"This baby's gonna survive!" with DJ Fly Guy - podcast episode cover

"This baby's gonna survive!" with DJ Fly Guy

Nov 19, 202237 min
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Summary

In this heartfelt episode, DJ Fly Guy opens up about his journey into fatherhood, particularly the challenges faced with his daughter Scarlett's early diagnosis and NICU stays, and how this deepened his faith. He discusses the intricate balance of his demanding DJ career with his commitment to being a hands-on dad, learning to compartmentalize roles and support his wife. The conversation also explores evolving expectations in parenting, the often-overlooked role of fathers in healthcare settings, and the unique ways he creates a lasting legacy for his daughter, including writing a song that calms her.

Episode description

https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/diaperdads! We are back like the bottom of your neck! This time we’ll dig even deeper, be even more open and hopefully learn even more about this Fatherhood journey we’ve been blessed to take with our partners and children.

Transcript

Welcome to Diaper Dads, Season 2

B

Did you happen to pick the BPMs for the song based upon her heartbeat at all? Or

A

Oh my. No, no.

B

Y'all, we are back like the top of your butt. This is diaper dads. Season two, episode two, and I am George 2.0. That's three twos. I didn't even do it on. I didn't know that. That means it's gonna be a lucky, a really, really lucky conversation, a really, really lucky day. Uh I am super excited. Um just to have you all come back for the second episode.

I the last episode with Reggie, we're getting DMs, we're getting texts, I'm getting side chats saying just how much his vulnerability um and his story sharing meant to so many dads. And and that's important for us here. As I said on the last episode. And as I'll continue to say, this conversation is about the shared journey of parenthood. Now we happen to focus on dads and papas.

fathers, padres. But for whatever role your father figure has played in your life, or for those of you that are looking to be fathers or just found out you're going to be a father or are scared to death of being a father, this conversation is for you. To be quite, you know, frank, we're honest enough here at Diaper Dads to admit that we don't have all the answers. But we're curious enough to ask all the questions. And hopefully today you'll find out that we are vulnerable enough.

to share our stories. And that's the most important thing, right? That fathers have an opportunity to have conversations. Now, formerly this conversation took place on Instagram, so you guys could chat along. But we figured now, you know, we wanna put it in a platform space that makes it easy for you to listen to in the shower or on the way to pick up your kid from clarinet practice or

Manscaping, or whatever you do with your time. This podcast, of course, is available on all DSPs. This is Diaper Dads, and we look forward to all your feedback.

Scarlett's Diagnosis and Early Therapy

Today, um, we're gonna get right into a conversation with uh a father who I knew before he was. Uh but certain people kind of have that energy, you know. You can tell by by the depth in their voice, the tone that they can, you know, they can hey, hey, hey, that they got a hey, hey, hey in them, you know.

that they already have their father utility belt there. Um this this brother actu actually uh I met quite some time ago. As I said before he was a father and we've just continued to grow and expand opportunities to To spend time, to share music with people, to build out experiences for people together all over the country. But today we're gonna have a really unique conversation about a new role that he's playing uh as a father. Take a listen to this.

🎵 Music

A

DJ Fly got here fresh off the plane.

🎵 Music

B

I told you, right? I mean experiences. That's what he's about, bringing experiences. And I think that this new experience he'll be just as happy to share with you. So diaper dads, if you would, welcome my brother, my friend, Rassan Alexander, aka. DJ a fly guy.

A

Ah what's happening? Two point oh

B

See, y'all heard that, right? Y'all heard that that dad voice is already there, right?

A

Um good man. Actually, you know, you called me on a good day. Actually, we just got back from uh our baby's uh therapy, speech therapy, and

Once a week.

B

Oh man, that's great. That's great. So I mean so I have to ask because I haven't had um that particular experience and I know there are a lot of fathers on here because the spectrum of fatherhood and parents. Hood is is just so broad, right? Is there was that a choice that you made? Um, was that a necessity that was made, or was that something that kind of just you know came as a as a decision afterwards?

A

Um it was a necessity. Um, you know, if we if we want to jump right into w what what is going on. Um and I know the public as far as social media is concerned isn't really aware but my wife and I we have a six month old uh baby girl her name is Scarlett and uh she has a diagnosis and with that diagnosis um it kind of

puts a little delay on on development, uh, I'll say. So You know, the doctors and the surgeons and the specialists and everyone, you know, they suggested to us uh early on that it would be a good idea to get her in speech therapy because she has a uh a feeding tube. Um, so she goes to speech therapy to get it to engage her and suck, swallow, breathe, uh, you know, mechanisms.

uh so that she can then eat by bottle and by spoon and you know eventually solid foods and get off of the uh the feeding tube and then the occupational therapy for her uh motor skills coordination you know things like that So um and she's doing great. You know, she's been in it for two weeks now. Um it's it's a marathon, not a sprint, you know, as you know, most things in life are. And you know, we just we take it all one day at a time and and we go according to her page.

Navigating Pregnancy Obstacles and Faith

B

You know, uh I was talking to my dad the other day and he was saying that when I was born the doctor handed to him and said count halls fingers and toes. And he was just like, I never even thought that that was a thing I had to think about. Like I you just don't think about those things.

But I think now for us, you know, as as fathers that have become fathers later on in life and as technology has grown, there are some things that we're privy to that our parents weren't. You know, there's more information, there's more tests, there's more, you know

J all the stuff that you kinda go through and and you're getting all this paperwork and you're saying, Oh, you know, this might happen or this didn't happen or we dodged this bullet and you're like, I didn't even know that this was a possibility.

A

Yeah.

B

When you started to find out, I'm assuming along the way, um, that there might be some hurdles or some obstacles. you know, that you guys might the three of you might have to go through. Can you talk to us about what that feeling was like, particularly as a father who's not carrying the baby, trying to express yourself but also be strong, you know, for your for your girls.

A

Yeah, I mean I think that's the biggest the biggest uh challenge one of the bigger challenges we face as the the the father and and the husband is to be um the support system. And, you know, it's it's It's a learning process. Um But you also you wanna make sure that you're trying to be the voice of reason. uh as emphatic as possible, uh as sympathetic as possible and and trying to just just

you know, make sure that you take care of your partner and that life that she is carrying inside of her throughout the process. And that's just in a regular pregnancy. that's not even including when you add on the layers of issues, you know, that that you face when there are, you know, other things involved. So, you know, I'll tell you, George, like at one point, um, we had decided to cancel our baby shower. told to us by the doctors because of what they suspected and expected to happen.

And then, you know, so a this is after sending out invites and everything and and know and uh planning it all and all the excitement and then, you know, you go to one doctor's appointment and you go to another one and then they tell you something, then they tell you something else the next week and then y you know, you you you find yourself saying, Well, why are we even gonna have

A shower, right? And then you cancel it. And then you say, But you know what? God has a God has the the the last say so, you know, regardless of what any doctor. So then we changed our thinking into more a more spiritual way. We did a lot more praying. We had people pray for us. And then we just decided, you know what, we're gonna have this baby shower because this baby's gonna survive.

B

Yeah.

A

You know, and it's and it's gonna go from there. So that's that's how that process.

B

And she did. She did survive.

A

Yeah, she did. You know, they they said that she wouldn't um make it to full term. Then they said that uh that she wouldn't make it once the umbilical cord was cut. And then they said, well, she might not last the first uh past the first week. You know, so everything there was always like something else that they were saying that was gonna happen. And then they said that she was gonna have this issue and that issue, and they ran all these tests.

And she didn't have any of the expected uh uh you know, uh d deformities or or you know, situations that Usually comes along with this diagnosis, right? Yeah. And then we, you know, my wife and I, we look at each other and we say, Well, that's that's nothing but God right there.

B

Absolutely.

A

You know, so you know, and that's how we've been we've been, you know, changing our our our our thought process throughout the whole journey. She just turned six months old uh last this past Saturday. You know, and it's it's amazing, man. Yeah. It's amazing to see her, you know, grow and develop every day, you know, a little bit by little bit. Yeah, it's it's a beautiful thing, man. Life is Extremely beautiful. Being a father is extremely beautiful.

Balancing Fatherhood and DJ Career

B

It's the best, man. And you know, and I I I just I can't imagine I mean it's hard too, right? It's it's really hard. But I can't imagine not being a father at this point. It's it's it's actually permeated everything that I do, you know. Um and and for those of you listening, uh

Well actually let me take a step back. So and I I know I introduced uh Flag Eye as a DJ, but I I probably shouldn't have used that article, you know, I should have said V D. And the reason I say that is because the kind of um intent that you put into your time spent creating musical experiences for people is obvious.

You know, I can remember um an HPCU spring coming before the pandemic. Um, and you came on about halfway through the party. And I mean, something, you know, it was Gucci. Somebody something was playing and everybody was really turned up. And then the music just stopped. And then you heard Seven way Wait a minute, dog. Wait a second, bruh

C

What?

A

Yeah.

C

Ha ha.

B

It was a sense of occasion and purpose that you brought into the DJ booth that I just actually hadn't seen before. And I think about what it takes for you. to get yourself together mentally to be able to provide that energy. You know, we um we were in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and uh you graciously flew in and and did the party Black Love. um for us. And I I think the party might have been over two or three. You might have been at the airport by five.

About because you know, because you knew you had to get back. And so in my mind, not only to get back for more work, but to get back to your family. Mm-hmm. Has the party scene changed for you? Now that you're a father, how do you go from changing the diaper, hearing the crying, to going out and and and being free of whatever is encumbering you so that you can give people the experiences that they came?

A

You know, some some some people I think don't realize that there's a skill to compartmentalizing your your life. And sometimes it can be an hindrance, sometimes it can be a benefit. Um so when I'm At work, I'm full DJ mode, but when I'm at home, I'm full dad mode. I remember a time in my life where you know, I would kind of be like fly guy all the time in every aspect of life. And it's like, well, nah, you know, it's a little different now. So, you know, work is work and home is home.

The job is the job and the family's the family and they you know, it's really about separating my my m you know, mentality in two different areas of my life. So I can change a diaper and kiss my baby and play patty cake with her.

and then go to live on Sunday and then go DJ for fifteen hundred people and then leave there at five AM, come back home and she's waking up, change the diaper again, play patty cake patty cake again. You know, it's like there's no There's no blurred lines with Well for me with you know the the the public persona and the

B

And you said you said you said live on Sunday, right? I just I'm like like the world famous

A

Yeah. Yeah yeah. So shou shout out to uh my headliner, Mark and Goo Family My Guard.

B

You know, it's funny because when I think about about DJing for a crowd that big and that expectant I wonder whether or not for you, are you looking to one person as the metronome? Or are you looking to a pocket of people? Or are you just so in your own zone? that you're not really thinking about, you know, how people are responding. You just know that they're going to respond to you.

A

Well I I would never be as arrogant

To say

A

I don't care about the people'cause I know they're gonna respond to me because you never know. You know, you never know what the energy you're gonna have in the room is what the energy is gonna be. But I can say that, like you say, it's a pocket of people that I focus on. And what I've come to understand in my fifteen years as a professional DJ is that human beings respond to energy. So if there's a pocket of energy over here, it's gonna transfer to the pocket next to them.

table next to them and then as you g you're gonna see a multiply before you know you have a thousand people put their hands up all at the same time singing along to a particular song. You know, and that's how I've come to to understand how my approach to the craft of DJing works. Um, you know, other DJs may see it differently, but you know, I've always focused on, okay, who who in here's vibe, where's the vibe? There's the vibe.

I'm gonna match their vibe, they're gonna match mine, and then we're just gonna let them multiply throughout the year.

B

Deber dads, we're here, episode two, with a fly guy, a DJ, a brother, and perhaps most relevant to this conversation, a father. Give us just a second, we'll be right back after this break.

Dad.

B

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🎵 Music

Evolving Expectations and Supporting Partners

B

So we are back like the top of your butt. And right before we left, I was asking Fly about how um he negotiates the space between him and the crowd in the DJ booth, whether he has expectancies or whether he looks for reaction. And it kind of got me thinking, you know, as a father, um, there's a certain expectancy that we have for ourselves.

as a partner, depending upon the role we play um in our partnership or our marriage, there might have already been an ext an established expectancy between the two of You know, one of you might be the fixer, one of you might be the cook, one of you you know, whatever that thing might be. And then there is the reality that comes when Scarlet comes and you're like, wait a minute, the things I thought I was going to be, the things I thought I was going to do.

A

Yeah.

B

I thought I was going to think they've changed because d a child changes everything.

A

Mm-hmm.

B

Has there been anything about you in How you thought you were going to navigate the world of fatherhood that has changed and and even more specifically. Have you had to lower any expectations of yourself? Had you had to give yourself any grace and say, you know what, I actually don't know how to do this. Let me not be so hard on myself. Or have you just knocked it out the park since day one?

A

No, there's there's been a lot of hum humbling myself, you know, that that I've had to develop. Um, you know, because I'll say this, you know, my my wife and I, we got married in August and

you know, Scarlett was born in April, like a couple of months before that. So, you know, we're newlyweds, new parents, you know, my wife is her first child. So there's a lot of learning that's happening simultaneously and What I can say is that I didn't I mean, to be fully transparent, you know, with you, George, is you know, I have a fourteen year old daughter that I spent a lot of years not seeing because

you know, things I just won't wanna discuss, you know, that deal with her mom. But we're actually I went to the courts and I got into family therapy. I requested family therapy to reestablish a connection. Um her mother and I were never together. So this experience is completely different because it's hands on twenty four hours.

Um, so it's it's you know, when you say a new father, yeah, it's new in the sense that it's 14 years later, starting all over, and it's and it's a totally different uh experience day in, day out. What I've learned or as I continue to learn every day is how much how how much value I think sometimes is not placed on the importance of the mother and how

demanding it is to be a mom. And as as a father, observing what my wife does as a mother, it shows me that I don't s there are days where I feel like I don't do enough. Now, I don't do enough because I'm physically incapable of doing it because I can. Breastfeed?

B

Yeah, breastfeeding. Right.

A

saying like I but so I've had to learn other ways to Supplement the things that are draining to my wife being the mom. How do I be the dad? So, you know, it's just different things about learning. How do you, as the father, as the husband, how do you help to take the load off? Of

because that is so demanding and I really had no concept or understanding of that prior to this stage of my life. And you know, I don't know if I would have been as prepared As a young father, as you know, guys that are having kids at twenty two and twenty three and and getting married young and you know, I don't know how how they do it because I don't know how we do it day to day sometimes.

🎵 Music

A

I don't want to take away from Her and what she does, you know, because I say she's ten times more important than than than me, but I do think that.

Father's Role and Recognition in Healthcare

A lot of times fathers don't get respected enough from outsiders looking in. And I'll give you an example. When Scarlett was born, she was in the Nick U of the newborn uh intensive care unit for forty-seven days straight, right? And she came out for two months and then she got infected with RSV and then ended up in the pediatric ICU for another month. But in those two time periods, I would always notice like the nurses would come into the room because we slept at the hospital every night.

Um, but they would always like say, hey mom, or you know, mommy, do you need anything? Mommy this, mommy that. And it would never be like, well, what about dad? Dad's right here. You know, and as a black family, you might not be used to seeing a lot of, you know, black mothers in there, but you would never see like the fathers.

B

Yep.

A

Like no, this I'm the I'm her husband.

B

I'm here.

A

And I'm this baby's father and I'm here every day like she's here. We we come together, we leave together. Yeah. You know, and I always notice this just this seems like this this disconnect between the the the acknowledgement, I'll say, of father and The the the hospital at some at some point, not everybody, but you know, another sometimes where even she would be like, like the nurse will say something, and she'd be like, Yeah, and this is my husband.

Carla's father, you know, and I'm be like, damn, like I'm right here too. Yeah. Yeah. So

B

That was one of the hardest things for me, I think. Um, particularly because and again. We we spent we spent time in the hospital, both before and after. Um and some things unexpected leading up, of course, you know, when you when when pregnancies happen over a certain age, particularly for for for black women, there's just there are obstacles that are just You know, they come up, right? And I can remember the feeling of helplessness.

Um, because I couldn't, you know, I I I didn't get the morning sickness that some fathers do and, you know, obviously I wasn't carrying. And I remember talking to my boys about like that feeling because I was determined to be a good dad, right? By my own standards, meaning I already knew I'm changing diapers. I'm not gonna be one of those. Go get the kid like I'm involved in every like let me see the registry also. Let's sit down together and do these things, right? Um

Because I wanted to, but also I wanted Georgie to know that that was what her father did, right? And I remember talking to one of my boys about this like helplessness that I felt. And he gave me some really good advice, which I think could apply to also being the newlywed in the same space, right? Was like,

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to breastfeed right now. And yeah, she might be crying on you, but as soon as mommy comes in the room, she's gonna want to go to to mommy. So like hide your feelings, you know what I'm saying? But my focus then turned per this good advice. into taking care of my wife. Yeah. If she's the main caretaker for our child, well, who's taking care of her?

Let me focus on that. And then when I do that, I can feel as though I'm actually taking care of everybody. So, like you said, you know, I'm gonna cook. I'm gonna do these other things. And that gave me a sense of peace um in a way that I had kind of been worked up about because as I'm sure it was your experience being in the NICU, there were some times when you had to make decisions or step in and ask the doctors, no, repeat that to me again. I need to hear what you're doing with my wife.

Yeah. I need to hear what you're doing with my child. Don't talk around me. I'm here.

Spiritual Growth and Daughter's Strength

Yeah. Yeah. And that was a big mo a big like change.

A

Mm-hmm. Yeah, there I mean there were times there were it was so much information and things that they were telling us that, you know

B

Yeah.

A

He she wasn't able to, you know, absorb it all and I had to be there to say, Okay, well they they also said this and you know, or she'll remember something later and you know, so there was a lot of that. You talk about being like involved. twenty four hours a day as as you should be, right? As you know my father was with me. I you know, I was blessed to grow up in a in a two parent household until he passed away, you know, and I was fifteen, but prior to that, that the household I grew up in was

husband, wife and children, you know. So, you know, um I'm forty two now, you know, my wife is forty one and we're, you know, I'm trying to rectify the mistakes that I made as a young father. in a new situation and still, you know learn as each day goes by. And and it's not easy, but I don't think I would change this journey that's been happening because it's showing me how real God is.

you know it's perfect and and it's showing me how powerful prayer is and i don't think i would change you know how the journey's been going you know because it's it's it's showing me how strong this baby is how much she wants to survive and thrive and how well she is thriving and and how in the face of what seems like insurmountable turmoil or You know that the black love is bonded, is is bond is binding.

You know.

Music as a Family Connection

B

The idea of uh the idea of your child and you and your wife having um A W, so to speak, already going into, you know, this new this new part of life is really encouraging. And I think it's something that you will always be able to point back. to Scarlet and say, Well, no, you made it through this or we made it through this. Yeah. I think that's what adversity does, right? And also a good friend of mine was saying the other day.

that there is a level of empathy that you have for a lot of other people in their situations because of your own. And I think that that happens to be one of the most important things that we can do as parents is is is actually provide for our kids experiences that help them to connect to other people based upon how well and vulnerably and and honestly we connected. Um and and and a part of that connection I know and I keep going back to this because, you know,

They talk about the language that everybody speaks and that's music, right? I wonder, you know, before Scarlet came, you know, when when she was in the womb, was there any music involved? um, in in that part of the process. Like for us what we did was I I was putting headphones on Jovian stomach, you know, once or twice a week. Did you have anything in that way that kind of led to um uh an experience that you guys had at as as a family.

A

So one number one, uh my wife would put the headphones on her belly, the belly buds. Play uh classical music and then I don't know if you know this about me, but did you know I rap before I DJ?

B

I did. I saw I saw a photo of you on the cover of I guess it was the fam you and my yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

A

Um so when she was in the womb, I wrote a song for her and I actually ended up the f and the song is called I Found God. So it says I went from no lady in my life Maybe this is right. To baby and a wife, watching Instagram, going crazy with the likes. It placed me in the light of the Lord. My prayers answered. My fear transferred. My soul resurrected. I'm hoping to get the message. To bring a baby girl in this crazy world is a blessing with lessons to teach.

you waiting for the day to greet you. Feeling like I know you already before I meet you. I seen you in my dreams. I can't nobody tell me where to find God. I found it in Mommy Belly with belly buds. We're going through hell because it's darkest before the dawn. So I wrote a song to lay the foundation of black love and family. Never thought a baby girl could redefine the man in me. Redefine my sanity and put me on the right path. Thanking God for sending me a life rap. I found God.

Building a Timeless Legacy

B

You're playing your song that you wrote for your daughter to your daughter and it calms her down. Yeah. I mean I see I told y'all about this voice, right? I said Man, I love that. You know, I I actually have not written anything. um for Georgie yet oddly, although she was actually on my lap while I was writing a project, um, you know, during the early part of of of her life. Um, but I have such admiration for folks like you who are able to put something like that that is timeless.

Um you know, in front of her.'Cause she'll always hear that. She'll always have Yeah. Uh a a friend of mine was just was talking the other day about the things that he's begun to put aside for his his son so that when his son gets to be a certain age, they'll n know how he felt now.

Right. And Scarlet will be able to not only know because of your presence in her life, God willing, right? Yeah. But also how you felt in that moment. And I think that's that's probably the really interesting thing as well about the difference in the 14 years between when you first

became a father and now there's so many things that just weren't available even then, right? Like I mean, the technology, the baby monitors, the belly buds, the you know, all that kind of stuff. You know what I'm saying? It's a different world.

A

Yeah, we uh we even bought a um a little baby doppler. Oh yeah, we would listen to our heart. Every day we would wake up, we would listen to our heart. May I put the gel on her?

B

Yeah, yeah.

A

listen to the heartbeat and then you know I would like record it uh with with my voice memo so that we'd always have it, you know, it's like little things like that that, you know, helped us

deal with everything that was compiling on us throughout the journey, at least definitely throughout the pregnancy journey. And then you know, once once she got here, everything you know, it's the therapy, uh speech therapy, the occupational therapy, but then also like having her around like family, you know, my mother, my grandmother, you know, this is her

tenth great grandchild, she's 96, you know, and she sings to Scarlet, you know, every time we go over to my mother's house. So it's it's trying to put all this love cover her and all this love to show that yeah, you have a great purpose to serve in this life. And we're we're instilling that in her mentally from from now.

🎵 Music

Rapid-Fire Advice and Fatherhood Legacy

B

All right, so I got a couple of rapid fire questions for you um that we like to have our guests run through and then um of course I wanna I wanna end with Um asking you perhaps the most vulnerable question um that we're gonna ask today. If you're up for it, I'm gonna fly through these things, pun intended. Um When you found out you were going to be a dad, one of your boys, maybe a couple of your boys, gave you some advice. What was the best piece of advice that you received?

A

Uh I would say from my eldest brother, Selwyn Hines, he said And I took that on multiple levels.

B

Love that. What's your second secret weapon? Do you have one already? Like if you know if she's crying, you come in the room and there's a thing that you do. What's your secret weapon that always works?

A

Uh something that I learned from my wife because it's her secret weapon and I had to borrow it is a plain patty cake.

B

Love it. What's the difference between a father

A

by definition Anyone can be It's it's in you know it's interesting. You know, that's I know it's rapid fire but Those terms are like You can be a father by procreating. Doesn't mean you're a dad. Yeah. You know, like I've hear I've heard people use the term the term, even when you talk about step, I've heard stepdad more than stepfather.

B

That's true.

A

You know, they they made a they made a a a scary movie about the the stepfather. It wasn't over the stepdad. So I would say, you know, you can be anyone can be your father, but not Yeah, I love that.

B

I love that. Is there a hiding spot that you have in the house when you need to just get away from everything?

A

My hiding spot is on my motorcycle.

B

Favorite day of the week. Saturday. Favorite TV father.

A

Hmm, that is a good one. Little TV father. Malik Yoba from New York Undercover. M and G.

B

I love that relationship. All right. So you find out your boy's gonna be a father and you want to buy him something. What do you get him that you know he absolutely needs?

A

Hmm. I don't well I cause I don't know if it's gonna be a boy or a girl, so I just have to get him a gift card to buy by baby for like a thousand dollars. Use it wisely.

C

Ha ha ha.

B

And the final question, which doesn't necessarily have to be rapid fire, but I think it's probably gonna be the one um that'll take us out here. Uh is when it's all said and done, and you can, you know, categorize that how you how you need that to be. It could be the the age when you think like

You know, some fathers or or mothers think, oh, you know, if I get'em off to college, I'm you know, I'm done. I'm you're never done, but like I'm done. Or if you know, if they get a job, I'm done. Or they have their own kids, you know, whatever that imaginary hallmark is, whenever it's all said and done. And Scarlett is given the opportunity to share with somebody what it is that she learned specifically from her dad. What is it that she'll say that will make you smile?

A

She'll say that um She learned how to be her authentic self. and how to be a good human being in this world. Contribute. to the essence of being black.

DJ Fly Guy's Photography and Farewell

B

Yes. Hey man, I I really, really appreciate you for this time. I um there are a couple of links that I'm gonna throw uh in the show description. I want folks to to to get out there if they can and patronize not only uh your your work as an amazing DJ, but also your work as a photographer.

Uh I've seen a couple of photos starting to pop up on Instagram, you know, and I'm I'm always I'm looking because I know eventually you're gonna throw some lights up somewhere and do something. I know it's gonna happen.

A

I mean listen, I have a I have a huge uh photography exhibition going on in Miami right now. Uh it's my biggest one to date. It's uh sixty one images. Wow. And it's at the History Miami Museum because It covers Miami's uh pandemic life. So it's all photos from 2020 just showing what we went through here in the 305. And this museum came and saw it.

at a smaller exhibition I did and they told me that what I captured was historic and they wanted me to present it in their museum. So it's been running from August and it'll go until February twenty twenty three.

B

So y'all hear that if you're in Miami or you're making a trip down to Miami, especially those of you going out for Art Basil or even just getting away, please make sure to hit up at AFLY G U Y a Fly Guy. I'm sure all the information will be up there. Of course, we'd love for you to hear.

uh his his music um as well, particularly this record that was dedicated to Scarlet. But if you do have the opportunity, take a friend over to the exhibition so you can see exactly um w the other things that motivate uh this guy. Um in addition to being motivated by wanting

his daughter to contribute uh to black excellence in a very special way. And look, man, I know that you are extremely busy. I know this because I tried to get you to stay in town a little bit longer for homecoming. You had to go back home to do like twelve different parties in in ten minutes or something like that. I don't know what the

A

Yeah.

B

But I really appreciate you spending this time. And also, to be honest, man, we've never really had to have had a conversation like this.

A

Yeah.

B

Um and and that's what diaper dads is about. You know, I I I love that we're able to weave in all the other things, but this is something in addition to being bald headed men with mustaches and goatees um that went to HBCUs and being DJs, right? Wow and being fly.

A

Right.

B

We are also bound inextricably um by our responsibilities and our privilege as fathers. And I I really I really appreciate you sharing your story today.

A

No, I thank you for the opportunity and you know, like like you said, you know, I don't get a chance to speak like this, so it was it was definitely uh enjoyable for me and I'm just glad I had the chance. So thank you, George.

B

Man, I appreciate it. My love to your wife and to your daughter.

A

Thank you brother. Peace.

B

So that is it for this episode of Diaper Dads. Big shout out to our guest DJ FlagEye for sharing his story and for sharing his music. And of course, shout out to his family for making him a father. I hope this one felt good to you. I hope you think a little bit more about your journey as a father or your father's journey as your dad or your partner's journey. That's where we don't have all the answers, but we'll ask all the questions in the future. Share this story with someone who you

needs it. Catch you next time.

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