The Pop Out with One Mic: Black History podcast

Full transcript of The Pop Out with One Mic: Black History podcast.

0:04KT: Hey, friends and lovers, welcome back to another KT and Friends, where we pop out with Countryboi, the host of the ever illustrious, ever educational One Mic: Black History podcast to talk all things, hip hop, rap beef, and maybe we'll slide in some Simpsons. In there as well.

0:24Countryboi: Maybe not May, maybe not. Right. We

0:28KT: battling Ghost AI or Bart Simpson friends. Yeah.

0:31Countryboi: Right.

0:33KT: Well, Countryboi, thank you so much for taking the time to come onto the For Your Reference podcast. This has been a long time coming and I love that we are being united by the hateration, holleration in this dancery of it all. But welcome to the podcast. I have referenced you constantly, even though I do say for our podcast, you shouldn't be learning anything.

0:56KT: I do learn a lot from your podcast and I do reference it and source it a lot. So before we even get into the rap beef, before we get into hip hop, before we get into the A side, I would love to, first off, give you some love, Splooshies and flowers for One Mic. And also, and, I'm tapping the mic, but I don't want to tap it because we're real podcast people, but I'm tapping the mic. currently 111,000 followers on YouTube. So congratulations on the podcast, whether it's audio and YouTube. So congratulations on all of that, but also would love to hear more about the podcast, please.

1:36Countryboi: Okay. Oh, wow. Wow. It's been quite a journey, man. I don't, sometimes I don't know how I got here. Like, I just kind of had this idea one day of doing, of doing a, history podcast.

1:50Countryboi: Cause you know, I was already doing the cut and it was kind of like a round table discussion, but I had this dream. I was like, you know, we could do something, I could do something better. I could do something better. Something that might, something that might make me money. And, but also like. You know, with this, you have to have a passion for it, you know, you have to, you have to enjoy this.

2:08Countryboi: This has, it can't be just a job. It can't be just a money making operation. You have to enjoy it. So I, I rather enjoy it. And that helps me get, through. A lot of episodes because I'm constantly learning things and I get to kind of impart that wisdom on to other people, even though my wife is sick of it. She's like, I don't want to hear any more about history. And, you know, I like history in general.

2:39Countryboi: So I'll take her on trips and we'll be going and looking at random, random stuff. We went to, um, Mexico to, Cancun and Tulum. Cause you know, it's where the Mayan empire was. It's in that peninsula part. So. Anyway, I took her to Tulum and it was a thousand degrees outside. We were sweating and I was just enjoying, so I'm ready to go. This is awful. I don't want to do this anymore.

2:58KT: I would prefer like historical, like itinerary over like doing the adventurous sort of like jet skis and that sort of thing. Like, that's more interesting. Like I most recently went to a Peruvian. restaurant. And, uh, it was interesting because like a lot of the, like cassava, like even the purple sweet potatoes, like similar, like to the Pacific as well. And then I started like wondering about that. And I was like, Oh, we did like Peru get independence very early, like in the 1800s. And I'm like, that's nice.

3:29Countryboi: Yeah. Right. Right. I do like, one, tasting food and you know how, because they had, they had this nice lady who would make quesadillas in the morning. They was like regular quesadillas, but she would just make them for breakfast and then she would fold it in half and I'm like, I don't want to judge you on how you're doing things, but how was this different from a taco?

3:50KT: Yeah. I need ancestral stories as to how this is different because it feels the same. I need to know.

3:57Countryboi: Because this is not how Taco Bell does it.

4:02KT: Yeah. The historical reference. Absolutely. But yeah, I just, I personally like have gotten a lot of like a lot out of your podcasts and even the stories that you do, you do the greatest hits of like what people might know about black history, but then you also do, uh, you know, a deep cuts. So to say,

4:21Countryboi: yeah, I, I like, I like the stories. I like the stories best. So, the stories, especially like, you know, the, the one about Walter White, That those kinds of things I like those stories I like when I take a segment of someone's life and like this guy did something important and we're just gonna talk about this part Of his this part of his life that I find interesting and then we're gonna you're gonna land this plane I think those are the most interesting to me because there are so many tiny little stories in people's lives and when you do like the greatest hits, you kind of just gloss over these things.

4:56Countryboi: So like, if you're talking about Martin Luther King, you know, he was stabbed in like 57, 56, 57. And you were just like, Oh, he got stabbed one day. But in this, you know, Hey, This is what happened. This is what led us up. This is the person and this is why she did it. And, you know, all these things that you would normally just not, just not talk about.

5:17KT: Yeah. And, it's, we most recently interviewed, uh, Searit who is on Pixar and did the first, uh, stop motion animated short film at Pixar. and it was interesting. Yeah. It was interesting hearing her talk about, You know, in the workplace and, you know, talking about what blackness means and that sort of thing.

5:37KT: And even Brent from Home Video Hustle was talking about like, I'm not going to educate you. like I've also heard you speak about, you know, doing presentations and that sort of thing. Does that become onerous? Like why are you asking me sort of thing? Or do you just like, you know, this is an opportunity.

5:53Countryboi: Ah, wow. I have a huge, inferiority complex. So it's a lot of this. Why are you asking me? I don't know. I am so not qualified to do this. And then, you know, when people give me praise, it's also like, yeah, it makes me feel uneasy. Even this intro, the intro was like, Oh,

6:15KT: I saw your face. And I was like, I'm going to keep going.

6:19Countryboi: And then, but on the flip side of that, like, I feel like these stories need to be told and, I feel like, you know, who better than me to, you know, talk about these stories and give them justice. And I'm, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not throwing shade anybody, but I'm going to throw some shade. I just don't feel like most of the people in my, in my genre and they have creators that are larger than me, but I feel as either that they either don't understand the content or just give you the greatest hits or worse yet, just, you know, it's a copy and paste.

6:48Countryboi: It's a copy and paste factory. And I'm just going to, Hey, and if you asked me about it, I know nothing about these particular subjects because I'm just copy and pasting the next in line or, Hey, we're going to do this, and this. And then, oh, I don't know what that's about. I had, I just had that in drafts.

7:06KT: So, so what, what you're saying is you're quoting the words of Ray J. I did it. I did it. I did it. Yeah,

7:12Countryboi: yeah, yeah. I don't want to say I did it. I did it first, but. To quote, to quote, what did, what was it, Jay-Z? You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song. Yes. I made it better. I'm making it better. I'm giving, I'm giving people context.

7:28KT: Yeah. You need to, you need to get that, You need to get that Denzel in Training Day. You need to puff that chest a lot more, man, because the work that you're doing is so important. And I think I, I lean very much on independent, like indie podcasts because that is, that is, you know, the guttural sort of, feeling. And it's also the passion. And I think that's one of the first things you said, like you need to love what you're doing. Cause I think for a lot of people that don't, Understand podcasting. They're like, how much money do you make? And I'm like, how much money do you get pursing your kid? Like how much money do you get pursing your little knitting gloves? Like nothing. Like

8:04Countryboi: what, what, what do you enjoy? What do you, you enjoy? And then how much money are you getting paid for that? If any, it's most likely it's, it's most likely a time sink and a money sink. You know, if you think of podcasting as a hobby, It's easier that it's easier that way. And honestly, once you start making money, it kind of sucks. A lot of the joy, a lot of the joy out of out of this out of anything, you know,

8:30KT: we don't have to go too much into this, but it is something that I have been wondering also friends and lovers. Is this still up on your YouTube where you did the hundred thousand celebration stream? Is that still up?

8:39Countryboi: Yeah, it's still up. Yeah.

8:41KT: Cause I had to catch up on that because I don't think I got the time zones right

8:45Countryboi: now. No, we didn't. You did. And honestly, I was pulled to let you know, and I am a space cadet. I'm a professional space cadet. So I forgot. but go

8:52KT: and check it out, friends and lovers. But I was watching it. And one of the things I was wondering was like, do you feel the need to chase the clicks or. Well, Like, now that it's becoming like, maybe there's money in this, do you need to chase what's out there?

9:07KT: What's hot? Do you, I guess it's hard to ignore what's getting more sort of traction. I like stats, but I don't like the stats where they show me when they leave me, maybe it's my attachment issues, but I'm like, I don't need to know when you like lift me out of my life.

9:21Countryboi: I hate. I hate that stat where it shows like the, that slope of how many people were watching it when they, like, you know, you started a hundred and then by the end of the video was at 33 percent and, and I think that's part of the nature of my content, the way it's presented, but you know, it'll start at like a hundred percent and then like five minutes in, it's like, you know, it's 60, you know, and then it goes on a slow, a steady slope and every time I see it, I'm like, but.

9:53Countryboi: on the flip side of that, I don't, I don't know how you could present it any better. Like, if you look at people who do well and have a high retention rate, that those stories are told in such a way to keep you engaged. And like, if you look at MrBeast, his stories are designed to where like, Hey, I'm giving you a challenge, but you only get the, the, the, the nugget into the very end.

10:10Countryboi: And I can't tell stories that way. If I tell you about, Martin Luther King, you need to come here because you want to see Martin Luther King and as soon as you get the information that you want, you're probably going to leave me, you know, and that's, it's just the nature. It's just what it is. I try not to chase clicks.

10:26Countryboi: but there's definitely a, this dichotomy between What people like and what I want to make and I try to make get them as close as possible But that Venn diagram is real It's real shallow that that that that little circle between what I like and what the people want to watch is not You know, so you end up trying to serve both audiences and, and I, and I, you know, begrudgingly try to pull people along, but you can see it in my videos because a lot of them do well.

10:58Countryboi: And then some of them may only get like seven, 8, And, and I understand that that's, Just how it's gonna be because there's no way I can continue to keep giving you, you know, chitlin episodes Or you know Cadillac and granted those stories are great But also like hey, I want you to learn about about Fred Hampton I want you to learn about you know, Stokely Carmichael.

11:22Countryboi: I want you to learn about Malcolm X These people are these people are important And it just can't, it can't all be cotton candy. At some point, at some point you got to finish your breakfast. You got, you're going to have to finish your bacon and eggs.

11:36KT: Yeah, the, the nutrients, the, the vegetables, of it all. But yeah, you know, I don't know how, how many more compliments you can take before you tap out. But, uh, storytelling is very important and you do that in such a great way. so yeah, and I absolutely agree with that. Cause there's like, Barbie is like one of our most listened to. So I was like, bet, come and listen to me talk about Barbie, but I'm going to talk about the white feminism. You can just leave. Right. I was like, I'm off to that.

12:07Countryboi: I'm going, I'm going to give you some information here. I'm going to give you nuggets. And this is one of the reasons why I like the stories because I can take interesting stories and kind of. Say, Hey, this is an interesting story that will get you in the building, but also you're going to learn something.

12:24Countryboi: You're going to learn. So this is not just going to be, it's just not going to be just cotton candy. You're going to learn about, you know, the racism of the time period or something else, something else there, not just about. You know, you know, why black folks like Cadillacs or, you know, the history of Coca-Cola, whatever.

12:45KT: Yeah. Well, I think, I think at that point you make the, you know, I hate this, but you make the branding clear. Like if people want to actually learn something, it's not that fluff greatest hit sort of thing. it's not surface level. We're actually going to get deep in the trenches with it. So I think you make it quite clear to the audience too.

13:03Countryboi: And, and one of the things, especially with YouTube is YouTube can be. Very grandiose. And if you look at the people in my, in my, uh, genre, a lot of the claims, a lot of videos they make are designed to be decidedly negative or to stoke fear or like only sell you black excellence. And I feel like while my Thumbnails and my video titles may be a little clickbaity because I understand that it has to be there needs to be some draw there Once you get in here, this is gonna be grounded.

13:41Countryboi: It's gonna be truthful We're gonna tell it as accurately as accurately as possible. This is not gonna be a fluff subject if I tell you that You know, Walter White used to investigate lynchings disguised as a white man. We're going to talk about this. This is not, this is not a fluff, a fluffy, a fluffy story. And it's not just going to be about black excellence. And I'm not going to embellish stories just because I think that it's going to make for more clicks. It's not, I can't. I can't.

14:10KT: Well, it's, it's not about, uh, making it easily consumable. It's, it's what it is. Right, right. And I think we don't need to go down this particular talking point, but I think it is more important, especially in your beautiful, complicated country, of what truth is and who was telling the truth.

14:28KT: right. So it's, it's even more important. Now, more than ever. And while I will say that is a perfect segue, I feel like everything we've said and you've said is a perfect segue to get into the A side. And I guess before we even talk about, I guess someone that needs to learn the biggest lesson, the BBL Drizzy of it all.

14:48KT: Cause it's like, People can say that Kendrick's drawing it out. And, uh, I don't agree with that. They can say that, but like Drake's still doing his sneak shit. Like at some point, like, I don't, I don't, we don't need to talk about Akademiks, but he was teasing a sneak diss and it's like, where are we now? Like you're dead. You were triple dead. And why are you still talking?

15:21KT: Before we, yeah, before we even, even get into the rap beef, I would love to hear about your love for music, hip hop. Like, I guess if you want to talk about your favorite beefs in history, rap beefs, but also beefs in general. But yeah, I would love to hear just a little bit more about the music, hip hop and that sort of thing for you.

15:29Countryboi: So, I have been, I've been a hip hop head almost my entire, almost my entire life. There was. a period in my life where I didn't listen to anything else other than, other than hip hop. When I was, when I was a young, aggressive youth, I only listened, I only listened to the golden era of hip hop. So I spent a lot of time, you know, listening to, to Jay-Z and Nas and, you know, during that time, it wasn't a whole lot of Southern, Southern rappers, but even, you know, and OutKast and, you know, moving in, you know, Cash Money, No Limit.

16:07Countryboi: I loved, I loved all that still to this day, like, this is my, this is my era. This is my, this is my era. So I still will go back and when I'm at the gym and I don't, you know, I'm not one of those, those, you know, I guess I'm an old head now, but I'm not one of those guys that like, Oh, this is crap because there are some newer artists that I do enjoy, but I will say there is a quality.

16:29Countryboi: There's a quality difference. It's not, you're not giving us your best, the best that you got, you know, there's a bit of a quality. This, this is just, you know, me. I don't feel like you, I feel like, you know, a lot of the things sound the same and I can't really distinguish between, between characters.

16:46Countryboi: But every once in a while I hear a song and I'm like, oh, this is nice. And not to be that kind of person, cause I'm usually typically non violent, but I do like my music violent. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I do like my music violent. So. That whole, I mean, cause I was, I grew up listening to the golden era. So that whole idea of, you know, the violence, ultra macho, you know, misogynistic, that's just a part of it.

17:13Countryboi: It's like, I'm so used to it. It doesn't, it doesn't bother me every once in a while. I'll hear things and I'm like, Ooh, wow. That's a line.

17:25Countryboi: That wasn't a problem. And you know, in 96, you know, and I didn't mention this, but one of the reasons why I chose One Mic, it's because of Nas. It's because of Nas, because I do love, I do love Nas. I do love, you know, One Mic is one of my favorite songs ever. And then of course of the double entendre, because my name is Mike and I only have one mic.

17:46Countryboi: It's like the triple entendre. And I like, you know, Nas and then song One Mic. So it's kind of like all these little tiny nuggets that, you know, piece together a little, it's a little Kendrick-y. I was about to say, I

17:57KT: feel like we know which side of the rap beef. Yeah.

18:02Countryboi: One of the things I like about Kendrick, not to segue straight into him, but like, one of the things I like about Kendrick is he's decidedly West Coast.

18:11Countryboi: And once again, from that, from that era, I grew up listening to a lot of West Coast artists, listen, you know, listening to Too Short, listening to, you know, E-40, you know, Dre, Snoop, all that, all that kind of stuff. So I like Kendrick is like direct lineage from that sound and that distinct sound. That's one of the, one of the reasons that makes Not Like.

18:34Countryboi: Not Like Us so great is that it's so West Coast. anyway, I'm not, we're not going to do that yet. Just quite yet. But as far as like beefs and things that I enjoy, I mean, I mean, uh, the, the beefs that I like, I'm always a big fan and I hate that it ended the way it did, but I, I was a big fan of, of the Tupac and, and Biggie beef.

18:52Countryboi: Because, They, there was a lot of hate there. You could tell that I do not like you and Hit 'Em Up. It's still one of my favorites. Oh yeah. It's still one of my favorites of all time. It's so angry, so angry. It's like, it's, it's so bad that, I have a Peloton bike and one day on the class, they played it.

19:14Countryboi: They play Hit 'Em Up and I was like, and they granted, they play the songs. Sometimes they're uncensored depending on the instructor, they'll play uncensored songs. And I'm like, Oh, this is a choice. Let's see how this is going to go. It did not go. It's it, it feels like they chose a song and had never heard it before because they got halfway. And it was like, Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh. Very aggressive.

19:38KT: I thought it was like you levitated off your bike and you started doing back flips.

19:44Countryboi: I will tell you that I, I had one of my best classes because of, because of that. If, if the music's right, the classes go very, very quickly. They go very quickly.

19:54KT: but Hit 'Em Up is like one of those great, you just like, if you feel it in a way, you just put it on. Yeah. there, there's not many. I feel like music is one of the art forms that really just like levitates and alters the mood as well. and Hit 'Em Up is definitely one of those moments where you just,

20:11Countryboi: yeah, you're out. You can't just put on, you can't put on a regular day. You can't just put that on a regular Tuesday, you know, I'm trying to go to work. Like you imagine your commute to work and you put Hit 'Em Up on somebody, somebody might get attacked

20:24KT: or like, you know, like in a velvet robe. With like a whiskey, you put the vinyl, Hit 'Em Up, smoking a cigar.

20:33Countryboi: Right. I'm feeling, I'm feeling real aggressive right now, feeling very, I'm in an aggressive mood today. Yeah.

20:41KT: But it's, it's so cool to hear like your sort of journey and your love for hip hop is, is lyricism important? Because I feel like lyricism isn't the same as speaking to. The experience sometimes and most of the time it overlaps, but I guess part of, I guess before we even talk about Kendrick and Drake, what was it you loved about Nas specifically or even just rappers in general that you love?

21:06KT: Is it the lyricism? Is it speaking to experience? Is it having a unique sound specific to where they are? Is it a mixture of all of it?

21:13Countryboi: It, so it's, it's, it's this combination of things. It's like. Yes, you could be a lyricist, but a lot of guys that are lyricists that aren't great artists, like I remember, and I always referenced Canibus because Canibus was a great lyricist.

21:31Countryboi: He was a, you know, he was one of those guys that could, you know, write you under the table, but can't put it together, a good song. You know, if you asked me who was a better lyricist, you know, Canibus or Biggie, I'm going to tell you Canibus. But, Biggie, Biggie's a legend and Canibus is not well, I don't even know where he is right now This might be under a bridge.

21:51Countryboi: So it's it's like one part of like a greater set of things It's it's very similar to to podcasting It's like you can't just be great at at any one thing. You have to have all of these All of these skills that you put together to, to, to really bring it all together. And, you know, if you listen to Biggie, Biggie, Biggie's rhymes are pretty rudimentary, but the way he says things, his voice inflection, his cadence, the way he rides the beat, it just all comes together to the point where he can say something insane.

22:25Countryboi: Insane. And it's just like, Oh, it's biggie. Don't even, don't even sweat it. It's he can say that cause he's big, you know, but you have guys like Nas. And one of the reasons why I love Nas is that it is early. He didn't do this as much anymore, but his early songs, he would tell stories. He would tell stories.

22:43Countryboi: He has this one. that I just listened to the other day about how he came home and his wife was cheating on him and he got his friend and then they like, I. Basically committed a murder suicide. It's super dark. You know what I'm saying? and I'm like no one else could do this No one else could tell this story and you feel like you can visualize it in in your head that art of Storytelling is just dead.

23:07Countryboi: Nuh uh Tupac would do it a little bit but Nobody, nobody does it like that. There are different pockets and

23:14KT: that was his, right? yeah,

23:15Countryboi: that was his lane.

23:17KT: We, we, we can go back to where you are, but like Childish Gambino, Donald Glover's just released an album. And I don't know, if you've listened to much of his stuff, I've only really listened to his stuff when he was doing like campfire.

23:27KT: anyway, but there was a tweet because apparently a lot of Drake fans, and you know what, you know, what is it, what the kids say? Like, Without like, what do they usually say? Like without me wanting to know, I find out these things. Right. And it's usually about Drake fans, but apparently Drake fans are saying that like Donald Glover, Childish Gambino is copying Drake's flow, which is very interesting because of the whole Atlanta and picking aesthetics. Right. But there was a tweet that said Donald Glover could do Passionfruit, but Drake couldn't do Redbone.

23:59Countryboi: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That makes, uh, that makes, you know, and I'm not a huge Donald Glover fan. This is why it was funny because he was complaining about how the fact, the fact that he hasn't won a BET award. But that was funny, wasn't it?

24:11KT: Like, no, it was funny.

24:13Countryboi: Like,

24:13KT: in black popular culture, that was very funny. Yeah.

24:17Countryboi: And the fact that he's like, I have more Grammys than Will Smith, but I don't have a black, I don't have a, a BET award, but he, Doesn't make as much music as he thinks he does. He doesn't, he's not, it's not a constant stream of music from him.

24:33Countryboi: It feels like I make music when I get around to it. And then. You have to hit those BET awards at a certain time because some year it's going to be stacked and you just not going to make it. And, and it's for somebody like Donald Glover, who's not going to make the radio unless he's doing Redbone. Like if he does, if he's rapping, you are never going to hear Donald Glover on the radio.

24:52Countryboi: It's just not, it's just not going to happen. So it's like, I can see how you wouldn't win one because when were you going to win one? Where would you, when do you make new enough music? And it's as a rapper, you just mid, you know, I mean, I don't be mean, but. He a mid rapper. I remember listening to him like, yo, he sounds like a, like, this mix of like Drake and Eminem and all these different songs that he picked.

25:15Countryboi: I mean, you know, rappers that he picked and he just takes a little cadence from them every once in a while and sounds like a little bit like him, a little like Drake. But you got to practice the pen is what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. You have to earn it. And I don't feel like he's earned it, you know, and I, I know why he does that.

25:33Countryboi: I know why he did that because he's a triple threat and he can tell jokes and he's an actor and he's a director and he's like, I should be in something for my music and I get that everybody wants a, an accomplishment or something to say, Hey, you're good at this, but nah, bro, no cookies for you, no cookies for you. No, it's not the same

25:54KT: as, it's not the same as Lenny Kravitz, right? Cause Lenny Kravitz talks about not being acknowledged, but that's not the same conversation. No,

26:01Countryboi: no, no. Cause then Lenny Kravitz deserves it. Yeah. Lenny Kravitz deserves it. He absolutely should be honored. He's earned it.

26:10KT: Yeah, absolutely. I would just like to get your hot takes or your thoughts on Nas's acting career. very infamously Oti was not a fan of the film Belly. Rest in peace DMX, and Ava DuVernay actually tweeted about Belly, you know, just like for his legacy and stuff. And I was like, Oh, let's watch it. And Oti was not a fan of it. It was interesting watching Juice. Cause he was like, I also didn't like Tupac.

26:37KT: He, his, his rappers, he's like, you probably don't need to watch them acting. but do you have any thoughts on the film Belly? And I guess also Juice.

26:45Countryboi: so I also didn't like Belly. I thought it was interesting.

26:48KT: Like it was too pointed.

26:51Countryboi: Yeah. I felt like, I felt like it, you know, it was, it was done by a video director and it

27:01KT: felt like,

27:02Countryboi: yeah, it was, it felt like one long video and very focused on visuals and aesthetics, but having a story that. It was interesting to watch was not, was not the case. And I remember, and I don't remember the guy's name, but the, the, the guy who was eating the banana and I can not remember his, like his real name, but he's like, I don't like that.

27:25Countryboi: And so he told a story about how he was originally going to be late, wanted to leave DMX's character and how he was already signed up to be that character. And then they pivoted because you can get DMX,

27:40KT: Yeah.

27:41Countryboi: And so when he did that scene, he's like, I am going to intentionally, intentionally mess this scene up. You know what I'm saying? This is why he's like smacking and he got a banana. It was an attempt to be. I messed things up, but it actually made the best scene in the movie. As far as Juice, I think Juice is a classic. I think it's a hood, you know, to me, it's a hood classic. It's more of a horror story, a horror movie in my mind.

28:13Countryboi: And because. Tupac's descent into madness. It's like, it's, it's just like any other horror movies. He's chasing them down. Like you would, like you would Jason, like Jason would do anyone else. So, the fact that he didn't like him as an actor, I thought, I thought Tupac was some pretty decent actor. I think, I think it was more the writing.

28:37KT: I think it was more the writing because we don't, and, and one of the, Someone reached out and like told me there was like studio interference. That's why because it was like no motivations He just did crazy shit, which is fine. But there were hints at him being like I'm tired of running So there were moments of like, okay, so his surrounding is like informing his character, but we didn't quite get there But one of my favorite moments I think was everyone's favorite moments of like, you know when you watch like love power or you just watch shows and it's like They'll just like be about to shoot someone and then they stop shooting them because like, they hear a sound.

29:11KT: that whole elevator scene, it was like, you're not going to shoot me in an elevator. And it's like, who would have thought that that scene would go down that way? You know what I mean? So it is a great And I

29:21Countryboi: still, I still, everyone still was like, that's stupid. That does not make any sense. No one would realistically shoot you in an elevator.

29:31KT: But it works. It works in every

29:33Countryboi: It works.

29:34KT: It's

29:36Countryboi: one of those movies that you kind of suspend reason, you know, his motivations don't really make sense. His descent into madness doesn't make sense. It feels a little, almost like the end of Game of Thrones, where it's like, I'm cool. And I'm crazy now. I'm crazy. Who knows? We don't know why that happened. Don't stare at behind the curtain.

29:59KT: Well, I'm that annoying nerd, I guess, that, that gets annoyed by that, but let's get into the rap beef of it all. I feel like I already know how you feel and it was nice to get touch points throughout the beef, like just DMing together and, that sort of thing.

30:16KT: Was there any sort of, uh, was it even a formulated question of this is like a toe to toe sort of thing? I would say no, but I guess just so we can frame your thoughts. Did you think that there was going to be some sort of actual battle?

30:33Countryboi: It's a, it's one of the problems that Drake has. It's not, this is not really his arena. It's not his arena. Like this whole battle rapping. Yeah. Yeah. I can write a couple of bars about you. And for the most part, for most rappers, 99 percent of rappers for Meek Mill, I can write something nasty about you and surface level, and I can find something about, like, I could write a diss about Drake, if I could rap.

30:57Countryboi: you know, in like 10 minutes. 'cause he got easy target stuff, you know? Yeah. He's a little creepy. He's, he's a little creepy, you know what I'm saying? He's not, he, he's not who he appears to be. It's, you know, like Drake's, like Kendrick said, that beard that that beard is, is, you know, it's also double entendre for him being ho, like being homosexual.

31:17Countryboi: But it's also like a cover. Supposed to be a cover of all the other things. And you not being genuine either. Mm-hmm. So, That's easy, but for somebody like, like Kendrick, Kendrick is tough to write. He's a hermit. How do you beef with someone who doesn't, but just pops his head up every five or six years.

31:38Countryboi: You ain't even had music from Kendrick since, uh, his last album. Like, what have you been doing? Uh, you know, hanging out with my kids and my wife. Like, how do you beef with a guy like that? So Drake had a tough assignment from go. And honestly, it hadn't been me. I wouldn't have just not even like, I'm sorry.

31:54Countryboi: I'll just apologize. and this is why I think, you know, cause J. Cole. When he first got into it, when Kendrick was like, yo, I'm the best. You guys are nothing. You guys, there's no number two, three, just me by myself, you know, and then J. Cole took offense and he wrote his little, he wrote his little track, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

32:14Countryboi: But he talked to Schoolboy, who was part of TDE and Schoolboy was like, Nah, bro. This isn't what you think it is. Yeah, it's saying what you think it is. It's about to get Michael Jackson

32:24KT: gif of like putting the gun down. Like, yeah,

32:27Countryboi: yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like chill, chill, chill, bro. And then, you know, Had he went at J. Cole, I feel, I don't feel like he would have had the same animosity.

32:38Countryboi: I think J. Cole is, is decidedly more genuine and that granted, Hey, we both from North Carolina, we love Cole. We love J. Cole here in North Carolina. He's one of our heroes. but he's also a genuine person. Drake is not Drake. Drake comes off with a bit fraudulent, even in his heyday, even before all of this, people were like, you know, you can like him, but something just doesn't, it doesn't feel right.

33:01KT: It's like not adding up and I remember there was a tweet very early it might have been around the AI Tupac verse, but there was a tweet, some woman was like, just to make it clear, I'm a J. Cole biracial, not a Drake biracial. Yeah,

33:16Countryboi: yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

33:18KT: And people were like, everyone with white moms, like stay out, stay inside. It's not safe out there for you right now.

33:24Countryboi: Yeah. I don't know if you know, this kind of spawned a whole thing on white moms, biracial people with, and depending on who they're, I Parents, what the racial makeup of their parents are, and how closely they connect to their blackness. And they were mentioning that biracial people who had black moms were more closely connected to their blackness than Rooted, yeah.

33:49Countryboi: Yeah. And I don't know enough biracial people to tell you either way. You're like, this isn't my fight. This is not, this is not my fight. But, you know, I started like doing a little research and I was like, maybe there's something, maybe there's something there. Maybe there's something there.

34:10KT: Yeah, the, the math is there. I think it's just,

34:12Countryboi: yeah,

34:13KT: yeah. It's interesting. Cause you see how. People are rude. It's like, it's how you move essentially. And I think I personally didn't take it as like Drake's not black. And obviously that's not for me to play in, even though it's funny when Rick Ross says you're a white boy. Obviously that's not for me to play in, but I didn't even take it that way. I was just more like, it's the way you move. That's funny, you know?

34:38Countryboi: Yeah. Yeah. And I think a lot of people already kind of knew this a little bit about Drake. Like, it's a whole alluding, like I said, it's all alluding to the whole beard thing that, that it's, it's, it's an, he's an actor that this whole thing is a show and an act and that, you know, you're going home and you're going home at night and taking your beard off and like, whoo, that was another tough day at the office.

35:02Countryboi: And I can go back to being my, my actual, my actual self and that genuineness. Is lost is lost to people. People can see it. It's, they talk about this in like sports a lot where like people mentioned that if you're fake, it eventually gets exposed. And that's kind of what's happening with Drake right now.

35:24Countryboi: But we live in a time where. People don't really care all that much, and then I feel like he'll probably just, he'll, he'll make songs and bounce back from it, it'll be, it'll be fine. I mean, I live in a, we live in a time period where Rick Ross used to be a CO, and no one cares. Yeah. No one cares. I remember, and I, and I, you know, I don't know if you remember Boss, but she just passed away in the end.

35:48Countryboi: They found out boss was a gangster rapper. They found out that boss grew up in a upper middle class household and she never made music again. It was just like, you are not real. You got to get about here. There was a time in golden and the golden era of hip hop, where like, you didn't have to live it. But you had to, you had to be from where you said you were from.

36:10Countryboi: If you said you were from the streets, you had to be from the streets. You didn't have to be a drug dealer because we assumed everybody was making that stuff up. But if you say you was in

36:19KT: proximity,

36:21Countryboi: exactly. You need to be in proximity. So like if, you know, Jay-Z, I grew up in the Marcy projects and he actually grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. That would have been a problem. It would have been a problem.

36:37KT: And it comes to that conversation of like the commodification, the commercialization of hip hop, because not to say that you can't be real. Cause I would say Kendrick is an outlier. In that particular sense, but for the most part, and you, you even talked about it earlier of like very distinct sounds now, it just sounds like everyone's doing everything.

36:57KT: Like whatever's popular is what people are doing. It's not necessarily rooted in particular sort of pockets where. The rappers are from, and it's interesting hearing these, like the, the conversations we're having, like in this sort of KT and Friends series, because how much of that is on the audience, if the audience is expanded to not even care about the context of the culture that is rooted in black people, you know what I mean?

37:24KT: Like they don't care. And that's, that's also why Drake will still continue to have his hits because a lot of his audience don't fucking care.

37:34Countryboi: And a lot of his audience aren't black. So their, their investment and how genuine he is and his blackness doesn't, doesn't really matter. It breaks down to all, to almost the essence of whether or not I like your music.

37:54Countryboi: If I like your music or not, or if I like your sound or like, like what you're creating, your genuineness doesn't, doesn't really matter. And this kind of brings us a little bit into AI, you know, to talk about AI and stuff because. Yeah. One of the things you see with AI, and this is why I was so egregious for Drake to make the AI with, with Pac is because a lot of creators have been going and, and trying to create rap music with Drake or other rappers.

38:21Countryboi: And this idea that you can, you can remove black music from black people. Like, I just want your music and I can create you. If I can create your music without you, that would be ideal.

38:36KT: Can you say that again for the people in the back, Mike?

38:41Countryboi: Yeah, so this is what's wow, is that Drake has to know that his people will love. This is, I think a little bit why they gravitate to Drake because he's not that black. He's not, he's not one of them. He's a safe, he's one, he's a, he's one of the good ones. That's what they say. You're one of the good ones. so you're safe.

39:02Countryboi: You're one of the good ones and. I can listen to your music and I don't feel like I feel connected, but not connected. And, you know, this idea that I can kind of remove all of you from your music and just take it with hip hop without black people. That's

39:18KT: And not being challenged in any way. I forgot where it was in the U S but there was a teacher that played Alright, the music video.

39:26Countryboi: Yeah.

39:26KT: And there was a son of a police officer. That was like very not okay with that. And I think that's exactly what you're saying. Like there's the art is the experience, right? It doesn't have to be, but I think a lot of the art that speaks to people. And I think why Kendrick speaks to a lot of people is. You're gonna feel uncomfortable and you're gonna feel challenged and these are things that are okay, and we need to reckon with that, right? But you don't have that with Drake. Keep making me dance waving my hands.

39:56Countryboi: Right, right. And this is why this beef was, like, He, but Drake brought, basically brought a knife to a gunfight. Like you never, you never really had a chance. There was not, there wasn't a song you could make. There wasn't a bar you could write that was ever going to put you on the level where Kendrick was because Kendrick was genuine and he was genuine in his blackness. Yeah. It's like, you're just not going to be there.

40:25KT: Bro had a whole therapy album, like he's done the, like, uh, you know, sitting in a dark corner and evaluating all of his flaws. He's done it already. he needs to strip that, you know, to get the ayahuasca, you know, strip that ego. It reflects who you are. And if you were still doing dumb shit and you're like 37 years old rapping about the club and shit. Like.

40:52Countryboi: What

40:52KT: have you

40:52Countryboi: got? What are we doing? What are we doing? And it's not even, it's not even to speak to a lot of the, the creepy stuff that he's done and, and, you know, messaging Millie Bobby Brown, like, bro, what, what could you possibly talk to a preteen teenager, young teenager about?

41:10Countryboi: Like there's no conversation, that is the most uncomfortable, not a fact. And this is, you know, 40 year old Mike, but. The idea of talking to someone who is in their teens, it's just, just makes you want to throw up like it's nothing. We have nothing to talk about. You are the most uninteresting person. Like they're like,

41:31KT: they're like the two characters in a TV show that don't need to have a scene together. Like, no. No. So I'm like, but they have nothing to talk about. Kids. Like some, some kids sat next to me on the bus and I'm like, why? Yeah, why are you

41:44Countryboi: here? What? What do we young please, young

41:47KT: man, please. There are many other seats. Yeah, exactly.

41:49Countryboi: Please move. Scooch.

41:52KT: Schoolboy Q was on a podcast recently, so there's like, obviously all these soundbites of him, but he talked about him as a 37-year-old man. Like he does not wanna appeal to teenagers. Like his music isn't for. Like, he can make you dance, like, he can make pops, but it's not. He's not trying to rap like a 19, 20 year old.

42:12Countryboi: Right. And, and once again, this is one reason why I like Q. You know, I didn't, I didn't mention this, but he, for years, he was my favorite. He was my favorite of that TDE group. Like I wasn't, I like Kendrick. But Q, Q is my guy. Those are the albums that I look forward to. This is the sound that I look forward to. And mostly because he was a little violent. You know, I think that, I think that comes from being a, a, a, a confirmed gang member like Kendrick.

42:39Countryboi: I think Kendrick was just kind of on the outskirts. Like I knew the, I knew I was around the gang members, but, but, Schoolboy Q is, is, is definitely a Hoover. so. But in his age, and this is if you ever followed him on Instagram, he, he, he doesn't want to do nothing. All I want to do is golf, hang around my daughter and make music that I want to make every once in a while, every couple of years.

43:03Countryboi: And you know, I love that for him. I love. Watching my favorite rappers get old. Like, I don't want, I don't want you to get shot. I don't want you to die horribly. I want to watch you. I want to watch your music evolve and I want to watch you get old and I want to watch one day you're like Juvenile reeling in the backyard in New Orleans. That's just beautiful to me. Like, Oh man, I remember when you made Back That Up and now his

43:31KT: tweet, like, what the fuck is a Tiny Desk? And here we are.

43:35Countryboi: Yes. And I love, once again, I love that evolution because it's like, what, what is Tiny Desk? It's like, Oh, I'll do it fine. Here we are like that coming together. Great. What's a great moment. And also I used to love me some Juvenile. I was, I, matter of fact, even today you could put on 400 Degreez, it's going to be a good day.

43:56KT: Yeah. There's, there's never a skip moment, but, uh, yeah, I don't, we don't need to go into conspiracy, but Q had his Toronto show. Canceled like he had, I think he performed around Canada, but the Toronto one, got canceled, but his tweets, like his tweets about that were very funny, but he also called himself a soccer dad as well. He's like, Hey man, I'm just a soccer dad, you know?

44:19Countryboi: Yeah. He's like, but I mean, if somebody like, like Rick Ross can get it in Toronto and he just like, Outside, outside that beef.

44:30KT: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

44:30Countryboi: Yeah, then Schoolboy Q can definitely, he definitely could get it too. even though, you know, of course they blamed it on, like, I think they got flooding or something going on, right now. But if I were Q, I would probably skip Toronto. I've like, yo, this hasn't cooled off significantly for me to be going into Toronto playing TDE music. Like, hey, I can't get to Kendrick because he'll never come here, but I can bop you upside the head.

44:59KT: Which is like, it's, I think it's a great time for like, uh, black reactors on YouTube, as well as like, uh, black commentary YouTube channels. Cause I think even though the beef isn't happening or the tracks aren't happening, like, we're just watching them. and then I was talking about like, it's so weird that like Drake, you know, became street, because if you are street, you don't evolve into that. And that's kind of how he's aligned himself, which like, yes, you can say he's from Toronto, but he was never from there culturally.

45:30KT: Right. So he's just like Thanos-ing himself, like all around in Atlanta and like taking all these different parts, which is interesting. Cause I think. At least on our timelines, I don't think anyone took him seriously of like, this guy's a rapper, like he's an MC, right? Like he's a sing songy artist that does sing songy songs.

45:50KT: As far as I knew. So like for years, it was kind of that, but now it's getting to a point where this is like a, It's like a malicious. It's like a, we need to like get rid of this tumor. Like we just need to like, right,

46:01Countryboi: right. We need to, we need to address, and especially early on, you know, cause he was beefing with Metro and Ross and it felt, it felt like a 20 v 1.

46:09Countryboi: It felt like it was, you was getting jumped. I felt like Drake was getting drunk, jumped for a little bit, but on the flip side, it's like, it's like watching someone get jumped and you're like, And that's messed up, but also you kind of deserve it. You kind of, you kind of deserve it. You've been, you've been, you, you've been a habitual line stepper for a long time.

46:26Countryboi: And this beat down has been a long, a long time, a long time coming, but also, I don't know if you saw this, but, Mase and, speaking, yeah, basically Cam'ron and they were talking about J. Prince and Mase has this quote at the end and I, and I felt that in my soul. He was like, yeah, you see a few 60 years old.

46:45Countryboi: And so talking about the street, you failed, you failed. And that's, that is, that is Drake. Like, bro, if you are 37 years old and still find the streets appealing. Are you failing at life? This is not, you posed a barb away from that. Yeah. We're going home. I'm in, I'm in bed by, by 10:30. Exactly.

47:09KT: It's just like, cause he, he seems really fake, but it's just like, how can he be this for so long? You know what I mean? Like unchallenged and less because of, I guess if I'm being like generous, because he is Like the tried and true pre packaged microwavable meal, then, you know, up and coming emerging artists, like it, it makes sense to be there. But then people talk about the OVO sweat factory where they're all like, they just get stuck there.

47:42KT: but it makes sense to like collab with him, even though in some ways he's like draining your power and like your whole aesthetic and everything. So if I'm being generous, I would say. It's hard to tap into any sort of success without having any sort of pipeline, which unfortunately he kind of is not about respectability, but about trying to get there, if that makes sense.

48:06Countryboi: And one of the great things about, well, great thing about Drake is Drake is very Tyler Perry. And that, yeah, we know that he makes shit and his stuff is like cotton candy and it's going to rot your teeth out, but we enjoy it just the same. And while Tyler Perry makes terrible music, he understands his audience.

48:29Countryboi: He understands his audience and he makes music that he knows is going to pop. And that is where Drake has refined this down to its essence. I, I don't know if you're familiar with MrBeast, but MrBeast has 250 million followers. He's always somewhere

48:48KT: cleaning the environment or doing something humanitarian. Doing some,

48:52Countryboi: doing some weird shit. And, and, The reason why he's able to do such a thing as he has understood the algorithm to a tee, he is able to like track that code down to his, his essence, and that now. It's easy. I put out videos. I know they're going to do well because they have all the elements that people are looking for.

49:13Countryboi: My thumbnail is right. My thumbnail is right. The title is right. All my videos, the, the, the engagement is going to be super high because it keeps you engaged and you don't get that nugget to the very end and Drake has done that with music, you know, you're like, you don't listen to it. You don't feel like.

49:31Countryboi: You don't feel like you're getting anything significant. It's not heartfelt. He's not telling you who he is. Like you can listen to Kendrick or another artist, but he has refined music down to where I know this song is going to pop because it has all the elements of popular songs in it.

49:49KT: Yeah. It's a sort of shows that you don't need to think too deeply about it. You can do like your laundry in the background, or you can scroll the Twitters and you can see what's going on there and you can,

49:59Countryboi: you sing a little bit and you go back to not really listening to it and,

50:03KT: and you can keep up, like, you know, what's going on. you talked about not being a violent person, but loving violent music. And I just would love to hear your thoughts. Well, I don't know if you've watched the recent Tyler Perry film with, I called it a film. Look at that. Ah, we can make it good. But that particular moment with Michael Ealy, like literally he's Mr. Steal Your Girl. If I want to steal your girl at this particular moment.

50:28KT: but that particular clip of him going and like, that was more than a hug. friends and lovers. Yes.

50:35Countryboi: Yes. Okay. Okay. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm about to say, I don't know

50:39KT: I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I would also say that it was later clarified that he greeted Jonathan Majors, but I watched that he was just walking past and Jonathan Majors had his hand on him. That wasn't a hug. That wasn't a great, that was still disrespect. So I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you're choosing violence, whether you're not, cause that he was looking in that bag and there was nothing in there. So I need to know what you think about that.

51:04Countryboi: Ah, So for a long time, I have thought that Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good's relationship was, I don't want to call it a beard, but it was definitely like a business, business, you know, relationship, like it seems like, but during that clip. It made me think that maybe there is something there because he looked, I know a guy that is like, bro, WTF, what is happening? Why are you hugging my wife like that? Like you coming in, it's too much, it's too much love here. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't care how many

51:39KT: movies you've done together. Yeah. Yeah.

51:42Countryboi: There's some history here. What is, what, what aren't you, haven't you told me, you know, like I can see his eyes, his eyes told a lot. for me, You know, for a guy who like, like Jonathan Majors is medium ugly. I don't have to break that up. I'm going to have to get in here. You are too attractive.

52:00Countryboi: You are too attractive, too attractive to be hugging my wife like this. Like I'm gonna need some back this up. You better get a church hug. I need like. Tilted in. No. Well, I can't, with respect to your wife, I'm

52:12KT: not gonna comment on your attractiveness, but you are not medium ugly. You're not Jonathan Majors.

52:19Countryboi: But you know, let's just say this. I'm not Michael Ealy. I'm not gonna let you come in and, and, and fool like, oh my God, I love you so much. We did so many songs together. Pick you up like Bro Uh-uh. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You're not, you're not Never saying to

52:34KT: another dimension. You're

52:35Countryboi: still here. No,

52:36KT: you're

52:37Countryboi: still here. You're like, at the end of the day, you're not going home with Jonathan Majors, I'm with uh, Michael Ealy. You're going home with me. All right? So I have to break, I would have to break that up.

52:46KT: I did ask Oti what he would do, and he said, I'm getting a hug too. Like, he's like, if you're hugging, then we're all hugging each other.

52:55Countryboi: I need, I need, I need to get lifted up off the ground too. Yeah, exactly. I don't, even though, look, it's so weird. Because it's this weird, thing where you meet like people and maybe you have a relationship with a significant other. And like, how do I greet you? Is it a hug? Is it a handshake? I don't know how I should come in. And never, never, ever have I ever done that to somebody else's wife or girlfriend because that's a party foul.

53:27KT: Cause you're not Donell Jones.

53:29Countryboi: Yeah. That's right. Exactly. Exactly. You know, Twilly D. I hate that song by the way. I might love it, but I hate it. It's such a terrible message.

53:42KT: Oh, okay. Not that song.

53:43Countryboi: Knocks Me Off My Feet. Where I Wanna Be.

53:46KT: Yeah. No, absolutely. But you can get away with a lot, you know, R&B, R&B singing and that sort of thing.

53:54Countryboi: And I don't, I don't want to get us off on the tangent, but I had this thing where I listened to R&B songs, especially from the early nineties and say, dude, do you realize how ridiculous this song is?

54:05Countryboi: Like what you're singing about? Like Carl Thomas and his, him. Have, you know, having a, uh, a tryst with that married woman and talking about she's in a catch 22. No, this is not a catch 22. She is married. There is no choice here, but going home to her wife and kids. You are a fling. You're a side dick. Yeah. You know, so those songs, I always, I always enjoy, you know, cause I love that song, but still it's like, come on, Donell Jones. Come on, Carl Thomas. Y'all know better.

54:34KT: But even that, that Boyz II Men song where like break sounds like I knew about it, baby. I just didn't care. I'm like, yeah, that's a good lesson.

54:42Countryboi: Exactly. Exactly. I think you need to care. You should probably say something. It's just, I thought about this recently because Anthony, Anthony Hamilton has this song called Pray for Me where he cheats on his girlfriend and instead of like apologizing or, or fixing it with his girlfriend. He's like, Hey God. Put me back together with her. I promise I will go to church.

55:09KT: Jesus will keep my secret. It's okay.

55:11Countryboi: Yeah. Jesus will keep my secret. Jesus put us back together again.

55:16KT: Well, I think it's kind of like how, you know, how you can channel your rage. through hip hop, even though it, it doesn't necessarily, unless you go around smacking people in real life, it doesn't translate into reality. That's like R&B as well. We can be emotionally messy and keep it in

55:32Countryboi: the song. Right. Right. Right. That's just like that. So many, so many of your songs are like emotionally messy. You're like, wow. You know, like, Hey, I'm dating you, I'm dating your friend, but I really wanted you, you know, and I made the wrong choice and you guys put, you, you don't want to introduce me to her. It was like, you should get together sometime. Like, wow, ush. That's

55:51KT: how you

55:52Countryboi: live it.

55:53KT: You know what? Like, it's so interesting to like poke your head out or like get a little sort of barometer of how things are out there in those streets, because it is a recent film, but Malcolm & Marie with John David Washington and Zendaya.

56:09KT: That, cause obviously Oti and I watch a lot of stuff together. I, first off, I don't like relationship movies. Like they're very annoying to me, but anyway, so that Malcolm & Marie movie, I remember tweeting about it and I was like, this is the most toxic, disgusting movie. Why do I have to watch these people fight? Why do I have to watch them fight with each other? And it was so interesting because people were like, no, that's how I fight. It's like, Oh,

56:37Countryboi: I'm sorry. You need some ayahuasca. Exactly. You guys need to do, you know, I have been married and you know, dating my my wife so long that I don't know I don't know what it's like, cause you know, you know, not to have you let you peek behind the curtain, but I met my wife on like Yahoo messenger in like, Oh five. Oh, you locked my wife.

57:03KT: You saw where the digital dating was going and you're like, this is where I

57:09Countryboi: met my wife at a time where my parents were like, that's an old man. It was a, it was a woman. It was an actual woman on the other end this time, but yeah, I don't, it's funny because for years we didn't even tell anybody how we met because.

57:25Countryboi: People wouldn't understand. And then things have changed so much. It's not even weird anymore. It's like how everybody does everything, you know? So long story short, I was a pioneer, a long story short, like when I see people and they talk about dating or the apps that they use or how people are very disposable these days, I'm like, I don't like, I don't like anything you guys are talking about.

57:52Countryboi: I don't like any of this stuff. Like, for instance, you know, I probably shouldn't be telling you this story, but my wife is never going to listen to this episode. so they recently went on a trip and, uh, with her girl, with her girlfriends and the two that she went with had a little, had a little fling, had a stellar moment.

58:09Countryboi: And the guy, one of the guys didn't. Like right after that, right after that little fling broke off contact with her. But like before he even was on the plane, he never text, he never texted back. I'm like, bro, this is low level stuff. Even if you were married, you could have been like, yo, I had a good time.

58:32Countryboi: You know what I'm saying? I like to get together. I like to get together, maybe sometime in the future. Dude, they were in Vegas. Everybody know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I don't expect for y'all to be buddies or get married or even date But you could have texted back when I bro and you know, hey, I like to get up sometimes It was nice nice talking you text me something.

58:50Countryboi: Maybe we'll get up in the future Maybe we get up in the future that you didn't have to just go stone cold not But I'll leave it on read. Come on. Come on my guy. You could do better You know, he told her she did, you know Do you know he told her occupation is and you tell me what you think about this? He told her she was a storm cha, he was a storm chaser,

59:08KT: a storm chaser. I watched. Is he in the Twisters movie? A thousand. Right. Right. Like bro, who do

59:14Countryboi: you think I am?

59:14KT: Is he? I don't know his name, but he's the new flavor at the moment. Is he that guy?

59:19Countryboi: Yeah. Yeah. He had to be. Yeah. I was like, dude, I was like, dude, I watched him. She watched him put like a thousand dollars into a machine. And I was like. You did not make that chasing tornadoes. Yeah. You did not. You did not make, you know, a thousand dollars. He's like, yeah, I lost like 8,000 on the slots. You did not get that chasing tornadoes. My guy. If

59:43KT: yeah, I know climate change is climate changing right now, but it's 10,000 unless like, unless his next sentence was, I know the date that the world is going to end. Then you're like, Oh, Hey, yeah,

59:56Countryboi: exactly. We have the

59:59KT: full equation now, but yeah, cause Oti and I have been together like since before dating apps were like. I think, and I think it also comes back to like the whole Drake conversation of like, is something actually popular or is it being informed by social media?

60:15KT: And I'm also not one of those people like social media made me cheat on you, baby. Cause there's some sort of like responsibilities still there. You can't blame it all on the social sort of streets, so to say. But you know, these sorts of things where like people will like set up a camera and be like, Oh baby, I'm pregnant or whatever.

60:31KT: And it's like, why are you shut up? Stop doing that, especially when they have their kids in there. I'm like, go away. Who is this for? But obviously there is an audience there, which makes me sick, but that's, that's for the other people, I guess.

60:45Countryboi: I don't like, I don't like that. I don't like. Anything that feels like a skit, especially like arguments or like made up.

60:55Countryboi: And I, you know, once again, I've gotten taught, I've gotten tired of that black, that black men, black women, discord, like, Hey, who should pay for the dates? And who would you go 50/50? And then all these videos, just extensions of like, of that. Hey, I got my 12 girlfriends. You mean, you're not going to pay for all of them while I stick this camera in your face that has a flashlight on it in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

61:17Countryboi: Like, man, what are we doing? What are we doing? How is this entertaining? Who, who enjoys this? It's very, it feels very reality TV and not, not to use poor language, but I used to call it like, like dumb, dumb nigga TV. Like that's what that was. It was TV for dumb people. There was like a white woman

61:36KT: at work that was trying to tell me about a reality show. And I forgot what the reality show was called, but she's told me it was on the Zeus Network. And I'm like, uh, you're the problem. I was like, it was on

61:48Countryboi: Zeus, but that's

61:49KT: what I mean. And I'm like, it's some white girl in Australia telling me about the Zeus Network. I'm like, for the nuanced conversations you want to have, there is an audience that you don't want to be your audience. You know what I mean? Right. Right.

62:01Countryboi: Right. And there's some people that are not, they're never going to understand you. They don't even not, they're not even going to try. So you having a nuanced conversation with the white girl who is, who doesn't care, understand, she just here for like the drama. I'm here for the foolishness, the messy, the mess, you know, and I, not to say I don't enjoy a little mess, but, I like it when someone, when somebody else's.

62:25KT: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. what do you, what do you think about like Drake's sort of social media. Like him pushing that button, like, and his stupid, his stupid posts.

62:36Countryboi: Drake, wow, he's so formulaic, formulaic too. People can like, tell you what Drake's gonna do based off of how things are going. You know what I'm saying? Like, when The Heart Part 6

62:48KT: is all of that.

62:50Countryboi: Yeah. When it's got bad, when it got bad, when it was obvious that Drake was getting his ass handed to him, he's like, he's going to post a video. He's going to put the picture of him trying to show how unbothered he is. You know what I'm saying? He was like, and then they post a picture of him, like sipping a cognac in his mansion or whatever.

63:08Countryboi: You're like, bro, if you're unbothered, you don't have to tell us that you're unbothered. You don't have to prove to me that, that how unbothered you are. I, I don't. I think he, I honestly feel like he's out of his element. I feel like this is so far and his, it is, his persona is so well manicured and crafted that having someone take a dump in the middle of your, on your well crafted image, it's just not something he was built to deal with.

63:40KT: No,

63:40Countryboi: you know what I mean?

63:41KT: He was always winning in that regard. Like he, I don't think he ever experienced I don't know. Has he ever experienced like a younger, shinier artists, like succeeding him? I don't know if he's even, if he's even experienced that.

63:56Countryboi: And it was crazy about Drake is, you know, you could make the argument.

63:59Countryboi: It's probably the most. Like based on, you know, record sales, probably one of the more popular, if not the most popular rap artists of all time, you know, he's earned, he's earned that he got, he has the accolades and the record sales to back that up. But on the flip side, on the flip side of that, when you have someone who is the very essence of what hip hop is, it is very hard for someone who is making very formulaic, you know, cut and paste.

64:31Countryboi: You know, paint by numbers music to then come and say, Oh, Oh, you got little feet. You know, your kids ain't yours. Like bro, none of those are going to hit like certified pedophile. Like Kendrick telling you, you're not black enough. You know what I'm saying? Net is never going to hit like him telling you that you're not black enough and that you don't have a sound.

64:54Countryboi: Like if you listen to Not Like Us, one of the things that I talked about, I alluded to this a little bit earlier. One of the things that make Not Like Us so great is that it's, it is. Essentially West Coast. It makes you want to crip walk. I can't crip walk, but if I could, I would crip walk during that song because that's what it feels like.

65:11Countryboi: And Drake, because he's, you know, picking up these infinity stones, and from Atlanta, and from this place, and from that place, he has nothing that he can go back to and say, oh, this is what I sound like. This is my sound. This is uniquely, Toronto. I don't know what that would be. I'm assuming it would be like, you know, reggae or something.

65:32KT: I think cause I like Jamaican Caribbean roots, right?

65:35Countryboi: Yeah, they do. They have a large Jamaican population and it's honestly not as big as you think it'd be. It's like 10%, but if you're going to pick sonically,

65:44KT: yeah,

65:46Countryboi: it would probably be, probably be that. That's why

65:49KT: the, the slang as well as in the UK. It's similar as well

65:54Countryboi: because they also have a large Jamaican Jamaican population, you know, colonizers colonizers.

66:03KT: Did you, how did you feel? Cause I feel like there was so many moments where like all eyes on me and I'm gonna send it up to park. Like I just, I'm levitating every time that happens, but that the first time hearing. You're not a colleague, you're a fucking colonizer. Oh man. I was like, I want to start smacking people at work on Monday.

66:23Countryboi: I, I, there's so many, somebody made this tweet where it's like. What part of Not Like Us that you just randomly say, you know, and you know, it's like that, like, you're not a colleague, you have, you know, fucking colonizer or like, you know, or, you know, uh, A minor line or sometimes you got to pop out and show niggas like all that stuff.

66:48Countryboi: It's so quotable. This is why it's doing so well and people are like, I'm sick of hearing it. I'm like, bro, I grew up in an, I grew up in the nineties. Yeah, nothing but music. They would play it a thousand times. Like I heard Party Up 11 billion times. This is nothing. Yeah,

67:06KT: nothing

67:08Countryboi: like the Macarena

67:09KT: and I still don't know any of the words. I just be no, no,

67:13Countryboi: The Macarena is a great example. They played the Macarena to you want to, you will physically sick. Like, I can't hear this another day in my life, spit it again, and then they play it again and they play it again. And then ever since then, every wedding you've ever been to, they played the Macarena, you know, and you're going to tell me you hate Not Like Us. This is nothing. Yeah, this is nothing. My tolerance for the, for the music I got. Did you have any

67:41KT: thoughts on, uh, Steph Curry being like, I'm sick of this, I'm sick of this song. Or is it just like, it's just not that deep.

67:48Countryboi: no, I can, I can understand him being sick of this. Cause it's funny. I don't know if you're familiar with Tony Baker. Yes, love. Tony Baker jumped off that train early. He was like, it was like two days in, I'm sick of it. I was like, you can't be sick of it. Yeah. We the same age, bro. You're timeless for being sick of songs. It's like, you got, you got more to give. But he's,

68:08KT: he's got that grumpy, he's got that grumpy old man persona. So maybe that just feeds into.

68:14Countryboi: It does. And I think that's kind of, you know, part of him being a comedian is that there's always a bit of a contrarian element. Like, if I like, liking what you like is not funny. You know what I'm saying? Hating what you love and then telling you Kicking it apart. That's, that's funny. And I think that's where he really excels. He's giving, he's giving, he's giving your favorite song. Skippity paps.

68:40KT: Yeah, absolutely. Like, does it matter to you? Not necessarily. Do you have a responsibility, but does it matter to you in a genre of music and an expression of art? that has changed so much or do you just kind of chalk it up to if you can make a money out of it, that's what's currently happening now. Like it feels like a very conflicting time between like commercials and culture arts versus industry.

69:12Countryboi: Oh wow. I think most of this is what can make you money. It seems like everybody is in for a cash grab and I think you could chalk a lot of this up to social media and because social media has made. No matter where you're from, you end up sounding very, very similar. And I'm pretty sure there are execs and they're like, Hey, can you give me, T-Pain has this thing where he talks about how his, uh, when he had a, he's not a label anymore, but he was on the label, they wanted him to sound like Future.

69:46Countryboi: He's like, yeah, I like what you're doing. I need you to sound more like Future. He's like, I tried it. And then afterwards he's like, I cried because this sucks. And I'm sure that if you're some young, some young artists and you're coming into the game and you think you have a distinct sound and now your record exec is like, Hey, I want you to sound like Lil Durk.

70:07Countryboi: You're going to go in the studio and try to make your best Lil Durk, Lil Durk album, because that's what we're doing now. A Lil Baby or whatever, you know, whatever's going on, whatever's hot at the moment. And what ends up happening is you have all these songs that, all these artists that sound fundamentally the same.

70:25Countryboi: Over and over and over again. And when you hear them on the radio, like, I don't know if this, this is Lil so-and-so or a Lil bad guy, like the same, they're the same person. So that, that idea of that cash grab, but on the flip side of that.

70:41Countryboi: If you want to be independent, if you want to have your, your own sound, this is the, this is, it's been easier than it's ever been to do that, as easy as it's ever been to do that. You can get your music in front of listeners, way easier. And because of that, there are more artists than there ever been.

71:00Countryboi: Like back when I used to listen to music, it would, might've been like 300 mainstream artists. Now, there's like, Thousands of those kids. And you can come up from SoundCloud or Apple Music and build a dedicated following and you don't have to, I don't need anybody. I don't need any record. I don't need a record.

71:17Countryboi: I don't need labels. I don't need anything. I got to put out my music and get that stuff out in an hour. Look at, look at Kendrick. He was able to get that, that the way he was able to get his music disseminated so quickly. Like when, when Drake put out that album and then Kendrick dropped something like 10 minutes later, there's no other time where you could have done something like that.

71:39Countryboi: Yeah. I'll see you in a week. Right. I'll see you in a week. Oh, Hey, hang on. Let me go write this. And then I got to get this clear by my studio and maybe we'll get it on the radio. So, you know, No, you don't have to do that. I can, I can have something up to 20 and 20 minutes if I'm feeling froggy. So if you want to sound different, if you want to be different, this is the greatest time to do it because you're not, you're not beholden, not beholden to anybody, this is the thing, greatest thing about us being podcasters.

72:07Countryboi: No, there's, there's no label. There's nobody I'm, I'm putting, I'm putting my voice out there and anyone who would like to listen, can listen. And you can't stop me and I can curse and tell you how much I, you know, how racist Coca-Cola is. And you can't say who will boo, who will boo to me, which by the way, I love Coca-Cola, which is kind of sad, but

72:32KT: well, yeah, it's, it's like, it's, uh, I don't know how deep we want to get into this, but I think. In the Western sort of world, we are kind of complicit to the exploits of capitalism, right? We're either being super exploited or we are somehow benefiting from that. So that's a very articulate way for you to say, if that's how you feel about Coca-Cola, then that's okay. Because, you

72:58Countryboi: know, I'd also mentioned to you that like, I wanted to tell these stories that were, that were truthful and whether or not Coca-Cola likes their history. It is what it is, you know, the, the history is what it is. You, if you're mad because of what I said about Coke, Coke, don't be mad at me. Be mad at your own, be mad at Coke. They did it, you did it. So I, you know, in that, in the essence of being, you know, truth as possible, I can still drink Cherry Coke and you can.

73:30Countryboi: Still have a history. That's kind of questionable.

73:33KT: Well, I think it's like, if you're amassing any sort of wealth, it's interesting to, you know, like people that, uh, people are organizations or families or companies that became wealthy out of World War II, or even companies that thrived after COVID it is questionable, you know what I mean? And there's nothing wrong with pointing that out because we're not babies. We would hope we're babies in the cutie way, but we're not babies in an intellectual way and we can handle. Multiple truths, like many things can be true at once, right?

74:03Countryboi: Right. You can, you can drive a Mercedes-Benz and acknowledge the fact that they were complicit in a lot of things that happened in Germany and during World War II. In the same way with Bayer, you know, the Bayer, the drug company, you know. They did some questionable stuff and you can still, you can still have an aspirin.

74:23KT: You see friends and lovers. You thought you were coming in for rap beef. And if you're here, you were definitely looking for the roots of capitalism, which is also entrenched in colonialism. These are delicious words that we don't shy away from friends and lovers, but was there any sort of aspect about, uh, Drake, not, not even like. Not being part of the culture, but him being part of like from Canada. Was there any sort of aspect of that being like, yeah, you're not, you're not our King, so to say in as much words.

74:57Countryboi: We don't, it's funny you say that because I don't feel like there's any real disrespect from, from rappers or artists that, that are from Canada. Like there's no, there's no real animosity. We're not going to treat you. I mean, I don't, I don't feel it that I don't feel like that was. The crux of the problem with Drake.

75:24Countryboi: But if you're from Toronto, because he is the biggest artist, rap artist in a way to come out of Toronto, you're going to feel some type of way. Like you're going to feel like, yo, a little bit, this is on us also, you know, like had he went at Kendrick and he's from North Carolina, he's from Fayettenam. And we would have been like, all right, this, this, this doesn't seem fair. I feel like you taking shots at me now.

75:52KT: Cause didn't he go to, was it Florida for God's Plan? Like he didn't do any of that, uh, in Canada when he was handing out checks and that sort of thing. No, yeah, he was, he was in Miami.

76:03Countryboi: You're right. He was in Miami when he was in God's Plan. He was handing out, handing out meals. It's not like he can't find homeless people in, in Toronto.

76:11KT: Yeah.

76:12Countryboi: Racism

76:13KT: doesn't exist there.

76:15Countryboi: Right. Right. Of course not. Of course not. It wasn't until he

76:19KT: went to the US, right?

76:22Countryboi: That he, that he experienced that. And then, you know, like Kendrick, once again, Kendrick, who's always good at, knowing what to say or pointing out your weaknesses.

76:33Countryboi: Kind of talks about that a little bit, and you know, in Not Like Us, it's like Not only, not only are you not really Black, but, you know, you're not that tied, closely tied to anywhere. Like, you say you're from Toronto, but you're not even that closely tied to Toronto, you know? You, you, you, you pick where you want to be, or who you want to be on any given song based off, you know, how you want to sound.

76:58Countryboi: Like, today you might have some Jamaican patois, and tomorrow you might be, you know, Singing with Taylor Swift or whatever.

77:08KT: Yeah. You'd be at New Hawking with a fried rice with a dip sauce and a blammy crew.

77:12Countryboi: Right, right.

77:14KT: He's cheesin', he's cheesin', fam. Did you, did you watch the Pop Out? Did you watch the whole Pop Out? Did you

77:22Countryboi: I didn't. I didn't catch any of it. And I was so sad because I thought I could circle back. I thought I could circle back and watch it later.

77:29Countryboi: And they were like, eh, you, you miss it. You snooze, you lose, sir. And you did not catch it. And I, but I did see like a lot of little snippets from it, especially, you know, the Not Like Us part, which that's what made me extremely jealous because I was like, wow, I missed this. And it sounded like so, so much fun, but I just like Kendrick as an artist.

77:50Countryboi: So what I, you know, the thing that was really upsetting to me is that I missed all of the songs that came before that. Like, yeah, I was here for Not Like Us as everybody else, but I wanted to see him perform his songs. Cause I, I I'm a big Kendrick fan. This has always been, this has been the thing that people have. been pointing out.

78:08Countryboi: They're like, Oh man, these new Kendrick fans. Like, bro, no, I've been, I've been listening to Kendrick since Section.80. I've been here since day, since day one, been here. Not well, I think he had a tape, a slight tape before that. But anyway, I've been here Section.80.

78:46Countryboi: Like, I'm not afraid to tell you that I didn't even really like Good Kid, Mad City when I first heard it, I had to digest it for a while before I, before I, before I loved it, you know, and the same thing with To Pimp a Butterfly, I didn't enjoy it all that much at the beginning and now it's one of my, it's one of my favorite albums of his out now, DAMN., DAMN. was, DAMN. was, was amazing.

78:48Countryboi: Like I knew this was the awesome album from go, but the other albums I had to, it took me time to enjoy them, to enjoy, especially Good Kid, Mad City. Cause people were telling me like, yo, this album is fire. And I listened. I was like, are you sure? That's so

79:04KT: interesting. How and why, or was it you? Because Section.80, I guess you kind of get, it was kind of like a charcuterie board of like, there was a lot of like different jazz sort of influences. I would say Good Kid, Mad City kind of tapped into that storytelling sort of through like really taking advantage of album, like the format of an album. Was it that? I

79:29Countryboi: like, I like, I was not big fans of some of the choices that he made sonically. Okay. On the album, you know, when I first heard them, I was like, Eh, some of these songs are okay. And then you go back, and especially when people add context, and they're telling you that, Oh, there's a story here. There's, there's a story underlying through this, and you can kind of follow it, and this is more of a concept album. That, Like, Oh, okay. And then you listen to you like, Oh, I see what's happening here.

80:05Countryboi: He's going to say,

80:05KT: yeah,

80:08Countryboi: exactly. Exactly. Like that him going, taking a car, getting robbed, getting beat up. His, his Sherane, the girl, his parents calling him, trying to find that he's okay. All that stuff. It's like, Oh, you just really, really well thought out, but intertwined in all of that are mainstream song that you could individually play on the radio.

80:35Countryboi: And that's like madness. It's madness. I tell you, you know, you got Money Trees in here. It's like, how did you mix these in here? With Also a concept album that had to kind of have follow this formula Meg script. It's awesome. It's awesome to me.

80:54KT: I think it's great. I think it was really. And, you know, we, we talked about Drake and him talking about shit that he doesn't know. Good Kid, Mad City was very much Kendrick saying, I'm in proximity to all of this, but this isn't me, but I am also still affected by a lot of it. And I think that's a lot of the respect that I had for Kendrick of in an age of like, fuck your bitch and the clique you claim, he's still able to hold his own and not, uh, overexert. I guess like he's sort of like, he's not making up criminal activity to get respect off the streets. And I think that was also one of the most farcical things in this beef of like, Kendrick never said he was about this, like specifically, and you've been putting on this mob tie shit. Like, what are you doing? Like we're here, we're being real.

81:46Countryboi: It wasn't like. Rick Ross, where Rick Ross made up an entire persona based off of someone else who's, by the way, alive and out of jail and had, and you just stole his whole name. Could you imagine that? Like some other guy running around with my name? Hey, this is Countryboi. Like, no, but. This is my God. This is my government name.

82:08KT: You're supposed to cut to that scene where you go to the cemetery and you look for like a name. Like you're supposed to do that. Yeah.

82:14Countryboi: At least, at least you could have picked someone who was still in prison. That's some guy who's still on the streets.

82:19Countryboi: Rick Ross is not only is he alive, but he's on the streets. Like you could meet him. So, but with Kendrick, Kendrick, Never really claimed. He just these are the things that I saw things that I dealt with in my time And even if the stories are exaggerated or embellished or they're not my stories They could be my stories and that that stuff is important Like maybe he didn't get robbed by Sherane this happened to his homie But it could have happened because of the the story that he was telling the life that he lived It feels very grounded and realistic and that's important to me.

82:59Countryboi: And also he doesn't really rehash of a ground. He's already stepped on it. Like yeah, that Good Kid, Mad City story. He doesn't really go back. Not telling that story of, of, of how he was when he was a kid anymore. He used the, like an, every album really speaks to the mold he's in and that, in that given time.

83:21Countryboi: So if you hear a Good Kid, Mad City, and then you listen to To Pimp a Butterfly, those albums are completely different. And then you listen to DAMN., and that's a completely different album. And not just like. Lyrically too. This is, it speaks to the, where he is in his life at that time. And that most people can't do that.

83:39Countryboi: If you listen to artists and especially rappers, especially from the golden era, gangster, you know, gangs in their twenties and that gangster now, Jay-Z got. You know, three kids, like, bro, you can't still be gangsta. Like, show us the CCTV

83:57KT: where, where this activity is going on.

84:00Countryboi: Right. Right. Right. You're a stay at home dad, my guy. Chill. Yeah. Like, like

84:05KT: you're all good. You don't need a, you don't need a front. And shout outs to Pharrell as well, we

84:09Countryboi: front. Yeah, you don't have to front for us anymore.

84:12KT: And I think that's, but that's, that's life, you know, you get older and you, you have different demons that you need to tackle. Right. And I think there's definitely a courage and there's a vulnerability. I think that I, Like that I really love about Kendrick because that's what you have, like To Pimp a Butterfly is him grappling with that newfound fame. And like, I, am I a sellout, you know, what does that mean to my relationships? Am I doing enough for my people? Like that was To Pimp a Butterfly. it's interesting that the Pulitzer was DAMN.

84:44KT: I think if we don't count the Black Panther album, DAMN. is probably the most sort of commercially tangential sort of album.

84:53KT: It wasn't as if he wasn't grappling shit. Cause I think LUST. is very funny. like just him saying, let me put the head in is funny to me. And I respect the cat. And I was like, like, I get what you're saying, but it's also a bit funny.

85:07Countryboi: The DAMN. album is funny to me because he has a song with Rihanna and he's rapping when she raps and she's actually very talented, like surprisingly good rapper, but then he has a songs like, how does Rihanna feel when that when her accountant stole all her money? And I'm like, she's on this album. She probably listened to it. How do you feel to also comment on her while also having her on one of your songs? Like, that's, that's, that's It's a weird space for me. It's

85:37KT: well, you would, you would think that there would be some sort of, but you never know, right? Like it might've been for bars. It might've not been real. but yeah, so like, and like Black Panther, him putting on artists, like on the album as well, like it could have just had all of the hottest names at the time, but that was not.

85:55KT: What the vision was, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. I've said it on the podcast already, but I remember talking to Oti about it because I had listened to it and I was like, you need to listen to this album. Like this. This is, you know, we cried together, we're united in grief. Like there's a lot that gets tackled in there.

86:15KT: And it's like how, you know, it's kind of like when you watch films as well, you're like, how was this able to be possible? Because you're so used to the way that people, I guess, sidestep sort of things and they tell particular narratives or they like turn a camera a particular way. But it's like, this is everything. I'm just going to show you everything. All of my flaws and that sort of thing, right?

86:37Countryboi: Right. I guess it's kind of like, like a sex scene in movies. I don't know if you ever mentioned me, heard me mention it. Like, I think that it all like gratuitous and could probably all be just a closed door and just insinuate that you guys, what happened. A whisper

86:52KT: of lust.

86:53Countryboi: Yeah, a whisper of lust, like, you know, a passionate kiss. And then we can go fade to black and, and move on. And, I think. That's how this album, this is album is like that sex scene. No, I just think like, it's you getting to see. You know, so many people, you talking about how people like shift and look away and don't like gaze full on at things.

87:28Countryboi: And I feel like you like showing people and being vulnerable is important. And you don't, no one gets to do that, especially not in the hyper masculine area arena of hip hop. We don't ever. No one ever gets to be vulnerable. You don't ever get to say, Oh man, I'm not, I'm not confident in this. Or I don't know. Or like, this is what's going on in my life. Or, you know, like the fact that Kendrick felt like he could do that is to me, to me, amazing. I wouldn't know if I could do that.

88:01KT: Well, yeah, it's, it's, it's. It's a life's work, but he's done that many times. And I, again, like if you want to, if you want to hear it, like I've, I'm always playing Kendrick. So it never really felt like, damn, like you need to like, it's been a year, like you need to drop something. Cause it's life, man. Especially if his art is art and it's reflective of his life, like go and do some living and then like, come back,

88:26Countryboi: drop an

88:27KT: album.

88:29Countryboi: Cause you, cause you have more life lessons, life lessons to give. But, you know, I told, I talked about this. I was like, if, if this Drake beef leads to us getting an album from Kendrick, I'm all for that. Like I'm keep, matter of fact, I want to. I want to Drake to keep making this tracks so that we can keep getting money from Ken. I mean, keep getting music. Like this is what I want. I want more music.

88:52KT: I guess so. And like Oti was like that as well. Like he was enjoying like the sport, like the, you know, the theatrics of the rap beef. And I'm like, if we're being honest, like Euphoria was it like he didn't need to respond after that. even getting his like mom to like. Do the intro to Family Matters and then he drops the n word and I'm like, shut up, like you're an idiot.

89:16Countryboi: It is. And I, typically with rap beefs, they're usually one song. One, one song. You might get a couple songs where they allude to people and you get one direct diss and then a reply and usually that's it. Like if you look like Chris Brown and Quavo. Both had one song. Who's the winner? All right. We move on with our lives.

89:42Countryboi: What we got from Kendrick and Drake, that was an anomaly. We usually don't get multiple songs. And Kendrick, who, cause he's, he's a habitual line stepper, was like, I am going to make sure that he is dead.

89:56KT: That, that meme of that guy turning up to the funeral to make sure that he's

90:02Countryboi: really dead. Right, right, right. Then we're going to dance on his grave. Yeah. You know, crip walk on his grave.

90:10KT: Does Not Like Us as well as the music video. Does that give you hope that potentially hip hop is finding its center again? Or do you think. We're kind of out of the gate now because whatever's popular is what's making money.

90:26Countryboi: I, I kind of hope that we can bully people back to the center. Like, like this whole thing with Drake and with Kendrick is like, you see what happens? See what happens when you're too far, too stray, too far from the light that that's what happens to you. You need to be more centered, more closely tied to your blackness and, and, and what that, and what that sounds like, and your individuality, like, you can't just do this for a buck.

90:59Countryboi: It needs to be more. There needs to be more. And of course, there will always be people that are capitalistic because there's money in that. But the, the, the sound of it, there has to be more, needs to be more there.

91:13KT: Or it'll be like the certified boogeyman, like just like pulling.

91:16Countryboi: Right, right, right.

91:17KT: Do you have any highlights out of the Not Like Us music video?

91:23Countryboi: I like the dancing. I'm a huge fan of the dancing and the choreography.

91:29KT: And let me find out you got a clowning video somewhere.

91:32Countryboi: I do not. And I didn't even know about Tommy the Clown. I had no idea that was, that's very West Coast, you know, but the, the, the, the, the crumping and the dancing, the crip walk, and it's like, I love, I love all of this.

91:47Countryboi: And I also love Kendrick's use. And I don't know if he does this or he has somebody in his camp, but somebody is paying attention and they use imagery to kind of sneak diss like more than words, you know, and that, and you've been able to watch those videos and decipher like this, it's time to this, and this is when Drake did this, and this, like, bro, one, y'all have too much time on your hands, but two, who the hell thought that up?

92:14Countryboi: Who did that? That's insanity. Yeah. I love, I love that. That's my favorite, my favorite part of the video makes me wish I could dance.

92:25KT: But there's something ancestral and I guess spiritual as well about especially that verse in Not Like Us because this is deeper than. Just trying to wrap you out of like shame, like go back into your commercial whole, like, you know, with the melodies. I don't like Drake when he act tough. It's more than that. It's, if you're going to use your blackness when it's commercial, you need to be rooted. Cause

92:55Countryboi: you can't take this off. This is not a skin. This is, this is who, this is who I am. I'm like this 24 seven. You know, and that, and, and, and that idea that like, it's a beard and you take that off that.

93:08Countryboi: That irritates a lot of people who, like, this is who I am 24 7. When you, when you, when you put yourself, and you see someone that's not genuine next to someone that's uniquely genuine, it's It just makes it magnifies it. It's so easy to see that they're not, they're not living that truth.

93:30KT: No,

93:30Countryboi: he needs to go high. You gotta, you gotta have far, far away.

93:34KT: But I don't think he will, but you, I think you, you were conflicted misusing your influence because you just said you want him to keep doing it so he can get Kendrick music.

93:43Countryboi: I did. I really did. I wanted him to try. I wanted him to try, but Also you can kind of feel when something's over, when you get, when you got beat, and there's nothing else to do, to be said.

93:57Countryboi: And, and I knew someone, tell him, dude, when you start talking about the shoe size bro, you running outta topics like there's nothing else here. And Kendrick's like, Hey, I got four more tracks in here. Say something else. Yeah. Oh, we need, say something else. I got a grenade launcher in the back. It's like, don't be a menace. Do we have a... We do not, we don't.

94:23KT: Do you have any, well, I guess we can say that the, at least this saga of the beef is over. Do you have any closing thoughts, any ruminations?

94:37Countryboi: Oh wow. this felt like a long time, felt like a long time coming, and it was, I am glad that it happened, uh, because I am always excited to get music from Kendrick. Mm-hmm. Especially something like Not Like Us. That is a bit of a movement. And, the only thing that I hate about things that become like it's big, it's Not Like Us, is that it's very hard for us to gatekeep it. And people. Who don't understand it, uh, don't, or just know they're not like us, and don't understand who us is.

95:20Countryboi: Take it and think that they're, they're part of us, and you're not. And you're not. Like when I say, when he says you're not like us, this is not just about Drake. It's not just about Drake. It is about everyone who is not like, who is not like us. You see what I'm saying? So when us thinks that they are part of the crew and they wear the shirt, we're like, bro, we talking about you. They're talking about me.

95:50KT: Yes. yeah. And I make it very clear, especially to my fellow islanders, that for some reason we'll fight to their dying day to say the N word. uh, we're the us guys like, I don't know why you think Yeah. Like we can enjoy it, but we also know, I don't know unless it's like a literacy thing.

96:10Countryboi: So at the Pop Out, this is, it was this group as this picture of these little white kids, you know, they were, they weren't, it was harmless, but they had, they had bought the Not Like Us t-shirts showing it in picture. And I'm like, you, us, there's not Drake. You, you is them. And, and I, and I, This is one of the reasons why I hesitate, we talked about this earlier, about wanting to gatekeep, you know, Black music and because of this need to remove Black people from Black music.

96:39KT: Yeah.

96:39Countryboi: And you see this, you see this with our vernacular on a regular, on a regular basis, our vernacular gets taken and misconstrued and then people will take and say, you're not like us and use it in the wrong context and you get to the point where that at some point that line Throw away. It's a throwaway now.

96:56Countryboi: You can't even use it because the, the, it's become so mainstream. It's not, it's not like us. It's not for us anymore. So, so yeah, I think that's probably, that's, that's probably my, my closing thoughts. Keep gatekeeping your words, keep gatekeeping your music. Yeah. Because people will take it and twist it and turn it into something that is not.

97:20KT: Yeah, because it's like the us is ped, we're not pedophiles and it's like, no, it's not just because you're not a pedophile, you're also not the us in Not Like Us. And I think that comes back to those, you know, even you talking about the podcast that you create and, you know, the, the other bigger players that might be doing it, but not doing it as succinctly.

97:42KT: Maybe it's a deliberate reason to do that, but I think, you know, we can all be here, but we also need to understand who we are in that space. And a lot of us are that, you know, not the us, you know?

97:53Countryboi: Yeah. And it's, it is tough for, for African, for black Americans because, our culture is so uniquely tied to American culture and us being able to try to like find, carve out our individuality in a country that has like, Cut us off from, from our, our heritage and people being able to say, Hey, I'm from here and this is where I'm from.

98:18Countryboi: And I can always tie myself or link myself back to that and you get here and people and it's like, Oh, well, you have no culture. I was like, yeah, because we had to carve our culture out of the mud. One that people so freely

98:32KT: play in.

98:33Countryboi: Right. And then people take whatever culture that you have or that you've created and they take all the pieces that they enjoy and turn it into something else, you know, turn it into something that they, that they like. And that's happened time and time again, whether we're talking about hip hop or country music or rock music, all that. All that came from, you know, a black sound and then you have to, you have to continuously share it and then they want to argue with you about it, that you were ever there and that stuff.

99:04Countryboi: So yeah, rough.

99:06KT: Well, we, cause we also had, uh, Brent from Home Video Hustle and he, specifically talked about the gatekeeping as well and how important that is. And we don't need to talk about it, but, make mention of Amber Rose. And I don't know what that rapper's name is, but exactly because Brent shared that is like, this is why we need to gatekeep because people think they can just use something without understanding the content or just in general, it's cringe,

99:31Countryboi: right? Right. It's very cringe. And. What, when I, when I will say about, about people like Amber Rose is when, when you're a celebrity, when you're a D list, F list celebrity and your train is coming to the end of the, the end of the station of your celebrity, your last vestige, Of hope of making money of squeezing that last dollar out of celebrity is to turn to the extreme right because they don't, they don't ask anything of you.

100:01Countryboi: They don't, all they ask of you is to hate, like there's no, it has to be no intelligence. There's no talent left there. All they ask for you is for you, you know, if you're somebody like Amber Rose, who I think is biracial, all you have to do is hate yourself. You know what I'm saying? That's it. That's all, that's all they're going to ask of you.

100:19Countryboi: And. You can collect those checks. If you don't have a spine, there's tons of money to be made in that arena, as long as you don't have to look at yourself in the morning. You don't mind hating yourself.

100:32KT: But I think gatekeeping is very. Important. And I, like, I appreciate the culture, but I also understand that it's not mine. and I think a lot of us can do well to understand that. but yeah, I remember that those shirts, Not Like Us and I'm like, come on.

100:50Countryboi: Yeah, you, you're, you're, you're tied in, you understand.

100:53KT: Or all those like social media clips of like playing Not Like Us, but it's always before and after the N words being said. And it's like, we know you said it.

101:01Countryboi: Yeah, we know you said it, so it's, it's, it's not okay, but what are we going to do? It's a song.

101:07KT: Yeah. No, we can bully people back. I loved your advice. Let's bully people back to where it needs to be. before we finish up, I would love to hear, I guess, just your hood classics, like what, what would you recommend as watching? What do you love watching? What are you just watching because you need to feel something again?

101:26Countryboi: Oh, man. I am watching. I just watched Supacell, which I loved.

101:32KT: Oh, you know, I was going to, mention that, but yes, yes, please continue.

101:36Countryboi: I watched Supacell and not to get off on a tangent, but that culture is not mine and, and watching them live this hyper. Like violent culture that is so different from American culture that it tickles me sometime I think they were going to a rumble on bikes. They roll one time on scooters. They're like bro. What what is happening? This is the least gangster thing

102:05KT: Yeah,

102:06Countryboi: right, right if you rolled up to a drive by on an electric scooter, you gotta get up out of here Ricky Banka had a

102:13KT: chance. I think maybe he

102:14Countryboi: did. And the knives and a big old, like, did you just steal a kitchen knife? What is this thing? Like, it's just odd to me. Or like, I don't remember the guy's name, but the, the The, the main villain and how he pulled up in an Avirex coat and Avirex coats in America haven't been popular in like 20 plus years. I was like, bro, you about to get shot by a dude in an Avirex coat. I haven't even seen one of those in years. Like that.

102:49KT: I don't know that brand, but is a, is a tangential reference K-Swiss like that?

102:53Countryboi: Yes. Okay. Yes. Like K-Swiss. It's about the same time is 99, 2000. Like that era. Those were very, very popular. Matter of fact, if you watch like an old Mobb Deep video, you might see them wearing Avirex coat, you know, it's about 20 some odd years. Like I grew up, I had one, you know, I don't know where it is now, but to see somebody with one in 2024, like, Whoa,

103:17KT: we're going to see you in season two with your coat.

103:20Countryboi: Right. I would, I had to put on subtitles because I did, I was like. I understand you, you're speaking English, but some of this is like, ah, William May, like, it's this moment where they try to rob a delivery driver and they didn't rob him of his package. They were like, Hey, give me 50 pounds and we'll deliver this package for you. I'm like, is that, are you doing this the right way? This does not feel like the way to do this.

103:51KT: was it? yeah. I love in, in ELEMENT., Kendrick was saying when you come on the highway, we want receipts. Right?

103:56Countryboi: Yeah, yeah, like that's, this whole thing about, like, calling in, if you come to a town, especially, like, LA Looks like a huge gang culture. You need to, like, Hey, I'm here. Don't do that. That's stupid. Even Schoolboy tells you not to do that. Don't call in. We're just gonna rob you. But yeah, I love Supacell. I thought it was great. We're never getting a season two. It's going to be like eight years from now. It's one of those shows is like good in this time and Netflix never expected it to be anything.

104:29KT: I love this because we've actually never done this on the podcast before. I want to break spoilers first. Are you finished yet? Spoilers, friends and lovers. Uh, we don't usually do this, but I need to ask you this. how did you feel about not necessarily the spoiler, but the through line with sickle cell?

104:46Countryboi: I thought it was awesome because it made perfect sense because all of the people who had it were of color and sickle cell is a, is a disease that primarily affects people of color, mostly males. Like it's very, it's, it's not so much black people, there are black females that have sickle cell, but it's mostly like a black male disease.

105:06Countryboi: And for you to use that as like the linkage, it makes complete sense. Like that's one of the things. And also I like the X-Men mutant gene. If you ever, if you ever read the comics, uh, their powers manifest in two ways, either during, during puberty or during trauma. And that's when it was manifesting in Supacell is during this moment of drama of trauma. So like all those guys were going through something and they're like, Ah, and their powers manifest. And I was like, that is really, somebody did their homework.

105:46KT: Yeah,

105:47Countryboi: somebody did their homework.

105:48KT: I still have X-Men '97 bookmark because of how much you love it, even though we tried it, but we, we'll keep, we'll keep trying. X-Men '97.

105:58Countryboi: I loved it. I, I will say this. I didn't watch the original. I haven't watched the original since it came on TV and I didn't go rewatch it, but I'm also a comic book. I'm a comic book nerd, so I didn't really need a run up to kind of get on, to kind of get on board. I don't know if you read the comics.

106:17Countryboi: It might behoove you to watch the original. First to get a run up and then X-Men '97 would probably make a bit more, a bit more sense in its context. But also it's just an awesome show. It's amazing.

106:33KT: I know there were so many like Week to week, uh, tweets that I was enjoying the twotes, but I, I obviously haven't watched the show yet. And I also love how I said hood classics and you referenced Supacell. And maybe it's also because they're very succinctly themselves. They didn't need to pretend to be like black American. It's like, no, we're in the UK.

106:54Countryboi: Yeah. And they, and because they were in the UK, they did things the way people in the UK was doing it. And it may. Wow. Americans, we would laugh at this. That's because we had this huge gun culture. Mm-hmm. You know, but the fact they did things that way, uh, it is kind of endearing 'cause you would do things completely different the way we would do it. And I want you to do it the way you would do it. Mm. That's what makes this show interesting.

107:18KT: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Any other hood classics you got?

107:22Countryboi: Oh man. How many of you gotta stop? I, I, I wish I, I'm watching, I'm rewatching The Wire. Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. So I love it. So, so much. And I, and I, my friend had never seen it. So I went back and started rewatching it because, I feel like you need, you need to, you need to see this.

107:39Countryboi: You didn't show it, but I'm also like, what else am I watching? I am watching Presumed Innocent. Which I love, even though Jake Gyllenhaal's character is horrible. He's a horrible person. Are you watching that?

107:55KT: We watched like the first episode. You know what, I'm such a literal person. I struggle with like, like if you can tell a story end to end and not flashback, not put ridiculous. Fantastical things then like I'm in so we have watched the first episode we're serial first-episode watchers of things. So we've probably watched stuff that has come out. yeah,

108:19Countryboi: he, that show, the problem with that show, at least in my mind is they try very hard to make you believe that he did it, even though of course he's not, he didn't do it, but I'm watching I'm like, Yeah. You seem kind of guilty. You see, you seem pretty guilty. you know, and I'm finished. I'm trying to finish The Boys. which I've been, for some reason, I've been slogging along and I have not been doing a great job of, of watching, of watching, you know.

108:48KT: You know why? Because. The, the, the money of the show is Homelander and Butcher, and then they keep showing up the characters and it's like, we don't care about your potential love story.

109:02KT: Go away. And also this is, this is very interesting with, uh, shout out to Laz Alonso. There was a recent press run. So they had Chace Crawford, who plays the Deep, Laz Alonso, obviously, who plays Mother's Milk, uh, Antony Starr, who plays Homelander, as well as Jessie T. Usher, who plays A-Train. And they were doing that Google, you know, like the Google searches and stuff.

109:24KT: And they were asking Laz Alonso about the bathroom scene. And it was so funny because the two, Chace and Antony did not know What they were talking about, like what scene they were talking about in what movie with Regina Hall in the bathroom scene? Oh,

109:40Countryboi: they didn't.

109:41KT: They didn't understand it. Like they just, and you could see Jessie laughing. And I was like, that's funny. It's like,

109:48Countryboi: they don't know.

109:50KT: They don't know what's going on.

109:51Countryboi: This is exactly what I'm talking about because We, Black Americans, know white America, but they, it's not reciprocated, like they don't know anything about us, you know, like it's this clip from some show where they like show pictures of the background, you have to name who this person is, and every single time it's a Black person, they don't know who this is, you know, and that is just like a microcosm of like, God, you don't know anything about us.

110:21Countryboi: I watch Jeopardy sometimes and they'll have like, they'll have black history questions. And if we softball, it's always like Martin Luther King or something stupid. And. They're like, nah, bro. I don't know what that is. I'm like, well, how is this possible? You don't know anything. You're not even trying. You could just guess and say Martin Luther King. You're probably right.

110:43KT: Nine times out of ten, you will be correct. Yeah,

110:46Countryboi: you would not, you will be correct because it's a softball question. And that's sad.

110:52KT: Jay Pharoah, we didn't really watch the show, but the show was called White Famous. And like, there's a whole dialogue of like, if you're black famous, if you're white famous and you know, that sort of thing, but you're, you're a hundred percent on the money. But thank you so much for your time today. We said we had an hour and we just kept going around.

111:11Countryboi: Nick Cohen, going and going. My wife texts me cause she was up. She was like, are you still going? You guys still talking? I'm like, Yeah, we're just chatting. It's okay.

111:20KT: We're wrapping up.

111:22Countryboi: we're landing.

111:23KT: Where can we find you? What are you up to? What do you have plans for the podcast?

111:28Countryboi: Oh, wow. So I have been, I have been slack. I don't want to say I'm slacking, but I have been creating episodes and that I haven't been uploading to the podcast. So I have. About sheesh by eight to nine that I have is different from what's up on on on the podcast. So I need to start, uploading also have a newsletter that I am also have been neglecting even though I'm I'm taking emails. I haven't been.

112:04KT: Friends and lovers that Psy is independent creating right there doing it all

112:08Countryboi: because it's so many thoughts. It's so many thoughts in my head and then bringing all of those things to bear. It just feels like a lot and if I don't feel inspired, I just don't. I don't create, I don't do anything. I usually will try to, when I'm inspired, to bang out multiple things so that when I don't feel inspired, I don't have to force myself to work, to work through it. So yeah, we're working on, on that.

112:34Countryboi: And I, I really would like To create a channel where I'm not so tied down, not just a black history, but just like interesting things in general. And I don't know if there's a space for that, because I think one of the things that makes, that makes my channel. And I'm not going to do this on One Mic, but like another channel that makes it interesting is that it's very niche down.

112:56Countryboi: And I feel like doing something where I just talk about interesting things needs to be bigger. It needs to be some better than that. I don't know what that's going to be. I thought it was going to be food. I thought it was going to initially. I had this idea of doing a food channel. I just do food history, but I was like, ah, now I'm like, well, I tie myself so closely.

113:12Countryboi: That's something even more, even better than that. I could do food history, but you know, we just do interesting things. And if we start end up talking about waffles. Yeah. That happens. so yeah, you can find me at onemichistory.com. I am right now, primarily on YouTube. I'm putting out episode about, about one a week, continuously like, you know, searching for stories and putting out interesting stories and, uh, because they pay me, they're paying me and, you know, but also I am going to start publishing episodes of the podcast podcast again, I was, you know, kind of been taking the time off summer off my wife's off so I'm off.

113:52Countryboi: so around August I'm gonna start pop up again with the podcast and start dropping those once a week also. And if you want to reach me I'm on Threads, or Twitter. I try to, I try to do a lot of my, you know, educational stuff on Threads. So if you want to learn more about black history, I'm on Threads pretty heavy, but also you can talk to me on, on Twitter at, uh, @OneMicHistory on both of those platforms. And yeah, it's dope.

114:20KT: Well, I just want to thank you so much for your time. This has been a long time coming.

114:26Countryboi: I enjoyed it so much.

114:27KT: Yeah. And like, you know, just like 7 Minute Drill got deleted everywhere. We didn't need to do the Simpsons movie. I think we covered, we covered a lot more than that, but I really appreciate coming on.

114:39Countryboi: It's so bad. It was so bad.

114:43KT: It was very not

114:44Countryboi: bad. No, no. And it was just like 7 Minute Drill, you know, you fade in like Simpsons, Simpsons sucked. And 7 Minute Drill was not, it's not that great either. Exactly.

114:56KT: But again, thank you so much. And thank you for bringing so much of yourself and your thoughts and everything in regards to music and culture. And, you know, I hope to see you. And your coat in season two in Supacell. Ah, yeah, right.

115:12Countryboi: I might be a little too country. You don't have any subtitles, any country subtitles, along with the Jamaican patois Yeah, he's like from the other side of, he's from like the other side of London.

115:21KT: Uh, I guess just very quickly, because I was talking to Oti about, Sickle cell. Cause I was like, Oh, you know, like, had you ever heard of it before? And he's like, yeah, like, obviously cause it affects black people, like in Kenya, like actually learning about it in schools. Right. Like to that level. And so interesting to hear about the difference in education, also the history that they learn in Kenya compared to the rest of them.

115:44KT: especially like a Western country, like Australia, but anyway. And I was like, Oh, the only time I really heard about sickle cell was T-Boz from TLC having it. And also She has it. Yeah. And, Prodigy? Hit 'Em Up.

115:57Countryboi: Yeah. Yeah. Prodigy. Prodigy had it. Cause remember, Pac is like, Don't you, don't one of you niggas got sickle cell or something? Yeah. You can talk, do something about Prodigy. Oh, okay.

116:06KT: And then, because that's what I was saying to Oti, and then he just laughed me off. And then we watched an interview with Rapman, who's the creator of Supacell. And he said the first time he heard about sickle cell was also in Hit 'Em Up. And I'm like, see?

116:21KT: It was a diss song, but we were also learning as well. Yeah.

116:25Countryboi: We also learned something today. That's great.

116:28KT: But thank you so much. Friends and lovers go over to One Mic, go and check out the podcast. Follow him everywhere. He's got definitely a lot more learned things than I have to say, but thank you so much. and we'll see you on the next one.

116:43Countryboi: Thank you so much. Have a great day. Bye bye.