Gee.
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, y'all we start with a clap, Bring Pat, bring it the dope with me up?
Yes, the interview.
All right, y'all, welcome back to another episode of the Latest with Lauren Rosa. I'm your host, Lauren Rosa, and you know that this is your daily dig into all things pop culture, exclusive news and the conversations that shake the room. I'm the homegrowld and knows a bit about everything and everybody. But joining me today, Brandon's here as I am back. We got lost has been on the podcast Call Those Poke is back Carlos Pop. That's his podcast name, Carlos Poke. But we have a special guest
in the room. West Coast is in the building. DJ Head is here round of a park.
Greetings and salutation, appreciate.
It's my first time meeting DJ Hend. We have some wild conversations and I said, oh yeah, my first time yeah interacting verbally, yes, so wow, ecy to see where this podcast goes to.
All right, Well, the way that we kick off the podcast Head your first time here is we do a behind the grind, behind the scenes of the grind checking okay, because you know, people, we be moving, we've been grooving. You literally are here for like twenty four hours if even that, literally exactly, and were working all day long and people don't ask you how are you doing it? If they do, they don't really mean it.
But here, never ask people how they do it because I don't be genuinely giving the fuck. So I just so people be like, hey, how you doing? Like, hey, I don't like ask it back. Yeah, because it's a rhetorical.
Question, that's exactly. So normally, this is exactly why we do it this way the way that we do it here, because it is not rhetorical here. So I'm going to ask you how are you doing? I honestly want to know. It can be one word, it could be one sentence. We keep it concise and then we dig a little bit more. But it's real cute, but it's a real check in. Okay, So how you doing that?
I'm blessed.
Oh blessed is a good know where you was gonna go science?
Now I'm blessed. You know, I'm not sleeping, but I'm blessed.
Okay, why are you feeling blessed? Like is there something specific that happened recently?
No, it's not that.
I mean, I'm definitely blessed with opportunities and stuff. But I think that like anytime I just wake I think life is really cool.
Yeah.
I wake up every.
Day and like I'll be in my house and I see birds outside and may be chirping and ship.
I'm like, this is some cool ship.
Like life in general, like everything is like symbiotic and working together, and so I'm just grateful for life and animation.
But that's a good way to think about things, that life is really really cool. I feel blessed in the moment as well. To Brandon, how you feeling.
I'm feeling good too, I'm feeling good as well. I want to ask to what you said earlier about like this, how are you questioned? My people I know overseas say that's like an American thing where we'll say how are you.
And just walk right past, like we don't really know what they do.
Overseas, they'd be like, hi, how are you.
Stop and be like, hey, I'm doingcast Americas be like how are you? Just keep it moving, don't even care how you do it.
Yeah, when I asked, y'all, hear how y'all doing? I really care how you're doing. Oh, so use that I'm stopping here, we're having conversations about you.
Was asking so we could just contemplate with ourselves.
No, I didn't want to know because it'd be a lot going on. I feel like people who are career busy and very like career and and like you know, pushing through the grind, be compartmentalized very easily. And that is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing because eventually, like those compartments get full and I mean, had I know you don't like to be vulnerable and stuff, but it's.
Not that I don't like to be vulnerable. I just I just expressed myself differently than most people.
Okay, I'll take that.
But I'm emotionally divergent, divergent.
Please explain that, because that could have been how you doing today, just like.
You know how people are neuro divergent, which I also subscribe to. I think I'm emotionally divergent, meaning you're just outside of the north.
Yeah, gotcha, Well, I mean inside or outside of the The reason why I do it is just because I feel like in my own personal life, I'm one to be like, No, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm cool. And then it gets to a point where it starts to show and work that I'm not cool, And then I got to take a step back.
I think we're scared of the bad answers though, I'm just that, like, God, damn, I got to really console you and for you, and now I'm not mad that your mom died anything. But it's a lot to take it when somebody just throws why even indulge.
To be nice? To be nice, but.
It's not nice if it's disingenuous, if it's being if you're being disingenuous, how is it nice.
Yeah, I'm it's just a courtesy.
I don't think you got to be I think they'll still take it as a as a gesture.
I don't think you necessarily have to.
I feel like, genuine like genuinely know how somebody is doing. That's a little nosy, Like it's really dull. It's a little nosy to ask how you're doing and expect a deep dive answer.
Yeah.
Well I think it's a setting as well too, So like here, like if I went like my friends and wear a like. It depends on who I'm talking to them, where we are. Sometimes I do just say out of courtesy, because it's like when you walk into a room you speak, you have to speak like that type of thing. But in other settings, if I ask, I really like, you know, likew you doing, like how are you?
We just deep dive into the hell, let's get at the topic. I just want to chime in.
There is this guy, a monk, Buddhist monk that he escaping, moved in New York, you know. Yeah, his name is Don Dapani, and he would say, he would say, don't ask people how you doing, because you're asking to take on that energy. Just send out good energy, like I hope that well. So a lot of times you might hear me say I hope all as well, or I'll start an email off I hope all as well. If it ain't, then ship I hope. But I ain't ask you if it wasn't. I'm just correct.
I start my email stuff like that because I was just trained at work that that's how you do.
Yeah, but when somebody give you that energy, you asking for a lot because you ain't even start your day sometimes like, ah.
Man, but you're feeling okay.
Yeah, I'm feeling great. I do.
I am beginning to think I may need to get like evaluated. I think I might be on the spectrum a little bit. I think I said something. I'm just starting to think that way.
I might be.
Put it out there, but like.
It is because some people be sensitive.
So if I say I feel like I might be autistic, then they might take that as like a like a or if you know.
I'm with you, bro, Yeah, I feel like I'm a little spectomy for sure.
What made y'all feel that way?
Because we're so different just because I'm neuro divergence is not being the norm. I just think that I'm just completely out the box. Most of time I come off as insane, especially to women.
But Jesus, so it's so crazy.
Though, because I feel like you're like super comforting and like like as a friend, you're like a really good friend.
Yeah, can I can? I can? I say an interesting?
It's kind of okay for us to talk like this too in the beginning because we are the latest, Like we are the latest, We're the next latest people gonna be talking about us, So it's good people talk about him all the time.
Yeah, we're sitting here with big money right now.
Yeah, we big on your show in our heart building. Yeah yeah, Like what's not yet? Not yet?
People don't be like, I ain't got it. He just said no, all right, Well, speaking of the latest, we are going to get into the latest. And because we have had here, y'all know, we're gonna get into some k I the Kendrick Lamar is the first rapper in history to gross over nine million dollars in a single concert.
Now it is being reported that the co headlining tour between Kendrick Lamar and Sisa breaks Eminem's twenty nineteen record in Melbourne, grossing that nine hundred million dollars, which is a huge, huge deal, especially because in the beginning of all this, when the GNX to announcement dropped, people were saying people weren't gonna go out to seek people. People literally said they people did not want to see it. Kendrick Lamar set, yeah, I.
Don't think that's true, and they would.
It's like the first thing they need to do is make a comparison between Kendrick and Drake his shows and Kendrick shows and then say his shit ain't gonna sell out.
I don't know it was. I was there.
I was at the Atlanta show in the Mercedes Benz Stadium not not Doom because it's not to be confused, and mercedeses Been Stadium, and it.
Looked crazy to me.
I didn't see Hella open seats and all that kind of shit.
It was packed.
Now, this is a thirty nine stop stadium tour.
That's insane.
I was nine stops, but that's not even including the multiple days.
Yeah, oh, multiple days in different styles.
Yeah.
So he's doing three yet so far and at home and at met Life. Yeah, two out here, three at home, two in Toronto that I know about, so three at home and so far. That's where the super Bowl was, Like Taylor Swift, I think it's only the person that did three days.
As so far.
Wow. Wow.
Yeah, I really think all that situation with Drake sent them to another stratusphere. Obviously he was selling out before that, but it really I don't think anybody could deny that he wasn't going to Anybody could say he wasn't going to do well after everything phenomenal Kendrick, after that phenomenal year he had like away.
He wasn't doing that, So you feel like without not like us, he couldn't do this.
No, No, I think it would have been it would have been a little smaller. But I think he was always selling out, sellout artists though well, because.
I asked you that, because Dad has been the conversation.
The numbers are astronomical.
But when this news broke, the conversation was he needed Drake to do this. And people always throw that out there about Kendrick and the conversation right now. But in twenty twenty three, the Big Steppers Tour became the highest grossing raptor of all time. It was eclipsed the following year by Drake. It's all a blurred tour, but it did happen first. So I think that I don't know why it is with Kendrick and him. I don't know.
Maybe you a little closer to the source. People like that, like Kendrick like this all just happened overnight for.
Him because people it's two things.
The first thing is people are super fans of Drake, like Drake raised them. So it's like it's like telling them that Santa Claus ain't real.
You can't tell me that you know.
What I'm saying, Like it's certain shit that you can't say about certain people, for instance, even when even when certain people are probably flawed just like everybody else, Like you know what I mean, Like we have moguls that are probably no longer heralded as what as what they once were because you're around to find out that they're just a human being like everybody else, you know what I'm saying.
And so, my, that's the first thing.
The second thing is he's always been discounted the whole the whole time. But he's been discounted for lack of a better way, just saying, oh, he's not a star just because he doesn't indulge in the fruits of being a star. Right, So, and I said this before on the air, but I think like he has the same problem that like Yo kich has, you know on the Denver Nuggets, Like he just win a championship and don't even give a fuck.
He don't care, He just don't.
So you have somebody who's completely indulgent in being a superstar, and you have somebody who don't even give a fuck about.
Being a superstar. Do you do you think Drake being a Superstar Drake.
Drake cares about startlem is that a bad thing? Though I don't would say it's a bad thing. Nothing is bad and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's how you go about it.
Yeah, And you don't respect the way d goes about it.
Why, It just depends on it depends on what facet like. For instance, the way that the way that he uses culture to manipulate I don't.
I don't. I disagree with that because the AI stuff with like snooping.
It wouldn't even be the AI stuff I'm talking about. For instance, when you like, I'm not saying that there aren't rough areas where He's from, but where where I'm from, where God is from, you can't we call it false flagging. You can't false flag. Like I don't never claim to be a gamer. I'm not a gamer, but I'm considered a non affiliate. So if I get on here and start cousin and blood and stuff, I would get quote
unquote g checked when I get back home. But what happens is when you don't get checked, you go without checks and balance. Then you arrive at a place where now you're the dictator of those checks and balances and I E.
Kanye West, you know what I'm saying.
So now it's like you're allowed to just be whoever you want to be without any without any repercussions. And I think that's kind of like what's going on.
Well, recently, Young Thugs sat down with GQ magazine and they asked him about the whole Kendrick Lamar Drake thing. He's like, I don't know where this came from because I'm like, I'm a Drake fan, Like, I don't understand why Kendrick Lamar brought me into it. Yeah, I mean, I get what you're saying as far as culture, but like when you got people like Young Thugs saying like, yeah, nah, but I don't subscribe to that, doesn't that that doesn't help what you're saying, because no.
But everybody has their own experience. Just like some people would say, you know, they're probably individual. There might be individuals that say Weinstein was a good man. You know what I'm saying. I'm saying, Epstein got you. You know what I'm saying. I think Kendrick's point was that he was keeping these people around him for credibility exactly.
But I'm saying if Kendrick's point is you keeping all these people around you for credibility and to be able to like, you know what I mean, falsely throw this flag. But the people who are around you are like, I mean, but that's my booy, that's my homie. It doesn't there's no like, there's no checking, there's no big homies that
are like, no, this is not okay. Correct, Like if young Thug I said, I'm a Drake Finn, but like I get with Kendrick is saying, because like, nah, this is our shit, that would have been different.
He wouldn't say that because that's his homie though. But also see that's what I'm saying, Like, where we're at in the culture is the two things are conflated. You have street, you have we called glasses called street.
Urban culture, and you have rap.
Those two separate things that get conflated because hip hop is looked at as this one umbrella. So where we're from, it doesn't matter if you've done something. For instance, you could take Lil Wayne. For instance, Little Wayne is from New Orleans, Louisiana, right, but he's also quote unquote from the mob Mob Poude. That's in quote unquote Encompton. Right, so if one of my o G hommies, I ain't gonna say no names one of the hommies. And he's like a reptable from that section, and he says, this
is my little homie Wayne. He from the section. That's law meaning there's no questioning. You don't get to you don't. That's just what it is. It's my homie from and now he from the section.
You get what I'm saying. So I'm not saying that that's what.
Thug is doing, but it's just different things that are not the same thing.
One to one in hip hop.
Got you well, I mean, it's coming on a year this week that everything happened. I remember I was in y'all remember where y'all were were not like us draw It's crazy, but for real, I was in a party for Single Day Mayo. It was Single Day Mayo, right. I was in party. I was drunk, I remember, and then somebody came to me. I was in Delaware and it was like Kendrid finally dropped because he was waiting on it. Yeah, and then they played then like us.
I felt like Kendrick was trying to say, like when he did the party the party died.
Watch the party die.
Watch the party die. It was like his music did that without saying it right. It was like, I'm gonna show y'all how to party differently. I'm gonna show you how to embrace who you are as a black person. I feel like Drake's music, while it's good and it's fancy and you can dance to.
It, I do feel like he he like he didn't. He didn't grow.
Up the way that we or it doesn't feel like he grew up the way that we did. But he knew how to speak to it. And because he knew how to speak to it, then he can make music around it.
And you get what I'm saying.
How y'all feel about? When Kendrick brought out play with Cardi, people were upset about it. They said that like he was basically exploiting artists for like the same thing that he accuses Drake of doing. How ya feel about that?
It's a bunch of people who aren't part of the music game, commenting on the music game. Like he was in Atlanta, he brought out Playboy Cardi, who's from Atlanta, and they have three songs. DoD gave him three features on the album. Yeah, and they performed one of the biggest records right now. So I don't understand people are just silly.
So do y'all feel like people are ever going to get to a point where like this because you're not like people beef and then we just like on the won't even really talk about it. We're talking about this as if like like I mean, it is history, but you know what I mean, like we just remembered where we were when songs dropped. You think that that feeling will last like generational or like eventually, like.
Yo, what feeling of this specific?
Like, yo, you remember where you were when not like a dropped when the beef started.
I think it was definitely a moment in time hip hop especially I definitely always.
Remember numbers why super Bowl?
But then the only comparison that I can have that I remember and I was young was jay Z and Nas and I felt like that for a long time, and they became friends on top of that, like damn Drake, and then after they became friends, look how long it took for people to actually like, all right, like okay, they're friends, Like.
It's not a game.
I don't think Drake and Kendrick ever becoming friends.
And I think in the moment of that is.
That I mean, am I crazy for I don't see your happiness? Yeah, I don't see that happening.
Weren't before.
But also you got to understand, like he one person crossed the line before the other person. So I think that's the nuance. It gets lost in translation. It's just like you know, it's like if he said it in the record. But when you get offer, when you offer somebody a friend, that's amongst the homies, like if we homies, I'll offer you a friendly fade.
That's like that. Again. That's where I.
Think the disconnected is happening in these conversations street urban culture, rap music and rap music. He can't say that about you street urban culture. There is no rules rap world. Is you cross the line street urban culture. I gave you a line, you crossed it. Now it's now, it doesn't matter now no lines exist. That's the difference.
Yeah, And that's what happened.
So it was a specific line cross that's your a fan to I mean, I think he said, we ain't got to keep we ain't gotta make it personal. I think Drake made it personal first and then after that all see the thing is once.
Where where where I'm where we're from?
If I give you a line and I say, hey, bro, let's let's have a fight because we just having a disagreement, right, and you tell me where I'm from, you tell me all right, look that we could fight. But you know, like I got shot and I got I got a bad rib. Don't hit me in my rib. Just keep you and I just keep I hit you in the rib. You like, bro, what the fuck?
Now?
There are no rules because you gave me the line and I stepped over it.
Okay, behind the scenes, because there were there were things that claims of like people being removed from like songs or like something like that because they were associated with Kendrick and then the lawsuit came and like like that type of stuff. Or was it like Drake was really trying to be outside in the streets.
No, it ain't none of that.
It's just if I have a conversation with you about what the line is.
So they had a conversation about what the I'm.
Not saying that I'm saying.
If I do have a conversation with you and you step over that line, that we that I that I presented to you.
Now it's up.
I thought, like low key put it into music though, like yo, well, once you talked about his family and his children and who they messing with, stuff like that, that's the line.
If I tell you my line and you intentionally cross it, there is no such thing as I went too far.
Well, I mean, we don't even have time to get to other topics because you had such a great comments. So no, but I've enjoyed the hanging out with the guys on the podcast today. We do so what we do after we get through our latest our topic rundown is we take it outside to the streets and the tweets, which is anything that's happened in conversation on the internet for the teet be outside, were outside, we outside.
Okad tweets every other page.
So I actually went to your twitter head and oh my god.
You're such I feel like people never earn the list. People will never remember what they tweeted.
Oh I know everything you tweeted in twenty thirteen.
I stand on my tweets.
I don't have a tweets before twenty fourteen because I got rid of them. But anything after twenty oh yeah, I gotta put you off. You got no, you don't. I don't know, but yeah, I'm a nerd, so I'll figure it out. But yeah, so any tweet that just out there, I stayed on my shit.
Well, I mean it wasn't a crazy one. But now you've got me going down your time not trying to find her crazy one.
The way you reacted, it's not gonna be anything crazy.
No, I don't see nothing crazy, but you you had tweeted videos out from the Kendrick Lamar concert and you captioned it. You can't fake influence. Correct A great way to end the show, because I think right now you also have a pen tweet that says I'm not a journalist.
I'm a DJ because I respect journalists.
And I remember during the time of all the back and forth, when you know people were looking you were the one of the Kendrick sources and academics was on the other side with Drake. I don't know if people knew how to title you because the information was coming from you a lot. Sometimes.
Well, I know that that person claims to be the best, the number one journalists in the game, and I just have I have too much respect for I think journalism is a craft, just like being a doctor or a lawyer. Yeah, and so I respect journalists too much to just pop out of me like I'm a journalist.
Yeah. I don't think that academics is a journalist at all. I think the machine.
Get a drunk rent, that is fine.
I think whatever, the machine of what he's built, I say, I always I respect the machine of what he's built, But he is not a journalist. I think we as journalists we vet things a lot differently, we have conversations a lot differently. I'm not mad at what he's doing, but I think that there does always need to be a defining point of anybody who does something at a he's a professional. But like it's different.
Like I know you on the radio and you come from a background of journalism, which you know, there's two things that exist within the confines of broadcasts and door journalism, whether it's print or any kind of signal, right, and the two things are one is journalistic kenteckrity and the second one thing is something called libel.
Go look up Libel, kids.
And so I think, what, because you don't learn these things when you just turn on your stream or whatever. You just you could say whatever you want to say, and then you end up like Tasha k And so I think, like, oh.
The menopause, Mattie, she talks about us too.
And so I think, and so I think what happens is people just start podcasts, get cameras, get mics, and start saying what they think and then be like, oh, DJ heads, he's being cryptic, He's not being real. It's like, no, there's such a thing called libel. Say that I take serious because I'm a professional fucking broadcaster.
I'm saying what I'm saying, and.
So if you look up liable, you'll understand where these things and why these safeguards are in place.
Yeah, well, I want to read some of the responses to your tweet. The tweet was can't fake the influence, and somebody said Junior shoots a mind of Junior is his ad said just left the show it was rocking Reo. I think this is a bot page though, because Yeah, I've noticed every time Kendrick sees a rise of popularity, Drake is somehow involved. Take Care Future Slash Tour, fin Problems feature KJMC slash Poetic Justice, promo control Verse controversy.
Then the beef. We talked about that a bit. Somebody said pronolo fourteen. So unfortunately I won't be able to attend these shows. So I've been living through the videos, y'all post no cap. This show is based just based on video scene, like the crowd was efing lit up. They tried to play with Kendrick at the super Bowl with the videos behind the scenes. Does he have anything to prove at this point? Because of that?
He don't even care?
He really don't care at all? Is he always he's some bother? Has he gotten to a place with this where he's in a good place? So he's unbothered.
Now if you.
Watch the squabble up video and you look at it and you look at his face, that's how he is. The day not like us came out and I called him like, hey, bro, you I'm going crazy.
This is crazy? You want? He said? Man, he didn't even give He don't even give.
A Does he have those feelings going into the Toronto shows like it's this is nothing?
It's nothing, It's nothing, bro. I'll give you an example.
Last the last show, I went and seen him backstage and we had a moment because when he got the key to the city and Compton.
I was there.
I'm sitting on the mayor's desk in her office. No bullshit, I'm sitting at her desk and I'm holding this key to the city. I'm looking at this nigga and I'm like, this shit crazy. He was like, Bro, this shit crazy.
So that's it.
And then we was backstage at one of the shows and I was like, Bro, I'm looking I'm like this shit crazy. He's like, Bro, this shit crazy to me too. That's just that's the reaction.
It's like he's still like kind of not coming to terms with it, but it's like man like, he's so much in front of him, he's not looking at all the other stuff he said.
He says, it's the work and it's just you put in the way you gotta put that.
That just made my heart feel so warm, because that's how I feel about life.
It's the work and when you.
Head down and doing the work. A lot of that stuff, like when I say, even if you do feel like stop playing with me, it just doesn't matter.
It's so small none, none of this shit matters in real life.
Wow.
And he seems like, but the actuality just remember that in hindsight. All this shit is something, and that's what I think that people don't look at like your life is a story for somebody else.
That's how I look at my life.
So it's important to like, yeah, you got your head down, you're working, but also know that take a second to take it in and say, Yo, this shit crazy.
You know what I mean.
That's how I feels sitting here with y'all. Right now, coming from TV is so different to radio and being a journalist coming on the radio where they especially Breakfast Club, they say and do what they want. They get crazy. I was freaking out a lot of times, and you always just tell me shut up. Yeah, literally like literally, Like that's how he and he thinks it's so funny.
Like one time I call him crashing out, he just laughs like no, But I I just had has helped me through like some really crazy times in radio, figuring out this whole navigation because he comes from radio so and then now we're here on the podcast because he's here in New York, so this is like a man, this is crazy moment for me too. So thank you for joining us, Los, Thank you for joining us.
For sure, thank you, thank you for having us.
Yeah, y'all, So where have we learned from today's episode besides shut that.
Up only takeaway?
We learned that grateful Yeah, I was gonna say.
Put that work in and don't be don't be too high up to look there and just say, oh, this is crazy.
Yeah, there we go.
Yeah, it's crazy. All right, y'all. I'm Lauren the Rose that this has been the latest with Lauren the Rose. I had the guys join me today, so this has an amazing episode. I tell you, guys each and every episode because I mean it. At the end of the day, there's always a lot to talk about.
Y'all.
Could be anywhere doing it with anybody, would you choose to be right here? And I I appreciate you fotat. We are a lot of thousands of people download strong, so I really really appreciate you guys tuning in downloaded and telling a friend to tell the friend that Lauren got the latest. I will catch you guys in my next episode.