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The Industry Is Shifting

The Breakfast Club

Mon Feb 09 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Breakfast Club

Episode: The Industry Is Shifting
Date: February 9, 2026
Host(s): DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God (with segment host Lauren LaRosa)
Network: The Black Effect Podcast Network / iHeartPodcasts

Overview

This episode, titled "The Industry Is Shifting," dives into how cultural, media, and entertainment industries are evolving—especially in the context of talk shows, music rollouts, and celebrity interactions with their core audiences. Lauren LaRosa leads significant portions, offering reflections on the recent cancellations of major daytime shows, the career moves of J. Cole, and the deep ongoing influence of HBCUs on the entertainment world.

Episode Highlights & Key Discussion Points

1. Behind the Scenes: Fashion Week Prep & Merch Updates

[02:29 – 03:56] Lauren LaRosa

Lauren shares her busy schedule prepping for NY Fashion Week and launching revamped "Brown Girl Grinding" merchandise.
Notable focus on the importance of supporting Black women and the expansion of her production company’s offerings.
Discount announced for listeners: "If you're listening to this podcast episode, you can use the code latest at checkout and receive 10% off your purchase." (03:55)

2. Daytime Talk Shows: Cancellation Shockwaves

a. The End of Sherri Shepherd and Kelly Clarkson's Shows

[04:00 – 08:36] Lauren LaRosa

News: Both Sherri Shepherd and Kelly Clarkson’s daytime shows are ending this season.
- Clarkson’s exit is handled more personally, referencing past absences due to her ex-husband’s illness.
- Sherri Shepherd fans left with questions due to more generic corporate statements about the show's cancellation.
LaRosa on Shepherd: "I was very confused when I saw this news. And I'm still confused, to be honest." (07:14)
Rumors about ratings circulations are countered by Lauren's own research: both Shepherd and Tamron Hall had strong ratings.
Shepherd’s Statement:
"Our show has not been renewed for another season. And I want to, I want to say to y’all, everybody, y’all, try not to faint or fall out. Cause health care is expensive and none of us have it anymore. So y’all don’t fall out. But ... I’m truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that I have received from all of you." (07:39 – 08:17)

b. Industry Takeaways – Is the Daytime Talk Show Model Broken?

A recurring theme: high production costs vs. newer, nimbler podcast platforms.
Lauren speculates, "Does the regular, everyday podcast format even make money anymore? ... You can do podcasts for way less, and way less overhead." (08:36)
Points to a potential pivot for hosts and networks toward digital and streaming-first models.

3. J. Cole’s ‘Fall Off’ and Cultural Roots

[12:52 – 21:05] Lauren LaRosa

J. Cole’s Announcement: Declares "The Fall Off" as his last album and launches a unique "trunk tour," selling CDs out of his Honda Civic at live events across North Carolina.
- Lauren praises the “full circle” approach of reconnecting with his roots and opting for grassroots fan engagement over typical big-budget rollouts.
- Addresses fans criticizing the authenticity of J. Cole’s approach: "What else do you want from these people?" (13:51)
Role of HBCUs: Personal anecdotes about discovering new artists (Wale, Meek Mill) at HBCU events, and the lasting trendsetting power of those communities in music and pop culture.
- "They make things hot. Like HBCUs culturally, push what’s hot ... We let you know what’s cool. And that’s why hip hop ... will always be the leading genre in pop.” (16:52)
Sales Success:
- “J. Cole’s ‘The Fall Off’ earned 35.02 million streams in his first full day of release on Spotify. This is the second biggest album debut of 2026 so far.” (23:45)

b. The Humanity of Artists

On J. Cole’s realness: “For some artists, their art doesn’t work unless their humanity does too. And J. Cole is one of those artists.” (21:00)

c. Dreamville Festival—Not Over?

Candid fan interaction: J. Cole hints at Dreamville Festival returning, perhaps with a new name.
- “It was a lot to ... yeah, we cooking up an idea, but it was ... is it going to be here in Raleigh? Yeah, if we ... Yeah, it was still staying Raleigh, but it was just a lot.” (25:17 – 25:29)

4. Industry Reflections & The Changing Landscape

Lauren closes with reflections on the adaptability needed in the entertainment business, from celebrities to media companies.
Reiterates the ongoing shift from traditional formats to more direct, digital, and grassroots engagement.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Daytime TV:
“Does the regular, everyday podcast format even make money anymore? ... You need a full staff and you can do podcasts for way less and way less overhead.”
— Lauren LaRosa (08:36)
Sherri Shepherd’s Response:
“Try not to faint or fall out. Cause health care is expensive and none of us have it anymore.”
— Sherri Shepherd (07:41)
On HBCU Influence:
“HBCUs culturally, push what’s hot ... so much of what is cool, what sounds good ... comes from us.”
— Lauren LaRosa (16:54)
On J. Cole’s Authenticity:
“If he was doing anything else right now, it would so not be J. Cole, right? He is literally like, man of the people, like outside man of the people.”
— Lauren LaRosa (22:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

02:29 — Fashion Week & Brown Girl Grinding Merch Update
04:00 — Industry shakeup: Sherri Shepherd & Kelly Clarkson show cancellations
07:39 — Sherri Shepherd addresses her audience after news of cancellation
08:36 — Lauren reflects on the future of daytime TV/podcast economics
12:52 — J. Cole’s “Fall Off” rollout and impact, HBCU stories
21:05 — Reflection on J. Cole’s influence and authenticity
23:45 — J. Cole’s streaming numbers and “man of the people” approach
25:17 — J. Cole hints at Dreamville Festival’s possible return and rebranding

Tone & Style

The tone is conversational, lively, and deeply rooted in both industry analysis and personal reflection. Lauren LaRosa blends behind-the-scenes stories, cultural commentary, and audience engagement in a relatable, street-smart style, emphasizing authenticity and community.

Conclusion

This episode paints a vivid picture of an entertainment industry in transition—where legacy formats like daytime TV are giving way to more intimate, digital-centric engagement, and where figures like J. Cole are celebrated for staying true to their community roots. It’s both an insider’s guide to current trends and a tribute to the cycles of reinvention that shape pop culture, music, and media.

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Transcript

Lauren LaRosa (0:00)

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Julian Edelman (0:04)

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Angela Yee (0:37)

This is Angela Yee from Angela Yee's Lip Service. One in four people in the US has been to a Planned Parenthood health center for life saving, life changing care. We're talking about birth control, annual exams, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more high quality expert judgment free care. And despite lawmakers efforts to shut them down, they're not going anywhere. Care care continues at Planned Parenthood so that you can get the unbiased, high quality health care that you need. To learn more, visit I'm4pp.org this episode.

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Lauren LaRosa (1:37)

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Julian Edelman (2:26)

You know, she don't lie about that, right, Lauren?

Lauren LaRosa (3:56)

Black women are effing gorgeous tea@browngirlgrinded.com as well. So go and take a look. Run on over there right now, y'. All. If you are listening to this podcast episode, I want to give you a little nugget. If you're listening to this podcast episode, you can use the code latest at checkout and receive 10% off of your purchase. And I'm only giving that to y' all because y' all are here and you're listening to the podcast. So go on over there. So that's what my days have been giving. These last like this last, like, week. I've been preparing for this week because I know that dropping new merch is tedious. Still staying up to date with work and the news and all the things are tedious. But also, I gotta get y' all outside. We gotta get to fashion week. We gotta get some interviews. We gotta get some things going. So you will be hearing a lot of that on the podcast this week, prayerfully as we are RCP'd and confirmed for various events. Now getting on into the latest. Speaking of, you know, just being outside and things and events, things that are happening. Sherri Shepherd. We talked about Sherri Shepherd's show and the fact that it was announced that it was canceled after four seasons. Now, at the same time, Kelly Clarkson, who, you know, has been on air longer than Sherri shepherd, she was on air for seven seasons. It was also announced that her show will no longer be moving forward. And in a previous episode, you guys can go back and check that out. I talked to you guys a bit about the fact that Kelly Clarkson had mentioned. Not even mentioned, but there were reports and it had been rumored. And I'd actually heard some time ago when Kelly Clarkson's ex husband gotten sick, he got sick from cancer, God bless his soul. He later passed away from cancer. It was the conversation then that Kelly Clarkson might be taking a step back from her talk show. And we talked about this at the time and several times because there were noticeable absences from the show. So there were reports that, like, she just didn't want to do it anymore. There were reports that, like, she just wasn't happy with her situation and her show. And then things came to hit the surface and the conversation and what was actually confirmed when she talked about it was the fact that because her ex husband was sick, who, you know, she shares children with, she had needed to kind of like take a step back for a bit and focus on family. And then she returned to her show. Now, when Kelly Clarkson's announcement was made about her show, it just wasn't a different tone. She was able to own it a bit more. You know, again, there's already been previous reporting about why she's deciding to step back, but she was able to talk about that as well with Sherri Shepherd. It just felt like we got a blanket variety, you know, something in the trades. The trades are the. Are the media outlets that announce, like, news about new shows, deals, and business. Right. All we got was, okay, the show is going to be canceled because daytime talk show is going in a different space. Sheri has been doing this for four seasons. Here's the company that produces the show. Thank you guys for tuning in. We'll let you know when the last day is. And that was it. And I know from, you know, doing my research for another Sherri shepherd show, the story that we had did because there were some conversations around Sherry's ratings plummeting months ago. And when I did some digging and talked to some folk and, you know, just wanted to get, you know, some information that we could reference. While talking about this, I was told that Sherri shepherd and Tamron hall are doing amazing in the talk show space, ratings wise. So I was very confused when I saw this news. And I'm still confused, to be honest, because Sherri shepherd talked about it on her show today. She just got back from COVID leave. And still I think that, you know, there's something missing. We need some more information. Let's take a listen to Sherry.

Lauren LaRosa (12:52)

Now, in other news, speaking of fans and, you know, conversations and shows, J. Cole was outside with the fans, okay. Because he recently dropped what is supposed to be his last album, the Fall off. So over the weekend he was in North Carolina during a listening party and he announced that he was going to be doing a trunk tour, which is where he's going to be riding around in these different places in his Honda Civic, you know, just going back to like how it all started for him and selling CDs out of his trunk. Now, I'm not mad at it. I felt like for the type of album that J. Cole just delivered, where it was very much rooted in where he was from, his roots, his come up after coming up, his ability to sustain after coming up, his mental through different phases of the come up and being on top and having success but still staying planted in, you know, his roots from the Carolinas. I'm like, this is the time for him. Like, you gotta finish what you like, finish as you started. I'm not mad at that. But I did see people having conversations about this and about the fact that they felt like he was like placating to his fans by getting in the Honda Civic, pulling up and I'm like, what else do you want from these people? Now one thing that I thought was so fire because I felt like HBCUs and the conversation around HBCUs. There is, there is, it's so trendy now. Like, it is so cool to be like, okay, I rep this hbcu. I'm a part of this Greek organization or for artists to Say, hey, I'm doing something with this hbcu. But it wasn't always that way. But I think for artists who really were out here having to get it out the mud, not just living off a viral moment and no shade to the viral art TikTok artists who, you know, get it off the gram or the TikTok, but for artists like J. Cole. And I'mma mention Wale because I remember being at Delaware State University, I fell in love with artists who were new first on my college campus. And I used to go down south a lot to the Carolinas, to Benedict, because I was dating somebody at the time that was going to that school and just being in those parties and hearing the music that they were playing at homecoming and even comparing that experience to the homecoming that I was experiencing in Dover. More up north where you have New York is a heavy population at my school, New Jersey, the DMV as well Philadelphia, like we really got to see some of these artists in the birth of what was their greatness because they were outside on the campuses performing at the. I remember Meek came to Del State and this is early Meek Mill days. And I. I had already been, you know, a Meek Mill supporter early on because I'm from Delaware, which is like 15 to 10 minutes. 10 minutes is crazy. It's like 15 to 20 minutes from Delaware. So we've been supporting him for a very long time. But I remember Meek went to Del State and did like, I think it was like a dollar concerts, $2 concerts at the time for the students. I also remember seeing Meek and going back to mentioning Wale on stage for the first time when they were with MGM and MGM mmg. And that was the first time that I'd ever seen Wale like in person. And like I heard of Wale and heard his music and Lotus Flower Bomb was so big on our campus, but I didn't really know who he was. I had never heard of him. I didn't really know too much about music from, you know, D.C. or especially not African music at the time. And seeing him on stage with Rick Ross and seeing the chemistry between him and Meek and hearing a song in person and hearing, you know, and seeing like the. Even the dancing that people were doing when he would perform, like the people from dc, just all of that culture, that was like the best way to sell an artist or a product period for me. Like I always tell people that are trying to figure out anything in entertainment. I'm like, yo, are you connected with the HBCUs in your area? Because they make things hot. Like HBCUs culturally, push was hot. Just how like we talk about, like, black people and black women. How we, you know, we, we, we are taste. We push taste. We, we let you know what's cool. And that's why hip hop, I don't care what numbers say, when people talk about what's on the charts or not, hip hop will always be the leading genre in the pop. And you talk about pop culture, popular culture, because so much of what is cool, what sounds good, what other sounds are derived off of, come from us. Not even just hip hop. I mean, us in a pop space, us in a jazz space. Y' all know there's a whole look. It's black history month. I ain't gotta give y' all a lesson.

Lauren LaRosa (21:05)

But seeing J. Cole on the campus of North Carolina A&T I was like man, this is fire. It's fire to see. And it's fire because I think it's it shows you how connected to his core and to who he is. He still is. And it sounds like, you know like on this project with diss 29 and diss 39 cause it's broken up into two parts. One of the things that I think is so dope to hear him kind of battle between is like having success, amassing success, but still trying to figure out who you are within all of it and still trying to stay connected to, like, who you were before all of it. Even though a part of you has to die and change, what does that look like? And how does it change who you're inspired by what you're hearing them say? Why are you hearing them say it? Like, he talks a lot about, like, the older artists, and older artists at this point need into, like. I mean, some of them. He. He flat out says in some of the music, like, some of them have, like, almost like lost their way. And you can tell that there is such a fight for him not to be one of those artists who is, like, not understanding that the times are changing, but not losing their way. And the best way to do that is to put your feet on the ground where you from. Put your. Literally put your feet in the grass back at home. And that's what he's doing. So to see him at North Carolina A and T, and then he's talking about one of the first physical copies of a project he ever sold was on North Carolina A&T's campus. Oh, it was fired. So I couldn't believe when I was seeing fans complaining about the way he was going about this rollout. I'm like, yo, if he was doing anything else right now, it was so not be J. Cole, right? He is literally like, man of the people, like outside man of the people, literally on a bike sometimes, especially here in New York. I've been places multiple times where I've seen not. I didn't see J. Cole on a bike. I do know people who've seen him riding his bike here in New York, though. But I've been out, whether it's like lounges or restaurants or even like spots, like, not like clubs, but like kind of like lounges, places that would play music that are like, lit. Shout out to Saint, A black owned location here in New York. J. Cole, I've seen him frequent that spot a lot of times. And I think a part of it is, I mean, these celebrities are human, duh guys. But also, it's just. I think for some artists, their art doesn't work unless their humanity does too. And J. Cole is one of those artists. So I have no problem with the Trump tour. I think it's fire what he's doing. Um, I. I saw a really good first week out number for him with the Spy 5 streams. Let me see if I can look it up. Yeah. So chart data, which is a. It's a account that I follow on X. They tweet out, like, first week sales and stream numbers and things like that. Uh, so two days ago, they tweeted J. Cole's the falloff earned 35.0.02 million streams in his first full day of release on Spotify. This is the second biggest album debut of 2026 so far. And I think, of course, it's because the music was so long awaited. People wanted to hear it bad. Like, people wanted to hear J. Cole bad and hear how he was going out. Now, whether you love what you hear, you feel like, you know, he nailed how he should bow out of this or not. That's up to y' all to argue about. Y' all can get in the streets and get in the tweets and let me hear from y'. All. I'm Lauren LaRosa everywhere. Do you feel like this was the best way for Cole to sign off his pen with the Fall off album? But regardless of what we think, the people are listening. I mean, it's J. Cole. I don't know why people do that to J. Cole and make it seem like because he decided not to engage in a rap battle. He's not J. Cole. And people do it to Drake, too, because he didn't win the rap battle. He's not Drake, man. These artists have been working for a really long time and have built a really strong corp. And J. Cole, is he one of them. And he knows exactly how to touch his people. So please, when you pulling up in that Honda Civic, get out the way. Oh. And what I loved was the natural content that was coming out of him just being outside. He was in a parking garage just having a conversation with a fan about Dreamville Festival and end up telling her Dreamville Festival might not be over because that was supposed to be the last year. Last year. Let's take a look at it. What's going on with the festival? So the fest was a lot.