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Hey hey hey hey. Welcome Back to episode 52 of Something Wrong with the Podcast. It's Julian. Obviously we are coming off a a quite a busy week with things regarding the hip hop culture in particular and other political things at large, which are far more important. I put out a tweet over the weekend that seemed to have been getting a lot of traction. If you want to head to my Twitter and go check that out, there's no need to repeat it here. But it was just a quick comparison on my thoughts to how we look into gun violence, well, domestic terrorism and ice killing people and how it's compared to sports. Anyway, we can talk about that later. Maybe in the episode I don't want to start with the downer. What we are going to start with well, I guess we're going to start with the downer of sorts, but I'm going to spin it to a positive is asap Rocky and Drake's forever ongoing beef. This comes after Rocky's Don't Be Dumb album came out after years of rumors and anticipation. I'm just going to get this out the way the album not for me. I love Rocky as a person, which is honestly what I'm way more far more focused on in in the point that I'm going to make today. But musically I think he's he's lost his footing. I don't know if it's I don't want to say it's a lack of creativity because he's taking a lot of risks, which is something I appreciate the Rocky does. He is a risk taker. Unfortunately for me, a lot of those risks don't sound great musically, but I kudos to him for committing to the album, putting out the album. I will say I do believe that creatively Rocky's there's a couple moments in his life that have really stifled his growth creatively, one of which being when Yams died. Obviously that's far larger than the music aspect of his life. That was a personal dear friend of his. I think that really rocked the whole asap, the fest fabric. He was the glue of the ASAP mob that moment. And then obviously falling in love and cultivating a relationship in marriage and raising children with Rihanna. And I know we're talking, it is Rihanna, but regardless of who his spouse is, I think that changes someone. Her being a public figure obviously adds a whole nother layer to it. But I think we're seeing a mature version of Rocky and that's what I want to focus on mostly. I do think that there is a level of growth and maturity that Ragi has been able to accomplish that some of his peers seem to not even come close to that level of growth and growth not in the sense that they settled down and had a family and are raising children, but also in how they approach issues in the beef, so to speak, within the hip hop, you know, zeitgeist. So in particular, obviously I'm alluding to his relationship with Drake and I think Drake is the perfect example. He's the inverse of how Rocky handles things. He's not someone that can move past something. He's always looking to address something and find ways to weave this into, whether it be songs, Instagram stories, subliminals, tweets, live show moments. There's a clip going around of, of a Drake on tour. Great tour. It's a tour that I went on, saw him live as a fantastic tour. But on his last tour when he was doing there was like a DJ medley breakdown part of the tour. And one of the songs the DJ would play every night is work. Obviously work. Huge record that Rihanna does the hook on. And every time the hook would come on Rihanna do work, work, work. Drake would say, oh, I don't sing that shit no more. Like you ladies sing and I'll sing that bullshit no more. Meaning like he not only like he went out of his way to put that moment into his set list. I think people need to understand this. It's like a stand up comedian. These aren't jokes that come off the top of your head. Settlers aren't things that happen in the moment. That DJ set is a can DJ set. It's the same DJ set every night. So if you really have beef with somebody and you really don't fuck with them, the simplest answer would be to just remove that song from the set list. Right? One would think. But of course, we're talking about Drake. Drake is the knows that everything he does will be clipped. Everything he does will be pushed out and it'll continue to fuel his emotions and his narratives on things. And Drake isn't one to shy away from confronting things. So in classic Drake fashion, he works that song into the set list every night. And then on that spot had some canned response that he would dismiss the Rihanna version of the portion of the song and be like, fuck that dj next one. Using it as like a moment in every city on that tour to take a shot at Rihanna. This is what I mean by maturity and growth. Rocky did a couple interviews for this pod for his album. He sat down with Ebro over at Apple and he sat down, surprisingly, to me, at least, with academics more recently. And in those here's a quote. Because obviously they talked about the album, but the more important things people were concerned with were the most recent exchanges between him and Drake. And this is a quote from asap. Rocky, I think hip hop tactics and beef are like wwf. It's like wrestling all the way. But this thing between us, meaning Drake, it's not real smoke, but I just don't fuck with them. I don't. He said matter of factly. We were once friends. I think I feel like it's over females. I feel like he wasn't happy. And he expressed that Rocky giving Drake a lot of rope there, being like, hey, like he told me he was upset. He expressed it and we just saw it differently and went our separate ways. And I think Rocky, yes, in the new album he takes some digs at Drake. But I do want to give Rocky a lot of credit. I think he's been pretty mature throughout this ongoing feud and I think a lot of that comes from him just wanting to move past whatever this is. If it is over women. Look, Rocky's not doing the same, playing the same games, fishing for women the way that Drake currently is. Rocky's in a committed relationship. He has. He has a steady thing with his wife Rihanna. Again, for the keep hammering that point. It's Rihanna and he has children. Like his focus has shifted to his nuclear family. Whereas Drake is still doing the very things that they were doing when they came into the scene together.
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And this is, I think, like the classic case of he just out. Rocky just outgrew the games. Meaning these things that Drake gets so hung up on and these things that seem to consume him relationship wise. Rocky doesn't put any thought into or care to address at any point because it's behind him. That's. Those were things of the past that's like, you know, Rock even says in his interview with academics, like, don't get it up. Like, if I wasn't with my girl, I'd probably be fucking your bitch. And it's like, okay. Like, he knows, like that's. He's got the adage, he's got that dog in him. It's still there, but he's just living on a different. He's existing on a different plane right now. I think that takes a mature person to recognize. This is the version that I was. This is the person that I used to be and still can be if I wanted to. But I'm shelving that lifestyle to make sacrifices for the family that I want to raise in the example I want to set for my children. And if I am putting words in his mouth, so be it. But I do think that it's like the actions match. I think his actions are kind of matching that sentiment where it's like, he's so beyond the petty stuff, the arguing over women, that if that's really going to be the linchpin for what ends his career, like, if that's the reason why Drake no longer wants to be with him as a friend or as a collaborator, then so be it. Some relationships are worth losing no matter how, you know, big the. The person on the other end of that relationship is. And obviously I think a lot of this has to do with, like, you can be frank. Rihanna is not a big fan of Drake and Rocky being, you know, hearing his. I'm sure he's heard a lot more from her side as well. And it just makes sense to just like, sever ties with somebody that your fucking wife does not get along with. I think it's a pretty simple decision, especially when it's also not serving you. It's not like they were best of boys and then he had to lose somebody in that process to be with his girl. They were already on, you know, no pun intended, Rocky terms. So, so be it. If this is how it Ends. And this is how it ends. Yeah. So I, you know, I don't want to, you know, give. Make this like a suck fest for Rocky, but like, I am proud of. It's cool to see these guys at the age, at age that they're at now because I remember Rocky when he, when he first started the pretty, the pretty dude, pretty flacco with the gold teeth and the in the braids and the, you know, the hood by air and all this, he was just like the jiggy. Like that was his whole thing. So for him to change and mature and to really show growth, I know I led with. I don't care too much about the music side of things, but I truly do believe that that is secondary to him just becoming a better man and becoming a better person. Again. That's not a quantifiable. You can't say he sold 200,000 units of I'm a Better man this month, but I think that's really what matters. Obviously, Rocky and Rihanna aren't financially struggling at all. It's not a matter of him needing money by any means. But I think the real win here for him is he also went number one. If we want to stick to the album for a second, it did go number one, which is awesome. I think that's super exciting. I think he chose a great time to release his project and there's few things, you know, Rocky will never mess up. Visuals, his music videos are always incredible. The artistic direction is fantastic. Like, he does certain things so well. Which also doesn't surprise me why he's often headlining festivals because they know the level of production musically and stage production that comes with booking Rocky, which is pretty exciting. So happy to see him on road this summer, this coming summer as well. But yeah, the more people in the industry open up about their relationship with Drake, I think it's very important to just recognize the pattern that a lot of the qualms that he has with most people in this industry are over women. And this doesn't, this isn't limited to artists. This. We know this is true of record label execs and A and rs and really anybody that comes across this path that Drake feels like he needs a one up on, he'll try to have sex with her girl. It's. It's a, it's a tale as old as time. And it's a move that he's, you know, willing to do, willing to make. So that being said, still, you know, eyes peeled for Iceman, waiting for that to come out. But I'M sure Drake will, again, in classic fashion, not take this moment as a missed opportunity. I think he'll address it in some way or another, whether that be on his Instagram story or, you know, on his new song on the album. Drake is certainly not one to shy away from conflict, so keep an eye out for that.
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Law well, staying on Hip Hop Travis Scott has a cameo in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film the Odyssey. If you're not familiar, the Odyssey is a huge undertaking by Christopher Nolan. I believe it's the story of Homer and it's featuring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, like a slew of other A list act. And it was revealed during one of the playoff football games this weekend that Travis Scott also has a featured cameo in it. And people of course are rumoring like, how does you know what is the basis of their relationship? How does this even make sense? And Travis Scott did contribute to the soundtrack for Christopher Nolan's 2010 film Tenant. I believe the song on that soundtrack was called the Plan, which is cool. I from. From a collaborative standpoint. Look, who am I to criticize Christopher Nolan putting Travis Scott in his home? From an artistic standpoint, I think in this is gonna sound like a jab to Travis. I think Travis Scott is so known for being Travis Scott that I don't want to see him also in like a period piece. You know what I mean? Like, it'd be weird to see like if there was a film about Greek mythology and like Kanye is in. It's like you're Kanye, bro. Like you can't. It's like Denzel, but Denzel's an actor. I was gonna say it's like Denzel and Gladiator too, but that movie sucked. I didn't even see it, but I just know that movie sucked. But it's like I can't not see. Point is, I can't not see Travis Scott when I'm seeing him. So even on like an expensive Set design and in costume, it's not going to matter for me. And from what I know, and even in the trailer itself, Travis Scott is not much of an actor. I forgot what other stuff he's done that he's had cameos in. But the guy cannot act, which is, you know, I sound like I'm shitting on him. And I guess I, you know, I guess I am, but it's just not something I know it's not. It's not really going to make or break or make a difference in the story, to be honest. I think this news cycle fodder of him having the cameo is going to be. Is probably why they did it. It's much bigger in the sense of, like, online chatter than it actually will be in terms of the storyline in the film itself. So for that, kudos to the. To that booking and marketing behind this, to know. To put that moment out on a Super bowl, on a football game. But I want to say. I want to say I'm not a fan of stuff like this, but I guess in other cases, I'm okay with it. Maybe if it wasn't this type of film, I would feel differently, like, if it was like, of a comedy or, you know, even like a drama or whatever. Like, I forgot what it was. But no, I guess he was a star, that he was like a big character in that movie, that movie that Jack Harlow did. But I'm trying to think of, like, other artists that have done pieces that you see him and you're like, oh, that makes sense, though. Just to me, this doesn't really make sense. And that's why it's like, whatever. Regardless, super excited for the Odyssey. Big, big, big Christopher Nolan fan. I think I just saw too, that they're doing another anniversary for Interstellar in IMAX, which I have not yet seen in IMAX. I've seen Interstellar, of course, but not in IMAX. And I think it's February 1st this coming Sunday. I really gotta put some time. Carve some time out and catch that one. All right, let's get a little political here. I actually pulled up the tweet that I referenced at the beginning of this episode. The context behind this is I was. I was doom scrolling on Twitter, which is a habit that I've developed, which is far. It's just awful. And in doing so, I saw like about 15 angles of the latest ice killing of Alex Preddy. Pretty, pretty. I believe this is the third ice killing in Minnesota alone. I want to say it's sec. Second, if not Third, and I'm just like, I'm just overwhelmed by like every other tweet post is a video with just a new angle. This zoom in, these punching graphics. We're seeing circles like, you know, fucking John Gruden drawing on a whiteboard. And it's just like, it seems so telecast, like game focused for me. And it was, it was really disturbing because I, I found myself. I try to consume content within the. Within the context of the tweet and video itself. But then also I do this with like conversations as well. I always try to zoom out and look at this, remove myself from the very piece of content and try to look at it from like a. More like a global outsider perspective, like within the whole situation, the whole, like, look at it as a whole rather than just being this one specific part of it. I did a horrible job at wording that, but I hope you can understand what I'm saying. But here's a tweet I said. I said the fact that we're watching American citizens getting shot and killed, like game tape, as if the stakes were, quote, did he catch both feet? Did he keep both feet in bounds? End quote. Shows how desensitized we've become to violence. There was kind of like a. I don't want a breaking point, maybe the wrong term to use here, but it was like a. It's something that I've been like, wording and framing for a while, so to finally, at least public perception wise, nail it. I mean, this tweet is just about under 2000 retweets and 12,000 likes. I think it's resonated with a lot of people. But point being is, I really do. It rubs me the wrong way and it has for a long time how often we are exposed to these traumatic events and how, you know, I'm at a. I'm at a bar with friends and we're just, we're hanging out, you know, having, you know, drinks or whatever, and it's just like mid conversation with them, just scrolling past as if it's. As if it's like, as if it's not as a big of a deal as it actually is. And I think that's scary. And I think you can see these things and you can experience and be aware of these things and feel deep anger and hurt and pain and be passionate about these things. But even with those emotions, I still think us being overexposed to this extent on some level just normalizes these things that, you know, that, that maybe that outrage or like that emotional Spike will just level off at some point because you'll just start seeing these things as normal, which I find in myself, which is really troubling because none of this is normal. I was at having a conversation. Where was I? I don't even. There was. I was in some common area and there was a television with the news on. And they were in. This was before this most recent killing. They were talking about the other one, the woman that got shot three times in the head in her car. And I don't even know who this guy was. I think he was like a janitor or security guard wherever I was. And I said to him, I was like, we're just seeing the press conference and them just going up there and saying that this woman was trying to kill or, you know, the car is a weapon, all that. And I just, I looked at him, man, I do not know. I was like, man, there's just like, gotta be a better way. Like, not. I feel like we've. We've made the loss of life the only option. As if like, well, they did this, therefore their life should end. Like they should die. I think it's, it's so. It's beyond. It's the most extreme measure. I think we've just abandoned the ability to de. Escalate and preserve human life while also disagreeing with how someone may have approached you or spoken to you or you know, maybe jerk the car or the wheel at you, which is like whatever you can sit in, nitpick. Every little motion of the wheel, the tire tracks, the what was in his hand, all that shit. I feel like all of those are just like excuses to obviously let bullets fly and do their thing and just shoot to kill. But I guess my, my. One of my many issues is like, why does death seem to be the only option in these instances? Why can't there be another path to just smooth things over, disperse and just remove people from. From a high stress situation? Why does it seem like gunshots and a loss of at least one life is the only way these things get resolved? That's really troubling to me is, is it seems like when these videos pop off and when these struggles ensue, there's only one way to end them. And it's more often than not an American citizen getting shot and killed probably 10 minutes from their home. It's. It's really terrible. It's so sad. I saw a video today too of Phineas, who's Billie Eilish's older brother and producer collaborator, hell of a musician. Independently in his own right as well. He was basically saying like, you know, the whole argument of the second amendment means Americans need to have guns to protect themselves. And now we're seeing when they have guns they can't use them to protect themselves or just getting shot. So it was the whole like flip of the whole conservatives argument where more often than not this would be applied after a school shooting. And we said we can't take guns away from American citizens because they need them to protect themselves and each other. Well now what's even, what's happening now, now they're not even being able to protect against, you know, this Gestapo and the fucking, you know, ice crazed people going around in these cities. It's really discouraging. And the trend doesn't seem to be going down. The response to all of these outbursts of ICE riots and violence seems to just be more people getting deployed to these cities, which is, it's tough this, you know, if you want to speak up or be there to demonstrate and show your support, there is a real risk that your life is in jeopardy. And I guess sadly that's currently what it means to be an American citizen is going out in your streets and supporting, protesting against something is also putting your life at risk. And I'm not even trying to sit on this soapbox as a bleeding liberal because fuck that. But I really find it troublesome that we are so okay with people getting killed on either end of the spectrum. I think, I think it's like really the saddest, like most grotesque way to treat your community is just by like offing them one at a time and then taking a podium and just fabricating lies about how this person has, was a threat and they were the, this was justified. There's that George Orwell quote that I've been seeing flying around about the news. And first they'll tell you the. I don't know. He's got a million of them. Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past. He's got so many of those. Here's another, here's the one that I've been seeing going around the most. They told you the party told you to reject the evidence of, of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. I think that's what we're seeing. We're in the era of ugc like user generated content. Everybody is a news reporter. Everybody has a phone this in in still we're, you know, spitting in the face of reality. We're seeing the videos, we're seeing what's actually playing out and then being told other things. We're being told that in fact what we saw from 10 different camera angles is not true. It's scary and it doesn't seem like it's going away anytime soon. And it. Nor does it mean that you should throw your arms up and surrender. I think being vocal is critical. I've always been a proponent of using your voice rather than, you know, running towards violence. And I would think it's also the safer option currently is to use your voice rather than go to the streets. Maybe because we're seeing what's being done in the streets. If you have a platform, no matter how big, no matter how small, speak up. I think it's. This is far more effective when you're speaking to people that believe differently than you. And again, not in the spirit of like inciting arguments or fishing for fights. I think people need to just hear different perspectives and understand why somebody may think differently than you. I think that is very crucial in being able to have that discourse and listen to each other without someone dying at the end of it. How about that, guys? How about we just don't kill each other? That's a fucking great start. Anyway, I don't want to get too preachy towards the end of this episode, but I do want to say to all my people in New York, I hope you survived and endured the blizzard and stayed warm. I. My good deed of the day was not ordering takeout. I was on scrolling online and saw too many videos of these poor delivery guys getting their bikes spinning out or getting thrown into like a, you know, a snow, a bed of snow at the end of a street. So what I did is I ordered online for pickup and then walked through three, maybe four blocks to get my food and came back home. That was my good deed of the day, was saving and delivery guy a trip. Little things like that, at least to me, make a difference. So I guess that's my piece of advice today. Make a difference in somebody's life. Understand that no matter what's going on in your life, there's someone out there going to get so much worse. And you are, especially to my not even New York audience. Anywhere, anywhere you live, there's. You're surrounded by a lot of good people that want to do well and will also want to see you do well. So just support your community and support each other and try to be aware of what's going on, but don't fall into the bullshit. Don't fall into the trap. All right. I'll leave you with that. Thank you all. Love you. Peace.
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Host: Julian Delgado
Date: January 27, 2026
Episode 52 of “Something Wrong With The Podcast” dives into two core themes:
Host Julian Delgado brings his signature blend of sharp cultural critique and humor, balancing pop culture discussion with a raw, unfiltered appraisal of America’s political and social failings.
(Start: 00:43)
“I think we're seeing a mature version of Rocky and that's what I want to focus on mostly… Also in how they approach issues in the beef, so to speak, within the hip hop, you know, zeitgeist.” (02:30)
Ongoing rift mainly attributed to personal issues over women, notably Rihanna.
Rocky, in recent interviews (Ebro, DJ Akademiks), says:
“Hip hop tactics and beef are like wwf. It's like wrestling all the way. But this thing between us… it's not real smoke, but I just don't fuck with him. I don't. We were once friends. I feel like it's over females. I feel like he wasn't happy. And he expressed that.” (Quoted at 04:33)
Julian notes how Drake repeatedly references the feud and Rihanna in “scripted” ways during his tour performances:
“It's like a stand up comedian — these aren't jokes that come off the top of your head… That DJ set is a can DJ set. It's the same DJ set every night. So if you really have beef with somebody… the simplest answer would be to just remove that song from the set list, right? One would think. But of course, we're talking about Drake.” (03:45)
(13:38)
(15:14)
“The fact that we're watching American citizens getting shot and killed, like game tape, as if the stakes were, ‘did he catch both feet? Did he keep both feet in bounds?’ Shows how desensitized we've become to violence.” (16:08)
“They told you the party told you to reject the evidence of, of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” (21:48)
“How about we just don't kill each other? That's a fucking great start.” (25:08)
(26:15)
“Understand that no matter what's going on in your life, there's someone out there going through so much worse than you are… You're surrounded by a lot of good people that want to do well and will also want to see you do well.” (27:48)
Julian maintains a conversational, sometimes irreverent tone, infusing personal anecdotes, humor, and directness. He blends therapeutic candor (“your unlicensed therapist”) with cultural critique, ensuring listeners feel both provoked and understood.
This episode is a must-listen if you care about:
Julian Delgado offers not solutions so much as unfiltered clarity: a call not just to care, but to notice, to change, and—above all—to keep your humanity alive.