The Breakfast Club BEST OF - Patti Labelle, Kirk Franklin And Pastor Jamal Bryant Interview

Summary

The Breakfast Club BEST OF - Patti LaBelle, Kirk Franklin & Pastor Jamal Bryant Interview

Podcast: The Breakfast Club (iHeartPodcasts)
Airdate: December 24, 2025
Hosts: DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God
Special Guests: Patti LaBelle, Kirk Franklin, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Lauren LaRosa

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Episode Overview

This "Best Of" episode revisits memorable segments with three luminaries: gospel legend Kirk Franklin, influential Pastor Jamal Bryant, and iconic singer and entrepreneur Patti LaBelle. The conversations span faith and activism, Black business empowerment, ownership, resilience, community, and legacy, all infused with signature Breakfast Club candidness and humor.

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1. Uplifting the Community: Call-In Segment & Opening Banter

Key Segment: 03:07–13:35

Highlights:

• Hosts reflect on the spirit of Christmas Eve, their gratitude for the listeners, and the meaning of serving the community.
• DJ Envy shares excitement about being at Patti LaBelle's house for a home-cooked meal, calling it a privilege ("Ms. Patti LaBelle is not a person that you meet, she's a spirit you experience." – Charlamagne, 04:17).
• Callers open up about holiday stress, family, community jobs, and financial pressures, highlighting mutual support and celebrating small victories.

Notable Quotes:

• Charlamagne: “It’s beautiful when your kids know you’re broke—it means they understand.” (06:14)
• Jess Hilarious: “Money comes and goes, and you got life and good health—that’s most important.” (06:45)
• Caller (Eric): “The politics is so real, man, messing up the holiday season.” (05:18)
• Boiler Hero: “I’m out here just saving, 24/7, so if anybody needs heat, just hit the boy!” (07:53)
• Charlamagne: “I like people that take their job serious, man.” (07:47)

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2. Pastor Jamal Bryant: Accountability, Black Businesses, and the Target Fast

Key Segment: 13:54–24:54, 27:53–31:25

Main Discussion Points:

• 40-Day Target Fast: Pastor Bryant reveals an organized economic protest urging Black communities to temporarily halt spending at Target.
• Strategic Targeting: He explains why Target was chosen—its failed $2B pledge post-George Floyd, significant Black consumer spending ($12M/day), and its role as a major Black employer without proportional advancement.
• Not a "Boycott": Framed as a spiritual "fast," called particularly to engage the Black Church in social activism and highlight the need for prayerful, organized, data-driven movements.
• Supporting Black Vendors: Addresses concerns about Black-owned brands in Target, suggesting alternative support via direct-to-consumer channels and proposing creative solutions like church-based retail.

Notable Quotes:

• Pastor Bryant:
  • "If you want to eat an elephant, do one piece at a time. So we picked Target first for several reasons..." (14:21)
  • “Negroes spend $12 million a day in Target.” (15:19)
  • “Target is the largest employer of Black people outside the federal government, with 400,000 on payroll, but don’t honor us.” (15:20)
  • “A movement comes with inconvenience… Companies take losses, but a principle is more important than a profit.” (19:41, 21:14)
  • "We always want a discount. Let's pay full price and support them." (20:10)
  • "This generation don't want symbolic wins. They want substantive strides." (23:18)
  • "Numbers is power... a hundred thousand people, I can press a button and send an email to say, hey, we outside in Target." (29:16)
• Charlamagne (re: the church now): "This is the largest demographic of Black people since we’ve been in America who don’t go to church at all." (16:11)

Action Steps:

• Website for the protest: targetfast.org – sign up to receive the list of demands and digital directory of 300,000 Black businesses, plus daily devotionals throughout the "fast." (29:56)

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3. Patti LaBelle: Legacy, Entrepreneurship, and Joy in Cooking

Key Segment: 31:33–60:52

Main Discussion Points:

Home, Family, and Food

• Hospitality: The hosts are invited into LaBelle’s home for one of her famous meals, discussing comfort, family bonding, tradition, and passing down recipes.
  • “I'm just a professional cook who loves to cook... I’m no better than those ladies and gentlemen who cook also.” — Patti (33:54)
• Food Empire: LaBelle discusses her bestsellers, personal involvement, and the importance of representation in consumer brands ("You know me. Thank you so much for knowing me." – 37:27).

Ownership and Representation

• LaBelle underscores full ownership—she, her son Zuri, and their small team control all decisions, product quality, and expansion.
  • “It was so good... to be an owner of yourself, just like with your music.” (41:23)
  • "A lot of people won’t buy food from entertainers... I ain’t lying." (36:55)

Bridging Generations and Giving Back

• Intergenerational Success and Recognition: From musical legacy to entrepreneurship, she's embraced by both the elder generation and the youth.
  • “At 81, don’t stop a girl.” (37:44)
• Mentorship: Discusses supporting young women in music, receiving flowers from Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, and seeing herself as a bridge (“If it wasn’t for people like Patti LaBelle, they wouldn’t be Destiny’s Child.” – 44:51).

Addressing Misinformation and AI

• Laughs off internet/A.I. rumors about her personal life, exposes the dangers of misinformation.
  • “All the AI stuff… is just disgusting. When people believe it, it’s worse than that.” (58:03)

On Legacy, Biopics & Moving Forward

• Patti confirms a biopic and documentary are underway (52:48).
• Talks about international touring (Australia/NZ), and her continued passion for singing and giving back (48:19–49:14).

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4. Kirk Franklin: Faith, Authenticity, and Black Masculinity

Key Segment: 67:11–95:55

Main Discussion Points:

Humility in Success

• Franklin discusses nerves and humility, especially around high-profile performances (e.g., BET Awards).
  • “Every project, every album, every song... is my first.” (68:00)
  • "You're always chasing ghosts. You're always looking for that 'good job, baby' your mama didn't give you." (68:00)

Faith, Religion, and Realness

• Franklin reflects on what it means to practice faith publicly, breaking stereotypes of what “loving Jesus” looks like ("I want to be the lowliest, the most humble, the most realest person... so you can see that everybody's supposed to be on this bus." – 70:54).
• Addresses critique from "super religious" communities about being too relaxed, “not perfect,” and enjoying secular moments ("I love Jesus, but I'm not Him. I live in a body that ain't his yet until he cracks the sky and make me more like him." – 71:46).

Meeting People Where They Are

• Franklin defends Glorilla’s BET Gospel win, embracing blending of genres, and emphasizes openness:
  • “God uses everybody. He can use anybody, a bum on the street, anybody to lead, so you pay attention and come to God.” (80:00)
  • “Christianity has for so long been a country club and you had to look a certain way... now we’re just comfortable being who we are.” (81:39)

Black Men’s Mental Health & Vulnerability

• "Den of Kings": Franklin explains his new series fostering vulnerable conversations among Black men about life, fatherhood, and leadership (83:07–85:42).
  • “I try to lead with vulnerability and transparency myself. I create the environment that makes you feel safe and comfortable.” (85:28)

Family, Regret, and Redemption

• Speaks openly about struggles balancing career ambition and family, ongoing work toward reconciliation with his eldest son, and the pain of having his faith career intersect with parental guilt.
  • “People are blessed by your sacrifice, but then they’re also hurt by your sacrifice. I don’t know all the answers. I just try to show up and be honest.” (89:02)
• On criticism & social media: “Anybody be lying if [they said] it’s fine. We all try to do our social media fast… after the BET Awards, I was like, I’m not reading nothing.” (90:32)

Humanity, Judgment, and Kindness

• Franklin uses a metaphor about a sinking island and a tightrope to illustrate the importance of kindness and rooting for one another instead of criticizing each other's “walk,” ending with:
  • “We should be praying people make it instead of complaining how they’re walking… because you next!” (91:59)

Closing Blessing

• Franklin leaves with a heartfelt prayer for the hosts and listeners, focusing on forgiveness, kindness, and staying true amid a chaotic world (94:59–95:55).

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5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Patti LaBelle: "My face is better, period." (38:00)
• Pastor Jamal Bryant: "I need to talk to the CEO...If you all are being punked by JD Vance and Trump, tell me that and let's figure out how we can walk alongside each other." (24:06)
• Kirk Franklin: “I'm not on your calendar—I'm on His.” (74:03)
• Charlamagne Tha God: "Integrity is telling yourself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people. Have a great day." (96:03)

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6. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening/Community Calls: 03:07–13:35
• Pastor Jamal Bryant (Target Fast): 13:54–24:54, 27:53–31:25
• Patti LaBelle Interview: 31:33–60:52
• Kirk Franklin Interview: 67:11–95:55
• Final Reflection & Closing Notes: 96:03–end

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Final Thoughts

A joyful, candid, and empowering episode exploring Black excellence, legacy, faith, and sharing wisdom across generations. The stories and advice from Patti LaBelle, Pastor Bryant, and Kirk Franklin provide both warmth and tools for faith, business, and everyday life.

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For full episodes and behind-the-scenes, visit The Breakfast Club's YouTube channel.

Transcript

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an Iheart podcast.

[Jess Hilarious]

Guaranteed human peace of the planet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Charlamagne Tha God here. And the end of the year is the time to set the foundation for next year. New ideas, new product drops, new goals. And when I'm building anything meaningful, I need the right tools. That's why I always tell folks, especially black entrepreneurs and small black owned businesses, Shopify is the move. We use it at the Black Effect Podcast Network. And I've seen firsthand how it helps creators and business owners grow with confidence. Okay, Shopify is like having a whole team behind you. You, your chief of staff, your personal assistant, your co founder, all in one platform. Wherever your people are, Shopify makes sure your business can meet them where they're at. So if you're ready to take the next step in your life, whether it's merch products or anything in between, get on shopify.com ben and make it happen. It is time to stop putting off your future and start your new role as your own boss today.

[Kirk Franklin]

Whoa, what a vibe we've got, y'.

[Sophie Cunningham]

All.

[Kirk Franklin]

As always, it's classic HBCU energy.

[DJ Envy]

Nonstop action, the band is rocking and the crowd lit.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Chants echoing, drums beating, everybody showing that school pride.

[DJ Envy]

Moments like this, yeah, they call for.

[Kirk Franklin]

An ice cold Coca Cola.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Crisp and refreshing.

[Kirk Franklin]

That's a game changer right there.

[DJ Envy]

Mm, yeah, that taste always hit the right note just like the band at halftime. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola.

[Kirk Franklin]

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 and keep that HBCU pride going.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity, they may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on OSA.com this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.

[Kirk Franklin]

So let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there, and.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Everywhere, but your AI can't use the data because it's here, there, and everywhere? Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data.

[Kirk Franklin]

IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

To change how you do business, let's create smarter business. IBM.

[Kirk Franklin]

Wake you up.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up.

[Kirk Franklin]

Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartRadio.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning, USA.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

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

[DJ Envy]

Salute to Jess. Hilarious Charlemagne the God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's Christmas Eve, okay? So, yes, man. Salute to everybody out there listening to us right now. Happy to be here. Thankful I haven't. I haven't done it in a few days, so I forgot what I be saying. What I be saying, oh, I'm happy to be here to serve our beautiful listeners. Or something like that. I can't remember exactly what I say, but I am truly happy to be here to serve our beautiful listeners. But this is what happens when you work on your day off.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

That's right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's what we're doing on Christmas Eve.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. We were working on our day off. We actually went to Patti LaBelle's house. Ms. Patti LaBelle.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's not really work. You know what I'm saying? Cause Patti LaBelle is. Ms. Patti LaBelle is absolute family. We adore her. And, you know, when she ask us to pull up, you know, to come have breakfast, which she does from time to time. You gotta do it. I mean, come on.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Come on. Absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

She opens up her house to us. And, I mean, she cooks yesterday. Well, this morning, she'll be cooking fried chicken and waffles. So I'm excited about that. And we just have great conversation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I'm her sous chef. I'm always her sous chef when I'm there. But, yeah, I just like being around Patty, man. Patty is a spirit. Like, Patty is not a. She's not a person that you meet. She's a spirit that you experience. And I just love. I just love being around Ms. LaBelle.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. And also, we're gonna be kicking it with Kirk Franklin today.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Where was Kirk at? I ain't see Kirk now.

[DJ Envy]

This is a throwback. This. This Kirk is a throwback.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, okay, okay, okay. All right. Got you. I was like, damn. I ain't seen no Kirk over the holiday season. I missed that one.

[DJ Envy]

So we're gonna get it. Both those interviews on in a little bit, so don't go anywhere. You guys be safe out there on this Christmas Eve. If you're traveling, just be safe on the roads. All right? It's the Breakfast Club.

[Caller]

Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

This is your time to get it off your chest, whether you're mad or blessed.

[Jess Hilarious]

I hate the way that you walk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The way that you talk.

[Kirk Franklin]

I hate the way that you dress.

[DJ Envy]

Everything with me is blessed. Call up next. 800-585-1051. Not just me.

[Kirk Franklin]

I'm with the culture feeling.

[DJ Envy]

Hello? Who's this?

[Caller]

My name is Eric.

[DJ Envy]

Eric from the bra. Get it off your chest.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm just tired of doing the politics. I'm just tired of all of it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's get done for the money, man.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Huh?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I said let's get done for the month. I'm with you. Let's just drink coquito and get high and just forget about everything for the. Till January 1st. I'm serious.

[Caller]

Like, the politics is so real, man, that it's messing up the holiday season. Like holidays. Don't even like the holidays. There's so much that's going on in the world.

[Patti LaBelle]

Damn silly.

[Caller]

Thank you, brother.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right.

[Caller]

You have a good one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You too.

[DJ Envy]

Hello, who's this?

[Caller]

Good morning, y'.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All.

[Caller]

This is Chi from Connecticut.

[DJ Envy]

What's up, Connecticut?

[Caller]

N. I just wanted to say shout out to all of the parents that got their kids things throughout the years that were blessed to get their kids things throughout the year so that this struggling Christmas season, we don't have to come out of pocket for damn near anything. Like my kids. I asked them today, yesterday. I said, what y' all want for Christmas? They was like, we have everything. And I said, you know what?

[Patti LaBelle]

I.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's amazing. It's good when your kids. It's beautiful when your kids know you're broke. No, it is you right?

[Jess Hilarious]

When it's okay, they understand.

[Caller]

Let's say at this point, they have more money than me in their little sandwich bags in their drawers. They dress the drawers like they. Yeah, well, I love your energy, though.

[Jess Hilarious]

You don't sound down. You don't sound. You know what I mean?

[Patti LaBelle]

You.

[Jess Hilarious]

I love your energy.

[Caller]

No, what you gonna do? What you gonna do about it? The day moves on, the year moves on, and. And money comes and goes, and you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Got life, and you got. You got life, and you Got good health. Like, that's. That's the most important thing.

[Caller]

Absolutely. And I told y' all the last time I was on, like, when it comes down to my mental health, remember.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was telling y', all I go to counseling.

[Caller]

And that was one of the biggest things I went to counselor for. Financial stress is just terrible. Like, it wears on the body. So, nope, you can't. You can't worry about stuff like that.

[DJ Envy]

Hello? Who's this?

[Caller]

What's going on? It's the boiler hero.

[DJ Envy]

Boiler hero, what's up? Get it off your chest.

[Caller]

Listen, man, it's cold as hell outside. I just want everybody to know the boiler hero got them. I'm making sure New York City staying warm. You can check me out on my YouTube channel, Boiler Heroes. You can see me give the heat to the city.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Work on boilers.

[Caller]

I'm a boiler man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what does that mean?

[Caller]

Like, that means I go. I go to buildings in New York City and I fix their boilers and I give people heat and hot water. You can check me out on YouTube. Boiler Heroes. Instagram, Boiler Heroes. I'm the only boiler man in the world with a YouTube channel.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I like your enthusiasm, brother. I like people that take their job serious, man. I like that. I love.

[Caller]

I love what I do, man. I'm out here just saving 24 7. So if anybody needs heat, just hit the boy. And I'm outside flying to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So listen, Boilerman, did you go to trade school? How did you become a boiler boiler?

[Caller]

I'm a second generation boiler man.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Okay?

[Caller]

So my uncle's a boiler man, and he put me on. And then I went to school because I was intrigued by the information, because I wanted to get the certification to make sure nobody had to, you know, ask me questions. Are you certified? Yes, I am. You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's that paper and then benefits like.

[Caller]

Ah, it's all good. I got the best. The best insurance in New York City, okay?

[DJ Envy]

That's what it is. Tell people the most important thing. I always tell people they got to change their filters. When they don't change, that filter and that stuff get backed up.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Boy.

[Caller]

That's the truth. That's the truth. But envy. I remember I called, like, I think, like, two years ago when I first started my YouTube channel. And you told me how your crib, the low water cutoff, got broken and you had sent a man to go fix it.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got all my stuff. I got a good boiler man now. But the other day on my daughter's Crib. She didn't change the filter. I should have changed the filter for my daughter, but she ain't changed the filter.

[Caller]

You could do that? Yes. I said you could do that, Envy.

[DJ Envy]

But yeah, I tell everybody, change the filter. That's the most important thing season to season. Change the filter.

[Caller]

Facts. I appreciate y' all Boyle heroes tap in.

[DJ Envy]

All right, brother.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Have a good one.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Hello? Who's this?

[Caller]

Hey, what's up, man? My name Romeo from North Carolina, bro.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's up, Romeo? How you doing, my brother?

[Caller]

I'm all right, man. I want to speak my mind this morning, man. I got fired for no reason because I guess my boss decided to take a younger guy's advice, and he lied on me and said I was in a bathroom of the apartment store smoking a box of cigarettes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

A whole box, guy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You were stressed.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How you smoke a whole box of cigarettes?

[Caller]

I don't even smoke, though, Charlie.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I believe you, because smoking is nasty. I don't. Smoking is disgusting. If you were smoking some weed or something, that's a different story. But just a cigarette.

[Caller]

I'm with you, right? Man, they didn't check the cameras or nothing, man. They just let me go, man. I got two kids, bro.

[DJ Envy]

I mean, you might have to go to human resources if they got a human resource department, and you might have to go see an attorney, brother.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Is it new?

[Caller]

I can plug in my cash app.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you just got fired. Times ain't that hard. Now you. You just got fired When?

[Caller]

About two weeks ago.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, okay. All right. Well, go ahead, throw your cash out.

[Commercial Announcer]

All right.

[Caller]

My cash app. $sign, G U A P O F L Y.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now, I'm gonna tell you something, though. People usually put money in cash apps for very compelling stories. I just got fired. Sorry. For, you know, because you smoking cigarettes. That's not compelling. In no way, shape, or form. It's a lot of people that just lost their job, brother, over the last couple of weeks.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear. But don't you got another check coming still?

[Kirk Franklin]

They came already.

[DJ Envy]

Two weeks is up. Probably just got it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, enjoy the holidays the best you can, my brother.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Sorry, brother.

[Caller]

I appreciate it, man. Much love.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, sir.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, call us up right now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake up, wake up.

[Commercial Announcer]

This is your time to get it.

[DJ Envy]

Off your chest.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Man. Or blessed.

[DJ Envy]

We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this? Hey, Jamie.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, Jamie. What's up? Get it off your chest.

[Caller]

Hey, how you doing? I just want. I wanted to get on here and. Excuse me. I might be a little nervous. I ain't never called the radio station before. But I just want to sing a little song for y' all real quick.

[DJ Envy]

All right.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Go ahead, brother.

[Caller]

And it's my birthday.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, Happy birthday.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Happy birthday.

[Jess Hilarious]

You from Baltimore?

[Caller]

Thank you. Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Huh?

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

You from Baltimore.

[Caller]

I'm definitely from Baltimore. That death ain't it.

[Jess Hilarious]

You already know what's up.

[Caller]

What's up, dummy.

[Jess Hilarious]

No, you can't say that if you're not from there.

[DJ Envy]

Don't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don't. Ah, go ahead.

[Jess Hilarious]

Sing something for a show.

[DJ Envy]

All right.

[Caller]

All right. There's so many things I've got to tell you. But I'm afraid I don't know how. Cause there's a possibility that you look at me differently. Love. Ever since that first moment I spoke your name from and all I knew that by you being in my life, Things were destined to change the love.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jesus.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay, shorty.

[Kirk Franklin]

All right.

[Caller]

Your name in vain.

[Kirk Franklin]

What else you do?

[Jess Hilarious]

I'm trying to finish the hook.

[DJ Envy]

All right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What else you do, bro, you need to be singing. Trade school.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, yo, stop playing, my man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I need to find something else.

[DJ Envy]

You have a great one, bro. Like, what else you do besides sing?

[Caller]

Thank you. For real. I played ball for real in college, bro. So now I ain't in college right now. I got a little girl for real, so.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, okay.

[DJ Envy]

You don't do nothing. I said. He played ball in school.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm 23. I'm in Florida now. I'm from Baltimore originally, so now I'm in Florida.

[DJ Envy]

What you doing in Florida?

[Caller]

Just killing. Working, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ain't no such thing as a regular job, brother. You got a job. That's a good that you're working at the Marriott. You're making a living, man.

[Jess Hilarious]

For sure.

[Caller]

I appreciate it. I want y' all to see me out here. Y' all gonna see me, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, sir.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

I'm.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm wishing the best for you.

[DJ Envy]

Absolutely, brother. God bless you, man.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

All right.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need the vin, hit us up now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Happy holidays from your friendly neighborhood bad guy. Charlamagne the God. Tis the season to be petty.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess. Hilarious. Charlamagne the guy. We are the breakfast club. Lauren LaRosa is here. We got a special guest in the building.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, indeed, we have Pastor Jamaica o'.

[DJ Envy]

Brien.

[Commercial Announcer]

Welcome, brother.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Thank you, sir. Good to be with y'.

[Kirk Franklin]

All.

[DJ Envy]

How you feeling this morning?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Feel great.

[DJ Envy]

Let's talk about this, the 40 day fast of target.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

And this is something that you're trying to put into play and why. I'm not trying. You are putting it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, no.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah. So people are asking, envy, why did we pick Target when Walmart out of order, McDonald's is out of order, John Deere's out of order, bank of America's out of order.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Amazon.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Amazon is out of order. Is we wanted to go. The African proverb says, if you want to eat an elephant, do one piece at a time. So we picked Target first for several reasons. Number one, Target is headquartered in the same city George Floyd was killed. When George Floyd was killed, Target came out, made an announcement that they're going to invest $2 billion in the black business. Two billion. Drum roll. And it starts December of 2025. When Trump made the announ of 2025, they dishonored that commitment. So we wanted to hold them accountable because when they made the pledge, it had nothing to do with Di. Secondly, I am embarrassed Breakfast Club to say to you, Negroes spend $12 million a day in Target. And I don't know any black business that amasses that much money in any singular day.

[DJ Envy]

Said 12 million a day.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

A day. Number three, target is on 27 college campuses and not one HBCU. Number four, outside of the federal government, Target is the largest employer of black people. There are 400,000 black people on payroll and don't honor us. So we're giving that kind of money, that much human capital and to not honor us, I think is dismally disrespected. And because they're publicly traded with, we wanted to see what will happen in, in those 40 days that shows the data. This is the impact when black people walk away and to share it with those share crops. So it will not just be 40 days, but every movement has to have a benchmark, has got to have a strategy, and you gotta have some data. What do you say?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Calling it a fast and not a boycott?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah, I called it a fast because this was a call to the black church to become active. Something happened silently that scholars and historians are going to have to pay attention to. The rise of Black Lives Matter. Charlemagne was the very first movement of civil rights for black people that was not birthed out of the church. The very first civil rights movement that happened that didn't have a religious leader at the front. And so the black church is going backwards. This is the largest demographic of black people since we've been in America who don't go to church at all, who don't subscribe to organized religion. We're at 28%. The largest amount of black people who self identify as atheists, who say they don't believe in God, don't believe in nothing. So this was a call specifically for black Christians to show the younger generation our head is not in the sand. We, we're a part of it, but we're aligning it with prayer that those 40 days is the high holy season for the Christian community. We're praying because this is a spiritual warfare that we're under with J.D. vance and Donald Trump with all of the things that are happening with these executive orders. Marching is good, protesting is necessary. Petitions are important. But if we don't bring a spiritual grounding to it, I think that we're going to miss it. During the Montgomery bus boycott that last 381 days, what nobody talks about is for 381 days, every night they went back to the church for prayer. So I think that in the movement you've got to have a faith entity intertwined in it in order for you to move forward.

[DJ Envy]

What do you say to some of the people that have black products in Target that they say that, you know, because of this boycott, if a boycott happens and people are stopping to go to Target, that it's gonna affect their products even more. I know we had the founders of Rucker Roots on the Breakfast Club, the Lit Bar.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

And they were saying that if people don't come into the store, which Target is their hugest manufacturer, the hugest buyer? So what happens to those products?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Number one, the Lit Bar. And all of those entities understand a new thing out called Drop Ship. You don't have to go in a physical store to help them because of that. In foresight, we partner with the U.S. black Chamber of Commerce. So every person that goes to targetfast.org within an hour, I send you a Digital Directory of 300,000 black businesses across the country. So we don't want those businesses to be adversely impacted. We want people to support them, but do it online. I can support the Lit Bar and not go into Target to do it. I can go online to do it. And so I think that as innovative and creative people as black people are, let's do it online. We do everything else online. So let's support them and the 1,000 black vendors who are placed in Target, we're going to prominently place on the website so that you'll be able to find them quickly without any pause.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Two things to what you're saying. So the first thing when they were up here, they talked about the inventory and just how much money they have to put ahead to be in these stores that comes out of their own pocket that they will lose out on if people do not. If they're not supporting these like companies or whatever. So even if you're buying it from their website because they're already in contract for this amount of inventory allotted to Target, they lose out. They don't profit on that now.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah, that money has already been spent. A movement comes with inconvenience. It came a. That same argument happened in the Montgomery bus boycott. The question was asked, what do we do for the bus mechanics who are all black? So what they did is they pulled all of those bus mechanics out of Montgomery and set up garages at the churches. What nobody is talking about is four mechanic shops came out of it. So I understand that it's an inconvenience. I know we gotta go a different route. But I would then say that's up the ante. As a business principle, let's buy more to cover what is that loss. Companies take losses all the time. But a group of misguided preachers went into Target in Detroit and said, let's just buy black inventory and come out. You're still supporting Target. So I think that we've got to come away even if we got to raise the price in order to make the balance. Let's do it. One of the things that black people do wrong, whenever it is we're supporting black business, we always want a discount. Let's pay full price and support them. Let's not just do it with lip service, but let's do it through the investment.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The women from Rucker Roots I own Jameson and Ellen Sellers talked about how even in Walmart's majority of their clientele that they make a large amount of their money off of on those products, they don't have the access to the dot com. So being able to walk in like it's just different in some of the lower rural areas. So being able to walk into a Walmart or a Target helps them as far as inventory and creates access for those people. What about that?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

But yeah, I think that we've got to ask ourselves what is the principle and is the principal more important than the profit? You've got a whole lot of churches who have space that is underutilized and underused. The fact that in 2025, we don't have a minority owned retail space to direct people on says that we got to reevaluate how we do business. So going into Target to buy whatever this product is to say, hey, forget that they don't honor us, forget that they've disrespected the George Floyd family, forget that they are only allowing black people on entry level positions. Let's do it for lipstick. I think that we're losing the larger conversation. I want to see the sisters win. I want to see them do overwhelmingly well. But I think that we got to get into a room and figure out how do we make it more accessible for those in rural areas. I don't think that the answer is to keep shooting ourselves in the foot and then ask for a cast.

[DJ Envy]

But will we ever get there, Pastor? Like, you know, we want to get there, right? Will we ever own our own Target Walmart? Will we ever own our own car manufacturer? Will we ever own our own so we can rely on it? It just seems like we're far stretched from that.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah. So one of the things that we're asking for Target to do, and for all of the demands that we're asking of Target, please go to targetfast.org I'm asking Target to partner with 10 HBCUs to show our businesses how to scale up and to go into the retail space. Reverend Sharpton is one of my mentors. But in the history of black people, we have never marched black people into a white business to, say, spend money here. So we gotta figure out how it is that we really reroute and redirect so that we can create an ecosystem for us to be able to do. I think that is possible, but there's a plan that has to be afoot in order to make it done.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I saw you say that Target has been trying to reach out to you.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you, you. I'm not talking no diversity.

[Jess Hilarious]

No.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

You may not have a job next week. You reached out during Black History Month. I don't know if you're gonna make it to St. Patrick's Day. I need somebody who got some job security and got some influence to make a decision. I think this generation don't want symbolic wins. They want substantive strides. And if you're just doing there to say, we met, we talked, all the street credibility is gone. I need somebody who can make a decision. And you gotta ask envy, what's in the mind of a CEO that can lose $12 million a day and say, I'm not Me.

[DJ Envy]

So the person that reached out to you felt had no influence.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah, not enough influence. Yeah. So you're gonna send the black people out to talk to the black.

[DJ Envy]

Black guy. Go talk to the black guy. Got you.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. I need to talk to the CEO or I need to talk to somebody who was on that board of Target who can really help me understand where you are. And if you all are being punked by jd, Vance and Trump, tell me that and let's figure out how we can walk alongside each other.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, we know that's what it is. Yeah, that's what it is. But tell me that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, when you. So I know that in talking about meeting, eventually y' all want to have a conversation or there is something scheduled. Right. You guys will be meeting June 12th in Minneapolis.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

That's when their stockholders meeting is.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, the shareholders meeting.

[Patti LaBelle]

Okay.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah. So we are planning on going there. I'm hoping that we have resolved by this.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I was getting.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yes. We can't wait till June, but June 12th. And there now is the underground murmur that they don't even want to do an in person shareholder me. They want to do it by Zoom.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They don't want to. You all know this time of year is my reset season. New energy, new plans, new ways to grow my brand. And if you're trying to start 2026 ahead of the game, like really ahead, now is the time to get moving. For me, Shopify has been the platform that keeps my whole merch business tight. As a creator, as a businesswoman, I need my tools to work hard. And Shopify is like having a chief of staff, a personal assistant, and a co founder all in one. And look, I always tell other women building their own brands, especially small independent black creators, don't overcomplicate it. Whether you're running a side hustle or you're trying to run a full storefront selling in your community or around the world, Shopify takes the guesswork out of everything. Shopify also, like, my favorite thing about it is they teach you as you grow, you can look up anything, get information on anything. And it's simple. They give you, like easy 1, 2, 3 steps. I used to juggle 10 different logins and apps. Now one platform I manage my store, sell online, sell on social, even tag products right from my phone, wherever I am. And Shopify Sidekick. Listen, you keep hearing all about AI. Let me tell y', all, this AI is a lifesaver. It gives me reports, content ideas, helps me edit images it's literally like having a smart assistant in my back pocket, guiding me to my next move. So let's be real. It's time to stop thinking and start doing. And there is no better way to do that than Shopify. Use our link shopify.comb e-n now to start getting serious about building your future.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, what up y'?

[Patti LaBelle]

All?

[DJ Envy]

It's DJ Envy, and the holidays are here, the time of year that's all about connecting with loved ones in person or over the phone. In fact, hearing someone's voice can evoke a similar emotional response as a hug. And while most of us can hop on a video chat to really bring that connection to life, using tech isn't easy for everyone, especially some of the older folk in our lives. AT&T has been doing something special here to help. They offer digital literacy workshops that help older adults learn how to use technology to do things most of us take for granted, like video conferencing and sharing photos. Take Nancy Shand. She joined one of AT&T's workshops to learn how to video chat for the first time this holiday season. Nancy won't just be hearing about family gatherings, she'll be a part of them, sharing stories, opening presents, and making memories all through a screen. Nobody should have to go through the holiday season alone, so be sure to connect and stay connected to your loved ones this holiday season.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Connecting changes everything.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Get ready for the wildest sight your.

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[Kirk Franklin]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Someone will be eliminated.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Pressure is coming down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Trainer Games on Prime Video, January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Two guys are showing.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yes.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

But that's why it's important for you to have the data to show how this has been impacted, how much money you've lost in the stock, and what is at stake. So we wanted to take. Take all of that to the shareholders meeting June 12.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My last question for you, where are you at now, numbers wise? Because I know you were looking to get a hundred thousand people by this Wednesday, the 5th, when it starts, and you asked.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

We are at 100. 10,000 people have come, and we did it before we ever got to the Breakfast Club. So now, y', all, we got to get to 150. We got. We got to get to 150. Because numbers is power. It was important for me to have tangible evidence of how many people are standing behind us. That is not just a post. It's not just likes and shares, but a hundred thousand people. I can press a button and send an email to say, hey, we outside in Target. Hey, we in Cincinnati. So that the people at Target know that we mean business. That is not just symbolism, but there's substance behind it.

[DJ Envy]

How can people get behind you?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Go to targetfast.org it's just one word there. You'll see what is our list of demands? When it is that you sign up for Target fast, I'm gonna send you a digital directory to those 300,000 businesses. And even for those of you who don't go to church or watch online, I'm gonna send you a daily prayer devotional so that you can stay focused. No pun intended. So you can stay on Target for what it is that we're trying to get done.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. Again, targetfast.org and thank you so much, brother man.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Thank you. And when y'. All. Atlanta. I'm coming through. I ain't even got a ticket. I'm coming soon.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, yeah, he came. Pastor Jamal's popped up to my Black Effect podcast festival.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

I'm coming this year.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to come to New Birth.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Man, you gotta.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to come one Sunday and check it out.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Yeah, you gotta come.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

His room at the Cross. Hey, let me say this to you, okay? I'm from Baltimore. Do you know the first place I ever had crabs?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Charleston, South Carolina.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Monks Corner.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Monks corner. Okay.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Monks corner. AME Church. Right. Jameson Blake. James Blake. This back in the 80s. All right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

It's the first place I ever had crap. My family's from Georgetown, South Carolina.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

So we used to come down there every summer, but Baltimore, they still thought you had crabs.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And you from Baltimore, Was they better than Baltimore?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Never.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Does not go too far.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was just doing trauma bonding with Charlemagne.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

No, no.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Baltimore's the homicide.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

It's trauma that I had to do it in South Carolina before I had it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

South Carolina is amazing for seafood.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

It's amazing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's great.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

It's just not as good as Baltimore, but it's good. Thank y'. All.

[DJ Envy]

Pastor Jamal Bryan, it's the Breakfast Club.

[Kirk Franklin]

Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning, everybody.

[Jess Hilarious]

It's DJ Envy.

[DJ Envy]

Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I thought we were supposed to be off.

[DJ Envy]

We are supposed to be off. Yes, that's right. But it is Christmas Eve, and we are having Christmas Eve, I guess, breakfast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen, only one person can make us work on a holiday.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Patti LaBelle.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey.

[DJ Envy]

Hey. So this is the second time that we are here at Ms. Patty's house.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, indeed.

[DJ Envy]

Last time it was more of a Thanksgiving feast, but this time she's going to make breakfast and teach us how to actually cook breakfast, which Laura needs, cuz Lauren needs to keep a man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But first of all, yeah, he husky. He like to eat, so he. Yeah, can you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Husky. He is. Husky is such a bad word. Okay. Don't do that to my man. But I be, I be cooking. I be cooking. Oh, you come what? I cook.

[Patti LaBelle]

Not that I doubt that. You shouldn't be able to.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Damn.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, no. Some people just don't do it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My grandma, you can't grow up in the house and my grandma and not cook. You got to get up at a certain time of day. You got to cook. Especially when you have people over the house.

[Patti LaBelle]

It better be good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, it is.

[Patti LaBelle]

Don't just cook.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I, I cook from the heart.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Oh, boy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't cook like you, though, Miss Patty. Oh, well, so I, I take a little cues. He, he told me, bring some food home.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

How, how are you feeling? First and foremost, I feel like a.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Queen, you know, Feel like you are.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, thank you. I, I mean, I just feel so blessed. And then I was just saying again to Kim, I said, breakfast Club, we're here again at my house and I admire all of you guys and lady. And I, I'm, I'm, I'm chosen. I, I, I know I'm chosen as My baby.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah. You tired, though? You just on tour, and. I mean, Christmas is the holiday season where they want Ms. Patty to cook.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

You know, they want Ms. Patty's meal. Meals. They want Ms. Patty's food, Ms. Patty's dinner, Ms. Patty's breakfast. But you just got off tour. Ms. Patty need a rest, too.

[Patti LaBelle]

I'm tired. I have to tell you that I'm blessed and tired, but I still cook. I have to cook. Like, I said I was gonna cook for Thanksgiving. I ended up cooking a lot of stuff for Christmas. I'm gonna end up cooking a lot of stuff for New Year's. I'll be doing the same. So I'm. I'm just a professional cook who loves to cook. And I'm not never gonna say that my stuff is better than your mother's or your grandmother's or, you know, because I cook the way I cook, and I'm no better than those ladies and gentlemen who cook also. But I'm. I'm happy to. To be asked to cook.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Are you at the point where you passing down recipes yet? Are you just like, no, go buy the products?

[Patti LaBelle]

No, I pass.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah. But they still can't do it. Like, I.

[DJ Envy]

Clock it.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

What's your favorite meal to cook during the holidays? What's one thing that you just enjoy cooking? And what's one thing that you don't necessarily like cooking? But everybody wants.

[Patti LaBelle]

Everybody wants my potato salad because it's so good. But I don't feel like cutting up all that stuff, you know, because you have to do fresh ingredients, so that's what they want. But I don't feel like doing it all. But I do it. I'm gonna do it for Christmas. And macaroni, instead of buying my macaroni, I have to make my own macaroni because Zori wants it. Zuri is my son who said, mom, don't buy your own stuff going in that kitchen and cook it. So I have to make macaroni for him this Christmas.

[DJ Envy]

Zuri's old enough to cook for himself now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And guess what, mom do it, though. Yes, it's different when mom do it.

[Patti LaBelle]

No, that boy cooks better than me, really. His chili, his food, his roast chicken and stuff that he just does. And I happen to have a piece of it. He only gives me a little piece, and he won't tell me what he put in it. So he's a wonderful cook. You know, we're gonna have a cook off, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So he's the one you trust with the recipes, like, because I know. Oh, because you probably pass the stuff down, but everybody can't do it like you are.

[Patti LaBelle]

They can't. No, he does it. Yes, he does it better than me, so. But I'm mad.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Talk about how being in the kitchen, just what it does for you, like spiritually.

[Patti LaBelle]

So I get such a happy feeling. And I know whoever I'm cooking for, when they leave, they're going to ask for a takeout container and that I love more than anything. For them to say, I need seconds, girl, that just puts a smile on my face. I'm. I am more of a cook than a singer, so I enjoy, well, I enjoy both of them, but I say that I cook better than I sing sometimes. Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Does it make you go crazy sometimes when people notice you for different things? Like, I have a 22 year old son and I told him, I'm coming out here. And when I said your name, he didn't say the music. He said, yeah, all her stuff's all over Target.

[Patti LaBelle]

I know.

[DJ Envy]

And he knows you from that type of stuff. But then my parents know you from your music and touring. Does that make you go crazy?

[Patti LaBelle]

Sometimes it makes me feel great because they know me for both things and I, you know, I just feel good. All the accolades that people put on me and just say that they love this and they love that. Excuse me, guys. My voice is like diminishing. It's like low, but I like it all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, Singing was your passion. Singing is your passion. Cooking is your passion. Did you ever think that you could get paid off the passion of cooking?

[Patti LaBelle]

Never. I would always want to give that away. You know, you don't grow up learning how to say, this is going to cost 15 for this chicken dish. You just give it out and say, I hope you love it, but never to get paid. But I'm blessed.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Especially now with all the products in stores.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah, I, I am blessed. I mean, I'm not going to shy away from that because a lot of people won't buy food from, from people. Entertainers especially, because they think entertainers are lying most of the time. I ain't lying. So that's why I, I love what I do.

[DJ Envy]

We were talking to your family earlier and we were just saying, man, like, we don't know who Uncle Ben is.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right?

[DJ Envy]

Aunt, your mama. We don't know who that is. The people on these boxes, we don't know who they are, if they're even real.

[Patti LaBelle]

I know, but you know me. Thank you so much for knowing me. Yeah. I am so happy that People are accepting my foods and my music. You know, I am happy about all of that. I'll keep it. Keep on doing it. You know, at 81, don't stop a girl.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Patti LaBelle]

At all.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Did you ever think about. Because you said, like, people don't want to buy food sometimes from entertainers because they don't believe it. Did you ever think about, like, not putting you at the forefront of it, just, like, doing the recipes and the mixes and putting it out there, just friendly.

[Patti LaBelle]

I could have done that. But no. My face is better, period.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's right. No. And that's exactly how it should be.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah. And people, you know, when they see, oh, Patty, that's my girl, she has food that we're going to purchase. Yeah. So no, I. I like it this way.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you have a bunch of celebrities who, like, license their name, but your products always feel personal. So how involved are you in the recipes and the quality control and the business decisions?

[Patti LaBelle]

I'm totally involved in everything. Zuri, Alex, and Charles, they'll go to the people that they have to go to to see to show my food and let them taste my food. But before that happens, I have to. To taste it. So sometimes we go back, like, 10 times making the sweet potato pies to make sure the recipe is right. So I'm totally involved. If there's no Patty in the decision, there's no food.

[DJ Envy]

You know, Ms. Patty, I wanted to ask, you know, for yourself, you're like the bridge when it comes to the older generation and younger generation. Sometimes you don't see that. Sometimes, you know, the older generation will say, I'm only staying with mine. But I feel like you open your arms to so many different people. Right. Why is that? Because it doesn't matter if you're talking to Lauren's grandma on the phone. You're just as kind as if you're talking to a younger artist. Why is it that. Is that thoughtful of why. Why does that mean the most to you?

[Patti LaBelle]

It means a lot to me because they trust my. My food and my music. Because everything that I do, it's from my heart. It's like I said, I would give food away, but. But now that it's gonna sell, I'm not gonna sell it. I mean, that's just because it's from my heart. Everything I do is from my heart. And we'll take time on the macaroni recipe, making sure it's mine, because I make it just like the one that you're buying in the store. I make it like that. I have to say that I have a little more cheeses in mine than in this one. Maybe three more cheeses. Yeah, I know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Currently, you are number two behind Pearl Milling and Walmart, Kroger and H E.

[DJ Envy]

B. Wow, that's great.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's amazing.

[Sophie Cunningham]

And.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And this. We know you. We can walk in the stores and we know exactly who you are. I mean, starting out in this, and you're doing it just so easily and gracefully. Like, starting out.

[Patti LaBelle]

Did you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What was the plan? Like, was it always let me, you know, go into these big retailers or like, did you want to just feed your people? Like, what was your goal?

[Patti LaBelle]

I wanted to go into the big. The big, big places, you know, with my food. Like, what's girlfriend's name, you know? No, Shut up. The girl.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tabitha Brown.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, she said Martha Stewart.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah, yeah. Who did you just say?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Tabitha Brown.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, I love Tabitha. But Ms. Martha, she's doing it. And so would Tabitha if she was not a black woman, you know, so I know why the bird sings and all that stuff. So I want to be big, you know, why not, right? And like you said, when you look at the box, you say, oh, she looks like me, or she cooks like me. So I'm buying the stuff. I'm gonna cook my own. Because people do cook much better than I do, you know, But I am happy to say that they've been buying my food.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What have you learned about ownership and longevity from transitioning from the music business into retail and consumer products?

[Patti LaBelle]

It was so good to be an owner of yourself. It's just like with your music, if you own your music, you know, you're so much better than just letting a company take care of you. So I've learned with Zuri, Charles and Alex, we don't make many mistakes when it comes to nail presenting our foods to the public because they're truly businessmen. And I am, whatever. I am the woman behind the business. I think I'm the woman behind those three guys.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely.

[Patti LaBelle]

You know, so they do the hard work. And like I said, I'm blessed to be surrounded by smart people and people who are not going to let anyone take advantage of me. Right.

[DJ Envy]

And I don't think people know that, that she. They fully own it all, like you and your son, that y' all own it on. So every decision is from y'.

[Caller]

All.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, every time you put something out there, whether it's pancake batter, whether it's peach cobbler, whether sweet potato pie, it's. It's all done.

[Kirk Franklin]

And.

[DJ Envy]

And Sort over from you.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, yes, that has to happen.

[DJ Envy]

That there's nobody in behind you or watering your product down or making sure it goes here. You get to decide everything.

[Patti LaBelle]

Everything. And we don't mind doing it because that's what we're supposed to do. A lot of people lazy out and say, well, I'm good with this so far. I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that. It'll just happen. Well, my voice is getting worse and yeah, we take care of everything. Yes, we do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You sound fine.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, you sound.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean you've been working a lot. You've been everywhere. Ms. Patty LaBelle okay.

[Jess Hilarious]

With these other queens.

[Patti LaBelle]

So much fun. We go back February 19th, we start again and that's been fun. Fine. I've been doing my own shows also with my band, so I never stop. I don't want to stop, but I'm recording, so don't say. God. It's been 55 years since she had a record out. Well, it's been about 20, 20 years and I've been working on it for the last year, so it's gonna happen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you recording music right now. That's why, that's why you talking about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Your voice recording, traveling, that.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah, there's been a lot of wonderful things that I've been doing that's working on my throat. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

In the Queen Store, you guys. We were talking earlier about you guys being top 10 grossing tours for urban tours.

[Patti LaBelle]

That's really great. Really. And the four of us have so much fun. Although we don't get to see each other too much because we all have 50 minutes on stage and as soon as that girl goes off, that one's on and then that one's on. It's like a well oiled machine, the way this thing works. And then there's those beautiful little young princes, you know, the girls, the babies.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, that. Come on. Prior to you guys. No, Brandy, the boys minds were. Yes.

[Patti LaBelle]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because we saw you there. Oh, you guys are both with a black promoters collective, right?

[Sophie Cunningham]

Yes.

[Patti LaBelle]

So I mean they've been doing a great job and it's just good that you see all black women doing it together, which sometimes it doesn't happen. Yeah, but it's happening and it's so even. It's just good. Feels good. And they all sing their faces off.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I saw them give you all your flowers too.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But 300 roses.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yes. From Kelly Roland and Beyonce was backstage as I received these roses and I. Well, they talked to me about how they're on my shoulders. And if it wasn't for people like Patti LaBelle, they wouldn't be Destiny's Child when they were. Yeah. So I was, ooh, truly honored that night. I was a superstar.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We always a superstar, right? Are you surprised? You can't be surprised when you hear stuff like that, though.

[Patti LaBelle]

I was when Zuri called and said, callie wants. Kelly wants to give you your roses. So I said, why? And what I didn't really understand that her husband called Zuri and said that Kelly wants to do something for Ms. Lavelle. And when I went, they told me what they were going to do. I said, wow. Just called me up. And it was just one of the better moments of my life to hear the ovation and to see the young girls, Monica. And they're all coming to me, just giving me love. And you don't get that all the time.

[DJ Envy]

I feel like you would. Like, you should. Like this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, yeah, if not you, who.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah, so many others, you know, but it depends on who they like. And those little girls like Patty. Patty.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely love Patty. I mean, it's like, you know, you're kind of like the. The last of a dying breed. Like, there's not too many. Ms. Patti LaBelle's left. Right.

[Kirk Franklin]

You're right to maybe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't even think of too many of them. Of course, you know, Stephanie Mills and the Chaka Khan, which is great to see.

[Patti LaBelle]

Y' all glad?

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Gladys.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. Gladys Knight. Ms. Anita Baker. Yep.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, yes. It's like so many of us, but there are so many of us who aren't working, you know, which is not good. It's just kind of sad because those ladies can sing. But people forget black women quicker than they do white. So they're forgotten for the reason is the color of their skin. And, you know, but we still persevere because I know. I know that I'm good. You know, I'm not. There's, like, always compare myself with my girlfriend, Celine Dion, with if you asked me to. And I always say, gosh, that girl killed that with. With her ratings and her sales. And we did the same song the same way. And I, you know, I gotta be real. It's just one of those things. Do I love her?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[Patti LaBelle]

But let's get a little even stuff going around every now and then, you know, that. That would be wonderful.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Has that been a challenge in the product business, too?

[Patti LaBelle]

Has it?

[Sophie Cunningham]

Sorry.

[DJ Envy]

He said no.

[Patti LaBelle]

Anything, so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No.

[Patti LaBelle]

They've been smiling lately, the three guys. Yeah. So no. We've got, like, I said, we have something that a lot of people work so hard to get, and they don't. They never stop working, and nor do I. So you gotta keep on keeping on. Don't stop because they tell you. No.

[DJ Envy]

One told me that you're taking a trip international.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She's going to. Yes, you are going to. It's your. It's celebrating your birthday to 80, 65 tour. 56, sister.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

In Australia.

[Lauren LaRosa]

80, 65. You're supposed to.

[Patti LaBelle]

That's gonna happen. New Zealand. It's gonna happen next year.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Patti LaBelle]

Not. Not 20.

[Lauren LaRosa]

26.

[Patti LaBelle]

27.

[Lauren LaRosa]

27. Okay. It's okay. 65 Taurus. A celebration of your birthday, but also 65 years in the entertainment business.

[Patti LaBelle]

Correct. 65 years singing. It's gonna be nice. The last time I was in Australia was 30 years ago. And we're happy to be invited. Yeah. We're gonna do it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And this is a solo tour. Well, solo dates that you're gonna do.

[Patti LaBelle]

Solo dates.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Patti LaBelle]

This is not with the Queens. Solo dates.

[DJ Envy]

That's 26 hours on a plane.

[Patti LaBelle]

At least 18, I think. Is it 18?

[DJ Envy]

He's about 18.

[Kirk Franklin]

20.

[Patti LaBelle]

Is it 26?

[DJ Envy]

No, no. 20 from the east Coast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What makes you still want to talk? Because you don't have to. Nope.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, I have to. For my soul. I mean, that brings me joy. If I stop singing, like today, I would do what?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cool.

[Patti LaBelle]

I'm tired of that, too.

[DJ Envy]

You got kids, you got grandkids running around.

[Patti LaBelle]

I know. I cook for the babies, you know, but right now, there's never going to be a time when I could say to the world, this is my last tour. No way. When they say, they lie. Nobody want to stop. Yeah. Can't stop this.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I saw this story. Queen Latifah was talking to Jennifer Hudson about how she was ready to leave the entertainment business and you. She didn't really go too much into detail, but she just said that you were the reason why she stayed. Like, you came into her life, and she decided not to leave the entertainment business.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah. Because, you know, I've been there where they're going, and I know once we get in, we're in. And don't stop something that you love. They all love to sing. And they can sing. That's. That's a big difference. Sometimes. Sometimes we'll sing and they can't. But all these young girls, they can sing. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All of them.

[Patti LaBelle]

Well, no.

[DJ Envy]

Don't you get Miss Patty in trouble now. Don't you get Miss Patty in trouble now.

[Patti LaBelle]

All of them.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. How do you Balance. Staying authentic to your roots while still evolving your brand for new generations who may discover you through your products first.

[Patti LaBelle]

I just do. I just do. I mean, it's natural for me to stay who I am and. Oh, gosh, I just like being Patty. Just basic. I'm a very boring person. Very quiet, very laid back. The only thing I do that people might say, why are you doing that? And they better not say it, because they all do it. Play cards.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, my goodness. Play a game of spades.

[DJ Envy]

And you said, we gonna play before you leave today. What plans this game?

[Patti LaBelle]

AC Doocy.

[DJ Envy]

AC Doocy.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yes. We all. We're having a game tomorrow night at my house.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I never heard of that.

[Patti LaBelle]

At this house.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold up.

[Patti LaBelle]

I said at this house.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. This was yours, too.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, you know what? This is my house, and I don't live here. Yes, at my house. Yeah, tomorrow night.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. What does Pennsylvania in Philly mean to you? Because we'll be riding up here, and I was telling my mom and Laura was telling her grandma. She was like, everybody know Patty. Stay in Pennsylvania. That's her town. Philly's her town.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What does.

[DJ Envy]

What does Philly mean to you? And why won't you ever.

[Patti LaBelle]

What does Philly mean to me? It means that you don't have very much to do. Kind of boring, kind of way laid back. But I love that life, so that's why I'm still here. Most people say, why aren't you in la? Too phony, you know? And I don't deal with pretending people, people who pretend. And I just. Philly is my job. Did I say it right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my God, she said it right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Next is gonna be bold. You're gonna just be out here.

[Patti LaBelle]

Wow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right?

[Patti LaBelle]

Yes. So, yeah, I love Philly, you know, And I'm gonna be here.

[Lauren LaRosa]

How has that helped you? Like, in moments where, like, I don't know if you've ever had the moment, like with Queen Latifah was talking about where you're just exhausted from everything either on the cooking side and music side, being at home, and there's so much family around you. How does that, like, you know, rejuvenate you on days where you like, yo, leave me alone.

[Patti LaBelle]

Never do I say, leave me alone. I just close the door so they know if I'm closing the door that it's, like, quiet time.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right.

[Patti LaBelle]

For me. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Are you ready to tell, like, your story through, like, documentaries and biopics and all that stuff?

[Patti LaBelle]

We started doing a documentary, and we also started on doing a biopic. So there's going to be somebody playing Patty.

[Kirk Franklin]

Wow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You got anybody in mind?

[Patti LaBelle]

I got loads of girls in mind, but I can't tell you yet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

First and foremost, do they have to look like you or sound like you?

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, no. More than anything, if they say sound like me, the look they can make that makeup make me look like me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's even close to sounding like Ms. Patti LaBelle?

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, my God, there's so many. Well, I have a big mouth. Have a loud, loud singing voice. I don't know. Gosh. Okay. Do you have an idea of one person?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Fantasia?

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Patti LaBelle]

She's saying yeah, but she did something for another artist. Did she or did she not?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I thought Jennifer Hudson too, but I feel like Jennifer didn't respect yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

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[Caller]

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[Kirk Franklin]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

Get Sunday.com 10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental health breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Someone will be eliminated.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Pressure is coming down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Hear that?

[Sophie Cunningham]

It's the sound of truly immersive audio, thanks to Vizio's new 4.1 soundbar. And it's the now available at Walmart. Powered by Dolby Atmos and DTS X. Experience rich cinematic sound with two wireless surround speakers and a compact wireless subwoofer that puts you in the center of your entertainment. All without the clutter of cables. Stream your favorite music, radio and podcasts with the iHeartRadio app. And trust us, your music has never sounded this good. Head to walmart.com and upgrade your sound. Game today. Season two of unrivaled basketball is here, and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball. Season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT True TV and HBO.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Max that, and also to Dream Girls as well. I feel like you need someone who hasn't kind of taken on that space of, like, telling someone's story so that we can see them as you only can't think anymore.

[Patti LaBelle]

I have a lot in mind. I just really don't know yet. It's a lot in mind.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, there was the. There's a lot of, like, stuff that circulates from, like, Facebook to everywhere about you. They said that your series was be like, it was 16 episodes and you were producing every single episode. And I was in here asking people today. I was like, that is not true, child.

[Patti LaBelle]

The stuff I've been reading about me, I said, really? At 81, I have twins. Twin real babies.

[DJ Envy]

Congratulations.

[Patti LaBelle]

Okay, so so many things, like the homeless shelter and the hospital.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. They said that you were creating a hospital for homeless people to get completely free services.

[Patti LaBelle]

Of course it's true.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah.

[Patti LaBelle]

No, none of that stuff is true. I did say that AI is the reason for all of this false stuff going around about me. So when people read it, they call 50 times. They'll call Kim. Is it true the pay had twins? Is it true that Hetty is building a house, hospital? Is it true that she's married? Is it true that she has this going on and it's all AI? And they're doing it not just to Patti LaBelle, but to so many entertainers, they're catching heck because so many people believe that, and it's just not true. And the sooner we get the word out so people can stop doing this, having privileges to just say anything about anybody, you know, it's not good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Patti LaBelle]

And twins at 81, that's Rosemary, baby. It's awful.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Every.

[Patti LaBelle]

All the AI stuff is not. It's just disgusting. And when people believe it, it's worse than that.

[DJ Envy]

Did you hear what Jermaine Dupree said? Jermaine Duke Priest said that AI singers should have their own chart, like, their own billboard for AI artists, their own platform for AI artists and their own stuff. It should not be mixed with regular artists.

[Patti LaBelle]

They just need to shoot A.I.

[DJ Envy]

Damn.

[Patti LaBelle]

Where? You know, and. And it shouldn't be two. It shouldn't be A.I. and then real. God, no. Yes.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Even though it's like the times are changing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm just trying to get a drink of water.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, go ahead. You better be watching me. I'm about to choke. Oh, you're right. Okay, I'm good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was saying, I know AI is like, you know, a part of the times, but for real, like, singer. Singers like you, who've always like your craft. Like, when people talk about Patti LaBelle, it's like you can't get close to her. Right. When people have the argument of, like, whether we should accept it or not, do you take it as, like, a disrespect thing when people are saying, yes, you should, because this is where things are going. You can't get around technology.

[Patti LaBelle]

AI.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Patti LaBelle]

It say that they should keep going.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Or do you just take it as a. I said shoot it in the butt. I did. Wherever else.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wherever you can shoot it to kill it.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What Ms. Patty is saying, it's awful.

[Patti LaBelle]

It's a waste of time.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I heard it, baby girl.

[Patti LaBelle]

Got it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's go to the kitchen, man. Yeah, they gonna cook for us. But listen, you can get all her products and Walmart, heb. Yep.

[Patti LaBelle]

And at my house.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. We appreciate Ms. Patty for joining us now. If you're listening right now on air, the full version will be on YouTube where Ms. Patty will be teaching us how to cook chicken and waffles. You go chicken and waffles?

[Patti LaBelle]

Yes, I am.

[DJ Envy]

Make sure you pick up all the products.

[Patti LaBelle]

Can I say one thing?

[Sophie Cunningham]

Of course.

[Patti LaBelle]

How you guys just support me every chance you get. How great that makes me feel. Because you don't have to call Patti LaBelle. But you do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We love you. We value you.

[Patti LaBelle]

We appreciate you. I'm not playing, though. A lot of people take what they get for granted. I never take Breakfast Club for granted. Because you're so everything. You're everything. And I was telling Ms. Singh, I've been watching her do interviews, and she's phenomenal. It's just that I. Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

No, thank you. You don't think it's a flex, right? We can't get on the phone, like, we're going to miss Patty's house right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Now for, like, 30. I'm like, you gotta hang up on her. She ain't gonna. She gonna hold you like you're not real to some people.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You're like a fairy tale to people.

[Patti LaBelle]

That's really interesting. And that's another blessing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She said you like AI to some people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I didn't. We gotta go cook.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all have a happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and all that good stuff. It's the Breakfast Club.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Ms. Patti LaBelle, time for Donkey the Day.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's a read.

[Jess Hilarious]

But you're so good at it, you're.

[Caller]

Trying to be a fake ass. Charlemagne. There's only one Charlemagne involved.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Charlemagne?

[Patti LaBelle]

Who you giving Dunkey of the Day to now?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, Sexy Red Donkey of the Day goes to a woman named Shannon Teresa Marie Schwartz. She is a Playboy model. Yes, that Playboy. I don't know exactly what that means, to be a Playboy model. I assume she's been in a Playboy or two, and she has posed in a bikini on the COVID of Maxim magazine. Yes, Maxim, New Zealand. But we need to have a discussion this morning about just how far a woman should go for her man. Now, Shannon, who I will keep telling you is a Playboy model, has a boyfriend. And her boyfriend's name is Wilhelm Lewis Huntzinger. He was charged with being a felon in possession of.205 rounds of Remington.223 caliber ammunition and some drugs and other stuff. And he's incarcerated in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. Now, Shannon clearly loves her man and is willing to do anything to get her man out. But if I was her man, I wouldn't want her to offer what she offered to get him out. No, no, no. See, ladies, as a man, I don't want you to do anything that is going to possibly cause you to be in the same situation that I'm in. And in this case, it's jail. And I definitely don't want you giving away what you gave away. See, Shannon made a bribe to one of the offices. What do you think a Playboy playmate would offer this federal officer in exchange for releasing her man? Let me tell you a story. Then. Shannon offered the agent blank to help him persuade the judge to release her boyfriend. The agent says he received numerous missed calls, text messages and voicemails from Shannon. Shannon told the agent that she was referred to him as someone who could handle a situation for a high profile inmate. Shannon, who was a Playboy playmate, told the agent that she was trying to secure her boyfriend's release and asked the agent to meet with him so. So he could see she was serious and she could give him what she had for him. Ladies, this isn't the way. I appreciate the help, but do you really believe your boyfriend would be okay with this? This is why you tell men when they go to jail. Don't worry about what's going on outside, okay? You can't control what your woman wants to give someone while you locked up. You will drive yourself crazy trying to control what a woman wants to give someone while you locked up. And I damn sure don't want you giving things to other men. Okay? Saying you doing it for me. Shannon allegedly text the agent, I can help with whatever you need. Not sure what your services cost you, paying him to service you. First of all, that's trafficking. Okay? And you know what the agent did after she texted? He opened a formal investigation in the. Shannon hot ass. Okay, I guess Shannon didn't know it was an open investigation because she was too busy trying to open something else. The Playboy Playmate. Shannon allegedly continued to contact the agent despite the agent informing her, I can't do nothing to help in regards to securing her boyfriend's release. But she's a Playboy Playmate, did the COVID of Maxim. So the agent agreed to meet with Shannon. Also, because Shannon wouldn't stop trying to throw it at the agent, the agent said she was persistent in asking for help. Now, this is when the agent was either trying to set her up or she was wearing him down, because the agent told Shannon that he would have to continue communicating with her on his personal phone. Now, I'm joking. He was just trying to set her up because it was actually an undercover. Undercover government device to monitor their conversations. And during a meeting between the Playboy Playmate and the agent, she allegedly offered to give the agent this bribe so he could ask a judge he was friends with to help aid the release of her boyfriend. And she told the agent, I'll give you some now and give you some with my boyfriend's release. Now, what would you tell your boyfriend? Okay. What man would be okay with that? Emmy, would you be okay with your woman doing that?

[DJ Envy]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jess, would you do that for your man?

[Patti LaBelle]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ladies, we love y', all, but don't be giving up what's ours to get me out. Shannon then arranged a second meeting with the agent. How many dates they gonna go on? This is too much.

[Caller]

Mm.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And at the airport, she gave him some. Remember, she promised, I'll give you some now and then some when he gets out.

[DJ Envy]

Right, but I thought they were investigating.

[Jess Hilarious]

Right, so he not in trouble.

[DJ Envy]

That was part of the investigation to see if she would really do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do what?

[Jess Hilarious]

You never said it. Yo, you got us on the tip. Like, what's going on?

[DJ Envy]

Pause.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What did you say earlier? No, no, no, no.

[DJ Envy]

No. No fellatio.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, no, no. No oral, no back shots.

[Caller]

But, like, what's wrong?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Get your mind out. The gut is you.

[DJ Envy]

Breast massage.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She was offering them money. Okay, $5,000. She gave him 2500. Yeah, she gave him 2500 at the airport. And after the meeting, she was arrested and charged with one count of bribery of a public official and one count of obstruction of justice. And she's barred from communicating with her boyfriend.

[Patti LaBelle]

Oh, yeah.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's what I do that for.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hell, yeah, I do that for my man. I'm thankful it's illegal, Jess. You can't rob federal agents.

[Jess Hilarious]

Like, no.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, my God.

[Jess Hilarious]

I thought it was, like, allegedly, get.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Your mind out the gutter.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, that's what I'm like.

[DJ Envy]

No, you kept saying, playmate, Playmate, Playmate, Playmates.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She's a Playboy Playmate. And she couldn't wait to open her bank account. That is not ridiculous. I can't believe y'.

[Kirk Franklin]

All.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Y' all need to get your mind out together. Y' all got kids.

[Jess Hilarious]

You're so funny.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Grow up. Please give Shannon Teresa Marie Schwartz the biggest. He haw can't believe these people I work with.

[DJ Envy]

You said, open up, then you put your Open up. He put your little seductive voice.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know how he tried making give you something?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. Money.

[DJ Envy]

Nobody says, I'll give you some money like that.

[Jess Hilarious]

So it don't even matter to share Playboy Playmates. It don't matter.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, it matters. You wanna come a Maxim? Well, it matters if you're a good storyteller.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

You're a clown, though.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Cause you really funny now.

[DJ Envy]

I wonder if she would have offered that if the agent would have said, you know what?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Maybe, right? Possible.

[Jess Hilarious]

Damn. So now both of them in jail.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Both of them, both of them locked, both of them.

[DJ Envy]

So now their mama gotta come get em, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Their mama gotta offer something, I guess.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

She ain't got no money. She probably ain't got no money.

[Jess Hilarious]

She probably be like, I got something else.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Take them dentures out and get to work.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Older mama is, though.

[Caller]

Oh, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right.

[DJ Envy]

Well, thank you for that donkey today.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Morning, everybody.

[DJ Envy]

It's DJ Envy. Jess. Hilarious Charlemagne, the guy we are the Breakfast Club. La Rosa is here, and we got a special guest in the building.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yes, we do.

[DJ Envy]

Kirk Franklin, ladies and gentlemen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Welcome.

[Kirk Franklin]

I feel like I left it.

[DJ Envy]

That's fine. That's a good thing.

[Kirk Franklin]

I feel like I left it. What is this? What is it? Like the 20,000th time? I'm good with it. I'm just Humbled by that.

[DJ Envy]

I'm glad you're here. Well, first of all, welcome and congratulations for being honored at the BET Awards this year. How was that feeling?

[Kirk Franklin]

Oh, nervous. Had bubble guts.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Really?

[Sophie Cunningham]

What?

[Jess Hilarious]

You are the performer of Kirk.

[Kirk Franklin]

You're always on the road, bro. Do you how I am always nervous. Didn't we talk about that, too?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I couldn't believe it either when he said it to me.

[Jess Hilarious]

Really?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, we talked about it about at the media room. Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

I'm always nervous if I go speak. If I go to a nursing home and perform. I'm nervous if I go speak to kids. Yeah, I always have. Yeah, I'm over.

[DJ Envy]

Really?

[Jess Hilarious]

What about it makes you nervous? Like, what is it? What are you thinking about?

[Kirk Franklin]

First of all, I think that it has served me well is because it's never normal. I'm never comfortable. I'm always wanting to do my best. I'm always, you know, like, I'm always concerned about every moment. You know, will it be good enough? Will it be accepted? Will it be. Will it be light? And so there's never a moment where I'm ever dialing anything in, you know, like, everything for me is my first. Every project, every album, every song, every moment is my first. Like, I'm a new artist. I'm a new. I'm a. I'm a. I'm a struggling artist every time. And I think a lot of it. And, you know, y' all probably just even attest this. All the. The. The guests that you've had that have come from traumatic backgrounds, you know, childhood, abandonment, adoption, all that. Is that I think that you are always chasing ghosts. You're always chasing ghosts. You're always looking for that good job, baby. That mama didn't give you that you didn't. That you didn't have in those formative years. So, yeah, every moment is. Is. Is nerves and new and so at the beat. Yeah. BT wars.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

I'm.

[Kirk Franklin]

I'm about to lose it backstage. I'm about to pass. I'm like, wow. And then. I didn't know I was going last.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, I was mad.

[Patti LaBelle]

You went last.

[Jess Hilarious]

I was mad. I said, you put somebody that like that in the front or the middle because it was so late.

[Kirk Franklin]

Well, yeah, but that. But.

[DJ Envy]

But we stayed up.

[Jess Hilarious]

I know we did stay up.

[Kirk Franklin]

Wow. That's kind of. Yo, but what I'm saying, though, is that you feel even more pressure. It's like, I'm not going last. It's like, you know.

[Jess Hilarious]

Cause you Kirk Franklin, though.

[Kirk Franklin]

But I'm the Gospel guy. And so you don't think of your genre having a space like that, you know? You know, and you don't even expect it, like, you know. Yeah, it's.

[DJ Envy]

It's.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's almost like it's. It's an honor for even the genre to be acknowledged and. And even part of the. The ecosystem. Right. But when. When I found out that I was going last, I mean, yeah, brother, you didn't want to be sitting by me.

[Jess Hilarious]

Pressure was on, huh?

[Kirk Franklin]

Well, no, I was letting them go.

[Jess Hilarious]

So Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre was.

[Kirk Franklin]

Smelling the Lord, and I lied. I was like, oh, man, who did that?

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my. Kirk Franklin.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

The.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wait, did you have gas when you were sitting next to me? I ain't smell nothing.

[Kirk Franklin]

Well, I wasn't nervous talking to you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay, great.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Oh, that's good.

[Jess Hilarious]

Right?

[DJ Envy]

Right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause you.

[Jess Hilarious]

I'm not gonna lie.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I've been telling people since I met you, it's my first time meeting you.

[DJ Envy]

I.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It threw me off. I didn't know you were so, like, just normal, cool and. Yeah, like.

[Kirk Franklin]

So what does that mean?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I said, you a real.

[DJ Envy]

She was like, he's a real.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I never felt like that about somebody.

[Kirk Franklin]

Do you think people, like, what are people expecting for me to come in floating on clouds?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yes, a little bit. That's what people.

[Kirk Franklin]

And I think that's unfortunate. And I think that we got to find ways to still deconstruct that.

[DJ Envy]

It's.

[Kirk Franklin]

I just think that it stands in the way of people feeling like that they can be a part of the family too. You know what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Like. Like everybody can pull up and be part of this God love wagon, you know what I'm saying? It's like. And so it's always challenging for me when there's this worth, where there's this ideal of what being a person that loves Jesus looks like. And so I want to be the lowliest, the most humble, the most realest person so that you can see, man, that everybody's supposed to be on this bus.

[DJ Envy]

And we.

[Kirk Franklin]

Else, we riding together, man. We don't always know where we going, but we ride.

[DJ Envy]

Now, during the BET Awards, they kept showing you when Kevin Hart was doing comedy. And then the whole twist was Kirk Franklin was upset with all the Kevin Hart jokes. And I'm like, they must not know Kirk.

[Kirk Franklin]

So, bro, I was. Oh, it was so good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was so good.

[Kirk Franklin]

He's good.

[DJ Envy]

He's hilarious.

[Kirk Franklin]

But then I'll also give you this side. And, you know, and I. And. And I want Him, Cap. Right. It's. I think that the biggest thing is, for me is that I always have to be careful because I know that there's a community of the super religious, that if I enjoy something too much, then it comes across like, well, why he not. Why he not praying for him? He need to walk out. And so there's this dichotomy that you live in when you say that you represent faith, that it's like, I love Jesus, but I'm not Jesus. I'm not Him. I love God. I live in a body that ain't his yet until he cracks the sky and make me more like him. And until then, I live in this broken house. And I live in a world where things are gonna be funny. I'm gonna stub my toe, and I'm not gonna speak a tongue in the middle of the night.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm gonna cuss.

[Kirk Franklin]

You know what I'm saying? You push me too hard, it's gonna be hands, you know, I mean, I'm, you know, I, I, I am not a perfect person. And so when something's funny and it's good and funny, I wanna laugh.

[DJ Envy]

How did you stop yourself from laughing? Cause he kept going. And, you know, Kev, Kevin's gonna keep going till he get. And you was pulling that laughing.

[Kirk Franklin]

No, I felt like I was laughing.

[Jess Hilarious]

You ain't wife. You were, but it was. You still was trying to keep that sense of, like, all right, like, you was, like, you were cracking, but you were, like, still containing yourself. You know?

[Sophie Cunningham]

I was.

[Kirk Franklin]

And it. Because it was funny.

[DJ Envy]

It was.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's funny. He's funny. He's good. And so you get to see the imperfect Kirk.

[Jess Hilarious]

But I think also what people don't understand is God don't want us to be perfect anyway. And either, like, I just, you know, Jesus, they. We not posed to be perfect. That's why he, he made us in his image. But it's like, like, if he put us here and he knew, he know everything we gonna do before we do it, like, he already knows. It's like, we are not him. We are of him, you know, we're not meant to be perfect. We're just meant to follow him.

[Kirk Franklin]

And in that, we always should be pursuing to be better.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Better.

[Kirk Franklin]

We want to be more like him. We want to be able to be changed in ways. There are things that I see in myself that I want to grow and look more like him. But I'm not on your watch.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

I'm not on your calendar. And how I get there Right. I am on his. And so I think that if we, like I said something on this, this new digital series I have on called Den of Kings is that we have to understand, man, that, that, that, that we are patients, we're not doctors. And Christianity is supposed to be a place that's a hospital. It's a hospital. It's not supposed to be a country club. It's going to be a place where people that don't have it together could come and everybody can feel comfortable that they know that they don't have it together.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Kirk Franklin]

But when people come to us in our community and they feel like that we are more concerned about their, their, their habits and their ways being changed before our eyes. And you're not being changed yet. You're not doing. It's. It's like that, that then people create performance anxiety. That's where the mask comes, is because if I don't look the way that you think I should look soon, then now I gotta fake it till I make it, right?

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

And then you never. And then what happens? Then you become a human doing and never human being.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Gotcha.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No.

[DJ Envy]

Now they also. I'm sorry, I was gonna say they. Back to the BET Awards. They were mad at one of your outfits that you wore.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They were mad at every. I was about to say that, like.

[Kirk Franklin]

One of the outfits had.

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[Kirk Franklin]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

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[Lauren LaRosa]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

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[Lauren LaRosa]

Pressure is coming down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

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[Kirk Franklin]

Max this year.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, they said that you apologized for it. It was a. You wore like a tank top or some shirt.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh no, that was part of it. We talked about that too at the.

[DJ Envy]

Media room but they mad at the outfit. I mean it wasn't pum poom shorts. You didn't have a thong on.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It wasn't nothing like cuz they try to say bro was twerking. Oh sorry, let me cover. They try to say Kirk Franklin was twerking. Yeah, sorry bro, I don't think I can. Yeah, sorry, hold up.

[Kirk Franklin]

But pause, pause. What's wrong with bro?

[Jess Hilarious]

I don't know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You just feel like it's so crazy how like naturally you just feel like the homie and I'm like it's Kirk Franklin.

[Kirk Franklin]

Why would I not see, we gotta work on that.

[DJ Envy]

It's lowkey.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Kind of like watching you at the BET Awards and seeing it. Energy and the moving and all that with your performance.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, your mic went out.

[Lauren LaRosa]

See, God didn't want me to call you bro.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's what I'm saying.

[DJ Envy]

That's what happened.

[Jess Hilarious]

When you said don't you call talking.

[Lauren LaRosa]

About the award show though. There were a couple things. So first, people were upset at the performance in a whole like they felt like, yeah, I mean I thought it was a great performance, but I think people, I think it just Goes to, like, the people that you bring onto stage and how you. I have a quote here. I think it was Deidre Cat and was upset about Glorilla winning the award. But they also call. He also mentioned, like, things being, like, a mockery of worship and, like, things of that nature. Do you get tired of that conversation at this point or at this point? Are you so used to it? It's whatever.

[DJ Envy]

Be real, bro.

[Jess Hilarious]

Gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang.

[Kirk Franklin]

On everything. I love it is what it is.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Is what it's. God bless him and God bless them.

[DJ Envy]

How did you feel about that? Because some people were mad that in the gospel category, it was Glorilla. In Yourself, it was Little Baby in Yourself, it was Rhapsody, not your quote, unquote, typical gospel songs. What did you think about that? That Glorilla won her first BET Award was a gospel record. What are your thoughts on it? Primarily gospel artists.

[Kirk Franklin]

I'm trying to keep my eyes on the prize. Trying to keep my focus on the things that really matter. I'm trying to tell the world about Jesus. I'm trying to tell the world that for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Whoever believes in him shall not perish and have everlasting life. Life. That's where I'm at. That's what I'm at. Everything else is just noise. That's what I'm at.

[Jess Hilarious]

I feel like you meet people where they are. You've been doing that since I've been. Since I was a little girl. Like, you know, I. I feel like when you. When you say you meet people where you are, it's always been said you meet people where. Where they are, right? Christ and. And Christianity and church don't look the same for everybody. So if, like, a Glorilla can speak to us, the youth, you know, and you stamp it and we like, oh, we know. Kirk Frank. This is who all of our mothers and grandmothers and aunts played growing up. And she. Because she. She is the bridge. You know what I mean? Like, she would be the bridge for that. And God uses everybody. Like, he can use anybody. He can use a bum on the street. He can use a homeless person. He can use, you know, anybody to. To lead, you know, to. So you can pay attention, to bring you to, you know, to God and Jesus. I feel like it's not. It's not. Why is that frowned upon? You know what I mean?

[Kirk Franklin]

There's a text in scripture. There's this moment where the disciples were talking to Jesus about people that were not part of their crew that was also using his name and trying to do things in his name. And they were upset about it because they were not part of the crew. And so they came to Jesus, they pull him like, yo, man, you need to go pull up on a boy name. They over there saying your name and trying to do your name. And we need to. We really need to squash that.

[Jess Hilarious]

And.

[Kirk Franklin]

And Jesus was like, yo, if they over there and they are still trying to do good things in my name, even though they're not part of our crew, I'm not going to squash that. It's because they are still telling people my name.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

And so I feel that it is the same that today that Christianity has for so long been a country club and you've had to have a membership. You've had to look a certain way, like, like, like, like, like. Let me tell you one thing that's funny to me is that people always say to me, and even Tammy sometimes, like, you know, like, y' all look younger now than y' all did when y' all first started. Let me tell you what a lot of that was. We were assimilating to what the church. If you were young in church, you had to look old to be thought of as serious. Like, they didn't take you serious if you did not look a certain way. So you dressed. Oh, you had them long, you know, you had the long jackets, you know, the square toe gators.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know, and Tammy probably had the big lampshade hat.

[Kirk Franklin]

You know, first time I took it to Koja convention, we were 25 years old. And, you know, God bless Church of God in Christ. Love. Church of God in Christ. You know, but there's a certain aesthetic that sometimes you have on. Tell me 25 years old, got a big old hat on, gloves. And she said, she said. I felt like trick or treat, you know. You know, because we were trying to assimilate. You're trying to do all the things to be accepted as a young person. And so now, I mean, we're just comfortable being who we are. And I just think that it is really, really important to just put people back on the focus of what matters. He's what matters.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

That's right.

[DJ Envy]

Now, what was the concept of Den of Kings? How did. What inspired that?

[Kirk Franklin]

Bro, first of all, you gotta talk to the mic, bro, first of all, I'm.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Bro, don't give me trouble. They are gonna drag me for saying it once.

[Kirk Franklin]

That's the motif of the show right now. Bro, bro, bro. And it's a beautiful thing. Beautiful thing. But one thing that I'm very excited about is that I just had this idea that I've always been told that people enjoy the way I hold court during dinner. Like, when you go to dinner with me, we're gonna chop. You know what I'm saying? We're gonna chop about politics. You know, we're gonna chop, talk about religion, sex. We're going to talk about whatever and get it in. And so during my birthday, I came to Atlanta. Well, I went to Atlanta, had dinner with some of my good guy friends, and they were like, yo, bro, you need to turn this into something, you know, because I've had really great conversations. So with that, I just thought about having dinner with black men and what that could look like in that conversation. And so the first episode, shot it in Atlanta. Great food, chef, beautiful house. You know, you had Country Wayne, you had Lou, you had. You had duvall, you had D.C. young, fly. And it was an incredible moment. And the response has been crazy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I've been telling everybody I know to watch it.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's been amazing, hasn't it? Like, were you shocked at the response?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yes. Especially with DC and how he gets deep and how y'. All, Man, I love that, because that's my brother.

[Kirk Franklin]

I know, I know.

[DJ Envy]

You know what I mean?

[Patti LaBelle]

He loves you.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And, you know, even Country Wayne, you know, like, just. You gave them that safe space, that vulnerable place where they can. They can talk about things that they don't usually talk about and they talk about, but they don't go in depth with it. You know what I mean? Like, you provide that, and I love to see that.

[Kirk Franklin]

And it has been. I mean, the response has been overwhelming. Like, it has been so. So, you know, we've got another one on deck coming up soon, you know, and it's just, you know, dinner conversations with men, with black men. And I'm humbled. And I want to thank everybody that's been tuning in and watching it. And it's just been a. It's just been an amazing moment.

[Jess Hilarious]

And it's like men's therapy. It's like watching a men's therapy session.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's crazy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, it's crazy is each episode about fatherhood is going to be different things that.

[Kirk Franklin]

Different. Different conversations. Next one is about being a boss.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[Kirk Franklin]

And, you know, we. We are going to have so many conversations that are just really. Just kind of peeling back and just having a really, really, really great conversation. You gonna pull up on one? Of course. Don't Play.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I think Envy and charlamagne. I think y' all be so amazing in the sit downs.

[Kirk Franklin]

Like it would be, it'd be fire.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because it's like a real conversation. Non judgmental as well.

[Kirk Franklin]

Non judgmental. Non judgmental. And I want everybody to feel safe. And I try to lead with vulnerability and transparency myself. So I try to create the environment that makes you feel safe and comfortable.

[Jess Hilarious]

Will there ever be a episode with you and your baby boy, your son?

[Kirk Franklin]

It's not that I haven't thought about it.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

It's.

[Kirk Franklin]

It's, it's, it's, it's, it's. Because it's still a work in progress.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

I.

[Kirk Franklin]

Would want there to be real healing in his life before there is anything that, that, that, that, that puts a spotlight that could even be more damaging. Got it to his prospect process. You know, I want him whole. Yeah, I don't give a heck about ratings. You know, I was gonna say something else, but I just want him hope and so whatever is going to be for his best healing. And a lot of times that that happens when the cameras are.

[DJ Envy]

What's your relationship now with them?

[Kirk Franklin]

It's, it's still work. It's, it, it, it's, it still work. Now the beautiful thing that has happened is, you know, I ran into my biological father and here's what's the most incredible thing about God. Everything that my oldest son needs, that's his profession.

[Jess Hilarious]

Your dad's profession.

[Commercial Announcer]

Wow.

[Kirk Franklin]

Biological father's profession. And I think you can unpack that.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, right, right.

[Kirk Franklin]

Everything that my oldest needs. So my biological has come in because that's his grandson. So he has a personal interest in him being whole. And it's been amazing. It's been. Well, it's been amazing to watch, but it's still a process.

[DJ Envy]

Do you regret what you've done in gospel music because it took so much time away from your family?

[Kirk Franklin]

That's an incredible question. I think that any man, in my humble opinion, that is ambitious and driven will always look back and have regrets on how the people around them have had to suffer because of that.

[DJ Envy]

Because you. Yeah, your family suffered.

[Kirk Franklin]

But you brought joy to people.

[DJ Envy]

You probably saved a million and one lives with your music and your dancing and the word. But you might have hurt a couple in the family because you weren't there. So how does that balance out? And you know, as a father, that works a lot. I feel that sometimes it's like, damn, should I be home during this time? But I gotta get bills.

[Lauren LaRosa]

See Dana Kings. Cause Y' all talked about this on the show.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh, boy. You know, you. You. You have many regrets. Yeah, you have many regrets, and. And you have confusion. It's because it's almost like if you were not driven, if you were not a dog, if you didn't have the attitude, then you wouldn't have been what you are. But you also know that many around you, whether it's your wife or your kids, that they've suffered a lot, that they've gone through a lot, because it comes with a heavy price. And I think that for me, mine also has another level of kind of dichotomy, is because you also don't want to. You don't want their kids faith to be. I don't want having to do with Jesus, because Jesus was the dude that kept my daddy away. So I'm trying. You know, you've also tried to have that nuanced space in that too. Now, the beauty of my children is their mother. My children are great because of their mama, Tammy. Tammy has. Tammy is like. She just that Midas touch, you know, she. But then her mama was that Tammy's mama's dad. Tammy's mama's like that with me, you know, just that Midas touching. She knew I didn't have a mama, so bam. Just a modest touch. But, yeah, you live with a lot of regret. You live with a lot of guilt. You live with a lot of questions. You live with that eternal war of missing things and. And wondering what it would. What. What it would have been more like for you to be at home. But then at the same time, you also. That dude that wakes up in the middle of the night with dreams and ideas and ambitions and songs. You know, like, I wake up in the middle of songs and. And, you know, I'm at a basketball game and I gotta step outside to put something in my phone because. A song. Because if that song don't work, then I can't pay for that school, and I can't pay for that college. I can't pay for that. You knew car you want after you graduate, it's like, you know, there's that tension, right? It's because people are blessed by your sacrifice, but then they're also hurt by your sacrifice. Yeah. And I don't know all the answers. I just try to show up and be honest.

[DJ Envy]

Got you what I love.

[Jess Hilarious]

I love that you said social media is not evil. You know, it's. It's broken people that use it as a tool of evil. Yeah, right. So does Commentary on social media affect you at all?

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah, it can.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah. And I think anybody be lying if it's fine. And I think that we all try to do our social media fast and we try to pull back, you know, like after the BT wars, I was like, I'm not reading nothing. I don't want to read nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to have.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah. I don't want nothing. You know, and then, you know, a few days later you find yourself looking at.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

I meant please. About Jesus.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, right, right, right.

[Kirk Franklin]

You know, so, you know. Yeah, you, you, you, you find that tension and you try to do the best. I really believe y'.

[Caller]

All.

[Kirk Franklin]

And I know y' all gotta wrap me up real soon, man. I gotta believe. I believe that everything that we discuss can be summarized in these major points of. Humans have to be more kind.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

To humans that we. We. Here's the illustration before I go right. If you are on an island.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Island.

[Kirk Franklin]

And that island is now slowly sinking into the water. And the only way off that island to the other piece of bigger land is this rope, this tightrope. And everybody has to walk across that tightrope. Now why, mind you, they're walking over water that is shark infested, right? So if you fall off that tightrope, you added. But that's the only way to get off this island is this tightrope. Everybody that is getting on that tightrope, if you're sitting there standing there watching them because you know your turn is coming up next, you're not going to be sitting there criticizing how they're getting off on that tight. You're not going to be going, look at other feet.

[Commercial Announcer]

Look at the feet.

[Kirk Franklin]

She's not even walking on it, right. Look at, look at that. You're not doing it because you know why you're not doing that? Because you know you next. So you sitting there going, please, oh, God, please let her make it.

[Pastor Jamal Bryan]

Please.

[Kirk Franklin]

She made it. She made. Because that gives you hope that you can make it.

[Patti LaBelle]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

That's what life is. It's sinking and we're trying to get off. And there's only way. There's only one way. And. But we're criticizing each other while we're trying to get off. That's the only way. Only way. There's no boat, there's nothing. The only way off the sinking island is this thin, difficult way. We should be praying people make it instead of complaining how they walking.

[Patti LaBelle]

Wow.

[Kirk Franklin]

Because you next. And the church said, amen.

[Patti LaBelle]

Dang.

[Jess Hilarious]

Well, dang.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I, I was.

[DJ Envy]

Let me Do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

One more question.

[Jess Hilarious]

How did you. Listen, you got some of the strongest pipes coming up out of your choirs. Like, I'm talking about, like, everybody. Everybody was like, a lead singer. Like, everybody. How did you find these people?

[Kirk Franklin]

That's how I do it.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's how you do it.

[Kirk Franklin]

I do it. Is I look for lead singers individually. Is I go after artists?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Is I look at people that I see an artist in them. Come rock with me. And that's what I do, and that's why they're so amazing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah. So. But that's dope that you caught that.

[Jess Hilarious]

Since I was little, I'm like, yo, how everybody can not just sing, but, see, everybody can sing. Like, he could have had, like, everybody do their own solo.

[Kirk Franklin]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Crazy, man.

[DJ Envy]

No, no, no.

[Jess Hilarious]

Thank you for that, but I want to say I love you so much.

[Patti LaBelle]

You.

[Jess Hilarious]

I've been inspired since I was, like, just so young. Just those long mornings my mother popped your CDs. And for every CD we had, you know, I grew up on you, and I love you, and I'm so happy that I got to meet you.

[Kirk Franklin]

Wow.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know.

[Kirk Franklin]

Oh, this is so crazy.

[DJ Envy]

This is the first time you met him? Because he said no.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Second time.

[Jess Hilarious]

No, I met him before.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But it is kind of crazy. Me and Kirk Franklin. Because you've been. Are in our households. Are literally. I know my heart for word. I know that, like, everything. Yeah. My whole life. So meeting you was just like. So I'm happy it was Kirk Franklin, like. Okay.

[Jess Hilarious]

And it is your presence, though. So I. I thank you so much just for all of your work and everything that you. That you've done, you've contributed to. Just to my household and my. And to gospel, the word of God, everything. Thank you.

[Kirk Franklin]

That's kind of.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Kirk Franklin]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Well, Denna Kings, you can check it out on YouTube. New single do it Again. We're about to play that.

[Kirk Franklin]

Do it again.

[DJ Envy]

And we have to leave with a prayer. What's wrong with you?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I was.

[DJ Envy]

Ask bro to pray for you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

First of all, he prayed for me at the media room, as well, too. Okay. I am always covered in prayer. Thank you. All right.

[DJ Envy]

You know, it's covering your wig, too, but that's what this.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That you see. Shay, you. I need you to pray for not even a wig. Exactly, Exactly.

[Jess Hilarious]

She don't wear wigs no more because they talked about them. So many of them talked them right off.

[Kirk Franklin]

Are we including prayer for Zaddy or are we not?

[DJ Envy]

She needs a Zaddy, too.

[Lauren LaRosa]

If you allowed to say that to God. Go ahead. I can't. I feel like I can't say it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm being funny. I'm being funny.

[Kirk Franklin]

Man. Man. Father. Wow. Man. Thank you so much that you are just the most kindest, most patient, creative of them all. Thank you, Lord, that you constantly just forgive us when we mess up and that you are always wanting us to win. Because when we win, it makes you look great. Father, we know that the world is crazy. And Father, I want to thank you for these three soldiers, for the four soldiers and how they are doing their best to try to plant seeds of goodness in the earth. Just watch over their families, watch over their lives. If we've ever needed you before, we need you in the world now. Please break down the walls your of religion so that we can be able to see the light of your son. And I'm talking about your son S O N. And Father, we want him to be glorified in our lives. We are far from perfect. Messed up. And we love the fact that you take the lemons and make lemonade in our lives every day. Thank you for not giving up on us. We want to make you proud, want to make you happy. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

[Jess Hilarious]

Amen.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, there you have it. It's Kirk Franklin. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Now it's time to get up out of here. Shulem. And you got a positive note.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Positive note is simply this. Being honest with myself is something I like. Okay? I am happy that I don't make excuses when I make a mistake. This is just a good way to improve in the fastest way. It actually shows that you have integrity because integrity is telling yourself the truth. Okay. I repeat, integrity is telling yourself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people. Have a great day.

[Kirk Franklin]

Breakfast Club. Wake you up. Wake you up.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up.

[Kirk Franklin]

Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartRadio.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Kirk Franklin]

People, don't listen to radio ads while you're driving or making a sandwich. Your subconscious pays full attention. So relax, let it Take over Sunday.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Sophie Cunningham]

Will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Someone will be eliminated.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Pressure is coming down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th watch the trailer on trainergames.com the holidays.

[Commercial Announcer]

Can get expensive, but streaming your favorite festive films and music doesn't need to be. The Vizio Smart TV Experience makes it easy with Watch Free plus and the iHeartRadio app built into every TV, giving you access to free holiday classics, new favorites and playlists all season long. Add movies to your watch list and jump in anytime. Perfect for family movie nights and cozy evenings in. You can even take Watch Free plus on the go with the Vizio Mobile app. Head to vizio.com iheartradio to learn more and take advantage of the Vizio Smart TV experience today.

[Sophie Cunningham]

Season two of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plum, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.