The Breakfast Club BEST OF(Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills and Chaka Khan, Phylicia Rashad, And Mara Brock Akil Interview)

Summary

The Breakfast Club BEST OF – Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills, Chaka Khan, Phylicia Rashad, Mara Brock Akil

Podcast: The Breakfast Club (iHeartPodcasts)
Hosts: DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne tha God, Jess Hilarious
Release Date: January 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This "Best Of" episode celebrates iconic Black women in entertainment, bringing together trailblazers Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills, Chaka Khan, Phylicia Rashad, and showrunner Mara Brock Akil. The hosts reflect on these women’s influence, their intergenerational impact, and the significance of their latest projects. In addition to the interviews, listeners call in for the "Get It Off Your Chest" segment, bringing humor and real talk about personal frustrations, gratitude, and social issues.

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Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. Tribute to Legendary Black Women [03:27–04:23]

• Theme: Recognizing living legends whose influence transcends entertainment.
• Charlamagne expresses awe at the impact and spiritual presence of guests like Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills, Chaka Khan, Phylicia Rashad, and Mara Brock Akil.

2. Listener Call-Ins: “Get It Off Your Chest” [04:23–13:15]

• Comedic Relief & Real Talk: Callers vent about relatable topics; e.g., stolen coffee creamer, workplace discrimination, gratitude amid personal struggles.
• Memorable moment: Charlamagne bluntly responds to a caller’s work drama—“Your mom's a hoe.” [04:48]
• Political friction: Story from a Detroit Uber driver about facing Trump supporters (and their complaints over photos of the Obamas in her car), sparking debate about neutrality and racism in ridesharing.

3. Mara Brock Akil Interview: Black Storytelling & “Forever” [13:15–35:34]

• Career Reflection: Mara talks about her journey from creating classics like “Girlfriends” to helming her global Netflix show, “Forever.”
• Storytelling Permission & Impact:
  • Mara credits Judy Blume as her “first permission slip” as a storyteller.

    “I used to get lost in the pages of Judy Blume... for me to be just the divinity of it, like the divineness of it, that I would come full circle 50 years later...” – Mara [16:43]

  • Discusses bringing Black family experiences to the adaptation, especially between the Trayvon Martin and George Floyd eras.
• Exploration of Technology & Youth:
  • Deliberate shift to focus on how modern tech impacts young people’s emotional lives.
  • “We are more technologically advanced... [but] we are using them in very disconnecting ways.” – Mara [18:30]
• Representation of Black Male Vulnerability:
  • Intentional depiction of complex, sensitive Black boys, countering restrictive stereotypes.
  • “Black male vulnerability... there’s no images for it... I wanted to make room for the real reflection.” – Mara [27:00]
• On Positive vs Negative Images in Media:
  • Mara cautions against forcing only “positive” images:

    “I don’t really believe in positive images. I think they can be just as damaging as negative images… I want the spectrum of my humanity.” [30:09]

• The Meaning of Love in “Forever”:
  • Explores how love can endure through change or separation, and the value of young love memories.

    “Even if you don’t last... the couple doesn’t last. The love can last.” – Mara [33:28]

4. Phylicia Rashad Interview: Family, Legacy, Purpose [35:34–65:25]

• Broadway Directorial Debut – “Purpose”: Phylicia describes the ensemble spirit and collective intention behind her first Broadway production. [36:03]
• Upbringing & Parental Influence:
  • Candid stories about her poet mother and dentist father.

    “Be true, be beautiful, be free... We grew up to be fearless, but not to be stupid.” – Phylicia [37:17–38:16]

  • On resilience after loss and the importance of classical education in Black communities.
• Personal Philosophy:
  • “Light is not heavy. Carry light, share light.” – On responding to the pressure of being a role model. [45:13]
• Iconic “Cosby Show” Moments:
  • Recitation and breakdown of memorable scenes, especially the “coffee with Elvin” sequence.

    “You see, I am not serving Dr. Huxtable.... It is give and take. 50-50.” [46:01]

• Acting Choices: On picking characters motivated by their actions and pain (“Fall from Grace,” “Detroit”). [53:23]
• On Howard University & Chadwick Boseman:
  • The birth of hip-hop theater and Boseman’s depth as a creative and scholar.

    “There was nobody else to play Black Panther but Chadwick.” [62:24]

• Wisdom & Insecurity:
  • Reflection on self-worth and teaching young girls to look inside for validation.

    “I wish I learned sooner that I'm enough.” [63:09]

• Advice for Fathers:
  • “When you love them, that's all... Never let anybody run over you. Always know the balance of your bank account and keep your own money.” [42:52]

5. Roundtable: Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills & Chaka Khan [70:11–86:48]

• “Queens” Tour:
  • First time the three share the stage in a tour, joined by Gladys Knight sometimes.

    “It wasn’t the right time [before]... but this is definitely the right time.” – Stephanie Mills [70:59]

• Egos, Competition, and Camaraderie:
  • No egos, only mutual respect and love; focus on celebrating each other’s individuality.

    “God is the only ego.” – Patti LaBelle [72:17]

• Live Performance vs Industry Trends:
  • Commitment to real vocals and instrumentation.

    “Our microphones are on. We are singing. Actually singing.” – Patti LaBelle [76:05]

• On Legacy and Current Artists:
  • Influence on younger generations, praise for current singers like HER, Coco Jones, Jasmine Sullivan, Selena Johnson, Layla Hathaway.
    • Chaka: “I really like HER. She’s the closest thing to Prince that’s so far.” [81:07]
  • Openness to collaborations, e.g., Patti with Cardi B and Chaka with Sia or Dua Lipa. [81:53–82:59]
• Business Wisdom in the Industry:
  • Importance of independence, knowing your worth, and working with trustworthy partners.

    “I’m more verbal about what I want. I know exactly what I want... Absolutely [making more money now].” – Stephanie Mills [83:38] “If they can sing, that’s it. Come on now...” – Chaka Khan, on working with new artists [83:15]

• Constructive Critique: Mills discussed calling out Essence Festival organizers for lack of respect; artists insist on professionalism and mutual support. [78:03]
• Purpose of the Tour:
  • Unity and representing Black women with honesty, vulnerability, and strength.

    “Unity. And that we respect each other. Love, peace. We’ve been talking about this for years.” – Patti LaBelle [85:50]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Black Legends:

  “You are around actual spiritual beings, just living human existences.”
  – Charlamagne [03:27]

• On Storytelling Permission:

  “Judy Blume was my first permission slip as a storyteller.”
  – Mara Brock Akil [16:04]

• On Technology & Youth:

  “We are more technologically advanced, but we are using them in very disconnecting ways.”
  – Mara Brock Akil [18:30]

• On Positive Representation:

  “I don’t really believe in positive images. I think they can be just as damaging as negative images.”
  – Mara Brock Akil [30:09]

• On Parental Wisdom:

  “Be true, be beautiful, be free... We grew up to be fearless, but not to be stupid.”
  – Phylicia Rashad [37:17–38:16]

• On Self-Love:

  “I wish I learned sooner that I'm enough.”
  – Phylicia Rashad [63:09]

• On Artistic Legacy:

  “We as black women represent ourselves the right way... We just give shows like we did back in the day, just pure, raw, flat-foot stand there and sing.”
  – Patti LaBelle [77:09]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening Reflection on Legends: [03:27]
• Get It Off Your Chest (Caller Segments): [04:23–13:15]
• Mara Brock Akil Interview: [13:15–35:34]
• Phylicia Rashad Interview: [35:34–65:25]
• Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills & Chaka Khan Roundtable: [70:11–86:48]

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode is reverential, humorous, and candid, true to The Breakfast Club’s trademark style—mixing real talk and laughter while offering a platform for honest, powerful stories about legacy, artistry, and self-worth. Each guest brings vulnerability, wit, and seasoned wisdom.

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Summary

This “Best Of” episode is a masterclass in Black excellence and creative resilience, featuring living legends who paved the way in music, television, and theater. The hosts and guests grapple with the complexities of representation, societal change, legacy, and the business of art, while consistently centering love, mutual respect, and self-affirmation. A must-listen for anyone invested in culture, history, and the enduring influence of Black women in the arts.

Transcript

[DJ Envy]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Nothing in life is free except this free $10 that better picks is offering. Download the Better app, pick more or less on player stats, watch the games, and win some cash. It's that simple. Must be 21 or older.

[DJ Envy]

In a jurisdiction where Better Picks operates.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Terms and conditions apply. Better Picks Sports just got better.

[Angela Yee]

You know the shade is always shadiest right here.

[DJ Envy]

Season six of the podcast Reasonably Shady with Gisele Bryant and Robin Dixon is.

[Angela Yee]

Here driving every Monday as two of the founding members of the Real Housewives Potomac. We're giving you all the laughs, drama and reality news you can handle.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And you know, we don't hold back.

[DJ Envy]

So come be reasonable or shady with.

[Angela Yee]

Us each and every Monday, listen to Reasonably Shady from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro.

[Charlamagne tha God]

We were in the car like a rolling stone came on and he said, there's a line in there about your mot. And I said, what? What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have.

[DJ Envy]

I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had happened. These are just a few of the moving and important stories on my 13th season of family Secrets.

[Angela Yee]

Listen to Family secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[DJ Envy]

Whether it is getting swatted or just.

[Angela Yee]

Hateful messages online, there is a lot of harm.

[DJ Envy]

And even just reading comments, that's cybersecurity.

[Angela Yee]

Expert Camille Stewart Gloster on the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. Every season is a chance to grow and the Therapy for Black Girls podcast.

[DJ Envy]

Is here to walk with you.

[Angela Yee]

I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford and each week we dive into real conversations that help you move with more clarity and confidence. This episode we're breaking down what really happens to your information online and how to protect yourself with intention.

[DJ Envy]

Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on.

[Angela Yee]

The iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[DJ Envy]

Social media trend is landing some gen zers in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired and the massive TikTok boycott against Target. That actually makes no sense. You won't hear about these online stories.

[Charlamagne tha God]

In the mainstream media, but you can.

[DJ Envy]

Keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Bread vs. Everyone podcast. Listen to the Brad vs. Everyone podcast.

[Charlamagne tha God]

On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Angela Yee]

Hi, I'm Radhi Devlukia, and I am the host of a really Good Cry podcast. This week I am joined by Anna Runkle, also known as the Crappy Childhood Fairy, a creator, teacher, and guide helping people heal from the lasting emotional wounds of unsafe or chaotic childhoods.

[DJ Envy]

That talking about trauma isn't always great for people. It's not always the best thing. About a third of people who are traumatized as kids feel worse when they talk about it, get very dysregulated.

[Angela Yee]

Listen to a really good cry on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

[DJ Envy]

You get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wake you up. Wake you up. Wake that ass up. Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartRadio. Good morning, USA. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. What's up, Jess?

[Angela Yee]

Hilarious.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Charlemagne the guy. It's Thursday. Happy New Year. That's right.

[Angela Yee]

Happy New Year.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And how long can you say Happy New Year? Do we say it for another week? Or do we just say it one more day? How long do we say Happy New Year? I really shouldn't even be saying it now. Cause we on vacation. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, since they got us doing these type of things on our vacation, I don't know how happy I am about that. But happy New Year. That's right. And today it's all about the queens, right? Like Patti LaBelle. Ms. Patti LaBelle. Stephanie Mille, Chaka Khan, Phylicia Rashad, and Mara Brock Akil. Do you know the goosebumps I get when you name every single one of them? I mean, every single one of those women give me absolute goosebumps. If you've ever been around any of these women, you know that you're not, you know, around just regular individuals. You are around actual spiritual beings, just living human existences. And we are all blessed to have all of those people on our planet. Still. That is right. Well, let's get into those interviews. We're gonna be talking to those queens in a little bit. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. It's a new day. This is your time to get it off your chest. Wake. Wake up.

[DJ Envy]

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

[Charlamagne tha God]

To get up and get something. Call up now. 800-585-1051. We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. What's up, Mama? Hello? Who's this?

[DJ Envy]

Hello, this is Tanya. Good morning, y'. All.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Peace, Tanya.

[DJ Envy]

So I just want to say, whoever used the last little bit of my coffee creamer last night at work, I worked first at the hospital. Whoever used my last bit of coffee creamer at work?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Your mom's a hoe. Damn.

[Angela Yee]

What hospital?

[Charlamagne tha God]

What hospital you work at and where are you calling from?

[DJ Envy]

Okay, I'm calling from Florence, South Carolina. I work at Musc, and someone had the audacity to use my.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's crazy that you even left it there. Was your name on it?

[DJ Envy]

No, I should have pissed in it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Damn.

[Angela Yee]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Listen, why would you pee in your own coffee cream?

[Angela Yee]

People do this to her all the time. She not this mad that they just did this one time.

[Charlamagne tha God]

This happened before.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, they. They. They. They're nasty people, and I hate them. Yeah, but then Mom's a hoe. I'm on. I'm on the way to get my daughter ready for school this morning, and I'm. I'm so hot about this.

[Angela Yee]

I understand.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You should breathe.

[DJ Envy]

Just take.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Take a breather.

[Angela Yee]

I know.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And I don't know why you ho shaming people. Mamas like, damn, mamas can't have a whole face.

[Angela Yee]

No, they can't.

[DJ Envy]

Not in my world.

[Charlamagne tha God]

All right, Tanya, you have a good morning. It's crazy to think about that.

[DJ Envy]

Dogs who love y' all think y'.

[Angela Yee]

All.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Me, too. It is a lot of mamas out there that are hoes to somebody that is crazy to think about. And grandmas and everything. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think that everybody should have a whole face. Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

I think everybody do at some point.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That is a very hard thing for people to grasp, though. Like, your mama at some point gave some man fellatio a few times.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know what I mean? I don't want to think about that.

[DJ Envy]

It's not crazy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I don't want to think about grandma like that either. You doing it to somebody, Mama? I'm doing it to somebody, Mama. You ever think about that?

[Angela Yee]

No.

[Charlamagne tha God]

All right, Logan, slam your daddy one time just because. Okay.

[Angela Yee]

All right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Hello. Who's this? Irritated Uber driver? Hey, irritated Uber driver. How are you?

[DJ Envy]

Blessed and highly medicated.

[Charlamagne tha God]

There you go. I know that's right. What's up?

[DJ Envy]

Okay, I'm irritated. I drive in the city of Detroit, and in my car, I got a picture of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, as I should. I got a picture of Kamala Harris when I met her In Detroit.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I had the Trump supporter in my.

[DJ Envy]

Car tell me yesterday, if he knew it a ninja was picking him up, he would have canceled the riot.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I said, stand with your chest.

[DJ Envy]

I said, say it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I said, go. He said it, and I dropped his.

[DJ Envy]

Ass off on the east side of Detroit.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So when I said, I'll figure it out, why did he think he could beat a ninja? Did you have your mask on, your sword and everything else? Shut up, man.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, you're stupid.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know what? Y' all funny, but these Trump supporters.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all do not run this. Y'. All.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'm tired of y' all talking about what Donald Trump has done for this country. He's segregated us.

[DJ Envy]

He wants to try to put us in our place. And then I'm tired of him talking about construction workers that we make too much money.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I told a Trump supporter, get out there and do the jobs that a construction worker does, put some respect on.

[DJ Envy]

Our pay, and leave our affordable wages alone.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I agree with you. How many stars did he give you? Listen, he gave me one star.

[DJ Envy]

Reported me, telling me that I have offensive pictures up in my car. Uber called me yesterday and said, ma'.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Am, what's going on?

[DJ Envy]

We got a complaint. I said, okay. And I said, I got a picture of my president, Barack Obama, and his wife. They said, maybe I should take it down. I said, maybe you should kiss my ass.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Right. I wonder what the policy for that is, though. That's weird, because he's the president, though. He's a public figure.

[DJ Envy]

They tell us to be neutral and stuff like that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, I said, there's no neutral about it.

[DJ Envy]

When you get in my car and talking ignorant. Yeah, you call me. You're paying me. And then you gonna call me out my name.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Thank you, Jess.

[DJ Envy]

You heard that? Yeah. You gonna call me out my name.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Put some respect on my melanin, first of all. Well, I'm mad. I'm mad at you that you didn't. I'm mad at you that you didn't call him a cracker back. But also, if you know what I called him, I called him an ignorant, baloney smelling damn Trump. Nah, that ain't hit up. Oh, I caught him.

[DJ Envy]

Everything else, too, but I can't say it on the radio.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But if you want me to, I will.

[DJ Envy]

But I'm. These Trump supporters, y' all need to.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Stay in your lane. You should have called. You should have called him a milk cricket. But also, too. Look at the flip side, right? If you would have gotten to a car and the person had A bunch of Maga paraphernalia. How would you have felt? I wouldn't have got in that car.

[DJ Envy]

I would have canceled that ride.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So it's kind of the same thing. Yeah. Yeah, but he should have canceled it.

[DJ Envy]

He should have canceled it if he seen a beautiful black woman was picking him up.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Damn.

[Angela Yee]

Hello?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Damn. Cash. Patel cut the call off. FBI ain't playing, boy. Hold on. The whole line blacked out. Just blacked out.

[Angela Yee]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I was gonna tell her maybe she should download the Lyft app. You know, just in case it lets her go. So she'd have some other income coming in. That was the CIA. But also too. Man, if you want to get where you're going, just mind your goddamn business. You can't hold your political opinion for two seconds. You know what I'm saying? You get in the car, you see Barack Obama picture, Michelle Obama picture. Shut the hell up. You get in, somebody call, you see Maggie printer. Shut the hell up. All like she said. Cancel the ride. I was gonna say just get out.

[DJ Envy]

Like I pull off. And then you tell me that you.

[Angela Yee]

If you knew that I was gonna be black, you would have canceled.

[DJ Envy]

You can always get out now.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, get out right now.

[DJ Envy]

That' if she did what she said and dropped his ass off in the hood.

[Angela Yee]

Good time.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But I'm like Charlotte. If I gotta get to the airport, I ain't got time to mess with y'.

[DJ Envy]

All.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Just get me there. I don't care. I don't care what you got in there. Because the reality is you don't know what's in a person's head. A heart. You know what I'm saying? Or a trunk.

[DJ Envy]

So you gotta relax.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Get it off your chest. 805-8-5, 10, 5 1. If you need the vent, hit us up now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. This is your time to get it off your chest. Keep calling 800-585-1051. We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello? Who's this? Hey. I'm gonna remain anonymous. Why? We can't see you. You can say your name is Jill Scott for all we know.

[DJ Envy]

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. I ain't gonna say my name.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Let me tell you what happened. What happened? I worked for airlines, and I got injured on the clock. And then the doctor said I can.

[DJ Envy]

Go back to work.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, Manager don't want to let me come back to work unless I'm 100%. But the doctor said you will never be 100%. Ain't that stupid? No. So basically you saying you ain't trying to ever go back to work because the doctor said you ain't never gonna be 100, so you ain't never going back? No, I want to go back to work. I want to go back to work.

[DJ Envy]

But they have this dumbass 100 healed.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Policies that don't exist that they want to use, but they've got sued for it. I even call Top Dog Law. You call what they said at Top Dog, Love. My impairment rating was too low, so.

[DJ Envy]

They can't take my thing.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So what you got to do? What are you going to do in the meantime? I got to keep calling lawyers because.

[DJ Envy]

Airlines got a history of when people.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Get injured on the clock. And let's just say they're not gonna ever be 100%. They wanna push them back, try to make them quit. I ain't quitted for my job. I worked too damn hard to even get that job. I agree, man. I'm shocked.

[DJ Envy]

It might not be a good paying.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Job, but I'm still gonna try to get my job.

[DJ Envy]

I've been calling lawyers and everything, but.

[Charlamagne tha God]

This manager, she also kind of raped, too. We Gonna have Lauren LaRosa reach out to Top Dog Law for you, man. You know, she got a. She. She. She got a different relationship with them, so we go reach out and see what she can do for you, man.

[DJ Envy]

All right?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah. I'm lying. He's lying. You don't even got your name. I'm sorry, Mama. It just sound good to say, you know what I mean? I'mma have Lauren reach out. Don't even.

[Angela Yee]

Hello?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Who's this? Yo, this T at the 803.T from the 803. What's up? Get it off your chest, brother.

[Angela Yee]

Come on.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But, man, I just called. Just get. Tell her how I'm so blessed, man. I'm just blessed for the circle I got. Even through all these hard times going on, man. I'm just blessed to have the circle like that. Shout out to my beautiful wife, Edge and Taylor, I love you, babe. My beautiful son, man, Now's the time to just appreciate them things, man. That's hard out here. But that's all I said. I'm blessed, man.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, I pray every morning before I leave the house. I wake my wife up and we pray. And the biggest thing we pray about is we just say, thank you, God, for waking us up. Thank you, God, for our family and. And them kids running around. My wife, my parents running around.

[Angela Yee]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, with a lot going on in this world. The little things are. Just seeing them smiles is. Is all I need to get me through the day. Yeah, that's what it's about. Hey, before I go, can I shout out my podcast? Go ahead, brother. Man, I want to shout out the podcast called the Pod about Nothing. We going on tonight now on Spotify. Shout out to my boy, Molly. Village of core. Dunny man, we in here tonight. Y' all tune in. All right, brother, have a good one. 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. Morning, everybody.

[Angela Yee]

It's DJ Envy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Just hilarious. Charlemagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lola Rosa is here as well. And we got a special guest in the building. The legendary. That's right, Ms. Mara Brock Akil. Welcome.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Nice to be here. How are you?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Less Black and Holly favorite. How's your energy?

[DJ Envy]

It's great. I'm really. I'm floating.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How does it feel to have yet another hit TV show? Another.

[DJ Envy]

Another hit TV show. But this is global. This is like the first time I have been on a stage this big. Normally my shows are on up and coming networks, so I feel like an ingenue, actually. I feel both veteran and both. I'm also in awe. You know, it's just this. An idea is a global conversation that is kind of. I'm sitting in that mostly my career. I've been thinking about a national conversation, but this is a global one. And I mean, I've always known that our stories are global, but for it to be a reality is pretty special. And another hit, right? To be at it. 30 years in the game. 30 years in the game.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But let's talk about it. Of course, for people that are just tuning in, you created shows like Girlfriends, the Game, Being Mary Jane, you've written on the Jamie Foxx show and so many others, but this one is Moesha. So many.

[DJ Envy]

South Central oc So many.

[Charlamagne tha God]

This one's on Black Lightnings.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah. This one's on Netflix.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So how did the Netflix play come together with doing forever?

[DJ Envy]

I had a deal, you know, my career did garner me a really wonderful deal out of that deal. I did stamp from the beginning. I hope you guys all saw that amazing doctor documentary that Roger Ross Williams directed, but about Dr. Abraham Kendi's work about the myths of racism. That was my first offering in my deal, and this was the second. It was special from the beginning. I met Judy Bloom somebody else's icon. Come on. Come on.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Icon. Two of my favorite storytellers coming together.

[DJ Envy]

Come on. I mean, and that's God.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

First of all, I didn't even realize that the. The book was gonna be 50 years old by the time we released. It was not even in my thinking of that time.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, it came out in 75.

[DJ Envy]

75. It was a beautiful synergy. One thing I will say about Netflix, when they're behind something, they are behind it. Completely supported, resourced. I think that's what's important to me in this moment of this hit show is that it was my vision, was supported financially, and it was amazing to feel like, wow, I'm supported, got money. To have the vision that I want and to get the people that I need, the collaborators. It's been amazing.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You said Judy Blume was your first permission slip as a storyteller.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my goodness.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So how does your inner child feel knowing that you have done such justice to one of her iconic works?

[DJ Envy]

Why does my inner. She feels on cloud nine. She is twirling. She is cartwheel. I used to cartwheel back in the day. I could cartwheel, back, bend all the things she's doing, all of that. I'm very proud of myself. When the opportunity to reimagine one of her books, there was no thinking, my hand just went up. And I feel like it was a little protective as well. It was like, I want to protect that story. I want to be able to tell that story. But my little girl is like, she cabbage patching.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Does she feel like she made it? Do y' all feel like you made it a while?

[DJ Envy]

She's felt like she's made it a long while ago. Okay. I think this is different in that it's a full circle moment. I feel, I often say that you become a writer as a reader first. And so I used to get lost in the pages of Judy Blume. And so for me to be just the divinity of it, like the divineness of it, that I would come full circle 50 years later, like, those kinds of things. Right. It's almost like it was written for me. It was written for me and Judy. Matter of fact, I'm going to get a chance to meet her personally. I'm so excited.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Did you go down to Key West?

[DJ Envy]

I'm. Yeah. Yeah, I am.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, I am.

[DJ Envy]

You lived this life once, and I'm a living that dream, so I'm excited to meet her. We met at the time on Zoom and talked on the phone and emailed. But Just to meet her and say thank you and have her sign my book. I'm just. That 12 year old girl is running to Key West.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I've done it a couple of times.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Just to go meet Ms. Blue. Absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

I love it.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Just. What I really would love is for people to honor more of their story. The craftsmanship, sitting in the chair and writing. That woman sat in the chair and wrote. I mean, like. I mean, it's like she never got out of the chair. Just writing and that and what it would do, just someone sharing a story, just my own testimony is. It ignited something in me. And I think that even the feedback I'm getting from the show, not just this show, but the shows I've had in my career, it has ignited other storytellers. I want us to do more by that. We have so many stories in us that will die in us if we don't even start crafting them and writing them down. Her book is still through this show now. It still lives. It's universal. It's forever. Ba da ba. See what I did there? The original book was written in the 70s.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

75. Why did you choose to specifically set this story in 2018? Well, I had to look at what would make it fresh today and what to maybe have to look at where the kids are today. And Judy and I talked about, well, they know a lot about sex, intimacy, connection, those things. I think we're further away. Even though we are more technologically advanced. We don't have, though these tools are meant to connect us, we are using them in very disconnecting ways. And I think that to bring the phone into the conversation, it's an opportunity to talk about something unique to this culture. I mean, excuse me culture, but this generation, excuse me, what it is doing to them personally, emotionally, their emotional self, and then how it's even affecting their physical self and then affecting their future. And that's what the book was about. How do we explore our emotional self, our physical self, while maintaining a healthy future? I also want to talk about in the black family. By changing the white family to black, it allowed me to also talk about a time that I think is very important for us to document. Between Trayvon Martin's murder and George Floyd's murder, we as black people, we as black families, as mothers and fathers, we were screaming into a vacuum about the fear over our children. And there was no amount of fancy zip codes or education that can save your child, you know, and that was scary. And I wanted. I needed a place for me as a mother to release all of that fear. And then also, then look at how much we are out of love. But we are raising our children from that fear.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[DJ Envy]

And how that is hurting our children and their inability to have a natural rite of passage to explore again, their emotional. Their emotional self, their emotional maturity, their physical self, their physical maturity to have sex or not have sex, who to have it with, what's the right conditions, all of those choices that they're supposed to be making right now to protect a beautiful future. And that's another thing. We need to open up some space because our children also need a future. And it's tough out there. And I couldn't imagine being them today. Thinking about, what do you want to be with your girl? Well, what's out there? And so. And we adults need to get it together. And so this is a part of. Of my. My offering.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious Charlamagne, the guy we are the Breakfast Club. We're still kicking it with Mara Brock Akil. Her new show Forever is on Netflix right now. Lauren.

[DJ Envy]

And back in the 70s, it was controversial because of the things that explored.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Nothing in life is free except this $10 that better picks is offering. Download the Better app, pick more or less on your favorite player stats, watch the games, and win some cash. It's that simple. Must be 21 or older in a.

[DJ Envy]

Jurisdiction where Better Picks operates in terms of conditions apply.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Better Picks sports just got better.

[DJ Envy]

You know, the shade is always shadiest right here. Season six of the podcast Reasonably Shady with Gisele Bryant and Robyn Dixon is.

[Angela Yee]

Here dropping every Monday as two of the founding members of the Real Housewives Potomac. We're giving you all the laughs, drama, and reality news you can handle.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And, you know, we don't hold back.

[DJ Envy]

So come be reasonable or shady with us each and every Monday, I was going through a walk in my neighborhood. Out of the blue, I see this huge sign next to somebody's house. Okay, the sign says, my neighbor is a Karen.

[Charlamagne tha God]

No way.

[DJ Envy]

I died laughing. I'm like, I have to to know you are lying.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Humongous, y'. All.

[DJ Envy]

They had some time on their hands.

[Angela Yee]

Listen to Reasonably Shady from the Black.

[DJ Envy]

Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Poynter, Chair of women's health and gynecology at the Atria Health Institute in New York City. On this show, I'll be talking to top researchers and top clinicians asking them your burning questions and bringing that information about women's health and midlife directly to you.

[Angela Yee]

100% of women go through menopause. It can be such a struggle for our quality of life. But even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? The types of symptoms that people talk about is forgetting everything. I never used to forget things. They're concerned that one, they have dementia and the other one is do I have adhd?

[DJ Envy]

There is unprecedented promise with regard to cannabis and cannabinoids, to sleep better, to have less pain, to have better mood and also to have better day to day life. Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Poynter on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening now.

[Angela Yee]

Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, host of the.

[DJ Envy]

Hit podcast Family Secrets.

[Charlamagne tha God]

We were in the car like a.

[DJ Envy]

Rolling stone came on and he said.

[Angela Yee]

There'S a line in there about your mother.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And I said, what? What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have.

[DJ Envy]

I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had happened.

[Angela Yee]

These are just a few of the moving and important stories I'll be holding.

[DJ Envy]

Space for on my upcoming 13th season of Family Secrets.

[Angela Yee]

Whether you've been on this journey with.

[DJ Envy]

Me from season one or just joining the Family Secrets family, we're so happy.

[Angela Yee]

To have you with us.

[DJ Envy]

I'll dive deep into the incredible power.

[Angela Yee]

Of secrets, the ones that shape our identities, test our relationships, and ultimately reveal who we truly are. Listen to Family secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The moments that shape us often begin with a simple question. What do I want my life to look like now? I'm Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford and on Therapy for Black Girls, we create space for honest conversations about identity, relationships, mental health and the choices that help us grow. As cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester reminds us, we are in a divisive time.

[DJ Envy]

Where our comments are weaponized against us.

[Angela Yee]

And so what we find is a.

[DJ Envy]

Lot of Black women are standing up and speaking out because they feel the brunt of the pain.

[Angela Yee]

Each week we explore the tools and insights that help you move with purpose, whether you're navigating something new or returning to yourself. If you're ready for thoughtful guidance and grounded support, this is the place for you. Listen to therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne tha God]

The social media trend that's landing some.

[DJ Envy]

Gen zers in J.

[Charlamagne tha God]

The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesca off the network entirely.

[DJ Envy]

The massive TikTok boycott against Target.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That makes no actual sense.

[DJ Envy]

I will continue getting stuff from Target and I will continue to not pay for it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And the MAGA influencers whose trip to.

[DJ Envy]

The White House ended in embarrassment.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate.

[DJ Envy]

You won't hear about these online stories.

[Charlamagne tha God]

In the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the.

[DJ Envy]

Brad vs. Everyone podcast hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You on a wild ride through the most delulu takes on the Internet, criticizing.

[DJ Envy]

The extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad vs. Everyone podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You get your podcast today.

[DJ Envy]

It's not controversial because we are so open. Like, what you talk about when you were crafting, like, what the storyline would be and how you would redo it, were there things that you were like, I wanna make sure I get to. Or make sure I get in this storyline. Cause you also made it feel closer to home for, like black teens. Now forever feels like it's our story, but you had to do it a different way. You know, I think it's controversial. Black male vulnerability, it's just. There's no room for it. I think there's no images for it. And yet when I'm looking in the world within my own children, their friends in the community, beyond that, a lot of boys, and more specifically black boys, they're not all that hard. You know, they don't have any room for their complexity. They don't have any room for their feelings. Like, it's always funny to me, especially about the group of boys that I'm around. They're all privileged. They live a great life. Time to take a picture. They were laughing two seconds ago. You trying to take the picture. And then they get that stoic face. What you mean mugging for, like, you know, and you realize how much that's imparted on young black boys all the time about what is manly? What are those images of what a man is? I wanted to make room for the real reflection. I'm actually looking at the real thing. It's just what gets on that bigger screen and how important it is. I know we talk about representation matters. That's why it matters. You gotta see yourself. Yeah. In order to decide, is that beautiful? Is that how I want to look? You know, Is that right? Is that tight? You know, can't see it. And I think boys are getting their heart broken a lot sooner. I felt so bad for Justin the whole time. Why? Because I just felt like a lot of times, the characters, they were yearning for this, like, space of, like, I don't know, to just be okay. And then things would be going good, and then something else would happen. It'd be something small, would be, like, for Keisha, like, the video gets sent to her phone, and she's finally in this relationship.

[Angela Yee]

You know what I mean?

[DJ Envy]

Like, things were just, like, happening. I'm like, dang. And kids, like, why can't they just be. And not to deal with these things. Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

It's life.

[DJ Envy]

And it's also technology that we didn't have. We got some freedoms without, you know, that they don't. They're not afforded. That's what I want to talk about. It's like, are we making any room for them? Like, one of the things that I love when we. Every production meeting, I said, we're making an epic and intimate love story within a love letter to Los Angeles. Right. And what that meant to me is that we need to see them in scope, in scale and epic. I need to see them, their bodies in the space in Los Angeles. What that means is that it's a feeling cinematically that I'm making you feel that they belong here. And when they belong here, they belong to us. And so you will engage with our children differently psychologically, emotionally. Those things are important in our image, on the details. The details on anyone. Makes them feel more human to you. So I want to make just room for their humanity so that we. We think about the measures around technology. We think about what the rules are for these kids. I mean, like, these kids are being told today that you make one false move, you won't get a scholarship. I mean, come on. It's the truth.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It follows them for the rest of their lives.

[DJ Envy]

For the rest of their lives. There's no humanity in that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And as much as it's a story about the kids, it's a story about the adults. Right. Like. Like the way Judy Blume made people feel seen at 13. It feels to me like you're making us feel seen at 40 something, 50 something. So what do those ages need that nobody's writing about?

[DJ Envy]

I'm gonna keep saying this over and just more complexity.

[Angela Yee]

More.

[DJ Envy]

More of our human side. Like, I don't. I, you know, I've said before, I don't, you know, I don't really believe in positive images. I think they can be just as damaging as negative images.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What do you mean? Expound on that? Yeah, break that down.

[DJ Envy]

Because. So the negative image is a product of a lie. Going back to the documentary, the perpetuating the lies and the myths of us that's been out there. So a lot of black people want a positive image because they want to rewrite the wrong of somebody else's view of me. But what that does as an artist, it keeps me behind the eight ball. I'm chasing up and trying to clean up somebody else's mess. I'm from the Zora Neale Hurston school of thought. I know my people. I see my people. I want to be able to talk about them fully. And in the spectrum of our humanity, there is light and dark. We are not. We are not perfect. To be perfect, that's just as hard to be perfect as it is to be bad. Like, I want to. I want the spectrum of my humanity. I want to be able to make a mistake and have my village patch me up and put me back out there. I deserve that. You deserve that. We deserve that. And so I want the spectrum of who I am. And sometimes I'm, you know, sometimes I'm. I'm not great, and sometimes I am in the same day, in the same hour. And I deserve that, that sort of exploration of who I am as a human being. And I give that to my characters. I think dawn, for instance, you know, people, there's a lot of conversation about her as a mother, but that black mother has raised a lot of kids to get them, to keep them alive. Does she deserve looking at herself?

[Angela Yee]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Hi, my name is Mara Brock Akil, and I'm a former Don. I put my pain on the screen. I think, you know, I wanted to out of love. I'm trying to overprotect my children.

[Charlamagne tha God]

All right, we got more with Mara Brock Akil when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. What emotional space does forever occupy that? None of your previous shows have, I.

[DJ Envy]

Think, the cross generational idea. I just think the complexity of family and the generational connection and that. I just really enjoyed that. I think also the scale, emotionally, it allowed me to really scale us, and I enjoyed that. And the kids say Take up space. It allowed me to take up space for us and for myself.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It's forever about love you've had, love you've lost, or love you still believe in.

[DJ Envy]

All the above. I believe in love. One of the things I'm really proud of with the ending. I know there's controversy about the ending, but what I love that Justin and Keisha showed us is how love endures. And it takes. It shape shifts, its dynamic can change, but love can stay present. And they showed us how to let go and keep love in that ending. I think we could learn a lot from Justin and Keisha. The question, is this a forever love or the one you remember forever? And I would like to think that we, as we move through our lives as human beings, that when we choose to use that word. Right. I loved you. That you. There's a present that you were so present and so loving that even if you don't last, the couple doesn't last. The love can last.

[Angela Yee]

It just.

[DJ Envy]

It might shift to. Wow. It might just shift to. We always just sort of text each other on each other's birthday. That you matter to me. You know, one of the fun things you realize when you're revisiting the work, especially as young people, oftentimes that's where our big dreaming happens. And those young loves that a lot of times the best part of you is packed in somebody else's memory of you. And so to have access back to those people actually is good for you to remember who you are when you lose your way, because you're gonna lose your way. And so love holds you there. So it is about the past, the present, and the future. And I think that love can take many different forms.

[Angela Yee]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Stop playing with Mara, Okay? Mara had hit after hit in multiple decades, okay? Streaming services, the linear television. Give her what she wants.

[Angela Yee]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Including the $50 million for girlfriends. We need closure. It's that simple.

[DJ Envy]

It's that simple. We've been talking about this. It's real. It's really that simple. I think it's time.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And the success Girlfriend just had on Netflix.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my God.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my God. Like, they should see generational success and people watch it. I watched that. I rewatched the whole thing with my mom, and I was like, this is so different. But, you know, it's fine. Finding out. People are putting girlfriends on for their go to sleep. They call it their comfort TV show that they put on, and they just let it run. And some people let it run while they Go to sleep.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Or what do you want forever to give people permission to do? And that's my last question, I promise.

[DJ Envy]

Love. I want people to think more about love in every aspect of their life. And actually, even if we're older, that it's okay to want that. That first love kind of feeling. Like, what do we need to do to get back to that first love kind of feeling? I don't know. I just think it's. I think as a human, a spirit having a human experience, dancing with love all the time has got to be our top endeavor. So that's what I want.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Mar Broca, Kill the Legend. We appreciate you so much. We love you. We value you. Appreciate you and all your work. That's right.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you. I really appreciate being here. Thank you. Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody.

[Angela Yee]

It's DJ Envy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the breeze. Lauren LaRosa is here as well. We got a special guest in the building. We have a woman who has represented, you know, black people, especially black women, correctly forever. Ms. Felicia Rashad is here. How are you, Queen?

[Angela Yee]

I am good.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Good to see you.

[Angela Yee]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And you're here for. I mean, we gonna talk to you about a lot of stuff, but you're making your Broadway directorial debut in Purpose.

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How did that feel?

[Angela Yee]

Well, it was wonderful. This is the first time I'm directing in a Broadway theater, but this play and this past, it's a real gift. I hope you'll come and see. Yeah. Yes. I hope you'll come and see. Brandon Jacobs Jenkins is the playwright. He received the Tony Award last year for his play Appropriate. And this particular production originates in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theater. And the Steppenwolf has its own ethos, its own legacy for theater as it was formed by actors. So it's ensemble work. And that's the best work.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely.

[Angela Yee]

Ensemble work. But then that spirit, I watched it move through the cast into everybody. The designers, the production office and staff, the theater, everybody. It's one. We call it collective. It's intention. Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

When I think about the things that you and your. Your sister have done, Ms. Debbie Allen, you know, I. I just wonder, what did y' all dream of when y' all was kids, when y' all was just two little girls growing up? Like, what did y' all play about? What did y' all think about? What did y' all imagine?

[Angela Yee]

We grew up in Houston, Texas. Our father, Dr. Andrew A. Allen's a dentist. Our mother, Vivian Ayers, is a Poet. We grew up with a poet. We grew up with a visionary. And it was about freedom. It was about realizing your full potential as a human being. Can you imagine things like this, teaching little children like this? She would teach us things like. She have aphorisms, and she'd give them to us to say, the universe bears no ill to me. I bear no ill to it. And we'd repeat that. The universe bears no ill to me. I bear no ill to it. We just go around. The universe bears no ill to bear. When you teach a child like this, be true, be beautiful, be free. She would say things like this to us. We grew up to be fearless, but not to be stupid.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Expound on that. Fearless but not stupid.

[Angela Yee]

Well, I mean, look, if you see a rattlesnake in front of you, come on. That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Angela Yee]

Don't be stupid.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Angela Yee]

If you see a car coming your way, don't be stupid.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

What was your mother's upbringing like? Because she seemed like she was so still and so short of herself. And I'm sure she had, you know, experienced a lot.

[Angela Yee]

My mother grew up in Chester, South Carolina.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Hey, I'm from South Carolina.

[Angela Yee]

What part?

[Charlamagne tha God]

I was born in Charleston, raised in a small town called Monks Corner.

[Angela Yee]

Oh, you the people.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yep.

[Angela Yee]

Okay. You the people. Okay. So it was a small mill, for her father was a blacksmith. One of his brothers was a mortician, and the other brother was a barber. And these businesses had been owned by her grandfather. It was an agricultural community. Right. But there was a school there that had been founded by the Presbytery. There were such a number of such schools that had been founded by the Presbytery for the descendants of freed African people throughout the South. This school was Brainerd and Institute. And in this school there was this classical education administered by black people. My mother was always interested in music. Oh, she was quite the pianist. She's described herself to me once as saying she was a little girl swinging high on the swing, looking up at the sky and dreaming big dream. That's how she grew. Her mother passed away when My mother was 9. She lost her mother. And she said as she sat at her mother's funeral and listened to the things that people were saying, she decided none of them were intelligent enough to tell her anything to do. She would chart her own course. At nine.

[Charlamagne tha God]

At nine.

[Angela Yee]

At nine. And she did. It was not an easy life. But there was this spirit living in her, burning in her, that carried her through her first Publication is Spice of Dawns. This is a collection of poems, her second publication, Hawk. If you read Hawk, you will understand how I grew. This is an inner journey. This is an allegory of freedom which parallels flight through space without a vehicle. It was published 11 weeks before the launch of the But Make One. Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What did you learn from your father? Because you said he was a dentist.

[Angela Yee]

Oh, my father. My father was born on the back porch of a farm in Lovedale, Louisiana. He was one of nine children. His father worked on the railroad. He was a fireman on the South Pacific Railroad. And his mother, you know, was housekeeping. Right. My grandfather put great emphasis on education, and he made sure that all of his children went to college. Imagine it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Especially in that time.

[Angela Yee]

Imagine it. So my father was a very kind and generous man. He was what was called a man's man. Men loved him and trusted him. He was always the treasurer of the Dental association because they said, if Tex takes care of the money, we're in good shape. He was organized. He was very clean. He loved music. He loved theater. He loved the arts. He came to see any and everything we did, whatever it was. He was very supportive. He was so handsome. He did things that people didn't know he did. He was like that. And in his office, he dealt with people's pain and anxiety every day. And they came to him and trusted him. And when they couldn't pay, he'd work out a payment plan for them that was convenient for them. They didn't have to go anywhere and incur interest rates. He would work that out for them. When my father passed away, at his viewing, the line stretched out of the mortuary.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Angela Yee]

All the way down the street, all the way around the block. And when the last person came, he said. He looked at him. He said, you don't understand. That's my dentist. And that motorcade, as I remember, that motorcade on the way to the cemetery stretched as far as the eye could see. He was so beloved.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's why I asked. Just because, you know, when you look like. I said, you know, we look at Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, two strong queens. Somebody had to raise them. Somebody had to instill that in them. And as a father raising four beautiful black girls, you know, I'm just always thinking about, you know, what should me and my wife be instilling in them all the time, just so they grow up to be strong black women? When you love them, my mom says, all the time.

[Angela Yee]

When you love them, that's all. If I Can remember one great instruction. My father gave me two great instructions, and I was a little girl. He said, never let anybody run over you. I was five years old when he told me that. Never let anyone run over you. And then later on in life, he said, always know the balance of your bank account and keep your own money.

[DJ Envy]

What can you tell us about the story? Without spoiling it, but what can you tell us about the story of purpose?

[Angela Yee]

Oh, this is wonderful. Family. Family drama. And there's humor in it. A young man is recalling a visit to his home. And on this night of nights, so much happens in one night, and so much is revealed in one night. And some things are resolved. That's all I'm gonna tell you. Oh, yeah, okay. Except to tell you the cast. Harry Lennox, latonya Richardson Jackson Glen Davis, Alana Arenas and John Michael Hill. It's the most incredible ensemble that I've ever witnessed. Each one is a master. And the inimitable Kara Young, who was Ludy Bell in Curly Victorious last season, that's our cast. People come at the end of the play and have various reactions. One woman said, ooh, that scene at the dining room table. Ooh, that was my family's Thanksgiving for the past five years. Relatable, right? And she was not an African American woman.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Angela Yee]

People see themselves, and that's when we know we are really doing our best work. Yeah. When you see yourself.

[DJ Envy]

I was gonna say, speaking of doing your best work, I think, you know, for a lot of us and watching you on television, the iconic role of Claire Huxtable and just what that image of, you know, having a mom, that was just so graceful and so, like, everything that you were in that show. Do you, like, in real life, is there ever pressure was there at the time for you to, like, upkeep, like, a certain, like, I don't know, like an image or, like, just anything that people try to. No, like, so not in your house, but, like, in real life, like, in Hollywood and other roles you were taking and, like, you know what I mean? Like, did you ever feel like. Because I think for us, like, you are, like, the perfect, like, image of, like, a black woman. Like, so I always wondered if you felt that pressure.

[Angela Yee]

No. Light is not heavy. Carry light, share light. Light is not heavy. Even in interviews back then, you would.

[DJ Envy]

Still have the same deposition, the same grace, you know, outside of that role, I'm gonna tell you the one that sticks with me.

[Angela Yee]

When you told.

[DJ Envy]

Sondra's boyfriend, Elvin Alvin, that is iconic. You and Dr. Huxtable like some coffee? Coffee?

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, coffee.

[DJ Envy]

You mean you're gonna get it?

[Angela Yee]

Yes. You're surprised?

[DJ Envy]

I'm sorry, Mrs. Huxtable.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I didn't think you did that kind of thing.

[DJ Envy]

What kind of thing?

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, serve.

[Angela Yee]

Serve whom? Serve him.

[DJ Envy]

As in serve your man?

[Angela Yee]

Well, yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Let me tell you something, Elvis.

[Angela Yee]

You see, I am not serving Dr. Huxtable.

[DJ Envy]

Okay?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Okay.

[DJ Envy]

That's the kind of thing that goes.

[Angela Yee]

On in a restaurant. Now, I'm going to bring him a cup of coffee just like he brought me a cup of coffee this morning. And that, young man, is what marriage is made of. It is give and take. 50.

[DJ Envy]

50.

[Angela Yee]

And if you. You don't get it together and drop these macho attitudes, you are never going to have anybody bring.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Do you actually know Ball? Well, come prove it with a free $10 from Better Picks. Download the Better app, pick more or less on player stats, watch the games, and win cash.

[DJ Envy]

It's that simple.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Must be 21 or older. In a jurisdiction where Better Picks operates, terms and conditions apply. Better Picks Sports just got better.

[Angela Yee]

Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, host of the.

[DJ Envy]

Hit podcast Family Secrets.

[Charlamagne tha God]

We were in the car like a.

[DJ Envy]

Rolling stone came on and he said.

[Charlamagne tha God]

There'S a line in there about your mother. And I said, what? What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have.

[DJ Envy]

I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had happened.

[Angela Yee]

These are just a few of the moving and important stories I'll be holding.

[DJ Envy]

Space for on my upcoming 13th season of Family Secrets.

[Angela Yee]

Whether you've been on this journey with.

[DJ Envy]

Me from season one or just joining the Family Secrets family, we're so happy.

[Angela Yee]

To have you with us.

[DJ Envy]

I'll dive deep into the incredible power.

[Angela Yee]

Of secrets, the ones that shape our identities, test our relationships, and ultimately reveal who we truly are. Listen to Family secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[DJ Envy]

You know the shade is always shadiest right here. Season six of the podcast Reasonably Shady with Gisele Bryant and Robyn Dixon is.

[Angela Yee]

Here dropping every Monday as two of the founding members of the Real Housewives Potomac. We're giving you all the laughs, drama, and reality news you can handle.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And, you know, we don't hold back.

[DJ Envy]

So come be reasonable or shady with us each and every Monday, I was going through a walk in my neighborhood. Out of the blue, I see this huge sign next to somebody's house. Okay. The sign says my neighbor is a Karen.

[Charlamagne tha God]

No way.

[DJ Envy]

I died laughing. I'm like, I have to know.

[Angela Yee]

You are lying.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Humongous, y'. All.

[DJ Envy]

They had some time on their hands.

[Angela Yee]

Listen to Reasonably Shady from the Black.

[DJ Envy]

Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app.

[Angela Yee]

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[DJ Envy]

Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Poynter, chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Atria Health Institute in New York City. On this show, I'll be talking to top researchers and top clinicians, asking them your burning questions and bringing that information about women's health and midlife directly to you.

[Angela Yee]

100% of women go through menopause. It can be such a struggle for our quality of life. But even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? The types of symptoms that people talk about is forgetting everything. I never used to forget things. They're concerned that one they have dementia and the other one is do I have adhd?

[DJ Envy]

There is unprecedented promise with regard to cannabis and cannabinoids to sleep better, to have less pain, to have better mood, and also to have better day to day life. Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Poynter on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening now.

[Angela Yee]

The moments that shape us often begin with a simple question. What do I want my life to look like now? I'm Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford and on Therapy for Black Girls we create space for honest conversations about identity, relationships, mental health and the choices that help us grow. As cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester reminds us, we are in a divisive time.

[DJ Envy]

Where our comments are weaponized against us.

[Angela Yee]

And so what we find is a.

[DJ Envy]

Lot of Black women are standing up and speaking out because they feel the.

[Angela Yee]

Brunt of the pain. Each week we explore the tools and insights that help you move with purpose, whether you're navigating something new or returning to yourself. If you're ready for thoughtful guidance and grounded support, this is the place for you. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Radhi devlukya and I am the host of a really Good Cry podcast. This week I am joined by Anna Runkle, also known as the Crappy Childhood Fairy, a creator, teacher and guide helping people heal from the lasting emotional wounds of unsafe or chaotic childhoods. We talk about how the things we went through when we were younger can.

[DJ Envy]

Still show up in our adult lives.

[Angela Yee]

In our relationships, our reactions, even in the way we feel in our own bodies. And Anna opens up about her own story. What helped her notice the patterns she was stuck in and how she slowly started teaching her body that it is safe now.

[DJ Envy]

So when I got attacked, it was very random. Four guys jumped out of a car and just started beating me and my friend, and they broke my jaw and my teeth. I was unconscious. Then I woke up, and I screamed. And I screamed because even though I didn't know who I was or where I was, something in me was just like, hold on, Wait.

[Charlamagne tha God]

They could kill me.

[DJ Envy]

And I'm not gonna let that happen. I'm not gonna let that happen. I'm gonna get through this. And I did listen to a really.

[Angela Yee]

Good cry on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You knew anything, anywhere, any place, anytime, ever.

[DJ Envy]

And then when Vanessa wanted to go to Baltimore, where I'm from, to see.

[Angela Yee]

The wretched lying on the floor of some burning building, dying of asphyxia, and you're down in bal. Baltimore, Marilyn with the wretched, to have big fun, weren't you, Vanessa? Isn't that where you were? Didn't you go down there to Baltimore and have big fun, Vanessa? Tell me, didn't you go for big fun?

[DJ Envy]

Mom, shut up.

[Angela Yee]

Don't you dare open your mouth when I'm asking you a question.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my God.

[Angela Yee]

When I tell you those are my.

[DJ Envy]

Two, like, key episodes, right?

[Angela Yee]

Well, yeah. Cause I'm from Baltimore, and I done.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Snuck out the house and I done all that. You ain't knocked Vanessa out?

[Angela Yee]

I got knocked out a few times, but.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, she almost did, but Cliff held her back.

[Angela Yee]

Well, yes.

[DJ Envy]

Right, right. How do you nowadays, like. Because, I mean, you obviously pick and choose what you want to do, what your roles. Like. I watched you and Dierra from Detroit, and I like the one scene where y' all in the car, and you were talking about the Temptation.

[Charlamagne tha God]

She slept with the Temptations? Yes, all of them.

[DJ Envy]

I'm gonna tell you right now, I felt bad watching that. I'm like, I don't think I was supposed to hear her say.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I thought that was a. You know what's so funny, though? The first time I saw the clips, they didn't tell me it was from a TV show.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, he thought.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What the.

[Angela Yee]

What?

[Charlamagne tha God]

He literally.

[DJ Envy]

He thought that you were up here.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Like, really reflecting on your life.

[DJ Envy]

I said, damn, she slept. Claire Ox was slept with all the.

[Angela Yee]

Temptations no, no, no. That was a character, darling. That was a character. As actors, we play these roles.

[DJ Envy]

When you choose a character like that, where it's like, it's a lot different than how we've seen you or how I've seen you anyway, and different things that you've done, what's your thinking behind. Is it because you wanna. You want people to see you in the different lights, or is it just. I just want to do it.

[Angela Yee]

See what she was doing.

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Angela Yee]

That's why I chose the character. Because of what she was doing.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

See, people get all caught up in funny stuff.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

What was that woman doing?

[DJ Envy]

She was rescuing people.

[Angela Yee]

She was rescuing people. She was living with the deepest hurt that a mother can have, that she lost her child because she was not paying attention. And in her heart, she felt that her child was alive somewhere. And this is years later.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Angela Yee]

But just in a moment of being too tired and too annoyed and too distracted and wanting to do something else, she turned away. And in that instant, her child was taken from her. And so she set about saving people. She went on saving people, hoping one day somebody would save her son. So I choose people because. I choose a character because of what people are doing. Yeah. Gotcha.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I want to go back to something just said. She brought up the Elvin scene, Right. Because that was a role. Well, when you schooled Elvin on, I guess, the marital. The marital role, how much input did you have on that scene? And what were you trying to convey when you saw it on paper? What did you say to yourself? Oh, I know what I can do in this scene to convey a larger message?

[Angela Yee]

Oh, I didn't say anything. I just said the seat. I just said the line.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh. So it was just as it was there.

[Angela Yee]

Oh, wow. It was there. But it was the way you deliver.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It, you know, you was like battle rapping. What?

[Angela Yee]

Like.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It was so good.

[DJ Envy]

I thought it was improv, you know, it was. If this is.

[Angela Yee]

This is a part of your training as an actor, language and how you use it, and there's rhythm in this pace. And so much is conveyed in that way. If you said it another way, it wouldn't be as effective. Yeah, you tried to say it like you were singing up the lazy river. No, it wouldn't work.

[DJ Envy]

It wouldn't hit like a black mama. No, it wouldn't.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What were them writers rooms like, though? Because it felt like a black experience. Were they black writers? White. Right. I mean, what were those writers combinations? Okay.

[Angela Yee]

The thing was to write a human story to Write about human behavior. The truth of human behavior. Yeah. That's what makes comedy and theater real. The truth of human behavior. You don't have to make something up. If you're writing about something that's real.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Angela Yee]

You can take a different perspective on it, and your skills as a writer, you know, show up in your language or your. You know, those things that writers do. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

What do you do to channel roles? Like your role in Fall from Grace, like, when you're the villain, what do.

[Angela Yee]

You do to channel those roles? Everybody's a human being, right? Yeah. She's just a nasty human being. This is a person who is sick. Her whole perspective is warped. You've got to be sick to mistreat another person.

[DJ Envy]

Person. Yes.

[Angela Yee]

I'm sorry. You cannot be sane and do hurtful things to people. You just. A sane person won't do that. Do you agree?

[Charlamagne tha God]

100?

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

100.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's why one of the four agreements is, you know, don't. Don't take offense to things. Don't take things personal. Because what you do, what somebody does to you is not a reflection to you. It's something that's going on internally with them. It's hard that, you know, to put yourself in that position, but you really got to know that.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah. Sometimes you want to just clutch somebody, shake them real good.

[Charlamagne tha God]

My daddy used to say, you'll stop taking everything personal, personal once you realize that it's a bunch of people out here on cocaine.

[Angela Yee]

Whoa.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What he's saying is kind of true. It's like people out here doing all types of stuff that you have no idea about.

[DJ Envy]

I was going to say your time at Howard. I'm an HBCU grad. I went to Delaware State.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Have you ever heard of it?

[Angela Yee]

Yes. Wow.

[DJ Envy]

Get them together, please. Thank you.

[Angela Yee]

Next.

[DJ Envy]

Exactly right. I wonder, like, for you, what was, like, one of your favorite things about walking on campus every day with those students?

[Angela Yee]

As a dean walking on campus, everywhere I looked, I was reminded of my time there as a student, and I was reminded of my friends, and I was reminded of the things that we did in the time in which we were living as students. It was an important. Dr. King was assassinated in my sophomore year. Wow.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

I watched these things happen. So much unfolded on that campus. I remember when Muhammad Ali came and spoke on the steps of Frederick Douglass Hall. And I remember him standing there and said, look at me. Can't you see that I'm free? And you could. So there was a time, you know, I'll just reference it Back to my father, area dentistry. There was a time when African Americans were trained, could be trained at Harvard, but they wouldn't hire them to teach. So these people who were trained in these great, quote, great institutions went to HBCUs to teach. You were receiving that education there, that discipline, those demands they were serious about.

[DJ Envy]

Were you, when you. When you decided not to return back to Howard, did you feel like you didn't return because your work was done there, or was it just like a personal decision? Because, like, business reasons? Like, I just felt like people like you was like, we need you on campuses every day. But I know it's probably. It's a lot to do all at once, but, like, what was that like for you, that decision not to go back?

[Angela Yee]

Well, I will always be connected. I will always be connected to Howard University. As a matter of fact, next week, I will be in Washington, D.C. for the one night only reading of Chadwick A Boseman's Deep Azure.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He wrote that, right?

[Angela Yee]

He wrote that. So he was one of my students early, early on.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Angela Yee]

When Al Freeman Jr. Invited me to come and teach for a semester. So we were in the studio doing the show Monday through Thursday and Friday morning. I'd get up and fly down and I'd teach. And he was one of my students. Kechi Susan Kelechi Watson was one of the students. Camilla Fors, one of the students. He was fearless. He was brave, South Carolina Anderson. And he was also very respectful. This is why I say, as a people, we are a respectful people. Yeah, we are naturally, you know. So anyway, he kept in contact with me. And after he had graduated one day, I received this call. I'm sending you something. Something, Ms. Rashad. He would always call me back, sending you something. Even after he had attained fame, notoriety, he still called me Ms. Richard, always. So I said, okay. And what he sent was a copy of this script that he had written. Hip Hop Theater was born on the campus of Howard University. And he was one of the progenitors. He was one of the innovators. Hip hop language and rhythm through the voice and experience of a classically trained actor. It is grand.

[DJ Envy]

I had a question about the deep azure.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So the proceeds from the one night only are going back to the College of Fine Arts at Howard.

[Angela Yee]

To the tables. Yeah. Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Like today, if Chadwick could see kind of like, you know, how the final product has come along and everybody that's involved, what would his sentiments be like, how happy would he be to see all of this coming to fruition from that first Phone call that you guys had about him.

[Angela Yee]

I'll tell you, his wife is very happy. And his producing partner, who was his best friend in college, they're very happy. And I'm very happy because it's happening. Oh, God, we're so honored. We're so honored. And our honorary host committee. I mean, you know who's on that?

[DJ Envy]

So the honorary host committee. Ryan Coogler is the honorary chair. Wow. Common Susan Calichi Watson, Don Cheadle. Ta Nehisi Coates.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Ta Nehisi.

[DJ Envy]

I'm sorry. Ta Nehisi Coates. Camilla Forbes, Reginald Hudlin, Kenny Leon and Terrell Alvin McCraney.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's like black Avengers.

[Angela Yee]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

That's a whole nother universe right there. And it's all to support his legacy. Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

To support his legacy. Chadwick was. He was really amazing. Chadwick was an actor, yet Chadwick was a writer. Chadwick was a director. Chadwick was a scholar. He studied many things. The etymology of words. He was deep into that, into names and the meanings of it. He studied the Bible, not to Bible thump, but to understand its origins, really, and its deeper meanings. And then he combined all of that with. You know, I hate to say it like this, but I'll say it like this with African cosmology. Why do I hate to say it like that? Because Africa's a huge continent, and it is not a monolithic proposition. Right. But there is a certain ethos that runs through all.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He was very.

[Angela Yee]

There was nobody else to play Black Panther but Chad Vick. And you know, what he really cared about? But he called me one day, and this was after graduation. He was living in New York, and he was so excited, and he wanted me to know what he was doing and to come and see. And I was thinking, okay, now let's see. What premiere is this? What film is this? What play is this? It was none of that. He was working with young people in the Schomburg Library, and he was so excited about that. Yeah. That's who he was.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You've been so gracious with your time. So I. I just got a couple more questions. What's the lesson you learned way too late in life that you wish you figured out sooner you would teach to.

[Angela Yee]

The next generation was that I'm enough as a young girl growing up, you know, and young girls go through this. You'll know. Yeah. You go through a period where you feel like. And it's because you're looking outside yourself. You compare yourself to everyone else you see, and you're not enough because you don't dress like that one, or you don't have hair like that one, or you don't have legs like that one. You can think of any number of things young girls go through. This kind of thing usually happens around adolescence where you feel like you're not enough. Part of that had to do with my mother being so beautiful, my father being so handsome, my sister. Sister being so cute, my brother being so whatever. And I just thought, well, when I was born, the Lord was doing something else.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So when did you get to that place of Worthy?

[Angela Yee]

When did I get to that place?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

I think I was about 34, 35 years old.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Angela Yee]

And now I look back at those pictures of myself and I say, why did you feel like that? Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

The mind. That's why it's important to teach young people to look inside the mind, the state of mind. And there's too much going on right now that's so distracting for them. I don't know how young people feel if they listen to news reports today. They can't feel empowered. It's not meant to do that for us, for anybody.

[DJ Envy]

Well, thank you. Not just for the interview, but for the career of things.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Thank you. Just thank you for being you.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Like you. You know, it is not every day you get to meet people that you, you know, you grew up on and watched and, you know, said to yourself, man, that person right there is a pillar of our community and what we need to be as a people. And then you meet them and you're just as gracious and regal in person.

[Angela Yee]

So, yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Thank you. Thank you to your mother and your father for raising such a beautiful, strong woman.

[Angela Yee]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And I hope I can do the same for my daughters.

[Angela Yee]

I think you are. I think when they look at you, they know that they're loved and they're protected. That's all they need.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely. Make sure y' all go check out Purpose. It's running through on Broadway through July 6th. It is Queen Felicia Rashad. Thank you for joining us, ma'.

[DJ Envy]

Am.

[Angela Yee]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Say it again. Charlamagne. Yes, you are. Everything that Charlamagne is saying is true. Donkey. Today goes to Latran's Battle. Latran's battle is a 52 year old bay County, Florida woman. What does your Uncle Charlotte always say about the great state of Florida? The craziest people in America come from the Bronx and all of Florida and today is no exception. Salute to everybody who listens to us on 10:45 the beat in Orlando Dropping a clues Bombs for Orlando. I was in the. I was in Orlando majority of the weekend. I figured out what makes Florida crazy. It's the heat. Okay. There is studies that show how excessive heat impacts your mental health. Okay. By the way, we in the black community have always known this. But over the years with climate change, global warming, the world has gotten hotter. Therefore places like Florida have gotten hotter. So people have gotten crazier. I'm not debating with you about this. It's science. Okay. Studies suggest that heat can have a significant impact on mental health, potentially leading to increased irritability, anxiety and even aggression. High temperatures can disrupt sleep, impact cognition and affect mood, potentially exasperating pre existing mental health conditions. So yes, people in Florida are crazy because it's hot. Global warming has made people even crazier. Okay. That's all I got. But one thing about people in Florida, they are creative. Very, very creative. They do things that make you say, wow, that's a unique crime. Okay, I've never seen that before. And that's the case with Latran's Battle. See, Latran's Battle was upset that her ex boyfriend had a new wife. Now I could play a game of guess what race is, but I need to tell you what race they are for proper context. Latrance Battle is a black woman, as far as I can tell. And her ex boyfriend's wife is clearly a foreigner. Based off of the facts of this situation, based off the fact is Florida and based off what Latrance did to her, I can only assume she's some type of Latino. Now if you were a black woman, okay, and you're in Florida and your ex boyfriend's wife was Latino in 2025 and you wanted to get her out of the picture, what would you do? Oh boy. Let's go to news for news for the report, please.

[DJ Envy]

Investigators say a woman posed as an immigration officer to pull off a deer and kidnapping. They also claim Latrance Battle had a police type radio and a business card to persuade another woman she was an ICE officer. According to the Bay County Sheriff's Office, the victim eventually escaped. Albattle faces kidnapping and other charges.

[Charlamagne tha God]

1010 for our creativity round of laws. Okay. All right. She clearly committed to the role. She had a costume, a T shirt that said ICE on the front. She had props. She had some type of little walkie talkie that looked like a radio. She clearly had the language because she was able to convince the woman to come with her. She was able to convince the woman that she was indeed a nice agent and you needed to come with me. Now, where she went wrong? Well, she clearly didn't plan all the way to the end because this feels very Wiley Coyote Roadrunner ish. She didn't think about what she was going to actually do if she caught her. I feel like she didn't have a plan after kidnapping her unless she was going to take her to this, you know, apartment complex to kill her. But I'm gonna tell you how dangerous this was for her ex boyfriend's wife. Do you know how many Latinos are afraid to have any interactions with law enforcement because they believe it's going to lead to them having to deal with ICE and possibly being. Possibly be deported? This woman believed Latrance was an ICE agent because she is currently in the process of becoming a legal U.S. resident. Latrance had to know that too, and that's how she knew she could get this off. That could have ended up really bad for her ex boyfriend's wife. But, hell, maybe that's what Latrance wanted. I don't know. All I know is I have to give Latrance an E for effort, and I have to give her a D for donkey. And you know what else rhymes with D? He as in hall. And that's. That's exactly what I want you to give. Latran's Battle right now. We live in a cruel, cold, hilarious world. Y' all want to play a game?

[DJ Envy]

We know the race.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Let little red riri. Let him. You know, he don't listen. Sure, sure. Envy, you want to play a game?

[Angela Yee]

Nope.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I don't want to play games with you. Okay. All right. I don't listen. I didn't listen. I just turned the mic back on. I'm broadcasting live. I didn't listen.

[DJ Envy]

What you call Envy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He's a little red riri. I caught the end of it. I caught the end of it.

[DJ Envy]

You caught the tip.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Pause. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne the guy. We are the breakfast club. Lon LaRosa is here with us as well, and we got a special guest in the building. No, these are icons. I think legend is even an understatement. I. I can only think of three. One word queens. Yes, Queens. And another word icons. That's it. But there you have it. We have Stephanie Mills, Patti LaBelle, and Chaka Khan. Welcome. Come on now. Welcome. How are y' all feeling? Y' all look amazing.

[Angela Yee]

Thank you. We're happy to be here. We are. We're happy to be Here. Good morning.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Now y' all are on the Queen Store. Why couldn't this have happened decades ago? Like, decades ago? Why couldn't people put this together?

[Angela Yee]

Wasn't old enough.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Weren't old enough.

[Angela Yee]

No. I just think it wasn't the right time. I think this is definitely the right time. And Patty and Gladys and I have worked together, and I've always wanted to work with Shaka. So they came together and put it together, and I was like, yes, let's do it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Is there enough time for a show to have. Y' all have so many hits, so many records. How long is the show? How long is this, the concert?

[Angela Yee]

It's about two hours long. It's not long. We have. Have quick, quick moments. We have, like, 50 minutes apiece, and you can hardly say hello and good night with that. But that's what we do.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How do y' all decide who closes, though? I feel like that might have been a little debate on who closes.

[DJ Envy]

Shaka closes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Gladys opens. I come on second. And then Miss Patty. Miss Patty comes out. Comes on Patty. I like to open the show, but actually a pizza, because I can go home early. It.

[DJ Envy]

What we doing, right?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, that's why you like to open the show. Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Eat some cookies.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Some cookies. At this stage in your careers, is it harder or easier to navigate? I guess ego would be the right word. Are there. Are there any egos?

[Angela Yee]

No, I don't. We haven't seen any. Not in our.

[DJ Envy]

Not. Not the.

[Angela Yee]

No way. God. Not a lot of ego.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

God is the only ego. The only one. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Ms. Shak, you said you guys weren't old enough to do this as a joke. Okay. No, I mean, because when you mentioned God is the only ego, I didn't know if it was like you were saying that you had to get to a point where that's something that you realize in the industry because you deal with so many egos. Navigating.

[Angela Yee]

I still am. It never stop. Life never stop. Yeah. Is there any friendly competition? No, because.

[Charlamagne tha God]

No, not at all.

[DJ Envy]

No, not at all.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Just doing your second.

[Angela Yee]

We just do our thing. Yeah. We have fun watching each other and doing each other. Giving love. We got to keep on giving. Individual in our own rights.

[DJ Envy]

We are all different people.

[Angela Yee]

Do what we do. We do individually. Yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So how did this talk come together? Because I know it's. It's hard to get any of y' all to want to do something is, you know, because y' all got great lives already. So they say we're going to tour.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

As a collective. Like what?

[Angela Yee]

Well, the whole thing with me was that I felt that this was going to be a one off ever in life.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Like one for some of us. Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Some of us, you know, we weren't going to get the chance to be able to be seen together on one stage and one night for all of us collectively. So. And when I realized the importance, importance of that for the people who grew up listening to our song, babies who are weaned on us and carrying on, that was, that was what compel me, you know.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Were you ever surprised about the, the ages of people that come to the show because it varies from young teens.

[Angela Yee]

I expected that. I did because I get it all the time. Yeah. You know, kids saying I was weaned on you. Right? Yeah. They made children on our music. People have babies on our music. So.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But when you have those young individuals in the show, let's say they, they're 21, 22 and they trying to holler at y'.

[DJ Envy]

All.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Does that say like I still got it?

[Angela Yee]

No. I don't get nobody.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Why are you talking like that?

[DJ Envy]

Young boy trying to come at.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'm just asking a question. Boys hollering at them like, damn, I.

[Angela Yee]

Want no young boy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Tell them, miss Mill.

[DJ Envy]

I don't.

[Angela Yee]

I want him mature and older.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But the problem with them is they want the young girls. Why? I don't know. Especially when y' all look like this. What you want? A 20 year old girl don't even know how to wipe?

[Angela Yee]

Because we want to show them that.

[DJ Envy]

This is how you age gracefully.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Angela Yee]

And you could still do your thing. We're all beautiful.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What, do y' all have a routine to like keep your voice strong and your body ready? Absolutely.

[Angela Yee]

Have sleep. I, I sing, I sing every day and I about six days a week. Yeah, I mean I don't sing every day.

[DJ Envy]

She don't sing every day, but she keeps it together. Cuz I'll be hitting those high notes.

[Angela Yee]

Thanks. Thank you, honey. I do what I do, you know. And at 81, I'm still at 80. She's really the queen. She's the queen.

[Charlamagne tha God]

She's the queen.

[Angela Yee]

She's in my queen. Yes, babies. Yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I still patty a pull up. I promise I was gonna come one Thanksgiving. My kids are a little older now, so they're a lot.

[Angela Yee]

They'll.

[Charlamagne tha God]

They'll sit in the corner when you tell them to sit in the corner now. So I'm gonna pull up one Thanksgiving if I'm still invited.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, you should. Okay, we're gonna be playing a big place of food.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[DJ Envy]

Are you cooking for them at some of the stops? You know, I would.

[Angela Yee]

I'm not letting them cook for me because why? Because not after the tour. At the end. She's being good, cuz. She. Yeah, I'm trying to be good. No, I better not then.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Do y' all feel like toys? Like just remind people what a real show is supposed to be?

[Angela Yee]

Yes, absolutely. Cuz we have real band. Nothing's taped.

[DJ Envy]

Our microphones are on.

[Charlamagne tha God]

They work.

[Angela Yee]

We are singing. Actually singing. Yes, we are actually singing. Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And do you think fans have the same appreciation for live instrumentation and raw vocals as they did, like, when y' all first hit the stage decades ago?

[Angela Yee]

I think some of them may not even know the difference. Someone might not even know what the.

[DJ Envy]

Hell'S going on, you know, and that's.

[Angela Yee]

What'S unfair and messed up about it, is that when you go up there, you should represent yourself honestly. You know, you sing in the mic, you know, if you have to have tricks and gags and googles and stuff like that, you know, do what you got to do. But I'm saying, I'm not about it. It. I walked on. We walked on the stage many times. Horse can't hit all the notes. That's just the way life is, you know, but you give everything. You give everything you got, and that is something that people can definitely. They know, they can feel that. What.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What do you think make this. This tour so important?

[Angela Yee]

Right?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Because seeing so many icons and queens and legends on that stage, you don't get to see that so much. But the fact that we see it with you guys, what makes it so important? And why did you all guys agree to that?

[Angela Yee]

We as black women represent ourselves the right way. Like Steph said, there's no pretend singing. No. No stuff. Because people have a lot of stuff in their shows. We just go out. No tricks, no tricks. There's nobody flying through the air. None of that. You know, not that that's not good, but I mean, we just give shows like we did back in the day, just pure raw, flat foot stand there and sing. I mean, we come from like, actually similar but almost the same generational. Our generation levels are like. Like that stairs. And it's close, you know, they're close enough yet far enough apart to reach a really big audience. You know what I'm saying? A huge audience. And it's just been the. By the grace of God. They just come together in such a good way.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Ms. Mills, we saw you earlier this year. You called out the Essence Festival, and I thought it was constructive criticism, you know, it wasn't like you was just bashing him. Why'd you feel the need to do great?

[Angela Yee]

She did that. I was so happy because I was there the whole weekend, and I saw all the acts, and it was just very poorly run, and it didn't show respect to the artist, you know, And I remember Essence from Susan Taylor and Mr. Lewis, and it was always prestigious and ran with respect, and that just was not there. So I could not sit and let.

[DJ Envy]

Them accuse, you know, people for being.

[Angela Yee]

Late when it was them that was.

[DJ Envy]

Late and running late. I just.

[Angela Yee]

It bothered me.

[DJ Envy]

And at 68, I really don't care.

[Angela Yee]

What people think about me. I'm going to stay and do what I want to do.

[DJ Envy]

I feel like I've earned that right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely.

[Angela Yee]

So I. I wanted to call them out, but I did it respectfully. I didn't want to be ghetto about it.

[DJ Envy]

I. I wanted to be constructive, and.

[Angela Yee]

That'S what I did.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, they said they were going to fix it. They said they. They were getting down to the bottom of. Of the things that went wrong, and they were going to make sure that they fix it.

[Angela Yee]

I'm glad.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'm glad they took full, you know, accountability.

[Angela Yee]

Patty was there. Oh, honey. It was all. Was awful. It was awful. Yeah. So when I saw what you did, I said, go, girl. Keep on talking. Yeah, don't stop. Yep, she tells me, keep on talking. Don't stop. Yeah, you have a lot to say.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So What'd you do, Ms. LaBelle? You got it in privately or did I what? Did you say anything to them privately or no?

[Angela Yee]

No. And I had one song with Jill Scott. Right. I couldn't chat too much about anything because I didn't have a set of my own, so I knew somebody would take care of. I felt like I spoke for everybody, you know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

I feel like, because I'm not afraid. I don't have any fear. I only fear God.

[Angela Yee]

So I'm not afraid when people say, oh, if you do this, you're going to be blacklisted. I'm black already, so you know what I'm saying? I don't. I don't really care. I put on my glasses and see if I give a damn about it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Now, you were there the whole weekend. So you seen a bunch of artists.

[Angela Yee]

I've seen a bunch of artists. I saw what they did. I saw how late they were putting the shows together, and I had incidents with the owner's daughter, and I didn't talk about that, but it was just not respectful.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I was gonna ask, what artists are you loving right now that you've seen? Since you watch a lot of the shows? There are artists right now that just came out that you're like, I really like that person. That person's doing an amazing job.

[Angela Yee]

I love Jasmine Sullivan. I love Selena Johnson. I love. I love Layla Hathaway. You know, I love. I love a lot of the singers, but I see. I listen to a lot of the old. When I'm singing to get ready for my shows. I'm doing Ashford and Simpson.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Gotcha.

[Angela Yee]

And I do them because they sing the melody, but they still go around it so they stay in the pocket. And that's what I.

[DJ Envy]

That's what I try to do.

[Angela Yee]

And then I listen to my songs so I could sound somewhat like I sounded back in the day.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What about you, Shaka Khan? Is there artists right now that you like? An R B artist that.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, I would like a lot of them, but I really like her.

[DJ Envy]

Her.

[Charlamagne tha God]

She's special.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah. We're gonna do some stuff together. Really? He's really. He's the closest thing to Prince that's so far. Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Patti LaBelle. Who do you feel, honey?

[Angela Yee]

I don't know. Young people. So many. So many. Yeah. I mean, I do love Coco. Oh, yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Coco Jones. Oh, wow.

[Angela Yee]

That singing full. Honey, you know, like, singing so many is. I mean, she sings her face off. There are so many young girls who are singing. I might not remember names right, but I know I like certain music.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Now. Some of these artists reached out to do. Besides her. Reached out to. To do records. And would y' all consider doing them? Or you're like, ah, I don't know.

[Angela Yee]

Well, there's some thoughts. You know, me and Cardi B.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Possibly you and Cardi B. I love that.

[DJ Envy]

I love that.

[Angela Yee]

Much fun.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Are you thinking about it? Oh, have you done you in my. You on her new album?

[Angela Yee]

No.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh.

[DJ Envy]

Oh.

[Angela Yee]

She wants to do something. She gonna be on hers? Yeah. No, Cardi's my girl. We did a commercial together, bonded. But I haven't had a record out in like 15 years. R B album or 20 years. And I've been working on it for the last six months, but I got it coming.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Okay.

[Angela Yee]

Fabulous.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So called. What about you, Shaka? I'm sorry.

[DJ Envy]

I'm sorry.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I don't know. I don't want to. I don't want to say Ms. Shaka.

[Angela Yee]

Can I say Ms. Shaka whatever makes you comfortable.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Ms. Shaka, what about yourself?

[Angela Yee]

The beginning of the year?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, I have.

[Angela Yee]

Sia and I have gotten together, did a little pop album, and I got. Oh, Snoop is on there. I got rapping on one. But I got quite a few other surprises. But I know you do. It's gonna be. It's gonna be interesting.

[DJ Envy]

I saw you perform with Dua Lipa as well, too.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, Dua Lipa.

[DJ Envy]

We did.

[Angela Yee]

We jammed. Yeah. I came with Jam brother the other day.

[DJ Envy]

How do you pick and choose? Or all three of you ladies, how do you pick and choose? Like when artists call you and say, hey, I'm almost paying tribute, we'd love to have you where you're like, you laying your actual face and presence to an artist.

[Angela Yee]

If they can sing, that's it. Come on now. Sing or do something special. Yeah, I mean, Cardi's not a singer. Singer.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Angela Yee]

But she's special. Yeah. Good entertainer. You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Would you say you made more money now in the last 10 years than you did in your career?

[Angela Yee]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

Right now?

[Angela Yee]

Well, because I'm independent and I'm more verbal about what I want. I know exactly what I want. I know how I want it to be done. I know what percentages I want. So. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What about you guys? How much of the industry's changed and how much does it stay the same?

[Angela Yee]

It's changed a lot. I think women are getting more play these days. And like Stephanie said, you have to know what you're worth, and you have to know that who's ever doing your business with you, they are safe, which is hard to find. You know, my son is with me forever also. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead, finish. But I just want to say that you have to know your worth, and.

[DJ Envy]

You have to be willing to say.

[Angela Yee]

No and not chase the money. Because all money ain't good money. Yeah. Because it's real. I mean, you can't go out and say, I'm going to do this, and you embarrass me yourself where you're talked about badly for taking that check. Right. You know, so I know all of these things are done well with me and my son. Like, he'll stop it in a minute no matter how much it is. So I, you know, I'm blessed again. I'm blessed with business.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What about you, Ms. Shaka? How the industry changed?

[Angela Yee]

No, you know, the big, you know, the big house, the big, you know, the big companies. I was very thrilled. I was thrilled when I found out that a lot of artists, especially hip hop artists, were, like, in their hotel room cutting records. I was like, yes, that's the way it should be. Absolutely. And Prince and I went through a really big fight for some years, you know, about how crooked they were. And so finally, I'm in a good place. I own everything of mine. Get to come through me first.

[Charlamagne tha God]

If there's one message you want the audience to take away after seeing all of y' all perform together, what is it?

[Angela Yee]

Unity. And that we respect each other. Love, peace. We've been talking about this for years. You know, those are together. This is when this came. I thought, here's our chance, you know?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, ladies, salute to Ms. Gladys Knight, too. She's also.

[Angela Yee]

Like, sweet potatoes. This may be the last time we ever see her. So that's why she's not with it today. Yeah, she's rehearsing because she has other jobs. Yeah. Yeah, we love Gladys. Amazing. Yeah, she's phenomenal. I. I grew up. I grew up on her. Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, thank you, ladies, for joining us. The queens. The queens, the legends, the icons. And make sure you go out there and get all Ms. Patti LaBelle products, you know, Thanksgiving right around the phone.

[Angela Yee]

Sweet potato, new syrup to go with my pancakes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, you do?

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, it's in Kroger's and somewhere. I don't know. But I do have it as out to my institution.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Charles ain't Texas yet, but I'm sure. Detectives coming through. Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills, Shaka Khan. Thank you so much. Absolutely. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Yes. It's the world's most dangerous morning show. The Breakfast Club. Charlemagne. The God here. I just want to tell all of y', all, happy New Year, man. And may this new Year all your dreams turn into reality. And may all your efforts turn into great achievements. Man. Salute. See y' all in a week. Breakfast Club. Wake you up. Wake that ass up. Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartradio.

[DJ Envy]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.