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Podcast Host
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Sprite Living Track List Narrator
You know what's funny? Hip hop fans can debate literally anything from the best rapper alive to the best era of hip hop, to what's the best album, to who has the best verse. Now Sprite is giving us a whole new argument. The Sprite Living track list is 50 songs that help shape hip hop culture, from rap legends to the hottest artist carrying the hip hop torch today. But the coolest part isn't just the tracks, and it's the stories behind them. The lyrics, the moments, the impact. Check out the full Sprite Living track list and break down the stories behind your favorite bars@livingtracklist genius.com this is the Sprite Living track list. Obey your thirst.
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DJ Envy
What up, y'?
John Hope Bryant
All?
DJ Envy
This is DJ Envy. Now, I got a chance to host the red carpet for 50 Cent's new series, Fightland on Stars. And I spoke to 50, and he breaks down exactly what the series is about.
50 Cent
It's a family crime drama. Okay, this one's gonna feel like it's a grade better than what I did in Power.
DJ Envy
Really?
50 Cent
I promise that.
DJ Envy
This one's a family crime drama mixed with boxing, real revenge, all in and out of the ring. The series premiere of Fightland drops July 31st only on Starz, with new episodes streaming weekly on Fridays.
Podcast Host
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John Hope Bryant
Welcome to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a production of the Black Effect Podcast network and Iheartra Foreign. Hey, hey, everybody. Is John Hope Bryant. And this is the Money and Wealth podcast series on iHeartRadio and Black Effect Network. And today is a special episode. It is the case for good capitalism and to really unpack what a lot of people are saying about capitalism and socialism and communism, wealth, opportunity and why America keeps getting this conversation absolutely wrong. Today is one of those episodes where there's no guess. It's just me. So you're stuck with me for the next 45 minutes or so as I began to unpack something that I write about in my bestselling book. Now, thanks to all of you who've made this book number one in three different categories, Capitalism for All, which is inclusive economics and the Future Proofing of America Forwards are by Michael Milken, Ed Bastian, and Andrew Young, Ambassador Andrew Young together. To get those three people on the same page is tough. So give it a read because it just might be the equilibrium that we all seek for this very important conversation. Anyway, I think I've qualified at this moment in time to speak on this complicated conversation in a way that I think will resonate with you, that you will see and feel as fair and equitable and respectful, but direct, which is my style. So let's get into this. It's just me today. I think we're living through one of the most important economic conversations of our lifetime, actually on the 250th anniversary of America itself. I think it's really a referendum on who we want to be when we grow up as a country, whether we want to adhere to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and all the things that make this country aspirationally great, and whether we're going to be a light on the hill for the rest of the world going forward as we have been, or whether we're going to fall backwards because we began to think and act small. And whether you recognize it or not, you cannot be. You never had a leader of the free world superpower that wasn't the economic leader at the same time. That's just never happened. Or let me rephrase it another way. It's always been that the superpower was also the economic power. And I write in this book, Capitalism for All, how I prescribe how America can continue to be the superpower. And 200 pages of just math. To quote my friend Melody Hobson, I like math because it doesn't have an opinion. So read the book. Write a review online. After you read the book. I'm not telling you what to write. Write what you feel. I think you'll find that the 60 or so reviews that are already up in the short time the book has been out are all basically just write about five Star. And these were people who were surprised that they liked the book. Anyway, let's get into this. Let me unpack this directly with you on this podcast and you'll tell me in the social media comments and questions whether you want me to continue this as a series or not. I also plan on doing some live discussions on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn as well, so I can talk to you in real time. Okay, but I can't talk. I can't unpack that. Like, I can unpack it here on this podcast in a structured way. So everywhere I turn these days, people are talking about what they think is capitalism and in a lot of frustrations tied to it, which actually I understand. And with it, they're talking about socialism and communism and billionaires. Okay, but before I get into all that, let me lay some ground rules right up front. In the first five minutes of this podcast, a lot of my friends and people in communities I care about say, I hate rich people. My response, no, you don't. You hate rich people until you become rich. What you hate is a game system. What you hate is a system that no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you hustle, you can't seem to get ahead. That you see some half witness on television that you believe strongly is half as intelligent as you and works half as hard as you do. And they're a billionaire or multimillionaire and it just looks like a rigged game. And so you throw your hands up, you say, this whole thing is corrupt, the system is rigged, system is gamed. It's a game system. And as a result, you hate it. You don't hate rich people. You hate rich people until you become rich. So let me help you ungame the system. Let me help you unrig the system by teaching you how this system works. Because we don't need less rich people, we need more of them. And we need them to include you. Because you will be responsible, you will be caring, you will do well and do good, you will prosper. And then make sure the latter is left down for those that come behind you to lift them up too. That is the legacy of this country. Up from Nothing. That was my fifth book. I believe up from Nothing. And so I believe financial literacy is a civil rights issue of this generation. When you know better, you do better. There's an old Southern saying, no matter how much I love you, my son or my daughter. If I don't have wisdom, all I can give you is my own ignorance. And so out of love we pass down bad habits from generation to generation out of love because of what we don't know that we don't know that's killing us, but we think we know. So let's knock it off with the bad advice. The reality is that even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you're the first collector, like a capitalist. Now think about that. You're listening to this podcast on a device that the government did not buy from you. I can say that with confidence. Unless you're listening to this from some communist country. And we are big all around the world, six continents, so maybe you are. But it's all the entirely like the. It's entirely likely and the overwhelming likelihood is you're listening to this from someplace where you are have some level of relative freedom and you're engaging in free enterprise and you are exchanging your human capital, your talents as a worker at the very least, or as a gig worker or as a hustler or as an Uber driver or whatever, a Lyft driver, or as a structured employee hourly or a salaried employee. You're trading that talent, that gift for a paycheck, for compensation. You are trading your human capital for money, just real talk. And you're using that money to pay your bills, to pay your car note, to pay your rent, to pay your mortgage, to pay your light bill, to pay your gas, which is increasingly going up to pay for your school fees. I mean, those kids are not being taken care of at school. I'm going to get to this because this is actually a little bit of a socialist vibe, I'll explain that. But if you're in Africa, you're paying school fees directly to the provider in many cases. So that's like a literal transact translation transaction. That's not socialism. We have a little bit of socialism in America actually, but every country has a little bit of socialism Shaw impact. But if you're paying somebody to cut your hair, they're not cutting your hair for free. You can't you pay somebody to take care of your, your kids in daycare, they're not taking care of your, your kids watch them for free. They're too bad. They're too much of a pain in the Gazanga beans to watch them for free. That's just not the. Unless it's your grandmother or your cousin or something. That's just not their role in life. So you're, you're transferring the opportunity for a fee. The opportunity to take care of your kids for a fee. They're not doing it for free. So just real talk. Like from the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed at night, your life is a series of financial transactions. You can't even watch or listen to this podcast without subscription fees, acquisition costs, the phone, the smartphone, the iPad, the car you're listening to, the radio, whatever it is you're consuming this with. So let's just understand that financial literacy is a civil rights issue of this generation. Let's understand that even the Bible talks about money more than anything else. More than 2000 references. Let's understand that the disciples of Jesus were overwhelmingly business people. Yeah, you heard it right from me. Here, check it out. They weren't prophets, even though we. They were largely business people. They had fishing companies, they had employees, they had infrastructure. It wasn't casual. He wanted people around him who knew what they were doing, like who can organize themselves. So let's get into this and stop arguing over stupid stuff. We shouldn't destroy capitalism. We should promote good capitalism. Good capitalism and get this out of the way. So good capitalism, where is where I benefit and you benefit more. So creating a comb as an entrepreneur that gets the naps out of hair, right? Straightens or whatever. That comb, which I manufacture for $2 and I retail for, let's say $7, which is the cost of production plus retailing, marketing, administration, et cetera, plus the profit margin. And then I sell that comb for again, seven, eight dollars. You feel that it's worth $8 or $10 to unnap your hair. Fair exchange is no robbery. There's good capitalism right there where I benefit and you benefit more. Bad capitalism is where I benefit and you pay a price for it. Drug dealing and murder and mayhem for fee and human trafficking and all kind of crazy stuff, subprime mortgages, a lot of stuff that is done from Wall street and Main street can be described as bad capitalism. Or as President Bill Clinton once told me, he said, john, it's hard to get someone to agree to the truth when the lie is paying their paycheck. Let's again deal with the reality of the matter that this system is all around us and, and we need to understand how to control. Master. Sorry, this system. Because if it's not working, if you're not working it, it's working you. Okay? So let's not get angry, let's not get upset, let's not tear it down. Let's refine it, make it better. Because I can't help anybody broke. You can't help anybody poor. There's a difference between being broke and being poor. I'm starting to preach to be broke is economic, but to be poor is a disabling frame of mind, a depressed condition of your spirit. And you must vow never ever, ever to be poor again. Folks joked and laughed at me when I brought bankers into the inner city. With bankers bus tours in the 90s. After I founded Operation Open 1992 in South Central LA. The 1990s, even the early 2000s, we had the biggest bus tour was 12 of these chartered buses with police escorts. And I treated it like it was a third world country. In south central LA, Washington D.C. different places. Oakland, where we did these tours. Because if you hang around nine broke people, you'll be the 10th. I don't care how smart you are, no one has capital. And so these communities have drug dealers and what? Check cashers, payday loan lenders, rental owned stores, title lenders, liquor stores, pawn shops, drug dealers, gangsters. And you're dying at 61 years of age because you're stressed out. Because people in a 500 credit score neighborhood die at 61 years of age. Did you know that? My Hope Financial Wellness Index. Go to operationshop's website, put in your zip code, I'll tell you how you're living. And by the way, for every 50 point increase in your credit score, you live about another five years. So if you get your credit score above 700, you live to 81 years of age on average. And we've mapped every zip code out in America. Now again, think about that 15 minutes away from the hood where we are rejecting capitalism but are completely involved in hustling, which is capitalism. But without the structure, without the incentives, without the legal nature of it, without the ability to compound. Because there's a difference between making money and building wealth. You make money during the day and income, you build wealth in your sleep. Things I keep trying to teach you. Stocks, investing stocks, bonds, education, businesses, real estate, etc. And as your stress increases in these underserved communities, you have a surviving mindset. Surviving mindset versus a winning mindset or a builder's mindset. And winners are builders. I need you to be a builder. And a builder's mindset is optimistic. I can't guarantee that being positive is going to make you succeed, but I absolutely guarantee that being negative is going to ultimately make you fail. And that negativity also is going to cause you your health to fail. Because thoughts are things. So you're going to be broke, you're going to be frustrated, you're going to be depressed, be arguing with your wife or your husband about money, you're going to have anxiety, you're going to have a heart attack or whatever, hypertension, eating bad food. Also in these communities I love, I grew up in, and you're going to drop dead on average at 61 but 15 minutes away with a credit score of 700 plus two parent households, restaurants, grass, grassy areas, calmness, you know, proper businesses, less stress, more education, more aspiration, more ownership. You live to 81, 91 years of age. Don't trust me? Look at the data, yo.
Podcast Host
I was scrolling through the Sprite Living track list the other day and immediately started arguing with myself. It was wild. Because records like California Love still not a player and back then are so much more than words and songs. They are moments, they are memories. They're snapshots of where hip hop was and where it's going. That's what Sprite gets. They've spent over 40 years celebrating artists who define the culture and now they're turning the conversation over to the fans. And if you're like me, the real fun is getting into the why. Why did this song matter? Why did this line hit? Why did it change hip hop forever? Now I can't promise you any answers, but with Sprite you will have a good time figuring it out. Check out the Sprite Living Track List and break down the stories behind your favorite bars@livingtracklist. Genius.com this is the Sprite Living Track List. Obey your thirst.
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DJ Envy
What up, y'? All? It's DJ Envy. We're at the premiere of Fightland, executive produced by my guy, 50 Cent. Yeah, now listen, you know you've done a lot on it over here. America decided to go to UK for this one.
50 Cent
Yeah, this one is different, so break
DJ Envy
it down for people that haven't seen it. Comes out the 31st. So tell us about Fightland.
50 Cent
Yeah, it's exciting. This one is a UK based show. I got Ottawa Bathurst to direct it. So the first two episodes he did really dope. And then I got like the other guys that I got to do throughout the season. It's like, top notch, bro. So you're gonna see this one's gonna feel like it's a grade better than what I did, like, in Power.
DJ Envy
Really.
50 Cent
I promise that.
DJ Envy
Now, for people that haven't seen it yet, it comes out July 31st. Fightland. How would you describe fighting?
50 Cent
I'd say it's a family crime drama.
DJ Envy
Okay.
50 Cent
Right. And it has an intensity in action that you would feel you received in an action film. And it does things that the other series don't do because we kind of jump timelines throughout the episodes and stuff like this. So you'll see things and go, oh, like things flashing back and things going to different, you know, backwards and forwards.
DJ Envy
I seen the first episode. I didn't see you in it. Are you in this season or are you at any season or. No, because usually we'll get a pop up, a 50, a pop up here and there. Are you in Fightland at all?
50 Cent
No, I'm gonna have to work on my British accent.
DJ Envy
Have you tried?
50 Cent
No, No, I did. I. I would have to work on
John Hope Bryant
it to do it, to get in this.
DJ Envy
What keeps you motivated to do it? You don't need the money. Is this like, at this point? What is it for?
50 Cent
Nah, it's cool. Creatively, like. No. No project is great because of one person. It's a collective, you know what I mean? And what. What I get a chance to do is communicate what they feel to the network before it gets like. They start developing reputations of being difficult or doing things, but they're comfortable expressing how they feel to me, you know what I mean? Now I'm at a stage where I can finance and license the project instead of giving it to the networks. For them to own.
DJ Envy
The series premiere of Fightland drops July 31st only on Starz, with new episodes streaming weekly on Fridays.
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DJ Envy
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John Hope Bryant
So let's start with it. Because with the rules of publishers and the plain fools level, we kill it. Professional sports, we kill it. The arts, we kill it. I'm talking about black people now. Faith. We kill it. Kill it. Mean we've mastered it and scaled it. Politics. From slavery to the President of the United States of America. As in President Barack Obama, who just launched his beautiful library with his wife Michelle in Chicago. These are living legacies. But we live in a capitalist democracy. That's right, I said it. And if you don't believe that, look at the recent elections and what's driving this whole situation. Look at what's driving the conversation right now in this country. Look who really has the power. Capitalists. Owners. Look at the household name. Think about the household names here and around the world. Okay, used to be politicians, now as business people. But they don't look like us. They don't have our pedigree. I was just at a meeting last week and I was the only black male founder, entrepreneur, CEO, chairman, up from nothing, formerly homeless, you know, from the hood in the whole group. Not because they don't want us there. They invited me. But there's a bunch of billionaires, multi millionaire CEOs, etc. But we're just not signing up for this movement at scale with the tools needed to sit at the table. And I want to expand the table and add a chair. That's why I'm trying to teach you how this game works. Because Forbes just made me a Forbes 250 with one of the Forbes 250 greatest living self made Americans. So they say on the 250th anniversary of America. And Oprah Winfrey, who I can say now is a friend, and she's amazing, is number one on that list. And number one on the greatest historic list of self made Americans is President Abraham Lincoln. So what a trajectory from Abraham Lincoln to Oprah Winfrey. And if she can do it, you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it too, legally. And it's not about net worth, it's about distance travel, right? It's the arc. And it's proof of concept that this stuff works. My success, Oprah's success, all the other people on that list, success is proof that this works. And it can work for you. And my book is a roadmap, Capitalism for All. So let's talk about this. Socialism, communism, billionaires, taxes, wealth inequality, the rich, the poor, everybody seems to have an opinion. Very few people define the words they're using today. We're going to redefine all of this and unpack it for you because we want to only argue about the solutions. We ought to just understand the problem. We shouldn't be admiring the problem or debating stupid stuff. And I believe America is actually getting this conversation wrong. So let's first talk about why people are so angry. Right? Let me just say right off the bat, as I tell my wealthy and rich, my rich and my wealthy and uber wealthy friends, including billionaires, when they ask me why this movement of people talking about socialism and why people so angry at me, them, I tell them that folks have a right to be angry, a right to be frustrated. The system has not worked for them. And capitalism and capitalists have done a crappy job of marketing itself and its virtues to the least of these God's children. A crappy job of making sure that the ladder of opportunity reaches the bottom and people can climb up with their own effort at the top. People I know who are from the hood and hood adjacent who want success, believe in the James Brown version of affirmative action. Open the door, I'll get it myself. They're not asking for handouts, they're asking for a hand up. But you can't boot your up yourself without shoelaces. So I, I tell my friends, we, you know, you guys got to do a better job of doing something other than celebrating yourself and how great this supposedly great the system is. We got a K shaped economy and somebody just told me they might have turned, it might have turned into an E shaped economy. In other words, the E shaped Economy is worse because there are these, like these ledges that, that don't go anywhere. The K shaped economy at least is an angle that you might be to rock it up. But it should be a V shaped economy where a V means victory in some point. So people are rightly so frustrated. Inflation's through the roof. You might, by the way, understand inflation came from COVID because there's never been a response by the government to anything in the history of the world before COVID with the T in front of it, as in trillion. Never. It's been hundreds of millions and billions in the global economic crisis of 2000 and the mortgage crisis of 2008, 2009. But this was billions. And it wasn't 1 billion. It was 2, it wasn't 2, 3, 4, 5 billion. Congress did all up. You're talking about 6, 7, 8 billion. A billion and a half of that was probably too much. But no, there's no manual you put off the shelf that said, here's how you solve Covid or some global economic, economic crisis. How you respond to a pandemic. The last pandemic we had was a Spanish flu in the world. It was 125 plus years ago. There was no manual then, there's no manual now. So the whole economy just seized up and people was like, we forget this. We're so traumatized. We don't want to remember it. But that's where the inflation came from because the government poured all this money over the freezed up gears, the locked up gears of the economy from big companies all the way down to your house when they send you a check for a couple thousand dollars. Remember that. Well, that has to be paid back, people. It has to be flushed through the system that causes inflation. You combine that and I mean, I'm a surprise, frankly. I'm surprised inflation is not more like 7, 8% given what we went through. That just shows how dynamic this economy is and how amazing we are that we recover from that. But people just forget they want to blame it on a president or something. Come on, knock it off. That was bipartisan stimulus money. Both Republicans and Democrats gave that money during the pandemic. And presidents from both parties contributed to this whole situation. It's just with an unfortunate situation with no good answer. I understand the concerns. I understand that people got too much month at the end of their money and they're using credit cards to get by with their standard of living. I understand the student loans are driving them crazy. I understand you can't, you can't Buy a house. The interest rates are too high because interest rates are high because the Federal Reserve is trying to stamp out inflation. So you cannot have low interest rates without risking high inflation. So they're trying to get the interest rates, the Federal Reserve. You cannot have low interest rates without triggering high inflation. You cannot have higher interest rates without dampening economic activity and making things expensive. So buying a house is expensive. Buying anything is expensive these days. It has an interest rate attached to it. Right. And then now you had oil is through the roof. So, I mean, people are. Are really frustrated whether whatever they turn, you know, affordable housing ain't affordable. And I say ain't on purpose. And so wherever you turn, you've got too much month at the end of your money, and you're just not a happy camper. And you want somebody to cut you a break. They want somebody to solve an actual problem in your life. So millions of Americans feel left behind. I get it. Young people wonder if they can ever own a home in California. They're building what they call in Hawaii Ohana's, I think, but they're building residences above the garage in. My chief of staff Rachel told me, because she lives there still, that they're getting city and county, state government permits to build a living unit over the garage so that the kids can stay there, the seniors, the mothers and fathers can stay there. I think it's actually a pretty innovative idea. I love how entrepreneurs and creative thinking solves problems. I love how crisis requires us to think outside the box. And the housing crisis required California to come up with this cool idea. Probably borrowed from my friends in Hawaii. Anyway, millions of Americans just don't know if they can ever. Young people, if they can ever own a home. That's the number one you build. Wealth in America is home ownership, families working two jobs, right? Health care is expensive. Inflation hurts. College debt just lingers like a noose around your neck. Many people feel the system isn't working for them. So here's the important point. Those feelings, as I said, are real. People aren't stupid. They're frustrated. But frustration doesn't automatically produce wisdom. Wisdom comes from experiences and time. So we need you to get your stripes and your achievements and your. Your wounds is where your wisdom comes from. And your stripes, your activities, your actions is where your achievement comes from. And that's how you ultimately know in your gut, your intuition, what is the right thing to do going forward is experience in life. So pain can make us blame the wrong thing, but rainbows only follow storms. You cannot have A rainbow without a storm first. But that's where we are today. Okay, so now let's define the terms of where we are. So like economics 101. So get out a pencil or a pen or your smartphone or whatever, start writing this down. Let me talk about capitalism real quickly. I'm giving you these are all crib notes. Because you can. Because, not because, because you can go in my book, capitalism for all I've got, the definitions of all these things in the book, just go to the book as a reference. It's not. Somebody told me. It's not a read book, it's a workbook. It's a underlying book. It's a review book, it's a study book. So let's talk about again, crib notes here. Just so the high, the high points, as you're listening to this podcast, going to work or jogging or working out, whatever you want. The. You want to get smart quick and then go deep later. Capitalism, private ownership, private investment, private enterprise, competition, innovation, risk, reward for that risk. Here's some examples of what capitalism has produced up from nothing. Apple. I mean, I describe it in the book Steve Jobs. He was the son of a Jordanian Middle Eastern immigrant. So they put the kid up to adoption to a wealthy family. Anyway, that family bounced out of the adoption to the last minute. And the backup family that adopted Steve Jobs was the Jobs family. That was a white couple, engineer couple out of Silicon Valley. So Steve Jobs shows up as the adopted kid and he walks around the neighborhood and he runs into another kid named Wozniak, Steve Wozniak, who's a genius coder. Steve Jobs was an okay coder. He's really more of a designer marketer. He's really brilliant in his own way. He made technology cool, but it was Wozniak who really wire at the back end. Anyway, together in a garage, they created what we now know is a trillion dollar company, multi trillion dollar company called Apple. And it's changed all of our lives. Apple, Microsoft, Google, FedEx, Amazon, Tesla. Even though I've got real problems with that company and its founder. But anyway, I got to give credit where credit is due. There is brilliance there. All the black businesses and brands that don't get enough credit, Black Enterprise Magazine, Johnson Products. I'm just off the top of my head what Robert Smith is doing now. I mean, just what Oprah has created. Just Tyler Perry and the Tyler Perry Studios, all these industries, all these places, Jay Z and his wife Beyonce, et cetera, millions of small businesses. Because most millionaires is literally the person next door. It's a boring business. By the way, did you know that there's about, I think it's 2,400 or 2500 millionaires minted every day last year. Every day in the world, and half of Those in the US 1,200 new millionaires a day. And that weren't doing fancy stuff and they weren't doing illegal stuff, these illegal entrepreneurs. They were doing normal stuff and doing well and doing good capitalism, mostly. And again, you can't even be a philanthropist. You can't give it away unless you collect it first. But here's what also came out of capitalism. Good capitalism. New medicines, new technologies, new jobs, new wealth. Capitalism is not perfect, okay? Unchecked capitalism creates monopolies. Not good. Cronyism, not good. Greed, not good. Abuse. Horrible. Not good. Excessive concentrations. Not good. That's not good capitalism. That's bad capitalism. And I've already said good capitalism. Where I benefit, you benefit more. Bad capitalism is where I benefit and you pay a price for it. The answer isn't abandoning capitalism. The answer is improving it. Let me tell you what capitalism is, right? Capitalism. Let's just say it's a table in front of you now, okay? Let's talk about negotiation. On one side of that table is a capitalist, and the other side of the table is a consumer. Let's make you the capitalist for the moment. Just to make this very provocative, let's assume that you're selling a new comb you created to somebody who wants to straighten their hair or comb their hair on the other side. So your job in this example As a capitalist, Mr. And Mrs. Kaplan is listening to this. Your job is to extract as much price resources, money from the consumer as you can while delivering the least amount of acceptable value for quality product as you can to maximize your profit. Now, the consumer on the other side, the consumer's job is to pay the least that they can possibly negotiate to that capitalist for that product while extracting as much as they possibly can in value of that from that product and from that capitalist as they possibly can. And every good negotiation at that table is when everybody leaves that table slightly annoyed because nobody got actually everything they wanted. So there you go. I've just explained capitalism and negotiation in, I don't know, two minutes now. Make that go viral. Let's now deal with socialism. It's government ownership or heavy control of large portions of the economy. Government ownership or heavy controls of large or substantial parts of the economy. It's still capitalism, by the way, in the Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden. Sweden has got timber and technology, by the way. Finland has got technologies. Norway, where my brother, the crown prince, is my brother from the mother, it has oil again, other things, but these are foundational things which make money. Now the question is, what are they going to do with the money? So now that talks about the taxing system in these countries. There's heavy taxes. Taxes in these places tend to be higher. Redistribution plays a larger role. Government services tend to be larger, right? But keep in mind, yes, there's nobody at the bottom in this example. Nobody who looks like you at the bottom. But I would argue if you're black or brown, by the way, or women or anybody left behind in society or feel like you're left behind, you will find in these places there's nobody who looks like you. Nobody meaning a large portion of people or even many who don't like you at the top. So you don't get you're not at the bottom. You're not falling through the cracks, but you're not making it to the top either. You are being subsidized, chilling in the midst. You know you're just getting by. All right, that's not bad, but that's what that is.
Sprite Living Track List Narrator
Yo, I was scrolling through the Sprite Living track list the other day and immediately started arguing with myself. It was wild because records like California Love still not a Player and Back Then are so much more than words in songs. They're moments, they're memories. They're snapshots of where hip hop was and where it's going. That's what Sprite gets. They spent over 40 years celebrating artists who defined the culture and now they're turning the conversation over to the fans. And if you're like me, the real fun is getting into the why. Why does this song matter? Why did this line hit? Why did it change hip hop forever? Now, I can't promise you any answers, but with Sprite you'll have a good time figuring it out. Check out the full Sprite Living track list and breakdown the stories behind your favorite bars@livingtracklist. Genius.com this is the Sprite Living track list. Obey your thirst.
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DJ Envy
What up, y'?
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All?
DJ Envy
It's DJ Envy. We're at the premiere of Fightland, executive produced by my guy, 50 Cent. Yeah, now listen, you know you've done a lot on it over here. America decided to go to UK for this one.
50 Cent
Yeah, this one is different.
DJ Envy
So break it down for people that haven't seen it comes out the 31st. So tell us about Fightland.
50 Cent
It's exciting. This one is a UK based show. I got Ottawa Bathurst to direct it. So the first two episodes he did really dope. And then I got like the other guys that I got to do throughout the season. It's like, top notch, bro. So you're going to see this one is going to feel like it's a great grade. Better than what I did like in Power.
DJ Envy
Really.
50 Cent
I promise that.
DJ Envy
Now for people that haven't seen it yet, it comes out July 31st. Fightland. How would you describe Fightland?
50 Cent
I'd say it's a family crime drama.
DJ Envy
Okay.
50 Cent
Right. And it has an intensity in action that you would, you would, you would feel you received in an action film. And it does things that the other series don't do because we kind of jump timelines throughout the episodes, stuff like this. So you'll see things and go, oh, like things flashing back and things going to different, you know, backwards and forwards.
DJ Envy
I seen the first episode, I didn't see you in it. Are you in this season or are you at any season or. No, because usually we'll get a pop up, a 50. A pop up here and there. Are you in Fightland at all?
50 Cent
No, I might have to work on my British accent.
DJ Envy
Have you tried?
50 Cent
No, no, I did. I. Well, I would have to work on
John Hope Bryant
it to do it to get in this.
DJ Envy
What keeps you motivated to do it. You don't need the money. Is this like at this point? What is it for?
50 Cent
Nah, it's cool creatively, like. No, no project is great because of one person. It's a collective, you know what I mean? And what I get a chance to do is communicate what they feel to the network before it gets like. Then they start developing reputations of being difficult or doing things, but they're comfortable expressing how they feel to me, you know what I mean? Now I'm at a stage where I can finance and license the project instead of giving it to the networks for them to own.
DJ Envy
The series premiere of Fightland drops July 31st only on Starz, with new episodes streaming weekly on Fridays.
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John Hope Bryant
So America already has its socialist features.
State Farm Advertiser
Okay.
John Hope Bryant
Social Security is a part of socialism or is a aspect of socialism. Medicare, okay. Medicaid, public education, police, fire departments, roads, the military. You aren't paying for these things. The government's providing it. These are public goods. Public goods. The public good. Having public goods does not make America socialist. Right. But there are social aspects to our social safety net which I think actually helps to make this country great. You shouldn't fall through the cracks. You shouldn't die because of health or poverty of the mouth food or you know, you should have. Everybody should have reasonable. But I do like the fact that you can go from the bottom to the top, just like me in America. And you couldn't. I could not be. My experiment of me could not have been proven out anywhere else in the world. Think about that. John o' Brien would not have emerged from Germany or Japan or Russia or China, France, all these different places. Even though France is where the word entrepreneur comes from. So now let's now deal with communism. In communism, the government owns virtually everything, controls everything, controls your movements, little private ownership. And if it is, it's micromanaged and can be snatched from you in a moment's notice. No freedom whatsoever. Think about the government people, entrepreneurs in China who just want to say the wrong thing in one day. They just disappear. Like the wealthiest, most powerful people in China just disappear. That's not good, in my opinion. So it's little private ownership, little entrepreneurship. At least not in the traditional sense. Government decides production, government decides prices. History has shown repeatedly that this suppression and this suppressed innovation and economic freedom does not work. In fact, some of the worst tragedies in the world history have been socialist countries. Don't trust me? Go do your research. Use that smartphone to be smart. Use AI to study the things I'm telling you. The track record of countries that have pursued socialism has been absolutely tragic. Communism, even worse. In fact, the countries that say they're communist today, Russia and China, or China and Russia as two examples, are really pursuing capitalism, but saying that they're pursuing communism. Now think about that. America was never pure capitalism. This is where the nuance is important. America has always been a mixed economy, like markets and rules, competition, consumer protection, social safety nets, property rights, patent protections, infrastructure, roads and streets and all that stuff. Bank regulation, securities regulation is in Wall Street. The genius wasn't government. The genius wasn't markets. The genius was balance and unleashing untapped human potential of her people, us. Which is what I'm all about today. My website, Bryant Group Ventures. I encourage you to go there and read my Bryant Journal pieces that I write every week and sign up for the different services programs of all my companies and organizations, including Operation Hope. There are, but if you go there, it says right on the homepage, unleashing untapped human potential at scale. So now let's deal with the difference between good capitalism and bad capitalism and begin to wrap this episode up. And then I'll go deeper if you want me to. Right, but there's probably enough for this. But this is the heart of this episode, right? I don't defend every form of capitalism. I do not. I defend good capitalism. I have compassion for those who are frustrated. I want to be an engine for those who want to create wealth and opportunity for themselves through good. Capitalism is not a depression of the bad. It's a celebration of the untapped good. It's not like we got the memo and screwed it up. We just never got the memo. That's my fourth book. I think I have seven books out. So. Good capitalism creates opportunity. Bad capitalism protects insiders. Good capitalism encourages competition. Bad capitalism rewards monopolies. Good capitalism grows entrepreneurs. Bad capitalism eliminates competition. Good capitalism expands ownership. Bad capitalism concentrates ownership. Your head should be nodding as you listening to this. It should be like, just like an un. Just an unforced, you know, agreement. Like, yeah, this makes sense because it's common sense. But common sense is not so common. Good capitalism rewards innovation. Bad capitalism rewards political connections.
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Hello.
John Hope Bryant
Good capitalism builds communities. Bad capitalism extracts from communities. Here's the philosophy. This is what I've spent my entire life building. It's called inclusive economics and good capitalism through capitalism for all. And all the entities I've created to stand that up so that we can say PhDs are good. PhD's are better. Let's actually $5 billion worth of capital been deployed to set people's dreams free and create opportunity for them. This is not distributing wealth that I'm doing. This is creating more wealth creators, not attacking success, expanding what success looks like. So let's stop hating on wealth and start creating some. I am not anti rich. I'm anti poverty. I'll say it again. I am not anti rich. I am anti poverty. What about you? These are two different things entirely. America doesn't need fewer successful people. The world doesn't. America in the world needs millions and millions of more successful people. These 1200 millionaires a day need to look like us. Can I get an amen? Especially the people who never thought success was possible for them. That's who I want to win. This is where the civil rights movement comes in. The third reconstruction, economic empowerment, financial literacy, the unfinished work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And my mentor Andrew Young. Access to good credit, entrepreneurship, home ownership, investment, AI, education, small business employee ownership, stakeholder capitalism, I call it Delta Airlines and divisions of KKR and Apollo. There are great examples of this stakeholder capitalism model at work. This is how we reduce inequality, people. We get on with building more ownership. This is an ownership generation, in my opinion. Or it could be. So driving wealth away hurts everybody. So let me just deal with this. We need to avoid the politics, the partisan politics that doesn't solve anything. We need to educate ourselves on how economics really works and educate people so they can help themselves. Help themselves. When entrepreneurs leave a city or a state who wants to penalize them, tax them, hunt them, humiliate them, hurt them, point fingers at them, when that happens, they leave and I've been talking to billionaires and multimillionaires the last few weeks. We're leaving out of a couple states in particular. That's not good. When they leave economic energy leaves investment leaves jobs leave innovation and creativity that they funded or could fund leaves charitable giving in the local communities leave leadership leaves headquarters of companies leave opportunities leave communities begin to die. Every governor, every mayor, every governor, every business leader should ask this question. How do we attract more investment? Not how do we punish investment. I'm involved in a big investment here in Atlanta, Centennial Yards. I'm an investor in it. It's the biggest investment in Atlanta since Atlanta. It was a debate here. Luckily we came on the right side of it. It's $6 billion, the biggest investment in Atlanta since Atlanta itself. And it's going to create jobs from the bottom to the top. It's going to create opportunity, affordable housing, economic vitality. It's going to create a downtown which Atlanta doesn't have. It's win, win. The city wins, the state wins, the county wins. 30% of all contracts are those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. They win again. Affordable housing is going to come in. Hopefully I'm going to be part of that anyway. To me, it's a rational movement of common sense. So this is the third reconstruction people. And this ties back to the book capitalism for all. America's already experienced great reconstructions. Second, the first one was about freedom post civil war. Second one was about access. Civil rights movement, that's the 1960s. My mentor, Ambassador Andrew Young, and his dear friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And Dr. Dorothy Height and all the heroes and sheroes who made that fight, right? The head of the naacp, the head of the Urban League, et cetera. The next reconstruction is economics. It's ownership in nature, financial literacy, credit ownership, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, technology when capital is code, real financial capital. This is the new civil rights movement. I call it the silver rights movement. From civil rights to civil rights, from the streets to the suites. Not because race no longer matters, but because money touches everyone. The color is not white or black or red or blue. It's green. It's always been green. So here's America I believe in. My dream isn't an America with fewer rich people. It's an America with dramatically fewer poor people. Can I get an amen? My dream isn't redistribution. It's expansion. It's deepening. My dream isn't resentment. It's aspiration. My dream isn't the storm. It's the rainbow that follows storms. You cannot have a rainbow without a storm. First, my dream isn't dependency. It's dignity through ownership. My dream isn't to tear down success, it's to multiply it at scale. That's why I wrote capitalism for all. Not capitalism for Wall street. Not capitalism for oligarchs or capitalism for Silicon Valley. Not capitalism for the privileged. Capitalism for all. Capitalism for you. If you're listening today, don't ask yourself, who should I blame? That's the wrong question. Ask yourself, what can I build? What skill can I learn? What business can I start? What investment can I make? Starting with the one in yourself. What young person can I mentor? What wealth can I create? How do I bless someone else that I'm blessed, too? Because service is the price we pay for the success that we get. Wealth isn't just about money. It's about freedom. What are you going to do with your freedom? Just help you or help somebody else too? That's what I try to do. To do well and do good. To do well by doing good. Opportunity, dignity, legacy. And that's the case. That's the case. I'm making for good capitalism. I want to thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Money and Wealth. This conversation challenged you, inspired you, hopefully changed you, moved you. Share it with someone you care about and get the book Capitalism for All and talk about it as you read it. And remember, financial literacy is not about getting rich. It's about becoming free through literacy and understanding of how this game works. Until next time, I want you to keep learning, keep growing, keep turning, keep building, keep moving and lead from the front. And I don't want you to read this last book, which I think is my best one, Capitalism for All. I want you to read it once and put it down. I want you to read it once, twice, three times, four times. Listen to it on audiobook. If you have to underline it, underscore it, dog ear it, talk about it, create conversations in barbershops and beauty salons and sororities and fraternities. Let's start a movement to change the world. Let's be the light on the hill. I'm John o', Brien, and this is Money and Wealth. Money and wealth with John o' Brien is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Peace to the planet. This is Charlemagne Tha God, from the world's most dangerous morning show to breakfast club. The new Nissan Pathfinder is built for big adventures. Engineered with a powerful V6 engine and nine speed automatic transmission is Ward's most awarded V6 over the last 30 years. And it's ready to power your next road trip. With premium tech forward room for up to eight passengers from everyday drives the long and winding journeys with the whole family. The Pathfinder is ready when you are. So start planning the new Nissan Pathfinder. Built to confidently take you further.
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Podcast Host
Before we go, I gotta leave y' all with a question. What's a hip hop lyric that changed the way you saw music? Because that's really what the Sprite Living Track List is all about. It's not about crowning winners. It's starting conversations. 50 tracks, generations of artists, endless debates. And Sprite didn't just put lyrics on a can. Nah, they went deeper, bringing together hip hop experts and tastemakers to help unpack the stories and the impact behind every track. Check out the full Sprite Living Track List and break down the stories behind your favorite bars@livingtracklist genius.com this is the Sprite Living Track List. Obey your thirst.
John Hope Bryant
I'm Nick Turturro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the Longest Yard or Spike Lee's BlackKklansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins.
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What are you doing? My belt.
John Hope Bryant
To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Detouro.
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It's called Happiness, Delivering Happiness and many, many more.
John Hope Bryant
Open your free I Heart radio app
DJ Envy
search Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro and listen now.
Podcast Host
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Date: July 30, 2026
Host: John Hope Bryant (The Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartPodcasts)
John Hope Bryant dedicates this solo episode to making “the case for good capitalism,” unpacking America’s lack of financial literacy, especially in Black and underserved communities. With his trademark directness, Bryant maps out why America gets the capitalism vs. socialism debate wrong, why financial literacy is now a civil rights issue, and how adopting a wealth-building mindset is a path to personal and community freedom. Drawing on lessons from his new book Capitalism for All, Bryant distinguishes between good and bad capitalism and delivers practical advice to help listeners succeed, advocate for inclusive opportunity, and reclaim the American dream.
Timestamps: 02:20 – 08:35
Timestamps: 08:36 – 11:34
Timestamps: 11:35 – 15:00
Timestamps: 15:01 – 17:29
Timestamps: 17:30 – 20:18
Timestamps: 20:19 – 22:39
Timestamps: 22:40 – 29:30
Timestamps: 29:31 – 38:51
Timestamps: 43:47 – 45:56
Timestamps: 45:57 – 49:01
Timestamps: 49:02 – 53:26
Timestamps: 53:27 – 58:18
| Segment | Timestamps | |-------------------------------------|-------------| | Introduction & Framing | 02:20–08:35 | | Resentment Toward the Rich/System | 08:36–11:34 | | Capitalism in Everyday Life | 11:35–15:00 | | Good vs. Bad Capitalism | 15:01–17:29 | | Broke vs. Poor & Stress Impacts | 17:30–20:18 | | Builder’s Mindset/Wealth Building | 20:19–22:39 | | Why People Are Angry | 22:40–29:30 | | Defining Capitalism, Socialism, Communism | 29:31–38:51 | | America’s Safety Net & Mobility | 43:47–45:56 | | Good vs. Bad Capitalism—Deep Dive | 45:57–49:01 | | Third Reconstruction/Inclusive Econ | 49:02–53:26 | | Final Takeaways | 53:27–58:18 |
Through compelling personal stories, clear economic breakdowns, and repeatable “straight talk” moments, John Hope Bryant urges listeners to reject blame and bitterness and embrace a mindset of building, ownership, and inclusive wealth. His “case for good capitalism” is both a critique of the system and a rallying call to take control of one’s own economic destiny—not just for individual benefit, but as a movement tied to today’s civil rights struggle.
Listen if you want: