What's the Biz

We just take the system and we shake the frame, trying to bend that ship and maybe make a change. And I don't even know when it will be fall. I'm not gathering new somebod. I don't need a total recall from right wingers whoill be on the mic singing yeeha, the COVID cases going up and down like se sauce. All I got is me, y'all, let me get it started. Go ahead and just speak. I'm gonna get my co

host back next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yet yeah, alright, Okay, my name is Dope Knife, and y'all are listening to Waiting on Reparations. Hurry up. I am so glad that this is about to be the last time that I have to do that by myself, because next week, y'all, the homegirl Lingua Franca is coming off of her much needed and deserved maternity leave and she's going to be rejoining me for some all new episodes and all that jazz. But we got one more day of it just being

the Dope Knife Show. I do have somewhat of a little announcement to make. I have fallen in love with a new album. What would'all think, get your get your mind out the gutter? No, I have been listening to that new West Side Gun album, Hitler Wears Hermes eight. I guess that's because it's the eighth one, and all honesty, out of all the Griselda guys, west Side Gun is probably my least favorite. But um, I just I haven't stopped listening to the joints since I got that ship.

It is super dope. I mean, obviously you have all of the usual features from the Griselda Cats, but the beats on this ship, I mean, it's nuts. It's nuts. I think it's fair to say West Side Gun is kind of an acquired taste, you know what I'm saying. But if you have the ear for it, then that is going to get awaiting on reparations, dope knife stamp of approval. You need to check that ship out. So what do we have in the news today? Oh, I'm

an airhead. So as I'm recording this, the results are kind of coming in for that California recall election, and it appears that Gavin Newsome is going to survive and he's going to serve out the rest of his two years as the governor of California. Um. Yeah, I didn't even make the actual recall stage. Is you know everybody voted no or enough people voted no. I think if it had gone through, then his main runner up was

gonna be Larry Elder. Now, for those of you who don't know who Larry Elder is, he is, Um, how do you best describe Larry Elder? He is a one of those right wing black token Republican hacks, you know what I'm saying. He's been around for like decades, but you know he's now he's part of that whole Trump He ship. So they were they were making a planet. Luckily they lost, but he's already him and Trump are already claiming Electron fraud and it was rigged or whatever.

They were doing that before a vote even came in. To be honest with you, a couple of days before, they were on news Max and ship and and talking that up. I think that's about to be the new normal, to be honest with you, everybody listening right now. I think from now until the day that we all die, there's not gonna be an election that Republicans lose and they don't say we were they were cheated, you know what I mean. I think that's just the that's just

the new standard operating procedure with those cats. I don't think that is going anywhere anytime soon. But good for Kellie, you know what I'm saying, way way to uh delay the apocalypse. What else is going on? Oh, A couple of days ago, Joe Biden issued out a federal mandate on vaccines for federal workers. I think all in all, at the end of the day, it's supposed to affect

a hundred million Americans. The anti factors and you know, the usual coons and goblins are losing their mind about the same people who what just like six months ago, were watching Donald Trump order unmarked troops to snatch people off the streets. They were looking at it and they were like, oh no, that's dope. And then to take a vaccine for a deadly disease, let's killed millions of people around the world. Just nah, this is the authoritarianism.

For a hot second. On the day that Biden gave that speech, do not comply or don't comply, some ship like that was trending on Twitter and it was I checked it out. It was a bunch of right wingers talking about don't comply's elected officials saying it. It was talk radio hosts, bloggers, like they were all kind of in lockstep. Do not comply, don't comply with the tyranny.

In all honesty, it's kind of a soft mandate. I mean, if you don't want to get the vaccine, then you can still just choose to like get tested like all the time or more frequently or something like that. So it's not even like a strong arm, Hey, we're gonna hold you down and jab this in your butt type of thing. But being in Georgia and as well as you know, I'm sure people can relate who are in

other Southern states. You know, we've got these governors and senators and stuff who are pretty much at this point pro COVID, I guess is the best way to describe their ideology on the topic. So they're gonna be fighting against all of that tooth and nail as much as they can. So I don't, you know, I'm not smart enough to know how they're gonna enforce that ship realistically.

But the whole thing got me thinking, like, obviously this is going to affect business, and it's just got me wondering how are business is going to adapt and how are they adapting? Like well, like, really, what's it like to open up to start a new business at this point in the game and have to abide by the changing in COVID policy. You know, sometimes it's ratcheted up like it was a few months ago with Delta, then

it kind of dies down. Then we're not sure if it's going to come back, and then people aren't getting vaccined, and then they're gonna do a mandate. So how is it that business owners, particularly black business owners, are dealing with us? You know, that's a question in and of itself.

But then if you take it down to the South where we have local governments that are you know, vehemently opposed to any sort of regulation or anything that's gonna help with the whole COVID situation to begin with, How are black business owners and entrepreneurs navigating this new landscape that we find in the South. So that's what I'm gonna be talking about today. I'm also gonna be having a little chat with a new black business owner and creative down here in Savannah by the name of lb

Elms mean her. Are going to have a conversation about that topic, and I will be back after we go pay some bills. So, for a lot of people, the idea of owning your own business and working for yourself, it's still very much like the epitome of the American dream, you know what I mean. It's like it's kind of what everybody's low key working towards. I'm an independent musician. It's been my hustle since i was eighteen, you know, So it's I've always looked at that kind of with

that small business mindset. But I've had tons of friends, especially being in this town like Savannah, where there's a lot of creatives, a lot of artists, a lot of people who are trying to get something started. I've seen how difficult it can be to, you know, to make that decision and take that leap, and you know, for for go those safety nets and conveniences to be like, hey,

I'm going to start my own business. To go out and say that I'm gonna build something from the ground up, with all of the hurdles and obstacles that are going to be in the way, it can be a lot, you know, and it definitely doesn't have a guarantee of any kind whatsoever. There's over thirty million small businesses in this country, and the number of those that survive is just a fraction. So like of small businesses failed after the first year, thirty percent of small businesses fail after

the second year. Then you get fifty percent of them fail after five years, and by the time you get to year ten, seventy percent of them are called the quits. All that ship is just generally though, and you know, anything that affects the country is gonna affect black people double fold. So for minorities, it's even more of a daunting task to start a small business. Eight percent of black owned businesses fail within the first two years eighty percent,

and COVID's only exacerbated all that. Now, according to CNBC, African American entrepreneurs have had to close their doors at more than twice the rate of their white counterparts. Black owned businesses declined by forty one percent between February and April, and that's compared to a seventeen percent decline amongst white owned businesses. There was a little boom in terms of the revenue earned by black owned businesses after the Jeor Floyd protests, just in the midst of all of the

Black Lives Matter stuff. You know, a lot of people were donating, a lot of people were reaching out, and I guess there was little boom, but that did not last for long at all. Now, there's a number of factors as to why this happens, and you know, there's people way smarter than me that I'm sure have already broken it down. But pretty much the key key amongst all of the different reasons for why African American businesses struggle is the access to finances. Many startups rely on

support financially from friends and family. So it's just like a matter of simple math. If your social network doesn't have that much money, then that will translate into how they're able to help you, if they're able to help you, and with that all of the basic trial and error that usually goes in with starting a small business, especially in the early days, it ends up being something that's fatally costly and you when you don't have access to

the capital like that. In real talk, if we live in a country where a black sounding name on a job application is going to stop a motherfucker from hiring you, then I'm pretty sure the same thing goes along with whether they'll shop with you or not. Uh, just a drive that home before COVID, Black owned businesses nationally average fifty eight thousand dollars annually, and that's compared to over

half a million dollars for white owned businesses. In a report conducted in three Southern states by Prosperity Now that was Mississippi, Georgia, and I believe North Carolina, UM. The report was titled Stuck from the Start the Financial Challenges of Low and moderate income African American Entrepreneurs in the South. So for this they interviewed thirty African American business owners in eastern North Carolina, South Eastern Georgia, and Jackson and

Delta regions of Mississippi. Many stated limited managerial and industry experience and launching businesses and lower revenue service industries and black communities. Also noted was the lack of a robust network of supportive institutions, including ones that could provide managerial training, technical assistance, and strategic advice, and an inability to establish lines of credit that could support expansion plans or covering

operating expresses. Many of the major obstacles facing African American entrepreneurs flows from the challenge of starting a business with little to no savings or family wealth. The researchers found the black entrepreneurs simply don't have the savings or the wealth that white families do to leverage either on their own or through their family networks. As one North Carolina entrepreneurs stated, we didn't inherit. Nothing, nothing was passed down. Our parents do all they can for us, but it

was all on us from the beginning. However, even with all the hardships, there has been a bit of a kind of a migration over the last decade or so black entrepreneurs coming down South and bringing their ideas down here. Report by Black tech Week stated that the top three cities where black owned businesses found success were Memphis, Montgomery, and Atlanta, all in the South. Now, the factors contributing to this where low cost of living compared to places

like New York and San Francisco. I can attest to that. It's one of the reasons that are brothers down here. There's also been an increase in business incubators in southern metro cities, so destinations like Atlanta have had a surge of tech incubators to foster rising black owned businesses that are all in the same field. In the South still has one of the largest pockets of African American population in the country, so and they also have a long

history of supporting black owned businesses. So it's just more of an inviting situation. And I guess and with that, I'm going to be bringing down our guests for the day, who herself is a black small business owner who has migrated to the South to get her business popping. You know, before we even started rolling, she she said she's going to handle the introduction duties because it's quite avouthful to to say the whole title. Absolutely, thank you for having me.

Um again, I'm LB LM, and I'm the owner and founder of the Culturist Union, which is the first of its kind and only black owned coffee house and artists in marketplace in Savannah, Georgia. That's what's up. So how when did you go about, you know, moving to Savannah to open it? So this is my second time around in Savannah. The first time I was a SCAT student UM, and I wasn't performing arts. And then I transferred to Howard h U you know, okay, how I used to

go toward. I used to go to Howard and so I was up in Irah Audredge, you know, hanging out of the theater doing the thing. I was in theater management and then I did some d I work and traveled around and then I got this idea to create a gathering space. UM. But I didn't want it to be kind of like a coworking space. I wanted it

to be a place that was a little bit more relaxed. UM. I remember being a student at scared and feeling like there was nowhere to go UM as a black artist, as a black creative, there wasn't a space for me to go on a Tuesday and just really be centered and feel, you know, like I have full autonomy over myself and all of these things. And so I decided that I was gonna come here and create that space. And so about two and a half years ago I quit UH a job that was very lucrative and and

in Minnesota and and UM started on this journey. And here we are today. So where are you from? Originally? I know you said that you were RB brat, But do you have like kind of a central lies place. So I'm from Pantiac, Michigan. Um. Right, my granny's house is right behind the Silver Doll, so I'm right there. And then UM, when I was six years old, my mother married UM, an army man, and he adopted me, and so that's my stepdad. And when we traveled all around.

And when I was seventeen, I joined the Air Force and did that for almost ten years. So then what made you pick Savannah to open up your business? Time? Like I said, just the connection from going to scab then you being in town, you know. So I didn't even know Scott existed. My parents UM retired in Richmond Hill, which is a little town right outside of Savannah. And when I was getting out of the Air Force, I wanted to be closer to family. So I moved to Savannah,

and I didn't have a plan. I was just out here just trying to figure it out and going to coffee shops. I love coffee shops. I'm going to coffee shops, just kind of doodling, drawing, just wasting my day. We're trying to figure out what's next in my life. And there was a SCAT tour and one of the you know, tour guds just like you can just hop on. It's easy. You know, this is pre COVID, you know, and you

just dish it. So hopped on the tour, Go to the Performing Arts, go to Cride Hall, which is where the performing arts department is, and I didn't even know they had a performing arts department. Go to Pride's Hall, audition on the spot, and then I got in. And

so I went to SCAT because I got in. And then that was kind of like falling in love with Savannah at that point, or yeah, it was, and it was it was this, It was this thing because SCAT opened me up to all these possibilities, all of these things that I had no idea even existed or was even possible in my life. And meeting all these people, but I still didn't feel like there was a space for me. I still didn't feel like I was connected. And when I went to Howard, I felt like I

was at home. I felt like I was like I felt like I got both of those things. So Scab was the catalyst. But Howard, Howard pulled it all in it and it made it possible, and it made me think. It gave me an example of other black people, black women, particularly who is doing the thing. And I said, okay, well these people can do the thing that I can think too. So then just to get to the bottom of it. So then what made Savannah that spot on

the map that you wanted to start this adventure in. Well, so I read this book called The Purple Cow um years ago, like when I'm still in the military, so this has to be six and eight years ago. And in that book it says that you always need to be first or um the only. And I recognized that. In d C. You know, there's multiple black owned establishments, gathering places, coffee houses where you could go. You know, it's called Chocolate City. I mean it's gentrified now, but

it's called Tropic City. In Minneapolis where I was at, where I was working, Excuse me, it was the same thing. And so Savannah just felt like a space for me to start. And I knew that it was going to take a while to start, and I knew that I had to cultivate change in the South. But I also knew that if I was able to pull it off here where there where there is no example, then the sky is the living. So it was kind of like

a personal challenge for it. Well, I mean, since you've taken up that challenge, what has it been like so far? Because you know, I've had several I've had several friends who have tried to open up businesses in this town who were white and had difficulty doing it. You know what I mean that, I've had friends who have been black who have had difficulty doing it. So what is it like in a post COVID world trying to do that?

So so before COVID, when I was first starting, it was it was it was a tough It was a tough heal. Right, it was a tough heal because not only am I saying that I'm hoping up a creative space for creatives, people get that. People didn't understand coworking spaces at the time. People didn't understand social enterprises at the time down here, because these weren't conversations that we were having in the South. No one's talking about taking

up space and diversity and equity in the South yet. Right, So I'm you know, are you a separatist? Are you? Why are you? Why are you doing reverse racism things? What? What is a coworking space? What are you doing? I don't understand the concept. But then, um, there was a shift when George Floyd, when when we went to COVID, George Floyd happened. All of these things kind of created

this opportunity for conversation. And so I started having information sessions where I started giving Diversity Equity UM a platform, and I started creating these things called roundtable discussions, and I started gathering people and they and it was funny because I wasn't doing anything different than what I was doing the year before for some reason before listening, right, and then, UM, I just kept doing I just kept doing this. You know, I knew that I didn't have

a lot of capital. I knew that I didn't have UM, you know, a lot of financial backing or cloud or you know, the network connections. But I also knew that I just needed to make sure that everybody knew of my idea and that it was mine and that eventually something I was gonna network my way into my net worth,

something was gonna click. So I was proud funding. I'm hosting these pop ups, I'm hosting these events, I'm giving these information sessions, I'm connecting to people, and I'm just honing in on my message, honing it on my message, you know, a space for black creative space for black creators. And then it just kind of took on a life

of its own. And then I got a phone call from uh, the American Express reps to UM to back you know, my idea, that I got a phone call from T Mobile to back my idea, that I got a phone call from Essence to do a spread on this concept. Then America, you know, then Savannah Morning News. So all of these things just started to happen, and I think it's just because I was just kind of putting in the work and just putting one foot in front of another. And so UM we were able to

get the funding. We were able to work with Carver State Bank, which is a black owned bank, to help with UM with the small business loan funding and and now we're in construction. So just for our listeners, can you uh kind of go into detail explaining what is a coworkerspect? So a coworking space UM is a space

where you can work from home. So think of it as UM a you know, a private space kind of similar to a coffeehouse or kind of similar to you know, your regular office space where other people who may work from home or who may have small businesses can kind of gather and and work and create UM. And so what we're doing is we're taking the coworking space concept and we're taking the coffeehouse concept and the marketplace concept and fusing them together. So TC was more than a coffeehouse.

We serve coffee and we have that aspect, but then we have forums and discussions and UM creative services and you know, space for artists and then we UM and then we also sell artists products, so black artisans, local products you can buy in our store. So is UM is is it open yet? Is not open? We're in the middle of construction, so we're not opening yet. So then what are some of the like how is COVID

popping up again affecting a decisions that you're making. So I'm glad you asked that question, because COVID has it's slowed down our trajectory. We were supposed to open June Team. Um because of COVID it have been sorry, you know, but we were supposed to open June Team. Because of COVID marketing, our material prices have skyrocket. What is three times the amount of UM that it used to be

um UM, the materials cost is more UM. Workers are you know, we're filling a worker shortage in all industries, even in construction, even in the trades, and so people who would have readily been available to work are no longer here to work. Um. You know, coffee sleeves kind of did a toilet paper thing and they just disappeared. And what I could find coffee sleeps. And so if you walk into your coffee shopping, you don't and they don't put a sleeve on because they ain't got one,

you know. And so because of all that, we you know, COVID, you know, there was a shutdown, that there was a scare with Delta and all of these things. We're you know, we're navigating do we make our workers get vaccinated? Do we do. We only hire people who are vaccinated. You know what is those things? You know we're having these conversations, but honestly, COVID, it's just it's slowing things down. It's

raising the prices on everything. And if you already know, you know, I don't have the same um financial backing or the same you know, social economic status as my white counterparts. So it's hitting me harder. You know, when when I have to go and crawdfund. You know, I could have a friend and I'm just gonna use this collocalism. But Sarah could crowd fund and probably raise you know, a hundred thousand dollars in ninety days, I'll be hard

pressed to get tent in those same many days. And it's just because our social um so social circle of influence doesn't have that same amount to give. No one has a thousand, five thousand dollars to give to invest in someone's dream when we're all trying to make sure that we're pairing our bills and making sure, you know, our life is good for ourselves. So it's difficult, but it's you know, we're still on the journey, we're still figuring it out. So I mean I'm sure you guys

are going to figure it out. I mean, it looks like guys are on the right half with everything. So I mean, does it ever, like does it frustrate you kind of that It's like you're hearing you guys are starting to have all of these serious conversations about how you guys are going to navigate through COVID and to keep not only your employees safe, but you know what I'm saying, potential people who come to you safe as well.

Does it like frustrate you to live in a state where it seems like from a government level, you know that it's that's not really a concern, or at least they're fighting against federal moves that are being made to stop the spread of COVID or just to get things back to normal, you know whatever normal is. Yes and no. So yes, because it's counterintuitive. Um, you know, you say you want to stop the you want to stop the virus.

You want to get workers back to work, you want to you know, you want to support small businesses, small businesses on the background, we want to, we want to support these things. But then you're not creating an atmosphere where people can move forward. You know, you have a kind of instagnation that we wear mask we that were massive were allowed to do this, and we're not allowed to do this. And it's like whose rights are you protecting? Who are who are you disenfranchising at this point. So

it's confusing and it's frustrating. On the other hand, UM I do believe that. Um I do believe that certain people I've created this fear propaganda because it didn't suit them. And now everybody's trying to backtrack. Right, so you you created this hysteria. Oh the vaccs are COVID isn't real. Covid isn't real. These this vaccine took to you know, it was it happened too soon. I need to do

my research. And they're they're trying to, you know, take our soul away there, you know, all these right, all of these things. Um and now you're like, oh, well you should get the vaccine but not so it's it's it's counterintuitive, and it's it's frustrating. Yeah, I guess you know, it's I don't know, it's it's the worst, it really is, and you know it. And it's like, as a business owner, do I make the decision to make people get vaccinated, Well what happens if they can't get vaccinator or what

happens if they morally don't want to get vaccinating? Like what do I do as a as an owner? How do I? How do I navigate that? Do I let people who are not vaccinated into the space? Do I? You know? Do I'm then wear masks? And if you know, I had a friend of mine who owns a business and she has this mask role where you have to

wear a mask. And a guy walks into her business and takes a bottle of pop from the north, so we called blah Blah shakes it up and sprays her entire space because he's upset he had to wear a mask in her space. And it's like, is this what life is gonna look like for me when we open?

You know? Like how do we navigate? So I mean like that is those are the sort of things that you're considering when you know, trying to make those decisions absolutely and you know and and so uh for right now, obviously we're telling people you're gonna have to wear a mask unless you're seated in your space, and and you know, we're hot. We're highly encouraging people to be vaccinated, and we're taking that into consideration where we're doing our hiring.

But it's it's it's a tough place to be in. Yeah, why don't you tell everybody where they can find you? Absolutely, so you can check us out at the Culturist Union. So, um, it's c U l T you r I s T the Culturalist Union dot com on social media, The Culturist Union Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Um, and hit me and my team up. We're here and we're ready. We're gonna be located on MLK Street. So if you ride down, okay, you'll see our big will go and it says future

home of the Culturalist Union. So open. It's coming struct but it will be here before the end of the year. I can promise you that. Um. And so when we come, we just help you, you know, take up some space whatever. Hell yeah, of course, of course. Yeah. Well I'll be thank you for dropping on the show, and I will be right back after we take a little break. Yeah, I mean you said, you know we can talk about

we can talk about hip hop politics. Alright, alright, well, then this is gonna be the second week in a row where the guests have wanted to drive in on the hip hop discussion of the day. I really wanted to tell you a story and kind of kind of hear your perspective of it. Okay, So I had a woman and I do a lot of diversity equity work. Obviously my space is all about you know, inclusion and

equity and things like that. And so there was a Facebook post that a woman made and on the Facebook post she quoted um or she hear a phrased Earth the Kit and she says, you know, um, um, I don't see black, I don't see white, I don't see pink, I don't see green. All I see as a woman and um. There was this huge debate on whether or not she should have said that, and I said, um, I said, well, it's really funny that she chose Earth the Kid to quote because the Kit with the Kanye

of her top. And I wanted to know, what do you think about these um people who quote actors and musicians as keystones or cornerstones of black culture to justify

their point. Well, I mean, I think it's it's I think it might be rooted in like having some sort of like personal cover, especially nowadays, because I find that the discourse that I find that discourse is like a regular thing with hip hop now between you know, the different races of fans where you know, just keeping it real, like if a white person says something about like a particular rapper artist that's like unfavorable, then it almost seems

like as a reflex, then the discussion turns into, well, what do you call how you qualified to judge black music? You know? I mean, but when they're packing the stadiums and everybody's singing the N word, you know what I mean, Like like nobody's thinking about anybody's qualifications to like listen to the music and stuff like that. I think if you're going to have that energy, that you should be

consistent with it. But I don't think somebody is saying that they didn't like track twelve of your album is like when you start bringing up you know, like that's just me. That's that's just my opinion on it. Um As far as why people do it, I think it's precisely for that. You know, It's like the it's it's the same same thought process as being used with like, oh but my friends black. You know what I'm saying.

It's like I'm making this point let me quote this black person who said this thing, and I'm justified, Like, for example, she knew or whoever posted it knew that there was going to be of a vocal group of people that had an issue with it. But the cover is yo, I'm not like quoting Sally Field or something like that. It's another black person. Now they're assuming that people are going in not knowing who earth the kid was the assuming you're just gonna see that's a black person.

It was like, oh, okay, I guess, I guess right, it is. It's funny to me. It's it's funny to me, how you know. And so in that regards do you judge Do you judge an artist in their work by by their personal morals or do you with Yeah, I mean with hip hop, it's it's it might be kind of different because I'm just such a fan of like the craft itself, you know what I mean, Like as as like a practice and activity rhyming rhythmically overbeats. I'm

just like fascinated with that craft that to a certain extent. Yeah, it's like I can I can disconnect, Like I can even listen to rappers and I don't even particularly like just to hear people rap, because I like hearing rapping, you know what I'm saying. But when it comes to who I'm a fan of and stuff like that, that's much more of a personal thing. And that's where like the my like admiration of technicality and stuff like that

kind of goes by the wayside. That if I think you're whack as a person, you know what I mean, then it makes it a lot harder for me to enjoy your music or to say that I'm a fan. It's funny that you brought up Kanye because he's a recurring a recurring theme on this particular show. I was never particularly a big fan, but my co host was a fan, and she she, you know, has lost a lot of her fandom with his flirtation with fascism that having, you know, just like a few months ago that everyone

seems to have forgotten about it. Don't we don't we just forget like we just I mean we have we have am like celebrity amnesias like oh that it doesn't matter anymore, It's right, Yeah, it's funny. I mean, I don't know, I like I like artists that make me do work like they make me think and I have to go and research what they're saying, you know, like like Kendrick Lamar's latest single, I'm over here, like what it is? Megatron? What is this? You know? I'm just

like I'm googling. I like that, I'm what is this? And I feel, you know, important and smart. When I figured out it's like, that's like the ship that got me into hip hop in the first place. It was like trading cards, you know what I mean, Like, Oh, this this ripper, you know, he he uses better for us like this, Oh man Wu Tang. You can't even understand what they're saying unless you got like an encyclopedia next year. So I think that element definitely is missing

from things like these days. I mean, I guess I gotta take that back a little. There's there's a lot of people that are doing real dope stuff, but it just I never downplay how important it is to have mainstream exposure when it comes to stuff like that. You know, It's like it's gonna be hard for a kid to see somebody who's wrapping the way that you're describing and then aspire to do that if the ship is never

like in front of him. But that definitely could just be some old guy talk for I mean, I'm, you know, I'm I'm, I'm I guess I'm you know, I'm the middle aged millennial. I think I'm I'm not geriatric, but I'm I'm getting up there. I'm in my mid thirties. And my son, he's eleven, and he's like listening to stuff, and I'm like, that is what the hell is this? This is not small? That is the thing, you know. I mean, oh man, this is this, But I mean that's the thing is like, it doesn't Maybe I'm just

remembering stuff the wrong way. And I'm totally been to like everyone having their blinders and their filters and biases and stuff. But it's just like hip hop, even in its most hedonistic form when I was a kid, wasn't about being dumb, you know, Like that wasn't like that wasn't a thing, you know what I'm saying. Even like the most gangster gangster I'm gonna kill a gangster wasn't like, yo, I'm an idiot or ada. And I'm like, and I think about my dad, Like my dad he's he's a

younger dad. He's in his fifties now, so you know he had me pretty young. But like listening to rock him, listening to jay Z, listening to the nas, you know all I need this one. M I remember those songs in the car and I'm listening to him now and SLA you're talking about like old school cats. You could

go back. Look if Nellie was the worst thing that we had to listen to, how much better would be if if if the worst, if the worst rapper that you heard when you listen to the radio right now was Nellie or like like we would be good, We would be good. And it's funny because I remember being in high school and like clowning, Um, who was it? Who did I keep the computers coputing? Yeah? And I remember being like computer and now you compare computers, compare

computers like he was out here. Nellie is rock him compared to these new dudes, you know, like straight up and that is that is so not an exaggeration. Do you remember when like the like if you were to say, what is an example of a whack rapper like Vanilla Ice and like mc hammers, like the default, if you that is the exam of what a whack rapper? Right, Well, I've been rapping for eighteen years. Vanilla ice wraps better than a lot of a lot of the So what

is a bad rapper? Then? You know? I don't. I listened to it and I said, I said, how do you how do you listen to this every day all day? And he's like, well, I mean it's cool. You listen to the bet, you don't listen to the words. Don't what you said? Your son's eleven. He's eleven. I mean, you know, and that's you know, and that's and I have you know, cousins and nephews that are you know, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and they're listening to this and I can't even understand

them at this point. There's no dictation, there's no enunciation. It's just mush. It's like I'm like, no, I mean, you know, it's like I guess so that we don't go so this doesn't turn it into a geriatric millennial rant, I'm gonna say that. It's like I would never argue with an eleven year old or like a thirteen year old on why they like the stupid things that they like, because they're third team, they're supposed to like stupid stuff. And the thing that gets to me is when I

see grown men and women. Definitely we're gonna have to have you back in continue this hip hop discussion. Absolutely absolutely. I'm glad I was able to keep up. I'm more of Anita Baker thing I can get. I can get real dirty with my hip hop. I apologize. No, this is great, Well, thank you for coming. Let's close it off the way that we always do. Y know, my

homie Joel give a brother beat. Oh I love this one, hot yo yo straight and see poor crazy little rapper name mc knife dropped out of college because my money didn't act right. I'm down to do this freestyle ship every damn night. You flow in the post. You must be smoking the crack pipe. Heartless representators. Built Design want to hang, but they can't match Build Design killed with rhymes. I'm sort of like a lethal weapon when I jump into a cipher, I don't even need protection. Who you liking?

Who you checking? This ship is kindepressing, But tune in next week and I'll give you all the lesson. Yeah yeah, yeah, we're waiting. We wait in our reparation. I'm dope Knife and you are listening to waiting on reparations to see you next week, waiting on reparations the production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.