot of their staff, and they canceled just iconic shows like the lead story and um Teen Summit, um, that was hosted by uh let's see what Teen Summit that was uh Amanda Lewis, I believe she just passed to. I'm sorry if I'm getting her name wrong, man. Rest in peace to her. But I I remember her being on uh MTV, and then there was another, I feel like she was on Teen Summit first. I could be wrong, but I do remember Lee's story, and I remember Tavis Smiley and Ed Gordon um leading away on that, and that got cut in 2002. I remember Rap City, Rap City. People don't know, is the longest running hip-hop show in history. Shout out to um Ed Lover and Dr. Drake for opening the doors with Yo MTV Raps, but Rap City still remains the longest running hip-hop show in history, it lasted until 2008, from uh Big Tigger to uh well actually Joe Claire, who is a DC um newscaster and comedian, and still doing his thing, and then Big Tigger took it over. And then after Tigger, I don't know what the fuck happened, I couldn't even tell you. Like it just it's like they just stopped caring. But then again, that's a reflection of the of the hip hop. If you you look about 2008, 2010, hip-hop started to fall off. Like that real parody and substance, it started it started to fall off, and that reflected with BET because it fully shifted. So I don't know, man. We can't just mourn these shows, like we gotta replicate the function, the function of these shows, the functionality. We just gotta seek independent journalists and creators who are doing the same thing. Like, where's today's lead story? And you know, I know Roland Martin got his thing, um, but I don't know if it connects with the uh 18 to 36, 35 demographic. Um, or maybe people just gotta do a better job of like, like I said, being intentional and sorting these things out. So you gotta you gotta do that. I mean, there's there's there's Substack, there's YouTube, there's plenty of places to go get fed. And then I think the next thing that happened was af after that shift, it was the Tyler Perry network. I mean, Robert Johnson sold BET to Viacom in 2001 for three billion dollars. Damn. I can't say I blame him, but damn, man, you really left us with Tyler. Oh my god. Um basically it became Tyler Perry Productions. I mean, we got we got uh Sisters, the Oval. I just dropped my phone because I was mad. Karen was pregnant on Sisters for two years. Like she was a fucking elephant. The oval is the worst rendition of scandal I've ever seen in my life. It's like the network transferred from a diverse black-owned platform to white monolithic like white monolithic voices through white eyes or some shit. Like they just wanted to prioritize junk and what they thought about us, and it really translates to a lot of race relations or culture relations. The way some Africans view African Americans is mainly because the shit that they sing on TV, and this is what they were showing. You gotta you gotta support creators, man, who are building their own pipelines outside of these corporate shows, and you gotta want a diverse range of storytelling. Like the shift has to be from salaciousness to substance. And I know I'm preaching to the choir to some of y'all. If if this if you listen and you ain't you know close us out by now, but that's just what it is. Like, I mean, by 2002, the the the network's management management totally shifted, the focus was different, it was exclusively rap videos, and it wasn't no shows, it was just um it was just videos, it wasn't a balanced diet of information. Like, it's almost like they just said, Oh well, like we just gonna we're gonna move in like the Mayflower ship overnight and change all of this shit, and and y'all just gonna have to deal with it. So it sucks. Um, a lot of people don't know that BET is currently owned by Paramount Sky Dance Corporation. If you're paying attention in the news, and Trump got a whole he got his footprint on the entire media landscape and in media space. Um, so Paramount Sky Dance Corporation, if like it was there was an 8.4 billion dollar merger in 2025 last year of August. It's so Bet essentially, and you can fact fact check this, it's no longer black-owned. We lost the black-owned spirit, and basically they knew the the organic music. We don't have no investigative journalism, we don't have no cultural thoughts, it's just the Tyler Perry network, and Madea, Madea going to hell, Madea's getting the colonoscopy, like all the you know, the bullshit. I don't know, man. It is what it is. We got ownership, we need ownership. We got to find a way to protect our legacy, invest in black-owned platforms, even if it ain't viral yet. The Justin Hunts, the Chiller with Monies, the Miss Hummus, the Glasses Malone. These are the platforms that y'all need to go out and support in droves and don't listen to nobody else. You know what I'm saying? And and feel free to chime in to other other because I don't I don't know everybody else. These are these are the people that I listen to because that's my bandwidth. I can't subscribe to everybody's channel or be in everybody's comments. So um I'm a creature of habit, and these are the brothers and the sisters that I know um and that um you know I support regularly. And there's plenty,

Rebuilding Black Owned Platforms

SPEAKER_03 30:40

there's other smaller channels. Uh forgive me if if I'm leaving uh anybody out, but you know, that's just what it is, man. We gotta really be intentional about taking this thing back, and it's it's black music month. And what what no, like what better chance do we have to do this during this month? We should be intentional. Juneteenth is Friday, it's black music month. If everybody does a little, nobody has to do a lot. We should all just band together, go support these channels, have meaningful dialogue, and hold each other accountable. Man, I always gotta take a deep breath after K-Way's gripes because it really be a lot, man. It really be a lot to try to like ingest all of this and then digest it to y'all without offending anybody. Um, as the construction's going crazy in the background, this shit crazy, man. I I'm I hope I don't have to re-record this after I play back. Um, but yeah. So um in closing, man, I want to just go back to um the beginning of the episode. And it's like, I

Protect Your Peace And Happy Feelings

SPEAKER_03 31:55

know, like, look, I know today was deep. You know, we went deep today. Pause. We talked about the architects of black music, the exploitation of our athletes, and and how we lost the village when our own media platforms choose profit over the pulse of the people. I mean, we even see that with the Essence Fest. It's heavy, I get it. It's frustrating, I get it. But if we don't do this work or or just vent about it, like what would what do what do we have left? We do it to remember who we are and protect what we've built. You get it? We're like we're not out here just trying to build any like a fast food restaurant. We need things of substance, whether it's a career, a marriage, or just your own character. It's easy to get buried under the weight of salaciousness. It's easy to let the noise make you feel like your integrity doesn't matter. But that's exactly why we started this. That's exactly why we started this month. Black music month. It's not just a celebration, but for the preservation of sound and story and black music and black history. Like, that's why we started this. That's why we do this. I opened up this episode with Maze and Frankie Beverly for a reason. Because like Happy Feelings isn't just a classic because the baseline hits right. It's a classic because it reminds you of the dignity, the joy, the sitting at the table with your family, the reunions in the backyard while the mosquitoes are tearing your leg up. Like, even in the face of new regimes and and changing presidencies and things, like even when institutions we love turn their back on us and show us they don't love us back, that soulful, authentic vibration, man, that's ours. Like, because at the end of the day, the joy, that real, unscripted, beautiful joy, is the ultimate act of rebellion. So it's like, I'm asking everybody, man, protect your peace, don't let the algorithm determine your mood, don't let the content machine dictate what you value. It's like Earth, Wind, and Fire the Element says, man, keep your head to the sky, keep your moral compass sharp. Make sure that no matter what, no matter how much noise is out there, you always find your way back to your own happy feelings. It's been another edition of the Heavy on the RB podcast with K-Way. You know what I say, man. Please put value in yourself, put value in each other, and we'll have a value society. Peace.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Indeed, happy feeling, feeling happy feeling.