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- [00:00]
Maddie
Hey, y'. All, I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90 day fiance love is blind Love after lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay bestie's got you covered, y'.
- [00:20]
Boz
All.
- [00:20]
Maddie
New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast.
- [00:24]
Boz
Reality Gays, let's love. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to Something Wrong with the Podcast. I am back from my European excursions. I came in here today with no specific agenda in terms of, like, general hip hop news and mainstream media backlash and war cries, which, I mean, again, trying to avoid these types of things at the moment. I wanted to, first of all, apologize for not putting out content in the last few weeks. Stuff that happened to me personally, professionally, and ultimately led me to going away for a few weeks in a great way. I went to Paris for a bit, which I'll get into in a second, and then following there, I went to Barcelona, which again, first time there was beautiful. But let's. Let's start from a few weeks back. What led me to go out on this journey? As I sit my espresso here, as you can tell, I'm still in Euro mode. So I get a text from my dear friend Boz. As many of you know, Baz and I have become quite close over the years. He's one of my great friends. And the perks of having an incredible artist as a friend is they will sometime just text you with a proposal. And sometimes it's too sweet to say no to hold me, grab my glasses because this glare is killing me. So this is much better. I'm, you know, going about my life, working, etc. And I get a text from Boz, and I believe it was a Thursday or Wednesday. He said, what are you doing next week? I was like, dude, I, you know, just, I'm here in New York. What do you need? What do you want? What are you thinking? And he goes, going to Paris. Psg. Paris Saint Germain, the football club. Soccer, for my American listeners, to all of you, is doing a recording camp at the stadium and they want to fly me out now. Boss has previously built a relationship with psg, the program, which is pretty awesome. They've collaborated many times before. But this recording camp was basically like they were recording, you know, real records, but also records and things that would be said in the stadium. Throughout the game, chants, et cetera. Stuff that would be used during, you know, their. Their matches, which is pretty sick. So he said, look, like, here's the deal. If you get yourself out here, we got. They got. We got a room on them and accommodations and all that. I was like, all right, bet. So I'm playing manager for the. For the weekend. So the original trip was scheduled for, I believe, five days in the hotel, which was right near the stadium. Day one, I land at like 9am 9am in Paris. Car service there to take me from the airport to the telly. Beautiful situation. I'm relaxed, you know, feeling great. First time in Paris. Got my feet up in the back of the Mercedes van with the captain's chairs that are facing me. Just, you know, feeling a little luxe and luxurious kind of feeling myself. I get to the hotel, put my stuff down, haven't eaten, gotta eat, go out, find this one little cafe that had been open, you know, in Europe. In Europe, there's some odd hours. A lot of these places aren't really open at certain times. They'll open later or they'll shut down. It's just kind of. You have to hit it in a sweet spot. Is that a pause? Whatever. So go to this, the one and only cafe that I could find that was open nearby and get a espresso like I have here. And I buy. I say to the guy, man, I just. I just. I just got here. I'm starving. I just need food. He goes, well, our kitchen isn't open. I was like, man, like what? Anything. Just like. Honestly, just a plain baguette. He goes, here's what I'll do for you. Mind you, everybody speaks English. He goes, here's what I can do for you. I have some fresh tuna that I was going to make for the special sandwich today. He goes, I don't need to heat it, need to cook anything. He goes, I'll do something with that. Maybe a little, like, arugula, and I'll spruce this thing up and I'll, you know. How's that sound? I was like, I have no dietary restrictions. I love everything. Sounds perfect. Sure enough, I also buy a pack of cigs, little skinny cigarettes that I've become obsessed with. And I'm out there and I'm drinking my espresso, smoking cig, just kind of taking it all in my first, like, you know, hours as a. As a Parisian Traveler. And maybe five, 10 minutes later, he comes out with this beautiful sandwich. It looked as if, you know, the kitchen was up and Running and there was a full staff in there. And he goes, let me know if this is good. I was like, this is literally the best thing I've ever eaten. Sure enough, have that. Boz lands shortly thereafter. He joins me at the telly. And then we go actually back to that spot to get another espresso. And then we both. It was a beautiful day. It was like 70 degrees, which is unseasonably warm at this time of year in Paris. And we say to each other, like, look, and this is why I love. I love Boz for many reasons as a friend, but this in particular, like, he's like, look, it's your first time here. You got to do all the touristy stuff. Like, he's like. And I'm here to like, I'm trying to be jet lag too. Like, let's do it all together. I was like, that's best news. So we get into a car, we take an Uber from where we're staying, and we go across town into some cathedral we get dropped off at, which was stop one. And our plan for the day was really just to beat jet lag, meaning, like, just don't fall asleep, continuously bounce around, have espresso and just see the sights. It ended up being like one of my favorite days ever. So we're going around, walking, have another, I think three espressos in at this point. Grabbed a quick bite and then we had this like, moment where we were like, okay, it is so beautiful out. Do we walk around or do we get into a car? Our plan was to go from this one spot to the Louvre, which would have been like, I believe, like an almost a two mile walk. And it's like hilly and it's like a bit of a trek. And I. And for this entire trip, mind you, I only brought loafers, which is great. They ended up being fine. But at the time, the concern was like, ah, whatever, let's see. Boz and I were like, all right, fuck it, let's. We're walking. So we walked everywhere. Mind you, it's so cool walking around with him because there's so many fans that recognize him. And it's really funny seeing them being like, are you like, just to see him randomly on the street on a. On a two on a Thursday morning in Paris, like, are you. And he's like, oh, yeah, no, that's me. Ran into a woman who Sudanese, which was hilarious, taking photos with Boz. And her man was there looking at him like, who is this dude? Like, linked up with my man outside the cathedral. A lot of funny moments. So we're walking around and we walk. Ended up walking to the Louvre. Didn't go in because again, too warm to go inside. We wanted to be outside at least today. And it was incredible. That sat on the cn, you know, called some friends. Boz, I believe went live on Instagram during that time as well. If you did happen to catch that, that was fun. I was in some of that content as well. And then we just walked. I think that day, I think I eclipsed 26,000 steps the first day. And yet we just, we. We did not go home. I. I also, I mean, I'm saying this like we're superhuman. I think we had about seven or eight espresso throughout the day. I was FaceTiming my parents at the Louvre, at the Notre Dame, like all these. It was really cool to just kind of share that with them. My, my parents know and, and love boss as well and he knows them. So it was fun to like have that little interaction with them as well. But day one was just like out the gate. Incredible experience. So happy to be there. And this was like our free afternoon. So this. Because the next morning, remember out here to do this recording camp. So we get up and where our hotel was distance wise was quite close to the recording camp. So we walk to the stadium and I'll insert some photos here as well so you can see the setup if you're watching on YouTube, the stadium. Each player. This is really cool. So PSG has. Each player has their own private suite in the stadium. And what they did for this recording camp was retrofit those suites for music studio spaces. So they put in all the top equipment, keyboards, you know, stands for guitars etc, etc, and really fitted it for music recording. So there's, you know, however many say 10 of these rooms in the stadium. On one side there are 10 now studios as well. And these doors are for again for the players and their families. So they're like a private room with a bathroom and they can hang out. And also like the really cushy fancy seats that are beyond them in the stadium also belong to them. So there's the door that you can open which again I'll show in the video, but you can go out into the stadium. So we're walking around PSG stadium and it's, it's empty, there's no one there. It's gorgeous. I mean I've never seen the scale of these places. You know, I. This being a sports fan in America is quite warped because I think Our ceiling is so low comparatively to what sports fandom means in. In Europe. And I'm always reminded specifically of this one question where Luka was talking about playing in the NBA playoff atmosphere. And they're like, man, is, you know, what's it like playing in the. The big leagues, man? Welcome to the league, like the NBA, man. Welcome to America, baby. And they were like, isn't it tough? The atmosphere is just on a whole nother level. And he just started laughing and he was like, there were people throwing flares in, like, you know, like lighting flares and, you know, just riots happening when I was 16 years old playing in Madrid, you know, so. Which I'll get to in a second because I did end up going to a PSG match at the. In a few days from this point in the story, which was insane. How they treated.
- [10:35]
Maddie
I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, ready for honest conversations about thriving in midlife. Listen to and follow my new podcast, Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts.
- [10:45]
Boz
They're away fans. So anyway, in the stadium, getting the official tour, seeing all the five trophies that they won last year, it's beautiful. It's incredible. I mean, it is just like luxury and like wealth and opulence and just like success on another level, which is just really cool to be around. And obviously because of the success of the team and the vibes are high from everybody on the staff that I met that works in the program, some of the players showed up as well. Like it was just like a really cool experience. And I knew it was like a really, you know, once in a lifetime thing. So anyway, recording begins day one. Fantastic. Hit it off. Some of the producers, actually the producer, this is really bad of me. I can't remember his name, but he did five records on the Drake and PND album. He actually produced Somebody Loves Me. Somebody who Loves Me. He's had a, put it this way, he's had a home run of a career. It's particularly in the last year he's been on fire. So he's eaten good. Nice Rollie, all that. He looked. He looked like he got his money up last year. Great guy. His manager is an incredible woman, manager, business partner, and we really hit it off with them. Baz is working on. Incredible. Watching his writing process. It's never lost on me that I have the access to see how a lot of these artists create and basically the routine. I don't think I'm giving away too much sauce here is like they're the. The guys, the Producers would get. Always get in there a little earlier than the artist, and they would, you know, build a loop or a sample or have something kind of cooking. So when. By the time Boss Boss arrives, there's something for him to bounce off of, pause, like, just riff off of and write off of. And he does it in such a way where it's kind of not like, I've learned to. You build, like, that banter and, you know, acting as the manager in this thing, it's like, okay, what do you. What do you need? I'm assuming at this point, the way we've been drinking. Espresso. Let me get you an espresso, maybe, or we can get, you know, something. Whatever you need in the studio. But once that's established and once, like, the vibe is set in, the small talk is done, I think of, like, my personal touch is always lighting whatever candles in the room. He'll just sit there or just stand against the wall and just look at his phone and just note notes, app the notes apps up and just write. And you can just see. There's always something. The head bobbin or the foot mover of the hand shape. There's always something because the beat of Mind you is just looping. So you're just hearing this loop over and over again. And then, like, as the producers, you know, setting things up and meticulously, you know, placing instruments or there's like a basis laying down, like a loop or a funk or something. They'll just look over to Boss like, all right, man. Like, you know, what do you think? Like, how do you think this in? I swear on two separate occasions that I've saw, Boss just looks and goes, oh, I already got. I already got something going. Like, how. Like, how have you been able. In this 10 minutes we've been in this room, you. We all just heard. It's not like they sent him the sample or the song or the reference in advance. It was all done right there in that moment. And sure enough, he. If it's not the lyrics, it's the cadence. I don't know if anybody here has ever heard, like, early Kanye records or familiar with Kanye's process, but it's quite similar in the sense that the melody and the pocket of the rap of the record itself will come before the lyrics. So. Or maybe, like, a lyric will come, and then it's. It's more about the. It's like the. The humming or the. You know, that metronome is keeping. Keeps going, and you're just finding what pocket lyrically you want to use to go off of this, which is interesting because then it's like, okay, like, well then what lyrics mold and fit into that stylistically, which is just so cool to see happen in real time. And also just to see how like, like how professional. Not. Not just, you know, boss. I'm not just blowing smoke to my guy, but like, the producers are as well. These guys are just like, you'd think they've been working together for years. They just met. I mean, we were. One could say we beat jet lag, but like, we just landed from. He landed from la. It's not like I had. I had the easier of the two trips. Coming from New York, Boz is fucking like nine hours back in time zone. This guy just got here from la. The one producer lived here. The other guy is a super talented dude. He's Swedish, but he lives in Philly. He. He works with everybody. The dude is a beast. But like, they're cooking. They just met. Baz just met. Like you would think the chemistry in this room, you think. These guys have been working together for years and obviously they're all, like, familiar with their work. And the producers, to their credit, do a good job of listening to. They know are familiar with his music. So they'll listen to Baz's music and try to create sounds based off that. But what's great about Baz is he's like, I don't want to recreate my music. Like, create stuff that works for you and then we'll, you know, that's like what true collaboration is. It's like, don't make something that you think would sound like me. Make something that you would want to make for yourself. And then I'll find a way to work off of that. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited to hear all the records that were worked on in particular on day one. Now, mind you, this was a four day camp. I want to say I didn't make it to the studio the last day. It's way too hungover. I'll get to that in a second. But point is, incredible time. And I really loved being in the studio. And thankfully. Not thankfully, but like, selfishly, the only day it rained when I was in Paris, mind you, it was almost three weeks. I was there for like two and a half. Almost two weeks. Whatever. The only day it rained was the day that I stayed in the studio with Boz. So it's not like I felt like I missed anything. And it's not like I was like, oh, I want to be outside, it's beautiful. Again, it was just that second day we were there, it had rained, and we. We were in the studio and just, like, really having a great time. So let's fast forward a little bit. The next day, Baz is in a great groove. He says to me, like, look, man, like, I'm. I got, like, I got this down. I'm in it. I'm. I got a good thing going. Like, don't feel like you have to stay in a studio. Like, I'm comfortable now that we have, like, the lay of the land. But if I need anything, I'll let you know. I was like, all right, bet. So it's day two. I go with him just to see the setup, like, make sure. Cause again, each day, it's new producers, um, the second crop of producers. Fantastic guys, super fucking talented. Everybody's so goddamn talented. And, you know, once they. They set up, I give Boz a look. He's like, good to go. Have a. Like, have a day. So then I I. Off I go. I'm. I'm a biker, everybody, you know, if you're familiar. I. I city bike in New York a lot. You've probably seen me. City biking. I grab a bike in. In Paris. They have the lime bikes there. So I grab a bike and I head into the city. And now I'm just solo traveler Julian, which I had mentally prepared for ahead of time by re. Watching some certain films and classic. Rereading classic pieces that just kind of put me in the mood to be alone in a foreign country. For example, like, what do you call it? Damn. Why am I law? Is it law? Yes. Lost in Translation. Yes. I also. I did so much writing when I was there, but I'm pretty sure the day I got there, I wrote about Lost in Translation. Yep, I did. Yep. On March 6, which was after I'd already been there for a little bit. So, yeah, this is, like. This is how I keep so many memories and moments and just create, like, little vignettes in my mind that I just need to put on paper because I have a constant fear of forgetting my life, which is a whole nother thing I should talk about in therapy. But point is, I am thankful that I write stuff down because now I can refer to it here as well. So I'm watching Films of Gloss in Translation, which is like, a beautiful piece from Sophia Coppola about loneliness and isolation and finding fleeting moments of love and, you know, just creating relationship pockets as they manifest throughout your life. But it's easier to do when you're traveling. The movie is set. It's Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. They're both traveling. They happen to be in Tokyo during this course of this movie. And they just have this, like, weird. Not weird, but like this, you know, loving tryst that is fleeting because it's not a real thing. They don't really know each other. And she was married. And he's old. I believe she was 17 when they filmed that movie too, by the way. And Bill Murray, like, kissed her. Whatever. Old Hollywood shit. You know how it goes. Great. Still a classic. But anyway, I'm got my tote bag in every day. I had my tote bag, cigs, water bottle, and I carried wired headphones because I just. I just felt. It just felt better if I was gonna have something constantly in my ears or just like walking around. I still want to rely on batteries as much as I could, so I just, I. I opted for wire headphones, which I would advise to do for others as well. If you're planning on traveling this summer, that was a great idea. So, yeah, now I also have a good friend of mine. Ryan Dubie is incredible director and producer that produced the video, the music video J. Cole put out as the opening, the first one of the album rollout. I actually still want to have him on here. He's been very, extremely busy, but he lives in Paris. Was able to see him. And he also sent me a bunch of food recommendations that I based a lot of my trip off of. And I'm a big museum guy. I hit damn near every museum. If you follow me on Instagram. I think for about a week straight, I was posting from a new museum every day. I'm a huge fan of Picasso's work, so it's really cool to go to Picasso's, the Picasso home in Paris. And then I actually did go to the other Picasso home, which is located in Barcelona. So it was pretty cool to do those up against each other in a short time frame. Also, just unexpectedly, again, remember, this trip was only supposed to be a few days, so I'm doing my thing solo, journeying throughout the city. So this Saturday night, which I think I was supposed to leave Monday, so this is now Saturday night. I've been there since Wednesday. So few days in, jet lag's fine. I'm like, through all that Saturday night, Boz gets out of recording early and we're like, all right, let's have a night. End up linking with our boy Doobie and my boy Brandon. Shout out, Brandon, out of office. Who Is a dear friend of mine. I met him here in New York. He moved to Paris not too long ago to take a really great job. Now him and his girl live out there, which is freaking awesome to spend time with him in Paris. So. So we go clubbing and Doobie's cousin was with us too. Go clubbing. I just put it this way, asked for a bottle of tequila because we had a table. They brought out a bottle of 42. So that just kind of like set the tone for the night and just ended up like having a full on. I think I got home at like 6, 6:30 in the morning just so much. It was such a fun night though. Really great time. And again, I'm not much of a clubber, but that was like, we all agreed, like, we were all in on it and we were like, let's send it. Let's do this one time. And had a great time. Boz is built different. Dude. Literally woke up, went to the studio and recorded all day that Sunday. I did not leave the hotel once. I ordered food to the hotel twice. And my priority was finding out how I'm going to extend this trip, which I ended up doing. I ended up booking a spot for another week. And that's why I was in Paris for a little longer than originally expected. So Baz flies out the next day on the Monday, and I'm still hurt slowly getting out of bed and moving to my spot for the week. And now I'm just like a solo resident and I have my own spot. I'm not in a hotel anymore. I'm in an apartment. It was a really nice spot. I got super lucky. Great location and just like convenient for how I like to travel is I like to front load all of the touristy stuff. So that first week I was really able to do all the museums and do like the sightseeing stuff that like, interests me.
- [23:26]
Maddie
Hey, y'.
- [23:27]
Boz
All.
- [23:27]
Maddie
I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one.
- [23:37]
Boz
So.
- [23:37]
Maddie
So whether it's 90 day, fiance love is Blind Love, After Lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love. Your gay bestie's got you covered, y'.
- [23:46]
Boz
All.
- [23:46]
Maddie
New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever
- [23:49]
Boz
you get your podcast, Reality Gays, let's love. But for the rest of the trip, I just want to be a local Parisian. I want to find a cafe to go to every morning, which I did and actually went there the morning I left and said goodbye to them and they were very sweet and find, you know, thank God I got you know, friends there that know some great food spots. But even like low key food spots, I don't need it to be like the most fancy ridiculous thing of all time. So just again building my routine around food, but also just sightseeing, biking, walking and just you know, falling into the city as hard as possible where. What an easy city to love too by the way. And I know again it's unseasonably warm weather. It was beautiful the whole time I was out there, but I, yeah, I could move there. Truly. Like I missed, I was thinking about what I missed from home and besides like the family, my friends, like all that shit. Like it even got to the point where like I hadn't watched a Knicks game in over a week and I was like, I'm kind of okay with that because then what I would do is I'd wake up and the next day I just watch like the YouTube highlights of it and I'm like, all right, like bet, like cool, we won again. Like sick. All right, I'm gonna go enjoy my day. Like it was just nice to. It's crazy. You always think about like even news wise and this is. We're pushing up against like our attack on Iran. It hadn't happened yet. It happened when I was in Paris, but maybe not at this point in the, in the recap. But I'm thinking like, you don't realize how much of the other world has. It's such like a naive like American America first or it's, you know, like we're the only people that exist. You go there and it's like it. You just kind of consume what they're consuming in the sense that I would just hear what's going on there locally or like what's, you know, what sporting. Because of the PSG connect. Like I'm kind of following what, what the, what the club's up to and these other clubs are doing over there. And it's like you're just kind of brought in and welcomed into a new setting, A new place of sports, a new place of news, politics, like street culture and vibe that it just, it's quite easy to suspend all that, you know, back home in America and be like, yeah, like there is more to. It's not that different that. I guess the point I'm trying to make is like, it's not that different from home, but it's different in terms of like who the players are and what the people here, you know, tend to care about and follow, which is. I have not, I didn't plan, I didn't think about this. I haven't vocalized this yet. But I think it's deeply important because I think our, I don't think I know our country. Our media does such a bad, like a good in a bad good and a meaning bad for us. A way of like kind of devaluing others, devaluing minorities, obviously that's like the top line. But also like devaluing other customs and cultures and even like white ones. Like, I'm talking about fucking Paris here. I'm not talking about like some like bullshit, like, you know, random third world type shit, but like, it's fucking Paris. But it's like the way in which we even look at. Like there was a moment I was looking at the Parisian police and they had like guns, like the little berets. And I was like, I know they're cops, but I can't take them seriously. Like, they just don't look like, you know, real military. Like they look like they're playing dress up, which is like some arrogant ass New York shit to say. But, but like, my point is like, I feel like we do. Our country does a really good job of America, the America first agenda, which is like the, the undertone meaning, like we're better and everything that happens here is more important than what's happening everywhere else. But it was interesting to be close to seeing what, what Trump was doing and waking up. Like it was odd to like wake up there and then catching up on the news that I had just missed. Like I woke up the morning in Paris, so the bombing of Iran had already happened. The school that they bombed had happened. And I, you know, starting my day catching up on the news, mind you, which I really didn't do. It wasn't until like the bombing really started. I really did a great job of checking out of the politics and just honestly, just all of the country at large. Not to say I wrote off my family and my friends, but I really wasn't on my phone like that. I was, I just kind of detached. I would spend at most 20 minutes to 30 minutes a day, like just taking some photos on my phone. I travel with my film camera, so I'm shooting on that predominantly. But honestly, just like posting the museum shots which I was posting on my store is really all you saw of me content wise from this entire trip, which was intentional. I don't want to be seen. I kind of like to be left to my own devices under the radar. But what was I saying? Point is, like, I just. There's so much more happening in the world and I think the more we look into it and the more curious you are as a traveler, the more curious you are just in general, like, consuming content politically, musically, like anything. It doesn't even have to be like, you know, it could be any food cuisine wise as well. I think there's such a overlap of humanity that that is the through line through all of these things and there's so much more connectivity than there is division. And I, and I keep saying, I think I don't like that. I keep saying that I know or I feel that it's, it's, it's sad that we are more or less taught to think less of other customs and cultures to push that America first agenda forward, when in fact it just does nothing but to hurt us as Americans, certainly our image abroad. You think it was fun to wake up when Trump started bombing and I go to a cafe and I'm like, what's up? They're like, oh, fucking this guy. Which I did a very good job of letting people know that I do not fuck with anything that we're doing as a government, which I can spin into a good joke or two, which was taken well, but, yeah, just interesting times. I don't want to do like another rant this early in the episode, but let's carry on because there was so much more fun to be had. There's. I drank some of, you know, obviously the food. Oh, God. You want to talk about. Since we want to talk about differences between America and Europe, let's do it. The food. I have never felt, like, healthier in terms of, like, gut health. There's all, you know, I'm not like the whole, like the microbiome, gut health craze, which is true science, all that stuff, but it's all like the Western version of that. It's just like jacking your system up with like, peptides and medicines and pills to offset the shitty quality of food that our FDA approves. Because shelf life of a food item is more important than the quality of the food item in the person consuming it. Whereas there it's. They have a much stricter health code. And I swear it is noticeable nearly immediately. I had no issues, you know, maybe TMI with bowel movements of any sorts, even with all the espresso that I was drinking, which is literally insane. I would, I ate pretty you know, sizable meals, dinners. Treated myself some nice meals. Never felt bloated, uncomfortable even. Like. And I. I was drinking quite often while I was there. I just. I. Besides that one Saturday night where we were housing tequila at the club, I never was, like, hungover or just felt like. I never. Just felt bad. Like, I would literally jump out of bed and put on my loafers and walk. I was averaging 15,000 steps a day. I think I cracked 20,000 steps on five different days. Like, I was. I was active, I was moving, I was. I was sweating. I. When I had the hotel, at the telly, I hit the gym a few times in the. The spot that I stayed in the apartment after. I did like, a little apartment workout. Push ups, dips, all that shit just to get a sweat. But, like, I really wasn't obviously in, like, a heavy workout routine, but. I mean, I lost weight on this trip. I lost, like, seven pounds, but it was just like the. The. The. The feeling of just like, in. I've gone through phases here at home in New York, where it's like, if I miss the gym for even a few days at a time, I just feel shitty. Like, I just feel like I'm not. I just feel gross. And I just didn't feel that there. And I think a lot of it's due in part because I was so stimulated with consuming culture and walking around so much, but also just the shit that I was eating. Like, I just felt good. Like, I did. I didn't feel like. Like, here, it's like, damn, I ate this. I. Therefore, I have to. Not. Like working out is punishing myself, but it's like. It's cause and effect. I had this trash Chinese food. All right, tomorrow morning I gotta wake up. Boom. Get it. Because my stomach's gonna be distended and I'm gonna feel gross there. It's like I. There was one night I was walking home in my neighborhood, and I hadn't eaten, but I'd been drinking quite a bit. I was like, oh, fuck. Like, I'm not. By no means am I, like, a drunk eater. But I was like, I haven't had dinner. I gotta put something in my system. And there are these old, like. I think they're like Yemeni guys, and they were just, like, hanging out. It was just like a grill type restaurant. You're just chilling, grilling shit, kind of like in the middle of the street. And it's not open. The restaurant's not open, but they're there just, like, kind of cooking for themselves. And Drinking, playing like a card game or something, just talking shit. And I stumble up to them like, hey, man, just like, I see a nice baguette. I was like, can you just. And I see like the, the chicken, whatever the meat is. I mean, can you just like whip something up for me, man, please? And he starts laughing. They're like, they kind of laugh amongst each other. And he does. And I was like, he's like, you know, we're not open. I was like, look, I'll pay whatever. At this point I took out euros, so I had some cash and I pay him. And on the walk home, I'm just ripping this baguette in like a kebab. And I'm just eating it. I'm like, this is even. This Even like the 4am Food is like the quality of that. I remember saying to myself, like in college I did like, this would be the equivalent of me like housing a Wawa sub and waking up feeling like absolute dog shit. But I just felt fine. It just was a. It was weird. It's. You know, it's bad when it's alarming to feel fine with the amount that I pay on food in New York City. And you know, we're talking about it's quality. I mean, in terms of like namesake wise, the grocery stores I'm going to are known for good shit. It just doesn't matter. And that's not to say I'm gonna throw my arms up here and just eat like shit. But it's quite sad that like our how. How we've devalued the consumer over product benefits. This something that I've been reading about and I've seen a few times is what do they call it? Shrinkflation, which is a. I think I believe that's the term. But it's commonly happening across grocery stores where like a bag of chips that you know, say would have two ounces of chips in them now has one and a half ounces of chips in them. But the price either remains the same or it goes up. And the packaging itself, they can go one of two way. The packaging itself could shrink. Which literal term shrinkflation as is like the product itself or just stays the same and you're just getting significantly less. There's more what we call would air in the bag of chips. But that air, where we used to make fun of it now is like even worse. You know, it's like low tide in the ocean. It's like your bag of chips. But that's happening across the board. Certainly with like the snacks that I've been seeing, I think like the size of Oreos has gotten smaller. I was listening to some podcasts. Are you garbage? Shout out to them. I love those guys. But they were talking about how even Oreos are going through a shrinkflation. I think they like, they dialed back on the double stuff and are calling it still the double stuff when it's clearly about a quarter of the size of the cookie it used to be. We could really get into it, but point is, we're choosing to do things to cut costs rather than to benefit the consumer. Us, the fucking humans, the people that are eating the shit. We're more concerned with, you know, padding pockets and profit margins than the people that we're here to service. Welcome to Radio Rental. The scariest stories you've ever heard in
- [36:55]
Maddie
your life, all told by real people.
- [37:00]
Boz
And off we go. This wasn't a human being that I saw. There's something here in this house, something not of this world.
- [37:07]
Maddie
There was a woman moving through the hall.
- [37:10]
Boz
I stepped back and I was completely alone.
- [37:13]
Maddie
Radio Rental is available now listen for
- [37:16]
Boz
free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever
- [37:19]
Maddie
you get your podcasts.
- [37:21]
Boz
Anyway, America, I love it here. If you can't tell, I'm getting really close to leaving this country. I need to. Anyway, what happens next? More in Paris? I'm just gonna kind of bounce around here now. I don't know if I have like a per se, like in order. Any specific moments. Maybe in my journal I have more that I've written. But let's fast forward a little bit. Let's actually, if something comes up, I'll snap back in time for a second. But let's go ahead to Barcelona. So I book a trip to Barcelona the day before I was supposed to leave to fly to New York. This is how last minute this stuff is. And this is, this is how beautiful life can be. There was a years ago when I lived in Chicago, we're talking like 2016. There was a girl I used to see who, brilliant girl, Ivy League educated, worked really hard, made a pretty good amount of money. And at one point, you know, I'm teaching on the south side, I'm making dog money. And you know, she's saying this to me. She's like, she's always been a yogi, a holistic person. She's like, look, I'm gonna, in few years I'm going to save a bunch of money and I'm going to move to Barcelona and open up a Yoga studio in me at 2324. Hearing that, I'm like, I don't know what I'm having for fucking breakfast tomorrow. Like, I don't even know if I'm going to finish this Teach for America program. Like, how the fuck are you thinking that far in advance? I'm a dumbass. Sure enough, she did it, and she lives there now. And because of that, I was able to reach out to her and I DM'd her and said, hey. And I did this because I knew that she rents her spot out. I said, looking for a place for a week. About a week. Are you in town or do you know anybody that would rent their apartment for me to me for the week? And mind you, this is like last minute, super last minute. I think I had booked the flight before I found a place to stay. So she puts me in this WhatsApp group. Thankfully, within minutes, I had like 50 people hitting me up, offering their places, offering rooms. I was like, I'm too old to have a room. I need my own space. Ended up getting this beautiful apartment, two bedroom. I tried to convince a friend to come down. So I was like, I have space right in the city center. And I was like, all right, bet. Run it. So I go take the flight and land in Barcelona. And immediately, again, like, not adjusting time zones. I'm pretty good on that already because I, you know, I'd been there for a little bit. Same routine, though. I took an earlier flight, put my bags down, and then I just, like, go out. Because now I'm like, new neighborhood, new people. And in this city, I'm truly alone. I have no friends, I know nobody, which is fine. I don't mind traveling like that. I think this is. This is quite exciting for someone like me. And I. Day one is just mapping the city, walking around, grabbing more and more espresso, of course, and just really, just again, living as local as much as possible. I'll speed through some of this grab, go to the museum, the Picasso Museum. Beautiful, fantastic. Had a blast there. A lot of the sightseeing in Madrid in Barcelona is outdoors. So there's a lot of cathedrals, churches, walking path, things of that nature, like a row of buildings that are historic and beautiful. So I did a lot of walking and biking to those moments as well. I did treat myself. I'm not much of a beach person. I did go to the beach one day. One afternoon, um, while I was there for the week, I went to the beach twice. One was just to walk it. I believe it was on, like, the second day. I Just walked it. And then the. The, Like, I don't know, the fourth or fifth day, but maybe. Maybe even like the sixth day, I really pushed it to the end. I actually brought a towel, laid on the beach, and I could. I probably laid out for like, maybe an hour and a half, two hours at most. I do have some shells that I brought back, which are cute, but that was my beach experience. The food in Spain. Let's talk about it. Okay. So the food is. Is incredibly fresh. It's. It's just. Honestly, I like the food there more than Paris, which. Which made some people mad that I said that, because I told my Parisian friends that, and they're like, you're insane. But I will say this too, about Spain, because these streets themselves are like. These little alleyways are so thin. They're like. And it gives off like a labyrinth, like this maze of sorts that you're just kind of just like, where does this all lead to? And where does it begin? Where does it end? And some. Most of the streets don't look like cars belong down them. And then you see a car whizzing by and a moped squeezing by it. And it sounds like chaos, but it's quite. You know, it's. It's pretty well run. And I. And I want to say, like, I went out a lot. I went out a lot, spent a lot of nights out, and around the same time every night. I remember the first time I saw it. It might have been like the first night I got there, seeing these sanitation trucks drive through these little. These thin, really thin cobblestone streets. And these people would jump out, do the trash. I'm like, oh, cool. It must be trash night. Like, sick. Like, it's gonna be all clean and pretty tomorrow, which it already was, by the way. It's not like the city looks filthy by any means. And then they would spray, like, the walls, the streets, like, the sides of the buildings, the streets. And then out would come more people from new sanitation trucks, and they would have these giant scrub brushes, and they would. It's. And now they're scrubbing the streets, every cobblestone, hosing down all these little cracks and crevices, like a. Like a dentist, you know, doing a routine teeth cleaning. And I was like, damn. Like, this is thorough. Like, I'm like, what day is it? Oh, it's a. I got in on a. Did I get on a Monday or a Sunday? I saw a Monday. I'm like, maybe it's like a Monday night thing. They did that shit every Night. Every night I was there, these city sanitation workers, they do the trash and scrub that fucking city like it was. You know, you're. You're a boy law, like, scrubbing the fucking house or the bathroom, you know, it was quite incredible. And I said to my. I was like, this is. I don't. I've never seen American tax dollars at work from just like a city living consumer. It's actually been cool. Now that I've been back, I've been catching up. I've been seeing, like, Mom, Donnie did the whole, like, he does whole, like, March Madness thing that he created about, like, filling potholes at an insane record rate and fixing, like, little things, like cosmetic things throughout the city that just, like, should be fixed but are often ignored because it's like the city's like, who the fuck cares? They're already living with this giant crater in the middle of the street. Who. Who's. Who's who. Like, why should we fix it? They're just going to go around it. So, like, I'm seeing stuff like that for the first time in my life, adult life, at least, see those changes happening here in real time. But, like, there I was there, mind you, for a week. And in that time, I saw, including Paris and bar, certainly Barcelona. I saw no rats. I saw no cockroaches. I saw, like, no, just like, infestations of any kind of just street sanitation. Like this literally, like, brushing the teeth of the city on levels that I just didn't even know existed. And just, like, just. It seems like money working on behalf of the people that are calling the city home. Just something I wanted to note because I feel like there's not much of that going on here. Armani, our money is going somewhere. Yeah, in the side of a children's school. But, you know, it's not. We're not there. We're not cleaning it either. We're leveling things. But, yeah, it's just really. It's just different to be there. Also, it's funny to be there when, like, shortly after, Spain had basically told Trump to go fuck himself. So to be an American, like, the week of that happening was interesting. And I was told, like, going there, like, they're not too fond of Americans currently or really ever. So I was like, all right, maybe I'll be a little more, you know, guarded or on guard in this city. Barcelona was incredible. I mean, I had. Again, maybe it's just because I look ambiguous enough and I'm just, like, confident enough or. But I had no issues with anybody Everybody was super nice. Just some good travel advice. The way I like to travel is, again, outside of museums, I don't really frame my trips around touristy things. I'll again live as a local. But what you do is you get food wrecks, find a good restaurant or bar. Here's. I'll just give an example. One night, one of my friends from Paris recommended a spot that he DJs at in Barcelona because they also have good food. So I went there, ate dinner, and it was kind of early, and I said to the bartender, my server and bartender, I was like, hey, man, like, because I'm traveling alone, I'd like to sit at the bar if they have bar seating, because it allows you to just be social with all the servers and bartenders that are kind of coming in and out of the bar space. Just a tip to like, also just stay sane. It's just talking to people and just getting to know people that call the city home. Instead of looking at my phone and finding a place to grab a cocktail, I'll just ask them, like, hey man, like, what's a good spot to grab a drink over here? You know, set some kind of vibe. Like, I'm looking for like a lounge. I love a good Negroni. Great music would be sick. Got recommended a spot. And then this is the key. The server goes, hey, when you get there, tell him. I forget his name, but he's like, tell him so and so sent you. Ask for this person and tell him so and so sent you. I was like, bet. Thank you so much, man. Left, went to that spot. Guess who was working. The guy hit it off. He gave me a couple drinks on the house. They were playing like, it's so cool how much these places like embrace like hip hop culture. They're playing like Black Star and like all the shit that I grew up on, like early, like college dropout cuts from, from Kanye and like all these like hard knock life J and shit. It was really just like kind of felt like I stepped into like my developmental years of hip hop and just drinking a great cocktail and just talking to this guy that I just got referred to. So I left, went back there, like two nights later. The guy remembered me, had my Negroni already ready to go on the, on the bar over there. Like, ended up at this really sweet dinner. I treated myself really well. It's his one spot. Met a couple that actually lives in la and we actually. I recommended that spot to them. And then later that night I went there alone and ran into them there, like Just a good time. But yeah, I mean, I, I, I will say, I mean, I'm happy to be back. I, I miss New York. I miss home. I miss my space. It's nice to be back in my apartment. Honestly, I had to come back to water my plants, but I, I have, like, the bug, the itch to, to go back and to continue to explore. And I really focus. I'm, I will say, like, I'm, I'm. This sounds, whatever sounds gay, but I'm proud of myself for committing to extending the trip and not having a plan and just going off of the feeling of what felt right in my, my heart, like in, in my soul. This was good for me and I didn't want it to end when it was initially supposed to end, which was after, like, five days. So I'm really happy that I extended Paris, and I'm really happy that I extended to. It was a coin flip between Barcelona, Madrid. Honestly, boss had dm, me was like, bro, go to Madrid, go to Barcelona. Be near the beach. Like, it's a. You'll have more fun. And I'm glad I did. Like, these are things that, you know, younger me, or it's easy in your adult life, certainly young adult life, to push things and be like, oh, one day I'll do it. Or, you know, there's always something I know I'll do eventually, but when that time comes and that eventually is happening, you do the thing or push yourself to do the thing. I'd hate to miss out on something that I've always wanted to do because I thought it would just happen at some point because I've thought about it so often in situations like this, you have to make those realities, you have to make those plans a reality. And shout out to my parents. My mom in particular was very, very pro. Stay out there, enjoy it. My mom used to live in Europe for a bit, and she was like, very, very pro. Keep going, keep discovering, keep walking, keep writing, keep reading. And I did. I mean, I just showed a glimpse of my, my journal earlier, but I, I wrote a lot. Like, I carried this everywhere I went. I had times where I would dedicate, I would block out again. I was there for, you know, enough time that I could block out my days to do certain things. I would have, you know, a specific time to write and specific time. The few times I wanted to, is to listen to news and catch up on things that were happening globally. And it just was a really fulfilling. I feel like, rich in spirit after this trip. And I'm super happy to go back. As of now, my plan is to go back to Paris in June for the summer solstice. But yeah, I'm just, I. I would encourage, as I would imagine, a lot of the people that consume the show and other podcasts alike are like me in the sense that you've always wanted to do something like this. And it's just. It's always easy to find the excuse to find the reason for timing, to not commit to something or do something and just continue to push things off. And that was my entire twenties was that, you know, I'm not like a spring chicken anymore, but I still have those urges and still have those dreams of doing certain things. And it's not like necessarily I want to live a lifestyle where I'm like Mr. International. Like, it's not even in the stunt to flex. It's more just in the stunt to expose myself to more things to learn and to grow and to just challenge myself to be in an outsider. Because you don't know until you experience it. So much of what we're told here and what we're learned, told to believe and, and you know, it's just not true nor accurate. And it's supposed to make you want to just lean more into being a patriot and, you know, defending this country by any means necessary, when in fact it's just. Just go places and you'll see for yourself how ridiculous this fucking place is. But yes, I. I am happy to be back. I. Yeah, I'm planning on. I did get some emails for people that would like to come on the show. I have some artists from Sweden that are here for about a month or so's time that I plan. I'm currently in the process of coordinating time with Boz is actually coming to town. I really want to get him on here too. I know I briefly touched on our time together in Paris, but I want to have him come on and discuss that. And if you'd like to discuss more of the Kohl's album and process for that, I know I didn't get into. I know I missed episodes during that whole era and I do plan on addressing all that stuff at some point, but I think it'd be better suited to have him on. I just texted him today, trying to map out his schedule and see if we can find some time to discuss this stuff together. But yeah, I don't know. I came into this just hitting record and just letting you all know that, hey, I'm back. And also, this is what I've been Up to. And it's. It's been a learning process. I think I'm like. I think I. I'm just, like, addicted to just, like, discovery, if that makes sense. Like, I just. It just feels good to just do new stuff and. And just to lean into new customs and cultures and just expose yourself and. And to expose yourself beyond this and just go somewhere and just do it. Try it. Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's not for you. Like, just do something different, because why the fuck not? Anyway, I will. I will quit rambling. I'm thrilled to be back. I do love New York. New York is home. This is my city. But I've got the itch, the bug, and I will. You'll probably see me out and about more, hopefully this summer. I really want to travel alive. Just got to figure out some things. Personal level as well. But we'll get there. Anyway, I love you guys. Thank you again for your patience and rocking with me even through these quiet few weeks here. Stoked to be back. Oh, I didn't even tell you the insane Uber story. Holy shit. One last story, then I'm out of here. Last day in Barcelona. Last morning of the morning, I'm leaving. I'm coming back from somewhere to, like, my apartment to where I'm staying. And there's, like, the fences, like, riot not right for whatever they're called. Like, the fences. You've seen festivals that people, like, kind of funnel through are built all over the city. And my Uber driver cannot get to my spot. He's. Every time. He'd go around the street, go out, come back, round street, go out, come back, cannot get in. And I'm in the city center, mind you, which I mentioned. So I'm like, what is going on? So I tell the guy, I'll just. It. I'll get out. I walk, I go walk. I walk like, 20 minutes. Get back home. I'm finished packing, and now it's like, I have a little bit of time. So I'm like, all right, whatever. I'll grab something to eat and then I'll call an Uber and go to the airport, Leave the apartment, lock up, do the whole key thing, go to a little spot to eat, have a nice little breakfast, enjoying myself as I'm getting the bill. Call the car. Like, man, look at. I got this shit down pat. Car says 25 minutes. I'm like, what the fuck? It's insane. The car cannot get to me. I'm seeing it on the map. Gets same deal as the way on the one that I just got out of, that I ended up walking. You can't get to me. So I'm like, something funky is going on. So I leave the restaurant. I'm like, whatever. I'm in the busy area. I'll just grab a cab. Walking out of the restaurant, see a young cab, these guys flying down the street. I'm like, that's the guy I want. Stick my hand out. He's like, yo, what's up? I'm like, I gotta go to the airport. He starts laughing at me. I'm like, I'm sorry, what's going on, man? He's like, you know, it's marathon Sunday. It's the Barcelona marathon. I was like, what the fuck? He goes, look. Pulls up the map on his phone and goes, this is where we are, city center. This, like around us is. He's like, this is where the race is. It's just, all of it's just consumes the entire city. Like, we're in the middle. We're in the middle of the race. And he's like, it's all barricaded off. You cannot get out of here. And so I was like, dude, I don't really have a choice. Like, I don't have a place to stay here. I. This is the only flight I booked. Like, this is it. This is my. This is my ticket home. So he goes, well, here's what I'll do. Okay. So the airport is down here, like south by the water. The race. Say where the microphone is is where we were. He's saying we have to take a car from the center, go all the way out away from the airport, and then loop around either on the top side or the water side of the city to get to the airport, which is down here. So I'm like, man. And he goes in. It's the race. So there's a premium fee. I'm like, bro, I already know what you're saying. I. I'm gonna get fucked on this price, but I don't have a choice. Let's go. So he's like, okay, bet. So I get in the car, we're leaving the city center. Thankfully there's a clearing. We can get out to the freeway. And now we're on like the freeway. And at one point we're in the left lane. There's like a truck, like a 18 wheeler on our right hand side. For some reason, my guy tries to merge into that lane. I don't know why, it was a dumb idea truck. Like, we almost swiped the truck. On my side. I'm in the passenger side. I'm like, oh, that was close. And because he moved into that right lane, somebody tried to pass us on our left. It was a guy, middle aged guy with his girlfriend in the car. And we, our driver, out of instinct, tries to swerve back into that left lane, nearly hits the guy with his girl that was passing. So now they're both pissed at each other. The truck goes on. The truck's out of the story. This guy that we almost hit or he almost hits us, who's to say? I don't fucking know. It happened so quickly. He pulls over. And mind you, this is a freeway. There's no shoulder like this road, this road in Spain. Like, it's a freeway with, like, no shoulder. So he basically just parks on the freeway on the side, though, on the side. And my guy pulls up behind him. The guy that we almost hit gets out from his car, comes through the driver's side door. Now the dude is just standing in a lane on the freeway and just starts punching our window, kicking the door and just grill is cussing so much in Spanish. My guy lowers the window. My driver starts cussing too. He's about. He literally gestures to take his seatbelt off. He wants to get out the whip. I grab him from the back. Pause. I'm like, yo, bro, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because now I'm really on a time crunch. I don't have time to kill like that. I'm like, we gotta go, go. Like, no. They do this, like dance, argue, throw, like, you know, hitting for like three to five minutes, which felt like an eternity. I didn't have much time to kill. I'm flying Air Monaco. It's not like I know this airport. It's not like I know the. It's just I'm like, stressed the out. It's like the show beef. This is literally the intro to that show beef, which season two, I guess, is about to start. And the guy eventually gets back to his car with his girl. So he's still parked. My driver, the taxi driver pulls up beside them. My guy rolls down the passenger side window. That guy rolls down his window because he thinks they're just gonna start arguing again. My guy underneath the console opens up a full bottle of water, takes it, throws the whole bottle of water. Absolutely nails the shot, drenches drenched. The guy and his girl soaked both of them. They're fucked up. So then that guy is like, fuck you, mother. So then my guy speeds off dry, like gassing it down the freeway again. Here we go. Guess who's right on our ass. So now they're brake checking. Now they're doing the brake check game. And it's like honking and like light flickering and like all that shit. And I'm literally in the backseat like this. Like, fuck, fuck. Like, bro, like, just go. So I don't know how at some point there that car gets in front of us. And my guy's being petty as fuck. Like he's not wanting this to go at all. He truly doesn't give a fuck that I'm like, let's go stop this shit. He didn't care that I was like in honest on him about it. So that guy gets in front of us and my guy is like calling his friends, talking the, describing the car, saying the plate, like about to get the drop on this dude after I get dropped off. And he's like throwing stuff from the car again. So mind you, like, we're still going away from the airport and we have to loop around. So this is like, it's like a 30, 35 minutes of this. It's. It's almost. It's the most stressful half hour of them just break checking each other like, pump faking to pull over. At one point, the guy did pull over again. I told my guy, if he gets the fuck out this car, I'm taking his car. And then he. We kept going, but they just wouldn't. They. There wasn't. They wouldn't separate. The one car wouldn't go. One was that like we were just in this together. So fast forward, after all this fucking dance and shit, we get to the exit for the airport, which is where we need to go. This guy lives. He's with his girl. He's not going to the fucking airport. We're behind them. They're in front of us or the car in front of us. And we're in the far left lane, so we got to go to the right side. My guy turns on his signal to gesture to go to the right. The car in front of us. The guy and his girl also turns on his signal. And then he veers as we veer. And then where the V is like where the road splits at the exit, the guy, the guy in front of us just parks in that and gets out of his car, waiting like, bet like this is our ring. Like this, like where the stripes are and where the exit is. We're about to throw hands because at least we can kind of park here. My guy goes, oh, it's on and then like gestures to take off the seat belt and get out the whip. And I was like, bro, we are at the exit. Get the fuck off the exit. Let's go. I do not have time for this shit. So I like, I grab him again and like, say, dude, if you do not take this fucking exit. Thankfully, he continues and then like just curses and like says the whole thing. Looking at him in the rearview mirror the entire time. Do not know what happened to them, but that was. It was the most stressful ride to the airport. I hated every second of it. And it was too early in the morning and I was too hungover for all that shit to be happening, but got out of there, Got out of the marathon, got out of there and yeah, had a 10 second layover in Morocco and then it was on back to New York. So anyway, thrilled to be here, guys. Happy to be back and I love you all. And to all the DMs and people ask me where I'm at tweeting at me, where the fuck's the episode? Here it is. I hope you enjoy and yes, you'll. You'll obviously hear more from me soon and I appreciate you all love and support. Ciao. Nothing wrong with the pussy. Nothing wrong with the pussy.
- [63:34]
Maddie
On Aspire with Emma Greed, we talk about mindset, ambition, and the work that actually moves the needle. Listen to Aspire with Emma Greed available where you get your podcasts.