Best of 2025 - BEST MOMENTS - Will Packer, David Oyelowo, Jess Fix My Mess, Relationship Pet Peeve, Recorded 2025.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Breakfast Club – Best of 2025 Episode

Episode Overview: "The Breakfast Club," hosted by DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Charlamagne Tha God, presents its "Best of 2025" episode, featuring standout moments from the year. This episode spotlights interviews with prominent figures like producer Will Packer and actor David Oyelowo, alongside engaging call-in segments addressing relationship dilemmas and humorous interactions. Recorded in 2025 and released on April 17, the episode encapsulates insightful discussions, personal anecdotes, and memorable quotes, offering listeners a comprehensive glimpse into the show's vibrant content.

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1. Hosts' Vacation and Introduction (00:00 - 01:38)

The episode opens with the hosts humorously announcing their vacation status, assuring listeners that despite being "totally disconnected," they are curating the best moments from recent months. Charlamagne Tha God emphasizes that listeners can "sit back, relax, enjoy, and have fun" as the show compiles top interviews and memorable calls.

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2. Call-In Segment: "Super Trucker" (01:38 - 18:14)

Caller Introduction:

• Super Trucker calls in from Dallas, Texas, introducing his satirical book, "How to Date a Fat Chick: A Fat Girl’s Guide to Dating" (02:03). The hosts engage in a playful banter about the book's genre and content, culminating in humorous attempts to categorize it.

Discussion Highlights:

• Narrative on Satire: Super Trucker clarifies that his book is a satirical take on his own dating experiences, aiming to share lessons learned rather than a literal guide (02:45).
• Book Promotion: The hosts express interest in reading the book, with DJ Envy likening it to "Dating while fat." (02:51).
• Humorous Interaction: The conversation continues with jokes about the book’s categorization and creative misunderstandings (03:06-07:48).

Emotional Venting:

• Super Trucker's Relationship Struggles: In a deeper turn, Super Trucker shares his frustrations about being set up by his brother James, leading to marital conflicts (04:07 - 06:23). The hosts offer advice, emphasizing honesty and the importance of trust in relationships.

Appreciation and Shout-Outs:

• Support from Caller: Super Trucker expresses gratitude towards the hosts, highlighting their positive impact on his life (07:11 - 07:48).

Further Call-Ins:

• Replay from Chicago: Another caller, Replay, promotes his song "Trucker Love" and engages in light-hearted discussions about DJ mixes and animal welfare (07:49 - 08:56).
• Additional Support & Shout-Outs: Replay gives praise to Lauren LaRosa and discusses the creative process behind his music (08:56 - 11:00).

Final Call-In Interaction:

• Jay from Indiana: Discusses feeling stressed about societal pressures regarding marriage and career timelines (11:00 - 15:15). The hosts and co-hosts advise patience and self-awareness, fostering a supportive atmosphere (15:08 - 21:06).

Transition to Interviews:

• The segment concludes with Charlamagne Tha God teasing upcoming interviews with Will Packer, encouraging listeners to continue engaging with the show (21:06).

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3. Interview with Producer Will Packer (21:06 - 26:00)

Introduction to Will Packer:

• Will Packer, a renowned producer, discusses his new book, "Who Better Than You? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big," focusing on building self-worth and leadership skills (21:06).

Key Discussion Points:

• Healthy vs. Toxic Arrogance: Packer distinguishes between toxic arrogance, which belittles others, and healthy arrogance, which asserts one's value while fostering collaboration (13:41 - 14:52).

  • Notable Quote: "Healthy arrogance walks into a room and says, 'I belong here and I'm going to add value.'" (14:52, Will Packer).

• Building Confidence: Emphasizes the importance of daily affirmations and understanding one's unique value to combat imposter syndrome (16:00 - 18:14).

  • Notable Quote: "Everything you do is building your brand. You are telling people what your value is." (14:52, Will Packer).

• The Packer Family Model: Discusses the mantra, "If you want to have what others don't, you have to be willing to do what others won't," highlighting perseverance and taking on challenges to achieve big dreams (22:51 - 24:46).

• Staying in Your Lane: Advises focusing on one's strengths and passions to avoid being typecasted, encouraging listeners to cultivate their expertise before pivoting to new ventures (18:40 - 21:06).

  • Notable Quote: "Stay in your lane, but make it wide." (18:54, Will Packer).

• Personal Anecdotes: Shares his journey from acting to producing, detailing his efforts to get meaningful black narratives like "Selma" to fruition despite industry resistance (29:03 - 37:04).

  • Notable Quote: "If I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem." (30:21, Will Packer).

Conclusion of Interview:

• Packer reflects on balancing his professional endeavors with family life, stressing the importance of being present and nurturing personal relationships alongside career ambitions (42:32 - 43:40).

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4. Interview with Actor David Oyelowo (37:04 - 56:08)

Introduction to David Oyelowo:

• David Oyelowo joins the hosts to discuss the series "Government Cheese" and his experiences working with Will Packer (37:04).

Key Discussion Points:

• Government Cheese Overview: Oyelowo and Packer explain the symbolism behind the series title, representing resilience and the ability to create something meaningful out of limited resources (37:16 - 39:02).

  • Notable Quote: "Government cheese is symbolic of what we tend to do as black people – take nothing and make it into something." (37:39, Will Packer).

• Representation in Media: Discusses the importance of portraying black families in nuanced, relatable, and joyful contexts, diverging from historical stereotypes (39:54 - 40:54).

  • Notable Quote: "We have to be on an upward trajectory in whatever we do." (34:31, Will Packer).

• Balancing Personal Life and Career: Oyelowo delves into how personal experiences, such as Packer's trips with his kids, influence his approach to acting and producing, fostering a more fulfilling and balanced life (41:03 - 43:54).

  • Notable Quote: "A life well lived is not really about what you did. It's how you made people feel." (42:32, Will Packer).

• Challenges in Production: Packer shares his struggles and determination in producing "Selma," overcoming initial rejections and industry skepticism to bring impactful black narratives to the forefront (35:37 - 37:04).

  • Notable Quote: "If not me, then who." (35:14, Will Packer).

Conclusion of Interview:

• The conversation wraps up with reflections on mentorship, family values, and the significance of creating content that uplifts and inspires the black community (55:30 - 56:08).

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5. Call-In Segment: Relationship Pet Peeves and "Just Fix My Mess" (56:08 - 72:10)

Engaging Listener Calls:

• Ashley Cross's Arrest Report: A humorous segment where DJ Envy narrates the fictional story of Ashley Cross, a repeat Walmart offender, blending satire with social commentary on economic struggles (56:09 - 62:22).

• Jess Fix My Mess: Jess Hilarious hosts a segment where listeners seek relationship advice. Callers like Anonymous and Maya share their relationship dilemmas:

  • Anonymous: Struggles with engaging in affairs while being engaged, leading to trust issues (63:18 - 67:43).

    • Notable Quote: "I hate my girl dogs. I can’t do this no more." (63:19, Super Trucker).

  • Maya: Complains about her husband’s snoring and late-night gaming disrupting her sleep (76:05 - 78:32).

    • Hosts offer solutions such as using earplugs or addressing the underlying issues in the relationship.

• Pet Peeves Discussion: Co-hosts and guests share their personal relationship pet peeves, ranging from tardiness to lack of initiative in planning dates. The conversation blends humor with genuine advice, fostering a relatable and supportive environment (73:00 - 78:32).

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6. Final Highlights and Positive Note (72:10 - 80:16)

Positive Messaging:

• DJ Envy's Encouragement: Concludes the episode with motivational advice, emphasizing emotional regulation and thoughtful decision-making to prevent permanent consequences from temporary emotions (78:37 - 79:43).
  • Notable Quote: "Emotion can be the enemy. Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion." (79:30).

Promotion of Upcoming Events:

• Black Effect Podcast Festival: Hosts promote the third annual festival, highlighting live podcasting, inspiring conversations, and cultural celebrations set for April 26th in Atlanta, Georgia (78:32 - 80:16).

Closing Remarks:

• The episode wraps up with a blend of humorous ad reads for Coca-Cola’s limited edition products, tying in the theme of celebrating friendships and memorable moments (79:46 - 80:16).

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Notable Quotes:

• Will Packer on Healthy Arrogance: "Healthy arrogance walks into a room and says, 'I belong here and I'm going to add value.'" (14:52).
• Nadine Jones on Building Your Brand: "Everything you do is building your brand. You are telling people what your value is." (14:52).
• Will Packer on Perseverance: "If not me, then who." (35:14).

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Conclusion: This "Best of 2025" episode of "The Breakfast Club" masterfully blends insightful interviews with Will Packer and David Oyelowo, engaging call-ins that address real-life relationship issues, and light-hearted humor. Through discussions on leadership, personal growth, and the importance of authentic representation, the hosts deliver a rich and engaging narrative that resonates with a diverse audience. Whether delving into the intricacies of healthy arrogance or navigating the complexities of modern relationships, this episode offers valuable takeaways and memorable moments for both regular listeners and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[DJ Envy]

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[Just Hilarious]

Taking control of your career is empowering. Just don't tell my boss I said that. Building a career just isn't about a job. It's about creating a path that impacts our community and future generations. Whether you're starting out or making big moves, State Farm is here to support you with resources to help protect what you're working hard to achieve. They've got your back every step of the way. Because, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Find out more@state farm.com Good morning, USA.

[DJ Envy]

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just hilarious.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Good morning.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And currently, we are on vacation, man.

[DJ Envy]

Totally disconnected. Yes. We not even really here. You think you're listening to us, but we not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, we are not. We're here in spirit.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, we're on vacation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So we're playing the best donkeys, the best interviews, you guys, which is the best callers, and some of the best, best moments the Breakfast Club has had in the last couple of months. So sit back, relax, enjoy, and have fun.

[Nadine Jones]

Keep it locked.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Red is gonna be running the boards. It's the Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning.

[Nadine Jones]

It's a new day.

[Will Packer]

This is your time to get it off your chest.

[Super Trucker]

Wait.

[DJ Envy]

Wake up.

[Nadine Jones]

Whether you're mad or blessed, it's time.

[DJ Envy]

To get up and get something.

[Nadine Jones]

Call up now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

800-585-1051.

[Will Packer]

We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey, Nadine. Good morning. Get it off your chest. Where you calling from?

[Super Trucker]

First, I am calling from Dallas, Texas.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, Dallas. What's up, mama?

[Super Trucker]

I wrote a book. It's called how to Date a Fat Chick. A Fat Girl Guide to Dating. And I'll be so grateful. Guys, take it up and read it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How to Date a Fat Chick.

[Super Trucker]

Yes, A Fat Girl Died to Dating.

[DJ Envy]

Is it a heavy read? Is it thick? Like, how many pages is it ha?

[Super Trucker]

Ha ha.

[DJ Envy]

You know, I'm just asking, like, how many pages is it?

[Super Trucker]

It's not that. It's not that. That thick. It's like 116 pages. But it's a one day read. But it's a.

[DJ Envy]

About your what?

[Super Trucker]

My dating life.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, you're a big girl.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

A duh.

[DJ Envy]

Don't duh that. She might not be big no more. This might be her past life she writing about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So it was hard. It was hard for you to date?

[Super Trucker]

No, it's a satirical look at my dating life. It's just the things that I went through and the lessons that I learned along the way.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, I'd love to read that. I had a. I had a homegirl who wrote something like that before it was called Dating while fet.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, wow.

[Super Trucker]

Oh, well, yeah, it's on Amazon, so it's. It's by Nadine Jones, which is me. And again, how to Date a Fat Dick. A Fat girl. Back to dating.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, what category is it in? Food? Home.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jesus.

[DJ Envy]

What is it? Like, what category is it?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Home. It's the how to. Should be how to, right?

[DJ Envy]

I'm asking. I think.

[Super Trucker]

I don't know what category is it, but it's comedy, I think satirical. So just, you know, just type it in your finance.

[DJ Envy]

What's it called again?

[Super Trucker]

How to Date a Fat Chick.

[Nadine Jones]

Fact Chick.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So if a guy takes you out to eat, do you limit the food that you have so you don't look big?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You gotta read the book.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You're right.

[DJ Envy]

I'm sorry. It came up as a cookbook.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. No, it didn't. Shut up.

[DJ Envy]

No. How to Date a Fat Chick. Fat Girl's Guide to Dating by Nadine Jones. Okay, I like the COVID I like the. I like that. It looks like. What do you call that? A cosmo? A cosmic. What do you call that book?

[Super Trucker]

A book? A notebook. But yeah, whatever that is.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, I like that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Composition.

[DJ Envy]

Composition.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There you go.

[Super Trucker]

There we go.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, you have a good one, Nadine.

[Super Trucker]

Thank you. You too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good luck.

[Nadine Jones]

Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

What's going on, man? My name is Super Trucker, man. I'm out of eastern North Carolina, man. I'm a truck driver.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's up, super trucker? How you feeling this morning, man?

[Will Packer]

I'm good, man.

[Super Trucker]

I'm out here shifting gears, making that black smoke. I'm out the bike.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, all right. What you transporting?

[Super Trucker]

I do flatbeds. I'm hauling building materials right now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, all right, well, be safe on the road, brother.

[Super Trucker]

Yo, man, I just want to know, man. Y'all got love for truckers?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Man, you damn right I got love for truckers. You know, Let me hear that.

[Super Trucker]

I know you do, Jess. Hey, look, I got a song called Trucker Love, man. So y'all get a chance. Check it out. It's on YouTube.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You still got love for trucker Jesse. You knew he was going to blow that home for us, brother.

[Super Trucker]

I got you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, man. Be safe on them rolls, brother.

[Nadine Jones]

Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

Yo, what's up, mv?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's up, brother?

[Super Trucker]

What's up, Jess? How y'all doing?

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's up, baby?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good, good. What's going on? Get it off your chest.

[Super Trucker]

Yo, I'm mad at my brother James.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's your brother do?

[Super Trucker]

He's. Yo, he set me up. I'm sick. Last night, not feeling well. I'm at home. And he collided to his wife, telling her that he was hanging out with me all night. And he wasn't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, man, he ain't tell you that. You part of the lie.

[Super Trucker]

He ain't tell me. Cause I was dead to the world. And his wife called my wife, asking her, was he, where was he with me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, man, what your wife say?

[Super Trucker]

Yo, she blew his spot up. Like, hell no. You want to see the cameras?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn.

[Super Trucker]

She blew him up. And he's calling me up to talk about. Yo, you supposed to help me out. I'm like, yo, you should have told me first.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I hate when somebody make you a part of the lie, but don't tell you about the lie. Like, damn.

[Super Trucker]

Now, now he mad. Cause he say that I'm the reason why his wife is putting him out. Now he wants to come and stay at my house.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, hell no.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You're not the reason. And your wife ain't gonna let him stay. Your wife ain't gonna let no cheating ass stay at you at their house.

[Super Trucker]

I'm sending him over to you, Envy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Definitely not send him over to me. I got a couple of dogs that'll make sure he stay out.

[Will Packer]

I hear that, Envy.

[Super Trucker]

Yo, Envy, when you throwing another mixtape out, man? Come on, stop playing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You be rapping.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You talking about a DJ mixtape, Jet, you be rapid. You ain't gonna get that in a while, brother. You know, I, I, it ain't gonna happen, bro.

[Super Trucker]

Oh, come on, Envy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It ain't gonna happen. These are these artists a lot different, man. But back then, I would say the artists really respected the DJ and really love the dj. When you ask the artist for something, and they would be happy to do it, glad to do it. But now I ain't playing the politics game, bro.

[Super Trucker]

Yeah, yeah, I know. What? You in Red Cafe, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, Shout out to Red Cafe. All right, brother. You have a good one, man. All right, brother. Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to ven. Phone lines are wide open. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club.

[Nadine Jones]

It's a new day.

[Will Packer]

This is your time to get it off your chest.

[Super Trucker]

Wait.

[DJ Envy]

Wake up.

[Will Packer]

Whether you're mad or blessed, it's time.

[DJ Envy]

To get up and get something.

[Nadine Jones]

Call up now.

[DJ Envy]

800-585-1051.

[Will Packer]

We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this? This is Wall Baby Love from Bridgeport, Connecticut. What's up, brother? What's going on with you?

[Super Trucker]

Hey, listen, I just want to say God bless you, Charlamagne, and just hilarious, man, for what you do on a daily basis, man. It's not easy, and you don't get to. I want to give you your flowers while you're here, man. You guys help me every day, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You put me in the right direction.

[Super Trucker]

You keep me safe, and I just want the positive vibe to come back.

[DJ Envy]

To you guys on a daily basis, man.

[Super Trucker]

I love y'all, man.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, we love you, too, brother. Thank you. You're welcome.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Have a good one, brother.

[Super Trucker]

You, too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hello? Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

Yo, what's up, y'all? This Replay from Chicago.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What up, Sh.

[DJ Envy]

Replay, what's happening?

[Super Trucker]

What up? What up, man? Look, I gotta give a shout out this morning to Lauren LaRosa, man. She been holding me down, man. She's been coming with good news, good facts. Me and her the same age, man. And I just love seeing people my age just go hard and. Man, baby girl, keep doing what you do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what it is.

[David Oyelowo]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[Super Trucker]

No doubt. No doubt.

[David Oyelowo]

Charlamagne, why are we talking to you?

[Super Trucker]

What were you saying?

[Nadine Jones]

King?

[David Oyelowo]

Go ahead, finish.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go ahead, King.

[Super Trucker]

Oh, yeah, man. Look, like I said, I'm Replay. If y'all want to follow me, I'm on Instagram at. Ladies love Replays.

[DJ Envy]

Why they call you Replay, bro?

[Super Trucker]

Man, that's actually the name they gave me. I'm an R B singer, and I don't know one of the guys. Replay. I'm like, all right, thanks. I want everybody to be playing my song.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, brother. Have a good one. No doubt.

[DJ Envy]

Y'all put a little more sauce on that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You got to come up with something better. Why they Call you. Replay. I don't know. You know what I mean? Because when I put it down, you know, ladies love it so much, they want to see it again, something. You know what I mean? Like this.

[Super Trucker]

I'm with it.

[Nadine Jones]

He said facts.

[Will Packer]

Oh, okay.

[DJ Envy]

I didn't know. I thought he was telling me something else. I thought he was telling me he wasn't in the women. I didn't know. I'm like, what? Excuse me.

[Will Packer]

Hello?

[DJ Envy]

Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

This is Jay. Better? How's it going?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

J meta, what's up? Get it off your chest. J meta. Good morning.

[Super Trucker]

You know, I. I'm. I'm stressed, you know, I'm tired of people always asking you, you know, are you getting. No. When are you gonna get married? And I tell them, in a minute, dog. You know, they're always telling you when they're gonna get a new job. And I tell them, in a minute, though. You know, everyone has their own pace and they want to put you to a standard and do things, you know?

[DJ Envy]

How old are you?

[Super Trucker]

Me? I just turned 30. That's why.

[DJ Envy]

I didn't know men get that kind of pressure. I didn't know men get that. That's not. That's usually pressure. That's reserved for women. I'm talking about the marriage part.

[David Oyelowo]

Do yet.

[Super Trucker]

No, that's what I'm saying. They're gonna tell you when you're gonna have a kid. In a minute, dog.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know, how old are you?

[Super Trucker]

Me, I'm. I'm getting close to the age, you know, 30 is, you know, it's. That is that point.

[DJ Envy]

So why don't you. When they ask you, you know, when you're gonna get married, just be like, I'm in the men, dog. Just say something like that. You don't think so?

[Super Trucker]

Yeah, that's why I told them. That's right.

[Will Packer]

That's right.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But definitely, if you got older parents, too, because older parents want grandparents, I'm sure. So that's what they asked me.

[DJ Envy]

Older parents want grandparents.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I'm sorry, grandkids.

[David Oyelowo]

Most guys by a certain age, if you don't have K, like, or you're not married, they think something's wrong.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All the parents want grandkids. That's what I meant.

[DJ Envy]

Well, you'll meet. You'll meet Mrs. Mr. Wright in due time.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Mr. Or Mrs.

[Super Trucker]

I'm sorry, can you say that again?

[DJ Envy]

No. Have a good day, brother. Appreciate you.

[Super Trucker]

Have a great day.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, sir.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, brother. Get it off your chest. 800.5.851.051. If you need to vent, phone lines are wide open. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlamagne tha God. We are the breakfast club. Lauren LaRosa is here as well. We got a special guest in the building. His new book, who better than you? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big, is out now. Ladies and gentlemen, Will Packer family.

[Nadine Jones]

What's going on?

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's up?

[Nadine Jones]

How are we feeling?

[DJ Envy]

Blessed. Black and Holly favorite. How you feeling?

[Nadine Jones]

I'm feeling amazing. You know, I'm up here. I'm up here with one of the most incredible platforms in media right now. Interesting time in media. You know, media ebbs and flows. We're in an ebb right now in the movie business. Charlemagne, really, if, you know. Yeah, just, you know, coming off the strikes, coming off of COVID Like, the movie industry never really recalibrated. So there's a lot of folks out there that are hurting right now, a lot of folks that aren't working, a lot of actors out of work, writers. And so as a producer, you know, I'm just trying to keep people hired, trying to do what I do and create content. Most people out there, they don't realize because there's so much content out there and so many streaming services like, oh, it's everything out there. I can see whatever I want. But actually, the media companies are making a lot less. So it's an interesting time in the business.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Man, who better than you is the name of the book. What made you decide to write this?

[Nadine Jones]

Yo, you know, I have been in the movie game for almost 30 years now, and I have dealt with some of the biggest names, some of the most impressive, successful people, some of the most toxic, insecure people. And throughout that process, I have gained a set of skills that I want to share with people about how you can be successful and manifest a more full life. How you can use some of the skills that I've learned that are transferable to any industry to navigate, be it. You want to start a new endeavor, you want to overcome a challenge, you want to pivot in your life. And so I'm telling stories I've never told before, stories from dealing with, you know, some of my Hollywood folks. But it's really lessons, right? It's lessons about this is how you deal with people, how you position yourself to succeed, and how you have healthy arrogance. Not to be confused with toxic arrogance. Right? Toxic, arrogant. Walks in a room and says, I'm better than everybody here. I'm going to win because you're going to lose, right? I'm better than you. Healthy arrogance walks in a room and says, okay, number one, I belong in this room, right? The most successful people feel that. They don't feel like, am I supposed to be here with all these important people? Healthy arrogance feels like I'm supposed supposed to be here. However, I also have something to add to this room. This room is better because I'm in it. And I'm going to get other people to understand how they and I have a commonality in terms of our goal. If you can get other people to see the value in what you're going after, then you can then get them to row in the same direction as you and work towards your own goal. That's what leadership is, getting other people to realize that it's not me against you. If I can get you to understand that together, we both benefit from working together and accomplishing things that are my goals as well as your goals, your chance for success is increased.

[DJ Envy]

You know, when I read about. You talk about healthy arrogance. I hear your interviews about healthy arrogance. It feels like you're saying you just got. It's like a sense of worthiness, it's value.

[Nadine Jones]

It is, it is very much understanding the value to place on yourself, right? You understood charlamagma because you talk about mental health a lot. We all have this drumbeat in our head, right? It can be a negative drumbeat of, I'm not ready, I'm not worthy, I don't have the skills, I'm not prepared. More and more you tell yourself that the louder those voices get. But there's a confidence muscle that you can build that you can grow by telling yourself the exact opposite, that I am worth, right? That I am prepared. But it's really about assigning value. The thing I say to people is that, understand from the time you are born into the time you leave this earth, you are building your brand. Everything you do, right? I mean, you can't make mistakes. Everybody does. But every decision you make and everything you do is building your brand. And it is telling people what value to assign to you, whether that's somebody that is looking to invest in you, looking to date you, looking to just hang out with you. You are telling them what your value is. And you have to be healthily arrogant in the way that you force other people to. To recognize your value.

[DJ Envy]

Damn.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So if you don't have nobody, does that mean you're not worth nothing?

[Nadine Jones]

Well, you know, I'm not gonna Say that. Well, you mean like a relationship?

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Nadine Jones]

Well, that just means that you have to be sure that you're surrounding yourself with people that understand your value. It might mean that you're worth more than people want to give you credit for.

[David Oyelowo]

Talk about it.

[Nadine Jones]

It might mean you're single because other people don't recognize your value and you're not willing to compromise for it.

[David Oyelowo]

You had something to say, Charlotte way.

[DJ Envy]

What?

[Will Packer]

What?

[DJ Envy]

Hit dog will holler, won't they?

[Nadine Jones]

I'm asking the brother a question. I'm just asking the brother, why is Charlamagne's neck?

[David Oyelowo]

You saw it coming this way, though, didn't you?

[Nadine Jones]

You did the sassiness of the neck. That caught me off guard. Is that what it is? Are you whipping your hair back?

[Will Packer]

I was not at all.

[Nadine Jones]

What's happening?

[DJ Envy]

I was just asking you a question because I like what you're talking about.

[Will Packer]

Okay.

[Nadine Jones]

All right. Well, yes, absolutely. So if some, you know, somebody happens to be an amazing, beautiful, single sister, I don't know, you know, the relationship status of everybody here, but let's just say present company.

[DJ Envy]

You keep looking over there to why?

[Nadine Jones]

Well, because.

[DJ Envy]

Why?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, I look at her because.

[Nadine Jones]

She said you had a sassy neck.

[DJ Envy]

So she is.

[Nadine Jones]

She is immediately the most entertaining person at this table.

[David Oyelowo]

I want to ask you about imposter syndrome.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[Just Hilarious]

And when you.

[David Oyelowo]

When did that. Like, when did you get past that? Where did you deal with that at all yourself?

[Nadine Jones]

Absolutely. Deal with everybody deals with everybody gets to a point where they feel like, yo, do I belong? Right? Do I deserve to be in the most important spaces? And I've been very, very fortunate to be in some incredible rooms with some people that are, you know, some of the most powerful people from around the world. As I said, what I realize is that when I walk in those rooms, I cannot question if I'm supposed to be there. I need to realize, what is it that I have that nobody else in this room has? And how can I double down on that? Right? So black man, African American filmmaker in Hollywood, not a lot of folks at my level in the rooms that I'm in. Oftentimes it's all white people in those rooms. What I choose to do instead of saying, okay, I'm the only black person in this room. I know they racist. I know they look at me a certain way. I know they have a negative perception. I'm walking in the room and I'm thinking, okay, you know what? I'm bringing something that nobody else can bring. When I talk about my perspective, When I talk about my. My audience, I talk about my commute. Nobody else can debate me on that. So I'm the only one with that lived experience, whatever it is in the rooms and the circles that you're in. What's the unique thing that you have? And then you triple down on that. That will help with that imposter syndrome. The other thing is that you have to understand, like, you don't have to be somebody that's just born with, like, an overabundance of confidence. It's something that you can build, but you do have to build it by putting a success with a success with a success, right? Like, just like 8ball MJG said, check with a check with a check, you got to build the successes. And sometimes to do that, you got to come back and not say, okay, my first success has to be so big, Right? Just accomplish something. I call it fabricating momentum. I believe that sometimes we get stuck on the first rung. The very first thing I'm trying to get started. I don't have any money. I don't know. People don't have a network. That's okay, right? Don't make the first thing you trying to do to climb the mountain, right? That's a lot. That's a momentous task. Make the first thing. Buy the shoes, hiking boots, then buy a rope. Then drive by the mountain and look at it for. You know, you've done three things, right? Get started. Do something that helps to build that confidence. We all need that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, we got more with Will Packer when we come back. His new book, who Better Than you? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big, is out now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious Charlamagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren Laros is here with us as well. We're still kicking it with Will Packer. His new book, who Better Than you? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big, is out now. Charlemagne.

[DJ Envy]

I want to get to the art of the pivot, but first I want to ask you about the chapter that says, stay in your lane. Yeah. Just make it wide, you know, lean into your thing.

[Nadine Jones]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

How does one avoid being typecasted? By leaning into their thing. And when do you know the pivot?

[Nadine Jones]

Yeah, you know it. The whole point of that chapter is about when you have something that you do really, really well. Because many times people are afraid of being locked into something that people will think, that's all I can do. Right. But if you do that thing and you do it really, really well. Do not stop, okay? Don't stop. The most successful people have a thing that they do and they do it well. Then they use the ability to be successful in a lane to go out and do something else. I'm only able to write this book with a major publisher because I've been very successful in a particular medium. Right now I'm able to go and do other things. So don't worry about that. Oh, well, I can do so much other stuff. What's the thing you do really well? Do that. Triple down on that. Be the best person in that particular field. And by the way, find your passion within that. Right. Too many times people are telling me, well, I'm not passionate about something. I gotta wait to find my passion and before I go out and work really hard. And I'm telling you, you're building a brand from day one. Work hard. Today. I didn't have a passion to be a filmmaker, I will admit that. But I was. I did not. That was not my dream growing up. But I found that I was really good at knowing how to hire actors and raise money and self distribute. And then I found the passion in storytelling later. So I found the thing I was really, really good at and then I found my passion within it. I encourage people to do that and worry about being typecast. Stay in your lane, but you can make it wide. I'm not trying to pigeonhole you and I'm not trying to limit what you can do, but stay in your lane. Too often we are trying to do too much. And now you can't be the person that's doing everything the best. That is just not how humans work. What's the thing you do? Well, triple down on that.

[DJ Envy]

So once you've leaned into your thing and you find that thing, there's never a pivot from that thing.

[Nadine Jones]

It can be a pivot where you use that thing. You use your ability, you use your brand, you use the fact that you have got credibility in a particular space. You have done the exact same thing. You use the fact that you have credibility in one lane in order to then expand your lane. Right. But it should still all be about, this is the thing that I do. That's why I say, stay in your lane, but make your lane wide.

[David Oyelowo]

Is there ever a time where, like, you're. Because, I mean, I remember when you told the story about Kevin the last time you guys were here.

[Nadine Jones]

Yeah.

[David Oyelowo]

And now I'm seeing it in context of this book of like, who better than you. And I feel like in that moment he had the arrogance to be like, I can do both of these. I'm going to be fine, and it's all going to work out. But things like that can kind of get pretty tricky because what if it hadn't worked out?

[DJ Envy]

Right?

[David Oyelowo]

Is there ever a moment where you have to tell somebody who's coming to you for this type of who better than you Advice, like, maybe this is not it for you right now. Maybe there's someone better than you right now, but that doesn't mean later you might not be able to have that. Who better than you, Eric?

[Nadine Jones]

You have to be honest with yourself, number one, right? We live in a world where people think either they are too great or they are too awful. Rudyard Kipling has a poem called if. And my favorite stanza in that poem is, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. That is saying that both triumph and disaster are imposters. Neither of them are real. Right. Too many times because we post something on social media, everybody tell you, oh, my God, you the greatest thing ever. So good. Or the opposite. They just hating on you, telling you how awful you are. Neither of that is true. You got to stay even keeled. So the first thing you got to do is be honest about you and your skill set. It's the only way you're going to get better. Don't worry about external factors. You got to have a very honest conversation. One of the things I talk about in the book is how we have to make sure I'm a daily affirmation type of person. You're there encouraging yourself, right? Giving yourself positivity, telling yourself how you're ready, how you prepare, what you can do, but also being very, very honest with yourself. I don't care what you tell the world. Don't lie to yourself. Lie to your mama, lie to your cousin, lie to your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife. Do not lie to yourself. Be very, very clear about what it is that you do.

[DJ Envy]

Well, yeah, you know, I want to talk to you about the Packer family model, too. If you want to have what others want, you have to do what others don't. Yeah, see, you got your mom with you.

[Nadine Jones]

I got moms, I got. You know what? It's something that mom instilled in me. You know, when I was growing up, mom and dad, they took me like, you know, like Simba and the Lion King and lifted me up and said, you know, whatever the son touches is yours son. Like, I Encourage my folks with kids. Do that. Tell your kids, because that's when they're the most impressionable. Tell them they can do anything. They told me that. And so I was very audacious growing up with my family. It's me, my wife, we have four children. So that's the six pack. If you want to have what others don't, you have to be willing to do what others won't, period. That is the mantra. The mantra is that understand whatever it is that you want to do, if anybody else can do it, then it's not special. You're not going to get it right. You're not going to get something that's unique. You got to be willing to do what others are not, not to get that thing. And I believe that the more you do hard things, the better you become at hard things. The more hard things you do, the easier hard things become. So don't run from doing hard things. Don't run from doing the things that everybody else says is crazy. That's the only way you're going to get strength and to build that muscle is by doing those hard things. Why say dream big? Because your dream has got to be so big because there's going to be challenges along the way. It's got to be so big that it pushes you past those challenges, inevitably. Because if the dream is just a mediocre dream, like, man, it'd be kind of cool to do that. Then when you run into a speed bump that's really hard, you're going to say, you know what? It ain't worth it. I'm cool, right? But if the dream is so big, right? I mean, so big, four color 8, 4K, HD, like super crazy, beyond your wildest dreams big. Then when you do hit that hard moment, those challenges, you know, it's worth it to keep going and keep fighting because the dream is big enough.

[DJ Envy]

Is Wolf Packer allowed to turn his own book into a movie?

[Super Trucker]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Limited series.

[Nadine Jones]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Nadine Jones]

I mean, it's. I'm willpacker.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Nadine Jones]

You know, I think about doing. I could do that.

[David Oyelowo]

I saw Heather in the background.

[Nadine Jones]

Is that, you know, what had to say in the background?

[David Oyelowo]

I don't know. I just saw something. Oh, it was. I was giving a lean, like maybe, no, don't do it right now or something.

[Nadine Jones]

You know what? I made this book not to turn into a movie or a TV show. You never say never because you know one of my biggest moves. Think like a man. Steve Harvey will tell you he never thought of that as a movie.

[Super Trucker]

Never.

[Nadine Jones]

He never wrote it for that. I wrote this to give the master mentorship that I didn't have. I have people coming to me a lot and saying, tell me about your success story. Tell me about your failures. Tell me about what you had to overcome. And so when I tell these stories, right, and I talk about, you know, Beyonce turning me down five times or Idris Elba, you know, almost not walking the carpet at the first Emmys and how you get past that, like, when I tell these stories, stories, I'm doing that so that other people can benefit from it. So I could turn it to a movie. But that's not what I made it for. I literally made this book so that I could influence other folks who are either on their way up thinking about making a pivot or living a life that they know could be a little more fulfilling.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, we appreciate you for joining us.

[DJ Envy]

Will pack a new book, who Better Than you? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big Outright.

[Just Hilarious]

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[DJ Envy]

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[Nadine Jones]

Appreciate you fam appreciate you, man. Thank you. Thank y'all for having me. Charlamagne. And thank you, because you are somebody that you know, and I told you this. We saw each other at the Democratic National Convention, and I told you I had written my first book, and I was inspired by your books and by reading your books and just seeing that process and the grind that you put in. So you never know who's watching and who. You're inspiring. Thank you, my brother. Thank you for having me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's Will Packer. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Nadine Jones]

You're checking out the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy.

[Nadine Jones]

Jess.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the breakfast club. Lauren LaRosa is here, and we got a special guest in the building.

[DJ Envy]

David Oyelowo was here. Did I. Did I say it right?

[Will Packer]

You did. You did.

[DJ Envy]

Okay. I had to ask you beforehand.

[Will Packer]

I appreciate that. You did.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah. I see it all the time, but I'm like, I don't want to hack it when I try to say it.

[Will Packer]

No, everyone. Everyone does, but you nailed it.

[DJ Envy]

How are you, sir?

[Will Packer]

I'm very good. Very good. It's great to be here.

[DJ Envy]

Absolutely.

[David Oyelowo]

So you got a government cheese happening right now on Apple tv.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[David Oyelowo]

So in watching this, but also some of the other things that I've seen you play in, can you just first talk about your career and, like, the roles that you select? All of the roles that I know you for are very powerful. Very, like. You tell stories that are, like, so important to black people. Coming out the gate, you are. Is that something you were like, hey, this has to be it for me. This is what I want to do? Or did you just fall into these roles because, like, how did it happen?

[Will Packer]

No. Thank you for saying that. It's very intentional. You know, I was incredibly influenced by film and television growing up, and I was aware quite early that the images I was taking in were, in some ways informing me of what blackness means globally speaking. And then I had this incredible moment where, having been born and grown up in the UK, we moved back to Nigeria for six years, from the age of six to 13. And I was suddenly in a country in an environment where I was not a minority. Everything on offer in that. In that society was mine for the taking. And I realized that these images that I was internalizing that often had black people on the periphery or playing what I deemed to be caricatures or stereotypes, were insidious, were detrimental to us as a people. And so, having moved back to the uk, becoming an actor, I Felt that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem. And so I've definitely gravitated towards roles and projects that mean that I am trying to change what I saw growing up. I'm trying to widen the aperture and contextualize who and what we are as black people.

[DJ Envy]

That's interesting. I wonder how did you know that, you know, they were caricatures and stereotypes if you've never. If you hadn't been to America to see for yourself?

[Will Packer]

Because I was living in communities where black people were central to their own lives. And I knew that what I was saying, because it wasn't just America, it was in the UK as well. You know, if. If every time you see a black person, they are on the periphery of the narrative, if so often they are criminalized or marginalized, that was not my experience walking through the earth. And so it was. I felt that's intentional. That's political. That's propaganda in a sense. And it's having a detrimental effect on me because there is a disconnect between my lived experience and what I'm internalizing on screen. And so that's how I knew it was something to become better.

[DJ Envy]

You know, it's so interesting, right, Because I have that conversation often because, you know, when you watch film and television in the 90s, if everything had some type of socially redeeming value.

[Will Packer]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

You know what I mean? And I always wonder what the hell happened to that. It felt like it was intentional for them to stop showing us that and start giving us, like, the reality television.

[Will Packer]

Yeah. Well, I can tell you exactly what happened. So often why you got. You had those films that were bringing context to who we are as black people is because it was largely being framed and made by black people. What has happened a lot is that our stories, we craft them, we develop them, but at some point, you've got to take it to people who have green light power, who are not from our demographic. And so therefore, you're having to push who we are through their perception of who we are. And it almost always gets eroded, watered down or marginalized. And that's what's happening for some reason in the 90s. There were producers, there were creatives, there were directors who were just doing it all themselves. And it was getting celebrated and it was less watered down. And that's why I think we had that golden era.

[David Oyelowo]

Is it ever heavy for you? Because I remember watching you and the story about Dr. Martin Luther King and Selma. Yeah, Selma. And like, I know there's a lot. Because you also have done theater.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[David Oyelowo]

You're very serious about what you do. So I know that there's a lot of study and, like, deep study and things of that nature. So you're probably doing that for every single role. And there's a lot of, like, just trauma that you take on differently because you get so close to your characters. How does that stick with you? Like, in that pressure from outside world, too? Of, like, these are characters and people that, you know, have shaped our world?

[Will Packer]

Yeah. I mean, I try to stay away from the trauma component. What I mostly gravitate towards are aspirational representations of us. So in playing Dr. King, the gift for me was to see a leader, to see someone who was an icon, but who was a human being as well. And I'm interested in stories where we get to be triumphant, where we get to be someone you would aspire to be, no matter what demographic of person you are. More often than not, when you see black people in a historical context, we are browbeaten. We're broken down, and often we don't. We're not allowed to ascend. You won't catch me in that narrative. For me personally, we have got to, for me, be on an upward trajectory in whatever we do. So it's less traumatic. It's more celebratory of who we are without shying away from the challenges we face.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, they never want to show you the slave revolting.

[Will Packer]

Right, right. Exactly. Exactly. And for me, you know, that's why I resist slave narratives, because it's very hard to find the triumphant in that. The closest I came to that was playing Bass Reeves in this show, Low Men. Bass Reeves, he starts enslaved. But the great thing about being a producer is that you can ensure or be a voice in where the narrative goes. I would not have taken that on if he didn't go from enslavement to empowerment. Staying in enslavement is not something that I want to project to our people, because there are people who enjoy that narrative as a means of keeping us down.

[David Oyelowo]

You said something interesting. You said, in being a producer, you get to kind of, like, you know, help to figure out where the character development goes and stuff like that. What part of your career did that become an option for you? Because not all actors have the ability to be on a set and say, hey, I think that we should change this or empower differently because of how my people will see this. When did that happen first in your career?

[Will Packer]

It happened by accident. It was on Selma. I got the Script just as an actor in 2007, felt a real calling to play that role. But I auditioned for it, and the first director said, david oyelowo is not Dr. King. That was literally the feedback. And it took another seven years before the film came to fruition. But what I could never had anticipated was that I would go from being an actor who was rejected initially to three directors later because they just kept on not wanting to make that movie. Because black doesn't travel, the audience is not gonna gravitate towards it. Whatever the excuses are, they still say that. Well, they did that. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah. You think this is a film about Dr. King?

[DJ Envy]

Tyler Perry?

[David Oyelowo]

Because they said that they told Tyler Perry black people wouldn't leave the theater to go to the movies. They don't travel beyond.

[DJ Envy]

I think he meant global. You meant, like, global box office, right?

[Will Packer]

Globally. But here as well, the narrative was, black people don't want to see black struggle. White people don't want to feel white guilt and things like that. But, you know, it wasn't till 2010 Lee Daniels actually came along and was the one who actually cast me in it. Still couldn't get the film made. In the meantime, I did a small film with Ava DuVernay called Middle of Nowhere. Small, $200,000 movie. And I felt she is a genius. Lee had moved on from the project because they wouldn't give him enough money to make it. And I went in and fought very hard for Ava to be the one to direct it. She rewrote the script. It was brilliant. Rewrite of the script. Still couldn't get it made. I'd done the Butler with Oprah at that time. I invited Oprah on to be a producer on the film. 12 Years a Slave came out and had done well, which had broken down this notion of our stories not traveling. And so the aggregation of all of those things is what went on to mean Selma got made. What I didn't realize I was doing by bringing on Ava, bringing on Oprah, fighting daily to try and get the thing made, was producing. And so I thought, oh, okay, well, I can do that again for the things that I believe in and I'm passionate about. And so, you know, that was 10, 11 years ago now. And I haven't stopped since.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We have more with David Oyelowa when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess. Hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lola Rose is here as well. We're still kicking it with David Oyellow.

[David Oyelowo]

Lauren, I want to talk about government cheese. So the name itself of the series. Let's talk about that first because it's referring to the government cheese program, which is a kind of like an overarching conversation that you guys have throughout the series without really having it all the way. Yeah, so talk about the, you know, just the choice to title it that. And you know what you hope, the hope is that people get just from looking at the title before they even see it.

[Will Packer]

Yeah, I mean government cheese for us was symbolic of what we tend to do as black people. You know, necessity being the mother of invention, we will take nothing and make it into something. And government cheese, as people may know, is government subsidized food. There was powdered eggs, it was powdered milk as well. And with, with government cheese in particular, you talk to people even now they have this, you know, they go into this place in their heads when they think about those grilled cheese sandwiches or the Mac and cheese and they, they talk about it incredibly fondly because it was, you know, a not particularly nutritious food that people made into a delicacy. And what you have with the Chambers family is that they are this black family in the valley in the 60s making something out of nothing. This guy starts the show incarcerated, has this epiphany about making a self sharpening drill. It's going to be the means by which his family comes out of the challenging situations they're in. So it's aspirational. You have the character that Simone Missick plays, she's a receptionist but she wants to be an interior designer. You have our son who's aspiring to be a pole vaulter. You have this other son of ours who you know, is completely obsessed with native American culture. Everyone is looking beyond where they are from an aspirational point of view. And in many ways government cheese is sort of symbolic, like about what's the.

[DJ Envy]

Equivalent of government cheese in the uk. I don't, I don't. As a British man, did you understand what that was?

[Will Packer]

Yes. I mean we don't have exactly the, the same thing, but I remember, you know, you got bottles of milk that everyone got, you know, that would get dropped at your house every, every morning. And that was something that was a. Across the nation super rich people were not getting that necessarily, but it was, you know, lower income families. So that's the closest, closest that we got in, in terms of that situation. But the thing I know from living in the uk, living in Nigeria, in Africa, living here is that Wherever you go, the resilience of black people in terms of, you know, making something out of nothing is just something that feels pretty universal.

[DJ Envy]

You've had other roles that have highlighted black life in the 60s. What about government Cheese Felt different from those other projects?

[Will Packer]

This. The amount of joy on display.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Will Packer]

And just the. The relatability. I think, you know, our experience is very specific, especially in the 60s, as it pertains to civil rights and black struggle. But, you know, with this family, they are dealing not only with economic challenges, but marital challenges and raising kids and, you know, just. Just trying to make ends meet. And I think all of those things are what make it fresh and familiar at the same time. You know, you've seen black people in the 60s, but never quite like this. Never quite in this place, and never this family. You know, they're kind of out there. But, you know, I have four kids myself, and, you know, it's weird. It's not until you go to a restaurant and you see people looking at you funny, you realize how weird and quirky your own face rambling is because you're just being super loud and people are keying into your conversation. So I think we're probably also all a bit more quirky and weird than we care to admit.

[David Oyelowo]

Well, this. This series is definitely a lot more, like, light and fun and, you know, even though it takes on, like, some serious undertones. But I was reading this article that you did with Men's Health magazine.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[David Oyelowo]

And you were talking about going out into Wyoming on a ranch with your kids.

[Will Packer]

Oh, yeah.

[David Oyelowo]

When I saw the article, I was like, this is, like, a random interview for him to have right now. And then I was reading, I was like, I get it. Because you. You put yourself in a light of, like, a person who has just had to learn again to just, like, relax and just be fun and just be a person. Because, you know, you're studying, you're acting, you're working. Then there's clauses where you can't go out and do stuff like that, which makes a lot of sense. But those moments with your kids where you're just. They're seeing you as, like, a human or as, like, dad is fun. Dad can do these things. How does that reignite you when you get back on these sets? You know, you take on these characters like the one in Government Cheese.

[Will Packer]

I'm so glad you brought that up, because, you know, everything I'm saying is hard work. You know, when I make a show, probably in the past, to an unhealthy degree, I feel like it's a political act. I feel like it's not just about me going to work and taking on a story. I'm bringing my people with me. And you could argue that there are elements of that that are unhealthy. And so to smell the roses while you're on the journey to continue to intentionally enjoy your, Enjoy your marriage, enjoy your home has been something that I've tried to afford myself more and more as I've got deeper into my career, especially as there are now more wins on the board. You know, there are really significant things I've done that are absolutely in line with what I set out to do.

[David Oyelowo]

Right.

[Will Packer]

And the temptation is to just be like, okay, what's next? What's next? What's next? And, you know, I have four kids. Three. Three boys and a girl. I have a wife who I deeply love, and, you know, that is just as important. And a life well lived is, is not really about what you did. It's how you made people feel. And, and the thing says that, well, there you go. And you're right. And, and, and I want the people closest to me to feel like I was present, to feel like I, I, I didn't just say I loved them, but my actions demonstrated that as well. And I think that's time. That's just constantly demonstrating to the people you love that you value being in their presence. And so that is, That's. I'm working on it. I'm not going to tell you that, you know, I'm all the way there, but that's definitely an intention. I'm trying to bring more into my life.

[DJ Envy]

Is that what you meant when you said in the article that you came back a different dad?

[Will Packer]

Yeah, I came back a different. Wow, you guys really do your research. You really read that article.

[David Oyelowo]

I would say, is this PR team, right? Or whoever, whoever it was that pitched that, that was so smart, because in looking you up, everything else.

[DJ Envy]

I didn't even know she pitched that.

[David Oyelowo]

Yeah, well, no, you don't just end up in Men's Health magazine.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, I thought you meant pitched it to us.

[Will Packer]

No, no, no.

[David Oyelowo]

If they gave me that story, I would have ran it up, too. But no, when I saw that, I was like, it was so genius, because I think your reputation as an actor is so, like, it's very, like, stern and, you know, silent and serious.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[David Oyelowo]

And then I see this article about you doing all this stuff in Wyoming with your kids. I'm like, wait, hold on. What? He be having fun.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So it Made me go read it.

[DJ Envy]

But that's what. I guess.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

When you said you different dad, I guess you just realize, like, I can't just be so much into my work. I still got to be pops, but.

[Will Packer]

But also, you know, I. I was a really rambunctious kid. I would throw myself all over the place. I was one of three boys, and then I had my own kids. And I got super, like, wrapping them in cotton wool, like, oh, careful, careful, don't do that, you know, and then we went on this trip where we're horse riding and the ATVing and we're you shooting arrows and bike riding. And I just really just let myself go, probably a bit too much because I went flying over the handlebars of the ATV at one point. But, you know, I do that when I'm playing a role because it's like, throw yourself into the role. Do whatever the role requires. But for my kids to see me having fun in that way was an eye opener for them. And I came back differently because I was like, you know what? I am almost playing a role for my kids in order for them to be safe, but they also need to see dad letting loose and having fun, because then they'll hopefully take the right kind of risks, not just, you know, careless risks. And it was a shift in the dynamic, and it was something I actually didn't want to go on, particularly. My wife won it in a raffle, this trip to this dude ranch, and then sent us all out. And, you know, I'm so grateful that we did it, and we've done so many more things like that that since then, because it was hugely beneficial for our family.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We have more with David Oyelowo when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess. Hilarious. Charlamagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lola larosa's here as well. We're still kicking it with David Oyelowo.

[DJ Envy]

Charlamagne, did you have any reservations about playing mlk because you are a British actor and, you know, there's always that thing of, why are all of the British actors playing the roles of American icons?

[Will Packer]

No, because of the way it came in. You know, when I read the script in 2007, I had never been thinking of myself as Dr. King, you know, but I'm a Christian. I was in a time of praying and fasting, and I felt, God, tell me you are gonna play this role. And then the way it came about eventually, which is that, you know, I can Safely say pretty much no one worked as hard to get that film made as I did. And I would probably say no one else was quite as influential in getting that film made. Bringing on Ava between bringing on Oprah, between all the. The work done behind the scenes to try and get the film made. So for me, I just found it unacceptable that the only American who had a holiday named after him in the 20th century, who happens to be a black man, had not had a film made about him yet. I wasn't feeling like I have to be the one to make it. But this was already 50 years after his assassination. Why do we not have the movie? And I'm a big believer in if not me, then who. And so I was never really thinking, I'm British, it should be someone else. And the reality is that when Lee Daniels was casting for it, he met everyone like I met. I saw the list of some of the people he met. I was like, oh, my Lord, I cannot believe I'm going up against my heroes to even dare think I'm going to be the one to play this. But I eventually got the role. And so for me, it's a question of, okay, now I've been given the opportunity. It's less about whether or not I should play it, it's more about how well I do it. And that is going to be, at the end of the day, the thing that I want people to judge. And so I never really thought about it in that way because at the end of the day, I have no interest in playing myself on screen. I'm always going to be gravitating towards the most extreme challenge in terms of playing someone who's not necessarily me.

[David Oyelowo]

Do you ever. Do you have your production company, Europa Saxon? Yeah, did I say that right? Yoruba Saxon. So I know that you and your wife co run that production company and I'm sure a lot of the stories that you guys tell are very close to the heart. As far as, like black stories, just by your passion here, do you get backlash at all because you're not married to a black woman doing that? And how do you deal with that?

[Will Packer]

If so, not to my face. I'm sure there are plenty of people who feel some kind of way about that. But we called it Yoruba Saxon because, you know, I'm from the Yoruba tribe in, in Nigeria. She's Anglo Saxon. And so, you know, our company is a demonstration of the fact that we are more alike than we are different as human beings, generally speaking, you know, in making Government cheese. Yes, it's a black family. But my hope and my bet is that everyone is going to see their family in that family family because of the relatable themes and components that we've woven into it. And so, you know, I'm, I'm incredibly proud of my family. I fell in love with my wife when, gosh, we met when we were teenagers. We got married when she was 20, I was 22. And everything we have we built together. So, you know, for me, sometimes the accusation, you know, in marrying a white woman is, you know, they say things like, there's self loathing in there, or what's the other one? Oh, that she's a trophy or something like that. We were so poor when we, when we started out, there couldn't be less. Less trophy or if it tried. But, you know, I am an incredibly proud black man. African, Christian, husband, father. There are so many things that I am on top of my demographic and who I'm married to, and those are all reflected in the, in the work that I. And we do.

[DJ Envy]

You and your wife should be thinking about producing a biopic on a great man named Dr. Umar Johnson. He's an activist here in America. Scholar.

[Will Packer]

Oh, wow.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I should think about that.

[Will Packer]

No, no, no, Just look into, look into it.

[DJ Envy]

Look into it. Listen.

[David Oyelowo]

Look into it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, really?

[David Oyelowo]

Just look here.

[Will Packer]

Listen.

[DJ Envy]

Don't listen to her.

[Will Packer]

I'm gonna keep looking at you. He's about to get me in trouble.

[David Oyelowo]

Your wife.

[Nadine Jones]

You don't.

[Will Packer]

Was I about to become a meme just then? Is that what was about to happen?

[David Oyelowo]

A meme? There's a whole chance.

[Will Packer]

Don't listen to her.

[DJ Envy]

Trust me, they'll love. Was there ever a role that you would pitch that you morally said to yourself, I can't do this.

[Will Packer]

Well, what tends to happen is the minute you play a civil rights leader, you get every civil rights leader who's ever lived, which. So I definitely, I definitely said no to those. The minute you play a groundbreaking character, there's a whole genre called the first black man who. You know, I get a lot of first black man who. Which I'm not interested.

[David Oyelowo]

What's the craziest thing you was like, y'all didn't even know a black man did that.

[Will Packer]

I want to say that there have been, like, windscreen wipers, the guy who invented the paperclip, the guy who, like, like, it's, it's, it's ridiculous. It gets as ridiculous as that and people will come to you, like, full of passion, the Other one you want to really avoid is when someone goes, man, I got this script. It's about my dad, and he. He the first person who had a car wash in Alabama and all that kind of stuff. And I just, like, I don't know how to tell you that. That is not a movie. I'm just so sorry, but that's not gonna be my next. But I got your next project, and.

[David Oyelowo]

I'm like, accent, go in and out.

[Will Packer]

Is crazy, because it happens a lot, A lot to me. So, yeah, those are the ones to avoid as well.

[DJ Envy]

Absolutely.

[David Oyelowo]

Oh, you mentioned so casually multiple times, Oprah. Oh, right. Just very casually. I read another story about when you invited her to Othello opening night, and she had sitting on them hard benches, and she never let you lay that down.

[Will Packer]

She just never stopped talking about her child, those benches. But she came to Coriolanus, which I just did in London, and they had cushion seats.

[David Oyelowo]

Yes.

[Will Packer]

So, you know, we are beyond the. The bad benches now. But, yeah, and they were very tough benches to watch three hours of Shakespeare, so. So she. Fair point. But I'm glad that we broke in the deadlock.

[David Oyelowo]

She show up a lot for you, though. It sounds like just in what I'm hearing you say, like, what. What's that relationship? And like, because, you know, Oprah ain't coming out the house for everybody.

[Will Packer]

She. She is not. She's not. Yeah. You know, we met during the Butler together, and I remember being stood at a party at Lee Daniel's house that he was renting in New Orleans when we were shooting that. That film. And I. It was at a time when I just felt. I felt very isolated. I felt very alone. I'd moved here with my family. If I'm totally honest, I felt like there were other actors who saw me as a threat in a way that confused me because I was like, I'm just. You know, I'd come out of theater in the uk it's an environment where it's all about, you know, about the work and working together. And there were people who were like, you know, that coming here to take our jobs thing was a real thing I was feeling. And I just remember being stood in a corner at this party in Oprah. Oprah came up to me and said, you okay? I said, you know what? You know, I'm really glad to have gotten this movie, but it's just. I don't know if you've ever felt this just like your own community is. Is resisting you, which is what I'm feeling.

[David Oyelowo]

Got that baby, especially about black men. They be.

[DJ Envy]

Well, she's the first. Whatever. Whatever you said earlier. The first ever.

[Will Packer]

Yes, I know. And so exactly your reaction there is. Was her reaction. She was like, baby. And she talked about how Sidney Poitier was the one who took her under his wing and said, no, you're not crazy. This is a real thing. It's something that is unfortunately part of ascending in our community. And he mentored her. And she literally said to me, I am going to do for you what he did for me. And she has never abated on that. You know, Summer doesn't happen without her.

[Just Hilarious]

My have you ever looked around at your crew and thought, man, these are my people. The ones who turn the smallest moments into memories you'll be talking about for years. The folks who show up when you need them and make your life so much better. Well, now you can make those moments even sweeter because Sherra Coke is back. And this time it's all about celebrating friendships. Whether you're hanging out, watching the game or just chopping it up. There's a Coke for everyone from bestie and bro to classic names like David and Sarah. These special cans and bottles are made for your whole squad. So grab one, crack it open and toast to the people who make life worth celebrating. But don't wait. They won't be around forever. So grab one for everybody, pop the top and keep the good vibes flowing. Next time you're making memories, don't miss your chance to share a Coke with all your favorite people.

[DJ Envy]

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[Will Packer]

Debut doesn't actually happen without her. So much of the advice, so much of the financial literacy I have came from her because I didn't come from means. My parents were not particularly good business people, even though they had a business. And so yeah, she has really, really made good on that promise and it's been absolutely life changing.

[David Oyelowo]

I know them people definitely hate you now.

[Nadine Jones]

Oh no, I know you're getting all.

[David Oyelowo]

The roles to call Oprah and she just pop Outside like you ain't get invited nowhere.

[Will Packer]

I know, I know, I know. I made a road for my back Pause.

[DJ Envy]

David, thank you for joining us, brother.

[Will Packer]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Government cheese is on Apple TV right now and it was a pleasure talking to you, man.

[Super Trucker]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Don't be a stranger. It's David. A yellow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They gave me dunk here today and I deserve the people need to know.

[David Oyelowo]

Well, you need to tell them.

[Nadine Jones]

I am.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You have the voice.

[Nadine Jones]

Tell them. Tell. Tell it. It's time for Donkey of the Day.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's a read. But you're so good at it, you're.

[Super Trucker]

Trying to be a fake ass.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Charlamagne.

[DJ Envy]

There's only one Charlemagne involved.

[David Oyelowo]

Damn Charlemagne.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who you give a dunkey of the day to now?

[DJ Envy]

Well, sexy red Donkey of the day goes to Ashley Cross. Ashley is a 37 year old African American woman from Memphis, Tennessee. Okay, salute to everyone who listens to us on K97 in Memphis. Now I'm sure that you all are aware by now that a lot of companies have rolled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. One of those is Walmart. Now if you read my first book, Black Privilege and you know the joy Walmart bought me as a child. Because when you grow up in the country like I did. Salute the monks. Corner, South Carolina. Drop on the clues bombs. For most corners when you grow up in the country or rural area, the 24 hour Walmart is everything. Okay, that's where we would go late at night because there was nothing else to do. Yes, the good old days walking the holy grounds of Walmart. This was way back in the day when the only thing they were rolling back is prices. But a lot of people have called for a boycott of these companies, in particular Target. But Ashley Cross has decided that she is staging a one woman boycott of Walmart. Yes. In fact, Ashley is not going to be shopping at Walmart and period, no Walmart in the country. None of them ever again. Okay, do you have that kind of commitment to your boycott? Can you vow to never shop in an establishment ever again? Or a Scott paper towel being 1068 for 12 rolls? Too great a deal to pass up. Well if it is, then you can always do what Ashley did. Because it's guaranteed Ashley will never step foot in any Walmart ever again. And it's not because she's boycotting Walmart. It's actually because Walmart is boycotting her. What do you mean Uncle Charlotte? Walmart is boycotting her. Well, let's go to News Channel 3 for the report, please.

[Nadine Jones]

Ashley Cross, charged with criminal trespass and theft of merchandise, is, according to the police report, a well known shoplifter at.

[DJ Envy]

This Walmart on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Whitehaven.

[Nadine Jones]

So well known to Walmart that Cross is on an authorization of agency list, meaning she's banned from any Walmart location in the United States. The Elvis Presley Boulevard store is where Cross and another Suspect were arrested February 10th. Cross was seen using a device to scan her items for $1 at a self checkout machine. Ashley Cross remains in jail on a $7,500 bond. She is due back in court Feb. 19. The suspect with Cross received a misdemeanor citation for theft of property.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, she already went to court. I wonder what happened. Listen, I used to shoplift up until 2016, okay? That's when I stopped shoplifting. But I didn't, you know, feel like I was stealing because nine years ago. Yeah, about nine years.

[David Oyelowo]

You had a little money nine years ago. Are you still stealing?

[DJ Envy]

I don't know, but I didn't feel like it was stealing because I didn't try to hide anything. I would walk in and, you know, take what I want and just walk out. You only get caught when you look suspicious, you know? Plus, I never really stole anything but magazines, you know, when I was young, like Black and mild, 12 packs of Bud Light, random stuff like that. But Ashley is clearly a kleptomaniac and she's good because she was using a barcode from an old watch battery to scan all her Items for just $1 to self check out. I stand a creative thief. Okay, Y'all still stealing like Flintstones. Ashley out here like a Jetson with it. Or maybe this is the normal way to shoplift. Now, I don't steal anymore, so I wouldn't know. But Ashley stole 11 packs of ramen noodles, women's boots, a pair of jeans and a T shirt, all totaling $137.34. Now, this woman was clearly stealing essentials, okay? These are reasonable things to steal. Ramen noodles, boots, clothes. I understand. In America, I'm going to tell you something you don't want to hear. There's going to be a lot more of this. Why? Because during America's inflation crisis, Walmart was the spot, okay? You can get good deals, all types of essentials. But on yesterday, Walmart said things are about slow because consumers are growing increasingly frustrated with inflation and they're concerned about President Trump's tariffs. Basically, folks been broke and if people keep losing their jobs, they will be Broker. And if you are the reason, okay, people are losing their jobs like Elon Musk and Donald Trump are in regards to federal workers and you putting tariffs on items. Not only do I not have a job, things are going to be even more expensive. So what am I going to resort to doing? I tell you what, people will resort to doing. Doing. Trying to survive. And trying to survive can look like a number of things. And sometimes one of those things is shoplifting. I'm not making excuses for Ashley. I'm just telling America what the inevitable is when you don't take care of the least of us. Nevertheless, Ashley Cross is on Walmart's authorization of agency list which prohibits her from entering any Walmart store across the country. I didn't know such a list existed. But Ashley is on it and she is currently. Well, I don't even know if currently, but she was being held on a 7, 500 bond. Probably still in there. She probably still in there because if he ain't had $134 to get these items from Walmart, you damn sure ain't got the 7, 500 bond. All the 10 of 750 to get out. But some donkey of the days just sell themselves. Please give Ashley Cross the sweet sounds of the Hamilton.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The donkey of the day. You are the donkey of the day. All right.

[DJ Envy]

It's just. You feel bad for. No, you don't feel bad for her. She's a repeat offender. She could have got a job.

[David Oyelowo]

Or maybe the first offense put something on her record and she couldn't get the job.

[DJ Envy]

That is true too. But she stole from there a lot. Why wouldn't you switch it up?

[David Oyelowo]

All right, this is gonna sound bad, but no. You ever, you ever be in self checkout and be feeling like I'm this, I shouldn't have to pay for this stuff. Like some of this stuff is old to me. Like maybe she felt like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I don't feel like that.

[DJ Envy]

And that's what happens when you still wiggle. When you still wiggle. You know what I'm saying?

[Will Packer]

What?

[DJ Envy]

What happened?

[David Oyelowo]

You snorting? Yeah, you so lucky you were stealing when your face was two different colors because they wouldn't have recognized you from either side.

[DJ Envy]

That is true. That is very true. If you, if, if I'm on camera in 2016. That's not me.

[Will Packer]

That's not true.

[DJ Envy]

Okay? That is not me. It's not the same person.

[Nadine Jones]

The Breakfast Club.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Relationship problems.

[DJ Envy]

X about me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You need to beat your co worker's ass.

[DJ Envy]

Ask about me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Your co Worker need to beat your ass. Call it up, Dr. Jess. And I'm here to fix your mess. It's getting very much messy. Let me fix this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. It's time for Just fix my Mess. Hello? Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

Anonymous.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, Anonymous, what's your question for?

[Super Trucker]

Yes, long story short, I cheated on my fiance. And I found a GPS tracker in my car recently, and I don't know what to do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Stop cheating. That's what you gotta stop doing. Cause that's why. How long you been cheating? He's obviously been on to you for a while. How long?

[Super Trucker]

Yeah, he found out. I told him. I came clean, but we're trying to work on things.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Trying to work on things. So you recently found the tracker after admitting that you were a cheater?

[Super Trucker]

Yes. Correct.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay, so that tells me that he does not believe you. You know, he still does not trust that you are done cheating. Are you done with cheating?

[Super Trucker]

No.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn it, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And you are questioning why you have a goddamn GPS tracker in your car and you're not done cheating. So why did you come?

[Super Trucker]

I don't know what to do with the relationship.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, you wanna know? Oh, okay, baby, you gotta get up out of there if you wanna live your life. And you. You know, you. You still feel like you got some. Some other things that you're. You know, you don't want to cheat on the person, do you? You know what I mean?

[Super Trucker]

I. I don't know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Just leave them because you're obviously, you're not happy. You're cheating for a reason, and he's not happy. But I either.

[Super Trucker]

I still love him, though. I do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And that's how it works.

[Will Packer]

You.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You always love the person that you cheat on. You know what I mean? You love them, but it's something that he's lacking that you can't get there. Right.

[Super Trucker]

Gotcha.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Something that he's. That he's not doing that you really, really wish that he would do. And although you don't want to leave him, you still find. You know, you're still looking for something else, and you're finding it out in the streets, and that's still not. Are you married or this is your boyfriend?

[Super Trucker]

We're engaged. And we bought a house together eight years ago.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So y'all ain't making it down that aisle. Girl, I know you love him, but damn, you ain't even married and you doing. You cheating.

[Nadine Jones]

Cheating.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think you should just.

[Super Trucker]

Right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think you should just Revoke that whole engagement. Go and live your life already. You 46?

[Super Trucker]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You only playing around.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay. Okay. She need to be Neo's fifth girlfriend. That's what it sound like she needs. She?

[Nadine Jones]

You, You.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You into the poly situation. I think that's what you need. You need somebody who's going to be comfortable with you doing these things. I know he already bought the ring. I understand. But would this be better that he found out after you married him or right now? I think it makes more sense that he found out now. And I think that you just need to look in the mirror. Just be honest with yourself. Marriage is not for you, especially not a committed marriage. It's not for you right now. I'm not saying forever, but that ain't something that's. That's for you right now. Because you know, you gotta give him the choice. You know what I mean? Right now you're not really giving him a choice. You know, you wanna lead him on and he marry you. And you know you're still gonna cheat. I love your honesty. You like. No, I ain't finished cheating yet. But you can't walk down on me. You know, I love for a reason.

[Super Trucker]

Like, I'm not trying to. I mean. Excuse me. Yeah. I want real advice. So just like I have to tell my therapist everything.

[Nadine Jones]

Yeah.

[Super Trucker]

He can't help me if I lie or if I withhold.

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And that sets you apart from everybody else. People be calling up here, lying to me, leaving out parts of the story. I applaud your honesty, but you cannot get married. And you have to tell him that you're not ready for marriage.

[Super Trucker]

But I'm the one that wants to get married and he doesn't. I mean, he's the one that's holding back. I mean, obviously he gave me a ring which indicates he would want to marry me, but he could also just be leading me on.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Leading you on?

[Super Trucker]

We've been together 10 years.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yep. You can't get married.

[DJ Envy]

The.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The. The advice is still the same. I know you want to get married, but you're not ready. I'm telling you, this ain't about him no more. It's about you. You're not ready to get married. You're not. Cuz you're not finished playing the field. You know what I mean? And that's totally fine, but you got to do that single. You know, you. You. He already got trust issues. You found a GPS tracker that is scary as scary as hell. But what's also. But what's also scary is being Engaged to somebody that keeps cheating. It's. It's. It's crazy, and it's. It's scary knowing that I have to track my woman because I'm afraid that she ain't gonna never stop cheating. I know she's doing something, and we ain't even make it down the aisle yet. So, yes, while marriage is something that you want, that's a little further down the line for you, boo.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You're welcome, babe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good luck, mama. Just fix my mess.

[DJ Envy]

You know what I'm saying? And you wanted Amber Rose to stop the slut walk. Okay?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I didn't want her to stop.

[Nadine Jones]

She wanted to stop.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because of her.

[DJ Envy]

These ladies need something to do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I didn't want her to stop. I just felt like it was complete contradictory why she stopped.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

800-585-1051. Just fixed my mess. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just Larry Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club.

[Will Packer]

We're in the middle of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just fix my mess. We have share on the line, right, Sherry? Oh, Sherry, I'm sorry. Take us off Bluetooth for speaker.

[Super Trucker]

Sherry. Sherry.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Sherry. She yelling at me.

[DJ Envy]

Damn.

[Will Packer]

Sherry.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's your question for Jess?

[Super Trucker]

Watch that Brooklyn star look. Envy. I'm a pan. Stop. What's good? What's good? Good morning. Morning, class.

[David Oyelowo]

What's up?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Shot o'clock. He sounds drunk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Definitely shot a clock.

[Super Trucker]

It's 5:00 somewhere. Y. All right, Jazz, so I want you to fix my messy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's up, baby? What you got?

[Super Trucker]

All right, I got this ex right now. We were together for, like, two years, and then we were still together physically for two years after we had broke up. But in those two years we broke up, he was with another person, living with her, engaged to her. I don't care about that. I trained that meat myself. You feel me? So it was kind of hard for me to leave that alone, regardless of whatever we broke up for, you know, trying to train somebody else from scratch. Scratch is kind of hot. But I attempted, and when I attempted, they was just terrible back to back. And I'm like, I'm not kissing all these frogs till I get a prince.

[Nadine Jones]

You feel me?

[Super Trucker]

Like, some of them is just toads. And so I just want to know what I should do, girl, because you know that that meet is forever mine, or should I let this girl have her fiance? Like, if they gonna be married and all that. You feel me?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know, I know. But this is the thing, because it. I. I think I want to tell you to go ahead and pursue him, because that should actually train that meat and all of that. I get that. But if he's about to walk down the aisle with another short 40 and he just, you know, at this point, he's just using you for the convenience.

[Super Trucker]

He is not using. When I'm the one initiating, I. I hit him up. Like, I know y'all got whatever y'all got going on, but you busy today, because I need something real quick. You feel me? But I'm gonna know, like, well, I.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Don'T think you got anything to even worry about, because once shorty get a. You know, get a whiff of this, she ain't walking down the aisle. So you gonna have him.

[Nadine Jones]

Believe it or not, you know, that's the thing.

[Super Trucker]

I don't never want him back. You want that? And that's why I let him have this fiance, because, you know, let that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Girl deal with the headache.

[Super Trucker]

I just feel me. I just want to know, should I keep doing that? Should I be abstinent? You feel me? Like, what should I do, Jazz?

[Lauren LaRosa]

She just want the meat, Jeff. It's so much meat out here. I. I think, you know, you train one dog, you can train another one. It is.

[Super Trucker]

Yes. That's the thing says it is. And when I tried it, it was terrible.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, let her have back to back. Let her have that. That's her headache now. And I think, like I said, you. You done. All you want is the meat. That's fine. Some things just run its course. You need to leave him alone. Let him be married. Let him figure it out. That ain't for him either, because obviously, if he's still willingly cheating on his fiance, he walked down the aisle yet, then that's. That's something that he going to keep doing. You ain't even got to be a casualty of that. I know you initiating and all that, but would you want your man, your. Your fiance to do the same thing to you?

[Super Trucker]

I don't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Exactly. And when it's gonna come a time where somebody's gonna put a ring on your finger, Miss Ma'am. Because if you train and meet and all that.

[Super Trucker]

Yes, I believe God. Say that again.

[Nadine Jones]

Jessica.

[Super Trucker]

I think he ain't hear you, so.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I want you to leave that alone.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just where you think she from? I say Brooklyn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She definitely from New York. I don't even know the barrels or whatever, but she definitely from New York.

[DJ Envy]

What you think? I smell Brooklyn, but.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm sorry.

[DJ Envy]

I smell Brooklyn, but I think it's the Bronx homie.

[Super Trucker]

Backstyle, Homo, Biggie and Jay. What happened?

[DJ Envy]

Brooklyn. I smell Brooklyn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I smell Brooklyn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think I gotta smell.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good luck in training that D. The. The meat. Whatever you call it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's right, sis.

[DJ Envy]

Yo, you gotta stop repeating things just because you hear people saying, I just like it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I said, good luck with trading the.

[Lauren LaRosa]

D. She ain't never say she trained the D. She said, I trained that meat.

[DJ Envy]

But you ain't him ad libbing you in the background, talking about train that meat.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I did not say that.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, you did. You want to be with the girls.

[Super Trucker]

She said, thank me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I saved you.

[Super Trucker]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Goodbye, Sherry.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Thank you, boo. Yo, Sherry drunk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, my gosh. All right, just the Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning, the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Now, if you're just joining us during. Get it off your chest. A gentleman called in and said he was having a problem with his relationship and this was bothering him. So listen, first thing, I just want.

[DJ Envy]

To get this opportunity.

[Super Trucker]

I can't say this to my girl, so I'm gonna just say it to y'all. I hate my girl dogs.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Super Trucker]

I don't know how okay to all the dog people out there. I don't know how y'all deal with dogs running all around your house and dog everywhere, but this about to make me say, hey, I can't do this no more, bro. I had a dream about poisoning them dogs last night.

[DJ Envy]

Did you and your wife have a conversation? Did you tell her how you feel?

[Super Trucker]

Yeah, we had one a few months ago, and that turned into a big old argument. So I. I ain't trying to go there no more.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So we're asking 800-585-1051. What's your relationship pet peeve? Let's start with you, Jess, all right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

When you don't have no father and your mother is way too involved in your business, because then it leaks over into our business. When he want to take you on a date, but ask you where you want to go?

[Super Trucker]

Excuse me?

[Lauren LaRosa]

If you want to take me on a date date, plan the date. I don't like a that be like, oh, like, plan the date. Learn me. You know what I like. If you know I like to eat steak, where you going to take me? Not out back, but where you going to take me? You know what I'm saying? I don't like that.

[DJ Envy]

Well, he can't just been waiting on somebody stop like, well, y'all should have did couples there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm not talking about crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No man can fix the mother problem. Like they can't if they tight with their mom. They can't fix that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Will Packer]

And then.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wait a minute. Sometimes if I take you to a restaurant, then you be like, why we go to this restaurant? Why we not go to restaurant? So they asked, so what are you feeling for today, babe?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, no, no. It's a date. It's all in the place. Take the initiative to be like, you know what? I'm going to take her here. You know, and the reason why I say, you know, no Outback Steakhouse. I'm not talking about, like, the price of it and, you know, the. The tear that it's on. I'm talking about because it has steak in the neck. Name. Just because it got steak in the name.

[DJ Envy]

Don't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Don't do that. Outback Steakhouse. Don't do that.

[DJ Envy]

You are hard to please, though, Jesse.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You.

[DJ Envy]

You don't like nothing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Charmaine. You don't eat nothing. So it's kind of hard to go anywhere and enjoy myself. Okay, okay with you. But no, no, it's about the dad. Like, it starts with the day. If you're dad already, like, not in your life, that. That puts you closer to your mother, then your mother feel like she's dating you, so she got to be in your relationship. Relationships. I ain't with none of it.

[Super Trucker]

Okay, so.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But no, no, I'm not talking about Chris. Not talking about you, babe.

[DJ Envy]

Who you talking about then? People dating people. This is.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean, I don't have these problems now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, well, mine is.

[Nadine Jones]

Is lateness.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My wife is always late. And I'm talking to you, G. Like you said, you want to know about Christmas? I'm talking to you, G. I would hope you talking to G. My wife is always late.

[Nadine Jones]

Late, like.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

To the point where I have to lie about the time. So if you have a party at 9, I gotta tell her the parties at 8 and we still gonna get there at 9:30, 10:00. It is what it is. But the problem. The problem I have is she be late. And then when I'm downstairs watching the tv, waiting, like, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go now. I'm waiting on you now. Waiting on you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's how I go. I hate that that's how I go. So you always on time?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, yeah, I'm always on time.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So you're not black. What's your.

[DJ Envy]

What's your name not answering the phone. You know, my wife and I have different phone habits. Like, my phone is usually on me or near me, so I'm quick to answer if I want to answer for the person. But she doesn't walk around with her phone on her. But my thing is that's cool when everybody is home. Like when I'm home and all the kids home, none of us need to really be near our phone because even the parents know the house phone and stuff like that. But when everybody isn't home, keep your phone on you because you never know when I'm calling and why I'm calling. So keep your phone on you. So not answering the phone, that's my pet peeve.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, well, let's go to the phone.

[Nadine Jones]

Hello?

[DJ Envy]

Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

Yes, sir.

[Will Packer]

Good morning, Breakfast Club.

[Super Trucker]

J A from Indy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

J A from Indy. What's up, brother? What's your pet peeve in a relationship?

[Super Trucker]

It's two of them, man.

[Nadine Jones]

One of them is a woman that.

[Super Trucker]

Doesn'T have a relationship.

[Nadine Jones]

Hate to sound like corny, but a relationship with God. And the second one's gonna sound kind of vain. And I can't stand a woman that don't work out. She gotta be active.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay, well, you don't sound.

[DJ Envy]

Just.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Just for the record, you don't sound corny wanting a woman that has a relationship with God. That's not corny at all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, that's a good. That's a good one.

[Super Trucker]

But it sounds cliche, though. It sounds cliche to say, but, like, it's so imperative that you have a relationship. But just as important, I need her.

[Nadine Jones]

Active because I can't be looking halfway decent.

[Super Trucker]

She a big body.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ah, you don't want no big bags.

[DJ Envy]

No big bad.

[Super Trucker]

All right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you, J A.

[DJ Envy]

God damn.

[Super Trucker]

What if she.

[DJ Envy]

What if she see that? What, she need to be praying to God to lose that weight?

[Will Packer]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't believe in God tied in together.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hello? Who's this?

[Super Trucker]

Maya.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey, Maya. Good morning. What's the pet peeve in a relationship for you?

[Super Trucker]

I've been with my husband for 10 years today and he slobbers and snores really bad.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, baby.

[Super Trucker]

And I'm a light sleeper. Like, I can hear a pin drop. Like, he literally holds me up from sleeping sometimes. Like, he comes to bed, like 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. Most of the time because he's up playing the game. But once he comes to bed, it's like, I can't, I can't. I can't go Back to sleep.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn.

[DJ Envy]

What the hell? Why the hell either one of y'all ain't got no jobs y'all gotta get up for in the morning? Why he get to go to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning? Well, what's up, baby?

[Super Trucker]

We do.

[DJ Envy]

We.

[Super Trucker]

We work opposite schedules because our kids aren't in daycare.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, so what's this got you? Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I feel bad, you know, because, you know, snoring is a lot of times you can't fix that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because sometimes. Medical problem.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Medical problem. He don't do that on purpose.

[Will Packer]

Nervous, man.

[Super Trucker]

Listen, I ain't never seen nobody snore laying on their belly like this. This is crazy. Dang.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You don't nudge him, you know, push him. Does he wake up a little bit?

[Super Trucker]

Yes, I do. All night. I'm kicking, I'm hitting. I'm like.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And she said, slide material probably stank. Pillows probably stink.

[Super Trucker]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Why don't you get some, like, earplugs or something?

[Nadine Jones]

Word.

[Super Trucker]

And we got five kids together, and all five of them kids slobber. It's crazy. Oh, yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You got to lead that family, baby.

[Will Packer]

You got to leave the whole family.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's like. N, n, n. I'm joking, boo.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you, mama.

[Lauren LaRosa]

For better or for worse, though, boo. You said it.

[Will Packer]

So.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right, my lord. 800-585-1051. We're asking, what's a pet peeve in your relationship? Let's discuss. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You got a positive note.

[DJ Envy]

I do. But I want to tell people. First of all, man, make sure you go get your tips tickets for the third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival happening Saturday, April 26th at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, it is year three of an unforgettable day of live podcast inspiring conversations and cultural celebration. Podcast Culture Celebration. Okay, it's hosted by Mandy and Weezy of Decisions Decisions. We got the Trap Nerds podcast there for the gamers. Good Moms, Bad Choices is going to be there. Carrie Champion is going to be there with her Naked sports podcast. Tank and Jay Valentine will be there doing the R B Money podcast live. And Sarah Jake's Rock Roberts will be there doing the Woman Evolved podcast live. So go get your tickets right [e-mail] podcast festival. Okay? Saturday, April 26th, 3rd annual Black Effect Podcast Festival, Atlanta. Can't wait to see you there. And the positive note is simply this. Remember that emotion can be the enemy. If you give in to your emotion, you sometimes lose yourself. When anger rises, think of the consequences and never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion. Ocean have a blessed day.

[Nadine Jones]

Breakfast Club.

[Just Hilarious]

The best moments happen when you're with your people, laughing, vibing, just enjoying life. Coke is making those moments even sweeter. Sherry Coke is back and it's all about sharing with the whole crew. Doesn't matter if it's your bestie or bro, there's a can with their name on it. So grab one for the squad and make some memories. But hurry because these Coca Cola limited edition bottles and can fans won't be here forever. Don't miss your chance to share a Coke with your favorite people.

[DJ Envy]

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