Look mad oh, I see you my oh, look over there. How is that culture? Yes? Goodness, dads calling And here's what I have to say to you. To me, yeah, thank you. I think I know what you're thinking me for? Was it because earlier today I taught you something you did and I want to thank my teacher. And can we just say thank you to all the teachers? First of all, it's rural culture number forty eight. Thank you.
And my teacher today was Bowen Yang because let me tell you what I didn't know about in the culture before this very afternoon was Miss Teresa Tang. Miss Teresa. Now Bowen, could you tell the readers all about Miss Teresa Tang. I, first of all, I just want to say I'm so happy and overjoyed that you have met this this new sort of more sol of culture with such enthusiasm. I think it really is cool. It makes
you happy. It makes me so happy that you like to make say happy, because I the first thing I did when I walked into your apartment. First of all, I'm in Matt's apartment. We're doing this thing again where I'm on his coast and whatever, but I'm in his I've come to Matt. But the first thing I did when I walked into your apartment was I go, I have to tell you about Teresa. He goes, I have
to tell you about Teresa. And these was the Apple TV remote, and with the flick of his wrist, the Apple TV is on, and I'm like, whoa, this is my thing? Is that? Like in all these like and like and all the anecdotal things that that I've engaged in or whatever, I'll go, oh, yeah, you know, I knew when I was gay when I danced to Selene Dion and Montreal suburbs. And that's when I knew. And that was my Selene was my first object of devia worship. Blah blah blah blah blap. But it's act and we're
deviating from that a bit today. Well it predates Selene because Teresa. Okay, so her name is don't let June in Mandarin. She is this Taiwanese singer big in the eighties, sang huge polyglott sing all her songs in Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, hockeyen, Japanese. Culturally, brought together a lot of East Asia and Southeast Asia. She is this huge, huge, huge hooe, huge deal. And then I showed you like footage of her funeral, like
when she died. Okay, yeah, that's another thing, like let's just pause for a second and let everyone know that she died tragically of it would just say an asthma attack. Of an asthma attack. And the way that my mom explained it to me, I was, I remember this so vividly. I don't have many long term memories, and this is a long time ago. I was five years old, so this happened, so she died. I was worshiping Ms. Teresa for all my adolescence, my my, my childhood, early child,
from zero out of five, from zero to five. No, I mean, I'm telling you, like was singing the tunes. And then know when she was alive. I remember, I remember a time when she was alive. And then one day I was getting out of the shower hot and my hot five years old, five years old. Okay, sorry, I take it back. My mom my mom go was cute. I don't know if I'm cute. Cute, always cute, always
cute when you're five. And then my mom my mom, I don't know if my mom like withheld the news from me until like, no, she must it was nighttime and she was like Theresa Tang died. She and like she couldn't really explain to me, like what asthma was? I think, so she was like she had trouble breathing and anyway, it was just this like huge, huge, huge tragedy and like she was like Princess die like it was.
It was. It was a crazy, crazy moment. She's like forty three when she passed away, And that is the truly sick separation of Eastern and Western culture because I had not even known of this person and you're saying she was like an complete icon and she dated Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan, Yeah, you know, like she was like the one full on like star, the one ship and anyway, um, but so I was talking about something with with um a friend and she brought her up and I was like,
oh my god. And I just went back and listened to her songs last night and like drifted off to sleep in this like eighties jazz rock, like we love it soundscape. It was beautiful. It's very sort of I would in the very limited time I've been exposed to her, I would describe her voice as Linda ntat esque, and I would describe very Karen Carpenter to pure tone, yes,
slay and go off. And I would also go on to say that the voice is a rich alto voice, and I would recommend that everyone go out there and listen to Miss Teresa Tang And this singer reminds me of another singer. Do you have anything to to to kind of cap it off, I was gonna sort of um assist you with this this segue into well, I don't mean any thing, okay, sweetheart, all right, so you can just relax because I have this. I have this
transition covered. So, speaking of singers, did you read I know the answer to this because you told me you didn't, But did you read the New York magazine piece this week on Miss Mariah? Well, it just came out today. Well for the listeners, it will have been out two days, which is why I was sort of, you know, doing podcast theater because yes, it did come out today Monday. But you know, this episode famously, Last schoolte Racist famously comes out on Wednesdays and has been from the beginning.
Really um, but this piece su Mariah came out and there were some tidbits revealed, and I have to say something. It does relate to our guest because our guest, I'm happy to say, is in the Emily and our guest as a lamb. And I knew our guest was a lamb because I bought a record player, which some of my followers read me for being across. They said it was cheap, and I'm really I'm still sort of healing
from that abuse that I took from my followers. And I understand that you want the best for me, but understand that's the best I can do right now at this moment is the Crossly and that's okay. And I had the album Mariah Carry number It was like, uh to an infinity, like it's like number one. Yes, sir, his most you're not an actual lamb. I shut up. You need to shut up. So also, by the way, this reminds me, oh no, it is there. I ordered Butterfly the album because that's my favorite Maria and I
thought it didn't come, but it is there. Um. But I was listening to the song my all and our guest chimed in on the d M and said, this is the best Maria song and I have to agree. And there were some tidbits revealed in the New York magazine Peace that My all is about New York Yankees shortstop number two Derek Jeter. Wow, can you fucking believe she could have had? I mean, the parallels between her and j Lo are many. I think that kind of explained. There has to be like some like feud or wicked
type of frame work around there. I love that we're moving away from the word word feud and we're just calling it a wicked type of framework, like a like a Broadway musical wicked. I said feud in the in the in the in the Ryan Murphy sense. No, it's actually, it's actually important that we say that as queer people, they're not feuds, they're wicked type situations. And that's actually a role of culture. It's it's real culture number sixties six.
They're not feuds, they're wicked type situations. Now I'll tell you what's not wicked. I'll tell you what's good. Our guest, Now, Bowen, can you say a little bit about our guests before we bring them in and we can hear a little bit more about how they know Mariah and how they love Mariah and how they feel about Mariah and how they feel about Mariah. Just to take things off of course, our guest um is basically sort of doling out advice
right now in a very digestible, sensible way. And I am like, fun follow, Well, you and I have talked about this. We're like, oh, like he is like he has like the asked Polly thing down, Like he is like giving out like stay noble advice, sage Lee Wisdom. Um, let's let's just say it. He nominated miss Alexandria Kaso Cortes to run for brand new Congress, who then backed her her run against Joe Crowley. Um, and she went on to win that seat. I mean you may know her,
You may know her, readers, may know her. Readers may know her. Um. So you know, in a way, and whether or not he accepts this credit is not relevant to our sort of discourse right now. But like you know, we have him to think so um the fairy Godmother, not to call any queer person a fairy, but you know famously that we're taking it back. We're taking it back. We're actually taking back to fairy Bula bibbity Bobby Bookay, hot okay, hot okay. Five years old hot. Wow, I
think it's time. It's time to bring in our guest. Everyone, please welcome into your ears. Gabriel. Hey everyone, Well, we're so excited to have you. And I have to say I was lit up on the inside when you responded to my story about Mariah's track My All. So I would very much like to start off by embarrassing myself. So here's the thing about my All is that you know,
I was born in ninety two. I was born in late ninety two, so I'm basically ninety three, but ninety two sounds a little bit more g you know, right. So so I guess growing up as a kid, like there was so much prime music coming out in like ninety two is such a good era, wrenched ship right, yes,
excess culture and like every sense. But I guess I remember my dad buying um going to f y e right, like rest in peace, f y you going out and buying seed East and he got I think it was um Whitney Houston's like it's not right, but it's okay, like with the right, and he like yes that hand and she's like crouched down and she's like smiling. But you know, the title is like it's not right, it's about it's okay, and it doesn't really match. But you're like,
Whitney me for a gift exactly. It's like she sold it, like argued that somebody like Vibes would just like made it like Rihanna, like the Bridge, the Bridge. But I guess I just remember hearing my all around the same time as that, and for some reason it got penned in my head as a Whitney Houston song And it wasn't like a few months ago that I guess, like it was on a YouTube mix or like a title mix that I put on, and I'm like, I was like,
there's no way, that's just Whitney Houston. I'm like, how did I not give her like the credit for this? But it's I'd say, I think it's her. I think it's her best song. I would have to agree it is a vocal triumph and also enough for nothing. But you can't judge yourself for getting all those things confused because the girls were really piling it on in the late nineties. There was a lot of stuff. There was a lot of good stuff happening, especially especially I believe
in the pop R and B segment. Yeah, to talk about Mariah, I do want to say that shake it Off. I'm surprised that that was never a number one, So she blocked herself from becoming number one because of Touched My Body. Oh damn, you know it is true. Shake it Off is. I wouldn't go as far as to say, and I'm gonna throw Taylor Swift under the damn proverbial bus. It is the superior shaken Off. And if we were to have a battle of the shake it Offs, Mariah
shaken Off would come out on top. But this is my theory is that if you had put shake it Off on a different album than Emancipation of Mimi, it would have stood out. But the fact that chacaof was on Emancipation of Mimi, it was just there was just so much good. There was a wealth of of of stuff in that album. So it's like it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I would say, would you would you? Would you support that? Both of you that
that that claim. I think that I think she knew that one of the bangers on there was just gonna have to suffer. I just didn't think she thought it was going to be that one, right, you know to track on that is stay of the Night. You keep saying stay and not one of the favorite songs or something like that. Yeah, I mean were recently. It's like her. Her pr people are doing a great job, you know, like always, very consistent. Always. The pandemic is probably good
for her. She doesn't have to really leave the house. She's very on brand, you know. Yes, it's very un brand. Very they do. They go into it in the piece the top about the piece in the New York magazine piece that came out today, it's like her. This is her quarantine squad. It's like her, like a couple assistants, her hair person and Brian Tanaka, who did you guys
watch the reality show about Maria. I watched them episodes, so there was like a reality of it came out a couple of years ago and she started dating her backup dancer named Brian Tanaka, and everyone was like, there's no way this is a real thing. He's like so
much younger than her, etcetera. Well, the New York Magazine piece reveals that he is living with them in quarantine with her kids, Rock and Row, Moroccan and Monroe, who it seemed to be very happy in their quarantine because they're living in upstate New York, which no one knew. And apparently it's the house that she used to live in with Tommy Motola years and years and years ago
and she's now reclaimed it. So there's a lot going on here here here, this is where I'm going to actually pause you, because interesting is that we lived in part of Yorktown that basically was only a few minutes away from a few other towns because it happened to be like on the corner of a four town, like a little like four square, right, So cutting through to another town, we would actually go on the road that
had Maria Carry's house on it. But the house like mysteriously burned down in a very like Sopranos like type of way. Come. So, as far as I understand it is that like the only thing that's left there is like ashes, just like that's it. Like I think somebody bought the land or something like that. Basically, my understanding is that it was suspicious because it was basically too big of a house and that they wouldn't be able
to offload it anytime soon. So some people have lead it out to be obviously it was just an act of God outside of anyone's control. But of course, of course, just like every thing that happens to Maria, yes, honestly unbelievable. Okay, so maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong, and it wasn't the house, but it was like she's in upstate New York, which is like I guess where some like tortured memories for her are sure, But like how baked into the lower of Yorktown was the Maria house? Would you say while
you were growing up there? Um it was? It was a town over and at the time, Um, I don't even think that they Basically, it's funny. The way things are in Westchester is that it's it's literally you know, old egg and new egg, right like Gatsby style, it
is old Egg. It's it's the old money in that area where she actually was because I was a brokeer, Um there only until like recently, and basically the more money that there is in the area, the less streets and the less street signs, less paving basically just turns
into like back roads. So you try to know that, like Mariah lives somewhere on like this mountain, but you know, there's it's it's the same sort of like idea of just like nepotism if you know, you know, you know what I'm saying, So you couldn't get there without actually knowing someone, especially back in the nineties. Sure, okay, you're you were a broker up until recently. How do you feel about this sort of new genre of reality TV where it's just real estate is like the main fixture.
It really is happening on Netflix, it is. I mean, I haven't watched Selling Sunset just because I would watch HDTV and it would drive me insane because it would be like, hey, like, you know, my name's Chris, and I like shove a fork in the wall, and like my wife eats crayons, and our budgets like three million dollars and they see, you know, and they see like three houses, and the brokers like you know, only changed once, as if it's like a two day thing, and then
like they buy the house, and I'm like and everybody's like, oh, brokers are just like they don't have to work for their money, and I'm just like, no, what is going on a lot of our friends out of college became brokers or showers. And we had a friend Billy Domino, he would mind if we said this. But on his business cards it said he didn't have the licenses or whatever. So his his his title on his business cards was shower but raised this shower, which is which is just
kind of so funny to me. But it's it's the it's such a hard job. It's a difficult line of work. You have to grind all day, is my understanding. It's literally seven like you constantly, if you don't pick up that phone, you're losing money. It's that simple. That's the mill that's the millennial condition. Though it's like there's no boundary between work and no work exactly. It ties directly into just the gig economy. Mm hmmm. And we're all
we're all sort of victims to it. I don't know, were you always Did you do that right out of school or did you do do the service industry route as well? Oh, I mean I've had so many service industry jobs, Like I've made um the not keep Mara, I mean Camera's coffee, I mean c almost coffee. I need the coffee of Kate Mara right after American Horror Story, just so you know. So it was like it was like launching off. I'm pretty sure she had Runey in the in the in the car outside or whatever. I
didn't even recognize her. And my manager like the second she walked away, He's like, do you know who that is? And I'm like he were like the medium, like milk and sugar, Like that's who that person is. That her dad on the jets, And I'm like, if Rooney Mara had come in, you probably would have known a million percent. You got that kind of like energy, kind of like Ricardo tib On. She like the lightn flicker, a little bit like louky paranormal. You know what I'm saying. Respected? Respect,
Oh I was? I mean if in the Battle of the mar Sisters, there is there is no doubt who reigned supreme. However, I do always give credit to Kate Mara because she is very affecting. In the last scene I broke back Mountain and people forget that. Did you watch the first season? Opposed? Was she? Yes, she was unposed, she played she was James ander BIG's wife. No, Evan, you're getting you, You're getting your white men of pose
mixed up my Ryde white Man. Yeah, Evan Peters's wife and Evan Peters is having an affair with India Moore and so then they're not in the second season, probably because they couldn't find much much fun to be had with them anymore. After the first season of Boats. I liked her the best in House of Cards. I think she's she got pushed in front of that damn train and what a shock it was, what a shock of wait? Wait, how is how? What was Cuoma's order? Do you remember? Um?
I remember, I was just it was a little bit weird or caught me off, like he but the way he has has that like stern face in the person. Actually, the person that I worked with it in her name was like a Manda at the time, and she was in law school and she was like, oh my god, that's Quoma and I'm just like okay, and she's like I'm in law school and I'm like help me out here. She's like like, it would be cool if like I
could work for him. I'm like, you should ask him and she's like no, I'm like do it or I'm gonna ask him. So she actually asked him and immediately he pulls out a card and he's like, here you go call my office. And she ended up immediately getting
a job. What. Okay, there's a there's a theme popping up where you're just kind of facilitating all of these like the local nobility and and wow wow wait okay, before before we talk about anything else, I have a bone to pick with you about Dike Cooke where you posted to your stories recently that Dike Cooke was the taste of gay sadness. And I had to retort and say, to some of us, it's the taste of gay joy.
Why do you associate die cook with sadness? And I don't don't bring no, don't bring now to this like high fructress corn syrup like thing into the discourse. Please, Why is it sad to you? What diet product is happy to you? Diet coke, which essentially, please please talk bowing out of consuming diet coke for good, because I've dealt with this for years. It is so sad because
it's also it tastes objectively better than regular coke. You're so it is a falsity, No, just ok, But what is what is the difference between diet coke and coke zero that people that that love diet coke stand. It's so hard that they're not willing to talk about coke zero because no, because this is the thing with coke zero. The reason coke zero was brought into existence was because it was going to be a zero calorie caffeiney to
drink that tasted more like coke than diet coke. They were trying to market correct diet coke to be more like regular coke, but there was no need for that, and so that's why coke zero sucks, and no one stands coke zero the way that people stand diet coke. Do you guys understand? No, I don't understand, and you're not gonna just because you're speaking forcefully, you're not gonna get me on board with diet coke over coke zero, which tastes exactly like real coke but a zero calorie.
I think the reason people like diet cocus because it just has a higher vogue association. You're basically exactly, you're showing other people that you're happy being unhappy, and that's more moss than that, you know what I'm saying. Yes, the deprivation of it all, the chicness that comes with like only a little it's austerity signaling is that what you come up within your term. But I don't think
that's true. I just diet coke because it's zero calories and it tastes great and it's got that fun little aspartame taste. I just don't know. I don't understand, and I can't believe. Here on Lost Cultureations, we're doing a coke versus diet coke conversation. But this is where, this is where you have led us to, and this is what I'm gonna say. Diet coke is not as good as coke. It's just not. And there's nothing you could do, no lines or lemons you could put in it that's
gonna change my mind. But you both of you. Matt first of all, Matt is doing that girl from the more show. There's nothing my stupid mom could do to change my mind. Wait what did she say then, my stupid mother could do to change my mind? My mind to Victoria? Victoria fourteen years old then was gonna have a baby, and I'm gonna have a baby, And she did, she did have a baby. But she seems like well adjusted now like I think Morey did, like where are
they now? Feature like in recent years, and she seems like chill, and she's just like, well, wherever she is, we hope the best for her. But you are don't think I don't know what you're doing misdirecting about this diet coke because you've lost this is the diet coke thing. You both of you don't understand the wave of people who are firmly in the diet coke camp. I'm telling you, it's just, it's it's out there. It's it's a it's a silent majority. It's you and Taylor Swift, and you
both scream. You're not silent at all. And neither of you will ever do the super Bowl because that's, of course the Pepsi product because of our exclusivity with diet coke. That's right, That's right. Well, so can I say sorry, but me and Gabriel gonna go do this super Bowl. Now, let's take a quick break and then we'll come right back. Okay, and we're back with Gabriel Kaser Cortez. I want to
ask just or or no, just. I want to get maybe this firsthand account of the sequence of events that let you to nominate your sister to be UNS, because this is so pivotal to me and like it kind of gets glossed over, I think in her narrative a little bit. I mean, yes, general society could probably benefit from talking about me a little bit more. That's what you're saying. That's what I was. That's literally the way we felt. I understand. I totally get it. I mean,
you know, it was, um, it definitely all started. I fee like two thousand eight. I feel like there was pre two thousand eight, and then post two thousand eight, and um, me and my sister we lost our father September two eight, and then of course, you know, this economy decided just to like totally take a left. So we were left in a position where it's entirely fan for yourself. UM, and my mom's you know, working a clean houses. I'm barely a junior in high school, and
my sister's a freshman, um in college. And it was just a totally totally rough spot. But as we start to um, you know, see two, where we get to the point where you know, I'm in my car and the rain, and I only pulled over because I hate driving in the rain, so I just I hate I'll take the snow, I'll take a blizzard anything, but the rain, So I pull over and while I'm actually killing time in the rain, I nominate my sister. And that's that's how it all started. Yeah, in twenty six No, how
did you know about Brand New Congress. Well, it was everybody. Um, I think a lot of people that were following Bernie Sanders at the time. We're sort of following the main message that he was sending, which was that you know, even if we get Hillary or Trump, whatever it is, if you want to see actual change, it has to come through Congress. It has to come through the senators.
So there was an organization that was tied to Bernie Sanders campaign with a parallel and they were called Brand New Congress, and they were basically looking for nominations so that they could, you know, see whose names are being brought in, talk to everyone, and sort of see if they're able to place one person in that aligns with their values in every congressional district. And I remember just I think I probably made my sister sound like like
she could probably part the seat. I was very adamant about, like you better call her. I was like, wow, I was like, give her five minutes. I was like, if it isn't worth your time. I'll pay you, but give her five minutes. I was like, before you say no, call her. And I went on and I was like, you have to speak with her. I was like, I will put because the thing about me and and what I also said in this was that I don't blindly
co sign anyone. You know, if if somebody asked me for for me to put my name on something, I don't take that lightly. And I pretty much put that down. And I said, you know, I'll put every piece of credibility that I have on the table if that means that you'll call her and that you'll talk to her. UM. And I said that I don't take that lightly. You know, I'm willing to put my entire being on the line. Um. And they they heard it, and then I went from there.
I mean, and this is the thing is that I feel like she has even like vocalized this thing where she was like, I never really visualized this sort of life for myself, this path for myself, And and that makes me want to ask you, like and just in terms of like in the context of like let's just say like gay solipsism or gay like self centeredness, like but why like like what like, why her instead of you?
You know, like, I mean what makes like what like, what were the qualitative things in her that you were like, she is perfect for this over like somewhere We're like, we're I'm sure a lot of people they were probably fielding a lot of nominations from people who were like, hey, I could probably do this because I know what I'm capable of, blah blah. Bright We're like, hey, I'm a confident person, so I'm ready to represent like a couple
of million people. Um, So it's it's definitely. I can only imagine, you know that the selection process that they had to go through with with just a sheer number of people, you can't get back to eleven thousand I think submissions something like that. Um yeah, I get this question. A lot of just sort of like why not you? And I guess it just came down to it just wasn't a path that I was looking for in my
personal life. And you know, I when I nominated her, I nominated her knowing that very well, if it worked out, it could be the end of my career in real estate, It could be the end of a lot of things, because I very much understood that things just shake. You know, when you shake, the table shakes it back. That's just reality. But the need for what she fights for was just worth it. It's always worth it, you know what I'm saying.
And I felt like I knew that if given the opportunity, she would be able to take it to a level that either I couldn't take it to or that I couldn't keep it up, because that just wasn't you know, the line of work um and level of dedication that I was ready to give something, especially when other people's lives around the balance, It's just not something that you can play around with. I will never forget seeing her
campaign video. I was actually I was living in Green Point at the time, and so it's just a little bit ways away from where where she represents. But I'll never forget seeing it. There was just an energy about it where she clearly was like bigger than the moment, and it wasn't for me. It was not not a thing of will she what will she do with the sea when she gets nominate, when she gets elected? But how far will it go? And we're seeing it go
to such a crazy place. So I guess for me as a brother, it would be kind of crazy to watch my sister become a celebrity in this way to the point where everyone has an opinion on her. How do you deal with that? Because it's to the point now where she's on the news no matter what channel, it is like being picked apart by whether it's the left, the right, wherever. It's kind of seems like everyone has an agenda with her. So what is that like to watch? Uh,
it's tough. It's definitely a lot easier um, but I'd say, you know, especially right after she won the primary, and it was just like, of course, no no overnight celebrities ever overnight. This is obviously a lot of literal blood, hears um and nothing but good intentions. And that's that's all it's ever been, and that's all Little ever remained to be. But you know, it was it was crazy that I blinked and like I had eighteen voicemails from like CNN and Fox and all these random things. It's
it's it's a lot. It's weird. I do like that everybody knows how to pronounce my name though major time save it's like like not to get cocky, but it's like, you know how to say my name. I don't have to tell you anything. And the people that are still pretending that they don't are like the truest fools ever, Like like the hangers on at Fox News like that are like okazy oh corties like being crazy. It's like, you know, how to say their name a million percent.
It's like the cartoon evil characters whenever they give them that like weird Eastern European like evil accent, like it's like, no, stop, um, it's a bondell In. But yeah, I mean it's it's it's weird too that the level of um just known that she became was so huge, Because most people at least have you become an overnight celebrity, it's fractional to what she got. So it was just she's one of the most famous people in America. It's insane, totally insane. Um, Yeah,
it's it's it's weird. It's still something that I that I have to sort of get a reality check with once in a while for sure. What also sticks out to me is that you know or is like b n C are like meant to like you know, policy
coach and the media train. Um, these people that they're backing but I feel like she kind of was like ready to issue, Like she was like ready to go as soon as she was out there, and like and even she to the point where she is now even like coaching people um in Congress about like social media, and it's like just just use it authentically, Like if you're like a mom who likes to guarden, be a mom who likes to garden. Don't be like some like
pandering to the youth like person. Like it seems like she's able to get to some core like philosophy with social media that other people just haven't been able to figure out. But it's this resp bondsive. It's just very like deep, like really really really like organic kind of like use that she's sort of like kind of executing on or whatever. But like she like anytime she tweets,
it's like it's like this event. It's like and not in the same like parallel way as like Trump, but like in this way that's like, oh wait, like let's lean in, like what is she's saying today? And that's kind of what's most remarkable. Yeah, See, the thing is that that's funny is that you know, you you hear about her giving classes, you know and and Senate rooms and teaching other people that are responsible for other amounts
of Americans how to communicate with them. And it's weird because of course I see it one way, but I'm sure that you know, anybody else is not related to a politician just must wonder like why is she so good? And why are they not so good? And here's the thing is that it's not to knock her down and see that she doesn't have skills. Obviously she does. The reality is that other senators and other congressmen and congresswomen are not able to um be authentic because they're paid for.
You know, if somebody has a vested interest in in what you say and you have ventured interest in their best benefits because they're funding you, you can't ever speak without thinking about what you say eight times. And if that's how you are, I mean, especially like any millennial, like typing something out ten times before you hit sent. You know what I'm saying, even when it's totally authentic.
Imagine when you know you're not aligned with the interests of the people, you know, you're gonna be typing it out fifty times and never hitting send because you don't want to get canceled. You know what I'm saying, It's just this perpetual fear of the inevitable um judgment day. When you have so many like shareholders in your job, it becomes sort of this like paralyzing thing to act on any sort of like impulsive thing that like is supposed to align with something moral or something like I
don't know, like something like clear. I mean the whole
Ed Markey thing. I feel like Ed Markey would not sort of have proven his like progressive bone of fee days without ao c s like sort of like without that partnership in the Green New Deal, because I because I feel like what Joe Kennedy's doing now is like vouluying all these things at him that are like, um, you know, he's kind of like buying because he used to he was tough on crime and he like you know, back to the Crime Bill in the nineties, and he you know, was for like you know, he was like
against integrating schools like back in the day, and he like supported the Iraq War. But it's like, oh, but all of that sort of becomes irrelevant because Ed Markey is sort of proven himself in some progressive way by you know, co sponsoring the Green New Deal and stuff like that. Definitely, here's my problem with Joe Kennedy is that Joe Kennedy is doing all of this for Eagle and you can like, I will, I will happily help.
I mean, I'm adding him on a daily basis on Twitter basically person like I'll retreat Like here, here's the thing with Joe Kennedy is that he's basically saying, vote
for me because my family has helped you. He's basically saying, bring back in the dynasty because obviously when we elect outside of the dynasty, things just go Awryna seems so crazy, pick me, you know me And here here's where here's what scares me about Joe Kennedy because people, especially younger voters, um, if they're not necessarily super engaged, but they're just trying
to get engaged. What happens is that you know, you have like my sister's um her first campaign run with her sort of visual style, and that got stolen by progressive. Its fine because it was a blueprint. That's what happens when you create something so um, so intrinsically unique, that's so many people respond to. It's going to imprint itself.
But Joe Kennedy is a biter because here's what he's trying to do is that he's taking this blueprint of sort of this visual language, and he's basically saying I'm young, I'm a Kennedy and sort of walking the walk in the way that looks right on camera. And basically he's trying to move people. He's trying to sway voters by saying Ed Markey's too old, he can't be progressive. So here's how I'm gonna smear him, and I hope that
I make it. Meanwhile, the other um JFK grandson is not even following Joe Kennedy on on Instagram or Twitter and is publicly supporting Ed Markey. So if you can't even get to Kennedy's in the same family to agree on a candidate, then who are you to convince me you can't even get your cousin to vote for you. Oh,
just facts are facts, you know. It's just the thing I feel is like I can't say that two years ago, three years ago, I wouldn't have been one of those people that didn't see a younger person on the ticket, a name I knew that was a soociated with democratic values and check that name, because why wouldn't you. I don't know who this older person is. I don't know
the policy. But the thing is that's changed, I think in the past eighteen months to two years and maybe even progressively throughout the Trump administration, is that on a wider scale, people are understanding the policy itself. And also all they have to do is follow the endorsements, like ed Monkey has every progressive endorsement that you could possibly want, so really the question of who to follow there is
pretty clear. And also the thing that's been great about social media, I think is like people do get fired up about it because people do see very clearly through what Kennedy is doing. And I do think that that is one that one good thing about, you know, social media and the media being so sensitive, is you really can't hide anymore no matter because people can find things.
I mean, it's always only a matter of time, right And ultimately you look at the two records compared, and it's almost it's it might as well be like a Republican running, you know what I mean. At this point, it's like if if we're going to turn the Democratic Party into what we needed to be. Then in races like this primary, where we have a choice, we will pick the more progressive option. We will fight for the
more progressive option. You know, in the general we're going to be voting for Biden and Harris because that's all we have. But in these primary races like we have to be putting all of our energy into supporting, donating to, and elevating these truly progressive candidates. And I think that that that we've seen a see change in the way
that works lately in a way that's encouraging definitely. The The interesting thing about the the Massachusetts rights that this is the marquee races that which will be decided about the time it comes out, it will be decided, but hopefully. But the thing is that it's an incumbent who is the more progressive candidate. But it's sort of the inverted thing we've we've seen mostly be inverted thing like between
Joe Crowley. See it's like the incumbent is sort of to the right or whatever or with them with Corey and and the Clay Clay yeah class like you know you have I mean, this is like a this is a fun sort of like fun house mirror version of like all of that, plus it's set against this like crazy political dynasty um and just the fact that it's in the same state as this Alex Moore stuff, which is also what do you which I saw you were
posting about today? Definitely, definitely. So it's so it's but speaking of like everything will come out, like even when it comes out, it's like if it's improperly weaponized or used, it fully backfires. I think, I hope, and I don't gonna need to explain what this is to the readers. Okay, might not? Yeah, do you mind? Do you want to? Definitely? So here's here's what was that. We have Alex Morris
who's running against Richard Neil in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is first m one right okay, and he's running again Richard Neil, who is the head of the Committee on Ways and Means, and essentially Richard Neil is being bankrolled by tons of dark money and essentially he's the main reason why Medicare for All can't go forward. He's the main reason why the tail can't go forward because he essentially presents it in a way that there are no weas or means
for it. To occur, right, So the thing about Richard Neil is that um, although there isn't any proof to it, so I'm not gonna get myself caught up in a bad sound bite, is that there is an investigation that has come out after some people have claimed that encounters on dating apps with Alex that they entered into and continued in totally of their own accord. We're making them uncomfortable.
Although Alex was never notified of this. Mr Morse was never notified of this, and they get represented in a letter written by an attorney from the Massachusetts Democratic Party. So we have the system essentially aligning UM, and it very much reads as if the established power, which reflects Richard Neil, is going ahead and creating UM and fabricating
untrue things in order to defeat a progressive opponent. And you'll, I mean, if you haven't seen the debates between Mr Neil and Mr Morris, they're very good, and it's so easy to see that Alex is under his skin without raising his voice, without doing anything other than state the facts. And when stating the facts is killing someone, Obviously, that's
something that you have to pay attention to. Absolutely, and also just It's just so interesting to me how the rules seem to not apply to the establishment, and like the pearl clutching that goes on about anything that progressives do, such as you know, Pelosi's endorsement of Kennedy. Correct. And here's the important thing about that is that she said, Okay, I'm not going to support anybody that's going against an incumbent. She said that, and that was supposed to be her
general policy. That's funny enough. She's like, um, too progressive, Like why then do we need a planet anyways? And why why is support the Green New Deal. Let me just go ahead, go back on what I said and go ahead and support the family dynasty candidate who is young but going against his own future of the planet for the sake of just achieving some kind of you know, fantasy. Yeah, someone that has a job already, dude, Like, get out
this funk out. Losing your ship over the Green New Deal is so embarrassing to me because wait for it, it's just a resolution. It's just a set of guidelines that are like putting a north Star out there to be like, let's have zero carbon emissions by this year. Like it's that's all it's doing. It's not saying we're taking these jobs away. It's not saying we're like fucking shut up. It's saying, hey, this is a goal goal setting.
It's just exactly and that's all it is. And the fact that you have these establishment democrats like wanting to like melt down over it and like backing from their word and endorsing these like primary challengers is so so so like infuriating and pathetic to me. But the Alex Moore thing, I know, but like, I mean, Gabe, you
do you nailed it? Uh. The thing that the petty thing that I want to bring up is the person who unearthed all of these tender exchanges between Alex Morris's and these um her students was this guy who took one of Richard Neil's classes I think at am Hurst and was like, I want him to get get me a job. And that's why I am. It's motivated by this like dumb neoliberal thing of like, oh, there's there's something to gain out of this, so let me like
go out of my way. I mean, you know, somebody's got to be judas, somebody's gonna be bought, somebody's gonna be paid for most for there's so few exceptions that I just do have to say that everyone has a price, and for some people it's it's nothing more than fifty grand a year in benefits. Granted, you know it's not I'm not knocking that because so many people out there are suffering and that could be the difference between them and their kids having insurance. And you know, it's it
is life changing for some people. But when you look at you know who these people are and what they're actually selling it for, and the money that they come from, and the established power that they already have, they're really selling it for nothing. Yeah, I just I have to ask because it's covered a lot in Knockdown the House in the documentary, which is actually how we found out that it was you that nominated your sister to brand
new Congress. But they talk about how once you start to show promise are once you start to show a challenge to the establishment, the establishment will then come in and sort of offer you a job and try to offer you the world. Do you think that that's something that your sister has dealt with. I think that they have to see you as a threat in order to
offer that to you. First, and I think they looked at her and they were like, she's you know, just like some bitch from the Bronx, right, just something they just didn't and it's like, what could she know? What could she do? But the thing is that it was never about her or she It wasn't it wasn't about an individual. It was always about the fact that she was representing a collective group of lots of people. But
they just did not understand that. You know, they wanted they essentially needed to have their arm bent, you know, in order to see that. But it's it's like, why would you, um, why why would we go ahead and twist your arm for you to see us if we could just go ahead and replace you and you you really do see that with um. You know political commentators that UM interview your sister, like, for example, I'll just use Megan McCain as an example, when your sister went
on the view UM. Someone like Megan McCain has such a uh, just bad taste to her mouth immediately because she just has an ad version chart and really because she has an inability to see that this person is literally for the people and not in like a political way like people that are in political dynasties, are involved with political dynasties. It's very clear to me that they they think, well, it's politics, so there must be an
ulterior motive because that's all they know. And you see that in the way that politics has covered to for example, like the way that I feel that they treat your sister and MSNBC even on even on like the liberal network, like they still there is network. Everyone's listening. It's like except the young Turms. Kidding well, I love the young Turts. I like, here's the thing about Megan McKean is that
you know it's listen to me. I have plenty of differences with her, and I'm not even gonna get into it, but I will say that at least um, I think she has a basic understanding and value for her name, and she very I believe she's smart enough to know that if she was to go ahead and run for her father's seat, she could probably win in a landslide. And she chooses Nazi. She decides to let the system and the establishment and the people choose who they want.
And I have you have to respect that ure. And but one of the thing is that funny enough, I think she actually agreed with my system more than Woody Goldberg dig because what gold would be at least in the In one of the segments, I think prior to them having her on the show, they were like, Oh, she's a bartender, what could she know? And it's like, what what were you doing before you started acting in
successful gigs. It's like, you know, especially in this day and age where um, just everybody needs our help, you know, just getting forward. I especially when that's part of just the greater social discussion. I just don't that just goes to show that, you know, challenging something new is just sort of a little bit natural for people that have
grown to be a part of the establishment. Just one more thing about that is that I think that another element of this obviously is that whenever, whenever she is challenging something, and I think that's might have been where like people were coming from, like in that particular instance on the view is it's like, I think there is an element obviously of racism and sexism when it comes to someone like your sister speaking up because they think, oh,
she's being disrespectful. Like there's this like weird mentality around AOC like when it comes to Biden and her criticisms of Biden or people like him. It's like, you need to slow your role. You're being disrespectful. These people are not all bought and evil like you're saying, and which is not what she's even saying in brass tacks, but but you need to understand that people before you have done a lot, and that sort of dismisses the immediacy
of what she is saying. And I feel that that is targeting her in a way that they wouldn't target someone that, say, looked like Joe Kennedy and was espousing the ideals that your sister does its respectability politics. Yeah, right, a million percent. I mean it's um. The reality is that if she was in a different physical form, it would be smooth, you know, it would be it would be easier because she would be in a form that's
more palatable to the establishment. But because she's not the ideal family dynasty candidate, because she's not in the form of a Joe Kennedy, you know she's going to be um put into positions where the establishment is going to try to, you know, paint her off as like a feisty like Sophia ved gotta and they're going to try to make you a caricature because the easier it is to draw you with a few lines, um, you know, the easier it is for them just to go ahead
and close in that box around you. Sure, sure, Um. I did want to point out this thing that I thought was kind of great and like I think it was like a moment where you saw Joe Crowley sort of like buckle a bit was it was one of the what like two debates that he actually showed up to when um during the primary. But it's this thing of like collectivism that you're talking about, Gabe, where it's like she the question was, would the would the candidates
endorse the other candidate whoever won the primary? Basically, so would would Joe Crowley endorsed c what AOC endors Joe Crowley if they want? And Joe Crowley says, yes, I'll endorse AOC, And then your sister goes, I'm happy to take that question to my movement and put that up for a vote if for that for it to always go back to that is so important and so huge and like kind of like I don't know, like drills it into into my head like I'm watching and I'm like, oh, wait,
that's what this is about. It's not about this individualist thing of like she's the only one who can do this. It's no, it's she's being backed by people who need need change or there's one collectivist voice in your ear. And it's not like this thing where other candidates have other private interests a million of them in therriers, right. It's like she has one s like stakeholder in her political life and that's her constituents. That's It's as simple
as that. Yeah, And it's it's just wild that we got to this point in our society where we were just largely cool with autopilot. It's it's totally totally irresponsible. I mean, it's like you constantly read about people like into accidents while they're on autopilot, and you're like, oh, like if they're only paying attention, But how many decades was the mass of the bulk of our society just
not paying attention exactly? And it seems so insane and revolutionary that it's just like, oh, just listen to the voters who would have thought it's just we we have to recognize that, yes, it's exceptional that she's doing that, but we still have to bring it down to the basic level of like this is what everyone should be doing. It's representative government, which is like it shouldn't be this thing. It's like, yeah, it's like they to go back to
your analogy. It's like the person wouldn't have gone to that that acts had autopilot not been invented or whatever. You know, it's like, anyway, it was invented because they told us we could invent it and don't worry, Like, don't we don't worry. We have something that's going to take care of you. I remember growing up and being in school and the mentality very much being like, and that's government is something that other people do you know, there's it doesn't it can be for you or people
like you, And how would you even start? And you know what I mean, It's just like it feels like something you'd have to put a life's work into a specific thing. You have to go into law, or you have to do this or that. But I really love just like in watching Knock Down the House, which I believe everyone should wash. If you have not watched it, we've talked about it at nauseam on the podcast. But
it's not just Alexandria Acazio Cortez. It's you know, Corey Bush, who Pologene swearing in and it's um you know, um Amy Valela. And these are amazing stories all for and only one, you know, quote unquote has a happy ending in terms of the result of the election. But what you can know is that from going forward, you know, Corey Bush did win her primary this year and will be elected to Congress barring something crazy, and Apologene is
running again and like pulling better. And so this is it's frustrating to watch that documentary because you see people who are just in it for the people, and are just in it for the for health care, for for medicare for all, and are just in there for a better earth and a better fighting chance for the people that really haven't had one, and to see them run up against these like roadblocks, which are the establishment just like so dead set on keeping things the way that
they are. And what I would say to everyone who needs it, like really spelled out clearly is it's it has never been okay, you know what I mean. It's just it's not just not okay now because of Trump. This system allowed Trump like this system being was essentially really for a Trump to come in. They just had to do it. So it's like, I guess that's my
own little endorsement of the film. And the one thing I wanted to ask about it was in terms of the crew shooting it was that just something because it was it's kind of crazy that they followed your sister from the beginning with her going to get ice from the basement at the bar and then like her standing at the end of the documentary in front of the Capitol building. It's crazy. You know, it's Rachel the director of Knockdown the House. She is so easy to forget
that you're there. She is brilliant at just finding that one little corner, and you know, she's she's a little bit smaller, she's got a type frame, she's got the camera worked up so like she's totally condensed into um like a one form with this with this camera, and it's like when you're watching reality TV and you're like, there's no way that they forget that the cameras are there. That like you assume that the cameras just like in
your face, like like a microphone on a stick. You know it because of this not the case, like sometimes I would scratch my chest into like, oh no, I've got a mike on, you know. Not that I'm ever saying anything too crazy, but it's it's definitely easier to um to get into it with them there than than you would imagine all documentarians should be small and that's actually documents. So they were just following you're said, were they following a ton of people from brand new Congress
and saying we'll see who works out if any. They followed four um, so it was just this f It was just those four that I understand, and they filmed a good chunk after it too. They actually filmed all the way until November, so there's a lot that happens in those summer months that are just not you know,
on film. Because my understanding after talking with Rachel um at the at the premiere that they did at Bernard, is that she basically just thought that the understanding would be that, Okay, they the primary in a deeply blue blue area, then it's pretty much gonna be good until the end. Um and everybody knows that she once they felt there it just would be a little bit redundant. So I get I get why they did it, but there's so much that's not included in that. Mm hmm, yeah,
very interesting. It is pretty unbelievable that it worked out the way it did, I mean narratively, just in terms of like from filmmaking, I'm like, this is crazy, Like it's so thrilling and gratifying to watch and also to know that she's not to be like not just someone who got into Congress, but you know, literally the face and start for so many people watching anyway of something so much bigger. I've only seen it like barely twice. I've only seen it like once. It's just it's so
it's just so just meta, it's just so weird. And then even then just the other three stories, they all made me cry. Um And it's just a reminder of um, where we are in America because the reality is that you these people that are running have the first hand loss and the first hand lived experience of what happens when the policy fails you you know, and it's like you can't find somebody that's better experienced in that situation because it happened to them, you know, literally like que
Lady Gaga Mze until it happens to you. It's just very real, like it is. Until it happens to you, you just don't you will never know. Um, so it's just you couldn't. I don't think that you could get better people to run in the districts that than the four women that were presented. Yeah, and tell me what the hell do you know? What the hell do you Okay, we'll take a quick break and then we're gonna ask Gabriel the question. Okay, great, perfect, Okay, we're back with
Gabriel Kaser Cortes. Gabriel, we would ask you the question we ask all of our guests, which is what is the culture that made you say? Culture is for me? And Matt explain what that means. So this is that thing that comes along in your life in the realm of pop culture, and you're like, oh, I feel seen by this. My my being is I'm powerless against this. It has an influence on me and the rest of my life is dictated by this, maybe even entirely. Okay,
no pressure, right, it's culture. Okay, So two moments, one event, and it comes full circle. All right, damn, Okay, I love it. So here's where we are. Um, it's February Graham, Okay, it so basically I think my dad is in the hospital at this time. The last year was was difficult. It was a lot of in and out. Um, And just like any kid that's going through this, at least for those that understand, you know, you'll understand. It's that you assume every time the last so you know you're
in this. I'm in this really fragile, you know, emotional state. Um, I just turned fifteen like two months before, so like all intensive purposes, I'm like fourteen. So we're looking at the Grammys and I've watched the Grammys every year that I've been able to have the cognitive awareness enough to put on love the Grammys's a guilty pleasure. Um, we'll talk about the color. She absolutely on that. We're watching it.
And you know, Kanye West, God rest his soul is on the Grammys, and he was so fresh, his style was so He's obviously a taste maker, and he was a force to be reckoned with. He was everything at that time. He was being pregnant. Whatever. I hope. So I hope she's wish everybody's best. Whatever she is, we hope she's well exactly you're good. So Kanye. I'm watching Kanye and he starts off and he starts singing, hey
my because he had just lost his mom. And I'm watching this artist in front of me, and I'm seeing what I assume i'll be in soon enough, and I'm seeing his heartbreak and seeing his pain, and I'm just like, I guess this is how a creative mourns. You have no choice but to perform, you know, And it's not necessarily just being on the stage. It's just, you know, fake it till you make it in the saddest sense, you know what I mean. And you're watching him and
he's reciting these lyrics. Um, you know you never put no man over me. And I love you for that. Mom. You can't just see seven years old like going through it and he's struggling so much. And I'm next to my mom on the couch in our tiny tiny house that they that like Fox likes to portray was like Maria's carry mansion when it was like best and it's like I didn't even know they were framing it like
that anyways. So it's me and my mom and this oversize great Dane that did not belong in the house that's and we're watching this and I'm just like, I have a few tears just running down my eyes, and she just like, you know, giving my space. I was just I'm that type of person when I'm upset, you
just gotta let me be, don't chase me. And I'm watching it and then I see him going too stronger immediately like seconds after he finished his Hey mama, And I remember looking at this and I'm just like, this man is broken. This man is totally destroyed. He will never be the same and it was never the same. And he's just out here giving his all because that's what that's the job of the creative is that you you have to deliver, you have to perform, you have
to you have to. That's just what it is. And that same event the Grammys that I guess, like what thirty minutes later, whatever you have, Amy Winehouse, I mean you talk about a bucket of talent, I mean overflowing that. There's hardly anybody that even matches her. Adele maybe you know, but there's nobody that will ever be like her. Um and you see her, and you see her because they denied her visa. UM come into the US for due
to tabloids. They were like no, so she was performing live when I think like a venue in like Camden, London, and I think Tony Bennett reads off the wind and they cut to her and everybody around her is just losing their mind and she's just she's just like she couldn't believe that, like just absolute. And I watched it again this morning and it's only like five seconds that you know, she's just kind of like what's going on?
But I remember being in that moment and feeling so fragile and looking at her and seeing that this was also you know, another broken human being, you know, somebody that's just stuck, you know, and it and then of course you know the crowded rops and it's Amy Winehouse
and huge. I think she brought him like five Grammy's that night, and yeah, and it was I think the most taken home by a woman in Grammy history until like Beyonce, Um I Am, Sasha Fierce and then Adele match Chart I think bringing home six or eight in the same night. But it was it was literally record breaking. But for you could you could just it was just so clear on her face that um, she was just grateful to be noticed, let alone get to that level.
So for me, I remember walking away from that and I felt like what it taught me was that there's no part of of any product that gets given to the public that doesn't come with this major sacrifice. And you look at Kanye West and he loses his mom, his world, you know, and it sent him on a life path that is where he is now, where he's you know, essentially compromising all of our collective safety by
running for president. And then I look at what happened in my life with my dad dying and where it left me and my sister, and it's just a constant reminder that one event can just send you one way or the other. You know, you've got her trying to keep our democracy legitimate and you've got him essentially trying to undermine it. And how can you not look at it and just be like, what happened? You know? It's
it's intense. I mean the fact that at like fourteen fifteen, you're able to like have that like locus of like clarity around like seeing someone on the TV, being like that person is broken and to them like yeah, it is a full circle thing to then connected back to like what's going on today with him and then also as it relates in this inverted way to your sister and you is wild. Oh my god, thank you for sharing that. Yeah, that was great. Also talk about it.
Another terrific documentary film is Amy. Have you seen that? It's just amazing, And it's just you know what I really you know what I really loved about it was it captured that this is something that I think we lose sometimes and when we lose the humanity of these people when they become super famous. Is it captured her humor And I thought when she's like giving the tour of her house and that like character and ultimately it
just it made it hurt even more. But but she was such a funny person, like on top of being like a talent that we have not seen. I would argue we have not seen Um. And I also think she should have gone six or six that Grammys because she lost that UM album a year to the Herbie Hancock Joni Mitchell album that he did River, the Herbie Hancock did like a Joni Mitchell album and that one the Grammys Hancock, But fucking awful timing. I'm so sorry. I just so there the fact that let's just get
into it. Then Grammys, what are you doing? You nominate jay Z eight times just to get the viewership, just to next and for the sake of basically taking a dog and rubbing their face in its saying don't don't disturb the established order. Right, So that's one thing, And then how do you not give Beyonce album of the Year selling eight copies in what two days? Changing the
market for music forever? Everybody state is on a Friday now, which a lot of people on the back of a lot of people just that just listen to music, don't really understand how much that changed the entire The Tuesday to Friday shift was huge. It's h it changed charting in the formulas for forever um. And to not give her and besides the fact that it was huge, it was the best album of that year and in that category, and to give it a herbian cock is basically just uh.
It served its purpose, which was to say to Beyonce, hey, you're not too big for us to make you loose. Well, the thing about Beyonce is she really should have two Albums of the Year Grammys because I feel like something you know, what if we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt, which we shouldn't like. Sometimes things happen, Sometimes they think one album is better than the other. Whatever. For me, Beyonce Is Self Titled was the defining album
of that year. When that album came out at midnight. I'll never forget where I was. I'll never forgetting how I felt. I'll never forget the weeks following I can do you the first thing, oh girl, And I remember you saying this feels like a sick dream, and that's that's my memory of that relief. I'll never forget. It was like twelve oh four and for some reason, my my,
I'd never go on iTunes. For some reason, I was like, I mosied over to iTunes and I just saw Beyonce and that iconic font on that like black background, and I was like, knockout fund the font is called knockout Yes, well there you go, and graphic design zone boone yang um. But I was like, this can't be a whole album. And then to see that was a visual album like that.
For anyone that loves music and loves Beyonce and loves just joy, that was such a moment and for her to also not only just put out an album, but revolutionize herself as an artist, to make herself into some reincarnate really like a new spirit. Was like born, but so whatever. They didn't give it to that one, but the Lemonade snub just to give it to Adele for an album that was a redux of the first album
she had one album of the year. For that, to me was truly unacceptable because Lemonade is I mean, if you're gonna say Beyonce is amazing but not a cohesive work, you're insane. But I guess Lemonade is an unbelievable cohesive work that is about something specific. It is it is a change in the artist when she how could she possibly get even better? I mean, to me, it's just like I I invalidate them now almost completely because they
did that. And here's the thing about the self titled is that it was arguably ahead of itself with the philosophy of everyone is so focused on the single and on the quick pace and nobody's looking at the bigger picture, which is what that album was about, which is why there was a video for us about the feeling of watching Michael Jackson and MTV and the way music used to be given to us where we would have to listen to the record, and how just sort of like
the way TikTok is sort of taking our attention spans back down. You know, it's it's a comment on on that. So it's it's one thing to snub, but then when she comes back doubles down on her message and goes ahead and issues this entirely different body of work than
to snub that. Just you could tell it hurt her too, you could tell, because the thing about these artists is like you think, like you get to a certain point in your career and like it doesn't matter, but it does because it's like it really is a recognition and and that's all people really because at the in our hearts, like we can say it's because we want to make people laugh or you want to make people dance or whatever,
but really this is like it's it's your art. And to be to know that you've completed, um, something amazing and something that no one else could have done, and then to see them make that safe commercial decision because someone else has sold more records um because artistically they're not in comparison, is just so disheartening and to see her there in the front row and like only received like I think Urban Alternative album right, which basically says like, oh, like,
we like you as a black person, but not not not the album of the year, because we've got to put you against the rest of of what we've got. And the thing is that, you know it's you. You'll have people that say, oh, but the Grammys can't eat her. She has like twenty four whatever it is, she's got the most, like the outside of Allison Krawse, she's got the most. But there is you have to understand like
they're they're segregating it. That's what they're doing, totally totally, and that's why I totally stand by Talley of the Creator when he was like, okay, you're basically you know just I think he was making the comparison to being a field slave or a house slave. It's like, yeah, you bumped me up a little bit, but you know
what does that mean if I'm so asleeve? And the thing is that you know, people are like, oh, so many Grammys, and it's like yeah, because they were giving her like basically crumbs for Destiny's child and for little things and for like little pop performances here and there. So when you look at on people, it's like, WHOA, she's got an impressive amount of Grammys, which she does. They're not giving her front runner grammat and general have
to understand. And there is something too when people dismiss the Grammys as and and I know you might have just said this map, but it's like when people dismissed the Grammys as, oh, it's it's this, you know, you know, their cares whatever, right, But it's like whether or not you believe that art is art, what art isn't until
it's evaluated or something. It's still this thing where if it's not being recognized by like an institutional thing, whether however much you value that where if you don't give it power, it's still meaningful in some way to the artist. It depends on the artist. And I think Beyonce someone who is in some way like an institutionalist as far as the music industry goes, like I think she would have like I loved that recognition. Well, she the thing is,
she deserved it. And I'm actually I'm happy that we're talking about this because it actually loops around to what I started bringing up in this podcast, which is this Mariah Carey New York Magazine interview, because you know, Mariah has only one five Grammys out of her entire career, and she is she is the revolutionary. She is a revolutionary, one of maybe five female artists that have done what she has done. I mean, it's like Madonna, Maria Whitney,
you know, and beyond. And the thing about Mariah is she is a real songwriter, a real producer, and a singer that we've never seen the likes of and probably will never again in terms of like the specific tone, range, ability,
emotion that she can convey. And they discuss in this piece how a lot of her book that's going to be coming out is about how she um deals with being mixed race and how she was marketed in the beginning of her career by her white record executive husband as white and they tried to keep her very like Even the critics that would review her music were like, she's a white singer who sounds black. She's a white singer,
white singer, white singer. And she dealt for the first six or seven years, which is a really long time in your professional career where they were really like tampering down her blackness, and they would not allow her to explore that musical side of herself. And I think that as a result of doing that, it's kind of crazy that she was able to have the massive success that she had and crossover successes she had because she was being so like, in a calculated way, kept from what
her artistic impulses were. And I think the Grammy thing, it's actually no surprise that she's only one five because they are segregated categories and she was never black enough for the black categories and was never white enough for the white categories. And it's like really crazy because she's Mariah Carrey. Like I don't think anybody else could even sell a quarter of the records that she sold and not have at least like fifteen Grammys. Yeah, it's just
that the number, that's the number insane. Like I'd say she she's minimum sixteen Grammys front runner, you know, categories Best vocal Performance, etcetera. This is a fun game to quantify the number of Grammys and artists deserves. I mean this, I'm like, you can do this with any one, Like Katy Perry has never won when I think she deserves at least three she deserves she deserves, right. I don't love I don't stand Katy Perry in the way that a lot of people know, but I agree with you.
She feels consequential enough where you think she'd have a few. Yeah. Yes, So it's like with with Mariah. With Mariah, it's like I think at least sixteen because the thing too about Mariah and she's constantly ahead of her time, constantly like when she released Butterfly and ninety seven, and they talked about this in the article and I really recommend the article now that that I'm Davis, who's the best um?
But she also talks about how you know that Butterfly album like pop music, like pop artists were not crossing over into R and B as much. There was not like that pop R and B vibe until she really like made that like a mainstream thing. And also she kind of revolutionized having features like O d B when he was on the Fantasy Remix, like Huge Deal Jay z On, like Heartbreaker on Hartpreak and Tommy Mottola just like the whole making like the the R and B
diva with with the hip hop feature. That was the formula that leads to crazy and love level and all these early two thousand sounds. Um that that was totally the creator of it was Mariah Carey, jay z O, d B P, Diddy, Mace. Yes, that that entire era
was such a great era. And I feel like, honestly, like it's just it's just rough to know that while they were because they were also revolutionary, and they were so under rewarded like at the end, and to also think about how many artists we could be enjoying right now if the market didn't like market correct them or like push people out because they found someone else, like you know what I mean. Like for as big as that's he's the perfect example of oh, you made it.
You made country music sound to urban, so we can't even consider it in the realm of country is raist and itself. The fact that nobody even addresses the fact that like the people that took that off the charts had an agenda and and how and how how solely based on the artist's race. A lot of placement and categories is at something like the Grammys, whereas like, you know, you couldn't have told me, like like when when I first heard there you Go by Pink I would have
never thought that was a white girl. Literally, Tony Braxton or something like could release the same song as like Selendon and they would put Tony Braxton in the R and B category and they put Celendion in the pop category at that time, and it would never it would never cross over. And it feels like maybe you know not to not to like make decisions for them or
like definitively say how I fail right here. But it's like I always wish that It's like the Grammy should be like they get together, they felt that ten pieces of work were really deserving of recognition this year, and we have like a large performance like that is like all those amazing pieces of work and then you do it like that. But this characterization based on like race with the Grammys, and you know, gender and everything as as gender is becoming um something different than it used
to be in the public eye. Like I feel like all of this is feeling really antiquated. So as the media gets more sensitive and you find out like these things can be bought and sold and it's all industry pandering whatever, and they place things the way they see
fit that works best for them. It kind of like for kids that like love the Grammys and loved the Oscars, Like it makes it so much less fun and so much it's so much shittier to watch, But it's also like freeing to understand that that's the reality of the world and you do get something from that. It is being exposed for what it is more so than it was in the past. I think hopefully it's like when
like a learning study. Our friends studio always so. There was one time where I was watching the reality show The X Factor with her, and um, I was like, this is like American a little bit better. And I was watching it with her and I this girl was performing and she was like she was not having it. Our friend's studio was like not having it. I was like, why don't you like it? She's like, look at how many pepsi cans that are count how many? And that was the first time I ever, like quote unquote saw
all the pepsi cans. Like my mind was. I couldn't not see the way I was being marketed to at all times from now on. But I I someone who was born in consumer America like us all, like I had to be told that it was happening. You know, you have to be slapped across the face to wake up and like understand that, like this, this is bullshit. Like that happens at different times for different people. But I guess what I'm saying is I'm happy it happened
at all because it's so real. Yeah. Well, I mean we're still watching the Grammys thow as much as we The first episode of this podcast is called the Grammys we talked as as flawed as they are, I mean, we're still we're still tuning in because the words still matter. Is that it's it's too easy to say us screw them anyways? Is that? No, The awards matter. That's why
they're given out to people. That's why you have them, because they're motivating, their reminders, they're they're everything that you need them to be when you need uplifting and etcetera. And it's they're still just it's too important in in pop culture and our culture and music in America to to abandon it. Yeah. But if you know, if they're not willing to change, what position are we left in? You know? Right for sure? And I think I think it might be time on that note for I don't
think so, honey. When you say a bough, I would say so. So, I don't think so honey is our segment at the end of every episode, we take one minute each to rail against something in the culture, using the words I don't think so honey as the sort of syntactical frame for it. So, um, Matt. So we'll do Matt, me, and then we'll do Gabe. Does that sound good? That sounds good. That sounds good. I have one and I'm ready to fire away on it. That's perfect.
This is Matt Rodgers. I don't think so honey as time starts now, I don't think so honey, you feeling like you need to ship talk my ex just because they're my ex. You don't need to do that, like people who come up to you and are like, oh, just so you know, I always thought this about your ex. Shut up because you're wrong, because I liked that person and even love that person and be It's like, if you thought this the whole fucking time, where were you at,
a disingenuous piece of shit. I don't think so honey. Also, you don't have to fill the time with this bitch. There's so many other things that we could talk about. So maybe I don't even want to talk about my fucking X. I want to talk about how the Grammys are bullshit. I don't want to talk about my ex. Also, not for nothing, but a lot of the ship that you say about my ex is not true. You don't know them like I know them, And there's nothing you're
gonna do to illuminate me. And also, if you're gonna tell me something shitty about guess what, bitch, I probably already knew it. That's probably one of the part of the reasons how you broke up. I don't think so, honey. You come in with the breaking news. Was that actually you didn't like that my my friend had a bad taste or was weird? Shut up, you're not helping me, You're not helping yourself. You look stupid. I don't think so, honey. And that's one minute. Wow. That that that was just
like a straight line like start to finish. It's not a good idea to do this. Yeah, I know, totally, don't do it. Don't do it, you're because Also it's just like I'm so happy you broke up with so and so, because this it's like this is ugly, like and also like who are you to bring this up to me, and also I don't want to hear this. And another thing too, is like I have I'm on good terms with everyone that I've been in a relationship with you to assume that it was a contemptuous thing
in the first place. Yeah, I don't know, And I guess maybe it's like people run out of things to say or feel like they have to to make me feel better. But it's like, no, we're in a post Jada and Will at the Red Table world where it's kind of I hope that it's sort of reorganized our thoughts around what separation means, not that they're even separated, but around like what, you know, what like a compromised couplehood is. And also it's like I'll bring my partner
to the red table. I don't need you to bring me to the red table about my partner. Actually, I've seen red Table and I know how it works, and I know that I bring myself to the red table or it doesn't mean anything. Basically, what it reminds me of is when people are like, oh, hey, like I just want to let you know that so and so just happened to tell me this, Like it seems like they might feel this this way about you, or think
that why do they feel so comfortable telling you about it? Then? Yes, yes, why are you in a position to be you know, a sticky pad for this, for this rat to get caught on exactly? And also who we're playing, because you're playing one of us. Somebody's getting played and I'm not going to be played. So you if somebody feels comfortable telling you some ship, you're out, I've cut you off. The circle is done. So I love it's out. It always puts in my head like, well, what did you
say to them when they said that to you? Like I always know that this person has talked more ship than they let on, and that's that's actually a thing. And I'll say it out to the universe right now. I don't know how you guys feel. I never want to know when someone is talking about me. Ever, Just let me live in this ignorant bliss. I never want to know. I don't. I don't need that because honestly, I'm the kind of person that will sit with it all day. You can send me a screenshot mm hmm,
which is send me a receipt, send me something material. Fact, fine, I'm not gonna say no to facts, because then that's just choosing to be ignorant, and that's something different. But for somebody to present the facts, that's one thing though,
that's a different thing. It's just like if you if you are on somebody's fencet or some ship, I don't know whatever, the kids or like they you know, dropped a tweet and then deleted it and you caught it in time, fine, fine him, Fine, But if suddenly it's just something that you're in conversation with them with for some reason, regardless of if you need it or you let it, then no, then like come over to my house and me see your phone, and even then it's
like too much manipulation is possible? Just know? Yeah? No. I just feel like if here's what I would say to everyone. If you are if you have information and you're gonna give it to someone about and it's about them and it's gonna hurt them, that sucks. If it's going to hurt them, but help them, then maybe it's worth giving if someone needs to know something. And I always feel like people can filter things into what they
need to say and what they want to say. But people seem to have really lose that line, and I feel like, just keep it to yourself. If it's gonna hurt someone's feelings, don't be the messenger because I might shoot the messenger with a bow and arrow. Okay, um okay, And now with that um, it's gonna be boone yang. So I don't think so, honey, no bone yang. Do you have a topic on this day? A topic? All right? Well that's good. Actually, well here we go. Well, honey,
and his time actually is going to start now. I don't think so, honey. Giant ice cube is in a tumbler. It just rolls around it. It hits you in your damn nose when you're trying to take a little sip of something. You know what I'm saying? And what is the what is the novelty around here? Are we still in where this was cool? Are we still in a time where mixologists are fuckable? I mean they still are And I actually don't. Actually I was thinking about this the other day. I was like, oh no, look what
I was like, what happened to like the sexologist? I mean, it must be the pandemic because bars are closed. But I feel like there is going to be there. I feel like we need the return of the of the sexy mixologists. Again. I feel like culturally they've been sidelined and marginalized too long anyway. But I think we can take we can take the giant ou ice cube out of that sort of aesthetic, right because I think that it's not this like necessary motif in you know, in
in bar culture. I don't need a giant fucking thing of ice hitting me in the face as I take and that's one minute. That's quite enough. I just want to tell you, as a former bartender, it is uh a stylish thing to have that large ice cube. It's a thing of style, and it's not functional. It's why why is it? Why do I Why do I need that? Okay, I want my little trapezoid prism cubes in my glass. That's it. That is no, it's should It's just there's a reason why it's so universe, it's so sort of
widely distributed. First of all, for an ice cube to be functional, all I has to do is make a liquid cold and that's actually real culture number seventy. For an ice cube to be functional all has to do. You're talking about the functionality, Maybe you have a big fucking nose bitch, how about that get your nose out of the drink. How about how about don't go so far back. It's not about the individual experience, it's about the collective struggle with big ice cubes in the way
that they are. You say big ice cube like it's like big industry. No no, no, I'm saying, looks on a scale, thing on a scale. Will you attack it as such? Game? Please decide this for us. Listen. So I have to be on the side of the bartender, thank you, Okay, but I don't think the bartender is like the big ice cub. They do, that's why they use them, That's why you've been You have to think
about tip factor. Is that having a bigger ice cube looks cool because it's been marketed as a higher taste kind of item, which is why people have, you know, whiskey's meat with the ice cube, with the with the with the larger sphere. It's just expected that if you're given a larger ice cube and then they slowly pour it on top of it, that you were likely going to see it as a luxury item and therefore tip better,
which is going to help them pay their rent. So I got and that's why Gabe and I are for the working class and we are or the people, and Boon and Yang is classist and the establishment, and he is Saturday Night Live. What I tip them for the just the liquor. It is an experience, and there you've
obviously been too long. If if okay, if any bartenders like that, but just let him know so that he just cuts down all the effort and just gives it to you without the show, and just tell him say, hey, I don't care less if if it's like if it's the good stuff, it's the good stuff, just give it. Fine, But then you're telling him he can't perform. And also part of that, part of the joy of doing it is the art of seduction. Oh my god. I mean, maybe it doesn't track entirely, but to me it does
both of you're stupid. It's marketing to Half of its marketing is that you're showing the other people that are about to order that you're that bitch that you can make that drink. Percent you're saying you want to wait for my ask to pour you your cocktail over this globular ice cube that you don't even know how the just made. But just come over here, sit down and have a drink. I mean then, I mean this does fall on me individually to be like, I don't like
this thing, and that's fine, it's true. I don't think so honey. You're entitled. Thank you and thank you. We have to respect you. I don't think so hony. We refect the form, but also understand that once you got dive into the form the form is, then you know it's able to be critiqued. Okay, thank you. Um, I think it's time for a Gabe to do his I am excited. So do you have a topic here? So I do, I do. It was gonna be it was either going to be one or another, but we already
went over Kanye. And here's the thing. Kanye, he doesn't even deserve our energy. And I don't think so honey. Okay, we just need him to go. We need to go get well. Um, but okay, it's Gabriel Kasio Cortez is. I don't think so honey, and his time starts now. I don't think so honey. People that hate on the Bronx, I don't know who you are come from or what you get off on. Thinking that you could hate on
the best borough in New York City. Chances are that you're the type of person that strolled into town not from here, so you don't have a voice in it. And then you're probably also the same person that moves into a gentrified apartment in Brooklyn because it's trendy for you. And then you go out and you post on Instagram and Twitter, black lives matter, Black lives matter, But you chose to go into a neighborhood where you either knowingly
or unknowingly displaced black and Hispanic families. How much do black lives matter to you? And then you want to go ahead and then hate on the Bronx. We have given you me AOC j Lo Cardi b so your Colne Powell, do not come for us the best borrow. We are the kindest borrow, and we are the realist borough. And you get your life and your pop culture from us and our style. If you like us, then you have to respect that. Cannot hate on the Bronx? Who start these and he did it in a fifty in
a quick fifty eight. But wait, who the funk are these teople talking about the Bronx? Are they just as throwaway things? Being like, oh, the Bronx. No, it's just people that totally dismiss it as like a respectable part of New York City, like millions of people don't live here, and as if we don't have major contributions to the culture.
I mean the Yankee cap Us. You know, we just filled in us, you know, like the godfathers us, like you know, like, seriously, if you ever jammed out to on the six, you have to respect the six trainers. That's simple. It's actually it's actually real culture. Number one
and one know where this is on the six. Yeah, you cannot you cannot say that you like j lo O without without doing your best to not erase an entire burrow of this huge the Bronx created Waiting for a Night, So it's like you've ever waited for an event at night? You owe it's the Bronx. You owe it to then we do owe it to the Bronx. Also, can we say, what a perfectly titled album? What What an amazing debut album, What a perfectly titled album? What
a fucking box. Every time you hear waiting for Tonight, it's you're done for. You have to respect that song and give that song at three and a half minutes because it is a Bob forever. And also she owns that green lighting. No one lasers hit me in the eye and that's what led to homosexuality for me. Yeah, I would believe that's what led to homosexuality. That's that's what happened. She was on the screen and then there were green lasers and like blink twice and um, and
that was okay. Yeah, so that had to be when you were like, what because that that was two thousand? Was that? Yeah, so you were said that was six and a half. Yeah, that'll do it. That'll do it. All you need is an icon to come in at that formative stage of your life when you're kind of realizing like what your personality is. A weekend someone, I'm like, yeah, what's your thoughts on j Loo? As she stands? Or do we stand? Jlo? Um? She's about to buy the
mats she just lost. She she's got swag, man, she's got swag. She's she's dope. She performs, she looks amazing, she is amazing. Um, you can't. You can't really come for her anybody, Even if you want to question somebody's talent, if they've got longevity. You can't say ship is that if they've kept their foot in the door, and then some you just can't come for them, Like if you want to try to clock Mariah, you just you can't know, you can't. We we were talking yes on our last
episode with Justin Tranter, who's a big songwriter. He was saying, like, just as someone who works in the industry, whenever an artist has more led multiple hits like again and again and again and again, it is because of the artist, and you do have to have respect, Like he works at Selena Gomez a lot, and she is another one where people are like, whatever, it's Selena Gomez, like she's not a good singer or whatever, but she is artistically
involved and chooses all those things. And you can't just be an artist that they feed everything too for years and years and years, like and j Loo has been going for years and years and years and years, probably before she was even in the mind's eye of you the reader at home, like before Selena, well, I mean she was a fly girl. A lot of people their
whole idea of Selena is tied to Jennifers. And that should have been an OSCAR nominated performance right there, because my my thing with the Oscars is always like I feel like someone should be nominated if no one else going on, who else could have done that? Who else would have had the star quality to get out there in that like huge stadium and who would you buy turning around and smiling, cracking a smile, a movie star pop star smile and the entire arena going crazy. It's
just like you have to be so good. And she was so funny and so like heartwrenching, and she, to me that was like a star is born moment on another level. And she has a career. She has re upped that again and again and again. She can do it all, from in living color to like the super Bowl halftime, the one good thing that happened this year.
I mean, what a fucking what a fucking legend. And I gotta say I shared a very gay moment with her Monday during the pitch meeting at s And now I told you this, Matt where she she had the she but she in the pitch meeting, she had this um. She had this bag that had like sort of this like Andy warhol ESQ, like Barbara streisand face on it. It's this coach. She got she got coached before coach releases their stuff. And then I sat down and then
I whispered to myself. I didn't think she would hear, I said, Barbara, and then she looks at me and goes and strokes the bag and goes Barbara and looks into my soul and goes Barbara. And she did it because it's funny girl, and it's because she was hosting SNL and it's because it's it's icons and it's icons respecting like icons, respecting icons. Jlo is bonified icon definitely. And the Bronx gave her to you everyone and respect. Gabe saying, the Bronx give you so many things me,
my sisters to start yourself. Listen, I'm never going to put myself last. You are going to always be your best advocate. And at the end of the day, any interaction that you have with me, you're not going to forget me. And that's just how it's gonna be. Yeah. I love this, and quickly quickly just um explain to people your philosophy around this advice that you're giving on an I g because I think it is a thing that you can really that has a lot of legs.
I think you start your own sort of like column. Perhaps. I think there's a future in this for you, in this space. I had no idea that it was going to turn into what it is like. I get uproar in my d MS when it closes out. Um, it's I think people I don't know how they find me.
I feel so sorry that they end up following me. Um. But the reality is that I get a lot of people that reach out to me because I think that they've seen enough of my content and interacted with me and mediums like this where they understand that I'm just gonna give it to you straight, no chaser, but I'm gonna give it to you in a way that you know, rips off the bandit, but not for the sake of burning you, for the for the sake of causing pain.
You know what I'm saying. I'm gonna give you just enough that you need to hear and leave it open ended enough that you can interpret it the way you need to, because I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, you know what I'm saying. So this is how I go about it. I mean, I've been approached to potentially do it UM as something more formal, maybe something you know, in collaboration with the company, something editorial, UM.
And I'm toying with it. But the thing is that, UM, the more you get people into it, the more I'm scared for its integrity of what it is. UM. So I'm not afraid to leave it as a Q and a me directly to the people. UM. If that means that I lose out on a check, then that's what it is. But I want it to just simply be sincere.
If you're asking me about how to handle your you know, prison fiance that you've never met, or you know, just coming out as potentially as trans are coming out as just anything, and perhaps you just don't even know yourself, but you know that you have that urge inside you. It's just the range and the gamut being run um of people that are just coming to me. It's just really intriguing and it's really UM, it's really humbling that
people want my help in this. I'm really excited to see what becomes of you and the talent that you've so clearly possessed, because it's very cool and we we can We wanted you on the show because we felt that you were definitely special, so we're super excited that you came out and did the show. Sweet yeah, yeah he is. And every time you talk to me, you're gonna leave the interaction knowing that that guy is Sweet c C. I planted the seed in his head. Now
he's just like he's thinking about it. He's like, yeah, I need everybody to remember me again. After the interaction, you are. You are giving him an identity, which is and thank you so much much. I've been waiting for years to get one. Wow. This episode was fucking great, a phenomenal episode. Thank you so much to Gabriel Kasio Cortez for joining us. Thank you for having me tell them you're damn handles so they can follow you. So
I'm on Instagram at Gabriel Costu courtoes. I'm on Twitter at Gabe Quartos, but I'm private on Twitter, so maybe I'll let you follow me. Maybe I won't. But try it, why not? You know what? Try it? Why not? Which? I love it? I love it and honestly Frontrunner title love that. Try it, try it. I like that, Pippy, It's nice. We close every episode out with the song did what do you think we've seen in the sweet
pictured and have to hear the rest of that. You can go listen to the album on the sixth by Jennifer Lopez, The Problem's own exact Yes,