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Something Wrong With The Podcast
SWWP #3 - Relapsing To The Weeknd (Dry January) & Falling Planes
01:15:26
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- [00:00]
Julian
All right, welcome back to the third episode of Something Wrong with the Podcast.
- [00:05]
Joe Budden
This is Julian.
- [00:06]
Julian
Before I go anywhere, call in 877-557-SWWP to get in contact with me, your intrusive thought therapist. Guys, I had this whole idea of me coming in and talking about my dry January and how health is wellness and the journey is, you know, the real reward in the process is prosperity and integrity and delivery. And then the weekend album dropped. And I do want to honor what I originally had planned, but I also want to say, fuck all that. And I really want to just, like, tomorrow's the February 1st by. When I'm recording this, I almost just want to throw it all away, get a fucking bottle of tequila and just, like, go into a fucking drug den and just, like, relapse hard right now because it sounds so much to this album. I just want a dark room late. I want to be vertical laying down. I have. I still have my iPad that I did a lot of on. So I just want to, like, relive. I might buy a flight to Chicago just to go back to my old hood, just to look at the familiar streets and just go down the dark roads that I once traveled so often. The real reason why I'm recording today, Today is Friday, January 31st. I might record throughout the weekend, but today I wanted to get this out here because tomorrow is officially the end of my dry January and I wanted to pat myself on the back. Hooray. This has been. It hasn't been difficult. I'm just gonna put that out there. Like, I know it's like, you know, I'm a partier. I like to drink. I like that fun, all that stuff. But I do, thankfully, which is the older I get, the more I realize I have. I have two things going on. I have a relatively addictive personality, and I also have pretty strong willpower. Two very dangerous things to toggle as a human being. Because with this addictive personality, I actually am happy the weekend album came out today. With this addictive personality, it can go so far in the send it direction. Like when I referring back to what I was just talking about, the. The drug days I was so into. Well, let me try this. Or what if I try this amount? Or what if I mix this with that? Or, like, let's see if I can, you know, not sleep this. Or how long has it been since I ate? Or, oh, shit, what. What do we have to do tomorrow? I don't even remember what I had to eat. When was the last time I ate? Have I had water in three days. Like, I. It wasn't. Well, it was fun, but. But there was a lot of me just wanting to go for it. That personality can manifest in so many forms, I think, even down to this podcast. The need to be in control of everything and the want to be a perfectionist. In the Chicago days, it was so important for me to be the person, the point man, to be the contact for the supplier, to be the person that when we show up to events or go to parties, I was the guy that, like, yo, let me get a bump. I took so much pride in, like, having the bag on me. And I always had, like an emergency bag back at home if need be. Like, that kind of energy. So now we're looking at the dry January. And I go, this is the first time, by the way, I've ever done dry January. I've had thoughts of doing it in the past, never committed to it. And it wasn't like I tried it and I failed. Again, willpower. If I say I'm going to do something, I'll. I will do it. And I just can't. Like, I can't convince myself otherwise. This is how my mind works. Like, when I stopped doing coke, I had to do it cold turkey. I had to just wake up. It was something I was thinking about, but then when I mentally flipped a switch and was like, this has to end because of all these other medical reasons, all these things I was scaring myself of, which were probably true, but also me, placebo effect. Convincing myself that these things would happen if I weren't to stop. When that switch went off, I'll never forget, I woke up, I had bag or two from that previous weekend. I just gave it to, like, a friend or somebody I knew. This is, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. And that was like, what, three years ago at this point now? So with this, with the, with the dry January coming off of, obviously a really shitty Going into New Year's, losing my job take starting New Year's under any circumstances is rough, but obviously with not a job, I'm spent. I got fired. So I didn't have any money. I had committed to a dinner that was costing me about 180 a plate. Mind you, even when I was making money, that was still like, like a lot of money to spend on a dinner. But New Year's, it was a dinner and then like a club thing, a little entertainment, burlesque type energy. And it was for obviously special occasion news. So I'm committing to that before I lose my job, lose my job, now I have to pay for that. And then all these things are piling on and I'm like, so then I just, I send it New Year's Eve. I just, I drank probably like four or five cocktails at dinner. Just standard. I think in New York. It's a lot. It was a long dinner and then went downstairs to the club, had like the tequila, champagne toast, a couple champagne flutes. All that shit, all that stuff, you know, adds up for the hangover. And I knew it because I knew going into that night and going into that following morning because I had already made my decision up at this point that I was going to do a dry month. Luckily, I didn't wake up that hungover shout out to my, my tolerance level, which is probably depleted now I'm afraid to have a drink now. We'll see how that goes. And I wake up and I'm like, okay, that's it, I'm done for January. And it kind of worked out, to be honest, without having a job, without drinking alcohol, I was able to throw myself fully into this creating during the day, during the weekday, during the weekends, never waking up hungover, never feeling, not mentally sharp. I noticed the mental change about a week or so in the physical change. About two weeks or so in, I started losing weight, good weight, like, not like, oh my go, you're like, not like Boyd and striped pajamas, nothing like frail. But I was losing. I never really had like a, I had like a little gut, like a skinny gut. I was losing like stomach, gut weight, which was awesome because for my modeling gigs I do a lot of the fit modeling. In fit modeling people think, oh, fit modeling means fitness modeling. But that's not the case. Fit modeling is basically, I'm a human mannequin. How this works is I have an hourly rate from my agency. I go to say take a brand I do fit modeling for. Let's take one that I've actually worked with, Champion. If you're familiar with Champion athletic wear. I started Fit Modeling Champions Swimwear. So they're and compression shirts and I've done Under Armour as well. Point is for fit modeling is purely based off measurements. So they measure, you know, bicep, neck, back, chest, all 20 something measurements up and down your body. And you have to fit within a certain margin of error to be considered a fit model. It's a very, it has nothing to do about looks. These aren't photos that get published anywhere. These aren't modeling ads that live anywhere. These aren't you know, these are purely for the design team and the client. So how it works is I get called into. I spend a lot of time now in the fashion district because of these gigs. I'll get called up there. They're usually booked for an hour. They have me for an hour, and I'll go in and they'll say, okay, today we're. And the good thing about fit modeling is once you have a client, they commit to you because they're literally designing whatever garment or entire clothing line based off your body type, which means you're constantly coming back. So they'll do, like, you know, sometimes those one version of a shirt, two versions of a shirt, sometimes up to, like, five, six versions of a shirt, pants, shorts, socks, underwear, anything. And they keep, you know, here's the sample, here's the original, here's the. And you keep going back. So it's nice. It's like, you know, it's a nice, decent income if you have a client like that. I'm working my way up to those still. I go into champion, and I'm trying on swim swimsuits, and I'm noticing, like, I'm looking in the mirror, and I'm like, okay, like, my six pack's coming back. Like, I look. I'm looking good. So then, like, two week. Two more weeks go by. Week four, now I'm back. I'm playing basketball. I'm back in the gym. I'm working out. I'm probably not eating. I'm not eating. I'm not probably. I know I'm not. I'm not eating as much as I should. So maybe I'm losing a little bit of weight from just, like, nutrition as well, because I'm working out, staying up late to do this and not drinking again. Not drinking, I think, is still the biggest tool here. Start looking at myself, and I'm like. I'm cut again. Like, I physically look like the best I've looked in quite some time. And then I, you know, start take some photos. Let's. Let's memorialize this for a little bit because, you know, I haven't looked this good in a while. And all the while, I haven't really been thinking about drinking because I've been so busy with this stuff. The only thing I missed from drink, I went to the. I went to msg. I went to the Madison Square Garden twice during this month in January. Once, my best friend from college was in town, and his company, they had a box at a Rangers game. I'm not the craziest hockey fan. But I love the Garden. I'll go to. I love sports. I'll go to any sporting event, especially at the Garden. If you get the opportunity to see hockey live, go. It's an amazing live sport.
- [09:32]
Joe Budden
So I go.
- [09:33]
Julian
I'm at the box. And of course, when you're there, it's, you know, the food buffet, which is great. I was eating that stuff. But then there's also the open bar. And that was like my first real test. This was like probably two weeks into my dry January. So I'm survived. I survived weekend one, easy. Weekend two. I think I went out. Went out that Friday night, the one night of the weekend. And I don't think I went out the other night. But it's like small social settings. Nothing like crazy. I'm not. I'm not a clubber guy much anymore. So I didn't like going either. Where insane. So I'm in the. I'm in the booth and there's kilos, your gins. You're everything that, you know, anyone would want for an open bar. Passed on that. I just had a couple ginger ales and water. Nice. Then I went back to the Garden. Actually, that following week, I went for the Oklahoma City Thunder game. The game SGA dropped 39. We were down like 20 something in the first quarter. We got blown out. The Knicks got smoked. Luckily, we figured it out. Since then at that game, I went with a buddy of mine that I play basketball with. Again, another work. Perkins has amazing seats. Thankfully, he's also doing a dry January. There was no additional pressure from his end, and that was the time. It's weird. When I was at the Rangers game, I did not have an urge to have a drink. Maybe because it's just like, all right, it's a hockey game. Whatever. I'm hanging out. I'm watching this and having fun. The Knicks being there in the Garden and watching the Knicks, my body was like having a physical reaction like, yo, why aren't you. Why isn't there a beer in our hand right now? It feels odd. Didn't get a drink. Avoided that. Had a great time, even though the Knicks got their shit kicked in. And then I went to a friend's that weekend. I went to a friend's apartment. He bought these things called a phony Negroni. I don't know if you guys know I love a Negroni cocktail. Basically, what a Negroni is, is equal parts. It's vermouth, Campari and gin, traditionally. But I like mezcal, so I'll make mine with. It's called a Mezcal Negroni. It's the only. You just substitute the mezcal for the gin and then it's a twist of lemon. I'm sorry, not lemon. Orange. Orange peel. Twist of orange peel. You'll rub it around the rim and then, you know, leave it in there as a garnish. That's been my drink of choice lately. And I found a decent substitute called a Phonio Negroni that I have been loving. And that's been my thing all month. So anyway, I was gonna come in here and do like a really funny braggadocious, which I'll still probably do on Instagram. If you're watching this, it's probably on Instagram. But it was going to be one of those, like, your body's a temple sometimes. Like, you just gotta lock in and, you know, just treat yourself right, because if you don't, who gonna respect you, you know, the. The bodies. You only get one chance at this. And, like, you know, your morals gotta. Gotta align with your physical spirit and dimensional being and dimensional ethanol. All that bullshit that people always say when they, like, finally commit to not eating like, shit or drinking for like two days. But I will say, as this comes to a close, I am proud of myself. And I think the goal of this was to reevaluate my relationship with alcohol in totality, which it was honestly, initially for coke as well. The problem with coke was the heart palpitations and the fluttering wasn't seemingly going away no matter how much I scaled down, which is why I had to go cold turkey. But I'm always open to understanding how, like, not addiction, but I guess addiction, but how wants accumulate from. From your. From your mind. I was open to scaling it down. Couldn't do that with that drug. I'm really open to that with alcohol. I just wanted to see. I had to go clean slate, had to get my body right. And also I was doing a bunch of reading and research. And like, the liver, the liver's ability. Like, if you looked at my liver right now, based off my very extensive research on Google, I'm a doctor now, I learned that, you know, it takes in like week four, so your liver has basically flushed itself out. So if you were to go in, like, if a doctor were to do like a liver check, they would find no traces of alcohol, no nothing. You would think I never had a sip of alcohol in my life, which is insane. I started. I went to college when I was 17. College campus. I didn't drink much, if at all in high school. I went for it in college and I drank all the. I mean, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say no to a drinks. I drank damn near every night in college, except maybe once, one night a week. And then that obviously carried into my. My wildest years in Chicago. And then I. And then since I moved here. So I was thinking, I don't think I've taken three or four days off at a time since I was 17. That's over a decade of drinking in moderation or heavily, it doesn't matter. The point is I was at least once a week I was having a drink. Unless I was like deathly ill or something. I think the week I had Covid, I took it off. So fine, we' count that. So that was just like, you know, why not like, let's give my body a real break. Let's give your body a reset. Let's see what we can do. I don't recover like I used to. When I was 25, I could get, you know, damn near blackout drunk. I really blacked out, but I could get like really sloppy drunk and then wake up and go lift or go play basketball for two hours. I can't do that anymore. But I still want to do those activities. So I had to suspend the very thing that would prevent me from doing those activities, which obviously being the alcohol. I learned this throughout this process. The body, although I'm not drinking, the body still craves the sugar that I was used to intaking from those things. So I learned that during this month, I eat. I'm a little bit of a candy guy. I didn't like go crazy with the candy, but I had a little more of a sweet tooth than I usually do. I was eating some Milk duds the other day actually playing Call of Duty. This dude Isaiah, who I met online, he was friend requesting me now that my PlayStation stuff's out there. He's great. We've been playing COD a lot together. I'm gonna try to streaming that stuff soon too. But I legit. I had a Milk Dud. I still have that box. That son of a bitch of a box. That thing almost killed me yesterday. Milk dugout lodged down my throat. I'm. I'm hawking like it's disgusting. I'm gasping for air. And mind you, I'm. I'm playing the game while this is happening. I have like probably 9 kills. 4.
- [15:38]
Joe Budden
3.
- [15:38]
Julian
4 deaths at this time. Doing all right. Great start. As soon as that choke happens and I'm trying To power through. I can't breathe for shit. I'm just gasping for air. I get killed probably like 15 times. I go from, like, being a positive contributor the team to being a detriment to the team. And Isaiah's laughing. He's like, dude, what happened? He's like. He's like, I get it. Like, I thought you took a hit of weed or something. You were smoking and you were, like, coughing from that. I was like, bro, a Milk Dud just almost took me out. It was pretty fucking embarrassing. But expect stuff like that once I start twitching. Twitching once I start live streaming and doing gaming stuff, because there's no way I'm gonna not snack during that. So, yeah, if you're kicking alcohol, you might have a sugar tooth. Just keep that in mind. It's your body's urge to want to subsidize the sugar that you're losing from the alcohol, which is heavily sugar intake in alcohol. So be weary of that. But as we head into Black History Month, my plan tomorrow again, I'm recording this Friday the 31st. My plan tomorrow is to. I have a friend's birthday party. I'm going to have my. My plan is to have a single martini, a dirty martini. I don't know if I'll be able to. Not be able to. I don't know if I'll do just one. I just said I'd like to have one. I might have to, but I don't plan on going. I don't want to wake up hungover. I don't want to, like, send it. My plan is to not. Not do a month, clap and celebrate myself and then go right back into, like, a bad habit. I wanted to just reshape, like I said, my entire relationship with the substance. So I don't think I'm gonna have a wild one anytime soon. But I am excited to have a single dirty martini. Okay, well, I. Yeah, I wanted to get into this. This weekend album, guys, because, man, I spoke as best I could about the weekend on the previous show, but I feel like here I can get my shit off and not just, like, do the. Not just say, yo, it's good music. This guy makes good music. If there's one thing you can expect is quality music. I'm here to, like, actually talk about this album. And by. By the time I'm recording this, I've only listened to it once. The intro is great. The Weeknd doesn't miss on an intro. Love the intro. This is where he lost me, though. Let me pull it up. On my phone Intro's fire He lost me until track I'll give him eight. But really for me, the album starts at track nine. I'm so happy because if you listen to it in order, which I implore you should. The first eight outside of the intro are very. It's still like that techie, techno y electronic driven. He's been like that Sao Pao, Brazil scene for quite a bit. Which clearly based on the lyrics on this album, sounds like he was doing some fuck shit down there. So I'm glad to know that he's still himself. It's cool. But that's. That stuff didn't get it for me. Like I just didn't. It just doesn't do it for me, especially from him. The weekend, just so you guys are aware, the weekend that I grew up with and fell in love with the trilogy stuff came out. The thing that resonated with me the most though, speaking of dark times, that's a double entendre because that's the name of the song on this album, Beauty behind the Madness. I believe that was 2015. That's the album that made me really. That was when I was remember in Chicago, first year of teaching, Deep depression was miserable with my work hardly so I didn't see the sun. I would leave my apartment at 4 or 5am in the morning, get to the to school in the south side and then I would. By the time I would leave it'd be pitch blackout and all this dark and depression stuff. I don't want to like paint it as if like it was my students fault the kids sucked. It's never the kids. It's the system and the environment and everything about that was difficult. It wasn't my students. I'd also have to take night classes to get my master's degree. It was just dark. And that's when I was like going for it on the weekends with drugs, alcohol, all that stuff. And a lot of the soundtrack to my time in Chicago was the Weeknd in particular Beauty behind the Madness and all of those. Everyone's like, well coke music is like uplifting. It's party music. It's like let's do a line and go to the club. And I'm like, yeah, I mean like that exists. I feel like I'm a more traditional drug user and for me drugs were meant to be used in a dark, depressive state. So when I hear on this album on Hurry Up Tomorrow, I look at this song like Reflections, Laughing Fire. Enjoy the show, which I'll do a Lyric breakdown in a second Give up on me I can't wait to get there which to me is a little upbeat, poppy, but it has, it has to me that I. The first listen it has a more of a Tyler Tyler the Creator production palette. Take me back to la. It's nice that he wants to go back to la. I believe he has a song like Leave I Want to Leave LA or something like that on one of his other albums. So it's nice he wants to go back to la. Sally kicking his ass Big sleep get mercy I mean basically I'm reading from track nine, nine to the close. I'm really into. So for me to like that many songs in a row, no skips is incredible. I want to go to enjoy the show really quickly. That fourth verse I think is really what. What gets me here with this album. He says like a middle aged child star the way I'm tweaking 3am Sunset frying like a phoenix Got a nose sniffing Need a box of Kleenex bloated in my face because the chemicals releasing that hit so that is what a line what a visual why like that is beautiful let's carry on Guess I could try Guess I could be healthy Guess I could be healthy But I'm trying to find a reason Abel Pulling on my heartstrings There was this moment in my life I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to do well. I wanted to be the better version of myself. And so often when you're dealing with depression and addiction at the same time, you. You want those things, but you, you really struggle to find out why. Why you should be doing those things. I don't think anyone that's addicted to drugs or in a depressive state would argue that the very things or the routines or the habits they have are bad for them and are continuing and are hurting them. I don't think anyone would argue that. I think most people that are depressed or addicted to a drug are highly aware of their habits and how bad they are for their physical and mental health. I think there's like this misconception that they need to be convinced by what they're doing is bad. I think that's not true. I think most people that are doing these things know what they're doing is bad. They're doing them because it numbs them from. That's what you have to find out. Well, what are you numbing and what are we really avoiding here?
- [22:35]
Joe Budden
What are we.
- [22:35]
Julian
What's the root of this and why haven't we addressed that? Why Is the bottle or why is the drug itself bringing you more comfort than the reality of talking about the very thing that's hurting you or facing it front on? And that resonated with me because I remember even when I was doing all that stuff in Chicago during the week, five days a week, you'd think I was a straight edge. I didn't drink. I didn't touch alcohol. Monday, well, Sunday night through Thursday, I only drank Friday. Saturday night, I was in the gym. I'd go if I could. I could go early in the morning and I would go after work. I would try to do 2A days. I was eating so healthy. I was ripped. I was like the strongest I'd ever been. I was lifting the most weight I've ever done. I was playing basketball. You'd think everything was shit, was peaches. But then on Friday and Saturday, I was, like, actively just, like, trying to, I think, kill myself. It's a little, like, extreme. But the point is, I was willing to, like, if something were to happen, I was okay with it. And it's like, how does one compartmentalize that? For 48 hours, for 48 hours during the week, I was like, I don't care what happens to me. Anything can happen to me. Give me everything. Let's see what happens. But for the rest of the week, like, if you offered me a cigarette or if you offered me a drug, or if you offered me a bottle of beer, I'd be like, ew, get away from me. There's no fucking way I'm doing that right now. So that line, guess I could be healthy, but I gotta find a reason. I think that that stuff is. It's so simple. I think that's also the beauty of the Weeknd's lyrics.
- [24:00]
Joe Budden
It's.
- [24:01]
Julian
They're simplistic by nature, but they're so real. In the line before that, bloated in my face because the chemicals releasing that is such a strong visual because that's also for people that aren't dealing with these things or struggling with these things. You can. You can see that. You can see the. These things, aren't they physically? They're. Their weight bears on you physically. And the. You can see it in yourself, and people can see it in your face. It's like the thing like, oh, you slept like shit, you have bags on your eyes. It's like that, but just such a different heightened level of that. Let's keep going. I guess it could be healthy, but I'm trying to find a reason. Traumas in my Life, I've been hesitant to heal them. That's. I didn't even know that that was the next line, but that's exactly what I'm alluding to. I'm trying to find the traumas in my life. I've been hesitant to heal. I don't want to face my trauma. I fell asleep after I faced a bottle of blow and have bottled tequila and I got like four hours of sleep. I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. That's. That's this phase. That's the trauma in my life. I'm hesitant to heal him. I don't wanna. If I don't have that bottle, if I don't have that coke, then I have to face that trauma. Fuck the trauma. I don't wanna deal with that shit. That's why I'm over here. I'm trying to have fun. I'm in the club, I'm trying to like, I need, give, give me to feed my plate with distractions and coke. Let's continue. Traumas in my life, I'm hesitant to heal them. Take another hit or my music, they won't feel it. That is the classic conundrum for any successful artists. You can't make this high level of art and shit that people could feel if, if they don't feel, if it's not, if it doesn't feel authentic, if it's not authentic. So in this case for the weekends, like, who am I to talk about addiction and to talk about pain if I myself aren't experiencing these things, I have to be tortured because a tortured artist is what the people need for me to feel my music. So the system is just. You're rewarding yourself for being bad to yourself. Because by being bad to myself. I'm one of the most streamed artists in Spotify history. I'm a Grammy winning artist, I've headlined the Super Bowl. Like, who are you to tell me I need to face my traumas and I need to speak to my audience differently? No, those things are working. This is the thing that they need from me. And then the second. This next line sums that up perfectly. This thought. I just want to die when I'm at my fucking peak. Come. That's what I'm saying. That was me. Take me the fuck out. When I'm in, in a euphoric state and everything seems beautiful, how many people in here watch Euphoria? But there's those like really daunting, troubling scenes of Zendaya's character Rue where She's. She tries to go clean. She really tries her best. And she's. She has that. That thing where she's, like, in her fetal position in bed, and she can't move. I've been there. You can't even go to the bathroom to. To pee. Or you. You. You don't even have the. The strength or the motivation to take a sip of water. You'd rather sit dehydrated as your muscles cramp, lock up, and you just. You feel like someone is just draining your insides, like someone's releasing an air mattress. You're just feeling all the life seep out of you. I don't want it. That. I don't want to go out like that. I want to go out. Take me out at the. At the 3, 4am at the after party, at the afters, where I'm with. In the room with the models, and they're also doing drugs and everything's beautiful. And we're like, what? Lamar Odom almost happened. What almost happened to him in Vegas. He's like, let me just go out with a bunch of hookers. Let me do this shit and go out like a king. That's. That's the feeling. You want to go out when the feeling's good, not when the feeling's bad. You don't want to go out the next morning. Oh, the morning's the worst. You don't want to survive the morning. I just want to die when I'm at my fucking peak. And drink it slow. Won't drink it slow. I don't want the tolerance anymore. Want to stay up, fuck the floor. I don't want the tolerance anymore. That's another thing that's. Once you build that tolerance, the drugs. The drugs themselves aren't even a numbing agent now. It just feels like those are like taking a daily supplement or like a vitamin D pill. That's just. That's just the resume play button. There's no upside. There's no high anymore, which is awful. Feel the violence creeping up, that's for sure. And I'm ready. Fuck it. Overdose. Shout out to it. I don't want to make it past 34. I tell you what, if I was in my. If I was still in this fair era of my life, I would be. That would be my new number. When the 27 club became like, a big thing, and I was like, you know, 24, 25, I had this whole, like, grandiose thing that I wouldn't make it past 27 if I was still in this shit. 34 would be the new benchmark. It's like, okay, if he says that I'll, I'll fuck.
- [29:26]
Joe Budden
That's cool.
- [29:27]
Julian
And when the curtains call I hope you mourn but if you don't, I hope you enjoy the fucking show. Let me know, Let me know, baby. That's the fourth verse of Enjoy the Show. If you want to understand what it's like to be in that, that mental state and to have that level of depression and seek that much of an escape that was, this is. I resonate so much with that verse. When I was listening to it, I immediately paused it and rewound it and it like took me. It snapped me back to a time where that seemed to be my ethos. Like, that was how I was living my life. Obviously not on the level of the weekend. I'm not in a penthouse in South, South Brazil, probably having sex with the most beautiful women in the world. But in my world, in my Chicago, 25, 26 year old life, that was everything. That was I. That was my version. I was living my version of that reality. Another really cool thing about this album that I saw is the finale, Hurry Up Tomorrow, which is also the title, the title track, the last track. It flows into High for this. If you're not familiar, High for this is the opening track on the weekend's trilogy. And this is interesting because when I was listening to that, I was thinking, okay, all this means is because the Weeknd has said after this album came out, this is the end of that chapter. This is the end of the weekend, the Weeknd's dead. And I was thinking, okay, the way that that song flows into the first track he ever put out, the cycle just begets itself. And it's like the pattern or sequence just repeats. And the conditions that lead to these things keep happening to keep putting him back in this cycle. And I think Enjoy the Show is the perfect song that describes that I can't be anything other than what I am. Because if I'm not that, then I'm not that. Then I'm not the person that my fans fell in love with and I'm not the person that I know I am. Even if I want to better myself, it's not better for. Even if it's. Even if I want to better myself because it's better for Abel. It's not better for the weekend. And the weekend needs to be this person. How am I going to make authentic music if I'm not, you know, up till 5am doing drugs? How am I going to become the person people feel, or how am I going to discover and tap a new Sound of Music if I'm in bed every night by 10am by 10pm so really, really, really curious where this next chapter goes for the weekend, but from what we've heard on this album and remember, I'm recording this one. Listen in guys. I'm sure I'll have so much more to say about this album, which I will discuss, but I I'm I'm into it and I'm happy. If this is the close on the weekend, then what a beautiful run, man. You've had a fan in me from the beginning and I'm still here. I'm sticking around really excited to see the visuals from this album. The Weeknd always has amazing visuals and I have to get more into the nitty gritty of the production credits and features as well and kind of do a little more dissecting there. But this there's something about his music that will always hit me on a on a deeper personal level, and I think few artists for that have that moment, have that level of cut through with me. Jameson is one, Mac Miller another the Weeknd as well. Kanye previously in Future as well. His older stuff too. Anytime one of these guys drops, even if they're in a different phase or creating different sounds, I have to give it the due diligence because I will say the weekend for me in the past has missed. I'm gonna go not missed. Like the albums were bad, but there have been records that didn't connect for me. I'm looking back right now. I'll say Don FM was cool, but it wasn't. I'll say this conceptually was cool, but that wasn't really for me. I was nervous about this album, to be honest, because that timeless record, the single with Playboi Carti, I'm not crazy about that. I don't really like that. If you want to know the Weeknd, the type of weekend that I like that I prefer is like sounds so cliche. Obviously Trilogy Beauty behind the Madness is probably my favorite project from him, my dear. Melancholy is a perfect balance between the R B soul and stuff and the electro sound because he collaborated a lot with Gestafelstein on this, who's an incredible producer. That to me is like the an incredible mix of Trilogy Weekend and what Starboy was and Star Boy obviously being like his most commercially pop album, even though it's categorically an R and B soul. But like the he had a lot of daft puff daft punk production on there. And it was very uplifty. Like, see, even the R B records, like Secrets had a poppy undertone. Obviously. Star Boy Party Monster was a what a fucking record. Sidewalks with Kendrick is poppy. That in My Dear Melancholy was the project that followed Starboy. Starboy being 2016. My dear melancholy 2018. That to me was like the perfect hit of that electro sound meeting his dark sound. And then dawn of him was a little too left of center for me. But yeah, man, I'm a huge fan of the Weeknd. Kissland sick. Obviously the whole story behind that, him going to Tokyo for the first time, being enamored by a new culture and just creating that sound, birthing those visuals and just stepping out of his comfort zone. Leaving Toronto for the first time, going from homeless to across the world. Just a beautiful moment in artistry to just take a risk and take a leap to that regard. Yeah. So really, really excited to spin this over the weekend and find happiness within his music. I think this is the cool thing for me is I don't have to listen to this and be depressed anymore. I can listen to this and feel and understand the message and what he's saying. But it's nice to know that I can hear this now and come from a healed place. Throw those heels and quotes. I'm still dealing with shit. I'm not, you know, perfect. This is a ever changing process, but I'm in a better place than I was when I first started listening to his music. And I think that is really cool. And I think that that's what draws us to a lot of artists from whatever generation you're in. You have such a special bond of people that are more similar to your age or people whose music that you grew, grew up on. And it's really cool for me to see, you know, listening to the Weeknd's music since 2011, 12, you know, that's. It's a lot of time. A lot of shit's happened in my life since then. And it's nice to see how I've had phases that have mirrored the. Mirrored the actions that he was at and how I've become, I think, a better version of myself since those days in particular in Chicago.
- [36:47]
Joe Budden
So.
- [36:48]
Julian
Music's awesome, man. It's such a cool. It's such a cool, beautiful form medium.
- [36:53]
Joe Budden
I'm probably gonna regret this episode, but we're here now. The mic's on. I have a someone in the room with me. My first guest, it's Joe Budden. Now off camera is my how do you want to be referred to as.
- [37:07]
Unknown Guest
It's not really important.
- [37:08]
Joe Budden
Yeah, this is just. This is just someone I know. He's visiting from Chicago.
- [37:17]
Unknown Guest
Sure. Yeah.
- [37:18]
Joe Budden
So we is a family. We're blood related, some might say.
- [37:26]
Unknown Guest
I wouldn't say that.
- [37:27]
Joe Budden
Yeah, I wouldn't say. It depends. But anyway, we wanted. I brought him on to just do voicemails, but this truly is someone that's probably, Probably. You're the funniest person. I hate saying this. I hate giving you flowers. You're the funniest person I know.
- [37:43]
Unknown Guest
If it makes you feel any better, we're probably not going to air this.
- [37:46]
Joe Budden
Okay. We. I have to talk about the planes falling out of the sky in. In what's going on in. In the world, because it seems to be a mess and the people are cutting corners on staffing. The FAA has been, you know, just. It's there. There were. People were losing jobs in the factory on the plane. So then we saw doors flying off the handles. We saw people getting sucked out of windows. Just that we haven't seen in years. And then we've seen. Now people that are actually air traffic controllers are. You know, they're cutting jobs there. Everyone trying. Everyone's trying to move to AI push to AI automate everything. And now we're seeing what happens when you don't have people on the ground. So in the last, what, two days? Not two days, sorry. In back to back days, or two to three days apart, we've seen two planes fall out of the sky and crash in major cities, one in Philly and one in D.C. and I just. I don't know what's happening. What are your thoughts on this?
- [38:46]
Unknown Guest
Well, I. When it comes to air traffic control, I read a thing about this that I wish I had prepared before this conversation, but I read a thing about this a couple of months ago because for like the last, like, couple of years, there have been all these articles being like, hey, there's a shortage of air traffic controllers and they don't know what to do because it takes a while to train and get certified. And there's just like a shortage of people in, like, the next generation that are even like, in the pipeline. And there's going to be a lot of people retiring and so they don't know what to do. And then, like, there's been a lot of talk about AI itself can't solve these problems. And it's not because it's not sophisticated enough. It's just that, like, the. Where AI is today, it's Just like not a, it's not viable to fully replace people. And a lot of the technology that they use today has enough intelligence. It's really just like a human shortage issue.
- [39:41]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [39:42]
Unknown Guest
So if, now if they're like slashing programs that even would like impact that pipeline, I can only see it getting worse. But again, I wish I had spent even two minutes on refreshing my memory on what I read about this because technology can't, can't be like the automatic unlock here. They need more bodies.
- [40:03]
Joe Budden
What about it's impossible to get on the timeline. See, tragedies like this happen and then obviously the swirl of. It's a woman pilot in the D.C. incident. The, you know, she had 500 hours of training. She was a DI hired, she's not qualified. And I feel like every tragedy with the fires in L. A, it's, it's okay, let's point pin this on the homeless, immigrant, migrant people. This incident, it was the woman pilot. No women can do anything that has to do anything in the air. She should have just, you know, stayed on the ground in the kitchen, whatever they would say. And then it's all always, it's always becomes about how do we attack a marginalized group. Do you think that there's any validity to, to that or is this just to your point, like, this is just bad staffing, poor planning, or. I, I just hate the, the whole.
- [40:52]
Julian
Like we gotta attack someone, we gotta.
- [40:55]
Joe Budden
Make fun of them for being a minority.
- [40:57]
Unknown Guest
I'm by far not the first person to say this, but anything that, whether it's a conspiracy theory or just something that just like gets like viral traction like this around like outrage it all, it, it, it gets traction because there's like a kernel of truth to it. And so there are very real like reasons America just like over indexes on like everything. Even though things like start out like, well meaning like culturally, we just like really overshoot and then have to like pull back. Like, the intention behind DI programs came from like a good place and then completely went off the rails. And not everybody was willing to have an intellectually honest conversation about that at first. But it is very valid to now be asking questions about people who have like mission critical roles. Were they, were they given these positions because they were actually the best period among other candidates? Or is it because the pool was narrowed to, hey, are there certain identities that we want to put into this role? And then we'll find the best of that, like smaller pool. So those questions are worth asking right now. But to do it like retroactively after a tragedy happens, like, you're never gonna know, like, was this because she, like, truly wasn't qualified for this? And because, like, literally. Can you trace it back to dei? It's very easy to. Because everybody is so simplistic, and now, like, their brains have actually been rewired for outrage to be, like, DEI is the culprit. It very well may have been, but I don't know that's even worth debating at this point versus, like, looking ahead at, like, okay, we really. We should really take a look at, like, things where the stakes are pretty high. Only hire the best people for these positions. Nobody cares what they look like or if it looks like. I want to make sure that my pilot looks like me is not something that anybody is, like, that's, like, not a conversation.
- [43:04]
Joe Budden
Well, because there's a thing, like, I. In growing up with, like, my. My dad, my mom always said, like, you know, if you're in a position or if you're going on an airplane or on a. Any. Anything where you're usually seeing a white man operate it. And my. My dad would say, like, if you see a black man flying a plane, just know that more often than not, as a black guy, when you see someone black doing something like that, that's usually for white. Like, for white people mostly operated by white people, it's because that they had to do twice as much if not had to be, like, overqualified just to get the position of their, you know, to be looked at in the same, you know, class as their peers. That's how I, like is okay, if there's a black guy flying a plane, it's because he did so much work and had to be so good at this that he can finally do the thing that, you know, as the white guys just do.
- [43:53]
Unknown Guest
That was true at one time. A hundred percent.
- [43:57]
Joe Budden
Like a black surgeon, I'm like, there's no. You don't just get handed the keys to being a surgeon. You're a cert. Like, if you're a black surgeon at a major medical or a major hospital in New York City, you're the fuck. You have to be one of the best. Period.
- [44:09]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, there. There certainly was a period of time where people in these protected classes had to work. You hear it all the time, twice as hard to get. But that's not true across the board anymore. And we have made. We are. We are still, like, very much a work in progress as a country, but we have made progress there. And sometimes it feels like that doesn't get any Acknowledgement. And this is just, this is, this is where we've really over index now. Like there are certain areas when it comes to like, like roles where like people's health or lives are on the line, where we have to just be like, yeah, it sucks that it sucks. There's not a lot of diversity in, in certain fields and we like. The problem to me with DEI in general is that it just happens way too late in the cycle. Like, like the, the fact that they're compensating for opportunities that people didn't have like in early childhood education.
- [45:07]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [45:07]
Unknown Guest
Or things, things that like start to compound over time when people like miss out on opportunities. So then you're just like, we feel bad about that and the fact that we didn't fund those programs earlier on in someone's education. But now, yeah. At the end of the pipeline, let's let them into even like letting people into like schools where they're not set up for success or putting them in positions because we feel bad about not funding them like way earlier in their lives. That's where DEI falls short. And I think that's like a valid, that's a valid thing for people to be frustrated.
- [45:39]
Joe Budden
Yeah. It shouldn't, it shouldn't happen in the, at the acceptance letter or at the handing the key to the, to the ship. It should happen in like fucking kindergarten with social emotional learning.
- [45:51]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. It's.
- [45:52]
Julian
Sorry we failed you for 25 years here.
- [45:55]
Joe Budden
You can fly the plane.
- [45:57]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. But we could really go down a rabbit hole about this Joe Rogan experience style. But having having like a super educated like population is like bad for business. You want like docile, a docile population where only like critical thinking is only like, is only like a privilege of a certain percentage of the population because you just want people to take the advertising that they're fed at face value. You want them to just kind of like get on the hamster wheel of conformity and be like, oh, that is that I am hungry and this would be a good time for me to with, without any friction, tap a couple things on my phone and order that thing. So I like, this country's really good at investing in things where we see a lot of profit upside. None of this, our healthcare system is not a mistake that it evolved to this. Everything that you're seeing is the system working as it was designed. And it is not designed to benefit the entire population. It's designed to maximize wealth for a few. So do you think it's like a, like symptom what we're talking. Is this of like a bigger, Is.
- [47:18]
Joe Budden
This a matter of it's finally catching up and people are aware and they're, they're calling it out? Or is this a symptom of, okay, we're in the digital age. Everybody has a voice, everybody has a platform. We can openly. It's not. These aren't conversations that are held at the dinner table. These are conversations that are held on YouTube. And there are other people. It's like you, oh, shit.
- [47:36]
Julian
They think that.
- [47:37]
Joe Budden
I think that we can all kind of collectively come together and this is how the world thinks, whether or not they take it into account. I don't think health care companies are going to do things that, that, you know, subsidize, that undercut their profit and be like, okay, maybe we should really put the customer, the patient first. I don't think that's what's going to happen. But like, I guess my question is what, how do we get to the point where all of these systems are put in place to benefit, the bottom line being the profits? How, like, when did, when, when did it happen? When the world woke up and everyone is aware of what's going on, but nothing happens, nothing changes. No one cares. No one cares and makes the decisions, I guess.
- [48:15]
Unknown Guest
Well, they, they do care, but the US more than any other, like you look at the EU versus the United States, there's no line that the US won't cross when it comes to like, human like, health tolls. If, if it's, if it's profitable. Like, there's so many, there's so many things in our food system that have been banned in the EU for like decades. And it's, it's because our system is built around maximized profits, like full stop, no matter what kind of harm it does to the, to the overall population. And then, you know, we have a very sophisticated apparatus to just cast seeds of doubt on things that are just like, definitely carcinogenic. All you need to do is make it seem like there's a debate about it. It doesn't even need to be like, have, have a consensus. It's just like, this is carcinogenic. Well, no, some studies say that it might not be and that's enough to kind of slow it down in the regulatory environment. But I, I think like our healthcare system in general, it's just, don't let people die, just keep them alive as long as possible so that they can pay for treatment of the things that we know make them sick. All of it is just, is actually pretty simple. You don't need to like scratch your head about like, why. Why is this so broken? All you need to do is think about like, okay, well how does the fact that it's broken, like wait, how does that translate into revenue for some entity? And then you can, you can kind of back out of that and figure out exactly what's going on.
- [49:50]
Joe Budden
Yeah. So. Okay. Well, I wanted to. That was great. I'm thinking back to the, the plane thing. Well, I guess, I guess I wanted to bring up Elon because he's to my. To what I'm seeing, seemingly he's. I think a lot of people. I think, I don't think Trump's an idiot. I think Trump knows what he wants out of people and the people that he aligns himself obviously with. Very, very intentional. But I think someone like Elon is doing a very good job of getting everything out of squeezing this political system to the best of his abilities. What was it he made? It was like 400 some odd million. The day Trump won in office, his stocks jumped. He's. He cut Vivek out of the stupid fucking thing that he's obsessed with the doge. Yeah, that's stupid bullshit that he keeps you. Everything's a meme. I'm funny fucking idiot. He cut Vivek out of that because Vivek wanted to actually go in there and make change and remove people. And Elon was like, whoa, slow down buddy. That's. No. So I don't know, I guess I kind of want to like your thoughts on the trend of people like Elon and Elon like minded people being in these positions that it's no longer cutesy. Here's a funny meme, here's a tweet.
- [51:03]
Julian
The things that he's saying, the things.
- [51:04]
Joe Budden
That he's doing are directly affecting the money, the economy, but also people's lives. On a day to day.
- [51:13]
Unknown Guest
It's tough for me because it's pretty self evident that there is a lot of government waste and there's so many things that are just like blow jobs for like certain perpetual like contractors and like the Defense Department and all the. But the. You can't run the government like a tech startup at every turn because tech tech is kind of even at the scale that it's at, there is like a lot of margin for error if you're like oopsie and you need to like walk something back. And my concern is that they. I do think that things would definitely stay the same in our system if nobody tried to take like a radical look at how to restructure them. But I don't know. These. We don't, we don't have a lot of visibility into how qualified these people are to do it. I'm not rooting against them. Like, I, I hope that they're, like, methodical enough to actually root out the waste. We also know that, like, anybody in a, in a position like Elon is also going to do what's in the best, like, interest of, like, his organizations that he's still affiliated with. So there's obviously going to be a conflict of interest. But if this does become a situation where our tax dollars actually start to get funneled towards things that benefit society for the better, that would be great. I'm skeptical that's going to happen, but I think now we're in a position where we have just got to wait and see.
- [52:40]
Joe Budden
Yeah. I pulled up Cash Patel as is, you know, assuming he's Trump's nominee for FBI director. And obviously they're unearthing his past where he was like, he made, you know, two and a half million from consulting, paid speeches in books last year. He was. His clients included True Social, one of Trump's PACs, and he was also in the Embassy of Qatar. I don't know much about Cash Patel, to be honest. I was wondering if you have any. How familiar you are with him or, or this just him being picked and put in this position.
- [53:17]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, a little bit. Look, Trump's, I, to his credit, I feel like his. To his first time around, it was, it was just like all bottom feeders in his administration and then some very opportunistic folks over the last several years have some very, very, very ambitious and opportunistic people, but they're not all incompetent.
- [53:43]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [53:44]
Unknown Guest
Are, like, in the mix now, but still, administration is a mixed bag in terms of levels of competence. I don't know. It's one of those things where there's, there's cause for concern about some people that he's nominated, but we have to just kind of wait and see a little bit before we get completely outraged about just. Again, we're kind of being baited about. Like, this person did a bunch of controversial things before they were nominated. And I think it's worth us being alert and being like, yeah, that could be. That. That could result in something that is not the outcome we want as, as Americans. But I think it's just too early to tell. He was only sworn in, like, you know, a week and a half ago.
- [54:28]
Joe Budden
Yeah. The article here from Business Insider says the Patel is among Trump's most controversial nominees owing questions owing to questions about his conduct during Trump's first term, his promotion of conspiracy theories and extreme rhetoric. It doesn't go into detail about what conspiracies and what rhetoric he was saying, but it just.
- [54:48]
Julian
It has, like, the baseline resume of.
- [54:50]
Joe Budden
Someone Trump would fuck with. To my knowledge, it's like, okay, like, he's a little. He's out there.
- [54:55]
Unknown Guest
And don't forget, anytime anybody does anything that isn't, like, aligning with, like, the populist, like, majority, Trump will get rid of them so fast.
- [55:06]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [55:07]
Unknown Guest
Throw them under the bus like it was nothing. Look at how quickly, like, Vivek was asked. Vivek put in so much time kissing ass, doing. Doing everything. Dressing. Literally dressing like Trump and wearing the fucking red tie and the whole thing. And then, like, nothing. We never hear about him anymore. And they squeezed him out, like, instantly. That can happen to anyone at any time.
- [55:28]
Julian
He might. What's his.
- [55:29]
Joe Budden
His upside now? Potentially the governor of Ohio. That's what they were saying.
- [55:34]
Unknown Guest
Good for them.
- [55:37]
Joe Budden
All right, it's time for voicemails. As always, if you want to get in contact with me, call 877-557-SWWP.
- [55:48]
Julian
Call me.
- [55:57]
Joe Budden
Hey, Julian.
- [55:58]
Javon
Javon from Connecticut. I'm just wondering what type of advice you would have or a friend. For a little bit of context, I have this friend who.
- [56:08]
Joe Budden
The way he's saying friend makes me think.
- [56:10]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, just himon it's you.
- [56:14]
Javon
Refuses to get tested for STDs, even though he's had multiple sexual partners within the last few weeks. He's hitting double digits within the last.
- [56:26]
Unknown Guest
Month, and he's flexing.
- [56:28]
Joe Budden
It's him.
- [56:29]
Unknown Guest
He's flexing.
- [56:30]
Javon
He's really spiraling. And I think it's because he just got divorced from his. His child's mother, who he was with since he was a teenager. He's still a young guy, but I really just want him to stay on top of his health and make sure he's okay. But something about him. He just refuses to go to the doctor. What advice would you have to try and nudge your friend towards getting tested? I appreciate you, man.
- [56:57]
Unknown Guest
Well, I think this is a good first step that he's admitting that he at least is motivated to get tested because he's definitely talking about himself.
- [57:07]
Joe Budden
I feel like it's talking about himself, too, but let's play it as if he's not talking about himself. How do you convince your friend to get tested?
- [57:15]
Unknown Guest
Why do you have a vested interest in your friend getting tested? First of all, like, beyond being like, hey, you should probably get checked out. Why. Why are you even concerned right now about the, like, your friend's health to this degree? It's only been a couple weeks. He smashed a bunch of chicks the last few weeks. He's obviously talking about himself. I think he's just worried it's an std, right? I think he's afraid. He's afraid he has an STD and he's afraid to get tested and he's looking for that nudge.
- [57:48]
Joe Budden
Am I supposed to diagnose you?
- [57:49]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. And by the way, you definitely have an std. I want to be clear.
- [57:54]
Joe Budden
Multiple sexual partners within the last few. Within the last.
- [57:58]
Unknown Guest
He's not wrapping it up. We know that.
- [58:00]
Joe Budden
Let's. Let's go with his scenario here. If he has a friend, I would say invite your friend to get drinks. Did you ever have an incident. This happened to me once, where you get a spicy margarita and it comes with the jalapenos, and then you touch the jalapeno or like, you bite it or whatever, and then you, like, fix yourself, like, touch your balls or whatever, touch your dick and it feels like your shit's on fire. You never did that?
- [58:23]
Unknown Guest
No, I've never touched peppers and then my dick. No. That's just not a thing.
- [58:27]
Joe Budden
That's pretty common.
- [58:29]
Unknown Guest
It's. That is not common at all.
- [58:32]
Joe Budden
I just did it today, actually, so I.
- [58:36]
Julian
They haven't.
- [58:36]
Unknown Guest
Perfect person for these people to be calling for advice. Let me tell you. You are in the same boat.
- [58:42]
Joe Budden
I. I would suggest you go to a. Get a. Get a drink, go to a bar, get spicy margaritas, get extra spicy. Take the jalapeno, be like, hey, have you ever had, like, just bit the jalapeno? We should eat the jalapeno. Have him eat it. At some point in your conversation, he's going to fix himself, he's going to touch his balls.
- [59:00]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. No, it's just.
- [59:01]
Joe Budden
And then when he goes to the bathroom, he's going to feel the burn sensation because it comes up pretty. It's instant, it comes fast. And then when he's burning, when he's on fire, you can be like, oh, do you think you have chlamydia? Or, like, do you think you have. You know, what other STDs are there? Gonorrhea? I think you can, like, use that as a. Like, oh, my God, we should get. It's like a Nathan for you. We should go get checked right now. When Nathan scams The guy to do the blood panel, like, what is happening right now. But I'm saying, like, you can convince him to want to get tested is what I'm saying, without it being weird. And be like, I know you 12 girls last week go get tested. That's weird. But if you do, that's weirder than.
- [59:39]
Unknown Guest
Having him touch a pepper and then touch his dick.
- [59:41]
Joe Budden
It's more natural to touch your dick after you touch and like, you're gonna. My point is he' to touch his dick at some point. Just make sure it's after he touches a pepper.
- [59:50]
Unknown Guest
Who's touching whose dick in this scenario?
- [59:52]
Joe Budden
The gentleman, his friend. The gentleman, his friend is touching his own dick. It makes perfect sense. I don't know why this is so hard for you to understand.
- [60:02]
Unknown Guest
Have you ever ordered a margarita and then scratched your ball?
- [60:05]
Joe Budden
Yes.
- [60:06]
Unknown Guest
I'm saying the least relatable. That is so specific.
- [60:12]
Julian
This guy's being specific.
- [60:14]
Joe Budden
What the fuck?
- [60:15]
Julian
He knows too much about his friend.
- [60:17]
Unknown Guest
Your advice doesn't need to be equally, like, obscure. You're supposed to be, like, helping these people.
- [60:27]
Joe Budden
Well, then what would you say?
- [60:31]
Unknown Guest
I think, I think he has HIV and his days are numbered. I think it's full blown aids. That's the risk. I think his life's already over and he should just cut his losses.
- [60:42]
Joe Budden
All right, let's do another one.
- [60:48]
Unknown Guest
So Valentine's Day is coming up and. And my friend, his girlfriend got him and her and me and my girlfriend tickets to go to a basketball game.
- [60:59]
Julian
And I'm just like, can't top this, this economy. Like, what, what the, what the. Why would you do that to me?
- [61:10]
Unknown Guest
Like, I'm hyped to go see the game.
- [61:11]
Julian
Like, I'm gonna see Lamelo who.
- [61:13]
Unknown Guest
Like, that's cool. But at the same time, I'm not.
- [61:17]
Julian
Even gonna try and top this.
- [61:18]
Unknown Caller
Like, I'm cool on Valentine's Day.
- [61:21]
Unknown Guest
Hold up. So my media question just like right out of the gate is, why is his friend's girlfriend getting Valentine's gifts for, like, both couples?
- [61:35]
Joe Budden
Yeah, I think that's odd.
- [61:37]
Unknown Guest
I don't understand the relationship between this, these two couples. I do know that his, his, the caller's relationship is, is doomed either way. He should just cut his losses.
- [61:46]
Joe Budden
At this point, your advice is always, just cut your losses, end it.
- [61:50]
Unknown Guest
Well, I, I mean, if people are calling in to your show, they're already at like, rock bottom if this is like, this is the last place they have to turn. So I think it's self selecting in that way.
- [62:01]
Joe Budden
He said, okay, I'm looking up the Hornet schedule because he said he gets to see Lamelo play.
- [62:06]
Unknown Guest
Are you going to dox him right now so that people can show up and find them at the game?
- [62:09]
Joe Budden
No, the. The Hornets play February 12th.
- [62:13]
Unknown Guest
Sure.
- [62:13]
Joe Budden
In Orlando. So I'm assuming our caller lives in Orlando. I just wanted to. Yeah, that's it.
- [62:22]
Unknown Guest
Now we can help him. Now we've been.
- [62:24]
Joe Budden
Well, I'm saying let's assume they're from Orlando. What can he do in Orlando? That tops taking his girl's friend, bringing them to a basketball game.
- [62:33]
Unknown Guest
They have an exquisite airport in Orlando, so they should find an activity in or around that airport. That would be.
- [62:40]
Joe Budden
They could go to Epcot. Do like the drink tour.
- [62:43]
Unknown Guest
That's low hanging fruit. You're gonna tell them to go to Disney? Come on.
- [62:46]
Joe Budden
What else is there to do in Orlando?
- [62:49]
Unknown Guest
Carbo Lo. I don't know. I. But I. I still can't get past the premise here. Like, blows my mind. My friend's girlfriend bought a gift that includes. For Valentine's Day. That includes me and my partner.
- [63:14]
Joe Budden
She bought four tickets.
- [63:16]
Unknown Guest
Yeah.
- [63:16]
Joe Budden
That's a lot.
- [63:17]
Unknown Guest
So now he's competing with his friend's girlfriend over a Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend. I don't. I just don't understand also how expensive could these tickets that. This is now like an impossible bar for him to clear with getting a gift for his girlfriend.
- [63:36]
Joe Budden
Can't you just do this? Can't you do. Okay, so she does the game. Can you just offer to take everyone out to dinner or drinks after the game? Could you do that? Like kind of make it all in the same night?
- [63:47]
Julian
I don't know why.
- [63:48]
Joe Budden
You also don't have to include your friend in your friend's girlfriend in your gift to your girl for Valentine's Day. You could just be like, hey, that was sick good of them to give us this fucking ticket. I'm only gonna spend my money on you.
- [64:00]
Unknown Guest
I think he should just propose to his girlfriend at the game. That's the only way to top it. You're in too deep. You should either cut your losses or you should really escalate this.
- [64:10]
Joe Budden
Propose to his girlfriend and force his friend to propose to his girlfriend. Girlfriend too.
- [64:14]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. This should just be a never ending spiral of like one upsmanship. Yeah, just like a death spiral of everybody spending until they lose all their assets.
- [64:23]
Joe Budden
Let's do this one from New Mexico.
- [64:25]
Kay
Hi, Julian, this is K from New Mexico. Wanted to know your thoughts on pop books. Is it in? Is it out? How do you get out of potlucks or what would you bring? Actually. Yep. Love to know your thoughts. Bye.
- [64:45]
Joe Budden
There's a follow up. Let's play the clarifying message.
- [64:48]
Kay
Hi, this is Kay again from New Mexico. I should have clarified. I mean work potluck.
- [64:54]
Unknown Guest
Thank God. Because that changes everything.
- [64:59]
Kay
Looks. But when you're at work and they want us to all bring food. That's what I mean. Thank you. Bye.
- [65:12]
Unknown Guest
What is going on in this country?
- [65:21]
Joe Budden
Oh my God. What do I, what would I bring to work pot?
- [65:26]
Julian
Like.
- [65:27]
Joe Budden
Well, the first question is, do you want to cook? Are you actually committed to cooking? You don't sound like you want to do. Do it. Are you going to answer this sincerely? Are you going to.
- [65:34]
Unknown Guest
I am. I just so confused.
- [65:41]
Joe Budden
Okay.
- [65:42]
Unknown Guest
But, but the, my favorite part of it was are potlucks in or out? Are they in 2025? Because that, that is the dialogue we should be having in this country.
- [65:58]
Joe Budden
Are potlucks in? I. No, I think no.
- [66:03]
Unknown Guest
Why aren't they in, Julian? Why are they out? And it's about time we talked about.
- [66:08]
Joe Budden
Real hard hitting issues the country needs to know. This is the controversial topics we'll tackle.
- [66:13]
Unknown Guest
Because of the tariff war. Is that part of this?
- [66:19]
Joe Budden
Somehow I think Pollocks are out because you never know how someone's living at home. And a lot of people have pets. And I've seen too many horror stories of people that, you know, have their cats just like walking on their kitchen counter as they cook or, you know, hair and you have kids that are dirty that are sucking on spoons, licking all your appliances and then you like make a souffle with that and then some guy at work gets eats, it has pink eye. Like there's just too many variables. I don't trust people cooking. People are gross. And people's standard of what they're acceptable with in their own home is very different than what you would accept from them in a potluck search situation.
- [66:59]
Unknown Guest
Surprisingly insightful. Actually. I was prepared to disagree with you, but you really don't know. You don't even know at a restaurant how like clean the situation. You're putting a lot of trust in the person preparing your food.
- [67:11]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [67:12]
Unknown Guest
Anytime you don't prepare it yourself.
- [67:13]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [67:14]
Unknown Guest
I again am confused now about again like your thing about people touching food or touching drink then touching key parts of their body. Nobody gets pink eye from the food that they eat. That's never okay.
- [67:27]
Joe Budden
Well, not a stomach bug. You might throw up something like that. Something gut related.
- [67:32]
Unknown Guest
Probably syphilis.
- [67:33]
Joe Budden
Yes. To our STD caller that's what I'm saying.
- [67:36]
Unknown Guest
This is all, this is all just you being relatable, Julian. And you're doing great.
- [67:43]
Joe Budden
How do you get out of potlucks? Don't show up to work that day.
- [67:49]
Julian
Yeah.
- [67:49]
Unknown Guest
Just quit.
- [67:50]
Joe Budden
Quit. Cut your losses, call it a career quit. Put in your two week notice.
- [67:57]
Unknown Guest
Yeah.
- [67:59]
Joe Budden
What would you actually bring? What would I bring?
- [68:03]
Unknown Guest
There's no way you would actually cook something for a potluck.
- [68:06]
Joe Budden
Yeah, there is.
- [68:06]
Unknown Guest
You wouldn't want to be part of the problem. You'd want to get something pre prepared.
- [68:11]
Joe Budden
No, I would cook. It depends. It depends if I actually liked my co workers. Like if I like the people I worked with, then I would want to cook something.
- [68:20]
Unknown Guest
This sounds like a begrudging potluck situation. I don't know that you want to put a, a lot of love into the.
- [68:25]
Joe Budden
Yeah. In this situation. It doesn't sound like she wants to do it, so I would.
- [68:28]
Unknown Guest
It's a work potluck. To be clear, there was a second follow up call about this very specifically.
- [68:40]
Joe Budden
Just, just in case I wasn't. Because my first question was going to be well what type of potluck?
- [68:46]
Unknown Guest
Yeah. I would, I would suggest the stakes were, were changed.
- [68:53]
Joe Budden
I would suggest going to your local grocery store getting, getting some like a roto rotisserie chicken or going to like the, the hot soup bar and getting something there and then putting it into a homemade. Another homemade. An appliance that you have in your home. A crock pot of anything, a basket and then serving that.
- [69:17]
Unknown Caller
Yo, what's good Julia? Yeah, I mean with you my boy, I'm. I'm really extremely sad to see what they did to you on that other show, you know what I'm saying? I still with them but I don't want to say the name on your show just in case, you know what I'm saying? I don't know, you know man. But anyways man, look, respect. I'm a 31 year old man, black man at that, you feel me? Swagged out all that, you know what I mean? Got a job, made money, all that good. But look, I'm single man and I've been dealing with this girl lately who like she's gorgeous man. She's bad. She's giving me the rhythm, okay? You feel me? We've been texting every day, non stop, all day type. But the only catch, right, she got in the main. Now she tells me that like you know his lame. She only, you know, I mean see a future with dudes it have been like, two weeks, three weeks, right? Probably like a month actually. And, like, we still ain't chill. We still ain't hung out or nothing. So, like, I just kind of, you know, me want your advice. Like, what you think I should do?
- [70:18]
Joe Budden
We haven't hung out. She's in a relationship.
- [70:21]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, this. My advice here is going to be pretty straightforward, but, yeah, let's. Let's hear him out. Let's hear.
- [70:31]
Joe Budden
She hasn't talked to you in two, three weeks. Maybe she's with her boyfriend. All right, hold on.
- [70:35]
Unknown Caller
Three weeks, right? Probably like a month actually. And, like, we still ain't chill. We still ain't hung out or nothing. So, like, I just kind of, you know, me want your advice, like, what you think I should do? Because she with me to the point where, like, she, like, yo, just. Just, like, wait for me, and, like, I promise, like, I'm. Be there and, like, da, da, da, da. You feel me? She tried to pull up on me the other day, but I was busy, you know, could work out. So, like, what you think? You. You feel me? Let me know. Let me know. My juju. Juju. Let me know. My boy with you, man. Keep this going.
- [71:08]
Joe Budden
Yeah, Juju.
- [71:09]
Unknown Caller
Let me know what. Let me know what I should do. My boy.
- [71:13]
Unknown Guest
I mean, it's. It's pretty clear what's going on here. She's lying to both of you. And like, any relationships that starts this way, she's lying, like, out of the gate, she's gonna be lying the entire time. Like, if she. If she does it to him, she could do it to you. Blah, blah, blah. I don't know that there's much to unpack here.
- [71:37]
Joe Budden
What do you mean? You don't. Do you think she's lying to the boyfriend?
- [71:42]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, she's being deceitful to both of them. And so he should just, like, look at it for what it is. If he's cool with.
- [71:50]
Joe Budden
Oh, yeah. Like, if you're cool being the side dude, then. Yeah. Like, no, he's like, you're.
- [71:53]
Unknown Guest
But he should know what it is. No, you're just like, this is not gonna. And even if it did, even if she's like, I left the other guy and now I'm just with you now, eventually she would probably do this thing.
- [72:03]
Joe Budden
Yeah. It's like, would you want that? Would you want to commit to someone that. I don't. I've never been the side guy. I'm not above it. It just never happened. So I don't know. Like, I haven't been, but I'M also, if I, if I am the side guy and I can acknowledge that I'm the guy that's on the side, I would be like, okay, these are the terms of, of this relationship. Is she's in a relationship, we just hook up. That's all it is. I would think I would be okay with those parameters. I wouldn't try to make it more than it is. I think that's what you're saying.
- [72:30]
Unknown Guest
Yeah, I think like this is the behavior that she exhibits when she's like in a relationship, no matter who it is. So I wouldn't put too much weight on this, this evolving to something else. Because even if it felt like it was, it's got a shelf life.
- [72:47]
Joe Budden
Have they hooked up? You said he's just been talking to her.
- [72:51]
Unknown Guest
Did he say how he met her? It was, it was a really long preamble. I don't have that attention span.
- [72:56]
Joe Budden
He didn't say. He said, she said. I've been dealing with this girl lately. That's vague. Who's like gorgeous, man. She's bad. She's giving me the rhythm. You feel me? We've been texting every day, non stop type, all that stuff. So he never said like, like if.
- [73:10]
Unknown Guest
He met her on a dating app or something, that changes a lot more than if she was like a co worker.
- [73:15]
Joe Budden
They met at a potluck.
- [73:17]
Unknown Guest
Well, most people do. That should have been the advice to the guy who wants to get off the apps. You know, we're finding more insights than we're calling.
- [73:25]
Joe Budden
Find your local potluck. No, simple.
- [73:29]
Unknown Guest
Get off. Get off. Araya. Go to your local.
- [73:31]
Joe Budden
I don't think this girl is someone, I mean, yeah, understanding if you want that. If she's hot and you just are enjoying the hookup side of things and rock with it. Who gives a shit? But don't try to, don't be like, I'm waiting for you to break up with your man. It's me and you against the world. Don't like, try to Bonnie and Clyde this.
- [73:46]
Unknown Guest
You should definitely loan her money if she asks for it though. I just think it's like the right thing to do. I don't know if it's going to come up, but if she asks for money, you should definitely loan it to her. She will pay it back. We know that.
- [74:02]
Joe Budden
Yeah, I don't know. I think you, you should just continue fucking her and then call it what it is, man.
- [74:08]
Unknown Guest
Assuming he even has. Yeah, that's unclear to me. Tim, you're a grown man.
- [74:13]
Joe Budden
Do you want to waste your time texting someone. Like, that's very middle school behavior. Unless you guys are actually doing anything physically, just cut it off. Get someone else that's not in a relationship. Or get someone that's in a relationship. Just fucking make sure that she actually hooks up with you.
- [74:26]
Unknown Guest
Like focus on an outcome.
- [74:29]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [74:29]
Unknown Guest
And then.
- [74:30]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [74:31]
Julian
What's the take some.
- [74:32]
Unknown Guest
Take some. Where does he want to be in a relationship with this girl? Is he just trying to get her the sleep of them, period? We got to give some structure to these. These colors. We need more context.
- [74:45]
Joe Budden
Yeah.
- [74:46]
Julian
That is it for today's episode. I'd like to thank my guests for being here, doing a great, really important topic and hanging around for voicemails as well. Those were a lot of fun. I do want to draw attention to. I will be doing a bunch of live streams. It looks like I'm just doing them periodically now. If you would like to be there when they are happening, please subscribe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. That is when you will get notified. When I am live, I will not be posting on socials all the time. When I'm live, I'll just sometimes just do it and kick it for as long as I can. Thank you again. Have a great week and I'll see you next week or on a live stream. Talk soon. Bye.