Deeply Well with Devi BrownIn this episode, Devi discusses the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef and explores its deeper themes and implications. She shares her opinions on the two artists and their music, highlighting the contrast between Kendrick's depth and consciousness and Drake's superficiality and ego. Devi also emphasizes the importance of holding artists accountable for their actions and the need for integrity and character in those who have power and influence.
Connect: @DeviBrown
Learn More: DeviBrown.com
Previous Episode: Healthy Friendships with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Hold it.
Now, release slowly again, deep in, helle hold release, repeating internally to yourself as you connect to my voice. I am deeply, deeply well. I am deeply well. I am deeply wow. I'm Debbie Brown and this is the Deeply Well Podcast. Welcome to Deeply Well, a soft place to land in your journey. A podcast for those that are curious, creative, and ready to expand in higher consciousness and self care. This is where we heal, this is where we become. Welcome back to this show. Hello, everyone, settling into this space. I'm Debbie Brown. This is Deeply Well, and this episode is just you and me. We are going to dive deep into a couple of things that I've been thinking about and a couple experiences that we've been having, and we will close this episode in a very light, grounded breath meditative practice. Wherever this episode is reaching you today, I hope that your heart is full, and if it is not, I hope that it's open, open to release, open to receive. All Right, I want to talk about a couple things that have been happening in the world. One of those things that has taken this world by storm in a way that I really was not expecting. There's been some beef afoot so I know everyone has heard about this Kendrick, Lamar the Goat and.
Drake big beef, big beef energy.
I not just big beef energy, but where it landed, especially with some of the records like Family Matters and Meet the Grams. I mean, we have crossed the line from beef into sworn enemy territory. The way that that situation has been unfolding. I was looking at it and I was like, my goodness, this is now turned into something for the lineage. This is now turned into, you know, a karmic kind of experience that they may find them selves battling for a few lifetimes. We saw it in this lifetime on records, and next lifetime it might be on a battlefield, it might be David and Goliath, it might be all kinds of things. It's been really interesting to watch the way the world has been unpacking this situation and been unpacking the music. I mean goes without saying Team Kendrick all day, one hundred and one hundred million percent. I don't know how to make that even more concrete. Team Kendrick all day, all day and night, I've been watching. I look at everything kind of through symbolism and just through kind of like what is the bigger arc Like, what is the bigger plot, what is the bigger archetype that is coming through and whatever individuals I'm observing, And you know, in the situation with Drake and Kendrick, it's been really fascinating to see. And all of this is one million percent my own opinion based on the way I uniquely see the world and experience the world. And you know, I had the vantage point of previously working within the music industry and working within radio, and I was a fly on a wall for the beginning of both of their careers. I remember it like it was absolutely yesterday. I'll never forget the first time I heard So Far Gone, which was a monumental, impeccable, incredible project. And I remember at the time, I was on the radio and I got suspended because I believed in that Drake mixtape so much that I secretly programmed it into overnights and played the records, and none of the records were cleared. And Drake at that time, if you googled him, nothing actually came up, but I remember being so incredibly moved by that project and by his talent and his gifts and his writing and everything that was talked about on that project just felt so resonant to where I was in life, and it was incredibly inspiring. So that was kind of my first experience of Drake and I was at his very first show that he ever did, which was at kel State LA. I believe his first LA show was at a college and the auditorium, and I remember being at that show, and you know, and on the flip side of that, Ka Dot one of the best to ever do it. LA's anointed son, one of the most gifted, incredible artists and people that we have in this lifetime and in this generation. One of the first projects I loved from Kid was the Kendrick Lamar EP, which I don't even know if that's like accessible or findable anywhere, but I remember watching Kendrick start to make music and watching him begin to embody his artistry in LA, very very very young. One of my earliest memories of his art was actually being at this teeny tiny, tiny tiny show. There might have been fifty people there in Long Beach in a bar and Jay Rock was actually performing shout out to Jay Rock, and Kendrick was his hype man for the performance. And I remember, even in that moment, there was a light that shined on his life that was so indescribable. And I remember after Kendrick lamar Ep dropped, I think he dropped something else and then overly dedicated hit. And I remember, in that timeframe before anyone else in the rest of the country knew who he was, just in LA. I remember watching men, women and children weep seeing him.
I remember the.
Way that project swept like a blaze through Los Angeles, reigniting music in LA, reigniting culture in LA, but speaking to things in a way that had never been done, especially from an LA artist. And like I just I treasure, I treasure those memories. It was an exceptional thing to witness. It was incredibly special. But I say all that to say it speaks to the depth of who he is as a being.
It speaks to the depth of.
The way that his mind operates, and it speaks to the depth of his service and the way that I was observing this beef as I slowly make my way down this trail. It was really interesting to me. And again, I don't wish to say any of this in judgment because I have a lot of a lot of respect for Drake's talent, and as I stated earlier, I was a huge fan from the beginning of his talent and the way he put music together. So I don't want to disregard that or downplay that. But when I watch the Kendrick and Drake beef, I see two things. I see misogyny, I see capitalism. I see materialism. I see surface, I see privilege, I see vacancy. I see an emptiness in Drake's music. That is my personal opinion, which is not to say that it doesn't bop, which is not to say that is not extremely danceable and that it sounds great in the car. But when I think about the things being said, it feels like fast food. It feels to me like things that I, as a woman, as an awakened being, am not interested in. I'm as a listener tired of hearing about women being mistreated in his music. I'm tired of hearing about partying on every single song, or you know, being liked or you know, it's so egoic and so empty to me when I see and hear a voice like Kendricks. I see someone who every single album has been so incredibly meticulously thoughtful about the level of impact that they're having about song construction, about layers, about melody, about lyrics, about higher awareness, about healing. And I do understand that that kind of music isn't always for everyone, depending on where you're at in your life and your journey. And I think that's part of what the dynamic of music does in our world and our society. It soothes us, sometimes it kind of satiates and pacifies us, and sometimes it activates us and enlivens us and brings forward revolution or brings forward an opportunity to release, to feel, to heal. And so watching that battle, to me was kind of like it was already unequally yoked because they are just so incredibly different, even though they both are incredibly talented. But watching it, hearing it unfold, you know, it was kind of this, this Yen and Yong fight. I want to get into the simplest and I want to get into the depth of it. You know, it felt like light and shadow. It also felt like, just like Yin and Yong, within light and shadow is further light and shadow. There's light in the dark and there's shadow in the light, and I think we saw a lot of that coming together. Some of the things that Kendrick brought up and what he was saying is incredibly powerful and important, and they're things that we should all be thinking about. I'm not someone that believes that you can separate the art and the artist, at least not while they're living. I think there's a lot more room for some subtexts and nuance and you know, different ways that you can kind of look back at history and say, oh, that person was maybe caught up in you know, the zeitgeist of the time, or they didn't have higher awareness, but God moved through them in this other capacity. There might be room for that at some point. But I'm not someone that can do that. I can't listen to R Kelly period. I can't. It wouldn't feel good to my soul. As good as his music is, not to say his music is an incredible it is. He's gifted, and I don't want that in my body. I don't want that in my ears. And so that's kind of how I look at music in general now, Like even stuff that sounds really good. And mind you, I grew up in the generation that sang along to Ain't No Fun, one of the most horrifying records of all time, and I know it by heart.
I can't help it.
But when I look at what I get to choose now, I make a lot of different choices with music. And so, you know, the Drake and the Kendrick situation, to me, was so illustrative of the dynamic that is always kind of a parent whether you were going to get caught up in what pacifies you or you're going to get caught up and what helps you feel and what makes you feel. And so yeah, I thought, you know, the latter two records that they did were tough to hear, to be quite honest, as a fan, but also it was showing a dynamic that I think is really important. I'm not here to diagnose anybody, and you know, we all have opinions and all the things, but there was a certain level of that was being called out in Kendrick's song that I don't think just applies to Drake. I think it applies to a lot of people, and it is this air of narcissism and this lack of any social responsibility, and as someone that grew up in Los Angeles, and as someone that has had a very complex lived experience, and as someone that has that served that that has worked in the community in various ways over my entire career and adult life and child life. There were some things that really bothered me about the way that Drake approached this rap battle because it felt like he was making fun of people that have trauma, and it felt like he was making fun of.
LA culture, which.
In theory I understand if you don't have a deeper understanding.
Of the world.
LA culture is so deserving of reverence. And I don't just mean the culture that you see on TV, right And I'm not just talking about these hood glorified films like Menaces Society or Boys in the Hood or you know whatever. And I'm not talking about Hollywood, and I'm not talking about Shaws of Sunset and the Kardashians and all the things. I'm talking about the fact that Crack hit Los Angeles and was put in Los Angeles in underserved communities, and it changed the fabric and the structure of black and brown households forever. It changed everything about the dynamic of what existed in La from family homes to you know, real community, into the riots and into the crack epidemic and into mass incarceration, and into people who had no other choice but to be a part of In some areas, a lot of broken families and a lot of possibilities were limited in people's lives when these things happened. And around that, there were so many responses and there were so many new creations and ways of being because of it that we continue to battle against. And so for someone that grew up incredibly privileged, who has said so themselves in various interviews, who grew up in a majority white environment in upper middle class areas, television star as a kid, access to great education, and none of these things are wrong, and all of these things are things that everyone really deserves, safety, right, privilege, access, love. But to come from that vantage point and speak to someone else who they themselves and their family system and their greater community had to serve vibe so much to exist and still made art and still shows up in service and still gives back and still makes music to help people. For someone that comes from so much privilege and excess and gluttony and fame and over consumption, from women, to food, to alcohol, to whatever the things that are said in the songs, to poke fun through mimicking vocal tones and mimicking accents, to mimicking ways of life and hierarchical structures that are present in certain communities in La and then to in their final song and actually get it really wrong, misinterpret a deep song to try to make fun of the trans community and of community that has survived childhood sexual abuse. It's just outrageous. It's insane. It's bizarre how tone Death Drake is to the rest of the world and to the suffering that people experience, and to even the line about you know, always rapping like you're trying to free the slaves. I mean, I pray, so if there are slaves they then we should all be trying to free them, Like what do you mean? So there were just so many things that to me not just highlighted Kendrick's superiority in terms of lyrical ability, in terms of emotional understanding, his superiority and consciousness, spiritual understanding, intellectual understanding, emotional understanding, but it just really highlighted to me how much we celebrate, make rich and like edify people who have a severe deficit and the way they understand the world and the way they understand themselves in the way that they understand other people. And I think fundamentally it's a massive issue that we have always based in society. It is this pedestaline of people without questioning character. And I'm not going to speak to any of you know, the allegations or the things that were specifically said about him and how he relates to women and women of certain ages, But what I will say is, without even needing to do that, the contrast is so apparent, and so you know, when I think of like now, of course it's dialed down to like what side are you on and who do you pick? It's less about the two of them as men, and for me, it's more about the greater story being told in the greater concepts that are being made available to us by witnessing that kind of epic battle unfold and why we are talking about it and should be talking about it, which is what is your real responsibility to the world when you have that much fame, that much access, and that much wealth. Drake very well and very clearly understands the power that he holds because of his fame and his talent and his wealth, and I don't believe he uses it to do anything other than edify himself and his own ego. And I don't respect that. I don't like that. I have a problem with that. And obviously he can still do what he wants and make music and there will still be millions upon millions of people that fund it and that love it, and that's fine, but we need to be looking at that. This isn't just a lyrical battle. This isn't just two guys that quote unquote have beef right. This isn't jay Z and Nas. This is like us really looking at what are we worshiping. Where are we giving away power? Where are we making ourselves weaker? Where are we empowering other people to cause harm? And I just think it's really really important to think of it in that context. I was talking to a friend, and I was in so many group chats on this. One of the friends that I was talking to, you know, I think we were I mean, God, we were going at it like we were going at it so hard, and I was just like, I'm not going to continue to talk to you about this unless you read all the lyrics of this song and spend time trying to see the fifteen different meanings behind every word. It's profound, it's special. Something moves through k Dot that is incredibly rare and valuable, and I'm grateful for the way he has used his life and used his gifts. And as we're kind of debating about everything, finally like after uh, they.
Not like us, they not like us, they not like us.
After that came out, which is just such an exceptional record, my friend just said, well, it doesn't matter to me anyway, because I don't know either of them, so I don't care about either of them. And something about when they said that like kind of shocked me in my body, and I was like, you don't you don't care about Kendrick, And they said, no, I don't know either of them, so I don't care. I get that, right, Like I get that, like not to take it all so personally, and I'm biased because I know Kendrick and I love Kendrick, so I'm biased.
I get that.
But to me, it said, you don't really see what he's done for people. You don't really see what his music has done for people and what it means to the world, whether.
You know him or not, I believe.
He should care about him because he's been impacted by his work, and his work looks and seeks to uplift others, you know. So it's so much more about like who do you choose and what's right or wrong? And you know is it I like club records and I like deep thinking records, And it's more about what what are the people that we're debating about doing for the world. What are people were debating about do for anyone other than themselves? And we should be requiring more from the people in positions of power and wealth, whether that is an artist, whether that is a rapper, whether that is whoever. Yes, they're giving us their art, Yes, you know that transaction is complete. But when we have people that actually push themselves to do more than they ever need to do and they are doing God's work, absolutely we need to care about them. We need to care about their lives. So I don't know, that's my take. You might be listening to this and think I'm being a bit extreme, and I will take that because I am biased. I'm from Los Angeles, and I have an immense amount of love and respect for Kendrick and everything that he stands for and everything that he's accomplished. But I think it's just kind of indicative of some of the bigger things that we're exploring right now. There are bigger themes that play within our collective consciousness and within the.
Way that we.
Approach the world and the way that we put people in power, and whether that is governmental power or that's just power in terms of popularity, we should be expecting and requiring that people have integrity and they have character, and that they don't cause harm at the bare minimum, at the bare minimum, at the bare minimum deeply. Well, So that's my take on that. Kendrick's agoat all day period, point blank. All right. So a couple other things that I kind of wanted to pop through that have been on my mind. I want to say huge shout out and thank you to fab Letics as a company and as a partner and to.
Karly at Fabletics.
I had this wonderful chance to kick off their mental Health Month with them in the huddles that they do in their company, and they have this in absolutely mind blowing, incredible campus in la that was really inspiring to be at the way they put everything together but we talked about workplace well being and I was able to spend you know, part of the morning with them and talk through self care practices and it was a beautiful conversation. Loved loved being with them. But a couple of things that I want to highlight from that talk is, you know, it's so important to be as an intentional about the way that we care for ourselves as it is the way that we are intentional about our purpose and about the work that we do. I see a lot of people, and this is so good and so necessary kind of very intricately plot out their journey and the way that they want to experience it. In career, right, we have certain milestones that we hit, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to work my way up, I'm going to do this, And a lot of that is just so constantly present in everyone's minds and the way that they approach things. Yet when it comes to taking care of ourselves, we think that just a few minutes of thought, it's just too much and it's too overwhelming and is it really going to do anything? And does it really matter? But if we could put that same level of intention and thought towards the way that we are looking to be on a trajectory of self growth, a way that we will give ourselves the patience and the space to become ourselves. You know, when we're looking for a promotion, we might be really honest with ourselves and say, oh, okay, that's my goal for the next two years is to get to this or to make this amount of money by this age, and then.
We give ourselves the grace.
And the space to rise and become whatever it takes to get to that final goal. And we don't really often some don't often approach personal self work, healing, growth, transformation, or at the base level self care with that same level of grace and intention. And if we could just kind of switch that lens a little bit, I think we could be really benefited by it. Because you have the skill, you have the ability. We're just applying it to other things. But what would happen in our lives and our bodies and our homes if we imply that same level of intention and the way that we want to show up with our families and in the way we want to show up with ourselves and our privacy and our private lives. So just something to think about and if you get a chance later this week as this episode wraps, think about that a little bit more deeply. You know, what is a way that you approach your life with high intention, with high discernment, with a lot of kind of active participation, And is there a way that you can reverse engineer that and do that also for your heart and for your personal growth and for the ways that you wish to show up and impact your spiritual curriculum and the greater work that you do in the world. Just something to think about before we head out in case my son ever discovers this episode in the future. Happy birthday to my dearest boy Quest Mandela, who just turned six in May. And you are an exquisite child and I'm so grateful to know you and I'm so grateful to love you. It is an honor and happy birthday to me because I've been a mom for six years. I can't believe it.
Dear God, thank you, thank you.
I want to shout out nausea from Yoga Littles, who did a phenomenal job of just coming to my son's birthday party with him and his kinder classmates and they did this incredible yoga activity for the whole afternoon that she created just for him, and it was called it was a Yoshi themed birthday party we had from Mario and it was.
Called Quest Yoga Yoshi.
I hope I'm saying that right.
It was so cute.
They did yoga, they did like this scavenger this mindfulness scavenger hunt, and all the kids, which really kind of surprised me, and all the parents were so into it and were just like instantly connected. And it also just speaks to the power and the excellence of Nausea as a teacher and her company in the way that they formulate all these processes.
So they are.
Based in La Yoga littles checking out on Instagram and in the world. But big love and reverence for usus for that and for your gifts. And I also want to shout out everybody that I had a chance to meet in Atlanta at the podcast festival. Black Effect and iHeart had their second annual podcast festival. It was incredible. I had an incredible time for a few different reasons. And I had a really special time hitting the stage for my live episode that I had a chance to do. So I want to say a big thank you to doctor Joy Harden Bradford Therapy for Black Girls. I've been blessed to have around the podcast a few times, so look back for earlier episodes. And also to my dear friend John Hope Bryant, who also now has a financial podcast on this network and he is just, I mean, an absolute leader beast in the financial and philanthropic worlds and in the space of really social and civil rights.
So please check out both of.
Them if you are not already familiar, because they do incredibly impactful work in this world and lead with just a tremendous amount of love and integrity and excellence. And I'm so grateful for them for joining us at the podcast festival. So I have a couple of recaps on my Instagram. You can check it out at Debbie Brown. You can check out some videos from that day and some pics and all the things. As always, thank you for listening. And let's just take a few deep breaths here, and I want to invite everyone, if it's safe and comfortable wherever you are, to take a deep breath in through your nose. Just hold it for a second after belly in your chest are filled and do a slow, full release. We'll do that two more times here, deep in hell, through your nose, filling your belly, first, rising to your chest, expanding, hold the breath and release, and again deep in Hell. Hold release and bring your hand to the center of your heart if it feels comfortable. And I want you to come deeply into the presence of your own body, of your own wisdom, of your own lived experience, And I want you to think about the way you show up for yourself and your life and just hold that there for a second. Whatever thoughts are populating that beautiful brain, I want you to take a moment to think about how you experience other people that you pay attention to and consume. Maybe that's on social media, maybe that's with music, maybe that's in your workspace. But I want you to just notice who do you have your eyes on, Who are you aware of, Who do you find yourself observing, consuming, participating with, and as whatever names those are, whatever experiences those are, begin to kind of gently flood into your awareness. I want you to just put a little bit of a pen in them, a little bookmark there, and I want you to set the intention to look at them and to look at yourself with a cleansed lens, a cleanse lens of perception, and I want you to start thinking what attracts you to them, what attracts you to their work, what attracts you to their style of being? And is there room to look at it a little bit more deeply and see if there is another pattern at play, whatever that may be, and see if the people that you have been connecting to in that way, if they still represent the best choice for you. Is there opportunity to kind of maybe now switch up some of the things that you think about and consume based on where you are on your journey and your level of consciousness. Is there may be an opportunity to kind of gently.
Lay off or edit.
Anythings that maybe don't nourish you or feed you or.
Empower you.
Just something to think about here. We always have the opportunity to bring our agreements up for review. And those agreements are not just our relationships with other people the way we show up for them. It's also with everything we put into our lives and experiences. Just like we have to think about the things we put in our mouths and how it makes us feel and the reactions our body has to it when we're on the path of higher consciousness, and if there is a little more sensitivity to the way you experience people and energy or your own healing, it's important to make edits with that same level of discernment. You may not have a stomach ache because of what you're consuming, but is there a numbness?
Is there a heartache? Is there.
An exhaustion? And you don't have to judge it or you, but just bring it up for a review and you'll make the choice for yourself. Another deep breath here, deep breath in through your nose, hold and release. Thank you for joining me for this episode. Let me know what you think. Hit me on Instagram at wi Brown, tag me in a post, send me a DM, leave a comment. Much love, Always not mistake. The content presented on Deeply Wells serves solely for educational and informational purposes. It should not be considered a replacement for personalized medical or mental health guidance, and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, it is advisable to consult with your healthcare provider or health team for any specific concerns or questions that you may have. Connect with me on social at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram, or you can go to my website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, don't forget. Please rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode to a friend. Deeply Well is a production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jacquess Thomas, Samantha Timmins, and me Debbie Brown. The beautiful Soundback You Heard That's by Jarrelen Glass from Crystal Cadence. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
