INTERVIEW: 'Grits & Eggs' Podcast Talk Free Thought, Avoiding The Noise, Parenting + More

Summary

Summary: The Breakfast Club Interview with the 'Grits & Eggs' Podcast (Dec 8, 2025)

Main Theme & Overview

This episode of The Breakfast Club features Deontay and Kyle (aka "Big Cat") from the Grits & Eggs podcast. The discussion centers on the growth and philosophy of their show, candid takes on free thought, avoiding internet noise, cultural commentary, personal growth, and the realities of parenting and generational trauma within Black families. Throughout, they discuss the value of authenticity, community connection, and responsible platform use, offering vulnerable glimpses into their backgrounds and challenges.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Origin & Growth of Grits & Eggs

• Deontay’s Start: Deontay, a former truck driver, began producing content on TikTok while on the road, then expanded to YouTube and launched the podcast for deeper, long-form conversations.

  "I started doing TikTok from the truck... I feel like I got something to say... The podcast just seemed like the place where people speak freely." — Deontay [03:14]

• Team Chemistry: The transition from solo content to bringing on Kyle ("Big Cat") for technical help and eventually as a co-host, relying on their longtime friendship and complementary perspectives.

  "We know each other for so long, it's like natural... the ideology is aligned." — Deontay [14:33]

• Audience Growth: Leveraged a base of over 100,000 TikTok followers to launch the pod, embracing small wins:

  "People be acting like a thousand people not a lot... let a thousand people be outside right now." — Charlamagne [05:46]

Podcast Philosophy: Substance Over Clicks

• No Rage-Bait or Low-Hanging Fruit: The hosts consciously avoid trending controversies, relationship debates, or manufactured conflict for virality.

  "I stay away from anything that's like low-hanging fruit... I don't do rage bait either... I'm not trying to come with a hook." — Deontay [06:58]

• Measured Response: They emphasize research and not responding to headlines immediately to avoid misinformation, especially with today's AI-generated content:

  "Don't just make a video soon as something comes out... You don’t got all the information... I just sit back and kind of let get my own perspective on it and kind of research things." — Deontay [07:36] "AI is dangerous, boy." — Deontay [07:40]

• Not an Authority, Just Honest: Deontay doesn't feel pressure to be a definitive educator but wants to share honest and well-considered perspectives.

  "I never approached it as like an authority. These were things I was talking about anyway... I had these opinions already." — Deontay [09:36]

The Importance of Free Thought and Avoiding the Noise

• Cultural Pushback: Discussed the challenge of "free thought" in the Black community, referencing cancel culture and the risks of sharing unpopular opinions.

  "Systemically, free thought come with big punishment... Maybe folks be scared for me... If we're not going to say it, what's the point?" — Deontay [16:37]

• Platform Navigation: Careful about what topics to publicize versus what to save for platforms they control (like Patreon or Discord) due to shadow bans and algorithmic suppression.

  "If I see people constantly getting shadow banned for stuff, maybe we say this for a Patreon... Everything ain’t gotta be for the public all the time." — Deontay [17:26]

Audience Engagement & Live Show Challenges

• Transition from Digital to Live: Learning to structure live events, include audience interaction, and manage nerves.

  "You want them to be involved... you kind of gotta involve the crowd... my first show... I wasn’t pacing, I wasn’t taking my time." — Deontay [12:23]

• Audience Contribution: Crowd Q&As bring "so much substance," with a diverse, engaged community of professionals.

  "Every time we pose questions to the crowd they come up, it’s like so much substance they bring." — Deontay [13:34]

Content Selection & Guest Philosophy

• Not Chasing Uploads/Controversy: Only cover topics if they have something new to contribute.

  "If I don't feel like I can add nothing, if I don't got no fresh perspective, then I'm cool on it." — Deontay [29:55]

• Guest Standards: Avoid guests whose motives are clout/hype; prefer experts across fields, especially Black professionals in STEM and beyond.

  "I like to take people, that is in fields... like, we just interviewed a black astrophysicist... different schools of thought. It's not about your following." — Deontay [22:14]

• Rejecting Certain Sponsorships: They turn down offers from industries like gambling and male enhancement, preferring sponsorships aligned with their values.

  "We don’t do no gambling, and for another, we don’t do no dick pills... everybody getting fired. Cause I already said no." — Deontay & Kyle [20:53–21:00]

Parenting, Trauma, and Generational Healing

• Parenting Styles: Open about past trauma influencing parenting, striving for balance, vulnerability, and humility with their own kids.

  "When I make a mistake, I apologize to my children... I kind of killed the Superman early with them. Like, look, bro, I make mistakes." — Deontay [45:14]

• Explaining "No": Moving away from the traditional "because I said so" approach to explaining decisions to their kids.

  "The difference is, I explain. My dad never explained... Because I said so, and you just took it." — DJ Envy [50:33]

• Intergenerational Honesty: Sharing stories and struggles with their children, breaking cycles of silence around trauma, mental health, and financial realities.

  "You gotta have boundaries with your children too... and allow your kids to have boundaries with you as a parent." — Deontay [61:19] "You can extend grace to [your parents] once you learn their story. Some people ain’t gonna change." — Deontay [53:18]

• Economic Realities: Facing and explaining financial limitations transparently to model responsible behavior and gratitude.

  "Sometimes I be telling myself, like, yeah, bro, I ain’t got it right now, bro... Now we can ball out a little bit, you know what I'm saying?" — Kyle [52:32]

Identity and Vulnerability

• Deontay’s Adoption Story: Discussed discovering in adulthood that he was adopted by Black parents as an infant and his biological mother is white, sharing the impact on his sense of identity and how the internet weaponized this revelation against him.

  "I didn't know I was adopted... So of course that is going to spark up a whole bunch of stuff around identity... But for me, it was liberating, cause I was like, bro, I knew I wasn't crazy." — Deontay [62:21]

• Battling Stereotypes Around Blackness & Masculinity: Pushing back against “overly revolutionary” labels for biracial Black men and refusing to overcompensate.

  "I could understand the psychology behind trying to overcompensate, but that just ain't my vibe." — Deontay [65:30]

• Impact of Trauma: Both Deontay and Kyle shared formative experiences—Deontay around familial instability and childhood sexual abuse, Kyle regarding his father's incarceration—and how these shaped their worldviews and life choices.

  "You spend so much time as an adult trying to heal that little traumatized little boy." — Charlamagne [38:37] “No matter how broke I am, I ain’t gonna sell no drugs. Because being in the car when you a kid and driving through the middle of nowhere to go to a prison, that do something to you..." — Kyle [42:27]

Mental Health, Therapy, and Modeling Healing

• Support for Therapy: Both hosts and guests underscored therapy’s value, especially for Black men, and removing its stigma.

  "If you don't get your mind right in this space where you sharing a lot of your mind, you gonna lose your mind." — Deontay [40:47]

Critique of Social Media & The Black Community

• Self-Censorship & "Mob" Effect: Warned against groupthink and the cycle of outrage/forgiveness on social media, and advocated for genuine engagement over herd behavior.

  "We self-censoring now. So then when they take your freedom of speech, it's like, well, y'all slow walked us into it..." — Deontay [18:47]

• Seeking Diversity of Thought: Engaging with divergent viewpoints to avoid intellectual echo chambers.

  "If you only engaging with stuff that you agree with all the time, your scope of intelligence gonna shrink because you're in an echo chamber." — Deontay [19:36]

Podcast Mission and Meaning

• Intentional Through-Line: Rooted in “liberation”—of Black people first, but ultimately all oppressed groups—via exposure to new perspectives, empathy, honesty, and cyclical community growth.

  "I know I can't change anybody mind, but I can change their perspective… The big overarching thing is liberation... for black people... but it expands." — Deontay [31:17]

• Avoiding Ego & Practicing Empathy: Stress importance of humility, honest self-reflection, and extending grace both to others and to oneself.

  "I think the human aspect of it is just being able... just say you wrong. Don't double down when you mess up." — Deontay [09:05]

Industry Wisdom: The Reality Behind Podcasting Success

• Preparedness for Success: The industry rarely prepares creators for the strenuous demands of “making it”—scaling, managing a team, feeling responsible for an audience, and enduring creative anxiety.

  “What you gonna do when it happens? There’s gonna be days where... you don’t feel like it, but you really gotta tighten up and get to it, because now you got an audience.” — Deontay [72:49]

• Consistency & Authenticity: Made easier by just being themselves, but logistics and team-building are the bigger challenges.

• Advice for Listeners: Encouraged listeners, especially young Black men, to pursue trades and skilled labor as viable, rewarding career paths.

  "All you rappers out there, get out that booth. America needs plumbers, electricians... The trade is what got the podcast off the ground, you know what I'm saying?" — Kyle [74:45]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Avoiding the Social Media Trap:
  "Sometimes you just gotta put that phone down, bro. In a real way... My baby hungry, like, Daddy, can I get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I'm like, 'Hold on, let me respond to this real quick.' Nah, I'm not." — Deontay [33:20]

• On Therapy & Healing:
  "If you don't get your mind right in this space where you sharing a lot of your mind, you gonna lose your mind." — Deontay [40:47]

• On the Show’s Name:
  "Grits and Eggs—that's a go to all the time... just reminded me of a time when I was really starting to think for myself. It's Southern, it’s black, and it sounds good." — Deontay [10:58]

• On Children and Entitlement:
  "Some you gotta earn, some can be given, some you gotta earn. You know what I'm saying? You can't give them everything. If you give a person everything, they gonna feel entitled like, oh, I can get whatever I want." — Kyle [55:27]

• On Industry Realities:
  "Podcasting in general, for us, this shit easy, bro. We just being ourselves... But scheduling, building the team... that’s the hard part." — Deontay [72:56]

• On Bridging Community Gaps:
  "What we're really trying to do is bridge gaps... we got a lot of gaps in our community around differences, but our experience is extremely the same." — Deontay [68:59]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:14] — Deontay explains Grits & Eggs’ origin story
• [05:46] — On celebrating small audience milestones
• [06:58] — Podcast philosophy: substance over surface
• [12:23] — Transitioning to live shows & audience inclusion
• [13:34] — Leveraging crowd engagement and Q&A
• [16:37] — On free thought and “playing the game like a coward”
• [20:53] — On sponsorship ethics (turning down gambling etc.)
• [31:17] — Overarching mission: "liberation"
• [40:47] — Mental health, therapy, and modeling healing
• [45:14] — Parenting, apology, and breaking the "Superman" myth
• [62:21] — Deontay discusses his adoption and biracial identity
• [72:49] — Reflections on what the podcast industry doesn’t prepare you for
• [74:45] — Kyle’s advice to pursue trades & skilled work

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Conclusion

Deontay and Kyle of Grits & Eggs offer an unvarnished look at the highs and lows of new media success, the unique needs of Black communities online, and the power of real talk—from generational trauma to generational healing. Their emphasis on authenticity, empathy, and community over algorithms and controversy makes their podcast a vehicle for real growth and connection. The Breakfast Club hosts amplify the resonance and necessity of platforms like Grits & Eggs in today’s culture, closing the episode with warmth, respect, and encouragement for the journey ahead.

Transcript

[Interviewer]

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[DJ Envy]

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[Deontay]

All?

[DJ Envy]

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[Deontay]

I got.

[DJ Envy]

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[Deontay]

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[Deontay]

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[Deontay]

Hold up.

[DJ Envy]

Every day I wake up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[Deontay]

Y' all finished or y' all done?

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess, Hilarious Charlamagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the building.

[Deontay]

Yes, indeed, from the Grits and Eggs podcast.

[DJ Envy]

Deontay, Kyle, welcome.

[Deontay]

And cat. God damn.

[DJ Envy]

Can I say and cat.

[Deontay]

Big ice cub Cat.

How you feeling? How y' all feeling? Good? Yeah, we good, man, it's cold, bro.

[Kyle]

Excited to be here.

[Deontay]

Y' all tripping, bro. Like, I'm ready to get back down.

[DJ Envy]

Get back to the South.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, cuz, y' all from Atlanta, so. I mean, I'm from South Carolina too, so you never really get used to this cold.

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it's like I had to jump out the Uber, like, bro, I might as well just walk.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all ain't got no jackets, Big guy jacket.

[Deontay]

We got stupid jacket, but it don't matter.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's the origin story of the Grits and Eggs podcast?

[Deontay]

I started doing TikTok from the truck just out of. You know, I'm like, you consume a lot of media when you on the road. And I was like, man, I feel like I could throw my hat in here. I feel like I got something to say.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you're a truck driver?

[Deontay]

Yeah, truck driver. Yeah, for the last five years. I actually just stopped driving trucks in April. You know what I'm saying? So once the TikTok started blowing up, I just kind of, like, foresight was just like, I gotta find something else to do. I can't just live on this one app. And. And I wanna kinda get long form with it. So YouTube, natural place to go. And the podcast just seemed like the place where people speak freely. So it's like, well, I mean, I figure out how much it costs to set this thing up. I just started in the back of the truck. And then once it started gaining some traction, I called him and was like, yo, come work this camera for me. Cause we had a little Canon camera go out, like, every 12 minutes. And I was like, man, just come hit the button every 12 minutes. We had a continual shot little Sony 4K joint. And I was like, yeah, just run that. And then just the chemistry just naturally started picking up.

[DJ Envy]

I'm laughing at the 12 minutes. Cause anybody that taped the podcast from the beginning knows that the Camera would shut off automatically in 12 minutes. So you either have to reset it every 12 minutes or get two views so that way you could go back and forth.

[Deontay]

That's what we was doing. Yeah. Cause the continual shot was grainy, but it was like a B cam. And it was like, it'll keep going. So in between. Cause sometimes he'll be like, you forget? I forget. Cause we talk as friends. He ain't really seeing me do my thing, so he like, kind of getting lost in the message. And then I'm like, yo, get the camera, bro.

Get on the camera. The red light not on. You know what I'm saying? But yeah, it was just a continuation of, like, small social media clips into long form content. Like, you can only say so much in three minutes, and you can only hold people's attention so much on TikTok, you know what I'm saying? So I was just like, all right, let's get long form and get the audience to actually want to dive into these topics.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you've been doing it five years?

[Deontay]

No, no, no, I've been doing. I started a podcast two years ago in March, so two years visual in January.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, you ahead of schedule then? Cause, you know, there was always. The statistics show that it usually takes a podcast six to seven years to really, really, really take off. And for you to already be cutting through after only a couple of years, that's damn good.

[Deontay]

Yeah. I had the proof of concept from social media, though. So, like, I didn't come into it without an audience. I was like 100,000 strong on TikTok when I started. And so I was like, all right, well, we kind of integrate these folks. And I know, like, integration is like 10%. I was like, get a thousand people to watch there. Yeah, I'm good. When we was getting a thousand views. Yeah, we're doing our thing over here.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm glad you got that mentality because people be acting like a thousand people. Not a lot of people let a thousand people be outside right now.

[Deontay]

For real. We did our first show. 150 people looking at you in the face is crazy. That's right. I was like, I need a minute. Brush too many eyeballs. Like, this is insane. You know what I'm saying? But we. We done got used to that part too.

[Jess Hilarious]

Cause.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Cause you mess up, you know what I'm saying? It's the same with comedy. It's like transitioning from being this person who makes skits and all that, and then you go on stage and now they looking at you. And you can't delete or you can't.

[Deontay]

Edit or you can't. It ain't no editing. And then they looking at you like, entertain us. Do it. Do the thing you do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Make us laugh.

[Jess Hilarious]

How was the first live show?

[Kyle]

It was cool, man.

[Deontay]

Mississippi, it was so much love too. Cause we got invited out there and so like, you know, us being like a podcast that center around like the black experience in the community, issues for us to go to like one of the blackest cities in America. They invited us and a lot of people don't go to Mississippi to do nothing. Yeah. So it was our first show. It was so much love in there. But we done kind of got season. We do a couple shows in Atlanta. We got a show tomorrow in Brooklyn. Yeah. Sold out. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

What's the most difficult thing to talk about when you talk about the podcast? What's one thing you'd be like, ah, we got to talk about as a relationship. Is it politics? Is it?

[Kyle]

I mean, talk about relationships? Yeah, they don't do that.

[Deontay]

I stay away from anything that's like low hanging fruit. Things that people just do just to get clicks. I don't do rage bait either. You gonna engage with this cause you genuinely interested or you gonna keep it pushing? You know what I mean? I'm not trying to come with a hook. I'm not doing none of that. Cause relationships, that's two people. I don't know how you was raised, I don't know what type of love you grew up around. So I can't tell you how to love or how to receive love or how to operate with your partner. That's just gonna have people disagreeing and that's good for engagement, but it ain't long lasting.

[Interviewer]

I'm sorry, I was saying, how do you choose in the community? What? Cause there's always a lot going on. Spend your time focusing on what's low hanging fruit and what's not within your topics.

[Deontay]

I just don't react, you know what I mean? Like, I like the thing about TikTok, what I learned early on how to separate myself was like, don't just make a video soon as something come out because you're gonna miss the mark. You don't got all the information. You don't know if the headline was false, you don't know if it's AI. You don't know nothing. So I just sit back and kind of let get my own perspective on it and kind of research things too. People just be talking, people just say stuff and then you Come out and you ain't researched. I started to see this happen with OGs a lot now on Instagram. Like they re. They reposting stuff and like reacting and stuff. And it's like, that's AI. It's not even real. AI is dangerous, boy. It's dangerous. You know what I'm saying? It's so real.

[DJ Envy]

I'll be like, jesus, yeah.

[Kyle]

Nah, nah. Peter Rock is notorious for that.

[Deontay]

Pete Rock.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, Pete Rock. Salute to Pete Rock. What he be doing?

[Kyle]

He be AI stuff. Like he'll react to it like, oh, my God, this is real, man.

[Deontay]

Pete Rock.

[Kyle]

That's AI Real. Calm down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I got got one time with what was the brother named Kyle Lacey. They said it was his mom. And I got it from Eternity, Ben Crump's page. So it was his mom talking about what happened to him. And I just reposted it and it was AI.

[Jess Hilarious]

Damn.

[Deontay]

Yeah, it get a little wicked. Cause it's like you don't wanna. Cause then it's not really a credibility thing. Anybody can get got by that, especially with it being so new. But I think with just reacting to things off your emotional standpoint, you can't take it back once you post it. In the Internet thing, if you. You take a post down, they like, ah, scared. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you gotta admit when you wrong though.

[Deontay]

Yeah. That's all you gotta do too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Cause your audience will appreciate that.

[Deontay]

Yeah. I think the human aspect of it is just being able. Just say you wrong. Don't double down on your life, but don't double down when you. When you mess up. Just go ahead and be like, yeah, I messed up. I missed the mark.

[Interviewer]

I'm hearing me now that people are coming to y' all as like a source of education.

How has that changed or has it changed your approach and how you present the information? Is there like a pressure? Because people like my little brother loves your content. He swears by everything you say.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Like literally. Does that add pressure into how you put out your content and what you choose to talk about?

[Deontay]

Not really. I don't. I never approached it as like an authority. These was things I was talking about anyway. These are things. Conversations I was having with like my friends, family, the homies, like, any, anytime. Like I used to rap then, like in between songs, the engineer doing his thing. I was always talking about like owning our own stuff or like, you know, just like organically creating a following different ways and strategic. And then it was naturally leading to things that's going on in the community. I had These opinions already. So a lot of my stuff is things that I research, lectures that I watch and kind of digest it for myself, but also, like, life experience. I don't talk about nothing. I don't know. So I don't got that pressure to feel like I'm an authority on something or I gotta say something. Like, it's 10 other creators out here that says something about that. Go watch that video. They might have hit it. I'm not going to regurgitate information just because you want to hear it from me. You know what I mean?

[Interviewer]

My brother wants to start this, like, trucking company, and he has a whole idea, and when he told me about it, he sent me the video that you did on ownership. It was like, you could work all these businesses and try to become a millionaire, but what they give to you, they could take from you.

[Deontay]

Right?

[Interviewer]

And that was his way of telling me, like, I need to help him figure that out. But yeah, yeah, yeah. So he leans into y' all a lot.

[Deontay]

Yeah, for sure. Shout out your little brother. What's his name?

[Interviewer]

His name is Don't.

[Deontay]

What's up, cuz?

[Interviewer]

What's up, Don on the truck.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why the name Grits and Eggs? Like, what does that represent about the show's voice or identity?

[Deontay]

I was kind of thinking about when I came to my own. Like, when I started thinking for myself, making my own decision. It started real young. I was, like, 11 when my folks had split up. My mom actually moved to Atlanta, and we stayed in Wilmington, North Carolina, with our dad and. And pops was like, look, bro, y' all mama gone. I gotta pick up another job. Grits. Grits and Eggs. That's a go to all the time. It's always gonna be in there. Learn how to cook that you can take care of yourself. Twice a week, I'm throwing a pot of spaghetti in there. You know what I'm saying? You good? So it was just like, this is how I kind of gained my autonomy. I was taking care of my siblings. I ain't have to do nothing if I ain't want to. If I didn't want to go to school, I ain't have to. You know what I mean? But I also started making, like, responsible decisions for myself, too and too, like, all the homies at school. When I'm gonna skip school and be at home by myself all day, I ain't trying to do that, but it was just, like, it reminded me of a time when I was, like, really starting to think for myself. And then it just, like, it's Southern, you know, it's black and it sound good. You know what I'm saying? So it hit all my marks. And I was like, yeah, we gonna run with that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ain't no better breakfast, bro.

[Deontay]

With a biscuit every day.

[Kyle]

You lit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right.

[Deontay]

You full, too?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, look, right. So you went from social media to now doing your live shows, right? What are you. Some of the challenges that you would face when you made that transition, Like. Cause you mentioned earlier, it's 150, and the seats is like, ooh, ooh. Now what do I do? Like, what are some of the other challenges? What did you realize?

[Deontay]

I think it was just figuring out how to structure the show. It's not the same when we. Me and him will go off on a tangent. We'll just banter sometimes. And it's like, you can't really do that in a live show because you kind of gotta involve the crowd. You want them to be involved. So also, you know, rushing through your talking points. Yeah, my first show, like, I had all these talking points, and I done went through them because I'm nervous, for real. So I'm just like, I'm not pacing, I'm not taking my time. I'm not pausing. I'm not doing none of that that I would do on the show. And then I was like, damn, I ain't got nothing. It's like 15. We only 15 minutes. And they don't know that time.

[DJ Envy]

You going so slow, bro.

[Deontay]

And I was like, big Cat, what's up, baby?

[Kyle]

I had the improv 30 minutes.

[Deontay]

Big Cat, what's up, baby? That's right. Yeah, talk to the people. But I was like, let me. But when you start interacting, the thing that I do at the live shows now is like, you know, normally you wait till the end, you do a Q and A and they ask you questions. But I got these topics that surround already. My talking points were. But I like to pose a question to the crowd. Cause, like, I feel like I could trust my crowd. They intelligent people. And every time we post questions to the crowd and they come up, it's like so much substance that they bring. Because a lot of these people be like professionals. Like, we got professors that come, doctors, all people from all walks of life and shit like that. So it's like, damn, I can really trust my crowd. And I can feed off them too. And that actually, like, build out the interaction. But they really feel like they're a part of the show, too.

[Interviewer]

When you're doing cultural commentary, right? And both Of y' all have so much different perspective and personal experience in preparation. How long? I feel like y' all conversations between each other probably go for hours in preparation. How do you cut it and be like this, what we gonna take from it? Cause your clips online get straight to what you need to get to.

[Kyle]

You wanna answer that?

[Deontay]

Nah, you tell em.

[Kyle]

Cause I mean, we just focus on the main, the main thing. We keep the main thing. The main thing. Cause we, like I said, like he said, we can bounce it for hours. We can go for hours and hours about different topics and subjects, but basically we just, you know, he focuses on, he get his key points, he writes them down on the top on the whiteboard and then we'll go over them and then we can just go from the show from there.

[Deontay]

Brad don't even know what we finna talk about.

[Kyle]

Nah, I really don't.

[Deontay]

He just plugged to the crib. It's like the white boy full and it's like. But I know him, you know what I'm saying? And we know each other for so long, it's like natural, you know what I'm saying? It's natural. Like he gonna fall in. He got a different perspective on a lot of things too. But the ideology is aligned. So you know what I'm saying? When we kick the mathematics to him. Cause he got the 5% of knowledge and all that, it's just kind of showcasing all these different black thoughts, you know what I mean? But as far as picking the topics, like for real, I might pull the topic from this conversation. Like I like to pull it from real life situations and you know, just things that I actually care about. Like if we see issues in our community, it ain't really like, it ain't progressive to like berate each other. And a lot of people think that that's the way to get a point across. Like I gotta berate you. I gotta talk down. Like, hey bro, your mama talk to you like that? Don't talk to me like that, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people bringing stuff from their household, but when you bring it to the community, if you show empathy and love, it's like people don't receive that, you know, the same way you receive information. So if, if it feel like it's coming from somebody who care, then I think the message can get across. But I think getting right to it, like especially on social media only, no hood, this is what we talking about. And then we're gonna go through it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So Cat, you don't Even be knowing what he deontay gonna talk about. So when you come into the house and he got on the Satan mask.

[Deontay]

With a suit on, first of all.

[Kyle]

When I came to the house that day, okay, he came to the door regular and said, I got a surprise for you. I said, all right, cool. He goes upstairs, you ready? I said, yeah, come on this, come downstairs in a trump suit with a SA mat. I said, I know what kind of episode it's going to be. I already know the response is going to be, you know what I'm saying? But that's the type of we do though, you know what I'm saying? If somebody say something online like they try to cancel him every two weeks over something that he say, but the people ain't listening, they be trying to cancel you. They listen to react, they don't listen to the message, you know what I'm saying?

[Interviewer]

I think it's cuz a lot of people are, I'm not going to say afraid, but free thought with black people and black community, sometimes there's a big like fight of what people think free thought is and what they don't think it is. And with you, you kind of just say things that people are really not going to say.

[Deontay]

Well, I mean, systemically free thought come with big punishment. And so I think a lot of it is like maybe not canceling. Like maybe folks be scared for me because I be saying folks like pretend, like protect me from who, bro? I ain't tripping on that. Like, if we're not gonna say, I mean, what's the point? We're gonna play the game like a coward, then what's the point? I don't need no podcast if I'm playing a game like a coward. I could just go take the little money that they try to give to me every two weeks or whatever the case may be. But we got like strict stances on what we not advertising, where we not going with it, what we not gonna talk about. And you know, I think the bigger thing is just like it worked to get us here, what I'm changing it up for, you know what I mean? I ain't really, I ain't scared to talk about nothing as far as like, you know, whatever the topic may be that oh, this will get you Shadow banned, whatever. I don't own these apps, bro. I don't own it. So it's like, okay, if I see people constantly getting Shadow banned for stuff. Maybe we say this for a Patreon, you know, you just gotta know the game. You Playing in the fields you in. Like, I don't own none of these apps, so if I see them punishing folks. Let's go somewhere where we already got our subscription service. We know our folks over here. We got a discord over here. Let's talk about it. Enough. Everything ain't gotta be for the public all the time.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But, you know, what you just talked about is making a choice. And I think that there's a misconception that when you work for a corporate entity, you can't talk about the things you want to talk about.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You can. You just make the choice.

[Deontay]

You make the choice. Make the choice. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And deal with what comes with that.

[Deontay]

Yeah. You know the rules. You know what I'm saying? But you sign up, usually the rules.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don'T come from the rules. The backlash ain't gonna come from corporate.

[DJ Envy]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I mean?

[Deontay]

It's gonna come from the consumer.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, the consumer or the person you actually talked about.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If I go on Fox News and I talk about Donald Trump, which I have, and then Donald Trump calls me a racist sleaze bag with a low iq, which he has, that just comes with me, you know, making the choice.

[Deontay]

To say, what's the game, though? Yeah, it's the game. I mean, it ain't gonna change the way I approach it. I think the thing about getting canceled is, like, I mean.

You gotta articulate a disagreement, bro. You can't just say, I don't like that. You cancel it, bro. Go ahead. You don't control my life. I don't even know you, Sean.

[DJ Envy]

It's calmed down a lot, though. Cause at one time it was advertisers pulling immediately, but I always hated it. Cause we should be able to have a conversation even if we don't agree with each other. Why can't we have a conversation?

[Deontay]

Well, we don't understand. Even if it pushes the limit, for sure. Cause we also don't understand, like, what freedom of speech is. You know what I'm saying? Like, it ain't the freedom of consequences I get, but we self censoring now. We gonna censor ourselves. So then when they take your freedom of speech, it's like, well, y' all slow walked us into it. Cause you like that mob mentality, make you feel like you got power online. But the thing is, in three days, you don't even care no more.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's the thing.

[Deontay]

And this done messed up a person's whole career regardless. Like, you know, the other side of this is like Rush Limbaugh had Like, a very lucrative career. I ain't agree with most of nothing he said, but I can understand the power of that community that did agree with him, allow him to do it for so long. And we.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Where Wrestling ball worked at where? Right here.

[Deontay]

You see what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We did a joint show with Russ before and went back and forth and everything. Agreed to disagree and all of that.

[Deontay]

I think you need a diversity of thought. If you only engaging with stuff that you agree with all the time, your scope of intelligence gonna shrink because you're in an echo chamber. So I always dive into, like, a lot of people were saying they ain't know who Charlie Cart was before he died and whatnot. Like, I did. I pay attention to folks like that. Cause I need to know what these folk think about us. And that'll inform the community, too. But also, too, it's like, why they kicking it like that? If it's not based on the facts, I really don't want to hear it. But it's being said, so we need to know it's being said about us. You know what I'm saying?

[Interviewer]

Has there been anybody that has reached out to y' all to come onto the podcast to debate?

[Deontay]

Some.

[Interviewer]

Some of y' all thought that you're like, nah, this is harmful. We don't want to have this conversation.

[Deontay]

Nah, never. Because I ain't debating nobody. Debates don't change mine. It's just we. We just having a pissing contest. I'm cool on that. You know what I'm saying? You can stitch a video and do your thing. I ain't debating, like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But they say you debate your piss. Everybody else. You teach.

[Deontay]

You did. Yeah, Yeah.

[Kyle]

A lot of people ask, come on the show, man, like, no, we ain't doing that.

[Deontay]

Really?

[Kyle]

We ain't doing that. I mean, if I don't align with if. Especially if you don't like it. Like, if he don't want to fuck with it. Oh, my bad. Can we say that?

[Deontay]

Yeah. If he.

[Kyle]

If he don't rock with it, he's like, nah, man, we ain't doing that. You know what I'm saying? Then he also said, like, people been reaching out to us for a bag. For one, we don't do no gambling, and for another, we don't do no dick pills. So we always turn into that.

[Deontay]

No gambling.

[Kyle]

No dick pills, no gambling, no dick.

[Deontay]

Pills, no male enhancement. You know what I'm saying?

[Kyle]

It's a reason for that.

[Deontay]

I mean, they be offering to you. She know. But I'd be Like, no. Yeah. And if they answer again, everybody getting fired. Cause I already said no. So it's like, the thing is, is, you know, big cat bruh. Like, this my dog bruh. I be cool. Like, I don't really. We wanted a few shows where people would prefer for us to have the solo episode anytime we drop guests on Wednesdays. Like, Wednesdays is our solo slot. We didn't have no guests the longest. He ain't even on camera. You know what I'm saying? So I'm forward facing. We done dropped Wednesday episodes. They like, yeah, that's cute now, but, like, you could give that another day. Wednesday is our day. We doing the Knowledge on Wednesdays. So, I mean, now we got the guest episodes. But if you not hip to who I am, I'm not hip to what you do. I'm not like a marketing company, bro. You know, I don't do promo. We here to have a conversation. I don't know who you is, but.

[DJ Envy]

Sometimes I think it's good, though. I think it's good. Cause sometimes we get stuck in our own chamber, right? Where we don't know what's going on or see what's going on. Like, her brother listens to you all the time. He listens from a different perspective.

[Deontay]

For sure.

[DJ Envy]

I watch you from a different perspective. I watch you from the clips. Cause I don't have time to watch full episodes. But sometimes it's putting on people that might not know who you are. Be like, damn, that's a smart brother. Those are smart brothers. Let me check them out.

[Deontay]

You know what I mean? Yeah. So I'll say this. I took. My strategy when it comes to guests is kind of like the Joe Rogan strategy. I like to take people, that is in fields like, we just interviewed a black astrophysicist. Whoo.

[Kyle]

What a vibe we've got, y'.

[Deontay]

All.

[Kyle]

As always, it's classic HBCU energy.

[DJ Envy]

Nonstop action.

[Kyle]

The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chants echoing, drums beating, everybody showing that school pride.

[DJ Envy]

Moments like this, yeah, they call for.

[Kyle]

An ice cold Coca Cola. Crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.

[Deontay]

Mm.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, that taste always hit the right note.

[Kyle]

Just like the band at halftime. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the place, no matter the moment. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.

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[Deontay]

Un.

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[Deontay]

Like psychologists, we've interviewed quite a few like therapists. I'm pulling from different schools of thought. But it ain't really necessarily about your following or nothing like that. It's like, if I like what you're talking about, or if it's out of my range of capability, like, I don't know nothing about astrophysics for real. He do. And somebody listening might be interested in this, or they child might watch it. Like, people watch our show with their children. So it's like, this might send him on a career path. But I'm also like, I got, like, some little nerdy questions to ask you, bro. And you the professional. You the expert. I'mma go ask you. But I think we need to seem like a spectrum of black thought. And it ain't always gotta be black radical thought. Sometimes it's just pure education. Sometimes it's just these are fields we don't know people in. We've gone interview a marine biologist, top of 20, 26. It's like, I just want to see, like, see blackness in its full thing. This monolith that we got.

[DJ Envy]

But that's dope.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

I say that's dope.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's always been our model here at Breakfast Club. Bring everybody. Anybody with an area of expertise, you know, especially black people. You know, let's. Why not? Why not give them a platform.

[Deontay]

Yeah, word. Y' all don't open that kid's mind.

[DJ Envy]

And be like, you know what? I want to try that. Let me look that up in school. Let me do my homework on that. Which sometimes we don't get.

[Deontay]

Yeah. Hey, y' all ever. Y' all ever caught yourself, like, in the moment, like, Shouta is wilding. Y' all don't. Y' all like. Like where you, like, kind of freezing, like.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, what's up?

[Deontay]

Like, tripping. Cause you can see where people kind of. Hey, I don't ever got you.

[Kyle]

Yeah, you all about yourself.

[Deontay]

You be tripping.

You'll take it down with no, you like. But, like, I think sometimes I know when people come in. Cause they want to, like, oh, this would be good. Like, I can get some clips or whatever. But it's like, I don't went down your page. You ain't talking about that. For real. I'm cool on that. You know what I'm saying? It's plenty more folks you can go talk to. And the following really don't matter. It's like, is this gonna, like, not benefit me, but, like, benefit the audience? Is it gonna add anything? Is we gonna be able to have a real conversation? Or you just want to come up here so you can disagree with me in front of everybody. Cool on that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you know what though? Y' all learning a very, a very good part of your skill set. Because Wendy Williams used to always tell me you're only gonna interview somebody like Jay Z once.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, you might interview a Rihanna or Beyonce once.

[Deontay]

Right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They come to listen to you every single day. So it's the same thing with y' all with the podcast.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People want to hear from y' all to every single episode that I know I can stand on.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Everything else is gravy.

[Deontay]

Yeah, it feels good to have established it ourselves without, like, we would not like formerly media trained or even in entertainment, like, we kind of grassroots came up. TikTok is a great platform for like the everyday person to kind of voice their opinion and perspective. And, you know, I'm just grateful that people rock with me in the way they do. Like, because I don't think that everything gotta be a situation where people are placed in front of you by corporations or entities or. You know, I've been grinding 10 years and I just pivoted to this. It's like, bro, I'm in the truck. I'm just like you, you know what I'm saying? We out here every day. I'm working 60 hours a week, I'm taking care of my babies, you know what I'm saying? But I also got a mind and perspective on things too, that I feel like is valuable to the conversation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Man, those are my favorite podcast stories, man. I know that. You know, there's a lot of rappers and athletes and celebrities that get into the podcast game. My favorite podcast stories are people like yourselves and the Reed and Mandy and wheezy people who weren't, weren't in media at all, like doing corporate jobs, driving trucks and deciding, you know what, I got something to say. I want to tell my unique story and then people gravitate towards it. To me, that's what the essence of podcasting is about.

[Kyle]

Yeah, you gotta bet on yourself.

[Deontay]

For sure. Yeah, for sure.

[Jess Hilarious]

So I earlier you said you don't talk about surface level shit, you know, none of the low hanging fruit. But what's the cultural moment, right, that has taken place that you've seen online that you felt like absolutely needed a grits and eggs tape?

[Deontay]

I don't know. I don't know. Like, we talking about some of everything.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What you think the puppy shit was good? When I said, yeah, the puppy was wild. Yeah.

[Deontay]

You know, I think.

The most recent thing we kind of like folks been is like the whole, like, Rory and Miles situation. Cause of the tweets. But it's just like, I just be thinking shit like that. Funny, like, hey, bro, pack it up. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's cool. Cause we kind of in this podcast space, like on some fun friendly stuff, like, yeah, get up out the way. Like we making way for ourselves. But like, cultural moments, they come and go. If it's too much conversation about it on social media, I don't really feel like I can add nothing to it. If I don't feel like I can add nothing, if I don't got no fresh perspective, then I'm cool on it. Cause it's like, like I said, we just regurgitate the same thing. If people ask me what my opinion on stuff, and I know a creator that has, like a poignant opinion, I'd be like, go watch them. Got you. You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I feel like, you know, what makes y' all successful is y' all got a mission baked in to y' all podcast. At least that's what I feel when.

[Deontay]

I listen to it.

[Interviewer]

Feels like a movement for sure.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So. So what's the. What do you think the intentional through line behind your conversations is?

[Interviewer]

I think you click something on your phone.

[Deontay]

Yeah, for sure.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you AI deontay.

[Kyle]

We'Ll start talking from his pocket.

[Deontay]

They on to us, man.

We got got just like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But what do you. What do you think the intentional through line behind your conversation?

[Deontay]

I think, for one, I know I can't change nobody mind, but I can change their perspective, right? I think that the big overarching thing is like, liberation, you know what I'm saying? And liberation outside of the system. Liberation outside of the way you thinking. Liberation for black people. And then it's gonna expand, of course, to all people of color, all poor people, all people that face oppression. But I think for more than anything, it's like we cycle through. We cycle through a lot of talking points saying the same shit over and over. And it's never really a situation where I'm trying to help somebody grow. It's just like a lot of people are just happy. Like, yeah, I don't think like that, but you do. So I'm smart, you're dumb, I'm rich, you're poor. All these different things. It's like, I gotta like, tip the scales like that. Really. We can leave an opportunity for everybody to grow. And a lot of people don't want to see other girls for whatever reason, but for Me, it's like, I come from blue collar work, bruh. I know how many brilliant people is out here in the world that don't even have social media. And then I also know there's a lot of brilliant people that can add the conversations, that can help us grow and help us see things in a different way. Because a lot of times, like I said, we live in these echo chambers where we kind of constantly getting the same feedback loops and a lot of the issues be with self esteem, bro. And like, we just. It's very easy to tear each other down. And I think that's the route that people take. Like, it's like, you know, it take a lot more to care about somebody than it do to, like, you know, just like, cut them deep and just be like. That's the easy thing to do. A lot of us grow up in households where that's the play, like, cut you down real quick. But I want us to actually, like, be willing to express our love and care for one another publicly.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

How do you avoid the noise? Cause, you know, a lot of times with podcasts, anybody in the public, right, you do it for the right reason. Most people, I ain't gonna say everybody does, but most people wanna do it for the right reason, wanna help. And they realize that the people that they're trying to help, somehow some way turns right. It could be another podcaster, it could be another personality. How do you deal with that where you feel like it's not a mental thing and you keep going through it and don't let that bother you, affect you and eff up your day?

[Deontay]

I think that first is just being honest about it, that it do bother me, you know what I'm saying? Like, it don't feel good to be talked about negatively, especially by a multitude of people, and to feel misunderstood in the midst of that too. But so I can acknowledge the feeling, but I don't gotta defend it. I can back up a little bit. Like, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I did say something that missed the mark. But at the same time, too, it's like, sometimes you just gotta put that phone down, bro. Like, in a real way, just put the phone down. Like, go on about your day. And like, you know, I got kids. I just like, can't spend all day arguing with folks online. My baby hungry. Like, daddy, can I peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm like, hold on, let me respond to this real quick. These folk got me messed up. Like, nah, I'm not.

[Jess Hilarious]

The kid. Messed up.

[Deontay]

Yeah. Now she messed up. Like, bro, that man tripping, bruh. And it's like, you know, you gotta live your real life too, I think. I don't. I don't. You know, social media. Social media can be affirming. It could be very validating at times. And it can also tear you down. So it's like just find the balance in all of it. It's like I take the good just like I take the bad. You know what I mean? Cause if you get caught up in it.

People be having mental breaks. Like, people be breaking up mentally.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what my daddy used to say. My daddy used to say, you never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad as they say you are.

[Deontay]

Exactly.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And one of my radio mentors named Cadillac Jack, he would say the rule of 10, three people going to agree with you when you say something. Three people not going to agree with you. Four people don't even know what the fuck going on.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

I keep hearing you speak about, like, how people get certain things from growing up in their household. Do you ever talk about yours? Do you ever talk about yours?

[Deontay]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. The. The. The birth of the grits and eggs is out of that. Like, when my folks split up that junk, it changed a lot in me. Because when you in a household with people that, like, really can't stand each other, but they trying to keep them together for the kids, it's like, it informed me so much, like, oh, they don't think we paying attention for real. Or they don't think we could feel like it's tension in here. So I think a lot of that stuff informed me make you hyper, vigilant. So.

Then it gets to a position where, like, when I'm with my pops, I could do whatever I want. Cause he ain't here. And then when I go with my mom, she's super strict now. I gotta find a balance. And I'm bucking too. Like, bro, you got me messed up. I literally just came from a situation where I'm out till one in the morning because my pops, like, he get off work, he do bouncing at nightclub. He get home, like 2 o', clock, but he got the car, the car so loud, like, squeaking wise. As long as I'm within eyeshot of the crib, I can hear him coming, like, from the front of the neighborhood, like, all right, y' all boys, y' all hear the man. We in the house. And I'm in the house like this. Yeah. What's up that house work. But I think, you know, I think the truth is like as vulnerable as I am about my situation and everything, the thing that I realized is like, once you push through, like the kind of anxiety about exposing yourself or just being honest about your experience, you realize how many people done went through it too. So you're really actually helping people because they don't feel alone. So we don't talk about several things. I think the biggest thing, the hardest thing for me to kind of come for was like, you know, dealing with sexual assault as a child and stuff like that. But so many men came out like, bro, if you hear stories about how men lose their virginity, crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was eight.

[Deontay]

Yeah, me too. Eight years old.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Deontay]

And it's like that's a babysitter. You can't even say nothing. But it's like if we start looking. Girls was a babysitter too, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They like to laugh about my.

[Deontay]

I'm not joking. I don't like to laugh. You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Everybody laugh when it's a guy.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, Deonce. We do not laugh. Just said that his abuser had a Jerry kill.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I didn't like the smell of it. So that's mine. That's why I was like, I made.

[Deontay]

Her quit that, man. Hey, listen, you know what I'm saying?

[Jess Hilarious]

Cuz ain't like, well, so if she had a swoop on the side made her quit.

[Deontay]

Cuz the Jerry curly is where the joke come in.

[Kyle]

That's where the joke come in.

[Deontay]

That is where the joke.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's how we laugh. We don't laugh at you.

[Deontay]

We don't laugh at him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But no, man, when I was young, that's what I told myself. I made her stop doing it cuz I didn't like the smell of her Jerry.

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The reality is I made her stop doing it. Cuz was it. And they being violated.

[Deontay]

You're being violated. Yeah, but having them conversation like, what we gonna lose by being honest? Yeah, you heard? Yeah. I think a lot of times it's like all this faking the funk like you. Everybody okay. You know, you ever hear folks say that like I got whooped and I turned out fine. Shouted. No, you didn't.

[Kyle]

No, you didn't actually.

[Deontay]

You didn't actually been yelling since 8 o' clock this morning. You know what I'm saying? I'm scared eating this. Why is you screaming? But, but they all right is I don't talk about it. So if I don't talk about it. If I don't acknowledge it, then it can't be bothering me. And, you know, like, we talk about this, the whole situation, like around food, like, when you grow up poor, it's like you gotta eat everything on the plate. So then when you got adults out here, like, why you eating a triple cheeseburgers? Cause like they stomach just expanded. They done been eating theyself to death since they was 8, 7, 8 years old. Because they folks just couldn't afford food. So it's like, can't waste food.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying? It's a lot of stuff that tie back to our childhood. You know, therapy, they help you, like, recognize some of them stuff too. So when you kind of start unpacking your childhood, you just wonder how many people ain't unpacking theirs.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because everything go. When you. I saw, I see you on your journey, and I see that you started going to therapy. One thing therapy is going to teach you that every single thing that you're dealing with as an adult is directly connected to something that happened to you as a child. And you spend so much time as an adult trying to heal that little traumatized little boy.

[Deontay]

Man, that fruit from the roof, bro. So whatever fruit you putting out, it got a root that it started at. And I think acknowledging that, I think one of the most fire bars my therapist ever dropped, he was like.

Perfection starts at inception. So if you ever made a mistake, you ain't perfect. So stop trying to be perfect. You know, I was like, cold, boy. I was making mistakes at seven. Well, I'm trying to be perfect. I can't be perfect no more. He's like, you missed one shot in the beginning of the game. You can make all the rest of them, it still ain't 100. You ain't perfect. So, you know, taking that with me too, and then just not if I, If I put it out there, how well it's been received, it kind of take the stigma and the fear away from it, from not only me, but for other people too. And it's like, that's really the goal for real, because everybody can't afford therapy. What made you start going, yeah, bro, this junk started getting. Becoming a lot. Because dealing with all this notoriety, it pull you in several different directions. Then you start realizing, like, damn, I ain't got as much time as I used to. And where I used to unpack these thoughts late at night, it's like, well, I'm thinking about something I did when I was 13 and I got a Show tomorrow and I got this interview and damn, I double scheduled the studio session and I got to cancel on some and it's like, damn, bro, I need somewhere to put this and I don't want to put it on somebody. I can't just put my dog, like everything on my partner. That's crazy. At the end of the day, he got stuff he dealing with too. And it's like, well, there are professionals out here that deal with this. It's like. And two, you have been like champion in therapy for black men for a long time. So, you know, I was like, you look to situations like that. Like, okay, well, Charlamagne be telling me to go therapy. Let me go see what he folk talking about. I got a black male therapist too. So it's like, you know, I think it's also too important to be an example in that space. Like, it's okay, you take the stigma away. We don't be trusting doctors. That's. We got good reason behind it. But get your mind right, like, get your mind right for real. Cause if you don't get your mind right in this space where you sharing a lot of your mind, you gonna lose your mind. I ain't trying to.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is your therapist culturally competent? Like, oh, he know what the fuck going.

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah, he from Norfolk, Virginia.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Interviewer]

I was gonna ask you, do you talk to your therapist about certain things you decide to divulge on your podcast or TikTok or whatever first before you do it?

[Deontay]

Oh, nah, man, we be talking about me.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Deontay]

Really? You know what I'm saying? Like the stuff I won't share because it's like, you gotta keep stuff for yourself too. You can't give folks. But then also too, it's some stuff, you know. You know, I got my own shortcomings and imperfections too that I wanna work through. And like, as I grow in this space, like, it's great to boom and have a great career, but like, if you stay rooted in the same mentality or you keep packing stuff away, you know, that's where you see people crash out. Cause he was like, dang, bro. Just snapped one day. But it's like he been dealing with all the pressures of being a provider, making all the money and holding up this image and stuff like that. A lot of this stuff do come with like, having a reputation, being reputable, being trustworthy, being a source of truth, you know, that come with pressure too. Cause you want to maintain the integrity of the stuff too. But then you slipping in other parts of your life. That all gone compounding. I'm gonna be a rap for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's real.

[Jess Hilarious]

What about you, Cat?

[Kyle]

What's me.

[Jess Hilarious]

Your. Your childhood.

[Kyle]

My childhood.

[Deontay]

I had a lit.

[Kyle]

Childhood. I ain't gonna lie to you.

[Deontay]

Cool.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Kathy, I know what. Y' all traumatized me.

[Deontay]

No, no, no.

Stories of the things can't relate.

[Kyle]

Not that, man. I don't have trauma. But as far as, like, overall, my childhood, like, my parents gave me a great childhood.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

My dad did his thing in the streets, went to prison. So that's, like, where my trauma come from. Because I never. I, like, always said, no matter how broke I am, I ain't gonna sell no drugs. Because being in the car when you were a kid and driving through the middle of nowhere to go to a prison, that do something to you, you know what I'm saying? Because then I had to leave my dad. That's my dog.

[Interviewer]

Leave him in the middle of nowhere.

[Kyle]

Yeah, in the middle of nowhere. I mean, I'm smelling like a muffler.

[Deontay]

But, yeah.

[Kyle]

But, yeah. So, like, just seeing that and, like, going into a prison and seeing my dad have to. These white people talk to my dad crazy. Like, get in line and do this. Like, that's what my trauma come from. So I always said I. I never put my woman or my kid do that. You know what I'm saying? So, no, like I said, no matter how broke I am, I'd be thinking about, like, now I can get off a brick right now, be up. But then the other part of it. I seen the other part of it. A lot of people don't talk about that. They just talk about, yeah, my dad was this. In the street. But do you ever go see your dad in prison? That crazy. So, yeah, that's it. That's the only thing. Trauma from my childhood. But other than that, I had everything I wanted.

[Deontay]

And y'. All.

[Jess Hilarious]

And y' all met early. Y' all met, like, in high.

[Deontay]

15. Yeah, 15. 14. Yeah. Yeah, 14. 15 years old.

[DJ Envy]

So how does that affect.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold on. Yeah, Cat, we're saying that about your father. You know, there was this whole thing with Mike Epps, I think about it last week where they was, like, mad at him because he said, you shouldn't celebrate people when they come coming out of prison. What y' all thought about that?

[Kyle]

I mean, we say this all the time. People who get celebrated coming out of prison, we celebrate them more than people that come home from college. You know what I'm saying? Now, you shouldn't really get celebrated because you came Home from prison, but we happy to see you. You know what I'm saying? But also, your cousin in college, he's struggling to eat every night. We gotta give him that money. You in jail, you know, of course we gonna help you when we can, but shit, he need the help too, more than you do. But when you come home, we go celebrate you. But we should also celebrate, you know, the cousin that's coming home from college that just graduated. And in our community, I think we don't see that enough. And I think, like, you know, that's like a big thing in our community, celebrating people that come from jail because. Go ahead, bro.

[Deontay]

I wasn't gonna say.

[Kyle]

I thought you're gonna say something because. Yeah, because, like, we see that more in our community, people going to jail than people going to college. And it's like, you know, how can we relate? So when you get somebody to go to college, it's like, all right, what? He home now, what he supposed to do? What about the person that went to jail, what they was supposed to do? Yeah, so come home, get in line, get that job, get that trade. We go help you out. We ain't finna throw no big ass.

[Deontay]

Party for you, you know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

With your kids, right? How does the trauma that you had as a child affect how you raise your kids, man?

[Deontay]

Bruh, I already know that. I'm just not gonna get everything right. When you get older, your perspective, that's.

[DJ Envy]

The most important thing as a parent.

[Deontay]

You keep going, you ain't gonna get anything. Yeah, man, look, man, the older you get, the more like, you just understand your parents was people. Yeah, honestly, when I make a mistake, I apologize to my children, like, directly and straight up. I love my kids a lot. Cause we ain't come from no very affectionate household. I don't think. You know, I don't remember. I know I was in teenage years and, like, kind of cutting up before my folks ever like, vocally said, I love you. You know what I'm saying?

So I kind of killed the Superman early with them. Like, look, bro, I make mistakes. I mess up. I'm not perfect. You not perfect, you're not gonna be perfect.

[DJ Envy]

But that doesn't kill a Superman. Cause they still think daddy's Superman.

[Deontay]

Yeah, but I'm talking about that perfectionism. Like, you know, I used to think my parents knew everything, bro. And then you get all they like, bruh, I was winging it, bro.

[Kyle]

I ain't no shit.

[Deontay]

For real. Probably winging this shit, like. Cause. Cause like, it'd be times where I'm like, I'm fucking winging it, bro. I'm winging it right now. I don't got it figured out. You know what I'm saying? I was like, bruh, it's Little Caesars. That's what I got on me right now. It's not like. But. And I want. You want to dress it up like it's a pizza party. It's like, nah, we broke. Cause this is where we at with it. We messed up. We gonna get two pieces for Little Caesars, you know what I'm saying? We're gonna rock out, eat it while it's hot. You know what I'm saying? What a matchup we got, y'.

[Austin Hankwitz]

All.

[Deontay]

This is that classic HBC MCU vibe.

[Kyle]

Non stop action.

[Deontay]

The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat. Everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah. It calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, Crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.

Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca Cola.

[Kyle]

That's a winning combo.

[Deontay]

No matter the sport, no matter the yard.

[Kyle]

Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep.

[Deontay]

That HBCU pride going.

La vida no sedetiene tu TRA bajo tu familia.

[Advertisement Voice]

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[Deontay]

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[Janice Torres]

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[Austin Hankwitz]

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[Kyle]

Don't let it get cold.

[Deontay]

Yeah, but I think more than anything, it's like you just try to minimize it. Like for the most part, I'm gonna take everything from my parents that I feel like they did right and impart that wisdom to my children. Cause it worked for me. And things I feel like they did wrong. I don't think we gotta demonize it, but just learn from it. Why did they think like that?

[DJ Envy]

That's the thing. Understanding why they did the thing.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

You know what I mean? Sometimes I look back at my dad and I would hate when he'd be like, you gotta be home at this time. You can't go there now. When I got kids, I'm like, That's why he said it. Now, you can't go there. But the difference is, I explain. My dad never explained. He was like, Cause I said so, and you just took it.

[Jess Hilarious]

And you can't even ask why. Well, I couldn't ask why either.

[Deontay]

Why?

[Jess Hilarious]

You know what I mean? That's because she couldn't ask her mother why.

[DJ Envy]

I don't.

[Kyle]

Correct.

[Jess Hilarious]

They look at that as a form of disrespect. Like, are you questioning my judgment? It's like, yeah, I am.

[Deontay]

And when did that start with black people where we couldn't question authority? So we carry that into our own households, and we just gotta continue, you know? Like, I get the idea of breaking generational curses is cool, but it's like, I ain't gonna say my folk cursed me. Yeah, I think we just. We healing generation by generation. We come from a rough beginning in this country. And that stuff stay in you. On a genetic level, it stay in you. So I think more than anything, I try to recognize, like, when I'm repeating some of those behaviors, too. I try not to, like, try to be slow to anger, but you don't get it right all the time. Sometimes kids be tripping, like, they do. What's up with you, cuz? Like, why you acting like that? You know what I'm saying? Like, nigga, you trying me. But I think the same thing, too, is like, you just gotta take the ego out of it. These people, bro, they little people. They don't know nothing. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Cause I used to say no for no reason. They were like, can I get to know my wife? Why'd you say no?

[Deontay]

I'm like, I don't. Cause you can. But no, because that's what you used to. You just used to know. And then it's like, to my point, it's like your parents don't tell you, like, what the finance situation is. And then, like, you go ask your mama, like, bro, you know, the dreamcast just came out. Can we get the out my face?

[Kyle]

Like, yeah, but you put more pressure on it, though.

[Deontay]

I just seen. I just seen the commercial.

I don't know what you going through, but that's real.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What you about to say.

[Kyle]

You just put more pressure on your parents at that point. Cause they don't. They don't know how to say, like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I ain't got it.

[Kyle]

I ain't got it. Cause they want. In their eyes. They want to shooter. Look at them like they got everything. Like, they can provide everything for you. And sometimes I be telling myself, like, yeah, bro, I Ain't got it right now, bro. My son's 16, so I'd be like, bro, sometimes when he was little, bro, I ain't got that right now. Yeah, now we can ball out a.

[Deontay]

Little bit, you know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But one reason that we ahead of the curve is because we not afraid to tell our kids our stories, man. And we're not afraid. When I started to, you know, go to therapy and start talking about my mental health issues, that's what my dad opened up to me. I ain't know my dad was on 10 to 12 different medications for his mental health. I didn't know he tried to commit suicide. I didn't know he was going to a therapist two and three times a week. But when he told me that, man, it just made me give him all the grace in the world. I'm like, he was just a man trying to figure it out. Like, I'm a man trying to figure it out.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So it's just good to tell our kids our stories.

[Deontay]

Yeah. And even with your older folks, like, you can extend grace to them once you learn they story. Some people ain't gonna change. I think a situation, like, we kind of grow up in this situation where we ready to cut everybody off over everything. We go, no contact with everybody. That's an avoidant style of dealing with stuff, too. I'd rather just get you out my life. But I also understand on the other side of that, it's like, man, you ain't just gonna be disrespecting me, though. You know what I'm saying? You gonna recognize me as a grown human, too. And I understand avoid just giving folks space when you realize they ain't ready to grow. So you can continue to grow, too. Cause, like, trying to change somebody mind, bro, that's the hardest thing in the world. It's hard to change your own mind about stuff. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You can't deal with a person that hasn't recognized your growth.

[Deontay]

No. On me, even.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just your family, just anybody in general. Like, I'm sure y' all got people from high school that's, like, still trying to talk to y'.

[Deontay]

All.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like y' all haven't grown and who y' all are now.

[Deontay]

You know what I mean?

[Kyle]

If you come to me from high school and you still talking about shit in high school, I don't want to talk to you.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

I don't want to kick it with you.

[Deontay]

We can chop that, bro.

[Jess Hilarious]

Even going back to what you said Katt just now, you were talking about having A child and you saying just no because you can. And then you putting the pressure on you. Yeah, you were saying, talking about putting the pressure on the parent because you know they ain't got it. They don't know how to say it. Now my son seen the best of both worlds.

[Deontay]

You feel me?

[Jess Hilarious]

Cause I didn't always have it right.

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

And now I do, you know, and been having it right. But I still don't like to just give him. Because we got it now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Know what I mean? Like, what are your thoughts on that? Because some people ball out of control all the time because they got it now and they didn't have it before. But I want my son. I want Ashton to be open minded. I don't want him to be entitled. I don't. It's certain things. I don't want him.

[Deontay]

Oh.

[Jess Hilarious]

Just because my mother got this. Oh.

[Kyle]

You know, and that's just a black experience though.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

I don't like to give him everything. He asked. So like the Christmas. If you saw this nigga Christmas list.

[Kyle]

But still your son came from struggle with you though. Like we seen your son grow up with you.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

You know what I'm saying? That's amazing too though. But you know, it's just, you have to balance it out.

[Jess Hilarious]

But I ain't get them everything on the Christmas list. And I'm wrong for that. But I'm not giving it.

[Deontay]

Hell no.

[Kyle]

Because you gotta teach them. Like some you gotta earn, some can be given, some you gotta earn. You know what I'm saying? You can't give them everything. If you give a person everything, they gonna feel entitled like, oh, I can get it whatever I want to get.

[Jess Hilarious]

And I have no complaints. I'm talking about straight A. My son's smart as a mop.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

I'm saying smart like me.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, but I would say he's smarter. But that's, that's good though.

[Deontay]

He's 13, I'm 33.

[Jess Hilarious]

Don't play with me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But they supposed to be smarter than them.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, your kid's supposed to be smarter than me.

[Jess Hilarious]

My son is smart.

[Deontay]

Right.

[Jess Hilarious]

But even still, I have no problem out of my kid. But still it's just something about getting him everything that he asks for when he asks for it. I have no issues with my son. I just still don't want to do that, give him every single thing he has.

[Kyle]

Nah, we should be able to spoil our children, you know? Cause the other side spoil their children. You know what I'm saying?

[Deontay]

Yeah. But you see how the other side act?

You know what I'm saying?

[Kyle]

But the other side, you know, they had to look, you know.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Can't tell me nothing.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

We come from a place where, you know, a lot of us came from humble beginnings. So we ain't always have everything, you know what I'm saying? So that's where it come from. It's like a mental thing. Like, I don't want to get everything. Cause I ain't have everything, right? But my mom did try to give me what she could. But you can give them what you. What you want, and that's a difference. And I think that's where you struggle with.

[DJ Envy]

But, you know, on the other end of that, because I go back and forth about this, a lot of parents, when they die, they give their kids something, right? And I never wanted that to be me. I want to see my parents enjoy. I want to see my kids enjoy what I worked hard for. Like, I want to see it. I don't want to give it to them when they die. I want to see it. And then on another thing, I always say we work hard sometimes, but we want our kids to struggle. And I don't want. I didn't want that to be my kids. I want them to do what they want to do, right? Because at the end of the life, you realize life is short, right? And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much money you got. It matter how happy you are.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So if I could set your life up where you can do. If you want to do nails, if it makes you happy, you're happy.

[Deontay]

I don't care.

[DJ Envy]

That's not my life. I just want you to be happy. You don't got to be a billionaire. You ain't got to be a hundred million yet. But if you happy, making $100,000 a year and you genuinely happy, that's better than most people out here that's not happy that makes all this money. I try to set up their life where it's like, let me guide you. Where you could just do what you want to do. Cause as a kid, when I said I wanted to be a dj, everybody laughed like, nigga, you can't be no dj. And I'm sure y' all heard the same thing when y' all said y' all wanted to do podcasts. So it's like, that's what I want for my kids and my family. I just want them to be happy.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, well, my son wanted to be a gamer, but then I watched him and, like, he sucks, so it's like if he can't do the game, but he's great at sports.

[Deontay]

Yeah, that's good. I think that real, though, bro. Like, you know, I told my kids, like, people tell you, you can be anything in the world you want. You can be what you good at. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You suck at math. Why are you trying to be a rocket science? Just, like, let's adjust it.

[Kyle]

Let's be direct.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying? Let's tweak it a little bit. You great with words.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Right?

[Kyle]

Slam poetry may be where you like.

[Deontay]

Yeah. You might understand.

I said it.

[Kyle]

Cause he hates slam poetry with a passion. So to see his kid be a slam poet.

[Deontay]

I'm finna go crazy. You don't like playing poetry, man. It's just dramatic, bruh. That's why I don't like anime.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's just dramatic. Fire. You just had Linnae on.

[Deontay]

You was on her podcast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She fired.

[Deontay]

She was just on our. You know, we got something dropping her. It's not that. It's just, you know, like, I wish that I could see.

All that I could see. That's what I'm talking about. Just that genre.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Then you can see that the dude isn't for me.

[Deontay]

Lgbtq. You.

Session over.

And then I was a real breakfast club.

Yeah. But keeping a balance with your kids is important too, because I think you don't want them getting to receiving. And then also one of the worst things as a parent is, like, when you give your child something and you don't feel like they grateful. Like, you feel like they just like, you know what I had to do to get this. You know what I'm saying? But you got to internalize it too. So it's like you kind of. You can't just. You can't make somebody be grateful. But I think, you know, I tell my kids, like, it be limits on everything, too. Like, my son, he getting older. He's 14. You know, like, they generation is looking at, like, lambings and. Is that how you pronounce it? Whatever. Designer. They look at that like regular degular. I'm like. I told him, I was like, you know, anything. That I would rock Nike, you know, Adidas, whatever. Like, regular Douglas. I'm with you. When you start talking designer, that stuff, you gotta go get your own.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I ain't even heard of that.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying?

[Kyle]

They're like 1200. My son asked for some of those.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Deontay]

You been Like, I got them for him, but.

[Kyle]

Right, right, yeah, but you know how many hours I did at the airport.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

For them 1200 sneakers, man.

[Kyle]

I was at the airport all day.

[Deontay]

Yeah. I told my son, like, yeah, my son's 16. 16. You brought. Wow.

[Kyle]

That come from my childhood, though, you know what I'm saying? It's like my dad had it like that, you know what I'm saying? So when I was like, your dad.

[Deontay]

Wasn'T working at the airport, he went.

[Kyle]

He wasn't working at the airport. But I seen that, like, if I asked for it, I probably wouldn't get it that week, but I get it next week, you know what I'm saying? So it's just like, damn, in my mind. It's like the pressure, like I'm saying, the pressure, like, damn, how can I keep her? Like, my dad was a great dad. Even in prison, my dad was a great dad. My dad told me how to watch the dishes over the phone. You know what I'm saying? Go do this, go do that. He told me to cut the grass over the phone, you feel me? But I'd be like, damn, how can I keep it with my dad? I ain't got the money that my dad had to throw away, but I still want to be a great dad, you know what I'm saying? That's why I, like, compete with myself.

[Deontay]

Like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you are. You already are a better father than your father because just from being free.

[Deontay]

Yeah. Physically, for sure. For sure. I always tell my kids that when they think I'm being hard on them, it's like, bro, I'm not focused on you, the 12 year old. I'm focusing on you, the 22 year old. That's real. You raising like we raising. We're raising children. But they're gonna be adults, they're gonna function in the world. And a lot of how they function is gonna start from how they was in the household. So if you, if they feel entitled because their momma get them everything they want, that's gonna spill over to jobs, that's gonna spill over to partners, that's gonna spill over to so many different relationships in their life. This is like keeping balance. You gotta have boundaries with your children too, you know what I'm saying? And allow your kids to have boundaries with you as a parent. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Speaking of parenting, you, your TikTok video about your biological mom being white.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

That sparked so much, like, conversation around identity and being a biracial kid. And what made you want to share that and particularly going to that conversation.

[Deontay]

So it was just, you know, you just start talking about yourself like, honestly, my mama died in 2019. I didn't. Yeah, yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know I was adopted. So I found out post her, I was adopted at two days old. You did what I'm saying. So of course that is going to spark up a whole bunch of stuff around identity and things like that. But for me, it was liberating. Cause I was like, bro, I knew. I went crazy, bro. Right? Yeah. We ain't all in here looking alike. You know, I'm the oddball out on how we look.

[Interviewer]

It was just the physical looking, or did you feel away internally?

[Deontay]

No, no, it's just like. It's everything. I don't think the way. It's a lot of different things. You know what I'm saying? But for me, it was just like, really? It's like, I'm gonna let you hear it from the horse's mouth. Because it was. It was old TikTok videos that was resurfacing, and people was like, see, he ain't no black leader. He ain't even black. It's like shouting, my mama and daddy black. I was adopted at two days old. I don. Know these folks, for one. I don't know if these folk white or not. I don't know them. And only. Only thing I know is, John, we just joke about being Scottish because I did a little ancestor. Like, you know, when you first find something out, you like, I want to know. It's like, oh, I'm 30% Scottish. I'm 40% Nigerian. Like, real. You know what I mean? I'm a Scottish Nigerian. I just. But I'm going through, like, my own motions of, like, accepting it. And I went through a lot of angry phases about this. But you gonna try to discredit who I am cause of something? You say, hey, I'll tell you. You know what I'm saying? You ain't gonna take, like, you can't hear it from the horse's mouth. It wasn't really about defending anything. It's just like, nah, yeah, yeah, I'm black now. What? Cause like, you ain't gonna discredit me, bro. Like, it's a couple creators. They are like, these men be obsessed with me, bro. They make videos about me all day, every day. And it's like, all the men and I be like, it's free promotion.

[DJ Envy]

Welcome, welcome.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying?

[Interviewer]

That just reacts to your.

[Deontay]

Yeah, it's love though, because even fake pages like bro, they all promoting me. They page is full of my face once they refine the real thing we lit. But I think for me it was just like clarifying like, this ain't nothing I'm running away from, bro. And at the same time, it's like I was two days old, bro. I don't know them people. I don't know nothing about them. I don't really desire to either.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Your biological father black?

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah. I heard stories, you know what I'm saying? I really don't even. My folks don't know. My mama swore they fought the secrecy, but then you find out, like your mama having womb issues and stuff like that. It's a miracle for her, bro, to be able to get a baby. So it's like, yeah, bro, I'm not tripping on that. You know what I mean? Whatever them folks had going on, that was their arrangement. I was here. My folks raised me well, you know what I'm saying? They had their own shortcomings and stuff. But I was raised in a household of love and I learned so much from my household, you know what I mean? And my family taught me so much. It's like I'm not discarding that because I get some new information, you know what I'm saying? I'm already in who. I'm already whole. So I don't really need to go looking for nothing. I don't feel no void. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, one stereotype they always say, they'll say that light skinned black people are biracials.

[Deontay]

Will.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Will be overly black, overly revolutionary. Yeah, but that's probably what they trying to convince you.

[Deontay]

Yeah, they did. But it's like, yeah, I ain't never know nothing about, you know, I ain't know I had nothing to compensate for, you know what I mean? Everybody in my neighborhood bless. It's like being light skinned. It's like I see light skinned folks all the time. I see mixed folks all the time. Like all I know is this community. I ain't never really seen no difference, but I understand. I could understand the psychology behind trying to overcompensate, but that just ain't my vibe.

[DJ Envy]

It be them dog skinned brothers with bald heads that first of all, me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And cattle jump you in this motherfucker.

[Deontay]

He started to say, dog, he almost hard arched.

[DJ Envy]

That feet don't touch the ground.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know you're surrounded.

[Deontay]

Well, see, this is the thing too. It's like we like to talk like, like it's like, you know the funniest thing to me is like when certain black men would be like, yeah, you know them light skinned them biracials. Like, bro, you the one making this, bro, that's a fact. Stop sleeping with white women. You ain't gotta worry about me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Knock the uma somewhere.

[Deontay]

Like, yeah, but that's a joke. Love who you love, but like, tighten up, bro. Yeah, like you, you ain't. You know, I ain't going to lie.

[Kyle]

I ain't going to lie though. Like, they be coming for him on the, on the Internet.

[Deontay]

I'll be ready to cry. I be ready to fight.

[Kyle]

He join in, but he be like, bro, they us online. But I be like, damn, but we.

[Deontay]

Come from a real place.

[Kyle]

Like, the talk about my dog, I'm ready to slapping, you know what I'm saying?

[Deontay]

So.

It be love in person. Yeah, it do be love in person.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You don't want a picture, you know what I'm saying? Every single time.

[Deontay]

Like, I think one of the biggest, one of the biggest haters I got like asked to be on the podcast and I just didn't respond.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Happens all the time.

[Deontay]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

Happens all the time.

[Deontay]

And now we never, we never talking about Cooper.

[Jess Hilarious]

Nobody hate on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So let me ask you a question. Being that you don't know who your biological parents are, does ice scare you?

[Deontay]

Anyway.

Hey, look, man, we done thought about that fam. We can jump him. Hey, that thought never crossed my mind. We could jump him if you want.

Hey, I'm gonna back out some real west side lingo on them. Like, that's a.

From Atlanta, bro. You know what the funniest thing is? Like when I was younger, you know, you get the breast cut. You know, we don't go waves. That junk go straight. You know, you real. You really struggling to try to get some waves. I was like, man, I ain't doing that all day. So my partners used to joke with me. Like when we was roasting. They called me desperado. Like, bro, shut your Mexican ass up. One time me and my homeboy had went. We was like breaking in cars and stuff and I guess whatever the word. Got like we was on foot, though. That's so stupid to break in the car while you on feet. But the police pulled us over and they was like going at my partner and they was like, you speak English? I was like, no, sir, no, sir. I bet you don't play like that. Now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I have to be on the.

[Deontay]

Plane somewhere if they can ask me if I speak English, and I'm like, indubitably.

All the English. The king's English, the queen's English, Brooklyn English. I speak all the Englishes.

[Interviewer]

I have one more rap. Speaking of the love, Tyler, the creator, showed so much love. So this all wanted a podcast that he listens to along with the cutting room floor. After talking about how people that got podcasts are not smart, he said they're gross.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He actually said podcasts are gross.

[Deontay]

Yeah. You feel me? It's love, bruh. You know, we get a lot of love, and that's what matter for real. Like, you know, when people walk up, like, even with Tyler knowing he just don't like nothing, it's like, oh, that's love. But I think more than anything, when people walk up and they like, man, man, my son taught me to listen to your podcast. And then on the opposite side, it's like, man, my son, like, my dad told me to listen to you, or my mom taught me to listen to you. Like, it's an intergenerational thing. I know we doing the right thing because, like, what we trying to really do is bridge gaps. Like, we got a lot of gaps in our community around differences, but our experience is extremely the same. And it's like, bro, you want to let one little thing that you don't have in common with a person separate you, when all the other experiences you can relate to, that's little foolish. It's like, you know, I ain't with no division, so if we bridging gaps and it's like a family thing, you know, folks watching this, like, bro, me and my man watch this. Me and my girlfriend watch this. Like, bro, that's the love, bro. That's what we focus on, the love. Yeah. Oh, I do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I got two more questions since Lauren bought one back.

[Deontay]

That's right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I heard you talking about systems, and we had Christopher Williams up here, and he was talking about that as well. And I feel the same way. And I don't know if we'll ever truly be able to change the system. I don't even know if that's a pessimistic mindset to have, but I do feel like we can liberate ourselves within this system. I feel like that's really the only way to be to achieve anything, really.

[Deontay]

I think that's a lot about what, like, intersectionality is about. It's like people want to tear down and dismantle systems that, for one, they really don't know how they work. They just know how they work against Them you know, how it feels to be oppressed. But, like, you don't understand, like, the history of these systems, how they was built and things like that. So, you know, you tear everything down. Do you have a community you can rely on? Yeah. Do you like what you gonna do? Do you have the tools to rebuild it? Yeah. And I think because of, like, film and movie, we think doom and gloom, we think Mad Max, and we think the world just gonna end and be anarchy. But I think, you know, within understanding, that's how you operate, you know, like at work. Any. Anybody that, like, finesse at work, like Big K used to be finessing at the Mercedes Benz, bro. He used to be like, he know if I get this amount of money, I could put that back in the drawer and get that back to the company and the rest I could pocket. He operating within the system, but he benefiting himself. It's like that what these folk do.

[Kyle]

Like, man, don't have these folk come looking for me.

[Deontay]

You ain't gonna have all the Slam poets in my DMs, you know what I'm saying? A ten for a tat, you know what I'm saying? But look, I think that the bigger thing is this is just like, you know, I be telling my partners in there all the time, like, bro, if you shut your phone off for two weeks, you ain't gonna know what's going on in the world, but you'll know what's going on in your world. And like, so sometimes you gotta just focus on that part. Like, if we focus on, like, the big. The big picture of America all the time, like, that junk can stress you out, bro. These folks have entire, like, corporations designed to push negative media towards you every day. Like, sometimes you gotta take a break. Like, a lot of, you know, all this technology is fairly new. So, like. And we obsessed over it. It's like, just take a break, bro. It's like, fall back, you know, recoup, like. Cause you can't really be helpful to the community anyway if you're not good with yourself. We all got work to do. But, you know, the bigger system at large is system that we've been fighting since we came here. So I think continue to fight.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We seen, which is white supremacy.

[Deontay]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, and capitalism, too. But I think to continue that fight while also continue to, like, embrace each other and strengthen our bond within our community, that's the most important part. You know, it's a. It's a. We're gonna chip away at it. A little bit at a time, you know what I mean?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My last question. What's something the podcast industry doesn't prepare creators for?

[Deontay]

Oof.

Success.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I was gonna say that.

[Deontay]

It ramp up, you know? Like.

I think the biggest thing is, too, is, like, what you gonna do when it happened, but also, like, it's gonna be days where you just like. Just like a job. Like, you don't feel like it, but you really gotta tighten up and get to it, because now you got an audience, you got people depending on you. It's like the thing is, it's like you don't want them to go away. Yeah. Just being consistent. And then I think podcasting in general, for us, this shit easy, bro. We just being ourselves, you know what I'm saying? We represent ourselves. So as long as I know I ain't got. I ain't here faking the funk, I ain't got no gimmick, you know what I'm saying? It's just like we being ourselves. That's what make it easy. But scheduling, staying on top of the thing, building the team, finding the team, you know what I'm saying? Finding good people, that's the hard part. Getting over the anxiety and feeling like everybody's trying to take and steal or, you know, just be opportunistic. Like, you know, it's a lot of stuff that come with it, but you just a day at a time, for real, and manage what you can.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When you say success, do you mean, like, the notoriety that comes before the money? You say you still work at the airport?

[Kyle]

No, no, I was at the airport. Yeah, I was at the airport.

[Deontay]

Not. Not the notoriety ain't the part. It's the part where it's actually a functioning system. Like, we making money out this. We feeding ourselves, we feeding each other. We able to hire people. You know what I'm saying? Things like that, where it's like, oh, shit, I just was, like, driving trucks. That were the easy part. I knew my routes. I knew everything. Now I'm giving people their routes, you know what I'm saying? And metaphorically, but being in charge, you know what I'm saying? I want to be a leader more than I want to be a boss. You know what I mean? But leading by example is a tough thing to do too. Cause everybody just see it as like, damn, you make it look easy. It's like, well, shit, you ain't going.

[Kyle]

You ain't.

[Deontay]

You ain't in the room with me at 3:00am like, oh, my God, what the fuck have I gotten myself into, you know what I'm saying? But it's real, though. It's like. And I think keeping the balance of, like, you know what I'm saying? It's going to be peaks and valleys, but you just keep going, you know what I'm saying? Just keep going. For sure.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, well, yeah, man. Make sure y' all subscribe to the Gritson Aid podcast.

[Kyle]

One more thing. One more thing. Before we go, though, all you rappers out there, get out that booth. America needs plumbers, electricians. We need welders. We need everything. Get out there, H Vac. Yeah, go get that trade, man. You know what I'm saying? The trade is what got the podcast.

[Deontay]

Off the ground, you know what I'm saying?

[Kyle]

So go get that trade, man. Get some money, man.

[Deontay]

But if you do got good music, we do got a show that Big K host every Monday, New music Monday called Tap in with that, bro. We appreciate y' all having us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And make sure y' all subscribe to the Grizzly Egg Podcast. I. With the Grizzly Egg Podcast. Heavy, man. I think y' all are very dope, very necessary, and it's crazy. It's so early for y'.

[DJ Envy]

All. That's right.

[Deontay]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The best is really yet to come.

[Deontay]

Yeah, for sure.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's. That's gonna be a fun journey to watch, man.

[Deontay]

I appreciate it.

[Jess Hilarious]

I'm the only one who have what hasn't what. Listen, but y' all gained the new family.

[Deontay]

She's just with the message. The news is real. Yeah, I really don't.

[Jess Hilarious]

But y' all gained a new fancy, man.

[Deontay]

That's love. Thank you. Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Deontay. Kyle, is the Grit and Eggs podcast.

[Deontay]

Yes, sir.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold up. Every day I wake up.

[Deontay]

Wake your ass up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

What up, y'?

[Kyle]

All?

[DJ Envy]

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[Deontay]

I was attacked by a shark.

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[Janice Torres]

Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Small Business Success Stories produced by Ruby Studio.

[Austin Hankwitz]

In partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.

[Interviewer]

We're back for season four to talk to some incredible small business owners.

[Deontay]

The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving ever changing.

[Kyle]

Everyone's a rookie.

[Deontay]

That's how fast the industry is changing. So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change.

[Janice Torres]

So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple.

[Deontay]

Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Interviewer]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.