Lemme Ask You This

Episode 19 - Slink Johnson Featuring Slink Johnson

Season 1 Episode 19

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0:00 | 48:03

On episode 19 of Lemme Ask You This with Talib Kweli and Tef Poe the guest is Slink Johnson from Black Jesus fame. The episode starts with a discussion about Frederick Douglass' romantic relationships. Talib asks Slink about his rap career and brings up how rappers do not hang out with each other as much as comedians do. Tef talks about how Detroit street rappers worked together during the pandemic. Slink breaks down his relationship with Too Short. Talib asks Slink about being born in Arkansas and Tef asks if Slink anticipated his success. Talib asks Slink about moving to Englewood and Slink breaks down Englewood gang culture. Talib talks about how gang culture is portrayed in Hollywood. Tef salutes Slink's acting and Slink talks about meeting and Aaron McGruder and creating Black Jesus. Talib asks Slink about his relationship with Afroman. Talib salutes the cast of Black Jesus and Slink talks about how he was always Hugh while filming. Tef asks Slink what's next and Slink brings up his Niggas Know Your Mama project. Talib asks Slink about his connection to DJ Pooh and compares stand up comedy to hiphop. Slink talks about what constitutes great hiphop to him, which leads to a conversation about how great the rapper Scarface is. Slink talks about protecting the Black Jesus legacy and how nobody can stop you from being great. 

Shot and Edited By Chino Chase. Additional Filming By Aaron Ross Media Co.

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SPEAKER_00

So his wife ended up helping him get free. He moved the two white chicks in the crib. They didn't believe that he wrote that book because it was such a bestseller at the time.

SPEAKER_04

The narrative of the life was a good thing.

SPEAKER_00

The white motherfuckers in the house, nigga. You know what I'm saying? It was a wild story. One of the white bitches killed herself in the park because he didn't want to be with her. They'll never make a movie about that nigga real story, man.

SPEAKER_01

I don't want to hear about it now. You're gonna have me going on Google and doing a deep dive on Friday.

SPEAKER_00

I went all the way down a rabbit hole about it. He was going all around the world, uh leaving his wife at the crib, taking the white feminist chick with him and shit.

SPEAKER_01

Did Frederick Douglass have two white bitches?

SPEAKER_04

Hey Aaron, you been recording this whole time?

unknown

I'm sorry about that.

SPEAKER_04

All right. Welcome to Let Me Ask You This. Uh, we was just talking about the life and times of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass. You gotta say it in my uh in my frontline PBS voice, and y'all talking about with the free holds. I'm telling Paulie. I'm tough poe, man. And we got one of my favorite rappers, Slink Capone. What's that? Slink Capone.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna go try to pull that Slink Capone out. You beat me to it.

SPEAKER_04

With the classic hit hellbound. Yes. You know what I'm saying? That's a great record, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_04

You got bars. People don't know you got bars like that.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, man. You know, it was once upon a time, man. You know. But I'm I'm I'm I'm glad that, you know, you heard it. You know, you know, yeah, you know, especially being somebody of your stature and in the game. You you you're definitely an elder statesman and a pillar in the game itself, you know what I mean? And I appreciate the recognition.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, brother. This is Slink Johnson in the place to be actor, performer, real nigga, extraordinaire.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. Um, yeah, man, it's good to see you. Hey, good to be seen. Because this niggas ain't being seen right now.

SPEAKER_04

Speak on it.

SPEAKER_01

Speak on it.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you for having me. Yeah, man, I seen you outside.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

At the uh at the little kickback at the living room.

SPEAKER_01

And I heard you, and it sounds just like the record.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, thank you. You said that to me that night.

SPEAKER_01

That that it sounds just like the record. It was uh, you know, and I say that to say I'm a fan of hip hop and I'm a fan of live performance. I see so many rappers, not the veterans. I'm glad to see the veterans are are, you know, they rapping straight over their beat, no. Yeah, but not just to rap over the beat, but to still hear that wind, still hear that passion in their voice, and I still heard it with you. Just to get high. I was like, I was trying to get off, I was trying to get high, nigga, get high.

SPEAKER_04

What I liked about that event was um I I just seen Kanye. I seen Kanye on Sunday night. And it was uh, we were at a comedy thing where I didn't arrive with him, he just happened to be there. And it was a bunch of comedians. It was it was Louis C. K, Dave Chappelle, Shane Gillis, Chris Rock, and they was all going up there, you know how they do at the store. Everybody going for free, everybody trying to work their shit out. But I was telling Kanye that MCs don't do that. You know, like we don't get to get at that at that level of the game. Where these is these is the goaded motherfuckers, you know what I'm saying? Like, but they still, you know, and these these dudes don't just do this when they have Netflix as a joke. These are the type of dudes that be in the clubs all the time. You know what I'm saying? And I wish that MCs at that level of the game would power out like that more. And I saw that happen that night when you had Common and Riza and Robert Glasper, and they not MCs, Robert Glasper and Bilau and all them, but everybody who came on stage, black IPs, who I toured with in 2004. I ain't seen Fergie since 2004. You know, it was a beautiful situation.

SPEAKER_01

It was a great name. I I think a lot of that though comes with AIDS, experience, and wisdom to be able to extend those olive branches and and and to look at people as look at people less as uh uh opponents or competition. And more. Like I put it like this being a guy that grew up in Inglewood, California, South LA most of my life, you know, you know, these streets is crazy. And I've had my share of skirmishes and disagreements and beefs with cats when I was young. And to see them now, I embrace them because we we embrace each other. Because I'm just happy to see you, nigga, because I know you. I don't know these young niggas. I don't know them. Right, right, right, right. You know what I'm saying? It's just to be- The devil you know. Yeah, it's somebody, it's definitely somebody you know, and once, you know, you you it's kind of it kind of comes to a full circle moment. You know, you guys might not have been in opposite ends of a spectrum, but as you got older and and got through all the bullshit, because a lot of people fell to the wayside just, you know, just to be somebody still relevant, you know what I'm saying, in 2026. That's right. You know, you're gonna gravitate there, you should gravitate to everybody else's relevant. So I said, y'all older MCs, y'all found start kicking it more, man. Just putting some shit together and just kicking some music, man. You niggas got enough money.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I feel like that even on a local level, like for I saw over the pandemic, I was kind of telling Kwan Yassin, I start following Detroit street rap. And I saw them cats patching up beefs and pulling shit together and collaborating with each other in ways they had never worked with each other. So that motivated me to kind of do the same thing where I'm from in St. Louis and just start working across the aisle with dudes from different gangs and neighborhoods and this and that. Because why not?

SPEAKER_01

You know, get you some money, man. Get you some money and and and you know, open them all the branches up. You know, you make your network only better and bigger, you know what I'm saying? Um, you want to team up. You if you even if it's not team up, just be cool and offer safe passage. Yeah, you know, it goes a long way. Facts.

SPEAKER_04

Is it correct to say when you was doing that music, you had linked up with Too Short?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, all that all of that music you heard, yeah, you came directly from Short Dog working with Short. Shout out to Short Dog.

SPEAKER_04

I seen him twice this week.

SPEAKER_01

It's been a good thing's a good week to see Too Short twice in a week.

SPEAKER_00

Man, I love that dude. Yeah, man. I love that dude. His aura is like none, none other, man. No matter when you see him, where you see him, he got an aura on him, man.

SPEAKER_01

Man, short is short is Short is very close to his family. And over the time, you know, I've gotten to know Short, man. Short, I got a lot of love. Too short, man. Too short is one of the my greatest inspirations, man, and one of my best partners in this game and his in this thing. He's called entertainment, man.

SPEAKER_04

There's a lot of people who have a lot of respect for Too Short as consumers and as fans. But I think for someone like you and someone like myself, who's had an inside track. I spent 10 years living in California. And that time I got to know Short and he came and did my podcast, People's Party, twice. And people don't really people might not know just from hearing his songs how much of a community leader he is for us in this in this hip hop shit. You know what I'm saying? He's he's always around, he's always giving out knowledge, he's always relevant, he's always personable. You know what I'm saying? Like you can you can approach him. Like, and a lot of dudes ain't like that.

SPEAKER_01

Nah, nah. Short, short always leads by example. And I think I took a lot of his his uh traits in that regard and using myself, you know, just you know, just because one thing I love about short is Short is the same dude in a room in a in a in a in a in a in a he the same dude in the weed spot that he is in the corporate place. And that's that's one thing I really respect about him. Just, you know, he I think bottom line is when you're comfortable with yourself. He's a person that's comfortable with who he is. And you know, that's the main thing. I think, you know, when you're comfortable with yourself, man, everything else comes to you. Absolutely. Facts only, man.

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely. Um, you say you was raised most of your life in Englewood, but I know that you got roots in Arkansas as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

I was born in Arkansas. Yeah. I was born in a little town called Dumas, Arkansas, where I lived until I was about 10 years old, then I moved to California. Um I never let Dumas go. I never let Arkansas go. You know, I think a lot of people, especially in entertainment, you know, they they attach themselves to a major hub, LA, Miami, New York. And you know, again, I that's love. Like I'll never, never, I'm an LA nigga. I'll never take nothing. I can tell. I'll never take nothing away from that. But at the same time, I'll never, you know, uh forget Arkansas. I'll never not say it. Yeah, I'm the country nigga in the city, you know what I'm saying? And shout out to Arkansas, man.

SPEAKER_04

I performed all over the world, all over the America, all over the I ain't never did a show in Arkansas. That's one place I ain't never. I think I might have might have done there. Stopped in Little Rock on a truck stop, maybe.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But I ain't never. I've been down there. I messed with a few guys in Arkansas. Oh man. I mean, but it's the state under Missouri, so.

SPEAKER_01

Damn, you know, yeah, you know, yeah, so we neighbors, you know what I'm saying? I actually I embrace Arkansas so much I they called me Saznacra Slim.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, what is it, West Memphis or East Memphis? Is it West Memphis and Arkansas? West Memphis, yeah. I'm I'm intrigued by that because we got East St. Louis on the other side, but y'all got West Memphis. That blew my mind when I saw that on the map. I said, that's crazy. Yeah, shout out to West Memphis, Arkansas, man. Man, being a person who has done so many astronomical things in the realm of black entertainment, um, when you look back at your journey, bruh, did you see any of this for yourself, man? Jeff, hell no.

SPEAKER_01

Hell no. No, no. And I had a conversation with my homeboy Bob all the time. Like, you know, because I go back like 40 years with this dude. So we we went through all different phases and evolutions together. And one thing we always say, man, like, when the time we met at like 13 years old, 12, 13 years old, to about 17 for sure. Oh, I really refer to it like the teenage years being like 17, 16. I had I had no idea of life. I had, I didn't know what I was gonna do. I didn't even plan to be alive, brother. I had a not that I had a death wish or I wanted to die, but I didn't know. I didn't know where life was gonna lead me. And I say that to a lot of young men, like, my nigga, if you if you get past those obstacles of life. I see life like this for black men. You get through them teenage years, then you make it through them 20s and you make it through them 30s, man. You kind of out the realm of bullshit if you ain't keeping yourself there. That's bars right there.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And think about your life, bro. Think about that shit now. You might, you know, some of you niggas living in them no hope situations, you might be the one with some hopes. So just try to put some pennies in the bucket towards the future. Had I known I was gonna be a comic, had I known that I was gonna make my life's profession, comedy, and entertainment, I would have concentrated on it. Because I've always been an asshole. I've always been a class clown, you know what I'm saying? And when it looked like it wasn't gonna be shit, uh, you're just gonna be a failure, you know. God has something different for me. And if had I known or had any inkling of that, I probably would have started taking acting classes or, you know what I'm saying, doing stand up and so for you it's all organic.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You can I can sense that from interfacing with the material. Then, you know, I'm a vibes type person. Quali will tell you, I could just meet a person once, be like, man, we ain't fucking with dude. But your energy is so authentic. I said, man, he the character, he it ain't even, I can't say it's a character, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I agree. I'm a you know, we're gonna talk more about Black Jesus later on, but I'm such a fan of that show as a lot of people are, but I also know you in real life. And um, when I see it now that I know your real life, I'm like, oh, that's just slick.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not like you, like I heard you say in another interview that you would never tell nobody to focus on their craft, to not focus on their craft. You would never tell somebody to not focus on their craft, but your craft is being you.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and you've mastered that.

SPEAKER_01

That was, you know, and for a long time, you know, I I just told myself I want to make a living being myself or or being true to myself, whatever, whatever that may be, at that phase or fade, phase or junction in my life, because we're constantly evolving. And, you know, again, I don't I don't want to make this shit too hard. I don't want to make something that I'm happy about, something I enjoy doing, something that causes me to lose sleep.

SPEAKER_04

So, how do you get from Dumas, Arkansas, which place I never heard of, to Englewood?

SPEAKER_01

Okay, Dumas, Arkansas. My mother and my father split in '81, and we stuck around. My mom, they split, but the town's so small, nigga was down the street.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. But after they split, my mother was caring for my grandmother, who was an elderly, and my grandmother didn't want to move to California because all my aunts and uncles were already here. You know what I'm saying? My mother was still in Arkansas caring for my grandmother. And once my grandmother transitioned, you know, my mom felt like, yo, it's time to go. And so we came out here, she remarried some guy, and we came out here to um Inglewood, and you know, I doubt I dove head first in the culture. And I think that was the greatest time for me too, being so small, being so young because I was still such a sponge, you know what I mean? Uh, you know, so it had really helped me a lot.

SPEAKER_04

I was watching the interview you did with uh uh the dude over at uh Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, John.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he asked you what you what sport you play. You said I played left pistol for the Inglewood Inglewood carjackers.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, man, I wouldn't, I you know what, Taliban, you're doing funny shit. I'm I'm real tall, man. Obviously, a lot of people just automatically assume when niggas play ball. I mean, in hindsight, I wish I did, but you know, when I should have been in uh on somebody's varsity team, I wanted to be a crib. Inglewood shit. It didn't work. Well, no, I'll be out. That's the other part, because a lot of people, like, ain't no crips in England, it's a couple crips in Englewood, but that's the other thing. You know, I didn't, Inglewood is all red.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Well, 90% red.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

This is a strong 10%, but I didn't, you know, growing up in Englewood being all red, but my family lived off Florence of Normandy, in that area. So I kind of gravitated to that in terms of street affiliations and things of that nature. But I at 53 years old, I'm old enough to say, I don't have no problem saying I've never been a gang banger.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I'm saying? So that's what helped me survive. I grew up in Inglewood with a whole bunch of bloods from little boys, but I also grew up in here in South LA with my cousins and a whole bunch of niggas. And you know, when it came to side, you all gonna pick a side. So I I picked one, but I, you know, picked lightly, and I was cool enough. Like I ain't never been no nigga that's in the car shooting at niggas and chasing niggas down, but I like who I like, and you know, but once you like neighborhood affiliations.

SPEAKER_04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

But once you grow up and get past that, man, I'm I'm happy with who I'm I am. I'm happy with where I am in the streets right now. You know, I get a lot of love, you know, because I ain't never really been no nigga that's just I just want to have fun. You know what I'm saying? I just want to I I enjoy the camaraderie and the brotherhood of things, you know what I'm saying? But after it goes past that, it's it's too much, you know what I mean? But God bless anybody in the way they live their life, you know what I mean? Just as long as you being true to yourself and what you do, that's all that count.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, a lot of people don't know the history of how the gang shit in LA start. And it's it's particularly unique to African American culture. And so it's interesting to see how the gang culture is treated in the media, because LA also has Hollywood in it. So you get these media representations of street life that's really through a Los Angeles, California lens, and it impacts the world because Hollywood goes all over the world. Absolutely. You know, Wyatt Sonat got a great joke, and I, you know, I don't want to paraphrase and fuck up his joke too much. But he talks about the fact that when you watch old movies from back in the 17th, 16th century, it don't matter, as long as a certain amount of years back, everybody in the movie got an English accent, no matter where the movie takes place. Right? So he's like a hundred years from now, they're gonna do movies about Crips and Bloods, but they're gonna have the old school English accents. You know what I'm saying? But I say that to say, you know, the way in which you and other people around you, and and I don't really know the names of your crew, but I see that you work with a lot of the same people through your career. Yeah, the way that y'all take the influence and the culture of what's happening in LA with the gangs and incorporate it in the art in a way that's not derogatory or a way that's not like threatening or a way that's just like, hey, this is just a culture we from, I think is is commendable.

SPEAKER_01

And I and I wanna be able to convey that. Thank you. I want to be able to convey that because, you know, again, I don't want to make this podcast, this episode about, you know, necessarily cripping and be gangbanging, but I do want to be able to be a person that's able to humanize the streets. Right. You know, they see things, you know, you see colors and you look at all this crazy shit and you see these movies, menacing society, and all you see is killers and fiends and thieves, but this nigga, this nigga can cook real good. You know, this nigga can draw. Right. You know what I'm saying? My nigga make paper mache airplanes, good as a motherfucker. You know what I'm saying? They we, you know, people as human, we laugh, you know what I'm saying? We like shit, you know what I'm saying? We deal with erectile dysfunction and everything. We human, baby, you know. We laugh. Everybody laughs, though, you know? So, you know, I I just enjoy that part. And just being as old as I am, and you know, to a certain degree, I feel that, you know, I'm winning the game, especially from coming from where I'm where I come from. A lot of my colleagues and peers have fallen by the wayside. You know, just to be alive and cognizant, you know, and on two legs and on this side of the wall is just an amazing thing for me. And I'm just celebrating and having fun, man. No doubt.

SPEAKER_00

Um you want to talk about Black Jesus a little bit? Hell yeah. Or wait.

SPEAKER_04

Hell yeah, I mean, I mean, I you know, I was going through a certain like timeline and shit, but we can we can skip and jump. I mean, if you got a question about Black Jesus, you just want to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00

Well, my question kind of pertains to all of it though. It's like the the the I don't want to call it content, because he's been keeping me from calling stuff content.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

The art that you are making includes such a real lens while having a comedic lens. Um it takes a real talent to merge those two things, right? To have a black Jesus. Like even in my own life, I I have utilized black Jesus as if he was the real Jesus. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And it takes a skill to do that in society and not have niggas being like, man, this nigga is blasphemous. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

A lot of the black Jesus shit, when y'all got to the TV shit, was dealing with that question.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Where's the line? Where's the blasphemy line?

SPEAKER_00

Right. Yeah. So I just want to talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01

Like your ability to be real in your art and challenge the social norms of like what people say, man, you may be taking it too far, but I'm just glad that, you know, I think there are a lot of people that can convey that type of art. Thank you for saying that, Ted, first. And there's a lot of people that can convey that type of art, but I think that we're not always afforded the right outlets or the right, you know, you need the right person to introduce you. And for that, I just want to take this moment to say thank you to my friend Jason Van Veen, who saw something in me. He was the first guy who uh, you know, saw something in me. He wanted to, you know, get me on camera. You know, he like, you a fool, man, you know what I'm saying? But he he he could see friends. He could see beyond it and see the articulate articulation. He can see the the, you know, he can see it. He he saw he saw something that I didn't. I was just clowning again, just having fun. My boy, oh, you want to make a you know, doing a little project student projects and things of that nature. I'm like, fuck it, I'll do it. You know, we got, you know, he had a little crab service and Snickers and shit. Hell yeah, I'm coming. Let me come read all that. I'm coming all that shit. But I'm thankful to cats like Jason Van Veen who introduced me to another cat who saw it, who had the power to make something happen, Aaron Magruder, man. I'm I'm I feel very indebted to those two guys because again, you know, like you say, Tef, I believe a lot of guys have the ability to tell that story how we how in a way we can understand it and still palatable for the world. But you it's gonna take certain people to open that door for you. And for that, I want to say thank you to Aaron Magruder and Jason Van Veen.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Remember when they do they still have, I haven't read a newspaper in a long time. When's the last time you read a newspaper? Super long time. I used to read the newspaper every day. I used to wake up, and I'm old enough to, I used to get up in New York and get the Daily News, the Newsday, and the New York Times. And the post sometimes. You know what I'm saying? I want to be well informed. I read the whole newspaper cover the back. I get to the comics in the back. I read Doomsbury, Calvin and Hobbes, Family Circus, and I remember when the Boondocks first started. And in the first couple of years of the Boondocks, he started talking about hip hop, and he mentioned Black Star in that comic strip early. And I remember I felt like that's when I felt like I made it. Absolutely. And I didn't know Aaron, and I got to meet him. When I moved to California, I started hanging out with Harry. But I got to meet him, got to hang out with him. I wish I worked with him more. You know, I think we I I started working with him on. We did a skit together with uh with uh uh what's his name? Anthony. We play uh uh uh Uncle Ruckus.

SPEAKER_01

Uh oh god, Gary Anthony.

SPEAKER_04

Gary, Gary, yeah, Gary Anthony. And um and I'm I he would remember he was dressed up as the Uncle Ruckus. We did a skit, but we never finished it. But man, Aaron is so important. Uh the Boondocks, I think, is such a critical, critical moment in black television history. You know what I'm saying? And it opened the door for and I I know he went through a lot of nonsense and bullshit with the later seasons, and that kind of made him start the boondocks TV shit, right? And this is where I first see you because I first see um with Carl Jones with the Tube Steak.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, shout out to Carl Jones and Brian Ash. Yeah, yeah, my guys.

SPEAKER_04

That shit was like, I didn't even know what I was looking at. I like it was like a new form of comedy and entertainment when I seen Toothstakes. And correct me if I'm wrong, but part of the appeal was niggas didn't know if that was real or not.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think and I think the biggest tooth stake was the one for me where he got where Toothsteak got signed. And I think we were parrying, parody, parrot, parrot, yeah, I think we were clowning. Um what's that one battle? The ones I'm styling on you. The one that is butting the dollars on you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We was that was a parody of that, kind of, you know what I mean? But it was good, man. And I just really, damn, that was dope, man. I I really, it it showed me that there is a whole crowd of birthed out ass people. You know what I'm saying? That can respect some birth-out comedy, you know what I'm saying? I like, you know, without all that polish and gloss and all that shit, yeah. And speech, you have mentioned Aaron, you didn't work with him a lot, man. Me neither. Aaron, come get me, man. Come back. I don't like it here.

SPEAKER_02

I don't like it here. Come get me. Come get us, man, please. Aaron, please. You're only hope. Save the world. We depend it on you.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but yeah, I mean, y'all was really early. Like, y'all was really early with the internet and figuring out how to do it independently. It's very inspirational to me. And just the black Jesus shit. I was telling you when I seen you at the function that I couldn't find the old school black Jesus, the nice ass yeens.

SPEAKER_01

And I told you, I got it for you. I don't put it off my computer, but I got it for you.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, um, those skits. So walk us through how those skits go to becoming a television production.

SPEAKER_01

Man, look, um, I met Aaron. Jason, Jason introduced me to Aaron. Uh Aaron was um, he was doing a promo run for his book, All the Rage, in which he wanted to do some do some, you know, videos, you know, just little comedy video sketches for us. Just some, and you know, he didn't, these weren't his words, but he just needed some some niggas just to come do nigga shit. Right. You know what I'm saying? And my friend Jason found, you know, he called the biggest nigga he knew. And I went down there. And I just, you know, we just had fun. You know, uh Brian and Carl gave me the, gave Brian and all of them, they gave us a script. They yo what it is, you just gonna trash the book. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. So from that, I guess Aaron, uh, that's when I first started, the first thing with Aaron, and I guess he kind of was checking me out. He kind of took a liking to my comedic style. I like to say it. I'm I'm thankful for that.

SPEAKER_04

Everybody in them skets, skits had their own little personality. Everybody, it was an ensemble.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You know, what's what's the dude named who's like, I hate what niggas think they too good to ride the bus.

SPEAKER_01

That's Jason. Okay, that's light skinned guy. Yeah, yeah, that's Jason. That's that shit. Shout out to Jason. Yeah. That shit was fun. And you know, again, that was right up my alley because it was improv, and you know, again, that was right up my alley. And from that, we, you know, Aaron came to me and said, Yo, I got an idea. You know, you know, how'd you like to play Jesus or whatever for the sketches? I was like, Yeah, fuck it. Yeah, I wasn't doing shit else. My life, I didn't, I didn't know what I was gonna, what the fuck was going on. So fuck it, yeah, let's do it. And we did the sketches, we shot those over the course of a few days, and it was just fun. And I asked, you know, what what do you want me to do? Is there a script or anything? He's like, nah, just do what you would do if you were Jesus. Yeah. And I was like, all right. So that's why the the sketches the sketches were a little bit edgier than the TV, but I'm saying, you know, you gotta make it a little bit palatable for TV, but the sketches were a bit edgier. Because Jesus didn't say nigga in the TV show.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And we know once we got to that point, I agree with that. I adopt that. I adopt that as well. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

I get that. Um that sketch is so the sketch and a TV show is I never really thought about it in this way until I'm sitting here talking to you about it, but it's so layered because you know, if Jesus indeed walked the planet Earth, he's black. Absolutely. Right? So the idea that you have to, the idea like this is the black, your black Jesus is a white man's idea of what blackness is manifested through the black lens, dipped in more blackness. You know what I'm saying? About someone who's already black.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_04

Right. It's so laying, bro.

SPEAKER_01

It's so L, man. And I I think that was a again the the the when I when I first started doing it. I think I joked with Aaron about why you don't have an afro and the absurdity of the the perm. It's the absurd. But and and then and I took it a bit further. It's it's absurd, but it's not. What brother would have a big at that time, he wanted shit laid. Yeah, lay my shit down. That was live, so it was dope, man. I wouldn't change a thing about that, man. That was dope.

SPEAKER_04

You still killing them on social media. I follow you on Instagram. Or I I follow you from my podcast because I'm not allowed on the gram.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, wow. He banned those.

SPEAKER_04

But I from the from the podcast Instagram. Um, what was you doing with Afro Man?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, Afro Man, um, Afro Man's a partner of mine, you know. We we we come from the same part of town as South Central, although we didn't know each other personally. You know, again, you grow up, you come together, oh, you go there. We, you know, we're from the same same area, same section. You know what I'm saying? Afro man is a goddamn hero, super OG.

SPEAKER_04

Goddamn American hero that's.

SPEAKER_00

I've been rocking with Afro, though. Shout out to Afro Man. Afro, like, people need to look into his story, man. Like, his story is crazy. Because he did all that shit independently. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then beat the system indie. That's another example of living life on your own terms and being yourself, man. And I'm so happy to be acquainted with cats like Afro Man, with cats like you again, because it's gonna be so many millions of people who are fans of you guys that will never, you know, actually me to be able to interact with you. And I don't take none of that shit lightly, man.

SPEAKER_04

So I feel the same about you, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, dog. Absolutely. I'm super proud to rock with Afro Man, especially, you know, after his tenured career that he's he's been so successful at. And again, putting that metaphorical foot in a man's ass with this with this recent victory, you know. It's a small one on the big scale, on the on the world scales, but it's a big thing, you know, for the culture. It's big.

SPEAKER_04

Shout out to We did a whole uh segment about that on the show, about what that symbolically meant, what Afro Man did with that situation.

SPEAKER_01

Shout out to Afro Man. Shout out to Tiny Soty, man, my boy Tiny Sodi, man. Shout out to Tiny Soty.

SPEAKER_00

I love black men who always played. Baby Sody playing for the playing. For the playing. Baby Sodi is legible. Baby Sody, shout out to Baby Sodi, man.

SPEAKER_01

I said Tiny Sody, I meant Baby Sodi. Baby Sodi, that's uh as that's as Afro Man head of security, man. Let me let you get that out. My bad. That's it. No, we getting it out. Baby Sodi heard me, you know what I'm saying? Shout out to my nigga, Baby Sodi, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but you know, yeah, I got a lot of respect for Afro Man's whole layout, man. Like, even how he had a plan for the plan, for the plan. Like, they came in that man's house, that man had cameras in the joint where they didn't even know he had cameras. You know what I'm saying? That's crazy. Like, I said a dude was straight prepared. Like, you can't, you can never be the black man that's prepared. That's what Riza recently said. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_04

We've been bumping into Rizza a lot. But yeah, man, again, I gotta thank you for Black Jesus. And I want to take this time to pick up the just on the ensemble of it. Yeah, you had King Botch early. Um, Alan Maldonado, who I knew at the time I already knew him, but I I did an episode of Black Jesus. You remember this? Yeah, yeah, I do. Yeah, the one used to walk in the water. That became immediately. Yeah, we was at the pool party. Yeah, it was a good time. That's when I really knew. I was like, oh, these niggas is really, oh, these niggas is, oh, this ain't an act. These niggas is really about this shit out here.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay. Hey man, the motherfuckers used to be so worried about me that first season of black Jesus. Because I smoked so much weed, right? The first day was tripping off me smoking weed. All right, Aaron May Sure, okay. You smoke, just smoke in your trailer, okay. I smoke my trailer, I be knocked out of them. When they come, I'll be knocked. They be like, damn, is he gonna be all right? It took them like the whole season. Around the middle of season two, they realize that's how I work. That's how you do it. I'll be knocked. It's like action, okay? Yeah, what's up? Your your mind, your mind ain't ready, your heart's not open. But it's for Yeah, man. And that's another thing I wanna say, man. I've been so blessed to work with people who offer me the freedom to be me and not necessarily try to change it. You know what I'm saying? Again, there was a lot of improv in Black Jesus, a lot of Black Jesus, you know, I was integrally involved in, you know, the feel of the show, the character names, uh, the the world. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04

I'm not gonna sit and say, Because it was Black Jesus in your neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right. Right. So I was uh, you know, like Booney, the Booney character is a real person. Yeah. There's a real life, my one of my best friends, he's Booney, he's the real Booney. Uh Fish is uh, Fish is That's Andre Fuller, right?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's a good dude right there. That's not, yeah, Andre that's my boy. There's not a real person named Fish, but there's a, you know, Fish embodies a whole bunch of niggas I know. You know what I'm saying? And Andre killed it. Uh shit, being able to work with Angela Gills, Miss Tudor. Yeah. Classic. Oh man, goddammit. Uh who we had, we had everybody Murphy. Antoine Tanner, Charlie Murphy. John Witherspoon. Sean Witherspoon. I mean, we have so many people. Jamar. Papa Jamar neighbors is an idiot. Hey, me and Jamar got a movie coming up. Okay, that's my guy. That's my guy. Yeah, Jamar is an idiot, man. That's he's so fucking funny. Yeah, he's a wild dude. Oh, Jamar Wild.

SPEAKER_00

He's a wild dude. Yeah. Man, are there any characters that you've been developing on that you could tell us about that you haven't revealed?

SPEAKER_01

Um, absolutely. I'm I'm working on a sitcom right now. I'll just say that. I'm working on a sitcom that I will talk about it off camera, but I'm working on a sitcom right now that the formula hasn't been touched for a while. Uh, because nothing is new, but I'm I'm definitely working on a sitcom that's been that. Yeah, man, we need you back on the tube, man. You and I finally got into that, you know, with this all-star weekend, I mean, excuse me, with this Netflix is a joke week.

SPEAKER_04

What you was breaking down, break down what you were saying to us about how Netflix is a joke is like like an all-star weekend.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Netflix is a joke week in LA is like basically like all-star weekend for the NBA, NBA guys. So you got all the comedians, you know, anybody who's anybody is in LA for All-Star Weekend right now. I mean, excuse me for for uh Netflix is a joke week, and I forgot what I was gonna say, but yeah, man, everybody's here right now grinding and and shit, man. You just gotta get out here and stay grind. I'm finna say something cool too, man. I'm finna say something cool. I forgot what it was, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, man, it's a lot of uh synapses firing off.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Oh shit, it might come back. It might come back.

SPEAKER_01

Now we were talking about fucking shit, developing shit. Yeah, developing characters.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah, the new new new characters. You say you can tell us off camera.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, new, yeah, I got, yeah, for this new show I'm working on right now, I'm very excited about that. Um, you know, again, um developing, I'm just watching niggas know your mama grow. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about niggas know your mama, man. Like, because I seen you, I seen before it became like video shit. I seen when you was just saying that today. Tweeting it and you was just tweeting it. Niggas know your mama. And now it's got a whole, it's got the music, it's got the like, man, them stories is wild. Like, like, how did that how did that develop and what percentage of them stories is actual fact?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm gonna say it developed, it it came to, it, it, it was born on the 85 South show. Okay, yeah. It was born the the phrase, the phrase, niggas know your mom was born on the 85 South show. Thank you to to Carlos and kind of helped me incubate that on the spot. But I've always had jokes, you know, as I get older now, you know, see these guys like like my man, he I probably know his mama. How old? Yeah, yeah, 33. Oh, that was 1993. I had just got out of pro. I just got out of Y. I probably messed, your mama worked down the dog on the stick. It becomes hard for these young niggas to be. Because you know her as mom. You know what I'm saying? But I know her as terrible topics. No, you know, I just, you know, again, I just had a lot of fun with that. That was born on uh, I just always been talking about, you know, being an older nigga and leaving my Stacy Adams by your mama's bedroom door. You know, when a nigga come to your house, you know when you come home and it's a bucket of chicken, you know your mom ain't working like three weeks. It's a bucket of chicken in two sides already ready, and it's a pair of Stacy Adams by the dough, you know who did that. You know what I'm saying? You think how you think all these single mothers made it? A lot of them, is I bought like, man, I don't know, I personally bought like six sets of uh Pop Mourner outfits and shit, Pop Morner uniforms. It's at least two niggas in the NFL that owe me some props. You making dreams come true, huh? Your dreams come true. You think your mama did that by herself, nigga? You know one time nigga corporator, mom's taking you to school, the motherfucking car break down on the 110, man. The corporator fucked up. The next day, the motherfucker fixed. You think your mama's a mechanic, nigga? You think your mama a mechanic? Yeah, somebody did that.

SPEAKER_04

Niggas know your mama, nigga. Yeah, man. That's organic as fuck, man. That's how it's gotta be.

SPEAKER_00

It's actually hella real, though. It's hella real. That it's hella, it's funny because it's true.

SPEAKER_01

You don't like thinking about that, but Charles is hitting that pussy, you know.

SPEAKER_04

Man, um, you know who else is an OG in the tradition of this type of comedy? DJ Pooh. Absolutely. And I know that that's a he's a uh a pillar in your journey.

SPEAKER_01

Man, Pooh is the guru. Without Pooh, it would be no me. You know what I'm saying? Just the cats like, again, Pooh, I want to shout out Pooh because he's he's very, very involved in my career as well. Because without Pooh, Pooh put me on Grand Theft Auto Five. Yeah, Pooh put me down with that. Pooh saw something in me as well, man. I wish he'd see me for this next Friday movie. Pooh, Aaron, Q, what's up, man? I've been out here, you know what I'm saying? I'm doing good. I got my teeth fixed, my nigga. That's why we do in this podcast to get niggas work. That's the whole point. Yeah, but shout out to DJ Pooh, man. Pooh, man, Pooh is like fucking fanos of the culture, man. It's like Pooh is Pooh is so fucking, Pooh got his hands in everything's a bunch of shit that I don't even, I could, I don't even know everything he got his hands, but I know you find out about it later that Pooh's involved in. Pooh has such an eye and an ear for talent. He's it's he's such so adept at what he does, man. Man, shout out to DJ Pooh, man. That's a cold motherfucker, man.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, man. You were talking about how we like to watch people transition from one skill set to the other, one career to the other. We interviewed uh Cypher Sounds. He was an early black star DJ. Cypher Sounds was a big, big DJ in New York. Yeah, remember, he was big, and then he was like, I don't know, I'm not interested, I want to do comedy in it. And I was telling him, I ain't I wasn't sure it was gonna work out. But I watched him do it, and Pooh is a pioneer in that where he comes from the music space, but you don't know what's in somebody's brain. You don't know what else they think. And for him to come from just a producer, because in the producer lane, the way that you talk about him in the comedy, music lane, when it comes to production and making beats, he's a legend. He's a legend in two games like Pee-Wee Kirk. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

And you think about this though, Tyler, the correlation between hip hop and comedy, especially rappers and comedians, you're sharp. Use a fucking elite freestyler. You have to be able to have these lines witty and quick. And what are the lines called? Punch lines. Exactly. We get that from comedy. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

And y'all sometimes say it's bars. Y'all get that from us. So it's a it's it can go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_01

So again, a cat like DJ Pooh, it's it's like he took it, he's Bo Jackson.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I'm saying? What's the other motherfucker? He's Deion Sanders. You know what I'm saying? He's gonna drop the bat and pick up the football, you know. He and he's cold like that. So, yeah, man. I've been so blessed, man, to be again, to be connected to, to be uh uh involved with so many uh cultural cornerstones, like DJ Poole, like Aaron Magruder, you know what I'm saying, like John with a spoon, Charlie Murphy, man. I've been so blessed, man, and I don't ever want nobody to think that I don't, that it went past me, man. I'm I'm so blessed and so thankful for those opportunities to be here, man. It's a whole bunch of motherfuckers. This is a popping ass weekend. You can have damn near anybody you want on this motherfucker, man. I appreciate you having me, dog.

SPEAKER_04

We needed you and we appreciate you. And I'm glad that you brought up the uh connection between hip-hop and uh comedy because I always say that, like stand-up, I look at hip-hop, I've said this on the show before, as the highest level of what I do. I look at it as the highest level of art, except for maybe stand-up comedy. You know what I'm saying? And when you think about people like uh uh Yassin Bey, Gene Gray, Black Thought, they have all tried, these are elite MCs. T I. Elite MCs be like, I'm gonna try to do that. Because it's like, oh, if that looks like what they do is the next level of what we do.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, and not to take anything away from hip hop or rappers, but I I'm gonna agree with that because I feel the difference between that is with comedy, you don't have no beat. You don't have no beat. You don't have no backup dancers.

SPEAKER_04

You don't have nothing. And you can't play the hits. You can't play the hits. You gotta come with new fresh material every time you get up here.

SPEAKER_01

And and and or or if you do play the hits, because like a lot of these dudes. We gotta get the hits first. If you do play the hits, you gotta hear the hits first, and you still have to deliver them with the energy. Yeah. Like for me, I'm gonna be honest, man, uh I got a lot to lot, I got a long way to go as far as being an elite comic. But I think what what draws people to me is just the humility and just just, hey man, it is what it is, man. You know what I'm saying? You see me on stage right now, I was just arguing with the parking attendant about not having no debit card on me right now. So, you know what I'm saying? This is, you know, just about being to being able to be expressive, man. You want the motherfuckers to feel you, whatever. Because it I've heard rappers, I've heard some rappers with ABC ass rhymes that you can feel. And I've heard rappers with some fucking hella, that's right, meticulous, hella intricate ass rhymes. This is some bullshit. Yeah. So it's just, it's, it's just you know, it's just it's just the energy. Energy is a big thing, and that's one thing I'm gonna pardon me as I digress. Like Tupac, I think about Tupac. Tupac was energy. Tupac, he had an energy. Like, I don't, I don't put him on my top five as because I'm I'm I I like hella lyrical rappers. You know, when you talk about top five, well, it depends, because it's like apples to oranges. Now, all the Tupac fans chill out. I love Pac like a motherfucker, I'll slap shit out of you. Wait a minute. But I'm just saying, Pac was more of an energy. He was, he was, his, his shit was energy. You felt his words, you know what I'm saying? That's what I think.

SPEAKER_04

It's the story, it's where he comes from. He comes from the Panthers, he comes from going to coast to coast. His story, you hear his whole story in them bars. It's not a matter of whether it was double entendre or multisyllabic or it's not, it's the word play, it's not that.

SPEAKER_01

It's the feeling. It spoke to Pac spoke to your soul. Every Pac rap was dope as fuck because he spoke to your soul. Pac said it from his chest.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I mean? And that's what that's what I respect about him. So that goes to say energy, man. You you get the people the right energy, the right energy will get you anything.

SPEAKER_00

I'll say that. We was in the studio last night with Yassine till about I want to say six in the morning, Y'all scene in alchemy. And what you can is so real, because when I'm around guys like him, I live, Scarface, killer mic, these rapper. And just even being able to get a whiff of the process for a guy that's gonna come up in the rankings, that's invaluable to me. You know what I mean? Just to get to see that it's real. Easy to know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01

Man, man, Scarface is my favorite rapper. He was my favorite rapper long before I met him. So happy to call him a friend, but he's my favorite rapper. But it but to be able to, once I was able to see this process and be around him, bro, that solidified it even more, man. Man, that's a dope ass motherfucker right there. But yeah, it's about that energy, man. It's about that energy. And then he'll be laid back as a motherfucker, but he get on that mic. He ain't yelling at it. But it's just the energy. It's energy.

SPEAKER_00

Brad is my guy, man. That's that's one of my big brothers in rap, man.

SPEAKER_04

Mine too. And it's crazy with that this energy has come full circle because I was with him with an Alchemist Crib, Alchemist Studio last night. And Alchemist got an old school cardboard cutout of Face Mob from the like My Balls, My Word era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The hat, yeah, yeah, yeah. The white jacket.

SPEAKER_00

He got a picture with you? It's in uh the photographer phone.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, he took a picture. He took some pictures, man. Well, Slink, I appreciate you, OG, for coming through.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, man.

SPEAKER_04

We're gonna party some more this weekend.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, yes, man. You know what I'm saying? Hey, and I don't know. I think uh I think Jesus will be out on sunset tonight. Oh. Oh, were? I think he's gonna be make a special rare appearance.

SPEAKER_04

I heard you say on other podcasts that you you value what that character represents and you don't bring it out. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

I don't ever want to hold him out. I want my money, don't get me wrong, but you know, if you make him too accessible, you know, again, I I I really appreciate, man, I humbly appreciate that everybody rock with it like that. You know, people be wanting, man, I can't, I can't do them for your $2,500. I mean, I get it, but then I start doing it and it loses the value. It loses the value. And more than the money, I want to retain the value of the integrity of, you know, I have all kinds of people having me asking me about what if we did this with Jesus? What if we did it? I don't want to do all that. If it don't, if it don't look like it did on Adult Swim, I don't need, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to fuck with the integrity of him. I don't want to hold him out. You know, I feel to just see him doing fucking celebrity endorsements for Carmex and shit like that. You know what I mean? I mean, maybe Carmex. You know what I'm saying? You cover like six self-biggers. You know what I'm saying? But absolutely, I don't want to hold him out. I don't want to hold myself out. And that, and that's another reason I don't wear it, because if I wore that shit all the time, you wouldn't want this nigga. That's right, that's right. You know what I'm saying? You're no good without that wig, so I basically want to prove my worth without the wig.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I seen uh Deshaun Raw. Remember Deshaun Raw Super Hot Fire? Yeah, yeah. I seen him talking, he was upset at his deal that he got with Chris Rock in Comedy Central. Um and I don't, I'm not here to take sides. I wasn't a part of that deal. I don't know who right and who wrong, but I just watched the podcast. He was like, yeah, man, they they try to uh they try to tell me they wanted me to be super hot fire. I'm like, no, I'm Deshaun Raw. I'm like, well, they they paid for Super Hot Fire. That's what they that's what they wanted. That's what I was thinking when I watched it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, man, so shout out to Deshaun Raw. Something like that. You should have just did a super hot fire, take your money, man, and and and build your. That's that's what I was gonna say too. I'm I'm figuring that out. That's what I was gonna say about it being all-star weekend here for the comics, man. I feel like I know this there's no ceiling and it's hard for me to go, but I'm learning about this game right now. Like, damn, I'm I know so many people right now, and still nobody's coming to save me. My point is, make your own shit, man. Yeah, man. Good point. Say that right now. I don't care what level you at. I don't care if you still, I don't care if you're at the bottom, at the top, or the bottom. Just still make your own shit and make the motherfuckers want you. Yes. Don't think because, oh, they know who I am. Yeah, they know who you are, but you still gotta. I know that there's a lot more that I have to do. So, you know.

SPEAKER_04

And I'm gonna add on to that. If you're great, nobody can stop you from being great. There's nobody in your way that can stop it. No one, no gatekeeper, no person who works at the door at the club, no, no booker, no promoter, no wet label, no movie studio. Nothing can stop you from being great. You gotta just create on your own, whether they want you to or not. And they'll come running.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, they will.

SPEAKER_04

When your shit get popping. Yes, they will. Sling Johnson, y'all. Let me ask you this. Clothing us. A real DJ Nero that stands in the macular effigy of a copper skinned woolly hair Palestinian refugee who would never be defined by the state of religious labels or enemy of the status quo, he was flipping over the