The Regime Report Ep 10 - 2/3 Regime Team

Join The...2, as they dive into a wide range of topics including Jay-Z's concert, the latest in sports, and recent UFC fights. They analyze performances, share insights, and discuss the cultural impact of these events.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Welcome to the Regime Report. I'm Stitchren.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

And I'm Ray. And uh today is just the two of us. Fortunately, Drew won't be able to make it today. However, uh, he is living vicariously through us. He didn't die, he's here. He'll be watching this, you know, after we upload this too, probably have a good laugh at that comment. But yes, we are uh coding it down the fort, you know, two-thirds of the Roga uh regime report. And uh we have a couple topics that we do want to cover. Uh first thing we do want to cover is the Jay-Z concert. So Jay-Z was in Yankee Stadium um a couple weeks ago, and he did a two-night uh event, immediately sold out. Then after that, he did a three-night event. So the first album that he did, uh Reasonable Doubt, was uh day one of the concert. So this was a pretty cool event um simply because of the fact that he has very monumental songs. Um when the album first came out, the source gave it a four out of five rating. Then as time passed, they uh they upgraded that rating to a five out of five classic rating. Uh Jay-Z was a very uh he's a very lyrical person. He has very iconic songs, iconic tracks. We did cover this before in our earlier episodes. Uh, but one of the coolest things that he did here in this specific um fashion, he did a uh a remix with Nas, in which Nas came out, um rapped um over the dead president's track, and then uh Jay uh rapped over um another song. I forgot the other song, man. We'll we'll circle back to that song. But that was a cool thing. Also, another cool thing he did, he actually brought out Jazz O. Jazz O was uh his mentor at first. Um, you know, if you ever heard the originator, uh Jay-Z wasn't rapping the way he was rapping in the very uh from his first album. He had kind of like a like like a like a fast rap style, kind of like how Eminem did when Eminem first came onto the scene in the rap industry. He gave him his flowers and his respect uh as well. Uh but also the other cool thing he did, you know, everybody knows that uh he's married to Beyonce. Um he has a lovely family. His wife was performing uh Can't Knock the Hustle. And his daughter, his daughter was playing the piano, and there's a song called Feeling It, in which the song opens up with a piano, and uh his daughter was actually performing the piano, which was pretty cool. I think you know, having a family, uh just like uh growing up in the music and just learning and performing together. Uh I I I really think that's uh very memorable. Um, I mean, I'm pretty sure when they have their private time, they look back at this and they say, look, these are the memories that we have as a family and that we can hold on and cherish. Uh but yeah, that was that was his day one. That was his day one. Uh Citron, do you want to kind of go over what day two was about? Uh the blueprint. Yes, the blueprint.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

No, yeah, day two, day two was actually nuts. I was actually super jealous I couldn't get to this concert because they brings out who else but M to perform renegade with him. Um I saw clips from it. I real I saw the whole performance really. Um, yeah, I mean, epic. God, I'm so jealous. I really wish I had been at that concert, I'm gonna be honest. But but you know, typical J fashion, man, you know, bringing out the stars, you know, it's you know, hometown and getting the crowd riled up. So, I mean, yeah, it was yeah. I mean, the highlight for me was obviously the renegade track, because you know, I'm just such a big M fan. But I know, you know, just yeah, just bringing everybody out and and performing in front of the hometown crowd and you know, typical J fashion. This is the venue, I think, you know, where he should come out and and say what he's got to say. You know, if you've heard seen some other episodes prior, you know, I've ranted about the roots picnic and you know things that he said. You know, if you haven't, go back and listen because that was that's a classic, I'm telling you right now. Um, but yeah, no, this this is the venue, you know, come out and and and you know, show up in front of the hometown fans and everything. And uh and yeah, you bring out the stars. I mean, it's you know, it's a show. So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah, also uh one other thing that he did was he brought out Slick Rick uh for the blueprint album that he was performing. So I don't know if a lot of people noticed, but when you listen to the blueprint, there's a song called The Rulers Back. The Rulers Back was also a song that Slick Rick had on his album. So that was just his way of paying uh homage to. So what better to do than to bring out Slick Rick and sing The Rulers Back while The Rulers Back is playing from the get uh from the blueprint album? So that was also cool in itself that he's paying homage to you know people that came before him and uh people that you know he kind of uh you know sparred lyrically with. You know, he was sparring lyrically with Eminem on Renegade, and the crowd went bananas. They were they went crazy once Eminem came out. Once Eminem finished performing uh with Jay for Renegade, he actually sang Lose Yourself, and everybody in the crowd was singing it as well. And um, you know, I also didn't have tickets to this. I was doing what everybody else who was a fan did, and that was catch it live on TikTok. Because there's people who were streaming it live on TikTok, and I was singing along with those folks. So I want to give a special shout out to the people who actually streamed it live on TikTok and did not get in trouble for it. And I hope you don't get in trouble when you f when they find out. But I do love the fact that um, you know, uh people showing their love and support, and just like you, Citrine, if I was able to kind of get those tickets, brother, we would have definitely been uh been there uh on behalf of the Virginia port.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yes, sir. Real real quick, we're not gonna get into it, but who is better on on the renegade track, Jay or M?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Uh Eminem is better on the Renegade track.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Thank you. Thank you very much. He's better on that. Moving on from that.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

They we could touch on that right now. I mean they got they both have memorable uh lyrics. Um I think what makes Eminem outshine Jay in this is the fact of his cadence and how he's able to construct his lyrics. Because Jay does have lyrics, but um those lyrics weren't um as intricate, but those are lyrics you can circle back to and you can still recite. Um that's a lot of what Jay-Z also has to bring to the table. He brings a lot of authenticity authenticity. Brings a lot of authenticity to when he brings that brings his music, and a lot of what he raps makes it very uh memorable and quotable because he's brings his authentic self. And we also forgot to cover this part. He cut his hair. He cut his hair, so he went back to the Caesar, and I was like, oh shit, wearing the Yankee hat, and it kind of did well for him. Like, I really like the fact that he did, you know, uh cut the hair off. Not that I had a problem with the hair growing out, but it is kind of you know back to original form, showing like, hey, look, you know, this is how I was when I came in the league, and um I'm bringing this uh to the forefront. And I always found it interesting that he would always wear a Yankees hat. Maybe that's his way of paying homage to you know to the Bronx in a way, because that's what that's where the you know hip hop was birthed from. I don't know if he ever said this, I don't know if he ever meant this, but that's how I kind of see it as a fan at this point, especially for him performing at Yankee Stadium. He could have tried to perform at the Barclays because you know he's from Brooklyn. Uh, but performing at Yankee Stadium was very monumental in itself.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Yeah, very iconic. I mean, just you know, obviously the history of the Yankees and everything, you know. So I mean, I I I you know, he might go to the Barclays at some point, I don't know. But, you know, it's it's like you said, it's iconic to be in Yankee Stadium in front of the home, you know, the hometown fans and everything, and yeah, back back to the roots and all that stuff. So yeah, um, yeah, I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah. We didn't even cover uh the third night. Not yet. So the third night. The third night was an interesting night for the concert. And the reason why I say it's interesting for the concert, because like as I said before, I was watching this on TikTok live and it was like eight o'clock, nine o'clock, ten o'clock, and nothing happened. And everybody in the comments was like, was it canceled or is it over? What happened? So uh apparently there was like some type of security breach, and they want to make sure everybody's safety, you know, was you know not compromised. So they had to kind of delay the concert. The concert didn't even start to like 11 30, almost 12 o'clock that night. So if anybody was expecting to go to work the next day, they called out. I know for a fact they called out. Ain't no way you're gonna be showing up to work later than usual.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I don't really know what happened there. All I mean, I I I I heard that just a whole like a crowd of people that didn't have tickets just kind of rushed the gates or something. I guess I don't mean were they trying to get in. That's what I heard too. I'm not sure. I mean, you know, maybe just they thought masses get in CJ. I don't I don't know. I mean, I respect the hustle, but like, come on now, you know, like like not not not a good look, you know what I mean? Not a good look. Going off at like midnight. I mean, it's just it's it's crazy. Could you imagine having tickets for that show? Like, just wild.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

So imagine people who live in the apartment buildings that try to get a is trying to get a good night rest. That are going to work the next day. That are going to work the next day. Yeah, because you know, Yankee Stadium is in it's in the Bronx, so like around us a lot of apartment buildings. Very residential.

unknown 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And it's yeah, and it for one thing, it's probably cool enough if you have like a you know binoculars to see from your apartment window to see uh the game and the concert.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

But if you're trying to go to sleep, man, yeah, I mean if you ever been outside there when like a game or an event is going on, like that, that whole area gets loud. I mean, you can hear everything from outside. So there's there's nothing muffled at all. Stadium is all open. If anybody's never been there before, there's there's really no walls blocking it off, really. Like, you know, the the sound really travels. So so yeah, if you if you lived in that area, you were here in jail all night.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah. You was happy Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You was like, oh my god, I gotta go to work in the morning. What the hell? I know for a fact a couple people were like that. Um, but yeah, so somebody tried to rush the crowd, um, rushed security. Uh they held, you know, back everything. There was there was a theory about that, though. They they said maybe Rihanna was running late. She was there, she performed. Um, and the third night they had a lot of guest performances. They had Jeezy, they had uh Fat Joe and Jadakiss sing their verses from New York. Um little tribute, you know, because the Knicks won and they were playing that song everywhere uh once the Knicks won the championship. I gotta say, I think New York had a phenomenal summer this year. You know, they got some concerts, got a championship, uh a lot of people liking their mayor uh in New York. So, you know, they they had they had a good summer. I gotta say, maybe 2026 was a good summer for New York.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Um so far, so far. So far. Yankees not not doing great right now, but you know, we'll we'll see what happens. But hey. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

When's the playoffs for the baseball? Is it October?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Uh not till uh not till like late September. But the Yankees did not have a very good June, and so far they're not having a really great July. We need our captain back, obviously. Judge is still out, he's still hurt. Um, you know, the uh Freed came back, uh, one of the starting pitchers, has been out since like May. He finally came back uh yesterday. Um they had him on a pitch count. He didn't pitch very long, but he he pitched really, really well. So that's really, really promising, really exciting for us fans. Now, you know, we just gotta hope Judge can heal up and come back and maybe we make a run at this thing. But uh, but that would be crazy to have the Knicks and the Yankees win the win uh win the championship in the same year. That'd be nuts. Yeah, you know, or the Mets.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I don't I have no idea how the Mets are doing are the news better.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, we don't talk about the Mets here. Drew's not here, we're not the Mets. I'm sorry. If Drew's not here, we can't. No, we can't. Yeah, Drew's a really big Mets fan. But hey, we won't talk about that. It's all good.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

It's all good. Yeah, Drew's a really big Mets fan. If anything, I I I pay attention to the Mets because of him. But if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be paying attention to the Mets. I'm from the Bronx, so the writing's on the wall with that answer.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Um there's only one real team in New York anyway. Controversial as it is, I don't care. Controversial as it is. I've said it. And I mean it too. You got anything else to say about Jay?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Um, nah, I mean, I think it was very great, as I said before. It's you know, it's phenomenal to see how he's able to still bring people into the crowd and uh still stay relevant at his at his age. I still believe that he's also relevant regardless of um his absence from releasing new music. Uh it just kind of shows how uh much he was able to contribute to hip hop music and the culture itself. In addition to that, um he uh only performed two albums and then you know a couple extra songs after that. And the f in the third night he was performing a lot of other songs with guest appearances, uh, which was really cool. Uh everybody was singing every lyric, you know. And it just shows how um how much he's able to, you know, connect with the culture and and show much how much of a major player and influence that he is. But yeah, that's all I gotta say about Jay. Um but in other news, we've been talking about this for a minute and it's been T.I. A couple episodes in. I know Citron, you said yourself that you wanted to uh listen to T.I.'s album and cover it. Uh I'm gonna pass this to you. Let you uh just give a review, a solid take on how you feel about his album.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah. Um, so if you've listened to you know any of the episodes, watched any of the episodes beforehand where we mentioned T.I., you'll know I'm a really big T.I. fan. Um, I have pretty much all of his albums. I love all the songs. I was really excited to hear that this album was gonna come out, his final album. I'm like, man, he's gonna go out with a bang. Um, he called the album uh Kill the King. Um I believe after listening to the album that he should have probably named the album that uh The King is dead, um, because I didn't really like it. Um I had such high hopes. Um, you know, when he released that Let Hem Know song, um it really sounded like Vintage TI. Um it sounded like a couple of the song, you know, the tracks that I've heard off off uh TI vs TIP, which you know was one of his most popular albums. Um and even on um the Troubleman album, which was his uh, I believe it was his last album before he dropped this one. Um, you know, that album was pretty solid as well. And it had the the the sound and the making of you know something that would come off of an album like that. Um and let him know really excited me. But I was also afraid that, you know, he might have released the best song on the album way too early. Um, and that's kind of how I feel about it. Let him know, in my opinion, is the best track on this album. Um a lot of the features had me kind of questioning some things. Um it seemed like he was going way back to like other artists, like past artists, you know, artists that aren't even really relevant anymore, um, that he might have worked with back in the day, you know, where where he had a lot of hits or where he collaborated a lot on some of their tracks too. Um, and by that I mean, you know, he's got he's got young Drew on a track, which side note, um track two on the album, when the album first dropped, um, it did not have Drew on it. Um that was just TI, uh, I believe. Um, and then like a few days later, they like re-re-released the album on Spotify, and Drew was now on that second track. So um I didn't think it made it any better. Um, but you know, he was on that album too. Uh, I think the first half of the album was okay. Um I should note the album's got 18 songs on it, which I feel is a little bit too many. Um, right around the the track eight mark, um, you know, some of the verses were solid at the first half, I thought, um, but it kind of was forgettable. There weren't a lot of memorable lines, there wasn't a lot of memorable sounds to the beats or anything. Um, and then after track eight, um, which I believe is the track, it's uh it's a track featuring Usher, um, which just was kind of weird. It didn't do it for me. Um, and the last half of the album was kind of odd. But again, back to the features. I mean, he's got The Dream on here, he's got Summer Walker on here, um, he's got the uh the OMG girls on here. I'm just kind of curious as to why why these feature lists. He did have a song, um, it was called uh Dope Boys Academy, um, where he had T-Pain and Jeezy um and two chains on it. Um, I think that that was also a dope track. I don't think it was better than Let Hem Know, but it might have been his second best song on this album. Um, and I also found it kind of weird because out of all of I mean you got T.I. first off, T-Pain killed the hook. So just throwing that out there, T-Pain still got it, T-Pain's still dope. But when you got a song with verses with T.I. Jeezy and Two Chains, you don't expect Two Chains to be the best verse on that song. I mean, you just don't. Um, so T.I. and Jeezy just didn't come to play. I thought Two Chains just slaughtered all of them, and I found that to be odd in itself, too. Um, and then one other thing I have to say about the album that really kind of stuck out to me. Um, yeah, there's a lot of tracks, and I think the reason for that is because pretty much all of these songs are less than three minutes. Um so there wasn't there wasn't a lot of content in a lot of the songs. I felt like a lot of the songs seemed to be a bit rushed. I felt like he could have maybe added another verse on there. Maybe he could have had, you know, a couple more relevant, more relevant features, maybe. I don't know if it's a thing where just people don't want to work with TI anymore, or you know, maybe he had a you know that that beep with 50 and people pulled out and they were just kind of like, no, I don't want to do it. You know, I'm not I'm not really sure. Um, but I've listened to I've been through this maybe three or four times now, just really trying to to find any anything I you know extra that I might like about it. And just overall, I'm I'm really disappointed. I think he really missed the mark on this. Um, I'm really upset that this is his final album. I'm hoping that maybe at some point, you know, he'll he'll do some features or maybe he'll just release some random singles or something just to kind of you know uh uh re revamp whatever he did here just to kind of like save himself from this album. Uh I waited so long for this album. There was like two or three pushback dates on this album. Um, and then for this to be the final product, I was just I was kind of a little disappointed. Um yeah, so that's kind of where I where I landed on it, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So from a one to ten, what would you rate the album?

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Uh one to ten. Um I had it, I had it initially at like a six. Um after listening to it a little bit more, and like I said, some of the stuff was revamped a little bit. I mean, I can go as high as like a six and a half, I think. Um okay. I don't I don't think it touches seven. Um and and don't get me wrong, like for some for some records, for some albums, for some rappers, like a six or six and a half, like it's not great, but you know, sometimes it's like, all right, well, he came, he did his thing, maybe it's just it didn't it didn't hit the same way or it just wasn't as popular or something. This is not TI. So, you know, a TI album for me would be, you know, I uh somewhere in the eight or nine range, you know, probably something like that. Um, this was not that. Uh, it really missed the mark um for me anyway. Um, I'd love to know what other people think about it. Honestly, I you know, some of some people I've talked to kind of feel the same way that I do. Um, I don't hear a lot of like really high praise for it, but I, you know, I'm still curious to know what others think. But just you know, being the big TI fan that I am and and expecting so much, which I guess was my own fault, but expecting so much, and then you know, for this to be the final product, I was I was just really disappointed on it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

So now you mentioned something you said is about 18 tracks.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah 18 tracks, but the total album is only 51 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

51 minutes, 18 tracks. That's in that's interesting. Yeah. So I I see what you're saying just from that perspective that a lot of these tracks were like um too short. And from that alone, you know, you know, you got less than an hour of an of album to of you know, the album playing, but for 18 tracks, uh, what do you feel is the best or ideal benchmark for an album as far as like track listing? Well, how many tracks you think at what point you think is too much, or what you what point you think is perfect?

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Um so, and I mean, and don't get me wrong, there there have been other albums that have had this many songs on them. I mean, eight you know, eighteen tracks. I mean, there there's been albums that Have a lot of tracks on them, but a a lot of them are higher quality. I mean, I mean, Cole alone released a double album, you know. I mean, I'm not I'm not trying to necessarily compare the two, but I mean he you know, Cole releases a double album. We were waiting a while for it, really giving it high hopes and expecting a lot, you know, and he came out and he delivered. So I mean it's it's not like you know, 18 tracks is necessarily too many, but I just I felt like the quality of work wasn't there. Uh overall, though, I mean, like a solid, solid album. I mean, you could look at you know 12, 13 tracks, maybe even 14 tracks, but like, you know, solid, you know, three and a half, four and a half minute tracks, maybe four and a half is a little too much for all of them, but you know, maybe some of them you get an extra feature in there or something. Um, you know, uh and again, it even if if he had 24 tracks, I mean it is what it is, but like just again, the the body of work is just the quality of it. It's just it's it's not there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Yeah, I mean I agree with you. I think um, you know, 12 to 13 tracks, 14 is kind of like the sweet spot when you're making like a full solid album, um, you know, with the music and um the runtime on the album. Uh you did mention Cole. Uh Cole was a double album, so like when I think his in total was like 22 tracks or whatever, it's almost 24 tracks. If you're making a double album, it makes sense because one album is 12, 11 tracks, the other one is about 11, 12 tracks. That makes sense. Um, in my you know, from my perspective, just me personally, when listening to music, but I I think that's the sweet benchmark for any artist. If you're gonna make 12, 13 songs, um, 14, 15, um, and then you're gonna release more, make it a deluxe.

unknown 23:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Well, it's like when LeBron said, he's like, you know, we're gonna make tracks, then we're gonna put two more tracks, then another one as a thank you.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Right. That's exactly right. It's right. You know, but like and then again. It's what you have. All right, you have you have a potential four or five other tracks. You know, you could do what other rappers do. Um, uh M specifically, right? On um uh I can't I can't remember what album. It might have been his last one, Music to be murdered by. It might it might have been the last one.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Um he had his talking about yeah, he had his original track list.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Oh no, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It was the album before that. It was the Marshall Mathers LP too. He had his he had his whole track list, and then he came out with a separate CD, which only had five tracks on it. And that was just a five uh you know, a five-track bonus, whatever. He put out his body of work, which I I've already said I'm an M fan, but I felt that that album was absolutely phenomenal. And then he also pairs it with the extra, you know, five you know, bonus tracks, which in in all due respect was also pretty, pretty good. I mean, they were they were they were also pretty good. So you have you have the initial body of work and then you come out with the extras after that, and that's fine. I don't I don't know how long that album actually went for, you know, track time or song time or anything, but um I can double check that right now. Um but I just you know I I just felt that um I felt like this album from TI was really more of a let me just throw all I got out there and and and be done with it and that was it. And you know, I it's just unfortunate, you know, that that's that's what occurred.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

So the Marshall Matters 2 Deluxe edition, 21 songs. Okay. And then we have one, two, three, four, five uh songs which are part of the deluxe, so you know you do the math there. Yeah, so you're looking at a solid uh sixteen songs? Sixteen songs, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

I think um I think a couple of them too might have been skits as well on that album.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Yeah, Parking Lost Skit.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

So 15 songs. That's the that's that's pretty much what we both agreed on. 16 uh 15 songs. Um but yeah. Music to be murdered by another MM album, which I think is really good. That one actually has 20 songs, which is really interesting because it has an interlude, it has an intro, but there's still music in the in the intro. Like he still raps on the intro. Um that's one of the few MM albums where he like has a lot of songs and it doesn't kind of feel like you're like kind of bothered by it. But then he also has like a a B side. Yep. So so the B side is just another album. It's a it's another album. We have 36 songs in total, which is pretty interesting. I think um him when he made that approach, I know we're segueing to Eminem from this point. Um, but I think Eminem specifically when he did that approach in music to be murdered by, but then made a B side to it, was really interesting in itself because every song was a very uh hard-hitting song. It was very good songs too. Like I I feel like none of them kind of like um were like lackluster. Uh that was that was a high energy and highly um you know entertaining album. And he does what he does best, make sure that he's uh lyrically on par and on point before he releases the music. So um it sounds like just from me hearing your uh perspective on the TI album, that maybe TI uh was putting out what he had, um, or maybe he wasn't just as um you know, uh lyrically uh prepared uh as he once was before, because TI can rap. Like, you know, and he brings a lot of um uh good music when he creates his music uh and push out puts out his songs. So there's always like I don't know if you ever notice, always like this little like I don't want to say it's a funk, but it's like it's more like uh like them getting back into the into the movement. And then when they're back to their creative um capabilities, like the next album they release is better or more top-notch. Uh if TI changes his mind and wants to release more music, we might see that from him. Uh do you think that's possible or he's dead serious that this is his last album?

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Um I think initially, um I think initially he was probably pretty serious. Um I you know, I uh just from what I'm hearing, I know that there's a lot of other directions he wants to go. Uh I think he's still got his clothing line. I think you know he's still acting a little bit and he's doing you know some other things as well. Um I think it really it really depended on how maybe this album did, like what the turnout was, you know, what what the revenue was, what the what the streams were, you know, the copies sold, whatever. Um, you know, I I thought that he he had kind of went through that funk and got out of it right around that No Mercy album, which was um, I believe the second album he made after he he uh got released from jail. I'm pretty sure the first one was uh the track with No Matter What on it, where he's talking about being in prison and like all of that stuff. So I'm pretty sure it was that one, and then the one after that was No Mercy, which didn't get a lot of publicity at all. I think he had like like one track on there, and I can't even remember what it was that that was actually even played on the radio. So, you know, he's like a song with Eminem. Um but I don't know if that was the Oh yeah, oh yeah, it was that song on on No Mercy. You're right. It was uh That's all she wrote. That was that was and that was the best song on the album. I'm actually still bumping that. You're right. I don't know. I can't believe I even forgot about that. Um yeah, so I I think it really depends. Um, I don't think that, and again, and we've talked about this before, so I'm just kind of summarizing. I don't think that that little feud, the little beefy had with 50, um, put him over the mark that he thought it would. I think that he just thought, you know, 50 was really hot right then. Let's start this feud, let's let's get myself back on the radar. And 5050 kind of put it to bed. I mean, in a lot of respects, TI did not win that feud at all. Um, and I think it just, you know, and then you know, right after that, you know, he's talking about let him know, and then he releases that other disc track. And um, I just I don't think that he had the hype that he thought he was gonna have. Um and then again, you know, to then release a body of work like this. Um now looking back on it, I'm thinking to myself, you know, maybe maybe he really thought that that was the only shot he had to get this album sold. Because maybe he even knew that, like, you know, I did my best. This is where it's where I'm at with it, but you know, it's it's not my work, and this is just me riding off to the sunset. Let's go out with the bang anyway that I can. Um, you know, I could see that as maybe maybe a thought process, but um, you know, I I would love maybe, maybe a year or two from now, like secretly right now, like understand it was a miss, you know, whatever. You you did what you could, that's fine. I'm really hoping that right now he's he's kind of stewing a little bit, kind of writing some shit down, you know, thinking about some other shit, maybe, maybe talking to some of his other, you know, you know, more more more uh more relevant features, maybe kind of getting some stuff together. Even if he's just bullshitting around in the studio trying to put some shit together, you know, doesn't necessarily have to be something legitimate, just kind of see where it's at, see that you still got it. Maybe another year or two from now, we'll get a surprise release, you know, even even if it's just like a half album, you know, release like five, six, seven songs on an album or something and just say, hey, new music. I mean, I I might be interested in listening to it, but he's he he's gotta go back to the drawing board, I think, and and really decide what direction he's going with this. It's just it wasn't it.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

I think those are all valid points. I think that's really great. Um I was actually pulling up what if he did a versus to kind of help promote his album, and it said that he actually did a versus with Jeezy in 2020. Um I guess I missed that one because I guess I just I would have remembered on the top right on top of my head. But um I think personally, if he would have done another versus and then released his music, maybe that would have favored him more. But uh at the end of the day, it's the product the product that he puts out. So uh maybe somebody else may review this album and feel like it may be a bit higher, um, or at the same uh rating that you're providing.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

So uh six and a half, right? Six and a half is is where I'm at. Yeah. Six six and a half is the highest I'm gonna go on it right now, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

So um I'm actually listening to um and this is not a new album, but it this actually kind of caught on my radar, uh, JID's album, uh God Likes Ugly. Or actually let me let me get the right title. But J.I.D. man. JID is an interesting artist because he has uh a very good lyrical capability that I think uh falls under the radar. I don't think a lot of people pay attention to him. Uh, but this actually kind of caught my radar. Um and the name of the album, his latest album, this actually came out in 2025, but uh I've been hearing this uh album a little bit more often. Uh God Does Like Ugly. So um I like what he's offering. I'm actually gonna give it a couple more spins to give my honest review on the album, but as an artist, he's actually appeared on a lot of other popular artist uh songs, and he could hold his own. He holds he held his own on an M MM song. He held his own uh with J. Cole. You know, now you know he has his own body of work that he uh is presenting, but his latest album, God Does Like Ugly, is something that I've been listening to uh lately. I want to give my honest review. So on our next episode, or a couple episodes after that, I'll give an honest take on how I felt. But Sitchin, I gotta tell you something. What's up? So remember when we did like kind of like our honest take on uh uh Nas and DJ Premier's album? Yes. I think it's starting to grow on me now. Really? I think some of the music is starting to kind of grow on me. Maybe because it was so much of a difference from him working with Hit Boy, I was just like, I don't know. But I think that's just pretty much how music is at this point. If they don't understand it, they eventually will. So, you know, he does have some songs that I do like that I kind of like was like, alright, yeah, I kind of like it a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

So Alright, that's fair. I'll have to go back and listen relisten then if you're if that's what you're saying. I'm gonna go listen to that to that uh JID album too. That's a big one. That's the latest album. Yeah, I never got around to it. But if you're saying it's good, I'm gonna I'm gonna go, I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Yeah, he's pretty much he's pretty he's lyrical, we like lyrical artists, so I I think you're gonna like the music that he uh on that M song.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

That that song went hard, bro. Hard I'm with it.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Alright, so um uh let's segue into sports, bro. Uh we had a couple things uh that happened. You know, we had the World Cup and um when we last spoke about it in our last episode, we mentioned that you know New Jersey is hosting the World Cup, the finals. Um but what I what I actually didn't know, I didn't know that the World Cup was gonna be played in other like stadiums. So it wasn't until I checked the bracket, I'm like, oh, okay, they're now all gonna be in like Jersey. The championship was in Jersey, a couple other games were in Jersey. Uh but you know, we're gonna definitely just talk about the uh the final matchup. We had Spain versus Argentina, and Spain versus Argentina um was very interesting in itself. Um and did you want to start it off, or you want me to kind of continue um with my with my points?

SPEAKER_00 35:11

I mean, I yeah, I mean I can speak on it. That's that's no problem. Um uh so first off, and you know, promise Drew, um, you know, special shout out to all the law enforcement, all the security that held it down at MetLife, you know, during this whole tournament. A lot of bodies, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of emotion in the stands and everything, and you know, they held it down. So, you know, shout out to all of you guys. Um, yeah, I mean, in terms of the final, uh, you know, I mean, we we had uh we had Drew on here. It might have been last episode saying how he really wanted Spain, Spain to win. So, you know, we were all like kind of like, yeah, they're doing well, but I'm not gonna lie, I like shit on it completely. And I named like five or six other teams that I would have much rather seen win the World Cup, um, one of which was Argentina. Um, so it was cool to see a you know a Spain-Argentina final. Um, I really wanted Messi to win one more, truthfully. I'm not like super big into soccer, but the World Cup is, you know, I'm everybody's into the World Cup and me included. And you know, obviously Messi is gonna go down probably as as maybe the greatest ever. Um it was really cool to actually have them in Jersey. I didn't go to any of the games, of course, but I mean to have them right here was was pretty nuts, you know. I mean, you know, rep in the hometown, so that was pretty cool. Um, but yeah, man, watching that game, um, you know, I was kind of in and out on the first half. I had some stuff going on, but I really tuned in the second half. Um, that's Spain defense, man. I mean, from what I know about soccer, I mean that Argentina just had nowhere to go. I mean, they they shut Messi down all game. He barely even got to touch the ball. When he got to touch the ball, he really couldn't make anything happen. They really swarmed him. You know, Argentina turned the ball over like crazy. I mean, almost almost every other possession, it was like a turnover uh, you know, given towards Spain. And um what I really think uh a big uh a big culprit of it was too was that um leading up to that final game, um Spain, well, so Spain pretty much, I think they tied one matchup, but everything else they won, um they didn't lose any game. So I think they tied, I think it might have been against Ivory Coast, um, I think, and then they won every other game. So um, and they won it pretty short-handedly as well. Whereas, you know, Argentina, Argentina played a lot of soccer. They had a lot of matches that went into extra time, they had some that went into shootouts. Um, and and honestly, you know, what watching Messi, I mean, you know, you're watching the whole game, but pretty much the whole time I'm watching the game, my eyes are kind of looking for Messi, they're glued to Messi. Uh, I I I know that you know Spain had the defense, they shut them down, but but uh just in my opinion, I was looking at one tired soccer player. I mean, he he's basically carried Argentina the whole time. I mean, I know he wasn't the only goal scorer, they had plenty of goal scorers, but I mean, you know, when you're somebody like Messi and you're that type of presence, and you know, everybody expects you to be the greatest because you, like I said, you're probably the greatest ever. Um, he just he looked really, really tired. Um, just all the extra soccer and you know, everything like that. But I mean, when it all came down to it, you know, Spain, Spain comes out and they win. But I you really couldn't have asked for a better final than that. I mean, it came right down to the wire. It was it was close every step of the way. Uh, you know, towards the end there, Argentina did have a couple chances um that they really didn't have all game, made it kind of exciting. Uh, even right before Spain scored that that that uh that goal. Um, they had a few opportunities just right before that, which was really exciting. Um, you know, ultimately, you know, I was rooting for Argentina. I really wanted them to win, but I'll give it to Drew. Spain won. Uh, and they were deserving of the win. It was it was a really good match, I thought.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

I was actually rooting for Spain. I was the people that were actually rooting against Argentina, and uh I feel like um personally, and I feel like a lot of people felt like this, Argentina. I feel like they were somewhat carried to the finals. They were actually uh they're not a bad team, but I saw a lot of uh players running to the ref on many occasions, and you know the finals wasn't the only game I watched. I watched other games and um uh Capo Bede and uh Egypt. Uh there was times where goals were scored and they pulled the goals back, and I was like, oh shit, like I didn't know that was possible. And honestly, I don't know if it happened to other games, but it always happened at some point when they were scoring against Argentina, so there was some type of favoritism, um at least from my perception, um, from watching that game. Um, and then you know, we there's a couple calls where it seemed like, all right, well, are they gonna call it in favor of the other team, or they're gonna call it in favor of Argentina? It seemed like they made a couple calls in favor of Argentina. Um, I saw one specific stat where uh they showed the power rankings of the other teams uh that Argentina was playing against. And those rankings were arguably lower compared to the other teams that were playing, uh, specifically England, um, Spain specifically, because they made it to the finals. The other teams um that Spain was playing against, they were much more challenging teams. Um, and you know, that's one statistic that somebody was saying. Um and then um uh look at the end of the day, uh, those were little things that I saw here and there. I was just like, I don't know. Uh me, I've always been a guy who was rooting for the underdog, so I was probably inherently not rooting for like uh you know the the the favorite anyway. You know, I'm still rooting for the Knicks because they won. So but um as far as Argentina goes, I was kind of like feeling I'm like, I don't know, maybe we need like a new champion. Uh a repeat champion when it comes to the World Cup games would be phenomenal because it's not often. But for me seeing these little things here and there, I felt um some type of way about it. Now, one of the other things that I did feel uh very upset about was the ending. The ending of the game was very unsportsmanlike. I really didn't like the fact that Argentina and um their team uh let out their loss and frustration uh by attacking players from Spain. Uh, you know, this is the World Cup, and this is a poor reflection of uh how you should act in a professional setting. And I'm not saying let's hog, let's get a drink or anything like that. But at the end of the day, you know, you dap it up, uh handshake, and you're like, all right, move forward. And you know, these are grown men, they're playing with passion. I know they're gonna be crying in the locker room and shit like that, and that's expected. But for you to physically assault people and put your hands on one another, that's why I'm like, oh come on, man, that that shouldn't be happening. Uh, but there's one other thing that I did see that I that kind of crossed my mind. I'm like, nobody knows how to throw a fucking punch, bro. Like, these guys are soccer players, these guys have strong legs. If you know how to throw a punch and you use your hips, somebody's getting knocked out. And I don't know if that's will even permanently banned from playing, you know, uh soccer on an international level. And it's they take it to that approach, but these guys are hitting each other regardless. So I'm just like, what the hell's wrong? Wrong with these guys?

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Um you ever run around for a hundred minutes straight?

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Well, yeah, you run around for a hundred minutes straight. You you probably wouldn't have enough energy and throw a proper punch. You're you're right about that one. You're right at the right about that one. Uh however, uh, I really feel like um uh those players should have uh conducted themselves a little bit better because uh you know, all I kept seeing over TikTok was the crowd. The Argentina fans were very foul and disrespectful. I saw somebody um throw something at iShow Speed while he was just there. Like, how foul is that? Like, you really shouldn't be doing that to anybody. And it shows a you know a lack of respect that they have uh for him, but it's a poor reflection of the of the country itself. Now somebody may see this and feel like you know, whatever you say is irrelevant. What do you know? I know what I saw, and what I saw was kind of foul and disrespectful, and the players on that team should be ashamed of themselves at the end of the day. Uh, because at the end of the day, you're really personally there. I think you're really there because of Messi and Messi alone. Without Messi, you have no shot in a million. No, no, you're right. And what are you gonna say about that? Well, not you, Citron, but like whoever feels whoever feels the opposite. What are you gonna say about that? Now, there is a conspiracy theory that FIFO wanted um Argentina to win. And, you know, it feels like it does kind of make sense to a certain degree, bringing the you know, the the things that I saw from what my perception was. But at the very ending, I don't know if you noticed, but there was like fireworks and they let off like smoke and stuff like that. Smoke was baby blue, it was a baby blue powder. So if the script was for Argentina to win and they didn't deliver, that's Argentina's fault. But it was quite evident if if it was quite evident that they wanted them to win, the proof was in the pudding when they let off the blue smoke um at the end of the day. Of the game. Um, but you know, again, shout off to shout outs to Spain. Spain did their thing and held it down at the end of the day. A lot of the commentators um and sports uh analysts were saying, you know, if this goes to a shuto, Argentina would have had the upper hand, um, which is really tough to watch because I did see how these play out with the shutouts, and uh it's very intense, it's very epic. You're looking at these guys um go against the goalie one-on-one, and it's quite surprising when someone kicks the ball and the ball goes that way to the left, and the goalie goes to the right, completely misses it by a long shot. You're like, oh my god. But that's how that's how these guys are playing. These guys are kicking uh a soccer ball really fast, and it's uh it's like a knee-jerk reaction. And some reactions work, some of them don't, but it is you know, it is what it is at the end of the day. Um, you know, that's my little rant about you know Argentina's team. Um hopefully they conduct they conduct themselves better in the future. But I also gotta also say one more thing. The halftime show. There was no halftime show prior to the one that we had this year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

I believe you're right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

So that was the first ever halftime show that was um produced uh for FIFA World Cup, at least the championship. I personally think I think that was an awesome thing that uh they were able to do. Uh, you know, obviously America got kicked out. Part of me wanted to see them win because you know I live here and I was born here. And, you know, if they had a good shot, that would have been great, but you know, they didn't have what it took in the end. But the halftime show, the halftime performances, that's an American thing. That is that is that's something that we were able to kind of uh also bring forth and offer uh as well as as what we can provide as a country. Well, not provide, but bring forth as a country uh to make this uh exciting and original in itself. And we had a lot of performers. We had Justin Bieber perform, but Justin Bieber from Canada. We had Shakira perform. Shakira is uh from Colombia. Uh Bernard Boy was there performing with Shakira, he's from Jamaica. We had BTS who was there, they were from Korea, and then we had Madonna, American. I Show Speed was also singing. I didn't believe that, but he was singing too. He's American. So it's kind of cool that we were able to see that come forth. And um I thought that was exciting. I think they should take that approach um kind of every every time they do this. Or at least every time the US hosts it.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

I agree. Maybe, maybe we'll get lucky one year and and one day we'll see USA in the final. I'm not holding my breath, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:41

Neither am I.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

You know. One thing also to note, but we will never see Messi in another World Cup match.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

That's the same thing for Ronaldo.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Yeah, and same thing for um Neymar as well. Yeah. It was done too. So I mean it's kind of the end of an error. I mean, those are the guys I grew up watching when I was watching the World Cup, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

So I mean they're the LeBrons of uh of soccer, uh international football.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Yeah. Um, anything else about the cup?

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Um I think it is what it is at the end of the day. Um but I do like the fact that we did have a halftime show. I did see something online and they said, you know, a FIFA is making an approach to try to make this more on a global international scale, get more viewership. Uh maybe they should have like India um participate in the World Cup and China participate in the World Cup. Yeah. Now I don't know if they have professional soccer teams or if they have soccer teams that do qualify for this. But um if you're trying to reach out, you know, to more people, those are the two countries that were not even in the World Cup. Um I don't know if they qualified or not, but provided if they actually do well and qualify, that'll be more viewers, you know, view uh rooting for a team that they want to see win, and that would be more people watching this uh on a global scale.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Yeah. Ch China, China especially, would would just add it would add tons, I mean billions. You know what I mean? So yeah, I mean just crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

All right. We're gonna transition into uh Conor McGregor. I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:29

No.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

So there was also more recently a you know, much anticipated UFC fight where Connor McGregor was gonna make his return to the to the octagon. Um, you know, the last time we saw McGregor, and we you know, we talked about it on one of our previous pods, was uh when he fought uh Dustin Poirier um and ended up breaking his leg. Um it's that was a few years ago now. So it took him it took him quite a while to come back. Um, and I was really anticipating this fight. I was really, really excited for it. Um Ray, you watched the fight?

SPEAKER_01 49:04

I actually fell asleep. Oh, well, that's good. Well, I was able to rewind it because it was on Paramount Plus.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

So there you go. There's there's a small plug for it.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

I was able to I was able to watch it.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

There you go. So yeah, so so McGregor was supposed to face Max Holloway, one of the most decorated champions in the sport. Um Holloway still going strong. Um it was over before it really even began, really. I mean, you know, um, for those that didn't watch it, um, really the the sound of the very first bell. Um, you know, McGregor runs out, he tries a fancy jumping kick um and lands awkwardly on one of his knees and um ends up tearing his ACL and could not actually fight the match at all. It had to be called due to injury. Um so that's now McGreg McGregor's last two professional UFC MMA fights um end with with him injured and not you know as a no contest. So um Ray, you started off. What do you uh what do you think about what happened?

SPEAKER_01 50:05

I think that's I think this might be tough for McGregor. Um, you know, uh he really had no reason to jump back into uh the ring. I mean the octagon. When I say he really had no reason, I don't think he had a financial reason to jump inside the octagon. I think he had a personal reason uh to try to show and prove that he could still fight at a professional level and still bring something uh to the table. So I think he was kind of putting himself or positioning himself into like this round of this Ronda Rousey um approach. Uh Ronda Rousey, um she got back into the octagon uh a couple weeks before the McGregor fight, and she ended up winning. But prior to that, she hasn't fought like in 12 years or something like that. And the last time she lost, she lost very bad. That a lot of people are like, I think this is it for her. I don't think she's ever gonna come back. Because when you lose, there's a difference between losing the fight and losing like in the ring. And when she when you lose in the ring, you know, there's a sense of confidence that could be diminished. So I think from Rhonda Rousey's point, she wanted to prove that and prove that she can fight and kind of overcome that mental hurdle. Now, what was the mental hurdle that McGregor had? What he had was a um uh a career-ending injury. And a lot of people don't come back from that. Um his legs snapped in half in the ring when he was trying to do a kick, and that was the end of it. They had to carry him out, um, and he had to have surgery immediately. So I think personally, I think he was trying to overcome that mental hurdle uh to prove that he could show forth and fight on a professional level. Now it didn't, you know, go the way he expected. You know, he uh ran to the opening kick. Um when he landed, he landed awkwardly on his uh right leg, and it wasn't until you saw it in slow motion that you could have immediately noticed that his um ACL was compromised uh from that landing. Uh he immediately slipped. The way he slipped made it look like somebody like spilled water on the floor because that's how that's how fast he fell. Uh Max Holloway was just like, what's going on here? He was giving uh like a signal to the ref saying, hey, look, this guy looks like he's not upped for fighting. McGregor is on his back, um, you know, saying, Come on, we're gonna fight anyway. So maybe he worked on some ground techniques that he would would have been comfortable with, but he wasn't able to hold his own because of that uh knee injury. And you know, shout out to Max Holloway, just you know uh taking the uh safer approach, saying, Hey, listen, we have somebody who was um injured, you know, there's no point in fighting this person at this point. He he took the high road, I would say. I assume anybody else would take that approach, but the ref said himself, he said himself that he, and this came from Max Holloway, that the ref was very reluctant and hesitant to call the match off because this was the main event, and he didn't want to be in a situation where he called the match off and the match should have never been called off. So um, special shout out to Max Holloway, kind of identifying the injury and um doing what it took to stop the fight, even though he did end up as the winner. Um, because let's say the fight would have continued. What would have been the odds of McGregor recovering, making a full recovery? I wouldn't say the fight, but just to walk at this point. Nobody knows. So um that was an interesting fight in itself. And yeah, I that was the same weekend as the Jay-Z concert. That's why I fell asleep.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

That's what I did instead, because I couldn't go to the Jay-Z concert. So I watched the UFC fight, you know? Um, yeah, no. Um I I definitely think um it was definitely a pride thing that got McGregor back in the ring. Um, you know, we've touched on it before. His last fight, you know, it ends with with him breaking his leg against Poirier. You know, the last real image I even have of that fight, you know, is McGregor sitting against a cage on the ground, can't move, um, you know, interviewing Poirier, the champion, and there was some bad blood going on between them. Um, lots of things were being said. Um, definitely an embarrassment for McGregor, whether it's an injury or not. Um, you know, he's sitting there leg can't can't even stand on it, and and Poirier is getting his arm raised as you know, as the winner. So um, I definitely feel like he had something to prove. I mean, you know, anybody that knows anything about McGregor knows, you know, prior to that Poirier fight, uh, maybe even a few fights before that. I mean, McGregor was the guy. I mean, he was he was scary. I mean, he he I think he's got the record, or he did have the record for quickest ending to a fight or yeah, or something like that. Um, so I I definitely think it was a pride issue. Um, and not not just that, uh, but you know, the start of the match. I mean, you know, you're back in after all these years. Uh, you know, you got to pump yourself up as a fighter, and and you hear a lot of fighters say that they really feel the energy of the crowd, and you know, the crowd gets them going. Um, you know, the fight right before his, the coal main event, you got, you know, Patty the baddie pimblet with uh with the massive submission. I mean, it was a crazy submission win. Um, so the crowd was already going, the energy was there. They're all there, you know, now they're waiting to see a fight for McGregor and when McGregor comes out and ultimately, you know, probably I think you know, it was stupid. But but again, that's he starts fights off like that before. That's not the first time that that that he's done something like that. He's known for these crazy kind of wild, jumping, entertaining kicks, especially to start off the match. In fact, he's ended matches almost immediately just by doing something like that. Now, um, you know, they keep interviewing him and keep talking about the injury, like what happened, and he's he's pretty hell bent on sticking with the fact that, you know, it happened on that kick, he landed awkwardly, and that's what happened. However, just before that, they have a they have an image. They were showing it on on the on the fight when I was watching it. They have they have a little clip of him walking up, and he's you know, he's getting undressed, he's getting ready to fight, and he's he's taking his leg, that that leg, out of his pants. And you can see him put the leg down and and wince in pain right then. So now, you know, I don't know if it was a situation where he was actually injured before the fight and didn't want to say anything, didn't want to call anything off. Maybe he tweaked it during warmups, maybe it's just, you know, he's he's prone to injury now. Maybe he literally did just kind of get undressed and and tweak it a little bit. All I know is he didn't look right when he was when he was walking around at first. Um, you know, he just he didn't seem like that. He seemed confident, you know, but but he didn't seem like he was moving very well. And then it's almost as if it seemed like right off the bat he knew that he he might not be on the same level because he might be injured. It's like he went for all the marbles right then, and it was either he's gonna hit it and he's gonna, you know, he maybe he'll knock him out and he'll get a quick victory, or you know, he's already, you know, he's already hurt. There's nothing he can do. Let's just try it. I'm I'm really not sure the direction it went. Um, but you know, it was a really disappointing end to the main event. Now, you know, McGregor has already stated, you know, give him time, he's gonna come back. You know, an ACL is not a minor injury, you know. I mean, in in most respects, it's a non-contact injury. So, I mean, you know, you you you're looking at at months and months of rehab on obviously on an injury like that. And and at his age, with with with the flexibility and the types of movement and just you know the sheer weight that that leg is gonna have to support and the force it endures, you know, when he uses it to kick or block a kick or whatever the case may be. I mean, I'm not a doctor and I'm not gonna speculate, but you know, um, I gotta imagine it he's gonna be gone at least a year or two. I mean, you know, I mean, to get that leg strong and healed again and and good to go. And and at that point, I think he's what, 36 now? So at that point, you're you're pushing 38, 39. Um, I mean, who are you who are you really gonna who's your who's your comeback fight against at that point? You know what I mean? And and at that point, it's kind of like, you know, take put put the pride aside for a little bit. Like you're all you're gonna go down as one of the best ever. Like, I understand, but like it's it's not worth risking more injury for. I mean, you don't want the rest of your life to be, you know what I mean, to not have good quality of life because you did something dumb. I think, you know, I'm all for him trying to come back the first time. It was a gruesome injury. It's not the first time that's happened. Other fighters have also come back from that injury. They didn't do very well, but they've come back. So so I could see, you know, it's it's it's his sport. He was the man what you know when when he was in his prime. He had to show face. He he hated to be embarrassed by Poiray after that. So, you know, come back and try to knock out the champ, I get it. Um, but you know, obviously we know how it ended, and I I agree with you, you know, I at this point, I I think it might be time to really consider, you know, doing something else full-time, but but I think fighting is probably not and and I'm just a point. I really wanted to see it. I mean, I'd love to see McGregor come back in and kick some ass. You know what I mean? But yeah, I mean I think that I definitely want to see that also. Yeah, uh, you know, at this point, you know, say save yourself, save your injuries, get get healthy, rebuild that leg, you know, get be able to stand on it and walk on it and and and you know, find find an alternative to that. Either, you know, it's coaching, it's commentating, whatever the case may be. I I'm sure you know Dana White can find something for him to be a voice in regarding the UFC and and MMA. Um, you know, I I I I truly do think this is the last time we've seen Cotton McGregor.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

Um, I I think so as well. Um, you brought up some valid points, especially with him wincing um before going into the octagon. Uh that jumping kick, um he was actually practicing that before the fight started. There's video footage of him practicing that move. And we don't know if he kind of did too much or it was feeling okay at that point. And uh maybe maybe it was just you know, kind of just something tweaked, and then uh because of that tweak, it kind of altered everything else. Uh and as you mentioned before, uh ACL, MCLs, those are non-contact injuries, and you're in a contact sport. So what are the chances that you're gonna have a full recovery or you're gonna be able to use your leg to its maximal strength when you um are in the process of rehabbing uh that ACL or A MCL, I'm not sure exactly what it was. A lot of people say ACL, so we're gonna say ACL. But if you're in a non-contact sport, you have an ACL uh tear, right? And you know, your recovery is more likely gonna be able to be a little bit better, a little bit faster. But if you're in a contact sport where you're using your knees, your legs, especially when you're using kicks because McGregor could do great kicks, um what's the odds of you re-aggravating that injury? It if the probability is very high at that point. Like, so you know, at the end of the day, I firmly believe he wanted to get back into the octagon uh to kind of prove that he's could definitely deliver. Um and it just didn't go the way he expected. So he he he's definitely gonna he's definitely going through it, you know. And uh I just hope that he makes a uh speedy recovery. And um and not so much from like, you know, just from the leg injury, but you know, he it's kinda it's kinda hard to overcome a mental hurdle when you go through that again. So I hope, you know, mentally he is uh more sound and alert and is able to push forward.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:50

Agreed. You know who else is really going through it too? Dustin Poirier.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

This is gonna be bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

It's gonna be bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

So again, we we did touch on this on another episode, so you know, we won't we won't get the whole rundown of it again. Obviously, he was arrested for you know public intoxication and you know the videos out there, and it's not great. Um, and I had mentioned on the last episode that uh, you know, I was really hoping that you know a lot of his sponsors would would understand the type of person he is. I mean, there hasn't been an incident like this before, and and you know, people would stick by his side, but you know, he has come out and and he has you know talked about you know he has lost some sponsors. They seem to be pulling the plug on him whenever they have the ability, you know, opportunity to. Um, and I don't, you know, I feel I feel really bad for Dustin Poirier. I mean, obviously I know he made a mistake. Um that, you know, and I not that it makes it better, but he made a mistake that I mean how many countless other people have made, um, you know, even some as as much in the spotlight as he is. Um, you know, again, I think he's a stand-up guy based on everything that I know. He came out, he owned it. Um, you know, I really wanted to see him make something good out of this, whatever the case may be. Um, but it's it's really disappointing that just, you know, at the drop of a hat, you know, one mistake, you know, sponsors decide that, you know, maybe he's not worth he's not worth the headache. Or, you know, they they weren't saying that when he was in the ring knocking motherfuckers out. You know what I mean? So, you know, he makes he makes one mistake and all of a sudden, oh, you know, we we can't be associated with you anymore. Um, you know, I unfortunately I I don't know what sponsors they were. In in the statement I read, uh, he didn't mention them specifically. I don't know if they've come out after the fact. Um, but yeah, he did, you know, he did say that you know a few of his sponsors have pulled the plug. I I I did hear that at least one of them was a major sponsor. Um, and you know, I just uh I really wish that they would have, you know, not you know, jumped the gun real quick, maybe, maybe really thought about it, maybe even had a meeting. I mean, I don't know if they had a meeting with them, you know, specifically, but um, you know, really to just kind of again not sweep it under the rug, but you know, understand he made a mistake and maybe maybe used their platform with his platform to really kind of you know bring awareness to the situation or or whatever the case may be. Um, you know, really was really upset to hear that you know that people were pulling the plug on him after after, you know, really just one one mistake, albeit I understand not a good mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Um, you know, nobody got hurt. You know, uh I just I I found it to be really, really just kind of jumping the gum, unfortunately. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

Yeah, uh me, I mean, I I was a little bit more harsh about what I had to say last time we covered this, and it it's exactly what I said is actually happening. You know, if you have sponsors are gonna want to pull out and stuff, and you know, I do feel a bit bad about what happened. You know, you you really saw how um serious he took this after this, um, you know, not after this was made public, but you saw how serious he was about this, um, especially, you know, after he sobered up. And, you know, he said he wanted to apologize. Um, he's you know um doing his press run to try to uh you know, you know, mitigate the damage that uh the video uh caused to his brand. And uh I did see something. Uh John Jones was just like I ain't mad, I thought it was funny. So I mean, like if John Jones is cool about it, I'll be you know, I'm not really upset. I never was upset about it, but like I'm not gonna be as harsh if John Jones is like, it's actually pretty funny because he's never liked this before. So uh seeing him ticked off and a little bit, you know, um, you know, out of character. There's some comedic element, but you know, now he's kind of like dealing with the fact that you know he got people wanting to take a photo of him and be like, all right, stay with me, it's gonna be bad. He was like, No, we're not saying that. So, you know, I just hope that, you know, whatever he's going through, just think there's McGregor, he overcomes it, overcomes that hurdle. Um, I I I firmly believe this is gonna be pushed behind him. I don't think it's gonna Cause a lasting injury uh last injury. I don't think it's gonna be uh like a lasting impact uh uh against his brand and the type of character that he is. But there was one thing I saw that was pretty funny online. He was just like, you know, I just wanted to try to get the address of the cop so I could just send him a letter. It's heartfelt message saying I'm sorry. Comments were lighting him up. They were like, oh, now he wants his address too. He's gonna chase down the cop and get him. I'm like, no, man. But he meant it with the best intentions. The comments are always gonna take something and spin the narrative and blow it out of proportion. Um, but uh, as I said before, you know, I I did come across a bit too harsh by my critique, and you know, sponsors are pulling out. Um I firmly believe he could redeem himself. Yeah, I'm just gonna leave it at that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:49

Yep, fair enough. We can leave it at that. Any uh any last things to add? Oh, we did mention concerts. We did. We did. We did. Uh we got amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:01

We got a big concert coming up soon that we're gonna attend. Um, and it is actually going to be the fall-off concert for J. Cole. Alright, so um we're gonna we're gonna let you know our experience uh at the J. Cole concert. Um and that's that's all I'm gonna say, because you know, I've never been to a J. Cole concert, but it's gonna be it's the first time for everything, right? So we're gonna let you guys know at Madison Square Garden.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:35

We'll help you have some uh some footage for you guys, we'll do some content, we'll show you what's going on, we'll show you some performances, whatever we can think of we think you might like. So stay tuned for that as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:46

And you know what? If they have any, I firmly believe they're probably gonna have some opening acts. We're probably gonna have some up-and-coming artists that we never heard of before. So we could definitely give them a shout-out, review their music, and give some input on what we think um uh about the music that they put out. So uh that's one thing uh uh Regime Report is definitely gonna uh provide uh courtesy of the J. Cole concert.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Super excited, can't wait. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

All right. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:19

What else you got, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:20

So that's all I got for today. Um, you know, thank you guys for listening and supporting us. You know, uh, we started this at the beginning of the year. Uh, I gotta say for one, um, man, I wish Drew was part of this episode. Uh our first episode, our very first episode, how many takes did it take for us to actually it took us like 15 takes. It was awkward at first, and they were like, like, how are we gonna segue into this? And then like look at us now. We got like a couple a handful of episodes, you know. Um, but you know, uh, Citron, you're my boy, Drew, you're my boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:59

I could have been more proud of half her. Absolutely. We like we're brothers, we're doing it together, it's a good time. And we miss you, Drew, for real. You gotta be almost next time. You gotta be on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:09

All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:09

Regime report out.