Older Women Having A Good Time

Summary

The Friend Zone

Episode: Older Women Having a Good Time
Release Date: January 22, 2025
Hosts: Dustin Ross, Hey Fran Hey (Francesca), Assanté

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the state of community, the rise of public co-signing among Black celebrities for Trump’s new inauguration, and the intensifying need for resourcefulness, communal support, and practical skills in the year ahead. The hosts blend humor, shade, and real talk to process political and personal upheaval—from the Trump inauguration stunts, the state of the digital economy, social media reliance, responses to the LA wildfires, and their predictions and intentions for 2025.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Public Black Celebrity Support for Trump’s Inauguration (01:12–09:54)

• "Coon Coop 5" Callout:

  • Dustin rails against the public appearances of Black rappers—Stephen A. Smith, Snoop Dogg, Nelly, Rick Ross, Soulja Boy—at Trump’s inauguration celebrations, dubbing them the “Coon Coop 5.”
  • Quote (Dustin, 01:39):

    “You got the Coon Coop 5 this time … a bunch of Black shoeshine, tap dancing … that decided to publicly perform at the Trump inauguration festivities. … And now his balloon of Black support has popped.”

  • Their participation is seen as a betrayal of community interests and moral clarity, aligning with Trump’s openly regressive policies.

• Nelly's Case:

  • Special focus on Nelly’s rationale (“I respect the office”) as an example of empty, self-serving contrarianism, prompting ridicule about his musical legacy and character.
  • Consequences for Ashanti by association are noted, with fan pages withdrawing support ("After 20 years support, we are now K Pop St." 07:28).

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2. Personal Check-in: How Breaks & the “Energy of the Year” Feels (10:15–37:04)

• Winter Breaks and Emotional Checkpoints:

  • Asanté: Focused on home routines, safety (post-robbery), and connecting with friends. Humor on personal safety, gun laws, and the “paranoia” of needing to protect oneself, given changing times.
  • Francesca: Noted an increased sense of unease—heightened by local white supremacist activity, home soliciting, and surveillance fears—exacerbated by the political climate.
  • Dustin: Spent break focusing on professional goals, grounding in self-investment, but also acknowledges the “off” social vibe of the new year.

• A Collective Malaise and Disassociation:

  • The hosts recount feeling strange, disconnected, “just there” over the break, with the new year’s arrival feeling flat or ominous.
  • Quote (Francesca, 33:24):

    “I started crying after the countdown … It was this really ominous, weird feeling … I feel like we took 2024 for granted … a lot of challenges up ahead … but a challenging year isn't a bad year, it's just not what you thought it would be.”

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3. Beyoncé's “Beyoncé Bowl” and the Power of Black Culture (22:33–25:59)

• Celebration of Black Excellence:
  • The hosts celebrate Beyoncé’s Christmas game performance as an extraordinary production, with particular admiration for Blue Ivy’s growth and the show’s embrace of Black cowboy/country traditions.
  • Quote (Dustin, 23:07):

    “Watching entertainers perform on such a large scale … is just exciting … highlight so much about all that Black cowboy culture … It was just a beautiful performance.”

  • Lively discussion about how such boldness in Black creative spaces models “giving us hope and unity” amid sociopolitical tension.

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4. Safety, Surveillance & Community Watch (12:38–20:00; 40:51–44:49)

• Community Safety Fears:
  • Francesca describes unsettling encounters with white men “surveying” her neighborhood under pretexts, linking the increased racialized surveillance to the emboldened far-right.
  • The crew discusses the importance of legal self-defense, community vigilance, and staying informed about local gun laws and resources.
  • They propose future episodes on approachable, responsible gun ownership and self-protection ("We need someone who can talk about guns in a way that's not weird." 14:39).

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5. Digital Economy & Tech Oligarchy—TikTok and Beyond (90:23–100:53)

• Tech Billionaires at Trump’s Inauguration; Meaning for Creators:

  • The hosts debate feelings of anxiety and resignation watching Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and the TikTok CEO in prime seats at the inauguration.
  • Dustin’s stance (70:28–74:15):

    “No longer going to try to educate anybody … What, what I was able to do, I did on election day … I’m no longer trying to inform anybody of anything … [This] is worst-case scenario for me … I’ma protect me and mine.”

  • Francesca: Urges creators to keep sharing, teaching, and building community online, even as platforms shift and digital safety becomes more precarious.
  • Quote (Francesca, 100:53):

    “We need to be talking about what we’re doing … people that garden and grow food, we need your info more than ever now … You should consider some real-world, community-based skills this year.”

• TikTok Drama & Platform Manipulation:

  • The hosts unpack the TikTok “ban stunt,” Trump’s publicity move, and the post-ban shift in content moderation—especially the suppression of international social justice content (e.g., Gaza), sparking distrust of digital gatekeepers.
  • Noted how TikTok’s original appeal was its accessibility as an economic platform, especially for marginalized creators.

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6. Community Response to the LA Fires (120:20–129:23)

• Resource Directories & Mutual Aid

  • Francesca shares vital, crowd-sourced resources:
    • Project PIT: transportation for evacuees
    • The Platinum Group: free car rental/tow/repairs
    • Mutual Aid LA (MaLAN): directories with shelters, direct family GoFundMes, alert systems, and direct ways to help Black and Latin families.
  • Quote (Francesca, 125:35):

    "Let's get these resources circulating, even throughout the year ... This isn’t over.”

• The Need for Real Community Economics:

  • The success of mutual aid fundraising signals a powerful model for economic resilience, especially for marginalized communities facing generational dispossession.

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7. Reflections on Goals & Intentions for 2025: "What Skills Can You Offer?" (104:56–114:07)

• New Framework for Goal Setting:

  • Francesca urges listeners to set goals not just for personal growth but for collective sustainability. Skills acquisition should focus on mutual aid: growing food, language, self-defense, carpentry, or other practical trades.
  • Quote (Francesca, 113:02):

    “What is the skill—the goal that you have for this year—to learn something new that you can offer the people around you?”

• Dustin's Action Breakdown:

  • Have a mindfulness toward community as you move in your career (“as you’re doing your thing, be aware of how your choices open doors for others”).
  • The need for direct, actionable support—especially since DEI initiatives are rapidly being dismantled ("They rescinded any sort of Black and Latin protections," 105:19).

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8. Listener Feedback & Community Shoutouts (49:36–59:49)

• Lexi Rich’s comment on “older women having a good time” and the Karen Huger (“Grand Dame”) storyline on Real Housewives of Potomac sparks a humorous debate on age, accountability, and public perception.
• Community birthdays, fire support, and historical context for the displacement in Altadena are highlighted ("If you have a GoFundMe, send it to me so I can mention it on the show," 58:03).

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9. Black Business of the Week: Leroy’s Blend Coffee by Marquis Devon (41:19–44:49)

• Coffee Spotlight:
  • Marquis Devon (activist/educator/podcast host) releases “Leroy’s Blend," a Guatemalan medium roast in partnership with BVP Coffee Co.—dedicated to his “Pop Pop Leroy.”
  • Quote (Francesca, 42:13):

    “I invite you all in to get to know my Pop Pop Leroy by experiencing the rich flavors of this Guatemalan coffee. It tastes even better when sipped in the presence of community.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (w/ Timestamps)

• On the state of Black celebrity at Trump’s inauguration (Dustin, 01:38):

  “You got the Coon Coop 5 … a bunch of Black shoeshine tap dancing … They have decided to publicly perform at the Trump inauguration festivities.”

• On resignation and boundaries regarding politics (Dustin, 70:28):

  “No, it didn’t phase me at all. I had long before decided … I’m off. I hop off the train, it is what it is.”

• On “taking 2024 for granted” (Francesca, 33:24):

  “I felt like we took it for granted … I felt sad. I felt like there’s a lot of shit—there are a lot of challenges up ahead.”

• On skills and community for 2025 (Francesca, 113:02):

  “What is the skill—the goal—that you have for this year, to learn something new that you can offer the people around you?”

• On TikTok, creators, and platform change (Francesca, 96:01):

  “It almost feels like someone came to your house and was touching shit while you were gone ... This is not the same app.”

• On mobilizing post-LA fires (Francesca, 107:04):

  “Afropunk and Mutual Aid LA raised $15 million for 600+ Black families—the double consciousness of 'I have my goals, and I have our goals.'”

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Music, TV, and Cultural Highlights

Music Segment (129:23–166:26)

• The team shares new and classic favorites, with notable praise for:
  • Bad Bunny’s new album: especially "Nueva Yol" and "Baile Inolvidable" for building diasporic connection.
  • Miguel's “Always Time" for its emotional resonance.
  • G-Unit’s “Wanna Get to Know You” – a nostalgic throwback.

TV Land (176:02–198:47)

• Get Millie Black (Max): Lauded for representation and compelling storytelling.
• 90 Day Fiancé/Meried at First Sight: Ongoing relationships dissected for their mess and insight.
• Real Housewives of Potomac/NYC/Beverly Hills/Salt Lake City: Fiercely debated reunion looks, shifting alliances, and franchise shade.
• Selling the City (Netflix): For a quick reality show laugh.

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Actionable Takeaways & Community Calls

• Stay Informed: Know local laws, especially regarding personal and home safety.
• Skill Up: Learn/teach practical skills valuable for real life and community resiliency.
• Mutual Aid: Donate directly to affected families via trusted directories; circulate aid resources; support and amplify local Black businesses and creators.
• Stay Visible: Despite corporate tightening and algorithm changes, community content, and visibility are essential for resistance and resource-sharing.
• Speak Out: Allies, especially white listeners, are called to step up, intercepting harmful rhetoric and protecting targeted neighbors.
• Tune In: Participate in the Friend Zone’s Patreon for further conversation, community, and commercial-free content.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Black Celebrities at Trump Inauguration | 01:12–09:54 | | Personal Check-In / New Year Vibes | 10:15–37:04 | | Beyoncé Bowl & Black Entertainment | 22:33–25:59 | | Safety, Surveillance, & Community Vigilance | 12:38–20:00 | | Digital Economy—Tech Oligarchy | 90:23–100:53 | | Mobilizing for LA Fires—Resources and Mutual Aid | 120:20–129:23| | Setting 2025 Intentions, Skills for Community | 104:56–114:07| | Listener Comments & Shoutouts | 49:36–59:49 | | Black Business Highlight: Leroy’s Blend by Marquis Devon | 41:19–44:49 | | Music Segment (highlights and recommendations) | 129:23–166:26| | TV Land (reality TV & drama picks) | 176:02–198:47|

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Tone & Language

• The episode is rich in wit, candidness, and Black vernacular; jokes and sidebars flow naturally but punctuate moments of vulnerability and sharp critique.
• Tone oscillates between humor, frustration, communal warmth, and earnestness about the challenges ahead.

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Final Thoughts

The hosts of The Friend Zone use this episode as a reality check and motivational charge for 2025. It’s both a diagnosis of social, political, and personal turbulence, and a clarion call for communal skill-building, mutual aid, and the preservation of joy—especially for those who are marginalized or weary from the relentless disruptions of recent years.

Transcript

[Dustin Ross]

Divorce isn't that big a deal.

[Francesca]

You don't have kids or money.

[Asante]

The funniest film of the year is finally here. Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star in.

[Dustin Ross]

Splitsville, an unromantic comedy.

[Asante]

I don't want to get a divorce.

[Francesca]

No one does. She does.

[Asante]

Critics are praising the sexy, absurd, and.

[Dustin Ross]

Hilarious take on modern marriage and relationships.

[Asante]

As an outrageous instant classic. We need to find a way to restore the balance. And you had sex with my wife, so maybe. I don't know.

[Francesca]

No way.

[Asante]

What is wrong with you? Splitsbo. Rated R. Now playing in select theaters everywhere September 5th.

[Francesca]

So I was just parking my car and then I saw you. The Gecko. Huge fan. I'm always honored to meet fans out in the wild. The honor is mine.

[Asante]

I just love being able to file.

[Francesca]

A claim in under two minutes with the Geico app.

[Dustin Ross]

Well, the Geico app is top notch.

[Francesca]

I know you get asked this all.

[Asante]

The time, but could you sign it? Sign what?

[Francesca]

The app. Yeah, sure. Oh, that means so much. Oh, it rubbed off the screen when I touched it. Could you sign it again? Anything to help, I suppose. You're the best.

[Asante]

Get more than just savings. Get more with Geico.

[Dustin Ross]

Welcome to the Friends.

[Asante]

My name is Dustin.

[Francesca]

I'm Francesco, also known as K. Friend.

[Asante]

Hey, my name is Asante.

[Dustin Ross]

This is the friend zone. Let's start the show. If you don't sit your goddamn ass down with them sp spaces in between your teeth. First of all, it's a lot of that that could apply to this week, okay? There is a lineup, just like a police lineup when you're looking for the. That did it. Everybody's going to jail, okay?

[Asante]

Everybody. Lock them all up. This is.

[Dustin Ross]

This is the Coon Coop 5. You know how you had the Central Park 5? You got the Coon Coop 5 this time, right? Because it's a bunch of black shoeshine tap dancing, WB frog standing ass niggas that's had that spate. One of them really does have spaces in between his teeth. And that's Nelly. And that's who we're going to focus on today. But I want to name some names because there's been a lot of cooning going on publicly being that, you know, Donald Trump won the election by whatever means that he did, and his inauguration was this weekend on actual Martin Luther King day. To me, you know, how poetic, right? But. But the fact that you had niggas boot licking, okay, that were facilitating this. Aiding and abetting is what I like to call it, okay? Because that's what they were doing, they were moving this agenda along and of course there was backlash for their participation. Now we know, let's just call it what it is. Anybody that publicly aligns himself with Donald Trump's inauguration, his, his, his, his administration at this point no longer his campaign because he's elected. So his administration is his policies. That Project 2025, you are sending a loud message, a very clear message that you all right with all the negative, hateful, harmful that he does and is attached to. That's the issue. It's not that we just don't think that you can have your own ideas. You know these, these Trump supporting and coons always like to put it to that why I got to think like the rest of the black community, you know excited about being contrarian just for the sake of, you know the type of profile of a I hate. You know, I hate people like that contrarian just for the sake of. But that's where we are. So Stephen A. Smith, Snoop Dogg. Okay Nelly, Rick Ross, Soldier Boy. Okay them five dumb that look like the Fat Albert. If you stood all them next to each other you think it was a live action Fat Albert because they all look like them from Fat Albert. But these have decided to publicly perform at the Trump inauguration festivities. There was a crypto ball of some sort that they was performing at and taking pictures with maga. Snoop Doggs dry rotted ass potpourri looking ass. He was the one who literally last electoral cycle was saying that Kanye west was a coon from wearing the MAGA hat and all these things that we agree with and championed him for, you know, champion him for saying he was one of the main ones up there tap dancing, shoe shining, huckabug booing, Camptown Gas which come on tonight. He was the first one up there.

[Francesca]

Did you see that video where they were showing him speaking like I want to see who's the first that's gonna be on that stage cleaning out the irony that it was him crazy it was actually his. I'm like they have something over him. Like I was trying to make excuses pieces in my mind because I don't see how that happens.

[Dustin Ross]

It's a bad strain, you know, you can't smoke everybody's weed, you know what I'm saying? I think that's with Snoop, you know what I'm saying? I think he just got a hold to some bad pot because he didn't lost his mind and his wife looked like the type that cuts his ass out. So I don't know why Shantae ain't said nothing to him privately. It ain't even my business. I don't even know why I said that. I've tried, but the point is, I'm sick of them. Nelly. Let's get it back to you, though. Cause the rest of the motherfuckers, we could go all day on. But Nelly is the nigga who I want to focus on. Now, I know he was famous for having an album called Country Grammar, right? I know that. So I guess he led with what it was going to be. But I didn't know he was going to sound like that when he talked about that as a black person. Your tone, your cadence, your gestures, you know what I mean? The way that you speak, it all adds up into a gumbo of communication. And Nelly sounded like a coon, a bootlicker. That's what he sounded like when he was giving that in. No, I. Why I can't. I respect the office. That's the best white man of the white man that I didn't see. That's how I respect the office of the white man. Now, your candidate don't win, then. You know, you said in the military, you go and you support that. It ain't about your candidate. That's how he was talking. The cadence, the. The gesture and the bucking of the eyes, the wide mouth, the lit low. And why. That's what he was doing. He was being a literal coon in this interview. It's on him, Nelly. I guess now that I look back at it, you ain't never really been that smart. What is Nelly famous for? What's the songs? Hot in here. It's getting hot in here. ABC. 1, 2, 3. You know, you're singing about a room being hot. And what else is Drop down and get your eagle on? That's the only bird you recognize. And so you've equated that with a woman spreading her legs and dancing. It's all simple. He's not smart. And it all makes perfect sense now that. Yeah. And now his balloon of black support has popped you. You want to be on. Pop the balloon. For real. For real. Dance and perform like a coon. And we gonna pop your balloon. That's what we gonna do. And that's exactly what we've done. I know Ashanti is pissed that she's connected to all of this by proxy, because people have now started to. Well, I'm sure based on. Based on the way people are abandoning her right now.

[Asante]

Fan. Page one of her fan pages, like, released a statement.

[Dustin Ross]

On letterhead on letterhead. Okay.

[Francesca]

We are officially like on Twitter.

[Asante]

Yeah. I don't remember which page it was. So forgive me, Dustin, if, you know, I seen it.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't know the name of the page, but I seen Daily or something like that. One of those 20 years of support years. They withdrew it because Nelly got up there and got Michelle on. And I'm gonna tell you one last thing too. I'm tired of this.

[Francesca]

After 20 years support, we are now K Pop St.

[Dustin Ross]

Shut up. And I ain't mad at it. Nelly, it's time. It's time to be singing those songs over on Red Note or whatever it's called because. Because it's too much going on. And so this again, I make your decisions. Everybody has the freedom and the right to make their own choices in every aspect of frag. You know, corner of life.

[Francesca]

For sure.

[Dustin Ross]

Some shit means something when you do it. And so I, I. It's not gonna be hard for me not to support Nelly. What is there to support? Hell, he don't even support himself. He sold half his catalog to get some money. We know that. That's all he cares about.

[Francesca]

Listen to any of those songs.

[Dustin Ross]

Don't want the white people. Ben took the music over. You could put those songs hot in here and all that. Put those songs in the pile with apple bottom jeans. This is how we do it. You know, all those songs that the white people didn't took and leave him there. When Chrisette Michelle got on that stage in her Basquiat skirt, okay, she could not let us. Singing, singing for him. We liked her at the time. That's why it stung so hard. And it hit us we were fucking with her music heavy at the time. She meant a lot to us. And so it hurt differently. We don't give a fuck about Nelly. We only cared about him recently because he got back with Ashanti. We were happy for her to be a mother and a wife and get all these things and. And for her to win in that breakup by getting his ass Brett crawling. You know what I'm saying? We was happy for her. We never. We don't give a fuck. Nelly ain't even hot no more. Why you playing?

[Francesca]

That's how you know it's real love.

[Dustin Ross]

You done fell off so you know he can keep dancing in those black and gold. You know, them Versace sneakers and all that shit that he wears. And no style. Just a country bumpkin. We can continue to do that.

[Francesca]

And.

[Dustin Ross]

And if. If the highest office in the land means so much to him like that. That, that, that moist eyed pleading that he was doing during that interview. Since it's so important to you, then just stay over there. We don't want nothing to do with you no more, Nelly. And that's it with them spaces in between your teeth. With that being said, welcome to the friend zone. Your weekly looking. All things mental health, mental wellness. What the fuck is wrong with Nelly? Because who in the hell wants a saint lunatic? I guess the Ben told us he was crazy, huh? Saint lunatic.

[Asante]

I like Murphy Lee more anyway. No, I'm just kidding.

[Dustin Ross]

I did see what happened to him.

[Francesca]

The short one, the cute one.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't know, like Maxine.

[Asante]

There you go. Here you go.

[Dustin Ross]

He had his head like Maxine and you know he. Did he pull his hair in a bun and put a bracelet on his arm? We can have.

[Francesca]

I feel like he was a cute one. I need to google that before I confirm or deny that. But you know what? Last week we jumped right into the episode because it was shoot the shit.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

And I didn't get the opportunity to ask Asante's favorite question.

[Asante]

Oh my God.

[Francesca]

How were, how were your breaks? I don't even know what y' all did. Was it good? Do you feel rested? I kind of feel Asante should start. What, what you do over break? We had a break.

[Asante]

I didn't do a thing. No, I'm just kidding. Shout out to am. I saw her maybe once a week on the break.

[Dustin Ross]

We love you, Amber.

[Asante]

We do love, we do love Amber over here. Okay, so funny. We love Amber. So I really just like kicked it with her every, every now and then. Like just a little bullshit in the neighborhood. We went and got our nails done, we watched trash tv, talk shit, went to the grocery store. Like just like little home shit like that. Like, I've been really trying to get my, my bearings in order in this house and like figure out like my kitchen systems, like my, my workout systems. Like just really trying to replenish myself and really build from the ground up like a solid foundation.

[Francesca]

Come on.

[Asante]

Just, it's still some good habits.

[Dustin Ross]

So what else happened?

[Asante]

I don't, I, I, I don't know.

[Dustin Ross]

You went around, you rang around the rosies.

[Asante]

What is the.

[Dustin Ross]

I mean, my God, you avoided the middle egg white and not the yolk. We want to know what happened, Brand.

[Asante]

Did I not answer your question?

[Francesca]

You did. Oh, my partner pulled up on you. Yes, your partner, which was super cute.

[Asante]

You know what?

[Dustin Ross]

We got to clap for him. That's family of the show, right?

[Francesca]

Asante's Been my partner pretty much as long as I have. Very long time now. And it was so cute. Pulled up, y' all checked on each other. That made me happy.

[Asante]

Two things real quickly. First of all, he could pull up again because, you know, we could re up anytime. Second thing, he left me with a bit of knowledge and friend things that.

[Francesca]

You need to get in line.

[Dustin Ross]

I know those are the type of people you want to have around you, right?

[Francesca]

Especially in the city. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Asante]

It's just funny that you mentioned this, because earlier today I was thinking about our conversation, and I'm not gonna put out what it all was, but I will tell you the story of what I'm talking about today. A couple nights ago, I was walking back home and one of the units.

[Francesca]

Was broke into in the building. Oh, shit. No, no, no.

[Asante]

I seen that glass break. I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So the people coming, they're gonna be installing a camera on my patio soon.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

I was just needed.

[Asante]

Yeah. And. And we're gonna be on our parable of the sewer.

[Dustin Ross]

What are the gun laws in your state? Can people have. Can you have a weapon in your.

[Asante]

State you can carry? Yeah.

[Francesca]

Because I feel like I've seen. I might be lying.

[Dustin Ross]

Guess what I'm saying? Get you. Get you. You know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

I need.

[Dustin Ross]

Decorate your house.

[Asante]

I'm gonna need. I'm gonna piece in a biscuit to get started.

[Dustin Ross]

No around with me. You break my windows. You're gonna be. What's the name of that show where they eat the. The chicken wings? What's that show called? That's what you're gonna be full of.

[Asante]

Yeah. Smoke.

[Dustin Ross]

Tell you that's it.

[Asante]

Swiss cheese.

[Dustin Ross]

Pow. Okay. You gotta light a up, man. These days.

[Francesca]

Different out here. You know me. I've told y' all before. We've talked about this. So I'm like, not a fan of a hot one. But I also am aware of the times we're in. And you gotta be smart.

[Dustin Ross]

You gotta be Damn.

[Francesca]

Yeah. Especially once you learn the laws. You just gotta let them come in.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Francesca]

And let them come in, you know, Listen, friend. The proper way, friend.

[Asante]

You doing. You're doing the Lord's work. Because Lisa Ray once told us when she played diamond, you got to use. Use what you. Oh, no, it was Ronnie. You got to use what. You got to get what you want.

[Francesca]

Okay?

[Asante]

So you. You take them laws.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay?

[Francesca]

It's very important to know the law so you don't get your, you know.

[Asante]

Your you ain't got to fuck with the police, but if you want to fuck the police over, you use them laws against them.

[Francesca]

Okay, listen, low key, we need to do an episode about that. I wish we could, like, have someone come in that can talk about guns in a way that's not, like, weird.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

How do we. You know what I mean? Like, and gun laws and, like, the different cities and things that you should know about protecting yourself, but also doing it in a way where you're abiding by the laws and not yourself over.

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesca]

Trigger happy. So we'll think about that. We'll figure out what that would look like. Maybe somebody listening that. That has that skill set can. Can hit us up. But I think it's important. I've always been uncomfortable with that conversation, but like I said, it's a different time.

[Asante]

Listen, I'm gonna need one for the house, and I'm gonna need one for the vehicle when I get that.

[Francesca]

Oh, and you know what? You just triggered a thought, too. So a lot of you have been. Cause, you know, our listeners tag me in all the horrible things happening in Oregon because they feel that I should know, which, for the most part, I hate it. But it does also put me on to certain things because I'm like, I don't need to know who everyone got.

[Asante]

Shot with me with Lake Lanier. For the rest of my life, I have not been.

[Dustin Ross]

You know. You know what my personal hell is that? That people refuse to stop sending and sending me. And I actually. I've always felt funny about even saying something because I know it comes from a place of love. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

I want people to most part.

[Dustin Ross]

Do not send me. Nobody dancing like Mary J. Blige.

[Francesca]

What? That's so.

[Dustin Ross]

Don't send me that. Don't send me. You know how people do the Mary dance in the booth and everybody think it's so funny? That pisses me off because I fucking love Mary J. Blige. And everybody knows, you know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

Asante and Dustin have the same Internet access that I do. Stop sending me stuff to send to them. I don't get that. Do you notice Dustin? Do you not follow him online? You don't think you could hit him? Like, I never. My brain doesn't process him. Can you send this to Crystal so you don't see. You don't see her. Twitter, too? The way where you found mine.

[Dustin Ross]

This is the part right here for me.

[Francesca]

I'll be so lost when y' all do that.

[Dustin Ross]

Well, don't send me no more Mary J. Blige videos. I don't like that. Pisses me off. It's not funny to me. I understand y' all having a good time laughing at it, and that's fine because I'm getting my laughs into, but. But I don't like it.

[Asante]

Like, if that was with you and I was happy, it's like, why the is this happening?

[Dustin Ross]

They do it all.

[Asante]

I didn't know that it happened. That's why it's so funny to me right now.

[Dustin Ross]

It's like, anytime they. They keep sending. Now what it is is that picture of Barney. It's an AI Picture of Barney. No, it's like, Mary J. Blige. No, no, I love you video. People keep sending me that picture because it's so funny to them.

[Francesca]

No, wait, I want to see his. Send it to me.

[Asante]

Oh, no.

[Francesca]

But I was saying, so people were tagging me to, like, a couple tick tocks of someone saying that there's, like, a white militia kind of white supremacist org out here that is handing out flyers and, like, putting out alerts saying that it's our job as a community. Well, not me being a part of it, but their job as a community to document, like, where the migrants are and alert this militia. Apparently, like, if they go to your church, if they live in your neighborhood, let us know. Let's create this sort of database. I don't know what they're planning to do with that, but I noticed there have been a lot of white men knocking on my door. And it's always. And this has been three already in the past month, mind you. And it's always with the same excuse of, oh, I just want to know if you looking for, like, roofing. Like, it just seems very. You know what I mean? And I feel it in my gut. Like, every time I see them, I'm like, you are surveying. You're not. This isn't a, like, oh, do you need roofing? Or, oh, do you need.

[Asante]

They're trying to scope you out.

[Francesca]

They're just trying to see who's in the house, who answers the door. Obviously, they probably have seen me around. They need to kind of get a sense, like, let's hear her speak. You know what I mean?

[Asante]

What kind of threat? Is she sizing you up?

[Francesca]

Yeah, because I don't see them stopping at any other house when they come. So if you're doing gutter soliciting, wouldn't you knock on every door?

[Dustin Ross]

You got to get a. No soliciting. Sign.

[Francesca]

I literally said that yesterday. I was like, we have to get a no soliciting sign. Like, I'm literally gonna go to, like, Home Goods. I'm sure they have one cute ones.

[Dustin Ross]

You get something like, you know, like little flowers.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

I literally said that because I was like, that is so strange to me. And because, you know, y' all, the listeners have let me know that this is a thing that's going around now, I'm kind of looking at them a little differently. And it's funny, because who knows if they really are asking about the gutters, But I don't feel right about it. It's just many white men knocking on my door.

[Dustin Ross]

You don't need the service. Get off my fucking property right before you become Swiss cheese, baby. Straight up.

[Francesca]

I just don't like that feeling. I don't. And now, you know, even with the inauguration, which we're going to get into later in the episode, but they're piped up, the veils are taken off. And so that's why those little occurrences now feel a little aggressive. Yeah, it feels a little. I'm like, why are you knocking on my door? And why has it been three of you? I've been living here for years and have never gotten.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm tell you something else. Go ahead and react. You know what I'm saying? Like, this is the season of reacting. So when shit like that happens, why do you ask? Open the door and don't even let them talk to you. Matter of fact, we'll talk offline, because this is getting too personal. So we'll talk about this later. Go ahead, because I got a plan for you. I got a plan for you. What the fuck?

[Francesca]

It was so weird. I'm telling you. So I don't know. Just. We got to be careful out here. We're gonna, y', all know, with parable of the solar, parable of the talents and all of the things that I've had. We're gonna get into a lot of things this year, throughout the year, on how to just move a little differently. We're gonna set things. We're gonna set things right because it's a lot of weird shit happening out here. And instead of being scared or feeling like, you know, helpless, we just gotta pipe up, too.

[Dustin Ross]

She's talking about learning the Tamiya line dance, y'. All.

[Francesca]

Literally. And do y' all have any.

[Asante]

Dustin.

[Francesca]

Tell us about your break.

[Dustin Ross]

You know, my life's an open book, as you can hear in the background. You know, I had an amazing winter break. Yes, I have been in a very. As you all know, because we talk offline. You know, we are, we do have conversations outside of the show.

[Francesca]

Right.

[Dustin Ross]

And as I've told you both, I am in a very driven, focused space right now when it comes to my professional life. I don't do the whole it's an announcement coming thing, but it's going to be a good year and I'm really stepping out, you know what I'm saying, and making some things, trying to forge a path for myself and for us. And so basically all my time spent over break was with friends, loved ones, having a good time and really ideating and, and, and, and working on some stuff that's coming soon. And so I'm very excited things are moving forward. I'm really betting on myself to bet on us, and I am just. So that's how my break was spent. Yeah, I went to some parties and. Yeah, yeah. A few might have laid up over here.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

But you know what I'm saying, Like, that just. It just was what it was. It was holidays that mean you got to have sex three times because it's ho, ho, ho. So you need three different partners in the holiday break.

[Francesca]

I know. One of the hoes.

[Asante]

Looking for the hoes. Well, it's the new year, so the whole year, those bodies reset anyway, so.

[Francesca]

I'll try to see that tweet.

[Dustin Ross]

That was great. As we all know, one thing I do think we need to spend just a couple minutes on as a group is the Beyonce Bowl. That did happen on Christmas Day. We did not get a chance to talk about it. You didn't watch Beyonce's performance yet?

[Francesca]

I watched the replay, obviously, but I missed the, you know. Yeah, I missed it.

[Dustin Ross]

The replay was better, but yes, I. It was incredible. I just want to say that that performance was beautiful. Watching entertainers do things, well, it's such a rarity. It's a rare condition this day and age. Right.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

But, but watching entertainers perform on such a large scale production, you know what I'm saying? Like, that is just exciting no matter who it is, as long as you can tolerate the music. So seeing Beyonce do that highlight so much about all that black cowboy culture and, and, and all the themes, and it was just a beautiful performance. So I just wanted to give it a couple words. Blue Ivy working it out.

[Francesca]

Like she's doing choreography that adults had to train for. You know what I mean? Like, and she's just out here and she's.

[Dustin Ross]

And, and what else? Effortless. Yeah. And it is it is something that she believes that she can do and can do because she's been immersed in those rehearsals and all that. She's grown up in that. So she's able to hit at those marks now. And that is fascinating to me.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

So shout out to Beyonce. And it makes sense. Me, like country music.

[Francesca]

Oh, right. Because. Because when and who I was most impressed by the back end stuff, like when they were showing her running to the next thing, you know, like the next mark and the transitions. The transitions. The amount of people that have together to make this happen. Like, you saw the cameraman and then he had another man holding him, working a whole field stabilized, like.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Francesca]

That was so cool to me. I'm like, wow. All the moving parts, so much work, so much detail, and everything has to.

[Dustin Ross]

Be so precise, you know, that was the shout out. She shaboozy ass was standing out there a whole superstar now. You know what I'm saying? Like. Like for real, for real. Not just a flash in the pan, but this is like saying he has.

[Asante]

Stayed the Chevy and painted it red.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes. The fact that I knew all the black young ladies names, those beautiful and talented black singers that were next to her, I couldn't believe I knew all that.

[Asante]

Watching them each do their parts, too. Beautiful, right?

[Dustin Ross]

I did too. So all of that was cool. And I just wanted to give a, you know, give a little nod because that was some good black. You know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

That was a great time. That was a great. For me, it was just a great, like, little holiday surprise. I knew she was doing something, but, you know, it was the holidays, and for a lot of people, it doesn't feel like the holidays. So it's like just a nice thing to do and something excitable and exciting to happen. But I think I really enjoyed just watching Beyonce give us that piece for this moment. I feel like she always gives us these visual pieces, whether it's a full movie or a medley at the music awards. So this was like her moment. Like, it was like a medley during this football game. And it was such a beautiful bomb, dope ass medley. Like, from how it starts off real slow and then like how she gives the girl gives the moment with the girls, and then she, like, gives that look into the camera and then she goes out on the field and really tears it up and then she rips the whole field up and then she floats at the end of it, like. And then bang. Like the whole 16 carriages.

[Dustin Ross]

Asante.

[Asante]

Oh, no. First of all, Beyonce was taking every Moment that I did not think that she would, like, like, you know, I thought my house was done. So I was like, this is a football game. It'd be so dope if, you know, my house just made an appearance.

[Dustin Ross]

And it is perfect. Perfect.

[Asante]

And then the remix of Texas Hold Them. Yes. The pony up.

[Dustin Ross]

We're gonna dance it on.

[Asante]

Those. Those moments are still like. Like, we haven't really been able to do anything with them. I started to enjoy them to ourselves. So to see it, like, live on a field on Netflix for this was just beautiful.

[Francesca]

So y' all think this is gonna be a new thing? Like Christmas time artists? I feel like she started a new thing.

[Dustin Ross]

Maybe she did 100. Absolutely.

[Francesca]

It feels like it. Now we're gonna have, like, these artists, like a mini super bowl before they.

[Asante]

Got to do it right, though, like every year. Mariah still got to start the show off.

[Francesca]

I didn't see Mariah.

[Asante]

So she was at this. They start. She was like, I guess at the start of the. Okay, the thing. I don't know if she was part of the Beyonce thing, but I didn't watch the whole thing live. I just watched Mariah the scientist Mariah Carey.

[Francesca]

No, Mariah Wall slide.

[Dustin Ross]

Mariah.

[Asante]

We're talking Christmas.

[Francesca]

Mariah Carey the scientist Beyonce. No, I saw that the two of them like their night, but I. I guess she wasn't a part of the replay, so I totally.

[Asante]

No, because it was just the Beyonce.

[Francesca]

Bowl was just the name moment. Yeah.

[Asante]

But yeah, so I don't remember if Mariah, like, started it off and like, saying All I want for Christmas before they did the national anthem or something. But yeah, she was there. I saw, because I saw her clip on YouTube and I was like, oh, Mariah looks good.

[Dustin Ross]

I ain't no legend. Legends only they was in the house that day. Wasn't it? Mariah Carey, Beyonce.

[Francesca]

And I bet that was Beyonce's idea. I really do. I feel like she was like, let's bring in Mariah. This is like her time of the year. You know what I'm saying?

[Dustin Ross]

That was great, though. And like I said, I ain't never gave a about no country damn music. It's. With the exception of the songs that stood out now, we do all have a country song that we like. I remember it was this song I used to play at my job where the man was like, friend, don't kick her. She's all I got. Talking about the dog, I guess. And we used to be laughing our ass off. And it was my friend gon kick Her. She's all I got. That's.

[Francesca]

And there's that country artist. What's her name? Is it Casey Musgrave?

[Dustin Ross]

Musgrave.

[Asante]

Dope.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

She's, like, really dope. So she kind of, I would say, is one of the first artists that made me reconsider my stance in country music because she puts out good albums. But to finish this, my break was weird.

[Dustin Ross]

Really? Why? You said knocking at the door.

[Francesca]

Very well. Aside from that weird shit, I felt very disassociated.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

And it's weird because I. This was. This was the first year, I will say, silver lining, that I wasn't supremely burned out like the years prior. And I made that a point. That's something I had talked about at the top of the year. So I'm proud that at least I fix that in some capacity. I just didn't work as hard last year. And so by the time the year ended, I didn't feel that same. I mean, utter exhaustion where, like, I couldn't even enjoy the break because I was still trying to catch up on, like, life, you know, like, meaning, like, life. Life energy. Just, like, being a human being. But I stepped into a different, weird space where I just felt so disassociated. Like, I wasn't very active. I found myself just laying on the couch a lot. A lot of escapism. I binged a lot of shit. I was like, just sleep. Yeah. It was so weird. Just like. It was almost like this weird numb energy that I can't really explain. And I did go home for the holidays and come back, but even that, I just felt very, like, disassociated. Like, I can't explain it. It's not like it was a. A bad thing, but it wasn't a good thing. I just was, like, there.

[Dustin Ross]

I can understand that. Because I was not in the holiday spirit this year.

[Francesca]

No, not at all. And not in a bad way. It wasn't very bad. Humbug or no scrooge. I wasn't like people that were. I just. It just seemed irrelevant.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

And everything seemed very irrelevant. And I found myself just, like, not wanting to go outside much. And, y' all know, even with the workout stuff like, that had been my thing all year, and I completely just like, tanked in December. I don't know what happened. I just, like, got real.

[Dustin Ross]

Maybe you deserve. Speaking of tank, maybe you deserve Maybe. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

I feel like you need to take your energy and make it real small.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

Like, you gotta ball up almost like, that's what I was doing. I don't know. But I just felt weird.

[Dustin Ross]

I get it.

[Francesca]

And even New Year felt weird. Like, the countdown, it didn't feel real. It felt like, out of place. Like, it was like, why are we doing this today? Didn't it feel that way? Like, it felt beautiful.

[Dustin Ross]

I was frustrated because I had on these pants from Acne Studios that are like, really, really wide. They dope as fuck.

[Francesca]

I thought you were gonna stay really tight.

[Dustin Ross]

Nah, hell no, baby. We done dropped the New Year's balls. You know, the balls drop. But anyway. But the pants were so wide that they was catching on every damn thing. And, like, it was the worst night. I had to hold them up like a dress. It was horrible. I was like, I ain't never wearing these pants again. They dope, though.

[Asante]

So maybe I have some pants that are wide like that and that.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, my God. I was. Oh, I was so. I couldn't even enjoy on the chair.

[Francesca]

Ar.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. Like, I had a wedding gown on. Like, I was like, God damn.

[Asante]

Sex in the city.

[Francesca]

Down the street.

[Dustin Ross]

I want to walk off. I was going to be Maryland, Maryland. Over. If I stay over one of them summer sewer events. And I was like, hell, no, man. I ain't never want to a party. Maybe a dinner or something. But like, yeah, oh, yeah, for New Year's.

[Francesca]

So when you were at a party, you know, I was in the shower. That's how disconnected. I swear to God, y'. All. The countdown. My partner came upstairs, was like, well, damn. I was like, oh, hey, Happy New Year.

[Asante]

You know what, friend?

[Francesca]

That would have been me in the shower randomly.

[Asante]

I was out with a bunch of strangers and I had a great time. I had a grand old time.

[Francesca]

No, I had a very weird break and, you know, entering of the New year, and I. Okay, this is the last thing, because I don't want to be, like, sad, but I, like, started crying after the New Year.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, no.

[Asante]

Would you. What was it?

[Francesca]

After the countdown, I started crying. Mind you, I'm mushy, but I'm not like a super, super emotional person, but I just started crying and it was this really. I can't explain it. I don't want to, like, put a theme to the year. I don't want to speak that over the year. But it was this really ominous, weird feeling that came over me. And I just started telling my partner, like, I feel like we took 2024 for granted.

[Asante]

So you did warn it.

[Francesca]

Like, I felt like we took it for granted. A lot of us Were like, I'm done with this year. I'm over this year. But a lot of things I think we took for granted. Like, I felt sad. I felt like there's a lot of shit there. A lot of challenges up ahead that are gonna be like. You know what I mean? And I don't. I'm not saying in any way that it's gonna be a bad year. I don't think a challenging year is a bad year. Think it's just. It don't always have to be bad. Sometimes challenges, it just means it's not going to be what you thought you.

[Dustin Ross]

Gonna come out to be. True. I do. God knows I do. Oh, friend. It sound like you wept. Were you weeping? Did you gnash your teeth?

[Francesca]

It was like wailing, gnashing of the teeth.

[Dustin Ross]

That's how, you know, some on the horizon.

[Francesca]

That's what I was like, what is that? And I felt terrible because that's such a weird way.

[Asante]

Was it right after the countdown?

[Francesca]

I'm talking about right? Like five, four, three.

[Asante]

You know what?

[Francesca]

The year. The year didn't even have a second to breathe. I'm sorry. Like, oh, my God.

[Dustin Ross]

I think we all were. Maya Angelou on Oprah's couch after the countdown.

[Francesca]

Did y' all feel. Did y' all feel what I felt? It was just.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. You know, everybody know New Year's Eve is my favorite holiday of the year. But I was not my typical jovial New Year's Eve, Dustin. I had a great time.

[Francesca]

I was a beautiful party, favorite time of year.

[Dustin Ross]

My literal most favorite night of the year is New Year's Eve. Right. Everybody's so hopeful and happy and dressed cute.

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

But this year. And while I was surrounded by great people, got a lot of love and shit. So I was good. But I was not, you know, normally, I don't give a. I'll be with the shits on New Year's. Let's get it.

[Francesca]

Regardless of what's happening to the moon.

[Dustin Ross]

Take it to the star. This year we had a good time. And. And then the night was just kind of over after a certain point. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay. But again, I didn't give a damn about none of the holidays. So maybe it was a me thing. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

It was. It might have been a collective thing because even when I checked in, you know, you hit your people's, and I was like, how was your New Year's? And everybody was like, yeah, I was sleep. I swear to God, most of My friends were asleep. Completely missed it. Did not even that they missed it. They just weren't tripping. And I felt like there was a lot of that energy of, like, it's just another day. And I'm not trying to be negative, but I feel like we're all just, like, in a weird space. And that's okay. We'll work through it with whatever this year is supposed to be, but just wanted to check in and see how y'. All.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm about to cry.

[Asante]

I was out at the club on New Year's.

[Francesca]

You felt what?

[Asante]

I was out at the club on New Year's.

[Francesca]

We should clap for that, right? Hold on to that feeling for us.

[Asante]

What was the feeling? I just said I was out of club and fun.

[Francesca]

It wasn't.

[Dustin Ross]

Did you do the trip out, Trip out, trip out, trip out. Like, shalom wanted.

[Asante]

Y' all know I. Please. Y' all know I'll be weird when I be out sometimes.

[Francesca]

So, like, I didn't know which shamar you were talking about.

[Asante]

I didn't either.

[Dustin Ross]

So I got that one. Nothing. You better clock that. Not him. She got on, babes, what are you doing? She'd be like, look, this is what he'd be doing.

[Asante]

I don't want to.

[Francesca]

Oh, my God.

[Asante]

I don't want to see it. That was one challenge. I just, like, Was like, why is it happening? And then I seen Janisha do it. I was like. But she actually made it look cute. And I was like, janisha.

[Dustin Ross]

All right.

[Asante]

No, I was out at the club, a room full of people having an amazing time.

[Dustin Ross]

That's good.

[Asante]

Looking up at the TV series, saying, whatever she's saying, what you wear on New Year's? I. I put something on. I don't remember what I wore. I had on, like.

[Dustin Ross]

How you don't remember what you wore?

[Asante]

I had on. I had on some silver stuff. It was.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, you are silver.

[Asante]

Okay, I did. That's a big. That's a moment.

[Dustin Ross]

Talk to me about the silver.

[Asante]

Like, no, I just big to do. The point of the story was going to. I was out, and the person I was out with, I had a good time with them, but I didn't know anybody else there. And not that I even like, no, it was not one of those situations.

[Dustin Ross]

Silver and gold.

[Asante]

But because it's a new city in a new year, I felt very lonely. Even though I was out in a room full of people, it was still lonely as fuck because it was like, damn. Like, these ain't my people. Like, these ain't My people. Like, that's how I felt. But I didn't want to be rude with the people. I was there. I was enjoying them for, you know, the time. But it was still just like, damn. Like, if this was another scenario or another universe, like, you know, and Dustin would be over there bullshitting with Jade, and Drew would be laughing, too. We'd be bugging Crystal to make you.

[Francesca]

For potatoes or potatoes.

[Asante]

Yeah, I'm just. I'm just telling you. Like, they're just like, little moments like that. I was just really, like, damn. Like. Like, to your point, frame. I was sad because it's like. It's not that I took those moments for granted, but I was like, I'm actually not in the city anymore. Like, I'm not down the street to bullshit. Like, I have to get on a plane, go see the people.

[Francesca]

And then I think that everyone is even around. And I was gonna say that's part of the thing. No, but honestly, you saying that is part of what I was feeling. It was that feeling of like. Like, there's just so much we take for granted. I don't know why that was so strong, that idea, that theme, that conversation. But it was that feeling of like, we take our friend groups for granted. We take. The friends are still here for gr.

[Dustin Ross]

Man, don't give me.

[Francesca]

You know what I'm saying? Not seeing. Like, I just. Family. Like, I felt that so heavy. And it was this feeling of like, this year itself is going to be very different from how we know life to be. And it was that feeling of. We took the simplicity and the ease with which you can go see people and talk to people, check on people for granted. Like, that was a big, big feeling.

[Dustin Ross]

And do anybody got a number book? You know, that number book where you could look up and then number four. I need one for. For granted.

[Francesca]

A little yellow one.

[Dustin Ross]

It was a number book and a dream book. It was two different books. So you got the dream book, and then it's black people, you know?

[Francesca]

Yeah, there's a little yellow book.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, we need to know. I need me a number book.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

Because I want to know if a granite is So I can go play that. That and box it off.

[Francesca]

You are so funny. But anyway, you know, just wanted to check in because I'm sure our listeners had their own, you know, experiences and feelings with. With their breaks and their new year. And I'm curious to see if anybody else was feeling that weirdness that I just. It's still been lingering. I'm, like, still kind of Getting it together, to be honest, for this top of the year and trying to hang in there. And then the. All the fires, like, then the year just started. Crazy. So that just added to what I was already coming into the year with is just, like, it didn't help. I was like, oh, boy. Okay. You know, and us having to tap into, like, community, which is a good thing to take care of everything that was happening. But with that being said, speaking of community, are y' all ready to jump into the black business? Highlight of the week, right? I love this one. So we have a day, one loyal listener by the name of Marquis Devon. But Marquis is an educator, right? Yeah, Marquis is an educator, an activist, also the producer and host of the Keeping It a Bean podcast. His name is Marquis Devon Richards, and he goes by Marquis Devon on socials. So he created a new coffee blend. I think I love that. Right?

[Asante]

Coffee.

[Francesca]

I love when people venturing into different that you don't hear a lot about. So that's always exciting to me. I'm actually gonna pull up. So he. It's in partnership with BVP Coffee company, which when I looked them up, it seemed like they're like a house that houses these different black creators that are working in the coffee industry. I think that's so cool. So Marquis created what he calls Leroy's blend. It's a medium roast ground coffee from Guatemala. And he says, why would you laugh like that?

[Asante]

Because the way she would. It's not even the way she said it. It's like the way you whipped into the mic and said it. That.

[Dustin Ross]

I love it when she does that.

[Asante]

Yes, but the. The. The. All right, give it to me one more time, please.

[Francesca]

Leroy Ferguson was a fish. Not you waited. Leroy Ferguson was a fisherman, a lover of jazz, and enjoyed westerns. We used to go fishing over the summer, and that's where he taught me the value of patience and persistence. These values are important in life, and when I blended them together, it taught me to truly enjoy the beautiful life that we are given. I invite you all. I love that. Right? I invite you all in to get to know my Pop Pop Leroy. My Pop Pop Leroy by experiencing the rich flavors of this Guatemalan coffee. It tastes even better when sipped in the presence of community. I love that a lot.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, yes.

[Francesca]

Isn't that beautiful? So, like I said, it's a medium tasting. Okay. He says the profile is dark chocolate, bright fruit, and butterscotch. I don't drink coffee, so I have no idea what that means, but it sounds amazing.

[Asante]

It's like wine. It's like tasting notes.

[Francesca]

You know, I get that. But it all comes tomatoes.

[Dustin Ross]

I loved it.

[Asante]

Oh, my God.

[Francesca]

There's a video where her mom took her to Target. She said, I'm sorry, but I'm spending a lot of your money today, Mom.

[Dustin Ross]

I love that.

[Francesca]

She's so cute. But anyway, so, yes, you want to check him out? You can go to BVP Coffee, and in the search bar, type in Leroy's blend, and it'll come right up. Congratulations, Marquis. I think that's really cool.

[Dustin Ross]

Absolutely. Much success, Marquis.

[Francesca]

Actually, I'm. I'm happy because I know a lot of people. Are y' all coffee drinkers?

[Dustin Ross]

A lot of people in the time. It depends on what the look like. He's into it. I am. Do you like it? I love it. Type. Let's go to the barista.

[Asante]

I'm a. I'm a casual coffee drinker. I'm not a fine coffee connoisseur.

[Francesca]

Yeah, yeah.

[Asante]

Like, take it. I can take it or leave it. Like, I don't need it, but, like, if I drink coffee, I'm drinking this.

[Francesca]

Yeah, this sounds good.

[Asante]

Yeah, no, this sounds amazing.

[Francesca]

And it beats up.

[Asante]

Especially if you got, like, fresh press the beans and stuff yourself. Like, I'm sure that'd be, like, bomb.

[Francesca]

You know, my mom just drank Bustelo. I just remember this.

[Dustin Ross]

The yellow with the yellow block. Yeah. Cafe Busted.

[Francesca]

Oh, you smell that from your room when she opened that little pack.

[Dustin Ross]

It's a strong one, but shout out.

[Francesca]

To him, shout out to Marquis, shout out to Leroy's blend, and shout out to BVP Coffee for what they're doing. I think that's really cool being in partnership with these creatives. Let's jump into the recap segment, shall we?

[Asante]

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[Dustin Ross]

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[Francesca]

Last week's episode titled John Leguizamo which.

[Dustin Ross]

I thought that's who the I knew.

[Francesca]

I don't know he was like what was his name? So we were easing into the new year. So it was a shoot the episode which means no segments, no hot button, just whatever wanted to come up. And those of you listening had a lot to say. Who stood out to you? Asante.

[Asante]

I want to shout out to in the gated community I want to shout out Lexi Rich at Lady Lex. She says Karen needs help and I'm with Fran and kinda Asante. She needs to be transparent about the process and not just for tv. Low key. I think the pressure of the show is making her drinking worse. She seems to have a habit of drunk dialing folks. She needs to do what she needs. She needs to do what's best for her and we need to let go of what's good for TV. We not about to make light of them DUIs and also I didn't did it in them 20s and even 30s. But at 60 plus we got to do better, especially with the bag. Lexi, you are absolutely correct, especially since you are of a particular age. I definitely heed what you're saying. The only reason I was offering it, her doing that on TV is because she's already there and it's her job. But not to say that I understand that it's a privilege to be seen. But. However, I also understand the society that we live in today and how people are. They gravitate towards celebrity and things like that. So I said, if she wants to be responsible and say, you know, I'm gonna make a change, and she means it, and she wants to highlight that and showcase that, I think that that's important to see. Like, that's why I said, Shannon Beador is a white. A white woman. But to watch her say, I'm gonna put this breathalyzer in my car so I could be reminded whether she was on bullshit or not. It still looks crazy to watch that white woman get that breath loss or put in her car. So if Karen were to do something not the same, or, I mean, maybe even more crucial, who knows? To wake up to be like, damn, I do not need to be, you know, whipping it and. And drinking and all that. Like. Like that is like something that's gonna hit home for people. That. That connection hasn't been made. I feel like there's something that could be there, there, but that's all I want.

[Dustin Ross]

And my thing is, what did Karen do to you? What you got against Karen? Because I feel like your comment was very slander than obviously he was talking to me because I was the one who was saying they wasn't that big of a deal. So since you wanted that smoke, then let's get it. You know what I'm saying? First of all, what you got.

[Asante]

There is no smoke.

[Dustin Ross]

You don't like your grandmama. You don't like. What's your. What's what you got against older women Having a good time. You should have a good time. She got a lot going on.

[Francesca]

Having a good time.

[Dustin Ross]

That's the name of the show. So that. You know what I'm saying? Like that. What's. What you got against it? So you obviously, yeah. She must not watch the Golden Girl. She must not watch. The Golden Girl could have been killed. This is beyond. They were not. They wouldn't. You know what I'm saying? Thank God for that. And, you know, somebody could get killed going outside. You know what I'm saying? Somebody get killed, you know, a lot of different ways.

[Asante]

See, Dustin is showing us what not to do. We don't want from Karen on the next season.

[Dustin Ross]

I want to know what she Trying.

[Francesca]

To say she resign. Didn't she resign from the show?

[Asante]

No, that was fake.

[Francesca]

No, that was fake.

[Asante]

It was one of those.

[Francesca]

Why the.

[Dustin Ross]

Would somebody even do that, you know.

[Francesca]

Because the Internet is weird.

[Asante]

The Internet is weird. It's crazy. But it look. It did look real to your point, friend. Hell, Shanti.

[Francesca]

The thing is, I didn't even. And honestly, I'm not, like, following the story closely, but I did go on Twitter and I saw it on the feed and I clicked it, and I was like, oh, oh, she's leaving the show. Because even the way it was written sounded so stupid.

[Asante]

The way they had that photo of it. That was an official announcement.

[Francesca]

No, I didn't think it was stupid. I thought it made sense for her if that's what she felt she needed to do.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm like, okay, she is Tisha Campbell to the bullshit. The grandom is still here, okay? Just like Cindy Cake.

[Francesca]

And she didn't go to the reunion. So I assume, like, this is in line with that. Like, she's just like, let me fall back. That's why.

[Dustin Ross]

And that person that sent that rude comment to us.

[Asante]

Understand that the grand D is here to stay. Lady I with Lady Rich.

[Dustin Ross]

That's Lex from the From Baddies. No, no wonder you on hots all the time. That's why she. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

I got Lady Lex.

[Asante]

She said. She. She said she's 60 plus. So I just felt. Who Lady Lex is this. This. This Lady Lex here? Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, well, no, no.

[Francesca]

She's talking about Karen being 60 plus. She's saying if you're 60 plus, you should.

[Asante]

Well, she said. Well, because she said. And also, I done did it in them 20s and even 30s, but at 60 plus, we got to do better.

[Francesca]

Okay, Right. I think she's referring to cancer.

[Dustin Ross]

Right? It was judgment. Yeah, it was judgmental. That's why.

[Asante]

All right.

[Dustin Ross]

That's why. She ain't even on that.

[Asante]

You know what?

[Francesca]

Because that's a young lady.

[Asante]

See, she.

[Dustin Ross]

See, now you picking up what I'm thinking. Now you rereading.

[Asante]

Who.

[Dustin Ross]

Who is this?

[Asante]

No, no, that's not what I'm doing. That's not what I was doing. I was looking at her pictures because I didn't understand. Well, because she said she was only half with me. Because there's a point that Fran doesn't agree with you. And also with a. Part of what I'm saying agrees with us.

[Dustin Ross]

This is we talking about.

[Asante]

I am talking about her wish you disagree. See, what I'm saying is In Lexi's comment, she says she agrees with Fran and partially me. So for the part of me that she disagrees with, also disagreeing.

[Dustin Ross]

Asante. So pick a side.

[Asante]

Let's see what this year is going to be. We can move, friend. What did you find out there in those streets?

[Francesca]

So I was also in the Twitter streets. Let me put up my screenshots. Actually, you know what Egypt L in our Patreon community said? This is actually a comment from the week prior. They said, miss you guys already. The first episode after the end of the year break always lands on the week of my birthday. So the first episode of the year is always special to me. I'll be 29 this year. I would love a friend zone. Happy birthday. To start off my last year in my 20s, crying emoji. Love you guys. Happy birthday.

[Dustin Ross]

Happy motherfucking birthday.

[Francesca]

Yeah, we hope you had fun. I hope you brought it in.

[Asante]

Well, hell yeah. Enjoy the last year it up real bad.

[Francesca]

Enjoy it. And don't be scared about 30 because now looking back, I'm like 30 was a baby.

[Dustin Ross]

My 30s were my best years.

[Francesca]

We were so nervous thinking it meant something. You so young, have fun.

[Dustin Ross]

You're gonna enjoy your 30s. You're gonna have the best sex of your life in your 30s.

[Francesca]

I can tell you that you ain't lying because I'm 20s was like, huh?

[Dustin Ross]

But them 30s, it was like, oh, I know this role. You was driving one hand. Driving one hand.

[Francesca]

I also want to mention Morgan Brooks. Morgan said, thank you guys for financial group, the fires, my parents and siblings, all my parents and siblings lost our family home in Altadena. I encourage everyone to look into the history of Altadena. A real gem and what I consider a best kept secret. There's a lot of comments and coverage of the Palisades where more wealthy folks reside. But residents of Altadena may not be able to bounce back from this. Black families displaced may not ever be able to quote, unquote, get back in to the area because of the high cost of living, which impacts our ability to actually pass down generational wealth via real estate. And one of the only places black folks were even allowed to buy houses back in the day. Again, encourage folks to look into the history and thank you again for covering this, man.

[Dustin Ross]

God bless you and your family.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Francesca]

I honestly. Did y' all know about Altadena? I didn't know much about Altadena until.

[Dustin Ross]

Now because I know someone talking about it. That's the only reason I know about it. It was not because of Something I read prior to that, I only know about Altadena and the history because one of my really, really close friends is from there there. And so they had already told me everything about the situation. So they said ain't nothing left from their family except the church they went to growing up, grandmother's house, great grandmother's house, everybody.

[Francesca]

Everything gone.

[Asante]

So that's.

[Dustin Ross]

That's terrifying. Much love to this. This person and family.

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

And I, everybody, you know, I put.

[Francesca]

I put a lot of the links that I felt would be really useful in last week's episode. But I also am aware that not everyone reads. Reads the description box. So I am going to dedicate this week's wellness segment to reading these resources out loud for those of you who need to hear it as opposed to reading it. And hopefully those companies, those centers, the mental health resources, the directories, all the things that I'm going to read out will be useful if you're someone that knows someone that needs help or needs help yourself. So we'll definitely be getting into that a little later in the show. But Morgan, I'm so sorry for you and your family. If you have a GoFundMe, Morgan, send it to me so that I can mention it on the show. I also encourage any of our listeners, do not feel prideful. Your family needs help. Send me your links. I'll get them circulated. If anything, I'll, you know, dedicate my wellness segments to. Because that's the point, right? It's community centered. Part.

[Dustin Ross]

Part.

[Francesca]

So send them. We'll shout them out. We'll get people circulating those. So I already have some for this week too. A couple of you have already hit me. So we'll get that handled.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, later on. Damn.

[Francesca]

Yeah, that's. I can't even imagine. I still don't have the words for all of that that's happening. But before we jump in. Not before we jump in. We're an hour into the show. Well, Dustin Ross, do you guys have of a Dustin Ross would you find in the Wait. Yeah, you're back on the Twitter streets. I was gonna say the blue skies.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I'm back on the Twitter streets. I don't give a no more. I can't thug. I can't fight them. So it. You know what I'm saying? And I don't even feel bad about it because I'm a that stand on business. You know what I'm saying? So I don't even feel like this is no reflection on my integrity nor care.

[Francesca]

You were not the only One.

[Dustin Ross]

No, that's right. That's right. And I don't give a. No, I' ma stand on it. I'm King Harris of the. They said I want to suck a passage.

[Francesca]

No, I don't.

[Dustin Ross]

Now, I want to give a shout out to Elizabeth Warren. Believe it or not. You know what I'm saying? I want to give a shout out to Elizabeth Warren. She tweeted that she just got back from Donald Trump's inauguration, and she said, if it's any indication of what Trump's second term will look like, it's going to be great for his billionaire donors and giant corporations and pain and costs for everyone else. I love it when people put things in the most simple language possible. There's nothing to understand here era. It's just very direct and clear language coming from a white woman. Now, Elizabeth Warren is one of the whitest white women. And I don't mean by Hugh, I just mean if you had to, you know, tell somebody it's a white woman. I feel like Elizabeth Warren is exactly what you're talking about.

[Francesca]

Didn't she claim to be indigenous, though?

[Dustin Ross]

I don't. Ain't that white, too.

[Francesca]

I mean, can't you be both?

[Dustin Ross]

Ain't no duality. She identify as a white woman because, you know, she identifies.

[Francesca]

Hold on, that's not true. I thought she said she was First Nations.

[Dustin Ross]

Well, good for her. She is. Maybe that's why she got a little more oomph to her. You know, I love.

[Francesca]

I don't think she.

[Asante]

It.

[Dustin Ross]

I'mma give her props.

[Francesca]

You know, I typed it in, and the first thing that popped up was. Hold on. Foreign apologizes to Cherokee Nation for DNA test. All right, wait.

[Dustin Ross]

She catfished a 23andMe. What the did she do? She catfished the goddamn.

[Francesca]

No, she didn't. No, I didn't know that when that happened. It was so embarrassing.

[Asante]

So what? So she said.

[Dustin Ross]

She said, wait, because we got to break this down. I didn't know.

[Francesca]

People be like, I'm part Cherokee, but they just like, oh, are you? Let's see.

[Dustin Ross]

Wait. She said she had had Indian in her family. That's what she said. That's what she said. What the fuck? I had no idea. Elizabeth, why would you do that? So she says.

[Francesca]

The article says more than three months after the widely criticized decision to release the results of a DNA test to prove her Native American ancestry, Senator Warren, who at this time was exploring a run for the presidency, has apologized to the Cherokee Nation. She has. Senator Warren has reached out to us and has Apologized to the tribe. We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws, not through DNA.

[Dustin Ross]

So she didn't lie about being a chk. And you know how people be lying about being an A.K.A. she didn't line up for being a CHK. God damn, Elizabeth, you ain't got your letters. God damn. I'm not gonna get in trouble today. I'm not.

[Francesca]

Oh, I don't know, man.

[Dustin Ross]

Damn. So Elizabeth then lied about being a. Goddamn. I'm a Native American person of descent. Damn. I didn't know that, man. Well, damn. I can't even. It. I. I take my tweet back. You can't have it, man. Damn. I don't even care, you know, I. Well, listen, shout out to Echo ec. Echo E. Smears, Echoes, mirrors. Who tweeted y' all don't like this song the way I like this song Song. And it was a clip from Beyonce performing School in life. I just want to give a little love to Beyonce this week, you know what I'm saying? I don't know. It's just coming up out of me, you know what I'm saying? My little. My little experience. I love Beyonce and I love school and life. Like, this is for them. This is the tweet that should have been to that girl that left that damn mean comment to me.

[Francesca]

She didn't leave.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes, she did. Because just like Beyonce said, this is for them 20 somethings. This is for them 30 somethings. This is for Them 40 something. She went all the way up to King, so that's that. You know, maybe you need to go to school for life, ma'. Am. Missing poo. Sending that to me. I feel like I'm attacked.

[Asante]

Can I be honest with you? School in life, there. There are just certain songs in Beyonce's catalog where I just randomly hear the runs in my head, like, and. And they're silly as to me, but, like, not in a bad way. It'd just be her going the off, like in school, in life, towards the empire, where she just be going and she just keeps going up. He's like, oh, I just could not stop hearing it right.

[Dustin Ross]

So good.

[Asante]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

So shout out to her. And shout out to whoever left me that comment. I'm on.

[Francesca]

Do you guys have any announcements before we jump in?

[Asante]

I would like to let the people of Patreon know that we are back.

[Francesca]

That's right.

[Asante]

You've seen the content. You've seen that we've started reading parable of the talent. You've seen that we are binging cross on prime. And you will also see the three of us live for our Wednesday wind down, which will occur on the 29th, which is the last Wednesday of this month.

[Francesca]

How are we already here?

[Asante]

We're already here.

[Francesca]

This is crazy.

[Asante]

Yeah. Right back at it. We're right back at it. So for those of you that have been part of LeChat and you want to come back for some more on the 29th, we'll have more for you. If you've never been a part of the experience, it'll be first one of this year. You will have a great time, guaranteed, because we do. Okay, good. I was about to plug schooling life in there.

[Dustin Ross]

I felt on my spirit that I needed to cover you in that moment. So that's what I just, you know, thank you. Thank you, brethren.

[Asante]

Thank you.

[Dustin Ross]

I needed to cover.

[Asante]

I appreciate that. So, yes, patreon.com friends on podcast for all of that premium content.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Asante]

Videos of us, us commercial free content or just strictly audio that's also commercial free if you just want to, you know, plug and play. I know some of y' all be on the road and y' all got too much time. Y' all want to be watching us, but I know a lot of y' all want to see us, too. So, you know, we got options for the people.

[Francesca]

And it's cool because Patreon has that feature that I'm not sure everyone's aware of where you can listen to us. You can listen to the additional audio we have on our Patreon on your streaming services. Yeah. Yeah. So all the binge, the situation, it'll pop up on your Spotify. That's how you listen to podcasts on your Apple. I love that. I think that's such a great feature.

[Asante]

Me, too.

[Dustin Ross]

That should have been the integration, right?

[Francesca]

It's nice.

[Dustin Ross]

Long time ago. I'm mad that's how you have a bad attitude about things.

[Francesca]

And do we? We talked about the fact that Apple Podcasts now has the transcripts of every episode. Did we ever mention that on the show? I don't know if we mentioned it, but I want to also let y' all know that we have the. Every episode has a transcript. So when y' all are like, Fran, what was that thing? Or Dustin, what was that funny? Or Asante, you can literally type in the words in the podcast app and the episode will pop up for whatever it is y' all looking for. Sometimes y' all ask us, what was the name of an Episode. And I'm like, child, we are almost 500 episodes in. I don't remember the name of an episode or the number based on a specific thing that you're looking for. That'd be impossible for me to remember. I try to write the everything as clear as possible in the description box, whether you're looking for links or products or whatever you can. But hopefully that'll help you, knowing that there is a transcript available now on Apple Podcasts. And also some people just like to read the show, like, you know, if you need that.

[Dustin Ross]

So that's the one time I don't mind y' all reading me.

[Francesca]

It's there if you need it. So just wanted to put that out there. And now we can jump in to this week's conversation. So, normally I like to start the first official. I mean, we had our episode last week that was us kind of, like, warming up, but I guess our first official hot button episode with a sort of energy forecast for the year. Right. I think it's cool to do that because then when we look back at the end of the year, we can kind of tap into what we were feeling, what we were sensing, what ideas we had of the year up ahead. And I think it's an interesting reflection to see if we were on point. Maybe we were all the way off, or maybe we had a sense of what the year would be, but ended up, like, flipping it completely at some point. It's just a nice reflection, reflection, tool. But there were so many stunts and shows pulled in the past couple weeks that I was like, we have to integrate what's happening with what we're feeling in this first episode. And what I mean by that is my question was going to be. Which we kind of tapped into in the intro, but my question was going to be, how are y' all feeling about this year as a whole? Like, what sense are you getting? We're about a month in, intuitively. Are you feeling, like, excited? I know, Dustin, you said you on your grind. You're feeling very creative. You're feeling like it's go time. Like your blood's flowing, like the projects are hitting. You're just, like, in it.

[Dustin Ross]

That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at.

[Francesca]

That's where you are. But here's my question, right? Because that was the convo I wanted to have. But when you see at the inauguration, for example, all the tech titans lined up in the front row, they said they got better seating than people in the cabinet. You know what I'M saying, like that said something that was loud and clear. Loud and clear. And being that most of our creative endeavors and pursuits are digital, did that change? Not changing your trajectory because no one has the power to do that, but did that change how you feel about this year as a whole as you're pursuing these projects?

[Dustin Ross]

No. Not one bit, not one iota, not one second. First of all, these dirty. That hold the purse strings have always been locked in politically and had ties to. It's about power, decision making and access to the money. Money like that nimwit Sweet Tea said on Married to Medicine. Access to the money. That's what it's about for them. So that doesn't surprise me at all. The blatant nature of their linking, the blatant nature of these ties being made is new for me because typically those, those hands were shaken in secrecy, but you know, seen it up front.

[Asante]

Like they're not talking to each other.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. Personally, I have decided to withdraw from being passionately, from having passion connected to what I'm witnessing in the political arena. Okay. I've decided to withdraw from that. If I'm speaking in an official capacity, you know what I'm saying, and where I'm discussing something, you know, specific and, and, and relevant and, and, and connected to an event of some sort that I have to talk about, then that's one thing. But hating these the way that I do, you know what I'm saying, and being so passionately affected by the things that I'm seeing, I'm electing not to do that anymore. I don't want to stress. There's nothing I can do. What, what I was able to do, I did on, on election day last year when I voted, on voting day, right prior to the election, I took advantage of every opportunity I had to speak with everyone that I could, you know what I'm saying, and identify these, these horrible actions, these terrible character traits that should not be platform formed, you know what I'm saying, into the Oval Office, but somehow ended up there. You voted for this. This is what you wanted. And the, the, the backlash of it, the things that you're not gonna, the consequences that you didn't anticipate, but you will suffer from. I'm not even gonna say I told you so. So I don't care if you ever get the point or not. I don't give a. This is worst case scenario for me. Him being a reelected and having that sort of power is the worst case scenario for me. So I no longer give a. I'M gonna talk about this. I'm call certain out when I want to, but I'm not attached to it passionately. So to answer your original question, no, it didn't phase me at all. I have this. I had, I had long before decided that actually once, you know, the election results came back, I was like, okay, okay, I'm, I'm off. I hop off the train is what it is. Yeah, everybody else can fret over that. They can, they can have fear over towards the future. Well, what I'm gonna do is handle the, the things that I have to handle accordingly. The way the ways that his administration and his rule and dictatorship impacts my life, I'll manage accordingly and I'll handle it. I'm no longer trying to inform anybody of anything. Y' all made y' all point loud and clear there. Alexis sky saying you should vote for Donald Trump. Hell, Shemar's right angle ass talking about that boy Donald Trump in office. So that kind of stupidity and people willfully being stupid like that, I cannot defeat that. So I'm no longer going to try to educate anybody. I'm no longer going to try to. I, I just say that. I think I've said it plainly. I'm not attaching myself to passionate reactions or to you. A, a, a feeling that, that I need to do something about this. I'm no, I'm withdrawn from all that. I don't even give a. I didn't want it to happen. Y' all did. Now it's happening. I' ma protect me in mine. That's what I'm on it. You know what I'm saying? Hey, that's all I got. Suck it.

[Francesca]

You know, that's all we can control is. Yeah, is ourselves in our community anyway. So trying to do more than that.

[Dustin Ross]

Is just no more, no more, no more. I'm not gonna get, get so pissed off. I remember this. The last thing I'mma say about this, but I remember during the campaign JD Vance was Vice President Harris was speaking somewhere at a rally I believe it was, and J.D. vance like tried to walk up on her on a turnback when she was getting off of Air Force Two or whatever. He tried to like him and his, the boys tried to like walk up on them type shit. And of course they were stopped. And I remember J.D. vance saying, it doesn't matter. She didn't want me to see the plane. I just want to see the plane. But it doesn't matter. It's going to be mine line in a minute anyway. I remember him Saying that. And so that knowing that he is so when he. When they won, right. I thought immediately about that moment, and I had that feeling like, I hate that this gets to have that. Yeah. And that's when I was like, you know what? I don't like how this feels. I ain't got nothing to do with this no more than anybody else. I did my part. Why am I attaching myself to the angst of it all, to the. To the physical discomfort of it all? So, no, I let go of it. Y' all now. Y'. All. Them are on their own far as I'm concerned. You. I tried. What else are we supposed to do? I don't want to say I told you so. I don't even. I don't care. I don't care. Because it's going to speak for itself through your life and your lived experience. So that's it. I'm just gonna try to do my best. That's it.

[Francesca]

But the hard part of that is that it don't only speak for itself through their lives. It's gonna affect so many people. Yeah. That's the part that's so fucked about it.

[Dustin Ross]

That's why everybody else should have been on the right path page, because it is about everybody else. And I know I voted with a view toward everybody else. I voted for the issues that don't even have to do with me, but they matter to me because they're ethical and. And they're good things that should happen for people that need that and don't need and. And to thwart off harm. That's what I voted for. It wasn't just about what was good for Dustin, you know what I'm saying? So if nobody else feels like that, that. Then that's it for me. That's where I hop off of the everybody else sort of, you know what I'm saying? Wagon. I'm done with that, man. That's what I was on before. And these blatantly told they are coming out. Kim Kardashian posting Melania Trump on her Instagram story like these.

[Francesca]

Like, oh, it was just a fashion highlight. I'm like, she's.

[Dustin Ross]

No, she's so intentional. Like, she knows exactly what she's doing. We could take it back to her. Her showcasing that Tesla robot she has long. And hell is Caitlyn your daddy, right? Like, hey, like, they're connected. These are people that are connected that, you know, have these feelings. So it's. No, it's not a secret to me. They are showing themselves as exactly who they are. Y' all wanted that. Y' all like the racism. Y' all like the anti trans rhetoric and the immediate breakdown of policies. And your stepdaddy is a transposed to be a trans woman. Woman. But according to this new administration and the executive order that he took his. His. He took his hand and signed. I was about to be rude, but why be nasty? That makes me just like them. But that executive order he just signed saying it's only two genders, ain't no in between. So they just said, katelyn is Bruce. You're tweeting. Make it great again. Yeah. You know why? Because she never was immersed and fully steeped in the truth. Because this is a definition of womanhood.

[Francesca]

This is a class alliance.

[Dustin Ross]

She thinks like a white rich man, and that is what she cannot help herself. It gets the best of her if her very existence. I wish I would. Y' all can do whatever y' all want to do. I don't give a. I'm telling you, this is on y'. All. And when it hits you, when it bites you in your ass, shout out to Chesca Lee. When the leopards eat your face, that's on you. Break it down now.

[Francesca]

Ah.

[Dustin Ross]

She'll be like, slow it down now.

[Francesca]

Where are you? She's so silly. Asante, I know for this year, a lot of what you shared was, and you mentioned it earlier too, this is a year about getting your life ducks in a row. Sounds like it's a big personal development year for you.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

Obviously I want you to talk a little bit more about that. But also I'm curious if any of the happenings of this first month of January, whether it's climate, whether it's political, even tech, which I know that's a big field that you bring onto this show, has that affected anything of what you're intuitively feeling about this year and.

[Dustin Ross]

Your journey, also your personal business too?

[Asante]

And a little of that personal business aside, everything is just draining. And honestly, it's been draining for a very long time. Like, much to what Dustin was saying, like, there's a. The. A mass desensitivity that's happening. Like a desens. Desensitis. Desensitization, I guess. I don't know, maybe I made that one up and that's why it was so difficult. Okay. And I feel like it happens in waves. Like there was a. Like a big wave of it back when it first happened. And then, you know, we were able to be like, all right, we're through it. Biden's here. But Then it's like, Trump never got arrested, but people kept cheering that he was going to get arrested, kid. And now here he is, you know, back again. It's just really odd to see. And I see how for some people, it's upsetting and jarring and annoying and all those things, but I've just been so desensitized for such a long time and so removed. Like, politics, I know is important, but there's still, like, just the. The basic foundation of human need and compassion, either even for your damn self, let alone for other people.

[Dustin Ross]

People.

[Asante]

So because that doesn't exist on a mass scale, or it's not being showcased on a regular basis of people just treating each other like humans. Like, the politics are trying to be. They trying to compete with baddies and stuff just to be seen. But it's like, all right, well, what's the actual work that's being done in these rooms versus watching, you know, y' all trying to say this black woman's being ghetto because she's super now to this white woman's level? Like. Like, okay, that's a conversation that could be had. But is anyone going to ask, like, what's actually happening in this room right now? And did that work actually get done? We just get so stuck on, like, the optics of things. Like Soulja Boy. My heart broke, but obviously so desensitized. I can remove him without worry or care for being that idiotic, because there's still a basic human need and condition that needs to be answered for. And when he gets up on Live and is like, did Kamala ask me to come, or did she put money in my pocket to pay? It's like, you're only worried about putting more money in your pocket, which, you know, everyone is worried about putting money in their pocket, but we're not seeing how Soulja Boy has given back for so many years and done xyz. So it's like, not a big disappointment to lose someone like that into the fold. I think when we start to look at people that like us, when we start coming out and being like, all right, you know, I did something bad, and it's like, well, why did you do it? And it's like, we could talk about it and have that dialogue. That's one thing. But when you just start going out showbox going like, yeah, I did something, and it's like, we can't even have a conversation about it. So it kind of speaks to, I guess, where your head is and why we're having a disconnection that's why I just kind of take a back seat. So I've taken a back seat to all of the. The politics. I'm still keeping an eye on it, to the optics of all of those high powered, you know, Bezos Musk, like, everybody being in those rooms and. Or being in that room, room on a better position than certain people that actually should be where you are or not you are, but where they need to be. It's just a bit of a mind and it's like, I don't know what to take seriously anymore or what not to. So to answer your. So to answer your original question of, like, like, my initial intentions for this year, it, you know, it's still an extension of my foundation building, like, building that back up. But because I'm not in a city that. That's as rich in culture and as diverse in thinking even and forward as New York was, it's kind of like bringing me back to that place of, like, why I left Atlanta initially. And so I'm trying to figure out, like, all right, you left Atlanta because it wasn't as progressive, but Atlanta, you know, still boomed into a black Hollywood. So obviously there was still something going on. So I'm just figuring out how I want to align myself and connect myself with communities out here and position myself, myself. Because, you know, there's. There's been music and art scenes out here, but I'm curious to see how that's going to develop and change over the coming years with all of the. The that's going on too. Like, that was one of the things that I was thinking about because every year, shout out to Anton, my best friend. Every year, we always, we. We always ask ourselves, like, you know, what's going to be my contribution to my people this year? And so that's a great question. So that's why, like, last year or the year before, you know, it meant something to me, like, when it was like, all right, you know, I have my episode during Black History Month. You know, I want to highlight people and, you know, a sign language and, like, how for black people, it's a little bit different, how it's cool. And then that was like a really good, cool episode. And now look, you know, technology's finally caught up to where everything is just automatically transcribed anyway. Like, it's becoming a necessity for everybody. It's not just a accessible option that you have to turn on. Like, it's like, nope, it's just here for everybody. Because everybody wants captions on YouTube and Netflix. So, you know, why not give it to podcast. So I think it's like, how you.

[Dustin Ross]

Weave that tech in. I'm smooth.

[Asante]

Yeah. You know, but because. So one of my life missions is. And, you know, that's why I talk about tech on the show a lot is I, like, I've always loved tech. I, you know, I'm. I'm a bright young man, but I just never wanted to get so immersed in tech. I'm, like, building. Building it up from scratch. Whether it's the hardware or software, I've always just liked the actual presentations of tech and watching how it's inter intertwined in different scenarios, whether it's for marketing purposes or a simple high school project or, you know, planning your wedding, things like that. Like, I think it's dope how people can infuse technology in little ways in big ways. So one of my life missions or my missions on this show is to always talk about technology, whether I understand it or not, whether I agree with it or not. That's why when I talk about things, you guys have a disagreement about it, I'm like, okay, this is perfect, because a lot of black people feel the same way. So, like, let me ask questions that, you know, I feel like could be beneficial to someone.

[Francesca]

Dustin.

[Asante]

Black people. Black people are. Are cautious. And it is not without. Like. Like. Like, it is. We are supposed to be cautious.

[Francesca]

Especially when references.

[Asante]

Yes, especially when all of these systems were built. All of these systems were built against us. You know what I'm saying? And then, like, we've been allowed into these systems, and they were still systematically being pushed back out of them. So when we think about techno, when I think about technology, I think about that fear that was putting into us early on. I think about how technology is still being made and used against us. The damn soap dispenser. I can't wash my hands because my skin's too damn dark. Like, what the is this? But the other side of that is what do figure out? Like, all right, well, as they build these face databases, if all niggas just, you know, wore these, you know, fake ass ears, they gonna think that we all the same or some shit like that. And we figure out the hack, and we just like, all right, well, it. We not gonna be on the same type of time y' all long. Like, I just think it's dope when black people get involved in anything. So. So I'm like, niggas, we have to get in tech because just, like, you know, we killing fashion, and we're killing. Like, we kill every Industry, anything. Like, we kill it. So when I think about this show and I think about the. The world or, you know, I think about our economy and what we got going on right now, there's a lot of shit that's going to be happening, and it's just going to be hard for me to figure out how to continue to build myself up and build. Build out or conceptualize pathways for other people to build themselves up. You know, like, it's very important for me to feel like we're strong as a people. That's why it weakens my mind or my soul when I get on Twitter and I see we're arguing about something trivial or we're attacking some. We're attacking each other about something serious that we actually need to bridge these gaps on so people can start to be like, oh, I had totally had that up. Like, you know, I thought this. Because this is what I was seeing, or this is what I was being told, or this is what I believe because of my trauma. And so I spewed the wrong thing, and I'm sorry. Like, we're never going to be able to reconcile because we keep judging each other. And some of that is we're feeding into these dumbass machines. So I'm not playing the show with you guys, where we're gonna watch the politics and we're gonna be like, somebody's gotta do something about that. Yeah. Because you are the loudest. You are correct. Somebody does have to do something about it. But I'm waiting for that quiet voice that's actually. And if that quiet voice lives within me and I need to start yelling, then I will. But if I hear the actual voice making sense, telling me like, oh, okay, okay. This is how we need to plan. You need to keep yourself strong. You also need to read. Here's some resources. Don't just take my word for it. You know, like, people that are telling you the right things, not people that are just saying shit because they want a position or they want to make more money or they want to align with power. Like, we. None of us want to align with power. We want to align with our best selves. And if we get some power along the way, cool. But we really want that check. But we want that check to, like, make sense not just to ourselves and our spirits, but to our people. Because we know when we spend that money, we're spending it back to support our people. Whether it's, you know, buying ourselves something nice to feel good enough to go in a room and give a speech to somebody else about something super dope to make them feel good enough to finally get up off their ass and build something super dope to actually make everybody feel super cool or just prostitute. I hope I answered your question. I just feel like there's just so much like bullshit going on, you know, the world is just such a fucked up place and I feel like I have such great intentions, mentions such beautiful things that I like, if I was in a better place, mentally healthy, spiritually, like, I'll be really killing and you know, it's my fault. Like, I can't blame society. But society definitely plays its roles. You know, society rolls this technology out and it confuses you. Society rolls out these trends and they tell you have to be on it. Society tells you got to go, you know, take this trip. So you spend your money to take that trip. But society is, you know what people are like, none of it's real. Real. It's not real. Like, that's why you got to really sit back and be like, all right, let me take the headphones off and listen to my heart before it tells me goodbye.

[Dustin Ross]

Packages by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

[Asante]

We were made to easily bundle your trip. Expedition media made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected. Hataday presents in the red corner, the undisputed undefeated weed whacker guy, champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere. And in the blue corner, the challenger, Extra strength hatterday eye drops that work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy appetite analogy eyes. And the winner by knockout is Patterny. Bring it on.

[Francesca]

Oh, I think when you do that, I don't know why.

[Asante]

It's just like, because it's Dustin doing it.

[Francesca]

So it's like so not in. So for me, y' all know, I kind of took a step back, back from social media in a lot of ways in the past couple years just because I've been a lot more interested in like the back end producing, just not as much. I think I feel like I put in a lot of legwork and facetime and you know, in my earlier years, whether it was with the blog or YouTube or the early years of this show, but now I just felt like I'm good. I love where I'm at. I love what I've created. Obviously more things will be created, but they just like in a different format. Right, But. And it's funny because then you see images like musk and Zuckerberg and Bezos and the TikTok CEO, forgive me for not knowing his name, but it's like interesting to me how like Dustin said, that's been the case. The difference now is just that it's for us to see.

[Asante]

It's blatant.

[Francesca]

Yeah. Like the gloves are off in a way. I think people are feeling a lot more piped up in just being who they are visibly. I think they have. They're running in a pack now, so it's like safer in a way. That's why I think all these artists feel more comfortable because they're doing it together. You know, it's like it's us for STEM type energy. And that kind of made me feel hesitant for a second there because there's that feeling of like, yo, we shouldn't even be on these apps, you know, like, especially with TikTok, that little charade they pulled of like, oh, oh, it's. It's being banned on the 19th. And then, oh my God, we're offline for 12 hours. And everyone was like so emotional because this is a lot of people's livelihoods. There's people that have whole ass warehouses full of inventory that gets. Gets sold through tick tock. Like I was thinking about them, people who quit their jobs, people who have dedicated so much time and energy and money into making this machine work. And they did make it work. And a lot of people's lives have changed, like everyday people. Because before with YouTube, a lot of the people that made it, like they either had money, you know, like it was always something like they had the resources to have the better camera and have the better clothes and it was a little harder for the everyday person to pop off. But something I love about TikTok, it was like aunties, grandpas, I mean, it didn't matter any. And everybody was behind bars.

[Dustin Ross]

Bars.

[Francesca]

People buying bars. I mean, yo, right? So cool. And I feel that the things that people were becoming famous for was cool too. Like there was like one woman who just teaches you how to make dinners at Dollar Tree if you don't have a lot of money. Have you seen that? I think her thing is called Dollar Tree Dinner or something like that. She popped off. To me, that's cool. That's community based. So it's just eats.

[Dustin Ross]

Paper, Paper eats. And y' all please stop doing what she do. Cause it's only one. Don't do the hell that y' all did to big sex.

[Francesca]

I don't know how the Internet goes.

[Asante]

But paper eats is a talent that needs to be harnessed now, like, like I'm talking set design, FX work. Like somebody needs to like really hone in on that young woman's creativity.

[Francesca]

She really is.

[Dustin Ross]

I see a whole store, like a build a. Build a bear like tile store where you could come in and the whole store is like all papers. You can buy pieces. You know, she brought a long career ahead of her. But yes, friend, but yeah.

[Francesca]

So I feel, I can see that collab right there.

[Asante]

Right? You see that, right?

[Francesca]

I. I feel that it's just, it's for all the jokes people have about y' all crying over TikTok. To me, it's like I completely understood. It's just a different feeling on TikTok. People were, were hitting licks off of different things. It was interesting, it was creative, it was far reaching. I really enjoy TikTok a lot. It was just funny because I was so hesitant and resistance for a long time because I just didn't want to deal with another app. But once I got into it for real, I was like, oh, I get it.

[Dustin Ross]

Same wasn't a big part of the appeal of Tick Tock.

[Francesca]

That is not American.

[Dustin Ross]

Not just that, but that. That. Not just that though, but that you could like the search engine and the algorithms work differently. Right. Like you can search for specific things like anything on Tick Tock and it'll come right the up versus some of the other apps. So I don't be on Tick Tock like that.

[Asante]

So I don't know.

[Dustin Ross]

This is more of like a question. Isn't that, isn't it different over there?

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Where like it's a better search engine, right?

[Francesca]

It's a better search engine. It didn't seem as restricted like you could find. You could find a lot of shit that I don't think.

[Asante]

So I made it to that.

[Francesca]

But there. But like with Gaza, you could find a lot more information. Like global information wasn't restricted with the politics with Trump, like whatever it was, it was there. And it's just a lot to really like about the structure of it. Yeah, obviously gets shut down. Here comes the stunt that Trump came to save the day, which makes no sense because like AOC was saying in that clip that went viral, he wasn't even president. He didn't even have have the executive orders to be able to, quote, unquote, bring that app back online. So that kind of just showed you that it was like some back end stunts.

[Asante]

And did you open it when it was offline?

[Francesca]

I did.

[Asante]

So you saw that little pop up that came up saying, yeah, oh, it's.

[Francesca]

Been working with Trump.

[Dustin Ross]

We thank President Trump.

[Asante]

And then they put that same message back up when they brought it back online.

[Dustin Ross]

Was sitting. The owner of TikTok was at the inauguration festival with his family, sitting next to Tulsi Gabbard or who. Whatever that bitch name is. Tulsi, who is the director of. I can't remember her title in the administration, but it's something about digital communications or some shit like that. And they're sitting next to each other at this. At this inauguration. So again, and I don't believe that.

[Francesca]

And now when you look through the. Now that it's back online, when you look through the search for things having to do with Gaza, things having to do with.

[Dustin Ross]

Totally different.

[Francesca]

Totally different. Someone said it best. I wish I knew her name. But some girl was like, it almost feels like someone came to your house and was touching shit while you.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I love that. Yes.

[Francesca]

Like, that felt so. I was like, she is exactly on point with that. Because you come back and we all just intuitively knew this is not the same as app. Even without them announcing the changes, which they probably never will.

[Asante]

You just know.

[Francesca]

You just knew. You knew it was a stunt. You knew it was a scheme. And I hate that for us because it really was such a wonderful app in a lot of ways. And now, and let's not get it twisted, TikTok still had its shit, but for the most part, in comparison to the bullshit we deal with with Facebook and Instagram where you amass this following that you work so hard to get by trick, follower by follower, and then the app tells you you need to pay for them to see you. That's crazy to me. Like the. That they put you through on these apps when this is how you know you make your bread and butter. So a lot of white people with Tick Tock is because they don't play. They weren't playing those games with creatives. You made it on the FYP the for you page. You were good, you know, and. And like I said, they still have their little. With. With their finances and their payouts and what they considered views and you know, an app is still going to app, but still it was like leaps and bounds. Better than the shit we have to deal with with meta on Instagram and Facebook. So my reflex was to be like, oh my God, we got to get off these apps. Right? Like, who knows what shit's going like.

[Asante]

Now the thing you logged on a soft. You deleted TikTok. You can't redownload it.

[Francesca]

No. And then TikTok sent the thing talking about, oh, let us have access to your photo album in your phone. Did you. Did y' all get that yesterday?

[Asante]

I haven't opened it.

[Francesca]

So they can create memories. And I felt, oh, how convenient.

[Asante]

Now there was a no option right feature.

[Francesca]

No, you didn't have to do it at all. But they know the average person is going to do it because no, I want to see what. This is just trickery. And I don't like some that they.

[Dustin Ross]

Probably already got access to any.

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesca]

Because all phones do they just be playing. They need your consent.

[Asante]

Oh, well, you actually considering when you first turn on the device. But we just wanted to like, remind you in our terms of service.

[Francesca]

Like, so for me, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm already not as visible. I haven't posted on Instagram. I posted once on Instagram last year. I haven't posted on Facebook in years. Like, I really fell the back. But something in me strange enough was like, I actually think. Think that the Internet needs us more than ever now. In a weird way, like, I'm getting that message too of like, yes. There's a lot that I don't align with. Like, a lot of the f. The creatives that I love, they sustain because they have to promote over consumption. And I hate it for them. But it's what you gotta do. You gotta sell, sell, sell. All these new shoes, all these new jeans, all these new makeup. Oh, this. It's like, it's just a lot of over consumption. You see the. The. The effect it's having on how people even shop. Have y' all seen the videos of girls with body wash walls?

[Asante]

Yep.

[Francesca]

A wall.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Francesca]

Not just you got your favorite body wash. No, you had to buy three.

[Dustin Ross]

Setting all that shit up before they take a bath and making goddamn tiktoks about it. Every bath bomb.

[Francesca]

Every bath bomb color. It's like you can't just get the thing you got. You got to get every flavor, every style, every color. Like, we shop so differently.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Francesca]

And it's really over.

[Dustin Ross]

That's only okay when it comes to.

[Asante]

Well, you always got somewhere to go.

[Francesca]

Like, your aunties do it. They like a shirt. They buy every color.

[Dustin Ross]

Every color.

[Francesca]

Yeah, I started doing that.

[Asante]

People still do that.

[Dustin Ross]

Shout out to Monroe Steel. She just did a.

[Francesca]

Let me like, pick something. It has multiple colors.

[Dustin Ross]

I like, she did a haul and she had this beautiful dress. And she's like, now, I did buy this dress in every color. She's like, I have the burgundy, the cream, the black and the green. We love you.

[Francesca]

But I think you know how we've been discussing what the world needs more than ever now is community. I think it's the same with the apps. Like we need to be talking about what we're doing and I know it's hard because it's like we're under surveillance, but you feel me like the people that garden and grow food, we need jobs in for more than ever now. The people that do clean guns and work at the gun range, we need your info more than ever. Like I feel like in a way we need to low key, create more content. I don't know why. Yeah, no, more like hiding. Like we need to, to step up. And this isn't just online.

[Asante]

So we getting all red. Is that where we going?

[Francesca]

This has to reflect in your real life. But I say online because we also. Not everyone has community, you know what I'm saying? Not everyone has a group of people they can go politic with in a real deep way to see, like, okay, what's the plan? Like, right. What skill set do you have? What do I have? And we've been talking about this parable of the song where their whole Earth Seed concept is, what do you have to offer and what do I have to offer you? And how do we trade and barter and all learn as a community? I love that in the book they're like, if you speak a language and I don't, you gotta teach me. Because that only strengthens us as a community as we're moving through the world. If you can garden and I can cook, let's teach each other. So now you have double the skills and you have your duty to learn a skill. I talked about this last time year. A lot of my goals changed for this year. It's not just that feeling of oh, I'm a pipe up in this and that and create this. It's also like, what skill sets? If we lived on land, I think of this all the time. If all of us had to get a piece of land and live together because that's just where the world is at. Our whole friend group, I think of everyone's skill sets and how they're going to translate in the real world. Because a lot of our skill sets are digitally based on taste. Yeah, we're good producers, we're good musicians, we're good. But it's like in the real world.

[Dustin Ross]

When it's time to sell drugs, who is going to run? You know what I'm saying? Who gonna cook the dope?

[Francesca]

Who gonna Feel you don't have one to offer.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, get you.

[Francesca]

Get you one. Go into carpentries. Somebody needs to know what to do with wood.

[Dustin Ross]

You know what you feel like, Yes, I do feel that feeling of like.

[Francesca]

Yes, our goals might have to change a little. Not even I won't tell you they have to. You gotta do what you gotta do. But you should consider some real world community based or talents, skill sets, trades.

[Dustin Ross]

Like think do your thing, but do it with a view, tour, commute, community. You know what I'm saying? Don't deviate from your path, but just.

[Francesca]

Have mindfulness thing of like you should pivot your life. No, but you should consider I'm gonna do what I had planned out. And that's really what I wanted to talk what how I wanted to. To frame this week's episode. Right. It's not so much like, oh, my goals change because the world is. But it's like, have your goals but don't forget that the world is fucking and it needs you 100. Consider that and how you're moving this year towards your goals, towards everything that you're doing. Like if you want to still be on tv, go to the auditions, go to your improv classes, do the things. But then also don't forget that skill set that your community might need as well. You feel me? Like we almost have to open up our, expand our goals this year.

[Asante]

I feel we gotta do to me.

[Dustin Ross]

The action looks like because sometimes people need you to break it down and like okay, well what the fuck do I do? Right? Does that like the action looks like creating a mindfulness, a sense of mindfulness when it comes to community. As you're on your path. That means that as you doing your thing, you're mindful of, hey, I see an opportunity for somebody that might not work for me, but I can suggest that, that these people are seen for it. Get that money circulating, get the money circulating. Hey. Okay, now I have this new title with this new. These new responsibilities. And I have access to these resources that I can allocate this way now because it'll be good for my community in that way. Hey, as I'm doing this, I can create these opportunities for these people who I know are good at these things. Once again, dialing in the friends call to action to have a skill set to offer. Right?

[Francesca]

Right.

[Dustin Ross]

Once you make that known, people can plug you in in different positions where you can be beneficial. You know what I'm saying? To efficiency and to. To creating systems that actually function properly. And you can give People, opportunity. They've taken away dei. They've taken away. Just yesterday, they rescinded any sort of black and Latin protections that.

[Francesca]

Oh, in his. In Trump's executive orders.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, they did that.

[Francesca]

78.

[Dustin Ross]

So that means that if you're a person who has access to resources and opportunities, you have to have a mindfulness, Create a sense of mindfulness to be thinking about marginalized communities who are not otherwise protected as you make your decisions. Right. And have access to opportunity and grant that to people. So that's what it looks like. It doesn't look like you have to save the world. It just looks like, hey, in my life, on my save your world, what opportunities do I have to contribute to the betterment of our community? Community. That's what it looks like. That's what friend is saying. Get your asses up and get in gear. Get up.

[Francesca]

Yeah. No, it's so true. Even with. I was so blown away by the way that all of us mobilized with the fires in la. Right. I saw Shout out to Afropunk. They really stood out to me a lot, to be honest. I know we say a lot of things about Afropunk and it's changing and da da da. But at the end of the day, they did. And mutual. The Mutual Aid LA Network, which is. It's like Malin M A L A N. I'm sure y' all saw that. Which is funny, because I thought it was a person. This whole time, I was like, marlon is creating these directories. Who is Marlon? And then when I started doing my research, I said, oh, shit. Okay. That is the Mutual Aid LA Network.

[Dustin Ross]

I just had a moment. See what happens when you see what I'm saying.

[Francesca]

And research. But they created incredible comprehensive directories with black families that have been displaced. They raised $15 million, y'.

[Dustin Ross]

All. Yes. God.

[Francesca]

In the past couple of weeks, raised for 600 plus black families that were displaced in the Pasadena Altadena area. They also created a GoFundMe directory for Latin families. You know what I'm saying? It's like, yes, like, Afro Punk is a concert series. It's a festival. Like, it has its thing, but it has the double consciousness of, I have my goals, but I also have our goals. And I think that's just what I'm trying to put out there into the conversation of. It's not.

[Dustin Ross]

I get it.

[Francesca]

And it's easy to get scared thinking. Like thinking about being on TV or still trying to be an artist feels stupid. I get that. It might feel like it's so stupid. But you still have your own earthly assignment. If you want to sing, sing, like still pursue those things. Because you also have to, on a soul level, pursue what it is that you came here to pursue. Regardless of what the world is looking like. Like, that to me is very important. That's you. But then there's also us, like your world and the world world. And I just wanted to remind people to try to create plans that include both sides. Because that's the only way to feel good.

[Asante]

Like Soulja Boy.

[Francesca]

See, but to me, Soulja Boy, that's why he's so obsessed with credit, right? He's so obsessed with, with people knowing. It's because he's so self serving.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

And it's like it's never ending. That self servingness is insatiable. You will never have enough credit. And we see it with him. How much more motherfucking credit do you need?

[Dustin Ross]

You need to, you need to ask for credit for Thriller from Michael Jackson. Cause that's what the fuck you look like. He's just like that makeup Michael Jackson had on when he was dancing in the red jacket and Thriller, that makeup, that's what Soulja Boy look like now.

[Francesca]

And even, even with this break, right where I was saying, he can't whoop my ass. No, he can't. That I was saying I didn't feel good. Right. You know, the funny thing is what really helped me feel so much better was when we were purging our closet and I started purging everything I. I mean, beauty products, like just everything. I just went, you know, you do that deep, deep end of year purging. And it wasn't until we put it all in the suitcases and in the bags and whatever, you know, however we transported it and we took it to the church and there was like a church gathering of tables or were lining out things really organized, you know, like everyone put the coats on this table and everyone, you know, and it wasn't until that. And it was this reminder. I remember there was a quote, I think it was from Osho that I used to always think about when I was younger where it's like, if you don't feel good, do something for someone else. I love something about that just always shifts you in a. In a different way. It's like you have to.

[Asante]

I'm not even gonna crack.

[Dustin Ross]

No sex though about it. Let you say it, you know, you.

[Francesca]

Just decenter yourself in that moment. There's something about community that just kind of like helps bring you back around. And it really did Help me a lot. And even seeing how we were going into the top of this year, how everyone had to come together, you know, to help our community. Because think about it, I. I get that people were like, oh, the rich people, they'll figure it out. And I was.

[Dustin Ross]

It wasn't just rich people.

[Francesca]

And my thing is, I wasn't even thinking about who was rich or who wasn't. All I kept thinking was, at the end of the day, I was thinking, though, like, as I got put on to what Altadena was. We know that these black families, they're already. I heard there's already like sharks in the water, coming around asking for land. Yeah. Like, how much?

[Dustin Ross]

When they know people are desperate, they're low balling like a. Just trying to get access to this valuable real estate. Yeah.

[Francesca]

So up. And even Trump talking about Gaza, like, how it's beautiful and it's on the sea, what it can be turned into. To me, this is all connected. You know what I mean?

[Dustin Ross]

It's been the whole thing. Let me just be quiet. Go ahead.

[Francesca]

That's been the whole plan. Right? Right. You're like, I'm not upset today, but really, really, that's what I wanted this episode at the top, the very top of the year to be about. Just us tapping into what that looks like. What do I have to do? Like Dustin said, we're gonna be getting into specifics throughout the year. Like I told y', all, I'm like, really gonna get heavier into the farming information. Anything I can pass on, y' all already know. That's not even a question like, I'm gonna be in here.

[Asante]

No, that's real.

[Francesca]

From the.

[Asante]

That's real friend.

[Dustin Ross]

You gonna learn about.

[Asante]

About. I can't help but laugh. Anyway, go ahead.

[Francesca]

I'm gonna bring in whatever I learned. I know that Dustin and Sante will do the same and whatever that. And I just want us to really consider that as we set up our goals for the year. Because a lot of times, especially Americans, we're very self centered, individualistic. Everything is, I gotta get to, I gotta get to, I gotta do. And it's like the world is showing us, or not the world. The year is even showing us that we're going to need each other probably more than we realize.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

And so have some skill to offer your community. That's really all. I keep getting very loud, very loud in my head. What is the skill? What is the goal that you have for this year? To learn something new that you can offer the people around. Around you?

[Dustin Ross]

Tell Them, tell them, janet, what have.

[Asante]

You done for me?

[Francesca]

That's real.

[Dustin Ross]

That's the skill, right?

[Francesca]

You know what I'm saying? Like, everyone, let's pick a thing. Pick a thing. If it's a learning a new language, I see a lot of people learning new languages. Like, pick a thing, pick a wall.

[Dustin Ross]

Boots. Yeah.

[Francesca]

I'm taking swim classes. And for me, it's more so just the. Because I can swim, but I want to know how to swim. Well, you know, like, where. It's a technical level. Yeah, at a technical level, where there's an actual skill attached to it. I was right. Now I can slow and move. But what if you needed a swimmer, a strong swimmer, because something with water, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just need.

[Asante]

What if you just, like, you just need to know the technique so then, like, you can make sense of it.

[Francesca]

While you're doing help someone. Because a lot of times we. People end up drowning when they go to help someone because they don't have the skill set to take someone.

[Dustin Ross]

And we already know we gonna need to swim. Cause look at what happened in Montgomery, Alabama.

[Francesca]

Oh, my God.

[Dustin Ross]

And that brother was swimming in boots and jeans. Let me tell you how heavy boots and jeans are. His legs are strong as fuck.

[Francesca]

So, like, that's what I mean. You just never know when these skill sets are gonna rear their head. So I just wanted to put that.

[Dustin Ross]

In beat them up ass. That's what she's saying, y'. All.

[Asante]

So.

[Francesca]

And while I know that it's scary to see all these tech people, hands in hand, we know this is creepy. We know this is messy. We know they're up to some or they've been up to some. It really isn't anything new. But I don't want that to scare us. Oligarchy. Oligarchy, Tech oligarchy. I didn't see that, too.

[Dustin Ross]

We in the Olive Garden, y'. All. We is in an Olive Garden government. That's what this is.

[Francesca]

I just don't want us to feel. Feel scared to be seen because of this. You know what I'm saying? I don't want this to make you go back into a hole or be like, oh, the world is so fucked. Like, put out your content. Continue to pursue what it is that you're pursuing.

[Dustin Ross]

Be bolder than ever with yourself.

[Francesca]

No, I really feel that way. Like, even me, I know I don't post. I've been feeling that itch. Like, you need to start posting again. Like, you need. Like, y' all all need to Be seen. We need to be seen. We need to be connected, community. And almost showing them like whatever y' all got going on doesn't stop this show. I almost think that's really, really important.

[Asante]

You know what we all need to do, we need to start making cooking content.

[Francesca]

Well, we need. Jade.

[Dustin Ross]

I cooked yesterday for my friends and.

[Asante]

They, they, y. Y' all can cook. I can't really.

[Dustin Ross]

I bake chicken with like red, orange and yellow peppers on it, onions and all on it. And I made.

[Francesca]

That's a low key. You've been like cooking more and more.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, I've been getting down. I made, I did that. I made some fresh cabbage, fresh green beans instead of cabbage this time. I did fresh green beans for them. I did some red. Like, you know the potatoes how they used to be at like Boston Market potatoes with the, with the butter and herb and all that all over them. I made those from scratch. Cooked all this. Them is in here throwing down, eating. My friend told me I had big mama arms. They was. Thought they was getting second really fly. They all made a second plate. So I can do my thing. I just don't be having time to. You know what I'm saying?

[Francesca]

Right. Or the interest. A lot of the times when I could just order, but I had to get that together. No more that. But all in all, those of you listening, I would love to know if this is something you and your community have been discussing too, especially when you start seeing these stunts and shows, especially white people.

[Dustin Ross]

If you. You and if you white listening to this, you know what I'm saying? What are you doing in your circle of people, your. Your community that you have access to to stop any of these racist rhetoric, any of these crazy ass local militias, any of these incel ass people. Yeah, like what are you doing? It's a time for not only black people to be bold and black and. But it's a time for white people to stand on business as best they can. Put your Teva sandals on the right side of business. You know what I'm saying? That's what you. Yo, if you got on some EAS Sland shoes, put them on the right side of business right now. I love. You know, if you are wearing. Yeah. If you're wearing an Eddie Bauer sweater, you know what I'm saying? Like you need to be speaking up and making sure on some real. You need to be speaking up and making sure that you are stopping whatever you can stop within your communities. And if you hear some. If you see something, say something. If you're a white person. This is the time for you. If you see something, say something to another white person. But for real, it's time for that. You got to thort that that out. That's on y'. All. Black people been mobilizing.

[Francesca]

See, that's real. I would love if my neighbors saw them white men that keep knocking on my door and they said something to.

[Dustin Ross]

Them, yeah, quit doing that, bro.

[Asante]

They start walking up and you never be like, you going, do you know her?

[Francesca]

That's needed. They should be pulling up on them, man. Like, what do you need?

[Dustin Ross]

What you doing, bro? I know what you doing. Quit with these people.

[Francesca]

Like, that's needed. Community. I know that we like to think of our very insulated communities because we need to feel safe. But like you said, the world at large, white people included, y' all gotta step up, step up and step in. So that's what this year is feeling like. I didn't want to fear monger by sharing, like, the sadness I was feeling, but I had to be honest that that's how I came into this year.

[Dustin Ross]

It's not fear mongering at all.

[Francesca]

But, you know, sometimes like that, I get toxic positivity sometimes and be like, it's gonna be great.

[Asante]

I don't know about all that right now.

[Francesca]

I don't feel that way. And that's just the honest truth. But we're gonna figure it out like we always do, right?

[Dustin Ross]

Right? We are.

[Francesca]

We always have. People have been through crazy and have always gotten to the other side. So this ain't nothing new. No, this ain't nothing new.

[Asante]

It's just our turn straight up, unfortunately.

[Dustin Ross]

Well, that was great, Francesca. Thank you so much for that necessary conversation.

[Francesca]

Yes. Thank you, guys.

[Dustin Ross]

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[Asante]

The Etsy app Hataday presents. In the red corner, the undisputed, undefeated weed whacker guy, Champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere. And in the blue corner, the challenger, Extra strength hattiday eye drops at work all day to prevent the rain release of histamines that cause itchy allergy eyes. And the winner by knockout is Patternay. Bring it on.

[Francesca]

And that's it for the hot button. Let's bring in those wind chimes. So like I said, I wanted to take this opportunity to read out Some of the resources that I did aggregate and put into our description box. But I know people don't be reading all that, that. So let's get it on audio. Evacuee Transportation Services, Project pit. They're literally pulling up if you need it. They're focusing on the elderly, those with small children, large families. But obviously they will help whoever needs it. You can call them at 310-291-4691. One thing people aren't realizing is that the fires are still burning.

[Dustin Ross]

Burning, Right. And they're not completely contained.

[Francesca]

They're not completely contained. The winds are still blowing. They're getting stronger. Actually, I saw an alert saying that they could expect some severe wins. So this ain't over. That's why I still think, you know, sometimes when things happen, you see a lot of conversation for like the first couple days and then it just stops. And so I definitely think, yeah, the world just moves on. I get it. Because it's a lot of stuff that's happening every week. But let's get these resources circulating even throughout the year. Also, the Platinum Group, they're offering free car rentals, recovery, tow and repairs, which I think is incredible. That's amazing, essential, especially with the shit that people's cars have been through. You can call 310-913-2321. That's the platinum group, the Dream center at 2301 Bellevue Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Once again, the Dream Center. They're providing diapers, water, toiletries and hot meals at their location. If you go onto the Mercada M O C A D A Underscore Museum on ig, they've listed a ton of Mutual Aid resources, everything from distribution hubs. They listed like 11 of them. Locations like stores, libraries, local areas that are offering free items like blankets, masks, sweaters, clothing, shoes, socks. They also listed 25 different shelter shelters in case you are displaced without anywhere to go. They put these together via the Marlin, which is the Mutual Aid LA Network directories. But I'm telling you to go to the Mokada Museum IG instead, because the Mutual Aid Directory, obviously they're posting multiple times a day and sometimes it can actually make it harder to find what you're looking for. They also created a Fire and Wind Wind Directory, which I think is incredible, where they show you all the apps you need, all the alert systems you need to set up so you can be aware, especially like we said, the fires are still burning. It's good to be aware of your neighborhood, your areas or what's happening in your neighborhood and area. If you've already been affected, you can find that at tiny T I N Y dot CC CC Malin. That's M A L A n dash directory. Once again, Tiny CC M A L A N dash directory. You can actually find all of the directories that the Mutual Aid LA Network has put together through that one vanity URL. That directory includes includes Resources directory with shelters, donation centers and mental health help. That also includes the Displaced black Families gofundme Directory. Hundreds of families are on there. If you want to help people directly. I know a lot of times we don't trust, you know, like with Red Cross and all the like more traditional orgs that tend to be on the ground. A lot of us don't trust them. We don't know if the money's going to the families or what's happening. We've had. Have a lot of. We've heard a lot of horror stories that make us feel that way. But this, with this you can actually contribute to the direct families in need. They also have a displaced Latin families GoFundMe directory. In that same link, I also wanted to mention Ziya Bell, who's a friend of the show. Her grandparents. We love you Z Her grandparents, which I mentioned last week, lost their home in the Altadena fires. If you want to to help her grandparents, it's the Reed family gofundme R E I D you can look it up by typing in support the Reeds after devastating Eaton E a T O n fire loss. Obviously, every single thing I've mentioned, the links are in the description box. But I also wanted to put it out there. For those of you who don't check.

[Dustin Ross]

The description box, I just want to really quickly give a shout out to Nikki from Octavia's Bookshelf. We've mentioned that story several times here.

[Francesca]

Yeah, I saw on Funky Dyneva's show on YouTube.

[Dustin Ross]

That's exactly what I was gonna bring up. She was a guest on Funky Dyneva's live show and she was speaking directly from experience. You know that her bookstore that we mentioned before and drove support to. But they are in the middle of this area area.

[Francesca]

Pasadena.

[Dustin Ross]

The bookstore is right there in Pasadena on the border of. She explained this so clearly on Funky Dyneva's show. But that's another way that you can, if you. You can look up her socials. Nikki from Octavia's Bookshelf. She's posting information. She's on the ground and she gave some really Good suggestions of how to help on Funky Dyneva's life. So shout out to him for having her on.

[Francesca]

Absolutely. That was so great.

[Dustin Ross]

They are literally right in the middle of the affected area. Area. So just keep Octavia's bookshelf in mind. We supported them before and it was. It was really good to bolster them with that sort of support. So just keep them. Just want to put them on the.

[Francesca]

I love that you brought that up because I did see that. I thought that that was so smart and funky to put together. I also wanted to shout out Isis, who was a listener of the show. They reached out and said their cousins have lived in Altadena for three generations and they lost everything. If you're interested, their GoFundMe is Help the Coleman and Franklin families after Altadena fire. You can type that in yourself if you are a little impatient, but if not, I have the link for that in the description box as well.

[Dustin Ross]

Y' all got the damn description box this week. That's what the boys out.

[Francesca]

Please.

[Dustin Ross]

Got to look at the goddamn description.

[Francesca]

Box this week, if any week. Right. She also mentioned a very, very important black herbalist from the neighborhood named Russell Harrison. He lost everything as well. Apparently. He's like an icon of the neighborhood. He has helped a lot of people through illnesses she mentioned. Even her father helped him through cancer. You know, that lg older herbalist that just gets everybody together, means a lot to the community. He's historic, as she said, in the SoCal area, and has helped many black families. So you can look him up. His gofundme is help Russell Harrison get on his feet after the fires. That will be linked as well. What I will say through all the GoFundMes that people have sent that I've seen is really beautiful to see that most of them. Them are over their goals.

[Asante]

Good. Yes.

[Francesca]

Like most of them. And if not, they're like halfway there, you know, like, it seems like this is really working that Community Economics. What is it? Umoa. I don't want to make up which one it is, but it's just right. Oh, Mo's Unity. Which one is Community Economics? Should we.

[Dustin Ross]

Should we know Q. Moja.

[Francesca]

But I just wanted to read that out. If you have. If you have any links that you want me to read out loud, any resources that you feel have been putting in the work on the ground that you know and can vouch for, send them my way. Like I said, we'll be dedicating chunks of our segments. Segments to this to make sure that we can help in any capacity that we can. So that's it for the Hot button and that's it for the wellness segment this week.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

Asante, Mr. Music man, what you got for us this week? I feel like I haven't said that in so long.

[Asante]

You work so hard this week, friend. I mean, you. You've really been doing. You're starting the year off strong already, just really doing the people. So I just want you to know that you are setting a very strong example for everybody, self included. You know how we should really just go about moving this year? I mean, you let my hair grow.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm just playing.

[Asante]

I just love the fact that, you know, you asked the question, you provided a particular type of solution and you executed as well on the same boundary. Love it. Love to see it. Oh, I have to pee. Which finger?

[Dustin Ross]

Ain't it this? Whose finger is it?

[Asante]

I thought it was.

[Francesca]

Is it the middle one?

[Dustin Ross]

Something wrong with you if you're doing like this?

[Asante]

No. Yeah. I wouldn't go over there. Okay, now I'm just. All right, Music man said, meant as Dustin does that dance. Now I would like to talk about some people that I just feel like it's the first Music man segment of the year and hit that, friend.

[Francesca]

Well, we've been in. We were in Target and we were both like, oh, no. I was like, you can't help. You know how kids can't now. They just always doing tick tock dancing.

[Dustin Ross]

Always. I know. I'm gonna be on mom talk. Oh, I'm gonna be on your mama Talk.

[Francesca]

Different kind of swing.

[Dustin Ross]

I would be on the black one. Yo mama talk.

[Francesca]

Asante. Help us.

[Asante]

I need help myself. Look, that's not the help I wanted. Just recently I wanted to talk about Beyonce first, but we had already talked about that, so I'm just gonna move on. Right on to Glorilla. Glorilla, she just recently performed on Saturday Night Live. Yes, she made some appearances. Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Performances.

[Asante]

Yes. She did a. A small medley for what you know. And let her cook. What you know about me? Excuse me. And let her cook. And then she also performed. Yeah. Glow. She looked fantastic.

[Dustin Ross]

I love the AJ King.

[Asante]

That short hair, like the. The back length hair was cute and then the real long hair was cute. I like the different. I like the different black hair.

[Dustin Ross]

I love.

[Asante]

There's just nothing wrong with a black hair piece. And I know a lot of the girls get caught up in the colors and there ain't nothing wrong with the colors too. You know, it makes them look like little cartoons. It's cute, but there's just something really strong when you can just rock some black ass hair. And Glorilla, all the different black hair, it always looks great. Yes. But she performed. She had choreo. I thought the looks were amazing. And Dave Chappelle was actually hosting that episode. She also made an appearance during one of the skits. They did a skit of balloon pop. I thought Glorilla was really funny, but the reason that I bring her up in that skit is just because it's just amazing to see artists when they are usually known for doing one thing and they're performing and, you know, we see them dance, but then we get to know their personality. And Glorilla, we've always got to know her personality from her, you know, the Curbin On Kin and just falling in love with her. So to see her just like in that skit for the balloon pop was just a cute moment. And then to hear about her, you know, out with the girls, having good times, you know, her and making, you know, when they did their tour, the sisterhood that was there. So I wanted to start this Music man segment talking about Glorilla in particular, because she's a rapper that I want to see more of, and I'm excited to see, and I feel like she deserves it. There are a lot of female rappers out. You know, Megan's my girl, and obviously she deserves more and she's going to continue to get more. But I want to see more of Glorilla this year. I'm loving what I've been seeing. She still looks like she's having fun. She's keeping it fresh, and I'm having fun with her, and I want to see how fresh she keeps it. So, yeah, glow. Do your big one. Continue to do that. Also in music, I wanted to shout out. Speaking of having fun in music and hip hop in particular, this next rapper I'm going to shout out. I know a lot of people ain't really, you know, they have their opinions. Opinions, and I don't care. Nle Chopper has really thought it was something else. No. Nle Choppa has really been entertaining me over the past year, and I love. And himself. And, you know, I. I love again, an artist that just has fun. Nle Chopper has been doing choreography, and Ellie Choppa has been doing choreography. You know, he's been singing. Some of it is reminiscent to me of like, a young thug or maybe a Lil Wayne, if you will. So it's funny that, like, this is like, the newer version of, like, what that would be, you know, if you see as you see those styles, like, progress or, like, plant the seeds for, you know, more artists to come. Over the past couple of months, Nle Chopper has dropped a couple videos, and I was very entertained by both for very different reasons. But I know people have their opinions about Nle Choppa because they didn't like that he was the love interest in the Summer Walker video. They felt like it was forced or whatever. Yeah, I saw a lot of people that did not. Like, they were not. I saw people that, you know, the people that obviously agree, you know, we agree, but the people that weren't feeling it. I was like, well, why? They just said, look, they didn't see the chemistry or it's weird. And I'm like, he's the type of nigga that these bitches be out here fudgeing around with today. And I feel like he's representative of that. And there was that chemistry.

[Dustin Ross]

It's not.

[Asante]

It's obviously, I know that people also hate On Italy because they feel like he has to answer for his sexuality, which he already has. But I feel like he doesn't have.

[Francesca]

To do with anything.

[Asante]

He knows. And that's the thing. He knows that you want to welcome. He knows that people are curious, and that's why he gets to play in that realm and troll. And that trolling reminds me of what lil Nas X was doing. What I liked about Lil Nas X, because I feel like people also bring up the thing of, oh, well, why can Nle Chopper gay bait and do what he doing and troll? But then you got lil Nas X, who actually is gay and trolls, and y' all don't want to. Y' all don't want to celebrate him. I've celebrated Lil Nas X. I went. I took my ass down to the Old Town Road, but Billy Ray and, you know, I. I rode out with him. You know, I was listening to the album. I. With the aesthetic, you know, the new project. I haven't really given country to, for whatever reason. Reason. The initial song, I don't remember what it was. That's why I'm. I hate that I brought his name up. I did. Like, I like the new direction, but I just haven't. Yeah, yeah, I like that concept. All of that sounds cute, but I haven't given the music a shot as of yet. It just hasn't hit because I've been enjoying having fun with Nle Chopper. Like, he just keeps coming out dancing. He was on that song or what with 41, that hip hop group out of Brooklyn, who I love. Like, I just love. He was on that. Okay, random aside, this is my ADD Just took me here. Nle Chopper was on this song with an artist by the name of See China the uk. Yes.

[Francesca]

She's so great.

[Dustin Ross]

Or whatever she said.

[Asante]

Talking in the back.

[Dustin Ross]

In the back of the bus. Whatever she said. So China Theory called me. Forcing me to listen to this gave me a whole feel. Gave me a whole like.

[Asante]

Like he made. He made his case. And I was like, all right.

[Dustin Ross]

I couldn't help but vibe. Exactly. After he told me, you don't like this. Listen.

[Asante]

So the first time I. The first time I heard her, I was like, this makes me feel uncomfortable listening to all British people saying the N word. Should it be revoked? I don't know. It just made me feel uncomfortable. But after Fury gave me no, cuz the way. The way she was aggressively, like, throwing that up in there. And I.

[Dustin Ross]

It.

[Asante]

I was like, what is going on? But then when Fury, like broke it down and was saying, you know how she got a brain there. You know, how she's just, you know, scamming on. And. And then he. So this is the point that I brought. I was bringing this up. So there's a song and he literally was like, there's a remix with Nle Choppa. And he didn't necessarily, you know, need him on the remix. Okay. And. Which is how I feel about Drake and Summer Walking. Y' all know I always bring that up. So it was just like, okay, like, I can understand that. But. But I listened to the original. So I did my research. I listened to the first song, the. The legal baby song. Then I listened to the. Whatever song this is that I'm talking about. And then the remix of this song with N Choppa and then that song. So I listened to them in order. So I heard the original song. So I heard the original song and it was cool. It was cute or whatever. But then. And mind y' all watch the videos with them. But in the remix, you know, in Ellie Chapa, I don't know if he was like, all right, we gonna bring some cars in or whatever. Because, you know, she do all her videos just out in the streets. And. And so, you know, she was in a lot with some cars, looking kind of cute, doing her thing, and his part was actually kind of dope. It. It actually did give it a little bit more life. So I actually prefer in Chop on the remix, but. So we're opposite in that way, but still same sentiment. I get it. Which I Like, but In Chopper is just a rapper. And I brought that, I brought her up to say In Chop is a rapper that is still, you know, he's still moving up, gaining a lot of fame and clout. But he's not trying to only work with a list rapper, whoever. He's still working with artists like C Character China, who was doing her thing. So he was like, yo, I got to get on with her because she's hot. He did a song, the song he did with 41, you know what I'm saying? This is a hot ass track. I got to get on it. So I'm gonna work with them. I don't know how those collaborations came came about, but just to see those happening in order, I think it's dope to see him just as an artist that's growing and still giving country to those other artists.

[Dustin Ross]

I'mma roll with you on this one. Asante. I saw him do a couple interviews where he really impressed me because he has an understanding of celebrity that is beyond his. His years. He's mature in his view of celebrity and stardom. He. He understands what it means to be a sex symbol. And he referenced a lot of, like, pop stars and, and R B singers from the 70s when he was making his point on why his presentation is a little bit more sexually forward. And, you know, he just understands the space that he occupies and what you can do with that. And I was attracted to that sort of understanding of artistry. That's the depth that I think the game is missing a lot because people don't do research and they don't look back into music history to understand what themes have always been here and what is, you know, what formulas have always existed, per se. So I was just impressed that the young nigga had, you know, he. A Y N. Yeah. So I was impressed that, you know what I'm saying, he was taking that artistic and creative approach. He was so steeped in the, in the artistry of it all. I was impressed by that. So, yeah, I. With NLE Chopper, he seems fearless too.

[Francesca]

Which I really like.

[Dustin Ross]

Now you need to be that. It's exciting to watch cut through you.

[Francesca]

Definitely.

[Asante]

Yes, yes. Kind of like Cardi B when she was on the scene and people thought that, oh, she just made the type of music she made and so she would get on live and they were like, oh, this loves history. Like, she actually knows, like, there's a brain there. Like in Ellie. Chopper especially spent the past few years promoting Slut Season, but he still was taking time out last Year to tell.

[Francesca]

People how to course Dr. Sabi.

[Asante]

Yeah, yeah. He was talking about his fruits and all that, but he was also taking.

[Dustin Ross]

Time because he'd be on bad barefoot.

[Asante]

But he also was telling people about how the laws work. He wasn't just saying, go vote. He was breaking down the houses and stuff. In one of his videos, I was like, look at NLE Chopper. Not only just like, he cares. And I feel like that is just so crucial outside of him having the fun. Like, he's making sure he's feeding the people. Much to your point over this show. On the show, friend, I feel like he's doing the work and he's, you know, enjoying being a rapper, but he's also still like, inviting certain conversations to be had, and he's able to handle those conversations and really just open more doors and shut shit down.

[Dustin Ross]

Win back, nigga, win. I love it.

[Asante]

So, yes, this is my amen corner for the rappers female rap. I want to see Glorilla more this year. Year. And I would like to see more of Nle Chopper this year. I just want to see more of where he goes. I want to see how he handles bigger stages. Like I said, he's dancing now. I think he's been dancing. But this latest video that he dropped, he dropped a single called I started laughing because it was so funny. He's dropped a single called don't walk away, which he also actually features a newer artist by the name of Carrie Washington. I'm just not familiar with her, so I just assume her to be newer. But this in the video, he's dancing. Dancing. No, I know. I see I said it, but it's spelled different, so I didn't think it. But as I heard it, I was like, oh, and here we are. Here we are. Oh, what a scandal we have. So, yes, I want to see more from those.

[Dustin Ross]

I can say it ain't nobody else.

[Asante]

I would like to see more from those two this year, and that's all I want to do for artists to mention.

[Dustin Ross]

That's a good segment.

[Asante]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Francesca]

You.

[Asante]

I just wanted to. I'm gonna do a little bit more this year. I'm gonna start to. Oh, actually, I'm gonna. At the end of this segment, I'm gonna just drop a random gym of some sort, and then we're gonna just give, like, a proper roll into the the TV land segment. So I would like to move on into the listens lately songs to play portion. And then we're gonna start with friend, because I want to know what you've been listening to. And it doesn't even have to be lately. It could be something you've been listening to over the break. It could have been just something you was vibing to real hard at the end the of of the year. Because, you know those end of year wrap up playlists, they had me in a chokehold for a while. I was like, okay, well, damn, what's the new music that's out? Because I'm still listening to some of the same songs from last year.

[Francesca]

Well, I know y' all see everyone talking about Bad Bunny.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, right.

[Francesca]

Shout out to that Bunny. He put out an album called.

[Asante]

Which.

[Francesca]

Means I should have taken more photos. Everyone's talking about that Nueva Yol record that's kind of like blowing up on TikTok and on Twitter and just. I love it. I do love how people have been playing it for, like their parents and grandparents. Have y' all seen that? I don't know if that popped up on your feed without telling them, like, who it is. And you see them like dancing and like getting all emotional because it's.

[Dustin Ross]

It's so much more traditional music.

[Francesca]

Yeah. But also the one that got me was a. A young girl posted on TikTok that her grandfather has dementia. And you know how that goes. You come in and out of lucid. He used to be a musician, he was a drummer, so they played it for him. And you see him start tapping his fork on the plate like he's doing percussion. Like if he was drumming and I was done.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, that should have make me cry up in here.

[Francesca]

I said, I'm done, I'm done. That got me. So clearly there's a lot of traditional sounds in this album that I think, especially with people feeling so disconnected and disassociated with the world.

[Dustin Ross]

Especially Puerto Rico.

[Francesca]

Right, Especially, you know what I'm saying? Puerto Rico. But even beyond that, just ancestral, everybody. There was something diasporic about it. I saw people from West Africa being like, oh, this sound comes from this part. You know what I mean? And. And that convo on TikTok, I loved it. I almost love that convo. It's kicked up more than the album itself because you just see people from different countries being like, oh, that sound comes from here and that sound. And that's how we're connected. And. And I think that felt good. In a world that's trying to disconnect us and isolate us in so many ways.

[Dustin Ross]

Music is so powerful.

[Francesca]

It is so powerful. That made me super supleme. That's not a word. Supremely emotional.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't give a fuck. I'm rolling too. Supremely Supremely I'm on Taco Supreme. I'm a hype beast Clean draws right now.

[Francesca]

But the song that got me is a song called Bailey, you know, vidabl, right? Which means an unforgettable dance. And it's just a really mushy song about him, I guess. Like, you know, he probably lost a girl that he really loved because of this career and fame. Y' all know how it goes. Story old as tale as old as time But I think he. But I think he did a good job because I was in the car. Like, I feel you probably gonna get a back.

[Dustin Ross]

It was connecting friends.

[Francesca]

And this is how it goes.

[Asante]

Sam.

[Dustin Ross]

This where they chasing each other, that she's trying to leave out the club.

[Asante]

And she's looking back.

[Dustin Ross]

He's. He's trying to get to her. Like.

[Francesca]

He'S telling her, I can't forget you I can't erase you the truth is you taught me how to love and I can't even sleep at night Like I'm trying to move on but it just don't Life don't hit the same oh, you gonna get her back.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm in the anger stage now, so that. No, I'm just playing. But shout out to Bad Bunny in this album, because I can tell that so good, right? People respect this album, are cleaning up a house to this album. This. This is music that, like, people are.

[Francesca]

New York is going crazy, but they're.

[Dustin Ross]

With the album in a different way. Kind of like how When Solange is a Seat at the Table came out. You know what I'm saying? That music meant something to us. And it was like a. Like it's a. It's a new classic almost. That's how I can tell. Like, I know all my friends, you know what I'm saying? That listen to his music are with this album on a level. Like, it's Maze and Frankie Beverly type music.

[Francesca]

Honestly, I've never sat with a Bad Bunn album. Like, I can't sit and tell you that I've played an album in my car, but now this one's getting played like it's been on repeat all week.

[Asante]

I played through his albums. I don't be knowing what's going on, man. I vibe with them. But this particular project, I could tell. It's like, I might. This might be some repeat. Like, for real.

[Dustin Ross]

I downloaded the album.

[Francesca]

Definitely same my second one did we play Miguel's new single no, I'm not sure we.

[Asante]

We did.

[Francesca]

Why is not. Why isn't anyone talking about this single? I think it's really pretty sad.

[Dustin Ross]

It's a grower and it's.

[Asante]

I haven't even heard it.

[Francesca]

I think it's sad. And clearly, at least, you know, we don't know who he's talking about, but I'm assuming he's talking about his recent. Yeah, his recent divorce and not me with all these mushy men talking about women and laws, now that I think about it. But he has. He dropped a record that I don't think people are speaking up about enough. It's called Always Time, and it's so beautiful. And this is how it goes.

[Dustin Ross]

Gorgeous as it builds. Like, that's what I meant when I said it's a grower. Broken glass did you watch a little video? It changed so fast Came a month.

[Francesca]

Ago Heart rocky past lessons learned don't say it's too late I thought there was always time when you love this heart.

[Dustin Ross]

So pretty and you try this.

[Asante]

Hard.

[Francesca]

But it's still not enough love maybe this time love means letting go Let it go Letting go.

[Asante]

Well, he did a vivo too.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes. And it's incredible.

[Asante]

I know the vivo's good. He look. He looked good in it.

[Francesca]

Letting go.

[Dustin Ross]

I mean, beautiful. And put Quinn on the remix.

[Francesca]

Oh, I can hear that, actually. But honestly, why is that?

[Dustin Ross]

Because I can tell you why. Because it's a song that requires patience from the listener. Because it has to. It has to build to a certain point, void vocally to really hook you in. And a lot of people just don't have an appetite beyond the first 10, 15 seconds of a song. So this one is for the real music lovers. I'm so glad that he don't give a damn about appealing to any other audience with this song. It's intended audience is going to love it, which is why we gravitated to it. It's beautiful. And it's one of those songs that once you hear it, you can't stop listening. You want to keep listening to it.

[Francesca]

That's literally what I do. Did. When I first heard it, I stumbled upon it on YouTube. It just aggregated and I was like, is this a new Miguel song? Clicked it, watched it. I know Asante mentioned he had a vivo performance. Like, I just fell into a rabbit hole of the song because I wasn't understanding why it wasn't circulating. Especially with Miguel. Like, we love Miguel. So Miguel, this song is gorgeous and he's raw on it.

[Dustin Ross]

Please come on the Friend Zone and talk about it. Miguel.

[Francesca]

I would love that. Then the last one. So, because I've been listening to the Cameron and.

[Dustin Ross]

Come on with it.

[Francesca]

It's aggregated all kind of hood docs now. And one of the hood docs that it aggregated was about G Unit, right? The rise of G Unit. And I want watched it. I was watching docs about Big L and just a lot of different things. And one of the recipes big out my neighbor, literally. And this song played during the G unit doc and I said, oh my God, I haven't heard that in years. I'm playing that on the Friend Zone. It's wanna get to know you G Unit featuring Joe.

[Dustin Ross]

Come on, friend. New York shit.

[Asante]

Wow.

[Dustin Ross]

This is you play when you know you look good that day.

[Asante]

I'm loving.

[Dustin Ross]

How you look in my eyes Swinging them hips when you pass I'm visualizing my name tattooed on that ass Baby jump on his Harley let's go smoke some of that Bob Marley, sip some Bacardi then go pull up at the after party. I think we make a perfect couple but you think I'm trouble maybe that's the reason you gave me the wrong number she got me feeling like maybe she the wrong woman Think I'mma be chasing the chicken Head your own something your toes painted head fixed all the time and your Gucci boot the same color as mine if you read between the line you can see that I want you I How you doing? What you said that you won't do Make a decision sure that good things don't last long your girlfriend keeps showing me that don't. Before I head home I'mma stop at your house and blow the home if you come outside you know it's on holl at you I want to be a.

[Asante]

Frustrated with the baller Wonder why.

[Francesca]

I'm taking it Just really made me happy when I heard it. Oh, Junit was such a wave. But that's it. Those are my three. That's my range.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

This week.

[Asante]

I'm living for it, friend. I'm fucking with it. All right. Dustin, right? Ross, what do you have for the people? What you been?

[Dustin Ross]

I need four picks. I really need five. But I'm not even gonna push it like that. I need four picks because we've been off and it's a lot of.

[Asante]

I mean, do what you do.

[Dustin Ross]

First of all, we gonna start this off right. Ain't no other song I could play first right now. I don't give a what you think about it. When I play It. You probably already gonna know it. Let's go.

[Francesca]

Is this the mellow song? The.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, whoa, whoa.

[Francesca]

No, you. I can't believe this song really going like this.

[Asante]

Go. And I heard that she wanna show whoa me who she be I'm kind of witty. Show me some mo.

[Dustin Ross]

So you know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

Whatever.

[Dustin Ross]

For some reason. It's not that me. Okay, y', all.

[Francesca]

Why is this song really taking over?

[Dustin Ross]

Like, because it's the mother show, that's why. Because it is the. I love that song. That is. That is tweaker by G3. Who is the Angelo Barn. I'm tell you something.

[Francesca]

G3. Is that his artist name?

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah. And I'm gonna tell you something. Like, people can say what they want, but they daddy raised. They daddy did exactly what he said he was gonna do.

[Francesca]

He really did. You can't even be mad at him.

[Dustin Ross]

You got. You can't. You can't hate on that. And I'll take a deeper dive into that later this year because we're gonna talk about like that. Now. This is another song that I have not been able to stop playing. People say what they want about this artist, you know what I'm saying? And we all were kind of thrust. I don't know. They. They kind of put him on us because of what he was doing. But I with him I with his movement, I with his music. This is DDG and Plaque Boy Max is pink dreads.

[Asante]

When I'm out of.

[Dustin Ross]

Town I be tripping I'll be own.

[Francesca]

One I have not heard why he.

[Dustin Ross]

Taking pictures in that lamb he own one Shades on my face not your.

[Asante]

He's a chrome he said he a.

[Dustin Ross]

Rapper I ain't never heard his song with my son I shoot a domer Everybody started acting weird when I glow if I get a deal closer to the mic he said he got a plaque but he ain't his one yeah I the baby that's my friend, though Pull her in a Beaming on no band.

[Asante]

Now they got me take a trip out of ca. Hold on, you got me hold on, yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

So much music that has come out. God, I need to. I'm gonna play some, but then I need to, like, give a shout out to. Well, I guess there's next week too, so.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

I only play two more songs, right? Okay. This. This song right here. I don't know. I just been in a spice bag. I with spice. I like her music, so whatever. This song is called Good Taste by Spice off her Emancipator, the album Qod.

[Asante]

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty face long lace.

[Francesca]

Oh. I'm adding when Spice Girls come up on my thing. That is not what I'm looking for.

[Dustin Ross]

Okay, so for my last song. Damn. From our last song. God, it's just. It's between two different songs, and I play both.

[Asante]

Just play both. Go ahead. Okay, so the next song I'm gonna.

[Dustin Ross]

Play is from little baby, Lil Baby. Now, a lot of people have been hating on Lil Baby's new album, Wham. Who hired his Wham?

[Francesca]

I have seen a lot of people.

[Dustin Ross]

I love it.

[Francesca]

I haven't heard it.

[Dustin Ross]

Y' all know I'm a Lil Baby fan, but I love storytelling and rap music. Music. And in the song. The song about to play is called I Promise, and he actually recently performed it on Jimmy Fallon. The. The song is about. He's talking to somebody that he has feelings for or whatever. And he'd be like, who? Who obviously has baggage from a past relationship. And he's trying to reassure this person, the woman, I'm assuming, you know, he date women. So he's trying to reassure the woman. He was like, you know, you ain't got to pour your heart out. All you need is someone solid. I promise you'll get over that. He be talking about how he scarred up, and he know that it hurt a little bit. And he be like, we was our. Our was private. Now when you out here moving open how the hell we let it come to this? It's a beautiful song, Emotionally driven, and Lil Baby is good for that. So this song is called I Promise. Here we go. I Promise by Lil Baby. Everything I rap beautiful be real life I don't care for a punchline kind.

[Asante]

Of smile But I be standing up.

[Dustin Ross]

Like a giant when it's Christ time yeah yeah Cuz why would I be standing up like a child? Hit up Elliot and get us some links we rock to infinity I don't care they had these women in my business but I like your energy couple probably feel like me cuz they can't with you ain't getting money you nothing and that stuck with had a legend dairy run we made her money off we I stop serving and start rapping no other can breathe now I'm shi my hand on my fire whenever I leave out used to think them were for me can't get a peep out me lately I've been focusing in overtime till I crash out scrap drop used to sell glass now live in a.

[Asante]

Glass how this run for me if.

[Dustin Ross]

You ain't a part of me Then you asked out. You don't got to pull your heart out. All you need is someone solid. I promise you'll get over that. I go straight up. I don't want. I'm used to being scarred up. Can't lie. That hurt a little bit. You ain't never get your little baby. Give him a chance.

[Asante]

Step there.

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

I'm adding that to my list.

[Dustin Ross]

All right. And so the last song.

[Francesca]

What was that called?

[Dustin Ross]

I promise.

[Francesca]

I promise.

[Dustin Ross]

The last song I'mma play is off of Scissors SOS Deluxe liner album.

[Asante]

Yeah. Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't care what nobody say. This The. This my favorite song on the album. Sample voice to Atlantis by the Isley Brothers. The she's saying in the song, talking about how cursing absolves all her problems and. And vacationing in rock bottom. Back again. This. This is a beautiful song. Also shout out to Scotty Bean who affirmed me. Okay. When I said that this song was a. This song is called kitchen by saying scissor.

[Francesca]

Have you listened to the album Asante? I haven't listened. Yeah, you like it?

[Asante]

Yeah, I do. 30 for 30.

[Dustin Ross]

Diamond boy.

[Asante]

All that to like old school scissor, which I with you gonna like this part remind you of like Mareeba.

[Francesca]

This is. I can hear that. This is nice.

[Asante]

Hell yeah.

[Francesca]

Like Alton crossing your problem. Vacationing in the bottom. Back again, back again. So hard to do the right thing. Let me listen to this album today.

[Asante]

It sound like it's dawn in the background.

[Dustin Ross]

That's like my favorite. Pretty.

[Asante]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

And then my last song. No, I'm just playing.

[Asante]

That's it.

[Dustin Ross]

I ain't got no more. Thank you.

[Francesca]

He sold me on like two artists just from.

[Dustin Ross]

Thank you.

[Asante]

I am just going to talk about one artist very quickly. Amber. Shout out to Amber. One of the events that she made me go to last week was a friend of our. A friend of ours, Six. He had a party. Shout out to Six. Six has a sister. Shout out to Six's sister. His sister's name is Zawadi Moon. And so the party was to a celebrate her birthday. So happy birthday, Zawadi. But also to celebrate the release of her beat tape. So Zawadi, she dropped a collection of beats. They're just really cool beats. I'm gonna play some. I just want to highlight her, get her some exposure. She's a little bit newer to the game, if you will. But I feel like she's a very dope fresh to talent and I feel like. And you know, I'm on my A right now. I mean, she obviously, she had people in the room already. So, like, I'm not sitting up here acting like I discovered somebody. She already probably got some things going. So if we okay Zawadi Moon, she. Because she makes beats, so she's not singing well, I think some of them. There is some voice manipulation, so she might be doing it, but she does it all. She's got beautiful energy. And the name of the beat tape is called the Metaphysical Wonders of Zawadi Volume 1. You. You can find this on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube. I'm gonna play a few of the songs just so you can hear some of the beats. And I might tell you about a couple people that I can hear when I'm listening to these beats. Because I'm listening and I'm like, damn, I could hear somebody like, you know, picking this out the catalog. So I feel like it's dope to highlight artists like that. So you can, you know, say that, you know, who the next, you know, Zaytoven or whoever is. So. Right. Yes, you know, so you could say, you know, damn, Ben Mark shot this one too. Like, you know, like, I know who did that. You know, like that. The first song of hers that I'm gonna play.

[Dustin Ross]

Production.

[Asante]

Like Jerry production.

[Dustin Ross]

Go ahead.

[Asante]

The first song I'm gonna play, this song is called High Priestess. Again, these are all beats. I was playing this while, like, just walking through the house and I finally hooked up my Sono speaker. So it was actually a really dope vibe going on. But High Priestess, this is like the third song on the project. Project, again, this is only a 30 minute project. It's. It takes. It doesn't take a whole lot of your time just to listen, find a sound that you might like. But I think again, this is somebody that you just, just should be listening out for. High Priestess. Here we go.

[Dustin Ross]

Jay Z.

[Francesca]

It's nice. It's nice.

[Asante]

Yeah. So that's High Priestess.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, the vocals were incredible.

[Asante]

I think it's dope. It's harder. I know it's harder in the industry, the music industry as a whole for women. So we talk a lot about, you know, female rappers. And I want to make sure that I'm, you know, helping songwriters, producers, you know, anybody. DJs, like architects of music. The architects. Absolutely. Shout out to DJ Milan, Milan, darling, like, it's super dope watching her do all the dope that she does. Nominated and yeah, working with doi, who actually somebody I could hear on that beat or, or like a beat like that on her catalog. But I'M gonna play just a couple more of her songs, and then I'm gonna to just move it on along. This next song that I'm going to play off the project is called Meditation, and this is how it goes.

[Francesca]

This feels like those channels you put on. On YouTube and you want to chill, right?

[Dustin Ross]

They should have sent this to Mary. Mary would have got down on.

[Francesca]

You had to sing. That was a nice note.

[Asante]

So that one's called Meditation.

[Dustin Ross]

Teacher Moses would have walked on there, too.

[Asante]

Oh, Teacher Moses. Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Yep. Yes.

[Asante]

Last song I want to play from Zawadi is called Palo Santo.

[Francesca]

Okay. I haven't even got in yet.

[Asante]

Here we go.

[Dustin Ross]

I am enjoying myself this week.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

Hard as. That's fire. Fire, Fire, Fire. I got three names, so that beat is fire to me. You need. I have a wild card pick and two names, two standards. You need a vocal that's gonna crash against that beat, you know what I'm saying? You need somebody that's gonna be able to sing with, like, a firm carver, you know what I'm saying? They're gonna have to, like, sing. Keisha, Keisha, Keisha, Keisha. It went crazy on that. And Tamar Braxton could actually went crazy on that.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

Wild card.

[Francesca]

Wild card for me.

[Dustin Ross]

Wild card. Cassie.

[Francesca]

Oh, I could hear Cassie.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

Soft, kind of.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah, yeah. Aries, like, you know what I'm saying? But feel raw, like storytelling. Yeah, I would like to hear that. I believe I could be hired at this point, in my opinion.

[Asante]

Yes. Well, in the spirit of unity and community, I wanted to make sure I highlighted somebody newer to this industry. You know, I wanted to highlight a talent, somebody that's out here just really creating. And I think it's just super dope to watch where people go and see how things elevate, because it'd be super dope if, like, a year later. Later, she's just out here really up or, like, you know, doing something for Normani or something. We finally get some visuals after that. Like, it'd be something really.

[Francesca]

Album cover, too.

[Dustin Ross]

I want her music to come out, so we don't want her to do nothing for no money.

[Asante]

Well, she gave us the music, but then she didn't give us the visuals. But she.

[Dustin Ross]

To be fair, she had a lot going on.

[Asante]

No, no. Yeah, she did. I. You know, I ain't holding.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, yo, that's her. That's her.

[Asante]

That's it.

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Asante]

I love the COVID Zawati Moon. Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

So I love when people do like this in the pictures.

[Asante]

If you want to check her Out Zawati spells Z a w a t I and then moon M O o n as friend so eloquently looked up confident. That's it for that portion of the Music man segment presents. In the red corner, the undisputed, undefeated weed whacker guy, champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere. And in the blue corner, the challenger, extra strength hataday eye drops that work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy allergy eyes. And the winner by knockout is Hanaday Hatiday. Bring it on.

[Francesca]

This summer, Instacart is bringing back your favorites from 1999 with prices from 1990.

[Asante]

That means 90s prices on juice pouches that ought to be respected. 90s prices on box Mac and cheese.

[Francesca]

And 90s prices on ham, cheese and cracker lunches. Enjoy all those throwbacks and more at throwback prices only through Instacart. $4.72. Maximum discount per $10 of eligible items.

[Asante]

Limit one offer per order expires 95 while supplies last discount based on CPI comparison. Just one last thing I want to mention to you. Uh, this year in 2015, Jasmine Sullivan graced us with the project known as Reality Show. And I just wanted to. I just think it's crazy that that was 10 years ago.

[Dustin Ross]

What an album.

[Asante]

Reality show was a magnificent project. I remember just how everybody went crazy. Hey. Cause I feel like, was this the point where Jasmine had been gone for a minute and then she came back? Or was this right after. After she had come back from that, and it was like, okay, so she's gonna stay around this time Nonetheless, either which way we were excited. Jasmine Sullivan's someone that we've loved like, like, for years. Even before, like, commercial success.

[Francesca]

Album Chuck.

[Dustin Ross]

What?

[Asante]

Oh, Chuck Harmony. Hashtag Hood Love. Here we go.

[Dustin Ross]

Stop playing with him.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

Don't play with him. That name what it do bring a line that never ring bells? You better ask somebody.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Asante]

And she was hollering. She was singing her soul out on Hood Love. Also, this was the Mascara era, which I thought was super dope. And Let It Burn, which was one of my favorite songs.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, my God.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin Ross]

It was another song on that album.

[Asante]

Oh, Masterpiece. Mona Lisa was such a moment.

[Francesca]

And didn't Chuck do that one, too?

[Dustin Ross]

I have.

[Asante]

I see.

[Dustin Ross]

Maybe it wasn't J. France Forever Don't Last. That's what I was thinking about. Almost dropped my phone. Forever Don't Last song. Yeah. Yes.

[Asante]

Yes. That's the. That's the. That's. That's the Chuck song.

[Dustin Ross]

Forever don't last.

[Asante]

Yeah, it says harmony on that one.

[Francesca]

See, I knew he was all over this project.

[Asante]

Wow.

[Francesca]

Shout out to Chuck.

[Dustin Ross]

Shout out to Chuck.

[Asante]

Shout out to Jasmine Sullivan. Shout out to everybody involved. That was just a great moment 10 years ago. I just want to salute that because I feel like we talked about that on this show. Absolutely. I don't know if it was the release of the summer after or whatever, but it just crashed. Crazy. That was 10 years ago. Now it's 2025. And that's it for your first Music man segment of the year. Now we can move on to TV land. Dustin Ross, please tell the people what you have for the people to watch.

[Dustin Ross]

I've really been, you know, branching out, you know, watching more tv.

[Asante]

Oh, God.

[Francesca]

Hey, me too.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm snacking.

[Asante]

You know what I'm saying?

[Dustin Ross]

I'm enjoying my chips. I'm enjoying it.

[Asante]

So.

[Dustin Ross]

So I watched on the Max app. I watched Get Millie Black. Okay. Get Millie Black is one season of it. It's a drama series on the Max app. It is a thrilling case of a missing person that takes place in Jamaica. And there is. There are several dynamics to this story that make it interesting. There is trans representation in this project. Project. It is a. It is an incredible, incredible project with some twists and turns that really take you there. So there's eight seasons, I believe, in the first season. And it's available eight episodes. Excuse me, in the first season.

[Asante]

And so Italian and ca.

[Dustin Ross]

You know what I meant? Yeah. So, you know, watch that because it's really, really good. And then let's talk about may be. It may be worthy of the bins. You know, Know, we might visit it over there. Who knows? But that's really good as well. Also, what else have I been watching? 90 Day Fiance. Oh, I saw all the clips about the young lady. Mm. And her husband. I don't even want to say his name. But how he turned into just a very difficult person once they were married. There's a couple relationships. Not me.

[Francesca]

I watched the first couple episodes, so I'm definitely not. I'm far from caught up. But he didn't give me that. He would be weird.

[Dustin Ross]

He think he can dress. And that's your first red flag. Now you can take that gift jacket. You can take that gift from me if you are open to it. But that is a. If any that think they can dress. Red flag. And as you can see, soon as it was time, you see what happened. So he. He became a hater to me. He hates on.

[Francesca]

I feel he saw her apartment.

[Dustin Ross]

What was the name of Nicki Minaj's tour friend? What's the name of her tour? Gag City. Because that's what happened when he saw her apartment. So there's a lot of layers there that we can break down. I also think Juan. Bike riding Juan. That's in the relationship there. There's commentary that there's things we need to talk about there. So I've been watching that. I've also been going back and watching Old 90 Day Fiance. Because now I'm like, oh, this is.

[Francesca]

Oh, but that's not 90 days or.

[Dustin Ross]

Not 90 day fiance. First sight. I've been going back. So Mary at first sight. Excuse me. Thank you. It's just, you know, peace pipe, crack pipe, tomato, tomato. All these damn shows. But okay, so, you know. But I also have been watching 90 Day Fiance. Right.

[Francesca]

So good.

[Dustin Ross]

Angela and Michael is his name, right?

[Francesca]

Wait, are you watching. You said you're going back to the old.

[Dustin Ross]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

Are they still around?

[Dustin Ross]

But I don't believe anything's changed. I believe things are just the way they were. To me, that's a relationship. That's a constant. Then I've been obsessed with what's the guy. Ed and Liz. I have never seen a person like him before in my life. And I'm trying not to make fun of the obvious because he. He. You know what I'm saying? It is what it is. But he's an. On top of looking like. And so, so, so I for. It's hard not to be like. Like, you look like one of them things that the Russians. You know, them little Russian dial things that they like. You open it up and it's a thing inside. That's what he look like. That's what that look like. He looks like a salt pepper shaker. Why does he look like a salt and pepper shaker for real? He really does. But I've been fat, so I've been fascinated with that. He's mean as. I don't give a damn about talking about him. Did you see when he caught her a dyke? He was like. He was like.

[Asante]

You didn't see that when he was.

[Francesca]

That episode.

[Dustin Ross]

She had a friend that was like a lesbian or whatever. And he was like. You see how they're talking?

[Asante]

Sh.

[Dustin Ross]

Talking. He's like standing, talking. It's like two people. I'm gonna ask her. He walked.

[Asante]

I'm gonna ask.

[Dustin Ross]

All right, let's me in. She went the off on him. You know what I'm saying? She was already drunk. They was turned up at the engagement party, I think it was. It's. I'm just fascinated by their relationship. And so he used to have a ponytail. It's just so much like. I'm just fascinated. So I've been watching that also. The Real Housewives of Potomac, y'.

[Francesca]

All.

[Dustin Ross]

Have you been watching this season?

[Francesca]

I have been, but I'm behind.

[Dustin Ross]

There's a lot going on. And it came out this week that Mia knew that Gordon had. Gordon and Ray, Karen's husband, sat down and had a filmed dinner or whatever, or lunch, I think it was. Was. But during that lunch, Gordon shared that he had gotten a paternity test on their son and Jeremiah and that that is his biological son. You know, Mia's been talking all this acting like she don't know. Remember, I can have the fathers of my children in the picture making these play on words, talking about. Well, I didn't mean I was talking about my first son's father. And, you know, she's playing all these reindeer ho, ho, ho games and. But, you know, um, so Karen bust her bubble with that this week at the end of the episode. And I saw some interesting reactions from the ladies on the cast that, you know, it just was interesting. I'm talking about you, Stacy. No, I done liked you. You know, all this time. I only said you look like the Pointer Sisters one time. I never said it no more after that first time. I didn't even say nothing else about you looking like that. But you don't want to pick a side when it comes to this candidate and you riding with the wrong team. Mia's gonna hurt your. Your feelings.

[Francesca]

Which one's that one? The QVC host?

[Dustin Ross]

Yes.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

The one who my friend said looks like the wig heads at this. At the. You know how she'd be having that curly, long Rick James kind of hair or whatever. And in her confessor, she had an off the shoulder. I think he's called a Bando top. I think that what they call that. She had an off the shoulder pink top like that in her. And the way the hair was cascading her neck. It didn't look like them wigs. Pig heads, y'.

[Francesca]

All, so.

[Dustin Ross]

So anyway, I've been trying with her, though. Now over to Married to Medicine Toya. It was ridiculous for you to have a party because you bought a Birkin bag. Oh, my God. She had a baby shower. She had a baby shower to introduce the cast to her Birkin bag because she said, damn it, she worked. That shouldn't be Contessa, who we know know Is dress is worse than Giselle.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

Contessa. The first thing out of Contessa's mouth was, oh, that's your first one. That's what Contessa said. These are medical professionals who also been getting to the bag on tv. You know, they making over a million dollars a season doing Married to Medicine. They've been doing this shit 11 years. You know what I'm saying? So that little $32,000 in their speed though.

[Francesca]

Because Toya seems to pride herself on being like quote unquote upper echelon on so.

[Dustin Ross]

But her materialistic nature supersedes her ego and pride. Now that's deep when you think about that. Like she's so materialistic that it gets the best of her ego and pride. She didn't give a how it makes her look. She just wants you to know that she has it.

[Francesca]

She got this thing.

[Dustin Ross]

And I get it because, you know, we get things. It could be a little thing. I love new white Nike socks. You can't tell me I'm not king of the north when I have a new pair of white Nike dry kits on my feet. So we all get excited about stuff. I get that especially that's expensive that you might. It may have not been able to have access to at one time, whatever. So I'm not tripping on that angle. A lot of people was giving her fever and I let's keep it real. Like you'd be excited when you get some shit you wanted, but to take it to this extreme as a mother and a wife, you know what I'm saying? To take it to this extreme to me is just a little bit excessive. So. Toya, you tripped.

[Francesca]

Watch that episode.

[Dustin Ross]

Why are you worried about Quiet getting Rolls Royce? They are jealous. Choir got a new man and he's good looking and he love her and he bought her Rolls Royce and they. They can't take it there. How you get a Rolls Royce with no baby and no ring? Quiet.

[Francesca]

Easy.

[Dustin Ross]

Quiet said because that's how he feels about me. He. That's. He feels that way about me. Right? So it's getting good. Y' all watch. Make sure you watch a Married to Medicine also. What else have I been watching? Abbott elementary had a crossover episode with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

[Francesca]

Oh, how cute.

[Dustin Ross]

It was very good. Janelle James. This is a standout season for her as principal. Ava. She is. She is. She has been make. I'm talking about gut busting laughter. That Halloween episode when she played Blade, she was Wesley Snipes from Blade for Halloween.

[Asante]

To watch.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm telling you, like Janelle James been throwing the down this season. Like she is really playing the out of Ava Coleman this season. I'm just enjoying it. It's Abbot Abbott elementary has really been good also. Of course I've been watching Zeus. I've been watching now that's tv. Me and Asante, if you down to it today, we'll be back on our Patreon. Follow us on Patreon.

[Francesca]

They literally were like on cloud. Yeah, that y' all dropped that bonus.

[Dustin Ross]

So we gonna do that. We dropped the holiday surprise video for our Patreon audience talking about specifically Zeus projects and Zeus shows and as well as now that's tv. There's been so much going on in the Zeus and now that's TV universe that we're gonna have to do it again, y'.

[Asante]

All.

[Dustin Ross]

So we're gonna come back over. We make this a quarterly thing. I don't know. We have to talk about it. But all the more incentive for you to join us on patreon.com the Friendzone podcast. Science up. Tell a friend. Gift it. I know it's after the holidays, but people still got birthdays in Jane area. And if you need to gift them something, send them our way with a subscription. We would love that.

[Asante]

And that's it.

[Dustin Ross]

That's all I want to talk about this week. It's more I could say, but I. We'll talk about Nene and Sierra's podcast and their press room.

[Francesca]

Sierra.

[Dustin Ross]

Sierra Gates.

[Asante]

Sierra Glam Shop.

[Dustin Ross]

Sierra Glam Shop. We'll talk about their podcast, which is called Me and My Home Girl. I think that was Nene Beanie's idea, that title choice. But we'll get there next week. We'll talk about that. But that's it. Oh, one last thing. The Real Housewives of New York reunion. They. They posted the looks that the young ladies had. The. The reunion part one airs this week, so I know the finale airs this week. The reunion airs next week. Now that's at the time of publishing. Today is Tuesday, June 20th. January. I'm thinking ahead, y'. All. It is Tuesday, January 20th, 21st. The looks, the reunion looks are so good. This is, this is probably the best dressed reunion I've ever seen in Bravo history. As a wow. As a record label staff and a.

[Francesca]

Crew like Tupac, they're the best dressed franchise in my opinion.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, when you see these reunion looks, now I'm gonna tell you who let me down. There were two people who I was.

[Francesca]

Underwhelmed by I already feel like I.

[Dustin Ross]

Know who you're gonna say without even bringing and Sai. Oh. Asante's sharing his screen. So if you watch.

[Francesca]

Bryn looks so different.

[Dustin Ross]

She does, right? The dress was pretty, but it just. It didn't hit. Jenna Lyons had on a four thousand dollar Balenciaga bathrobe and bath towel and she had on diamond jewelry. And that was her reunion look. Love it, love it.

[Francesca]

Didn't she wear jeans last time? And people were livid.

[Dustin Ross]

I love her, but wait until you see the looks. I wish you could see. You probably have to go to Bravo. Jessel. Uber look. Look at them.

[Francesca]

Look at Uber looks. So pretty.

[Dustin Ross]

Size has got a big dress on and she really could have done better, but this is an incredible. Aaron got on Bottega Runway. It's not the same dress. Mary, how's we had on? I want you to see. You have to see the photo. So when you get a chance, if you listen to this. Going to Bravo Instagram, any of Bravo socials, they have posted all the ladies reunion looks. I was thoroughly impressed. Impressed. So shout out to Ronnie. But they look so good, y', all, that I had to speak about it. And when you see these individual looks, you'll know what I mean.

[Francesca]

So I have to say, Brynn's confessional looks are always my favorite. They're so good that she always goes for that old Hollywood clam and it just fits because of her hair.

[Dustin Ross]

But something was off with the blue that she wears. H. It's just with the red lip.

[Asante]

Look at this.

[Francesca]

Here's Asante pulling up the.

[Dustin Ross]

The looks.

[Francesca]

The looks.

[Dustin Ross]

I mean, I mean, come on. Look at Raquel. Come on. And everybody's got on black and gold and white. See, BR is pretty, but underwhelming. I like it.

[Francesca]

But her face looks weird. Why side look so bad?

[Dustin Ross]

A bunch of nothing. Aaron looking good in that BGA Runway. Wait till you see J. Jessel, look.

[Francesca]

At UBA Looks so pretty. Look at J. Oh, Jel.

[Dustin Ross]

Look at this.

[Francesca]

Nice Bob. She did that.

[Dustin Ross]

I'm telling y', all, this is the best dress.

[Francesca]

So good. Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Bravo reunion I've ever seen as a cohesively, like everybody looks the good. Except for.

[Francesca]

I love that they made that a theme too, where they like pick a thing. I think that's cool.

[Dustin Ross]

Makes it more interesting to look at. And they're beautiful, accomplished women. We should see them presented that way. I think it pays them homage in a way that I think is deserving, you know.

[Francesca]

And the photographs are really beautiful. Yeah, they are. Come together Even the. The covers of the new seasons, they all pick a color. Like, I just thought of that. Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Nene, we gonna give her credit for everything.

[Francesca]

Okay. I was about to say. Well, that was good, Nene.

[Asante]

Dustin, if you want a quick laugh, I suggest you go to Nick Netflix and watch not the entire series, but Selling the City. You know how they have the selling series where selling. No, Selling the City, but Selling the City. Okay, Selling. Selling the City. Honestly, you don't. I'm not telling you to watch the whole series. Just watch the last five minutes of the last episode if you want a good laugh.

[Francesca]

Oh, God.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin Ross]

What happened? Because that's my appetite a little bit. Let me know what's up.

[Asante]

Okay, so basically, these are all real estate girls, but this is the first of this season. You know, they have selling Sunset, selling O.C. selling somewhere else. But this is now the New York installment of it. Since it's the first season. These girls are all fairly new to it. One of the more accomplished women on the show, she was talking behind the scenes to one of, like, the newer agents. And so she decides to expose her on the last episode. And her reaction. Action. Is worse than when Denise Richards would be like, bravo, Bravo, Bravo. Like, and I think you should watch it. I feel like she breaks the fourth.

[Dustin Ross]

Wall in that way.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

Oh, I'm gonna watch it.

[Francesca]

I was disappointed in the fashions.

[Asante]

The show was not it.

[Dustin Ross]

The show. New York. They didn't represent.

[Asante]

New York was not given. New York was not given.

[Dustin Ross]

No.

[Francesca]

Who are these girls?

[Asante]

I'm sorry. It just wasn't happening. And the ones that thought they were doing it, I was like. Like, Jordan, if you come out with this witchy tassely one more time, girl, I dated Trevor Noah. Like, girl, well, you need to not dress like Tyler. Like, it's not working for you.

[Dustin Ross]

He didn't tell us y' all dated. I hate it when people. I hate it. I dated this person. Ass.

[Francesca]

It makes you look crazy if the other person has never mentioned you.

[Dustin Ross]

It's like, like, why would you even want to do that? Like, I don't even like talking about if we ain't together. Why the are we talking about. About who I dated?

[Asante]

And it happens a couple times on the show, too.

[Francesca]

She sure does. Because that I. He doesn't give me credit for the things I wrote.

[Asante]

I was like, girl. She was like. She was like. I was the funny one in the relationship, actually. He would steal some of my jokes and use them as his material. It's like he is finna sue your ass. And I hope.

[Dustin Ross]

And good for him. I hope he does too. And I don't even know her ass. I ain't even watch the show yet. Did you guys watch. Have you watched Real Housewives of Salt Lake City?

[Asante]

And when you said. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Dustin Ross]

Two.

[Asante]

Two things. Two things. Because you didn't talk about. You didn't talk about Beverly Hills or Salt Lake City. Beverly Hills.

[Dustin Ross]

I don't have nothing to say. I just like both.

[Asante]

So. So that's the thing. Both of them have really been competing for my attention, mainly because I really like Beverly Hills as, like, a fabric of, like, my Housewives franchises. I really like Bose and watching how new she is. I don't want to. I don't care about Dori and Nikal in the back of the.

[Dustin Ross]

I've been enjoying dorit cut. And everybody, Camille grammar ass up.

[Asante]

That was good. That was good. She was like.

[Dustin Ross]

She's like, I called you a stupid cunt.

[Asante]

What do you need? What are you doing here?

[Dustin Ross]

Camille?

[Asante]

Yes. She was like, you called me a conscious. I called you a stupid cunt. Like three was like, I came to play with.

[Dustin Ross]

Did not play with her.

[Asante]

She knew that Camille just trying to get back on the show. And she was like, I don't got time to play with you. Like, if you really want to play. I'm not.

[Francesca]

Camille's not on the show no more.

[Asante]

She. No, she. She just appears every now and then. And by. Every now and then, like, one.

[Dustin Ross]

She just was a guest.

[Asante]

Yeah. Like, yeah. Not even close to the franchise. Like, she wants to be that dorit. Was like, and you're not getting back over here.

[Dustin Ross]

And I fuck her ass the fuck up. Do you hear me? And it was.

[Asante]

I love that.

[Dustin Ross]

The pile up that I liked on Salt Lake City when Britney was. Got caught recording on that in that van and they all let her ass have it. You've been record.

[Asante]

You need to leave right now.

[Dustin Ross]

Meredith's mother like your vibe. She's like, if you were in my home. She was going off on her ass. And Mary was who? She went. She pulled a Karen move and started crying. Mary was like, let her go. Why are y' all going behind her? Let her cry.

[Asante]

Hold on. But see also, Mary Cosby has been pulling at my strings. My heart straight strings all season. She has been her son. Even her reconciliation with Angie, who I ain't care about until I like Angie now. But listen, I didn't like her at first. Let me tell you, Dustin, I did not care about Angie until they Were like, so you know, me and Mary, we're starting to get along. And I was like, well, let me see what Mary talking about. And then when I saw them getting together, I was like, all right, you know what? I really do love this link up. So when they were making up and Angie was being like, you know, she was really being receptive still. Even in their disagreement and Mary's relationship resistance, I was like, this is some sisterhood.

[Dustin Ross]

Y' all are doing the work over here.

[Asante]

But then here come Britney with some. I was like, why is she still here?

[Dustin Ross]

I done hated her ass since, let me tell you. Let's get her out of here real quick and then we can close the show. Number one, I didn't like Britney from the moment that we were introduced to her. When she said that Brian wins Eve St. Laurent. Or was it Dior? I can't remember who it's by, but it's the red heart shaped fur vest. It's ysl, I think. Yeah. She gonna say she gonna tell Brown. Oh, I like your costume. And Bronwyn and Mary looked at each other. Mary was like, that's all. That's fashion. It's not a costume. What are you. And I didn't. I haven't liked her since then. I thought it was very. She is to me, a complete thirst bucket. You too old to have a dating storyline on this show. We don't. You're not a hot young lady prowling the town that we want to, you know, follow. We're not interested in your dating life. You one of them motherfuckers that we wants us to perceive you as. The hot girl that's dating guys that put all that and all this. This situation with this random, like I said, subsidiary Osman that you're dating. He's not even Johnny Marie. None of he's a subsidiary. That's what he's dating. Like on saying that she's dating him because she thinks it's gonna make us give a about her. Well, I don't. Personally, I don't give a about him or you. And the fact that she lied about having sex with him makes me hate her even more. Recording makes me understand that she's a sneaky hoe who is literally waiting to build things up to have something to say to everybody. You're not here forming real bonds or real relationships. You're using this show as a vehicle for whatever. I saw her and then she can sing now. I will give her that. She does have a pretty singing voice. She actually sing Britney. She can Sing for real. And I hate that. I know. You know how I know? Because she's so thirsty that she went on Instagram in the airport singing Pink Pony Club by Chapel Ron or whatever that girl.

[Francesca]

Oh, you know what? I saw that. And she was like leaning into the.

[Dustin Ross]

The baggage claim.

[Francesca]

Baggage claim. Why did I see that? I had no idea who that was.

[Asante]

See what I'm saying?

[Dustin Ross]

That's why I had to see it. And I hate that.

[Asante]

And you still don't. Even after everything that's been said and making that connection, you still don't know who that is.

[Dustin Ross]

I hate her.

[Asante]

So I just wanted to throw away.

[Dustin Ross]

You know what I mean? I hate.

[Asante]

I need one more thought of yours. What about Bronwyn?

[Dustin Ross]

How do you feel about I love Brown one. I'm team Brown all day long. Brown has good personal politics. She was very publicly pro Kamala Harris also. I think that Brown would add some real wealth, real money to the show. I love. I don't like the she be wearing, but I love that she cares about fashion and that way she had on hot dog buns or some shit the other day. It was like orange and red. I don't know. But like brown don't give a damn. And I love that. I think she's a great addition to this show. I like that she speaks up and has something to say. She was vulnerable and told some of her and her husband's business. I like. And I think Bronwyn hell of a mother. I think her daughter is so cute and well adjusted and I think that Bronwyn has done a great job fortifying her daughter. You could tell the way her daughter speaks and shit. Like she is well adjusted. Adjusted. And that is a direct link to her parenting. So I love Brown when I want her to stay. I don't like that they trying to make her look all two faced and even though she kind of is, but like she's not because she stands in it. Like that's what you said. I'm telling what you said type.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin Ross]

And you need that. And they drove her to that because at first she was trying to be cool with everybody.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Dustin Ross]

So. And also shout out to Whitney for doing the wife. Whitney did the pointing at Lisa Barlow moment and Lisa was like, don't point your finger at me. And Whitney was like. She pointed both fingers. That was to me the white version of Whitney of Dr. Wendy Osefo telling Giselle hating on what this. It was like the white. It was the white version of M. O.C. they were sisters and I love that. I love that. So that's all I have to say about Rho slc.

[Francesca]

And that means that is it for us. We love you guys so much. Thanks for hanging with us today, Pink Pony Club. We'll catch you guys next week.

[Asante]

Stay black and protect your magic.

[Francesca]

So I was just parking my car and then I saw you. The Gecko. Huge fan. I'm always honored to meet fans out in the wild. The honor is mine.

[Asante]

I just love being able to file.

[Francesca]

A claim in under two minutes with the Geico app. Well, the Geico app is top notch. I know you get asked this all.

[Asante]

The time, but could you sign it? Sign what?

[Francesca]

The app. Yeah, sure. Oh, that means so much. Oh, it rubbed off the screen when I touched it. Could you sign it again? Anything to help, I suppose. You're the best.

[Asante]

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