Fat Joe BROUGHT IT to Red Table Talk, so Tracy and Cara are bringing fellow Fat Joe fan and rap artist Radio Blitz to Let’s Red Table That to dissect everything Fat Joe did–and didn’t–say at the red table. Should Fat Joe use the N-word in his music? Does Tracy want to be called an “itch” with a “b?” They get into it all on this episode of Let’s Red Table That.
Hosts Information:
Cara Pressley
@thecareercheerleader Cara’s Instagram
@TheCareerCheerleader Cara’s Facebook
@the1cheering4U Cara’s Twitter
@FeelinSuccessful Cara’s TikTok
Tracy T. Rowe
@tracytrowe Tracy’s Instagram
@troweandco Tracy’s Facebook
@tracytrowe Tracy’s Twitter
@tracytrowe Tracy’s TikTok
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LET’S RED TABLE THAT is produced by Red Table Talk Podcasts. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Jada Pinkett Smith, Fallon Jethroe and Ellen Rakieten. PRODUCER Kyla Carneiro. ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Yolanda Chow. EDITOR AND AUDIO MIXER Stepfanie Aguilar. MUSIC from Epidemic Sound. LET’S RED TABLE THAT is in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Hey, y'all, Hey, what's up and welcome the Legs Red Table that. I'm Tracy t Row and I'm Cora Presley. What episode listen to? Legendary? How are you feeling about Fat Joe and his interview or Red Table Talk? Tracy, I feel like I could have listened to another hour of Fat Joe. Fat Joe. Let me just tell you a storytelling King Fat Joe. When I say I was all in, he gave us like visualization of things. It was just so rich and not just the storytelling, but what he shared it was just good. He's a legend. First of all, can't we just say that Fat Joe is a hip hop dang on legend. We're tipping our hat to you and giving you your flowers while you're here, and we appreciate you. Cara. We have lost some people in hip hop world. We have rest and peace take off. That is new Nipsey. I mean, it's hard, So that's why it was it's better sweet to see him at the table because I'm glad he's still have living legend in here. But on top of it, we just have so many that we lost at the same time. So we want to just say from our virtual red Table to the family, friends and fans of all those who have been lost in the hip hop world. Our sincere sympathy to you, because we know that they mean a lot to us as artists, but we know they mean so much more to you as your family members and your friends, and so we just want to acknowledge that. And I think Fat Joe got an opportunity to say that when it came to Big Pon and definitely indicated how much of an impact they had on their lives and how he still is trending up the next generation. I mean him discovering something I didn't listen. He talked about so many things we didn't know. Let's talk about some others. DJ Keller was a little mind blowing from me. Maybe that's just shows how much I don't pay attention to hip hop like I thought I did, But you didn't know. I like that I didn't know. I did not know how to clue. So one of the things that I loved about his conversation. First of all, back in the day, when you saw a Big Pon, you saw that Joe right, it was like it was a tool for right. The Terance Squad. They were just they were dominating back into day and Remy mall loved her to Remy Ma, come on here, yes, please thank you for acknowledging you know the queen we got to talk about. I just appreciate the fact that he was like, I discovered DJ Khalen and he's like a brother to me, and I'm so happy for him. And then he was like, but now DJ Kalen is doing He's got greater success, right, And I was, God, hold on, I thought, let's have a conversation here. And I love that he took it beyond him having a spiritual connection, right and literally went to d J Kalen was like, dude, I just had a conversation with God, and I love that he is the greatest. God is the greatest, and come on, DJ Kalett. But really the anchor that they both have their spirituality, because if you look at Fat Joe, for everything that he's gone through, he didn't plan any of that was all and so much stuff that it was a shot in front of his mom left home at fourteen, I mean, just smashing a bottle over. Somebody's going to prison, and how they put him in solitary confined to keep him safe, and he was like, also, how he turned to the arts, he turned to the graffiti, he turned to the music. And he's still an authentic person, even from the way he loves his wife to the way he defended a SHUNTI I mean so many things. Okay, so now we got to talk about both of those cars. So let's take it in the order you said it. Yes, first of all, his wife is gorgeous. But there was one particular moment when he started talking and it was truly like being at someone's holiday table. The red table turned into like the cookout table when he was talking and Willow was like, oh Willow was right, like she had to hinge, like, oh my gosh, I don't want hear adults talking about other adults in their body parts, and he was, can I just be honest here? And I love He shook Willow's arm and her shoulder. He was like it was high as it was a fat ass, and she was just like, oh that I love those stays her ground. But baby, she was not that, like it was uncle fat Joe, like it was uncle Joey at the table. She was like, I do here it is I absolutely loved seeing Willow in that position. It was sweet to see like they were family and like she was a kid, even though I know she's gone. And then I'm gonna tell you the way he stood up for a shanty. Oh yeah, necessary, But were even him telling the story about how he stood up for his wife. First, he has an authentic connection with women, and he said that, he said that we are powerful. He loves us. Shout out to you, fat Joe, stands up for your wife against her ex and standing up for a shanty in the middle of the interview controversy, even when he said how ev got his face changed? He was telling him, this is my sister. But there's so many people out here who lie and may be fairy telling us y'all come on here, y'all be lying to us, and we people just don't believe. Oh there are some people who actually still respect with me. Yes, And he meant it like that's his sister and he loves her and protected her. And I'm grateful that he stood up and spoke the truth about that and called her gotty out. But it was about a shanty, And can you imagine how seen affirmed and loved the shanty felt in that moment? That part. Listen, somebody said a shanty might be at the table, so come on here because we can't wait. We're gonna have to see I cannot wait. Love her. No, this was a great episode. I'm grateful he came to the table, and I'm gonna tell you something else. It was nice to have someone who still had trauma, who still went heartache, but the way that he shares it, there was still so much light in it, and I think for this season it was necessary to be able to have a moment where we could see, right, just a good positive episode. Not that the others aren't positive and informative, but this was a nice, lighthearted episode. I'm excited about his memoir and I'm excited about just what's next. Now it's time to share what our online Red Table Talk community has to say about this episode. Amy Perry said, so amazing. I love to hear his stories and his way of telling us. It's so captivating. I said he was a storyteller, and I'd seal the table and save it. Don't touch that table again, add I love that I do too, Amy, I'm with you, and we are happy to also hear from Leslie Shade. Lastly, said, this was really an amazing interview. I'm so glad that Joe decided to let his hair down and allow fans and everyone to see the man he has become. Appreciate these r t t s great interview. It really was a great interview. Yes, they had done a part two with him, you know, he could come on back. I love it. Okay, And last, but not least, Tiffany Spencer Gert said, I met Fat Joe about fifteen years ago and a teeny holding the Wall Italian Restaurant in Little Italy in New York City. He was with his crew, but was super cool and took a picture with me. Seemed like a humble guy. You know, I love a good story. I love a good behind the scenes. I totally see him being like, yeah, come on getting this picture from that. You know, I totally see him doing that. I love that. I mean you can feel his genuine humbleness from him being at the table and just the way how he loves women in his life, and you know how he talked about his daughter and his wife. I mean, he's just I really like Fat Joe. Thank you guys for sharing your fantastic comments for us on the Red Table Talk community to keep them coming. We love hearing from you. We're gonna take a quick break, but when we get back, we'll be joined by our incredible guest. UM super excited to welcome Radio Blitz or just Radio B to the virtual Red Table. He is a friend, MC songwriter, platform builder, fashion designer, and so much more right here from my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Radio B is joining us because he is a rap artist like Fat Joe, and he's going to share what he calls Fat Joe a pioneer. So welcome to less Red Table. That Radio be welcome. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. YEA not a problem. I can't wait to get into this one. Super excited like you had the one like one of the best bios ever, Radio B. Right, you had to take a good long breath to get all that out that. I love that. This is a part of the show where we reveal which moments made us pause, rewind and listen again. It's time for Wait What Wait? I love o wait What segment. It's one of my favorite seconds in the show. We had a lot of good ones with Fat Joe bringing to the dog on Red Table, but let's see the first one, Fat Joe revealing his first nickname and the story behind how he got it. Okay, Joey Crack, where did that name come from? Joey Crack. The way I got Joey Crack was before the drug crack, when the teacher would ask me to go to the chalkboard and write something. I always had like sweats like I'm wearing, and the crack of my ass was shot, and so the girls would be like, good, Jeey crack, Joey, and it just stood my name. I had it. I made it my graffiti name, and then it turned into my rap name. Okay, Joey Crack had me rolling, y'all, Joey Crack. I ain't see that, Okay, I honestly would have never guessed that a kid would have been named Joey Crack unless he was selling crack number one. That's what I was going, okay, And I think everybody thought that right that It was like, Okay, yeah, it's because you're selling crack, But it was because they saw the asset crack. Hello, let's it's hard. Let's it's hard. Radio Beat. Listen, you have a nickname, Radio Beat? How do nicknames really play a part in hip hop nicknames. It's a part of our culture, just especially Black folk culture in general. Just be good for a nickname. But they stick or they don't stick. But the ones that stick, it doesn't really matter why you got it, it's there for life. Got so and don't you find that the nicknames are usually somebody making fun. Yeah, for sure, especially when it comes to family and family giving you a nickname. With him, I think that nickname hadn't evolved meaning over time if you know anything about Joe. But it's interesting that he had enough confidence to actually take what nickname came from someone joking on him and owning it. That was dope. I think he was still owning it because I don't know if it's saw it, but he was still showing a little bit of the crack of his assets at the take. I missed that. You said it was in there. I didn't see that. I'm telling you go back. I was like, Okay, Joey Crack, you're still living after this? I see there you go, bless It's hard. He's had a heck of a journey though, I mean he's told a lot of stories. This goes into our next Wait, what his story about standing up to his dad and leaving home at fourteen because of it. One day my father went to hit me. We was eating and I court it boom, and then he went to kick me. I grabbed his legs. I had him like hanging upside down. So I was a big four teen So I tell him in Spanish, you can't put me no more. You can't put me no more with this kind of experience, Have you leaving home in fourteen or do you know anyone who's experienced that radio I was kind of young for me to even think about. I can't say that that type of experience would have me leaving home. I can say that I've related to those types of experiences, and I can say that it can lead you to wanting to leave home. What I thought was interesting about that was he didn't leave home because he was forced to, you know what I mean after that incident. It was more so like the respect that he had for his father. You know what I'm saying, even amidst the circumstances as they were, was just like, you know, I crossed the line and I'm embarrassing. I'm shamed by that, and I just need to know that way for it. Yeah, right, this episode was super transparent. I don't think I expected the story that he was giving, but when he did say he ran out and well after he confronted his father, and I've experienced that with my son. They buck up at you because they're trying to they're in a moment of survel or I gotta stand up for myself, but they're still kids in their hurt. So I appreciated him being that transparent. So we could hear that absolutely. When he decided to leave home of fourteen, he started getting exposed to a whole another world of things. That's how he found out that the world is cold. He ended up having the whole experience and really his nickname Joey Krack went from cracking the but to crack something else right, A right, like you cracked that glass across that guy's head. It was a lot, and so it made him. It was a turning point for him. I think it was a really pivotal moment in his life when he left home because he had to fend for himself. He went from being a fourteen year old child to being in the position where he had to become a man. Radio. Why do you think as far as young men who transition into music used situations like confronting their parents or even the story he told about his heart turning cold. I often thought about those parts in different men's life, like how does that truly impact you? Do a lot of men have a moment where they're like, this is it, I'm no more nice guy? Right? Yeah? The loss of inno sence I think happens to humans across the board, right, men, women, I think with men, because we have pride, we have ego, we're taught that we have to be able to be strong and defend ourselves and not to be weak. So it kind of puts you at these forks in the road where it's either I handled this way or I go another direction and go at my own I think it's important to kind of consider what time period that was. And this is New York, and this is really the eighties, right, like the eies, so people were growing up really fast. If you listen to any of the rap music from that time period eighties early nineties, you wouldn't believe Nas was like eight seventeen, eighteen years old, right. Just the way that he's telling the stories and what he's seeing and the knowledge and wisdom that he's applying to this. A lot of people were raising themselves during that time frame. So for him to feel the need to say, Okay, I'm gonna leave and go out on my own wasn't really boring. It was I'm in that generation. I'm in the same generation with fat Joe. He was born in seventy I was born in seventy one. All of us gen xers, for the most part, had some moment of being feral, right, where we truly were in a position where we were raising ourselves, where we had to fend for ourselves. Not that we left home at fourteen like that Joe did, but that we were left to our own devices, and so our level of maturity and survivalship, the loss of innocence, as you said Radio B was far more advanced and happened way earlier for us than generations after, right, And so I think because he fourteen was different then, and when we think of fourteen now, it's like you're just a baby in the seventies. I remember being fourteen fifteen, I had responsibilities, right, I had stuff I had to do, and so fourteen then in fourteen, very clearly he was a big guy. Right, So that also plays a part psychologically for you, because you get treated already like you're older than what you are, because you're bigger than everybody else. Right. So I'm sure all of that played a part. I'm sure in his mind, if I have the strength to disarm my father, then I must be strong enough to go with alone. I felt the need to tell my father what he could have couldn't do, even if that meant you can't put your hand is on me. I'm of age to go and handle this by myself, right, go it alone. So if I can handle that, I can handle everything else. Another part of this weight would waste Graffiting the Red Table after the credits. Oh my gosh, I absolutely love legendary. What's doing He's gonna do graffitios? Yeah, he really did make history at the Red Table, like he said he would. I want to know, do y'all think they're gonna use that table going for I hope so. So I liked it and he signed it. I feel like they need to put put some what is it, Polly or whatever. I feel like they're gonna keep it. It's classic. They might have to buy another table. They got a few tables at the house. They got a bigger table, smaller table. So are we fanning out? Okay, Radio B, if you had a table that Fat Joe had tagged, I wouldn't do anything at it. I would You can't its own space? Who else has Fat Joe's text? Okay? So now, Radio B, what did you think about this? I loved it. It was some some stories I had heard because he's had like a short doc, so I'm very familiar with Fat Joe's story. I was born in the Bronx, so I have a respect and love from that standpoint. My parents, my family is from the Bronx, so I did not know that. So I was so, yeah, I have a guy love for Fat Joe. Yeah. Why do you think he's a pioneer in the hip hop world? Between him Turn Squad. Yeah, it's just he was one of those few that kind of played the executive role and played the rap star role. But also out of those guys except for maybe Jay Z and a few others, he could really rap. And I just think the way he approached a lot of things just there's only one Fat Joe, and he always had a way of coming up with a hit still to this, Like he can still put a hit together. So it's a multifaceted talent for me. And maybe he saw his tagging skills. He was doing that back in school. But then of course transition to the music and like you said, even that executive part of his life right, Like, he's leaving a clear legacy in several ways as a rap artist yourself, Radio be with legacy? Do you hope to leave? And I'm just gonna add this real quick before he answers. Radio has a whole mural in Richmond, Virginia. Okay, So I need you to know the legacy is already being laid and I love that for him. But what do you want to truly leave on? Man, that's a layered question. I think just for the things that I do, and I guess my purpose and why I do it is I really want to enrich are an empower artist from here. I'm really a hip hop head. So that's one of the reasons I rocked with Fat Joe so heavy, is because throughout all of the hits and everything like that, Like he's a hip hop head to the floor, you know what I'm saying. Core, Like he still cares about people that can really wrap and just making sure like that element of hip hop is represented. And I do it for those people. I do it for lyricists, the people that really have something to say, really put craft into their lyrics. So for me, it's giving people opportunities that were not laid out for me when I was in that position. We're also giving the ability to help develop artists in a way that keeps them pure to what's been important in the essence of rap, whether that's battle rap, whether that's just that MC aspect. I just really want to keep that alive. And so a lot of the things that I do are focused in that respect. We talked a little bit radio about what you do, but how do you do what you do? Give us an example of how you create the platform for the people that you're helping to lift as you climb. So I have two platforms right now, which are South Pall three, but South Pall Battle Coalition that started for in about two thousand fifteen, two thousand and sixteen, which is a battle league. If anyone's familiar with like Smack you r L and seeing those types of battles, that's the format in which South Paul takes place, and we've been able to really set some trends and make some impacts in and out of the city, and that led to me being able to figure out and facilitate my next platform, which is RBA Rapidly, which we just finished our fifth season. It's a monthly event where we have thirty mcs that compete in the cipher would acts as a league. Really, it's not like a one off situation. We track statistics throughout the season and we have an m v P s. We have a champion every month. So we want people to get their songs off and the music that they're working on, we want that to be presented properly. We want people to get their bars together and be focused on that and get that off. We want the producers to have a space to express themselves and the connect with the artists and hopefully build those relationships. So we do those things, but then we also have systems in place that make sure that the journalists and the podcasters and the people that cover from a media standpoint are plugged in. So need we know that Fat Joe had an opportunity to discover fresh new talent, one of them being DJ Khalid that's phenomenal, and so you are in a position where you will discover your own DJ kality Qui. Yeah, there's definitely the opportunity. And there's a bunch of incredibly talented artists that come through the platform and are doing some wonderful things. So I expect that there will be some great origin stories that will come from RBA rapidly. Kalid discovered and an artists also from from Virginia Red Rum. So and see it just contchangues. That's what I was talking about lifting as you climb right, you see the that is cyclical and in the way the fat will discovered DJ Kalett and then DJ Kalett discovered someone, rev Rum will discover someone, and so it continues to pour back into the community, which I love that because it dispels the myth that we don't work in community, that we are not connected, and that we are siloed and selfish, and that is not true. And so I'm so grateful that you are demonstrating that not through one, but several platforms and organization structures that you have. We're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, we're gonna have a more conversation with our fantastic guest Radio B. You talked about words and making sure they get their words out and that they're the lyrics are good, So now we got to talk about that. But there's some lyricism that's been on the hot table and then the scene. Come on, let's talk about it. Let me tap into it. An aspect that has not been a positive about Fat Joe's legacy is his use of the N word, which is it's interesting, I can't wait to tap into this. He used to defend it, and he's saying he was raised with this term and he means no disrespect on this. I really think intention is a big factor, so let's talk about it. In a recent interview, he said, first of all, my project, I'll give you eighty percent black still so I'm Spanish. I knew I was allowed to, you know, but the whole time I thought I was black. Anyway. So my mom lives there forty years before I was born, in this project that I'm born, blonde hair, green eyes. She brings me there. The first thing is they go, oh, look at this little and word Joey. He got green eyes. The minute I'm walking the guys in the building, Like, yo, look at that little in word Joe, fat little Joe. That's all I knew my whole life, even before elementary. It's a part of our culture and some degrees, I understand his intention and where it's going with it. Radio, what's your take on this? I've been so I don't. I don't view many questions as being hot seat questions for me, but this one I kind of do. And maybe because I'm from New York and because I've known of fat Joe and people like fat Joe my whole life. You know what I'm saying. And I've never questioned it nor had anything to say about it before, So for me to act like it's a problem now would be a little hypocritical. I mean, I guess I could say, oh, we unlearned things. Yeah, I haven't unlearned, using the term myself. So I get that he is not black, But man, I don't like Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans black. They like the same thing. They're the same thing. I mean, people could I know some people are gonna be mad at me for saying that, but this this just the same thing, you know what I mean, We we we we were up in it grew up same projects, there were the same racism, deal with the same cops, get killed by the same cops and the same gangs. You know what I'm saying. The people that are doing the oppression make no distinction between They don't distinguish it that part. It's been white and everyone else. A lot of times you can't tell between Puerto Rican kid and a light skinning kid and that same project. So that's why they didn't probably know if he was black or not. You know what I'm saying. It's been plenty of like ambiguous looking kids. I can't say because some of them are Puerto Rican in black, some are you know what I'm saying, you don't know, so I don't know. I'm not here to say, Okay, let me who your daddy, who your mom? Right? Mad at me for that? Right? Whoever? This is yeah, exactly, And I'm not even mad at you about it, because I really think that there's an assumption amongst the culture, and then there's a perception that's given to others. So we assume we're non white. That's all we know. Like we're gonna go ahead and wrap about what's going on day to day. What is what But the perception is you could be perpetuating that narrative to the other white Okay, so that's what I'm saying, But that's don't understand that not any environments. They're not really any environments, and they don't understand the culture Radio be and Cora. Here's my take on it, Okay, and listening to and seeing his words right, knowing if you especially like you said the bronx, but it's any neighborhood, it's any hood. I'm gonna use these words very distinguishedly. Okay, long ago and far away, my father told me that nigger has no color. Okay, anybody can be a nigger by definition of the word. Now, when someone in the neighborhood and the way that they're talking about little Joe, if we read this again and he said, I'm born blond hair, green eyes, she brings me here, the first thing they say is, oh, look at this little nigga, Joey, he got green eyes. This man are not walking the guys in the building like, yo, look at that little nigger Joe, Look fat Joe. They're not saying look at this little nigger. They're saying, look at this little dude. It's an adjective, it's a descriptive word, and the intention is to look at this guy, look at this little man. They are using that word interchangeably and for someone who I do not use the N I G G E R. We'll tell somebody nigga. If you don't shut your ass up, let them know. Tracy say to my family, real talk, real talk. It's listen. Cultural competencies. But now, if you are literally white, don't come and say that to me. Yeah, I don't care what and I don't care what environment, So then the environment situation doesn't play that I distinguish it. There's there's something to think. If you white, I can't give you that past. Don't care where you grew up, and you should know that. And if you're white and you grew up in this environment, you should know that. You should have enough respect for the people you grew up around to know you're not supposed to be using that word. It only stanks when I hear other people singing it that are not in the culture. And then I'm like, you don't have sense nothing, sense of yourself. I mean, I know there's an argument there too, and I have I'm going through a through radio, you know, I want to eliminate it. Get that how. I address this in a poem some years back, But I was like, but I'm just I'm in the same space. Yeah, I would like to. It hasn't happened yet. That is a conscious It is conscious, and if you're purposeful and mindful about it and when you use it and where you use it and how you use it and see for me, I know the difference and what the intention is. That challenges that There's so few people now who sing songs with the word in it. They don't understand what they're really saying, and they think that they're just saying you're black. That it's just a part of dialect for right. Yeah. My brother jokes often because he has to clean my music up, and he says, I used that word more than anybody. Not more than anyone, I mean, even as I grow, like in my twenties, the word was every other word for really every other word. As I'm older, I don't necessarily need it as often. I mean, but I understand it in the creative space. That's why I like rapidly though, and why I come to them. It's a rhythm thing for me. Okay, I got it. It's not part of my regular vernacular. I can tell you that I know how to use it. That's not part of my regular vernacular because so few people understand what it means when they hear you say it. And I'm sure the people on Pop's gonna be like Clutch the Pearls and Tracy's saying, Okay, have I said it? Yes? I said, do I use it? And is it in my complete playlist? Absolute? It's all over the place. But it's interesting to me that this is such a topic because like even Jay Z and Oprah Winfrey had a huge debate about this right that it was literally one of their hot seat conversations where he was like, I'm not trying to change it. I won't ever stop using it again. New York native was like, it's part of who he is, and they said it there was what he heard. It was like all in his whole entire life before our elementary school. So good luck Radio B. Yeah. I used to stand on it a lot harder in the sense of I remember and I've been into podcast with some folks other folks, and to like that be the discussion, I just me personally, that's what I would stand on before, and I'm not gonna say I don't stand on it now. I just don't feel it strongly about it. That is a word that we take can ownership of, and you can't just use it, you know what I mean? Over there, you can't do you can't use it. And I'm one of the things I said to them, I say, when we have ownership of more things, maybe we'll be able to release that word because it won't be like the only thing that we have ownership and think that you don't have ownership of. Right. So now let's talk a little bit about how the ownership of words and lyrics that are used in hip hop. There's this other long standard debate readio B about how hip hop lyrics are used to describe women, if they're complementary or degrading. Now you know what I'm talking about. Okay, So now who you're calling them? Come on with people. Now, how do you think lyricists can stay true to their experiences while also uplifting the people they're writing about. I don't think the derogatory term for women needs to be used at all. I feel like that's something in that once again, now I may use the N word in my music. I also use it in my regular language, but I don't use the B word in my regular language to refer to women, So therefore I'm not going to use it in my music either. So I think people do it because they say it in real life, and I think they also do it because they find it to be entertaining, like they feel like that's what people like to hear. I just don't think it's I don't think it's necessary. I get that it's part of the culture. I just think it's disrespectful. So I don't need that word. Well, I appreciate that, because I'm gonna telling you now there's a line I draw, and I don't want to be called a bitch? Would it be? I don't need to be called a garden tool. I don't need any of that in my life. I don't need to sing about it. I don't want to hear that. I grew up listening to snoop though, but it's it didn't it didn't influence me. So I mean, seeing I've sing along to it, you know what I'm saying. Because if you listen to the doggy style, that's all it was. Back then, it was like super crazy. So I don't even think people use the H word that too much anymore. I don't hear that in music as much, the word not like how it was, right, Oh yeah, because back in the day, I hear more specific actions. To be honest, I feel like they have just yeah, I feel like I've I started hearing more. But your girl gonna it's a whole lot of that. Like it it's gone to a mother because I was gonna say, who wrote the whole song about it? You know You're You're rock three different after every joke, Okay, yeah, right. But now as I'm getting older, I have a different perspective. I actually saw a video before we came on about a little scrappy and he was talking to his mom about how he was raised in a horhouse and I actually didn't even know about this part of his life, but he saw some negative things, and for the first time I realized again got those rose color glasses on Tracy. For the first time, I realized some of the things that rap artists may go through truly do impact their music in the way. I mean, not that before. What I'm saying is to radio bes point. Earlier, I thought some people really just saying you thought they were just making just wanted the dollar. I mean, and there actually are people who do just make up stuff. But I'm realizing more that it's really truly a lot of experiences. You mentioned Snoop Dogg earlier Radio b the whole idea that what they called gangster rap, that was them talking about what they had experienced in their life. Definitely get it. Shout out the n w A. I mean, just you know, we had not heard that right. They were literally just talking about what was going on in their day. I'm private school kids, like growing up, private school kids listening to rap. I'm just excited about the music and the culture and following my book, the problem didn't start while you were listening to it. It was when your white counterparts start listening to it it became a problem. That's when Chipper Gore went cuckoo for Coco Puffs and all these sensors had to come to play, right, See that it wasn't a problem if they were influencing you and your can in your neighborhood negatively to say, okay, we want to embulate what we hear. When Buffy and Tipper heard right, and tiny Tim to radio. Do you think hip hop artists need to experience types of traumas in life and death situations like fat Joe overcame to to write powerful lyrics. I feel like I know the answer to this, But how do you think everybody deals with trauma? Not nearly at the same level, not nearly, not nearly to the same extent or frequency, however, enough to express themselves in a way that conveys emotion. I think it's a matter of being able to tap in with those emotions and figure out how to communicate and convey them in a powerful way. So there's just all sorts of perspectives in life in the world that need to be told that millions of people resonate with. So I don't think that you have to go through the extent of Joey Krack's life in order to be able to tell a powerful story. You just have to be able to understand your story enough to convey it in a way that people can feel it. Can you also have a vivid enough imagination and still be authentic in the storytelling that you don't have to have lived it in order for it to be authentic. There's plenty of people who do that, but a lot of times they're called out right, they're called out we've seen we've seen that because it wasn't true. Yeah it's true for someone, and many times they are, and many times they aren't. Most times they are. We're real pc swits Switzerland right there at radio being you're like somemar, some are I feel like radio sees a lot of it, right, Yeah, I mean, I'm just saying there's plenty of people that are telling other people's stories. There's people that are on a block but ain't in the block. Okay, so they see it but the window around it, but they're not in it. But that's okay. So even if even in that, that's fine. They're not saying, all I shot this person. That's exactly yourse watching it because you can get PTSD from watching a period, you know what I mean. So that's still way closer than the person that's telling that story from the suburbs. They there's people from the suburbs telling them same stories that they wasn't even in the window for so okay, So that's what I'm talking about. If someone from the suburbs is telling the story and making it a first person experience, is it inauthentic for them to share that if it's something they envisioned it, I mean it's inauthentic, But it's entertainment, and it's the entertainment business for all intense purposes have at it. Just hip hop is a little different though. See in this generation, it's like, why does everybody care if somebody helped write or if somebody's telling a fake story or this, that and the other, because they're not understanding that hip hop was built off of the purity of the experience, right, So it's a there's a there's a real life street element to hip hop, even when it's not violent, right, Like it's about the people, so it was. And it's also it was created by poor kids, right right, that needed a voice. Right, that's the purpose of hip hop. Kids that could not afford instruments, creating music from turntables and a microphone, right, so plugging into the light poles at the park, and not being able to go into the clubs because how they dance, how they dress. You couldn't get into clubs because they were doing the disco. It was dressed up, so like where could you go to party? So going to the wreck calls and you're going to the parks to party because that's the place that you could come as you are dance how you want to dance. And you know what I'm saying. So it's that I think people forget that, you know what I mean? But do you have to have that in order to be authentic? Now? In order to be successful? No, in order to be authentic, I'm not saying that you have to be from you have to be poor, but you just got to tell your story. Okay, you know what I'm saying, because like respect the origins at least, and I think if you use those origins as pillars to your creativity, then you'll be authentic because you'll have enough respect for it that you're not just pretending. So then what's your message radio be? Because we're saying a lot about this, and I think that there's an opportunity here for you to communicate a message you'd like to convey to the people outside of your immediate reach. What do you say to an artist that's up and coming that's not really sure if they don't have the quote unquote poor kid or PTSD trauma neighborhood, what do you say you don't need that. You don't need that. You just need to tell your story. Just really get to know yourself, and not only just your story, but your style, how you presented. Don't copy anybody else's style, you know what I mean. This generation is way too comfortable with sharing their sauce. Like they're too comfortable with sounding like the next exactly like the next guy, to the point where nobody's even nobody even questions that anymore. I mean, what do you say to that, or even trying stop stop? I love it. I love that though, I mean because the reality is we are evolving as a culture, so everyone's not as poor as we were back in the day. Right, but like we all sto have our troubles and struggles. Like I said, there's millions of people that can relate to any of that. That's hip hop, right, Like in hip hop, don't be a biter. That's one of the main rules of hip hop always has been. Like you used to get beat up for that, you know what I'm saying, like being a biter, but like being a biter now it's not there that the word doesn't even get circulated anymore. Like you can literally just do whatever, like this guy made a song like that, then other big star in the game could come out and make a song using his flow, same type of words, same beat and everything, and everybody will still ride with that. It'll be like, oh, yeah, this is good too. And it's like, wait, you think social media contributes to that? Yeah, social media does contribute to that, because what it is like, at the very least, even if you didn't have the integrity to be unique in your own style, at least you had the style of where you were indigenous too, because that's what you heard around. Now because of the Internet, it's like everybody from everywhere, you know what I'm saying, So there is no oh, this is the sound that comes from New York, or this is the sound that comes from the West Coast, so this is the sound that comes from the South. Like everybody here, like everybody from New York are just as influenced by Atlanta. Everybody doing trail or everybody doing this or that, you know what I'm saying. So it's it's just a big you gotta find your own heart beat. Though I feel that even in the middle of the met even like to call it a melting everybody's hands in the likes it's a grab bag. That's what it is. A grab This has been a heck of it. What you're talking about. Oh my gosh, and I wish we didn't have to end it. But I've enjoyed talking to you so much. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all. Thank you for making me feel successful. Absolutely, Yes, we want to know how you're feeling about this new season of Red Table Talk. We're open to talk about any and everything with you, so please send in your questions at Let's Red Table That at red table talk dot com or don't forget. You can also leave us a voicemail at speak pipe. Don't you want to hear your voice? Tell us amazing podcast. Visit speak pipe dot com, slash Let's Red Table That. Yes, thank you so much for listening. We are so happy to have you with us, and make sure you subscribe on I Heart Radio app and please rate this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Y'all rate us a five? Okay, we want five. We'll be back next week for another episode of Let's Red Table That Special. Thanks to executive producers if Jada Pinkett Smith, Valan Jethro and Ellen Racketon. Thank you to our producer Londiru and our associate producer Yealanda Chow. And finally, thanks to our sound engineer Stephanie Aguilar, Hey, let's table that. Let's let's let's red table that