A Medical Read

Summary

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The Friend Zone – Episode Summary: “A Medical Read”

Podcast: The Friend Zone (Loud Speakers Network)
Air Date: May 6, 2026
Hosts: Dustin Ross, Hey Fran Hey (Francesco), Asante

Main Theme/Purpose

In this dynamic episode, the hosts revisit the notorious “Nature Boy” cult story, propelled by the release of the Hulu docuseries The Cult of Nature Boy. They break down the psychological manipulation at play, the vulnerability of the followers, the dangers of toxic “spiritual leaders,” and reflect on broader systemic issues—taking a lens of empathy, humor, and sharp critique. The show also features robust community feedback, black business highlights, music, and TV picks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating Cinco de Mayo & Show Announcements

[02:00–09:00]

• Dustin opens with joy around Cinco de Mayo, celebrating Mexican culture and music.
• Dustin announces a six-city live tour at City Winery (Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Atlanta, Nashville). Tickets at dustinrosslive.com.
• The team reflects on their energetic Patreon livestream and hilarious viral moments.

"I love Cinco de Mayo because I love Mexican culture. I love going to Mexico. I love Mexican food, music... I'm with it!" – Dustin Ross [02:22]

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2. Black Business of the Week: Freddie Estelle

[10:25–12:30]

Asante spotlights Freddie Estelle, a Black-owned custom fashion brand honoring the founder's late uncle—focused on authentic, handcrafted wearable art for men and women.

"The brand is rooted in love, inspiration, and freely and authentically… every piece is handcrafted and designed to feel personal, expressive, and one of one." – Asante [11:53]

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3. Community Feedback: Listener Comments & Humor

[13:05–23:25]

• In-depth responses to recent listener comments from Patreon, SoundCloud, and Spotify.
• Memorable moments: wild tales about workplace scares, 2000s throwback songs unlocking "core memories," candid discussions about skincare (even “butt acne”—with humor).
• Safety tips for hiking/camping (bear mace, tick awareness).

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4. Cultural Catch-Up: The Met Gala & Twitter Highlights

[23:26–25:43]

• Met Gala discussion: Shoutout to French singer Ayses (“Met Gala—you could never”).
• Commentary on celebrity style moments, especially Beyoncé and Blue Ivy.

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5. Deep Dive: Hulu's “The Cult of Nature Boy” Docuseries

[31:00–100:57]

Initiated by Asante—Full Recap, Analysis, and Reflection

a. Background and Context

• Nature Boy (real name: Eligio Bishop) ran a cult that lured vulnerable young Black people with promises of spirituality, community, and liberation—ultimately leading to abuse and manipulation, now the focus of a Hulu documentary.

b. How Followers Got Entrapped

• Many came from backgrounds of trauma, family instability, depression, or a broader search for meaning during societal unrest (police brutality era, etc.).
• Nature Boy’s early messages mixed with spiritual-sounding but empty rhetoric, attracting those needing connection.

"There’s something about someone imparting information or imparting wisdom that makes you see things differently...you also have to be careful—people can wield that as destructive power."
– Hey Fran Hey [45:31]

c. Red Flags and Cult Mechanics

• Renaming, forced strict diets, communal living in tents, confiscated passports/debit cards, and engineered relationships/marriages.
• Nature Boy claimed to live simply, but ate lavishly and lived comfortably while followers endured hardship.
• His rules: humiliation, public discipline, and ever-escalating control, streamed live as both propaganda and fundraising.

d. Evolution to Abuse

• Transitioned from “uplifting” to outright misogynistic, controlling, and abusive behavior—especially as followers became more dependent, isolated from families/friends.
• Horrific details: manipulation during pregnancy, sexual coercion, and violent punishments disguised as “discipline.”

e. Critique, Empathy, and Heart

• The hosts juggle laughter for levity, but always return to empathy for the followers, never blaming them for being targeted in moments of vulnerability.
• Fran, Dustin, and Asante all reflect on the importance of childhood safety and critical thinking—and the reality that anyone could be susceptible under the right circumstances.

"Anybody could end up there. That could have been anybody’s cousin, brother, sister..." – Asante [95:16]

f. Docuseries Impact & Resolution

• Survivors like Velvet and Kendra share their stories; Internet sleuths and journalists help document the abuse, culminating in Bishop’s conviction:
  Life without parole + 10 years consecutive for rape and false imprisonment [97:25]
• The hosts underscore the value of online activism for justice, while also noting the darker side of “internet detectives” who cross boundaries.

"Shout out to [the sleuths]. Even if I don’t like internet detectives, if you use it to save people, put it to use..." – Fran [100:44]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I just want people to know we’re going to laugh, but—with empathy and care for the victims. Sometimes you have to crack a joke to keep from crying.” – Dustin Ross [42:36]
• “That’s why it’s important to be nice to your kids—so they’re not running from what you created and end up in the arms of a predator.”
  — Dustin Ross [78:06]
• “He was doing nothing but spewing baloney—no real wisdom, just control.”
  — Hey Fran Hey [80:23]
• “Anyone who treats pregnant women cruelly is a monster.”
  — Dustin Ross [92:53]
• “If I found out one of my loved ones was taken in by something like this...the fury I would have in my soul.”
  — Dustin Ross [96:02]

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Music, Wellness, and Pop Culture Segments

This Week in Wellness (Francesco)

[107:04–113:48]

• App spotlight: InstaWork—AI-fueled, on-demand local gig economy app for extra income. Vetting process discussed, with Reddit/community reviews.

This Week in Music (Asante, Francesco, Dustin)

[113:48–137:44]

• Shoutouts: India Shawn's new EP (“Multiplicity,” “Till Infinity”), Know Me, Boss Mandela.
• Cinco de Mayo playlist: Selena, Lil Rob, Miguel.
• Tour news: Shakira’s massive Rio crowd; Pussycat Dolls’ canceled shows; controversy with M.I.A.’s tour spot over inflammatory statements; Kid Cudi’s swift response.
• Notable: Toosie recognized for anti-homophobia comments.

This Week in TV

[137:44–140:56]

• Reality TV roundup:
  • Love & Marriage: Huntsville drama
  • Bell Collective: Birmingham success
  • Real Housewives of Atlanta—iconic confrontation between Pinky Cole and Angela Oakley.
  • Baddies USA (Zeus Network) sneak peeks

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Cinco de Mayo & Opening Banter: [02:00–09:00]
• Black Business: Freddie Estelle: [10:25–12:30]
• Listener Feedback / Wellness Tips: [13:05–23:25]
• Met Gala Pop Culture: [23:26–25:43]
• Nature Boy Docuseries Deep Dive: [31:00–100:57]
  • Origin/Recruitment: [31:00–49:00]
  • Cult Structure/Abuse Mechanics: [49:00–70:00]
  • Personal Stories, Cult Dangers, Empathy: [70:00–97:30]
  • Legal Outcome/Activism: [97:30–100:57]
• Wellness App: InstaWork: [107:04–113:48]
• Music & Pop Culture: [113:48–137:44]
• TV & Reality Roundup: [137:44–140:56]

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is characteristically warm, irreverent, and funny with moments of solemnity when needed. Despite the heavy subject matter, the hosts maintain a blend of cultural critique, humor, and lived experience—a friend-to-friend vibe, making even taboos approachable for their community.

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Final Thoughts

• The episode serves as both an accessible primer on the Nature Boy cult (and dangers of spiritual grifters) plus a showcase for the resilience, critical thinking, and communal care that the hosts champion.
• Extra gems: tips for side hustles, the value of community feedback, and the enduring power of culture, music, and laughter, even in dark times.

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For more, catch “The Cult of Nature Boy” docuseries on Hulu or join the discussion with The Friend Zone on Patreon and socials.

Transcript

[Francesco]

Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with epglis, a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema after an initial four month or longer dosing phase. About four in ten people taking Eblis achieved itch relief in clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.

[Dustin Ross]

Emplis Lebricizumab LBKZ a 250mg per 2ml

[Asante]

injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of

[Dustin Ross]

age and older who weigh at least

[Asante]

88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis

[Dustin Ross]

that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Ebglis.

[Asante]

Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe.

[Dustin Ross]

Eye problems can occur.

[Asante]

Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems.

[Dustin Ross]

You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Ebglis. Before starting Ebglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection.

[Francesco]

Ask your doctor about eglis and visit ebglis.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Dustin Ross]

When it comes to designing your outdoor space, there's more to it than pure function. You need a space to unwind, make memories and enjoy a meal. You need versatility, style and craftsmanship. Belgard pavers are different. They're designed to elevate your life outdoors.

[Asante]

They're design forward weather tested and built to last.

[Dustin Ross]

No matter your style, Belgard can bring it to life.

[Asante]

Just a paver.

[Dustin Ross]

Think again. Learn [e-mail] that's B-E-L-A-R- welcome to the Friends. My name is Dustin.

[Francesco]

I'm Francesco, also known as hey friend.

[Asante]

Hey. My name is Asante.

[Dustin Ross]

This is the Friend Zone. Tacos. Oh, you don't hear me?

[Asante]

Spanish rice.

[Dustin Ross]

That's right. God damn it. Y' all know what time it is now? At the time time of the recording of this here episode and more importantly, on the date of recording this here episode. It's Cinco de Mayo, y'. All. Flat out now. Y' all know I love this is one of my right. Cinco de Mayo is what a Sunday time. That's right. Holiday time.

[Asante]

Holiday time.

[Dustin Ross]

This Is one of my favorite holidays, okay? I. Everybody says that my favorites are the off holidays. Call it what you want, okay? I don't say nothing to y' all on Flag Day. I love Cinco de Mayo because I love Mexican culture. I love Mexico. I love going to Mexico. I love Mexican food. I love Mexican music. I love all that. So I'm with it. I. With Cinco de Mayo. Ole. And I just want everybody.

[Francesco]

Olay is crazy.

[Asante]

Wow.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm ready to como la floor as soon as we get done with this here. You hear me? Because it is time. I'm ready to turn on some Selena and just, you know, enjoy my holiday. So I just wanted to start this off right, give some love to our Mexican brethren and sistering in. They. Okay.

[Francesco]

We do love you.

[Dustin Ross]

We love. Hell, yeah. You know what I'm saying? If we ain't celebrating it right, let us know, because we're gonna try to honor and pay homage and respect, reverence for what the holiday is intentioned for. And also, I'm getting drunk. So, hey, I was gonna ask.

[Francesco]

Are y'. All. Y' all going out today for it?

[Dustin Ross]

Hells, yeah. I cannot wait to. My friends have already hit me up like, oh, what time are you done working? Okay, get ready. Line them up. Okay. Oh, you bitches think you tough. Oh, line that shit up, ho. So I'm very excited. I just want to wish everybody happy Cinco, you know, I don't know France, if y' all have some words. I don't know, but I just.

[Francesco]

I do not.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. Wish everybody a happy Cinco de Mic.

[Asante]

You have this special.

[Francesco]

I'm sure it's a holiday they find very annoying and Spanish, right?

[Dustin Ross]

That's right. I'm excited. So happy Cinco to Mayo. Okay. And with that being said, welcome.

[Francesco]

Or I was about to do you. I was gonna do you. Like Jo Ellen when she was like, what. What is fourth of July?

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, my God.

[Francesco]

She was like, I don't know. I'm just throwing a party.

[Dustin Ross]

See, the thing is, y', all, I done told y' all my secret, which is that I can't stand that woman on that show. And now y' all are seeing her through my eyes. That is making their actions funny to you.

[Asante]

That's what's happening. You know what's fucked up? This is terrible. But when they were doing the Pledge of Allegiance, because they both did it wrong, it happened to me, too.

[Dustin Ross]

Wow.

[Asante]

Because I was like, why did y' all say that? And then when I was trying to remember it, I couldn't think past that point either, because they had both said that. I was like, is that how it goes?

[Dustin Ross]

You know why I remember the Pledge of it? First of all, welcome to the friends.

[Francesco]

They made us do it things.

[Dustin Ross]

Mental health, mental hygiene, and Cinco de Mayo. Because who in the hell ain't celebrating Cinco de Mayo? I know I am. See? So now here's my thing. The reason I memorized the Pledge of Allegiance is because we weren't allowed to say it, you know, in the religion that I grew up in.

[Francesco]

Oh, wait, really?

[Dustin Ross]

So you don't say that. You don't none of that. That's why I'll be in here now for the land of every chance I get.

[Francesco]

Okay. Oh, I never thought. Damn, they was straight.

[Dustin Ross]

Now I still take that knee with Colin. However, I do know the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesco]

Wow.

[Asante]

It's something.

[Francesco]

You knocked on my door this weekend.

[Asante]

It's something to be standing up in the classroom and everybody's saying a Pledge of Allegiance and you just looking around like, yep, I ain't got to say it, friend.

[Dustin Ross]

Did you open the door?

[Francesco]

You know what? I did, because it was two black elderly women, and I said, there's no way I'm gonna ignore them. Like I would anyone else. So I opened the door, but I was on the phone with Cecily. Shout out to Cecily. And so they respected that. They said, oh, you on the phone, baby. We won't bother you. And it was like, we just want to give you this pamphlet about saving myself. Y' all know Dustin from fl, but they were very sweet, but I just was like, oh, this. I didn't know this was still a thing in 2026. I admire the commitment.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Damn. You know, we all have. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesco]

I thought of you this song. Yeah. Let's jump in.

[Dustin Ross]

Ding dong. Let me scare that out.

[Francesco]

Literally. Y' all have any announcements or anything you want to share with our listeners before we jump in? Jump in.

[Dustin Ross]

Asante, Dustin. Yes, I absolutely do. So shout out to my friends at City Winery, the good people at City of the Winery. Right? People at the Winery of the Cities. They have partnered with me, and I'm going on a six city tour with City Winery. Come on. That's right. God damn it. Gonna talk some.

[Francesco]

So man on road.

[Dustin Ross]

Man on road. Oh, so you know the tickets are on sale now. You can go to dustinrosslive.com I will

[Francesco]

be in the description box.

[Dustin Ross]

You right on Juneteenth, June 19th, I'll be in Philadelphia at City Winery. That's right. I'm playing Chicago on July 7, St. Louis on July 9, Boston on July 21, Atlanta, two shows on July 24. We're having an early Analay show in Atlanta, and then Nashville, Cashville. Okay. On July 26th. So those are the dates. The tickets are on sale right now. Meet and greet, all that shit. You can go to dustinross live.com or you can go to citywinery.com in search of my name. And the tickets will come right up. So I can't wait to see on the Road. Yes.

[Francesco]

That's so exciting.

[Dustin Ross]

Thank you. I'm very excited.

[Francesco]

Link will definitely be in the description box. I know. People are lazy, right? So let's jump in. We want to thank you, Patreon, for the live stream last week, too.

[Asante]

We do.

[Dustin Ross]

Thank you.

[Francesco]

Thank you, Patreon. We have so much fun with lechat, as we do every month. Right. We always end up going over the time allotted because we ended up having way too much fun. Right. And Dustin was traveling was just added to the edge of it. All right. Also, Dustin, that thing that Dang, what's his name, Stephen A. Smith clip. I just have to. I just have to bring it up because I was laughing throughout the weekend at random times. Just thinking about.

[Dustin Ross]

What was you laughing at? That's what I mean about y' all black women.

[Asante]

You always laugh, please.

[Dustin Ross]

When it ain't time to laugh.

[Francesco]

Just randomly laughing. And you at the party said, I'm supposed to be talking about sports, but I'd rather not talk.

[Dustin Ross]

Black women.

[Francesco]

That part fucking kills.

[Dustin Ross]

We having a little fun, man. I'm sick of his ass. I'm so tired of him. Like that lady that broke the. I'm so tired of you. I'm so tired of you. I'm so tired of Stephen A. Smith, man.

[Francesco]

God, that was funny. Bring it back around. It really did you see? The response has been phenomenal. Because people, first of all, the clip. Funny, right?

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. Yes, but so dope. Shout out to that clip and shout out to the joy that it brought

[Francesco]

everybody because so damn good. But anyway, let's jump into Stephen A.

[Dustin Ross]

Smith, and if you want to fight about it, we can. Cause I ain't scared. Y' all whoop your old ass. Okay? So I just want that to be. No, go ahead. Cause, bitch, you can get mad if you want to. I'm mad.

[Asante]

I don't want to fight you, Dustin.

[Dustin Ross]

Let's duke it out. Let's Go on, Zeus.

[Francesco]

Not you. Not a woman.

[Asante]

You're not a woman.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, right. I'm just black.

[Francesco]

Ooh. Asante. You have a black business that you would like to highlight this week?

[Asante]

Yes, I do the black business. Sorry, I got to, you know, be black and moisturize my lips always.

[Dustin Ross]

That's right. Okay.

[Asante]

For those of y' all watching. Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

We love y', all.

[Asante]

Patreon. The black business I would like to highlight this week is Freddie Estelle. Okay. Now, I know that there is a fragrance brand called Freddie Estelle, but now there is a black owned custom fashion brand. Freddie Estelle.

[Francesco]

Nice.

[Asante]

Freddie Estelle designs pieces for men and women. I've seen pieces. So if you want to find Freddie Estelle, they're on Instagram at Freddie Estelle. That's F, R, E, D, D, I, e dot E, S, C, E, L, L, e. You could also find them@freddy estelle.com on their Instagram though I see that they've addressed Anderson pack Busta Rhymes. Oh, and I didn't wear this on purpose, but I don't know if I got on a Busta Rhymes T shirt. It's crazy.

[Francesco]

I got you on that back end.

[Dustin Ross]

Whoa.

[Asante]

Both of y' all crazier than everything that almost shows. Freddy Estelle.

[Dustin Ross]

Also shout out to them for selling men's and women's clothes because Freddy and Estelle can shop there. I love it.

[Asante]

Right, Freddy? Freddy Estelle is a black owned custom fashion brand. They're built on legacy, storytelling, and wearable art created by by a designer honoring his late uncle, Freddy Estelle. The brand is rooted in love, inspiration, and freely and authentically. After his uncle passed away from cancer in 2020, the founder turned that grief into purpose, launching a collection of where every piece is handcrafted and designed to feel personal, expressive, and one of one. So if you want to check out Freddie Estelle again, you can check them out@freddy estelle.com or freddie.estelle on Instagram. I'll send that on over to you, friend.

[Francesco]

Perfect, right? I was gonna say, go ahead and send that. I also just want to see you braiding your hair.

[Dustin Ross]

Makes everything you'. For your opinion.

[Francesco]

I was doing it one day. My mom's like, please stop braiding your hair. I was like, it was wet. I'm just trying to fix it.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah,

[Asante]

She gotta be on go.

[Francesco]

I mean, you know, I just washed it.

[Dustin Ross]

That is so funny. It looks good, though.

[Francesco]

Okay. It's getting long, right? I've been taking care of it. All right. Last week's Episode titled It's hard to not say dynamite, but I don't want to say dynamite. Thank you, Dustin Ross. Dynamite. So hard not to say it. We talked pop culture, the news cycle moves back, moves past. Wow. Moves fast. But Dustin moves faster. He catches us up on all of the hottest topics that he believes we need to know about. And it goes exactly how you think. Well, thank you, Dustin Ross. Those of you had a blast, but also had a lot to say. Who stood out to you? Asante?

[Asante]

A lot of you stood out to me in the SoundCloud. I mean, excuse me, the Spotify streets. Ooh, Throwback. Shout out to you, Serena. Serena Figno. I love how your name is spelled. I hope I'm saying Figno correct, but I just love everything about that name. Serena's comment reads, all three of y' all are on one this episode. Serena. I just want to know what that I do, but we can come Back to that, Mr. Culpability.

[Dustin Ross]

You lucky that book.

[Francesco]

That's a good Patreon reference, Ms.

[Asante]

Comment reads, I was at my night shift job by myself, not realizing my door was slightly open. Tell me why a patient being wheeled past a being wheeled pass stopped right by my door, and which so happens to be by the patient elevators. The moment y' all said Amber Rose, this random man, his transport and nurse and I in unison both went, uh, I know you fucking lying at the exact same time.

[Francesco]

Not the patient.

[Asante]

He was so loud, the heart heard him. And I have to go check. Imagine just waking up from anesthesia and still having the sense to dislike this woman.

[Dustin Ross]

This feels like a medical read.

[Asante]

Yeah. Which I guess this is what Mr. Stands for. So shout out to you, Mr. No,

[Francesco]

we have to name this episode of

[Dustin Ross]

medical classic Shout out to you, Mr. Yes. Give it up for that. It's nurse week.

[Asante]

Oh, wow. Last comment I want to share is from Marky Jackson. This is just a throwback to you, Dustin.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm in the movie. Marky, Your family's on one right now. Y' all on a roll. Y' all got juice motion if y' all can moonwalk.

[Asante]

Oh, actually, I have one more comment to read after this because it's for Fran, but this one's for you, Dustin. Built like Pennywise in the thighs. Had me down. Dustin, we're three minutes in. A lot. A lot of people wrote that for you, Dustin.

[Francesco]

Who are you saying that about? Stephen A. Smith?

[Dustin Ross]

No, you have to listen to the show because it's related to the intro. So I'm not just gonna give it away to Our audience this week. Y' all gotta go back and listen. We need to numbers.

[Asante]

It was early so last one. This one's for you, Fran. This one comes from Chris. Chris comment reads, Fran, why did you unlock a core memory with let it go? I completely cause. Fran, I knew you felt so good last week. I wanted to give you a piece of win this week, girl. I really did. I completely forgot about that song. It was my Jamie friends too.

[Francesco]

The amount of millennials her that hit me feeling.

[Asante]

You found a tribe.

[Francesco]

I get it. We get it.

[Asante]

Not a tribe.

[Dustin Ross]

It was very much a that's my song moment.

[Asante]

You know what I'm saying? What did you find out? What did you find out there in them streets, Fran?

[Francesco]

So on Patreon, the gated community, Louis David said, fran, I can't help thinking of you. Every time I see people on social media talking about those videos. Damn ticks and the diseases they're spreading, I keep fighting the urge to tag you in every video. Every time I start typing your handle, I hear you in my head saying, y' all need to calm down. I have the same Internet you do. Please be safe out there. I appreciate you, Louis. I do see all the content about tics and I'm actually, you know, that's something when you're hiking and camping you do have to be aware of. I don't necessarily know how you can, you know, not get a tick if it comes on you. I know wearing long sleeve and pants and thermals and all of the things helps, but I guess that's just the chance you take right when you're out in nature. But it's not even just hiking, camping. You could just be walking through Central Park.

[Dustin Ross]

Do you have bear mace?

[Francesco]

I don't anymore, but I did.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I bought bear mace and a couple years back, I don't know if

[Francesco]

they bear mace on the tick Mace.

[Asante]

I'm like, does that. I see why maybe it could be effective. But also, is it?

[Dustin Ross]

I saw he probably look at me like I saw a powerful woman in a street fight and she was stopped by Bear Maze.

[Francesco]

Oh, no. I told you these kids were pranking where they were just spraying it at the on the street corner and then running and watching people walk through it.

[Dustin Ross]

That's fucked up.

[Francesco]

Fucking awful. Especially because it was like an old black lady walking through it. So it was awful, awful, awful.

[Dustin Ross]

But I hope they ran around corner. I figured out I shouldn't say that, but I hope it wasn't no stop sign on that corner.

[Francesco]

You know what?

[Dustin Ross]

You put me through it. You take you through there. Take you through there. And by there I mean the er,

[Francesco]

sarcastic professional says, I understand why you feel disappointed that Megan spoke publicly about Clay, but I also think he's benefited from people not seeing certain sides of him, especially the anger and mood swings. He probably didn't expect her to be honest about that publicly. Which is exactly why her speaking up mattered.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, thank you for the petty note. One, two, three, on a petty note.

[Francesco]

And I agree with that. I think that's a. Well, hold on, let me take that back. I appreciate you sharing that. That's what I really mean. Here's where I don't agree. No one cares. Men don't get. You know what I mean? They don't get held accountable for these. Because he's an angry person. Yeah. Look at the level of shit men have done. That's worse. And they're still not held accountable. But the woman, on the other hand,

[Asante]

because if they did this would be.

[Francesco]

Another person is destroyed if they think

[Asante]

this will be another notch on. Against Clay. But it's not. This is for whatever reason, other. Another notch against Clay, against Megan, it's

[Francesco]

like, I mean, him cheating, like no one cares. Him having mood swings, no one cares. But look how she is being affected. Like her work is affected. She's being vilified. And that's the issue I have. I think as women, unfortunately, we don't live in a society or even in a digital age where men and everyone's going to come together. Like, yeah, he's wrong. You know what I mean? Let's do something about it. It's just not the world we live in. And the woman always ends up up with more of the consequences. I just don't want her to deal with the consequences. That's why I felt like it's not worth it.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I get it.

[Francesco]

It's not worth it.

[Dustin Ross]

Petty ass gets it too.

[Francesco]

No, I mean, they had it.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

They have the right to share. No, Clark. Clark. Just be pretty.

[Asante]

Oh, my God.

[Francesco]

I love this one. Clark. Ken said I don't have butt acne. But ironically. Thanks Asante for that. But ironically. You did it. You were the one.

[Dustin Ross]

It was me. Like, do you see?

[Asante]

How do you see?

[Dustin Ross]

I'm not gonna let her under the bus.

[Asante]

Thank you.

[Francesco]

I'm not saying you had it. I'm saying I thought you shared a story about butt acne.

[Dustin Ross]

Did you? Not me, because.

[Asante]

No, I said. What I did say was I did randomly use toner on my butt because I read it somewhere, but not cuz. I had butt acne. I just want to see.

[Francesco]

So that's what my brain is crossing those wires. I knew you shared a story about it, so something did happen, but not

[Asante]

that I just want to be clear.

[Francesco]

Know I ain't full crazy. Clark said, but ironically, during stringent and

[Dustin Ross]

astringent, you know, I read it.

[Asante]

I was like, what's the difference? Is it something extra? It was a little cooling. I was, ooh. But I was like, I'm not gonna do this. It was cool. It was because, you know, that stringent being, you know, that's.

[Francesco]

That's too harsh.

[Dustin Ross]

Cranes.

[Asante]

No, what's harsh was. No, it's hard. You know that. Dr. Bronner. Sorry.

[Francesco]

Right? The peppermint. Clark Kent said during heated fellowship. I love that. That's so.

[Dustin Ross]

Heated fellowship.

[Francesco]

During heated wow fellowship, I noticed my partner's butt was blemish free and the complexion, though was smooth. I was hypnotized. I asked him what he used, and it was naturium. I left there and hit checkout on all the naturium products. Salis, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, mandelic acid, vitamin C brighter and glow Getter Mandela right in my TikTok shoot shopping cart. It's been six months now, and it's been a game changer. I also use topicals to help with my hyperpigmentation. I love men talking about their regimens, so I had to use this topical.

[Dustin Ross]

So I wonder if he puts that underneath the. The ass cheek.

[Francesco]

No, you like.

[Dustin Ross]

You know how you put them right here.

[Francesco]

I wanted the under eye strips. Cut it out. Clyde Kent. I also love your comments on Patreon. You he live comments while he listens.

[Dustin Ross]

I love tonight.

[Francesco]

Rolling with every comment. So we appreciate you. Lastly, McCo says some sites have cart abandonment coupons. So I'll let something sit in my cart for a few days if it's not a need, and then I'll wait for the. You forgot something. Take 15 off. That's so true.

[Asante]

Cookies. Them cookies. When they. They useful. Okay.

[Francesco]

I didn't know that was a call. That's what it was called. Abandonment coupons. I'd be living for that. But not every site sounds like a divorce decree. Would you find Dustin Ross in those Twitter streets?

[Dustin Ross]

Not a motherfucking abandonment coupon. I can tell you that. So everybody knows yesterday was the Met gala, right? So.

[Francesco]

That's right. I just completely missed that.

[Asante]

Me too.

[Dustin Ross]

Nobody really cared this year, but it was still fashion nonetheless. And I want to give a shout out to the French singer that Asante put us all onto on the show. Issel. Right?

[Asante]

Yes.

[Francesco]

Was there.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes. And look at her for. This is for those on Patreon that can see. Look at her.

[Francesco]

Oh, wow. She looks fab.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, she. It showed her ass. You know what I'm saying? So shout out to Esau and kj. Nice being her stylist.

[Asante]

Nice.

[Dustin Ross]

The tweet that I'm referencing, because I'm not just talking about it, it actually is a tweet of the week. She tweeted that picture I just showed our Patreon and she wrote Met Gala. You could never. That's. That's literally what she. That's literally what she tweeted right there.

[Asante]

You know? You know, that's a call back to that song that they stole from her.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, she got a new song too. Have you seen that? That new song she's been teased.

[Asante]

What, Freak?

[Dustin Ross]

No.

[Asante]

Or the other one. The next one.

[Dustin Ross]

The one that is not released yet. She be like before we.

[Asante]

Yeah, it sounds good. I want to know what. I want to hear the whole thing.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I love her. But anyway, she looked good on the Mad calico. That's how she be doing in the video. That's what she was doing in the song. Anyway, that was for Patreon. You know what I'm saying? You look good. You look damn good on that med.

[Francesco]

She does love that.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. That's it for the tweets this week.

[Francesco]

Were those bangs or part of the hat?

[Dustin Ross]

I couldn't really tell. It's like a headband part. She. It was like fire a pooh shisty

[Francesco]

elevated.

[Dustin Ross]

Hell, yeah.

[Francesco]

She looks fab. Yeah. I need to look through the pictures. I didn't really see anybody. I did see Beyonce's outfit, so I saw someone post it. Oh, blue too. Yeah. I need to look at people's pictures.

[Dustin Ross]

She looked good. She was so kind and gracious to all the reporters that were, like, asking her questions and. Oh, no, you could tell they're raising her right. Oh, it was good to see her. She had that shit on Balenciaga down dragging.

[Francesco]

Come on.

[Dustin Ross]

You know.

[Francesco]

You know, my parents are all right. That means that we can jump into this week's episode.

[Asante]

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[Dustin Ross]

Spring testing is around the corner, projects are picking up and the push toward the end of the year is officially on y'. All. IXL helps kids stay confident and prepared during this important stretch. IXL is an award award winning online learning platform for Pre K through 12th grade with personalized interactive lessons in math, reading, writing and science that adapt to each child's level and pace. Now this is proven in all 50 states to improve grades. Students who use IXL score higher on tests. IXL is in fact used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the US. We have actually tested this. I know I'll speak for myself. I'm very close with my family. You guys know that. I've had my family on the show before. Young school age children in my family as well. We've used IXL to help them and has been the perfect benefit and supplement to their education. My little cousins, they need to have their key skills reviewed before they go up for state testing. We know how critically important that is to their success in higher education. So IXL is really a useful tool and you can make an impact on your child's learning. And you can get IXL now and the Friend Zone listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL. Visit ixl.com friendzone to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Y' all know what time it is. Your outdoor space should feel like you, but it can take a long time to get there and I'm talking about things that I Know Fran and Asante, y' all both know that I just got my place a year ago and I have a large outdoor terrace that I'm so grateful for. But it takes a long time to improve that, to get all the things to even figure out what you need for the outdoor space. It takes a long time, right? But enter Wayfair to help you out with all that. Whether your vibe is modern, coastal, which I love, farmhouse or eclectic, Wayfair has the pieces to create an outdoor space that is uniquely yours. And I can speak about this again because I ordered several items from my rooftop from Wayfair, from an outdoor rug to a couple tables for my terrace. Things to just make it feel more comfortable and homey, but in an outdoorsy way. And it really worked out. And after I got my Wayfair delivery, which was seamless right from the truck to the door, everything was was intact. No scratches, no bumps, no bangs. And adding those pieces gave my terrace the exact feel that I wanted, a lived in terrace feeling. So with filters, customer reviews, visual tools, all the things that can help you actually imagine how the item will look in your space. Wayfair makes it simple to narrow down what works for your style and your budget. They have everything from outdoor seating, y', all, grills, lighting and decor. Wayfair is literally your one stop shop for home Installation and assembly. Services are also available so that you can create a truly seamless experience. And if you want an even faster shortcut to the good stuff, shop Wayfair verified. And these are products that their team of specialists have vetted by hand using a 10 point quality inspection. And they do it on video. Those really help you out while you're shopping too. It gives you a different look at the item, it does different feel for it. You can compare it in size to the person speaking about it. It's just a really useful tool and I love that about Wayfair. So get prepped for patio season. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W a Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, Every home.

[Francesco]

This week's episode is another Asante production. We're going in code. Tell us what we're talking about this week, Asante.

[Asante]

Well, we're actually revisiting something that we've discussed before, but now that it's been put together in a more Prof. Professional, more, less nonsensical rather way, I thought that we should definitely revisit. But not only did I think that we should Revisit this. But you all asked for us to revisit. Visit this. Shout out to lechat over at Patreon because they suggested us to talk about the Nature Boy documentary that has premiered on Hulu. And also, I just want to quickly take us back to our previous segment, the recap from last week in the dynamite episode in the Spotify comments, Major Morris, shout out to you, Major Morris, in the Spotify streets from last week's episode. Major's comment.

[Dustin Ross]

Read. Read it like you gossiping with us.

[Francesco]

That is fake.

[Dustin Ross]

Do it. Read it like you gossiping.

[Asante]

You know, normally I'm all for the improv, but it should be something about

[Dustin Ross]

you can do it.

[Asante]

Look, normally I'll be all about the improv, but it's something about the particular prompts that you have, like do it like you gossiping. It's just specifically black. And I also don't want to fall into tropes because I almost went somewhere. I'm just going to read the comment. Fran, on a past show, didn't you talk about a cult leader named Nature Boy? If so, just released a Hulu just released a five part documentary on him hitting play as we speak. Well, Major, I've got news for you. We have actually in fact talked about Nature Boy in the past. But it was. I. I let the charge on that. And not only was I the one that discussed it in the past, but I will be the one discussing it here. This here present. It's a four part documentary.

[Francesco]

Hold on. I just real quick. I saw a tweet where somebody was like, what side of the Internet were y' all on? Were y' all even witnessed this happening? Like, I never heard of this person. And then someone retweeted them and said at friends on. And I want to tweet that and be like, please give context to this tweet because we are not supporters.

[Dustin Ross]

We are not so damn cool. We ain't in carbonation. What was it called?

[Francesco]

It was melanation.

[Asante]

Right. Mind you, we only talked about it like when I brought it up.

[Dustin Ross]

By the way, I know who made this up. Like Rudy Hudson.

[Francesco]

Very like, what are the ninjas that be in Harlem? The black ninjas.

[Dustin Ross]

I need a staff. We're talking about people that work. I need a staff to hold and some Zulu nation chains, you know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

Oh my God.

[Dustin Ross]

They are Harlem harassing interracial couples.

[Francesco]

And yo, don't let. I told you. They. I walked past one day and they said your mother was busting it down for the white man. I looked and said, what?

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, my God, right?

[Asante]

Friend.

[Francesco]

I don't know if he thought I was some biracial girl walking past.

[Dustin Ross]

Me and my gay friends used to be asking for it when we walked past. We walked past the site.

[Francesco]

Oh, what's up?

[Dustin Ross]

We ready, you know, type, let's go on and get into it.

[Asante]

You know what I'm saying?

[Dustin Ross]

But it never happened. Thank God.

[Asante]

Oh, I'm.

[Dustin Ross]

Shove that stick up. You want to talk about my ass? I' ma shove that stick up your ass. And you the one got a dress on. I had lines ready. I was ready to go. I called it Dorothy Sporak. And because you know how they wear them calf dan ass.

[Francesco]

We actually just saw them last weekend. We were in Seattle, and I stopped by Nordstrom's, and they were outside Nordstrom downtown, strapped. And they were all strapped. They all had guns on their hips. I was like, oh, yikes. It's a little edgy over here. Seattle with y'. All.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm gonna have to smize my cuss words today.

[Asante]

Oh, my goodness.

[Francesco]

Oh.

[Dustin Ross]

Anyway, to your.

[Asante]

To your original comment, friend. We had talked about Nature Boy.

[Dustin Ross]

Friend.

[Francesco]

Hey, y' all.

[Asante]

See, friend, you be wanting me to move past. I didn't see you. How you be.

[Dustin Ross]

What the hell we gonna do?

[Asante]

You know that. You know that's the one, friend.

[Francesco]

You know that's the one.

[Asante]

That's the one that gets me cramped. Okay. When I brought this nature boy originally to this podcast, it was literally right after I found out about who he was, which was right after the case had just wrapped up. I was not following what was going on on the Bego and the Instagram. Lots.

[Francesco]

I don't know what you knew of him.

[Asante]

It was something that had been around, I guess. I knew of the app Bego, and I knew people to do foolishness on this app because it's just. Just people going live and asking for money. But I wasn't familiar. And arguing. Sometimes it's literally like men and women arguing with each other, or women and women, or men and men, like people just. For a long time, it was just a gay app where they would argue. But there are. I've seen rooms where men and women are going at it real crazy. And I'm like, this is so violent.

[Dustin Ross]

Death reads over there on Beagle. Like, it gets. It gets really dark.

[Asante]

Vicious.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, vicious. And it's still a thing.

[Asante]

Yes, I. I believe so.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm not actually very much.

[Asante]

Yeah, I'm not. I'm not sure how effective those payouts still are. Maybe they get paid.

[Dustin Ross]

They get to it over on Bego.

[Francesco]

Damn.

[Dustin Ross]

But my thing is, and I don't want to jump ahead here, what spiritual guru is gonna even be active on Bigo? Why wasn't that a red flag? But to the.

[Francesco]

But why didn't people say congregates if we will?

[Dustin Ross]

Right, right. The cult members. I don't want to just say the cult members because these people been, you know.

[Asante]

Right. Former. You know what? They are victims. And I was struggling with that too. I was like, I don't want to say former followers.

[Dustin Ross]

Don't want to just go all the way down.

[Asante]

But also, I don't want to. I don't want to go all the way down on them. But also it's like, because, you know, the way that it was structured and they're having their new lives and stuff, I also want to figure out how to empower them. I didn't land on that, but it was just interesting that you brought that point up. Sorry.

[Dustin Ross]

And we do have a heart, you know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

We absolutely do. Absolutely. Because remember, the reason that I brought this up or. Well, the reason I initially found this out was because people were. Were tweeting me and asking me like, you haven't heard about this cult in Atlanta. And I thought they were just talking about Ruthless. And then people were like, no, you don't know that. There's like a real cult in Atlanta. And then the Tyler Perry show.

[Dustin Ross]

Asante.

[Asante]

Yes. I thought about Ruthless.

[Dustin Ross]

Remember when he had them showing what I know about the real cult?

[Francesco]

I was just about to say, is that the one with the dicks?

[Asante]

Yeah, yeah.

[Francesco]

And robes or something. They had like, Let me smell your.

[Dustin Ross]

Remember that? Remember that song? That was her. What was her name? Risque. Let me smell your dick. You don't remember that?

[Francesco]

Why do I know that you remember

[Dustin Ross]

that from being too uncut? Let me smell your dick. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Asante]

Your ass was cheap.

[Dustin Ross]

Let me smell your dick.

[Asante]

Anyway, but for long story short, for those of you out there listening, for the newer listeners, I'm going to give you some context, but I'm also going to disclaim this with. There is a four part documentary on Hulu called the Culture of Nature. Boy, if you don't want. Well, we're going to be spoiling that throughout this whole episode. I'm really only going to focus on context and background in the first episode. Just to give you guys something to hold on to if you don't plan on watching the documentary. But I strongly Encourage you all to watch all four parts because, you know, Fran had. Did a very good job, and unfortunately, I will not be able to do that job. She did a great job, actually, of having us watch Caterpillar and really empathizing with those victims. And I feel like, you know, they were doing that in this as well. I just know that I don't have the language to. Because unfortunately, I. There were just certain things that didn't sit well with me about.

[Francesco]

You don't feel that way.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, yeah.

[Asante]

And I. So I just want to give you guys some context, and if you guys want to watch, watch, watch it.

[Dustin Ross]

Watch the damn documentary. It's good.

[Asante]

It is a good documentary, but YouTube.

[Francesco]

Fascinating.

[Asante]

Feel free to talk freely about all parts of the documentary because it was crazy, to say the least. I'm just going to talk about episode one, mainly because that's where everything starts. But we're going to touch on everything that we know throughout the rest of the series just to give it context and be a fuller episode. Because I didn't want to just talk about the full series all at once. I wanted. I wanted to just give you guys some because I knew it was going to be all over the place anyway. So we probably end up talking about through all four parts, but in part one, we're introduced to Elijio Bishop, but through the eyes of his former followers, Velvet, Janae and Aaron. At this time, he's in Costa Rica presenting himself as the spiritual thought leader. He's talking about non violence. He's promoting living in nature and disconnecting from society. And you got to remember what was going on in the world. There was a lot of civil unrest, police brutality, which there has always been. But unfortunately, it was just coming to a head through this set of years, you know, on social media and people, they were looking for that something. And unfortunately, that something ended up being him. Aaron, one of the followers he talks about in 2017, when he. When YouTube first recommended him, one of Nature Boy's videos, he was the one

[Dustin Ross]

that looked like he was in Caterpillar, right?

[Francesco]

Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. Right. Don't want them honey eyes. Honey, I. Hell, yeah. That one. I was like, if he just get a lineup, you know what I'm saying? Like, you.

[Asante]

You.

[Dustin Ross]

You live in the world. You know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

Like, you can.

[Dustin Ross]

It's okay.

[Asante]

I had one of my friends watch and why. They called me and they said, me too, Kendra.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. Apollo's kind of.

[Francesco]

Y' all crazy as hell, and they

[Dustin Ross]

know they was freaks, so I don't know, because I don't even feel bad about saying it.

[Asante]

I just want to say at that moment, that was a plus for Kendra because Kendra had been going through it. And that was something.

[Francesco]

When I saw him, I said, that's my husband.

[Asante]

Okay?

[Dustin Ross]

Them was outside and they was living the life, you know what I'm saying?

[Francesco]

When it come to that, you would die.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm talking about the first two days, you know what I'm saying? When it was still fun. Them first day one and two, I'd have been felt like I was at Sandals, you know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

And what's crazy is the way that everyone was talking about how they came into the cult. Like, you know, they did one way and then that beginning, you know, traveling there, everything was great. And then when shit started getting, you know, crazy, it was like I didn't even know what the fuck this was no more. And I was just like.

[Dustin Ross]

I just want to say before we move forward, I'm not shaming nobody. You know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to. Yes, I'm making fun of these people, but I'm not making fun of these people. You know what I'm saying? I'm making light of this situation and cracking jokes. I have empathy for these people. Being brainwashed by this fucking lunatic maniac criminal ass nigga, okay?

[Francesco]

He was just getting worse with each episode.

[Dustin Ross]

And my thing is, who the fuck do you think you are? When we get to that point? I'll get to it, but I just want to offer that disclaimer because I don't want people to think we heartless. Yeah, we just. We are going to laugh. Okay?

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

But I just want people to know that, yeah, if you're.

[Asante]

If you're a newer listener, this is the friend zone. Okay? We don't laugh.

[Francesco]

Yeah, your problematic faves.

[Asante]

Look, we are. We're here to offer, you know, context, not necessarily tell you what the right or wrong thing to do is. So we are not judging these people. Unfortunately, these people went through something that we have viewed and we are just sharing our opinions. Some of them are light hearted to keep from crying. You know, we do because there were some, like Dustin said, there were some horrible things. This is a horrible human being. We have established that throughout this documentary. So if you have not watched, you can go establish that. Because I'm. Some of the stuff. I. I was writing it down. I was like, I don't even want to say that. Like, I like, what a fucking loser. And I'm glad You're locked up and you're a fucking asshole and an idiot. Right? And I hope they walk in with some dumbass.

[Dustin Ross]

What.

[Asante]

Who do you think you are?

[Dustin Ross]

Like, the way he was talking to them and shit, I just. That is not godly. And anytime you in a situation where the motherfucker that's in charge is acting like this nigga, that's how you know it's not. Right. Simple. Simple. But anyways, go ahead, because now we can go ahead and talk about these. I just wanted to offer to, you know, a disclaimer.

[Asante]

Back to the talking. Okay, so Aaron, the man that looked like he could have been in Caterpillar, he talks about in 2017, when YouTube first recommended one of Nature Boy's videos. The video was titled Never Heard before. Information.

[Dustin Ross]

First red flag. Because what the. How you. How. How you get to download? You know what I'm saying? Out of everybody, your ass.

[Francesco]

Here's the thing I'm gonna say, just because it pertains to this part specifically. I came across nature. Nature Boy. No, not that same video, but just him in general. And it made sense. If you think of the type of things I look at. Right. I'm someone that is in that corner. Not like cults.

[Dustin Ross]

No. But just spiritual wellness, information.

[Francesco]

Yeah. Just about connecting with yourself. Nature, all those things. So, of course, he popped up for me. And it's funny because when we were watching the documentary this weekend, my partner was like. But he ain't saying nothing. Right?

[Dustin Ross]

Right.

[Francesco]

There's no such thing as an understanding. Like when you. There are people like, y' all know how I feel about Osho, right?

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesco]

But I remember reading Osho's books and whether however people felt about him as a person versus his information. There was a lot of information. Like, he. I read things that literally shifted how

[Asante]

I viewed the world I respect.

[Francesco]

And so, yeah, and there's something about someone imparting information or imparting wisdom that makes you see things differently. I almost can understand how you grow an attachment, but you also have to be careful with people that have information because they can also wield that as very, you know, destructive power over you. If they don't mean. Well, some people have the information. That doesn't mean that they're a good person. That's something I had to come to terms with when I started being around those types of men that will have the information. And you kind of assume when you're young, oh, he means well. He learned all this stuff. You know, he. He wants to help. And that's Absolutely not the case.

[Dustin Ross]

He had none but all.

[Asante]

Yep. Well, Aaron, he qualified it with the numbers. He saw that that video had 500,000 views. So in his mind, he.

[Francesco]

Internet, too, though.

[Asante]

Yep. He. He. He saw those views as pretty much like. He took those views as likes. You know how they had the thumbs up at the bottom. He just went on ahead and took those views.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, well, Two Girls, One cup had a lot of views, too, but that's

[Francesco]

what I was gonna say. That's the downside of social media. Just because it has a lot of views, you need to focus on how it's making you feel.

[Dustin Ross]

100. And what the. They're saying.

[Francesco]

Right.

[Asante]

Well, those.

[Dustin Ross]

And nobody. I'm sorry, but nobody who is as misogynistic and harmful as him and who believe being the leader and all that. That he was. That was woofing and trying to sell those people. Why does your name literally have the word boy in it then?

[Francesco]

Right, but he didn't start out that way.

[Dustin Ross]

No, he didn't start out. What was his name? Ocean Breed. Yeah.

[Francesco]

Elysio.

[Dustin Ross]

Alicia.

[Francesco]

No, he.

[Dustin Ross]

But yes.

[Francesco]

No, no. I mean, the misogyny and all the other darker. Yeah. But initially he really was just someone that was like, yo, we don't have to deal with this that's going on. There's a different way. There's a better way. We just got to take care of each other. And I can see how if you are in need of community, you want to be around black people that are trying something different, that are trying to figure some shit out. Maybe your family at home doesn't feel good. You don't have a good friend group. I can see, especially being young, these people are like. Like teenagers in their early 20s.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

Gravitating. Like, I. It sucks, because he tapped into a lot of these young people that were looking for a way out.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Doing gay porn. He had. Did gay porn before that too.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Francesco]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

I think that one boy knew that. Kissed him on the cheek.

[Francesco]

You know what he knew.

[Asante]

Aaron. Aaron, you know, he shared that. You know, he shared his upbringing. And then Velvet, they shared the upbringing. And it was crazy how they were both so very different, but.

[Francesco]

But from whatever.

[Asante]

But they. They both. They both did seek the same thing, and they ended up in the same place. And it's so unfortunate because I'm glad

[Dustin Ross]

she didn't end up in the same place as that other Velvet. I'm just glad this Velvet survived. In this case, it was Velvet survived. And he was like,

[Asante]

yeah, Velvet. She discussed how she grew up in extreme poverty and how she was tired of being depressed. And when she found those Melanation videos, seeing those black people together, building something, it gave her hope. It felt revolutionary. And she says she had connected with a member, ended up getting invited out to Costa Rica. And then she packed her bag and hit it.

[Dustin Ross]

Costa Rica. Costa Rica they love. And it's a good sale, right? Like it is. We found it. Black people, Rica.

[Francesco]

And there's a nice black population. And then you're in heaven. I mean, it's. I get it.

[Dustin Ross]

The perfect.

[Asante]

I mean, Aaron, he saw that never heard before information video, but then that one video, it took him into another. And then he was watching nature boy, living in the sun, eating clean, surrounded by people who looked free. Like, so it's like this utopian view, you know what I'm saying? On one page of the Internet, you're seeing a black person, you know, being murdered. And then on the other side, you're seeing this black man eating healthy, enjoying

[Francesco]

sitting under a waterfall, you know, and

[Asante]

then he's saying a whole lot of

[Dustin Ross]

nothing, eating them up. And he's like, damn, we ain't safe nowhere.

[Asante]

One could have only hope for a L for this man. But then it's like this man, he's saying a whole lot of nothing. But that nothing just sounds so sweet in those moments of civil unrest, you know, that's real. So, you know, when Velvet, she first went out there, she said at first it all felt like paradise. She literally described it as waking up and feeling free. Like she was finally inhaling. Inhaling.

[Dustin Ross]

Life told you the first two days

[Asante]

because that's what she said. I'm not gonna do you.

[Dustin Ross]

When she said inhale in life too, I like that line too. I was like, damn, that, that is how you feel like when you having a good moment, you know what I'm saying? Especially when breathing in life right now. Like, like.

[Asante]

And you know what? This was so timely because especially after having just watched Caterpillar where everybody felt like those eyes was going to give them that new lease on life. Like, everybody thought that joining this was going to give them something new on life. Like, they all felt like that rush of like a new beginning, a new existence.

[Dustin Ross]

That's what the eyes meant. That's what the eyes meant to them. People of something.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

The rest of a newbie, they was

[Asante]

breathing in like they literally, they literally were like. Like, once I get me my new eyes, I'll be a new person. I'mma breathe different.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

See my eyes asking for something.

[Asante]

No, seriously, Sadly. But once she met Nature Boy, she realized that or when she. When she first met Nature Boy, she didn't even like him like that. She just saw him as she said she called him. Like she was like, I just saw him as like a father, a dad, like an authority figure. Just someone with power and presence. And then in this episode, we got into how the structure of the. This cult was forming. People were being renamed. They had these strict diets that they had to. That they were being enforced. They were living outside in these tents. This is when Velvet decided she wasn't going to be doing it outside until she finally gave in and started using the bathroom outside. I don't want to get into the honey the pot or whatever, but y' all can talk about it if y' all want to.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, I don't mind. So Nature Boy had them shitting outside, digging, digging in the dirt places for them to take a shit. And then it was so much excrement that eventually whatever they were shitting out began to grow out the soil. So she said that she shitted other tomatoes. Now, I don't know about you, but I ain't eating off that vine, okay? Cause that's nasty. And then when he said that his ass, I was just like, damn, what if he was watching this with the kkk?

[Francesco]

Fertilizer is just a little different to you human species.

[Asante]

And maybe some do. I don't know. It was just. I just didn't want to be involved.

[Dustin Ross]

It was like a cannibal.

[Francesco]

Which that should have been a sign, right?

[Dustin Ross]

Like, you want the tomato hands?

[Francesco]

No, the fact that he's keeping them intense and they can't in the house. But he's in was because he's in there with the plumbing.

[Dustin Ross]

Absolutely. With the granite countertops and.

[Francesco]

And even with the food. Right when they said they were eating rice and beans, but he had like fish, lobster and shri lobster.

[Asante]

And so later on when they were saying that he even go out to

[Francesco]

eat sometimes right by himself. But they say he. When he would film, he would say, like, y' all see how I'm eating the same thing they are? But I. I'm keeping my God body. Like I got my muscle mass and that's fucked up. All of that would have been the early red flags to me, like, oh,

[Dustin Ross]

wait, I gotta get the fuck outta here.

[Francesco]

Yeah, yeah.

[Asante]

Well, everything is controlled. He's using. He's using the members to record, recruit more people. He was using the male members to get the women to come out there. But it wasn't just the women that were being pulled into this cult, men were attracted to it as well.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, they were. And he knew that because he had done gay porn.

[Asante]

We had started this just with Aaron having been watching Nature Boy on social media and then Velvet's journey into the cult. But then we're immediately introduced to Alex, formerly known as Golden Boy. Sorry,

[Francesco]

was that the white boy?

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Asante]

Really?

[Dustin Ross]

Which. Any have been Silver Boy.

[Asante]

You know, Alex, he. He found Nature Boy during his fitness journey. He was looking online, you know, just changing his body, getting healthy. And then he saw these videos. And when he was, you know, interacting with Nature Boy online, Nature Boy was treating him like a brother, was being really cool with him, and he decided that he was going to connect with them. He was hesitant at first, but especially because he didn't realize or didn't see white people in the group. But then they had a white girl in the group. That was a whole thing that we kind of touched on in the original episode that we did. But very. But they just. They explored it more here. So there was a white girl in the group. What was her name?

[Dustin Ross]

Tammy or Cassie or. What was her name?

[Asante]

Hold on, I'm gonna tell.

[Francesco]

I don't remember.

[Dustin Ross]

That's up. We. We all just categorized her in our minds as the white girl.

[Asante]

Well, that's literally how she was propped up so he could say he had a white girl in the group, you know. Okay, Kayla.

[Dustin Ross]

Kayla.

[Asante]

Kayla. Kayla Reed. Yeah. Alex. He was hesitant to join the group because he didn't see any white people until he saw Kayla Reed. She was the first white person seen with Nature Boy in Costa Rica. Now, previously, Kayla had.

[Dustin Ross]

Shouldn't even be funny, but that's funny. Well, at first she was the only white person.

[Asante]

She was the first because Melanation. Well, because melanation initially was supposed to be for black people, but then I guess as Nature Boy, it is funny because I guess this Nature Boy was expanding the scam, right? He was like, oh, no, this is for everybody. You know, like numbers so he can get that money at. Which he did to Alex later on. Right. But previously, Kayla had been reported as missing by her family after apparently leaving home for a church conference. It's believed that Kayla was brainwashed into. Into leaving home and joining her family got involved. I mean, her family got involved. They was calling any. Everybody. The story actually ended up getting picked up by news of this cult. So the cult ended up beginning newsworthy. So I guess they thought that they were special for that shit. But ultimately it prompted Kayla having to leave Nature Boy was going live with Kayla, trying to explain that he wasn't keeping her there against her will, yada, yada, yada, and then sent her home. Then she proceeded to do this interview with another, a Canadian podcaster. I didn't make note of that. Sorry. But she just maintained that he had

[Dustin Ross]

his lights and shit. I was cracking up when they were doing them shots where he had the red light around him and shit. I was like, okay, of course you have.

[Francesco]

Well, and this says a lot that it took a white girl to get media attention to this cult.

[Asante]

Yeah. Y cu.

[Francesco]

This is the first time these young black men and young black women that

[Asante]

all these black people in this been

[Francesco]

a part of it.

[Asante]

We who have been brainwashed.

[Francesco]

Yeah. Not only brainwashed was people watching them, getting yelled at, getting hit, all of the things. But then it took the white girl to get people to start paying attention. That's what always happens.

[Asante]

But that's the thing, though. If you. If you look at, like, the timeline, like to, like, further to your point, it's. It's. It's even more heinous, though, because. Because this is. This is white girl. She was in the group before it was a port reported what the actual, like, abuse was. So let's assume this was when he was still in his early phases of being like, oh, I'm not gonna, you know, push my authority too much or I'm only gonna just talk to them. Imagine all these black people have congregated to this, talking all this weird. But y' all not actually looking at this code. Until this white girl, her parents are like, y' all need to bring her home. Where. Where are the other fathers and cousins or whoever the looking for their family? Which, you know, Kendra said she had blocked out her family when she had went the fuck on. So I can understand people not being able.

[Francesco]

But Velvet's family was trying. If I remember correctly, I remember her dad, like, on lives with her, like, trying to talk to her, talking even to Elysio. Like, I remember seeing those people. So they were trying.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't want her to be crushed.

[Francesco]

Velvet Dustin.

[Asante]

When Kayla returned to Canada, she maintained that she wasn't in a cult.

[Francesco]

That's what the white girl said.

[Asante]

Yeah. She maintained, when she was interviewing with the podcaster, she maintained that she wasn't in a cult. Even after, you know, this earlier exposure of the cult, when they were doing specials, they showed a clip in this of her on one of those shows, and she was like, I think Canada is a cult. And it's like, whoa, Anyway, guys, you

[Dustin Ross]

don't get paid for thinking. Kayla Even after seeing that they was hitting them bongos and drums and you know, white people love level or that

[Asante]

being on vacation, I felt like I was so connected. Even after seeing all of these red flags, people were still for her

[Francesco]

it's just more black, you know.

[Dustin Ross]

Kunchella. Hell yeah.

[Asante]

I would almost name the episode this, that but we cannot. No, even after seeing red flags, people still just were flocking to Nature Boy. Alex, he went on down. I don't know why, but he still decided to hit it to Costa Rica in September 2017.

[Dustin Ross]

He wanted a black friend.

[Asante]

He was recounting how traveling there was amazing, but it was a big mistake. Meeting Nature Boy was great. There were 13 people there when Alex arrived and everyone was super friendly. But then the bags were checked on day one and then the debit cards are given to the cardholder.

[Dustin Ross]

James City Girls was holding the cards.

[Asante]

That's when we started to see one of the ways. Or maybe Alex was seeing one of the ways up front. Like how the people was getting the money. Even Velvet. She said when she came to melanation that she only had $3,000 to put and that she had to put into the pot as Nature Boy called it. But the way that the T tells it, it is this Chantel from the TE was featured in throughout this documentary.

[Dustin Ross]

God bless her too. Because she was the one who ended up getting this thing across the finish line for them.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. Hate the name of your website though.

[Asante]

Nature Boy started utilizing money from his barber shop business that he sold and donations from people that he wanted that, that wanted to follow him. So Nature Boy had all this stuff going on on online. But before he was online or before he started this coat, he had a barber shop that he sold, which I know. So I was like damn, this was out here cutting hair and then just decided America and blah blah, blah. Like I just didn't understand how we got here. But anyway, and it doesn't matter because he's a monster and him. Alex decided not to argue even though they took his debit card because he was out in the middle of nowhere at this point. But he said that he was still going to eat and have experiences with everyone and that they also put their money in in and then got even weirder. I was going to say got weird, but it got even weirder. They went to a market and they ended up buying an 800 ping pong table with his credit card. But he was too scared along with everyone else to question things he was pissed off.

[Dustin Ross]

That was the straw that was bad for him.

[Asante]

He was like, I wouldn't even buy myself no 800 ping pong table. And now I'm just buying y' all a ping pong. And we.

[Dustin Ross]

That's somehow.

[Asante]

Now what are we doing? Aaron recounts. Aaron again, the one with the pretty eyes. He recounts. If you didn't do what Nature Boy said, you were quickly humiliated and devalued amongst the group. It became do what he tells you to do or else. And then use that clip again later in the documentary. I like how they kind of kept using clips, but that's just my own little personal problem. Alex. We're still on his journey with Nature Boy. October 2017. On a drive to Limon, the cult. They ended up getting stopped by the police. And then Nature Boy, he goes live, which was a big part of this cult. They were just live all the time. Nature Boy showcasing the utopia. But now, now things were taking a turn because now we're realizing that he's going live for other reasons, more devious reasons. Right. The group's passports hadn't been stamped in months at Nature Boy's direction to revolt against the system. Something about the names and blah, blah, blah. Even though your parents name you. There were just things that he was saying that didn't make sense to me anyway. That's not the issue. That's just my personal issue. He wants to make an issue for the officers that stopped him. And he told everyone to stay in the van, telling the live that he was willing to die for justice. The way that Velvet and even Alex retell it, that it really wasn't that big of a deal. Like. And the way that they showed some of the clips, the officers were like, you know, if you aren't gonna show us whatever, you know, just sign this. And then Nature Boy's like, we're not signing anything. Apparently, everything escalated. The officers ended up dragging everyone off the bus, claiming that they did. And they maintained that they didn't abuse anyone. The followers did have bruises after being removed from the van. Chantelle from the T, she says that these were the lives that he used for sympathy and to attract new members in a darker way after the incident. But after this incident, it turned Alex off. He left the cult. He was saying that that whole incident was incident was unnecessary. But to Dustin's point, I think he

[Dustin Ross]

was still pissed off at that ping pong table. That's what it was, that charge.

[Asante]

No, no, that probably was super. No, I'm sure that that was a super Scary situation because, like, for me in a different country and we out here doing some illegal. Because if we're not getting our passport stamped, like, we breaking the law, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I just don't know how I could rock like that on. I don't want to say nonsense, but

[Dustin Ross]

you think they were musty.

[Asante]

Well, what. I originally covered this because that's a

[Dustin Ross]

lot of pressure and anxiety, you know what I'm saying? Like, high stress situations will make anybody sweat a little bit.

[Asante]

Like, I hate that. I'm entertained.

[Francesco]

They were musty.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

There was. I remember a fan. I don't know if they. Not a fan, but a person online saw them at either. It was either at the hospital or the airport and they were like. Like, it was just the worst smell when they walked past at the airport.

[Dustin Ross]

That makes me fun of that. That makes when I first sorry for them.

[Francesco]

Yeah.

[Asante]

It makes me feel sorry for the. The followers that were like brainwashed. Right. Because when they were deported, I don't remember which country I originally covered, but

[Dustin Ross]

when I had so many.

[Asante]

Right. When I originally covered this, they were deported out of a country and they had a flight and they were actually removed from the flight because of how they smelled.

[Francesco]

Like, Right.

[Asante]

People were complaining. Training.

[Francesco]

Yeah.

[Asante]

So imagine being deported, but then you can't leave because the airline refuses to fly.

[Dustin Ross]

How did I miss that? Was that in the documentary?

[Asante]

No, that was. That was when I originally told this. Like when I was. When I was gathering everything before, when it was all wrapping up, I was like, oh, like this. So this coat has been talked about before for, you know, this.

[Dustin Ross]

I was playing. I was like, I was paying attention. How the. Did I miss that?

[Asante]

Look, I know you were clocked in that day. I know you were clocked in. In that moment, you just probably.

[Dustin Ross]

Welcome to the friends. Every time I'm in the Zon Zom Za.

[Francesco]

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[Asante]

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[Francesco]

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[Asante]

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[Francesco]

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[Asante]

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[Dustin Ross]

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[Asante]

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[Dustin Ross]

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[Asante]

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[Francesco]

What is this your first date?

[Asante]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a.

[Dustin Ross]

A bird.

[Asante]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways, get a quote@liberty mutual.com or with your local agent.

[Dustin Ross]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Asante]

Anyway, they were deported from here actually, because of this Alex. He got to just go home. So like I said, he left the code because he said that everything was unnecessary. But it didn't stop People from joining after this happened to Nature Boy, Nature Boy was on the Internet harder. Like he felt like. Like something happened to him to make him even more revolutionary. And I, and some people saw that, saw him as that. We ended this first part with Nature Boy, like popping his. Trying to make it seem like he's going to do something, but he's telling everybody to come join his cause. Which when we go into part two, we see that there were more people that continue to join the cause and it became more and more radical. That's just Your General Overview SL Episode Guide for Episode 1. We can really go through the whole thing if you want at this point, for those of you listening, or do you guys want me to kind of keep going through the order because there was just so much that was covered in the documentary. I was like, this is heinous and I don't know how to even talk about all of this. So it's like I made the notes, but some of it I just was like, I just kept putting dark, darker. Don't like that. Like, I just kept putting that in my notes. After Costa Rica, because in part two of the episode where it picks up after Costa Rica, the Nature Boy, he kept going and he reinvented himself. He relocated and he just kept pulling people into his cult. And this is where we were introduced to Kendra. Kendra, she was out in sea. She was from Seattle. Now Velvet was originally from Louisiana. Aaron was originally from Georgia. And Kendra's all the way out in Seattle. So it's like. Or Seattle, Washington. So everybody, like black people from all different places with different things going on somehow ended up in this, this cult.

[Dustin Ross]

You know what? Kendra Job would have been in my cult being that she from Seattle. I'd had her ass right out there at the shore. Throw back to all of us. Y throwing them too. Kendra, I want some whining tonight.

[Francesco]

He had her smacking people throughout the whole documentary. Stressing me out.

[Asante]

Velvet. So from Kendra, she was from a Christian background. She had a normal upbringing, but she still felt different when she saw Nature Boy online talking about leaving the Northern hemisphere and starting over. Something about what he was saying and. Or how he was saying thing, it. It just. It grabbed her. Next thing you know, she. She's talking to one of the followers. Nature Boy ends up on the call. He's telling her, we're leaving. We're going to. We're going to Belize. Get here. Get. Get here now. And so Kendra literally says that she blocked her whole family and she got on a flight out to Texas. And she met with Nature Boy.

[Dustin Ross]

And.

[Asante]

And the rest of. I didn't keep up with the name and the name B613 with this cult. She ends up leaving with this cult. They drive through Mexico and end up out in Belize. And again, Kendra had that same feeling that Alex had when it started off. And even Velvet, you know, when it first started, everything, it felt like a utopia, you know, they were out in nature. But this is where things got darker. Because for whatever reason, in Belize, I guess, you know, later on, we find out, because Nature Boy, I guess, is trying to protect himself to some degree because he ended up doing it again in Vegas, which, at that point, I'm like, I thought you said the government was fake. Sorry. There were just so many conflicting things about him. I'm like, y' all didn't see. Like, I know that, like, they're. They were brainwashed. So, like, you can't see the. When you're brainwashed. But there were just so many things that would, like, took me out of it, but maybe it wouldn't have. So it's like, again, I don't want to judge nobody. I'm not. I'm not trying.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't want to sit in the ground. That would have been so different than

[Francesco]

relationships you've been in and you stayed in. And then in hindsight, you look. Look back, like, what the was.

[Asante]

That's the thing. That's why it's like, I don't want to come off. Like, I'm.

[Francesco]

Yeah, so, like, I don't want to come off.

[Asante]

Like, I'm. I don't want to come off. Like, I'm trying to be. Like, I would have done X, Y, Z. It's just that every time he was saying certain things, it was just like. Like, it was taking me out of it. So, like, again, like, I'm sure if I was already, like, there, I would have kept gaslighting myself. But being on the outside looking in, it was just like, damn. Like, that don't even make sense.

[Dustin Ross]

But anyway, on the outside of a home with a bathroom and you looking in while you squatting down over a

[Francesco]

hole in the potting by growing tomatoes and shit.

[Dustin Ross]

What? Out of the crack of your ass. That's crazy. That is crazy. And I would not have been able to do that. Like, the act itself would have been like, dustin, this is not right.

[Asante]

You smoke. Like, this does not feel like. This does not feel like it's making me feel like. I guess for them, it did, though, right? Like, you're outside in nature or doing,

[Francesco]

you know, comparison to what they come from. You know, if you're coming from a project or like a dysfunctional home where you're being abused.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

And then now you're in nature with waterfalls, eating fresh fruit, hanging out with the other young black people that just want, you know, like, I can see how they would be like, oh.

[Asante]

It's like he literally took people out of everything that they knew. And because you had to build it from the ground up, like, what. Whatever he said, it went. And it really just ended up making sense for a lot of people.

[Francesco]

What angers me is that it's such a great concept. It is like you had something. You had the people. Y' all could have really made something beautiful out of this situation. Like, legit, created a utopia, figured it out together, you know, it's like. But there's always gotta be a. That just gets high off his own supply of power and then gets corrupted. It never fails. It never fails. And I hate it.

[Dustin Ross]

Latasha Scott. Nature Girl.

[Francesco]

But it's just so.

[Dustin Ross]

You know what's crazy? Her company is called Major Girl. Or no. Maid Girl.

[Asante]

No.

[Dustin Ross]

Made girl. Made girl. So Nature Boy. Made girl. Yeah, it tracks. There's parallels here.

[Francesco]

Not attracts.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Asante]

In Belize, after Kendra had arrived, Nature Boy, he made his followers pair up. He paired Kendra up with someone she never spoke with. She only talked to this person for the first time after their marriage ceremony.

[Dustin Ross]

And again, full stop for me, once you start crossing, it's one thing to have ideas and theories and shit and whatever concepts you have in your mind, but once things start affecting your real lived experience like that, like asking you to marry a stranger, those are the things that feel off. Off and then make you be like, okay, this is not right. You know what I'm saying? There's nothing about God that ever should make you marry a stranger.

[Asante]

Right?

[Dustin Ross]

Nothing.

[Asante]

So later on, Aaron, he describes people

[Dustin Ross]

that say, I'm brainwashed because I'm a homosexual. So I get it. You know what I'm saying? Like, sometimes people just. Different ways of living are different for us. But that. Come on, y'. All, like, think. Imagine going to church, and they'd be like, well, you got to marry a stranger to keep going.

[Asante]

Right?

[Francesco]

Yeah. But your intuition and sense of self have been messed with as a child. Right?

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesco]

If you come from these dysfunctional homes, that's the sad part. You don't even have that natural compass to be like, this is wrong. You know, this is off.

[Asante]

The scary part is it's. It's just Hard. It is heartbreaking all around. Aaron, he said something. I can't remember if it was in this part or one of the later parts, but he was talking about how, how nature boy was like, you know, I think he called him master teacher, like a professor. He called him a, you know, from. He was professor to. I think he graduated him all the way up to Messiah. Messiah. And. Which is confusing, right, because it's like, is this someone who's supposed to be, you know, showing you and teaching you, or is it someone that you truly worship? And so just watching how everyone kind of kept playing with the role of, of this person is changing my life. You know, I have to. I have to basically submit to them. It's sad, but it's. It's real. Like, you know, I guess people felt like thankful or grateful, like, you know, you took me out of, you know, gave me the courage to, to do, you know, xyz. So I can understand it getting there. It's just sad that it got there. Speaking of sad, the marriages, they weren't even real or, or legal, so they were just very fleeting as Kendra described them. But everything was at the men's control. So even though they were getting married or wed, it's not like the women got to choose. Kendra, her story is very delicate, so I'm just going to skip over a couple of details. But Kendra, much love and respect to you.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Asante]

Everything that everybody said, like, really struck a chord with me, you know, but

[Dustin Ross]

like, I ain't even going to hold you. Except that the boy who they bought the ping pong table on his debit card.

[Asante]

Oh, well, I was gonna say other black people. I'm just saying, like, you know, everybody else, I didn't. It was something about Alex that I was just kind of like, well, ain't

[Dustin Ross]

nothing happened to him. He got a vacation.

[Asante]

Well. Cause he got out. Imagine it. Imagine if he stayed.

[Francesco]

The white kids got out.

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesco]

I think they needed to show that juxtaposition. Right, Right.

[Asante]

Absolutely.

[Dustin Ross]

Especially when you consider the fact that most of these black people who populated this culture cult we're running from these racial horrors, right, that we have to live in only to then get in this cult. And the only savior, right, the only portal to any type of safety for them was through the visibility that them being white gave the cult. That's gotta be a hell of a wake up call when you like, God damn, like Aaron.

[Asante]

It's crazy because they all like, they shared some of their background, but I feel like Velvet gave like the most in depth like, she was like, you know.

[Dustin Ross]

Cause she was real. She was cussing and shit. I like that.

[Asante]

Yeah. You know, she said everything growing up was very, like, uninspiring. I feel like she used that word. But then, you know, you had Aaron, who was like, I grew up, you know, grades were my thing. You know, I was just doing grades. And then I spent time in the service. So he sought, like, brotherhood and sense of purpose from toes on black friends. But then Kendra again, you know, she had her family, but for whatever reason, she just felt different. So it's sad that all these people from all these different walks of life ended up susceptible. So that's why it's like. That's why I keep coming back to the mental thing of, like, I don't want to judge anybody. Because it really could be anybody. It could be at any point, you could be going through anything. You could see anything.

[Dustin Ross]

You want to escape. Right? This is also why it's important to be nice to your children. Real talk. This is why it's important to be nice to your fucking kids and make sure that your kids feel safe so that they not running from the environment that you created for them and end up in the arms of nature boy

[Francesco]

of a predator who knows that they. That this is their weakness.

[Dustin Ross]

Get your together as a parent, you know what I'm saying, and save your kids. That's crazy, man.

[Asante]

Velvet, we met her in the first part where she talks about joining the cult and, you know, experiencing being there. But in this part, she discovered she talks more about her relationship with the person omac, who she was, I guess, wed to while she was in this cult.

[Dustin Ross]

But she made the thing from Legends of the Hidden Temple. Wasn't that the thing omac, that big rock. Yeah, the Silver Surfers are. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Purple iguanas. Yeah.

[Asante]

Velvet and Olmec, they were actually in a really good relationship. But nature boy, he ended up manipulating them. Velvet, she describes the relationship as they were together for nine months. She said the first three were great. And then, you know, nature boy, after doing the damage and breaking them up, he began to chase her, love bomb her, and then put her into a relationship and ended up making her her the queen of the cult. So Velvet was actually one of the first people. When I started looking into this, when people were like, you didn't hear about that cold in Atlanta. It was because we were talking about the cult, I guess, discussing Velvet on the lives. I didn't witness any of Velvet actually being there because again, I caught a lot of this Stuff like on the back end. Seeing that Velvet was there for so long was just so like. It was sad, but it was just very eye awakening. It was like, damn, she had really been there.

[Francesco]

She was the face of it to me.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

Outside of him, she's the one that I always saw on the lives.

[Asante]

Well, you saw the video that they put out. You know, he made them put together this co instructional.

[Francesco]

It was a curriculum. I mean, it was a curriculum that he created. And they had to just repeat everything he was saying. Which is crazy because like I said, it was never anything.

[Asante]

No, it literally wasn't.

[Francesco]

I don't remember being like. Like these folks is crazy. But that's. You know, you'd be like, that's a bar. Like you could. I'm the type of person that can still separate even if it's crazy. But I didn't. I never heard anything where I was

[Dustin Ross]

like, it was just all baloney.

[Asante]

It was all baloney. Aaron, he recounts going into the cult, needing brotherhood, as I said earlier, needing to belong to some type of mission. They picked Aaron up from the airport, leaving Belize, and then they ended up in Mexico. That's when I made that joke about Kendrick and her man. When things. But this is when things, Aaron says, started to escalate. They moved into more tents outside of a big house, is what I wrote in my notes. Because they feature this big house, but they had to live in tents outside of it. So my mind, I'm like, well, why did y' all get a big house?

[Francesco]

I never understood that either.

[Asante]

Not only did they get a big house, this house had a recording studio in it where they were making music, which I don't even want to get into that. After a couple of days there, that's when Kendra got her man, Aaron, the cult. They spent their days on social media, as Fran was saying, with their curriculum. It was part of. It was part of their curriculum. And they were also sharing some weight weird, fake ass, non existent curriculum as well, because they were just saying the same few things over and over again. It's like he saw Handmaid's Tale once and was like, let me script this out. And then just do that to them.

[Francesco]

Well, because what it really was was their marketing.

[Asante]

Yeah, right.

[Francesco]

More than anything, you know, I got to keep repeating this so that mlm. Yeah.

[Asante]

Literally regurgitating beliefs, eventually believing everything themselves. In Mexico, Velvet recounts nature boy opening up more about his sexual fantasies and wanting to do threesomes. But he was referring to them as polygamy, which she obviously didn't want to do, but she really didn't have a choice. Nature Boy, he also had very terrible views on women even as going as far as to say that they want to be assaulted. So Nature Boy, who was initially being described as this person showcasing this utopian escape and you know, promoting this healthy eating, he's sharing these very terrible misogynistic views. He's abusing these people, the men and the women on camera era. His position just continues to escalate. Aaron believed that Aaron believed Nature Boy to be the Messiah because of the biblical parallels that he used hating Jesus, the Internet hating him. He said that he went through everything in the world for the sole purpose to help other people get over those things

[Dustin Ross]

very quickly. Spoon. Like, nobody's that nice. Nobody in today's world. Nobody is that nice. So if anybody tells you some like, I have sacrificed my life for the people. No, you haven't. Not. No, you haven't. You're getting paid in some way to be here. Okay? You haven't sacrificed. And the mere fact that he was going to bed in that house while y' all was outside in them comb intense. There's a problem that is. That's speaking to you. When you see that like that should let you know.

[Francesco]

Why do you know they were coming?

[Dustin Ross]

I didn't.

[Asante]

I was. That you really were.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm sorry, I gotta stop doing like that because I was dead ass serious. I wasn't even trying to be funny. I was serious, man. I gotta chill.

[Francesco]

I'm like, why do you know those.

[Asante]

Like you think you're in your writer's room. What you saying it Velvet. She tells of Nature Boy sitting the group down, talking about his struggles for hours on end. She believes that part of him struggles with liberating himself from his own traumas and then therefore inflicts it on other people.

[Francesco]

That. That took me out though. She was like, he would talk to us about his childhood for hours. Oh my God, girl, that's.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm telling you. Velvet was funny. Yes, Velve.

[Francesco]

Yes, was.

[Asante]

Now throughout this, throughout this four part documentary, they do show clips of. Of the lives as well as a lot of what Nature Boy had to say. And they shared a clip of him talking about his upbringing here. 1982, April 29th. He was born in Harlem, New York. His mother was in the 30s.

[Francesco]

Not. We were born the same.

[Dustin Ross]

I was just about to. Oh yeah.

[Francesco]

We were born the same week in the same neighborhood. Good. I screamed when they said that. I said, now I saw you the

[Asante]

whole morning in the park.

[Francesco]

And we was kidding.

[Asante]

You got some protection on you, girl?

[Francesco]

No. I really started thinking. I know I had to have seen him like I had to have. There's no way.

[Dustin Ross]

First of all, quit making 1982 look bad. You know what I'm saying? Don't be claiming I. We was born. You know what I'm saying? Not you. We don't have nothing to do with that.

[Francesco]

Not. We was born the same Elysia.

[Asante]

Well, his mother was the place.

[Dustin Ross]

Ain't nothing wrong with that name. I'm just trying to insult him. Go ahead.

[Asante]

His mother was in her 30s and she. When she gave birth to Alicia. And he was telling this story in a live. He said, I was born a crack baby. My dad was 70 something years old old. I was born. And they died. She died of an overdose and my dad died in his sleep. Chantelle says him and his brother, during their early lives they were in foster care. Allegedly Nature Boy Allegios Alicio Alicia. Alicia's foster mother was abusive and they took Ajax and made him scrub his skin.

[Francesco]

My God.

[Asante]

Now Chantelle from the T claims that she don't believe that since he was in a black family, he told stories of being in the streets, smoking weed, and then stripping for men and women. Chantel tracks that. Back in 2011, Alicia was actually arrested for aggravated battery after heavily abusing his other child's mother. She believes he used his experiences from childhood to manipulate his followers.

[Dustin Ross]

100% agree, and he did. And don't be trying to glaze over. Not you, Asante, but I'm talking about Alicia. Yo, don't be trying to glaze over. The dance for men and women part. You are a sissy and we all know it. We've all seen the video footage of it. The things that you allow to happen that deeply contradict the principles that you shared with these, the members of his cult. It involved a white man, you know what I'm saying? And him. The video that I saw and your meat wasn't even all that. So I just want people to know, like this Elysio guy was a total, total fraud and a total hypocrite. 100% a hypocrite. Everything he said was a fucking lie. Everything. And you did gay porn that. That to. To highlight his hypocrisy. That's why I'm harping on that, because he's that much of a hypocrite.

[Asante]

No, fuck him. Just ultimately, Velvet says that when she got pregnant, it. It became Nature Boy's ticket to abuse her. And that's why I said right before I read this part, the followers, I mean, really sad, but like super disappointing. But again, I'm remembering everybody was brainwashed. So I'm not judging anybody. I'm just like hating what I had to, you know, hear recounted.

[Dustin Ross]

Right.

[Asante]

The followers, they just normalized and ignored the abuse. Aaron, he said that he believed it to be discipline, corrective action for her masculine traits. She learned from American.

[Dustin Ross]

What does.

[Asante]

Like, that's what the belief system was at the time.

[Dustin Ross]

Even hearing that when they said, when he said that during the documentary, for me personally, I was like, you can use manipulate language to classify anything. But what he was talking about was nothing. What do you mean you're gonna beat her ass? Because it's, it's absolving her from the masculine. She learned in America. That don't even make any sense. Sense whatsoever. Like no sense. There's nothing that I don't know. This is just starting to get crazy. At this point in the documentary, I was like, this stuff is blatantly obtuse of anything godly. Blatantly like, like directly contradicts anything godly. So what the fuck are you talking about? And I would have been irritated.

[Francesco]

And I understood that part because like I said, being around certain spiritual, quote, unquote. Spiritual. Right. Because you gotta make that separation clear. There is a lot of talk like that.

[Dustin Ross]

Really friend about.

[Francesco]

Absolutely. I remember someone that I actually really. I thought he was so smart and brilliant. I remember he said one of the issues that he had with me was. And we weren't like, it wasn't even like that, but he was just like, you're just so. You're. You're too American as a woman, you know, like, you are. You need. You don't know how to submit. Black women don't know how to submit. You trying to be too. He said even my career was an example of like me just trying to be masculine as opposed to just. Okay, yeah, someone bringing, like guiding me as I'm supposed to be guided. Even the way we talk, the way we move through the world, like. And so when I saw this part, I was not surprised because that's always the fucking thread. Yes, that was part of the one on one fucking conversation.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't be worried about you because I know that in every part of your life you always have an undercurrent of assessment. You literally, you assess every situation you find yourself in at this point in your life. And you have always presented your. Whatever your beliefs are and shit to me in a way that was completely non Threatening. Threatening and completely safe. And I listen to that as your friend and filter it. Like, okay, friends, straight. This is just. You know what I'm saying? This is.

[Francesco]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Not being hoodwinked or nothing by nobody. She's always for real, though.

[Asante]

You know what I'm saying?

[Francesco]

But that's amazing to people for shit like that.

[Dustin Ross]

And, you know, you think about that.

[Francesco]

Yeah. A lot of us are just curious. A lot of us who have been through a lot, it has made us people that are on quests. You know, we're trying. Yeah, we're trying to understand what we've been through. We're trying to understand our place in the world. And that's what makes me sad when I see shit like that. Because these are young kids. Yeah. That. That are really, really just trying to make sense of the cards they were dealt. And he, I'm sure, was also trying to make sense of the cars he was dealt. And instead of just creating community around it, he felt that they needed to pay, especially essentially for everything he'd been through.

[Dustin Ross]

And he was greedy. He was a very greedy, evil person.

[Francesco]

Sexually funny, I mean, emotionally. Right.

[Dustin Ross]

Just greed, greedy, inhumane. Viewed these people as less than human and completely manipulated their lives.

[Francesco]

That's such a pain for his anger at his mom, you know, at his circumstances, at everything. And that's a scary part. Part with a lot of these people

[Dustin Ross]

at that white man from the gay porn that he did, because he did gay porn. And so, yeah, you know, I just. I just feel for these people, especially like Velvet pregnancies and these are like, like eternal links to this bastard and his, His, his, his man, his crazy.

[Francesco]

Seeing the baby right in the dock. That poor little beautiful little girl, just imagining what she. She had to endure as a baby in this environment with that being your dad.

[Dustin Ross]

Thank God.

[Asante]

In 2019. In 2019, Velvet gave birth on Live. Not because she wanted to, but just because that's where she was at. Right. Like, nature boy was distant before. And then while she was in the middle of getting her about to give birth, getting her epidural, he was trying to play the supportive role at that moment. Moment. She gave birth on Live. But afterwards, when they got back, while she was healing, he was still being mean and argumentative and continued engaging in sexual acts with other women, sometimes making Velvet participate.

[Dustin Ross]

One of the signs of the worst in the world is the way that they treat pregnant women.

[Francesco]

Right.

[Dustin Ross]

That. That is a clear telltale sign that a. Is really a bad person. Because that is. That is some. Being around kids, being around Babies. And you should have a natural instinct to be protective of them and the mother naturally, no matter. No matter what. So anybody that treats pregnant women or mothers in that way, you know that they're a horrible person. Clear.

[Asante]

She had to. She tells how she had to engage in non consent, non consensual sex with him in order to survive, to be left alone, to stop being hit, to protect her baby.

[Dustin Ross]

Ultimately, God bless her. Man. Man.

[Asante]

He continued to control the group, telling them what to do and not to do, punishing them for disobeying him and controlling what they ate. He would go out to eat sometimes, even though the followers could get in trouble for simply going out of bounds, even though they had to sleep outside. If you want to keep him in bounds, why don't you keep in the house? Anyway, sorry, Chantel. She says that she saw that once Nature Boy exerted his control and realized he could get away with it, he continued pushing the boundaries and becoming more of himself. Himself. He was getting away with so much for so long. Why not show you guys the real me? She said, why not display who I really am?

[Dustin Ross]

You give them.

[Asante]

And that was weird.

[Dustin Ross]

They take a mile shout out to got to be real. And they said, see, I give you an inch. And he just snatched the whole ruler out of my hand. That's what they do.

[Francesco]

Yeah. He went crazy.

[Asante]

And look. And that's where we end today's recap. Because I told you I was going to give y' all one of the episodes. We went through two of them. Them. Unfortunately, there was a lot of other heinous things in that documentary. This is something that we did cover before. I do remember covering it as they were going through the case and right as it wrapped. But this job, this documentary just does a good. A great job of humanizing the followers. Unfortunately, that fell victim to this man's. Because, you know, we could sit up here and be like, yeah, he wasn't saying because we know that he was. Wasn't. But again, like, unfortunately, it was a time when people, black people are always going through some. That's why when we see Make America Great again, we were like, when it was a great. Right. So imagine everything is just intensified through whatever you're going through, whether it's civil unrest, world unrest, personal things, a little bit of everything. And then you see someone just claiming to have that solution, that answer that they can help know that. That. Know that that's probably always wrong. But I don't know if that's good to say, but I just don't under. I just. For me, I don't even know what to tell people because it's like, this is so delicate. Like, anybody could end up there. Like, that could have been anybody's, like, cousin, brother, sister. I was looking at Kendra that time, and I was like, she could have been like, she don't look like nobody I'm related to, but she could have been one of my cousins or something.

[Dustin Ross]

I felt for her in that same way as I did, too.

[Asante]

And Velvet, I felt like Velvet could have been one of my. Like, that could still be one of my homegirls. You know what I'm saying? But Kendra, like, at, like, at the end, when she was just like, she. She does. But when Kendra was saying, like, she didn't know what to do past that, like, I felt so bad for her because it's like, girl, you still have so much life to live. You still have so much to give. But after hearing the things that she went through, it's like, I understand why you feel that way right now.

[Dustin Ross]

If I found out that one of my loved ones was a part of something like this, the fury that I would have in my soul and heart, you know what I'm saying? If I ever got my hands on the. The president of their thing. The leader was, when I tell you, playing with somebody's love, Think about those people have relatives and families that were concerned about them, you know, and when they see that, that's the. That's responsible for it. And he showed up to court in that prom jacket.

[Asante]

You see that?

[Dustin Ross]

What fabric was that on when they made it?

[Francesco]

And the lives of them being abused online to watch, you know, you can't live forever. Yeah. Watching it in real time. Like, I'm sure the families were keeping track.

[Asante]

Horror.

[Dustin Ross]

Horror for the families.

[Asante]

Shout out to Chantelle again from the T. And Jena Jana, the one. She was in part four, she was

[Francesco]

the one that was also.

[Asante]

A lot. A lot of stuff happened. I didn't want to get into everything, cuz just. I want to leave y' all with something. And I'm sure a lot of you all watched anyway. But what you can leave them with

[Dustin Ross]

is the fact that this is in prison for life. And then he has another sentence that he.

[Francesco]

That added 10 years.

[Asante]

So he's. He's guilty on all five counts, including rape and false imprisonment. He's sentenced to life without parole with 10 years consecutive.

[Dustin Ross]

And shout out to, like you said, the lady from the T website, her content and her archiving of the abuse and the occurrences that triggered her is what they use as evidence in the court trial and also shout out to Janaya, who was once in the court, got out and was willing to testify on trial and recount her experience. Right?

[Asante]

So, yeah, so there was Janae. There was. Was Jen. That's why I said Jen yet, because Jana.

[Dustin Ross]

Right, that's what I remember saying.

[Asante]

Well, so there. So hold on. So there was a. There was a reporter who ended up helping Jana, and her name was Jana or Jenya. Like it was J E N apostry ya. But then Jana was in the car,

[Dustin Ross]

the phone, the girl. So she was the one I talked to Jana. Sometimes you can see the word J E N E A.

[Asante]

So that was. So the girl, I think, that was holding up the phone, that was the one that was helping her. So basically, long story short, for those of y' all that have not watched and want to know what's going on, and in the earlier part of episode one, they showed some of the followers. But in part three, we get into one of the followers, Jana, who was in the cult, and she ultimately left. When Jana left the cult, she maintains and has put his ass behind bars now and charged his ass with. But she said that Nature Boy raped her when she was leaving the cult, and she actually just left the cult and left it as is. But unfortunately, someone in the cult, if not Nature Boy himself, released explicit videos of her on the Internet. The Cap county kept looking for reasons to charge Nature Boy with something that

[Dustin Ross]

was on his ass.

[Asante]

There was a young lady, and I wish. Wish I just know how to say her name appropriately, but it's J E N because I wrote on. Look, I made notes on notes. JN apostrophe Y a Janaya. They. They listed them as Internet detectives. Like, they put Chantelle as one, but she was the other Internet detective who was actually reaching out to the followers and making sure and. And spotlighting the things that were happening. She was reposting some of the abuse under a secret account. Agent Angelina or Agent Angela. I didn't write the age the ig name down because hopefully it's not active anymore. But I want to at least make sure I thank them both because she was the one that was instrumental and pushing Janae to talk to the police after those videos were released. And she was the one that was trying to. Yeah, these two black women were really the ones that were like, we gotta take this cult down. And they did it again. Elijah Bishop, his ass is locked up for life on rape and false imprisonment. Life without parole, 10 years consecutive for Each charge it was. He was guilty on all five counts.

[Dustin Ross]

Still lying, still not to taking no accountability. When he, when they, when he, he talked to the producers of the documentary, he said to tell all the followers he forgives them. And he still loves them. He still loves them.

[Asante]

Yo, when he tried to play that trick in jail though, he was like, I just want to say to anyone out there, my followers, I forgive you. And then the judge is like, all right, well we're not having any more of that. So.

[Dustin Ross]

Right. Shut that shit down. With a quickness, she looking at him

[Asante]

like, that ain't gonna work on me. And whoever you talking to ain't even on here.

[Dustin Ross]

You can go straight to hell.

[Francesco]

I'm not a fan of Internet detectives or people that be in forums digging into people's lives and obsessing and all those pages and websites and T pages, all of that. I just think they've destroyed the Internet in a lot of ways. But I can appreciate those who use their need to fatigue right to sleuth. Right. Whatever it is in you that needs to dig, dig, dig, dig, dig. I appreciate it being used in this way. Cuz you sa people's lives. You know what I mean? So put it to use, you know, put it to use for the people that deserve it.

[Asante]

FR shout out to you. When you kicked this whole docu series thing off with don't with Cats. You know the original Internet sleuth, that, that woman, cuz she was on one of the later seasons of Traders. She, she randomly. They had brought that woman back on Traders like a couple seasons ago. That's where she need to be.

[Dustin Ross]

Don't fuck with cats.

[Asante]

Right? Right.

[Dustin Ross]

I wouldn't talk about the cast.

[Asante]

You said you wouldn't have.

[Dustin Ross]

I would have kept my distance. Long handle spoon.

[Asante]

That is it for this week's episode.

[Francesco]

That personality type gives me the heebie jeebies.

[Dustin Ross]

Sleuthing niggas give me heated jeebies.

[Asante]

God.

[Francesco]

I told y' all I met a person. I'll say a person out here who. What they said to me is something I've never said online. So it let me know that they know they're sleuthy with me. And it made me. When I tell you the hairs 100 on my body stood up and I was weird as parasocial shit. Yeah. And I've seen them a couple times out here and I literally feel sick to my stomach because I'm like that personality type I just don't allow fine

[Dustin Ross]

with and scary gender non specific. Leave Fran alone. And if you roll up on us while we out in Portland. It's gonna get. Portland's gonna stay weird that night. I'll just put it to you like that. Okay.

[Francesco]

Just so creepy.

[Dustin Ross]

But anyways, whoop your ass in a blow up dinosaur costume with friends. I will put on Reptar and bite you. Okay.

[Asante]

You know who looks like Reptar? Who?

[Dustin Ross]

Well, yeah, Elijah Bishop. Who?

[Asante]

Elijah Bishop.

[Dustin Ross]

He does. With them beady ass, evil ass eyes, you know what I'm saying? Looking like McCafferty.

[Asante]

I hope he is getting his ass whooped right now. Like, I hope he's just trying to talk nonsense. Imagine trying to get some followers behind bars. Like, shut the up.

[Francesco]

I wonder what his life is in is like in there. I really do. I can't.

[Asante]

If you're listening from behind bars. No, I'm just playing.

[Francesco]

Speaking of, we have a lot of listeners behind bars. I get a lot of DMS from people saying that their tablets. And I feel like I've mentioned this before, their tablets are allow them this mental health tab in the podcast section. And. And the Friend zone is one of the shows that's allowed on the tablets in prison.

[Dustin Ross]

Shout out to everybody in Gwenette online, we see y'. All. We love y'. All. Shout out to everybody.

[Francesco]

To my heart. So I get DM from them being like, yo, thank you for keeping us abreast of like politics and mental health.

[Dustin Ross]

That makes me happy.

[Asante]

Everything that makes me so happy.

[Francesco]

Connected still, if you locked up and

[Asante]

you listening, you know, hope. Send much love and hope.

[Dustin Ross]

Hell yeah.

[Francesco]

And I'm glad we could be there for you during this time.

[Asante]

100% for you, Elijah. Fuck you, right?

[Dustin Ross]

If you're listening, you're a. But everybody else, we love y' all and we thankful for y' all listening to us.

[Asante]

Yo, if you time with y' all

[Dustin Ross]

could literally be listening to anything else that you have the option to. Y' all chose us. And we appreciate that Eli Bishop is

[Asante]

randomly listening to this show because I feel like if he sees his name come up, he might. He just might listen.

[Francesco]

Especially on a tablet.

[Asante]

You are heinous. You're an asshole and your life is over. And I'm glad because you try to ruin so many people's lives and you probably have ruined a lot of people's lives. People. That girl blocked her family, yo. Like, like, I don't like thinking of people just gone one day and so to know that someone thought that they were going to go one day for something better and had to do all of what she did and Everybody. Everybody's story was important. You know, everybody's. Well, most people's. Sorry, Alex. Like, I just didn't like that. So that was it for this week's episode. I hope you all enjoyed out there listening and. Yeah, watch it.

[Francesco]

On who? Hulu. The culture of nature, boy.

[Asante]

Yes, the culture. The cult of nature.

[Francesco]

The cult. Oh, you said culture. I was like, the culture of nature

[Dustin Ross]

and what she said.

[Francesco]

No, you didn't. Let us know your thoughts in the comments, too. We'd love to share them. All right, let's jump into this week's segment.

[Dustin Ross]

Welcome to the Friends.

[Asante]

There are moments that define who you are and who you're becoming. And when those moments arrive, what you drive should rise to meet them. The Range Rover Sport commands attention from the very first glance. Every line, every detail engineered for impact. Inside refinement takes over with sculpted 22

[Francesco]

way heated seating with available massage and

[Asante]

a 13.1 inch touchscreen that puts everything within easy reach. But the Range Rover Sport isn't just about luxury. It's about uncompromised performance, too. Delivering a powerful, agile drive that feels as confident as it looks. And with nearly endless ways to personalize, from interior finishes to wheels to unique colors and accessories, your Range Rover Sport becomes unmistakably yours. For those who expect more from every

[Francesco]

moment, there's a vehicle designed to meet it.

[Asante]

The Range Rover Sport. Exclusive offers available now. Explore further@range rover.com

[Dustin Ross]

and Doug, there's nowhere

[Asante]

I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row

[Dustin Ross]

at a comedy show.

[Francesco]

Hey, everyone, Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Asante]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Asante]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Dustin Ross]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Asante]

Liberty.

[Dustin Ross]

Liberty.

[Francesco]

This week in Wounded. So my friend Tori was talking about this app that I wanted to bring into people's awareness. We recently had Budgenisa. Come on. And one of the tips she kept saying is just gotta figure out to make more money, right? So when I saw my friend Tori discussing this new app called Insta Work, I was like, what is this? So I started looking it up. Of course it's an AI app, but it's no different than what I said about the tea people. At least put it to use right where it's helping the community. So I looked it up because I got curious. I was like, oh, maybe there's something we can talk about on the Friend Zone. I know people are always figuring out how to make more money. So Insta Work apparently is the modern staffing solution. That's what they're calling.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay.

[Francesco]

It's a staffing platform that connects businesses with hourly frontline workers ready for one time shifts, set schedules, or even seasonal coverage. So you could work with them one day, you could work with them for weeks, weeks for months, for a year. It's really up to you and the businesses that are available on there.

[Dustin Ross]

When I look at freedom.

[Francesco]

Yeah, exactly. And think about it, sometimes you just, there's something specific. You need money for a specific bill or a specific project, or maybe you're moving into a house and you need to make extra ends meet. You know, whatever your situation is, it seems like this app has shifts, work shifts for every situation. I just think it makes sense. Sense, right. Like with this day and age, it makes sense that there is an app that is connecting workers and shifts to businesses directly. So I thought this was genius. So when you go on the app, it has two sections, right. It's I need staff. So that's if you own a business or I want to work. So that's if you're a worker that's looking to connect with a business. I checked out what kind of opportunities they have. Warehousing. They have restaurants, stadiums and events, hotels and hospitality, retail, grocery, cleaning, janitorial, bartending. Pretty much every field apparently is a part of this app. I look to see how they do the vetting. Right. For both the businesses and the workers. So they're definitely going to ask for a background check. Definitely. Like work authorization based on the company, of course, references, experiences. I mean, it's going to be no different. Right. You need to be vetted properly. This isn't just a sign up, you know, hit a job and get the shift. Obviously certain jobs are going to call for licensing and certifications and then some businesses, depending on the nature of the business, are going to ask for extra screening. So these are things that I think are great. Right. There's protecting both you and it's protecting the businesses as well. It is based on a rating system. So the more you work, the better of a job you do, the higher your rate, the more opportunities you'll get. Right. It's kind of reminds me of the rating system even with everything else. Like with doordash, you see the doordashes have. Yeah. Credit scoring, all of it. Right. And so it's no cost to get started, which I think is great. So there's like no fees that you gotta pay for upfront or nothing yet. Not even on the back end. The best part is instant payment after the shift. I know that's a big one that I was like, oh, that's going to be a huge one for people. You can book shifts in advance. You can also book shifts literally at the last minute, day before, hours before, like I said, you can work anything from a few hours to a few months. The more you work, the more shifts will unlock. That's where the AI comes in, too. So I look up on Reddit and just different places to see how people were feeling about this app because I wanted to make sure it wasn't like some weird.

[Dustin Ross]

Right.

[Francesco]

And it was mixed feelings. There were some people that felt like, because the app is local, obviously, let's say you're in New York, you're going to be getting a ton of opportunities just because it's a lot of business, it's a dense population. So depending on where you live, you know, there were some people saying, well, I live in such and such town. I felt like it was kind of trash, like not really as many opportunities. And then because it is an AI, it takes a while, I guess, for the AI to really understand what it is you're looking for. So you're going to have to work more in order for the AI to present more opportunities. Exactly. But if you're not seeing opportunities, then you're not going to work more, you know, so it's. That's where people I saw were mainly complaining. But I did notice that it was very different for people in larger cities. These. Apparently you can achieve what they call top pro status. I guess, you know, that's the more you work and you have higher ratings and the more you do that, you can actually earn cash bonuses through the app.

[Dustin Ross]

That's dope.

[Francesco]

And you can also earn up to 10% more than someone else would on a shift. So I guess that's incentive, right? To keep working and do a phenomenal job. And then when you click on a shift, the business will sell you what they call, you know, detailed shift instructions so that you know what to expect, you know what the shift is going to entail, and how to essentially get the best out of it for you and the business. I think this is super useful.

[Dustin Ross]

Very useful, too. Hell yeah.

[Asante]

It's like TaskRabbit, but like, you know, something you actually like before work.

[Francesco]

Yeah.

[Asante]

Not like a little something, Right?

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesco]

And I And I. It kind of reminds me of, you know, when we were younger. I mean, I'm sure recruiters are still a thing, but remember, people go temp agencies, hunters, just to try to see what's going on, what's available. And this just feels like the AI modernized version of that. So if you're interested. I just thought this was really important. I know right now finances are very tricky for a lot of people. And so any opportunity I see where some money can be made and you don't got to do nothing weird for some change, I'm going to bring it to the show so that you guys can check it out and hopefully this is something that is useful inside. Insta Work is The App and Instawork.com is the site if you want to check it out. Like I said, go on Reddit, go on all the reviews, check out how people are feeling about it and if anyone has used it, share your thoughts on it just so that we can get some feedback on our own as well.

[Dustin Ross]

So we're your Yelp.

[Francesco]

We're here. Yelp. So I wanted to put that into your awareness in order in hopes that you can make some more money out here. So that's it for this week in wellness, this week in music.

[Asante]

All right, real quick, just a few small things that I need to touch on for music because I talked a lot for the main show. Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

It'd be like that.

[Asante]

Ok, very quickly, I have to shout out people that I so dearly love. This isn't really music related, but it is. Shout out to Beyonce.

[Francesco]

Nice.

[Asante]

I know we said it at the top of the show already, but Beyonce. Beyonce. It was her first time back at the Met Galaxy Met Gala in over a decade. In a decade. So she. Yeah, Beyonce has not been there.

[Francesco]

I hear that.

[Asante]

So her showing back up and looking as good as she did, I just wanted to make sure I shot her out here in the music segment. You know, normally I'd shout out Megan, but our girl is healing her heart right now. But it's okay because big mama's out there still in the streets getting that money, doing her thing and looking good doing it. Beyonce is still teasing Act 3, which everybody's heavily anticipating. People think it's coming out as soon as the end of this month. People think even sooner than that. People think maybe later. We don't know. I don't know. I don't like playing in the politics of those things until I've heard she's teasing it. Well, just little visual things and people

[Francesco]

putting things Together got you just being crazy. Okay.

[Asante]

Yeah. Like, literally that, Like, I, I, I don't live in that. I can't. Some people have to see it all. And do I, I can't.

[Francesco]

I don't decipher.

[Asante]

So just seeing her. Yeah. So seeing her at the Met gala, beautiful. That's what I like. You know, liking the things on Instagram, beautiful. Now trying to read into everything. I still have to spend money on a ticket. I can't, you know, go to school before I do it. I have to go to work. All right, that's it. On Beyonce. Do I have two more stories or do I just have one more? I do have two, but I think I'm just gonna share the one. They're all tour stories. They're all, they're all, they're all tour stories. They're all bad. Well, not. They're all bad. They're not all bad, actually. I'll show the good one. Okay. So Shakira, she had a free concert out in Rio de Janeiro at Copacabana beach. Two million people pulled up to see Shakira perform.

[Dustin Ross]

That was beautiful to see. Did you see all that crowd of people?

[Asante]

Did you see the pictures, friend?

[Francesco]

I didn't hear about this at all. All.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, let me google them and pull them up.

[Asante]

So she did like, she did like 30 songs. I know Anita came out. Some other people were out there. I just saw. Cuz I seen the clips of Anita and Shakir. I was like, what is this? And then I saw Shakira at this big content. I seen everybody named. I almost out there. I was like, damn, I ain't know

[Francesco]

nothing about this fire. Shout out.

[Asante]

Shout out to Shakira. Because Shakira is one of those who we respected. People have made fun of her, but she has just continued to be an A1 singer, performer, artist.

[Dustin Ross]

And ain't nothing to make fun of to me. I love Shakira's voice. I love her music.

[Asante]

You know, some of her financial struggles, people just find that as an opening to maybe even discount talent. And it's like these two things are not related. So.

[Dustin Ross]

And my part, you know what got me on Shakira? This one line on underneath your clothes. And she was like. And being such a good girl, honey. When she said honey, I was like,

[Francesco]

yeah, you are so cool.

[Dustin Ross]

That's my part. Okay.

[Asante]

I love that stuff. I love that song. I had a couple other stories. They were too related, but they were both bad. That's what. But so I'm just gonna go ahead and say both of them real fast. The Pussycat Dolls, they canceled their North American leg of their reunion tour. I mean, honestly, once I heard they were going on tour and it was only half of them, I wasn't interested. So y' all could go ahead and wrap it up. I'm never gonna. I don't. I'm never gonna want to see Nicole Scherzinger by herself or with two people. It's got to be all six or I don't care. Sorry girl, I'll see you by yourself on Broadway. I'm mad that I missed that show. But when it comes to the Pussycat Dolls, the brand loosen up my buttons. I need old girl to come out and kick her leg. I need, I just need it all. If I can't have it all, I don't want it at all. And the last story that I wasn't going to share, but I'm gonna share and then we can move on to the listens like lately songs to play portion of this is Kid Cudi is on tour and the tour is called the Rebel Race Tour. And there has been some controversy because he recently kicked Mia off of the tour. She was opening and yeah, when she was opening out in Dallas on Saturday, she decided to have a whole rant about how she is magna this and maggot Republican Party and yada yada yada. Kid Cudi got back to him. He said he wrote to the. He sent out a very professional email or he sent out a. He put out a statement to the. The fans actually and it was very nice. It was very much like we discussed beforehand that there wasn't going to be anything crazy. It's. This has affected my tour and I'm not going to have anybody disrespecting my fans or. Or treat my fans got away. So she's been asked to leave the tour apparently. Mia. Oh yeah, Mia is no longer on this tour. I told my management to send a notice to her team before we started the tour that I didn't want anything offensive at my shoot shows cuz I already knew what time it was and I was assured things were understood. After the last couple shows. I've been flooded with messages from fans that were upset by her rants. This to me is very disappointing and I won't have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fan base. Thank you for understanding Rager. So Kid Cud, he just swiftly. I mean it's the Rebel Rager tour. You know, Rachel had to let y' all know what's going on. So that was on Saturday. On Monday evening, Mia took to social media with a lengthy retort. She basically claims that by illegal, she simply meant member. Members of her team have yet to get their work visas. I guess in part of her, she was talking about whatever the. But I don't care. That's the issue.

[Francesco]

What was. What did she say? I'm not familiar with the.

[Asante]

At. At the Kid Cudi concert. This is a tweet from Susie Rio. I actually put up an article on Hot hot new hip hop dot com. They have this all summed up. After the Kid Cudi concert with Mia, she started randomly started talking about how she's a Republican and how at the concert, there's probably a bunch of illegals that she's having to play to. People started booing her, and quite a few left and asked for a refund. She ended her career.

[Dustin Ross]

So she also said she was like, I never thought I'd be canceled for being a brown Republican voter, but here we are type shit. She was talking shit.

[Asante]

So Mia, she.

[Francesco]

Why does it surprise me? I guess, okay, random.

[Dustin Ross]

I never thought she was on that shit either.

[Asante]

Yeah, like, she retweeted that tweet, and she wrote, I wrote Illegal on the Maya LP. I wrote illegal on the Maya LP, a song from 2010. I started this intro to the song song with the statement saying, I'm illegal. And I said, my team hasn't gotten visas yet. Then played a song that had lyrics saying, the law, which I still believe if the law is unjust, it do not gaslight my words. That is the word of the work of Satan. All right, so it might sound smoking,

[Dustin Ross]

like a true maga.

[Francesco]

Maga or not. What is she saying? Yeah, I'm very. Okay, what is happening?

[Dustin Ross]

She identified ourselves as a Republican voter.

[Asante]

I don't need this virtue signal era to all of a sudden erase an entire life I've led. Jesus was an immigrant and a rebel. I have no apology for the judgmental, the wicked, and the ignorant, but those are spirits that we must overcome in our lives and in this world. It feels like it tracks, Right?

[Dustin Ross]

That's all the MAGA talking points, the Christian, the, you know, judgment, all the stuff. It's automatic.

[Francesco]

But it's confusing because it's like she's on two sides at the same time. I'm like, what? Okay. I don't. I mean, honestly, I. Mia is not someone I thought of. So.

[Dustin Ross]

And her. Because she has some really great music.

[Francesco]

Yeah. Back in the day, for sure.

[Dustin Ross]

Right.

[Asante]

Cause she sure ended this rant with go listen to MI7 on her. Nikki.

[Dustin Ross]

No, she can shut up.

[Asante]

Woo. And now I see why I didn't want her to share that story. And that is it for that portion of this program. Now we're going to move on to the listens lately. Because friend, I need to know what you've been listening to lately.

[Dustin Ross]

Need to know

[Francesco]

the fact that activated immediately for you. So our sister India Sean dropped an

[Dustin Ross]

EP her fine ass.

[Francesco]

Love you, sis. She dropped an EP called Subject to change. Honestly, I couldn't even pick a song because everything whatever you don't play, I'm gonna play exactly. Everything's perfect. But I'm gonna play Multiplicity because it's my favorite on the project. And this is how it it goes. Desire be with more than one. Can make up your mind. If you had a tight it be everyone so unoriginal. We were just about to get to the good part. Now you won't be free. You want a taste of everything.

[Dustin Ross]

You

[Francesco]

hold a place.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Asante]

It's my baby.

[Francesco]

I just. Y' all already know how we feel about her.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesco]

So that was what I was playing literally for days. I've played Nomi before on the show. She's an artist that I found on Shuffle and she came up for me. I ended up following her.

[Dustin Ross]

Shuffle is crazy like fire.

[Francesco]

Listen, I ended up following her online cause I also really love her visuals, her aesthetics. And she's just one of those artists I want to keep an eye on. Yeah, know me. She dropped a new song and it's called Sweet Talk and I wanted to play it. This is how it goes.

[Dustin Ross]

Something like the imagination.

[Francesco]

Got your mind made up about me?

[Dustin Ross]

I can tell you than what you saying.

[Francesco]

I can read your model. She's dope, right?

[Asante]

Hell yeah.

[Francesco]

A big fan of Know me. That's N N O M I for those who want to look her up. And then lastly, boss man dlo.

[Dustin Ross]

Hey, come on with it.

[Francesco]

I was playing it on my way to the dry cleaner yesterday and when I pulled up, the dude was like, hey man. He was like, hey.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. He goes with the vibes.

[Francesco]

Okay. It's called chicken talking bastard.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, I know exactly what this is. Yes, friend. Yeah, yeah. This a what you call it? Pockets full of money so my pants keep falling. I'm a money getting chicken Talking about I got a bad no bbl all now I ain't beefing about a I get a new hoe Big dog who you talking to? Is you cool? Don't compare them boys to us. Nobody knows them real Boss baby ain't bigger than a program Gucci down, head to toe, naked wrist so icy pussy don't like me, you better get like me Strip club making it rain, diamonds hit like lightning blue hunters on my brain money only thing excitement on some ocean foot with us they turn me down, I turn me up no, she bad, she acting up dog on me add it up, I get flying flex money, I don't see nothing damn, I fell in love with burning rubber count bands I apply that pressure, baby make them hate me, you can get whatever, baby them boys just ain't me I put overtime in, I buzz down the AP I don't need a friend, you pay me this a what you call it? Pockets full of money so my pants keep falling I'm a money getting chicken Talking about I got a bad no bbl all now TR I ain't beefing about a bitch, I get a new hoe hello.

[Francesco]

Those are my three for this week. Summer.

[Dustin Ross]

So okay, friend. Okay.

[Francesco]

I'll tell you, girl, Boss Mandela sounds so crazy in the car. I love playing him.

[Asante]

All right, Dustin Ross. What your ass over there jamming too?

[Dustin Ross]

Well, you already know what time it is. Being that it's Cinco de Mayo, I felt like today.

[Francesco]

Oh, no. What are you about to play?

[Dustin Ross]

I felt like today I need to play music by all Mexican artists is so that's what I'm about to do. Y that's what I'm f to do today. And we going to start this off right. I ain't even got to put say no introduction.

[Francesco]

Come on,

[Dustin Ross]

Come on, you gotta go. You gotta. You gotta drag that out. So word up. Shout out to Selena.

[Francesco]

You crazy.

[Dustin Ross]

The omg. Original Mexican gangster. Now let's go. The next song I'm gonna play is another Mexican gangster. Shout out to Lil Rob. This is Summer nights.

[Asante]

I'm feeling good, feeling all right night

[Dustin Ross]

I'm feeling good now yeah, it's all

[Francesco]

good in the neighborhood, homes.

[Asante]

I feel good, I feel all right

[Francesco]

Cruising through my neighborhood on a warm summer night I feel good that's right.

[Asante]

I feel good now Summer days just

[Francesco]

sitting around but when the sun goes

[Dustin Ross]

down I'll be ready to party Nothing like them summer nights Keep the top

[Francesco]

on, drop all the girls looking high Hit the photo and we just don't stop.

[Asante]

I just kicked it at home I

[Francesco]

polished up the chrome called the ruka on the phone let her know I'm home alone it's 7:30 and the sun's going down It's a summer night and the fun's going down, down, up.

[Dustin Ross]

That's right. Okay.

[Francesco]

You're funny.

[Dustin Ross]

And the last Mexican artist we going to sing to this week, Sing along to this goes without. No, I. I don't need no introduction for this either. And this person is Mexican. They represent well. So I figure we're going to highlight their Mexican heritage. Let's go.

[Francesco]

That smile on your face makes it easy to trust you if they only knew. The girl with the tattoo Like I said, I do. What you doing just to get away going yeah See, baby, just don't lose

[Dustin Ross]

yourself End up gay all right, so no shout out to Miguel girl with the tattoo interlude. And that's it for me this week. Shout out to Mexico Cold man. He cold baby. Yes.

[Asante]

All right, first up, I'm going to shout out India Sean Friend already lit the charge. She is family to the show.

[Francesco]

We love you, sis.

[Asante]

We are giving it to her again. I was going to start y' all off the. Her project is called Subject Change. A few of the records have been released previously, so you get a few new cute little trips. Treats. Friend played one. Which one did you play again, friend?

[Francesco]

Multiplicity.

[Asante]

Multiplicity. Oh, yeah. I see. And that's why I didn't start with I was.

[Francesco]

And I've played Cotton Candy Boulevard. Switch.

[Asante]

Yep. And so, look, I was about to play Marmalade since it was the first one, but I'm just gonna skip on number two and play it till infinity. And here's how it goes.

[Francesco]

Decide who you are to me Tell me tenderly the things held so deeply inside emotion me get close to me hey, hey Time is fleet

[Dustin Ross]

Give me

[Francesco]

a reason to Without a storm with you I need a name Good to stay through the waves Is it true do you know if we was flowing through the ocean? Well, if they do think you give me all your love and I'll get my devotion to you

[Asante]

that is the gorgeous, lovely, amazing Sean.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes, it is.

[Asante]

Next up, I'm going to play Isaiah Rashad and scissors track.

[Francesco]

Oh, I had that, too.

[Asante]

Did you play that one or did

[Francesco]

you play the last? No, I played his other song last year. Okay.

[Asante]

But we still feeling on the eyes. Isaiah Rashad. We still in that way.

[Francesco]

Yeah. I like the song. Actually. I think it's one of the best ones on the album.

[Asante]

It's fine.

[Dustin Ross]

I love both of them.

[Asante]

Here's how it goes.

[Dustin Ross]

Around the world twice three times hey, baby, come inside I want to play some fire and if you have the time maybe you could slide with me. Then I could be a boyfriend and if that doesn't work

[Francesco]

then I'll just

[Dustin Ross]

be your girlfriend Night beside you I don't know no pain back and forth Late night beside you. Great.

[Asante]

This boy in red, that was Isaiah, Rashad, A little vibe. Y' all know s gonna come on there and do her thing, but we was him. Okay, last song that I'm going to share with you is from Toosie and this is Proud of me.

[Dustin Ross]

You won't hear me on the radio turn me on? You gonna see me on a TV show either way go I figured that I let you know that you gonna get your don't you lie to me? Are you proud of me? Don't you cry for me? Yeah, I'm really proud of me? Cause how proud of me people was treating me FL I gave my heart to the world and they turn their back was flicking me off I gave my heart to the trenches they wanted me behind walls I had to choose bars in the cell I e To put bars in the song they didn't know I was gifted People was tearing me wrong I had a gift so I t the guy that he told me give him all they should have knew he was riding along my heart cold ain't no turning it on but you can turn on your TV or your radio for my songs Turn me up, you only hear me on the radio Turn me on you going see me on the TV show

[Asante]

that's proud of me.

[Dustin Ross]

So dope that so dope.

[Asante]

That sounds so good. My car.

[Dustin Ross]

And shout out to Tucy because he just made some comments regarding homophobia that were very, very mature and nice what he said. So shout out to Toosie.

[Asante]

I didn't know what she was about to say about.

[Dustin Ross]

No, no, for sure.

[Francesco]

We love to hear it.

[Dustin Ross]

Shout out to Toosie.

[Asante]

Well, that's it over here for music. Hope y' all over there listening to some good shit. Let us know what y' all listening to down below this week in tv.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay? So, boom. Y' all already know love and marriage Huntsville is going down. Julie Downtown, Julie Brown. Okay. On love and marriage, Huntsville right now, Destiny Payton has emerged as the star of the show in the most organic and authentic organic shout out to Big pressure coming soon at Betty's USA chapter. But anyway, one of the most organic ways possible. And it's through this situation that has has grown between her and Leticia Scott. And if you're watching the show, let us know in the comments because I'm down to do a deeper dive about it on Patreon as a bonus. So just let me know because it's that deep.

[Francesco]

Just always do it. They're always going to say yes.

[Dustin Ross]

So there's that. Also Bell Collective Birmingham knocking it out the park. I told y', all, get in on the ground floor. This is a brand new series. Support it. Okay? Yeah. Stormy Steele just had a 48 hour live with her Canvas beauty line and collaboration with Lala Anthony. She sold millions of dollars worth of product. It was just beautiful. Like, so watching her be successful and watching the ups and downs that come along with that, the challenges that she faces along the way, it's really interesting. Television also, the Real Housewives of Atlanta, we got what we've been like, what we've been waiting on, y'.

[Asante]

All.

[Dustin Ross]

We had a classic throwback, old school Real Housewives of Atlanta scene. A back and forth verbal volley between Pinky Cole, friend of our show, and Angela Oakley, friend on my socials. And when I tell you now, Pinky put up a good fight. She did. Angela took the W. She did. Angela won that. But you could tell it was all right in the moment in the dome because they were going back and forth playing out for what each other was saying. It is. It is one.

[Asante]

It goes down.

[Dustin Ross]

It is. It is very much akin to the back and forth between Claudia Jordan and the leaks in season seven when they were in Puerto Rico. It is just like that. For real. And Pinky was a. Pinky started. Pinky called Angela a first in the argument. It just. Just watch the damn show. Okay. Watch this week's episode of the Real Stars of Atlanta and I'm gonna also go ahead and say it. You know what I'm saying? Baddies USA Chapter 2. Zeus dropped a teaser for the upcoming season. And the only thing that I'm gonna speak on related to it is the fact that there and this is only relative to are only relevant to the people that watch. I'm not going to add no context. In the teaser, someone is seen getting beaten and jumped by Ivory Bamboo and Big Lex, not the little one. And if you watch that show and if you watch now, that's tv. And if you know who Ivory Baboo is and if you know who Big Lex is from Baddies, imagine getting jumped by. And I'll just leave you with that. That's it for this week in TV land.

[Francesco]

That means that that is it for this week. Whoa. I can't speak today. I don't know what's happening. That's it for us this week. We love you guys so much. We do not take you for granted. Thanks for hanging with us yet Another week and we will catch you guys next week.

[Asante]

Stay black and protect your magic.

[Dustin Ross]

Make it hard. Like Kim Burrell's glasses. That's how big they be. Oh my God.

[Asante]

My name is heavy.

[Francesco]

Bye. And now for a bit of breaking news.

[Asante]

Between your breaking news with me, the

[Francesco]

Geico Gecko, here are some things you ought to know today. People who switch their car insurance to geico save about $900 a year. Experts are calling that nice to know. Also, plants can hear when bees buzz.

[Asante]

My ficus just heard that.

[Francesco]

And finally, animal experts have confirmed that

[Asante]

goats have regional accents.

[Francesco]

I'm getting a hint of Irish there.

[Dustin Ross]

It feels good to get good news.

[Asante]

It feels good to Geico.

[Dustin Ross]

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