Episode 851 | "It’s Gonna Take Me An Army"

Summary

The Joe Budden Podcast - Episode 851: "It’s Gonna Take Me An Army"

Release Date: August 13, 2025
Hosts: Joe Budden, Ish, Melissa Ford, Mark Lamont Hill, Flip, Parks

---

1. Relationship Trust and Communication

(00:32 - 06:26)

The episode kicks off with a candid discussion about trust and communication within personal relationships. Joe Budden initiates the conversation by addressing the natural tendency to build profiles on people, even subconsciously.

• Joe Budden: “I can’t compound the lies like I. I tell you the truth always wins.” [03:04]

This segues into a deeper dive into his own relationship dynamics, specifically focusing on the practice of sending “I’m home” texts to ensure his partner’s safety.

• Ish: “They don’t give a About your safety.” [04:10]
• Joe Budden: “That’s the part they will never admit.” [04:13]

Joe emphasizes the complexity of trust, explaining how seemingly simple actions like sending a text can be misconstrued.

2. Host Personalities: Being "Tough to Be With"

(06:27 - 09:53)

The hosts turn the spotlight on themselves, each sharing personal traits that make them challenging partners.

• Melissa Ford: “I’m just stubborn.” [07:00]
• Flip: “I’m stubborn and ignorant...” [08:09]
• Mark Lamont Hill: “Workaholic.” [07:12]

This segment highlights the diversity of personalities within the group and fosters a relatable discussion on the complexities of maintaining healthy relationships.

3. Insights from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Conference

(11:28 - 26:21)

The conversation shifts to their experiences at the NABJ Conference held in Cleveland. The hosts discuss networking opportunities, the importance of supporting black journalists, and the potential for future collaborations.

• Joe Budden: “We should do a workshop or a class on podcasting for them.” [12:06]
• Mark Lamont Hill: “Next year is in Atlanta and the year after is Houston.” [11:57]

Highlights include discussions on attending workshops, meeting influential figures, and the significance of events like the national association of black journalists in fostering community and professional growth.

4. David Justice and Halle Berry Relationship Controversy

(34:46 - 58:44)

A pivotal segment delves into the tumultuous relationship between former Atlanta Braves player David Justice and actress Halle Berry. The hosts analyze Justice’s public statements regarding alleged abuse and the subsequent media portrayal.

• Melissa Ford: “He was him, she was her. They are the power couple before the term was even coined.” [44:22]
• Mark Lamont Hill: “Halle impressed on Oprah... describes the effect it had on her and her suicide attempt.” [37:03]

They critically assess Justice’s claims and Halle Berry’s accounts, debating the impact of media narratives on public perception. The discussion underscores the challenges of addressing past misconduct and the importance of corroborating evidence in such sensitive matters.

5. Media Business: UFC and South Park Streaming Deals

(58:44 - 120:00)

The hosts explore significant developments in the media landscape, focusing on the UFC’s monumental $7.7 billion streaming deal and South Park’s acquisition by Paramount/CBS.

• Joe Budden: “The UFC is already huge, but almost you...” [65:09]
• Melissa Ford: “She was part of the first wave to sponsor our projects.” [119:00]

They discuss the ramifications of these deals, including platform consolidation, the end of traditional pay-per-view models, and the shifting power dynamics within the entertainment industry. The conversation highlights concerns about the monopolization of content and its effects on diversity and accessibility.

6. Consumer Behavior and Target’s Status

(120:17 - 133:55)

A lively debate ensues over Target stores appearing unusually empty, sparking theories about a boycott or demographic shifts.

• Joe Budden: “I know we don’t highlight it, cuz there’s no way to ever tell.” [120:17]
• Melissa Ford: “They used to... It’d be like too open now.” [120:55]

The hosts analyze possible reasons behind the decline in foot traffic, considering economic factors, changing consumer preferences, and broader societal trends. This segment reflects on how businesses adapt to evolving market conditions and the role of consumer activism.

7. Movie Review: "Sinners"

(91:00 - 118:54)

The podcast features an in-depth review of the horror-thriller film "Sinners." The hosts discuss its plot, character development, and execution of suspense elements.

• Melissa Ford: “It was a really good movie... it was both a good movie and scary.” [111:56]
• Joe Budden: “It’s scary, but it’s not a horror movie.” [112:00]

They praise the film's originality, effective use of jump scares, and strong performances, particularly highlighting the balance between horror and storytelling. The review concludes with high recommendations for listeners seeking fresh takes in the genre.

8. Colorism and Stereotypes in Black Media

(70:00 - 86:02)

A critical discussion on colorism within black media, sparked by Ari Lennox’s comments on the portrayal of characters in the classic sitcom "Martin."

• Ish: “It's easy for me to accept fame if I got Abdullah the Butcher eating a turnbuckle.” [80:47]
• Melissa Ford: “It’s about stereotypes and assumptions... dangerous.” [75:02]

The hosts examine how media representations perpetuate harmful stereotypes, particularly towards darker-complexioned women. They advocate for more nuanced and respectful portrayals to combat ingrained biases and promote positive role models within the community.

9. Investing and Financial Community Issues

(Throughout the Episode)

Interspersed with broader discussions are segments focused on financial literacy, investing, and the dynamics within the financial community. The hosts share personal experiences of mentoring and the challenges of building trust and investment relationships.

• Ish: “I’ve been trying to get into some of these companies for investing...” [114:07]
• Flip: “A lot of people... have taken a space that was unbeknownst to a whole bunch of black people...” [179:03]

They emphasize the importance of ethical investing, the pitfalls of misplaced trust, and the need for accountability within financial ventures. This dialogue highlights ongoing efforts to empower the black community through financial education and responsible investing.

10. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

(188:00 - End)

As the episode winds down, the hosts reflect on the discussions, reiterate key points, and extend well-wishes to their listeners. They also touch upon upcoming events and express gratitude towards their community.

• Joe Budden: “Good vibe. Good time, man. Hopefully y’ all have enjoyed this broadcast...” [190:03]
• Ish: “The world is on fire... we're seeing more lawlessness...” [159:32]

The episode concludes with light-hearted banter and a reaffirmation of their commitment to delivering engaging and meaningful content.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Joe Budden: “I tell you the truth always wins.” [03:04]
• Ish: “They don’t give a About your safety.” [04:10]
• Melissa Ford: “I’m just stubborn.” [07:00]
• Joe Budden: “We won.” [120:55]
• Melissa Ford: “He shouldn't have married her.” [51:35]
• Mark Lamont Hill: “She’s part of the first wave to sponsor our projects.” [119:00]
• Ish: “I'm glad you're back.” [13:11]

---

Key Takeaways

• Trust and Communication: Effective communication is crucial in maintaining trust within relationships. Small gestures can have significant impacts.
• Personal Growth: Hosts share personal traits that may present challenges in relationships, fostering a relatable and authentic dialogue.
• Community Engagement: Participation in events like the NABJ Conference highlights the importance of networking and supporting black professionals.
• Media Responsibility: Analyzing past controversies, such as the Justice-Berry relationship, underscores the role of media in shaping public perception and the need for responsible reporting.
• Industry Shifts: Massive deals in the media industry, like those involving the UFC and South Park, reflect ongoing changes in how content is distributed and consumed.
• Social Issues: Discussions on colorism and stereotypes in black media advocate for more respectful and accurate representations.
• Financial Empowerment: Emphasis on ethical investing and financial literacy serves to empower listeners and promote economic growth within the community.
• Cultural Reflection: Reviewing "Sinners" and other media offers insights into evolving storytelling techniques and audience expectations.

This episode weaves together personal narratives, critical analyses of media and societal issues, and lively interactions among the hosts, providing listeners with a comprehensive and engaging experience.

Transcript

[Joe Budden]

The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed by this podcast whose bullets its hosts offer entertainment purposes only. I repeat, it is not serious. It is not real. No one is exposing, revealing, indicting, or telling you anything about themselves. Also, we do not encourage you to try this at home. We are trained professionals who do not have your best interests at heart or our own. Enjoy the show. No, don't worry. We're gonna talk about it.

[Ish]

Don't worry about.

[Joe Budden]

We're gonna talk about it. But wait. You not home building profiles on people?

[Melissa Ford]

No.

[Joe Budden]

No. Huh? You are.

[Parks]

I mean, maybe not to the level of him, but Profiles.

[Ish]

Yeah, I do too.

[Joe Budden]

Of course you build profiles on people.

[Ish]

Okay, you probably do it in your head. Don't even realize it.

[Parks]

Yeah, you don't. You don't have a file cabinet, but.

[Joe Budden]

Well, you don't know his head. Pause. Ain't nothing going on. It's just bitches and houses, money and houses and hoodies. Did you not start building profiles on people? No, I don't, but actually, that's a lie, because he got my profile down to a T. And don't hesitate to let the world know about it on this broadcast instantly. N. Don't play with me, N. I'm ready today.

[Ish]

I'm ready today.

[Melissa Ford]

I won't let the world know about his profile.

[Ish]

Me.

[Melissa Ford]

All right, you got it, bro.

[Joe Budden]

What's up? Last looks. This the squad right here.

[Parks]

Full squad.

[Joe Budden]

This the squad right here.

[Ish]

You doing that shit again?

[Flip]

Where you want me to reach for your stuff? It's right there.

[Ish]

Take it.

[Joe Budden]

I can't.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, shit.

[Ish]

Help.

[Joe Budden]

Damn's on distress. Help her out, Miss. Help. She goes easy. She's looking for the help. Wow, Mel, why you really need help?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Listen, this is my bad arm hand.

[Joe Budden]

The baddies be needing help with, like, the simplest of shit. Like your baddies.

[Flip]

Yo, I love you talking about the simplest.

[Melissa Ford]

Homeboy said that about Shorty.

[Joe Budden]

Who's. Shorty's cool.

[Melissa Ford]

It's. It's the top.

[Flip]

Oh, oh, the Halle Berry joint.

[Joe Budden]

We gonna get to that. That. That almost caused. Caused a little cur fuffle earlier in your crib. No, not in my crib. We fighting about something totally different. We fighting about something, and I'm wrong.

[Melissa Ford]

But nah, it ain't the party fight no more, right?

[Joe Budden]

Party? Your birthday party. No, no, no. Okay. All right.

[Melissa Ford]

Glad you kind of got those out the way.

[Joe Budden]

No, no, no, no, no. I send the yo, I'm home text before I'm home.

[Flip]

So now she know you're not home.

[Joe Budden]

Cause if I sent it at 2:45am Guess when, what time she called. 2:45am 2:45am yeah. Not this time. Hey, I got caught last time answering while I was in month up stress. So this time I threw the.

[Parks]

I was brushing my teeth.

[Joe Budden]

Hey. Went to sleep. No, I'm in the car. I'm in the car headed on.

[Parks]

I know, but your lie should be. I was brushing my teeth, my bags.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, see, that's my point. That's my problem. I don't compound the lies like I. I tell you the truth always wins.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, man, you tell the truth. Yeah.

[Flip]

This started with a lie.

[Joe Budden]

She know what time it is. We've been together too long. She know if I'm not answering that phone and then I ain't home. She knows that.

[Melissa Ford]

So the beef is on the law then, huh?

[Joe Budden]

Not to me.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yo.

[Flip]

I agree with him. Not to me.

[Joe Budden]

Not to me. Over it. My baby is here flying up. We doing Chris Breezy. We over it. So I'm just shooting shoot with the fellas. But I totally disagree with that, even though she's right.

[Ish]

Oh, oh, you see his profile? Yeah. Psycho serial killer.

[Joe Budden]

He's crazy. Yo, if you send. If you send your partner, she listening to this right at the top. If you send your partner, the I'm home text is normally because y' all have had these talks and they want to know that you're home safe. You should not.

[Ish]

They don't give a About your safety.

[Joe Budden]

They just want to. And that's the part they will never admit.

[Ish]

It's not home safe.

[Joe Budden]

That's the part they'll never admit.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

So if this is purely about my safety, then when I'm in the car headed home, Even if it's 15 minutes before I'm there and say I'm home, I'm letting you know I've left the dangerous circumstance I'm in the confines of my driver headed home. That's when she said, oh, it could be a car accident. It could be a car accident. Oh, all right, bitch, you got the news. Hey, turn on the news then.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Nice, right? Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Okay.

[Melissa Ford]

Why you just can't sit. I'm home when I'm home, when I'm.

[Joe Budden]

Home, because it's not about me being home safe. So now you got some type of tracking system going on. Yeah, and if you have a tracking system going on, then it's my duty to throw it off.

[Ish]

But do you just send home or did she say where? You follow up question.

[Joe Budden]

No, no, no, no. She don't say nothing. I say.

[Ish]

You just say home. When you Tim.

[Joe Budden]

So you volunteer I don't typically do it.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

I've done it once before. We had a big fight about it. This time I did it again and this I dubbed the call so we f. Got it.

[Melissa Ford]

Follow up question. The person waiting for you to get.

[Joe Budden]

Home.

[Ish]

The text will wake them up.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That's a time zone.

[Joe Budden]

And that's why I know what the dad said. You know I can't sleep. You know I'm in up. Okay. So then I said something that I.

[Flip]

Wasn'T supposed to behind anyway, right?

[Ish]

Time zone don't matter.

[Melissa Ford]

Guess what, my nigga. It don't matter if it's 9.99. You sent him home safe.

[Joe Budden]

I don't think that give you a right to call me.

[Ish]

The right to call me is crazy.

[Joe Budden]

I don't think that that means that.

[Ish]

I see what you're saying.

[Joe Budden]

Yo, I'm home.

[Ish]

That's it ain't.

[Joe Budden]

Oh I was up.

[Flip]

So look.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, what the are you talking about?

[Ish]

That's your only you and Corey bro.

[Flip]

You see? That's it.

[Melissa Ford]

That's it. That's it.

[Joe Budden]

My girl know I'm a weirdo. It's cool. I'm not surprising the people I love with my thinking.

[Melissa Ford]

No at all.

[Joe Budden]

That's. That's what I'll say at all. So she loved me. I love her. We good. We got over it because what are we really beefing about here? Like, I'm alive. I thought that was the point, right? I'm tough to be with.

[Flip]

So that means you got a top.

[Joe Budden]

But I'm the only one that brings his I'm tough to be with stories to the pod. Y' all are like the meme that's going around where it's the meme going around the video with her. It's couples and the person saying, hey, this is me who does everything wrong and this is my angel of a husband or wife. And they come out with the ring camera over them with the. With the ring light and that. No, the ring light, though is the halo and a long white sheet.

[Ish]

And they come walking out.

[Joe Budden]

Y' all are like that.

[Melissa Ford]

The ring light.

[Joe Budden]

Like, tell me about why y' all are tough to be with.

[Parks]

I think I'm pretty easy to be.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm just stubborn.

[Ish]

See?

[Joe Budden]

Exactly. You got it. I'm just stubborn, y'. All.

[Melissa Ford]

Watch Pow.

[Ish]

Wires.

[Melissa Ford]

My girl told y' all I'm stubborn.

[Parks]

I'm a creative.

[Melissa Ford]

That's it.

[Joe Budden]

Well in the way to your head says you stubborn. Anyway, I'm like mark. What?

[Ish]

What?

[Joe Budden]

Why you tough to be with.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm a clown.

[Parks]

You don't sleep.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Workaholic.

[Ish]

Work too much. Messy. And I don't. My brain work different. So, like, things that make sense to me don't make sense to other people. So it makes communication hard.

[Joe Budden]

Got it. Got it. Ish.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm a pleasure.

[Joe Budden]

That's why he's tough to be with, because he's a pleasure.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

That state of delusion that he's constantly in, right. One day he came up here and gave it up. Yo, when I'm home, I could be domineering, so I don't say anything.

[Melissa Ford]

You killed that day.

[Joe Budden]

That day, that one day. You came to, like, really give it.

[Melissa Ford]

Up and share with us the whole one day. I'm talking about not the three and.

[Joe Budden]

A half years, just the one. No, I'm talking about the inner workings of you and your whiz. So you gave it up that day. So why now? It's just I'm a pleasure. You're not domineering no more.

[Melissa Ford]

I was making a joke. I don't want to be serious as hell.

[Joe Budden]

Flip, how about you? What makes you tough to be with? Come on, let's start with a little therapy.

[Flip]

I'm stubborn and ignorant and I feel like I'm stubborn and ignorant and I just feel like.

[Melissa Ford]

You're never home.

[Ish]

I want.

[Flip]

No, I'm always home. I told my family I'm always home. I just feel like I'm not going to be forced to do anything you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Don'T want to do.

[Flip]

One, two. And I show love when the love count to me.

[Joe Budden]

All right, all right. There's a lot of. Bill, why you don't laugh?

[Ish]

This is crazy.

[Flip]

It's not for real. I show up when to count to you. Outside, it counts. To the world it counts. Even in the house, it counts. But I'm just stubborn, man. And on top of that, like, come on. I don't want to get into many details.

[Joe Budden]

Mel, Mel, Mel. What makes you tough to be with?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

What's that thing called Attachment? Something. Whatever.

[Joe Budden]

That's what the baddies do, too. They meet you day one and want to be just all under you. Live with you moving.

[Ish]

Is that you. Are you clingy in relationships?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, I'm the opposite.

[Ish]

Distant.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay, yeah. So it's like when I sense. When I sense danger.

[Flip]

Are you doing that again?

[Joe Budden]

Mel didn't say nothing funny.

[Ish]

Exactly.

[Flip]

Stop laughing.

[Joe Budden]

Ain't crack jokes about you laughing when Mel is talking.

[Ish]

Sit back.

[Melissa Ford]

Honestly, remotely.

[Joe Budden]

I'm riding with Mel now.

[Flip]

You drink that shit's too hot to drink so fast.

[Ish]

No, it's not.

[Joe Budden]

What happened, Mel? I didn't hear what you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, seriously, when I feel some sort of threat or perceived threat or whatever, I chuck up my deuces and bounce.

[Joe Budden]

Cardi b album title Matt am.

[Melissa Ford]

I.

[Ish]

Can see that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Don't make me feel threatened.

[Joe Budden]

That's right. Okay.

[Flip]

You can feel threatened at any moment.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Make me feel. Make me feel secure.

[Ish]

Yeah, a lot of safe space. Make me feel.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah. Make me feel like I'm in a safe space. Make me feel like that. Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

So, yeah, that's what I've been working on.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Being a safe space.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Being a safe space for Mel or Mel and women all over the world.

[Ish]

Mel, did this feel like a safe space for you? Cause I was watching on Friday and it didn't look safe.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Really?

[Ish]

No.

[Joe Budden]

What happened on Friday?

[Ish]

She was trying to tell a riveting story.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, hell yeah. I'm lockers back about.

[Flip]

Yo, don't come in big to me.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, go ahead, Go ahead.

[Flip]

The black magazine.

[Ish]

What does it exist? No, it was actually an important thing to tell. I was actually very disappointed that she didn't get to tell that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Thank you.

[Ish]

About the national association of black journalists, which I was very disappointed I couldn't be at in Cleveland.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, I know, right? Next year it's in Atlanta.

[Ish]

I really want to be lit.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But Mark is one of the main reasons why I went. I hit him up.

[Flip]

I was like, yeah, your tickets again.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, he fucking did not, asshole. But I asked. I asked his opinion and he was just like, yes, you should go.

[Ish]

You should go. I think a lot of us would benefit from.

[Joe Budden]

You walked away from the cabin that day. Where'd you take that call?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It wasn't a call. I said, hey, Mark, sorry to bother you. Quick question.

[Joe Budden]

You turned text that back. My achilles backing up. Let me go ride the bike now.

[Melissa Ford]

Y people. She said he only responded with one word. He got that text out quick.

[Ish]

Yes, yes.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, double tap. Quick response.

[Ish]

Why are you feeling Pizza hut. Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, man. Holy shit. Hilarious.

[Melissa Ford]

She listened this early?

[Ish]

Oh, it's early.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Ish]

No, but NABJ is great. And we should. We should support that. We should support black journalists, black media makers, black creatives and they. We're super loved down there, you know, we're super loved that the association black journalists. Ish. I was telling you, I think next year you might want to roll down there in ice.

[Joe Budden]

He ain't going.

[Ish]

We talked about a couple maybe like a month or two ago by going. I think it's in it's either. Is it Atlanta or Houston?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Atlanta and then Houston.

[Ish]

Ish.

[Joe Budden]

Ain't going to the journalist shit in Cleveland.

[Ish]

I think it's good, man.

[Joe Budden]

I think it's good.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It moves around different cities every year. So next year is Atlanta and the year after is Houston.

[Ish]

I think we should do a workshop or a class on podcasting for them.

[Joe Budden]

I'm thinking about going to take journalism at nyu.

[Ish]

I think that'd be dope.

[Joe Budden]

Psych. Fuck that. I can't believe you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Save that for a second.

[Melissa Ford]

They ain't see the Times article.

[Joe Budden]

Journalism, smyrnalism.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

And then they totally shit on me about who I said were, like, my idols. Stephanie Elam and Mikayla Pereira.

[Parks]

Idols.

[Joe Budden]

Both.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

They are like. They are incredible women. Like, in so many ways.

[Joe Budden]

Mel said those names. Like it was Mel Gibson and Gladys Knight.

[Melissa Ford]

No, like it was Angela Bassett and Tina Turner.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I stated my personal idols. My personal idols. You know who else is an idol of mine? Anthony Bourdain. I love Anthony Bourdain. Bill Curtis, like, I could go on and on. Fuck John Douglas. You guys don't know who the fuck that is, right? Okay, well, he's the guy who started the behavioral science unit at Quantico, Virginia, in FBI headquarters.

[Ish]

It says more about them than you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Huh?

[Ish]

It says more about them than you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I know.

[Ish]

If they're laughing. You don't know the most prominent black journalists in America. They should.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I know.

[Ish]

Maybe they should.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I know. Exactly.

[Ish]

So anyway, I can see why it might not feel like a safe space to you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm glad you're back.

[Joe Budden]

Ah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Not including you.

[Ish]

I gave.

[Joe Budden]

Including you.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Flip]

I gave myself some time. I get it.

[Ish]

I still got 40 minutes left.

[Joe Budden]

To.

[N/A]

See these fat ass, pink arm, teeny weeny beta pricks with their ugly ass wives walk into this Mexican restaurant and sit. Sit down, smile and be friendly. I don't think you should be able to enjoy anything but Cracker Barrel. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel, but do not participate in any of the shit that makes America cool. And what makes America cool is multiculturalism. If you want to triple trump and you want to browbeat dei, you want to browbeat gay people and you want to browbeat black people as you've been doing for 400 years. And you want to browbeat this generation of immigrants that come over here, open up businesses, earnestly pay their taxes, you want to demonize them and call them rapists and felons and all this shit. When the felon is the teeny weeny mushroom Cock piece of shit McTaco tits at the top of the ticket. I have fucking had it from top to bottom, white people. That Triple Trump should be banned, boycotted from enjoying the best thing that America has to offer, which is multiculturalism. Get your fat asses out of the Mexican restaurant. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel, because nobody wants to see your fucking smug ass. Teeny weeny, pink arm, big gut around. Nobody wants to see that shit.

[Joe Budden]

Nobody. Let me. Okay, mic check, 1, 2, 1, 2. Mic check, 1, 2,1, 2. Salutations from the best podcast in the universe. Y' all know what time it is. You know what we're here to do. So glad you could be here with us. Got a great show lined up for y'.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

All.

[Joe Budden]

Jamaica, 40. What up, Baizley? What up, Merrick?

[Ish]

What up? You know what we on right now?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

So now they know that they do it. I tell them I'm moving units, my videos.

[Joe Budden]

They gonna do it by the spine.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Got a lot they really straight my mommy.

[Joe Budden]

Shout to wherever you listening from out there. All wait for the ladies. All wait for the ladies. Yes, Sir.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Mine was 19.

[Joe Budden]

Club up. Fuck this club up. Anybody at the airport right now. Everybody on vacation right now. The entrepreneurs, the nine to five. Is everybody getting it? Let's go.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

My heels on. My tip on.

[Joe Budden]

My tip on.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

Rest in peace, bk. Why you taking Shout out to the whole Houston? Hey, shout. What up, what up, what up? 90 degrees in New York. Hold up your home girl a hoe.

[Melissa Ford]

Shake your ass like her what's up, title baby daddy broke.

[Joe Budden]

I got cash right here. Ratchet ho. Stop letting broke, none of you. She don't twerk with her mouth open. Okay.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

One, two, three.

[Joe Budden]

Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken. You want to go right now? We from the 19. Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, Chicken heads. Chicken, chicken, Chicken heads.

[Ish]

Chicken heads.

[Joe Budden]

What they talking about? What they talking about out there? All the patrols out there, all the subgroups out there. You had to be there. Paul Memphis.

[Ish]

What up?

[Joe Budden]

Who might. I'm sick of these old niggas who am I? I'm sick of these old niggas on my lit. Who running? Who running? I want to break some shit Guys.

[Ish]

Give a pepper sour, please.

[Joe Budden]

Who run, who running? Who running? It's so white. God damn it.

[Flip]

Who run?

[Ish]

Slob on my dog like corn on the car Check in with me and.

[Melissa Ford]

Give me.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, drink your tea, drink your tea.

[Parks]

Look at this.

[Joe Budden]

Old as hell. All right, man. That was great.

[Melissa Ford]

Smelled like mush.

[Ish]

Should have had a mush coming to.

[Joe Budden]

A stop and clicking. Once you did that, I didn't want the.

[Flip]

I can't help you, man. Why your eyes open? Don't play my man intro.

[Ish]

We.

[Joe Budden]

We both up here.

[Flip]

Play with my man intro. Yeah.

[Ish]

Free.

[Joe Budden]

Come on, man. Salute.

[Flip]

Salute them.

[Joe Budden]

Thank you, Barts. What happened, big man?

[Flip]

You don't like the vocal suck a dick or something?

[Joe Budden]

Oh, my God.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's just when you put it all together, it's just like, live my. Suck on my knob. Lick my balls, eat my dick.

[Joe Budden]

The JBTV community. The JBTV community. Read some captions from you that you wrote.

[Flip]

Oh, wait, what?

[Joe Budden]

Watch yourself.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

What captions?

[Joe Budden]

Nothing, all right. I'm just saying, before we get to judging Judgy Judgy. Before we get to being Judge Judy.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Around here, look at the clock and see. Is it even noon? Okay, what do you think?

[Joe Budden]

You think Dick ain't getting sucked at noon?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I mean, I guess it is. I don't know.

[Joe Budden]

Mel, you're such a damn Karen. Oh, man. Round of applause for the best show in the universe. Round of applause for the best crew in the world. Let me get these drops out the way.

[Parks]

Mel got real tip of gore on us here for a second.

[Joe Budden]

Mel is crazy.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That's just an observation.

[Melissa Ford]

She wouldn't see Dolores Tucker that time.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Not fair. Not fair.

[Melissa Ford]

That was an attack on rap music.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Vulgarity and lyrics.

[Ish]

What was that?

[Joe Budden]

Flip and Mel. Mel. Mel. What episode is this?

[Parks]

A51.

[Joe Budden]

Welcome to episode 851.

[Parks]

That's right.

[Joe Budden]

That's it. Oh, Lord. Welcome to episode 851 of the Joe Button Podcast. Brought to you by Fuel by Powered By Prize Fix, Private Fist. Gang, I'm your humble, gracious, grateful, happy to be here host Joe Button. Here with some really amazing people. To my right, the beautiful, the legendary Melissa Ford. In the building next to her. Queens, get the money. Queens flip in the building next to him. Wawa, get the money. Big Ish in the building next to him. Big freeze, Mr. Take it further Himself. Next to him, dark Lamont Hill. Our good brother, Dr. Mark Lamont Hill, back from vacation. He's here with us. Big Parks is here. Myra's finest Poe is here. Corey is here. Erickson is here. Sivon and TN ain't here by remote. Last but certainly not least, each and every one of you guys out there are here. How's everybody doing, man? What's poppin? Great. Good to see y'.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

All.

[Joe Budden]

Good to see y'. All. Wake this room up. Yo.

[Ish]

We ain't starting like that.

[Joe Budden]

Wake this Room up around here. What's up? What's up?

[Flip]

How you doing, man?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I feel like we're waiting with bated breath to hear how Martha's.

[Ish]

Oh, you know, I don't have any great stories.

[Joe Budden]

Don't speak for me. I wasn't waiting.

[Parks]

I've been to the Vineyard.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Your pet is bad.

[Parks]

It's a good time. But.

[Flip]

His pet is back.

[Melissa Ford]

Called a black man a pet.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Sorry. Your fave. Your fave.

[Joe Budden]

Whoa.

[Ish]

That not with the mood today.

[Melissa Ford]

She didn't mean it.

[Joe Budden]

Yo. Pizza Hut.

[Ish]

W. She didn't mean it. Don't put it in the roller.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

She didn't mean.

[Ish]

She didn't mean to call you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Not a dis to him.

[Joe Budden]

Uh.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, it's not.

[Joe Budden]

Got it, got it.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's not a dis at all. It's just an observation.

[Joe Budden]

Well, you were my baby.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay. All right. Well, Mark, tell us.

[Joe Budden]

Mark, what's up, man? Welcome back.

[Ish]

I'm glad to be back, man. I missed y'.

[Melissa Ford]

All.

[Ish]

Now, it was. It was. I need a vacation from the vacation. Yeah, I know.

[Joe Budden]

Sure. You know, same.

[Ish]

Yeah, it was.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You probably couldn't walk a foot without people.

[Ish]

It was. It was all of it. It was like. It was bringing like a little. A three year old who, frankly, is a monster.

[Melissa Ford]

That's what I wanted to know how it was with. With little Man.

[Ish]

And I didn't know. I've never been to the venue before. I don't. Look, that's not my lifestyle, so I don't. I didn't even know how to do it. Like, apparently you're supposed to, like, drive there, bring a boat, get a ferry, do all that shit.

[Parks]

Yeah, it's a lot. You can fly in.

[Ish]

I did fly in.

[Parks]

Oh, okay.

[Ish]

I did fly in. I flew in on like a week's notice at a little airport. Yeah. So everything costs the arm and a leg, you know, I'm underpaid, so I could barely afford the tickets.

[Melissa Ford]

It was piano sausages, yo.

[Joe Budden]

Come on, Pierce. Yo, come on, Pierce. Step it up.

[Parks]

Gotta subscribe to that night school, you know?

[Ish]

Oh, my God. Yo, I swear, the people on the plane would have chipped in to pay for my ferry. After my son got off that flight, he tore that. It was the longest 35 minutes of my life.

[Parks]

Was that his first flight?

[Melissa Ford]

That was. I was about to ask. That was his first time flying.

[Ish]

It was the worst thing that happened to me last week and my friend died and.

[Joe Budden]

We're sorry to hear that.

[Ish]

What's wrong with you? That flight was awful. And then.

[Joe Budden]

Did he have his headphones, iPad, his, all of that. His.

[Ish]

I had headphones, Arab books, Benadryl, everything for him. I needed Benadryl stickers. I gave him everything. He said, fuck that. He ripped the headphones out, threw them to the back aisle, dropped the iPad. Suddenly he don't like iPads no more. And he wanted to go up and down the aisle. It was.

[Joe Budden]

See, that's the thing. You don't talk to your friends about they kids, but yours is.

[Ish]

He's a problem.

[Joe Budden]

He is a menace. These kids are fucking bad. They a lot.

[Ish]

He was a lot. And he decided that his normal wake up wasn't good. He wanted to wake up at 5am every day.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, what time do y' all typically wake up?

[Ish]

I wake up. I wake up at five or six, but to wake up before everybody else so that I can have some peace and freedom. But he decided, nah, not this time. Not this week. So we did that. I had my mother in law with me, my wife was there. We did a lot of beach stuff that was cool. To your point. It's the bougiest place I've ever been.

[Parks]

It's pretty bougie.

[Ish]

It is the bougies place I've ever been. And it's black month in the vineyard, so it's like 80% black people there and everybody's trying to be seen. And that's like the opposite of what I want to do. You know what I mean? So I went to the film festival. It was dope. Went to the opening reception. It was cool. But after that it was just a lot of conversations with people that I didn't want to have. And that night I went out and found a nice secluded spot. Me and my wife came, we were chilling, had a good time. My homegirl Tarana just happened to be there. Founder, me too. I think I mentioned it before she happened to walk up. So we were like, oh, busting up, having a good conversation. This woman comes up to the table and is like, hi, I'm a lawyer and I'm here with a table full of lawyers. And we demand to know why you're on the Joe Button podcast.

[Joe Budden]

Holy shit. Oh, shit. Let's go, let's go. Turn it up. That's right, that's right.

[Ish]

Don't say turn it. Because my wife, that's what she heard in her head.

[Joe Budden]

Okay, so I'm with her.

[Ish]

Yeah, she was.

[Joe Budden]

I'm with your wife.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

So did she answer?

[Melissa Ford]

Make a whole.

[Ish]

I have learned I have a profile on my wife too. So I knew at that moment that if she were to answer, it wasn't going to end the way left.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I would have wanted to answer too. Like, look, bitch. Okay, but go on.

[Ish]

That's what my wife was literally forming the words to say. And my girl Tarana was there too. She from the Bronx. That was. Oh, yeah, she had the.

[Melissa Ford]

Let's go, girl. I'm right here.

[Joe Budden]

Let's go.

[Ish]

So I was like, everybody be cool. And I gave her. But I also don't want to answer that question. Cause I don't want to make people think they can, like, charge me for an answer while I'm at dinner. But I also did. She wasn't gonna leave.

[Parks]

Ah, shoot that ass.

[Melissa Ford]

And that's why you gotta let.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, that's why you gotta let all.

[Melissa Ford]

People have got out of there.

[Ish]

Giving her the eyes like. Like, it's crazy. Like, you don't want.

[Melissa Ford]

You classy lawyer don't have enough coof and enough class to not know that this is inappropriate. You need to be on the Joe Bun podcast.

[Ish]

No.

[Melissa Ford]

Cause she's saying it like we are.

[Ish]

Hold on.

[Melissa Ford]

Less than right? You get what I'm saying? So if you have enough coof to know that this is inappropriate, maybe you need to be over there. Niggas be swearing that they up here like, get your dusty, bitch.

[Joe Budden]

Don't like that shit.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, I don't like that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I don't think any of us like that.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, I don't quite like that shit.

[Ish]

I said, look, I'm having dinner with my people. That means it's two in the morning and we were all like half drunk.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, yeah, that's good.

[Ish]

She was sober. I could tell. But so this wasn't like a noon brunch thing where it might be a reasonable. It was two in the fucking morning.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, that is inappropriate.

[Ish]

After White Party, like, you know what I'm saying? It was like, yo, just. Just chill.

[Melissa Ford]

Sometimes you're supposed to give them what they're asking for.

[Ish]

I gave her like a. But also, I don't want the story to be that I was an asshole to her, not you. Because then it.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ish]

No, because it multiplies. Right? So I gave her some answer.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, hold us down.

[Ish]

Oh, I helped. I did hold us down.

[Parks]

It sounds like you didn't.

[Joe Budden]

No, we getting a lot of words. I said, look, I held it down.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Give him a wide berth. Go ahead, Mark. Yeah, Birth. Wide birth.

[Flip]

He got this space.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ish]

Safe space. I said, no. I said. I said, look, Joe's a problem. No, no, I'm just kidding. We working on getting rid of this.

[Joe Budden]

I'm not even mad at that.

[Ish]

I've been trying to get rid of this nigga. No, I said the show. I said, I'm here to reach a big audience. And I said, if you actually watch the show, it's not what people say about the show. And I mentioned the Kevin interview where he himself said, like, you know, this isn't what we thought it was. And then I tried to end the conversation. I did that shit in, like, 30 seconds left. And then turned my back to her. I turned my back to her to finish.

[Melissa Ford]

I let you know, bitch, the conversation's over.

[Ish]

Yeah. Minus that word. But, yeah, like, I turned back, like, two minutes later, she was still there.

[Melissa Ford]

See, that wasn't enough.

[Ish]

She was waiting for more, and I just turned my back and left her there. But, like, it was that kind of energy sometimes. But 90% of the people were cool. They might ask for a picture, they might talk, and then just let it. Let it go.

[Joe Budden]

So you know.

[Ish]

Know.

[Joe Budden]

You know what, though? When you on one of those trips and you catch the lawyers out getting drunk.

[Ish]

Yes, they do that.

[Joe Budden]

Yes, the lawyers drunk after 10, 11 while they at the vineyard or. Yo, they do that. Dumb.

[Melissa Ford]

They be the slides.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

All right. See?

[Flip]

Set up for that. They are the slides.

[Joe Budden]

Well, I meant. I meant do. No, they beat a slide. I meant just.

[Ish]

They be the slides.

[Flip]

Shut the up.

[Melissa Ford]

Same night, same fight. Those are the slides. Judging everybody in the world, y'.

[Joe Budden]

All.

[Flip]

The slides slip and slide.

[Ish]

Get loose.

[Flip]

I got you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I had just the opposite experience at nebj. Like, they just. They love the pod. They love the pod. They love you. They love all of y'.

[Joe Budden]

All.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

They love the pod.

[Ish]

That's why NEBJ is such an important place to be and to talk about.

[Joe Budden]

All right.

[Flip]

Come on.

[Ish]

The Vineyard. I gotta say, 90 of people at the vineyard love the. I mean, literally most people, it was almost all black men. Like, we love the show. Tell everybody I love them. What's up with Flip? What's up with Ish? Everybody. I mean, they feel like they know y' all and they talk about y' all like that. It was totally dope. And again. And overall, it's a good experience. Anybody out there that wants a vacation, do that. Just plan it early and expect to spend some money. But it was.

[Parks]

Yeah, it was expensive. I didn't have that experience, but it wasn't a festival or whatever was going on when I was there. It was way more low key.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

What month did you go?

[Parks]

I think it Was July or August?

[Ish]

Cause first thing in July is LGBTQ month.

[Joe Budden]

It wasn't that weird.

[Ish]

That's it cool if it was.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Ish]

See, I had a whole different experience.

[Joe Budden]

Your shorts now ain't the most hero.

[Ish]

Sensei.

[Parks]

You cannot talk to me in this.

[Joe Budden]

Man, you're wearing your shirt. Goes to your ankles.

[Ish]

I was coming up the hallway trying to think.

[Melissa Ford]

You look like a prophet.

[Ish]

Are you going?

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, my man, that got the. And the karate slippers.

[Joe Budden]

Yo.

[Melissa Ford]

That's crazy. Oh, I've seen some of them all white party pictures.

[Joe Budden]

It can't help it. How many all white parts you been to in your life?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Countless.

[Joe Budden]

You and Corey. That's just in the 90s, 90s? 98.

[Melissa Ford]

No, I just saw everybody, you know, pictures from the venue. It was packed out.

[Ish]

Yeah. Michelle Obama came in last night. So everybody was trying to be there for the Obama week. They come every week. Every. Every summer.

[Joe Budden]

Just Michelle.

[Ish]

I think they both were there, but Michelle was at. Had her own party on Saturday night.

[Joe Budden]

Got it. Got it.

[Ish]

Yeah. So did you see Barack?

[Melissa Ford]

I saw him, man.

[Ish]

I ain't lie with him. Oh, you saw him three miles in.

[Joe Budden]

All right. Because I was about to put a whole lie on him. Lies on Obama's jacket.

[Melissa Ford]

You can't come.

[Ish]

I'm not. The Obamas aren't fans of mine. They, they, they.

[Joe Budden]

The Obamas don't mess with you. No.

[Ish]

I don't want to sound grandiose, to make it sound like they think about me, but I'll say that I've. The opportunities I've been given at other presidents, I have not been given there. And when I've been. The times when I was supposed to be there for something, somehow my name got taken off the list.

[Joe Budden]

Mark rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Damn, I ain't gonna hold you.

[Ish]

Yeah, we might be cool.

[Joe Budden]

Now, what you said about Barack, you.

[Ish]

Call a nigga a war criminal and everybody gets on you.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, you know.

[Ish]

Thin skinned people, man. Thin skin.

[Flip]

You do that. But you big enough. The journalist convention?

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Flip]

What's wrong with the coalition, man? Respect black man bargains. Black respect them. I don't give a fuck.

[Ish]

We don't.

[Flip]

We're not worried about no war criminal shit. Whatever you talking about.

[Ish]

I am.

[Flip]

Publicly. It's a black president. Put some respect on his name.

[Ish]

Okay, so you support black Republican presidents?

[Flip]

No. Is he a Republican?

[Ish]

No, but I'm saying there are blacks you don't support because you don't agree with them. He's the person I don't support. Cause I don't agree with him.

[Joe Budden]

Well, for 850 episodes before we start, we do say, what topic do y' all want to start with? Let me tell you which one wasn't on that list. Nowhere near wasn't the choice. It ain't make the board. It wasn't in the group chat in the kitchen.

[Melissa Ford]

I think I could take a shot.

[Flip]

And say, war crime.

[Joe Budden]

I will not let us be derailed. We all done with.

[Parks]

This is why the lawyers don't let.

[Ish]

Well, let me take it back. Because one of the arguments the bougie people were having up there, myself excluded. Cause I'm not bougie, was this Halle Berry, David justice thing. And I mean, people were ready to, like, throw hands over this shit. And it was mostly. It turned into like a gender war thing a little bit.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Wow. Really shocking.

[Ish]

And I shouldn't be shocked. I know. But it was like, actually, do we had a clip? Cause Halle actually. I mean, David justice breaks down why he broke up with Halle Berry. I have.

[Parks]

There's many, but I have one here queued up. Yep, let's get into it.

[H]

It really wasn't a lot of negative attention until I decided to leave her in 1996. You know, I remember Halle saying to me, you know, hey, she asked me to marry her after knowing me for five months. So I'm looking at my mom, and I'm a Midwest guy. So in my mind, I'm thinking, a wife at that time should cook, clean, traditional, you know. And then I'm thinking, okay, if we have kids, you know, is this the woman I want to have kids with.

[Joe Budden]

And build up a family with?

[H]

And at that time, as a young guy, she don't cook, don't clean, don't really seem like motherly. And then we start having issues.

[Ish]

He, Ladies and gentlemen, I thought he was ridiculous. Now I add two quick things he did say at the time. So he may not think like that anymore. I don't wanna say he thinks like that now, but at the time, I thought the way he thought was ridiculous. You are with Halle Berry.

[Joe Budden]

Who was her.

[Ish]

Yeah, Halle Berry was her. Now. David justice had money. David justice was him at the time.

[Parks]

He was.

[Ish]

So in the same way, it would be unreasonable for her to be like, yo, he doesn't seem like the type of. He just wasn't home all the time. He was. You know, he was at pract. He was playing for the Braves. He was a star. Like, I would expect the same thing for her. She was in the prime of her career or entering in the prime of her career. She was the star. No, she wasn't those things. And I don't think that's a knock against her. And he almost made it sound like she wasn't doing her responsibilities. And I would just want to add a caveat that he left out a little breakup thing. She also had a restraining order for abuse. I don't know whether it's true or not. I don't know, but it was true. But at least I should say the restraining order is true. I don't know the details of their relationship, but what I do know is that's also part of.

[Joe Budden]

Why is that what you were saying was true. The restraining order part or the abuse part?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

All of the above. And because she goes on to describe the. The effect that it had on her and her suicide attempt directly afterwards.

[Joe Budden]

Where. Where did she describe this?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

She describes it on Oprah and in multiple magazines.

[Ish]

I wasn't doubting her account. I just don't know enough to have. To have an opinion on it.

[Joe Budden]

See, but that's the thing that, that. That in this conversation is kind of important because in the longer clip, David justice is saying, part of why I'm talking now about Halle Berry is because as a Midwest dude, I stayed quiet and allowed certain rumors to take place. Halle Berry was abused. This is his words. I know the person that abused her. And she kind of let that story circulate as if it was me. And she never held me down or came out to say, this is not me. That's what he is saying in. In the long clip.

[Parks]

Yeah, I heard that part.

[Ish]

Yeah. And that's what I'm saying. I don't know enough about that to know who's. What's true and what's not.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I don't know about that, because I feel like everybody up here knows who the allegations were against.

[Joe Budden]

See, I, as a man, can't do that.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm gonna be honest.

[Ish]

I do. I won't say it.

[Melissa Ford]

I know who they are against. I'm gonna be honest.

[Joe Budden]

I have no idea.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't know if it's valid.

[Joe Budden]

Hold on.

[Melissa Ford]

Let me tell you.

[Joe Budden]

I.

[Melissa Ford]

From. For as long as I can remember, I always thought it was him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay, same.

[Joe Budden]

That was the rumor, but it was him.

[Parks]

In defense, I agree. But we were 12. Maybe.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

When this first came out, that rumor carried. Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Because when it first came out, I saw a conversation of people saying, yeah.

[Joe Budden]

But you did this to her.

[Melissa Ford]

And then I looked it up. I'm like, oh, it wasn't him. All this time I thought it was him.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

So that character.

[Joe Budden]

So if. If we're taking him at his word, I can understand having an axe to grind with Halle Berry all of these years later.

[Melissa Ford]

Even an axe that you buried for 20 some odd years.

[Ish]

Yes.

[Melissa Ford]

And in my opinion, this is what I took from it. I took one, a level of honesty from him. I also took a level of accountability from him. So I think he said basically back then, knowing what I knew then, as a 26, 25 whatever year old man, this is where my thoughts were. He country as fuck today. So I can only imagine how he sounded in the 90s. He sounded like he just came out the farm like, yo, dog, a young kid, he's a superstar athlete. He was right. Living in Atlanta, I came from this. These are my perceptions of how a woman should be. It's no different than women that grew up with their dad. They'll tell you in a heartbeat, yo, I grew up with my father and my grandfather. These are how things that I think a man should do. Like, yo, dog, you need to be hands on. I grew up in a household where my father fixed shit. Sweetie, I'm a software engineer. I'm just gonna call Thumbtack. You know what I'm saying? People and women will be like, yo, I like men that are manly men. It's just how his perception was back then was wrong.

[Flip]

I was raised.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, but it was wrong considering you have to modify your perception to who you dating.

[Ish]

I wish I could have heard him say it was wrong a little more. I thought that was.

[Joe Budden]

I have the longer clip here.

[Melissa Ford]

He basically said it was.

[Joe Budden]

I didn't understand. Cause I had saw the longer clip first.

[Melissa Ford]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

And seeing that then I didn't get really get the gender war. Me either. Cause in the longer clip, it wasn't.

[H]

A lot of negative attention until I decided to leave her in 1996. You know, I remember Halle saying to me, you know, hey, she asked me to marry her after knowing me for five months. I said okay, because I couldn't.

[Joe Budden]

And this is long, so I will cut it at some point, you know.

[H]

And I said okay, but I don't know if my heart was really into it, but I just. I didn't want to make her feel bad and say no in the moment, you know, or like I was just in the moment. It caught me off guard. But I was like, cool, we getting along, we vibing. You get again. We're only five months in and you know, we still in the honeymoon state, but we spent a lot of time Apart because she was doing movies in this country, that country, we probably could have made it.

[Joe Budden]

If I knew about therapy.

[H]

If we knew about therapy.

[Joe Budden]

See, I took this as accountability.

[Melissa Ford]

Me too.

[H]

I never had any major issues like that. It's just that I. Because I was young and had only been in, honestly, one real relationship before her, my knowledge and my understanding, my.

[Joe Budden]

Wisdom wasn't where it needed to be at all.

[H]

I'm looking at my mom, and I'm a Midwest guy. So in my mind, I'm thinking a wife at that time should cook, clean, traditional, you know.

[Joe Budden]

So he's saying, yeah, I agree.

[H]

If we have kids, you know, is this the woman I want to have kids with and build up a family with? And at that time, as a young guy, she don't cook, don't clean, don't really seem like motherly. And then we start having issues. We never had any issues about other women, other men.

[Melissa Ford]

I mean, like, see, this is not.

[Joe Budden]

The picture that is painted at all of us.

[H]

When she.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, no, I got. Wait, hold up.

[H]

Look, one time, because I didn't understand it when we were out to lunch.

[Flip]

And that was funny.

[H]

I remember I was just dying, man. I ain't even in la. Scene like that. And she see an actor that she worked with one time, and he came in, hey, hey. Kissed him on the lips.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, what.

[Ish]

What are we doing?

[Flip]

Is he European or American? I'm just saying, what the is going on here?

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, so I know this gonna be.

[H]

A conversation, so get home and I ask about that. Oh, that's what we do in LA.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, okay, okay. 20 more seconds. I cut it off.

[Melissa Ford]

No, no, no, keep going restaurant all the time.

[H]

I had a young lady at the front seat. I'm with it so much. She. She became so friendly.

[N/A]

We.

[H]

We got the. Hugging her every time we come in.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, how you doing? Just regular hug in the wife To. To lunch.

[H]

One time I said, halle, this is such and such. This is Halle, right? Halle looked at that girl, saw how fine she was, man. She gave her.

[Melissa Ford]

She gave her one of them, like.

[H]

Barely touched her hand, right?

[Melissa Ford]

Just played her crazy.

[Flip]

I was embarrassed, bro.

[Ish]

I was embarrassed. I was like.

[Melissa Ford]

But wait, hold on.

[H]

I just hugged the girl, right? You kissed this dude and you mad at me.

[Joe Budden]

Collide.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Love the girl.

[H]

So remember, we young.

[Joe Budden]

We young.

[Ish]

So, you know, young.

[Joe Budden]

You get petty. Yeah.

[Ish]

You understand?

[Joe Budden]

I can cut it here. He keeps going.

[Ish]

No, I think this. I think this is. I think it's a good place to stop.

[Melissa Ford]

I mean, this is the first thing I heard Too.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[H]

And when this is David, I see this one.

[Ish]

It's helpful for context for me.

[Melissa Ford]

You never saw that? No, I'm saying I saw the other one.

[Ish]

I never saw the fullest. That's why I said from the beginning, I said like, you know, he said back then. So I was trying to give him some grace on that. But he actually. Actually delves even deeper to make it clear that it was back then. But the gender war thing that was happening, by the way, it wasn't people debating whether David justice was wrong or not. It was people actually making. Debating about whether or not a woman of that stature should be doing those things.

[Parks]

Manosphere was going crazy. The first thing I saw was the Manosphere reactors because I looked for the clip to get the full context. I was like, oh, fuck it. I landed on one of these.

[Joe Budden]

I just think that that's more silly rage, baby. Right? Like a woman. That's the first 20 million dollar actress. The woman with all that she had going on. He goes on to say that she was broke at the time.

[Melissa Ford]

I was about to say, but be clear. And again, I think he even admits to being wrong.

[Joe Budden]

Right.

[Melissa Ford]

He might not have said, yo, I was wrong. I think he says, I'm wrong at that time. The way I viewed shit at that time, blah, blah, blah. But he was him.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, he was she.

[Melissa Ford]

They got married in 93, bro. But this is not that Halle Berry that we see today. 93, 1996. But she had boomerang.

[Joe Budden]

We don't need to get to all that, because with all that going on, you can hire. You hire the nanny, you hire the cleaning lady. Cleaning person.

[Ish]

Exactly.

[Joe Budden]

You hire the chef like this. This is like a lowbrow argument to me.

[Ish]

I agree. But the problem is if you old country dude, it's not just, can stuff get done, it's, is this the right kind of person? And the idea is, is if you're not down to do that yourself, then you're the wrong person for me. I can afford to get it taken care of, but I need somebody who wants to do that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But even just the fact that he states that they barely knew each other, you know, regardless of the fact, like, she asks him to marry her, I don't know her thinking as to why you asked this man to marry you after. Would you not do that after five months? If I think that I. If I think that I have met my soulmate and I love you more than I don't know what the sun rises and sets on the crack of your fucking ass.

[Joe Budden]

Ass.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yes, I would. I would, I would.

[Joe Budden]

But that's not that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But that's not what that sounds like. He sounds wildly indifferent. He goes, he. It's almost like he wants to say, I really couldn't give a.

[Ish]

You know what? You got to be him to be like Halle Berry. I felt bad for. I just said, yes.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, you. I felt bad for her, so I said marriage with.

[Melissa Ford]

No, you don't.

[Joe Budden]

No, you don't.

[Melissa Ford]

No, you don't. No, you don't.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Wait, what?

[Joe Budden]

What?

[Melissa Ford]

No, you don't.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, you don't.

[Ish]

Explain it to me. I might be wrong.

[Parks]

Tell me why you shouldn't just marry off someone's good looks.

[Melissa Ford]

Physical and physical clout.

[Ish]

Yeah, no, I'm not saying he should have. I was just saying, like, you gotta really be that at that time of your life.

[Melissa Ford]

That nigga's handsome. My. That was playing for the Atlanta Braves when they were the Braves and the Yankees.

[Ish]

And I'm saying the same thing.

[Melissa Ford]

He was that dude like, yo, dog, that was him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

We're not just.

[Joe Budden]

Okay, so he's saying word salad.

[Melissa Ford]

Mark's question was, yo, you know how you gotta be to say to Halle Berry, he might have had 10 halle berries on his roster and she wasn't.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But I also think that.

[Ish]

Anyway, that's not the.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I think that that was exactly what Mark is saying. Mark was basically saying he was him, she was her, he was him. They are the. They were the power couple before the term was even coined. But the whole thing, the weirdness is you really. You didn't really have like an investment in this woman.

[Joe Budden]

What I'm saying to Mark is if any woman that asks you, I don't care who you are, Marilyn Monroe, you could put all the statue in the world. Queen Elizabeth, if you five months. If you five months in and you propose to a guy, I don't think that you need to be that dude to say, I'm not ready for that.

[Parks]

Yeah, this seems like a lot.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. I think a regular. The UPS worker, that's actually a red flag.

[Ish]

Oh, it's a super red flag.

[Melissa Ford]

A lot of people tell the truth about it. That's a red flag.

[Joe Budden]

A lot of pragmatics now on top of that, that y' all are right, he was him. But I don't think you need to be him to handle that that way.

[Melissa Ford]

That's true.

[Parks]

I think the biggest thing with this clip that caught me off guard is why is this happening right now?

[Joe Budden]

Because of podcasts.

[Melissa Ford]

I think 30 year old relationship, people.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Were Thinking we're still.

[Melissa Ford]

What happened. What I saw a lot of was people making this. The flip of the Nelly Ashanti argument.

[Joe Budden]

What do you mean, tell me more.

[Melissa Ford]

Wait, Nelly saying the whole, yo, I'm not changing no diapers. I'm not doing any of this. I'm hiring somebody. So now when you hear a man says they were like, okay, if y' all stood on that side, it was okay, then why you'd have a problem with it when the woman's saying, I don't want to do that, and I'm her okay. So that. That's why people are trying to equate. I don't. I don't think Halle Berry should have been cleaning anybody's house.

[Joe Budden]

Agreed.

[Melissa Ford]

I think we both have enough money where. I don't. I'm not cleaning nobody house, nigga. My girl. I gotta hire a cleaning lady, and I ain't got a tenth of what they got. I'm just saying no home runs and his. Exactly.

[Flip]

No Golden Gloves, no nothing.

[Melissa Ford]

I just think that from where he was from and how he was brought up, that was traditional to me.

[Parks]

I get that.

[Melissa Ford]

That's all.

[Parks]

Especially back then, you know, that's why.

[Ish]

I was saying, it's like, it's about whether that work gets done, but it's also for some men or women, to your point about the handyman stuff about wanting someone who's that type of person. Because it's like, oh, if you're the software engineer and you could pay thumbtack or whoever to do this stuff, but I want a certain kind of dude with a certain kind of personality, some kind of character, somebody who can defend me. And those things often come with the dude that's building the cabin for you and they're calling somebody. And I think a lot of times to do it, it's not about whether I can afford a nanny or not. It's like, do you have motherly? Because he said she's not motherly.

[Melissa Ford]

Motherly. He did.

[Ish]

You know, that's about something else. And I'm not sure if that's a.

[Parks]

She was also probably, what, 20 something.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

She was 20 something. And that was such an unfair assessment of her because she goes on to have, what, like, three children? So it's just like his assessment of her at that age was just like.

[Ish]

Everybody was a mother. Ain't motherly, though.

[Melissa Ford]

That is a thousand percent.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm not.

[Ish]

And I'm not saying she's not.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm just saying let's just stay where we are. We're talking about Halle. And we're. And it's. It appears by all appearances that she is a very involved, loving mother. So let's just stay right there.

[Ish]

That's fair. And that was the crit as her. I don't know anything about.

[Joe Budden]

No, I'm not. You do that. That's not fair, cuz. That's always the appearance. Yeah. The appearance is 99 of the times. A motherly woman.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay. Well, usually by this age, because all of her, you know, at least Nala, her oldest, is in her teens. By this age, children have voices and they have social media and they come after their parents. If they ain't. We see it all day long. We have not heard off from Halle Berry's kids, everybody, as to whether or not. Okay, okay, let's give it.

[Ish]

I have no reason to think she's not a great mother. I was just saying I don't see having children as proof of being good at it any more than a father who has 10 kids. You get what I'm saying?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But I'm also.

[Joe Budden]

And I don't think that not having kids is enough for a man to say that.

[Ish]

That's the other side.

[Joe Budden]

If there's no kids and you don't see that motherly shit, it ain't no kids around. And she ain't being motherly to you, nigga, we running around. You gotta see.

[Melissa Ford]

No, it's not children.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Oh, tell me more.

[Melissa Ford]

You've seen.

[Joe Budden]

Tell me more.

[Melissa Ford]

I've seen women be with nieces, nephews, other kids. You can just see certain things that jump out. It's like, oh, you know, she knows. She knows how to handle it. There's women that have been around a man and men that have been around women intimately and been around them. And a woman can say, yo, I don't think he would be a good dad. I see him. I see how he moves. I see some of his moral shit. I don't think I would be comfortable having a baby in that assessment.

[Joe Budden]

I saying is unfair.

[Melissa Ford]

That's based on their observation. So that's their perception. So they not wrong in their perception. The same way a man could look at somebody and say, yo, she outside too much. She moving around a lot. I don't think I would be comfortable having a baby with this woman. She's not fair. I don't think that's fair at that point.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

He shouldn't have married her. If he thought up. He thought all those things about her, he should have left her and didn't. And basically was trying to insinuate I didn't even really love her. Leave her the fuck alone.

[Ish]

That's the original Leave it the alone.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Go with the 10 halle berries that are nurturing in one cleanup after you in the household. Leave that one alone. It's just. It's weird. It's just. It's weird.

[Ish]

I agree with that last point. Leave her alone if that's not what you want. No, he shouldn't adopt me. She's the one that's not for you. And you see all that up.

[Flip]

Don't marry her.

[Melissa Ford]

He shouldn't have married her.

[Ish]

Left her.

[Melissa Ford]

He shouldn't have married.

[Ish]

If you say she proposed to me, me after five, I didn't. Wasn't into it. I. I felt bad for her. I didn't see the things I want in a wife. Don't marry her.

[Melissa Ford]

Why you make her a wife.

[Ish]

Yeah, just don't marry her.

[Melissa Ford]

You thought you could change her mistake one.

[Flip]

And in retrospect, we think about it later. People do things like that all the.

[Melissa Ford]

Time and regret it later.

[Joe Budden]

We be real responsible on these podcasts, but later.

[Ish]

I'm not saying I wouldn't. I'm saying I would have did the same, but I'd have been wrong. If you tell me at 26, if Halle Berry said, yo, let's get married. But that comes with h. Call me right now.

[Flip]

That comes with knowledge.

[Ish]

It's too early in the podcast conversation.

[Flip]

That comes with knowledge and experience. Yeah, bro, if you're 26 years old as Halle, like, you're gonna.

[Ish]

I get it.

[Flip]

You're gonna jump into it. It just come with knowledge and experience. We. We do that a lot of time. And I think it's reckless to say, yo, this person shouldn't have did that. And this.

[Ish]

What does he lose?

[Flip]

Yeah, we negate.

[Joe Budden]

He still got his bitches.

[Flip]

We negate the fact that a couple hundred million.

[Ish]

If it's. If it's the wrong situation.

[Flip]

Wait, hold on. But we take away growth and we take away experience from the person. Like, this is what you have to go through in order to make these decisions.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Hold on. Here's the other part, though, is it was not lost on him what it looked like to have Halle Berry on his arm.

[Ish]

That's why I said the ego.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Exactly. So you can't have it both ways. You can't wanna turn this fledgling starlet into a fucking housewife, but then also rock her on her arm where everybody's gonna recognize her for the achievements that she already has and what's probably going to come down the pipeline. You don't get to fucking have it both ways. And he wanted to have it.

[Ish]

Unless she wants it both ways.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah.

[Ish]

Because there are women who want to be in the spotlight, but want to be home cooking chicken and raising beans.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Maybe. But again, we're staying here with this particular situation.

[Ish]

Let me ask you a question on a different note. I saw you make a face earlier, and I might have misread your face. Joe said that it was a red flag, and we all kind of agree there was a red flag to somebody proposes after five months, for her to.

[Parks]

Propose you alone is a little red flaggy.

[Ish]

And we said it was red flagging. You kind of look like you seem like you disagreed with that. Did I misread you, or do you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, no, I answered it.

[Ish]

Oh, you do think it's a red flag.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, no, I. I answered it like he asked me whether or not that I would do it, and I basically said if the sun rose and set on the crowd.

[Ish]

No, no, I get that under that circumstance.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But. But also, I have a very. I have very specific feelings about women proposing to men. This is. That's where my traditionalism creeps in, you know, so. But, you know, who knows? Let that special fucking someone fall from the skies and it might change everything.

[Flip]

About double standards is a motherfucker.

[Ish]

I don't care.

[Flip]

Her tradition stick in. But his tradition can't kick in. That's all.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm not. It's. I'm not kicking his back in about his sense of traditionalism. I'm kicking his back in about his. About the choice of the woman.

[Flip]

Oh, got it.

[Ish]

Sorry. Okay.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You know, so, Mark, you want to say something?

[Ish]

No, no. Y' all just nailed it.

[Parks]

I will say I completely understand. Marion Halle Berry at 26. I don't really understand. Thirty years later, aired out all the tea. I'm still on that.

[Joe Budden]

Nah, I totally understand that one.

[Ish]

Yo.

[Melissa Ford]

And they were asking him questions.

[Joe Budden]

So dog Ice just sat there and said, me and Ice, you wouldn't answer that. We. For all of these years. I'm be 45. Thought that David justice was the one beating her ass. I definitely, like, if that's not the case, I totally understand him addressing that. Anytime a mic is.

[Parks]

I agree with that part. I just don't agree with the. I didn't see a mother in her. And all the other parts. That's the parts that I back.

[Flip]

His backman. He'd been accused of something he didn't do, and he stayed quiet.

[Parks]

So you.

[Joe Budden]

You're.

[Flip]

Yes.

[Parks]

Your retort is to.

[Joe Budden]

But he's not saying that there wasn't motherly instincts in her. He's saying at that age, based on.

[Melissa Ford]

What I thought a mother and a.

[Joe Budden]

Wife, no relationship experience assessed wrong.

[Ish]

I just wanna be clear, just for factual. Since what I said at the beginning was that there was a restraining order against him. There was.

[Joe Budden]

It was.

[Ish]

That was accurate. That was for a verbal altercation they had. And she said that she felt unsafe after their argument. So to be clear, there was a restrain order. What I said was accurate. What I said I didn't know about was whether there was any physical violence in there. It seems to me, based on what you're saying, and I haven't heard Halle Berry say anything to. On Oprah. She didn't say it was David, Just justice.

[Joe Budden]

Right.

[Ish]

No, Right. My understanding from.

[Joe Budden]

See, in 2025, it's easy to do that to Joe.

[Melissa Ford]

No, in 2025.

[Ish]

I'm clearing it up. I'm saying. I want to be clear.

[Joe Budden]

Y' all have to stop talking over each other, please.

[Ish]

I. I thought it was him too, for years, until I kind of got in the business and found out who it was. And then it's. It's also kind of leaked a little bit. The actor who. Who has been alleged to do it. It's not her. It's not him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I know.

[Ish]

I know you know, and so I'm just. I just want to make that distinction because I don't want people assume. Because there was a restraining order against him.

[Joe Budden]

Well, then at some point come cleared up.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Exactly. And also don't make it seem like that's what I was saying. When she went on Oprah, I did not say that he was the one that perpetrated the violence against her. I said that there was a whole. That there's an understanding as to who it actually was.

[Ish]

I think we all Mr. Cleared up.

[Flip]

No, you didn't. I think you didn't say it like that, ma'.

[Joe Budden]

Am.

[Melissa Ford]

No, I did not.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I said.

[Melissa Ford]

You did not. You said it. She is him.

[Ish]

You didn't.

[Melissa Ford]

You said it was him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, I didn't.

[Melissa Ford]

Push pause.

[Joe Budden]

What you were saying was true. The restraining order part or the abuse part?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

All of the above. And because she goes on to describe the effect that it had on her and her suicide attempt directly afterwards.

[Joe Budden]

Where. Where did she describe this?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

She describes it on Oprah. Right. So 30 years. That was very talented. First, I do have to funny commend you. You.

[Joe Budden]

Cause you be lying so much.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You're him. Shut the fuck up.

[Flip]

30 seconds later.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Shut up, grandpa. He Ain't no sensei. Anyway.

[Flip]

Corny, I got you.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

So she put the mic right underneath.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. I say, look like I'm ready to do a split. Y' all watch ourselves with y' all little jokes, cuz.

[Flip]

Look, even the bottom of your shits. What are those?

[Ish]

Checking boards?

[Flip]

You look crazy, boy.

[Ish]

Boy, you look.

[Flip]

I look good and crazy. Yeah, man.

[Joe Budden]

Anyway.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Anyways. Okay.

[Joe Budden]

Don't talk over male no more, too.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, God. It's fine. Okay. So almost 30 years ago, she gives the interview with. With Oprah, and she talks to several media outlets, and she talks about the effects that the marriage had on her. There is the insinuation. She talks about the restraining order. So the insinuation is that there was some abuse that happened. But ev. I felt like everybody knew who it actually was.

[Ish]

No, I think they were just.

[Joe Budden]

And that right there is unfair to men.

[Melissa Ford]

No, because everybody didn't know.

[Ish]

I think a lot of people thought.

[Joe Budden]

That part is unfair to men. Y', all. I. Y' all just said the name. I never heard.

[Melissa Ford]

I didn't know that.

[Ish]

And if I did, I forgot it.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, I heard that, but it's always been David Jones.

[Melissa Ford]

I just thought it was multiple people.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That's the thing is.

[Joe Budden]

But he goes on in this clip to say, though Holly was broken, she had a different type of machine behind her to help push and frame any narrative that she wanted to be out. I think it's fucked up. I think it's fucked up.

[Ish]

Yeah, if he didn't do it, it's fucked up. I mean, that's. I think that's simple. Yeah, if he didn't do it, it's fucked up. And it don't sound like he did it.

[Melissa Ford]

So if somebody. Yo, if somebody has a restraining order on you, you said it was for verbal assault. Yeah, but then they come out and say, yo, I was physically assaulted.

[Joe Budden]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, like the two or three things gonna start getting pasted together, and then you don't refute that for the next 20 or 30 years.

[Joe Budden]

That's nasty. That's nasty.

[Melissa Ford]

And women be nasty.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

So why didn't he ever defend himself?

[Joe Budden]

How can he defend himself?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I never put my hands on her.

[Melissa Ford]

And then what?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

And then that's it. I never put my hands on her.

[Ish]

I don't know that he hasn't done that, but I think that works.

[Melissa Ford]

That works.

[Ish]

But what I was gonna say is, I think the problem is, to the point Joe was making is believe victims. She had a machine.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

A lot of. A lot of times they are not believed at all. Epstein files. Hello. Everyone keeps looking for the Epstein files. Listen to the women that fucking actually said the crimes were committed. But yeah, but go on.

[Ish]

I think David Justice's point is just that one. He said his sensibilities as a Midwest dude was that he just stayed out the way and let that go. But I think he has at some point denied it at least once. But I think his point was there's a whole machine behind Halle Berry where all. If you hear that constantly, even if he's denying it, he's like, I didn't do it. And they're like, he did it. He's like, I didn't do it. And that comparison is what keeps happening, you know, and that creates a bad situation for people.

[Joe Budden]

I thank God that my male translator is back. Boy, I ain't gonna hold you. Cause I just be sitting here saying, but Mark, really.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Is that what you say? That's what you say?

[Joe Budden]

No, of course, no. Come on now. We gang, gang, gang. I just be like, yo, where'd she shut. But then Mark explained it, right? So we.

[Flip]

Yeah, he's a great.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

He's the male whisker basket. That's what happened.

[Joe Budden]

Yes.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

Yes. Thank the Lord.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

How do you feel about that title, Mark?

[Joe Budden]

Uhoh. See, you always do it. Look, see, you're so extra.

[Ish]

I don't like it. Yeah, I don't like it. I think we all.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's reductive, huh?

[Ish]

It is reductive. And objectification at its finest. Yeah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Any who's.

[Joe Budden]

Any who's. It's time for my favorite part of the show, Prize Picks. All right. Now I know some of you out there are asking, what is Prize Picks?

[Parks]

What is it, Joe?

[Joe Budden]

Well, Prize Picks is the best, Mel. Prize Picks is the best place to win real cash money with your sports knowledge. With millions of members, Prize Picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all really easy and simple to play. All you have to do out there is pick more or less and at least two players look at, look at their projected stat line for a chance to win. Now up to 2,000 times your cash. And though NBA basketball might be over, NFL is almost here. I can smell it in the air. And though the Yankees suck, baseball season is here. So whether it's with strikeouts, RBIs or first inning runs, make your call. With more or less for a chance to win up to 2000 times your cash. Only on prize pigs. And the Joe and ish picks of the week we're going with is you getting lazy, Camila. Cardozo been here for nine months, Camila Cardoso for more than 10 rebounds, Skyler Diggins for more than eight and a half rebounds and assists Gabby Williams for more than four rebounds and Aaron Judge for more than seven and a half fantasy score. Don't forget, if you open your phone right this second and download the Prize Picks app and use promo code jbp, all of us will be able to eat more than we did last year and we'll be able to prove our analytics the analytics to the people that matters to most. Don't forget, if you download Price picks right this second to use purple code JBP, you get 50 instantly when you play your first five dollar lineup. So good luck to all participants out there and run your game. Did y' all see Shador the other night?

[Parks]

I did.

[Ish]

Did yawn.

[Joe Budden]

Shador, huh?

[Ish]

He said yawn.

[Joe Budden]

What'd you say?

[Ish]

I said yawn at your door.

[Joe Budden]

Yes.

[Ish]

I don't understand. That's the story.

[Melissa Ford]

Get us a melon salt. Tell me more.

[Joe Budden]

How could you yawn that?

[Ish]

Because it's the preseason. I find I said something a couple weeks ago that stuck with me.

[Joe Budden]

Really?

[Ish]

Not exactly, but I'm making meaning of it.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Ish]

When we were talking about the Hulk Hogan thing, you were kind of like, it depends on who's doing the storytelling.

[Joe Budden]

People.

[Ish]

People respond differently to things. I find that like if you're a Shador person, you're like, this proves everybody right. And if you're anti Shador, you're like, this is the preseason. And if he had played like shit on the first game, the haters have been like, see? This mattered. And the supporters would be like, it's just the preseason. To me, this is a nothing burger. It's like he played. I'm glad he played well and I'm rooting for the kid. I want him to be great. But I think too much is being made of a preseason game against not the best competition.

[Joe Budden]

I couldn't be more on the opposite side of this.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, me either.

[Ish]

I'm shocked.

[Joe Budden]

Couldn't be more on the opposite side of.

[Ish]

It's usually reasonable.

[Melissa Ford]

Did he play against first team D? A little bit.

[Parks]

He did a little bit preseason.

[Melissa Ford]

They ran him around a little bit.

[Joe Budden]

Man is not right.

[Melissa Ford]

That ain't his fault. I'm just saying he did play against first team D. Pause. It wasn't the best. It looked a little bit better when he played against. But first team D means that they kicking our first team O line's ass and got me On a run.

[Parks]

Potentially.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't know.

[Ish]

Yeah. Listen, I'm not here again. It don't mean nothing.

[Joe Budden]

138 yards, whatever it was. Two. Two touchdowns, 14 for 23. Yeah, like, stop. That looks great, but I'm not here to talk about stats or the game. For what occurred in the draft and what we watched the spectacle made of him. If you're of the belief that we're making an example out of this young black kid from this prominent football family, which I am him, then that draft slide is a thing. Put that to the side. The. The quarterback that they took. Shut. Whatever his name is that they took before him was injured. See, that's why this is not a nothing burger to me, because you have no control over who's injured on the depth chart and who is not.

[Ish]

That's true.

[Melissa Ford]

No, fam.

[Joe Budden]

The two quarterbacks ahead of him were injured.

[Ish]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, the owner just announced. We didn't want you. The owner announced that there's nobody in the organization that has fought for this kid other than the gm. So I think the bricks have been laid for him to fail whenever he hit. It didn't happen.

[Melissa Ford]

It didn't happen.

[Joe Budden]

That's not a nothing burger.

[Melissa Ford]

And that's not a nothing burger.

[Ish]

I'll accept that he didn't fail. I think what I'm struggling with is the people making saying that this proves or disproves a point.

[Melissa Ford]

It doesn't prove anything.

[Ish]

That's what I'm saying. I'm just saying, let's see, again. I hope he's the greatest quarterback, you know, I'm just saying this game doesn't, to me tell a story one way.

[Joe Budden]

Or the other, but it does tell some of the story. It says that this kid with every odd stacked against him since before the draft was ready to play, had enough.

[Melissa Ford]

Mental fortitude to get in there and do what he did.

[Joe Budden]

That's not a nothing burger. You can't do that with what they doing and what they've done to that kid.

[Melissa Ford]

And some of those. And some of those throws were not just regular old Joe Schmo throws. Some of those throws he had poised in the pocket. He moved around, he stepped up. He made throws in double and triple coverage. He played well, bro.

[Joe Budden]

He moved faster than he did in college, per Dan or Orlinski or Lasky, whatever his name is.

[Ish]

That's interesting.

[Joe Budden]

What you put on tape matters. And pregame preseason, whatever the it is, that is tape that somebody somewhere is going to watch, that matters.

[Parks]

And he's an NFL Player.

[Melissa Ford]

He's.

[Ish]

I didn't think that was in question even as a fifth rounder. I mean, you don't draft fifth rounders who you think can't play in the NFL.

[Joe Budden]

Right.

[Ish]

It's just a question whether you think he's gonna be a starter or not.

[Joe Budden]

But he didn't look like a fifth rounder.

[Melissa Ford]

No, that's not true.

[Joe Budden]

He didn't perform like a fifth rounder, which to me is not a nothing burger. And.

[Melissa Ford]

And, bro, have you watched the game?

[Joe Budden]

Which I did.

[Melissa Ford]

His command of the team had other cerebral shit going on. Like when they came out the huddle. He didn't. We've seen veterans that were backups come out the huddle and they look shaky. He didn't come out the huddle looking shaky. He came out the huddle like, this, my shit. Let's. He came out the huddle in command.

[Joe Budden]

I couldn't agree. Wait, hold up a minute. I could not agree with. With Ishmore, the way he commanded the team.

[Melissa Ford]

The video.

[Joe Budden]

The videos. Hold up. It's the video circulating of him because he's mic'd up. So I don't even see many fifth rounders mic'd up.

[Ish]

No, he has his own personal camera crew.

[I]

So.

[Joe Budden]

So. But that's. He wearing a mic during the game is not his own personal camera crew.

[Ish]

I know. I'm just adding that as the next issue.

[Joe Budden]

So let's not do that. He's mic'd up. He's over there with Miles Garrett saying, hey, how would you handle my spin move? So he's gaining information. 2, 3. It took me till the third quarter to realize that that game was in Carolina. So if. If not for anything else, this can't be a nothing burger because it's looking like that Tim Tebow effect. I hate to use a white dude, but that other effect, that other box office outside of football, you want to sell jerseys? You want to get people to this fucking nasty ass arena in Cleveland when it's snowing out? Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

You said, yeah, he want to sell jerseys.

[Joe Budden]

No, not him.

[Melissa Ford]

Do you know his jersey went crazy?

[Joe Budden]

I'm just saying.

[Melissa Ford]

And they said there's too many mad because he gets a percentage in his contract. He gets a percentage of all jersey sold. So they said, so far, I think his jerseys made.

[Joe Budden]

You got to check this and check it.

[Melissa Ford]

They said his jersey. I was about to order a jersey.

[Ish]

Me too.

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, they said that he's made $12 million off of his jersey sales. I think his jersey sold 250. If you work in you haven't played a game yet.

[Joe Budden]

If you work in the Cleveland Browns organization and look at that game, there's no way that you could say this is a nothing burger. You've now they've changed the conversation in weeks to come now, not only in the quarterback room, but in the organization. And it tells the owner who not only should shut the up, but has gotten the quarterback pick wrong for the last 40 years. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that you didn't want.

[Melissa Ford]

Agree now.

[Ish]

Go ahead, please.

[Melissa Ford]

I still. I'm. I. I agree with Mark. It's a nothing burger in terms of what this proves. Playing wise.

[Ish]

That's all I'm saying.

[Joe Budden]

That's it. Not if you're Shador Sanders.

[Melissa Ford]

No. Now I respect the. Out of him because he could have went in there and.

[Ish]

And been the bed.

[Melissa Ford]

Not even the bed. He could have went in there on some. Yo, they already don't give a About me. Like, all right, whatever. It just went out there on some glossy. He took this opportunity like, yo, no matter what, I don't give a. If I get in with three seconds left in the fourth quarter, I'm gonna go out here and ball.

[Joe Budden]

Then that. Then. So I respect that then for this plethora of reasons, this cannot be a nothing burger. To get a perfect game in bowling, you need a strike in the first frame. Frame. And the fourth frame, of course. And the six. Fifth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If he does this again and again because there's two more games and Cleveland Browns preseason games are now must see tv. If he does this two more times, it's a conversation. So then for him. So then it's the building block for him and the people that involved. It cannot be a nothing burger.

[Melissa Ford]

They said he was potentially getting cut. Bro, cut me now. I dare you.

[Parks]

Although that could go two ways too, because there was a lot of similar. Back to the Teboo thing. There was a lot of similar with Tebow and that played against him long term.

[Melissa Ford]

True.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Parks]

Because he went out and won a playoff game and now sorry, I playoff game and now can't get a job because no team wants to bring that around.

[Joe Budden]

Well, that's true. That's always going to exist. This. But that's why I didn't want to use him as an example because we do also have eyes. I saw those games.

[Melissa Ford]

He can't throw.

[Joe Budden]

Everybody watching knew that he couldn't throw the ball. Yep. Jador Sanders made two really good red. Red zone plays.

[Ish]

Yeah, I, I think he can play. I don't Know if enough about football to know whether he should be first round, third round, fifth round. When I say nothing Burger and we. I. I'll throw that word away and stand down on that point. My. My point on it wasn't that this game doesn't matter at all. I think every game matters. Right. When you're watching young.

[Joe Budden]

Your point is don't overblow it.

[Ish]

Don't. Yeah. All I'm saying is this doesn't prove the case for him or against him.

[Melissa Ford]

This ain't the I told you show on either side.

[Ish]

That's the best way to put it. Everybody was saying this is the I told you he could play it. I'm saying it. It's a preseason game. We just don't know. And I've seen too many.

[Joe Budden]

It's the depending on how you getting dressed. It's the shoes, it's the socks to it. It's. It's some part of the album.

[Melissa Ford]

No, no.

[Joe Budden]

This absolutely plays part of that. It's the tank top.

[Melissa Ford]

But it ain't the end all be all.

[Joe Budden]

That's what we saying. This is not the end all be not at all.

[Ish]

Let me ask you a question. I've been hearing rumors through social media and some sports people off social media saying that this is the setup to trade him. To basically trade him to a place that now we'll see him as.

[Joe Budden]

That's who started.

[Ish]

You don't see it.

[Joe Budden]

That's hoot nanny. The Browns have two first round draft picks in the next in this 2026 draft. Okay. Which is said to be a really, really, really good draft if you're the Browns and they've been a dysfunctional organization for a while. But if they weren't, you want one of these quarterback picks to pan out that you got in round four and five so that your two picks in the deep draft could be about something. And now you got the building blocks or something. You just paid Miles Garrett all that.

[Melissa Ford]

They already got building blocks. They got Mel's Garrett. They got.

[Parks]

They got some hope.

[Melissa Ford]

Thank God. Hopefully God. Nick Chubb comes back or whomever they're running back.

[Ish]

Who they back?

[Melissa Ford]

It was another kid that was back.

[Parks]

I can't remember his name.

[Melissa Ford]

But you want to be able to.

[Joe Budden]

Spend those two picks next.

[Parks]

Left tackle and.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Versus filling a knee. Right. So that'd be great. Congratulations to Shador Sanders and the Sanders family. And Karrus. Like, this is a big deal. This is a really big deal, man. This is not to be overlooked.

[Parks]

That's true.

[Joe Budden]

Also, speaking of we have Ari Lennox doubling down on her Martin take. Do we have clips? Do we have clips? Somebody find me a clip. Find me a clip. Come on, wake it up here. Energy up, energy up. Ari Lennox went on, for some strange reason, to double down on her Martin tape, where she received a lot of backlash for saying that some of the jokes were not only inappropriate, but colorist and did a lot of damage to how black, darker complected women viewed themselves.

[Ish]

And I stand with her on that. But I think what was interesting is she added to it and said kind of like, you know, I can defend myself. I stand ten toes on that. And the piece of the clip that she said that was setting people off more recently, where she said, as a matter of fact, I watched Bernie Mac and I heard something, and, you know, and I also found some of those jokes offensive. He's a legend. But some of those jokes were problematic, too. That. That's. That's what she said.

[Joe Budden]

And if you watch Richard Pryor, they'll be offensive. Yeah, if you watch Eddie Murphy, they'll be offensive. Anybody that's funny, she should find something to do. I mean, she should have something to do.

[Melissa Ford]

Eddie Murphy said the gay dude was sitting on a car, spinning his hand. How. What was he doing?

[Joe Budden]

Pull over. Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

What you talking about? No, he ain't saying like that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, he did do that.

[Joe Budden]

And they said that, like, the good comedian, good comedy. And that show was a sitcom, a comedy, entertainment sitcom. The good comedy is gonna give you some of that. You weren't here. We said, if you feel like this about Martin, how did you feel about Sanford and Son?

[Ish]

Yeah, I mean, it's.

[Joe Budden]

How did you feel about Married With Children?

[Ish]

And I watched your conversation on it, and, you know, with great disappointment and judgment. I think there's two arguments, right? One argument people are having is, she's wrong. And another argument people are having against her is, yeah, but so what? Like, that's what comedy is. And I'm hearing more of the latter coming from y' all right now, which is interesting. I think what I was most frustrated with were the people. And I disagree with both of those arguments, but I was most frustrated with people who were saying it wasn't true. Right. But as far as all comedy's offensive, all comedy's offensive, but all comedy doesn't have to be anti black. And I laughed at the anti black growing up. I saw it. I. I didn't. I didn't see it as that growing up. But now when I look back on, I'm like, oh, yeah, that was up. Oh yeah, that was real up.

[Joe Budden]

What did Martin.

[Melissa Ford]

Back to her initial comments again. Martin joked on everybody on that show. What did Martin joke on Pam? That was colorist. He never made any jokes about her complexion. Bdb. He never. That. That's not a dark skinned joke. No, it's not.

[Joe Budden]

That's a hair joke.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But there's a direct correlation to darker complected women and nappy hair. Right.

[Ish]

The assumption is that if you're lighter you don't have nappy hair.

[Melissa Ford]

That's an assumption.

[Ish]

Yeah, but that's. These are all based stereotypes. That's what stereotypes are, their assumptions about how people are.

[Flip]

But hold on, listen, my problem is why must we. Sorry.

[Ish]

Of course it's not a fact that all black people eat watermelon. Right. It's an assumption people made. Right. It's a stereotype. The fact that it's not true is what makes it dangerous. Right. Because we're assigning to people truths that aren't actually true. And so there's something really harmful, I think about one, a setup where the love interest, the one who finds love is often the light skinned character. You see the same thing in Tyler Perry movies with men. So it goes in both ways, no pun intended. There's a light skinned character who finds love. There's a dark skinned character who doesn't find love. There's a dark skinned villain, there's a light skinned hero. These are all things, even if they don't say those things.

[Melissa Ford]

That villain is always the nigga with the money and the light skin.

[Ish]

Even if they don't say those things. And so Pam is always. Pam is on the butt end of most of the jokes right now. If Shanayna had been light skinned, it might have been a little more complicated, right? But even, but the character, the women characters that get joked on the most are the darker ones. And when you start making jokes about what's in your kitchen, you know what I mean? Or your breath or these other things. And it's a dark skinned character. It does do something. Yeah. And Esther, when Sanford and Son was a victim. But the difference on San franciscent is everybody was the same complexion. There were no light skinned. I mean if you think about Adonna, Esther, I mean everybody was the same complexion. So Gina wasn't colorist to me.

[Flip]

Don't you think, Mark?

[Joe Budden]

You got it.

[Flip]

The issue is, is that.

[Joe Budden]

Get back to the.

[Flip]

There's so many, there's so many things that's going on in the world today that I don't understand. Why people have the time to go back and ridicule the comedy or the shows that were part of us growing up. Right? Like, it's too many things going on right now in the world. So I feel like it's a disservice right now to do that.

[Ish]

Here's why I don't think it is. If we look at a, I hate to say rap video, because we don't do those that much anymore, but when you look at casting calls for rap videos for sets, and they looking for light skinned girls to be in the video only, or attractive girls only, but they mean light skin, Right? Where do we get that thinking from? Right? And so when you start tracing, say, well, that's how we grew up. We grew up admiring Gina and clown and Pam.

[Melissa Ford]

See, and that's Gina got clown.

[Joe Budden]

Wait a minute. Wait, See? And that's part of the problem.

[Melissa Ford]

Y' all brushed it.

[Joe Budden]

Ari Lennox didn't watch Martin as it aired. So she don't know that everybody still wanted to fuck Pam. Word. Everybody still wanted.

[Melissa Ford]

Pam wasn't the bum on the show. She wasn't the mutt.

[Joe Budden]

It wasn't what?

[Melissa Ford]

Niggas didn't want to fuck Gina more than they wanted to fuck Pam. I know I didn't.

[Joe Budden]

So I get that she's saying she's not trying to rewrite history, but if you weren't there, then you kind of are. And why? Where I agree with Flip is these are the same people. Pam, Gina, Cole, everybody that's alive looking for the Martin reboot.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

No, they asked Pam these questions herself.

[Joe Budden]

I know she answered. We played it. I don't want to harp, but these people are not only looking for the reboot. Martin had a. Didn't. Had a health scare. Like, I think the main point is not to say that there was zero validity in what she was saying. But like Flip said in 2025, why are we here? What are we doing? And why is this. This the focus? This show is cemented already.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Flip]

What's the point of going back?

[Joe Budden]

You should have something better.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

You not. And that sounds wrong. So let me not say that. But what I'll say is this. This is where some of the confusion comes from with Ari, Linux and other artists that decide to get on the net and share the opinions. The difference between them and our superstars is they won't share their opinions like you are in the people business. So I get everybody feel like, hey, we got a platform. Let me share. Ari Lennox is newly left her label or got removed and is in the people business. And every year, at least twice, we get these moments from you that didn't have shit to do with Martin. Hey, way before Martin. For years we get moments from you where twice a year you wig out on some black shit. I think that is more so the focus from people with the message and the messenger is not to say you're totally off base.

[Ish]

I think you're right. The superstars don't always.

[Joe Budden]

And you don't know what Beyonce think about a goddamn thing.

[Ish]

Yeah, but there might be something to be said about that too. Right. I admire people who say, I understand this is the cost of superstardom, but I need to tell the truth.

[Joe Budden]

Not on the Martin Hill. See, if it was a real hill. And I heard you just say this last night on some war criminal in your conversation, you was. If this was a real hill.

[Ish]

Oh, when I was defending Mel.

[Joe Budden]

Yes, but I would admire. I would admire that too. But what is there to admire on the Martin Hill? It's a weird hill to die on.

[Flip]

You got to speak about a lot of social injustice, a lot of things, you know, that we going back to mine, but you know, at least that shit a long.

[Ish]

Sometimes we talking about war criminals. Right. Just to use as an example, I'm not going to war crimes. I'm saying you've been dying too.

[Flip]

I'd love to.

[Ish]

But like, if I were to say, well, yeah, let's talk about pop culture as a relationship between those things. When we grew up watching WWF and Hulk Hogan's waving the flag and Nikolai Volkov and Iron Sheik are not, that sets us up to believe that we should be warring with those people. The axis of evil. Right. There's a way that pop culture trains us to look at the world different, differently.

[Joe Budden]

But there was too much pro black in Martin for that to be my focus.

[Flip]

Exactly. And with experience and. Hold on.

[Ish]

But that's part of the problem.

[Flip]

And. And with experience, you realize that at the time those things were happening, it was currently happening in the world. So there's a relationship between the two. WWF did. Was just imitated that. That's all.

[Ish]

And I'm saying something different. I'm saying it wasn't imitating. I'm saying it helps create that. I'm saying it's easy for me to accept famine and absolutely Africa if I got Abdullah the Butcher eating a turnbuckle. And I believe that's what those people deserve, A commodity. Ugandan giant.

[Joe Budden]

Okay, I see.

[Ish]

Okay, you see what I'm saying? It's easy for me to Bomb Iran. If I believe that the Iron Sheik's a cheater who stole Bob Backlin's championship with the. You see what I'm saying? There's a relationship between culture and politics. And I'm just saying Ari is on that tip now. I agree. That might not be the hill I would die on. I wouldn't want to be fired from CNN for talking about Martin.

[Joe Budden]

That's what black people are saying. That's all black people saying is this is a weird hill for your weird ass. We've been thought you was weird, not me. But that's what black people are saying. You've been weird, and this is another weird hill for you to die on.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay, wait, I have a question mark because I'm. I see that you mined through the comments. Did you see anybody who was agreeing with her?

[Ish]

It.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Was there any dark women of a darker complexion that were agreeing. Yeah, statements.

[Ish]

I saw people that agree. Lots of people were agreeing with her. And. And I think when you're a darker, complex person, you often. And you experience those things differently and you see those things differently. I mean, and it's not just Martin. It's the history of black television.

[Joe Budden]

Can we lock these people in the gymnasium so they could argue about it? Right. Like, the people that's, like, doing shit in the world, like, trying to make a real change should be separate from these people that want to fight about the shows from the 90s.

[Ish]

I think a lot of us have that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I think colorism has always, like. There's been a thread throughout, like, all film and television making when it comes to, like, black stories. We were just talking about paper bag tests and what was the movie called? School Days.

[Ish]

School Days.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, exactly. So shut the fuck up. So it's just like, this isn't. This isn't anything new.

[Ish]

Yeah, this is.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

This isn't anything new. And the fact of the matter is, she was probably like a young girl when Martin came out, you know, like, really, really young.

[Ish]

So it's like if she was alive.

[Melissa Ford]

She might not have been born.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Maybe not. So then. So I'm assuming that the first time she ever probably watched it was as a very, very young person. And then later on watches it and sees something through a different lens now, processed it one way and then realized whatever she's realizing in real time kind of thing.

[Flip]

So do you have an opinion on that, though, Mel? About how she.

[Joe Budden]

Or you just.

[Flip]

Do you have an opinion on her comments on the Martin show?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

My comments are basically like, whatever lens in which she's looking at the world is based on her personal experience. So I really don't have a judgment on it. You know, there's things and you know, being older, there's things I look back on that I had one impression of or one idea of and now I have a completely different opinion of it because of my lived experience, because of my age, because of my maturity and because of like my understanding has changed, just changed. So, you know, and do you extend.

[Melissa Ford]

That just so y' all know, she was one when Martin first aired, but.

[Joe Budden]

Totally aside from that, and this was. This speaks further to the point you were making last night in the conversation that I won't bring up. We looking at the worst hundred days from a president probably in the history of presidents.

[Flip]

That's what I'm saying. And look what the fuck we're talking about.

[Joe Budden]

You, in spite of what I think of, you have a voice and an audience and we on Martin.

[Ish]

That's fascinating.

[Flip]

Come on, come on, Mark.

[Ish]

Think about what we talk about up here on a given day. Yes, we talk about lots of stuff that people would say isn't as important as what's happening in Trump or in Gaza, but it's happening in the country.

[Joe Budden]

Hold up, hold up, hold up. That is a false parallel if I ever heard one. Because while true, in the next breath we would get to Gaza per you or the hundred days from a president or who's voting. We'll get to it.

[Ish]

But that's my point. Ari's doing the same thing. I'm saying, why, why, why are we not allowing her to talk about that on top of other shit she has not.

[Joe Budden]

All she's talked about is getting shit thrown at her at the Ride Wave concert. Martin, she's talked about everything that is related to how people treat her as a dark skinned woman in entertainment. It's been nothing. There's been nothing outside of that. If I'm wrong, please bring up the point. I've never heard it.

[Flip]

Is she getting treated bad? Is she getting treated bad?

[Joe Budden]

Not my place. She's spoken. She has spoken about it before, like in detail. But if she's used the platform and then since the pandemic to talk about a matter that matters to black people as a whole, please tell me.

[Ish]

But what you just described to me is what matters to black people. I'm saying it's not just like she's talking about TV shows, Martin. No, no, I'm saying in addition to Martin, just talking about how black, black women, girls and women and femmes get treated to me is a Worthwhile issue. Some people are single issue people. Some people are only gonna talk about the environment. Some people are only gonna talk about sexual violence. Some people only gonna talk about economic justice.

[Joe Budden]

If what you're saying is true, then point me to the three black shows today that continue that trend as a society. Black people have addressed this trend.

[Ish]

I don't know if we have. I'm not convinced that we have. I think that, well, in the 90s.

[Joe Budden]

In the 90s, when Martin was out, there wasn't Lena Rafe, there wasn't a Tyler Perry, there wasn't Issa Rae, there wasn't all of these black people. Black minds with a green light.

[Ish]

You linked up Tyler Perry traffics in colorism and we talk about it.

[Joe Budden]

Right?

[Ish]

That's what I'm saying. So I don't think we've passed it is all I'm saying. I think we have to keep talking about it so that this does stop.

[Joe Budden]

Past it, no. But progressed.

[Flip]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Yes. And I mean, to act like we haven't in 30 years would be irresponsible.

[Flip]

I just don't think we should go back.

[Ish]

I think. I think. I think we have to keep track of both. I think. Name me the show I think we can acknowledge outside of Tyler Perry.

[Joe Budden]

Name me.

[Ish]

I mean, that's half of black tv, but.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, but Martin is on. Was on Fox. Name me the show today that's on cable television that continues some of these dangerous tropes.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Well, there's not a lot of hope. There's not a lot of hope. Television.

[Joe Budden]

Take a second and think about it.

[Ish]

I don't watch power. What'd you say?

[Joe Budden]

Power.

[Ish]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. He should have left her episode one when she fucked up.

[Ish]

That's what you're saying?

[Melissa Ford]

That was one that did one.

[Joe Budden]

What?

[Melissa Ford]

What he just said the whole villainized. We always say Tasha was the villain. Tasha was the true villain. She was.

[Joe Budden]

And who his love interest was, was.

[Melissa Ford]

This was a fair skinned woman.

[Ish]

Not in the.

[Melissa Ford]

Not in the.

[Joe Budden]

You know, check this out. I'm gonna go back to getting money.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, are we crazy, y'?

[Ish]

All.

[Joe Budden]

Y' all have at it. These are all fair points.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But I will also say, to your.

[Ish]

Point, I'm not done yet. I have some thoughts on. That's my mom mama that I need to get off my chest.

[Joe Budden]

That's my mama.

[Ish]

You don't.

[Melissa Ford]

Never mind.

[Ish]

It's a show from the 70s.

[Melissa Ford]

I was about to say the whole.

[Ish]

Very funny joke, if you get the reference.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But I was gonna say to you flip right Now, Jen Z. Oh, it's.

[Joe Budden]

Shorty from what's Happening past.

[Ish]

Yes. I was gonna shout her out. Yes. Dr. Danielle Spencer, also known as D.

[Joe Budden]

One of my first TV crushers.

[Melissa Ford]

You had a crush on D?

[Joe Budden]

Hell, yeah. What's happening?

[Ish]

He still has crushes on D. Nah, that's not nice. What you say, man?

[Melissa Ford]

What you say, man?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I was just gonna tell. I'm just making a point that Gen Z is looking back at, like, a lot of the shows that were really, really popular back in the day.

[Ish]

Thank you.

[Melissa Ford]

They're looking back at everything.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, they are.

[Melissa Ford]

And everything Culture.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yes, exactly. And they're just, like, dissecting, like, what the was wrong with y'.

[Joe Budden]

All. Nothing that Ari got to say is going to take Martin off Netflix.

[Ish]

That's a fact.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Ish]

But D did die of cancer at the age of 62, and that. That show got decimated by cancer. Shirley Hempfeld, who played Shirley, died. Shirley and Mabel King. Mabel Thomas.

[Melissa Ford]

That was his mom's, right?

[Ish]

Yeah. The woman, her name is Mabel. And both. She died. The mom died as well. She lost all her limbs and stuff. But Dee was not only a great actress, she also was a veterinarian. She was an actual doctor who spent her life trying to serve animals and humanity and was just a good person best known for what's happening and what's happening now. Shout out to her family and everybody. But, yeah, the TV legend we lost. Lost.

[Parks]

Rest in peace.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, Rest in peace.

[Joe Budden]

Recipes for sure.

[Ish]

What.

[Joe Budden]

What else is.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, I wanted to tell you because you were asking the woman that you were playing in the beginning of the show. Her name is Jennifer Welch, and that podcast is called I've Had It.

[Joe Budden]

Thank you. Yeah, she's absolutely smoked.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

She. I mean, it was a longer clip. She's incredible.

[Joe Budden]

Shout out.

[Melissa Ford]

It was way longer.

[Joe Budden]

Flip. What's up, bro?

[Ish]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Flip]

So, you know, I know we've been going back Megafort or the last Patreon. I went and, you know, we were arguing about how the JBP has made you.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Flip]

Or wide in my audience and made you. No. Watch your fucking mouth. Don't start.

[Ish]

I'm just telling you from a fan's perspective, watching.

[Flip]

What fans? What's that? Stop, man.

[Joe Budden]

Where you about to go?

[Flip]

I made you.

[Melissa Ford]

Why would I play?

[Joe Budden]

It's so easy.

[Flip]

So what happened was I was at Dr. Parade. I saw Troy and Rashad Eyl. I saw them. They were working with Terrence G. So I'm with the camera.

[Joe Budden]

I woke up.

[Flip]

Yo. Hey, what up, y'?

[Joe Budden]

All? So Troy and Rashad are still walking around outside.

[Flip]

Yeah, so they was there in the public. Hold on. So they was there. We was laughing. But Terrence J. Had to go. So he like. I'm like, what up, Queens? Flip? So he like, yo, come on, fellas. We gotta go. He's rushing them, and then they're just still talking to me. He like, yo, listen, we gotta go. If you want to, you can follow us. So I'm like, nigga, what? He want me to.

[Ish]

Like, I'm a fan.

[Flip]

He want me to follow y'.

[Ish]

All.

[Flip]

So I said, nah, I'm good. And I walked. Walked away. About a couple of minutes later, he sends me. He follows me and sends me a dm, apologizing. And I'm like, oh, that was nice. He even invited me to the Beef Bar.

[Joe Budden]

So I go.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It'S a restaurant in Tribeca. I'm gonna shoot you some basil.

[Ish]

Wait, wait.

[Joe Budden]

Where's this place?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Mel, It's a restaurant.

[Ish]

Chelsea.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, it sounds like Chelsea.

[Flip]

Very nice.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's in Tribeca.

[Parks]

I thought he said my best flip. I didn't know that was you. Suck my dick.

[Melissa Ford]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Flip]

He apologized. He said I had to get fit. I'm getting married. I was getting. You know, I was in a rush to get fitted for my wedding. I'm getting married. So I want you to come out here to the. To the Beef Bar, Paul. I went there. Some exclusive shit. I went in the back, and he was just nice. And they had French fries. No, no, I didn't eat. He offered me steak. He offered me mad stuff.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Lots of meat there.

[Flip]

And he was just talking about Joe. Like, joe, my man River Road. And if I knew that was you, my approach wouldn't have been that way. I apologize. And in my head, I'm like, what the fuck is going on? But he wanted me to sit down at his. It was his wife's birthday, his fiance's birthday. Everybody there, they brought out some black noir shit from Ace of spades.

[Joe Budden]

Like 6,500.

[Flip]

They were just doing shit. I was learning. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm talking to Troy and Rashad, and I'm like, I was just talking shit to Joe and them niggas, but look at the treatment that he's given me because I'm on the podcast.

[Parks]

You saw the article.

[Flip]

You know what I'm saying? No. He was like, yo, I don't want you go up there and kick my back ass. Joe, my man River Roll.

[Ish]

That's my brother.

[Flip]

You know, I Didn't come up there yet, but it was just a nice experience. And shout out to Troy and Rashad because they was doing it. That shit was fire.

[Ish]

Can I ask you a question? Cause me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As a.

[Joe Budden]

That's what I'm thinking over here.

[Flip]

What you thinking? What's up with the jokes?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You know?

[Joe Budden]

Wait, so you. They had to go somewhere. They pulled them away from you said, yo, if you want, you can. Yo, whoever.

[Melissa Ford]

You meet us later.

[Joe Budden]

If you want to come over here, you can.

[Melissa Ford]

They like, oh, he showed up.

[Flip]

No. Are you. Watch your mouth asking. No. I stand at the parade and I handle my business. But what I'm saying, he.

[Joe Budden]

How did you get to this?

[Flip]

He d Me later and apologized for. Brought his, his, his.

[Joe Budden]

And you went.

[Flip]

He said, yo, I want to have a drink with you. I apologize. Yes.

[Joe Budden]

And you went, you don't drink. He bagged you. You don't drink. The restaurant.

[Ish]

I'm trying to get you glowing right now. Juice took you out for drinks and offered you the be bar. I went, what the Are we talking about?

[Joe Budden]

Listen, listen.

[Flip]

Have a bird watch your mouth.

[Joe Budden]

Try to get you drunk and give you steak. Hey, hey. Meet me over here. Take this tuna tartar and champagne, and it works.

[Melissa Ford]

It got it done.

[Ish]

Look at him.

[Joe Budden]

All right, all right, that's enough laughing. I need to hear flips. I told it was flipping.

[Flip]

It was. It was just a nice gesture to me.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It was a nice.

[Flip]

A lot of you follow behind.

[Ish]

What are you talking. You followed them to the apologize. I didn't know who you were.

[Flip]

If I would have recognized you that I was in a rush. He apologized. He said, I would like you to come and pull up on me.

[Melissa Ford]

He said, y. If I knew you was Joe Little man.

[Flip]

Watch it for.

[Ish]

Don't do that.

[Joe Budden]

That's y' all and my little man.

[Flip]

Over there.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, yo, don't fret.

[Ish]

You about to ask me a question.

[Flip]

What you about to ask me, Mark? You said you had a question for me. What you about to ask me?

[Ish]

Oh, we way past that now. I was trying. I had a serious question. I'm going down.

[Joe Budden]

No, man.

[Melissa Ford]

You had salt or sugar on the rim.

[Ish]

How did you got your lemon drop?

[Flip]

I only drank. No, I only drank. I only drank lemonade.

[Ish]

But I just came in.

[Flip]

I came in to just salute him. I thought that was a nice thing and a JBP.

[Melissa Ford]

Good day.

[Flip]

You know, it was salute.

[Melissa Ford]

It was a good day.

[Flip]

It was his whole family there. Watch that mouth.

[Melissa Ford]

J.R. was with you?

[Flip]

Junior was with me. Camera on Junior had the camera on.

[Ish]

He did.

[Melissa Ford]

Got you.

[Parks]

How was the parade?

[Flip]

The parade? The trash. Trash. The Dominican.

[Joe Budden]

They did.

[Ish]

They did it.

[Joe Budden]

Disservice.

[Flip]

I didn't like this one. The one in the Bronx was lit. I feel like just too. Too many restrictions.

[Joe Budden]

Go home in the city, but go home.

[Flip]

Why you saying that?

[Joe Budden]

You've been to all the parade. It's a parade at home.

[Flip]

Hey, yo, try play. You. You try to play my wife? What you mean the parade at home? You trying to play my family?

[Joe Budden]

No, never that.

[Melissa Ford]

Never that.

[Ish]

Just go home.

[Flip]

Be getting me some.

[Joe Budden]

Stop by the crib.

[Flip]

Always at home.

[Joe Budden]

Stop by the crib. Go home to.

[Ish]

I think I'm always whole. Look, I did have a question for you, though, in all seriousness. I was watching the Patreon. I watched the exchange, and obviously it blew up a little bit. Yeah. It seemed like y' all were talking past each other so much. It felt like everybody.

[Joe Budden]

I do that a lot up here.

[Ish]

It felt like everybody was saying you had a rep, and it got bigger when you got up here, which doesn't seem like a particularly provocative or offensive. Offensive thing to say.

[Joe Budden]

Unless it's flip.

[Ish]

So is it. Do you have a. And I don't mean this with any district sincerely. Do you have, like, a inferiority complex?

[Joe Budden]

Tick shit.

[Ish]

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't gonna say that. Do you have an insecurity around people, like, playing you small? Like, do you feel like people play you small and you're worried about that and so you overreact?

[Flip]

No.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Flip]

No, I don't think. I feel like if it's somebody regular, I wouldn't care about, I'll argue with them and say different things. But if it's just standing here saying that. That, yo, do you know where the Cayman Islands is? Or whatever the. He said, like, he's trying to break down why I may not be as popular as I think I am. It's offensive. That's my friend. And you're supposed to know a little bit more about me than. They must say that on the microphone. That's where that come from.

[Ish]

Because you know where the Cayman Islands are.

[Flip]

Exactly. He was like, you know what a Cayman Islands is? They want people recognize me there. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like.

[Ish]

That'S not why I said that.

[Flip]

So explain. He was.

[Melissa Ford]

You be in your defensive shit. I was saying that me not having any popularity in the worldwide whatsoever. I was a year on the show, and niggas was coming from behind the bar as A result of the Joe Button podcast high.

[Flip]

To me, my response to you is that. That happened to me before, a long time ago. That was my response. So you was. What was the correlation?

[Melissa Ford]

The question was because you said all across the country.

[Ish]

Country.

[Melissa Ford]

And he was like, yo, you know where the Cayman is? As in, yo, it's not in the country.

[Joe Budden]

So it didn't.

[Melissa Ford]

It didn't apply to. That's what. I'm going to be on your defensive shit.

[Flip]

Right. All right.

[Melissa Ford]

But I could acknowledge that, like a slight.

[Flip]

I could acknowledge when I'm wrong.

[Ish]

Okay. Yeah. I was just trying to make sense of. Because as a viewer, it was just confusing to me because I was like, this doesn't feel like it should be an argument.

[Joe Budden]

It should.

[Ish]

It feels like. Because I would think everybody up here, myself included, are enhanced by being on a bigger platform, you know, and it doesn't take anything away.

[Flip]

No, but when they're having a conversation with you and when people having a conversation with you, they're not trying to. I don't feel like they're trying to negate the prior work that you've done.

[Ish]

But I don't think anybody up here.

[Melissa Ford]

Nobody against your priority.

[Ish]

And I don't wanna belabor this. I don't feel like anybody up here was doing that or does that to you. I think everybody up here responds.

[Flip]

I don't think that it's something that we should stick on. But I feel how I feel. Joe understands where I'm coming from because he just understands where I'm coming from. A lot of people may not understand. So when I say what I'm saying, it's not to disrespect the platform. Platform. It's just to hold on to what I built by myself.

[Ish]

Of course.

[Flip]

You coming somewhere bigger?

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah.

[Ish]

Hey, man, just want to let you.

[Flip]

Know that sometimes you gotta shut the up. See, see, look.

[Ish]

Look what he did. Look what he did.

[Flip]

Tell me how nice that is. Now, you heard this song before?

[Ish]

Yeah. All right. Watch.

[Joe Budden]

This. Current time. Yo, Mel, some coin.

[Ish]

Put it on.

[Joe Budden]

Yo. All right. And we are back.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, comedy.

[Joe Budden]

But no, since we telling stories, I went to my man n shout out to Naj. Naj had his second annual kickball family kickball just event down here down the street. So I went because I'm a kickball fan and Nig is my man. You played and. No, I didn't play. I didn't play. I just went. I ain't got time to turn an ankle. I ain't got time.

[Flip]

You in the gym.

[Joe Budden]

What does that have to do with my ankles?

[Ish]

You fit.

[Joe Budden]

You not in the gym and you not fit. That's why I ain't gonna interrupt me again.

[Melissa Ford]

That's why I ain't goin.

[Joe Budden]

Don't interrupt my story, you know what I mean? You should have went though though.

[Melissa Ford]

I didn't go cuz I. I ain't fit.

[Joe Budden]

You'd have felt bad if you went. All N friends is in shit. They all fit that tone. Look like God threw him down from heaven himself as a 60 plus year old stone, you know, looks amazing at 60. You don't know the people I know. Sorry Melissa ever don't know the people I know.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Sorry I've known. We know.

[Flip]

Shut the fuck up.

[Joe Budden]

Don't interrupt my story again either. I went down there, everybody looked great. But I saw Esso. Esso from Bag Fuel shout out to Esso.

[Ish]

Were you alone? Did you have security?

[Joe Budden]

It was me, Corey, Ash and Kino.

[Parks]

You sound safe. That sounds safe.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, yeah, you safe. Keep it clean.

[Ish]

Security.

[Joe Budden]

You didn't need security to go to the park on River Road? Nigga, I invented kickball on River Road. But anyway, I'm bringing this up to.

[Melissa Ford]

Say don't be comfortable around north.

[Joe Budden]

So sees me and says, yo, is it beef? Like when I. When I shook his hand, he ain't, you know, is it beef? What's going on? I heard, you know, and I was like, no, it's not. It's not a beef at all. I'm just never coming to sit over there again. So that made me want to bring it here because in content creation land like niggas take you not going to sit over there as some type of beef. And I don't operate like that.

[Flip]

Yeah, same thing with when n attack me.

[Joe Budden]

Like I don't operate like that at all.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't think it's. You take it. You're not going to sit up. It's the way you said I'm not going to sit.

[Joe Budden]

Hey listen, I said it like I'm never going to sit like the way. And I'm not.

[Melissa Ford]

But that's why he had to clear it up.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, but see, and that's when content creators get real stupid, right? Because when I see him the first time. Oh, my bad.

[Parks]

No, the little.

[Joe Budden]

Oh yeah, that's nasty. Thank you. Because when I see him the first time I shook his hand, I let him know it was love, yada, yada yada. Then on the exit because them cut them lights off at 9 o' clock on the dot. You knew of drug dealer Posing for a picture, talking about, come on now.

[Melissa Ford]

We got a little bit of time.

[Joe Budden]

Not in Edgewater.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Bang.

[Joe Budden]

Lights out, niggas. Anyway, when I seen him on the way out, like, yeah, man, because I heard you said you wouldn't sit here or whatever. And I said, riddle me this. You think I would let somebody come on my platform and say something about one of your kids and leaving it? And he said, nah, man. But I'm just saying. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Answer my question. Do you think I would let somebody come on my platform and say something about your kids and leave it there? With how we are, man, I don't know what you would do. All right, well, let me answer you. But that answers that a lot, right? Hey, well, let me answer.

[Melissa Ford]

Said a lot, but let me answer you.

[Joe Budden]

I wouldn't.

[Ish]

I wouldn't.

[Joe Budden]

I feel like some shit just be common knowledge. And these content creators try to play stupid when you see them at the kickball game. Anyway, it was good to see Esso, but.

[Flip]

Nah, hold up.

[Joe Budden]

It was good to see Esso. I just want to let it be known, yo, I could totally love you in real life and not want nothing to do with your business.

[Flip]

And I agree with Joe on that. I think that in content creation space, they take.

[Joe Budden]

It gets fuzzy.

[Flip]

You don't want to sit on the show. That's why I got attacked. You know, I don't want to go over there because I'm cool with this guy. I don't want. I don't want to be there. But I fuck with you niggas. If you niggas need anything outside of that, I'm down. Then you get disrespected because it's like you sliding them by not doing that. It's not that. It's not the kind of the case. Obviously, sometimes you have to make decisions for yourself. I'm gonna protect my space. I'm gonna just protect my relationships.

[Melissa Ford]

Y' all confused. I'm not even gonna hold you, because that's like. That's why I don't play Coe games. Y' all will play the Coe game, which is content over everything, and then be like, yo, certain lines are crossing. Now. I'm not gonna with you on this, but it ain't no beef.

[Joe Budden]

It's just, I still love you.

[Melissa Ford]

Which one is it, dog?

[Joe Budden]

It really confuses me. Your interpretation of of C. Not you Freeze. Your interpretation of Coe might be a dusty nigga's interpretation of Coe. If you think the E and COE literally stands for Everything. Then I question your upbringing and how you were raised. The E in everything does not mean you could go on your platform and say something about somebody's children.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, I'm with you 100%. I got personally.

[Joe Budden]

But just because somebody is repping COE does not mean that they subscribe to you doing whatever the. No, it's.

[Ish]

It's.

[Joe Budden]

It's within. It's within the boundaries of ce.

[Parks]

Human decency.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. What are we talking about here? What are we talking about here?

[Melissa Ford]

I. I don't.

[Flip]

I learned back in the days.

[Joe Budden]

So when I let you is crazy. Yeah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

We had to change as your perception. Yeah, it's your perception of C. Yeah.

[Flip]

I mean, you. I mean, you learn when you do interviews in 2016 and 17 and then. And you have to see niggas outside, yo. Hey, you let that nigga say that. I don't give a fuck if you defending me. That's the same shit what Fif was saying. You let all that. You defended me.

[Joe Budden]

Cool.

[Flip]

But you let them on there.

[Melissa Ford]

The fact that you even let them.

[Joe Budden]

Up there and gave and you knew.

[Flip]

That we was gonna do something, you let them on there say, I have to deal with that years later. So that's what happens.

[Joe Budden]

And that's clip culture. Especially if nothing I said warrants the. Yeah, come on. Come on. I'm not doing that with you niggas. Also in local news, not certain if anybody saw. They put out a list of the best states to live in. New York comes in at number nine on the list. New Jersey comes in at number three on that list. Okay. Only behind Idaho at number two and Massachusetts at number one. So I do want to hit the round of applause, because as much shit as I talk, I've never been to Idaho.

[Parks]

I guess.

[Joe Budden]

So.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah.

[Ish]

I might be missing. I don't know.

[Joe Budden]

It might be popping in Boise.

[Parks]

Maybe it is.

[Joe Budden]

New Jersey is pretty fly. New Jersey is pretty fly. And this is. They made this list based off of financial strength. New Jersey boasts the third highest median household income over $101,000 and one of the lowest median debt levels in the US Health and Wellness ranked number two for lowest premature death rate. Number six for lowest obesity rate. Number number seven for longest life expectancy safety leader. Officially number one in safety, thanks to low violent and property crime rates and having the most law enforcement officers per capita. Low poverty and food insecurity, 6th lowest poverty rate and 10th lowest food insecurity in the country. And lastly. Oh, not actually quality of life. From scenic shorelines to hiking trails, New Jersey offers a mix of urban energy and natural. Natural beauty. I know I'm biased, but New Jersey is one of the best.

[Melissa Ford]

New Jersey's fine. You just gotta have money to live here.

[Ish]

Everything you listed is correlated to money. It is. That's the most part.

[Joe Budden]

Except for the train health and living.

[Melissa Ford]

Yes, it is healthy.

[Ish]

That have more.

[Melissa Ford]

Money, have access to better health care.

[Ish]

Yeah. So all I'm saying is it makes sense. It tracks. Because rich people live here's a. You know, in whatever ways. These Jersey down is probably Camden and Willingboro and you live here and you live here.

[Joe Budden]

It's not just rich people. Yeah, I know, but he's trying to excuse himself.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, no. He's in that.

[Ish]

No.

[Joe Budden]

There we go. You'll make some noise for Mark being one of the rich people. Make some noise for Mark being rich. Moving to New Jersey out of the mean streets of Philadelphia. Come on, make some noise.

[Melissa Ford]

No, you don't. You don't even drive.

[Joe Budden]

You don't even drive through Irving.

[Ish]

That's where I live.

[Melissa Ford]

No, you don't.

[Ish]

That's where I live. I stay with people.

[Joe Budden]

I stay with the people.

[Melissa Ford]

Sure.

[Joe Budden]

Congratulations to New Jersey and. And all of its residents and Idaho and Idol. I don't know enough about Idaho. Massachusetts I could see being.

[Melissa Ford]

I thought for the same reason as New Jersey. For the same reason I thought Connecticut would have been. Connecticut and Massachusetts are in line condo with us. I thought they would have been.

[Ish]

There's so many parts of Massachusetts that are like so rich. You came in. They wouldn't let us drive through.

[Joe Budden]

Sure. Didn't matter that you were Sundowntown.

[Ish]

That's Boston. But the rest of that place, man, is pretty damn fire. Yeah. Idaho I've been to. It's just too white for me.

[Joe Budden]

I made too much money in Boston to ever say something bad about it. Even though I'm aware of the roots.

[Ish]

The most racist experience I've ever had are in Boston. Really?

[Melissa Ford]

In life?

[Ish]

Yeah, in life. No, Georgia. But some of the most. I would say. But Boston's in the top two.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, well, Boston's racist as it's a real reason.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

And they up the. The statue. I don't know what they did. Oh, speaking of Boston statue. Shout out to Tom Brady. Got a statue right in front of. Right in front of Gillette. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Tom Brady. His statue looks like him. We got to get the racist statue makers out of the game. The white people statues be looking like them smoking.

[Parks]

That Ronaldo statue was crazy.

[Melissa Ford]

That D. Wade choice.

[Parks]

Do you see the Ronaldo ring?

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, that ain't no ring.

[Parks]

That was.

[Joe Budden]

I make it a point to see Ronaldo anything. Pause.

[Parks]

Pause.

[Joe Budden]

For sure.

[Ish]

Wild.

[Joe Budden]

What? What?

[Flip]

We too old to be doing the Paul now? I'm old.

[Joe Budden]

We should stop doing that.

[Melissa Ford]

Okay. Y' all could. All right, whatever.

[Joe Budden]

Stop using the wheelchair at the airport and saying pause.

[Ish]

No, no, I had a wheelchair.

[Parks]

I had a wheelchair experience this weekend.

[Joe Budden]

No, Annie freely shared about it, though.

[Ish]

Wait, you used a wheelchair at the airport?

[Melissa Ford]

We ain't gonna rehash that when you.

[Ish]

Hurt your ankle or something?

[Joe Budden]

No, just. Now, as a healthy.

[Melissa Ford]

Healthy.

[Joe Budden]

As a healthy part of the 1% in America, you go.

[Ish]

I know what you mean. Hey, I got access to payroll.

[Joe Budden]

You.

[Ish]

You up there.

[Joe Budden]

He's in the 1% of America, and he uses a wheelchair in the airport, and he's self conscious about his weight. I tried.

[Parks]

I tried to pull ice this weekend.

[Joe Budden]

What happened?

[Parks]

I tried to pull ice this weekend. I went to go see weapons. We get in the Uber. Oh, I ain't buy the tickets. So I get on the thing. I'll get sold out. Except for the accessible.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, they don't put no seat there, though.

[Joe Budden]

But they.

[Parks]

Well, so there's more. They say. They say, yo, you could buy this ticket.

[Joe Budden]

Ticket.

[Parks]

But if someone needs to take the spot, you got to give it up. I said, all right, that's not a problem. We'll give up the. Nope, no problem. So you get there, and it's just blank spots.

[Melissa Ford]

Where did you sit?

[N/A]

On the floor?

[Joe Budden]

No.

[Parks]

So we sat until someone showed up, and then we moved and got the switched. Anyway, I was astonished to learn that they charged the same price if you.

[Melissa Ford]

Bring your own chair.

[Parks]

If you bring your whole chair.

[Joe Budden]

It doesn't seem right to me.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, that's up.

[Joe Budden]

It don't seem right.

[Melissa Ford]

You should get a discount.

[Parks]

You should get a little something.

[Joe Budden]

You should. Wow, I didn't know that for just the little.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, it's just a space.

[Joe Budden]

Just a space.

[Parks]

You got to pay the same ticket.

[Melissa Ford]

Space where a seat could be that. I could be charging regular admission.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You gotta have. You gotta have the accessibility in there. It's like. It's the law. So you should.

[Ish]

Look, we gotta charge. And also, you might want people who can't walk to be able to see the.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That part.

[Joe Budden]

Exactly.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Y' all are evil people bringing their own chair.

[Melissa Ford]

No, I'm cool with that. It's just they shouldn't be paying the same as the re.

[Parks]

I think they should get a little. I think they should go for free. But that's just me.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, me too, Joe.

[Flip]

And Joe, why the you ain't going to see Weapons yet, bro?

[Joe Budden]

Cuz my girl was coming in.

[Flip]

See, we all went to go see Weapons thinking that you was going to see it, man.

[Joe Budden]

I know. And then I spoke.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You told us all to go.

[Parks]

I'm glad I did go.

[Flip]

That was dope.

[Parks]

It was super fire. And I'm glad we saw tonight, cuz.

[Ish]

It was good.

[Parks]

That walk home was.

[Joe Budden]

Was very uncomfortable.

[Parks]

I'm not gonna spoil.

[Joe Budden]

I'm not you.

[Flip]

We ain't gonna spoil it.

[Ish]

He going to Starbucks.

[Joe Budden]

Spoiler alert.

[Melissa Ford]

Anyway, y' all go ahead. Hit the skip button.

[Flip]

Hey, yo, when I left, cuz, I left the movie theater like one in the morning when I went to. I pick after watching that movie. Driving with nobody in the streets, no cars.

[Ish]

Oh, you're afraid you're me princess.

[Flip]

And n. I'm like, what the. They like. I'm like, what the is going on?

[Joe Budden]

Yo?

[Parks]

Me rem was walking down Steinway and she's freaked out. Like, we were like, oh, we can dip off here. She's like, no, there's more lights here. Let's stay right here.

[Joe Budden]

Exactly.

[Parks]

And then when we get to the crib, dude comes running by.

[Joe Budden]

No, no, no, no. It's over. It's over.

[Melissa Ford]

If I see anybody run like this, it's over. You would have left room. You gotta keep up, fend for yourself.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, no other two.

[Ish]

You gotta leave your girl.

[Flip]

They gotta chase me. They gotta chase me at some point.

[Joe Budden]

Can y' all review the movie for the people?

[Ish]

That's right.

[Flip]

Tell me.

[Ish]

Tell me the premise. All I know is some kids are missing.

[Melissa Ford]

All right, so the premise is entire third grade class gets up and walks out of their homes at 2:17. At 2:17am Exactly.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

And all the ring cam's captured.

[Joe Budden]

Don't hijack somebody's read all. But we're hijacking the read, like you did with me. And store. I'm not over it either.

[Melissa Ford]

All but one student. Now, the movie doesn't focus on that happens quick. And now the rest of the movie is POV dealing with the aftermath and POVs from everybody. From everybody involved. So it starts with the teacher, then it goes to. It's like a parrot.

[Flip]

And then it goes to student.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, the one student that was left behind. The cop. Like that. So it's. It's retelling the story, but through everybody else's eyes without spoiling it. Oh, that was good. I see. I see what Jordan Pill was mad.

[Ish]

At in Terms of scariness. I don't watch a lot of horror, but like Sinners was like. There's moments where it made your heart jump. Was this more?

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, it's jump scares in this.

[Parks]

Wait, there's jump scares?

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, it's hella.

[Joe Budden]

It's good.

[Parks]

There's some gore. There's some gore, but it's crazy.

[Melissa Ford]

It's not over the. Well, the gory scenes are. Yeah, but it's not like it's understanding. It's not Final Destination every five seconds. It's just gore. Or saw. It's not that.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Flip]

It was more funny to me than gory.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It was some funny parts.

[Ish]

Yeah. Like intentionally funny or just so?

[Joe Budden]

Yes, both.

[Parks]

Yeah, a little bit of both.

[Ish]

Okay.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah.

[Ish]

So y' all would recommend seeing this?

[Joe Budden]

Absolutely.

[Ish]

If we were given grades on this, y' all gave Center a grade. I just gotta ask you, what grade would you get is?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, I love nine out of ten.

[Ish]

Nine out of ten, I guess. Same thing.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Does anybody know why they were running like this? Was that explained?

[Melissa Ford]

I don't know, but if I. I know I better not see nobody do that shit, though.

[Flip]

You make it hard for me. Are we two hours in already?

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Flip]

What's wrong with you, girl?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

What? I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. Mel Parks, literally just.

[Ish]

What's wrong with the question?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Just demonstrated, like, we were closing out. I thought it was free. I just was asking, like, a last question.

[Flip]

Sorry, man.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay.

[Flip]

Did not explain to us why they ran with their hands.

[Parks]

It was a really good movie. It's scary, but it's not a horror movie. That's not. A lot of horror movies are not good movies. This was both a good movie and scary.

[Joe Budden]

Agreement. Agree. Agree.

[Melissa Ford]

And a story I ain't seen before.

[Parks]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Originality.

[Parks]

I will say. The Jordan Peele point. They played the trailer for the new Jordan Peele movie at the beginning.

[Melissa Ford]

Which one?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Run.

[Parks]

I might be on board with, y'.

[Joe Budden]

All.

[Parks]

Jordan Peele here.

[Flip]

The football.

[Joe Budden]

Football.

[Parks]

That him? Horrendous.

[Melissa Ford]

Marlon Wayans.

[Parks]

Yes. Yeah, I told y', all that looks horrendously bad.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm very. I understand his point, and I'm happy he didn't get the movie.

[Parks]

Oh, he was offered this movie.

[Melissa Ford]

The word was he fired, like, his team or whatever. Because he wanted this movie. He wanted to direct this movie.

[Joe Budden]

He didn't get it, he would have ruined this. Exactly.

[Melissa Ford]

So thank you. Whoever didn't do that, I appreciate it.

[Joe Budden]

Salute.

[Parks]

Salute.

[Melissa Ford]

Now I was able to enjoy it.

[Ish]

Little tech update. AOL announced as of September 25th, after 34 years.

[Parks]

Mark, I know you're older, but they.

[Ish]

Announced the dial service is officially ended on September 25th of this year. Of this year?

[Melissa Ford]

Of this year.

[Joe Budden]

Who the.

[Ish]

What people still use it?

[Joe Budden]

They do dial up.

[Parks]

Do they still send the floppy disk?

[Ish]

All that? So just. That was a tech update that's just letting y' all know. So if you have a chance, it's time to change the service. This UFC story, though, is the thing that I actually care about. I'm actually very, very interested in this. They signed a 7.7 billion dollar deal.

[Joe Budden]

Holy shit. Billion?

[Ish]

Would it be with Paramount/CBS? So there's a lot of things happening in the landscape right now, but this UFC deal is huge, and it says a lot about how far the UFC has come as well. You know what I mean? So I just want to know what y' all thought about. About this. I know, Flip, you're into wwe. Yeah, wwe. So I know. That's another one of those monsters.

[Parks]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We didn't talk about the ESPN mergers and acquisitions last week. It all kind of falls in the same bucket.

[Melissa Ford]

My thing for the UFC, shit, I overheard that they were only worth 6 billion collectively. So for them to give somebody else 7.7 billion, even though it's over a stretch of years, that means you got a whole bunch of promise.

[Ish]

Yes.

[Melissa Ford]

You know what I mean? Like, you think it's gonna be big. And then the second thing was, we talked about this briefly. The kid, I think is Larry Ellison's son, owns a company, a small company called Skydance, and they bought.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's not small.

[Melissa Ford]

It was small, but they bought Showtime and Paramount.

[Ish]

Jesus.

[Melissa Ford]

And this is. Yo. My dad's just one of the richest on the planet, so. Yeah, I'm just.

[Ish]

It feels like we're getting to a moment.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah. Let me hold that for something.

[Ish]

It feels like we get to a moment where it's only gonna be two channels.

[Melissa Ford]

What'd you say?

[Ish]

It just feels like we're getting to.

[Melissa Ford]

A moment where everybody gonna just be getting bought out by the clone.

[Ish]

Yeah. Like, it's like the radio. It's like the old radio days where you used to have a million stations and it went. Gets whittled down or whatever. Oh, that scares me a little bit.

[Parks]

I've even seen with the. ESPN and Fox are both launching sports apps, and they're gonna do a package deal for them. So to that point. Yeah, getting much smaller.

[Ish]

That was a big conversation at the NABJ this year.

[Melissa Ford]

National.

[Joe Budden]

So listen, 7 billion to 7 billion. No matter how you slice it.

[Melissa Ford]

Word is bomb.

[Ish]

It's a lot of money.

[Joe Budden]

The UFC is already. Already huge, but almost you. You gotta overpay just for the bidding war that exists because you know what time it is. What I was most shocked by is them saying that this is the end of pay per views and everybody who has Paramount can watch the app can watch. That part is interesting to me.

[Parks]

That is interesting.

[Ish]

I'm skeptical of that.

[Joe Budden]

You pay 7 billion and you relying on. I had Paramount and have for a while. It don't. It don't seem like it's a lot of us. But that would have to be wrong. Yeah, that has to be wrong.

[Melissa Ford]

Especially once they bought Showtime, man. Like I catch. I find myself going to Paramount, Paramount, Apple, them. The two.

[Parks]

Those are the two.

[Melissa Ford]

Those are the two now.

[Parks]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ish]

For me, that's what I do too.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't really go to the other two.

[Joe Budden]

Let's not get crazy. There's a few.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I mean, climbing the rings.

[Ish]

That's where I live.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Those are the two in terms of programming that people are like, you know, really tuned in. Like the whole Taylor Sheridan there shows are all over Paramount. So it's growing. And just through acquisition, it's just gonna keep on growing.

[Parks]

I watch Paramount way more than I watch hbo. And I never thought I would say that same.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't remember the last time I cut HBO on anymore. And for a minute they was them.

[Ish]

Yeah, I don't think I watch anything on it.

[Joe Budden]

Listen, I brought a few. It was months ago where I said, hey, has Apple taken the HBO Max Thunder from them?

[Ish]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

And I think that part is like.

[Parks]

Boy, that smoke, that is fire.

[Joe Budden]

I still.

[Melissa Ford]

I couldn't get into the first episode. I gotta watch it a different smoke.

[Joe Budden]

Smoke dog. These last two episodes of Smoke three.

[Parks]

Six was fire too.

[Joe Budden]

Granted.

[Parks]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

For me, seven and eight, that was. That was. They are killing. This Smoke is fire. I don't want to. Nothing I can say about it because I'd spoil it, but. But Smoke is fire. The finale is this week. Finally.

[Parks]

Both of the arsons are so good at acting.

[Joe Budden]

Now, the one complaint I do hear people have about smoke is that homeboy's character turned for them too fast.

[Parks]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

My response to that is his character turned in episode two, maybe even one.

[Parks]

He was a little.

[Melissa Ford]

If we talking about the dude Eggie.

[Parks]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

He seemed like he was on the up and up in one. I only got. I only watch episode one. I ain't finish it because it kind of right I had to be in a different space to watch it. But he. I had assumptions that he was on from the day one.

[Parks]

Yeah. He was. He was sketchy from the go.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

When he was finding the. In the fire. Showing it to Shorty, I'm like, yo, dang.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Where smoke wins. Or these episodes that I'm highlighting, they not scared to give us the face off that we've been waiting for. In episode seven, that was the interrogation room scene. And in episode eight, that was the diner scene between.

[Parks]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

The Smollett girl and. And him. Chef's kiss. Can't wait for the finale. Congrats.

[Parks]

And it seems like they're expecting a second season because it says series or season finale.

[Joe Budden]

They're getting it. They're getting a second season.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

I've said that before and been wrong.

[Ish]

I'm about to say I've said that before.

[Joe Budden]

I've been wrong.

[Ish]

I have gotten that wrong on some shows that I thought were amazing. There was a show. What's the guy who played Doogie Howser?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Neil Patrick.

[Ish]

He had a show called Uncoupled on Showtime that. Yeah, that was amazing and critically acclaimed. Didn't get a second way. And it should have.

[Melissa Ford]

All about Lovecraft.

[Ish]

Used to raise rap. I thought was dope. I thought that show got better and better and they didn't bring anything.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Well, they just took off a whole bunch of black shows.

[Ish]

Yeah. It's just like sometimes I worry about, like the money and when they shrink the number of platforms, I worry that if something is really good and the wrong executive doesn't see it that way.

[Melissa Ford]

Or you put in the numbers based on the demographics, then it's gonna be almost have an unfair advantage for the white shows.

[Ish]

Exactly.

[Melissa Ford]

You know what I'm saying?

[Ish]

And I don't want everything to live on tubi. And I know I like tubi and I like what they're doing, but I just. I want there to be other platforms.

[Joe Budden]

You have tubi?

[Ish]

Yeah, I have everything.

[Joe Budden]

Didn't that support that pizza? What?

[Parks]

Don't worry about it. It's a call back.

[Ish]

It's well done. I have. I have every. I buy. I buy all the platforms, cuz I don't want to miss out.

[Joe Budden]

Speaking of removing black, I want to ask y', all, when's the last time any of y' all been in Target?

[Melissa Ford]

I'm in Target all the time.

[Joe Budden]

Huh. I've been in there about four to five times in the last two months. Like, did we win?

[Melissa Ford]

I haven't been in there in a long Time.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's kind of an ongoing thing.

[Joe Budden]

It's looking like we. It's looking like we won.

[Melissa Ford]

I haven't been in there. I've been.

[Joe Budden]

I know we don't highlight it, cuz there's no way to ever tell. Cuz they won't never tell us.

[Melissa Ford]

No, they.

[Ish]

They've told.

[Joe Budden]

It looks like we won.

[Ish]

What? What does the winning look like?

[Joe Budden]

Just that they target had has been empty.

[Ish]

Oh, gotcha.

[Joe Budden]

I ain't seen a soul.

[Melissa Ford]

You know what?

[Joe Budden]

The line's been short. The self checkout been short. Regular registers.

[Melissa Ford]

They used to. It'd be like too open now. Self checkout? Don't be that.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Oh, we won.

[Melissa Ford]

You absolutely right.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Jesus Christ.

[Joe Budden]

God damn. This is dropped.

[Melissa Ford]

No, they said they're getting their ass whooped.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, he's looking at the stock.

[Melissa Ford]

They've been getting their ass whooped all year.

[Joe Budden]

106 minus 2116%. This went from. Oh, this is six months ago. Was at 162 down to 1067. Somewhere around there. Yeah, we won.

[Ish]

Oh yeah, we won. So you know the next phase, they're gonna be doing shit to bring us back.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, they've already started.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah.

[Ish]

I mean, big picture.

[Melissa Ford]

I wouldn't be surprised. Run. Damn. Seeing Crazy Legs being Nickler.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Well, they should just do what they fucking promise to do. That's just what they should do.

[Ish]

Bring back those initiatives.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, exactly.

[Joe Budden]

Or they could do what Red Lobster did. Put some seafood boils up in that pizza.

[Melissa Ford]

I mean, with a young black CEO.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Come on now. Look at us winning against Target. That's right.

[Ish]

That's right. I'm happy.

[Melissa Ford]

I ain't been in there. I ain't want to go back to Paramount. I'm just looking at something here because they got the $7.7 billion deal with UFC and then last month they just did a $1.5 billion deal with South park to take them off HBO.

[Joe Budden]

Know what south park did is monumental. We never talked about it. So amazing what south park did. Them boys, bro.

[Melissa Ford]

50 episodes, 10 a season.

[Joe Budden]

And the bidding war that they created and what companies were vying to do to get that one show. Yeah, and what they got paid for one show.

[Melissa Ford]

One show.

[Joe Budden]

It goes to my. Listen, many years ago I said, you want to be the Office instead of the thousand shows? Who cares about the thousand? The Office is keeping the lights on on at Netflix. Friends is keeping the lights on. South park is keeping the lights on all them other shows. Go, have a blast.

[Melissa Ford]

They just started season 27.

[Ish]

That's crazy.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Nope. Nobody ages.

[Joe Budden]

We need to go write some cartoons.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah. Nobody's gonna age. The Simpsons was on since.

[Ish]

Yeah, the 80s.

[Melissa Ford]

Well, yeah. So nobody.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

It's some money. Something else is going on.

[Joe Budden]

Cheat code.

[Melissa Ford]

You ain't got to pay no actors.

[Joe Budden]

What else is important? What else is important and needs our attention? We have Nikki and dez. Peace up.

[Ish]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

They squashed it. I'll hit the round of applause because that's Bryant. Dez Bryant. Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Parks]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Not Desiree.

[Parks]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Nikki and Des. Bryant tweeted each other. They made up. I don't give a. But I'm telling y', all, I respected it. Also, this weekend. This weekend we've been talking about the SeaWorld performances. This weekend, Genuine is at SeaWorld. Look at Mel, ready to pack a bag. You kind of dressed like on some SeaWorld shit. This is what you would wear to the SeaWorld concert.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It is. It's comfy. But I don't know if I'd be running to see Genuine perform. No shade. Just, you know, why? Not for any other reason other than He. He just. He's. Sorry. Not high on the list. Like, there's other people that I would run to SeaWorld to see.

[Ish]

Like who?

[Parks]

Trina October.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I mean, New Edition.

[Melissa Ford]

Did y' all see the videos going around of the fans requesting refunds at the Jiguan show?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Why? I did not see.

[Melissa Ford]

And it wasn't because of dancing. It wasn't because of falling off a stage.

[Ish]

What was it?

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, sometimes you could tell when. All right. You could just chill out now. You good.

[Parks]

Use a TV track.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, something.

[Ish]

Get some accompaniment.

[Melissa Ford]

It was bad.

[Parks]

It was bad.

[Melissa Ford]

It was bad. Shout out to J1. It was bad, though.

[Ish]

That's disappointing.

[Melissa Ford]

It was bad.

[Ish]

I was watching Sean Stockman. You know, Sean Stockman has his own platform. My guy, he's been killing on the acoustic lately. He's growing his guitars. But he was singing with Bobby Brown and Bobby. He let Bobby. Bobby let Sean accompany him and pick up some of the tougher notes. Bobby stayed in his range and he didn't try to do too much. And I actually think that's the secret to some longevity. When I watch some of these singers, they go on stage and they try to sing like it's still 94.

[Parks]

Well, you gotta change the key. Yes, you gotta change that key.

[Ish]

Yeah, that's the key. Yeah, you gotta change the key.

[Parks]

You're not hitting them high notes anymore, playboy.

[Ish]

Right? And when you try to do that and it don't. It sounds crazy. And people Want their money back.

[Parks]

Yeah, we saw Bon Jovi, probably. It's probably close to 10 years ago now. He had to change all the keys. He wasn't doing all that shrilling.

[Ish]

Yeah, you can't.

[Parks]

70 years old or whatever he is.

[Joe Budden]

I spoke to Sean Stockman yesterday. He's doing really good. And I just want to shout his part out.

[Parks]

I love his.

[Ish]

Great.

[Parks]

I love it.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Really talented guy. Him and Bobby. I learned so much from that him and Bobby Brown interview. That Bobby Brown. Brown was going out there with no drawers on to get rid of Al B. Shore off the tour when he was doing the dwork. Shit. I think Bobby Brown might be the.

[Melissa Ford]

Inventor of the Dork and Drop Down Dork.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

He dropped down. Hit you with them 4.

[Parks]

What's the drop down door?

[Joe Budden]

You drop down and do work.

[Parks]

I was trying to get Ish to demonstrate again.

[Joe Budden]

When Ish did that, it would be his funeral in two weeks.

[Flip]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

So shout out to Sean Stockman. What else, what else, what else? What else is important, but not that important. Nobody wants to talk about the Tyler flop. Right? And why. And why. We think that may be. If I do it, I'm gonna look like a hater. She's saying with our love bombing topic. So help.

[Parks]

She put out ep, right?

[Joe Budden]

Tyler put out an ep. I wouldn't say nothing about it, but it. Tyler put out an EP and it sold 4,000 copies. Somebody brought to my attention they think of song on there is a dis record to me. Mr. Media.

[Parks]

Oh.

[Joe Budden]

I bought that EP and came in here. Came in here and bigged it up. You did. Let me see if I can play Mr. Media. Real. I haven't.

[Parks]

I didn't see anything about it, really.

[Melissa Ford]

Like no promo.

[Parks]

I did see it in my.

[Melissa Ford]

I saw that it dropped, but that was it. Outside of you playing a record.

[Parks]

It's a strange choice to drop a.

[Melissa Ford]

And you had a smash.

[Parks]

Smash.

[Joe Budden]

I know. But maybe now somebody could tell the truth about Tyler. Shut up. Maybe now somebody could tell the truth.

[Flip]

And what would the truth be?

[Joe Budden]

Read the room. The truth would be read the room. And that whole I'm from South Africa and we use colors over there. Had long lasting ramifications.

[Ish]

Yes, that does.

[Joe Budden]

Back to being in the people business. Back to my point about Ari and being in the people business.

[Ish]

Cool.

[Joe Budden]

That that's what happens over there. But as a young artist in America, you should read the room for the people that aren't in music. Why this is a thing is you don't go from having a Smash like water to selling 4,000 of. Of an EP.

[Parks]

That's odd.

[Melissa Ford]

That's very odd.

[Parks]

That's odd.

[Joe Budden]

That's odd. It's not. It's not supposed to happen like that.

[Melissa Ford]

It's saying something.

[Joe Budden]

If you're wondering why this is a topic.

[Flip]

So reading the room would be catering to a certain demographic? Yes, reading the room. Because what if people want to just stand on their own? I stand on my own beliefs. I stand on who I am. I stand on what I believe in. And I want the world to accept me for that.

[Melissa Ford]

You're willing to take what come with it?

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. Then take what comes with it a lot.

[Ish]

Okay. Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Then you take what comes with it.

[Flip]

There's people that understand.

[Joe Budden]

And I don't think that's what her or her team wanted, but. Tyler. I'm gonna defend Tyler. Tyla's young.

[Ish]

Yeah, she.

[Joe Budden]

She. She seems. She makes good music.

[Flip]

She does.

[Joe Budden]

She does make good music. And I think that reading the room incorrectly can be fixed and addressed. So there's a future for Tyla in America as an Afrobeats act or whatever she's trying to do for Tyler's team. Good for y'. All. Tyler, we not. No, she'll be fine. But Tyler's team, the people that be behind her in the interviews, feeding her the stupid shit to say in America. Yeah. No, you totally dropped the ball and totally dropped the ball. Let me see something here. Let me see.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I don't know if they knew that that was what was going to happen, though, when she, like, had that.

[Joe Budden]

That's called dropping the ball.

[Flip]

You got you.

[Joe Budden]

That's called driving.

[Flip]

A little research and. No, man.

[Ish]

You know that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, I guess. You know, I guess you don't believe so.

[N/A]

Completely flopping with really what? Tyler's EP completely flopping with only hitting like 4, 000 sales. I think this week should be the biggest lesson that you can ever learn if you are someone who is trying to grow a brand or a business in any capacity.

[Joe Budden]

I agree.

[N/A]

Okay. She's a great example of what happens when you intentionally build up an audience because you think it's profitable.

[Ish]

Right.

[N/A]

Like, she has a huge. Or had a huge black American audience within the genres that she creates music. I mean, she had one of like, Water was like, one of the biggest songs, I think.

[Ish]

What was that?

[Joe Budden]

Last year, maybe two years ago, her.

[N/A]

Ep and it completely flopping after she made comments and doubled down on that was a mistake. What the black American community felt as disrespectful.

[Joe Budden]

But when we said that Then nobody said nothing.

[N/A]

The worst thing that you can do as a brand is to alienate your audience is to switch up after you have already profited off of them. And I think think that's one of the main things or the main reasons why black Americans chose to just stop consuming Tyler is because of some of those comments that she made. And this is a mistake that a lot of brands and influencers make all the time. Look at Hubs life and the backlash that he got when he switched up his content. Other influencers recently that have built up a brand, built up an audience, has made a ton of money.

[Joe Budden]

You get the point.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I don't know that influencer that she mentioned, though.

[Ish]

Yeah, I don't disagree. I mean, I don't. I don't know if it's that dumb.

[Flip]

But we'll switch up your content.

[Parks]

I don't disagree with her points. I think she's absolutely right. I don't know that I would blame the 4,000 strictly on that. That's what I think that as music people, we didn't even know it was dropping.

[Melissa Ford]

I was gonna say they did a shitty job of marketing.

[Joe Budden]

No, hey, we ain't just win with Target. I'm gonna keep talking, telling y', all, I don't want to say it because Flip gonna say I'm on some fba. I'm not, but.

[Flip]

No, I'm not saying but, you know.

[Joe Budden]

It ain't just Target. It ain't just Target, but there's a lot of.

[Flip]

There's a lot of people right now, media coming out saying that, saying what you're saying.

[Joe Budden]

I think Tyler will be all right because she's a talented woman. So I think she'll be fine. But this should. This should be a lesson.

[Ish]

I just want us to have more graced overs for people too. You know, I'm thinking about artists like Kanye. I'm thinking about art. I'm just thinking about just how many artists say the wildest shit. Far more disrespectful to our communities that we let them go if they have enough slaps.

[Melissa Ford]

But if you. The problem for me comes with the double down. Like, you can say something, and then once you're educated, that, yo, that was kind of fucked up what you said.

[Joe Budden]

Which she was your response to that.

[Melissa Ford]

Is where people are gonna say, all right, now, I'm not with you.

[Ish]

That's fair.

[Melissa Ford]

That's fine. If you respond to that the right.

[Ish]

Way, you think everything's cool.

[Melissa Ford]

It can turn. It can turn for you. It can work out okay. But when you double down with it. All right, that's what you want.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Cool.

[Melissa Ford]

Now we off you. And now you got to live with whatever you could stand in your shit.

[Joe Budden]

In other important slash unimportant news, are y' all keeping up with the beef between Finesse Two Times and his mom?

[Ish]

No, I am not schoolist.

[Joe Budden]

Finesse Two Times. Mom is saying you made all these millions of dollars and didn't turn around. Now wants to look back and help any family member with anything. And you're spending about $4 million on all them that you run around with and the chains and yada, yada, yada.

[Ish]

Spend $4 million? Wait, wait, hold on. Stop it. You made that sound far more dignified and articulate than what we. You set us up.

[Joe Budden]

I'm telling you what, Mama. Hey, she ain't hold up. She ain't wrong.

[Ish]

4 million.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

$4 million on flying back and forth.

[Joe Budden]

That's watching Mom.

[Ish]

That's what you spent your money on. Jewelry you ain't spending on family. You just spend it on family. And when a did get some, guess what they gotta do something for. Ain't genuine.

[Joe Budden]

I love family.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Keep your money.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, man.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

On another note, she looks very young.

[Ish]

We had an argument, but. Not argument. We had a disagreement about this a while back when I was saying that as a parent, the parent deserves some of that money. And y' all looked at me like I was crazy. I still feel that way.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I agree.

[Joe Budden]

Explain it to me. Cause I don't remember the conversation with that.

[Ish]

It's if I'm a child star or forget a child star, if I'm a star and I make a lot of money, I can spend it any way I want, Correct? But if I have a good relationship with my parents, forgive third cousins and all that shit, I'm not saying everybody deserves a piece. But to me, you know, to her point, if I'm making millions, some of the millions got to go to mom or dad.

[Melissa Ford]

What if I don't have that relationship with them that's different.

[Ish]

And I don't know their situation. I'm not speaking to their relationship. I don't know their relationship. But what I'm saying is, I hear a lot of people say, it's my money. I earned it so I could do what I want with it.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm saying that's true.

[Ish]

And I'm saying I don't always. I don't necessarily feel that way legally, I do. But in terms of, like, ethically, in terms of how we're cut, I just. I can't imagine making that much dough and not breaking down the family.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, I can.

[Melissa Ford]

Where does that stop?

[Joe Budden]

No, I just got a vivid imagination. I wouldn't do that.

[Flip]

But stop doing that.

[Ish]

I know you're not, like, thinking about it often.

[Joe Budden]

I can't imagine it if I didn't do this.

[Ish]

That's true.

[Joe Budden]

There we go.

[Ish]

I think maybe that's why I'm so frustrated.

[Flip]

This nigga's crazy.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I mean, Freeze, you asked, like, when does it stop?

[Melissa Ford]

Not when does it stop.

[Joe Budden]

1.

[Melissa Ford]

And also, I just have an issue with the deserve part. Like that almost sound like you owe him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Well, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.

[Ish]

This Freeze, you mom raised you and.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Your brother wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.

[Melissa Ford]

But I would do it. Not because. Because I owe it to you. I'm blessed to be able to do it.

[Ish]

I want to do it.

[Melissa Ford]

It's not obligation.

[Ish]

Put your mom's dislocation, but you don't think your mom deserves.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm just going on that word. It's just out of obligation.

[Ish]

So your mom doesn't deserve those things.

[Melissa Ford]

For me, I feel like.

[Joe Budden]

Yes.

[Melissa Ford]

I feel I don't owe her, though. I don't owe her.

[Joe Budden]

Ice don't come from a broken home neither though.

[Melissa Ford]

Wait, what's a broken home?

[Joe Budden]

I don't know. I don't come from a broken home. Watch your mouth. You said the word. I don't know what it is though.

[Melissa Ford]

How you know he don't come from one if you don't know what it is?

[Joe Budden]

Question, cuz. He don't come from one.

[Ish]

He was raised by one parent.

[Melissa Ford]

What is a broken home?

[Joe Budden]

Broken home as in somebody's missing is up y' all eating Cheez its for dinner. I don't think technically that's.

[Melissa Ford]

Somebody's missing me.

[Joe Budden]

Huh?

[Melissa Ford]

A parent is missing?

[Flip]

Yes, parents.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Like What? On the FBI's most wanted list.

[Ish]

Like what?

[Joe Budden]

Did you hear what Mel said?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm just trying. You said missing. Like there's different versions of missing.

[Joe Budden]

Don't chime in no more. I was gonna say we broke Simon ever.

[Flip]

Not in the home anyway.

[Ish]

I'm just gonna nabj.

[Joe Budden]

Listen, I know he responded via a rap from a hotel room acapella, but he was doing the beat on the. On the dresser.

[Ish]

He killed it. I. I didn't know that's. That was to his mom.

[Joe Budden]

Yes, please play it.

[Ish]

He was singing and rapping. Right.

[Joe Budden]

That was the hardest I've ever was.

[Ish]

Fly as hell. It's on my timeline, I think, yeah, this guy's talented. I didn't know this was mine.

[Melissa Ford]

Went to jail again, came back again, went straight in, caught the beans, went fan Then I lost a lot of friends five years, relatives, family problem. Now I feel like Eminem.

[Joe Budden]

You know what that means?

[Melissa Ford]

From juvenile to the county to the pen, all the way to Mason P. S. I ain't right, check the paper, no cooperation United States vs Ricky Hampton now I ain't panicking in Little Rock I fought the U.S. marshall caught me with the cannon But I'm back though relaxing though the Prince of Maker Hunter being cocky cuz I live with they rap about I really got the wounds on my body stand down.

[Ish]

Say if.

[Melissa Ford]

You fall what were you on visitation day? What were you when the fed lawyer told me I was facing 10 years?

[Joe Budden]

Huh?

[Melissa Ford]

Ma me label me I outlaw Now a and play the and kick.

[Flip]

Real.

[Melissa Ford]

Estate manipulate Manil would demonstrate on any day get in my way. I put that on the five.

[Joe Budden]

All right.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Well, it sounds like there's a little bit of dysfunction there.

[Joe Budden]

If you can't spit better than that. I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you. My only problem with what mom said is, and when you do get give us money, you or the family money.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You want people to work.

[Joe Budden]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

[Parks]

I don't think that's the worst thing.

[Joe Budden]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's seeming like in this particular situation.

[Ish]

I can't speak to their family because everything he said in that rap make me be like, yeah, you. I'm with him, right?

[Melissa Ford]

I love you, Mom. I don't mean it like that, but.

[Ish]

That rap was hard. I get what he said. Again, I don't know the story, but in general, like. Like to me, like, you shouldn't have to earn it. Like, earning it for your parents is they raised you, they protected you, they gave you shit, they created space.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I think that's what he's saying.

[Ish]

Addressing that again, I'm not speaking to his. I'm saying, in this case, I'm with him. If what he's saying is true, I'm with him 100%.

[Joe Budden]

And the mom didn't say, when you give me money, you want me to work for it. She said, and when you do give the family members money, I see what you're saying.

[Melissa Ford]

So she's kind of speaking for the rest of the fans. It's a very big difference.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Huge difference.

[Melissa Ford]

It Might be a lot of y' all up. My mother, if I had, like. Oh, good question. Younger siblings and all that other shit, then I would, of course, take care.

[Ish]

Of them and they wouldn't have to work.

[Melissa Ford]

Not just siblings, without. Yeah, but your uncles, your aunts, and all them other motherfuckers. Like, yo, dog, if you want me to just be giving you money. No, you have to.

[Ish]

Yo, Auntie Pearl, you gotta do some yard work.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, we know you care.

[Melissa Ford]

If it's 72, you have to do something. Like, I'm not gonna just keep giving you fish.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Once you're up, they start looking at you like a bait. They start looking at it.

[Flip]

It's not playing, nigga, you catch fuck flashbacks, everybody.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't have a flashback for everybody.

[Joe Budden]

Where's that line?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Same if it's. If it's not.

[Melissa Ford]

The ones that y' all are taking care of. Grandparents, older people, immediate family. That's the line.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

But extended.

[Ish]

And people who are up. I just sent somebody money, like, last week. Cool.

[Melissa Ford]

But that. Sending them money is taking care of them and sending them money.

[Ish]

Oh, you mean, like, on a regular? Like, I'm making your rent every month?

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, I'm not.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

There's people that look at you like, you will always be the saving grace. You will always be the last resort. Always. And then you become the second to last resort. And then you become the first resort.

[Joe Budden]

All right, just so the audience has a clear understanding, when is the last time each of you gave your mother some money?

[Melissa Ford]

Today. My mother Today.

[Joe Budden]

Your real mother.

[Melissa Ford]

Today.

[Joe Budden]

Not one of them girls moms.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't know what you talking about.

[Ish]

What the fuck is that?

[Joe Budden]

No, it's one of those. What is that about? The girl Mommy. My, my. You know I got love. I knew you a had no more tomatoes.

[Flip]

Hey, make that. Make that meatloaf you used to make for me, girl.

[Melissa Ford]

Freeze, Cash, money or bought or something. I'm at. What's the difference? No, it's not. I haven't given her cash, like, in.

[Joe Budden]

Her hand anything, dog.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, just this weekend.

[Joe Budden]

Just this weekend? Yeah, just this weekend. When you was out with Parks at last lap.

[Melissa Ford]

No, that was last weekend.

[Joe Budden]

At last lap. You probably cash out.

[Ish]

No, no, no.

[Joe Budden]

How about you, Mark?

[Melissa Ford]

I was with Mom.

[Ish]

It's been a few years.

[Joe Budden]

It's been a few years. Bill park is the greatest. It's been a few years.

[Ish]

I don't give her cash, obviously. Yeah, but she can't see, so.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, she don't.

[Ish]

I don't even remember all singles. No, it all singles. I put her in the facility she's in. Me and my brother did. And that was like six figures. So we, like, split it, put her in there.

[Joe Budden]

Did she know it was y'? All?

[Ish]

Yes. You don't pay that every month. Some you pay, like, a lot up front, a little bit every month. Others you pay a little bit up front and a lot every month. We did the first kind, so she pays for out of her retirement, the little bit, but we paid the big amount. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, y' all making moms pay for her spot out of her?

[Ish]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, come on.

[Ish]

What should she do with it?

[Joe Budden]

Oh, it's going to take me your army she going have.

[Ish]

Yeah, let it talk. Let make one of those.

[Joe Budden]

Barks.

[Parks]

I really don't remember. I mean, gifts, obviously, birthdays, holidays, but just slide some cash.

[Joe Budden]

I really don't remember.

[Flip]

My mom is up. My mom is up. Don't give. A.

[Melissa Ford]

Father'S still living, like.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah.

[Ish]

And also she would need it.

[Parks]

I give her things to donate to the causes that she wants to donate to. And that's what she would do with the money anyway. Like, she is.

[Joe Budden]

What do Park's dad being alive have to do with him giving his mom some money?

[Melissa Ford]

Outside of. He's saying outside of occasions. Holidays, etc. Etc. Bro, his mom, I'm assuming, don't need it.

[Parks]

Cheeto.

[Joe Budden]

All right, my bad.

[Parks]

Yeah, that's a fact.

[Joe Budden]

Yo, what's wrong? All right. No, cool, cool, cool. That's funny. My mom be at this Chris Brown show tonight. I'm excited about this Chris Brown show. I can't wait.

[Parks]

You give me my money, y', all, I'll go.

[Ish]

All I hear about is points. All I hear is MX points.

[Joe Budden]

I didn't know if you actually give cash in there tomorrow. My mom gets it all.

[Ish]

Really?

[Joe Budden]

The points, the cash, the cash apps, the zell.

[Ish]

Did she expect it?

[Joe Budden]

The sunglasses, I expected my mom come in my house. All right, I'm taking out of here today. What do you have?

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, let me see your problem.

[Joe Budden]

Your bags.

[Melissa Ford]

That's what she's always my mom like this, this.

[Joe Budden]

Anything I got, she got. Anything she got, I got. So it's kind of understood. But now that I'm up, it's like different level. I don't need nothing you got.

[Melissa Ford]

So now she.

[Joe Budden]

Now she taking your for. For.

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, this for my people work.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, she my mom take my clothes.

[Melissa Ford]

No, she adamant.

[Joe Budden]

I don't want hoodies.

[Melissa Ford]

No, she like, yo, dog, I need a hoodie for my trainer. I Need two hoodies for me, my boyfriend. I'm like, yeah, so.

[Joe Budden]

Okay.

[Ish]

You just gotta do it.

[Melissa Ford]

You can't say no.

[Joe Budden]

Kids.

[Melissa Ford]

Yo, she be serious.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

She be dead.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, she's every. Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Your mother called me fat.

[Ish]

When?

[Melissa Ford]

When she called me two weeks ago. I was shocked because I haven't.

[Joe Budden]

She usually text me, my mom need to be arrested.

[Melissa Ford]

Look, she usually texts me. So I saw her name like, oh, what's up, Ms. Faye? What you doing? And then come to the gym with me.

[Joe Budden]

Me. Oh, well, it's cuz, you know. You know, mom's trainer.

[Melissa Ford]

I know, I know. I'm.

[Joe Budden]

I'm playing for. But that newer couch. What?

[Melissa Ford]

What about it?

[Joe Budden]

Like, look at it.

[Melissa Ford]

What about it, though? What about it?

[Flip]

It's gonna take me. I like that.

[Joe Budden]

Look at my man. You don't like that?

[Ish]

I love.

[Flip]

He waited. He talking about you being fat like me. He said you fat.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm not fat.

[Flip]

Like, you lost mad weight and gained it back however you did, and you going to lose again. What size is this game? That white beater don't help, boy. They try to wear a white beater to hold down his fat.

[Melissa Ford]

That's what you do.

[Flip]

I do.

[Ish]

You needed more beaters.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, that ain't working. I can't dress, so I shut up.

[Joe Budden]

All right, we up in this piece. Imani seemed to have a lot to say about my Air Japans and my whole Japanese feng shui that I got going on.

[Melissa Ford]

It's culturally inappropriate.

[Joe Budden]

Y' all look culturally inappropriate. And y' all push a picture it off.

[Melissa Ford]

You just hate cause you wasn't there.

[Ish]

That's a dope picture.

[Melissa Ford]

Hating from outside the soul house.

[Joe Budden]

He couldn't get in outside the soul house. Anyway. Shout out to the clips and you. Imani, what's up?

[Flip]

Stand up real quick. Stand up real quick.

[Ish]

Hold on.

[Joe Budden]

You are.

[Ish]

What is it good for?

[Joe Budden]

Absolutely nothing.

[Ish]

What?

[Flip]

Oh, pause.

[Melissa Ford]

You're a wild boy, son.

[Joe Budden]

N. Give him one.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Just one time.

[Melissa Ford]

Come on, come on, come on. Mr. Joagi. That's crazy.

[Joe Budden]

Everybody was crazy. Oh, man. First of all, I want to remind the room that I won best dress award up here. Salute to you.

[Flip]

Yeah, okay.

[Joe Budden]

I mean, Marcus part of the month. Ish won the sleeper award. They still trying to figure out something to give you. And flip, man, flip. You know what I mean?

[Ish]

See this?

[Flip]

Why you make us stop?

[Joe Budden]

I won the best dress award. Now, fair point. This does look ridiculous to some people, but you got to be brave enough to wear it. You got to be comfortable in what you wear. That's fashion. Got it. That's fashion. Like all them shirts you wear. That's too small, but you comfortable. That's fashion. That's fashion. Can't say nothing about nobody. Passion.

[Flip]

I don't wear too small shit no more. Watch your mouth.

[Ish]

Queen split.

[Joe Budden]

My man. You my man.

[Parks]

I seen your belly earlier.

[Ish]

What?

[Joe Budden]

See?

[Flip]

Watch yourself.

[Ish]

Cause how. I said it's not too small.

[Flip]

It's too small for me, boss.

[Joe Budden]

Thank you. It's better than. Than what you normally doing.

[Flip]

True. Okay, I'll do better.

[Melissa Ford]

I do better.

[Flip]

I'll do better. Is you laughing? You wearing a 4x to hide your stomach. Watch your.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm wearing a 4x. You need a 4x.

[Flip]

Says who?

[Joe Budden]

I can't believe that. Nah, it's close. That's too much. Them clothes is. Come on. The sweat scissors. His. His shorts is a 7x. No, all of it is too big, you guys, we're doing the show. We're doing the show.

[Flip]

That's about ego.

[Melissa Ford]

My shirt too big today. Your shirt too small.

[Flip]

Every day, your shorts be small. Watch your mouth. Poke them shorts ass.

[Joe Budden]

Sorry. Off of our. Off. Off of our finesse. Two times conversation.

[Ish]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Joe Budden]

I do have a Fat Joe clip that I want to play. I love these. I'm all out of favor.

[Melissa Ford]

A lot of taking every relationship I ever had, signing you and introducing you to all my important people. And then paying for your videos, buying your clothes, putting you in the studio, helping you make the hits. And then as soon as you pop, you tell me I ain't shit. I'm not doing that no more.

[I]

I'm firm on it.

[Joe Budden]

In fact, he preaching.

[Melissa Ford]

I went to this thing pretty new.

[Joe Budden]

We doing this pretty Lou. What's good, boy? We love you, Pretty Lou.

[Melissa Ford]

Normally I would assigned him in one second.

[Joe Budden]

This guy was so nice.

[Melissa Ford]

Lyrical fluidity. Every word he said came crystal clear.

[Joe Budden]

Chris said, yo, Joe, this guy's incredible.

[Melissa Ford]

I said, yeah, but he's gonna tell.

[Ish]

Me, suck his dick.

[Joe Budden]

I've been first burnt too many times, boss.

[Ish]

Next question.

[Joe Budden]

Hey. Which is my question for my distinguished panel here. Shout out to Joe and Jada. I love this clip because it's absolutely 100 true. Can y' all tell me about a time that you've been burnt investing in somebody? Yes.

[Ish]

Yes.

[Flip]

A lot of people.

[Joe Budden]

All right, let's listen to my end. To talk.

[Flip]

What'd you say?

[Joe Budden]

Huh?

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, shit.

[Flip]

Yo, are you.

[Joe Budden]

That was.

[Melissa Ford]

That was.

[Joe Budden]

Not true. And it's not true. No, go ahead.

[Flip]

No, it's a lot of. There's a lot of people that you believe in, you may see talent in, and they just feel like they're bigger than the program and. And they'll go out there and disrespect you and say, you know, sometimes when you say no, they don't look at what you've done for them leading up to the no. And a lot of times you saying no now. Cause it's a wise business decision and you realize that I've done this, I invested this much and didn't come back.

[Melissa Ford]

You know what I mean?

[Flip]

And a lot of people don't know how to just get with the program and renegotiate or restructure or help you restructure it. So it could work for all parties. So. Yeah, there's been a couple of times I've been burned on the Internet. Niggas talk crazy about the flip the network. Niggas talk crazy. And that's why I named him independent contractors.

[Joe Budden]

Now, Mel, what about you?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah, I've just. It's just manifested in like some real jealousy and nastiness.

[Flip]

And that's why you had to go to intern route.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I'm sorry, you're so.

[Flip]

I didn't mean to say that.

[Joe Budden]

They gonna kill me.

[Flip]

I'll take it back.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That was a fucking headache too.

[Flip]

Oh, dance.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, yes. That shit was a fucking headache. Just like the.

[Flip]

You got rid of the interns?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I didn't get rid of anybody and nobody was the fucking intern. But like the label that was given to whomever, they were very upset by it and it had nothing to do with fucking me.

[Flip]

And they was upset at you?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yes, yes, they were upset with me. But I have experienced like, you know, just.

[Joe Budden]

Did we get rid of that?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I think.

[Joe Budden]

No, seriously. I don't know.

[Ish]

We were not joking around.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

There is no getting rid of anybody at this point.

[Joe Budden]

Distance ourselves from them. We created that space. Yeah, man.

[Flip]

You created boundaries, big ma'.

[Joe Budden]

Am.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah. My problem is, is that I have always tried to create friendship slash business relationships and a lot of. Yeah, no, no, in actuality, it's the opposite. No, it's the opposite. I get used. I get used and then they start believing that their proximity to my notoriety, visibility and fame equals theirs. That shit is. Is fucking insidious. The shit that I've seen people do and say and just as you know.

[Flip]

She'S pissed off and they still ain't.

[Joe Budden]

Starting no healthcare pod for women. No, the.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

They didn't. They don't know what the fuck they're doing.

[Joe Budden]

Talk about it. Talk about Big mouth.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yeah. So anyways, those are my experiences.

[Joe Budden]

Newer couch. You guys, Mark Parks, Anybody want to speak to this?

[Ish]

Yeah, it's happened to me a lot of time with like mentoring people and trying to create opportunities for people. So it was less financial investment, more like time investment. I mean, I could think of one situation where I invested a lot of time and energy into mentoring somebody, helping them become writers, and I even put them on a project where someone asked me to write something and I said, well, look, I'm gonna bring on these other two guys. I didn't quite have the time, but it was a really prestigious honor. And for them it was an opportunity to get put on something they wouldn't otherwise get put on. And I was dealing with some stuff. Long story short, at the end of the day, they took my name off of it.

[Joe Budden]

It what?

[Ish]

And only. It only kept theirs. And they told me you were hard to reach. So we felt like it was the right decision. It wasn't your decision to make. And we haven't spoken really maybe once since. It's been about maybe 15 years and.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, puff.

[Ish]

So, you know, I've just learned that you can't always invest. You can't always invest in people the way you want to, and you can't expect them. The reward has to be the. The effort. I can't assume that people are going to act right. I just have to. It almost made me not want to like mentor people anymore.

[Joe Budden]

Same thing. Same thing. Speaking of not investing in people or speaking of investing in people that you shouldn't have invested in. Mark, not too long ago you brought up a gentleman. I think this is the same person. Philly man who was awarded $4 million after being wrongfully jailed jail for 24 years for murder, is back in prison for killing a man over his twelve hundred dollar drug debt. Did you see that story?

[Ish]

Yes.

[Joe Budden]

Is that the same.

[Ish]

Yeah, there's two different stories. Yeah. Not the guy Serge, but this one. Yeah. Yeah, it was rough.

[Joe Budden]

I got it. But I guess my angle on this story is when can we have a talk about the Innocence Project?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

What? Okay. What. What do you guys. Look. Say more like that.

[Ish]

Say more. Joe Scott.

[Melissa Ford]

That is crazy.

[Ish]

Everybody else, mute up, please.

[Joe Budden]

You don't want to be part of this litigation. Go. I'm just saying when can we have a more detailed talk about how they pick. How they pick who's innocent and who's not. That's all I'm saying.

[Ish]

I was stand with them. They picked the right people. The problem is that jail prisons are Criminogenic, meaning that they make you more likely to commit crime when you're in there. So sometimes you could be innocent, but if you spend three decades in prison, four decades in prison, you still might come out with some psychological issues. You might be more likely to use violence against somebody than you were before you went in. So just because somebody comes out and commits a crime doesn't mean they weren't innocent.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

And a lot of times the Innocence Project goes based off of, like, DNA that was not tested or whatever the case.

[Ish]

Cases.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's.

[Ish]

They're pretty. Yeah, because there's a lot of cases. I had a guy maybe, like, three weeks ago hit me up. My brother. A lot of times when I'm talking to my brother in prison, like, people want to speak to me. So they always be like, if he's cool with them, he'll hand him the phone. And then they end up sending me, like, case files. And, I mean, this one dude, like, his shit was. To me, the evidence was bad. He wanted DNA evidence. He fought for three decades to get DNA evidence. And then when they went to test it, they. The district attorney's office said they lost the file, they lost the case. So these things happen all the time. Then he got transferred out of the prison, like, two weeks ago. So I have to find out where he is. But the point is, like, a lot of times these guys be innocent, but even then, the Innocence Project wouldn't take it. Not because they're bad, because they're so overrun that they. Honestly, I think if the Innocence Project took your case, you probably are innocent. To me, it's how many people are innocent that don't get access to the Innocence Project? Yeah, so.

[Joe Budden]

Well, there you have it. UML helped to really clear that up for me.

[Ish]

I'm glad.

[Joe Budden]

I have a totally different understanding than I did before about the Innocence Project and how to choose. Choose people.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

And there's a doc.

[Joe Budden]

The jail criminalistic things. What you said the jail be doing.

[Ish]

Criminal genic criminogenics things.

[Joe Budden]

Whatever. Yo, Mel and Mark need a PBS special. These two.

[Ish]

You don't agree with what he said? I butt.

[Joe Budden]

Stop this. I checked out.

[Ish]

I stepped on his joke. Yeah, yeah, I get what he's going, but I'm cool. I'm cool. Mark.

[Joe Budden]

Want to fucking educate me? Won't y' all be funny? I don't give a fuck.

[Ish]

This nigga always trying to educate people.

[Joe Budden]

What else is important, unimportant? What else needs our attention? Actually, I want to highlight something you just said. When can we have a talk about when we press the button on our phone to speak to one person that's in jail and they passed the phone around to the jail. Can we talk about that?

[Melissa Ford]

I mean, that never happened to me.

[Parks]

That's never happened to me either.

[Melissa Ford]

I ain't make pump.

[Flip]

I don't like that when it happens.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Okay.

[Flip]

I don't like it.

[Joe Budden]

I don't want to speak to my.

[Flip]

I don't want to speak to my. I call. You call me. I pressed the call to speak to you. And on top of that, nine times out of 10, you calling me while I'm already in traffic moving around. I want to speak to a thousand on the phone. My. What do you need? What's going on? I don't want to meet nobody but you.

[Melissa Ford]

Queen's finest.

[Flip]

I don't want to meet anyone new. That's my problem too.

[Joe Budden]

When is your girl uncle like.

[Ish]

Oh.

[Flip]

He press.

[Joe Budden]

He been hearing about me for five, six years or whatever. I get on the. Yeah, but he that had though whole jail behind. And this is when the prize picks commercial must have been airing in the jail. I don't know if Patreon got billboard slots in the jail. Them had questions about the business and what can you do? You can't say nothing, right? You just got to kind of sit there. Don't p. Yeah, jail boy. Anyway, hold your head if you going free to wave. Free to wave and support the Innocence Project no matter how many things go wrong. Terrible. I swear I watched about nine docs that started or ended with the Innocent Project. The Innocence Project investigated the case.

[Flip]

They still got Steven Avery.

[Joe Budden]

Then this went on a spree. Mustang got Hulu or some. Had you just left the Then at the end. Innocent Project is unavailable for a comment. We reach. I bet get them out that building. Hey, come here, ass. Get your ass over here.

[Melissa Ford]

Something is.

[Flip]

Anyway, they got that guy. Remember Stephen Avery?

[Joe Budden]

Something wrong with you. Anyway, what else needs our attention? What is important? What is unimportant? You guys wrote some trump up there. I don't know who wrote that, but it's up there. There's the tea on her app. Please feel free.

[Flip]

Let's go.

[Joe Budden]

Educate me.

[Ish]

I'mma just. I. I don't want to serious this out, so I'm just gonna do 25 seconds. About 25 seconds. The world is on fire update.

[Joe Budden]

Okay, let's do it. Let's do it.

[Ish]

The world is on fire. Ice is going crazy. We're seeing more lawlessness with immigrants. The innocence U.S. district Attorney Jeanine Pirro just said that she's gonna double down on crime criminalizing juveniles in D.C. which means we'll see more laws, fewer, like, diversion programs, and more actual, like, incarceration. And then around the world, we're seeing violence everywhere, including Gaza, where I work for Al Jazeera. My colleagues. Every colleague I have in Gaza has been murdered. Every single colleague I have in Gaza has been murdered. So we got a lot of work to do, a lot of stuff to pay attention to.

[Joe Budden]

That's pretty good. All right. Young Thug dissed. I get scared every time he do that.

[Flip]

He do it so fast.

[Joe Budden]

You got everybody knowing G. Oh, my God. God damn. He doing it again. That Mark boy, why you don't never support him when he start talking that shit? Very well, Pizza.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

He has my full support. But I also know that once he says something like that or we discuss something like that, then we're just like, okay, what's the fucking pivot? What's the pivot? After we talk about every journalist in on the Gaza Strip being murdered? Like, what's the pivot?

[Joe Budden]

So Young Thug appeared on little Baby's project.

[Ish]

Quite the project.

[Joe Budden]

It was a snippet. Snippet.

[Melissa Ford]

Comes out Friday.

[Joe Budden]

Comes out Friday. I got it. You like to hear it. Here it goes. Let's see. Oh, this sounds horrible.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, it sounds horrible.

[Joe Budden]

It sounds horrible. Anyway, Young Thug says, I only fucked with you Gunna because of troop. That's the line. That's the bar. That's it.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't. I don't care. Honestly. Gunna is lapping y' all niggas right now, so. Right now? Yeah, you should probably should say his name. Sorry, I'll be the one to say it. It's helping you to say Gunna's name right now. Gunna not think about none of y' all niggas who claim y' all beefing with him. He has hit the ground running, ain't looked back lap, and has ran maybe his third lap around y'.

[Joe Budden]

All.

[Melissa Ford]

All of y'. All. Every last one of y' all who was dissing him probably need to say his name today to get some traction. And yeah, that includes Thug. Sorry, Atlanta, I love y', all, but outside of Atlanta, we don't care like that. The you put out ain't the little snippets. And all that stuff we heard ain't nothing working. Meanwhile, Gunna is on a tear. Y' all won't admit it, so I'll admit it. Gun is on a tear.

[Joe Budden]

And that's ice on the music side. Of things on the lifestyle side. If I'm an artist that makes heat and I come sign to you as an artist that make heat and you're a gang and I'm not, and then they come to get us and when I'm separated from you, I tell them I'm not in a gang. I really don't see what the fuck you mad at. I don't. Yo, maybe I'm getting anti hip hop as I grow. I cannot understand this for the life of me. I don't get it.

[Ish]

Explain it Flip. Can you explain it to flip?

[Joe Budden]

Only in hip hop can you be mad at me. Cause I'm not in a game like you.

[Flip]

But you gained the benefits of being around a nigga that was in the game. You receive the benefits from that. The protection, the notoriety. Your talent is just a smidget on the board.

[Joe Budden]

I come from a two parent household.

[Flip]

No, nigga, you came from niggas that was in. Stop it, nigga.

[Joe Budden]

I'm not talking about me. I'm speaking as gunna.

[Ish]

Yeah, you can't speak as gunna if you a nigga.

[Joe Budden]

I come from a two parent household.

[Ish]

Oh, sorry.

[Joe Budden]

My parents could put the house up to bail me out of here. Like we can't talk about the advantages that came with this. When it lands me in jail, we see the end result. So who cares how you. Oh, you brought 70 niggas with me to starlets. Who gives a fuck? Who cares? I'm in jail and I'm telling them that I'm not down with you. And you mad at me about it. Even though you got out too.

[Flip]

What you would have done, Everybody's out.

[Ish]

What you would have.

[Flip]

You would have did that.

[Joe Budden]

I wouldn't have been in that situation. Cause my OGs are not going to go rent a car and then put it in their name and then drive by the Coliseum. My OGs are not going to put me in that situation because they love me. And if you in that situation, you was probably dealing with somebody that didn't have as much love for you as my OGs have to be.

[Flip]

I said, okay, so you would.

[Joe Budden]

None of my OGs. I'm from the 19s, though. I'm from the 19. Got it. There was a protect the community looked to protect certain people. I could rap since I was young. They wasn't. Hey, let that boy go rap. Let them go rap. We gonna go. What are you talking about? None of them niggas and all of the major New York niggas in that scene. I've had coffee with them. None of them would have met me and said, come take this ride with us.

[Ish]

Right?

[Joe Budden]

You wouldn't even seen that. The funny Jersey sitting India style in front of the diner and say, hey, hey, come, hey, we going on a run. Come on back. Come on, come slide. Nobody was gonna say that to me, but that's my story, my experience.

[Flip]

Got it?

[Joe Budden]

No knock on anybody else. No knock on anybody else.

[Flip]

They don't make the OGs like them anymore.

[Joe Budden]

Clearly. Clearly. I just don't understand thug being mad.

[Ish]

I don't get it.

[Joe Budden]

Maybe Mey is somebody explaining to me.

[Ish]

I don't. I don't know.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't understand rules. I don't claim to understand. I just stay over there.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, I got it.

[Melissa Ford]

Or more music, though. Cardi dropping a new single Friday.

[Joe Budden]

Imaginary Imaginary Players. Jay Z sample cleared the sample. That's a big deal. It's a big deal at this time because Nikki has been firing at Jay Z for however long and now she is on the Jay Z sample. It's like, if you in into that.

[Melissa Ford]

I wouldn't. I'm just saying.

[Ish]

You think that's. You don't think that's a coincidence?

[Joe Budden]

No, I don't. I don't think it's been clearing samples. I don't.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't think so. That's a whole's been clearing samples.

[Ish]

That's what I'm saying.

[Melissa Ford]

So I don't think.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, but the coincidence.

[Joe Budden]

You're saying it is a coincidence.

[Ish]

Like he didn't clear that as a clap back to Nikki. Like, I'm. I'm.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That's the correlation that they're making.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, I don't think that had anything.

[Ish]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay.

[Melissa Ford]

I'm just thinking it's.

[Parks]

We'll see how the record sells.

[Ish]

That's the real thing. That.

[Melissa Ford]

My, My point of bringing it up was she just dropped the single outside. How many weeks old?

[Joe Budden]

One week.

[Melissa Ford]

I asked when that dropped, did we think we'd get more singles prior to the album? The album is now roughly about a month out. If this one doesn't perform, do we get another single prior to the album?

[Parks]

Yes.

[Melissa Ford]

Y' all say yes.

[Ish]

No, I say no.

[Joe Budden]

No, you're going off that diving board no matter what.

[Parks]

Oh, you're going off the diving board.

[Joe Budden]

No matter what you're getting.

[Parks]

You getting another single?

[Joe Budden]

This one don't work.

[Ish]

If you over two, I don't think you over try because if you over three now, you might have a. I think you just Rep the fact that I'm Cardi and people gonna buy this album because they've been waiting for it.

[Joe Budden]

A third single means you spending money on a third single with a projection of how you feel this album might perform. At some point, they'll get into saving money mode because you're going off the diving board anyway. So why are we about to preview or release another single when we know you're going off the diving board and we say diving board? She may perform well, but what we mean is the label is getting this album out no matter what. There are no more excuses. It's coming out.

[Melissa Ford]

Oh, no, it's.

[Parks]

I agree with that.

[Melissa Ford]

Even at SummerSlam, they had street teams out there putting on all the cars. And, y' all know, MetLife parking lot. Her album coming soon. Of course, with her performing there and everything like, they are in full. We letting everybody know every way we can. I don't even think, barring something insane, that this date is sticking. This is like a hard date.

[Joe Budden]

I still like the outside record. I'm not talking about how successful it may have been for the label, but I do like it. I sing it in the strip club. Except when they get for that one part that the niggas can't say. I'm so small and tiny he's so big and tall Let him dunk this pussy like he dunked that. I just got to drink my little juice. What? She put that in the first verse. So why you jamming? All right. I'm so small and tiny he's so.

[Melissa Ford]

Big and tall Might let you dunk.

[Joe Budden]

This like you dunk the ball. I'm such a bird.

[Melissa Ford]

You are, bro. You stand up in it, though.

[Joe Budden]

I don't give a though. That be the fun. That be the fun part of the club. The bird songs.

[Ish]

Joe do not.

[Melissa Ford]

Not his bird.

[Joe Budden]

Good luck to Cardi. Well, hopefully it does. Well, I can't wait to hear it. I would like to hear what you have to do over an imaginary player sample. That part I can't figure out.

[Melissa Ford]

That's what I want to hear, because.

[Joe Budden]

That sample ain't about to magically turn into a strip club record.

[Parks]

And if it do, they might. They might find a way.

[Joe Budden]

I would be really impressed if that turns into a strip club.

[Melissa Ford]

You can do it.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Parks]

It can be done.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, you absolutely could do it.

[Ish]

It depends on what's getting sampled, because imagine the part I think about when I think about imaginary players is actually.

[Melissa Ford]

Don't.

[Joe Budden]

Don't.

[Ish]

But that's already somebody else's sample. So I think it's gonna be a bar. I think it's gonna be a way, like. Remember, like, Swizz was snipping hov stuff?

[Joe Budden]

Yes. Like, it's both love.

[Ish]

Yeah. I think it'll be like, vocals. I think that's what it's gonna be.

[Joe Budden]

Cause imaginary players. You gotta be shooting at somebody.

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, of course.

[Joe Budden]

Which makes sense as to the timing.

[Ish]

Right. It might be some. I don't see none of that, like, something like that, you know, one of those little. One of those little snippets that's shooting at somebody. That's what I think it's gonna be.

[Melissa Ford]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

Because Carti can't rap over that tempo. No, of the original. Well, not the original. The Jay Z imaginary player. Right.

[Ish]

If they were just sampling that track, you would need Jay Z clearance. Right. You would need the original box is funny.

[Flip]

You think she could rap over that?

[Melissa Ford]

Yeah, she could.

[Joe Budden]

He also thought Will I am. Could say that about Jay Z. Hold up.

[Ish]

He was right about. I had a whole list of that. He was right about y'. All. I mean, like, I don't.

[Joe Budden]

I don't hear it, but this ain't as slow as it sound. It's 88.

[Parks]

You got records that are slower.

[Joe Budden]

You're right. You're right, you're right. Parks is right. Parks is right. Mark, bottom line, there you go. Let's go talk to him. Let him know where you from. That's is.

[Parks]

I don't think she will. I want to be clear. I don't think it will be that bop at all.

[Joe Budden]

No, no, not at all. Not at all.

[Parks]

But she could.

[Melissa Ford]

I think she might get it off.

[Ish]

I'm telling you, it's gonna be some lyrics.

[Melissa Ford]

I think she might get it off.

[Joe Budden]

I'm so small and tiny he's so big and tall.

[Melissa Ford]

Why is that in your mental Rolodex?

[Joe Budden]

She wrote it like that.

[Melissa Ford]

I know.

[Joe Budden]

Well, for them. Somebody wrote it like that for them. For us.

[Melissa Ford]

No, not us. No, no, not for us.

[Joe Budden]

May let him knock his pussy like he dunked bong.

[Flip]

And. And them that be writing it, they be going in there doing the pace and the tempo for them.

[Ish]

For sure.

[Flip]

They be doing the.

[Ish]

Russ.

[Flip]

I know exactly what you talking about, too.

[Joe Budden]

In the booth just laying all of the verses for her. I didn't know he talking about. Yeah, in a way. I suck the dick in my n. Like. Wait, y' all don't hear this? Get your nut ass out like this. Oh, man. Anything else? Anything else on your minds? Hearts and souls and spirits that we need to get out.

[Flip]

I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be. I think next week I'm be giving out free jerk chicken for like.

[Joe Budden]

Is that what you thought?

[Flip]

I'm just saying I'm be doing that. Come down, get some jerk chicken for free, man.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Where in Brooklyn?

[Joe Budden]

You hungry as hell. You another one?

[Flip]

Go home, you know, check my chicken.

[Ish]

Why are you giving out jerk chicken?

[Flip]

I just feel like I wanna just get back to the people.

[Ish]

Okay, where in Brooklyn?

[Flip]

I get the address here.

[Ish]

Okay, I meant, like, what part? But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll send people there.

[Flip]

Yeah, come down.

[Ish]

Yeah, yeah, I'll come down. Yeah.

[Flip]

What you laughing for? Ish, you want some jerk chicken?

[Melissa Ford]

Nah, I'm good.

[Flip]

Fuck outta here. You want some Portugal nigga, right? Homemade applesauce? Niggas will fuck you up, Ish right now.

[Joe Budden]

No, they won't. Yeah, I don't have anything else, but in more local news, I am sad to report that the legendary nightclub and restaurant Taj has closed down. Really? New York City, wow. It is a sad, sad day for us. Hey, no, it's still open if you're from the 19. We stopped going. We stopped going. We ain't been in a while, but some really, really fun, amazing times, Taj in New York City. So please, what's next, M2.

[Melissa Ford]

Avalon.

[Joe Budden]

Tip my hat off to y' all over there, Todd. Anybody that had a wild or memorable night or just a good night at Taj, man, I dedicate this episode episode to you, man. Real sad news. I don't have anything else. Oh, Eyl versus Trap.

[Ish]

Can someone break that down for me? I've seen online, I see that there's an issue. I know that there's a tension or a beating, but I'm not in that finance.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

I feel like we should call an expert.

[Parks]

Ish.

[Ish]

Ish is right here. Ish is an expert.

[Joe Budden]

Mel is so vanilla. I feel like. No, let's break it down first with us. Don't look at my phone. You can do this again.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Ish. Go ahead.

[Melissa Ford]

I have no idea.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, I thought you might.

[Flip]

Some other shit. Don't. Don't you?

[Joe Budden]

No, but you could. You could tell us.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't have any idea.

[Joe Budden]

You can just do like, just the.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Fax ma' am thing.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't have any idea.

[Joe Budden]

They're not inviting you to invest fest to speak no more.

[Ish]

Okay?

[Joe Budden]

They invited you. They put you on the small stage. You could tell us now.

[Melissa Ford]

I've never spoken at festival stage.

[Joe Budden]

I'm calling Ian Dunlap. Because nobody here, quote, unquote, wink, wink, knows what's going on with the eyo vers trap Beef. So let's find out. I know Rashad just been stunting too many on too many people for too long. That's it. Look, now these don't answer the phone on Tuesdays. Don't worry, I'm going call trap next. Actually, I call Rashad. Let me call.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Out of here. Ian.

[Flip]

Shout the end.

[Ish]

Done.

[Flip]

That's my boy.

[Joe Budden]

Word.

[Melissa Ford]

Shout out to.

[Ish]

Shout out to end.

[Joe Budden]

All right, let's see.

[Melissa Ford]

Get this.

[Flip]

I think that I, you know, hopefully somebody can give me some clues. Cuz I definitely want to, you know, deep dive. I asked them niggas at the dinner and the beef ball paused. Yo, what's up? I'm hearing some shit. I ain't know what I was talking about. They started to elaborate. I was lost.

[Joe Budden]

Still didn't know what you was talking.

[Flip]

He said, who's saying our names? I said, every time y' all come to the pause, y' all try to pussyfoot around. That's what I was telling Troy and Rashad like. Y' all pussyfoot around. Cause he said that. Yo, Flip, you was in a bad mood when we came up there. You didn't want us up there. I said, nah, when every time we ask y' all a question, I just pussyfoot around the answer.

[Joe Budden]

Yep, yep, yep. Ian Dunlap, this is Joe Budden, Mel Ford, Queens. Flip Ish. Ice dark. Lamont Hill and Parks. Don't say anything incriminating. We are on air right now. We call, we call. Speaking of family, we call to get the tea.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

About what child? You know.

[Joe Budden]

About that money that you loaned to Trap? That money you loaned the trap that he didn't get back. And he said that y' all had a conversation off mic and you still went on air and said that Nutshell. That's what he said.

[Melissa Ford]

I never said or implied that I'm on Trap money.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, all right. But can you speak to us about how all these is beefing with y'? All? Aristotle, you know. Aris.

[Ish]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Do you know anything about these people beefing with y' all or. No?

[Melissa Ford]

No, I just mind my business and.

[Joe Budden]

Help people make money.

[Melissa Ford]

I don't involve myself in ab.

[Ish]

You know that.

[Joe Budden]

All right, don't worry. Rashad is my next call. Rashad. Rashad is my next call. See, but that's my problem with y'.

[Ish]

All.

[Flip]

Everybody so scared.

[Joe Budden]

Every. Yeah, every year y' all these pump fake on the beef is my problem where they let A little bit out that says we hate each other. And then when the public is interested, oh, no, man.

[Melissa Ford]

We just chilling every year before invest us or no.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, gofu Allah.

[Melissa Ford]

Same rollout every year.

[Flip]

Is that true?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

All right, so this is rollout. Ian.

[Melissa Ford]

I'll ask y' all who. When I first met everyone up there, was I not saying Microsoft off Nvidia Bitcoin and give people then follow suit?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Yes, yes.

[Melissa Ford]

Is there issues that people may have.

[Joe Budden]

Cool.

[I]

But the timing of it is always interesting to me.

[Melissa Ford]

It's my job to not.

[I]

And even with this that happens, if.

[Melissa Ford]

Everyone'S making money, why is there conflict? There should be no conflict that people making real money. I just left Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, left my house in Mexico. I don't have no time for no drama with nobody black, even if they don't like me.

[Joe Budden]

Love to everybody.

[Flip]

Got you, my boy, Ray.

[Joe Budden]

All right, well, how you feel about Rashad showboating around town for the last four or five years in other continents wearing all of that exclusive Prada? His words, not mine. Well, how you feel about him? Sharp, sharp. Shape up, huh? Steve Harvey, all the Celeste. Magic Johnson on the yacht. Like, how do you think that the financial community. How you. How do you feel like your peers would respond to that type of showboating in. In the community?

[Melissa Ford]

Some don't like my approach on how I talk about investing and say there's bravado behind it.

[Joe Budden]

I get that.

[Melissa Ford]

Like, I think I've always said, even in the criticism, there's something to learn. I've told you that privately. You've told me privately. Talked to Echelot about it. There are some truth and some criticism.

[Ish]

You just have to use it and adjust accordingly.

[Melissa Ford]

And I think you've done a great job, especially over the last year, making the adjustment. But I don't have beef on nobody. And I think it's stupid at a time when the community uses more than ever that this shit is even happening. Indeed, I agree with that.

[Flip]

Oh, you want to talk?

[Ish]

Here's some good diplomatic answers.

[Parks]

Inflation is through the roof.

[Melissa Ford]

Billions are being printed in AI. None of us own none of the AI companies. I've been trying to get into some of these companies for investing. We are not allowed in. But this is the common tech line and the other part of it, too.

[Ish]

Some of the money dried up.

[Joe Budden]

Talk about it. Now we talking.

[Flip]

Okay.

[Joe Budden]

Speak to that. Some of the money is drying up, bro, for some of your peers across.

[Ish]

The board is drying up.

[Melissa Ford]

Whether you like him or not. With Trump coin, with the Deal that he deal with. And Trump is working his ass off as president because he know there's a contraction coming.

[Joe Budden]

But what about Trav?

[Ish]

I know.

[Joe Budden]

I know about Trump already. What's wrong with you? Yo, Travis. All right, well, Ian, I hope to see you at my birthday dinner. I knew that you would be. I knew that you would be polished and politically correct. I'm gonna call Rashad.

[Ish]

Sir.

[Joe Budden]

I'm gonna hang up with you and call Rashad, and I'm letting you know before it happened. I'm gonna instigate something out of him. His ego is big enough to where I'm gonna say I'm gonna get what I'm looking for. So I'll text you. Don't try to text him at all. You text him now.

[Ish]

Bye. Bye.

[Melissa Ford]

Bye. Yo, can I. Can I say something? I want to talk to no mess, though. I want to talk to something real. I think it's unfortunate. And the people that I did speak to with regards to this, I told them all I was disappointed in them, that anytime us as black people start getting together, these niggas, whether you like them, whether you don't. For the last eight to seven, six to about six years, these niggas have taken a space that was unbeknownst to a whole bunch of black people, which is financial literacy, investing, et cetera, et cetera. They made it cool. And they also steered a bunch of people into putting our money in a place where we could become self sufficient and financially free. And so the fact that we are now that some of the lead niggas in that industry are beefing, I think it's fucked up, and I think it makes us look like niggas. And they'll think. Think the people that put in hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of dollars into these vehicles are like, yep, look, told you it's only a matter of time. The gonna nig. And I think that is whack. And I told everybody involved that I was disappointed in them.

[Joe Budden]

Thank you for that. All right. Don't say another word. Thank yo Crazy. That was dope. Don't talk, yo. Yeah.

[Melissa Ford]

Hey, I learned from you.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, yeah, yeah. Let's go. Yo, Rashad, we on air. We on air. I called Ian and he had a bunch of political bullshit to say, but let's get to it. I was asking, like, what's going on? And how do you think some of your peers feel? What you wearing all this exclusive Prada, you taking the game to other continents, hanging out with Magic, Steve Harvey, and all these niggas like what? And it's just saying he don't want no beef in the financial community. I do. I want beef. And told you to your face that beef was coming. Pause. And here we are. So is there beef? Is it just some animosity? Is it tension? Is it jealousy? Is it envy? Or can cooler heads prevail?

[I]

Well, first and foremost is queen. Is Queen Flip there?

[Joe Budden]

He's chef. Yes, he is. Well, actually, he's here somewhere.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

He's eating the donut.

[Joe Budden]

Flip, you eating? And our guest is asking you. Queen Flip is here.

[I]

Did he tell you. Did he tell you about. He drunk champagne for the first time in his life with us.

[Ish]

Tell you about that experience, that part out.

[Joe Budden]

He said he had lemonade.

[Melissa Ford]

He said he had lemonade. He never said he had no champagne. No, he told us lemonade.

[Joe Budden]

You didn't say you had some.

[Ish]

Yeah, the black.

[Joe Budden]

He saw y'. All. He saw you. You, Troy and Terence J. Y'. All sun him out real quick. Took him, took him. Took him to some real, real opulence. He ain't know what to do with himself.

[Ish]

He did tell us.

[I]

N N. I saw love, man. It's all love. It's no.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No problem.

[I]

It's no problem in the space.

[Joe Budden]

But what you got to say to these hating ass in the financial space?

[Flip]

Hey, yo, Rashad is doing again. I told him and Troy, like, I stop answering like that. That's what have attitudes. What's up? What's happened?

[Joe Budden]

Cause we've seen you almost knock money out in the street.

[Ish]

Yeah, we seen that.

[Joe Budden]

But that's old. You ain't slide him. You gave him grace.

[Flip]

I gave him grace.

[Joe Budden]

But now these are still talking.

[I]

You know, any level of stuff. Success breeds envy. That comes with it. That's a part of it. So you only. People only can hear one side of the story if another person is not talking. But by talking about something, you give it validity, right? So it's like sometimes it's not even worth having a conversation. The truth never has to be defended, so.

[Joe Budden]

But a lot.

[Flip]

But a lie unchallenged can become the.

[Ish]

Truth.

[I]

To some people for sure. But the real ones understand them.

[Joe Budden]

All right, but let me ask you this. But let me ask you this. With all this going on, like, do you plan on slowing down wearing the matching silk outfits on these niggas? I did.

[I]

I did. You know, the Drip Report hurt a lot of heart, so I took a step back from that. I like that because that satin.

[Joe Budden]

That satin is up.

[I]

Yeah, that satin you up.

[Joe Budden]

They thought they could run the Neiman's and Cop. Nah, nah, this drip ain't in New Orleans.

[I]

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. But nah, it's all love, man. Anybody. You got two types of people in this world. You got the people that we might have disagreements, but they're still actually providing value to society, right? That's just a disagreement that's not seeing eye to eye. Then you got a hater who's providing no value to the world that his whole purpose is to try to destroy. Those two people are not the same. I just wanted. That's not the same. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, on a certain level, one we can have a conversation with eventually, or maybe not, but it's not a real problem.

[Joe Budden]

If you feel like talking that day, if you feel like having a conversation, it could go somewhere else.

[I]

The other one, like, Rojo, put a great post up. That's the new sport online. When you have no talent, when you have no resources, when you have no connection, when you have no work ethic, the next thing to do is to get online and talk about other grown men and try talking about your channel.

[Joe Budden]

Yo, real, real quick, before I let you go, talk about that Invest Fest that's coming up.

[I]

Invest Fest next week.

[Joe Budden]

Because that's probably another reason that they big mad like that.

[I]

First and foremost, we got Ish. We got the honor of Ish coming.

[Joe Budden]

Wait, what? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No, no, no.

[Joe Budden]

Ish said that he wasn't fucking with y' all and didn't plan on doing that and back Best Fest forever. You change your mind, Ish?

[Flip]

What you talking about? I'm going.

[Joe Budden]

Wait, is he going down for real? You serious? For sure.

[Melissa Ford]

What you talking about, bro?

[Joe Budden]

On the. On the big stage or the small stage? Because I know y' all booked him on the small stage before. He ain't like that. But he didn't tell you.

[I]

Don't do that.

[Joe Budden]

Don't do it. Is it the main stage? Where. Where do that?

[I]

Don't do that.

[Joe Budden]

What stage is it?

[I]

Don't. Don't do that. Don't do that, bro. Don't do that. Me and Ish had a conversation.

[Joe Budden]

Me and.

[I]

It's got a personal relationship. That's my brother.

[Joe Budden]

But is it. Is it the big stage or is it the teleporters?

[Flip]

Is it the before? Because I'm gonna be in the building, too. It's better that.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, well, you got. Is speaking at that dinner y' all throw.

[Ish]

He said you're gonna be a little.

[Joe Budden]

Five Points at the influence.

[Ish]

Heck, you're gonna make a toast.

[Flip]

Hey, yo, hold on.

[Joe Budden]

But wait, wait. Just tell me what topic is she speaking on? Cuz now I might go.

[Flip]

I'm going.

[Joe Budden]

What's the topic?

[Melissa Ford]

Hey, yo, dog, ignore these, man. Tonight's conversation, yo.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, a fireside chat.

[I]

Yeah, tonight's conversation.

[Ish]

Hey, yo, wait.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, tonight's conversation, you're saying?

[I]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, he's speaking with them.

[I]

Yeah.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, okay. And not. Mel.

[I]

What'S wrong with you, man?

[Joe Budden]

But Rashad, you already know everything that's wrong with me. Just love me through what's wrong with me.

[I]

Congratulations. Congratulations on touch on that 20 million dollar year.

[Joe Budden]

Thank you so much. Years.

[I]

That's major. That's major, man. That's major. Congratulations on.

[Joe Budden]

Listen, that. That's why I'm not part of the hate on Eyl crew. Like if I wasn't doing like this, I would hate on you. I would hate you.

[I]

But not. That's best. Yeah, we got Jack Dorsey, we got Magic Johnson, we got Charlemagne the dog. We got.

[Joe Budden]

Phone is breaking up now. The reception is. Yo, the reception is getting a little mutt. Y' all heard?

[Flip]

Damn.

[Joe Budden]

Oh, damn, damn, damn.

[Ish]

That's so petty.

[Flip]

My ish. Okay. Ish.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

Oh, you want to call trap to get like a full well rounded.

[Flip]

Oh, you being messy. Mel, stop. I'mma get you now. Mel, stop it. You opening the door. Come on, Savannah, you were call him.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You were good at call him.

[Joe Budden]

I'm still going.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

It's easy.

[Joe Budden]

It's why you ain't told you.

[Flip]

Yo, bro, come on, man.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

You didn't tell us like you omitted the facts.

[Flip]

It's gonna be up there. I'll be right with you, boy.

[Joe Budden]

Get these 5,500 a host of out of here.

[Flip]

Who 5,500 host?

[Joe Budden]

I don't know pushes at that.

[Flip]

Watch your mouth. My man is gonna be up there.

[Joe Budden]

I always gotta find out about him from the street. Like from another source of info. I don't like that about. I don't like that. But I'm glad I found out. I'm glad if I know I'm not going. But if there's a live stream or I'm going have somebody there filming ish. I want to hear is speak on the stage game.

[Flip]

You know I'm going be filming the.

[Joe Budden]

Is is going to talk about absolutely nothing.

[Flip]

Tell us that's hate and that's why you have to.

[Ish]

If you would answer my question, I wouldn't hate.

[Joe Budden]

I just want the topic.

[Flip]

Ish.

[Ish]

What's the topic?

[Melissa Ford]

I have no idea.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. So you just going to jump?

[Flip]

You going to be on the panel with the other people?

[Joe Budden]

You got to get time to prepare. They got to tell me the topic they didn't take. For real. Now I'm coming. Now I'm coming. Now I'm coming.

[Flip]

Yo, fam.

[Melissa Ford]

Yo.

[Joe Budden]

Can we move with the show alone?

[Flip]

You looking dumb.

[Ish]

Not about me.

[Melissa Ford]

This is not about me.

[Joe Budden]

It is.

[Melissa Ford]

All right, cool.

[Joe Budden]

If you say something, damn it. All right. Right. I don't have anything else that is on my mind, spirit, body and soul weighing heavy on my heart. I think we've done a good job disseminating some information. How about you guys? What's the Y dis?

[Ish]

You done some positive work for the community?

[Joe Budden]

Yeah, I think so too, man. Shout out to the Innocence Pro.

[Parks]

And the lawyers.

[Joe Budden]

And the lawyers.

[Parks]

And Pizza Hut.

[Joe Budden]

And the lawyers war. And Pizza Hut. And Pizza Hut.

[Flip]

Got to add.

[Joe Budden]

That was fun. Rashad. I love Rashad. I always say Rashad. Rashad, I love you. I just hung up on you for dramatic effects again. I'll see y' all at Invest Fest. Mel, you going?

[Mark Lamont Hill]

No.

[Joe Budden]

All right, let's see, man. Good show today. Really, really good show today. Good vibe. Good vibe. Good time, man. Hopefully y' all have enjoyed this broadcast as much as we've enjoyed delivering it to you. Until the next time, we bid you a do farewell. Adios. Arrivederchi. Hasta la vista, ego. Hey, I forgot how I outro this.

[Flip]

Keep your windows closed.

[Joe Budden]

Keep us in your prayers. Lord knows we need to be there. Until next time. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Oh, my God. All right, all right, all right. We got it, y'.

[Ish]

All.

[Joe Budden]

We got it. We got it, y'.

[Ish]

All. How do you say it, man?

[Flip]

Say it. That is insecure.

[Joe Budden]

Last but certainly not least. The baddies are insecure. The stagnant women want to travel. When the closed minded women want you to teach them things, Grab you a Tylenol, you might need it. Anybody have any interesting plans for the week? I know we had that Chris Brown concert tonight. Yes, sir. Is everybody going to that or. No, I'm going.

[Melissa Ford]

No, I don't think.

[Joe Budden]

Yo, why do y' all have such a hard time with the simply list of questions? Is everybody here going or not?

[Parks]

I don't believe so much.

[Joe Budden]

Absolutely.

[Flip]

You got the rest of the tickets?

[Joe Budden]

Huh?

[Flip]

Got some tickets for Mal like Flip.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, y', all, hold it down now. Exactly. We love y'. All. Remember, Tupac cares if no one else cares. Until next time. Hey, hey. I mean rock for a little bit now. We going. Y' all hold it down. Same time, same place next week. Everybody have a real good week. Peace, love, health, wealth and prosperity to y' all out. There it go.

[Ish]

Until next time, we want to welcome.

[Joe Budden]

Back our good brother Mark. Man, Mark, it was good to have you back. Yeah, we missed the beautiful you on that.

[Melissa Ford]

That long Tuesday.

[Joe Budden]

Hey, I don't know why my sound effects been pitched up. This whole show. It's been bothering me too. Huh?

[Parks]

I look at it.

[Joe Budden]

Yeah. This is horrible. It.

[Mark Lamont Hill]

That'S not.

[Joe Budden]

We'll fold that up right now.

[Melissa Ford]

Don't look away now.