I'm a homegrowl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody, you know, if.
You don't lie about that, right, Lauren came in. Hey, y'all, it's Laura l Rosa and this is the latest with Laura L. Rosa.
Now this is always your daily dig into all things entertainment, news, pop culture, and the conversations that shake the room. I love episodes where you know it's in like real time, things have really happened, and we can just get on here and we could talk a little bit, checking in behind the scenes of the grind, which is where we you know, pulled a curtain back and just check on each other, see how we feeling.
I am feeling very well rested.
I've probably said that a lot in the last couple of weeks because I've been prioritizing making sure I get my resting because it's been a lot happening. But this weekend, in particular, was Father's Day weekend. I went home and literally did nothing. When I said I went home, I mean I went home to my hometown with my.
Family in Delaware and didn't nothing.
Like literally got in my mom's bed and slept, spent time with my grandmother, it was Father's Day.
My brother is a father, so you know, he was in the house.
We really didn't do much of anything, but it felt good to be doing nothing. But Father's Day was happening, and the posts were everywhere. I love seeing dads be dads. I love seeing black father's black father is one of my favorite things to see. But I came across this
conversation getting into the latest. I came across this conversation that Kirk Franklin hosted on his YouTube channel, and it's for a series that he has called The Den of Kings, And the premise of the sit down is what happens when black men sit down, take off their masks, and
speak from the heart. And the premiere of Den of King's Grammy winner, Kirk Franklin is joined by DC Young, Fly daval Ellis, I Love daval Lou Young, and Country Wayne for a raw, honest and powerful conversation about fatherhood, faith, masculinity, and healing from growing up without a blueprint to leading their families with intentional love.
This fron teble pulls no punches.
This isn't about being perfect, It's about being present, y'all. I love conversations like this even though I'm not a you know, I'm a woman because gon say, even though I'm not a man.
But it's like, duh, Lauren.
I love conversations like this though, because I feel like as a woman and when I'm watching these things, it makes me look at like, I don't know how many think. I don't know how men deal with what they go through. I only know what I experienced from the men in my life, my brother, my dad, my stepdad, my my
male friends. So I'm always interested in learning and seeing, you know, kind of the other side of the of the pillow, and like and like what the experiences are like from a man's point of view.
And that's exactly what this was.
They talked about so many different things and it got really really deep.
The first thing they opened up with I thought was very powerful.
Kirk Franklin asked them, you know, what is the biggest myth about about black dads?
And here's what they said, The biggest myth that society has about black fathers sick and tied that you want to address.
That we ain't there. I'm going to say that we did beat now, might I mean there? We be across the street brom A house, someone like down the street in the house.
The fact of the matter is, studies show that black fathers are the most present in their kids life amongst all demographics.
Wow.
On top of that, single fathers have a higher graduation rate and lower incarceration rate than single moms and dual family households.
Come on, that is a fact.
Show them with those stats really being relevant. Now, where is this myth still continuing to come from?
You think narratives?
Think about it, right, We don't watch TV. Everything that we consume comes to me to through a phone, TV or film.
Right.
There are people who have agendas, right, and part of that agenda is creating a separation between men and women in our communities. It's always been that way.
And man, when I tell y'all, has hit me because every single year, for like Father's Day, and you know, even on Mother's Day, seeing fathers post their kids with their kids mom or like you know, their wives and all these things. I'm like, I look around and I don't know no men that are not in their kids' lives. I don't know any men that are not taking care of their kids. I don't like, I just don't know
those guys. But I know, at one point in time, it felt like it was very different like when I was younger, especially because I didn't grow with my father in my household. I didn't meet my dad until I was thirteen, fourteen years old, and then after that, me and him, you know, like I knew who he was, I knew where to reach him, I knew how to call him and all that. But it's different having him in the household and even just having a very close
relationship to him. Because I didn't grow up with my father in the household, it wasn't normal for me to just like always want to call my dad or spend time with my dad or talk like those things weren't just a natural thing for me because I going a long time of my life without doing it.
Even now, me and.
My dad talk, you know, I'll text someone, you might check in here and there. But if I don't talk to my dad for weeks at a time, it's not unormal for me. But my mother and my grandmother who raised me, if I don't talk to them for a day, I'm like, oh my god, I'm too busy.
The world is coming to it.
And even my mom, my stepdad, my brother's father who you know, stepped in and really helped out with me. I don't talk to him every single day, but if too much time goes past, I'm like, let me call him. I ain't heard from him. Even going home for Father's Day this weekend, I was My intention was like, Okay, I want to go see him. He was running around. I was running around, but I was like, I have
to see him. I have to talk to him. So it's just, you know, I think it's been such a normal thing and an easy thing for people to say that black fathers are not in the household, and some of us have experienced that. I just share my experience with that, right. But I have all of my friends that have their fathers in their home. I have friends that you know, have kids, and even if they are not with their child's father, their father is in their
child's life very actively. All of my male friends are super super super super dads.
I don't know.
I don't know them people. I don't know them men. So just by that being the opening conversation, I was like, Yo, this is about this is about to get real, real good. So next they talked about something that I thought was also you know, very interesting as well. Kirk Franklin had a public spat with his son and it was very very public. Kirk Franklin and his son went back and forth about a ton of different things. His son alleged that there was no support that you know that there was.
There was a lot of allegations at that time. And you know, with Kirk Franklin being a faith leader, people looked at this and was like, hold on, wait what Kirk. Like Kirk Franklin and people that are in the faith and in worship and leadership of any sort, you don't get the same chances to like have issues in the family, have issues in your marriage.
So they talked about it, and here's what Kirk Franklin had to say.
There is a reality that when you live with someone every day, yes, and you're in a house with with with these images of you and this person that is looking for you too that don't be there for them, but to also keep the lights on, keep a certain lifestyle going for everybody, there's a there's a tension. And I can understand now why they have such an ease and how they talk.
In the house because I'm like, okay, I eventually I want to be married, right listen to married men, successful married men, right, and y'all telling me y'all in the house. Y'all can walk down the steps, yeah, see the family and still feel like I'm not here not.
Yes, tell you yes, I'm gonna tell you right now why we live in an age where women too are not just wanting to be homemakers. My wife has her own career. So you know how I got my side check, that's my career. My wife got a side check, that's her career. My wife just just books her first series regular role after after having four of my kids. So now it's the time where the val got it be supportive. I got to step back. So now she has to
go film. So when she has to go film, who has to step in and do all the things at whom when.
She's going I do Now.
The reason why I thought that that was dope was because all the men at that table are all like, they have followings, their personalities, their talent, their celebrities, right, and they're all navigating his space, and we've seen things happen with them publicly, like Daval and his wife. There was recently a video that went viral from an Essence interview that he did where he broke down just about not being able to show up and have the time.
And then we have DC young Fly who we know the mother his kids, Jackie O passed away not too long ago following plastic surgery, and he's been publicly dealing with that.
And you have Country Wayne, who, even in this sit down, he.
Talked about, you know, some of the issues he's had with the mother of his kids because there are multiple different women and multiple kids and making that mesh. And even with lou he talked a lot about a lot of the things that he's been through. I'm not as familiar with his situation, but he's talked about a lot of the things that he went through just figuring it out. And man, when you figuring it out in front of the world, like these young men are talking about, it
is not easy. I can't imagine doing it with kids. And I can't imagine doing it with kids as the male in the household who has to always have it together. That's a whole different play. And they even got into that. It got into it about the idea of being a father and like the pressures that come with that and what it's like when you have a father in the household because all of them had different situations. Kirk Franklin was adopted, so he didn't have his you know, his
mother and his father. DC Young Fly talked about, you know, his dad not really being around and having to figure it out on his own.
So the country weighing a bit.
But he said, you know, he could get in contact with his dad as that was there, but it was still a little bit different. The vow grew up with is that in the house, but he talks about having
that in the house but still having issues. I think the biggest point from this interview though, was they started talking about because I played all the audio of Davao when he's talking about how you know, he's just busy and things are just happened, and you know, devil It's like they have their YouTube channel where they focus on their family and they tell all these stories and things of that nature. Right, But then at the same time, he's an actor and you know, he's an influencer, and
they move and him has wiped their career. They have their book that they came to the Breakfast Club and talked about their careers are moving like it's amazing to see. But when I saw him break down in that essence interview. I was like, Wow, you never know what people are going through because they package it so well. But he also talked about just being a man right in the house and wanting to take jobs and opportunities, but you can't because you don't want to feel like you slight
in your family. And I've never thought about this because as a woman, especially as a woman with no kids, I just I get up and go, I do what I want. But even my friends that have kids, like the women that I know, they have kids that have these opportunities, they take on. What they take on, they bring the kids along with them, or they don't. And when they don't, it's kind of normal for the world to see a woman be like, Nope, got kids at home,
can do it. But for a man, you get super overapplauded when you're like, Nope, can't do it, got kids at home. But then when you're absent, there's a conversation on you as an absentee father as well too. So let's take a listen to that. I thought that this point was very interesting as well.
There's days and this is why it's so hard for me. I don't feel like I ever have enough time. Yes, and even for my son bro I missed. I made every football game from my oldest son, but I missed his banquet. And you know what he said to my wife. That's why I'll never be an actor. You know, you just miss so much stuff. See, my son is the oldest, and he's the one who will say to me that I know you out there grinding, but it can't it don't change the fact that it hurts him.
Fact, and I want to be.
This is this is a fact. I want to be the biggest star in the world. I want to, right, That's what I want to do, but I know what that requires. It requires that I'm away a lot, right, and now I'm in a situation where I can make a lot of money doing something that will give me the autonomy to be with my family.
But that's not what I want to do.
And that's what I'm struggling with. Like that's why sometimes i'd be so heavy, because I'm like, yo, I'm doing this.
I don't want to do this now.
Of course, because it was Father's Day and people were having so many real conversations about how beautiful it was to see you know, dads with their you know, just the generation of fathers.
Like so many celebrities were posting.
I saw so many different people posting, and I posted a question from this interview. I said, because because Kirk Franklin asked this in an interview he's he asked to them. He said, what's your biggest fear in raising your kids? So I tweeted taking it to the streets.
In the tweets.
Outside, we outside, we outside outside, I said, black fathers, what's your biggest fear in raising your kids?
It's just opinion, responded my son.
That my son doesn't create a broken home and that he doesn't become someone's stepdad. He's currently a sophomore in college, so right now I just want him to finish school and settle into life he wants, not one that happened. That's all crazy, because I feel like we don't think about enough how people settle in relationships. And I know women settle, but I always say this to my male friends because I have a lot of male friends too.
Who they're and when I say subtle, I'm not saying that like they're taking less so they with people that they don't want to be with. But sometimes they're not happy, and they can't really communicate it. They can't really you know, they're being super dad, they're being provided, they're being this or being and they can't talk about it.
So they're living lives that just happened.
They're not living lives that they actually want to be living, that they love, that they enjoy that, you know, sparks their interests every day and things of that nature like.
That, that's not where they are.
And then another person responded and said that my daughter doesn't become someone's baby mama, nor have multiple kids by multiple men after college. I want her to settle into their career and be self sufficient, which she did, and I think that that's another thing as well too, was like, you know, when you're raising daughters as a father, the protective nature kicks in, right, but there's a certain level of she has to go and live her life.
If she becomes a mother who is a single mom, who is.
A co parent, she has experienced that and it gets to a certain point as a parent where you can't protect your kids from that, no matter how much super dad you are.
I am.
Trusie said, my greatest fear is raising a child into an adult. Who lacks critical thinking, accountability and communication skills.
Man.
Someone else said a small city legacy said, not preparing my kids to survive and thrive in a world when I no longer exist.
That's my biggest fear, y'all.
As I close out, Because all of this, I'm getting to the point now where, like you know, I'm starting to think about family and what family planning looks like for me when I have kids, and how that will work. Especially being here at Breakfast Club and seeing Envy Andes and Charlottagne with their families and their wives and their husbands.
I'm like, Okay, I do want this, and I want to start planning for it.
But it's like my biggest fear is to be slowed down by that and how to manage all of that. But also, like this world is so harsh. I feel like this about my niece as well. What happens to my babies if I'm no longer here? Who protects them? Who go to war for them? And I think as men, you know again, the fathers that are protector, So that has to be such a big thing for you guys. And they talked about that even in the sit down of just like you know you're shielding the family so much.
It's always you shielding the family, but there's nobody to shield you as the dad, as the man in the house.
So I wanted to.
Take this episode to just spend some time talking about the dad, showing y'all some love, showing y'all feeling some love.
Dad's tweet me.
Let me know how your father's Day was, and please go and watch this, then conversation with Kirk Franklin, and then sit down and let me know what you guys thought about it. Low Riders, all the male low riders out there. I promise sy'all, this is the conversation that you guys are not gonna want to miss. Hit me. I want to hear how you guys feel and what you guys are thinking. I want to know it's gone La Rosa. And at the end of the day, there's
always a lot to talk about. So I enjoy every single time you guys are here with me to talk about it, because y'all could be anywhere else. I'll be back in my next episode. We got some things to talk about. You know, we went to court. Kanye popped up. I'm gonna do a side piece on that