Class Rank

Summary

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The Brilliant Idiots — "Class Rank"

Hosts: Charlamagne Tha God, Lauren LaRosa, Chris Moreau (Producer, recurring guest)
Date: May 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Charlamagne Tha God, Lauren LaRosa, and Chris Moreau dive into the newly released 2026 Complex Power List for Hip Hop Media. The trio debates what defines influence in today's hip hop media landscape, dissect generational gaps in taste and credibility, and reflect on the evolving intersection of hip hop, pop culture, and journalism. They weave in their signature mix of banter, sharp critique, candid confessions, and ongoing jokes about each other’s careers and lives. The episode is rich with industry insights, personal anecdotes, and the kind of "brilliant idiocy" loyal listeners expect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Complex Power List: Hip Hop Media Influence (09:00–56:00)

• Initial Reactions to the List

  • Charlamagne expresses skepticism about media rankings, admitting he’s repeated on numerous lists but is more excited to see newer entrants like Lauren and Gina (09:07).
  • Lauren brings up the ever-shifting criteria of power: "You're talking about like virality on the Internet and like, you know, one off moments... That’s what leads to people making lists now." (09:56)
  • The hosts agree: lists today focus less on traditional impact (breaking records, introducing new artists) and more on internet virality, platform-building, and pop culture crossover.

• Power Redefined

  • Chris: "For decades, power was defined by the ability to impact what got played. That's really not what this list is about... It's about everything else." (11:06)
  • Charlamagne weighs in: "Can your platform birth other personalities? ... When you talking about just hip hop media personality, academics should be number one." (12:32, 12:56)

• Virality & New Gatekeepers

  • Discussion of the impact of DJ Akademiks and Joe Budden, and why academics’ single-focus, hip hop-driven content is more powerful—“ACT literally will be on his screen screaming six hours a day talking about hip hop and hip hop related topics. That's not what I do anymore.” (12:09)

• Hip Hop Journalism’s Old Guard & The New Paradigm

  • Lauren: "I think of hip hop journalists as, like, a Rob Markman, a B dot, you know, like people who really can, like, sit and dissect... That's what hip hop journalists do to hip hop music." (27:02)
  • Charlamagne: "There is no such thing as pure hip hop journalism anymore because hip hop is pop culture... hip hop bleeds into everything." (27:42)

• Artists Entering the Podcast Space

  • The hosts recognize the shift of artists—Jadakiss, Cam’ron, Jim Jones—into media and podcasting.
  • Chris notes why podcasts attract ex-performers: “What’s really paramount... is just staying in the conversation and staying in the mix.” (43:45)
  • "Rappers at their essence are just good fucking talkers. They're people who can talk on a mic. ... Of course they're gonna be good podcasts." (44:43)
  • Ongoing speculation: will artist-podcasters ever parlay media into chart success? Charlamagne: "There is another level…because if you're a rapper with a podcast, you can still put out music. We have yet to see that yet." (43:47)

• Platform Consistency vs. Virality

  • "That's what happens when you too consistent. When you're too consistent, people start to take it for granted." – Charlamagne on Gille & Wallow (25:31)

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2. Media Evolution, Gatekeeping, and Writing vs. Talking (31:45–34:44)

• From Magazine Journalism to Talking-Head Culture

  • The group reminisces over when platforms like The Source, XXL, and Vibe “required” real hip hop journalists (31:45).
  • Chris: “Journalists were defined by writers... Nobody writes shit anymore. They just talk.” (32:37)
  • Charlamagne confesses missing writing: “I used to write for Ozone magazine... I kind of miss writing.” (32:48)
  • Lauren: “People love Substack...that elevated platform where you can go in-depth with writing.” (33:19)

• List Critiques and Gaps

  • Discussion about the generational gap among list curators and critics of Complex’s selections: “You’ve got have some young, some old, some in the middle.” – Lauren (19:09)
  • Debate whether legends like Elliot Wilson should be higher or lower on the list, and the challenge of evaluating recent impact (58:09–60:19).
  • Charlamagne: “I respect Elliot in the hip hop journalist space. I don’t put him in the hip hop personality space.” (60:04)

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3. Hip Hop’s Crossover into Pop Culture & The Impossible Bubble (27:59–29:56; 64:59–67:15)

• Hip Hop as the New Pop Culture

  • Lauren: “There's nothing going on right now that doesn't have a sprinkle of hip hop in it...” (28:00)
  • Charlamagne: “If the Super Bowl happens, Cardi B’s dating Stephon Diggs...the Met Gala...you gotta talk about Jay Z.” (28:25)
  • The hosts agree: To survive in media, you can't just talk to hip hop artists—Charlamagne notes that despite 28 years in radio, he’s only interviewed Jay-Z once, never Eminem, Wayne, or Drake. (29:15)

• Correcting the Record

  • Charlamagne prizes commentators like Rob Markman and Wayno for preserving historical context: “Because guys like Wayne O, guys like Rob, they’ve been around for a while, they offer a lot in regards of actual hip hop commentary, and they correct the record on a lot of people who don’t know what the fuck they talking about.” (64:32)

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4. Women in Hip Hop Media (55:21–56:45; 27:27–28:00)

• Lauren and Charlamagne champion Gina Views and Nyla Simone as women breaking into a male-dominated field:
  • “If you want girls that's gonna go word for word, bar for bar...Gina. And Nyla motherfucking Simone as well.” (55:38, 55:45)
• Lauren on her own place: “I don't feel like I'm a hip hop media personality... I span across a ton of different things. ...Because I respect the art of real hip hop journalism.” (26:40)

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5. Diversity, Stand-Taking, and Corporate Boycotts (97:28–107:42)

• Discussion of celebrity activism, hypocrisy, and the difficulty of taking consistent stands on issues like the Met Gala’s Amazon sponsorship:

  • “If you really got a gripe with Jeff Bezos, then you should not subscribe to the Washington Post...not use Amazon Prime...Are you gonna say no to Amazon Studios?” (97:49)
  • Charlamagne: “When you take these kinds of stands...you’re not going to look consistent and people are going to call you on it.” (98:25)
  • Exploration of boycotting vs. assimilation in a world where “everything is everything—Amazon, Walmart, Ford, McDonalds...” (107:05)

• On the challenge of collective action among Black Americans:

  • “I think we just don't understand our power a lot of times... If you just stood together, how much that could really do.” – Lauren (106:19)

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6. Lighter Moments & Ongoing Banter

• Charlamagne as Jokester and Instigator

  • Ongoing jokes about Lauren’s upcoming wedding, wedding planners, and relationship dynamics—“You always got anecdotes like an old school woman.” (05:12)
  • Playful roasts about Lauren’s career setbacks, being “fatherless,” and industry hustle (80:16, 117:14)

• Personal Stories

  • Lauren recounts her break into TMZ from the tour bus (80:43), networking and hustle, and family warnings about interracial relationships (92:01)
  • Banter about sexual stereotypes, dating anecdotes—including Lauren’s comedic confession to being a reluctant recipient of oral sex from a white man “for her ancestors.” (90:41–91:53)

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7. Advice & Audience Questions (109:52–121:42)

• Discipline: How to Build It?
  • Lauren: “You gotta identify what you’re not being disciplined about...make small changes...then challenge yourself.” (119:35)
  • Charlamagne: “You have to allow yourself enough time to make your own mistakes and watch the mistakes of other people.” (119:53)
  • Laughter over weight gain and Breakfast Club’s impact on hosts’ sleep and bodies—“Mimi can’t get fat. Please, Mimi, don’t get fat!” (121:08)

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Notable Quotes & Time Stamps

• On the Changing Definition of Media Power:
  “Power was defined by the ability to impact what got played. That’s really not what this list is about… It’s about everything else.”
  — Chris Moreau (11:06)

• On Hip Hop’s Ubiquity:
  “There is no such thing as pure hip hop journalism anymore because hip hop is pop culture… hip hop bleeds into everything.”
  — Charlamagne (27:42)

• On Consistent Creators Being Overlooked:
  “When you’re too consistent, people start to take it for granted.”
  — Charlamagne (25:31)

• On the Artist-to-Podcast Pipeline:
  “Rappers at their essence are just good fucking talkers. They’re people who can talk on a mic… Of course they’re gonna be good at podcasts.”
  — Chris Moreau (44:43)

• On Correcting Hip Hop History:
  “Rob Markman and Wayno… correct the record on a lot of people who don’t know what the fuck they're talking about.”
  — Charlamagne (64:32)

• On List-Making and Generational Divide:
  “You gotta have some young, some old, some in the middle.”
  — Lauren (19:09)

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Notable & Memorable Moments

• Lauren’s defense of Gina Views and Nyla Simone as premier women hip hop commentators (55:21–56:45)
• Charlamagne’s comedic warnings about wedding planners and relationships (02:34–05:12)
• Open confessions about hustle, rejection, and breaking into the industry—Lauren on her rise from TMZ tour guide (80:43)
• A lively debate about interracial relationships, stereotypes, and family reactions (84:12–94:32)
• Discussion of personal life choices and work-life discipline, including funny asides about weight gain and career paranoia (117:33–121:31)

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Additional Segment Timestamps

• Complex Power List Deep-Dive: 09:00–56:00
• Writing vs. Talking in Media Evolution: 31:45–34:44
• Women in Hip Hop Media: 55:21–56:45, 27:27–28:00
• Hip Hop Pop Culture Crossovers: 27:59–29:56, 64:59–67:15
• Brand Boycotts, Activism & Consistency: 97:28–107:42
• Advice and Q&A: 109:52–121:42

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The Episode’s Tone & Takeaway

The hosts deliver their signature blend: sharp, irreverent, and candid. There’s a healthy disrespect for arbitrary rankings and an earnest desire to protect hip hop culture and history—from its old guard to its new vanguard. Underneath the jokes and provocations, the episode is rife with real commentary on media evolution, the burden of representation, and the hurdles faced by the new class of creators—especially women and non-traditional journalists. Frequent self-deprecation and warm-hearted clowning keep the conversation lively and accessible, with moments of genuine vulnerability about imposter syndrome, career anxiety, and personal growth.

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For First-Time Listeners

You’ll walk away with a nuanced understanding of how hip hop media power is built, debated and challenged today—and plenty of the personal, cultural, and comedic context that defines "The Brilliant Idiots" brand.

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Transcript

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, sweetie. Your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car. I'm gonna give it a try.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wish me luck.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Me again. I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Unbelievable.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay, I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway. I haven't even left my chair.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's done.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The car is gone. I'm holding a check anyway.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Carvana, give it a whirl.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Love ya.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So good you'll want to leave a voicemail about it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply. Ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull Summer All Day Play. You choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end dj, a road dog, or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Red Bull Summer All Day Play.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Red Bull gives you wings. Visit red bull.com brightsummerahead to learn more. See you this summer.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yep. Charlamagne. Tha God. Back for another week of the Brilliant Idiots podcast? My guy Hezekiah Walker is not here this week. I don't know what the hell Hezzy is doing. What is Hezzy doing? Alex? Netflix is a joke. Oh, yes, the Netflix is a joke. Festival was this week. I completely forgot about that. Yeah, see, a lot of really popular comedians are out there. Andrew Schultz. I saw 85 South Show. They got a set. Donnell Rollis, he had a set. I don't know why anybody would let Donnell headline anything. No, he headlined his own. His own set. This is a joke. But LL Cool Bay, Lauren LaRosa is here. Good morning, Lauren LaRosa.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hello.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How you feeling?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel good. You just ate.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Taylor gang is here. Chris Moreau is here. Taylor crazy on the way here tell us that she don't care about getting married.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, my. That is all what I say, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, as soon as we got on the podcast. What did you say?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I said, I don't know if we want to. I want to plan a wedding. That's nothing about marriage.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow, that's crazy. How would that make you feel if you was the groom?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You are a demon.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You don't think that's crazy?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why? That I don't want to plan that I don't want to plan a wedding.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that's what you said. It's probably better, huh? Imagine Taylor wedding.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Excuse me?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Fire.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, my wedding will be a bridezilla. Now you're trying to make me try

[Charlamagne Tha God]

to plan a wedding. Fire, I believe in you. I think that you could do it, Taylor.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I can, but I'm not. I'm really not a planner. Like, so this is going to be a big task for me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you got to be careful though, because, you know, if. If P gets a wedding planner. You hear the stories about grooms who plan the wedding and the wedding planner, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

And what. What happens? Charlamagne.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, you didn't know that? Google that shit. That's like a statistic. It be fucking the wedding planners. Cause wedding. It's something with wedding planners. Your wedding planners?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Tell her.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen, I'm dead ass serious.

[Lauren LaRosa]

First of all, my man is very strong and confident in himself. He don't need extra pussy to make him feel like a man or anything.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It ain't about extra pussy. It's about the extra discount that he might get from fucking the goddamn planner. What's the extra plates cost? A lot.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, he could charm the girl all he wants, but that doesn't mean that he about to have sex with her.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I'm. But that's a thing. That's a thing with wedding.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, it's not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, it is.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, it's not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's why that's not a tradition for the bride to plan the wedding.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yo, shut up. It's not a thing. It's no wedding. There's also wedding planners that are gay. So then what? Birthday planners? It's. It's any woman who breathes, which is.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, well, let them get a gay wedding. Maybe get them a gay wedding planner might work.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Period. But regardless, if we have a wedding planner, I mean, I'm gonna have a wedding planner, but I still have to approve, like, it's still a lie.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We're about to approve the girl that he fucks.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm just trying to figure out. What are you saying right now, Taylor? What if it's a really good discount? Yes.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Excuse me?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, first of all, you had to think about it. You had to think about it. Cause technically y' all not married yet. You know what I'm saying? So it's either the wedding planner or the bachelor party. One of the two. He gotta get some last rocks off somewhere.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Listen, first of all. No, he don't stop playing with me. First of all, my fiance don't play about me or his family. So don't ever try to put that in.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I have the utmost faith in him. I'm just telling you about that person, the wedding planner. What's the statistic say?

[Lauren LaRosa]

There is no statistic. But they say that it is normally the storyline that is Involved in most weddings with wedding planners because 90% of. Nearly 90% of wedding planners in the U.S. are female. And most couples are focused on managing the stress and expense. So that's how it all starts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. She come rubbing on shoulders. Oh, I know it's stressful, but it's

[Chris Moreau]

so good that you're very emotional time too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying?

[Chris Moreau]

A lot of family issues, people not getting invited, spending with lockdown.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Y' all are mad right now. We ain't even hired nobody yet. Like, we about to go pull up on SIS already.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And they put a lot of sauce on it because they know that men don't normally plan the wedding. So it's like a thing. Yo, there's predators everywhere all the time.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh. So it's like, I just want to the single dad. It's like, oh, my God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You better get in the game, Taylor. You let him play in that one by himself if you want to. You better get in the fucking game, Taylor. Games.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He always got antidotes like an old school woman. You know why he's. You know why? He wants his mortgage. He just wants to talk at the wedding.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I should be allowed to speak at the wedding.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You really shouldn't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Your mother already told me that I should.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, she did not speak at the wedding. No, she did not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just want to say, man, we never thought we would see today, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was gonna say that at my. At the podium right there. Like, y' all thought y' all was gonna see this? Huh?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

That wasn't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You didn't have faith in yourself that you was gonna get married?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Not really.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Can I tell the story about your beautiful little princess just as a. Just as that?

[Lauren LaRosa]

At the wedding.

[Chris Moreau]

Whoa.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Not while my parents. Ridiculous.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, no. But just as an example of why we never thought we'd.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Cause of how wild and reckless used to be in these streets.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Please don't. That would be phenomenal at this point. It's giving. You might get a zoom invite.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's up? You dying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I'm not dying.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The fuck is wrong with you? Why focus back on tell her wedding? Just not.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What the fuck was that?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Having a stroke. What the hell's going on with you, Lauren?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Bro, I coughed ever since COVID Once you cough, it's like, oh, my God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, that was crazy. Your eyes started watering and all types of shit. It's just a ceremony. Weddings aren't really for anybody except for your family. Unless y' all really want to have it. You don't have to have a wedding ceremony.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's not for yourself, too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I would. I would. I would just have a party.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I want. No, originally, I would rather just have that. Like, that's what I'm saying. Like, take away all the other stuff.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Word up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Just have.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I love weddings. I mean, I love weddings. I love love. I love watching people come down the aisle. I've been to gay weddings, straight weddings. I love them all.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but I could do that at the ceremony. I could also still say what I want to say about him, too, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just have a party, get married. We already. Well, yeah, get married and then just go have a. Have a big reception.

[Lauren LaRosa]

We don't have the bar. The people will come.

[Chris Moreau]

You gonna do it in Philly?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I wanted to do it. I wanted to do a destination wedding. But how the economy is like. We both wanted to do destination wedding.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Destination.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Stop playing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's really not a destination. Since winning is really not a destination. The Sixes and Knicks playing right now. And on game three, the destination is Philadelphia.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You are honorable. No, is that true that they're doing the whole thing? Like, you have to have a Philadelphia address? Is that really a real thing in order for.

[Chris Moreau]

For the main ticket buyer? But Knicks fans are gonna be able to get them on, like, the secondary market.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's actually smart.

[Chris Moreau]

It's a real issue, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you know why that's smart? Because they call it the Turnpike series. Right? New York is right there. So enough people from New York can go to Philly.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And make it where?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No. And now it's no home court advantage.

[Chris Moreau]

And it's a lot of fake New Yorkers, too. It's people coming from Jersey, shit like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I'm saying. Like, that's actually smart. I want to make sure you from Philly to be here.

[Chris Moreau]

It's not gonna work.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Y' all can do that. Taylor, check people's addresses if they're not from a certain place in the family. What? Weddings are expensive because of the amount of people that come. Yeah, but. And he has a big family. But. And honestly, we've been to two weddings already in Philly with his family. So honestly, if we do that same venue, we should get discount.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Your baby shower was fun as shit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I missed the baby shower. You have to have a wedding.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He side of the family is fun. A lot of real N on that side of the family. That shit was. No for real.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He was talking to his uncle his uncle's funny as hell.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was happening. It was a good time, like, you know what I'm saying? It just got a little weird when everybody started playing that bottle game.

[Lauren LaRosa]

When the guy drink the bottle. The cup. No, the cup came where it's like you do heads, knees, and then they have to grab the bottle. No, I mean grab the cup.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You have to snatch the bottle with your mouth. Whoa. Brandon jumped up to play that shit. Brandon, one of our producers at breath, he jumped up to play that hand behind his back. I was like, God damn, what's wrong with you? That shit was crazy. Listen, let's get into some all memes necessary. 2026 complex list came out. Salute to Lauren LaRosa. Yeah, this list always causes conversation. I hate talking about it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You hate all lists. You're the ace.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know. Salute Charlamagne. I don't hate lists. I really don't. Here's the thing about the list. Here's the thing about. I appreciate every list that I'm ever on and I live a great life because I'm on a lot of different lists, right? So it could be the complex hip hop list or it could be Mediaite news list. You see Variety 500 companies list. I like. Lists are cool. So as long as you want a little bit of everything, you're doing your thing. I get more excited watching Lauren LaRosa be on there for the first time. You know, I get more excited watching DJ Head and Gena views be on there. I'm excited seeing on the radar on there, you know what I'm saying? My guy, big bank. When I look at this list, all I think to myself is, God damn, the media landscape has changed so much. I've been doing this 28 years.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Can you talk about that though? Because being old, I mean anytime you talk, you talk about being old, but just the landscape changing. Because even when I was watching the interviews that they did around it, they did an interview with academics and the conversations they were having, I'm like, even the reason why they center people and put certain people on the list, it's so different. Like you're talking about like virality on the Internet and like, you know, one off moments, like who leads conversation? Maybe one or two times they're making lists versus like I feel like when you was really trudging trying to figure it out in your day predating the Internet, like y' all had to really. You had to be consistent to break through like a lot different.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I've said that from the beginning. Like what is Power in hip hop media. Like, how do you define power? Cause whenever I think of power, I think of, you know what I'm saying are the power of the platform. Like, you know, can your platform create other entities?

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I said, let me take it

[Chris Moreau]

back a step further though, okay. In hip hop media, in particular, music media in general, for decades, power was defined also by the ability to impact what got played.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

And that's really not what this list is about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Not at all.

[Chris Moreau]

All. It's not about music.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No.

[Chris Moreau]

It's about everything else, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a good point, Chris.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Not at all.

[Chris Moreau]

For decades it was about this guy can break records, she can put a new artist on. And that's kind of out the window now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, to Chris point, that's how I look at it, right. I look at it. Can your platform birth other personalities? Clearly it is maybe on the radar

[Chris Moreau]

would be like a throwback to that kind of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But that's what I was saying. Like when we were discussing earlier on Breakfast Club, I was saying to me, I would put you number one.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah. AC should be number one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I understand why you would think that academics should be number one. And I'm not upset at him at number one at all. But if I was making my own personal list, you would be number one. Only because I feel like I think about like what hip hop is all about, like what lives, breathes, survives and recreates. And that's why it's 50 years old. And a lot of these people aren't doing things that are like creating other personalities, creating other business, or showing people that hip hop is bigger than just what's the rap song.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but the reason I will put ACT number one. Cause act's focus is hip hop.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

ACT literally will be on his screen screaming six hours a day talking about hip hop and hip hop related topics. Like that's not what I do anymore.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And that's that. When AK was talking about should Joe Budden be number one or number two or whatever, his sentiment a part of it was like Joe Budden sent to the room with a bunch of different people. Academics is just him and his audience.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, no, no. Listen, there's a lot of takes I don't agree with when academic get the taking. Okay. But I'm not gonna ever take away from what academics has built in this media space. He should absolutely be number one. There's nobody on that list. When you talking about just hip hop, media personality, academics should be number one. Absolutely. I'm 47 years old. I was born in 1978. I'm grown. I talk about my. My. We can. We can do a whole episode of Breakfast Club and not talk hip hop at all.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's true.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, not mention a rapper. We can go a week, months without interviewing a rapper. And even if we. Like, we had Isaiah Rashad on this week, that conversation is bigger than a hip hop conversation. Even though he has an album out, right? Which is the other thing I love about hip hop. He got an album coming out called It's Been Awful, right? But everybody remembers, you know, five years ago or however long it was, Isaiah Rashad had a sex tape leak, and it was him and another guy.

[Chris Moreau]

Oh, shit, I forgot about that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So that conversation turns into a whole different conversation. We're talking sexuality and gender fluidity and, you know, masculinity like that. It's a different conversation that just happens to be had by a rapper.

[Lauren LaRosa]

By the way, his project is projected to debut at number 17 on the Billboard 200.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that's good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Which is fire. Cause he's been away. That's a early projection. What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He said 69,000. What do you say?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It says it's been awful. Moving around 29,000 units in its first week, including 10,000 pure sales.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's dope. You know what I'm saying? But once again, that's a hip hop con. That's a conversation with a rapper that is broader than hip hop.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But honestly, though, from the interview, like, when we put the interview out, I was like, I'm curious to see what moves most from it naturally. And what I've been seeing is people having a conversation about there being space, not even just in hip hop, but in the black community, for fluid black men. And because of how he had the conversation with us, I've been seeing a lot of people saying, like, we had no issue with it whatsoever because they just love him and they love what he puts out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Also, who gives a fuck who that man's sleeping with?

[Lauren LaRosa]

People be caring.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't be caring where another man dick goes. That is so weird to me. Now, don't get me wrong. For the conversation, I get it. But I'm more concerned. I was more concerned about him from a emotional standpoint, a mental standpoint. Fuck what his sexuality is. Just the fact you got outed in that way. Because I don't feel like he should have to publicly have that conversation at all if he don't want to. But that's what happens in these moments. When you get outed in that way now, you're forced to have conversations that you probably don't want to have. And five years later. That's why I told him in the interview, like, a lot of people don't even know this shit happened, bro.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You just said. I forgot to say.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I forgot. I completely forgot. You see what I'm saying? Why would you remember? And he said his DMs was popping, too. He said mad dudes was hitting him up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Bro, I'm here for support if you need me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying? You see one video of a Fire Head game, and you like, damn,

[Lauren LaRosa]

it's too far.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You saw the video? Yeah, but, like, he wasn't impressed with his performance, though. I just want the record to show that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You asked him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You were sitting there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't remember him saying that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, he said that it was.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wait, with his performance? He wasn't impressed with it?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, he said he wasn't impressed with his performance because he was. He said it was. He was high, like.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I thought he was the video. I thought he was the one going, I don't remember. I didn't go back.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, that's why I think I was.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My head game.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Whoa, wait, hold on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yo, that's crazy. Crazy, son. Like, I get it, but, yo. No, I'm just saying, you ain't never so. Y' all ain't never watch a video with a girl doing it and be like, damn, that's a fire Head game. So why can't do the same with a guy?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You can, but a lot, obviously. No, you're saying he saw himself and wasn't impressed by it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, that's what he said in the interview.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause I haven't watched the video in years. I didn't rewatch it to talk to him. You did. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It sounds like you did some research. I remember. I do remember it. I remember that. I mean, that's something that you don't necessarily forget when you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I don't. I remember watching it, but I don't remember his technical.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's all right, Charlotte. It's all good. It's okay. I don't even know if his head gave him fire, man. It just sounds good to say it. No, let me say, if it was whack, I would have said that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Don't back away now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You get on all these lists. Cause you stand 10 toes down. Stand on this list.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

10 toes down. Who else is on the list? Man, act number One, Joe Budden, number two, Cameron Vlad, number three. That's the thing that bugs me out, watching all of these. Watching all of these artists on the list now. The Jadakiss and the Fat Joes, the cam', Rons, the. This ain't the whole list though.

[Chris Moreau]

Who is Kirk?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, it goes down to 35.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I thought Kirko was a Twitter page.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It is, it is. Oh, okay, it is. But he's a. He's. I mean there's a person behind the page, but it is a Twitter page. And I will say, like a lot. I follow a lot of different subscribers, a lot of different Twitter pages that put out things and information. They normally on point. A bit like they. They're not horrible for Twitter pages because a lot of pages be like, they might as well be parody. It'd be crazy craziness. But yeah, it's a Twitter page.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Where's the rest of the list, Taylor? I love, I love Big bank being on this list also. I. I don't think that somebody like Kai s net should fall from number one to number 12. So not just because he hasn't streamed in a while. Like that don't make no sense. Like the mafia thon happened within the last 365 days. Right? Yeah, but when did he stop streaming? I don't know. Take half the year off, I think. Yeah, but if what you did in that half a year is still more impactful than what a lot of people did, you shouldn't drop the 1212. And then also too about some of these lists, I don't know how much. I don't know how tuned in they are with everything. Because it's complex.

[Chris Moreau]

In a position to put out a

[Charlamagne Tha God]

list like this anyway. Exactly. You know what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because I'm like Complex has. I feel like in the. I mean, Speedy, they owe him a lot. Complex has come back. Yeah, he's gone down as of like a week or two. But like in the last like what, two years, three years. Complex has kind of like come back around to being around and being outside. Like they be having Jordan roles and like, I feel like he. He focuses on a lot of things that are like youth culture. Even though he's across everything, they're trying to be like in that space a bit more. I just don't know the age range. Like when AK Was talking to Jordan Rose, I realized.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's his name? Jordan Rose.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Jordan Rose. I realized his age and I was like, this is what Charlamagne be yelling at us about. About how we Sound because of how old we are and what we actually didn't get to experience. That's the only thing I would argue is like, what are the age ranges of the people who are ranking this list and how many? Like, how does it skew? Like, you gotta have some young, some old, some in the middle.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. And then the thing, what you said about Jordan, I saw Jordan, he was saying that. What did he say? He said that, you know, I don't. I don't make. I'm not in hip hop news as much or something like that. I think that Charlamagne, you know, $200 million deal, historic but like newsworthy moments.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He had fewer at the same clip as Joe and Jada.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's why we have them above him. But I'm like, yo, I've been on Complex covers our stuff. I've seen like 20 articles from Complex over the last year about different commentary and stuff like that. So when I see stuff like that, I'm like, damn, do y' all pay attention to your own thing is whatever.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I think it's like your own site. I could get that. And I feel like even if they. Not even if they are paying attention to their own site. What you said about academics and why you think he should be number one, because it's so deep and trusted. Like every day academics is talking about people that like, you wouldn't even.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't know, Lil young butt fucker. I don't know people. And by the way, it's been like this for 15 years. Like AK has been around that long. There's so many people who I didn't know who they were 10, 15 years ago, that AK was talking to the XXXTentacion's of the world and the young boys. And like AK was talking to them before they had tattoos on their face. No, seriously, the little Uzis where when they dreads was just growing like so you know, that's act Lane. Like he. That's his thing, he owns it. The only thing I've ever told people, especially in hip hop, sometimes you look up and hip hop has a glass ceiling.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But see, that's why I feel like you should be higher on the list. Because with hip hop, with that being the conversation around hip hop, I feel like you're one of the people I know in real life shattering that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But we not there yet. No disrespect to the Complex list, but the Complex list clearly just isn't there yet. And Complex list still is focused in kind of a bubble, so to speak.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They got Joe Budden on here and they talk about the business as Joe

[Charlamagne Tha God]

should be up there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They got Nouri on here and they talk about his business ventures and what he's doing with Bleak's podcast. They have a lot of people on here and they do mention the Bleaks

[Charlamagne Tha God]

podcast is with Black Effect.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right, but all of that and Drink Champs. Exactly. But the fact that Nouri knew. Okay, Drink Champs is doing so well. I see what Black Effect is doing. Let me usher in my own, like, you know, class of podcasters as well too. That's the business. That's the hip hop taking a height in a conversation that the model has always been there, but now you're applying it to something new. And not a lot of people are the example of that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, I am fully aware that a lot of the lanes I occupy aren't necessarily things that hip hop occupies, whether it's book publishing company, even though you can publish a 2 Chainz book. And you know, Little John, we got Little John coming out in October. Arsenio, you could do all of these things. That's in the realm of hip hop and black culture. But hip hop, since when do you champion people from hip hop that have book publishing imprints? When has that ever been a thing? When can you remember, Chris? And you've written a lot of books for hip hop artists, but when have you ever seen a guy from hip hop with an imprint?

[Chris Moreau]

No, it's a different thing. I mean, nobody from this list is getting invited to the New York Times Roundtable. I mean, it's just. But it's fine. I mean, it's a hip hop list and it's cool. I'm older than you are. I don't know half these people. But I'm sure it's reflective of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go back to the list, Taylor. Hey. Jadakiss said fuck the list.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that was last year. He ain't gonna say that. This year they number four. That was last year. Jadakiss trashes complex hip hop media power. That was last year. Okay. Act. Of course we know. Act. No Joe Bud? No. Vlad? No. Jada? Kissing Fat Joe? No. Charlamagne? Anthony Fontaineau? I know him. Rory Amal. Know them. Perko? I know them. B Roll. Know him. Blackboy Max. Know him. On the radar. Know him. Kaisernet? Know him. Big Bank. Of course know him. Salute to Big Bank. Make sure you listen to the Big bank podcast and the Big Facts podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I didn't know he was Black Effect.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely. Frasier Tharp. Know him. Yes, Cam, of course, know him. Why is John Karamanika and Joe Casarelli on they Broke It.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's the cast. That's New York Times. We've talked about that stuff a lot.

[Chris Moreau]

That's the New York Times.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All I remember is the Jack Harlow interview.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, they did Jack Harlow. They did asap, Rocky, they did Drew Ski. They've had a ton of hip hop. I mean, culture, hip hop. And Jason. They have. They what? I'm not against them being on the list. I don't know about as high because I feel like. I just don't know if people are, like, following them in an impactful way. But they have really good conversations.

[Chris Moreau]

They're like an ambassador outside of the culture.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And their conversations to me are always very well researched. And for them to be white, they're not afraid to go across the line. And they asked Jack Harlow. That's how we got that whole.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's why Jack Harlow got in trouble. Cause he should have went and sat with the R and B Money podcast Tank and Jay Valentine, as opposed to sitting with them. You can't sit with two white guys and talk about black music. He should have went and sat with R and B aficionados Tank and J. Valentine.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I wouldn't have been mad at that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that would have. I guarantee you the rollout and the way his music was received would have been totally different. If you sitting there with Tank and Jay Valentine and you breaking down, you know your music and why you wanted to do R and B. Even if he said that same thing he said in that interview with John then where he said. What did he say?

[Lauren LaRosa]

He said he went blacker or something like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It would have been laughed at on the Tank and J. Valentin with that. It just looks. It looks crazy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause they can't push back. They see what he's doing, but what they gonna say?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. Cause they were like, damn. Well, maybe you're blacker than us. Cause we can't say anything about it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel like you didn't even recognize them by name. That's what I'm saying. I don't know if they should be 16. You have to say popcast or like, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I recognize them by name.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I said I didn't at first.

[Chris Moreau]

Barney, her milk has been around for ages. I didn't recognize one of the top music writers in the country.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely. Boulay Keb. That's my guy. Salute to Boulay Keb. Love seeing him on the list. Gillian Wallow, 18 feels too low for Gillian Wallow. For me, always Gillian Wallow.

[Lauren LaRosa]

We talked about the fact that Gillian Wallow. You haven't seen as much viral from them this year.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what happens when you too consistent. When you're too consistent, Gillian Wallow. Too consistent. I see Gillian Wallow stuff on my timeline all the time. I see them interviewing rappers, athletes all the time. But when you're too consistent, people start to take it for granted. I just really believe that. Neon say what you want. He should be on the list. I see him talking to all the

[Lauren LaRosa]

rappers at 19, though

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I probably can even argue he could probably be a little higher.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't think she ain't top 15.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Maybe we'll get that. Nadeska. Yeah, Nadeska. Did she do the Apple show, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, yeah, she did the J. Cole.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She did the J. Cole. Nardwar. I must be the only person who don't see Narwhal interviews no more.

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah, I don't see.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't ever see. And every time I say that, people be like, no, he's still. I don't ever see Nardwa interviews.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I think because he's just grown to be so big that people I

[Charlamagne Tha God]

don't know, like, I fuck with Narwar. He's all time legend, but I just don't. I don't personally see his stuff that much no more. Lauren LaRosa ll Cool Bae 22.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My favorite number.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You feel like you're a hip hop media personality.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't feel like I'm a hip hop media personality. I'm grateful to be on this list, though, but I feel like I span across a ton of different things. I don't think people have ever actually heard me have like a very deep hip hop conversation. No one's ever asked me to have one.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think because of the Diddy trial.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The Breakfast Club.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People put you in the hip hop conversation.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm not mad at it, but like, I talked about this on my podcast on the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. I'm not mad at it because, like, it's what I grew up on. It's what I know. So naturally I can talk about certain things, but because I respect people's art of real hip hop journalism, when people say that to me, I always say no, like someone who can, like. I think of hip hop journalists as like a Rob Markman, a B dot, you know, like people who really can, like, sit and dissect. And there's like a. In fashion, we have these things called archives Like, I could tell you if a Chanel bag is an old piece, I might can tell you the time period, who I saw with it. That's what hip hop journalists do to hip hop music. Like, I can't sit and do that without having a couple days to really figure it out before I talk to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what's interesting about hip hop journalism? There is no such thing as pure hip hop journalism anymore because hip hop is pop culture. As much as we don't want to accept it, as much as people may not want to embrace it, hip hop is pop culture. So hip hop bleeds into everything.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's nothing going on right now that it doesn't have a sprinkle of hip hop in it. If the super bowl happens, Cardi B's dating Stephon Diggs, and that becomes more of the conversation. Right. Like you think about the Met Gala. You gotta talk about Jay Z being there with Beyonce and his daughter. You understand what I'm saying? Hip hop literally is sprinkled into every facet of. You can't discuss politics.

[Lauren LaRosa]

We're not talking about hip hop without

[Charlamagne Tha God]

talking about fucking hip hop.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think for me, though, it's just like when I. When I knew I wanted to do this, I would watch like Elliott Wilson and B Dot do the King Conversations and our early Breakfast Club and just certain things that I would watch that I'm like, I know what the pinnacle is. And I don't be knowing if I'm at that point. Like, there's a lot of real deep hip hop journalists that I like. I feel like Angie Martinez is a hip hop journalist.

[Chris Moreau]

Oh, come on, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

One of the best. But also, Angie can talk to anybody.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And has always spoken to anybody.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I think it's become a new thing where in hip hop, you're okay with going out and talking to anybody and having all these conversations. And I think Breakfast Club and a lot of other places, really, Breakfast Club, for me, y' all were the first place I saw kind of spanning across everything for us, like black people.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Breakfast Club wouldn't be Breakfast Club if we didn't do that, because how many rappers are you going to talk to? I've been doing radio for 28 years. I've been doing hip hop radio for 28 years. Breakfast club for 15, be 16 this year. I've interviewed Jay Z one time. I've never interviewed. I think I interviewed Nas once over Zoom, who's some other guy. I think we interviewed Kendrick. We interviewed Kendrick a couple of times on the come up but like, never interviewed Drake, never interviewed Lil Wayne.

[Chris Moreau]

Huh. Eminem.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Never interviewed Eminem. But that's my point. So it's like if you had to rely on the hip hop artists to grow your hip hop platform, your platform would not grow.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. I don't know why I still think about it so old school. And maybe it's because I don't know, just the old. The source source and all these places. That's what always to me was like, this is what's accredited and this is what matters. And I don't know, it's just always been different for me. I always looked at it like I could talk about hip hop because I grew up in it and I love it and I can have conversation. But because I do other things. When people say hip hop journalists, I always kind of like be like, mm. Cause don't get me to list top 10 much of anything for I don't wanna do stuff like that.

[Chris Moreau]

Talking about the history and the culture.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Like, I can do it. I can tell you who I like. I could tell you who's moving the needle. Culturally, my perspective is gonna be a little bit different. But when it comes to, like, lyrics and like real life, like, producer also

[Chris Moreau]

worked on a project 20 years earlier and he was a protege of this person.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know certain things and I'm okay with that. And I.

[Chris Moreau]

Rob Markman does a good job.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I' definitely a hip hop journalist.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Bob Markman is like hip hop journalist. I would never go toe for toe with him in a certain debate about certain things because I would. That's his, you know, so Nelson George.

[Chris Moreau]

Well, that's. Now you're really.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But see, that's what I'm saying. Like, I'm only giving you these names and I looked some of these up. Cause it started to come to me as you was talking. But Nelson George. Dream, Hampton, Sway. Sway, Absolutely. See?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But when you say Fab Five Freddie,

[Lauren LaRosa]

when you say Sway for me, I'm like, okay, then. Yeah. I'm not mad at that tit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Shaheem Reid.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think of people like Eric Parker, you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, Daewan, how can I forget Da'? Twan? Like, you know, these are the people that I think about when I think about, like, true hip hop journalists.

[Chris Moreau]

And you gotta put Elliott Wilson in that category too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, for sure.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely. 100%, absolutely. Elliot B. Dot. But there is a. I'm saying all that to say there used to be a hip hop journalism plan.

[Chris Moreau]

Well, there were also Platforms that required

[Charlamagne Tha God]

that there was the source xxl.

[Chris Moreau]

I mean, these were actual magazines that needed Blaze editors. Those are all gone.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. Vibe. That's the thing. What Chris said is true. All of those entities used to focus strictly on hip hop and hip hop media. So you needed hip hop journalists. The game's just not like that no more.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. I mean, and maybe we're ushering in something new. Because when you mentioned sweaty ushering in.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's here.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean, it's here. Yeah. When you say Sway, it made me feel like if someone was to say hip hop journalist to me, I don't know if I would be like, no, no, no, don't say that. Because to me, Sway talks to everybody and he's really good at it. But he also is like hip hop, too, 100%.

[Chris Moreau]

What's the one thing we're not talking about in terms of the qualifications of these people, which is what's changed dramatically?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Clavol.

[Chris Moreau]

Writing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Writing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, writing.

[Chris Moreau]

Everything is talking, talking.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

The hip hop journalist was defined by writers for years and years and years.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow.

[Chris Moreau]

Cause that's how you communicated these stories. Nobody writes shit anymore. They just talk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was thinking, I want to get back into, like, writing on a regular basis. I mean, I write, but, you know, nowadays I write for, you know, when I'm writing scripts or donkey of the day every day, or writing things for other people or writing books, of course. But, like, I used to write for Ozone magazine. You know what I mean? And, like, I used to write a column for Ozone called the Chin Check. And I kind of missed that. I kind of miss, like, writing. I just. I know substack is a place that people say they go to get that kind of stuff, but are people really reading shit?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Nah. People on substack. Crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Really, People are.

[Chris Moreau]

Substack is huge, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Like so much conversation. And substack is like the more elevated level of threads. Like, you have Twitter, which is just the bottom of the bottom. You have threads, which is like. It's kind of mixture of the two. LinkedIn little mixture sometimes. But now substack has become like the elevated. Like, you can get on there and talk crazy, but people engage. They take it. They take it out of the platform. People love substack.

[Chris Moreau]

And you can also go in depth with writing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, 100%.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, honestly, that's how I even knew who Elliot Wilson was, because I would read his in the top of every xxl. It was the editorial rant. It might have been the source, too. I can't remember which one it was, but I used to read it in the beginning. I'm a reader, so I used to like to read people's editorials.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is the first complex list in the history of the list. They say for the first time ever, they included writers because some of the biggest moments in rap this year included more traditional.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who are the writers on this list?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Frasier. Him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, Fra. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who else writes here?

[Chris Moreau]

Well, you said harmonica, and they're both writers.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

They say they're not reacting to their articles. They're really reacting to the podcast.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They might be, though. Let me see what they listed for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think Lauren should have been higher.

[Chris Moreau]

I think Fantano might write as well.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I would have Put Lauren top 15, but 22 is cool. Traveler, Ross, 23. Shannon Sharpe, 24. Does Shannon talk to a lot of rappers? I don't be seeing Shannon talk to no rappers.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I recommend it. YouTube. I don't even remember. Shannon Sharpe's like, big stuff this year, but he still is talking to people of the culture in a sense, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, yeah, but they're not rappers. I mean, I don't know. I guess I'm trying to figure out what qualifies him to be a hip hop media personality. Shannon, a big personality? Absolutely.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He did. Kevin Gates. They list. Kevin Gates? Yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

Kevin Gates.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They list. Yeah, they list. Many of his best conversations involve rappers, Whether it's his batshit Kevin Gates interview or his revealing chat with G Herbo. His team chops it up with clips

[Charlamagne Tha God]

and yeah, I see the G Herbo one. I saw the Kevin Gates one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't know if I remember the G Herbo one.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, listen, Shannon is a huge media personality, period. I just don't look at him as a hip hop media personality. Who else is on the list? Taylor, that's 24. Who else? Let's see, let's see. God damn, Taylor, you know I'm old. Make that bigger, please. 25. Who's 25? Neon. Say, like I said, say what you want. Neon should be on there. He didn't. But I thought he was on the other list.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, he was.

[Chris Moreau]

Five plus four crosses.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah, this is something else. Hold on. What'd you do?

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's at the bottom of complex website.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah, that ain't it. Go back to the list you had where they showed the pictures. Okay, go back to where you showed them.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, this is the community ranking. Sorry, y'. All. Community ranking put you at number two.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Really? Mm.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hip. Yeah, they have a community Ranking at the bottom, they put you at number two.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen, I am a. I am appreciative of any list. I'm. I'm old. Y' all been on. I was born in 1978, guys, okay? I've been doing this shit for 28 years, okay? If I'm on a list, cool, I'm grateful. All right, Rob. I go back. Go to 25. Go to 25. Rob is way too low. I felt like that's Rob Barkman and

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wayne O should have been on this list. Wayneau talks about a lot of things, a lot of people all day long as well, that it's like true core hip hop conversations.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, who's 25? Who's 25? That was Nori. Oh, N o R e. Yeah, man. Salute to Nori. I don't like the Drink Champs. Disrespect. Salute to Drink Champs. Drink Champs is definitely partnering with the Black Effect podcast network once again. Nori is suffering from. What a lot of people suffer from is when you've been around so long and you've been consistent for so long, people start to take what it is you do for granted. Drink Champs is what, celebrating a decade now. So if they're on a decade button, gotta be a decade plus. AK is definitely a decade plus in the game.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Is that what we're feeling? Because I too, feel like a lot of people don't yell at and scream about their interviews anymore like they were at one point.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I don't think. Here's the thing. I don't know if they ever did because Drink Champs literally was for a certain demo.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, people was going crazy about Drink Champs, but.

[Chris Moreau]

Right. What's the difference? You just mentioned button, act and then Drink Champs.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right?

[Chris Moreau]

What's the difference between those?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Button and act still focus on current events.

[Chris Moreau]

Well, there's one other difference too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What?

[Chris Moreau]

They're not guest Reliant.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, they're not guest Reliant. Okay, okay, okay.

[Chris Moreau]

The danger of having a guest Reliant show. This is why we can do this show for 15 years.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that's a good point.

[Chris Moreau]

We don't need a guest.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nori does. Nori might not. Nori and EFN don't need a guest.

[Chris Moreau]

Right. But when every week, what happens is after a while, people start to just check to see who the guest is and they kind of cherry pick. I'm interested in this person. I'm not interested in that person.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Very interesting point. Because Nori is so entertaining.

[Chris Moreau]

I would listen to Nori.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I'm Saying, look, think about all the ruckus Nori calls going on Jason Lee podcast, right? Just talking about shit that's going on in the world.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I saw him at the Black Effect podcast festival. He was like, hey, I said, don't hate me. I called you three times. You were supposed to give me a follow up to that interview. He was like, I didn't get your call. I was like, we were put in a group chat. You got the call. That interview was so many places for so long because of everything he talked about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Only Taylor would close the computer and walk out the room.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't think she even thought about it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

As we're producing, she literally close the computer.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I have the next person on the list.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She's the producer of the show. She pulled the list up just to close it. Only Taylor, yo, I'm sorry. She gonna forget to go to her wedding, yo. That's what's gonna happen.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know who gonna be there?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The wedding planner.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's all right, Telly. You know I'm with you. Whatever you wanna do. You rocking. I'm rolling.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

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[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't need this link.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

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[Lauren LaRosa]

26 is. Or y' all want to keep going our way?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, we gonna keep going backwards. Who's backwards?

[Lauren LaRosa]

26 is Jim Jones.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Another interesting one. Not because Jim shouldn't be up there. It's just interesting for me, as a lifelong media personality, to see how artists have truly infiltrated the culture. And I mean, that's where you gotta give. That's where you gotta give Joe Budden all the credit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know what I respect about Jim Jones and everything he's doing, because it's new with let's Rap About It. And artist to artist, he didn't care that because a lot of artists who should be talking about things be like, no, everybody's doing it now. We got too many rappers in the space. I don't want to do it. He gave it a shot, and it's working out for him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Once again, you got to give Joe Budden all the credit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No. Well, okay. No, no, no, no. Let me take that back. I give Joe Budden all the credit for all of these rappers you see currently hosting podcasts. But the first rapper I ever remember hosting a podcast was Ice T. Really? Right, Right. I see now. He was loudspeaker, wasn't he, Chris?

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah, Give me some credit, too. I tried to do this 15 years ago.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The podfather, Chris Moreau. I was a little early.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What was the Pushback when you was trying to do it, like, did they not want to?

[Chris Moreau]

I think there was a cycle first when I was trying to do it, they just didn't think there was enough money. And I think there was also a bit of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There wasn't back then.

[Chris Moreau]

And it was corny. Like, it kind of signaled that your career was over.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I see.

[Chris Moreau]

Didn't care. And he's always been a little bit of a visionary, so he was never worried about that. But then when the money started to come in, I think the rappers were sort of like, who cares if it's corny?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right?

[Chris Moreau]

And then now we're at a point where the money isn't the same as it was, let's say, five years ago. But what's really paramount to these guys, I think, is just staying in the conversation and staying in the mix. My other big screw up was 10, 15 years ago. I wanted to make a network of ex NBA players, right? Oh, I was like, I want to do. I had a show I wanted to do called the Journeyman, and you just interview guys who weren't even stars. And I was like, man, these NBA players never do it because they've made so much money over their career. Why would they do a podcast? Maybe I'll give them 15,000, 20,000, whatever it is. I never pursued it, but my miscalculation was these guys just miss being in the limelight. They miss people talking about them. You can't replace that, no matter how much money they made. And I think with the rappers, it's the same thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I agree with you.

[Chris Moreau]

The music's not moving anything anymore.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you know what, though, Chris? There is another level for the rappers with podcasts to go. Like, see, basketball players with podcasts can't ever come back to the game to play. But if you're a rapper with a podcast, you can still put out music. We have yet to see that yet. We have yet to see the dots connect with somebody who has a hot podcast and can connect the dots with the music. I only think there's gonna be one person that it's gonna work for, though. Oooh, Jada.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, 100%.

[Chris Moreau]

I could see that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because the masses look for him and wanna hear him all the time. I will say I feel like let's rap about it. Tried it with the freestyle that they did when they responded and then they talked about podcasting. I think culturally that picked up. But for Masses and Billboard charting, Jadakiss is definitely in a good situation for

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Fab, and I think it could work. For Fab.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, Fab.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think it could work for Fab.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He stood out so much. It was crazy to me to hear people talk about, oh, my God, Fab. And I'm like, this has always been him. It's just now y' all are watching the podcast.

[Chris Moreau]

That was my pitch when I tried this years ago. And this is more so than NBA players. I remember going shout out to the mid roll. They didn't get it, but I went to them and I said, give me some money to partner with this. Because I was like, rappers at their essence are just good fucking talkers. They're people who can talk on a mic. Like, more so than an NBA player. Right? Like, this is their natural habitat almost. Of course they're gonna be good podcasts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

Cause they can talk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And don't get me wrong, Jim makes great music. I've been on record saying I think Jim has been making some of the best music coming out of New York for a long time. But Jada has always been recognized as a elite level emcee. Even when they put out that record from the Locks that they played on Kissing Joe Show a few months ago, that shit was hard, right? So Jad can drop an album right now. And I think the podcast will help him. I think it'll help Fab as well. Cause we haven't heard from Fab in a while. But I don't know if the pod is big enough yet to help Fab, if that makes sense. You know what I'm saying? Like, Kiss and Joe's pod is big enough right now where it can help kids. The only other person that would really blow shit out the water is Joe. Like, if Joe came out with an EP or something, you know what I'm saying? Because we haven't heard him rap in 10 years. 10, 11 years. No, I don't think it's been that long. How's it been that long?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's been a.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Maybe a day.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But people want to see that. He just says he don't want to do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Also possibly Cam'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ron.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, Cam, for sure. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But see Cam, they rap through the podcast, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, Cam's. People like those.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But people culturally want to just. They still want to hear Cameron, especially him and Mase together. People still just want to hear that, even if they didn't have the podcast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So Cam's a little bit different from me, though, because Cam, it's something about Cam that's just always fresh. Like, the music is always fresh when he drops. And the pod is super fresh. And he used his pod to still rap. You know what I mean? So it's like. I don't know. He's connected the two in a way. Maybe that's what I'm talking about. He hasn't put out a project, but he's connected the two in a way where he. Don't let you forget I'm a rapper too. You know what I'm saying? I can see him having a breakout hit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If one just catches. I can see that happen.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I looked it up. It says Joe Budden. He retired in 2018, according to Google.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, okay. Like, rapping from the desk, if you can. Makes so much sense. Like, he don't listen and he raps

[Chris Moreau]

about stuff in the show. He makes. He addresses issues in the show with the rap, which is why it's relevant.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's next? Taylor, who's 25. Who's at 25? The art of dialogue. No, that's 27. Yeah. Which way we. Oh, yeah, we going up. We going up. You're right. You're right, you're right. 27. The Art of dialogue. Yeah, the art of dialogue's dope. I mean, honestly, they should be higher. 27. Sometimes I see art of dialogue and don't know if it's Vlad or not

[Lauren LaRosa]

because of just who they're getting.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. Yeah, art should definitely be higher, I think. Who's at 28? Mero. Salute to Mero. Yeah, I can see Mero up there. You know, Hot 97 Morning Show. I mean, just being the host of that morning show and him being who he is, that's a brand. That's a major brand. Connecting with a brand that still has relevance. Right. Like Mero has. Merrill's definitely Mero. And he's connected with a brand that still has relevance. Now, this is why I get old. I have no idea who Arshon Jawad is. Who's that? Respectfully, don't ask me. Let me read his.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Let me go to his platform and see.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Back in March, Arshon Jawad. Make it. Make it. Taylor, the muscle and brains behind Kids Takeover, posted a vlog expressing regret about being infatuated with hustle culture and not experiencing his 20s. It's a surprising video. He's in his mid-20s and he's already looking back. This year, he doubled down in the underground, even while scaling operations. Yes, Arshon used his trademark curiosity and rigor for talks with local rap figures like Tezus and Diamond Zucchini and Lucy Bedrock. But he also showed signs of growth playing with new formats like Blogging and hosting events at dubarclays. I'm old, guys. Yeah, that one. I have no idea who this is.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Can I see his. What's the name again? I'm trying to. Right. I just need to see the spelling of this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just don't think that you can have any conversation about somebody breaking new artists and not have Nyla Simone on there. Nyla Simone breaks new artists on her Pass the Arc segment on Breakfast Club every Friday. She breaks new artists on her show on Sundays on Power 105, she has the best new artist showcasing the game with certified vibe. And I can't wait till y' all hear Nyla's album. Everybody having all these conversations about, you know, they don't know what hip hop is on right now. Nyla about to show you what hip hop is on. Number 30, DJ Head and Gina views Gang Gang West Coast. Let me tell you how much I love DJ Head and Gina Bues. First of all, you know Head, that's my guy. That's my brother, man. I know Head for a while now. I met him through my good sister, Debbie Brown. You know, when you meet good people through good people, you tend to see why. Oh, okay. I see why you always vibed with this person's energy. And, man, Head is just a good, human, good guy. Yep. Who took advantage of in a real way. And when I say take advantage, I'm not saying this in a bad way. Who took advantage of the Kendrick Lamar, Drake situation? That's just the reality of it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And you know what? So when AK Was talking to Jordan Rose and he was talking about how, like, people are still stuck on that Drake, Kendrick beef, and that being the only reason why they're making lists years later or whatever, I thought about Head because in that moment, there was a lot of conversation around him. But what he's been able to build, that has. You don't even have to mention that. And people are having conversations with him, but a lot of it is because he created a platform that opened up to other people. Like him bringing Gina on and, you know, centering her while also centering himself. Like, I feel like he's getting back what he's put out tenfold.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, absolutely.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, he's just. He's just a really good person to a person, and now we're getting to see all of his, like, you know, the fruits of his labor.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, also, too, Head is new to y'. All. Head ain't new to people. That's in the know. Head has been growing. And when I say Y', all, I'm not talking about you, Lauren. I'm just talking about people that are listening to me right now. Head had Homegrown radio with Chuck Dizzle, right? And they were breaking all of these new west coast artists way back when. That's why I heard most of tde the same way I could talk about ACT and how I heard all of them guys that didn't even have tattoos on their face back then. It's the same thing with Head. That's the Kendricks, the Absols, the Q's, that whole young west coast regime. Glasses Malone. It was all coming through Homegrown radio. And then you fast forward. Head ends up on Real 92, 3 Louisiana. Him and Bootleg Kev were doing a show together. You understand what I'm saying? So there's a foundation that was being laid. When you talk, when you think that that's just Kendrick, homie. Cause that's just Kendrick, homie. Nah, they was on tour together.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Do you feel like DJ Head is finally getting some of the stuff that he deserves?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't think Head even scratch. Yes. But he's like.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But, like, is the wheel starting to turn?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, they've been turning, but he's not even scratching the surface of where he can take it. And also, I think the other thing people don't realize about Head. Head is a. He's got a brain. Like, he's. I know his skull is biggest.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know he got a big ass head.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He be doing like, tech and all this early.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, exactly. Head has shown me things that can change the world. Like, things that I'm like, oh, I'll invest some money into that right now. He got this one thing in particular. I'm like, yeah, I'll invest money into that right now. Head running around here with Will. I am. That's why I love to see people be who grow into who we know they're going to be.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, this guy loves tech. Like you said, he's got things that I've seen him create in the tech space that I know can net him a couple hundred million dollars. But he's with the right people. He's with Will. I am. You understand what I'm saying? He running around doing that. The fy. What's it called? Fy. FYI. Or I think that's the name of the company. But yes, and what you said is very key. I'm talking about him laying the foundation. But when that moment came and Kendrick is just amplifying one of his homies, as he should. Hey, they ain't sitting around and waiting like, all right, I'm gonna do this show with Elliot and Jeremy for a little minute, but now I'm gonna go start this show on Sarah Satellite radio, and I'm gonna go get super west coast all the way. Gina views to come rock with me. And I told y', all, I told y' all this shit last year, ain't none of y' all niggas better than Gina views hip hop personality wise.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This past weekend with at Black and Flag, that's the first time me and her, like, actually talk. She is holistic. I love her. She's so funny. Gina I will always have so much respect for, because when I met her, me and her were like, we didn't know each other at all, but we were just trying to figure it out. And from afar, watching her figure it out, it was just. I just respect. Because she really. She get up and go to work. Like, she get up and go to work.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She hustles.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes. Like, and she come up with the product. She got whole fashions. Like, she does so much so to see people actually, like, I don't like

[Charlamagne Tha God]

all that whole fashion shit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't like, but it's her.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't want to see Gina in

[Lauren LaRosa]

that whole, like, it's hers, and. And she builds it, and she's very consistent with it. And she. What I'm saying is, like, a lot of people don't work. Like, a lot of people just want to, like, turn on a camera and be like, yo, I'm here, and you should be, too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Gina hustle? Yeah, she hustles. If you tell Gina to be somewhere, she gonna be there. And I'm just talking as a personality. Ain't none of y' all with Gina. You know why y' all can't with Gina? Because that's really her.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, that's really who Gina is. Like, Gina, what you get on that microphone on Sirius satellite radio, Unaffectable. Immediately. That's who she is. In real life, Gina is a pleasure to be around. I love her.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Light and very honest.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Very motherfucking honest. Like, she's a Gina, one of them ones. Like, and she got. I said, all of this is just the beginning for so many of these individuals. Like, we're watching the beginning stages of where people are even going.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But that's my list for people who are new to the list. That's the excitement of it is, like, you feel like you're a part of a class and now you're like looking around and watching people and like, I felt like that about Gina forever. Like, okay, she's a part of the class of like, we're figuring this out in real time and we're doing it differently. But now you see like all these other people that are doing it as well too. And some of them, you might be tapping into the first time, but you,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Gina, really hip hop too. Yeah, Gina. Gina's hip hop. Yes, to the core.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She's one of the people. And I said this on my podcast. If people talk to me about what women should be in that hip hop journalist conversation, I think of her because it's a very male dominated space. But if you want girls that's gonna

[Charlamagne Tha God]

go word for word, bar for bar

[Lauren LaRosa]

history, you know, producer this, she's gonna do that with you, Gina.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And Nyla motherfucking Simone as well.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yep.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I went to they cousins too, by

[Lauren LaRosa]

the way, in real life.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Real life? Yeah. I'm dead as hell.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, yeah, you said Nyla. Yeah. When did they find that out?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think a couple years ago. Yeah, it's some. It's some family down south.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I never heard that. No, for real. They literally said that at the festivals.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I went to watch their show like while they were recording. And it's so funny because like when the tapes go off, like when they hit stop, they're the same exact person on air and off air. That's Gina and Head. You getting exactly what you see on that fucking camera. I love Gina and Head, man. They should be higher, but complex. At least you got it the fuck right and put them on there. Who else we got? Who else is up there?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, you screamed on them last year, so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I didn't scream. I just want y' all to pay attention like you, like, they literally. It wasn't last year, the year before, they literally said. Cause it was so centered around the Kendrick Drake beef. How you done got head on there then, like. But we not gonna talk about what it was. Underground sound. I'm old guys have no idea what this is. What is underground? Let me read with that. What is underground sound? Underground sound is the largest page dedicated to what's become known as the rap underground, which is not the underground of 15 years ago. Fueling real time updates on the newest talent with a meme driven edge. Meme driven edge. Underground sound is a launching pad for emerging artists pushing names like Netspin and sdkid. Its ciphers have become a proving ground, effectively filling the role of XXL's freshman freestyle, giving New names like Benji, Blue Bills, Tezas and Diamond and Too Slimy. Their own viral moments. I don't know anything. That shit look like Spanish to me. There's like, no idea what the fuck. I just.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's like a whole wave. I mean, I won't even know if it's just youth culture, but it's just like a whole wave of like the very, very super viral stream rap. The kids are outside, they might mosh pit a little bit. Like it's a no.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, it's a Luther underground sound. I don't know. Like, I stop at Nyla and on the radar. That's why. I mean, nothing wrong with that. I can dig deeper. I just never heard of underground sound, but salute to y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who else on the list? Taylor, who else we got? Who else we got? Who else we got? Who else we got? Elliot Wilson.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Now, there's a debate around him being on the list. Only because he. Yeah, because I didn't know what you said in the podcast. He's been. Oh, okay. So he's been. He's been notably quiet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let me read why they got Elliot on.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He was going through some health things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, no. Up rocks. Yeah, yeah. Uproxx. Jeremy and Head Show.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He had just got back to getting. Doing all that, you know, the interviews and all the stuff. And then his. His health stuff started, and then he was going through some things in his personal life and then announced he's having twins.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He said he. Yeah, he said Jed. He's interviewed Jed. God did. Like, ugly. He's older than you podcast. I. I mean, I don't know, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know, you just don't want to say how you feel right now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't. I'm not going to knock Elliott. It's hard. I'm not a hater, so I'm not going to knock Elliot.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who would you hate on. You're not a hater if you don't list at all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don't ever question my haters.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You are so confessional.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't read anybody. I can find a reason to hate.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I forgot you know how to read a bitch.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I'm just really thinking there's a lot of people like Wayne. I could put Wayne O. Nyla. I could put B dot.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But it's because you've heard from them all year. That would be your only argument against Elliott. Because other than that, when you hear from him, even if you don't agree what he's saying, he is in the space 32.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not a bad number. I would probably have put him 35 though, because.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just feel like there's a lot more people who did a lot more this year.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I'm saying. But people feel like because of the lack of what he's done this year, he shouldn't be on the list. That's what I'm saying. So you're saying put him lower. People are like, why is he on the list at all?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't disagree. I don't think he shouldn't be on the list at all. Cause we just read a lot of stuff that he did in the last 365. So no, I don't think he should not be on the list.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I love Elliott Wilson and I think it's because I still hold on to what I watched that inspired me to wanna sit down and talk to people. And I know he kind of. He gotten away from that before and I think people hold onto that too, like the stuff he was going through.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I respect Elliot and the hip hop journalist space. I don't put him in the hip hop personality space. I don't put him with the sways and the big boys and the Angie Martinez. I put him in that hip hop journalism thing I was talking about earlier. I put him in that class.

[Chris Moreau]

He should write.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He should write. Word up. He could be. Elliott could be making a killing on some stack. Bring back yellow, nigga, man. You know what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

So. But here's the thing. I'm not mad at Elliott only going into the writing, but you don't feel like that era of interviews that he did when it was him and B dot weren't good as well.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Key word and key words and B dot.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I've told Elliott this. When we did our interview, like that was your sweet spot. That is. That's what I said.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely 100%. Who else we got? Who else is on the list? Taylor gang, he has twins. Let that man dick still work, Taylor. God damn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Salute to Elliot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Congratulations on the twins.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But you're having twins versus just one child. But that. Nevermind.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You can't control. What the fuck is she talking.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, we're gonna take this off. I'm saying that it was already. It was already.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People need to know how crazy you are. As if he could control that. All right, all right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I'm saying because it wasn't with the person. Right? Okay, so that's what I'm saying.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What happened?

[Lauren LaRosa]

So you know he went through a divorce.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, I ain't saying that's that link.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. See, that's what I'm saying. I mean, but that's why they. I don't know why they linked it in here, but he entered, he. He introduced the world to his twins on his X account. So they linked that in here and a lot of people found out that it wasn't. They're beautiful. They are. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Elliot, what's next? Taylor? Alphonso Pierre. I'm getting familiar. I don't know who this is. What is his resume? Brutus, Pitchfork. Few on the list inspired vitriol, like Alfonso Pierre, who was called Heat from the Clips fans and Brent Fay Ass, to name just a couple examples. The Pitchfork senior writer is one of the few rap critics left and he knows that being rigorous and hilarious aren't mutually exclusive. When he pin pans. When he pins pans, they're filled with nuance and clever one liners. When he gives something his cosign, it's usually a smaller act. Like Starker and Xavier Soul Bass, who both got best new music treatments. And whether he's going on tour with Ken Carson or writing op EDS about All Star junior, his voice extends beyond the rap critic lane. Once again, I'm old B. I don't respect you, Alphonso Pierre. I know Pitchfork, of course, but I guess that's what you're saying. This is a writer that they highlighted.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but I mean, I've seen people push back about the fact that he's on the list, but they just feel like he shouldn't. I don't know. People, you know, they just have their feelings, he shouldn't be there. Maybe because they feel like of all of Pitchfork, there's other people that you could have talked about. But I don't know personally. I don't follow everything he does personally, but I've heard people who actually work with artists credit his work to like actually helping the artists when it comes to like the reviews and stuff like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's all that matters. Then keep doing your thing. Alphonso, who's 34. 34 and 35. 34. Once again, salute to Dante. I have no idea who this is. I'm still Dante.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't know who that is either.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

In a world of clickbait. What is that word? Nihilism. Nihilism. There's something wholesome about I'm Dante's reaction videos now 33, who's grown into young OG status, giving fans the verdict on every major album dropped from Yeet's double album ADL to an epic three hour rundown of J. Cole's the fall off his animated delivery and productivity speak for themselves. Salute to you, Dante.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, congratulations.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't know who you are, but I'm tuned in now. That's also the beauty of these lists. You learn about people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Number 35, the OG Rob Markman. My guy. Love Rob. Talk to Rob damn near every day. Rob should be way higher on this motherfucking list. You know the thing I love about what Rob and what Wayno have done to your point earlier, Chris, they're not just sitting back, relying on interviews. They've created these platforms and these platforms where they're just talking to you about what's going on in hip hop. Because guys like Wayne O, guys like Rob, they've been around for a while, they offer a lot in regards of actual hip hop commentary, and they correct the record on a lot of people who don't know what the fuck they talking about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was about to say, when I'm trying to figure out something very hip hop, like deep, deep, and I look it up and I really don't understand it. I, Rob Markman and Wayne. Oh, their content. I go and listen to them because I can trust what they're saying from a historical standpoint.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's why what Rob is doing, what Wayne O is doing, what guys like Elliott need to do. And even honestly, if they felt like it, the OGs, like the sways, I guess my role is kind of like that too. Angie Martinez. We've never seen hip hop where it is now, where there's, like, no demographic. Like, it's just. It's just a flat surface. Like, there's no. Even though there is OG veterans, but it's just like everything is blended into one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And so much so many things get spoken to out of context. You understand what I'm saying? Like, so many things get spoken to out of context. Like, I watch academic videos sometime and I'll be like, act. The reason that Jay Z is doing so much this year is because it's the 30th anniversary of reasonable doubt and it's the 25th anniversary of the Blueprint. Stop making it seem like he's. Like, he's doing all of this stuff just because he's trying to change the headlines. No, we gotta acknowledge the hip hop of it all. I'd be like, I just be. And that's the type of stuff Rob and Wayne O will do. They'll do a video about something that an academic said in that manner and correct the record because it's Reasonable Doubt. Is Jay Z's first album and arguably, some people argue, his best album. Then you got Blueprint, which is arguably one of his best albums. Blueprint got five mics in the source. So if it's the 30 year anniversary of your first album, in the 25th anniversary of arguably your best album, why wouldn't you be celebrating? Why wouldn't you be having concerts? Why wouldn't you be doing interviews and all of this other shit? That's this type of stuff that, like I said, Rob and the Wayne O's and everybody will correct the record on, but all of those OGs I mentioned should be correcting the record on. A lot of these. A lot of these conversations that are happening from younger personalities who don't quite know what they're talking about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But you know what's crazy is a lot of people will do it behind the scenes. Like, I've had people call me and be like, hey, I saw you talking about this. I just want to add this context just because I actually experienced it in real life and I care about where you're going. So I want you. You know what I mean? They don't feel like they don't want to be. Cause it's such a. Like they don't want to look like

[Charlamagne Tha God]

they shitting on you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That or also too. It's just like a shit show of like, everybody reacts to it. Part of conversations you want to be a part of when if your whole idea is to protect and like archive. Let me just call you and talk to you so I don't got to be in the circus of the thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I know, you're right. You're right. But salute to the Complex list, man. Top 35. What is it? Powerful people in hip hop, Whatever.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel like Breakfast Club as a show should have been on here too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think Breakfast Club, I really think

[Lauren LaRosa]

we're intertwined throughout all 35 of these

[Charlamagne Tha God]

people in their moment. Yeah, I don't want to say evolve from hip hop because you can never evolve from hip hop. But what I would like to see with lists like this in the future is recognize the evolution of hip hop. Cause I feel like if you don't recognize the evolution of hip hop, you're gonna miss what an Angie Martinez is doing right now. You're gonna miss what a sway is doing right now. You're gonna miss what a Breakfast Club is doing right now. You know what I mean? Because hip hop, like I said, is pop culture. We're intertwined with everything that's going on in life. When you got the White House responding to things that are being said on Breakfast Club. Like not just this administration, you know what I mean? The previous administration. Like, that's a different thing. And I can't wait till these lists start acknowledging stuff like that. Let's pay some bills, Chris. What we got, Taylor gang. Pull up some bills, Taylor. We gotta pay some bills. Cause Lil P gotta eat. Lil P gotta eat. Okay. Lil P gotta eat. Taylor gang. Lil P can't just eat cheesesteaks and tasty cakes all goddamn day, okay?

[Lauren LaRosa]

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, let's get back to the show. Church announcements. Lauren LaRosa, do you have any church announcements? Do you have a life?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I got a life.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, what you got Going on the

[Lauren LaRosa]

Latest with Lauren LaRosa, the podcast. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. It is my challenge for myself this year to be consistent on the video side now that we've gotten the audio side down. Lauren LaRosa, TV on YouTube. And we drop episodes every day, Monday through Friday at 6:00am oh, wrong camera.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You just got awarded. You just got an award, right? You got the accelerator award.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The bossy award at the accelerator Award.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The bald and bossy at the accelerator Award.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But they didn't even say bald in it. I swear. Yo, when you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I didn't say bald. Said bald.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You always are. Hell, but when you got that hairline fighting back, you a little bit more humble.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I like I said bold and bossy. Why you said paranoid.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm doing the accelerate her. It's a global leadership conference. It's the rich aunties conference. And they're fine with you saying that. Like, these women are like fire. So they have this award called the Bossy Award. It was me and about Four other women. You get ushered into this world of, like, some successful black women who are just out here, like, they. They make the world go round. So we got honored in Miami. It was fire.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tell them how you wasn't about to go.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was not about to go. Number one. I was. Cause I. I thought we were.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't say I can tell why. No, I'm not gonna say the reason, but she. Lauren is speaking of work and hustle. That's the only reason I wanted her to bring it up. Lauren is so committed to her day job, the Breakfast Club, and she's so committed to keeping the main thing. The main thing that she was like,

[Lauren LaRosa]

yo, it was too many weekdays off of the show.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. She didn't want to take those weekdays off of the show, even though she could have broadcasted from Miami.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But it's different.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I get it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And, you know, that week was supposed to be like, you know, a big

[Charlamagne Tha God]

week for something big.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So I just. I didn't want to be out of the studio, and I didn't know if I would get pushed back on being out of the studio. I just, you know. But I made it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She don't feel like her position is solidified. Like. I get it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I never feel like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know. That's why you don't wear wigs no more.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Shut up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Cause they don't feel like they. Right. That's why. Right? That's why you said it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You said that every now and then, you have a real good one, and that was it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But, no, you said.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I never said that to you. This would have. You.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You said you stopped wearing wigs because one almost blew off.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That is not what I said to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, I've never even talked to you about. The glue doesn't keep it down.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Whose side are you on?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't know how it works. That's a good question, though.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, you do. I'm not about to go on the wigs with y'.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay? I don't have a wig on. And that is not. But in this industry, you do feel like your position's never like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, Wendy Williams used to be like that. Wendy used to say if you take off, that's why she used to do best of shows. Cause she never wanted nobody filling in on her show because she feel like, yeah, that. That person coming in hungrier, blah, blah, blah, and can take your spot.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's a gift and a curse. That's why that moment with Chanel Jones and Rihanna on the carpet at the Met Gala, I Watched that video and I'm like, it's so good to just have somebody like take a second to see you real quick pull that up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Taylor, I ain't see that you be having.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's so much stress, especially heading to a red carpet because it's like fast. You gotta get who will stop for you? Your network or your platform is like, yo, who did you talk to? Or why didn't you get this person? And you really are as good as your last interview with some of these jobs, so. Or your last moment.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Salute to Chanel Jones. Chanel Jones had the number one book in the country two weeks ago in the self help advice category. The same week her and Emma Greed came out. The same exact day. And Emma was number two and Chanel was number one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But you know what I learned at the conference though is that to kind of get away from that a little bit. The feeling of like, what if I wake up tomorrow and this is all over? I feel like that all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's like it's PTSD though.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's the most nerve wracking thing I've ever experienced in my life.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think you're like that cause your daddy walked out on you. But listen, let's play the Rihanna Chanel thing. And I just want to tell everybody, make sure you go pick up Jess Elias book. So death to we parent. Available everywhere. You buy books now. And guys, I'm throwing a tennis event with All Love racket club this 16th, May 16th. It's going to be Upper east side. There's gonna be music, free giveaways, a lot of tennis going on. It's a really fun event. Just head to All Love Racket Club on Instagram and get your ticket there. And then, yeah, if you haven't checked out my new show yet, it's called AM Mornings. It's a live call in news, pop culture, everything show. I do it every Sunday at 11am Head over to AM Mornings on YouTube. See you guys there. P.E. um, let's listen to this moment.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Don't try to go into the positive. You still.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hell, this is a beautiful moment.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Shut up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I haven't watched it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Shut up. Hold on. So what was your day like today? Today was honestly hoping that I could meet the moment and catch somebody's eye contact. So many people when they come here on the carpet, it's take, take, take. But my goal was to give, like give back. Because I feel like your talent gives us. So I just wanted to pour it into as well. Thank you. So can you. It's not all about giving in to everybody. Thank you, Rihanna. You deserve to be born into. And you're beautiful. You're a black journalist, and I respect you and I love you for this. And by the way, your outfit is. I love you, Rihanna.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now, let me explain something to you. Now, I don't know if Rihanna knew who Chanel Jones was, but I'm gonna tell you why. If she didn't, Rihanna has great discernment. Now, Rihanna might have stopped because clearly, you can see Chanel is the only spoon of chocolate in this glass of milk. Right. She's the only black woman up there. But Chanel lost her husband last year. She lost her husband last year. I think it was to brain cancer, if I'm not mistaken. So. And she just put out a book two weeks ago that's the number one book in the country. And the book is about. Oh, my God. What's the book about? I can't remember right now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's about parenting, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's about parenting or something.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She brings in people, like other celebrities that talk about different things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. So I don't know if Rihanna knew that or her discernment just said, hey, you deserve to be poured into right now. Cause if you know Chanel's story, like I said, her husband died last year of brain cancer. She just put out this book two weeks ago, which is about parenting. For Rihanna to see whatever she saw in Chanel in that moment and pour into her, that says a lot about Rihanna, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's called Through Mom's Eyes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Through mom's Eyes.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And what's it about?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's simple wisdom for mothers who've raised extraordinary. Who've raised extraordinary human beings.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So think about it. She's raising her kids now on her own. Cause her husband's along here. So I'm sure every day is a battle for Chanel. Right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But also think about, too, when I saw it, what it registered to me is Chanel Jones is at the Today show.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yep.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She sits with Jenna Bush. Right. That's a very.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that's not Jenna Bush, is it? That's Craig Melvin. And.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, but she's on the. She has a show with. Yeah, she has a show with Jenna. Yeah. So she's on this platform.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ok, hold the left.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She's on this platform. And it's not a ton of black people over there. So the pressure is so different for her. And she's at the Met gala with the pressure. And she's a mom, and she. A long day. I'm sure, like, the pressure just Never stops. And you feel like if you take a break, you out of sight, out of mind.

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And so for Rihanna to give her that moment, naturally, that had to reassure her in so many different ways.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I'm saying. I'm wondering, like, did Rihanna know who she was? Cause it doesn't seem like she knew who she was. It just seemed like that was just an honest moment.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think she stopped just because she's

[Charlamagne Tha God]

a black woman with a nice outfit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I love that celebrities are taking the time to do that as well too. I saw Teyana Taylor do that at a show where she couldn't talk because she was rushing. So she just went and hugged all of the journalists. But she paid extra attention to the black journalists because, first of all, most of the time, they put you toward the end of the carpet, but, you know, she's with today, so that's different. But.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, they didn't put you on the carpet at all. They told you. Hell, no.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, my God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Met Gala didn't put me on the carpet, but it's fine.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, that's why I said met Gala.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but you be taking it like, we be having these good moments, and then you like, Hell, no. Like, you could have just been like, it didn't happen this year, but, you know, next year you'll make it to the carpet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Lauren, I don't know if that's the case. I have no idea. We'll make it to the carpet next year. I don't know that to be true. I mean, if that's what you want. Cool. I'm rooting for you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But are you rooting for me? I don't know anymore.

[Chris Moreau]

Did you try?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, we. Yeah, we submitted it. They said that it was high capacity.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn. They didn't see the hip hop list.

[Chris Moreau]

Would you feel a lot of pressure in terms of your own outfit then, like, as the people on the carpet, do you also have to.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, yeah, I would, but. But knowing that, like, you don't really get seen for real. It's like, you know, you come.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When does that stop you? Did y' all see what she had on at the Black Effect Podcast Festival?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Nah, I look like a goddess.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She had on your outfit with fur on.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Did you like my outfit?

[Chris Moreau]

Kind of like a light green.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes. Did you like my outfit?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was giving BET Gospel Awards. That's what it was. She was gonna bring out Bobby Womack, Donnie McClurklan. You know what I mean?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I just feel like when you. Gospel. Yeah. When you show up, you should show up is what I feel.

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah, I'm with you. You should be happy. Like, set the standard for coming to the festival career.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Every time that hair is fully shaved and he got sneakers on, he get real new.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm just telling you what we all saw at the festival, okay? And by the way, you were dressed great. It just wasn't for the festival.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's for wherever the world is. My Runway. And every day is a day.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's why God not gonna let you do the Met Gala till you humble yourself.

[Lauren LaRosa]

First of all, I'm very humble, but I believe you should take advantage of everything. You're very humble.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, humble with the clothes. The outfit that you would wear on that Met Gala carpet would be so ridiculous.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I wouldn't even do that because I would need the space to be able to stand and actually work.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's true. Zuri was dressed up, though.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, she was dressed up. But you heard when I asked her in the interview, I said, how long did it take you? She said, I focus on the work. So, like, it didn't take me as long.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You gotta focus on you on the Met Gala carpet. You gotta produce. Like, you can't play around over there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My fellow brilliant idiots. How did y' all feel about seeing Zuri hall on the red carpet? She's been doing it for the last decade.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, they probably used to it now,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

but that's my point. It's just like. But just think of, like, that's one of ours. You know what I mean? Like, we all came up together. Zuri was my. When I did uncommon sense on MTV2, my first co host was Zuri.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Zuri did the pilot with me, and then Zuri did the first episode, and then E was like, nah, we want Zuri hall. And she left. And then that's when Crystal became my co host.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And Iz was so coveted. Like, when I first moved to la, I was just trying to do a page program just so I could even get close to E News and just, like, witness it. Because it was such a. A hard thing to become a part of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, damn, they rejected you too. Damn, how many places have rejected you? Why did TMZ even take you in?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, my God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I'm asking a question. She gets so much rejection between Met

[Lauren LaRosa]

Gala E. So much rejection.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So I'm just saying, why did TMZ take.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Friend is like, fatherless, can't get it yet. Can't get a man like you. Everything that you put out is the complete opposite.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But why did TMZ take you in?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because they noticed the hustle, and you gotta hustle to be in the newsroom. Like a tmz. I was on the bus.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did you have to apply?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I did apply. Actually. It was via email. I emailed them, like, twice every single day for, like, three weeks.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

To say what?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hire me. Here's my resume. I see that y' all have a job available. Y' all need to hire me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, so there was a job opening?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, on the bus. I was a tour guide first.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Got you, got you, got you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And then they brought me in as a tour guide. And from the tour guide, I was breaking news from the tour bus. So they started like, who the heck is this? And why? And then once they started asking that, I started asking for things like, I want to come in the newsroom.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you started what, seeing things as you was on the bus, and so

[Lauren LaRosa]

you would ride places, and if you would see celebrities, you would stop and get off the bus. So when I would see celebrities, like, I got Larry King, and we talked about this was when Trump first started, like, being super, super Republican and crazy. And you know him and Larry King are friends. I got Larry King coming out of the bank, and he got real emotional because they were such good friends. And he was like, I've never seen him like this before. Then I got Mariah Carey. She talked about her divorce from Nick Cannon, and it was, like, the first time she had ever talked about it. I was just really good at, like, talking to people and then knowing what people wanted to know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold on.

[Chris Moreau]

You mean TMZ has a bus that takes people around LA looking for something?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yep, yep.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And they made Lauren sit in the back of it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They did not make me sit in the back. Don't say that. No, you tour guys, you sit in the front. They make me sit in the back. I would have a whole different type of back. I have a cushion for you. Lauren, what is your interest in celebrity news? I don't know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Basically, like, why you nosy as fuck? No, you know what?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm asking that, though. You know what? I'm asking that. Because I used to be, like, before even coming into this industry, like, I loved watching or hearing about celebrities, but now being in it, you don't? I don't. It's been like this forever. I've always just. I've been fascinated by, like, TV and the glitz and the glam and. I don't know, it's just always been a thing for me, like, watching even, like, Watching, like, Moesha and shows like that. I thought it was so fire that she lived in California and she was young and she was. I don't know. Well, not only reason why, but as. When I was younger, my dad always would be like, they're just people, Taylor. Like, they're just on tv. I feel like that. But there are certain people, like, we. Can I say who we interviewed today?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So we interviewed Maya today, and when she walked in, I was like, oh, shit. Like, it's Maya. Yeah. Cause it's just part of your. Because you grow up watching these people or like, whatever. But I don't know, it's not even, like, the celebrity of it all. I think it's just, like, culturally, I've always been so, like. I don't know. Like, I just. I remember I used to fly into New York when I would be coming back from la, and the first thing I would do is put on the radio, because I was always fascinated with New York radio, even though I didn't understand it, because Angie Martinez was in Brown Sugar. And, like, I care so much about Angie Martinez because of her interviews. And then I care so much about a lot of other people because of their clothes. And I cared about fashion. I just always been, like, wanting to absorb the culture of things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I realized why Maya's so pretty today, too. Yo. She's still.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What do you mean? Why is she so pretty?

[Chris Moreau]

You still got it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I realized why.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause it's soft.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Her inner glow.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She's so sweet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The work she's done internally comes out externally. Oh, Taraji slammed the Met Gala.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, Lord.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Taraji slammed the Met Gala. What did. Okay, can we see what. Wow. Top interracial couple rankings. What the fuck is this?

[Lauren LaRosa]

The fuck is this? Taylor, do you want to see this or you want to go back to two more?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let me see the top. Now I got to see the top interracial couple rankings.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

[Chris Moreau]

The most. This is by.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh. Oh, okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, let me see what this list is. Scroll up, Taylor. This is very interesting. Scroll up. Let me. The us. The US Census just put out the most common interracial couples in the country. Thoughts? The most common interracial couples list via U.S. census. Number one, white man, Hispanic, Latino woman. Wow. Number two, Hispanic, Latina man, white woman. Number three, white man, Asian woman.

[Chris Moreau]

Let's go.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Number four.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Let's go.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Number four. Black man, white woman. Wow. That had to be top three at one point. Shout out to Dr. Umar and all the work that you've done to knock that down a peg of three. Number five, Hispanic, Latina man, black woman. Number six, black man, Hispanic, Latina woman. Let's go. Number seven, Asian man, white women. Number eight, white man, black woman. Number nine, Asian man, Hispanic, Latina woman. Or Hispanic, Latina man, Asian woman. That's too much. Number 10, black man, Asian woman. Wow, that feels low. You think?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel like that's low too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, I also researched this.

[Chris Moreau]

I couldn't find. I don't know if this is really made that one, but that's okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Black man, Asian woman. Seems low, Chris. I think it would be very hard for them to find each other.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Other? My brother's.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Where would they interact with each other except for Wuang concerts.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Stop. My brother's married to a Philippine. New York and la.

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What in the industry. That's what y'. All Asians are everywhere. You can find them in Jamaica. In Jamaica?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jamaica. No, for sure. Caribbean. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because they be fake dressing a little bit and then they give you. You can. You think you get away with it because she's not white, but she's also not black. So it's like, oh, but she not white. So when the black man gotta explain that to the people that's asking the questions, it's like, oh, she's not white, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's the percentage of Asian people in America? Cause I agree with you, Taylor. I think in the Caribbean, it's probably more prevalent now. Especially in Jamaica. Especially in Jamaica. I meet a lot of people close to 8%. Oh, that's a lot.

[Chris Moreau]

That's a lot of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, that's a lot. Asian.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's a lot. They're taking over all la.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's a lot of Asians, but taking over.

[Lauren LaRosa]

There's mad different countries. On a nice summer day, if you go to certain places and just ride by all the restaurants where you can sit outside, you'll see a lot of number 10, a lot of number 10, and a lot of number eight.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's eight? White man, black woman.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean, especially in the South. What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why you stop? What?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause you're gonna say something about her.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don't stop. We gonna bleep you too. Go ahead. Oh, yes. Dating a white guy. No. You sucked a pink dick.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Never in my life. Oh, sorry. Oh, my God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You were lost.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My bad. My bad, bro. I didn't, like, come for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What? That's crazy. You used to have a white fetish, though.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I did not. I thought Travis.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Kelsey, you love Travis Kelce and you loved Chet Hanks.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why do you be throwing Chet Hanks on me?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why did you want him to. Why did you want to throw Chet Hanks on you?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No shade to Chet Hanks. Cause you're super cool. But, like, why you keep.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You put me on the phone with Chet Hanks?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because I was trying to get him to do an interview for us. The only reason he would do it is because he was. He fanned out about Charlamagne for about 20 minutes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Little Charlemagne. Why would she not want him?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When Chet was talking about. When Chet was out here talking like Safaree had her going, big up. Big up the whole island. Massive. It's your boy Chettina.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The fact that you even think I go for something that is. That corny is crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Chat wasn't corny. You think Chet was corny?

[Lauren LaRosa]

That whole Caribbean Chet was weird. No shade Chet. But, you know, you heard from the people, it just wasn't your vibe. Especially y'.

[Chris Moreau]

All.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like his dad, like, y' all thinking y' all have him on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I fuck with Chet, I fuck with the Hanks family, bro.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He always tried to make it seem like I had something for him. That's not true. And I thought Travis Kelce was cute.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And Chet. You said Chet was cute.

[Chris Moreau]

So you couldn't date a white guy. Could you date an Asian guy?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I want to date a black guy. I don't wanna date an Asian guy or a white guy. I tried to date one white guy only because. No, look, I was. It was one date. I was in la and I don't know, it was just like, I'm here. Let me just see why people do it. And then I started talking to him, and he was like, he. I'm not gonna get into what he did, but he was very successful. And I was like, I wanna experience that and experience, like, what it's like to just like. He was like, show up here. I have a car here. And I was like, okay, okay. So I just went along with it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Man. Ain't do none of that tricking sh. What he do?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was young.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What are you saying?

[Chris Moreau]

What's the industry?

[Lauren LaRosa]

He sent the black truck. He sent the. He had a driver, so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, it was a driver.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but he had a driver. So he sent the driver. We went out, we got sushi. The date lasted for about maybe an hour. And then he was trying to do stuff after. And I'm like, I can.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What he was trying to do, Laura?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, he wanted to go out. Like, he wanted to. Like.

[Chris Moreau]

Is he like a white guy? White guy?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, white guy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

White guy, like a little hip hop adjacent.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like hip hop adjacent don't really count. If you gonna try. He was white guy. White guy? No, because they don't like they got tattoos, they think they hit, you know. But when I googled him before that, his ex wife and the mother of his kids was so white. I was like, oh no.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What was his net worth? Did you google that he was doing?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, I don't remember the number at the time, but from what? He owned a bunch of different things. Like a bunch of. There's a brand of gym that you can franchise. It's really big. He owned like 15 of them. So I knew that he was doing something for himself. But when I googled that, maybe the

[Chris Moreau]

problem was he was wealthy and had expectations around that. Not that he was white.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, it was because he was white. And his what he dated before me was super, super white. So I was a little nervous. I'm like, is this a fetish thing? Like, what do you want in?

[Chris Moreau]

How did you guys meet in the first place?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was at a bar.

[Chris Moreau]

Okay?

[Lauren LaRosa]

And this is gonna sound so crazy, but this is the real story. I have friends there to verify it. I was at a bar and I was ordering a drink and some white guy walked up and was trying to talk to me, but he touched my hair. And I was like, don't touch me. And so he walked up and was like, yo, don't do that. Like you can't just put your hands on people. He was like, oh, I apologize. So we started talking. They probably planned that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Straight playing. Straight playing. I know a goddamn play when I see one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But I don't even remember his name. It didn't go far at all. But I just tried it. Cause I'm like, I'm in la, I might as well. But my mom was like, like, you need to be careful. Because white men fetish after black women and it can get dangerous.

[Chris Moreau]

T dated a lot of white guys. She didn't have that problem.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Excuse me, you did. No, I did not. No one.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ain't no white guy dated. No.

[Lauren LaRosa]

A guy just went down. A white. A white guy. I just played pillow princess with a white guy. But that's it.

[Chris Moreau]

You said what, Charlie?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You let a white guy taste it?

[Lauren LaRosa]

For my ancestors.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, that's. What is that he.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I believe in reparations, but Taylor.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Taylor.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why is that crazy?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That is so crazy. I gotta text P again. P, she just said some shit on this pod. Let me say something. Gave me the edit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Me and me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What? I gotta text Pete.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He knows. He knows all my stuff. I don't know if I can ask you this.

[Chris Moreau]

Me? Yeah, go for it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Before you ask, why is that crazy? Nothing else happened.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's crazy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why? Cause I just can't see myself getting aroused enough to even take off anything with those. He was one of them hip hop white guys. Hey, I'm sorry.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Please tell her take hat from anybody. Tell her, Taylor. You know, that's why I know you and homie cool. Me and me. You know what I'm saying? My other homie I call little head monster. You know what I'm talking about? That's why y' all cool.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Me and her are the same. Our birthday is, like, right next to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See what I'm saying? That's exactly what the problem is. Them two right there get had from anybody. Like a man. You know what I mean?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Can't do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know men that'll get hair from anybody. Y' all too. Y' all just like them as white men do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Y' all families be giving y' all warnings about black girls. Like, do they? Cause like, in our family, it's like, don't date the white man. He got a fetish. It can get creepy. Make sure you see what his exes look like. Meet the family a little bit at a time, just in case they trying to get you.

[Chris Moreau]

Well, a little depends on the family. Yeah, maybe my grandfather for sure.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Meet the family. They trying to. Grandfather?

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's that? Is this get out or something? Like, what's going on?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't think so that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That was a fictional movie, but I'll explain your point.

[Chris Moreau]

Actually, I dated a black woman in college who said the same thing. When I first tried to talk, she's like, I gotta be honest. The idea of having sex with a white man is disgusting to me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn.

[Chris Moreau]

And two years later, she wanted to get married, so.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, to you, period, Chris. Oh, oh, you're saying because of your. Yo, I know that's right. All right,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What'd you say, Chris?

[Chris Moreau]

No,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was looking at. They got the little. They got the reasonings. Next to it. I didn't see that. Let me see. Black man, Asian woman says the least common. What does it say, Taylor? No, go down.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Which one? At the bottom, the number 10.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The least common. Major interracial pairing, but growing. That's black man, Asian woman, Asian man, Hispanic, Latina woman. Less common overall, more common on the West Coast. White man, black woman less common than number four, but continues to rise. Asian man, white woman, Less common than the reverse, but steadily increasing. Black man, Hispanic, Latino woman. Also very common, especially in large cities. Hispanic, Latino man, black woman. Growing in many urban areas across the U.S. black man, white woman. The most common interracial pairing involving black men. What else? Scroll up, Taylor. Number three. White man, Asian woman. One of the most visible and common interracial pairings.

[Chris Moreau]

But there's a debate going on about this online.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What is the debate?

[Chris Moreau]

So people who have Asian dads and white moms are saying they're more ethical than people with white dads and Asian moms.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ethical, like a joke.

[Chris Moreau]

But they're basically like, we're more extraordinary because any white man can pull an Asian woman, but it takes a special Asian man to pull a white woman.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm gonna be honest with you. I think it takes a special Asian man to pull any kind of woman because of the stereotype. Oh, yeah, that little media. You know what I'm saying? Your little egg roll. You know what I'm saying? Like. Like that. That's you guys. No. That introduces you when you walk in

[Lauren LaRosa]

the room, like it does.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, it's the same way that women. Any men. We look at y' all sneakers and y' all foot, like, first.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's not.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't do that. I used to.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not anymore. Hey, I don't think that matters.

[Chris Moreau]

Would you be more likely if you had to. To date an Asian man or a white man? If he had to pick between the two, probably Asian.

[Lauren LaRosa]

For the same reason that black men would do an Asian woman.

[Chris Moreau]

It's because it's because at least it's not white.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The stereotypes you used to hear about Asian women.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The white men have, like, an English accent. I'll do that. Oh, I love an English accent.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When we was young, they used to tell us that if you. If you have sex with an Asian girl, you got to do a. Come on now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm dead serious. They used to stay. The vagina was. I promise you. Yeah, they used to say that. I don't know where that came from.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel like you're not allowed to say that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. You're not.

[Chris Moreau]

You don't have to feel that way. You can be confident.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, I don't. I'm just saying what the old stereotype was. That's considered bad now. Yeah. Why?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Anything leaning to anywhere. I'm not saying it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm really asking why? Like, I don't. Because I don't. Oh, hilarious.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cause you are. Why you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I didn't Know that. That's how hilarious.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But they do, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, my God. Tail A Taylor.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The fuck? You know why I'm allowed to sing

[Charlamagne Tha God]

it to Taraji?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm with my chocolate man. Cause I know exactly what I can and can't say to him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If that shit don't work out. If that shit don't work out, I bet you end up with an Asian or white man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's going to work out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ah, maybe. Jennifer Lewis and Taraji P. Henson called out celebs for attending Met Gala sponsored by Jeff Bezos.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, shit. Look at him in the new beard. Since he been with Lauren Sanchez, he is.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's hear Jennifer Lewis, please.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I like Jeff with the new beard. Okay, so I hadn't seen any of it. I had been running around all day. And then my girlfriend called and said, jennifer. They showed up anyway. I said, but. But they cut nearly 30,000 jobs and gutted the Washington Post. They showed up anyway, posturing and posing, hoping to be the most. They cut 1 billion in funding for children nutrition. And there they all were vying for the next position. Huh? We're at war. That's her.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, we talked about this a lot on Breakfast Club this week. Listen, I'm not mad at anybody for any stance that they want to take, but Jeff Bezos was the. He was the. What was he this year for the Met Gala? The co chairs.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He was one of the sponsors, one of the lead sponsors. It's reported he donated at least $10 million. Not donated, but gave $10 million to sponsor the gala.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, so it's a one off thing. So, yeah, you can boycott the Met Gala this year, but if you really got a gripe with Jeff Bezos, then you should not subscribe to the Washington Post. You should, you know, not use Amazon to get your packages delivered. You should, you know, not subscribe to Amazon. You know, Prime. Like if you're an actor, an actress, then if Amazon Studios, MGM Studios, which Amazon bought. If they reach out to you to do a movie, are you gonna say no?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Amazon was a corporate sponsor too, of the met gala in 2012.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just think it's very tricky when you take these kind of stands because. Because you're not gonna look consistent and people are gonna call you on it. You know what I'm saying? Like, the audience is gonna look and be like, well, what about all of these other things that y' all partake in? Like, one of the craziest things that I saw this week was, I don't know if y' all saw the conversation where they were, like, getting at people on social media about who they think unintentionally helped Trump. So it was like black people canceling other black people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, you was on that list.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I might have been on there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't know. They love saying that about you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know, but I saw them doing that to Killer Mike a lot, which I got. That's a whole other conversation. Salute to my guy, Killer Mike. But I was sitting there thinking to myself, man, y' all are saying, which is false, by the way, that people like Killer Mike unintentionally helped Trump win just because he dared to question the Democratic Party. Right. And dared to challenge them on things that they may not have been doing. Right. But you're doing this on a platform like X, where the owner of X donated 250 fucking million dollars to Trump's campaign and used X to amplify MAGA and suppress anybody who was anti maga. Y' all ain't got no smoke for him, but y' all got smoke for black people that you say, you know, might have unintentionally helped Trump win.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Most people don't have smoke for him. Or they have it. It just don't go nowhere.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What do you mean? Say that again.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, so you're talking about people driving Teslas and all these things, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Get off. What would it take to get off X?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It wouldn't take anything, but I would

[Charlamagne Tha God]

it take to not buy a Tesla.

[Lauren LaRosa]

People do be having smoke for Elon Musk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It just not like we be having smoke for each other.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, not at all. It come in and go, though. Like, it doesn't sustain because he.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Mark Zuckerberg, he's bigger than the smoke. Mark Zuckerberg was a Trump supporter. I don't see you can get him off Instagram. Sam Altman, Trump supporter. Like, I don't see y' all not using enabler.

[Chris Moreau]

I don't know if those last two are supporters, but enablers, for sure, they

[Charlamagne Tha God]

donated money in his campaign.

[Lauren LaRosa]

If you said if you enable. If you sit at an inauguration, if you don't disench it, like, what was Elon.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Elon was giving the Gok. Gok 3000.

[Chris Moreau]

One of the three biggest problems in the country right now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying?

[Chris Moreau]

Like, literally.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And not only did he donate money to the campaign and, you know, helped to amplify MAGA messages, man. Why do we forget what he did with Doge? Do not forget that hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of jobs because this just got this Guy literally took a chainsaw and just started wrecking shit. I remember being in my daughter's cheerleading competition in Maryland when they first got in office, and the amount of people that were coming up to me saying, man, I just lost my job or I'm gonna lose my job because of those.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because it was a check in thing because of Doge. Yeah, I remember that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So it's just like. It's just weird to me to watch us call for the cancellation of black people on platforms of people who really helped Trump get into office. And I really. The Killer Mike rhetoric kills me so much because there's things that we've said publicly. If you go watch me and Killer Mike's conversation on his podcast, conversate. We had this whole conversation. Like, Killer Mike, he absolutely supported Kamala Harris 100%. Like, I had Killer Mike and Kamala on zooms together. Like, when she ran in 2024. I was connecting Mike with Kamala's campaign. Mike had a whole door knocking strategy. He wanted to do with Kamala in Georgia, but her team was looking at. Wasn't really looking at Georgia as a. As a battleground state. They wasn't looking at it as a state that they really felt like they needed to lean into too much. But he wanted to do that. I connected him. He was on the phone with her people. They just never could make it work. So I hate when people say these things. Just because you question the Democratic Party, even the comment that they're saying, killer Mike, man. Pull that up. Taylor. Pull up Killer Mike. Kamala identity. No, it wasn't on the View. It was on. It was on tmz. Pull up Killer Mike. You know what? Actually, I got it in my goddamn phone. I am so tripping. I have it in my phone. They said, Killer Mike says playing identity politics won't pay off for Democrats and Kamala Harris instead, because they always leave this part out. Instead, he says she'll have to lean into the progressive movement if she wants the presidency. I'm gonna repeat that. Killer Mike says playing identity politics won't pay off for Democrats and Kamala Harris instead, he says she'll have to lean into the progressive movement if she wants

[Chris Moreau]

the president Isn't the progressive movement. Identity politics, though?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No. Progressive movement. Could be.

[Chris Moreau]

You mean more like a Bernie Sanders. Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Think about the people who wanted her to speak out against. We're really talking about Israel and the genocide.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And what was going on in Gaza. Like, that's, to me, are progressive policies. But what did Mike say wrong in that Statement.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's nothing wrong with that. But nobody's talking about the second part of that. Guess who else would tell you right now she probably needed to lean more into progressive policies. Kamala. Kamala Harris. What are we doing? We spending all day long attacking each other on these people's platforms who really, really intentionally helped Trump get in the White House. We.

[Chris Moreau]

So they didn't help. They paid for it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They paid for it? Yeah. You see what I mean? They paid for it. You're on the same platform that they use to amplify certain messaging and suppress certain messages. They amplified MAGA messaging and suppressed anti maga messaging. But y' all are using that same platform to kick in the back of a foreign national. I would add a foreign national.

[Chris Moreau]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You're never gonna see the mass exodus, though, of people leaving those big social media.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But why are we so quick to cancel each other?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And so quick to misunderstand each other.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's strange to me. But once again, do what you need to do. If you feel like you want to not go to the Met Gala or whatever it is Cool.

[Lauren LaRosa]

People not invited anyway.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's the thing that bothers me the most.

[Lauren LaRosa]

People are not invited anyway. What? You know how hard it is. Even some celebrities have never been invited to the Met Gala.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's very true. That is very true. But that goes back to my larger point. If you really want to be against Bezos, there's a whole lot of things you can give up. Are you willing to.

[Chris Moreau]

It's hard. I've thought about it. It's hard.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What, not going to the Met Gallery?

[Chris Moreau]

No, I'm not.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, you got invited and didn't tell Charlamagne. You know, I was trying to get on that.

[Chris Moreau]

No. Do you stop getting orders from Amazon Prime?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No. That's so hard.

[Chris Moreau]

Outside of the politics of it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

First of all, I didn't know.

[Chris Moreau]

I was concerned about what it's doing to small businesses across the country. Right. Like, how many businesses have gone out because. Because everybody just orders shit online. Right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But you could put your small business. You could create an Amazon storefront.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but you don't want to be on Amazon.

[Chris Moreau]

There's a theory.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She said, don't take Amazon prime, but create an Amazon storefront. You see what he's talking about?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I thought that he was saying, like, even if you're not boycotting it, it takes away from small businesses. But they created a way where you can empower your small business through Amazon.

[Chris Moreau]

Sure. But it's also this idea that physical communities are stronger when there are shops and stores owned by people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't even know how to shop anymore. Like, I don't know how to close shop. I went into H and M the other day, did not know what I was doing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Again, these stands, they're very hard. Like, when you take them, they're very hard because people are gonna call you out on not being consistent, and they're gonna ask, well, what about all these other things? It was the same thing when they started boycotting Target, I'm like, so y' all boycotting Target? Cause they rolled back their DEI initiatives, but what about all these other players Place? What about the Walmarts and the Lowe's and the McDonald's and all? Like, there's a bunch of people that roll back to DI initiatives.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, I forgot in the midst of the boycott, I forgot that the boycott was, like, happening because it was, like. It wasn't as, like, prevalent as it should have been. And me and my mom was in Target one day. I remember she came over to me and she whispered. She was like, we're not supposed to be here. And I was like, where, Mom? We could be anywhere we want. Do you know how many targets? And I was like, targets? I'm like, oh, we're supposed to be boycotting. But I feel like I. They announced it, and then it just. It wasn't as loud and strong until they got in the debacle about whether it was canceled or not. Do you think black people just don't have a stand for anything? I think we just don't understand our power a lot of times, so we don't understand that, like, even if you don't fully support it, but you know that the other side is bad. If you just stood together, how much that could really, like, do. I don't know if we.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think what y' all said is true. It's very hard because it's everything, literally. Even if you just talk about the DEI initiative. Amazon rolled back some of its diversity and equity inclusion program at&t. Bank of America, Blackrock, Boeing. Who else? It's a bunch of people. Pepsi, Citigroup. It's just too. It's so many.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It was for.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I mean? Ford, like, Goldman Sachs, like, come on, y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm not saying. And by the way, I'm not saying that you shouldn't take stands. I'm saying it takes a lot more strategy than it does emotion, because people gonna all you call, always call you out on your inconsistency. That's all. I'm simply saying let's pay some bills and do some asking. Idiots.

[Lauren LaRosa]

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection infection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, Myasthenia gravis or Lambord Eaton syndrome and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I thought he was having some issues. I heard you talking to.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I let you play with him about a lot of things. Don't play with him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I just.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I thought you said somebody's sugar.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Never ever in my life have I ever. And if. And if it was, I wouldn't talk to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You weren't. I heard you talking to Taylor.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That is a lie. My man is good. He don't need no link. Okay?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He not pre diabetic.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He don't need my grandmother. I told you was pre diabetic.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why was you giving her blue cheese?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I wasn't giving.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was somebody that was pre diabetic.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You was giving blue to you a lie. Stop talking.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What else we got? Taylor? Just do some asking. Idiots. Lauryn, get on these podcasts and start lying for no reason.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You are a liar. You a liar. And liar. And liar.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What you mean? Shout out to Drewski. Drew Sky's gonna be hosting the 2026 BET Awards. Can't wait to see that. Okay, Ask an idiot. Taps. Do you put Cardi on the same tier as Pinkett, Smith, Winfrey, Knowles, Carter? Do I put Cardi on the same tier?

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's your last name again?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not on the same tier. Cause Cardi.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Cardi's last name.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, my last name is Pinkett, Smith, Winfrey, Knowles, Carter. I don't put Cardi on that same tier because those are like, my og, you know, big brother, big sister, auntie, uncle. I'm just talking about, like, people that I look to. Why, Taylor?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why you keep moving?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why are you strapping these two? Why do you keep moving it?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why do you keep moving it? What if you just said, I'm not moving nothing, and then just let him think it's him?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why do you keep doing that? It just keeps moving. I don't do bluechew, but, no, I don't put Cardi on that same tick. Cause those people inspired me in different ways. Cardi inspires me, too. But Cardi is. Is younger. Cardi is like. I don't know, that's like the younger cousin or something like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, Cardi's different. I didn't see Will Smith and Jada and Oprah and Beyonce and, you know, them and Jay come up from the ground up. I seen Cardi from the beginning. So it's just different. Do I love her? Yes, absolutely. Like, 100%. But it's just different. I guess it's different tier. It's not the same tier as Pinkett Smith.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't even know her last name.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who? Cardi don't know Cardi's last name. Cardi's last name is. What's Cardi's last name?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Exactly?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I do know her last name, but I just can't pronounce it. Neither can you. It's me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's like a melon. Yeah, Almazar.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What is it?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I feel like I have to, like, put, like, a.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Exactly. That's what. No, it starts with a B.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, that's her. That's his first name. That's her first name.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Huh?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You're talking about Bella Khalees or. I can't say her name.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't remember. I just thought it looks like a line at the doctor's office. I know that much. What is it? How you pronounce it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm about to just show it to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You try to pronounce it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yep. Still can't pronounce it. Looking right at it. Still can't pronounce it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Where's she getting Cardi from?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Bacardi people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, Bacardi.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. And her in Hennessy. Her sister's Hennessy. Bacardi and Hennessy. Yeah, but Bacardi, like people would call her.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She like Bacardi because of Belcali. People would call her Bacardi.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, I don't know if that's true, but we can go with that. It doesn't matter anyways. If Charlotte had hair, would he be more handsome?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Top you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She. You see what he said though, baby,

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's a question mark.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

More.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, no, no, no. That is not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If Charlotte had hair, would he be more handsome?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ain't nothing statement about that. That is a question. He put that in so that he could just get the question at.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why don't you find out? AI me?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why is that your stance? You be sizzling with sass.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just AI AI. See, now you got three things to AI Ala Wabongi says, where does Justin Bieber rank in the all time pop star stars? Oh, Justin gotta be top five all time, easy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who's your alltime pop star?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Pop stars, like straight pop music.

[Chris Moreau]

I could name 100 people over spears.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, Britney Spears.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Britney's definitely up there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, Britney Spears.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Name him.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You got to see the Beatles, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't put Mike as a pop star. What are you talk. The King of Pop. They say that because they can't think of nothing else. First of all, Michael didn't even do pop music. Michael did disco. Michael did R and B. Michael did dance. Michael didn't even do pop music. I know they call him the King of Pop, but it's only because he was so popular. Nah. By the way, that movie was fire. I haven't seen it. All of y' all that have all. I will never listen to any of y' all critics ever again. Suck my dick from the back.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Critics are singing is really bad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just saw people with their think pieces online. It's like, yo, shut the fuck up. That movie made me feel so good after I left. It was so. It was just good. It just was a feel good movie, man. I would go see it again right now. I took my kids. Madonna. Madonna definitely made pop music.

[Lauren LaRosa]

See, I can't put like, I put Elvis on here.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just said, who's the top five? They put Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Beyonce, Taylor Swift. None of those people make pop music to me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What about Justin Timberlake? He's like R and B. I don't

[Charlamagne Tha God]

think Justin Makes pop music. Really?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You think? No. NSync. Hello. Was all pop music.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I know y' all crazy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What are you talking about?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But that's what I mean. When I think Justin, I think of

[Lauren LaRosa]

NSync and that's pop music.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. I think of backstory, but not. You said Justin. Backstreet Boys.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But Justin Timberlake was pops, though. No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Nah, not his solo stuff. Britney Spears is pop. That's what Justin Bieber ranks to be. I don't like. I don't put the Michael Jackson. The Prince is not pop music.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No. What is it? How.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, oops, I did it again. Compared to fucking Diamonds and Pearls. What are we talking about? Like. Yeah, but like Britney Spears had some slow ballads also. It's like they made a whole bunch of different type of music.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Slow ballad song. She has like slow songs. I didn't have popular ones, but Lucky. That's a slow one. That's a slow one. I love that song.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Justin B was definitely one of the best.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She's so lucky. She's a star but she cries, cry, cries and loves me. It sounds like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is this ChatGPT got Justin Bieber in the top 15 all time pop stars. And they said depending on criteria, top

[Lauren LaRosa]

15 is yes, but top five, it just doesn't feel right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They said depending on criteria, you could argue top 10. They say he ranks so high because he's one of the first true social media born superstars. Global teen hysteria comparable to peak boy band of Beatlemania. Energy. Massive crossover success in pop, R and B, EDM and screaming. Survived a difficult transition from child star to adult rpg. Extremely influential on modern male pop stars and Internet fandom culture. Huge international reach, especially in Latin America, Asia and Europe. One of the most screamed artists ever.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Y' all forgetting also Spice Girls. Hello.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I'm saying, Justin.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Spice Girls was definitely tough.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I see how Justin not top five all time pop stars.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, I'm gonna say top five still though he's maybe top. It just seems like he's so young. Like there should be more to choose from before you get to Justin Bieber. Not that he's not not Justin Bieber, but. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And pop is a weird genre. Cause pop definitely has a sound. But then they label anybody popular. That's pop. Cause pop just is short for popular. So it's like that's whack to me. Like there is a pop star sound. Like we know that bubblegum shit we be listening to.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They have the mic right here.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's do a couple more, man. What else we got? Taylor. So fresh, so raw. If you could go back at any point in your life to alter a significant moment, would you? You, Lauren, when you fell off the bed, hit your head, ball, squat, forever the hell up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Did I bring up the woman with the Jerry curl?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow, that's crazy to bring up child abuse.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You've been my father this whole episode.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All I did was fell off a bed episode.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm fatherless. My dad left me. I don't understand. No, because my dad rejects me. I don't want to hear nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I just said you fell off a bed and bumped your head and got a ball spot for you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's fair game, baby. And you, what would you tell you? Can I say my. Because this is crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, go ahead.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I would go back to giving birth and wait a little bit longer if I could. What do you mean? Like, I. I got induced, and I wish I waited out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, you want to push it out?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, maybe push him out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why? Tell me why.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because, like, hearing other people's stories, I just feel like, oh, I could have waited. I didn't have to necessarily get induced. I felt like he was late, and I was just ready to. So when you get induced, you still don't push? No, I could. Like, they, I got. Yeah, I got that my body did not react well to that at all. But also, I just feel like the situation I had, the doctor and all that confusion, like, I, I.

[Chris Moreau]

They push you towards it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Chris Moreau]

Well, did you get a C section?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I got C section.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's more. It's more money. Yeah, there's more money. And it's. They can keep a schedule.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And also, I didn't have. But, you know, my situation with the doctor like that, it was just. It wasn't a good situation. So I'm so sorry that that happen. I. I'm not hung up on it, but saying I would want to.

[Chris Moreau]

But having two kids who were given naturally. Yeah, there's no big difference.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, I definitely want to do natural. I definitely want to do natural. I'm definitely getting that epidural. Yeah, no, no, I know, I know that. But I'm just saying that I wish I didn't rush it. That's all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I got three. We. We got three that came through the womb, one that came. C section. There's a difference.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yo, how does C section baby act?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She. That's the wild. She's the difference.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And my son. I know exactly. My son's gonna be wild anyway with his Parents, so it doesn't matter. Oh, yeah, yeah. Patrick is. He'd be chilling. But don't. Don't play with him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, let's do one more, man. Alex. Gotta get to the in laws. Alexa Grin says, ooh, it's a good one to end on. What's your advice on how to build discipline?

[Lauren LaRosa]

First, you gotta identify what you're not being disciplined about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

True.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And then you should identify what little small changes you can make do first. And then once you get those down consistently, you should have the repetition enough to be like, all right, I can challenge myself to do the bigger change that I need and then honestly just do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. My advice on how to build discipline is you have to live life. Meaning that you have to allow yourself enough time to make your own mistakes and watch the mistakes of other people. Because that's how you build discipline. Right. You build discipline by seeing things not go right and saying, I don't want that to happen to me, or, I don't want that to be me. And if you've already made those mistakes, then you learn from those mistakes and you get discipline from that. Or you can watch what somebody else is going through and be like, nah, that person fucked up with that. I'm going to be different. I could look at a. Respectfully. I could look at a fat person and be like, okay, I gotta be more disciplined. You know what I'm saying? Especially when you see people kick.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But not all people gain weight and are fat because of lack of discipline. Some people, it's like a health thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's not true. That's not true. And I'm tired of this silliness. We're going to stop this. It's 20, 26. I know people who got fat simply because they like this. There are some people because they spend. They eat too much fast food, too much processed food. They drink. Don't get proper sleep. Don't get. Especially in this business. Oh, my God.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Me and Mimi were just talking about the fact that you gain weight when you start working with Breakfast Club. Because your sleep schedule is so crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, your Mimi can't get fat. Please, Mimi, don't get fat. Don't let the streets.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The other day we were talking and she literally was like, I'm making it. Cause I be telling her it's okay, Go to bed, wake up early, finish it in the morning. And she was like, I'm doing it now. Because she noticed that she started to gain weight. Because your sleep schedule's all over the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

place and it messes with your body, but that's discipline. Having a sleep schedule is discipline.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Also, having a passion is discipline, too, because you're going to work hard to get to where you trying to be, too, though. Yeah. And that works with discipline.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who are, I think, actually get there, have it at some point.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, gang. Gang. As always, if you listen to this podcast, you think we're smart, you think we're intelligent, you think we're brilliant. You're absolutely right. Oh, give them. Tell them where to follow you. Lauren.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Lauren LaRosa. Everywhere. That's L O R E N L O R O S A. And listen to the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. The the podcast we upload daily Monday through Friday, breaking down all the things that are happening, trending conversations. You know, we get into some things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right. So as always, if you listen to this podcast, you think we're smart, you think we're intelligent, you think we're brilliant. You're absolutely right. But if you listen to this podcast, you think we're just a couple idiots who don't know shit. You're right, too. It's the Brilliant Idiots podcast. Thank you for listening.