Secure the bag, Pandemic addition with Sho Baraka

Say what's up? Show? Hey? What up? What out block? Cause I'm out here, I'm out here. I'm out here, set tripping homie. You out here Southwestern except not southwest, Southeastern Homie down in Atlanta, West Coast Atlanta. Homie out here just trying, you know what I'm saying. Keep the callie live out here in Georgia. You me and you ain't lost your accent. I love it because hey, you know it took. It takes a while for me to

get in a groove of things. But first of all, let me say I'm excited, man, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure just to be able to pontificate the deep things of the world with you, bro, Yes, you are the then diagram of what makes this show tick. The idea is some of us have had the chance to traverse so many different sort of like educational levels, socioeconomic levels, like social stratifications. If you believe in these constructs,

whether you believe it or not, there there you know. Um, but being able to say, look, this is where I come from, and in this I've gained an understanding of how the world sort of functions. And then you saw again the idea of where we got this from parallels when you go into sort of dominant culture spaces and you're like, oh word, that's just this right, and and

the hope of this pod our listeners know. Uh, but again, since it's our first season, I want to keep reiterating, like, um, the idea is translating, right, is saying not whether this is good or bad. We're not giving commentary, We're not passing judgment on other stuff. We're just saying, here's a way to understand what you're looking at. Yeah. So, and as the show goes, we're gonna give our hood vocabulary.

We're gonna have our discussion on what's happening in politics, and then sort of like Get shows take on our this particular episode, Get Shows take on what do you think about it? And how how we could work this out? Right, But all feuds that are expressed by Shobaraca are supported by propagandas. Want to put that up there. We are in one agreement, no matter what he says, no matter what I say. All right, let's go, let's test this car. Let's test this car. I know both of us, right,

If I were to say secure the bag? What am I saying? Hey, what what decade am I end? So if it's if it's we're at this decade, if just get to make that money. You know what I'm saying, that's true. You know what I'm saying back in the day was get the gap, the cheese, get the chada, right, all of it. We're all saying the same thing. Yeah. Uh now we're gonna call it the bloomberg. You know what I'm saying, Get the bloomberg where you can burn money on stuff you know you're not gonna win. You

just and it don't affect you at all. You're just like, you know what, I just wanted to try, right, off right. I just wanted to do it. I just wanted to just shift the conversation just expir I have that much power and privilege. I just want to just just to to put a dent in time and just go forward, go back to my life. Yeah, because I ain't heard nothing from since the ROHNA came out, you know, six on a million dollars on some commercials. You could have

cured this whole thing. A little cobba cup. He could have built a bubble. He could have built he probably already did anyway, So secure the bag, get to chat to get the guap we're talking about, like money, take care of the money in using your antennas. If we're gonna prioritize, we're gonna triage the priorities, uh, wrapping your hood, keeping it real, securing the bag, whatever the case may be.

Where do you think in the level of importance getting the chedda securing the bag is and in relation to all things you're asking me? If we're again we're talking hood, this is hood politics. We talk oh bro hood politics. Getting it's probably up there man, you guys, So now this is interesting. I love the way this show is proposition and me to have to think not in the what am I trying to say? Not in a and

like in my contemporary church, yeah not like now. Yeah, it's like, oh, if I was still around my homies right now and I'm mature, but I didn't have the type of resources I would say the priority, would you know, would be one it's it's it's almost like one B one as family. It's it's should people, right, it should people. And then one B is like we're gonna get We're gonna get this money because and it's it's sometimes it's synonymous, like taking care of my family is to get the bag.

You see, this is why we do this exactly it there's a weird sort of sort of one one and then one A exactly what you're saying to where it's just like there's sometimes these two things are synonymous. In the hood. For y'all listeners who've been following us for a while, I mean it's only been five shows, but if you've been following us for a while, five just

Hood Politics shows. When Bamboo was talking about like what your hood means as far as like your identity and like, yo, this is really when we say this is our family, I don't think you understand this is our family, yea, and there is there is no difference, right, So this like individualism in the sense of like I'm getting rich from myself somewhere in the gangst the mentality is like me getting wealthy helps everyone, not absolutely yeah, yeah, and

it's distorted and incorrect, but well it's and and I love the you know you you've always I think you've you've you've done a good job of using your you know, your your education and your art and exposing how certain concepts in one setting can be looked at is detrimental, but as as something that is um noble and another and this very thing, right is is sometimes applauded in the more corporate capitalistic frame um spaces, so because people will will do whatever it takes to get the money

in those settings in a legal way, and they're applauded and they're promoted and they're giving board positions. But you take somebody who does the same activity and a context where they may have to partial perpetuate some illegal activities. Then their thugs and the gangsters and the criminals, right, and they're using the same principles. They're like they're using

the same ethic work ethic. Right, they're saying that the only thing that's gonna stop me from getting this money is uh, well, nothing's gonna stop me from getting this money. And there's only a few people that I won't violate

in order to support this this this goal. And in the same way, there are people who wear suits and ties and who makes some very important decisions in our country who will only consider not violating those people who are closest to them in order to shoot their go It's like you're reading my notes and I'm again I'm gonna remind everybody every guest comes in blind. They have no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah, show up, my lion. You had no idea, not no you. I said, what

are we gonna talk about? He's like, nah, man. I was like, I need you to come in blind because it's proof of it's proof of concept. You already got it. You already know what you already know. Like, I don't have to prep you because you already know. Yeah. So so this, yeah, this this like when when you look

at the same principle in a different context. And and I'd even challenge the idea of like what is legal because that's fluid also, right, you know, and the type of legality, so you have like blue collar crimes, white collar crimes, and evasion is still a crime, you know what I'm saying, right, finding corporate loopholes like and then there's then there's something that's interesting to me to where it's like maybe something is a isn't a crime, it

just sucks right where it's just like that's just a whack thing to do. So for instance, uh, I was talking, So I have a podcast as well, which yes you do, which that plugable. Soon you'll be on uh that particular show are you You're on it, but we'll be releasing an episode either way. That's not the point. The point is yesterday my crew and I we were talking about um.

Recently there were individuals who bought up eighteen thousand bottles of sanitizer in Tennessee and they tried to they bought it up and then they tried to resell it, but they were probably scalaging and they were selling it for like sixty to eighty dollars for a bottle of sanitizer. Now if we look at Amazon shut them down. Yeah. Amazon was like no, because we're not having it now

that's very legal. They can do what they can leave that, But to your point, like that sucks in a lot of ways because there are some people who are running around here who don't have eighty dollars of discretionary income to buy a bottle of sanitizer, right, and so for them, these are these are some folks who are left out of the market because somebody has monopolized the market. And what it's this, it's in a in a way, it's

genius capitalism. And I think in some ways with folks like you and I have to begin to wrestle with if we believe that capitalism maybe one of the alternatives to alleviate poverty, we it can't be the capitalism in which we're operating in now, right. There has to be a more benevolent or more charitable capitalism, yes, that free market capitalism. See I always I've been saying I've been saying this for a while. I've been trying to put it, put words to it, but of force the sentiment. But

I finally got words to it. It's like I would be a libertarian, like a left wing libertarian, if there was no such thing as racism or price couching, those those these things greed, I would be a libertarian, you know what I'm saying, right because I can't think of because, like you said, the free market says supply and demand right where it's just like, yo, I'll charge what y'all will pay. You understand I'm saying, So like if you won't, I mean, am I wrong? If you're willing to pay

for it, there's you need hand sanitizer. I got hand sanitizing. You'll pay what, you know what I'm saying. But all of us, intrinsically, like you said, you just we feel that whether that's legal or not, that sucks. You understand, we need this in that sense. A regulatory body that said, which was in this this scenario, Amazon was like, fat, you can't, like you can't do that right And I

can't think of in case y'all don't know. Both of us on this pod are black, So I can't think of any right I have in my in this country that didn't come from government intervention. A regulatory force had to come in and say, hey, listen, African Africans are humans, right like you can't. So it's it's just like you said, like for us to just say, like this idea of just this free market economy, Like if humans were not falling individuals, I would be like hell yeah, but like

we just can't. I just can't trust an unchecked economy to treat us fairly. I would be a total libertarian if it wasn't for racism. So you nailed it. So you nailed it. It's the idea that like secure in the bag, uh for me and mine, whether something is gray or grayly um illegal or explicitly illegal, or frowned upon or celebrated oftentimes depends on your social intersection and where you are in your position existing and living in

that exact space with the rona. Bro, did you know that this is this is this is this is deep. This is an interesting time, my friend. Yes, here's so. So here's the thing. First of all, you know, the World Health Organization had um plenty of test kids and we turned them down. Oh I did not know that. Yeah, we could have had this uh weeks ago. We could have had all the test kids we needed weeks ago. So what was the reason, What was the reason for

turning to down? It is just that they didn't think it was gonna be necessary or just like well, this is what I want to talk to you about. Yeah, take take a guess as to why anyone would turn down test kids. Well, all things that make no sense, all things that that befuddling to me and and and puzzling to me ultimately leads back to the our administration and the people who run our administration totally. So it has to be for some reason that our administration has

some ridiculous reason to why it wasn't necessary. Maybe they felt it came from China. I don't know. Here's the thing. What do you think we talked about right now? We talked about the you're in the bag money, There we go money, So here we go. That was a twelve week delay. Right now, there's a company called Oscar Health that's developing a test kit. Right guess who wants oscar health? Tell me Jared Kushner. Jared Kushner owns oh Oscar Health. So I don't need yourys because I'm trying to make

up my secure the bag right now. Now. You can call that whatever you want. It depends on your social location. Maybe maybe that's illegal, maybe that sucks, or maybe they just secure in the bag. I mean, and this so that this is where now, man, this is so I think for me, there's a difference. There's ethical business, there's ethical practices, and then there's there's there's securing the bag

um in securing the bag, there's always people. Very seldomly will will people not consider their own selfish interest and taking advantage of opportunity right or or season and opportunity. I think we think about history, A lot of people have gotten rich during because of wars. Uh. And I'm not talking about those folks who are in wars. I'm talking about people who took advantage of property, took advantage of insurances policies, who have taken advantage of declining markets,

and they had the capital to invest in something. When the markets began to stabilize, our wars began to cease, they made money off of those decisions they made. And so yeah, and so this is another kind of like wartime issue or scenario where it's like you know what things are going to Yeah, things are going to decline, people are gonna be hitting on falling on bad times. Those people with money, they seize an opportunity. It's like a wounded animal in the in the in the in

the jungle, right, and this is where it takes. This is where it takes some sort of social apter. I just I just don't know, like it's religious foundations it could be, or it just an understanding of a common good to where it's like I just can't take advantage of the most vulnerable people in this situation from my own selfish benefit. Yes, common good. Yeah, that's not even it though, that's not even the main bag being secured right now. Oh gosh, you got more, gets worse, gets worse.

So there's a company in Berlin, Okay, in Berlin, Germany name cure Vac, and they have the most promising coronavirus vaccine. You you're following me, I'm following you right, and if you if you've been following the news in any way, the pharmaceutical companies is no different than the narcotic companies. This is this is populo Escobar, y'all all, just Escobar. Just you know what I'm saying. Just some of y'all get the selling stores, others got the selling streets. This

is just it's just drugs, right in the hope. With drugs. Unfortunately, as far as the business side securing the bag is, you need more customers, right, and you need repeat customers, right. So that's just it's just it's it's drug dealing. So so cure Vac isn't is a firm in Germany and

they had the most promising vaccine. Does that seem like, in a pandemic an unbelievable bag to secure, right if you got the most So our president was in the business of trying to persuade this German company to give exclusive rights to the United States to only sell this vaccine to the un United States, right, it's the global pandemic. And he's like, yo, why don't you just sell that to us only? Right? And then the German government got involved and they was basically like, nigga, what the what

nigga No, no, guys, we can't allow this. Okay, had a vaccine, Big Homie came in, Big Homie came through. Was like, nah, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta square to this LP right. Oh lord right. So so the US official, the US like ambassador to Germany, was like, listen, man, that story is not your your playing. It's widely overplayed.

That's not what's happening, right, which, of course, of course that's what you should say, but a German Health ministry spokesman, confirming the quote of the newspaper that said, the German government is very interested in ensuring that the vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are developed in Germany and Europe, right and in in this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company of Kurevak, right,

which they and they're basically and the owner of Curevak is like, look, dude, I'm trying to make this for everybody, right, like I y'all tripping right um, And the company says that they rejects the current rumors of like this accusition, like nobody's right, nobody's gonna buy us, okay, right, we want to help people not just uh, regionally, but across the whole world. And they said it would be glad if they could achieve this through my long term investments

out of Germany. So essentially he's saying, full, I'm not finn to sell it just to you, but that don't mean I'm not for sale, right right, right, right, right right? Yeah. So what what makes this so interesting to me is one would think in a global pandemic, like I don't how anybody's talking about money. Well, I hear you. I just I'm not as I'm not so naive to think that everybody is so is altruistic, right, I think about

I think about I definitely think about activism. There are some people who are genuinely called to activism, and those folks are folks who are just willing to die there

you know, folks who tend to not be wealthy. But I think what our problem is as folks who, as you said earlier in your introduction of me operating different ven diagrams, we have there's a piece of us who have activism is in US, and we have a bit of entrepreneurship in US, right, and we operate in entrepreneurs spaces with with hopefully most of the times, with the heart of altruism is like, yeah, i want to make as much money as possible, but also I'm not going

to sell my soul. The thing that we have to understand is everybody doesn't operate like this. Is how people become extremely wealthy Black folks as well Black people too, for instance. And this is there's this is not apple to apples, but a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure you are up abreast on all the information about Within a week period, Calice wrought an opted about the Neptunes and how she felt like she was exploited through her record deal. Mace went on a Instagram rent about Patty Right,

and then recently MEGANA. Stallion has talked about how she feels like her. This is interesting, right, because what we were constantly talking about as as African Americans are black folks in America is that there are systems in place that keep us from thriving and building wealth. But these are all black individuals who are and there, and the accusation is that these African Americans are creating oppressive structures

that are keeping other black people down, other Black people down. Yes, the way that our process this is like it's it's not always family doesn't matter. It's when you begin to operating systems, it don't matter. Anybody can get it. Anybody will get it. That's the part that blows my mind. Anybody just get it. It's just when the when the bag is in danger, anybody ever and so and so the way I even think about this is like, man, it breaks my heart on a global level that yeah,

these individuals are thinking about I have this product. I'm also willing to sell this product, but I don't want to be I don't want it to be monopolized. I don't know if it's any different from us on a micro level. When we're thinking about samples, right, it's like, isn't music for everybody? But guess what I nigga come around trying to sample my music. I'm like, hold on,

bro hold on, how many records? You say? Okay, exactly, hold on, hold on, hold on you want to But I recognized it's not like a death situations, so it's not the same, you know. But yeah, but we also got to understand that even though um, everybody's trying to an expectation of currency and revenue that people expect to come into their house, You and I have a certain budget in order to make our house operate and function.

These companies in some way, they have an excess of money, but some of them are thinking, like, the only way that we can function is by continuing to sell our product, and if we just give away everything, then we may not be able to operate in a way that we should. Now I'm not trying to say that with the decisions that they're making are legitimate. I'm just saying, like I do think we can't oversimplify things in a way, nor do we, nor can we the same social framework that

we have on them. Yeah, not only that, there's a cost of goods, right, So when I think about, like why a shirt that I'm selling you, like, it's a T shirt, but why does it cost fifty dollars? Well, I wanted to ethics. I need to price my shirts, you do one because I moved away. I moved to ethnically sourced shirts, you know what I'm saying. So, like, so these shirts are ethnically sourced, right, I gotta pay my web brows, my web host, I gotta pay the

shipping program, and I gotta make a little money. And the shirt itself costs more because it's ethnically sourced. So I'm like, I would love to give you this shirt, yeah, but it cost me thirty dollars, you know what I'm saying.

So there's a reality of like you blow that up to a corporation to where there's like, okay, there was this is like six hundred million dollars in research and staff and stuff like that, in patents and stuff like that that like yo, I mean, yeah, it's gonna save the world, but it also bankrupted me, you know what

I'm saying. Um, so there's yeah, there's like this weird like you know, dichotomy of this, which is just like the same reason why track was invented, because coach cost so much, You're said, I'm saying, right, So, so all I figured out a way to make to get that same product cheaper and make more for it and I get return customers. You understand what I'm saying. Did maybe

I'm gonna think about it differently, right, absolutely, bro. I have a friend who works in AIDS research and she's, uh, she used to work with the cdd CDC and she did a lot of work in Ethiopia and South Africa.

She was telling me about, um a couple of years ago, how in South Africa they were and I'm and this, I'm gonna mess up the story a little bit because you know, years ago, but basically South Africa they were using a drug that was copied written by a company in America, and so but this drug was saving lives of HIV patients in Africa, changing not only changing the lives of individuals, but decreasing the transmission rate of HIV

and AIDS and changing not only a nation but a continent. Right, Basically, this company in America sued suit the good Lord to Lord the South African I think it was government or and saying you have to cease and desist in using our our our medicine. And I'm so wed to think

about that's crazy to me. It's crazy to me to say, damn, like you guys don't see the benefit and and and and this product being used to change, to ship change and shape this uh, this particular nation to save lives because not even yeah, not even opportunity, Like I like the idea like obviously showing me well, I know, I know, me mean hell of progressive, you know what I'm saying, uh in certain ways, right, So like the idea that like, okay,

but there's an asterisk next to my progressiveness because I'm like, I I don't want to have this idea that like the problem of all of the world is them, so if you just fix them. Right, So for the progressive, the problem of the world is the corporation, you know

what I'm saying. So, but corporations are people. The part in me that blows my mind is like how did that corporation not why is there not a person on the other end of that phone that sent that season desist letter that says, hey, look guys, uh, okay, we do own this, but is there a way we can figure this out, because like, it cost us a lot to make this, so so let's like figure something out.

It's great that people are coming alive at the same time, like Loki, like I'm in the whole seven seven million dollars see what I'm saying, so and part yeah, yeah, excellent point. And to get even more nuanced, let's just hypothetically, let's say that there was somebody, let's say that the company on multiple times, was like, we're gonna be lenient, We're gonna be lenient with you guys, and uh, but

they've reached out to this you know whoever. These individuals were in South Africa and they were like, hey, we've tried to work out something and you guys are just blatantly disrespecting our agreement and so now we have to cease and desist the situation, and so now we look

like the bad guy, you know what I mean? Like, so these are these are the situations that you know, it depending on who tells the story or spends it, it looks it looks unfavorable to a certain particular party, and so these are it's just man, this is why business right, this is why business and transaction is murky

in the first place. And uh, I'm no communists, but I also recognize no matter what institution we were, like whatever whatever structure we institute within our our society to your point, where individuals who have selfish interests and we're going to figure out a way to corrupt that thing. Yes, so, but this is why. So it's just gangbanging. Like at the end of the day, I'm just like, this is just like absolutely, that's why it makes sense. That's why it makes sense to me. That's why I'm like, I

know what I'm looking at, y'all. A gangbanging bang is good on so many levels. Gangbanging in the less on a community level. When you think about p T A. S and school like school like that's a gang banging too. Like you got a bunch of mothers who walking in a space and say, hey, we need this or somebody's gonna lose their job. It's like work, y'all just came in here like you've been a fix this playground exactly, or you're losing your job, or I don't like the

fact that this is a real situation. I know of a school. Um, there's a gentleman who gives a lot of money to a particular school. His son is a quarterback of the team. His son is not even nowhere near the best quarterback on that particular team. But guess who. Guess who gets Guess who start? Guess who gets who? You don't start, but guess who gets a lot of playing time on this particular team with another kid whose son or another kid who happens to be African American

and his parents aren't his wealthy. But the moment this this kid stops getting snaps, guess whose money probably gonna stop flip funding this particular school. You gotta get that bad back. And so this is what I'm saying. This

gang banging happens on so many different levels. You yeah, strong on, folks, right, and uh money speaks and into the to the whole price gall ging and the formaceutical It's at the point it's like, how do we take the power and the resources that we have and not just say what's most beneficial for me, But how can I help other folks as well? You wrapped it up gloriously. I can have this conversation with you all day, every day. Bro, You see what I'm saying. Look, Hey, do you got

any plug doubles you want to plug? Shout out whatever you want to shout out, give it to. I got the new single that just released a couple of days ago. Uh, their eyes were watching. It's my first single and our my first solo song in three years. And uh yeah, man, y'all, y'all check it out, y'all buy my my new album. I dropped a new album called Nothing but a Word with my boy. And you know what I'm saying, Let me let me let me brag on Show right quick.

Like I always felt like Show was, like I joked about being a twin, but I think there was so many times that like we've been separate from each other, thinking the same things and not knowing we were thinking the same things, and then just watching out beating beating somebody to the punches. It's a little too competitive, but

that's what was happening. But there were, yeah, but there were times that he would be saying things and one of those things that Show did being like, um, so far ahead of the wave, like we talked about last week with with Derek and again I got it from Merse. It's like it's hard to wipe ride the wave and you're ahead of it, you know what I'm saying. So, like the thing with Show is like Show was the first to put a cuss word on a Christian rap song.

You know what I'm saying, Show, You know what I'm saying, Like, Uh, Show as far as like Christian rap, as far as ah as an infrastructure. You know what I'm saying. Um, Show was first to be like, man, I don't think this system is working for us. You know, Show has always thought five, six, seven steps ahead of everyone. So when you listen to his music and what he's trying

to do, and um, it's amazing. Show is also a two trillion percent artists, so this is never on time and he's the hardest person I've ever toured with ever. I'm like, we can't get anything done, but good lord, this guy's brilliant. Hey man, I'm trying to break that cycle. But God, bless you. Praise him. Yeah, well, thank you, man, Um, thank you very much. Showing up dog. Yes, sir, and we're gonna end it like we always end all of them. Politics is just gang banging in nice suits, Thank you

so much. That's my dog show, y'all know y'all can catch him all over the place doing amazing thing. The school wrote a play because like what anyway, Uh the show is edited, mixed and mastered by you know, Matt oh woa somebody somebody like DMM or something and have him say his name to us, um special shout out to our patreons, uh, which are literally feeding my children

right now. If you could go to the Red couchpod dot com see if you could drop a couple of nickels towards us, because uh not like our cantur um and uh, if you all, if you all, if you're on Instagram, you spot that. I'll just put out some um youth Leader which was originally just gonna be youth Leader um content of sort of curriculum and videos just around scripture and stuff like that, but like not so

eurocentric damaging you know. Um, so you could you could hit that like the links in all of my bios, uh two cop some of that sense. Apparently we all schoolers now you got kids, uh, and remember that our theme was still produced by the one and only DJ Sean P. We'll see y'all next week or the week after that, because this happens every few weeks the shows over ove. You know what I'm trying to say, Uh, don't touch nobody, practice social distinct peace. M h.