Episode 333 | It Is What It Is

Summary

Podcast Summary: New Rory & MAL - Episode 333 | "It Is What It Is"

Release Date: January 3, 2025
Hosts: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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1. Introduction

In the premiere episode of 2025, New Rory & MAL dives into a blend of hip hop insights, media critiques, personal anecdotes, and reflections on recent events. The hosts, Rory and Damaris, engage in lively discussions, interspersed with humorous banter and listener interactions, setting the tone for a year filled with dynamic conversations.

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2. Hip Hop and Musical Discussions

Frank Sinatra vs. Modern Rappers:
The episode opens with Rory reciting a rap verse, leading into a discussion about the evolution of musical style and talent. The conversation pivots to comparing legends like Frank Sinatra with contemporary rappers.

• Rory: "He had style. Yeah. Frank Sinatra had a lot of style. Very cool cat." [01:30]
• Damaris: "Frank Sinatra had style for that type of music and era. Similarly, modern rappers offer lifestyle and swag that attract audiences even if the lyrical talent isn't always at peak."

Pimp My Ride Revival:
Hosts speculate on the potential return of the nostalgic show "Pimp My Ride," debating its feasibility and entertainment value.

• Rory: "If they're gonna bring it back, let it actually be cars that people can actually use day to day." [03:43]
• Damaris: "Pimp My Ride was just to entertain with absolute nonsense. It was hilarious but impractical." [04:08]

King of New York Debate:
A significant portion is dedicated to debating who holds the title "King of New York" in hip hop, discussing icons like Jay Z, Nikki, and emerging artists like Joey Badass.

• Damaris: "Joey Badass has the talent and lyrical ability to be the King of New York. He needs to make some drastic mainstream moves." [49:51]
• Rory: "To be the king, you need a consistent run and dominance. Jay Z exemplifies that." [50:19]

Joey Badass and Hip Hop Casualties:
The hosts reflect on the impact of artists like Pop Smoke and the ongoing rap beefs, emphasizing the importance of lyrical depth and consistency in maintaining relevance.

• Damaris: "Pop Smoke was on his way to being the new young king of New York." [52:51]
• Rory: "People don't understand what disses are anymore. Mentioning a coast or artist doesn't automatically mean a diss." [35:01]

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3. Media and Journalism

Elliot Wilson Controversy:
Rory and Damaris dissect a recent contentious appearance by journalist Elliot Wilson, debating journalistic integrity and the evolving media landscape.

• Damaris: "Elliot was trying to voice his disdain for certain platforms but ended up targeting Cam and Mace, which created unnecessary tension." [10:02]
• Rory: "Shout out to Cam and Mace. It is what it is." [11:40]

Changing Media Standards:
The discussion extends to how social media and podcasting have democratized media, challenging traditional journalistic qualifications.

• Damaris: "Hip hop allows journalists without traditional degrees to thrive based on talent and connection." [22:42]
• Rory: "We all have social media and cameras, making these issues more visible, though not necessarily new." [06:16]

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4. New Year Reflections and Current Events

2025 Happenings:
The hosts express optimism mixed with skepticism about the year's outlook, referencing unusual events that marked the beginning of 2025.

• Damaris: "Prayers to everyone in New Orleans after the tragic events on New Year's Day." [77:39]
• Rory: "There's some type of connection between the shootings in New Orleans and the incident in Vegas involving a Tesla truck." [78:43]

Conspiracy Theories and Tragedies:
A heated debate emerges around recent violent incidents, with Damaris airing strong views on government conspiracies.

• Damaris: "The ISIS flag incident is a ploy by our government to distract us while they pursue their agenda in the Middle East." [78:01]
• Rory: "I'm with you on that." [79:14]

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5. Technology Nostalgia

iPods and Music Consumption:
Nostalgia hits as the hosts reminisce about the era of iPods, debating the merits of dedicating devices solely to music versus integrating all functions into smartphones.

• Rory: "I feel like Apple needs to bring a new iPod back. We need something just for our music." [70:16]
• Damaris: "An iPod would preserve your music without exposing your personal data, unlike phones." [70:34]

AirPods and Modern Listening Habits:
The practicality and social implications of using AirPods are discussed, highlighting safety and awareness issues.

• Rory: "With AirPods, you can't hear the world around you. Important things happening while you're distracted by music." [73:35]
• Damaris: "Using one AirPod helps maintain some awareness of your surroundings." [74:10]

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6. Relationships and Personal Stories

Listener Voicemail on Dating with Children:
A listener seeks advice on dating someone with kids, sparking a debate on boundaries and emotional motivations.

• Caller: "I feel like I'm fixing something in their child's life that I needed during my bad childhood. Is this weird?" [82:07]
• Damaris: "She's overstepping by using the child to fix her own traumas. Tread lightly." [83:38]
• Mal: "It's not selfish if you're genuinely forming a supportive relationship with the child." [87:37]

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7. LeBron James' 40th Birthday Party

Unexpected Rapping Moments:
The hosts recount a unique incident where LeBron James rapped over a Kendrick Lamar track during his 40th birthday, blending celebrity culture with hip hop.

• Damaris: "LeBron was rapping a Kendrick song at his party. It was unexpected but impressive." [56:35]
• Rory: "LeBron deserves it all. His spotless career is commendable." [60:53]

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8. Closing Remarks

As the episode winds down, Rory, Damaris, and Mal discuss their plans for the year ahead, including engaging with listeners through Patreon and setting the stage for future topics.

• Rory: "Let's get into our Patreon and share our grievances to start 2025 with a clean slate." [103:33]
• Damaris: "Looking forward to our 2025 predictions and continuing these dynamic conversations." [103:27]

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Notable Quotes:

• Rory: "I felt like I'm fixing something, you know?" [82:27]
• Damaris: "Hip hop is the only space in business where someone can be an exec without formal schooling." [22:42]
• Mal: "If you're dating with someone who has children, make sure it's for the right reasons, not just to fix your past." [85:05]

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Conclusion:
Episode 333 of New Rory & MAL offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of hip hop culture, media dynamics, personal relationships, and societal events as the hosts navigate the complexities of 2025 with their characteristic humor and insight. Whether debating the legacy of musical legends or dissecting contemporary issues, Rory, Damaris, and Mal provide listeners with a rich tapestry of conversations that resonate both personally and culturally.

Transcript

[Rory]

New worrying mouth hey, y'all too much west coast dick licking I'm hearing throwing rocks really ain't sticking? Cause if we talking bar for bar, really it's slim pickings I rap like I draw pentagrams and kill chickens around which is so like eat the quick four feature this that black air force energy coming out your speaker I'm out you reach your arms too short to box The Elohim still reigning rap supreme? Me and Steelo had a dream I stand tall in this rap thing like y'all mean it won't stop till the crowd sing When I'm crowned king, my over scream and my style ring this ain't boom bat this that boom bow, bing. We could run a fair one. I knew some real hitters but I ain't never fair none Guess it's just the Brooklyn in me they must not know where I'm from Hope that they was looking for me okay, tell them here I come I'm nowhere near done with you I did it my way. The people that they say were like.

[Mal]

Hey, Keith, these up.

[Rory]

People that they were saying, legendary. Like, single.

[Damaris]

Be great to clear that sample. The pub would be a little different with Mall saying that.

[Mal]

That's all I heard after he did that.

[Damaris]

That was you at midnight.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

By yourself and more. Wait, you're about to say. You don't think the singers that people revere have voices like that?

[Rory]

Like, when you think about some of them.

[Damaris]

Okay, voices.

[Rory]

Just the vocals. Like when people be like, oh, Frank, Old Blue Eyes, I'll be listening.

[Damaris]

And I'm like, yeah, but Frank Sinatra had that style for that era. I don't think people were like, yo, he's a blower. Pause.

[Rory]

No, he just had.

[Damaris]

For that type of. That timeframe with that type of music. And, like, Frank's delivery, like, he had the swag of that era.

[Rory]

He had style. Yeah. Frank Sinatra had a lot of style. Very cool cat. But, you know when we start talking about just great singers and people like Frank Sinatra, I'm like, I be one. Cause I don't. I have. I don't want to disrespect the people that came.

[Damaris]

You don't want to disrespect Hoboken, New Jersey.

[Rory]

I don't. Yeah. It's just like. But I be like.

[Damaris]

And the entire Yankees organization.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

I just like every five family.

[Rory]

I don't know if Frank was really singing like that. Like, lot of style, lot of class. A lot of class.

[Damaris]

Frank to me, is like a lot of the new rappers that are Big, like, the talent isn't really there, but their lifestyle and what they offer to the music is what people, like, are attracted to.

[Rory]

Well, if it was a lifestyle, then, you know, the pack, all they did.

[Damaris]

Was, like, pretty much Frank Sinatra is pretty much like Playboi Carti. If you think about it, they're the same.

[Rory]

Don't ever disrespect Frank Sinatra like that. Don't do that, please. I'm not gonna lie.

[Damaris]

Both fashion icons. Both had a swagger about them. Everyone's curious about their lifestyle. They know gang members. They're the same.

[Rory]

Frank knew the gang members.

[Damaris]

He was the gang.

[Rory]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Rat Pack was definitely the gang. Absolutely.

[Damaris]

That was actually heartbreaking to me when I found out way later in life, two things. When I found out Xzibit wasn't from LA and Frank Sinatra wasn't from New York City.

[Rory]

Were you more, like, upset to find out that Xzibit wasn't from LA or that the Pimp My Ride cars, like, those people didn't keep those cars.

[Damaris]

Even though I was in my early teens, at that time, I still had the logic to understand that a fish tank in a Buick wasn't gonna work.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

All right. In no way that I think, like, yo, they're whipping to work in that. Like, I was watching. Like, that's a hazard.

[Rory]

Yeah, that was one of the best shows, but also one of the dumbest ideas ever, though he was just on.

[Damaris]

Bootleg Kev's show, which I have to watch it. I didn't get a chance to exhibit. Yeah, I think he's putting an album out in February. But I'd heard they're bringing back Pimp My Ride. Right.

[Rory]

Sorry, I didn't hear that.

[Damaris]

I saw, you know, rumors on the timeline that are never confirmed, but I think that would be great to bring back. That was an amazing show.

[Rory]

But if they're gonna bring it back, let it actually be cars that people can actually use day to day.

[Damaris]

Like, don't put no fish tanks in what's entertaining. Like, save that for, like, what's the gear? Save that for Spike TV or whatever the fuck. Channel 27.

[Rory]

Like, the over the Top car.

[Damaris]

Yeah. Like, for the gearheads, do that. Pimp My Ride was just to entertain you with absolute nonsense. I think west coast customs never. I'm sure they were in their own shop. Like, this will never work, but it's hilarious.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Like, it's great for tv. Yeah. Like, you know what? She. She's an accountant. Let's put a fucking whole accounting firm in her trunk. Yeah, let's put a stenographer right next to her, like, no.

[Rory]

All right, well, happy 20. 2025. We are back. Top of the year.

[Damaris]

This is the first episode of the year, Right?

[Rory]

First episode of the year. We are back. Rory.

[Damaris]

Oh, yeah.

[Rory]

Get into it. 2024.

[Damaris]

It's only been, baby, that gang call.

[Mal]

No, it's not a gang call. You never heard Sexy Red. If you see me and you trying.

[Damaris]

To see what's up, put her on the map.

[Rory]

Isn't. Isn't Sexy Red a blood, though? So you might be yelling some blush and don't even know it.

[Damaris]

No, I always assumed that was some bloodshit. Really?

[Mal]

Yeah, I thought it was sexy. Sexy redneck ski.

[Rory]

Yeah, I think that might be some blood. We'll look into it.

[Mal]

Okay.

[Damaris]

I mean, I. I learned the hard way as a youngster that Suwu was a gang thing. I thought it was just a fun. It's a fun little tune Drake had you singing. It sounds good. Tongue.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

No, it's not a racial slur.

[Rory]

Definitely some gang. 2025. We are back. Top of the year. Good to see everybody.

[Damaris]

Yes, Refreshed, too.

[Rory]

Yes. New energy. We started the new year already. It's wild, wild things happening. But, you know, we're gonna. Somebody said, you know, wait till you see what happened, because they. They highlighted the days. The first day of the year was Wednesday. Then it was Thursday, Friday. So they highlighted wtf. Like, that's how the year started. They was like, oh, y'all think today is lit? Wait till Friday. So hopefully, you know, this is not a sign of this year being full of tragic and wild stories. We definitely don't want any more of that. Don't any more of that.

[Damaris]

But I'm glad you have hope still. People that still have hope post 2020, like, these last four years, like, I admire you guys. We need people like you.

[Rory]

But you know, why the Rory? Because I'm still on the side of. I feel like none of this is new. All of these things were happening forever. We just hear about them as they happen, when they happen now. Because we all have social media. We're all connected in some way somehow. We all have phones. Everybody has a camera. I don't feel like any of these things are new things. I feel like these are things that have always been happening.

[Damaris]

Yeah, you're probably right there. And as much as I do like doing the rabbit hole thing and being informed whether it's conspiracies or not, the older I've gotten and now being A parent. I truly understand the term ignorance is bliss. I wish I didn't know. Yeah, I would just love to be. Walk out, stupid smile on my face. Yeah, the world is amazing. My government's looking out for me. My child is going to have health care, go to great school system. She's going to go to college, get a job, retirement. 401ks. Let's do it. Yeah, I'd rather just have that stupid mentality, but I think that I don't want to know anything.

[Rory]

But I think you can go back.

[Damaris]

To 2019, I think.

[Rory]

I think we can. I think. Because I'm still fascinated when even sometimes y'all come in here and we. You'll bring things up that we want to discuss, and I'm totally oblivious to it. Like, I don't even know that that happened. So I. I think it is still possible to kind of, like, not know and not, you know, be as, you know, connected and involved with current events that are happening. But I think you have to kind of make that, you know, a thing. Like, I'm not gonna follow a bunch of these pages. I'm not gonna click on a lot of these things. Like, you have to kind of be willing to say, all right, I'm gonna detach myself from that.

[Damaris]

But to your point, which I completely agree with, I think 2025 will be the year of. You can't ignore it. Everything's just gonna be in your face. All the things that they were trying to hide before, they don't care to hide anymore because they realize once we find things out, nothing changes.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

No one's held accountable.

[Rory]

Nobody really cares.

[Damaris]

And I even saw at midnight that Freedom Tower, Capitol Building. Lincoln's not the Lincoln one. What's. What's the. The tall thing in D.C. that I never understood.

[Rory]

National monument, whatever the it is, you.

[Damaris]

Know, something the slaves built.

[Rory]

I'm sure it looks like a Klansman standing in the middle of the Great Lawn.

[Damaris]

Yes. The Great Lawn even sounds right. I can't tell you why. Just a feeling in my gut. The Great Lawn, it's beautiful.

[Rory]

Like, if you're in dc, like, and it's a nice day out, going out there, just chilling, like, you know, get a speaker, a little layout and blank. A little. Little, you know, picnic type of thing. Yeah, yeah.

[Damaris]

It's not.

[Rory]

It's beautiful, but it looks like a clan.

[Damaris]

It was manicured by slaves.

[Rory]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Damaris]

They were all hit by lightning at the same time on New Year's Eve. All those monuments. And the Freedom Tower.

[Rory]

Oh, I've Seen Terminator. I know how that movie started there.

[Damaris]

Do you think it was the weather machine or coincidence or. That was our Cat Williams to start the year?

[Rory]

No, that was the aliens landing and dropping probes in wherever they Absolutely.

[Damaris]

Fuck.

[Rory]

Yeah, they're here.

[Damaris]

Well, yes, it was uneventful New Year's Eve, so I don't really particularly care. I sat in and drank cider.

[Rory]

Very quiet, I told y'all, man, Even during Christmas, the holiday, I just. It just didn't feel, you know, New Year's, you know, it rained a little bit, kind of going towards midnight, so it was kind of quiet outside, but it didn't feel like. It doesn't. You don't feel that. That rush anymore.

[Damaris]

Yeah. Which gave me the time to sit on my couch and be on my phone and just watch. Did we start the first messiness of 2025? Is that on us?

[Mal]

Are we Cat Williams?

[Rory]

I hated that.

[Damaris]

We're definitely not opening any portal. Maybe a. Maybe a Harlem portal. Like, maybe.

[Rory]

No, don't bring that to Harlem. Don't break that thought.

[Damaris]

Maybe we opened the portal from Central park north into 110th Street.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

Maybe that portal, it was closed because of gentrification.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

And I think we may have opened that with no intention and no.

[Rory]

With no intention, man. And, you know, we had a conversation with. Shout out to Elliot Wilson for coming by, kicking it with us. And we had a conversation with him, and he had some. He had some things to say about the landscape of media and what's going on and express some of his, you know, disdain for certain platforms and, you know, certain people. And I thought he was wrong in what he was saying. And, you know, I told him, this is why, people, we wanted to kick your ass. But, you know.

[Damaris]

But we had, I thought, somewhat of a respectful conversation. I even give you some backstory. Like, two or three weeks ago, I was talking with Elliot, and he's like, yo, I'll be in the city on the 30th. Do you mind if I come up to the show? Last episode of the year, I want to plug Elliot Wilson Experience. I was like, yeah, of course. Be great. We had, like, a short list, nothing crazy. I thought we were going to take it easy for the last episode of the year. Elliot's a friend, thought he was going to lay back out the fucking gate. It felt like, yo, Cam and Mace, go get a fucking college degree, you fucking unemployed piece of shit.

[Rory]

I was like, whoa, yeah, Elliot, Yeah. He went crazy.

[Damaris]

I did not expect that type of energy. And of course, I'M exaggerating a lot. Are you okay?

[Mal]

Are you exaggerating a lot?

[Damaris]

Before we could even put the clip out, everyone grabbed that specific part, which I kind of figured they would, because that was the one where Elliot. I don't think he took it too far. I think the tone of his voice sounded more bitter than what he was trying to say. I think a lot of people, which I saw on certain Twitter pages and IG comments, there was a large group of people that agreed with Elliot that it's tough for journalists now that went to school for this, have been doing this for 20 years, have all the credibility. The people that chose this as a career and went through the steps are losing interviews and opportunities to people that are just hopping into it today. Now, if he would have said it that way, I think Cam and Mace even would have agreed. But when you specifically pick on Cam and Mace and then degrade anything they've ever done in their lives, you get a viral clip, which I was not trying to do on a last day of 2024.

[Rory]

I mean, it's only gonna, you know, get more interesting because I know it is what it is. And shout out to Cam and Mace, obviously we fuck with them, but it is what it is. Their IG page, you know, responded to, you know, what Elliott had to say. But I'm sure that once those gentlemen get back from their New Year vacation and get back in the studio, oh, they gonna fire Elliott up.

[Damaris]

I, I predict, I predict you and I will catch a stray. Even though we were actually defending them and were on the opposite side in that great conversation with Elliott. I think when Cam gets in these modes, he doesn't really give a fuck what the facts are. He's just going to shoot at everyone that was in the room.

[Mal]

Ma, can you read the response?

[Rory]

Can I read? Yes, I can read.

[Mal]

Can you read?

[Rory]

Because I was educated by the terrible city of New York. All right, so it is what it is. Underscore talk.

[Damaris]

Yeah, you do the first, the first page. Because it definitely has some racial undertones that I can't say.

[Rory]

Okay, so it says the year just started and we just chilling, minding our business. Me too, Cam sipping. And here come this Cuba Gooden Jr. Looking motherfucker with his salty hating ass.

[Damaris]

Stop right there. I've never.

[Rory]

Elliot looks nothing like.

[Damaris]

I've known Elliot for a long, long time. And I. I've seen his, his face over the years. I've even seen both of us age. That's how long we've known each other. Yeah, I'VE never thought that.

[Rory]

He looks.

[Damaris]

He looks like Radio Cuba.

[Rory]

Cuban good. In June, he called him Cuban. Not even Cuba. He said Cuban.

[Damaris]

Oh, maybe that was a. Maybe that's what it is. A lyricist. Yeah, he was not on autonomy.

[Rory]

Cuban. He's a Cuban good, though.

[Damaris]

He's not.

[Rory]

Not Cuban.

[Damaris]

I don't think Elliot is Cuban. I think he's Spanish and black, right?

[Rory]

I don't know.

[Damaris]

I don't know. Okay.

[Rory]

Yo, I don't know what Elliot is. He was hating. I know that. Yo, so then it goes on to say he's. Damn, Baby D, you all right over there? You drunk? You hung over a little bit?

[Mal]

Nah, I'm good. Sorry.

[Rory]

Go ahead with his salty hating ass. Hey, yo, Ellie Wilson, you washed and nobody is checking for you. We the new source. Get used to it, clown. You a bonafide hater at its finest. Y'all swipe left. Cause this high yellow nigga sounded like the illest nigga from Nebraska. It is what it is. Nobody's safe. We say what they.

[Mal]

We say what the fuck we want.

[Rory]

We say what the fuck we want. Oh, we gonna show you how it's done. All gas, no breaks.

[Damaris]

Before we get to the next one, I have to ask you guys, how do you decide what's a hashtag? Like, when I'm doing my captions? Can you guys help me out? I need to get better at this.

[Rory]

I didn't even know people still do that.

[Damaris]

Like, what would make you decide to hashtag we the new source? I like the line, but I would never take it as far to be like, that needs to be hashtag. Maybe that's where I'm fucking up.

[Mal]

I think it's. I think that Cam is doing that because I'm pretty sure Cam is typing this because it highlight. You didn't.

[Damaris]

Elliot was.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Yo, that's a great lyricist.

[Mal]

I think he hashtags it because it highlights it in blue. I don't think he's using it for, like, you know, for SEO purposes.

[Damaris]

Okay.

[Mal]

I think it's because it just highlights what it is.

[Damaris]

I didn't even put together that Elliot was the editor of the Sword.

[Mal]

Yeah, we the news.

[Rory]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. But y'all not getting to the slide over. Let me see what B. Dot commented under the comment section.

[Damaris]

He chose the Jerry Seinfeld lane.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Mal]

And then B. Dot commented on ours, too, and did like the covering face.

[Rory]

Yeah, yeah. That means rap radar is finished.

[Mal]

Well, that does not mean that.

[Rory]

Yes, it does, Baby D. Look into it.

[Damaris]

I don't Know when you asked Elliot on the episode, he said no, they were looking into other opportunities.

[Rory]

That's not what you say when exactly. He said, nah, you know, B Dot.

[Damaris]

Is chilling, but Elliot has his new thing. Elliot was an experience.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

So I'm going to give pushback to Cam and Mace. I don't think he's washed and nobody's checking for him. He has a whole bunch of episodes coming out in January.

[Rory]

Yeah. No, Elliot Wilson is a great journalist. He's been, you know, being.

[Damaris]

He's been journalism. He's been. He's been journaling.

[Rory]

I'm laughing. I'm looking at this picture that baby. I'm trying to talk with baby D. Got this picture. Elliot up there, I'm just looking at. But Elliot, yes, he's been.

[Damaris]

What's fucked up is anytime you do these press photo shoots or whatever, you never have in your mind that one day, if I get in a back and forth, somebody's going to use. This is going to be used against me. Because when we did that fucking Spotify shoot, and the only idea that we didn't have because we. We picked the colors and that was cool. Like, we was fine with the rooftop whatever. When they were like, hey, we have this idea. We got you guys basketball jerseys and then gave us mini basketballs and I was jokingly doing awful basketball stands. I didn't know that would haunt me in a serious mode for the rest of my life. To the point family members that don't know what I do send me that photo of, like, what were you trying to give us here?

[Rory]

Is this. No. I knew when we were doing it that that was going to be terrible.

[Damaris]

Years from now, anytime I get in any type of situation with someone in this world, that is the first photo.

[Rory]

They're going to find that picture.

[Damaris]

So they continue. Hey. At Elliott Wilson. Then you got some nerve to be following us. That's. I mean, what's wrong with that? But as you can see, we don't follow you, clown. So with that being said, Curve, your breath stink. If Pun was alive, he will tell you to go that way. Okay. I can attest. Oh, yeah, that one.

[Mal]

I'm sorry. Just coming back to pictures that. Huh. Rory, I feel like you, when you were just, you know, running, you didn't know that this would haunt you for the most.

[Damaris]

No. You know what's funny? I never saw that photo until podcasting. Like, there's photos of me that. That were dug up from people that I didn't know existed before podcast. But, you know, yeah. That one's. That one's not a great one. Yeah, you can take it down. I didn't know we had to research.

[Rory]

Sorry.

[Damaris]

Sorry. Yo, we're talking about Elliot and like, him.

[Mal]

And I do want to clarify on.

[Damaris]

His breath doesn't stink. We have to like defend our friend a little bit here, right?

[Rory]

Yeah, I have. I haven't smelled this breath.

[Mal]

I wasn't close enough to. I wasn't inhaling like his droplets. I wouldn't know. But to clarify and I feel like this, you know, as the woman. I'ma always bring this up. I feel like the woman I. Cam show gets overlooked a lot. Not by them. They give her a whole lot of accreditation. Accreditation that she deserves. But stat, baby Treasure Wilson, shout out to her. She is an award winning journalist. They have a journalist on that show. So yes, Cam and Mace are entertainment and it is their show, but they have a third mic who is an equal third mic and she is an accredited journalist.

[Damaris]

So.

[Mal]

I know.

[Rory]

Listen, man. Elliot was hating. We could say it as. As a friend.

[Mal]

Let that be.

[Rory]

Elliot was hating and you know, and I think that he.

[Damaris]

Truth can be hate sometimes.

[Rory]

And. But I even think that he felt like, yeah, I am hating.

[Mal]

Like I think he said.

[Rory]

Yeah, he admitted it. He admitted to it. So, you know, we understand that. But shout out. It is what it is. Shout out to Cam and Mace. I mean, we've expressed it before. I love what they've been able to do. Especially the most important part to me is them mending their friendship and mending their relationship and able to find ways to collaborate. Cause I do feel like due to personal things that happen, we missed out on a lot of great Cam and Mace music together because of things that were happening while they were still both actively making music. But I think that they found a way to give us collaborations through entertainment. Still. It is what it is. So shout out to them.

[Damaris]

We got two great disc records from both of them too, though.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Mace, Diplomatic Community is. Is. Was that the name of it or your Diplomat, whatever. That was one of the better disc records, I think, of the last 15 years.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

And Cams was great too. But yeah, Elliot, I. I can appreciate someone being honest and saying they feel bitter about something because we're always supposed to be way too cool and like manly and be like, no, I would never feel bitter about something like that. I'm. I like that type of honesty. It can just come across as hating, which it could be. I just think he picked the wrong two people.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Cammy, Mace, are Especially with their show, way more in the sports lane. Of course, they dabble in other stuff, but that's why I asked him, which we never really got to answer. What. What interview did Cam and Mace take away? I. I can see Elliott's issue with certain streamers, but Cam and Mace, that. That just felt like an odd, odd shot.

[Rory]

Yeah, but it was hating. And I mean, Elliot, he had admitted to it, so it is.

[Mal]

And again, podcast, I know that does have an accredited journalist on there. Most of us don't.

[Damaris]

We got peach.

[Rory]

Yeah, there you go.

[Damaris]

We said Universal Photoshop journalist.

[Rory]

Ah, he's an accredited Photoshop guy.

[Damaris]

Well, I don't know. I feel like hip hop, and this is a separate conversation that maybe would have been a cool one to have with Elliot eventually. Hip hop is the only space that I've seen within business where someone could be an exec that never went to school or had the connections to be one. Also, with radio, a lot of the radio people never went to broadcasting school, don't have a degree in communications, never went through those proper quote unquote steps, and they're the best at it. Why can't that happen in journalism too? Why do we draw the line? Because hip hop, to me, that's what's so great about hip hop behind the scenes. You don't have to go through those stereotypical white American corporate ways to be successful. You have to be talented, driven, et cetera. Why can't people, if they don't have a journalism degree, be deemed journalists if they're doing the job? So to me, that's more hate coming from hip hop journalists. Like, I get it. You have been doing this for 25 years. Yes, you may have a degree. Yes, you went through the proper channels, and you've worked for corporations that dean journalists off a certificate and a diploma, but that'll make you shit in the hip hop world. That's. That's the point of hip hop, that you don't need that. You don't need the rules to be, I guess, validated in what your position is. Well, I think it.

[Rory]

I'm sorry, Baby D. I think it goes back to you remember when a lot of actors in Hollywood were upset at, like, you know, select, like, artists and rappers getting, like, roles in, like, film? Yeah, they were like, oh, you know, I went to. I studied Broadway and I did this and I did that. And then you have these rappers coming in and they just get roles in movies and they don't even really know how. And I think it's the same Thing with media now, I think a lot of journalists that were, you know, doing this before podcasting became so popular and people had their own shows and things like that. I think that's all this is. I think a lot of journalists. Well, in particular, Elliott Wilson feels like you have people that come in that have these platforms now that, you know, a lot of people listen to, and they're not even real journalists. They don't even maybe don't fact check certain things that they're talking about. I think if we all just get to the realization that this is all just entertainment, I don't think nobody is watching Cam and Mace looking for educational things, information, informative things, even though they do a great job at it. I think they're looking for guys like Cameron Mace to be funny and addressing certain topics, talking about sports just as you would in barbershops, just as you would, you know, in your home, in your living room with your friends and your peers. Like, they just want people to have funny conversations based around things that are going on. So when you say, oh, you know, they're not journalists. They're not trying to be journalists, though. But I'm not trying to be a journalist.

[Damaris]

Well, that's why I think they were the wrong target in that situation, because I don't think they're trying to be that either. But they're great at their job. And I think they also do a great job of interviewing and covering sports topics. Like.

[Rory]

Absolutely.

[Damaris]

As a journalist would. No, they're not. Stephen A. That's been doing this for 40 fucking years and went to Wake Forest for it. And like, cool. But that's also the medium outside of hip hop. That's what it is with content across the board these days. There is no real structure. There is no real rules. So if someone is. I think everyone should fact check if they want to be a journalist. I think you should ask the right questions. You should take it very serious. But shit, I don't know Elliot's even background in that. I know he's a legend in his own right. I don't know if he went to school for it. I just grew up knowing that this is an amazing writer who always asks the questions that I want, gives the reviews I like, gives pushback on stuff. I never once thought, oh, I hope he went to nyu, right? I don't know. So as much as I feel Elliot and have been defending him all last year when people were giving him pushback about that very topic, because I want journalism back in hip hop too. I'm still on the side of this is hip hop. And if someone is doing it with talent, I don't give a what their background is, as long as they're making the right moves and what the people want. You could be a journalist because you didn't go to school.

[Rory]

And also.

[Damaris]

Did your brother Jay and Dame go to business school? Are they Harvard business grads?

[Rory]

No, they went to another school. Yes.

[Mal]

School of hard knocks.

[Damaris]

And the three. And the three of them were smarter, understood the market, understood strategy, understood their audience more than anyone at Universal that has had every bit of schooling. Father own the company. Every last thing you could do. Are we supposed to be like, man, I don't really want these guys in the building because, you know, they're not real execs. What makes a real exec?

[Rory]

Right. So just because their dad gave them.

[Damaris]

The job and just. All right, you went to Harvard Business and you have a degree in business, a minor in marketing. Like, cool. I'm not taking. I think that is great.

[Rory]

And it's necessary at some time.

[Damaris]

But that'll make you smarter than Biggs, right?

[Rory]

Exactly.

[Damaris]

Of someone that has experience in life with this type of. And is just taking some things he learned over there and putting them legally in here. It's the same to me.

[Rory]

And I didn't like the fact that he said he running around like Stephen A. We respect.

[Damaris]

I thought that was. I think he was just.

[Rory]

Yeah, but we don't. I'm. Let me speak for me. I don't rock with Stephen A. Smith.

[Damaris]

Why?

[Rory]

I don't like what he did with Kyrie, with the whole vaccination thing. And I don't think he ever. I don't think he ever apologized for that.

[Damaris]

Okay.

[Rory]

And Kyrie is one of the most giving, one of the most, you know, down to earth people, athletes that you probably will ever meet. And the way that Stephen A. Handled Kyrie Irving's name and legacy during the whole vaccination thing.

[Damaris]

Yeah.

[Rory]

I don't know if Stephen A. Has ever apologized publicly about that, but I think we know he has. Okay then. So we back. We rocking with Stephen A. I forgot about. See, look, just that I didn't know. Peach. You let me know he apologized then. Cool. But that whole thing with Stephen A. When he did that, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way because we clearly knew that that was an agenda thing. And Kyrie was right in his stance on not taking it because none of that at the time made sense. You could have Luka and these guys that were in Dallas come into Brooklyn they are not vaccinated. They don't have to be vaccinated, but can play in the same arena, same court. But because Kyrie lives in New York and he's not vaccinated, he can' make any.

[Damaris]

He didn't do his homework either.

[Rory]

Yeah, well, that too.

[Damaris]

See, I forgot about that. Like, people like Stephen A. Even us or anyone in media talk so much that, like, it's gotten to the point that it's tough for me to hate people because I can't remember everything that they say. They've been talking for 15 years. I'm like, yo, what? What's wrong with Steve? That's why it just blew my mind that you say you don't rock with Stephen A.

[Rory]

No, because he.

[Damaris]

I forgot about it.

[Rory]

Like, a week later, he kicked Kyrie's.

[Damaris]

Back in, which is big.

[Rory]

He's a problem guy. Everywhere he goes, he causes issues. Just take the damn vaccine and go to work. Like it was. Like what?

[Damaris]

Which is very ironic, and we'll move on from this, but Stephen A. Has very much aligned himself. Not with the right per se now, but he is on Fox pretty often. People that were fired from Fox that have other platforms.

[Rory]

Stephen A. Look like he coming on this side a little bit.

[Damaris]

Gosh, he. A little bit.

[Rory]

He is n. He looked like he. He looked like he rocking with Trump a little bit is all I'm saying.

[Damaris]

A little bit.

[Mal]

That's what Rory was saying.

[Damaris]

No, he's on the right. That's what I'm saying.

[Rory]

Oh, but before he wasn't, though.

[Damaris]

No.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

And that's why I think it's ironic with the vaccination and Kyrie Irving, how much he was against that. And now he's aligned himself with the people that have to have the talking point that you should not be vaccinated. So, I don't know, 2025, huh?

[Rory]

Listen, happy 2025. Did y'all do anything to bring in the year?

[Mal]

We kicked it off?

[Rory]

Baby, what you did for the new year?

[Damaris]

Baby, we did.

[Mal]

We kicked off.

[Rory]

You cooked all that food. You ain't said no pictures, no videos.

[Mal]

I didn't record any picture of video. I was supposed to be vlogging. I didn't get a chance to do that. I just. I cooked and I sat down one little glass of. Half a glass of champagne. At 8:00pm I was sleep by 12:17.

[Damaris]

Yeah, I was. I was fighting to make sure I saw the ball drop.

[Rory]

Yeah. I was in bed by 12. Before 12:30, for sure, you was alone. Yeah.

[Mal]

All right.

[Rory]

Yeah. I Was alone.

[Damaris]

Having a little New Year smooch.

[Rory]

No New Year's.

[Damaris]

Kiss yourself in the mirror.

[Rory]

I mean, you know, I do want.

[Mal]

To have that one New Year's where I go out and kiss a stranger at 12 o'clock.

[Rory]

Why a stranger? Cuz then now you going to February with bum bumps on your mouth. Now you like now you got stranger bumps on your mouth in February.

[Damaris]

I don't want to do physically. If you go through it. Yes. Like three out of four people have herpes or some. Right? I guess there's a high chance. I was saying you're being nuts, but yeah, I guess so New Year. Pop the year off, get it?

[Rory]

No, I don't get it.

[Mal]

That's disgusting.

[Rory]

But you want to do that, Baby.

[Mal]

D. I don't know. Like, I want to have like one of those New Year.

[Rory]

I feel like you a hopeless romantic.

[Mal]

Baby D. I really am.

[Damaris]

Me too.

[Rory]

Are you?

[Mal]

Nobody asked you. Look at me too.

[Damaris]

Like I was romantic, kind of.

[Mal]

He's just hopeless.

[Rory]

No, you just hopeless.

[Damaris]

You just hope amongst. Just put in the word afterwards.

[Rory]

Like me. We just don't have hope anymore. Yeah, that's it. No more. No more.

[Damaris]

No, you're not a hopeless romantic to some degree. Like, you don't want that. I'm not saying in 2025. Maybe in like 25.

[Rory]

I love the idea of love and relationship and being happy and having fun with your partner and living life and, you know, achieving goals and having a beautiful family. I'm with all of that, but I'm not with the, you know, at midnight kiss a stranger thing. Miss me with that.

[Damaris]

I'm very much a realist that does understand relationships, unfortunately. Back to I wish ignorance was fucking bliss. I know the work it takes for a relationship, but with that, I still like want the kissing in the rain moment. Like, I still want to do the midnight thing. Yeah, I like the romantic shit.

[Rory]

You can kiss in the rain. Why haven't you done that yet?

[Damaris]

Because I'm always sick because of Amara. I'm like, I can't bring that. You have to keep your kid away from daycare. If everyone's sick, it sucks. You know much. I paid a whole month of daycare. She didn't even go. I asked for my money back. They left.

[Rory]

Yeah, no, you can't. That's not. They didn't care.

[Damaris]

They didn't care for.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's not how that works though. You can't get your money back because your daughter wasn't there.

[Damaris]

I tried that with the insurance company too. I Said I didn't crash my car.

[Rory]

Yeah. All right, good. Good luck with that one.

[Damaris]

But yeah, it was an uneventful night.

[Rory]

So you didn't go, oh, no, he was home. He was home.

[Damaris]

I was home. I have a question for you specifically. Do they still shoot guns off at midnight? Like, is that still a thing? We were sitting there, ball dropped, and then in my neighborhood was a bunch of fireworks, and it was still like pouring. And he was like, is that fireworks? I was like, no, it's the hood. They shooting guns off. Like being facetious. But that was a thing at one point.

[Rory]

Yeah, well, I don't think that's much of a thing anymore, though. But it was at one point. Now, like I said, people have fireworks every week. Now. I feel like fireworks are going off and I'm like, what are they celebrating today? Yeah, I feel like I don't look at the calendar enough. So I don't know what today is.

[Damaris]

With Jersey City specifically this past two years. There's like a fireworks spot on 440, and I'm not getting too local, but you could never just regularly, like, buy fireworks in New York and New Jersey like that. Yeah, that's why they're going off non stop. You could just.

[Rory]

You can buy them any.

[Damaris]

They're right there.

[Rory]

Everybody has fireworks. But it was a beautiful night. It was kind of raining, it was kind of gloomy and gray, and then it cleared up, like right after midnight, it stopped raining.

[Mal]

God was washing away the sins of 2024.

[Rory]

Yeah, get 24. Wash it out of here. Y. Get it out of here. New Year, new energy.

[Damaris]

Do you think at the time when people were shooting guns off at midnight, it was a little bit ill advised and wasn't thinking ahead to the rest of the evening's activities because I feel like New Year's Eve people drink a lot. There's always some type of altercation or fight. Do you think anyone let the whole clip go at midnight and then at 2am they had beef?

[Rory]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Damaris]

And they were out of bullets.

[Rory]

Yeah. So now they just got to stab each other.

[Damaris]

I feel like there was. There's one guy in the projects that watched everyone shoot their guns and just keeps his there. And it's like, oh, I'm.

[Rory]

Nah, I'm good tonight. Saving these. I'm not letting these go for no reason.

[Mal]

But it's usually only three shots. Pop, pop, pop. Happy New Year.

[Damaris]

That's just.

[Rory]

So what gun is that ill advised.

[Damaris]

With the gun laws? I wasn't aware of gun laws when I Was a kid, people were just shooting guns in New York City for the of it on New Year's Eve. Cops everywhere. What a time. But in me doing absolutely nothing besides us, I feel like Joey Badass popped off the year too. New York City looking all right in the first two days. We got the smoke for everyone. I mean, there's some internal beef with Elliot, Cam and Mace, but we'll, we'll squash that. New York, we gotta stick together.

[Rory]

Oh yeah, we gotta stick together, man.

[Damaris]

We're holding it down two days in and Joey Badass is holding it down two days in. He dropped. I won't call it a freestyle, but a record. The ruler's back. He wanted to show us his new property. And I forgot how much money that Joey Badass gets. It's like quarter million just for a festival. Sometimes like the quote unquote non popular rappers, perception wise. I like when they remind everyone that they have way more money than the people they think are possible.

[Rory]

Sometimes you gotta, you gotta let them know because you're not, as you know, on the timeline as much in people's faces as much people think that you're not having success and you're not making money because you know, you're just not quote unquote in mainstream. Yeah. Which I think Joey Badass is mainstream. I don't think you can be on a major show like, you know, Raising Canaan and not be considered.

[Damaris]

But also his cult like following that he has with his music when he tours, especially overseas. I like, again, I've never been the stunt money guy, but when these types of guys do it, I think it's necessary to remind the rest of the timeline that it's okay to be the quote unquote underground guy and still make more money than everyone.

[Rory]

Still a very comfortable.

[Damaris]

I don't even want to go back to the Joey Badass Troy ave situation. But that was the last time I remember Joey Badass reminding all of us that he had way more money than everyone else. When Troy's like, you guys not in the club. You're not doing this. I just sold out Copenhagen for a quarter million dollars five times. Do the fucking math.

[Rory]

Life is good.

[Damaris]

But he put this out and it had the post 2024 Kendrick Ovo communities back talking. I know they were a little depressed that we all thought we were going to go into 2025 leaving that battle behind us, but they said, oh no, we're going to pick and choose three words from Joey Badass and make this a Kendrick Lamar diss. So beef is back on.

[Rory]

Is that what they're doing?

[Damaris]

So it's a great freestyle by the way he starts out the. What would be second verse. Too much west coast dick licking, which. This is a time where I hate. You can put that photo away. This is a time where I hate. Which we realized in the Kendrick and Drake battle. The younger fans that just don't. They just weren't around. It's not their fault. They have no idea what certain references mean. So the younger crowd that just got into hip hop and just got into rap beefs this year thought Joey Badass really said too much west coast dick licking. Not knowing that that's a JJ reference from 22twos when there was the bad boy Death Row beef and he was like, yo, Chronic, Doggy Style Pac. Too much west coast dick licking. New York needs to say something. I think that's a very appropriate reference in the year that just happened. We just came on here last episode and said, LA even won the fucking MLS championship. LA had a fucking year in 2024. I think it's a very Brooklyn move to say too much west coast dick licking. I'm here to rap in 2025. I didn't take it as a diss. I just thought it was a clever way to put out a record to start the year. When you're about to roll out more music.

[Rory]

I don't think people understand what disses are anymore.

[Damaris]

They don't.

[Rory]

I think that people hear anything, you know, as soon as you mention a specific coast or artist, like, automatically it's, oh, that's a shot. Or they throwing, you know, they dissing each other. And it's like, well, sometimes, yes, that is the case. I just think that people need to get back to what. What a diss is, though. Just because somebody says your name and, you know, mentions where a city where, you know, people are from doesn't mean that it's a shot or it's a diss.

[Damaris]

And what I didn't like, it's. Of course, the younger kids in the communities on Twitter don't get that. It was daylight. Shout out, daylight. Friend of the show, he had put something up on IG that that's not worth replying to. And then a bunch of guys that were featured on gnx, we're saying things like, that's too light. You got to come harder than that. It's like, now you got. You guys know what that reference is to? That's not a diss.

[Rory]

Now, did somebody.

[Damaris]

It's not a dis.

[Rory]

Did somebody from the west coast. Mention Joey Badass's name though, in a, in a. In a record somewhere.

[Damaris]

Not that I'm aware of because his.

[Rory]

Next bar after that was. I'm hearing throwing rocks really ain't sticking, so.

[Damaris]

Okay, but that's also in reference for the rest of the verse we did just seen. I have no information about it. Of that altercation that Joey Badass had in that store. I think he was referencing more stuff in regards to that situation than anything else. But like some rappers have two bars that just get you to the next thing that have nothing to do with what they're really talking about. But also, I don't think Joey Badass is scared of any type of back and forth rapping in 2025 whatsoever. So it could have been one of those. It wasn't a diss, but if. If you guys took it that way, let's go.

[Rory]

Yeah, but I'm not. I don't. I don't like things like that. I don't like for rap beefs to start by. Yo, it wasn't a diss, but if you want to.

[Damaris]

But that's usually how they all start. No, outside of ones come from street shit or direct with fucking the same girl.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

Like even there's been so many different reasons of how the Jay and Nas thing really started. But even with Jay saying etched your name out, like certain things that are not direct, that could be anything start to add up. I think they all kind of start from shit like this first person shooter started out. Well, yeah, yeah, it did. But there were. But there were so many years of back and forth between Drake and Kendrick at that point that. That I think just solidified. All right, this is what it is. But this Joey Badass bar, I think plenty of rap beef start this way.

[Rory]

I mean, it's going to be interesting to see what rap beef, if any comes of this though. Cause I feel like that's just whoever responds and jumps out there. It's just like, are you looking to get into a beef?

[Damaris]

I agree.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's like the dude, the comedian say, you out there skating. Black guys be playing hockey with no mask on. They just out there skating looking for beef. That's what that. Yeah, like you just out here to fight fam. You don't even want to. Like, you just out here looking to get into battle with somebody. But shout out to Joey Badass, I thought he did a good job on this. And every again, every time I hear Joey rap, I just laugh that Bow Wow inspired him to rap like Nothing.

[Damaris]

About the way Joey Badass raps like beware the dog.

[Rory]

I just can't. That is so wild to me.

[Damaris]

But people also said I got murals in my city nomination. This is for every time they left me out. The conversation that they said was a diss towards Kendrick, which just because whacked out murals is his intro. I don't. I think that's a.

[Rory]

That's.

[Damaris]

I think that's a.

[Rory]

That's a reach, man.

[Damaris]

Then Damaris, I sent you a clip. Of course, Twitter, because they can't do Drake and Kendrick right now. Have to find any way the dance of Joey in his driveway and then Kendrick on stage one time out of the thousand performances he's done. They were dancing alike. And that was a diss to Kendrick.

[Mal]

Yeah, that's just.

[Rory]

Well, I could see them now. That's a correlation to something really that just gives. Like, I mean, it's Drake's. Drake did that dance and obviously Kendrick did it, mocking Drake. And now Joey is doing it, I guess, you know, ain't that the used.

[Mal]

To call me on my cell phone dick dance?

[Rory]

Yeah, he did that in a hotline hotline blink video.

[Damaris]

Some hilarious dance moves in that. But maybe that's like how Joey dances. Maybe that's like some Flatbush West Indian that we're just not on.

[Rory]

It could be you. Listen, I'm 20, 25. I'm not put. I'm not creating no beefs. It could be as my. It could be. You could be right.

[Damaris]

The other line that got conversation going, thank God that wasn't really Kendrick related or beef related. Was Joey saying that he's the cleared heir apparent to the New York throne, which when we were having that funny conversation about J. Cole being from New York that everyone for some reason took seriously because you can't have any fun in podcasting anymore. Everything you say has to be dead fucking serious. When we were joking about J. Cole being from Queens and being the king of New York, we were saying that because it's very unclear on who that king could be. I feel Joey on this, but kind of by default, like, I don't know if it's really a stat. I think Joey's extremely talented and very much could be the king of New York. I can't wait for his album this year. I think he's going. I mean, Joey, he came out. He's 14. What is Joey now? 21. Joey Badass has been in the game for 10 years. He's 20. I'm excited to see the second half of his Career, established himself as an actor. But I very much think he's gonna take this music shit even more serious than before.

[Rory]

But why is everybody.

[Mal]

Why 29.

[Damaris]

What is crazy?

[Rory]

What is this King of New York thing, though?

[Damaris]

Like, what you and your family started?

[Rory]

The King of New York is still.

[Mal]

Jay Z. I agree with you.

[Rory]

Like, why. Why are we acting? Like, I just don't understand it. I let. Listen. Rappers can say they get it off, but we know who the King of New York is.

[Mal]

But that's why he said air like the apparent heir. Like, not, I'm the king of New York, but I'm obviously who's next. Like, I'm.

[Damaris]

But I. But I think that's the problem that you say we're saying Jay Z is the king because in any other region of the country, Snoop is not the king of the West Coast. Yeah, King Snoop, Kendrick is.

[Rory]

Now that Snoop also was on stage calling Kendrick the new king of the West Coast. Fair, nobody has ever Jay Z has not went on stage and crowned anybody from New York the new King of New York.

[Damaris]

I don't think people would say that Andre 3000 or even currently ti would be the king of Atlanta. There's a bunch of other acts that are younger that you could say future is the king of Atlanta. At one point, you could have said thug is the king of Atlanta. That's an issue to me that we're saying right now. And everyone agreed in the room when you said it. Jay Z is the King of New York. Jay Z's not active. He should not be the King of New York.

[Mal]

But I think the reason for that is that we don't like all those other Nick's active.

[Damaris]

Why don't we say that? Sorry to cut you off.

[Rory]

I'm with that.

[Mal]

I'm not mad at that.

[Rory]

I don't matter. The Queen of New York.

[Mal]

Yeah, but a lot of people in New York don't agree with Nikki's actions as far as what she does outside of the studio.

[Rory]

Oh, if we gonna do that, then we can run the list on all of these niggas. We talking about away from the music and away from the studio.

[Mal]

I'm not even talking about being a good or bad person. I'm just talking about, you know, Nikki gets. Nikki gets a lot of slack for a lot of things that people deem as corny. So. Yeah, but everybody needs the opposite. But not in New York. In New York, you're not allowed to be corny. Other places you're allowed to be corny in New York.

[Damaris]

You're not allowed to be corny. Sometimes that comes across corny. I mean, I can objectively say a lot of that. Super cool New York. If you don't do it correctly, you come off super, super corny for sure. Like, remember that guy in the gas station, you know, in front of New York and then it was laid out on Arizona?

[Rory]

Whooped him out. They whooped him out.

[Damaris]

That cool New York didn't work. Didn't work there.

[Rory]

And. And when I was watching that, I was like, but where in New York, though, he's from? Like, you gotta start asking them questions. Like, yo, but where. Where in New York State? Yeah. Like, where are you from, though, fam? Like, if you from Utica, I don't think you should be in Arizona gas station screaming, I don't know, man.

[Damaris]

Go say that in Utica. See what happened?

[Rory]

I never. I'm never going to Utica in my life. Like, what am I going to, uta?

[Mal]

Because you know better.

[Rory]

What's in Utica?

[Damaris]

You just ran out of Utica.

[Rory]

I've never been to Utica.

[Mal]

I don't know if I got a Utica. Crazy.

[Rory]

What is in Utica? Like, what would I be going to Utica be? Like, yo, you gotta go to Utica to get.

[Damaris]

Like, isn't there a big college there?

[Mal]

Utic greens is crazy. Also. Chicken rickies.

[Rory]

Utica greens.

[Mal]

Utica greens.

[Rory]

Like collard greens.

[Mal]

It's a. It's a kind of collard green. Kale green.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Mal]

It's really good the way it's prepared.

[Rory]

That's what they known for. That's. They.

[Mal]

Yeah. And chicken riggies.

[Rory]

Chicken rickies.

[Mal]

Chicken riggies.

[Rory]

What's that?

[Mal]

It's like, I'm trying to think of what y'all would call it. So what Carbone makes. What Carbone is, like, known for the carbone pasta, that's chicken riggies, but with a different. It will be a different type of pasta. Like a different type of noodle.

[Rory]

Oh, okay. So it's pasta.

[Damaris]

Yeah.

[Rory]

Okay. Got you. Yeah. No, I'm never going to get that.

[Mal]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damaris]

Do you think. You think he's from, like, Cornell or something?

[Rory]

I don't know where homie was from, but he definitely wasn't from the five boroughs. I could tell you.

[Damaris]

They did put Frank Sinatra, Bonham. And first of all, don't say that.

[Rory]

They whooped him out.

[Damaris]

Just because someone's from the five boroughs does not mean they get their. They can't get their ass whooped in Arizona.

[Rory]

I'm. No, no, no. They 100 could get there.

[Damaris]

I know plenty of people born and raised, never even left the borough.

[Rory]

For sure.

[Damaris]

Could easily get their ass.

[Rory]

But I'm just saying something about him tells me there's a lot of bravado that. Yeah.

[Damaris]

If you haven't been in fights, like.

[Rory]

Where you from, fam? Like, where was. Where was he from?

[Mal]

And how do that? Like, a lot of New Yorkers. I remember I went to. When I went to college in one of my colleges in Syracuse, that was a thing. Like, when the New York kids would come, it was like, I'm from New York. I'm from New York. You talking about. Like, we really get active. And, like, I was from upstate, so, like, autumn upstate kids would be like, you from. That don't scare us. Like, we grew up here. We ain't have shit to do but fight and kill each other. Like, y'all had, like, opportunities. Like, we don't. We have shit to lose.

[Damaris]

All our parents got warrants and moved up here.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Like, all our parents are from Brooklyn. That.

[Mal]

That'll mean shit to us. So, yeah, that was a big thing, people. And I remember in Syracuse, people in Syracuse hated the New York kids. And I used to. Because I spent so much time in New York, I used to be like, they don't all act like that. Guys. Like, not all people from New York act like that.

[Rory]

I hate when people do that, though.

[Mal]

But that.

[Rory]

Yeah, like, stop telling me where you from. Like, they don't get knocked out there, too. Like, yeah, yeah, don't tell me where you. Like, I don't care where you from. You're home from. All right. What that mean? I'm sure niggas got knocked out on your block.

[Mal]

A Brooklyn. Brooklyn gonna tell you which one. If you walk into a bar, a Harlem, a Brooklyn or a Vegan, which one go tell you where they from first?

[Rory]

Brooklyn.

[Mal]

Nah, Brooklyn for sure.

[Rory]

I've seen. I've seen not from Brooklyn. When they be like, yo, is Brooklyn there? And start saying, yeah. I'm like, yo, you not even from Brooklyn, though. I've seen that happen. I'm like, yo, you're not from Brooklyn. You from. Like, you from, like, Long island or something. That's not. We Brooklyn.

[Damaris]

Well, we do the test at our live show in New York every time. We always end with Brooklyn because it's always going to be the loudest no matter where you are.

[Rory]

And they not even from Brooklyn, man.

[Damaris]

Well, I'm glad we talked about upstate again for the 10,000 time, because I think it does tie into this conversation. When The King of New York completely changed. I think French had a time where it looked like that could happen. He had other motives, Kardashians, a lot of other things. I understand French upstate took over. And the King of New York to me was everyone. Upstate New York City wasn't doing shit. It was the first time when you said King of New York. All right, does Griselda count in there? Like we're talking 2016, 2017. They were by far the King of New York. But we had never said King of New York, not being in the five boroughs.

[Rory]

See, the thing about that is every one of these people that you're going to bring up, if you ask them who they feel like the King of New York is, they will not say themselves. They're gonna all say Jay Z still.

[Damaris]

Okay. Joey Badass, I think has the talent and lyrical ability, even beat choices, to be the King of New York. I think he needs to make some drastic mainstream moves to take that crown completely. And everyone feel comfortable with not having an inactive 55 year old man that lives in Los Angeles be the King of New York.

[Rory]

Yeah, but then tell these, tell these telly. Yeah, but that same 55 year old man that's not active. All of these new guys you want to name and put they hat in the bag as King of New York, none of them have a discography better than his.

[Damaris]

I agree, but does that make you the King of. I don't think. I don't think, personally, I don't think Future has a better catalog than Outkast, but I am so comfortable. I mean, I don't count because I'm not from Atlanta. But with someone saying Future is the King of Atlanta, without question, New York, we're trashing that way. We had a whole fucking era and then a bunch of cool rappers, great rappers. I've never been the one that said New York was completely dead. I think we had a lot of great new music and a lot of great new rappers, but nobody that ever broke through where we could say, this is the king of this area. I think a boogie was very close. If you go through his discography, I don't think it matches with Fat Joe's. And no one would say Fat Joe was ever the King of New York because it's from a different era and he had three or four other people above him from New York at that time. How do you even qualify that king if Jay Z's not it? Do we go down the line and then become Nas? Like, yeah, do we do it with errors? I Don't understand it, because even Kendrick was given that chain from Snoop on stage. I think right after Pimp of Butterfly. Was that before or after Damn. Like, he only had a few problems.

[Rory]

That was before damn. At the House of Blues, they did that. So I think that was before damn.

[Damaris]

And do you think that was okay to say? I think so.

[Rory]

That's not my place, because I'm not from la. I'm not from the West Coast. And if you got guys, but you're a rap fan, but if you got guys like Snoop and Dre, who obviously are the architects and, you know, have a heavy hand in the foundation of west coast rap, if they're on stage crowning a kindred, the King of la, who am I to be like, nah, they got it wrong. You know, I can't speak to that.

[Damaris]

I know, but we're just. As a hip hop fan, are you cool with that timeline? And don't worry, everyone listening, this isn't going to be a Kendrick thing. This is just the example. Section 80. Good kid. Mad City, Pimpa Butterfly. Damn. And where he was at and what he was doing. Arena tours, everything. That's enough time to call someone the king of their city. I think it is.

[Rory]

Yeah, for sure. Off. That's what I'm saying. So now take that and put that to New York. What artists that you just named can you say that about? Like you just said with Kendrick? You ran all of those albums, Nikki.

[Damaris]

Yeah, that's it. Nicki's the only one. I can think.

[Rory]

That's what would have to stop for me. If it's not Jay, it would have to be Nikki.

[Damaris]

But then to me, where I get confused is back to my point. Before now, is it just generational? Because at that point, there's like 10 other New York artists that just happen to be in the same era of Jay Z that have a better catalog and more relevance than the younger artists that have a good run. That King shit just confuses me. I'm on the side of Jay Z or Nikki. I think Joey Badass definitely has the ability to be that. And I like that he's starting the year off this way.

[Rory]

He gonna have to put out material, though. You start yelling, king of New York shit. All right, show us. I'm with. Listen, all of y'all could say, y'all the king or whatever y'all want, but then I'm gonna say, all right, where's the material at? And then we gonna start sifting through the material, and we got to. Then we could get More definitive answers, like, you could say whatever you want, but we gotta have the catalog, the music, we gotta have the run. We gotta have the consistency. We gotta have all of those things line up to support you saying you're the king or queen of the city that you're from.

[Damaris]

Yeah. And we've had the convo that I don't think they ever. I brought that up a few months ago of why Nikki is never viewed as someone from New York. Even though she is the epitome and definition of New York.

[Rory]

She doesn't get that.

[Damaris]

And I think it's maybe a woman thing, but I don't know. I mean, we've had times where it looks like certain artists and movements were that outside of boogie. I think the ASAP crew and Rocky felt like it was a moment at that time. But for some reason, everyone finds different interests, and maybe that is a New York thing. They find interest in other shit and move on from just the music. Shit that doesn't solidify them on the music side to be the king at all.

[Rory]

But you gotta have a certain reign of dominance, though I don't think none of these artists that we've named outside of, obviously, the Nicki and Jay, as far as New York, I don't think any of them had a reign of dominance.

[Damaris]

No.

[Rory]

You know what I mean? Like, that's the thing. You could be hot for a summer. You could have a mixtape, a record, you know, that's cool. Shout out, I love it. But when you start talking about King, it's like, all right, where did you dominate? Where did you. You know what I mean? Show me your run. Where it was like, it had to run. Everything had to run through you. When it came to New York music in New York, rap like that, you have to be able to show me that. Jay can show you that. Nikki can show you that. Nas can show you that.

[Mal]

Well, okay, so I hear you. But that might. If that's the case, we might not ever have another king of New York. Because I feel like there's just such an abundance of artists now that everything don't gotta run through one person. Because there's so many different types of rap and so many rappers.

[Rory]

Yeah, but that's the thing.

[Mal]

And they're all doing so many things and mixing genres, but who's dominating? But that's the thing. Nobody's dominating because there is such a wide array of music. Music. There aren't three artists that are, like, battling for top 1, 2, and 3 anymore. There's a million artists who are all in their different sorts of lanes and mix.

[Rory]

And a lot of that shit is trash.

[Mal]

A lot of it, but not all of it. Y'all.

[Rory]

Not all of it's not even saying all of it, but a lot of it is trash.

[Damaris]

This is just an actual fact. If you look at numbers, they're not making music that would sustain a long career. The type of music that they're making does not lend you a 10 year career. They're going off trends and sounds that have no longevity, they just move on to the next sound which someone else before them was already doing. They were onto it first and they go on to that artist. I think I like to deal with actual facts and not the. Like I always hated the if Big didn't die, Jay wouldn't be that. I hate that conversation. I try to deal with what's true. With that said, Pop Smoke, I think was on the way to possibly being that new young king of New York.

[Mal]

That's possible. But even with the type of music that. And this is no hate to pop, because I love pop. With the type of music that pop made, pop could have sizzled out the same way.

[Damaris]

That book where I disagree completely one second.

[Rory]

But I don't like saying that because you just said you can't say. You got to speak on what it like. Unfortunately we lost Pop Smoke, so we can't speak to that. It's like, you know what I'm saying? It's like what? He had his moment.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Rory]

Oh, he looked great out there. He was a star.

[Damaris]

But why I brought it up is actually the opposite of what Demer said when he had put out the Shoot for the Moon, Aim for the Stars album. That was like right after he passed. But that was the one he was working on. He. There was still drill elements in it and what we knew from welcome to the Party and everything, his sound was way more broad on that. There was a lot of different sounds on that.

[Rory]

And I'm not sure it sounded like.

[Damaris]

Pop was getting out of the this is my Brooklyn Drill Crip shit and I'm going to make real music. I love that.

[Rory]

And I'm not sure if. If that album he did or he didn't, but I think I saw somewhere 50 was speaking that he. I think he had kind of put him under his wing and was. Yeah, that's helping him with his music and stuff. So that might have been a result of 50 being closer to him and him, you know, creating music and things like that.

[Damaris]

I. I loved. I forgot who 50 was talking to. He was saying the first time Pop Smoke came to his office, sorry, I need water. He was just, you know, giving him typical OG Game, whatever. And he's like. He was sitting there on his phone and, like, I thought he was disinterested in what I was saying. I thought it was rude as. Then he got up and Pop Smoke was writing down everything that 50 was saying. He thought he was just sitting there like, yo, all right, cool. Literally just typing every single word. I think Pop would have been one of those ones for sure.

[Rory]

He definitely. He definitely had that star power for sure.

[Mal]

Do it.

[Damaris]

Well, I don't know why we're spinning our wheels trying to figure out who the King of New York is, when we could just ask the hip hop historian, who is that king of this entire thing? LeBron James.

[Rory]

I just want Elliot Wilson.

[Mal]

Yo.

[Damaris]

Elliot didn't invent the deluxe, did he? Hopefully LeBron is a R in this Joey Badass album. That's how we know we'll get an actual classic out of it.

[Rory]

Well, Happy birthday to LeBron James. He celebrated a birthday a few days ago. 40 years old. One of the most incredible athletes we've ever had. Ever seen.

[Damaris]

And anarchy.

[Rory]

One of the most incredible A RS he's only 40.

[Mal]

He's younger than you, LeBron.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Oh, a lot of athletes are, like, young. They just retire early because it takes a toll on your body.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Yeah. Most athletes are not old for life. They're just old for, like, the field or the court.

[Mal]

No, it's. I mean, I don't know. I don't know why I thought LeBron was older. Maybe it's just. I think it's because he must have had his son, like, semi young.

[Rory]

You mean his son has playing on his team with him right now?

[Mal]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rory]

Obviously he had him when he was young.

[Mal]

That's why I'm just like, oh, wow, he's only 40.

[Damaris]

Yeah. But 32. Bryce committed to Arizona.

[Rory]

That's dope.

[Mal]

Which is dope.

[Rory]

Shout out to Bryce. Bryce James.

[Damaris]

Hopefully he's. He's sober.

[Rory]

What?

[Damaris]

That's a party school.

[Rory]

Oh. Oh. I mean, I'm sure he's. He's got his head on straight. Great kids, man. I don't think we have to worry about that from that family.

[Damaris]

But some footage surfaced from the birthday party, you know, because everyone was trying to figure out what LeBron was doing for his 40th. He's been taking time off from the Lakers, this and that. Of course. It was gonna be quite the soiree.

[Rory]

You gotta take Time off to, you know, put the. Put the party together.

[Damaris]

Put the playlist together.

[Rory]

Yeah, exactly.

[Damaris]

Whoever. Whoever filmed this, cliff, is not LeBron's friend. I know they went through the guest list and wondered who filmed this entire thing.

[Rory]

LeBron saw him filming. He's standing right in front. LeBron might have been filmed that. Absolutely.

[Damaris]

For those that have not seen him, Absolutely.

[Rory]

This is rehearse first.

[Damaris]

LeBron James at his 40th birthday party. And listen, as a hip hop nerd, I'm gonna give him some type of grace here because when we get a little too up, sometimes we like to get in our. Our lyric bag and just, you know, I've definitely put on some. Some Nas B sides when I've had a little too much red wine and start rapping to everybody that's in the room that doesn't want to hear me.

[Rory]

Cleared the whole party up.

[Damaris]

Yeah. Like, nah, you have to listen. Watch the party.

[Rory]

Nobody want to hear that shit, man. You know, Nobody want to hear you kick rhymes at a party. Nobody want to hear bars.

[Damaris]

You got to understand. Not like it's their second childhood he's talking about. They had their first childhood. No, I'll wrap it to you. I'll wrap it to you. So, you know, anyway.

[Rory]

Fuck. What rory talking about LeBron.

[Damaris]

We.

[Rory]

We get it, man. Drake unfollowed you. You got to be.

[Mal]

This is not about Drake.

[Rory]

What? All right, if him. If him and Drake was still cool, you think he would have been rapping this on a Drake record?

[Damaris]

He was cool with Drake and was rapping to, like, that verse while he was doing layup lines, he Al. There's also four other videos of him rapping songs that aren't breaker. Kendrick. I think they caught him in a red wine moment.

[Rory]

This is the one, though. This is the record. This is the one he wanted us to understand. This is the lyrical miracle. This is the bars, first of all.

[Damaris]

No, it's not.

[Mal]

And he's singing a song like, I deserve it all.

[Damaris]

This is this.

[Rory]

He got it all. He's LeBron deserve it. No. 100%.

[Mal]

100.

[Rory]

He worked for it.

[Damaris]

This is not a lyrical. This probably the least lyrical Kendrick song on the album. Play the clip it. You got to get in the mo.

[Rory]

Answer the question. Answer the question.

[Mal]

First of all, do we see a familiar face in the bag?

[Damaris]

We'll get to that.

[Mal]

Okay.

[Damaris]

The rapper Hands is crazy, and he's 68 and he's a monster. So his rapper Hands are even funny. You think he rehearsed 11 on the Potter Watch Cancel.

[Mal]

That's his. That's.

[Damaris]

I think that's his wife doing Tik Tok dances next to it.

[Mal]

I think that's Savannah probably making fun of him.

[Damaris]

You know, she's caught him, like, in the bathroom before steam. Everything with this on the beats pill. That's not his first time doing this or this.

[Rory]

I could ask you a question. Do you think that if Drake didn't unfollow him that he would have been rapping a Drake song right there?

[Damaris]

I think no.

[Rory]

No. You don't think so. Okay.

[Damaris]

Because he was rapping.

[Rory]

When y'all be lying to yourself, I'll let y'all do that. All 2025. All 2025. I'm letting. Lie to themselves. Ourselves.

[Damaris]

It's not that we're lying to ourselves. I promise you that. I'd never. It never even crossed my mind that If Drake unfollowed LeBron, would LeBron rap a Kendrick song? Never even entered my mind because I don't care.

[Rory]

So when you seen this clip, you didn't think that.

[Damaris]

No, I saw my friend Raven right behind him and immediately texted her, you don't think LeBron deserves it all?

[Mal]

Question mark, why Raven standing there like security put her hands behind her back. Girl, you standing in front of the wrong angle.

[Damaris]

Stop this from recording like this. Probably towards the end. The end of the night, and people were probably dancing. It was upbeat music. Things were clearing out. And then you just see, like, your man's behind you drunk as. Rapping a deep cut. Like, I do that with like, DMX or Beanie Siegel. At that point, everyone knows they should probably leave my house. I know Raven was looking around like, yo, now. Yeah, y'all ready now? I call it Uma now.

[Rory]

This looks like the party was pretty much over, though.

[Damaris]

100. You think they was playing this at the peak?

[Rory]

I mean, they might have. We might get a clip of them playing this with. With a. With a packed house.

[Damaris]

Does he request it of the DJs.

[Rory]

Not playing that record now? Can we agree to that? Can we agree that this was a request?

[Mal]

I think that that's really LeBron's song because he requested, like, you could tell by the way he rapping and he feel that he really think he deserve it all for real.

[Rory]

Like, and he. And 40th. And he does LeBron self reflection. He definitely worked for it, you know, had kept a. A spotless career. Never had any crazy things in the headlines. Like, we don't speak about that enough. As great as a player as LeBron is we don't speak to the fact that he's been able to. Well, he does deserve it all, but the fact that he's been able to stay clear of, like, you know, the crazy shit that follows athletes and happens to athletes, especially high profile athletes during their career, he never had any, you know, negative things in the news about him. So he. LeBron, is the quintessential, you know, profile athlete that's just been able to knock down all stereotypes and just have an illustrious career.

[Damaris]

And this is how you do it at your birthday party or any other time. You just invite your wife. There's red wine and you wrap.

[Rory]

Keep everybody away from you.

[Damaris]

Not one hoe wants to be at that party.

[Rory]

No twerking, no nothing. Just we gonna sit wine and listen to Kendrick all night.

[Damaris]

Did y'all ever have that friend in, like, either high school or in your 20s that would just get into this mode when they were drunk? Drunk?

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Like, they get a hold of the auxiliary course. Like, fan. We not even on that type of time. Like, I get. You feel this in your soul.

[Rory]

But, yeah, they clear the party up. That's when you stop inviting that person. Like, yo, he's not coming to the next event. Like, we not doing that.

[Mal]

I used to date a guy that when he would get high, he would put on songs that weren't instrumentals and rap over them.

[Rory]

Wait, what? He would put on songs that weren't.

[Mal]

Weren't instrumentals. Like, it would be like that, but he would, like, put his own verse, his bars.

[Damaris]

Know, I had a friend in high school. My God, that would be in the back seat smoking, and we'd be listening to music, and he would rap over, like, brother, someone rapping right now. Yeah, yeah, we don't need your bars.

[Rory]

No, no, no. He got something to say. Y sound like y'all was hating. Yeah, yeah, that.

[Damaris]

I'm glad you understand.

[Rory]

Sound like y'all was hating.

[Damaris]

No, we. We've all had that, friend. I. I feel LeBron, though. You 40. You want to hear the liquor the same way. I understand. And then that's when your wife has to come in and make sure you don't embarrass yourself too much. Like, take. Take the wine from you. This ain't the time.

[Rory]

I get it.

[Damaris]

No, you don't.

[Rory]

I do. I understand it. I mean, this. LeBron is 40 now, man. Party. You party different when you 40, man. I'm surprised he's still having birthday parties.

[Damaris]

What. What would be. Let's go around the room. In this moment, your 40th you're trying to clear the party out. You're in that mode. You're in the. Yo, I want to rap. I want to feel like I'm in the music video. But it has to be a dark, deep cut like man in the Garden. It can't be all about the Benjamins.

[Rory]

For me.

[Damaris]

Yeah.

[Rory]

What would the record be? It'd probably be something off of All Praise Due to Allah with Jay and jlx. It'd probably be something off of there. Yeah. Great album, first of all. But it'd be something over there. Like, you want to really make the.

[Damaris]

Room uncomfortable from a written testimony. The song All Praises Due to Allah.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Would be one, which is one of my favorite songs. I'll play that record.

[Rory]

I will play All Praise Due to.

[Damaris]

The Law, Us sitting there having a good time, and then get it off. And your rapper hands. Like, you'd have to, like. Yeah, you'd have to, like, show the phone and like. Like, pretend like you scrolling.

[Rory]

This is I'm a teacher. Y'all gonna hear some real shit. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's what you play. Cause it speaks to me, and this is how I feel. And I think everybody should hear these words right now. My birthday. This is what I want to hear, and this is what I want y'all to hear. Take this as a parting gift. Go home and download this if you haven't already.

[Damaris]

Got you. Okay. I'm not mad at that.

[Mal]

Yeah, we rolling with Rory.

[Damaris]

I have a few. I think the obvious is on something off Dochi's album.

[Rory]

For sure. Sure did.

[Damaris]

Doing Denial as a River.

[Rory]

Definitely.

[Damaris]

I relate to that song, and I think it's a great record. I was saying beans. I could feel it. There's a few DMX records, but my sleeper in this would be Nas smoking. Because when I was in high school, when I would get in that mode, this would be the one. Like, I could wrap every word to that and edit the N words. I could clear a party out easy. I'd rap in people's faces. When Nas was adding math up, like, 100% and giving you knowledge about, like, Jesus and who he was.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

And then he gives you, like, the whole. He gives you the whole layout of, like, how to put a crew together.

[Rory]

Like, I would.

[Damaris]

I would go around.

[Rory]

You got it. Thank you. Great job, baby. Do you.

[Mal]

It would probably be Fab. I'm Raw. Or Biggie and Lil Kim. Another. I'm trying to think of what we said.

[Damaris]

Dark B size.

[Rory]

Yeah. Like, what's up with you?

[Mal]

Dark like you gotta be. That's.

[Damaris]

You think man of the garden was.

[Mal]

That's not dark, bro.

[Rory]

I deserve it all.

[Damaris]

I know it's a positive message, but.

[Rory]

It'S rapping in his mirror.

[Damaris]

It's a.

[Rory]

To me, that's what it's like.

[Mal]

Oh, see, I. I will be on, like. Oh, okay. Well, then, I mean.

[Damaris]

Oh, I wish we could actually play music. What's that one Fab record?

[Mal]

Four, probably. If y'all want me to get dark and depressed.

[Damaris]

What's that one Fab record where, like, someone dies in every verse.

[Rory]

Breathe.

[Mal]

All right, I'm out.

[Rory]

What, man? Yo, he's telling him to breathe them.

[Damaris]

When he goes uptown to cop work. And then his.

[Rory]

That's every fabric.

[Damaris]

Unfortunately, the plug dies. Like, he didn't even see it coming. And then, like, the girl.

[Rory]

You're a drug dealer. Like, that's part of, like, what you do that comes with it.

[Damaris]

And then, like, a girl that he liked was, like, also involved with another drug dealer, and then she died. God. It's one of those sad.

[Rory]

That sounds like every fab record.

[Damaris]

Oh, this one. Will we get flagged?

[Mal]

What is it called?

[Damaris]

Can you hear me? This is what Damaris be rapping at the party.

[Rory]

Probably.

[Damaris]

Singing this too.

[Mal]

Oh, I haven't heard that song in so long.

[Rory]

What happened to this young lady? Where is she at?

[Damaris]

I. Who do they credit on this? This. This doesn't have a feature. Even Charlie Murphy got a feature on this album.

[Rory]

But that young lady didn't.

[Damaris]

No, that's like one of those hood singers that was probably on a bunch of records and we never talked about it before.

[Rory]

I love that era.

[Damaris]

Yeah.

[Rory]

Of just going to get the girl from your hood that got a decent voice and just telling her to get in the booth and laying. Laying a hook. Missed that error paying her in gum.

[Damaris]

I missed that error paying in a cab home.

[Rory]

Right?

[Damaris]

No.

[Rory]

Pub, lunch, and Uber back home. That's it.

[Damaris]

All right, so you can't pick Big and Lil Kim. You could pick Big. Like suicidal thoughts if you want.

[Mal]

I guess. I don't know. I can't really think of no depressing music that I would rap.

[Rory]

Who's your favorite rapper?

[Mal]

I've had to change them all. But outside of jcole. Cause a lot of my favorite rappers are abusers. Jcole. And who I listen to the most is all female rappers and JCO Call. And I listen to Drake a lot. Or I used to listen to Drake a lot. Other than that, I had to switch it up.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Mal]

Fab was one of my favorite rappers.

[Rory]

So I was about to say I could see you being a Fab.

[Mal]

I was a huge, huge, huge Fab.

[Damaris]

I don't really trust a girl that's. At least from my era of age that didn't like Fab. I can't trust her. That's weird. If she didn't like Fab.

[Rory]

Most girls in the. In the, like, early 2000s, 2010s, it was fab.

[Mal]

Yeah, I could. I. Yeah. Soul Tape was like, my era of, like, growing up and, like, dating, like, finally date. Oh, my Lord.

[Rory]

I heard he's trying to push the soul tapes on DSPs. But the sampling of, you know something.

[Mal]

Yeah, that's a lot of sampling problem.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Because a lot of stuff we've seen with, like, so Far Gone and, like, other mixtapes that have ended up on there, they were rapping over rappers they know beats that Soul Tape. Good luck, bro.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's such. Those estates are not amazing series, though. Soul Tape.

[Mal]

I think it's mixtape series, period. I was happy that he put there's no competition on.

[Damaris]

Yeah, Ting stuff is great again, because he was rapping over beats of rappers that he knows and similar labels like Soul tape putting on DSPs. Just do another one.

[Rory]

Oh, no, I'm. I mean, listen, I'm definitely with that, but even if doing another one, like, I want to see those. These DSPs, sometimes they could really just mess up, like, the listening experience of some of your favorite artists. Like, with all of these loopholes and clearances issues. Just give us. Let us hear the music, man. Work that shit out on some other. We don't need to know when y'all work that out. We shouldn't know. Like, okay, they cleared it. That's why it's up here. Like, it should always be available when we want to hear it. And y'all deal with that shit on the other end.

[Mal]

You saying that. Cause it ain't you fighting for pub. That's why you talking about.

[Rory]

Yeah, but when we talking about clearance, like, Like a s. It's just like, y'all either gonna get it cleared or you're not. Right. But, I mean, we should still be able to go to itunes, Spotify, wherever, and listen to the record. Like, I mean, just maybe not get paid from it. However, they could trick the streams. Like, just don't count those, because that I don't know. But we should be able to still listen to that music on those platforms is all I'm saying.

[Damaris]

I mean, I'm glad I was that Itunes, kid. I still have all the soul tapes. I have everything from the mixtape era. I have in my itunes and connects to my phone. Like, if I'm in the car, I can access my iTunes from 2010 and have everything.

[Mal]

Wow, that's nice.

[Damaris]

I'm glad I was that nerd that made sure he downloaded everything before.

[Rory]

Remember ipods?

[Damaris]

Of course. I still have a few.

[Rory]

I lost my ipod. That had all of that on there.

[Mal]

Ipod touch. My ipod touch went crazy.

[Rory]

I was so sick. I lost that ipod. Oh, my. That had. That was some on there.

[Damaris]

The shuffles were the funniest ones. Guessing what you got. I got 10,000 songs. You think I'm getting a shuffle ipod. Was the. The. In my opinion, the best era of. Not the music that was out, but just as a consumer. Yeah, I loved being able to just take my. I. I also like the phone, and I don't need two things.

[Rory]

But the ipod, was it plugging that.

[Damaris]

Into the tape deck? Best. Best moments of my life.

[Rory]

I feel like. I feel like. I feel like Apple needs to bring a new ipod back.

[Damaris]

For what, though?

[Rory]

Because I feel like we need something just for our music.

[Mal]

But what sense does that make? You would carry it just for your music.

[Damaris]

You still.

[Mal]

Because you got to carry your phone regardless.

[Rory]

Leave it in your car. Leaving it. You know what I mean? Like, just. But I feel like we need that, though. We need just that. The music.

[Damaris]

That.

[Rory]

This is all of my music right here.

[Mal]

But we don't need it because you have it in your phone.

[Rory]

Yeah, but I feel like that's.

[Damaris]

I have Apple music here, and it says apple music or library. Go to my library. And I got all my.

[Rory]

You think I don't know how to do that?

[Damaris]

I was just showing you.

[Mal]

I said, yeah, you don't need another.

[Rory]

Nah, man, we need. We need the ipod. We need a new ipod. Give us a new. Because then, like, you can see. You can see the little thing on there, and it's like, give us. You know what I mean? Like, and I can still have my phone if I want to build. Like, I don't want to mix the two. I like being able to compartmentalize my music, my entertainment.

[Damaris]

When she says, yo, can I see your phone? I want to put something on. Now she has access to your text messages. Messages. If it was an ipod, I don't care about that.

[Rory]

But that is.

[Damaris]

You could just.

[Rory]

For those. For those that go through that. That's. That's genius, though. But now I don't. I don't go through that.

[Damaris]

Well, I mean, I would buy an ipod if they still worked. Just for nostalgic purpose.

[Rory]

That's what I'm saying. I need. Give us a new ipod. Apple.

[Mal]

I'm sure the old ones still work.

[Rory]

No, no, they still work, but I'm just saying we need a. With the technology they have now. Like, what.

[Damaris]

What did. What dirt did Bono have on Steve Jobs? They were the only group that ever got their own ipod that we all wanted. It was the black ipod with the red circle. It was in the what we do video. They were the only group that when you bought an ipod, there was a U2 album on it. And then when you got an iPhone, there was a U2. What. What. What list. What flight log did Bono find of Steve Jobs?

[Rory]

It was probably close friends, man, that ipod.

[Damaris]

You know, I wanted that ipod so.

[Mal]

Badly, I didn't even know this existed.

[Rory]

What?

[Damaris]

I only knew about it because 50 and game had it in the what we do video. And then from there, everyone was like, yo, what the fuck was that? And they was like, oh, it's the U2 one. But I. Was it for sale? Like, I never saw anyone with it.

[Rory]

I don't know if it was for sale. I think. Was it for sale? Well, Demera's got the.

[Damaris]

So only Jimmy Iovine and Bono had it. Is what was.

[Mal]

I'm sorry. I'm looking at this article that says Bono is sorry for forcing U2 album on everybody, bro. I tried everything to get that off of there.

[Rory]

They definitely forced that album on us.

[Damaris]

What's funny is, like.

[Rory]

And I still don't think I ever listened to it.

[Damaris]

I never did. And I wasn't, like, a YouTube hater. My dad liked YouTube, Irish, the whole thing. I still have no idea. One song was always in my hand. Never listened to it.

[Mal]

Well, you guys can get them on eBay.

[Rory]

The YouTube iPod.

[Mal]

Yeah, you can get on ebay. Okay.

[Rory]

Oh, that's dope for you.

[Mal]

Said I probably won't, but I can't.

[Damaris]

Wait till next week. And Maul just walks in with a YouTube iPad.

[Rory]

And then.

[Damaris]

And the headphones that go around your ear like this in the back.

[Rory]

Exactly. Then you're gonna be like, yo, I'm about to order one. I'm like, see, I told you. Fire.

[Damaris]

Oh, those headphones were the worst on the bus of the train. Like, you couldn't even put your head back.

[Rory]

I never had the big. It was either the regular wire ones or AirPods. I never did the rap.

[Damaris]

Same before that.

[Rory]

Back ahead.

[Damaris]

I'm actually with my Walkman And I'm.

[Mal]

Surprised you guys don't have like. Well, you're probably past that age group. The. The new iPhone headphones, the big shits.

[Damaris]

I don't know. They spoiled me with the AirPods. That's just too much going on in my head. I don't even like wearing hats and.

[Rory]

I don't like to like be outside listening to music and stuff and I can't hear like the world I'm in. Like, I need to know what's going on on the sidewalk I'm walking on. Yeah, that's why if everybody starts screaming behind me running because somebody's on the side with a knife stabbing random. And I'm just walking down the block listening, I need to know what's going on behind me with those big air, like you can't hear nothing. It literally drowns everything out around. And I don't.

[Damaris]

They don't have the transparency setting the same way they do with the AirPods.

[Mal]

Sure, I'm sure they do. But even with AirPods I take. I keep. I only walk with one AirPod in.

[Rory]

I feel that never to only time I have two AirPods on is I'm on a flight because you gotta hear.

[Mal]

The bad walking in.

[Rory]

No, I don't need to hear what this flight attendant is saying. If this start going down, this seat belt is not saving me. Ma'am, get out the way.

[Damaris]

Wait, so when they're doing the safety thing in the video, you don't stop what you're doing to watch. Get the and refresh yourself on today.

[Mal]

I do.

[Rory]

When I'm in the exhalation, I'm sleep. I'm already asleep. I don't give a.

[Mal]

When I'm in the exit seat, I do listen like, okay, because then it's my job to save other people and I want to die a hero. You feel me?

[Rory]

You damaris.

[Mal]

You don't want to die a hero. I want to go down like they was like, yeah, like if somebody survived. If somebody survived to tell them that I didn't do everything I could. That's wild. I'm not leaving that legacy, baby.

[Rory]

D. God forbid if we on a flight together and that start going down wherever you sitting at, you better do what I do.

[Mal]

What get.

[Rory]

Let's try to get the out of here as fast as we can.

[Damaris]

Is that not the most iny face proof that the airlines do not give a about your safety and only the money that you bring? They don't vet anyone except for a flight attendant walking up to you, kneeling down and going Are you able to open the door in an emergency and you say yes, and she walks away before you even say yes? That is how they vet the person that in an emergency, they want to.

[Rory]

Know if you're able to.

[Damaris]

Is going to make sure all of us can get out of this plane. Have you ever been in a plane accident? Have you ever been in a stressful situation? What's your decision making?

[Rory]

Do you have anxiety?

[Damaris]

Nothing at all. Except for we don't even. All we know is your name on a ticket. We don't know what your weight class is, your age, nothing.

[Rory]

Doesn't matter.

[Mal]

No, I don't matter.

[Damaris]

In the event of an emergency, can you open it? Are you able to do something you've never done before in your entire life during a situation that is the most traumatic situation a human being could be in?

[Mal]

Yeah, yeah, I got this.

[Rory]

Yeah, I got it.

[Damaris]

Works for me.

[Rory]

As long as I have extra leg space, I'm good. And I don't even know if I. I wouldn't know how to open that door even if I'm reading the instructions. So the instructions are on it. Lift this turn. I don't know that if this shit lands in water that I'm gonna be like, it's not opening. Like. Like, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to open.

[Mal]

See, that's how I feel about the air. Things that are allegedly gonna drop down, they're like, oh, unstrap this. I don't know how to. In the heat of the moment. I'm not gonna know how to do that, ma'am.

[Rory]

Yeah, and that oxygen ain't gonna help. I'm still gonna pass out if this shit start going down. So. It is what it is.

[Mal]

Just from fear.

[Rory]

Yeah, it just. It is what it is.

[Damaris]

I've dropped my phone so many times in the seat. I do know how to take the cushion out for the flotation device, though. Oh, yeah, I have seen it. I've seen the. The straps and everything thing. I. I'd be cool, like, jumping off.

[Rory]

The wing, your phone under.

[Damaris]

In between the seat a million times at one point. And I'm not trying to big league you guys in here. One time when I was flying first class, they had to bring a maintenance guy to unscrew the actual layback seat.

[Mal]

Yeah, that would happen to you and only to Rory. Yeah, it's like, I'm sorry, but, like, my phone. Like, I have to get my phone. Like, I'm really sorry.

[Damaris]

Well, yeah, and I fell asleep and it fell down There. And when we landed, I was like, my phone is definitely down there.

[Mal]

Damn.

[Damaris]

So what, I'm not gonna get my phone?

[Rory]

Take the seat out. Rory's standing at the gate waiting for them to come bring him his phone.

[Damaris]

What? I mean, what's more important for the maintenance guy to do? Check to make sure the engine screws are there or take a whole layback seat?

[Rory]

Naturally, your phone is more important.

[Damaris]

Well, I guess this is a weird transition into tragedies. Prayers to everyone in New Orleans over. Was it New Year's Day or New Year's Eve?

[Rory]

New Year's Day.

[Damaris]

New Year's Day, somebody took a truck and drove extremely fast all the way through Bourbon street and hit a lot of people, injured a bunch, killed a few. Prayers to families and the victims. At the exact same time in Vegas, there was a Tesla truck that was parked outside Trump's hotel, lit on fire. There were no. No victims in Vegas though, correct?

[Rory]

Yeah, somebody died.

[Damaris]

Somebody did.

[Rory]

At least I believe one person died and a few others were injured. There's somebody in the car.

[Damaris]

Awful prayers. Prayers to all the victims and all the people that were injured as well as their families. It's been reported which who the knows that there was an ISIS flag on this pickup truck that was plowing through Bourbon Street? And that, that gentleman and the gentleman that set up the thing is in Vegas, we're at the same army base together at the exact same time. I am not here to disrespect any victims, but this is a whole bunch of crock of.

[Rory]

But they did both rent those cars from Toro. Something something there. I'm just saying there's some. Some type of connection there.

[Damaris]

Rory, this again. I'm not saying this is some Alex Jones Sandy Hook. No one died. I think people were really, really harmed and killed in this fucked up situation. This is 1000% a fucking ploy within our own government. The ISIS flag. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, get the fuck out of. And first of all, ISIS was funded and created by Israel and the United States. So yeah, if they did have an ISIS flag that does actually check out. Because I think this is 1000% from us without question.

[Rory]

I'm with you on that.

[Damaris]

Popping the whole year off with more bullshit to try to distract us. I know what you guys are trying to do in Iran. Everything that's happened with Israel real. Oh God, no. ISIS is back in the States. I know. Because we fund them, right?

[Rory]

They're here. They've been you going off.

[Damaris]

Not just it at this point, it's like, it's just super offensive of, like, how much in our face this is of killing our own citizens just for your own energy in the Middle East.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

So, I mean, I didn't want to be that guy, but in 2025. I'm sorry for all the. Call it what it is, the political science majors that end up in our communities and call me full of cool. I'm fine with it. I'm going to continue to call out what I actually see with the limited knowledge that I do have. If it's so obvious to an idiot like me, then that is a problem.

[Rory]

Right?

[Damaris]

No, I don't think this is some guy. Some guy that was part of ISIS that went through Texas from Mexico and then ran through New Orleans and killed a bunch of people, ironically, with the ISIS flag.

[Rory]

Right. But either way, we do want to say prayers and condolences to everybody that was lives, was lost, families that were affected by these events.

[Damaris]

It's all just mini bay of pigs. S.S. maddox. Like, it's. I know. This is just making us all feel comfortable as a society for all the we're about to do in the Middle East.

[Rory]

Right.

[Damaris]

Like, well, you see what ISIS is doing? Like, who. We can't even get a drink. We can't get a hurricane in New Orleans anymore.

[Rory]

Right.

[Damaris]

The Super Bowl's there. I'm terrified. What are we going to do?

[Rory]

Right?

[Damaris]

Holy.

[Rory]

No, I get it. I'm with you on that.

[Damaris]

They're trying to ruin the NFL.

[Rory]

I'm with you on that. And also at. At Amazur nightclub in Queens.

[Damaris]

Yeah.

[Rory]

There was a shooting New Year's day as well.

[Damaris]

11 people injured. Prayers to everyone. I hate to say that that is a little too common at Amazon.

[Rory]

That place has been. That place has been shot. I didn't even know it was still open. So when I was like, wait a minute, I thought they closed that down. Seven shootings ago.

[Mal]

Like, seven shootings ago.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

He had told me yesterday morning or whatever the it was, said 11 people were shot or injured at a queen's club. I said, I'm a zero. And she said, how did you know? I was like, because I've been Amazuro. And shots rang off in front of that club every night.

[Rory]

You've been to Amazuro or Amazura?

[Damaris]

Both.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

Depends if it's a male or female.

[Rory]

Got you.

[Damaris]

I thought it was odd that they brought them to a Long island hospital when Jamaica Hospital is walking distance and it's the biggest trauma unit. But that's a different tinfoil Hat. Anyways, do we have voicemails? Yeah, you've got mail.

[Caller]

Hey, Rory and mall. Hey, everyone. So I've been dating this guy for about eight months, and he has two kids. And so I met his kids for the first time last month. And since then, like, whenever I spend the evenings at his house, like, like, you know, they're there, and we do dinner and, like, the whole thing. So I've, like, spent some time with them, but not that much. And so one of his kids, the older one, his daughter, I just really, like, relate to her. Like, I see a lot of my childhood self in her. Like, a lot of the way. She's just, like, anxious about things. Just, like, a lot of small quirks that she has. Like, I get them, like, because I have those quirks, too. And my boyfriend, he doesn't understand it at all. Like, she frustrates him so much.

[Mal]

Much.

[Caller]

She doesn't. He just doesn't have that personality type. And so I actually love spending time with her because I feel like I'm able to be this, like, supportive, you know, understanding figure in her life. And, like, I had a bad childhood, so I never had that. And so when I spend time with her, it feels like. It feels like I'm, like, fixing something, you know? And, like, I've been through therapy and all of that, but, like, none of that makes me feel as good as, like, spending time with his child and, like, being able to be someone in their life that, like, I didn't have in my life and that I needed. And so I guess what I'm wondering is, like, is this, like, is this up? Like, is this weird? Should I be, like, distancing myself from this relationship? I don't know. What do you guys think?

[Damaris]

I think she is on a clear path to getting her ass whooped, Troy.

[Rory]

Why?

[Damaris]

First of all, eight months of dating, and I could be wrong, but that's a little early, in my opinion. Early to start, like, sitting dinner and having relationships with your partner's kids. But I don't know, maybe I'm old school. I know people do that after two weeks.

[Rory]

I love somebody's kids after two weeks is crazy.

[Damaris]

Some people, first night showing up at the crib.

[Mal]

What's the earliest you guys have been at someone's kid, though, though?

[Rory]

The earliest.

[Mal]

The earliest on purpose.

[Rory]

Not by accident, like, introduced to the kid.

[Mal]

Like, you, like, not even introduced. Yes. Not introduced as a boyfriend, but introduced.

[Damaris]

Probably a little over a year.

[Mal]

Oh, wow.

[Rory]

We weren't like, maybe, like, five months?

[Mal]

Yeah, yeah, same.

[Damaris]

But it was a year we weren't, like, dating. We were talking, and, like, it wasn't sitting and spitting. Yeah, it wasn't super serious, but, like, it started to get a little bit more serious. And then I met her son, but it wasn't really that big of a deal.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

But I wasn't trying to fix my childhood traumas by using their children at dinner time to do so. Which I think that's great that she is finding peace in this entire thing. But I feel like, because she's never felt this type of way, even with therapy, she's going to start to get addicted to this new relationship that she has with her cosplay kid as a mother, and it could get into some dangerous water with the real mother. Yeah, but if you're getting off. If you're getting off. And I don't. I don't mean. But she didn't mention it like that.

[Rory]

No, she said I'm. It feels like. It feels like I'm fixing something.

[Damaris]

I believe she was saying fixing herself. I don't know if she was saying.

[Rory]

Yeah, not the kid.

[Damaris]

I was a little confused. Yeah. If you said fixing your kid, then the mother's gonna punch you directly for sure. But I can see you getting in a pattern of overstepping because you're getting this high and this selfish fix off the relationship with this kid that isn't really asking for it, nor is her mother or father even in that regard, asking for it.

[Mal]

How did you get that from what she said? You just internalized that and made it all about her and her fiction.

[Damaris]

She just said. Said that it was all about her. And she said, should I leave this relationship because it's getting weird? She made it all about her, not me.

[Mal]

I don't think she made it all about her. I think that she said that she relates to the kid a lot and also that the kid she's helped, like, the kid feels understood by her. So she feels like she's helping fix their childhood. What are you.

[Damaris]

Can you play the last, like, 15, 20 seconds someone in their life that.

[Caller]

Like, I didn't have in my life and that I needed? And so I guess what I'm wondering is, like, is this, like, is this fucked up? Like, is this weird? Should I be, like, distancing myself from this relationship? I don't know. What do you guys think?

[Damaris]

She's saying that? Because before that she was saying she was not so much using this relationship because I think she wants to be there and be a good partner and have a relationship with her. Partner's kids. But she has been getting off on it because therapy wasn't working. This has brought her peace to fix her child childhood. You don't think you get addicted or maybe overstep once you realize something's working for yourself. It's not for the other, for the kid. She admitted it's for her.

[Mal]

She. But I don't think she said it was just for her. I don't think. I think that's where you're going wrong. You're turning it into. Yes, it could also be fixing herself, but I don't think she's doing it for selfish reasons. You keep saying, like she gets off on it. Like, I don't think that it's that. I think that the kid very obviously she. Like she said, she said I had a fucked up childhood and I see myself in her. I think the kid does need help and guidance. She said that the father doesn't understand her. She literally said that. She said that her father doesn't understand her and I understand the things that she's going through. I don't think that it's just for selfish, like, oh, I'm fixing.

[Damaris]

She was saying she had a fucked up childhood and didn't have someone like her in her life that could guide her. That's what she was saying. The way she guides his daughter.

[Mal]

Okay, we can agree to disagree. That's what I'm just feel like she.

[Rory]

Was saying that she, the girl that's calling, she had a rough childhood. Maybe she's being to the daughter what she needed somebody to be to her.

[Damaris]

Exactly. No, I. That's what I'm saying.

[Mal]

But that's because the daughter needs it. That's the thing. I don't think she's just doing it.

[Rory]

Just she might be right. We don't know what the relationship is.

[Mal]

Like, the daughter needs it. That's why she's doing it. That's why she sees herself in her. And she says her father.

[Rory]

But you have bonus. You have bonus children, right?

[Mal]

Yes, I do.

[Rory]

So you can speak.

[Mal]

And there's something, there's some things that I've seen in her will, all due respect to her parents, in their own things that they go through, is everybody offers something different to a child. That's why I always said that. Like even when we got into that conversation where it's like, if you break up with somebody, you should leave their child alone. And I'm like, what happened to the it takes a village? This is not just about me and your relationship. If I have entered into this village, to help this child move along in life. I'm not just going to step out of that because I'm no longer in a relationship. Because every adult that comes into a child's life has something different. Different to offer them, but it's so important. The person I've called, my bonus, I've met, but I never got kicked out the vi.

[Damaris]

You talk that shit.

[Mal]

The person. The person that I call my bonus child, I have something different to offer her than her mother and her father. Her mother and her father both respect that. And even though we've broken up, they both still allow me to be in her life.

[Damaris]

Yeah, but that's why aunts, uncles, fake aunts, uncles, godparents are so important. Because to your point, parents only have the perspective of a parent and can only give so much.

[Rory]

Yeah, but it depends, though, on a relationship and how it ended with. With your partner. Because, like, I remember one time, like, a girl I was dating, she had a daughter, and, like, she would. Like, we were done, but she would always use the. Yo, she keep asking about you. That would be her way to kind of, like, still reach out to me and keep in touch. And I'm like, yo, get off my phone. I don't care that your daughter keep bringing my name up.

[Damaris]

Feel that, too.

[Rory]

You know what I'm saying? So it depends on how the relationship with your partner ended. And if you can tell that they're using that. That as a means to kind of, like, still have some type of communication with you. But if it ends healthy, and it's like, all right, everything's good, and you still have this relationship with their kid, I think absolutely, you should still, you know, have to maintain that relationship.

[Mal]

I mean, me, I mean, not when.

[Rory]

It'S being used to kind of, like, keep, you know, some type of energy going with you.

[Mal]

But if you have a real relationship with the. With the kid. With the kid, then the relationship can't be used. Like, if I have a real relationship with your child, like, a real one. Not. We was just cool. Cause me and you were dating. Like, me and this child have each other's phone numbers. We have secrets like. Like, this is. I have a relationship with this child, then there's nothing you can say to use that against me because I have a real relationship with that child. You don't have to manufacture one. One already exists. What it sounds like with Shorty and you was. She was manufacturing or. Okay, yeah, the kid might have asked about you, but she's only using that to get in touch with you. Whereas with me, from my experience, and I can't speak on everybody else's experience, that person, then it could be times where we're not speaking and he'll be like, yo, so and so is asking about you. I told her to text you. And it's like I don't have to respond to you because I have her phone number or I have her mother's phone number. You see.

[Damaris]

But you're also the adult in the situation too though. Yeah. So you have to have some couth if the parents don't want you to communicate with their kid. That's not the case with you.

[Mal]

And I don't think that was the case with her either.

[Damaris]

An age, I'm assuming that their child wasn't that old like Damaris. I think you're speaking thinking about a teenager at this point, right?

[Mal]

A12.

[Damaris]

Yeah, 12. Okay, just think phone, whatever. But I think that changes with age too. Like a girl I was dating had. He was like five or six. There's only so much of a relationship that could even exist. As opposed to a 12 year old.

[Rory]

Yeah, you could have a. Yeah, he don't remember you. Yeah. Five years old.

[Mal]

Yeah. He thought she was the milkman.

[Damaris]

But to go back to this woman. Woman, kind of what we're talking about. She said she's only had a handful of times, that she's even met with his kids. They had like two or three dinners. Whatever the fuck she said. She said hasn't been much time. Don't overstep just because you're enjoying fixing your childhood through your partner's kid. You can, you can overstep is all I'm saying. That's my advice to her, not to get out of the situation. But tread lightly. You've only been around the daughter a handful of times.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

You're recognizing things that you may not even understand because it's only been a few times. Don't overstep.

[Mal]

Yeah, definitely don't overstep. And if that relationship, not even just with the, with the guy with the daughter is meant to be and you're meant to be an angel in her life, then it will naturally happen. I remember Will Smith's ex wife, Sheree had to tell Jada when him and Jada first got married. Like shill, shorty, you a little bit too eager for like this whole family shit. And with my son and everything, like, you know, they talked about it on the red table talk like, yeah, you came in a little eager. Chill the out. This is still my family. But eventually she earned that spot in her son's life. She earned that spot. So just let it get there.

[Rory]

You. You a little too eager, you know what I'm saying? Fall back.

[Mal]

Yeah, Chill the out.

[Rory]

Yeah, relax.

[Damaris]

Yo, I don't know about so many celebrities. First families. So Will Smith has kids outside of Willow and you didn't.

[Mal]

Yeah, he has. What's his son's name?

[Damaris]

Thank. Thank you, Pe. I'm not crazy, right? I had. No.

[Mal]

You guys didn't know.

[Rory]

He has got a whole video with his kid in it. What are you talking about?

[Damaris]

Like, just the two of us. I thought that was, like, an actor.

[Mal]

No.

[Damaris]

And, yeah, I did think that was about Jaden, but I just thought Jaden was like an infant.

[Rory]

No, that's. That's his son. That's his oldest son that was in the.

[Mal]

Trey. They call him Trey because his name is Will iii. Trey.

[Damaris]

Okay.

[Mal]

Yeah, that's his. His baby with Sheree Zampino. And they remember. You don't remember how they used to make fun on the Internet because it'd be like. Like Jada, Will, and Sharee. Like, they'll all be on vacation together. And they used to be like, oh, I knew they were swingers. Cause his ex wife goes, I guess.

[Damaris]

Yeah, that just never stuck in my brain. I do remember some of that, though.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

But, like, even finding out late that Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, has a. Like, a whole family. Yeah, like, I figured that out recently.

[Rory]

Bruce Jenner had a whole family?

[Damaris]

Yes. I thought, like, Kylie and Kendall, like, that was his first go at it. I didn't know he had 17 kids and a full wife before.

[Rory]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Damaris]

Why. Why do they only show off their second family with the celebrity mother?

[Rory]

Because that's when you got it right.

[Mal]

That's not true.

[Rory]

He had literally, when you got it right the second time.

[Damaris]

Did you see when Kevin Hart got the Mark Twain Award? I think it was last year.

[Rory]

No, I didn't see it on Netflix. I didn't watch it yet.

[Damaris]

It's funny. And Chris Rock comes on stage and looks up at Kevin and his wife and said, look at Kevin's smile. He's got that second wife. Happiness.

[Rory]

Got it right the second time. Yeah, you figured it out. The first one is trial and error. You know, you kind of got to figure it out. Second one is like, all right, I know how to do this thing.

[Mal]

Damn. Shasha aimed to be the second wife.

[Rory]

Not the first, or get married twice.

[Damaris]

Do you guys ever have the thought of, let's say you have a long, healthy marriage and you get to like 65, 70, and your partner passes away. They had some time, like you guys could discuss. It wasn't like immediate a disease. And they're like, hey, I want you to go be happy. Don't think that you can't go socialize or like date again. Like, it's not the end of your life. You have my blessing to continue on. Don't block the world out when I pass. What, you're like senior citizen dating life would look like. Like, I would definitely just find like a 21 year old yoga instructor and just blow me to my grave.

[Rory]

Oh, but so you can't do that because then you call all these older guys nasty when they do it.

[Damaris]

But it's. It's.

[Rory]

Yeah, we sit here every week and kick Bill Bell.

[Damaris]

He's. He's an able bodied man that is the coach of a team. Go find someone of your. Of your age. If I'm old, I'm an old widow.

[Mal]

Like, how?

[Damaris]

I can't move.

[Mal]

How old?

[Damaris]

70.

[Rory]

How old are you?

[Damaris]

I'm 34. I can barely move. He's a, he's an athlete.

[Rory]

Belichick. He's not an athlete. And he's 70.

[Damaris]

Is he? 70? Bill Belichick, he has a sharp mind.

[Rory]

He has a sharp mind.

[Mal]

72.

[Rory]

Yeah. You sit here, you kick Belichick's back in every week, and now here you are saying, if I'm 70, I'll give you Robert De Niro, 29 year old Pilates instructor.

[Damaris]

80.

[Rory]

Look, no, no, don't try to up the score now because you found out Belichick is 72.

[Damaris]

I. First of all, stop yelling at someone that's a widow. I'm grieving.

[Rory]

Okay, first of all, you're right.

[Damaris]

I'm not thinking straight. The love of my life, the only person I've known. Yeah, We've been married since I was 19.

[Rory]

The Lord called her home.

[Damaris]

Yes, I'm dealing with that.

[Rory]

So now you need a 21 year old Pilates?

[Damaris]

Yeah, because, you know, I got hip problems, my knees, so I got to go to yoga.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

And it was a, you know, dream. All my friends are going to. Whatever.

[Mal]

That'd be realistic.

[Damaris]

Lonely, romantic.

[Mal]

You're gonna marry the mistress.

[Damaris]

Wait, so the mistress was with me for 40 years?

[Mal]

No, you found her toward the later 30.

[Damaris]

She went through a divorce and everything.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Oh, yeah, that would be great. Yeah. We could finally live our truth.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Mal]

Is it rude to marry the mistress? Like, is it like disrespectful? To marry the mistress.

[Damaris]

I think that happens pretty often.

[Rory]

My wife that passed.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Yeah. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. He fucked his. His sibling that passed wife.

[Mal]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

The Bidens are crazy.

[Mal]

That happen. I feel like that happens so much in white households, though. Like, I feel like they feel like they're the only ones that understand each other's grief. Like the best friend and the. And the person that died, they the only ones that understand the grief.

[Rory]

Y'all don't think, Hunter, y don't think that crackhead should be like, in jail?

[Damaris]

I've. For what, a first offense? Gun charge?

[Rory]

No, no. For having.

[Damaris]

If he colluded with China. Yeah, of course. I think he should be in jail. Like. Yeah. I think. I think all the emails of him saying, I'll talk to the big guy, you know for sure, that's all I'm saying. But the things that he was arrested for, no, I don't. I don't think a firearm possession should carry that much jail time for a first offender.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

And I don't think someone that smokes crack. Crack should go to jail. I think they should get rehab.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Damaris]

And I think someone that two hookers and films it on their laptop with a gun and crack should actually be awarded instead of being. That's. That's. That's cool as like, what a life that is. If my dad. If my dad was in congress and then became the vice president, I'd be doing the same thing now. He's the president.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Oh, I'm going to China.

[Rory]

Yeah. Yeah. Now I could do whatever the I want. Yeah.

[Mal]

You guys want to know, well, before.

[Damaris]

Can you guys answer, who would be your, like, second spouse before you die, like your last five to 10 years that you want to.

[Rory]

I gotta find out who's my first spouse for you to my second one.

[Damaris]

You met her at a farmer's market. She writes poetry. The most quintessential wife that you could have. You loved her to death. She got two bodies, zero. You took her flower and then she wrote a poem on a plate with a flower about it and you put it on your mantle and then she. With her ashes now next to it.

[Rory]

And so who would I remarry?

[Damaris]

Not even remarry. But who would be your next situation you're about. You don't have much time left, but you got to live your years.

[Rory]

I'll find like a middle aged lawyer.

[Damaris]

Okay.

[Rory]

Something like that supporter.

[Damaris]

Like.

[Rory]

Yeah, she's divorced. She's divorced. Kids are grown. You know, she's just looking to get Nailed to the wall every night.

[Mal]

You think? And your 80 year old ass is going to nail her to the wall, Pop.

[Rory]

That's a fact.

[Mal]

This work out of here, the amount.

[Damaris]

Of stuff they have.

[Rory]

This work.

[Damaris]

Well first of all, all this stuff I think may end up ruining these kids. And they're gonna have ed way younger than most people. But at the rate that we have these pills by the time I'm 80, I'll easily have an erection with the. They have.

[Mal]

Okay, you won't have working hips.

[Damaris]

I'm. First of all, I'm dating the yoga instructor. Yeah, she'll help me.

[Rory]

You don't see how you tied in health and fitness.

[Damaris]

That's how I met her.

[Mal]

Yeah, I think you naked is living a fantasy.

[Damaris]

I think you're gonna find like some nice young 30 year old Latin salsa dancer fantasy, bro.

[Mal]

If I get. If my husband dies and I'm in 79 year old woman, I'm going to live out the rest of my years alone with my children and I'll be perfectly fine. I have been dating since I was 14 years old.

[Rory]

You going.

[Mal]

I've been dating since I was 14 years old. If I'm on my husband and my.

[Rory]

Husband after 30 years and no bro.

[Mal]

And sing so saying I'm going to.

[Rory]

You going to let him use your address as a no. You going to let him use your house so his PO can come check.

[Mal]

On y'all do know that older men are the ones that can't be alone. Older women have no problem being alone. Like they actually like being alone. Everybody who got who her like her husband died or she was divorced as long as her kids were alive, she was actually perfectly fine. Being alone. I'm tired of at 30. You think at 80, after I've been married to one for 40 years that I'mma go want to go get another one? No, I'm good.

[Rory]

Good.

[Mal]

Cuz the is dried up 80 grandma cookies. I'm good.

[Damaris]

But I think the same way.

[Rory]

Yeah, but you want somebody will have a somebody to just come walk by and grab your little soggy ass every morning. You want that. Maybe not full out sex, but you want that partner in there that can flirt and that you can argue with. You going to want to argue at 80.

[Mal]

At 80 I'm. I have kids and grandkids.

[Rory]

Yeah. But you know they, they leave, they walk out the door like all right mama, that's fine.

[Mal]

And that's perfect.

[Damaris]

They'll leave, they'll be at Mars at that point.

[Mal]

I'll be able to be Alone. I'm telling you, ask. Ask your Grandmama. Them. Ask 80 year old women, you know if they would go and get another husband right now. Ask them and see what they tell you.

[Rory]

Want that old miserable lady? Who want an old miserable lady?

[Damaris]

You need some dick.

[Rory]

Yeah. Nobody want that. This don't work. Get out of here.

[Mal]

Dick is what make you miserable.

[Damaris]

But I think the same way we'll have the erection. Y'all will have like some artificial mango substance y'all can take at 80 that will have mango.

[Mal]

Like why what made you. What, what fruit? Like what made you think of that fruit?

[Damaris]

I mean, I don't know. Whatever Wale and Rick Ross rap about. Yeah dice pineapples and it'll just be an array of fruit that'll make your wet. I think by that time be medication for everything. Some 80 year old that'll feel like some 25 year old.

[Rory]

No, it won't.

[Damaris]

You don't know what's going to happen in 40, 50 years.

[Rory]

No, no 80 year old feel like 25 year old. We not.

[Damaris]

It's 2025. We're supposed to be. Well, women are supposed to be roping robots right now. We have to go find the 80 year old.

[Rory]

They started with the road.

[Damaris]

The only thing that roses the rope.

[Rory]

The rose is what set it off. That set it off.

[Damaris]

I'm also crying at someone getting paroled after 40 years and going to Damaris and say, yo, can I use your address?

[Rory]

I need your house. My PO need an address. Hey, get the come check on me. The marriage gonna let that use it.

[Mal]

No, the I'm not.

[Rory]

Then she gonna give him restrictions. You can only stay in the basement. You can't come upstairs after 8:00. That gonna be right? Yeah, yeah. The marriage. Are you hungry down there? She gonna open the door. You hungry?

[Damaris]

Did you leave his plate in the microwave?

[Rory]

Your plate is on the oven on the stove if you want it. Just stop trying to get that man to come upstairs to Marisa. Just let him sleep in the bed with you.

[Damaris]

Get the.

[Rory]

Trying to leave that in the basement. It's cold down there.

[Damaris]

One of a few weeks ago, not even two weeks ago, one of my lifelong friends that I've talked about on this pod that has had some criminal issues asked me he's trying to get a truck driving job right now in Jersey and asked if he could use my address for it. I've only laughed that hard twice on the phone. It was once. It was once when love and hip hop called me and asked if I wanted to be on it. And the second time, when my criminal friend sends kindergarten, asked if he could use my address for his truck driving job. Like he hasn't had warrants and police come to his house now. I was like, no. So they can come to my house.

[Rory]

Nah, that's where you at. I don't know nothing. Don't even send me nothing. How about that? Take my P.O. box. Use that.

[Damaris]

And then you'd have to get a license and really use Matt.

[Rory]

No, no, we're not doing that.

[Damaris]

But anyways, I think we can get out of here. This, this was a good, good first episode. Getting back.

[Rory]

Yes.

[Damaris]

2025.

[Rory]

2025. Let's get into some Patreon.

[Damaris]

Let's talk about some of our 2025 predictions.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Damaris]

Oh, I'm excited.

[Mal]

I want to talk about all the y'all did in 2024 to annoy the out of me.

[Damaris]

I love, love that.

[Rory]

But how long is the list, though, baby? It's long.

[Mal]

How long you got?

[Damaris]

Oh, wait, let me start thinking. All right, cool. Let's get into it. Let me start thinking of the that you did that annoyed me.

[Rory]

Oh, yeah. Let's get into our Patreon and let's get out all of our grievances and annoyances with each other so we can kind of put that to bed and go into 2025 with a clean slate. Deal. All right, we're going into our Patreon. Subscribe now. Thank y'all for listening. We will be back soon in a couple days. Be safe, be blessed. Happy 2025. I'm that nigga. He's just ginger.

[Damaris]

Peace, new worry and mouth.