← The Latest with Loren LoRosa
The Latest with Loren LoRosa
Drake drops shots at Lebron - don’t forget to put your feet on the grass!
00:25:16
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- [00:00]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an I heart podcast.
- [00:05]
Elliott Wilson
Let's get to it.
- [00:06]
Unknown Speaker
Time to do it.
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Lauren LaRosa
I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything.
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Unknown Speaker
And everybody, you know, she don't lie about that, right?
- [00:12]
Lauren LaRosa
Lauren came in hot. Hey, y', all. It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. First episode back after the holiday weekend. And y'. All, okay, before we get on into the things. Cause y' all know that this is where you come. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news, exclusives, and all of the conversations that shake the room. But, guys, I had such an amazing Fourth of July holiday with my family. If we're checking in behind the scenes of the grind, back on the grind. Yes, my holiday was great. It's always just a very, like, you know, people tell you, like, you got to go put your feet on the ground. Feet on. Is it feet on the ground, boots on the ground. See, my family kept doing the boots on the ground line then. So now my mind is all. Everything's boots on the ground and fans and where the fans at. But the. The line that you hear often from people is every now and then, you gotta go put your feet on the grass and just, you know, it's like a. Don't forget where you come from. Connect back with, you know, the. The land, the people, the earth, all the things. It's like a centering conversation that people have. So I was really looking forward, leading up to this break, to, number one, just have the vacation that we had. I did take Fourth of July off, even here at the podcast. And I, y' all know, I don't do that, but I really wanted to take the time to just, like, breathe in, breathe out, let it go. After the close of Diddy's trial, there is still more to come in that, and we'll get into that. But I did need the mental digest, like, the mental release, you know, and it's always different when you're around people that love you, that you love family who don't care anything about any of this stuff. Yes, everybody had Diddy questions, but they don't care about any of this stuff. So, yes, it's just like a centering thing. So if I'm checking in on how I'm feeling today behind the scenes of the grind, I'm feeling very centered. I'm ready to get back to work, get back on into the action, back into the things, to the point where I actually got up this morning and went to the breakfast club at 5:30am thinking that we were back live on air today, and we do not return until tomorrow. So that's how anxious I was. And it's the most amazing sleep that you get after you realize you woke up too early or you didn't even have to wake up early at all, and then you could go back to sleep. So it's been great. Chef's Kiss. Chef's Kiss. But let's get on into the latest because there has been things that have went down since the last time I've been here breaking things down with you guys. Over the holiday weekend, there was some new music that dropped. Drake dropped a new song. The song is called what Did I Miss? He also premiered a song. It wasn't like a full premiere, though. It was just like a clip of a song called Super Max where he's, like, talking to or talking about a conversation he had with a friend. It later came out Taylor Rooks confirmed that the friend was her. Where he sucked. Where he's being talked about, too, about people around him not being able to handle pressure and fame and, you know, that whole thing. But back to what did I miss? Because what did I miss is a direct response or effect or consequence or whatever of the Not Like Us era. I cannot believe that we are still here when it comes to, like, I know in conversation, we're still going to be here, but when it comes to Drake and Kendrick actually making music, I can't believe that Drake is still dropping songs referencing things that happen to him around the Not Like Us time. So a few things that stood out during this song. You know, Drake talks a lot about, you know, just people switching sides and, you know, some of the things that we've heard him talk about leading up to this point, this is not his first time having this conversation. More specifically, he talks about LeBron in this song. Here's the line. Now, look, I have no issue with music artists talking through their real life in their music. I think that your real life is what inspires your art. I think that when you know artists, whether you're a music artist or whatever you do, when you're gifted enough to be able to take your real life and bring it into your talent and into your art and portray it in a way that then becomes something that people can, you know, debate about or have conversation about, I think that that is genius. But the reason why I'm not a big fan of what Did I Miss in. In Drake rapping throughout, you know, rapping through his problems on this song is because I feel like the substance of the song is just. It's a waste of Drake's time. If I'm being honest with you. I feel like Drake wasted his time with this song. I mean, it's Drake. So of course people are going to love it. Of course it's going to do what it does because he's Drake. He's one of the biggest artists in. But I do think substance matters for him. Especially right now when everybody is still having these back and forth conversations about Drake and Kendrick Lamar. I, I just think it's important now. When I was thinking about this, as I was listening to this song and as I was trying to figure out why I really didn't care for this song much, I was trying to figure out where does Drake even go from here, right? Because what did I miss? Like, sonically is cool. Like it's, you know, the, the beat is cool, Drake's rapping. And I actually enjoy Drake rapper Drake. I like melody Drake as well. And I know that that has been a conversation especially be since the not like us stuff of people feeling like Drake needs to stick to being melodic and singing and you know, or I guess it's what you call what Drake does, you call singing. But y' all know what I mean when Drake's. When Drake getting his melody bag is very different than rapper Drake. But I'm one of the, the, you know, the, the Drake fans and listeners that I appreciate both. Like, I like Drake as a rapper, but I also love Drake on the melodies when he's talking to the girls, when, you know, or see, or, or it's just like a party anthem, something like that. But I just feel like here, right, like my issue isn't that Drake is rapping. That. That has been a lot of the conversation around this song though. People are just upset that he's rapping. They don't want him to do that. My issue though is I think at this point point, we have gotten to a point with this rap back and forth between Kendrick Lamar and Drake where the artists themselves should be moved on. Like, we know who, we know clearly who won the battle. We saw effort from both sides. But at this point, there's nothing that Drake can say about that situation or that time that is going to make people have the empathy for him that I think that he's looking for. And the only reason why I said I think that he's looking for because every single time since not like Us in the, in the conversation of Drake lost the battle and people switching sides, the only conversation we've heard from Drake through his music and, you know, little subliminals on stage and, you know, him popping up at the, the, the, the basketball games and throwing side eyes at, you know, DeMar DeRozan and things like that. Right. The only thing that we've heard from him directly has been. Is very much been Woe is me. And I don't feel that for him. And it's not because he lost the battle. Drake is still Drake. He's still great at what he does. I still love the music. But it's like, bro, you threw your ring in a hat and it didn't work out. It didn't work out in your favor. And I don't know why we are, like, if I'm Drake, I'm not spending more time on that. I'm great as an artist. I'm great at what I do. I'm figuring out what my new subject matter should be, and I'm going there. And maybe that's the real conversation. Conversation of, like, you know, because. Because there's always been the talk after the not like us moment of, did Kendrick Lamar pull back the curtain on the fact that there is no real substance to Drake? And have we as fans and as listeners just been so okay with that? Because the music is great and there's nothing wrong with that either. I don't agree with that rhetoric. I think that Drake has substance of his own. I just don't know what that looks like at where he is in life today, as, you know, as the father he is, as the super rich, successful artist he is, as the man he is. Right? Because when. When, When Drizzy Drake, you know what I mean? When. When I'm talking like, old, like mixtape era, Drake was rapping. It was hunger. It was. I'm trying to get on. And so y' all gotta hear me. It's, you know, I'm representing Canada and I want y' all to know about us and know who we are. You know, what our style is. Like now. I don't know what his substance. I don't know what his subject matter is. And that's the issue here. I think what did I miss Was not a hit. It was a miss because of the substance matter. It was lack thereof. It's like, what are we even talking about? And why, like, why are you spending so much time telling LeBron why your feelings are hurt? We know your feelings were hurt. We heard you say that already. You got it out. Let's move on. And I know people are going to argue. Well, They've had the relationship that they've had. And you know, Drake was doing things with an, with uninterrupted, uninterrupted in Canada and LeBron was popping out and supporting him at his shows and all of these things and they've been friends for a very long time. People also talk about that Drake tattoo, that Drake LeBron tattoo. And you know, he was showing him so much respect and you know, all of that is fine and dandy and the fans and the conversations are entitled to it. But at this point right now, if I'm Drake, I really would be trying to figure out what is it that I'm saying and why if I'm just having a good time. Take Nokia for instance. Right the minute I heard some sexy songs for you, which is him and Party Next Door's Collab album, I knew Nokia was a hit. That was the first thing I said about this album. The very next day that it dropped and people thought I was crazy. They were like, the song is not even like that. Like he not really talking about much on this album. It's like cuz people want to hear Drake talk about the whole Kendrick Lamar thing but then it's like they don't want to hear it. I'm one of the people that I felt I wanted to hear it at first we heard it. I just want you to move on. But Nokia was a bop and now Nokia is. It's a it. What Nokia's Drake is Drake again. So his music is always going to do well. But Nokia everywhere, song of the summer easily. And he didn't talk about anything beef wise in that song. He's just having a good time. So there's nothing wrong if Drake is at the point in his career where he's like, I just want to have a good time. I don't want to make music where you got a decode, you got this and you got it that. I think that it is a disservice to like his core fans who know him as this witty. You got to listen to it a few times. All of his songs become the caption of all over it. Like y' all remember when Drake used to drop for real. For real. And his captions, literally every lyric, every bar, every hook became Instagram captions and social media captions for like the next six months. Like there was a point in time where Drake's lyrics ran social media, how people posted, how they captioned like everything. Right now we're at this point where his music is coming and going and, and it's not because I don't think he's talented. I think a lot of us are looking to rediscover his substance. And I think that one thing that the Kendrick Lamar, Drake be did in his favor was make us want to do that. Some people are looking at this as like, oh my God, he lost the battle. He's not Drake anymore. This is such a hit to his career. No, Drake is still crazy. Famous music is still good. This is a time for him to really figure out what that direction is. Whether it's partying or whether it is the substance or it's both. And take us there. Like we're waiting to see what is next. And then what did I miss? Drop? And I'm like, first of all, you didn't miss nothing. You was right there along with all of us on the edge of your seat because you responded to everything. Your feelings were hurt by things. You're still talking about LeBron and you know what you didn't like about seeing LeBron at the pop out show? I just think it's a waste of Drake's time and I think it's a waste of his talent. And it's crazy because I actually had a conversation. I did a sit down interview with Elliott Wilson and the interview was great. Make sure you guys go and check it out. It's on the Hip Hop DX YouTube channel. If you go to YouTube and search Elliott Wilson, Lauren LaRosa, you'll see it there. But check out the full interview. We talked about a lot of different things, but Drake and Kendrick Lamar came up and here's the conversation we had. Take a listen.
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Unknown Speaker
If you had to sit down with Drake and Kendrick, what would be the first thing you would say to them?
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Lauren LaRosa
Them two together?
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Unknown Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Like Sway with Jay and Oz. Let's say you got only Lauren Laros to get Drake and Kendrick in the room. How do you start the conversation with these fools?
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Lauren LaRosa
That's the first question. It's like, I got y' all in the same room, but can this ever really be resolved? And we just go from there? Because I don't think that it can. I think what we're watching and the reason why people are.
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Unknown Speaker
It's not even Jay and Nas. That's in the sense of it. That's what I'm saying.
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Lauren LaRosa
Because in real life you have one person that really just doesn't respect the character of another person. Another person in real life, and then he's telling us through the music, right? Yeah. I think that with. And you know you were outside during this time. I wasn't. But from my perspective of what Jay Z and Nas is like, yeah, they had their differences, but like they both were.
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Unknown Speaker
They both respected each other as MCs, right? It was mutual respect.
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Lauren LaRosa
And yeah, what we're seeing right now is like there is a lack of respect. And that's my thing. Like when I tell you guys, people are so locked into this Drake and Kendrick Lamar, because in real life you can feel that there is a man. I don't really like you. And now in real life, we're trying to decide, well, who is Drake? We love his music, but who is he? What. What do we really know about him and what he stands on and what he stands for and like all those things. And I think that's a natural thing to do as a fan for any artist as they grow. I just think that this beef has put a spotlight on it of, of like now you really want to make sure you. You understand so that when you go to defend Drake or defend his music, you, you know, what you standing on. That's why substance matter. That's why substance matters. But where does Drake go now? Because as I mentioned, right, y' all not like us happened. Then we fast forward. Nokia drops some sexy songs for you, drop some bangers on there and they do well. But everybody is still talking about the beef. Everything Drake does, even if he doesn't do it to act like this song, he's actually referencing things that were a direct effect of not like Us. But even when he drops songs that have nothing to do with it, nothing, right. The fans still take it back there. The. The hip hop journalists still take it back there. Can Drake ever escape the not like us effect? Is that a real thing? Like can't? And I'm being so serious. I would love Lowriders every time I tell y'. All. I would love to hear from y'. All. Y' all blow me up with the conversations. And I love that. I would really love to hear from you guys on if you think Drake can escape the not like era, where if he makes. Is it a good song? Cuz Nokia was a good song. Whether you want to argue if substance was there or not. Did he take you on a journey or of a story or not? You can argue that, but it was a great song for all the critics and I'm one of them. And I can't answer the question yet. I've been, I've been trying to figure it out. Where does Drake go from here, direction wise with his music and can that get him out of the not like us, choco? Cuz baby, the chokehold is choking. Okay, now also in the latest, because y' all know people are still wondering, like, the. The Diddy verdict dropped. We found out that he was found not guilty on three out of five charges. He's only looking to face the consequences for that prostitution charge. But people want to know what's about to happen. There was a report that came out. It was AP News did a report. They spoke to Diddy's attorneys about what it was like for him to return to prison after the verdict dropped. And Diddy's attorney, Mark Agnifiglio, told the AP that Diddy was welcomed with cheers and claps and celebration when he walked back into prison because the prisoners were saying things to him like, we've never seen someone beat the feds and beat the government like that. And that. I'm not surprised by that response, especially not by, you know, other inmates who are currently going through their own ins and outs with the government and, you know, all those things. But that is the feeling and the conversation. Like, over the holiday weekend, all of my family, whether they think that Diddy is a horrible person now because of all these things they've heard or not, the one thing you heard echoed was, yeah, but at the end of the day, he beat the government. And I said this. I was. I did NBC New York, NBC for New York shout out to them. We did a weekly breakdown called the Case, where we talked about Diddy's case, Sean Diddy Combs case every week. It lasted for several weeks. So there's a lot of content there for you guys to go and watch if you choose to. And the day that the verdict dropped, right after we heard the decision of the judge not to give Diddy bond. And I talked to you guys about this in my last episode before we took our holiday break. We talked a little bit about what it would have been like if Diddy were to walk out of the courthouse the day that his verdict had dropped. Take a listen to what I said.
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Elliott Wilson
Joining us from outside court, Lauren LaRosa, who's not only been joining us here on the case, but she's been reporting on the breakfast club on power 105. And, Lauren, you've been at the intersection of social media, pop culture, and justice, which is really what this is about. We may have seen it before, but not quite like this. So let me start with you. Talk us through it.
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Lauren LaRosa
Yeah, I think if he were able to walk out of court today, the image of Diddy, Sean Diddy Combs walking out and a crowd full of people. Today. There were people out here like I've never seen before, screaming free puff. And there was so much joy and excitement when he was found not guilty on three out of the five charges. After his legal team says this was a black man who was very wealthy that was targeted by the government, they would have leaned in on that image. I think he would have been able to almost gain sympathy from the people who kind of throw him away, especially since that Cassie video. But it's different now, and that is what I know and knew his team would lean into. Right. You have this image. If he had walked out of the courtroom, it would have been stronger. But right now, it's not the image of him like a physical photo or video of Sean Combs walking out of the courtroom after beating a RICO charge. Right. But you have the narrative in the conversation, because when you think about it, he was. He was looking at life. What he's going to be looking at now is not nearly anything compared to what he was going to be looking at before. So you do have the conversation of this black man whose attorneys are alleging he was targeted by the government, winning to some extent. Now, whether that winning makes it where he can actually be able to come back into the world after he does whatever time or whatever consequence he'll be looking. Looking at for that prostitution conviction. Right. Whether he can come back into the world and. And be the superstar that he was, which I don't think is fully possible. I do think that, you know, celebrity has. Celebrity is celebrity. Right. And there were a lot of people who were upset about the way that people were, you know, celebrating Sean Combs's Diddy's win on that verdict day. That there was a lot of conversation around the fact that, you know, Diddy, at the end of the day, whether he did not. Was not found guilty of that racketeering, racketeering, conspiracy and the sex trafficking. We had seen videos and photos of him brutally beating Cassie. And there are a lot of people who are upset that he's being celebrated on one hand for beating that RICO charge, when on the other hand, there's the domestic violence that we all saw. Even though he was not on trial for it, we saw it and it happened. And people want to make sure that we remember that. But what is the. The. The craziest underlying truth? And this is not my personal opinion, this is just the truth. There is always something to celebrity that will allow for anything, any wrongdoing of any person to be somewhat ignored. When you think about R. Kelly and all of R. Kelly's, he didn't win anything. R. Kelly is sitting behind bars right now and will be probably for the rest of his life. And there are still people out here arguing that he was set up, that he was, you know, all of these things that literally were proven not correct in court. Right? But because of his celebrity and because of the fact that people grew up listening to him and, you know, the fandom of it all, there are people that will still argue for him and will turn their head completely to everything that we've heard be done to other people because of this man's power. Now, I don't want to compare the two, because I do think that the Diddy conversation, R. Kelly conversation are different, which is why Diddy was not convicted on sex trafficking in the RICO charge. And I don't even think it's not even that. I think it's not about what I think if we're looking at what was actually what Diddy was actually convicted of in a courtroom versus what R. Kelly was convicted of in a courtroom, there are. There. There's difference there based on. Just solely based on tongue and cheek, just solely based on the charges. And what was actually convicted and won in court is what I'm talking about here. Right? But you think about other celebrities, right? Like, you think about a Kanye west who people have strong feeling about because of some of the political comments that he's made and the racial comments he's made and just various things. But I was there at the courtroom when Kanye west came to the courtroom. I saw the way people acted like they had never seen a celebrity in their life, like literally running from floor to floors and buildings trying to find him. The mayhem it caused outside of the courtroom. There is always going to be something to celebrity. So I don't know what that looks like for Diddy when he. When he, you know, returns home from all this, when at whatever time that is, however, after however amount of time. But there is something to it. And my question and what my thought is, is what does that look like for him? I know a lot of brands will not touch him. It's too messy now. It's too tainted. We've seen that Cassie video. You cannot get that image out of your head. But does he live off of that core base of people who are so caught up on the celebrity that they're willing to turn their head to the. To the side on everything else? Now, there's a conversation that will happen this week on Diddy sentencing and when that will be. As of right now, the sentencing is October 3rd. But his lawyers did ask in court, and the government did not object to this for the sentencing to be moved up, to be expedited, because they wanted it to happen while everything was still fresh in the court's mind of, you know, everything that happened in trial and everything that we've heard and, you know, all the things. And the government didn't object to this. So they're going to have a conversation. It'll be virtual via Zoom. I think I reminded you guys of this in my last episode, but just to put a button on this so they'll talk virtually via Zoom about what that sentencing timeline looks like, when it will happen, and then the sentencing will happen. And we'll. We'll find out, you know, how long Sean Combs will be, you know, behind bars or whatever will happen following the verdict that we watched go down about a week ago at this point. So that has been the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. As always, I here to keep you guys updated. That is what we are here for. Lowriders. I appreciate y'. All, My aunts, they had a little funny, little jokey joke. If we take it, y', all, I'm taking y' all outside into the streets with me in the tweets. With me.
- [24:39]
Elliott Wilson
You for the tweets.
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Lauren LaRosa
We outside. We outside. We outside, outside in the tweets.
- [24:43]
Elliott Wilson
Every other page are gold.
- [24:45]
Lauren LaRosa
My aunts, we were talking about the podcast and I was talking about the lowriders, and they are telling me that the people want some merch, my merch, with my low riders, so I can get my shirt and be a low rider, because we the low riders. So I appreciate you guys for tuning in because y' all know at the end of the day, there's always a lot to talk about. So every single time that you guys are here to talk about it with me, I, you know, I always tell y' all how much I appreciate you guys, and I do. I will see you guys in my next episode. I'm out. This is an I Heart podcast.