Roots and Rhythm Podcast

I Love the 90's | Living in a Different World | Episode 8

• Vladimir Louissaint and Angie Thomas • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Bright colors, cassette tapes, TV jingles, and that unforgettable dial-up tone—Angie and Vlad are taking it all the way back! In this throwback episode, we talk about what it was really like growing up in the 1990s. From Saturday morning cartoons to the early days of AIM and AOL, we explore how the era shaped our childhood and how much has changed since.

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🌱 Roots and Rhythm — Where we explore the rhythms of life, one beat at a time.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Root& Rhythm podcast, where we explore the essence of culture, our experiences, and a healing journey that shapes our growth and family. Through heartfelt stories about marriage, mental health, relationships, and parenting, we create a space where you can find connection, understanding, and inspiration. Join us as we explore the rhythms of life, one story at a time.

SPEAKER_04:

What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Roots& Rhythm podcast, where we explore the rhythms of life one story at a time. It's your boy, Vlad the Bull, your number one embrace coach, and I'm joined by the lovely...

SPEAKER_02:

Angie LaCybermami.

SPEAKER_04:

LaCybermami's in the building. I like this little thing you do right there with the hand for those of us who can't see. I like that. That's cool. So you got your signature down. It's dope. Angie is rocking the latest of vintage wear. She is rocking a fanny pack around not her fanny.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yes. A little fanny pack, some little glasses here. Because what are we talking about today, Vlad?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, this is going to be a fun one. This is a fun one. Listen, so we have a lot of... heavy episodes, right, where we talk about some heavy topics and we're trying to build our communities and give them some great information, we realize, like, yo, we don't even talk about anything fun, bro. Right. We always talking about, you know, growing up and raising these kids and doing this and doing that and work-life balance.

SPEAKER_02:

But what about us, Vlad? When we grew up? When we grew up?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like, when we grew up, it was, growing up was fun, man. So that's why we chilling right now. We in the Roots& Rhythm community War Room right

SPEAKER_02:

now. Yes, 90s edition.

SPEAKER_04:

90s edition. I think you and I actually will match. Your fanny pack matches my hat. Yes. I don't think my hat's a throwback. I'm wearing a Boston Celtics

SPEAKER_02:

hoodie. And it's funny because we just decided to do this episode. That's why we threw this together.

SPEAKER_04:

We threw it

SPEAKER_02:

together. Last minute.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah,

SPEAKER_02:

yeah. But it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_04:

Rocking the Super Mario shirt. I got to say, growing up in the 90s, maybe I'm just biased, but growing up in the 90s was just... You had to be there. It was just such a great time.

SPEAKER_02:

Carefree.

SPEAKER_04:

Carefree. And I don't think anything was better. I don't think anything was better. So I just can't wait to get Get down and dive deep. For those of us who are listening in from the Gen Z, all my Gen Zers, say what's up. We're going to acknowledge you right now. What's going on? We're going to acknowledge the Gen Zers, man. What's up? What's up?

SPEAKER_02:

But they weren't there, so they don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

No, they don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

They don't know. But you know something? I do know, Vlad.

SPEAKER_04:

What's up?

SPEAKER_02:

People need to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Right

SPEAKER_04:

there. Make sure you subscribe. For those of us listening to the audio podcast, make sure you like, follow, and make sure you share this among your circle. We know your coworkers love this program. Yep. So we need more coworkers across more places to have this program.

SPEAKER_02:

Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend.

SPEAKER_04:

Tell a friend to tell a friend to put your... money where your mouth is and support black-owned businesses, support businesses of color. But we also just, yo, just support us, dog.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we cool. We're nice. We're hip.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, man. So, all right, I got to ask you first. Since my shirt is a Super Mario shirt, Super Mario Brothers, the classic version, did you guys play video games

SPEAKER_02:

in your family? Oh, my gosh. We did. So we had a Super Nintendo. We had a PlayStation 1.

SPEAKER_04:

Boy, you got to tell them the order of it. You got to tell them the order.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, those are the ones that we had.

SPEAKER_04:

No, but when did you get the SNES? Was that your first one?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the Super Nintendo was our first one. Okay. Yeah, and there's six of us and two controllers, so imagine the fights. It was like we had to take turns. And then we had a PS1. That's the second thing I remember. And I think we got a PS2. And I think that's all we had. And then an Xbox. And I think that's growing up together. Those are the ones that we had. But yeah, we always used to play Mario. Oh, we had an N64.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, come on.

SPEAKER_02:

Because we used to play Mario Party was our favorite. Yeah. Because that you could play for up to four people. So it kind of worked out because my younger siblings were too young to play with the four oldest. So it was like the four of us together playing. So it was always fun. So, yeah. And 64 really changed it because then you could have more people playing.

SPEAKER_04:

I remember what it was like to have. So where I grew up in Cambridge is a blockbuster central square at the center of that neighborhood. And I remember walking into blockbuster one night with my dad, I think. And. You know how they used to have the video games? And they still have this. There's stores like at Walmart where you can play the video game, demo, whatever. They had Pokemon Stadium on the N64. And I didn't have one. I was just window shopping. But I remember playing and thinking, like, at the time, the graphics were insane.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. The best graphics.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Now you look back at them. We tried to play N64.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. And we're

SPEAKER_04:

like, damn.

SPEAKER_02:

That 2D. That 2D. It

SPEAKER_04:

was 3D. Well, the N64 was 3D. That's

SPEAKER_02:

what I bought it. Okay.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So like Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, we played. Shoot. But I got the N64 way out of sequence. That's what happens when it's bootleg, okay? So we had the first Nintendo, the NES, Nintendo Entertainment System. That's, for those of y'all who don't know, that's a big gray box. It looks like a big tissue box with buttons. That's the one that made us, I think it gave us lung capacity that we don't understand.

SPEAKER_02:

We had to blow on the cartridge. We

SPEAKER_04:

had to blow on the cartridge, man. Yo, you would expend a whole... Usain Boat's load of oxygen on that thing. Had that NAS. Then we had the Sega Genesis. I don't know if you guys knew about that.

SPEAKER_02:

We knew about it, but we didn't have one. Yeah, we had the Sega

SPEAKER_04:

Genesis. There were so many Sega... things like the Sega Saturn.

SPEAKER_02:

We have one at my house now.

SPEAKER_04:

You have a Sega Genesis.

SPEAKER_02:

We do. We have a Sega Genesis, but we didn't have one growing up. Where are the

SPEAKER_04:

controllers at? I haven't seen no controllers when we went over

SPEAKER_02:

your house. Ask Wallace. I don't know. Those are Wallace's things. And it's funny, Vlad, because we got the 64. We got the Sega and something else that we have from one of our friends in college that was moving away. And his wife was like, you're not taking it. And all the games. I know. I know. So I was like, well, we will take them because my boo loves it. I know. Damn. Sad. And it's funny because that cup wasn't even together no more. Probably because she gave away all his stuff.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, they're not together

SPEAKER_02:

no more?

SPEAKER_04:

Nah. See, listen. Okay. This is a great opportunity. Ladies, if you are loving a man for who he is, let him keep his video

SPEAKER_02:

games. Let him keep his video games. Come on. Listen, it's

SPEAKER_04:

not okay if your man is on the couch playing 2K while your kids are starving and need diapers and stuff. But if the man

SPEAKER_02:

is happy. If that's how he decompresses. But you know what? Your dysfunction is my gain because now Wallace has all his stuff. Right. And it's nice.

SPEAKER_04:

So shout out to whoever that was.

SPEAKER_02:

I won't name names, but I'm glad you're doing well now.

SPEAKER_04:

We're just going to call you you. You made him get rid of his video games. How? We'll never forgive you. No. But I wish y'all would have broke up twice because I wanted a second answer too. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02:

But it was so fun growing up playing again with my siblings. Again, the fights at that moment were not fun. But looking back, it's like, wow. You really did used to turn off my game in the middle of the game, which is so funny. Again, looking back, it's hilarious. But in the moment, it's like fighting. You remember

SPEAKER_04:

how you couldn't save your game unless it was in the cartridge? There's no memory cards. So if you could imagine a world, right, where there were no memory cards. Nowadays, video game systems like my PS5, you can save the game where it was. You turn the game off, you put it on in idle mode or whatever it is, and you turn it back on, you just start back where you were. There was none of that. None of that. My mom used to do. is when we were... She'd be like, okay, dinner's ready. And like I told you, we used to have to eat or get beat, okay? It was just like that. And... It was my little tube TV that was in the dining room in that apartment. And then there was a big china cabinet, right, Angie? And there was a long extension cord. And that extension cord went all the way back behind the china cabinet and plugged into the wall in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my goodness. So

SPEAKER_04:

my mom would be like, yo, it's time to eat. I'm like, yeah, hold on just a minute. I'm trying to beat this level.

SPEAKER_02:

Pull it out.

SPEAKER_04:

Pull it out. And my heart would break. There was one time I was about to beat the game and I was like trying to focus.

SPEAKER_02:

Your mama don't care about that.

SPEAKER_04:

She don't care. I'm like, she's like, those are privileged tears. Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

facts, facts. And it's funny. I remember also growing up and it's like how you think about something and it takes you back. So I remember watching Full House, being young, watching Full House, having a picnic in the living room because I feel like my mom used to do a lot of picnics for us. So she'd have a blanket and we'd eat in the living room watching TV. And it's like anytime I hear like the Full House song or I see it on Instagram or something, it reminds me of like eating pork chops. Like the taste. It's so funny. That is so sweet. Like those memories that come back. It's like I just specifically remember like the smell, the taste, pork chop rice and beans, Full House. It just comes back to me. But yeah, we used to love Full House.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what? Speaking of the 90s, go ahead and reach over to that can right there. The one that you hate so bad.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, not me. Glendy hates

SPEAKER_04:

it. Oh, Glendy

SPEAKER_02:

hates it. Because Glendy's a Coke girl, not a Pepsi girl.

SPEAKER_04:

Shout out to Glendy. Glendy, you know you well. We love you, girl.

SPEAKER_02:

But yeah, it's a Michael Jackson

SPEAKER_04:

Pepsi. This is... So, for those of you who don't know, my wife and I are huge, huge, huge Michael Jackson fans. I thought I was a big Michael Jackson fan

SPEAKER_02:

until I... There's a big thing of Michael Jackson over here.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep, and there's actually... There's one...

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, back here, too. Right

SPEAKER_04:

there. We're going to end up MJ. Right? You got Michael Jackson over there. Bad. All that. So, we love Michael Jackson. This... is a Pepsi can. I think this was bad era Michael Jackson. If we could zoom in on that. That is bad era Michael Jackson right there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, there you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, MJ.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, MJ. Do your thing, baby. And either way. So, yeah. No, man. It was such a great time. It was so magical. But let me tell you what I really loved about the 90s. Okay? There were the video games. There were the shows. There was the music. But what I really loved was the culture. Yes. I feel like the 90s, the sweet spot was like... mid to late 90s and then early 2000s. I feel like as soon as 2007 hit or maybe 2008 hit, it was over for me.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, 2008 is late.

SPEAKER_04:

It is. But I mean, in that case,

SPEAKER_02:

early 2000s, like 2000 all the way to like 2100.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I would say 2002 is a cutoff. I feel like the 90s ended in 2002. And in some ways they did. In some ways they didn't. Right. Like in 2002, I still I still had a tube TV. so

SPEAKER_02:

okay I feel like it was the simplicity of it right like you know people call if you're not home you're just not home guess what I'll call you later it wasn't like this instant access to you either you know and you were able to make mistakes and they weren't publicized everywhere right you know so it's like kids could be

SPEAKER_04:

kids speak for yourself I had

SPEAKER_02:

you have recordings I

SPEAKER_04:

had an A I don't have them anymore but I had an AOL instant messenger

SPEAKER_02:

oh so did I

SPEAKER_04:

okay so and I had like 15 screenings just in case you blocked me on one of them I'll add you at the other one So...

SPEAKER_02:

Vlad was over here blocked on everything.

SPEAKER_04:

Yo, bro, because I was toxic. I was toxic with my little AOL dial-up. You know what I'm saying? What was your screen name on AIM?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it was BG Girl with

SPEAKER_04:

a

SPEAKER_02:

U.

SPEAKER_04:

BG Girl.

SPEAKER_02:

Girl. So you were somebody's

SPEAKER_04:

best girl?

SPEAKER_02:

Nah.

SPEAKER_04:

Nah?

SPEAKER_02:

That was just a girl. Is that what BG stands for? That was cool. No, BG is Belgly, because I was from Belgly, Florida.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, God. Oh, my Lord. Okay. All right. All right. Y'all Floridians or something else.

SPEAKER_02:

You got to rep your city

SPEAKER_04:

at

SPEAKER_02:

all times.

SPEAKER_04:

What are you like in a gang or something?

SPEAKER_02:

Always. I'm still in a gang. What's your ASL?

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. Is that a quiz?

SPEAKER_02:

No. Yeah. What is it?

SPEAKER_04:

ASL is age, sex, location.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right.

SPEAKER_04:

And that's what creeps would ask you if you entered a chat room by accident.

SPEAKER_02:

Or you would provide that so people knew where you were and who you were.

SPEAKER_04:

But here's the thing, though. Like, if you were hitting up Jerry from your, like, seventh grade math

SPEAKER_02:

class or something, they wouldn't do that. But they had, like, chat groups for just teens.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, I was not allowed in those chat rooms.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I mean, I probably wasn't either. No, you would just go into them.

SPEAKER_04:

Nah, you know what? If I could think back, I was always in a room where somebody would ask me ASL, and they'd try to send me, like, some... adult shit. You know what I mean? So I'm like, yo.

SPEAKER_02:

That's why you had 15,000 screen names.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, bro. I had to keep it tight. So my first one was Vleazy765. Vleazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Vleazy.

SPEAKER_04:

Vleazy. Look that up. Yo, it's your boy Vleazy. I was corny, man. I was corny. That's too funny. Let's see. I have Vleazy Flavor with an A. Flavor. Flavor. 654. Well, me and my boys, David and Malcolm, we used to call him Mouse. Shout out to Malcolm, man, if you're listening to this, bro. We miss you, man. Haven't seen him in a long time. So we were like best friends back then, and we came up with like a little gang name for us. So we called ourselves the Domestic Soldiers.

SPEAKER_02:

Whoa. Whoa.

SPEAKER_04:

Yo, yo, Angie, check it out. Domestic soldiers, but I spelt it with a S-O-I-L, so I'm a soil, duh. Somebody pulled that out, and they're like, yo, Vlad, you know,

SPEAKER_02:

domestic soil. Poor baby couldn't spell. Oh,

SPEAKER_04:

man, that was embarrassing. My last one was blood, sweat, iron, because by then I was a gym rat, so.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Did you have more than

SPEAKER_02:

one? No, I only had one, but we did have a little crew, our little clique, the winner's clique. Just the winners click. The winners

SPEAKER_04:

click.

SPEAKER_02:

Click, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, so did y'all wear fanny packs around your neck?

SPEAKER_02:

No, no. This is just the way nowadays people wear their fanny packs.

SPEAKER_04:

Wait, wait, time out. So people wear their fanny packs not on their fanny?

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_04:

That don't make no sense to me.

SPEAKER_02:

No. I mean, I guess you could, but people do. I mean, people wear them like this now. I was trying to be like, bring the past to the present.

SPEAKER_04:

Listen, to your point about, we really should have had some chubby sodas.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, the little cube juices or whatever?

SPEAKER_04:

Y'all ain't have the chubby sodas?

SPEAKER_02:

No, I don't know what that

SPEAKER_04:

is. It's like a little soda. It's like this big. There's only one company that makes sodas that small.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe up here. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

It's chubby. It was a little kid with a backwards cap on. And they used to make like different

SPEAKER_02:

flavors. I thought it was just for juice, no?

SPEAKER_04:

No, that was soda.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, no. They called

SPEAKER_04:

them chubbies. Am I wrong? I don't remember. If you guys are watching this

SPEAKER_02:

and you remember chubby sodas, please let us know. Let us know what it is. I don't remember that. But did you... We used to have like a candy lady. They used to sell candy and drinks.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. There

SPEAKER_02:

was a candy lady. And she used to make flip cups.

SPEAKER_04:

Flip cups.

SPEAKER_02:

So it was like the frozen juice in the little paper cup. And then you used to flip it to eat it. It's not a cone. It was like a little plastic cup. Or paper cup. And then you... push it up, and then flip the juice over and eat it like Icy.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. It was in a cone,

SPEAKER_02:

though. No, it was a cup. She used to freeze them on a tray in her freezer in a cup because cones can't sit up.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, okay. Maybe I'm just thinking about regular Icy's then.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no. This lady used to make them at her house. And she'd sell candy. She'll sell pickles. She used to sell pickle eggs, hot sausages.

SPEAKER_04:

There was a lady who did that, too, in our neighborhood, but she was on the bad side of the neighborhood, so I couldn't go see her.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, well, that's where the candy lady usually lives in the back part. She's trying to make money for her

SPEAKER_04:

family. Yo, the kids in the ghetto got to eat too. Right. Exactly. Here, we were in the good projects, whatever that means. That means that they were doing drug deals. We couldn't see them. But yeah, no. So yeah, things to your point were so much simpler back then. And I remember... You know, I mean, I guess back then, it's all relative, right? Because if we were our parents back then, our minds would have been blown. I don't even know how much more technology can advance right now. But, you know, it was a big thing, kids going online and getting in the chat rooms and talking to people online. And a lot of it wasn't monitored. Now, I don't know if the technology back then was allowed for you to like keep a record of that. I'm sure everything that's in the computer could be recorded. But yeah, it was a dangerous thing. You remember, that's how Chris Hansen came

SPEAKER_02:

to be. Oh, facts. I mean, I'm sure that there was times that my mom was like, oh, what are y'all doing online? But she, one, didn't understand it. And two, probably just didn't care because she didn't think there was danger there. At least you're home. You know, it's like, oh, you're not in the street. Excuse me, but she wasn't getting, yeah, she wasn't getting on the computer.

SPEAKER_04:

No. And for those of us who enjoy high-speed Comcast. Thing was Maslow. Bro. You don't know what it's like when you're waiting to talk to your friend and you got to get back to...

SPEAKER_02:

No, no, Vlad. You're waiting to download and burn a CD and it takes three days. Burning a

SPEAKER_04:

CD was a week-long affair, dude. You got to let that... If your parents didn't let you keep your computer on overnight, you were screwed. You got to do it on a weekend because it took so long. And depending on what your computer was, we got ours for a discounted rate. So, you know, we weren't getting a lot of RAM space. Yo, downloading a picture, Angie? And when I say download, I don't mean saving it to your hard drive. I mean just waiting for it to load was crazy. It was incredible. But it was still worth it, right? Because I actually feel like that worked for us. Because if you had really crappy internet, you could still just go outside and talk to your friend. Or you can get on the phone. We

SPEAKER_02:

used to ride our bikes everywhere, Vlad. Everywhere. I'd be gone. And that's the thing. It's like, okay, now I wouldn't even let a lot... And mind you, she's way younger than I was back then. But... I don't even imagine a world where I'd let Alana ride her bike to a friend's house in this day and age. Yo. I'm taking you. You know, and I feel like we just had that freedom and it was like more like your parents knew everybody. So it was like, I'm sure it wasn't safer. There's still predators everywhere. But that freedom that fear wasn't there you know so it's different times for sure

SPEAKER_04:

I mean did I ever tell you there was a big case in Cambridge there was a brother there was a young kid named Jeffrey Curley

SPEAKER_02:

okay

SPEAKER_04:

who it was that story that you always hear your parents about don't take candy from strangers don't take gifts from strangers and this boy his neighbors who knew him offered him a nice shiny red bicycle like hey come get this bicycle they ended up kidnapping him

SPEAKER_01:

oh my

SPEAKER_04:

gosh and you know the rest I'm not gonna go into great detail but why that I remember that was because A it was so close to home and B he went to my school because I remember we were all outside in the hallways and we were all holding hands one day singing I Believe I Can Fly and I'm like why are we singing the R. Kelly anthem I don't

SPEAKER_02:

know well back then we didn't know we didn't know what we didn't know so nah

SPEAKER_04:

R. Kelly was still the man back then but yeah that was scary right but it was still we used to ride our bikes me and my cousins And my brother, we rode our bikes all the time. We spent so much time. We had a porch that conjoined the two sides of the house and my child at home. And we used to be up there. We didn't have no AC. We didn't have, we couldn't get the expensive super soakers. So we got the bootleg ones that were broken. Yeah, and you in Florida, imagine not having no AC.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I can't.

SPEAKER_04:

Nah, because it's only hot like five days a year. Yeah,

SPEAKER_02:

no, it's hot here. It's hot here now. We're in a current heat wave. I mean, today's kind of nice. Today's like 75, but the rest of the days this week were like 100, 98, 97. No thanks. You know what's crazy, right?

SPEAKER_04:

So my boy lives in Texas, and he's like, yo, it was like 125 the other day. I was like, excuse you? No. Excuse you?

SPEAKER_02:

That's oven temperatures.

SPEAKER_04:

Bruh, like... How are you supposed to live out there? I would be a hermit forever.

UNKNOWN:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04:

But I don't think it was as hot back then when we were kids.

SPEAKER_02:

No, it's not the same heat I used to be outside climbing trees. And no.

SPEAKER_04:

You climbing trees?

SPEAKER_02:

We used to climb trees, me and my sisters and my brother. We were just outside. What would your mom say when you were

SPEAKER_04:

sitting there climbing

SPEAKER_02:

trees? Oh, that we're going to break our neck, break our arm, but we didn't care. We had a lot of trees in my backyard. I feel like we had a great childhood. We had a huge house, a huge yard. Again, we weren't allowed to go a lot of places, but we had the space to do that. And I could only ride my bike to like my friend's house. You know, my parents could kind of see me go up the road or whatever. But it's funny because I remember. Have you ever ran away from home?

SPEAKER_04:

It depends on what your definition of that

SPEAKER_02:

is. Like ran away like you didn't think you were coming back because you were mad.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, when I was 15, I got in an argument with my mom and she said, if you if you leave, because I was going to go get some chubbies down the street with some bike nights and some airheads. And she said, if you leave, don't bother coming back. And I said, fine, I'm gone. So I went back. And I ran away from home. I didn't run very far because I went to my dad's house.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. I ran away from home when I was like 13 or 14, but I just ran to my friend's house on my bike. And it's funny because I feel like my mom called, like there's only a few places that my mom would be like, oh, she's going here. But I didn't have a cell phone. So she called like my friend's mom, like at the house. Oh my gosh. I know. You

SPEAKER_04:

didn't have a cell

SPEAKER_02:

phone? I did not. I didn't get a cell phone until I was 15.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I got one. Well, I didn't get one of my own. Yeah, I'd say about

SPEAKER_02:

14, 15. And the only reason I got that one was because I used to travel for band all the time. And my mom would be like, well, call me from, you know, the teacher's phone or whatever. And then I forgot. I kept forgetting.

SPEAKER_04:

Can you tell me, can you tell me what kind of cell phone did you have?

SPEAKER_02:

The first one that I had was the Nokia little box with the antenna. That was my first cell phone.

SPEAKER_04:

I got to find, for those of us who are in nostalgia mode right now, I just wanted to.

SPEAKER_02:

And then my second phone was a little flip.

SPEAKER_04:

Which one?

SPEAKER_02:

The Razr. Singular? Yeah. I did have singular. Yeah, I had singular. A little singular flip. It was pink. And I had that phone for a long time. Wow. And then I got a BlackBerry. Oh. And I love my BlackBerry. I used to think I was so cool. Like I was so hip with my BlackBerry. But yeah. And so my mom got me a phone because I kept forgetting to call her. And then I was like, Mommy, I just need a phone.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what's crazy, Angie? What? I remember back when the Razors came out and that little singular flip, that little gray one, right, came out. We used to think cell phones was, well, I guess we didn't really think of it then, but then cell phones got smaller. And now I just feel like they're getting bigger

SPEAKER_02:

and bigger. And we used to hate a big phone. Yeah, we used to hate big phones. And now, look, everybody got a big old screen.

SPEAKER_04:

Everybody got a big screen. But you know what? Those cell phones, it was the body of the phone that took up most of the space, right? So, you know, like if you were looking at my first phone, my mom gave it to me when my school was going to D.C.,

SPEAKER_02:

Washington, D.C. Okay. With safety patrols?

SPEAKER_04:

What?

SPEAKER_02:

With safety patrols? No.

SPEAKER_04:

What the hell is a safety patrol? Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

that's who went to D.C. on a school trip. You know, you used to wear your, the orange, like... belt vest thing and you like used to monitor the halls at the school

SPEAKER_04:

no

SPEAKER_02:

no that's a safety patrol and in fifth grade you go to dc that was the safety patrol trip

SPEAKER_04:

wait all right like a hall monitor

SPEAKER_02:

yeah but they were called safety patrols

SPEAKER_04:

yeah we definitely wasn't doing

SPEAKER_02:

that yeah no no florida had safety patrols y'all don't have safety patrols here y'all just safe by yourself

SPEAKER_04:

no y'all need safety because all right because uh listen madam we we grew up in cambridge we are cantabrigians proudly

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's what y'all call yourselves?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. We can't the Bridgians. It doesn't make sense, but that's what we are.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So no safety patrols up here. Got

SPEAKER_04:

it. No. So my mom's phone, I'll put a picture on the screen, but she just, she let me borrow it because she had the Razor by. That was like 2004. Did it come out

SPEAKER_02:

that time? No, it was out before then.

SPEAKER_04:

The Razor?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

No, not 2004. It was like 2003. Yeah. No, 2004.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I don't think so. Oh, it probably

SPEAKER_04:

came out. It probably came out like in... 2002 right somebody help me out there in the comments somebody help me out 2002 well whatever whatever but

SPEAKER_02:

oh no you're right in 2004 September

SPEAKER_04:

bang bang

SPEAKER_02:

oh my goodness yeah

SPEAKER_04:

yeah I'm telling you

SPEAKER_02:

I'm

SPEAKER_04:

telling you all right anyway but my mom gave me the cell phone that she gave me was like what you see for house phones right

SPEAKER_01:

now oh yeah

SPEAKER_04:

so it was this big old clunky it wasn't that big it was probably like it was probably like Like that.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a little long.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's probably like that. And then you're just talking to somebody. But this is what flip phones used to look like right here. You just, where you at? Call me back at 7.

SPEAKER_02:

When it's free.

SPEAKER_04:

When it's free. Yeah, I was poor though. So my mom had free after 7 and on weekends, but we had prepaid. Is

SPEAKER_02:

that like a phone card?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah basically You know you put some phone Yeah I had that in college too All the way up until college And I was like Yo Vlad You gotta get your life together

SPEAKER_02:

Now I remember my first year in college My dad was still paying my phone bill And one day I know. And he called.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm going to come back to

SPEAKER_02:

that. Yeah. So then he called one time and he's like, who are you calling at 3 a.m.? And that's when you used to get the fat phone. And again, my dad's older, so there was no online paying. So he used to get the fat phone bill with like every like text you sent, every call. And then I was like, oh, I got to get on my own phone plan. So I've been paying my own phone bill since then because I was like, you ain't going to be monitoring me. You just be up in college.

SPEAKER_04:

The same thing happened to me, too. My dad, my first semester, my dad was paying for my cell phone with the Metro PCS and then he kind of like disappeared and then you know like when you get like a gift from a loan shark or something they're like here you go I'm gonna be right back I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick and then you look in the bathroom and they go that's how it was

SPEAKER_01:

so

SPEAKER_04:

I'm like alright that's cool I guess I'll just have to take my own it was very short lived it lasted like maybe a semester it was better for me anyway because

SPEAKER_02:

well yeah I was just like why are you looking through that and I get it right like obviously a parent is supposed to be nosy that's it that's the ringtone

SPEAKER_04:

Wow. That brings me back, man. I had a Nokia, but I had, remember Boost Mobile?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, Boost is still around, no?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, but nobody knows Boost Mobile. Like it's not very boosted, you know, but nobody, let's put it this way. Nobody's really advertising for Boost Mobile. Right, right. Okay. Back then Boost Mobile was cool for the way you're at and they got the little Nexatel knockoffs. Did you have a Nexatel? Yeah. No, but I had the Boost Mobile. Gotcha, gotcha, yeah. We had the Chirps.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Emmy had a Nextel, and I remember riding the bus. The blue and

SPEAKER_04:

black ones?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, no, it was just, like, the one that you can call people on, like, the radio.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, but they had that on, like, multiple boost mobile.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I just knew Nextel because Emmy had one. But we'd, like, be on the bus going home, and we'd call, like, random numbers and talk to random people. And usually it's, like, old men that are, like, working construction. They'd be so mad that we're, like, bothering them. But how'd you find the numbers, though? We just text random numbers. Like, you radio random numbers. Because every next tell had like a legit, kind of like a code for that phone that's like a radio. So yeah, we just radio. We'll pick a random number and call it. Again, teens on the bus.

SPEAKER_04:

You know, I remember, RNG, I remember I was working in the jobs program for the men's program in Cambridge and I used to think I'm like oh my gosh can somebody please call me so like so that people can hear yeah my neo ringtone I worked so hard for like I worked hard on crafting that because back then you used to have to buy ringtones in the store and that means your phone had to be good enough for you to even see what you were doing so

SPEAKER_02:

yeah and now the phones are just on silent all the time

SPEAKER_04:

facts

SPEAKER_02:

yeah we used to have cool ringtones and now it's like I don't want my phone to make a noise

SPEAKER_04:

you ever see those in those old school it's like they show you dudes would be like you'd hear like you'd call them and then it'd go to voicemail and then you'd hear

SPEAKER_02:

like a song a

SPEAKER_04:

song and then the song would go they'd turn the volume down you call Ray J I'm sorry I couldn't meet the phone right now but if you leave your name and your number I'll get back

SPEAKER_02:

to you I haven't recorded a voicemail in so long it's like you have reached whatever yeah

SPEAKER_04:

I ain't got time people ask me too like you're a voice actor why don't you just do it well facts but I'm I'm like, I ain't got time for

SPEAKER_02:

that. Oh my gosh, Vlad, that should be like your next business venture. You should make voicemails for other people. I

SPEAKER_04:

mean, I absolutely could. I mean, holler at me. If you want to hear something like this, hi, you have reached the number of 857. Goodbye. But that's how they did it back then. Did you guys have a call waiting?

SPEAKER_02:

We did.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. Did you have caller ID?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, but not initially. Because we had like a regular like wall phone with the cord. And then when we upgraded to like the phone on the base that you can move around, no cord, then we had caller ID. The

SPEAKER_04:

portable ones? Yeah. So I got to ask you this. Did you have the rotary phone? Do you remember what that was like?

SPEAKER_02:

I remember rotary phone, but we never had a rotary phone. I remember my aunt had rotary phones.

SPEAKER_04:

So we had a rotary phone. And- I've seen people comment on this. I think the younger cats and Gen Zers, they're like, how do you even use a rotary phone? It's the most complicated thing I've ever seen in my life. How do people do it? I'm like, it's easy. If there's a six, you put your number in the six, your finger in the six, and you go...

SPEAKER_02:

All the way around. It's

SPEAKER_04:

the same way every single time. I mean, to us, maybe that's not that crazy because we grew up around that stuff. I remember when my dad had a typewriter. I don't know what he did, typewriting.

SPEAKER_02:

We had a typewriter, too, that somebody probably gave us to play around, but I just remember just making notes to each other. It wasn't for school or anything because we had the regular computer, but it was just fun to be like Harriet the Spy. You remember that?

SPEAKER_04:

Harriet

SPEAKER_02:

the Spy. And we used to be on our typewriter thinking we were like a journalist, typing what happened that day.

SPEAKER_04:

What were some of the books you remember reading as a kid?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, definitely Baby Yeah,

SPEAKER_04:

Babysitter's Club. So I did a lot of- I can see the blocks in my mind

SPEAKER_02:

right now. Yep, the Babysitter's Club was a big one. Goosebumps. We used to read a lot of Goosebumps.

SPEAKER_04:

Did you read Animorphs?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, and the show.

SPEAKER_04:

The Goosebumps show used to scare the

SPEAKER_02:

shit out of me. No, Goosebumps, yeah, but Are You Afraid of the Dark was scarier to me. I

SPEAKER_04:

never

SPEAKER_02:

watched that. There's still an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark that I think about all the time when I pass a mirror because there's mirrors in the episode that would take your youth away. I know. And I think about it all the time. Obviously, I don't believe that that happens, but any time I pass a mirror,

SPEAKER_04:

I think

SPEAKER_02:

about it. And then there's another episode that me and my sisters still referenced too it was like this little ghost boy and he like he froze to death and then they passed like this like stove in this old house and he's like hold feed my stove like his wooden stove or whatever and we still talk about that too it's just funny

SPEAKER_04:

what about Saturday morning cartoons did you partake

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I don't remember any of them, Vlad. But obviously we did and ate cereal in front of the TV in our picnic like we always did. It's funny, like now it's like, oh, screen time is bad. But I feel like I was always in front of a screen when I was little. Yeah, but you know what? The

SPEAKER_04:

screen, I think, I mean, I don't know. I got to look into this. But I think the screens were different, right? Like they weren't these high res. Oh, that's probably, yeah. And shows weren't like popping at

SPEAKER_02:

you. And shows were slower than they are now. Now it's like you're like in a rave, these kid shows. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm just burping up.

SPEAKER_02:

90s.

SPEAKER_04:

is burping up nineties just thinking about it. So every Saturday morning I had Saturday morning cartoons. It started on Fox 25 and then ended up going to the WB Kids because we were poor and we only had like

SPEAKER_02:

five channels. Was Ninja Turtles a Saturday morning cartoon?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, but I think it was more of an 80s one.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

But the Ninja Turtles were. But I think it was on one of the lower, the single digit.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_04:

Channel four or five. I

SPEAKER_02:

don't remember channels at all.

SPEAKER_04:

So did you guys have cable?

SPEAKER_02:

We did because my dad was big on TV. We used to have satellite.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, no, we didn't have none of that. So I didn't get cable until I was 10. Okay. Until my mom moved out. And you know how we got cable? I'm going to say it now because I can't do shit about it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yikes.

SPEAKER_04:

Yikes, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Not the police telling on himself. Go ahead, boo.

SPEAKER_04:

Hey, listen, you can't do nothing, okay? We don't even live there

SPEAKER_02:

no more. Don't arrest me.

SPEAKER_04:

So check this out. So, and you know how that, back then, there was a black cord with a pin. Yeah, the cable cord. The cable cord.

SPEAKER_01:

The

SPEAKER_04:

cable cord, there was a fixture for it in the wall in the apartment that we moved into.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And so then, one of our family friends, Willie, figured out that he could just plug that cord into the wall and then plug it into the TV and suddenly we had free cable. We had like 99 channels, bro. Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

but wait, don't you have, oh, it's just like any cable in your house you could do that? Like the

SPEAKER_04:

cable? It was the VCR cable.

SPEAKER_02:

right but okay so I guess someone had service at that address because how does that work

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know I did not care because my 10 year old self was watching Spongebob

SPEAKER_02:

so excited yeah we had Spongebob but we also liked Arthur we used to watch a lot of PBS too even though it was free I love Arthur another show that I really like was Pepper Ann I don't know if you remember that show that was on Nickelodeon but that's that's where my my Instagram handles from because it's Pepper Ann Pepper Ann but too cool for seventh grade. Pepper Ann, she's like one in a million. I used to love it.

SPEAKER_04:

No, no,

SPEAKER_02:

no.

SPEAKER_04:

I was on that Digimon. Did you love monsters? We used

SPEAKER_01:

to watch Digimon, too.

SPEAKER_04:

Pokemon. I remember when Pokemon came out. So I'll never forget my aunt. God rest her soul. That's ugly. She and my cousin Lisa got into a car crash.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, no.

SPEAKER_04:

Going to Watertown because Cambridge is right here. Watertown was magical for us because Watertown is where the Old Country Buffet was.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. I

SPEAKER_04:

don't know if you guys had that down south. But we loved the Old Country Buffet. It's the only thing that we did as a family, maybe thrice. Okay. But it was great nonetheless. Nice. Nice. And then we would go to the arcade. Like I said, it only happened a handful of times, but it was so magical. So they went over there for the day. When you're a kid, anything that has magazines or toys or candy.

SPEAKER_02:

You remember.

SPEAKER_04:

And then they got into a crash. And I remember I was really worried. And then Tata Island came back and she brought me some Pokemon stickers. And I remember thinking, this totally makes up for me thinking that you were dead.

SPEAKER_02:

Yikes. Did you have Pokemon on a Game Boy?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, so I did have... I had Pokemon. Okay, I remember having the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. I don't remember. Like I said, I got everything out of order. PS1 already came out and I ain't getting N64 until like 2002.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. It didn't make sense. But let's see. I had Game Boy. I had some Super Mario games on there. I had... I was a huge, huge Pokemon fan. I still kind of am. Me and Leto watch Pokemon. I don't know if I know. When Leto was a little younger, he and I would rap the Pokemon rap. He wouldn't be saying

SPEAKER_02:

anything.

SPEAKER_04:

But he'd be like, Pokemon.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you like Team Rocket?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah. I mean, I loved everything about Pokemon, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, my brother still played Pokemon. And my brother collects Pokemon cards. And Jose started a YouTube channel about Pokemon. Like, he draws them. So, yeah, that's on there.

SPEAKER_04:

Does he sell his art? Because

SPEAKER_02:

I would love to get me some Pokemon. Yeah, sometimes. Yeah, he's really good. It's like Poke Studios or something. We'll find it and put it on there too.

SPEAKER_04:

I almost found, I almost bought a Nintendo Switch just so I could play the new Pokemon games until I realized, I'm like, wait, wait, first of all, I don't have time for this. Second of all, like when the hell am I going to have time to do this? Second of all, I'd rather just play the old school ones. But there's nothing like playing Pokemon games Crystal or silver, whatever

SPEAKER_02:

it is. Do you still have your Game Boy?

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, dang. So I

SPEAKER_04:

wish I knew where all this stuff went. I had a whole case, like a binder full of Pokemon cards. And they were at my dad's house. And I remember they were in that little office area upstairs in his apartment. And then years later, I was like, dude, I could actually make a lot of money

SPEAKER_03:

with

SPEAKER_04:

these. Or I'd like to pass them on to my son or something. I was like, dad, where are the Pokemon cards at? He's like, oh, I don't know. I'm like, Dad, I had, like, holographic Charizards.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, Lord.

SPEAKER_04:

Like, you can't just tell me you don't know where it's at. Like, where my Pokemon

SPEAKER_02:

cards at? So, you still don't know where they're at. They're not at his house.

SPEAKER_04:

Nah, man. He moved out of there. I looked one more time, and it was just not there. And I was heartbroken. You want to know how my childhood ended, right? It ended in a lot of ways. But how my childhood ended, officially...

SPEAKER_02:

This is supposed to be a fun episode, Vlad.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, no, I mean, I'm not going to get that deep, obviously. No, but this is how my childhood ended. I came home one day... And I wanted to play with one specific truck. And I came home and I couldn't find my truck. And I asked my mom and or my dad. And I was like, yo, where's my truck at? And they're like, oh, you're not a little kid anymore. So he threw your toys away. I'm like,

SPEAKER_02:

oh. Have you seen my child? Yikes. Like,

SPEAKER_04:

bro, where was, where's my, like, what do you mean you just threw it away? Oh, man, I was, it still hurts.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it hurts. It hurts me. Like.

SPEAKER_04:

Even though I complain about Leto's playroom, he's got a gajillion toys that really only get played when the girls come over. I can't throw anything away.

SPEAKER_02:

I know. I know. I only throw away broken toys. And Wallace is always like, no new things until we get rid of stuff. And I'm like, well, they should be the ones to decide, not me. You know, like, let them tell me.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. And toys back then... I don't know what toys are like now. I mean, obviously we have Leto's toys. Baby toys are different then. I used to collect the wrestler figurines.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's funny you say that. So are... Alana's friends Tegan Benny their dad that's what they play with all of his toys from the 80s and 90s because he's like 42 or something so he has all those wrestlers and like all like his little Tonka trucks and all that yeah because his parents saved them yeah my parents didn't save anything I feel like we didn't care because I feel like we got up there in age and then they got rid of stuff but can you imagine if we had all that nostalgia Vlad they weren't saving nothing

SPEAKER_04:

I feel like I wouldn't need as much therapy

SPEAKER_02:

it's because Because the toys are gone. Those are my toys, man. I know. And it is nice to see, you know, that people did, you know, save those and pass them down to their kids, you know. But again, things back then were made to last.

SPEAKER_04:

Dude, I had this honky tonk. Was it honky tonk?

SPEAKER_02:

Tonka. Tonka truck.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm thinking of WWE. We're talking about wrestlers and the honky tonk, man. I had a Tonka truck. It was yellow and it was heavy duty. Like, bro, you could buy it. It was so heavy duty that you could probably, if I still had it, I could probably sell it to a landscaping company. That's how heavy duty it was. And it was in such pristine condition. but I don't know where it is. I think it got thrown out with

SPEAKER_02:

all this stuff. Yeah, exactly. So, but yeah, it was such a great time. Again, just very, to me, I just love thinking back and Emmy did a good job of, we had a lot of home movies. We, again, cause we were very creative kids. We used to take my dad's camera and record things of us just being silly. So Emmy digitized them and now they're like on DVD and I love playing them back, watching them when I go down there. Cause it was a camera with the tape.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm gonna call Tom. I'm gonna call

SPEAKER_02:

Tom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Wait, so she digitized them? But they're on DVD

SPEAKER_02:

Well because she did it A few years ago Vlad You know A

SPEAKER_04:

few years ago though

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah A

SPEAKER_04:

few years ago We had No Flash drives Girl

SPEAKER_02:

No They put them on a DVD

SPEAKER_04:

They can't put them On a flash drive

SPEAKER_02:

The videos I don't think so They did it on DVD Correct me if I'm wrong, Emi, but I'm sure they're on DVD. Yeah. So it was all of the tapes. Cause again, we used to take my dad's camera. He used to record like family parties and stuff, but we did like our own. We used to have Angie Lake and Emi Springer. Like we used to do shows and it's, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_04:

Wait, can I ask you when you got, when you stayed home sick from school, were you one of the millions of kids watching Maury Povich? All day.

SPEAKER_02:

Maury, Ricky Lake. We used to do a lot of Price is Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Jenny Jones. Jenny Jones. Montel Williams.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. So we had our own shows. And it's funny that like the things, again, when we watch these movies, like the things that we would come up with that we didn't understand at all. Because I specifically remember one that it's like, oh, this is my husband, but he cheated on me with a man. And it's like, whoa. And it's like me and my sister, my nephew, my niece. Like we just make these videos.

SPEAKER_04:

Yo, y'all some Bebe's kids, man. What kind of videos y'all making, dude? Like, making chill. Right,

SPEAKER_02:

right in the living room. Yeah, and again, we didn't understand none of that. It's just the things you see on TV. You just repeat it.

SPEAKER_04:

There's another thing about the 90s that maybe isn't time-specific, but there was a lot of unsupervised TV time.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. We were watching things. Nah. There was no reason for us to be watching Jerry Springer. Be for real.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what actually scared me? It wasn't even stuff like that, like the goosebumps or the animals. The things that scared me were random scenes out of Heaven.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, Seventh Heaven was another big one to watch. Happy faces, smiling back at me. Because that was like, what are these white people doing?

SPEAKER_04:

Yo, I thought, okay, I'm going to say this with all the regret in my heart. I really regret the actor that played... Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

I know. We're not going to give him any airtime. We're not going to give him

SPEAKER_04:

any airtime,

SPEAKER_02:

but... That was sad.

SPEAKER_04:

To his point, in honor of 90s and nostalgia, I loved that show. And I didn't love that show because of its featuring many black people. Although, you know what I appreciate about that show? I appreciate that it showed the Camdens had black friends. They did, and they talked. Yeah, they were accessible to those black friends, and they saw their struggle.

SPEAKER_02:

I

SPEAKER_04:

like

SPEAKER_02:

that. Yeah, and they did have an episode about Black History Month. Racism. Yeah, racism, they did. And I feel like a lot of 90s shows touched on that. It was just a few episodes a year, but they did bring up heavy topics too sometimes.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what? in the 90s I don't know if FCC regulations was different but they dropped like when they were doing social impact themed episodes like in that episode they dropped the n-word

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_04:

and I was like oh you could back then I was like

SPEAKER_02:

they used to drop a lot of words that today will get people cancelled

SPEAKER_04:

oh yeah

SPEAKER_02:

you know for impact

SPEAKER_04:

now let me ask you this do you think that do you think that society at large is through the lens of we could also be talking about entertainment do you think we're taking things a little too deeply? You think it's easier for people to get canceled now than it was back then? And is it justified?

SPEAKER_02:

I think it is justified only because now it's like you have more access to knowledge. And when you know better, you do better. There's no reason for you to be acting like this in 2025.

SPEAKER_04:

But is it something that, is it because we have so much more resources to monitor what people do and to keep track of what people do? Or is it that they just get caught? Because let me tell you something. Not that I want to bring R. Kelly into this, but we knew what R. Kelly was doing with his ignition back in 1999. And didn't nobody say nothing about it?

SPEAKER_02:

Because nobody was saying nothing. So people now come forward and it's like you have to believe him. And it was a different time. He went to trial. The whole thing went to

SPEAKER_04:

trial. Well, I don't know if it was in 99. It was like in the early 2000s. But he went to trial. With the videos and they showed and all that stuff. Yeah,

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not familiar with that. But what I do know is that now when we do have this knowledge, it's like if you're saying these things, it's like you're choosing to, not because out of ignorance, because there's no way you can be this ignorant in 2025.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, there is. There's absolutely ways you can be

SPEAKER_02:

ignorant. But you shouldn't be is what I'm saying. So if you're acting like that, it's like you're choosing to do it. It's not... You're doing it now with malicious intent where before... If you didn't have that knowledge, you could argue that it was out of a place of malice. But now I feel like it is.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I'll tell you what. You could not be socially inept and be watching TV in the 90s because every show, every sitcom had something to teach you. Because there wasn't a lot of trash throwaway TV back then. At least, I mean, listen, we had Fresh Prince, Family Matters, The Parkers, The Cosby Show.

SPEAKER_02:

Sister, sister. Sister, sister. Which I

SPEAKER_04:

loved. Oh, I love sister, sister. You know when I met Julia, I asked her, I'm like, yo, how many times have you guys switched outfits and pretended to be the other person who schools the other person? Did they do that? No. I was like, what the hell's wrong with you? I'm like, why wouldn't you do that? It's

SPEAKER_02:

like, everybody

SPEAKER_04:

asks me that question.

SPEAKER_02:

Missed opportunity. See, it's because if they... The right people are twins. Because if I was a twin.

SPEAKER_04:

If I was a twinny twin twin. Right. I would have my smarter twinny twin twin taking my math

SPEAKER_02:

exams. Come on.

SPEAKER_04:

Exactly. What are y'all doing, man? Yeah. Now, we had so many great shows, though, that displayed black excellence. That, you know, showed families being together. I used to watch these shows and be like, why can't our family be like that? Why can't we solve problems and be like that? Look, like Tia and Tamera. were adopted by two different people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And then they all got into, they all cohabitated and they became a family. That's love. That is love. It's not like real life, but

SPEAKER_01:

it's love. But they did it.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. So, God, I miss the 90s. And I think that's why now I don't really listen I don't know, to newer music, unless it's a specific artist. I think the newest music I listen to, honestly, is Kendrick Lamar.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And it's funny because I see this on a shirt all the time. Like, people wear it. It's like, if our love isn't like 90s R&B, I don't want it. And it's so true. I feel like they were just projecting that love so much. And it's like, wow, I want to be loved like that, you know?

SPEAKER_04:

Yo, Angie, I saw something the other day on Facebook and it said... Yo, 90s R&B died when dudes stopped singing in the rain

SPEAKER_02:

and crying. They stopped singing in the rain. There's no more. All the runs, you know?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, the nay-whos.

SPEAKER_02:

The nay-whos.

SPEAKER_04:

The nay-whos,

SPEAKER_02:

man.

SPEAKER_04:

Who was your favorite 90s R&B band? R&B.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yikes. Probably SWV.

SPEAKER_04:

Top five. Top five.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't put me on the spot. On the, what is it? On the spot. Don't put me on the spot. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04:

Take your pick. There was like a gajillion 90s R&B bands back then.

SPEAKER_02:

So I loved bands. Groups. Fans, groups. Just groups. So SWB for sure. Probably TLC.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Yikes. Groups.

SPEAKER_04:

There are so many good groups.

SPEAKER_02:

There are.

SPEAKER_04:

You think it's just girl groups, aren't

SPEAKER_02:

you? I am just thinking girl groups. Oh, Blackstreet. I like Blackstreet. Before you let me go, before I let you go.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm thinking

SPEAKER_04:

boy groups.

SPEAKER_02:

There were so many. I can't think. You know what? I'll post in the comments my top five. I have to think. I have to think. But yes, definitely SWB. Blackstreet, for sure.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, my top five. Number one, Boyz II Men.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, Boyz II Men. Boyz II

SPEAKER_04:

Men,

SPEAKER_02:

I mean,

SPEAKER_04:

anybody who knows me knows that. I had a 90s re-renaissance, like a reimagined when I was in high school and all I listened to was Boyz II Men. Boyz II Men, number one. 112. Oh, 112, yeah. Can't forget about 112. Cupid, that's my jam. I love Blackstreet. Drew Hill. and oh gosh it's hard jagged edge if i were to put in the top five

SPEAKER_02:

oh i really like jagged edge yeah

SPEAKER_04:

i used to sing i used to sing i gotta be to lito when he was younger so he could sleep and he's still sitting here he'll hear that song and he'll

SPEAKER_01:

remember nice

SPEAKER_04:

yeah because you know listen man i feel like julie and i talked about this we're like i think it's just best

SPEAKER_02:

if

SPEAKER_04:

we raise lito like we're in the 90s A

SPEAKER_02:

lot of people are doing that. And by 90s, they mean just more outside time, less screens. Yeah. But you're talking music, too. Like, just play that music. Oh, no, I'm talking

SPEAKER_04:

about, I'm about to go to Savers and get him a Discman.

SPEAKER_02:

LOL. So

SPEAKER_04:

he can understand the struggle. I feel like Wallace... Not the one that flips, that doesn't skip, and you flip the anti-skip one. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02:

I feel like Wallace is raising the girls in the 70s because... In the 60s. Because the girls, they know a lot of, like, Motown music. like Motown and just soulful singers like Alana will be like oh that's Nina like Nina Simone like oh that's Sam Cooke oh that's Stevie Wonder like she just knows and it's because Wallace was born 85 years old so yeah he's an old soul yeah the girls love like like Motown and yeah

SPEAKER_04:

Lito I don't really know what Lito likes but he listens to what I listen to but it's like on any given day at any given time the 90s can come back

SPEAKER_01:

yep

SPEAKER_04:

so We can be listening to Bachata. We can be listening to Copacabana. And then suddenly we'll be back to Blackstreet or Backstreet Boys. Now, were you guys a Backstreet Boys family? Or

SPEAKER_02:

were you an NSYNC family? We were an NSYNC family. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. But we liked both. We liked both. Like, we had our favorites in each. But I would say we were an NSYNC family. Correct me if I'm wrong, sisters, brothers. Let me know. But that's what I think.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm playing. I love

SPEAKER_02:

NSYNC, too.

SPEAKER_04:

But we were definitely Backstreet Boys family. There's a good documentary on Netflix about them. manager.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I know. I saw that. Terrible. That joint was crazy. What was it called?

SPEAKER_04:

I forget.

SPEAKER_02:

Wait, it'll come to me. It was like something fun. Oh, Dirty Pop.

SPEAKER_04:

Was it Dirty

SPEAKER_02:

Pop? It's called Dirty Pop. Okay. Because NSYNC had a song called Dirty Pop.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, man. Now, let's talk fashion real quick. 90s fashion. Obviously, we... doing the colors

SPEAKER_02:

yeah this is like I feel like this is just what people think the 90s were I mean I remember wearing bright colors but I mostly remember wearing like bell bottoms like I had bell bottoms I had platform shoes bell bottoms yeah like the flare jeans those were in in the 90s Yeah. Vlad, you were born in the 90s. It's like you know, but you didn't know. Like, you weren't in high school.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. You know what I mean? I was like a kid

SPEAKER_02:

in the 90s. Yeah. I mean, I was also a kid, but I was an older kid.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. Like, I was... Like, in the 90s, I remember wearing, like, one... like a sweat set of Ninja Turtles. I got a Ninja Turtle top matched with Ninja Turtle bottoms. Light up shoes. Yo, we had light up shoes. I remember having, well, no, I remember my uncle, because my uncle lived in New York. He moved to New York at that time. He's in Queens. And he came, he used to come and visit us with the, he used to always have all the latest music on the burn CDs. I'm like, yo, bro, where you get these? You know, but you go to New York, you go to Jamaica Ave, bro, you could... You can do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. We used to get a calendar called Delia's or Delia's. I remember that. Yeah. We used to order like floral shirts and little flower clips. Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like East Bay, East Bay Magazine used to come to the house. My brothers would order like shoes. You didn't get that?

SPEAKER_04:

No, we weren't really like a subscription family.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my dad loves subscriptions. We didn't

SPEAKER_04:

like getting mail

SPEAKER_02:

or visitors. Gotcha. No, we got both. Yeah. Something else, all the infomercials, like the things on TV, my dad used to order a whole bunch of that. We used to have this giant like generator thing that it was like a radio, a microwave, a flashlight, like just for disasters. yeah just everything and I remember something else that he bought was like this rotisserie thing and the commercial was like you said it and forget it

SPEAKER_04:

oh my

SPEAKER_02:

goodness he used to buy random things on TV

SPEAKER_04:

QVC made a lot

SPEAKER_02:

of money from your dad man from my daddy

SPEAKER_04:

yeah damn now we didn't really mom bought some things actually she bought quite a number of things off of infomercials if you were and that's the thing if you weren't Around in those times, you didn't understand the pain of having to, if you were up and you couldn't sleep, but somehow you had access to a TV and you thought you were going to watch some cartoons or something.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, maybe on like obscure channels, you were watching reruns, but to suffer through an infomercial.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, do you remember when TV used to just shut off?

SPEAKER_04:

What time?

SPEAKER_02:

It was like 10 p.m. and the TV would just be staticky.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like, yeah. I don't know when it started having like late night TV. But I remember when I was little, like we'd be up or sneak to go see what my parents were doing. It was just static. And yeah, at a certain time it'll just shut off. And then it's like, well, I guess that was their cue to go to bed. But yeah, I used to just shut off. It wasn't like you stayed up and watch TV.

SPEAKER_04:

I remember hearing, it's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are?

SPEAKER_02:

Hopefully asleep, but probably not. And I used to think, oh

SPEAKER_04:

my gosh. Am I watching this at home or am I on the streets imagining that I'm seeing this? Oh, mommy, I'm scared. Oh, my goodness. Like, I don't know where I am. My mom's like, sit your ass down. You're at home. Go to sleep. Go

SPEAKER_02:

to

SPEAKER_04:

bed. You're not supposed to be awake right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my goodness. So, yeah. So to wrap this up, Vlad, what was your top memory from the 90s?

SPEAKER_04:

Something that gives the 90s. Maybe we should do a separate episode. Early 2000s. Let us know in the comments what your favorite 90s memories are. I would have to say my top 90s memory was... being on the porch with my cousins and with bootleg super soakers, but just buckets of water and just the sun was hazy and setting and we were just throwing... the water in the air, like in the bucket. And we'd get wet with the bucket. And it was just so much fun. And we'd spend hours outside. And then we'd go back inside for dinner. And then after dinner, depending on what day it was, play video games or sit down and watch SmackDown on Thursday nights. I was very, very excited about that as a wrestling fan. But yeah, no, I have so many memories. It's hard to pinpoint one. But just so many great memories of walking around Central Square in Cambridge with my mom. and going bike riding with my cousins and my friends and going to school and in the book when they're doing a book sales

SPEAKER_02:

oh yeah scholastic book fair yeah

SPEAKER_04:

and I loved going to the library oh yeah so many great memories how about you

SPEAKER_02:

yeah I would say definitely playing around outside with the water hose with all of us together we used to also do like what's it called hide and seek in the dark in our backyard because it was you know fenced in so we could just run around hide random places in the backyard and yeah just like that Bye. Bye. carefree, being carefree feeling with all of the people that I loved all together.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. It was a special time. It was a special time. You had to be there, but everybody's going to have their time. People are going to be looking at the 2020s like, yo, you just had to be there.

SPEAKER_02:

I know the girls in Lido be like, oh, I remember 2024 was the best year ever. Yeah. 2025 was so great.

SPEAKER_04:

2035 was so great.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my God. Yikes.

SPEAKER_04:

Don't even think about that. So listen, you guys let us know what your favorite 90s memories are, what your favorite 90s fashion, what your favorite 90s snack was, Hot Pockets, pizza, whatever

SPEAKER_02:

it was. Your top five groups of the 90s, early 2000s. Yeah, let

SPEAKER_04:

us know, man, because we love the, if you love the 90s as much as us, please, please put some love in the comments and let us know. But yeah, nah, I always loved the 90s. We honor the 90s. We're in a 90s home. I told Jules that we're just, instead of doing a 90s themed party, we're just going to do one year in the 90s. 91, 92, 93, 94. Oh, that's cute. Because I don't want to let go. The 90s is the best time. So, you know, But to that point, if you like and you hear and you love what you see here, please subscribe to our channel. Yes. Support our channel.

SPEAKER_02:

Share with a friend.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, yes, yes. And make sure you tap into our affiliate links, naturaleman.com. It is not of the 90s, but it's just as good. Okay? In the meantime, it's your boy, Vlad the Bull, your number one embrace coach.

SPEAKER_02:

And Angie, la cyber

SPEAKER_04:

mommy. We're out of here. Y'all stay rooted. Deuces. Thank you for listening to the Roots& Rhythm podcast. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe so you can stay notified for all our updates, including new episodes. Until next time, y'all, stay rooted.

People on this episode

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Angie Thomas

Host
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Vladimir Louissaint

Host