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Rapper, activist, entrepreneur Michael Render, aka Killer Mike, joined Charlamagne tha God for the most recent episode of Emerging Hollywood to discuss to discuss segregation, gun rights, policing, reparations and more.
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00:01Hollywood is being rebuilt by artists not afraid to disrupt the status quo.
00:07Telling fresh stories and bringing to life characters who until now have been confined to the margins.
00:13This is Emerging Hollywood.
00:17Today I'm sitting with a rapper, an activist, a businessman, and the host of Trigger Warning on Netflix and executive
00:24producer,
00:25my man Michael Render, professionally known as Killer Mike.
00:28What's up, bro?
00:29Killer Kill from the Ville. What's happening?
00:30Man, damn proud of you. You know that, though.
00:32Thank you, man. Same here for you.
00:33We've come a long way.
00:34We both came a long way.
00:36Yeah, you know what I'm saying? We met on my promo tour.
00:3917 years ago.
00:4017 years ago.
00:412002, Purple Ribbon All-Stars.
00:43Yep. All the reps in the record companies were so fray to you.
00:47They thought you only liked, I think, MeTI, Triple Six Mafia at the time, maybe.
00:51You know what I mean?
00:52How did growing up in Atlanta inform your point of view on racial and economic injustices?
00:58I grew up in a totally black city, essentially. It was over 50% black. The leadership was black. The
01:04police chief was black. My teachers were black. Schools were named for black people.
01:07You know, I grew up in an economically integrated neighborhood, the Collier Heights. So our schools were a little better.
01:12So people like me and T.I. learned how to use big words.
01:15You know what I mean?
01:17Did you realize how special Atlanta was back then as far as, like, having all that black representation?
01:22I did.
01:23Okay.
01:23Because my family's from the deep south.
01:24All right.
01:25When you get shipped to the country in the summers, then you understand how lucky you are, how fortunate. But
01:30most of my friends didn't. They didn't have any idea.
01:31So I grew up really with us in power. I grew up in Wakanda. But growing up in Wakanda, I
01:37got a chance to see we do good and bad. We make good politicians and bad politicians. Our church is
01:42as corrupt as any other church. Our institutions are as good as any other institution.
01:47And that's not me down in Atlanta. It's just as much saying I learned to keep an eye on those
01:51in power. So I started participating in the political process a lot younger. So my grandmother was from Tuskegee. She
01:58participated in some of the marches with King and stuff. She just thought being a part of the political process
02:02was absolutely what you were supposed to do as a citizen.
02:06My grandfather was a black man, but from a philosophical standpoint, was probably more like a libertarian. He wanted the
02:11government out of his life. And he thought the worst thing that ever happened to blacks was desegregation.
02:16I agree.
02:18Yeah, you do remind me of my grandfather.
02:20I kind of agree with that, though, because when we talk about black empowerment and black entrepreneurship and independence, all
02:24we got to do is start moving the way black people moved before integration.
02:28Yeah, if you, the first episode of Trigger Warning, Living Black, those came, that episode's idea came out of conversations
02:35with my grandfather.
02:37Even being born in the 70s and growing up in the 80s, my whole world still revolved around black people.
02:42We got our gas from a black gas station.
02:44We went to, you know, our vegetables came right off a black produce truck.
02:49So for my generation, it was probably the last generation of that, and everything became more corporatized.
02:54So when you hear black people say white folks, a lot of times what they're saying is corporations.
02:58That's it.
02:59You know what I'm saying?
02:59It's not even that they're saying literally you white people on the other side of the camera, but Whole Foods
03:04is not owned by someone who looks like us.
03:05So in his mind, the worst thing that happened to us had been desegregation because our dollar desegregated out.
03:12And we start thinking, you know, white folks, water was colder.
03:15And we start moving out of a neighborhood.
03:17And then when you start moving out of a neighborhood, you took a tax base out that provided for working
03:21class kids like me to have a better education because I lived in a community of rich black people too,
03:26right?
03:27Who put that entrepreneurial spirit in you?
03:29I grew up in the crack era, so that helped.
03:32All right.
03:32You know, I don't think the crack era gets the proper accolades.
03:35A lot of entrepreneurs.
03:36A lot of entrepreneurs came out of that.
03:37But my mother, she was an artist and florist, and she just, she didn't like working for people.
03:42The people in my family who I saw do what they want to do whenever they wanted to do it
03:48are on the business.
03:50Once I got into rap and my heart kind of got broken the first go around, I just promised myself
03:54I'd never be totally dependent on my art again because it made me resent something I loved.
04:00You know what I mean?
04:00So I figured out getting in the business, and out of that was born stuff like the swag shop.
04:04Swag shop.
04:05Yep.
04:05And render real estate holders and things of that nature.
04:07Why'd your heart get broken the first time around in the rap game?
04:10It didn't work out, right?
04:11And it didn't work out for reasons that I didn't have total control over.
04:15Got you.
04:16Like, I didn't have control over going to Columbia Records.
04:18I didn't have control over why I didn't get to go to Def Jam, or I didn't have control over
04:22any of that.
04:23But that was the first time in my life I had been out of control.
04:26You know, I was five little girls, older brothers.
04:28I was, at that point, two children's father.
04:32You know what I'm saying?
04:32I was a man to a woman.
04:33And all of a sudden, in my life, the decisions of other people were affecting me in a way that
04:38was at birth.
04:38I never wanted to feel like that again.
04:41So I had to figure it out by myself.
04:42And the figuring out of that by myself was I pledge allegiance to the grind as a series, and then
04:48rap music, and then run the jewels.
04:50And here I go.
04:52Wow.
04:52You've always had messaging in your music.
04:54Yeah.
04:55But I feel like them six episodes of Trigger Warning got more of your messaging out than a decade of
05:01music.
05:02Yeah, I know, right?
05:03Does that, how does that make you feel?
05:05You never know what God got planned for you, man.
05:07Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:08You know what I'm saying?
05:09When I look back at the Kronk era and how many people were literally catapulting up past me and just
05:16superstars, I didn't begrudge anyone.
05:18I didn't have envy toward anyone.
05:20But it was humbling because lyrically, I knew, like, I'm fucking up the world.
05:25You know what I mean?
05:26And I got, I'm saying these things, but I knew that the world, that's not what they wanted at that
05:32time.
05:32Well, not as much of the world as I thought she wanted.
05:35And the world caught up because everybody graduated college and went and got jobs.
05:39And then that shit hit them in the face.
05:41And it's like, oh, oh.
05:43So God in the building might make some sense to me this morning.
05:46You know what I'm saying?
05:47So that's fine.
05:48You know, Bun told me when I dropped my first record, he said, you're probably 10 years ahead of your
05:51time.
05:52Wow.
05:53You know, he said, so I got to be honest with you.
05:55So it's going to be hard, but just keep trying and keep doing it.
05:57I wonder if he saw that because of the climate of the South at the time or what?
06:00Maybe.
06:01One of the most flattering things, though, that ever happened in my life was when I walked in the Trap
06:04Museum.
06:05And the first two albums were up there with T.I.'s Trap Music and my album Monster.
06:09Wow.
06:09T.I.'s Trap Music is the first official Trap album.
06:13And then it said Killer Mike makes the first attempt at making a Conscious Trap album.
06:17And that's really what Monster was.
06:18Wow.
06:19Yeah.
06:19Like, I was really coming out of selling drugs, coming into music, trying to reconcile that.
06:24That's why you heard, Mom, I don't want to sell drugs no more.
06:27You're like, I didn't.
06:28I did not want to sell cocaine anymore.
06:30I had 18 ounces of cocaine above my kitchen cupboard when I made Monster.
06:35Damn.
06:36You know what I'm saying?
06:36I bought nine and got fronted nine.
06:39Like, so that's different.
06:40That's not saying that they didn't trap or do things.
06:43That's just saying, you know, when you look at me and T.I., we literally were trapping.
06:48You know what I mean?
06:48Trying to rap.
06:50And that therein lies the difference.
06:51I didn't want to be trapping them.
06:52I was sick of that shit.
06:53What was Michael Render's mind state when he was selling dope?
06:57Because you were an educated brother.
06:59Yeah.
07:00People think you sell drugs because you're lazy or you're nefarious in some way.
07:04No, you got common sense.
07:06You understand that I can spend $50 and I can make $100.
07:10And if you're smart, you save your money and you double and you double and you double again.
07:15That's just, that's good business.
07:17And for people who turn their nose up at it, you drink alcohol.
07:20Yeah.
07:20They did the same thing with alcohol.
07:22They're doing the same thing with marijuana now, except the people who bore the burden
07:26of going to jail for the last 50 years aren't reaping the benefits.
07:29Yeah, us and people who speak Spanish that look like us.
07:32You know what I mean?
07:33So intellectually, if you had any sense in the 80s and 90s and you didn't think about
07:38selling drugs, you got to be one of the strongest minds I know because it was too easy not to
07:42do.
07:42Now, was getting into entertainment with acting and the voice work and the hosting
07:46Trigger Warning, was that a path you were ever seeking?
07:48Yeah.
07:50Man, I like entertaining.
07:52You know, I've been a ham my whole life.
07:54So I love rapping, but I only rap because I was too chubby to break names.
07:58Otherwise, I would have been turbo on them hoes.
08:00For me, I always wanted to be on TV.
08:02I used to love watching real people, the Carol Burnett show, you know, Bob Newhart,
08:07Night Court, you know, so I wanted to be on television.
08:10I learned from TV.
08:11I watched a lot of PBS too.
08:12Like, I watched a lot of Mr. Rogers.
08:14I watched a lot of Electric Company.
08:15So I knew that TV was a tool.
08:18Trigger Warning is as much a testament to public broadcasting television as any Michael
08:23Moore film that I stand out on as a kid, right?
08:25I love Michael Moore, love documentaries, but the fact that PBS taught me that it's okay
08:31to put a message in what you're doing.
08:34Absolutely.
08:34It's okay to be overtly positive in that message.
08:37I got that directly from public broadcasting.
08:39So, you know, when I watched the Mr. Rogers documentary, I cried like a baby because
08:43I'm like, you know, I'm like a student of him and Tupac.
08:46That's a hell of a combination.
08:48Yeah, it is.
08:54You're a longtime gun rights advocate.
08:56Yeah, a gun owner, absolutely.
08:58What do you think we as a nation should be doing to, like, combat the rise of mass shootings?
09:03The shootings are going down.
09:06Okay.
09:06Right?
09:07So the world is not as violent as it was when we were teenagers.
09:10So you can actually wear your Jordans on the train and make it home.
09:15Mass shootings and white men.
09:19I don't know the answer to that because I live in a society that enables white men to
09:26see themselves as God, literally, when you look at.
09:29And when things don't seem to go their way, these things start to happen.
09:33That's not castigating all white men.
09:34That's just saying when you talk about mass shootings, the face that pops up.
09:38Is white kids having temper tantrums.
09:40Exactly.
09:40Yeah.
09:41So my question begins to be, you know, what about white society allows me to think that
09:48it's okay to do that?
09:49Ooh.
09:49Well, let's look at how things were reported.
09:52When you report on a mass shooting, you report on a disturbed young man who had never shown
09:56signs up.
09:58When you report on a black kid shooting back at a kid who jumped him, you'll go find any
10:03dirt on that kid.
10:03Absolutely.
10:04When you report on a black kid who was murdered by a white vigilante, you'll find any dirt.
10:08When you report on a black kid who was illegally stopped by a policeman engaged and murdered
10:12in the streets, why do you keep asking people who look like me to answer your gun problem
10:18because your gun problem seems to be with the person holding the gun?
10:22That's a fact.
10:23Because we got our own issues in our community.
10:26You know what I'm saying?
10:27Our gun problem is easy to fix.
10:28Jobs and education fix our gun problems.
10:32Provide jobs.
10:33Provide an environment in which young fathers get the encouragement and the underwriting.
10:39They need to be the fathers.
10:41But in terms of why boys are shooting up high schools, I don't know those answers because
10:48culturally, that's not where I am.
10:49I know what our boys are doing, what they're doing, and our boys just want some money.
10:53It's not like, you know, I live in Georgia.
10:55You're from South Carolina.
10:57Yes.
10:57My cousin's from Alabama, from Mississippi.
10:59And the people that are around us who are armed are armed.
11:03They still got M4s in it.
11:05They still got guns.
11:06They grandfathers on.
11:07They got tummy guns.
11:07I'm not giving up one right that one white man hasn't given up.
11:11We've been free 55 years.
11:13If you think after 55 years of freedom, I'm giving anything back, I'm not giving up my right
11:17freedom of speech, my right to freedom of travel, my right to gun.
11:21I'm not giving up anything.
11:22I think any politician who's telling you to do so is an agent, and I don't trust him.
11:26Have you given any thought to the death of Nipsey Hussle?
11:29Every day.
11:30And what that means to the culture.
11:33Yeah, I cried, you know, the first three days.
11:36Like, hard, man.
11:37It's tragic, and it's tragic because we keep doing it.
11:41You know what I mean?
11:41And I say we because I accept my part in the bullshit, too, because I've been on my bullshit
11:46before.
11:47We all have, as black men, at some point, our pride and our ego get in the way of our
11:51logic and our sensibility and our empathy, and we end up doing things or saying things
11:56or causing us to act in a way that's just not good for the individual ourselves, the
12:01individual we hurt, and the greater community.
12:02And I just say shame.
12:04You know, shame on the brother that killed them.
12:06Have you seen the meme going around that says, we got to respect and honor brothers
12:11like Killer Mike and David Banner while they're here?
12:14You know what I mean?
12:15Don't wait till they die.
12:16Yeah.
12:17How did that make you feel, knowing that people look at you in that way?
12:21I'm humbled and I'm honored.
12:22And with that, I challenge everyone to just be that person in your own community.
12:27See, if all of us do a look, ain't nobody got to do a lot.
12:31You know, my reasons for wanting you to be free are radically different.
12:36I've told people from the start, I like marijuana.
12:39I like strippers.
12:40I like partying.
12:42I like wilding out.
12:43So my desire for you to be free is to that.
12:46Larry Flint and Luther Campbell are as heralded in my household as Malvin and Martin.
12:51You understand what I'm saying?
12:52Absolutely.
12:53Because they fought for my rights to be free.
12:55Goddamn right.
12:55And that's what I want.
12:56I want you to be free to be who you are.
12:59I don't want to be your next wave of leadership that you're going to grow to resent and shit on
13:06one day.
13:07So you think that we look at our leaders as fads at some times?
13:09That's what we do because, I mean, that's what happens with ageism.
13:13That's what happens with the change of culture.
13:15You know, like whether I agree with Jesse or Al, I cannot make light or joke of the blood they
13:24shed on my part.
13:25Damn right.
13:26You know, when I see people make jokes about John Lewis being beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he took
13:31a beating within an inch of his life.
13:34And I knew the people that were there with him that day.
13:36I can't disrespect that by laughing at that because I don't know if I would have been willing to take
13:41that beating.
13:42You get what I'm saying?
13:43I would have been a shoot back.
13:44So I might have got strung up in a tree.
13:46You know what I'm saying?
13:47So for me, I have to honor that.
13:49So that's why I love you, man, because you got so much balance.
13:52You know, you're the scholar, the street dude.
13:55You know what I'm saying?
13:56Entrepreneur.
13:57But then your father was a police officer.
13:59How did that affect your views on the police?
14:01I'm from Atlanta.
14:02So me telling the outside world I'm from Atlanta is like a Mormon white boy saying I'm from Utah.
14:09You know what I'm saying?
14:10So, you know, that comes with a lot of cultural significance.
14:13And what I mean by that is in my interactions with police officers in my lifetime, I have had more
14:20positive than negative.
14:21Now, did the Red Dogs kick my ass a couple times as a teenager?
14:24Absolutely, they did.
14:25You know, did I deserve it?
14:27Arguable.
14:28Have I been mistreated by policemen before, state patrolmen?
14:31Absolutely.
14:32But more times than not, have I been treated fairly and justly within DeKalb, Atlanta, places around Atlanta by police
14:38officers?
14:39Yeah, I have.
14:39And do I think that there's a value in black people being policed by people who look like them?
14:44Yes, I do.
14:44Yeah, and black people from the communities that they're policing.
14:47Absolutely.
14:47I think that our policemen deserve no interest loans.
14:51I think they deserve better housing deals in the city.
14:55I think the same applies to our firemen and our teachers because these are the people that are investing in
14:59our community on a daily basis on the front line.
15:01So I'm an advocate for black people being policed by black people from their communities who look like them.
15:06And I'm also a big supporter of community boards.
15:09And I think that police who violate the rights of their constituents should have to pay.
15:16And that pay should come through some type of insurance payment or some type of loss of pension, you know,
15:22depending on how egregious the act is.
15:24But you should answer to the people who pay your bills.
15:26Do you think hip-hop has played a negative role in the perception of police?
15:32No, I think the police have done a great job of fucking up their own public image.
15:37And I think that can be fixed.
15:39Really?
15:39Yeah, absolutely.
15:41Is that an episode of Trigger Warning that's going to happen?
15:43I would like to.
15:44I would like to.
15:45We got to see.
15:46I'd like to see a resurgence of the police athletic league.
15:49See, the Boy Scouts ain't as big in our neighborhoods as it is in suburban neighborhoods, right?
15:53But the cops are there.
15:54They're always there.
15:56And I think that if you start to solve that problem, you start to solve bigger problems.
16:00You know, if you got officers in here who know how to use their hands and grappling techniques teaching these
16:04boys,
16:04then you have young men who are getting out that warrior-like spirit right there with the officers,
16:09right there with the people who are going to talk to them at some point in their teenage years.
16:12So there's a line of respect and communication that's grown there.
16:15What made you want to specifically say, I'm going to focus on barbershops?
16:20I'm going to open barbershops.
16:22What about the barbershop?
16:23Bell & Wilder Barbershop on Simpson Road did a lot for me.
16:27Like, Mr. Bell and Mr. Wilder, they were my master class in manhood and opening the door for a woman
16:32and how to speak to people.
16:34And how to disagree and not be disagreeable.
16:35You know what I'm saying?
16:37And I said, if we can have Floyds and Supercuts and Great Clips and all these other places that kind
16:42of get shitty haircuts to white suburban kids,
16:45why can't I take the same spirit of multi-locations and give a great haircut and provide a safe place
16:52to socialize?
16:53It's crazy because six years ago, I did a show here.
16:56Let's see on this date.
16:57Yep.
16:57Probably seven years ago, a year before that, I bought my first barbershop online, Fight Unseen.
17:02Pissed Shay off.
17:03Wow.
17:04Yeah, she's pissed with me now, too.
17:05So some things never change.
17:07What, you didn't tell her that you was doing it?
17:08Nah, I just bought it.
17:09I don't see that.
17:10I feel like you run everything through, Shay.
17:12Yeah, I do.
17:13But you only learn from making a mistake.
17:17So you did it once, you never did it again.
17:19You know what I'm saying?
17:25What else you got planned in the world of TV and film?
17:29I like to do something animated, and I like to be in feature film.
17:33You got anything in mind?
17:34In terms of animated stuff, I'm working on some cool stuff.
17:36Okay.
17:37I'm working on some cool stuff.
17:37That means he can't really talk about it.
17:39Nah, nah, yeah.
17:39But it's in development.
17:40Yeah, yeah, exactly.
17:41To their green light.
17:42And when's the next Run to Jewels album coming?
17:43Man, we're up here working.
17:44I came up here a few weeks ago.
17:46We got five knocked out.
17:48L just did his anniversary with his girl over in Costa Rica.
17:52I think we're going to get back up in New York and get back up in L.A.
17:54and get this thing done, man.
17:55I'm ready to get back on the road.
17:56See y'all.
17:56You said you got five done.
17:58How many do you need to have Run to Jewels for us?
18:00Yeah, I want to do that.
18:01I just want to do ten.
18:02People ain't got the attention span for no 20-song album no more.
18:05You've been vocal about supporting Bernie Sanders.
18:08Yes, my man.
18:08Senator Bernie Sanders.
18:09Do you identify with Sanders because of your views on radical politics in line?
18:13Yeah, well, more than my views,
18:15I didn't grow up under the branded Martin Luther King that you all have grown up under.
18:22I grew up directly under the mentorship of the people that organized with him.
18:26So that means if this is Dr. King, this was the person that's my mentor.
18:31You know what I mean?
18:32I've got firsthand knowledge.
18:34So when I hear about the beloved community of Dr. King, when I hear about Kingian nonviolence,
18:40when I look at King's policy in terms of workers' rights, rights for the poor, what truly progresses people,
18:46then what matches up from an agenda standpoint seems to be Sanders.
18:52And, you know, if you go more extreme like Nanette, you're talking about, you know, you've got to be going
18:56Green Party, you know, to go more extreme.
18:58So for me, the greatest chance I've seen of Dr. King-like policy being passed on a national level has
19:06been with Bernie Sanders.
19:07I love this senator.
19:09Do you think he's been fumbling the ball a little bit this go-around?
19:12I think he's gotten better this go-around.
19:14I know they asked him about reparations, and he was like—
19:17Well, actually, a week ago, he came out, and he said if elected president, he would support H.R. 40.
19:24Well, what's H.R. 40?
19:25It's just the research of it.
19:26Ta-Nehisi Coates turned me on the H.R. 40, though.
19:29So John Collins was in Congress for, what, 30, 40 years, since 89 had been trying to pass that bill.
19:35Just to research, it's 30 years at this point.
19:38Sanders, he takes the question, jostles it a little bit, but all of a sudden,
19:43that hashtag goes from having 27 hits online to all of a sudden 2,700 hits online.
19:49I would argue, if you didn't have a lightning rod like Sanders who's willing to hear the question,
19:55I think that the conversation has evolved forward.
19:58I think without Bernie Sanders in the race, that conversation never would have evolved.
20:02Because the conversation about reparations in general?
20:04Yeah, I don't think it would have evolved, because I don't think any other candidate would have taken it.
20:07Because when you ask me about reparations, I have my idea what reparations are.
20:11And I'm sure someone else has some reparations.
20:13But just as a people, you know, I'll tell you the secret.
20:16We ain't had our black people meaning to see what we're asking for yet.
20:19And the only two people who have honestly given us a good map for what we should ask for
20:25are not even involved in the conversation.
20:27One of those people is the Honorable Marcus Garvey and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
20:31And of all the black people that are running around screaming about reparations,
20:34when I say, well, what should we ask for?
20:36Dr. King, we know in his last two, three years of life, start asking for land, land grants, land lotteries,
20:43land...
20:43What Muslims want is a document that Elijah Muhammad put forth to let you know exactly what people
20:50who are the American descendants of slaves should be asking for in payment for what we have.
20:54If we're not discussing those things and we're simply saying, what do you have for us?
21:00Then that's just like asking for welfare.
21:02You get what I'm saying?
21:03So I'm not criticizing the movement because I want the movement to prevail.
21:08If you're an American descendant of a slave, I want some type of reparations to be paid,
21:13given, or acclimated to you.
21:14But before we get to that part, what are we asking for?
21:19You know, people got mad at Senator Sanders, but he honestly just asked the question.
21:23He was like, what is the reparations?
21:25And he wouldn't say yes to something he doesn't even know what people want.
21:29My mom said, when you ask for something, know what you're asking for.
21:32Absolutely.
21:33See, what if this man says, yeah, okay, I'll give you.
21:36What do you want?
21:37And you say, well, I want $2 million.
21:42Okay, well, here's $2 million.
21:44Well, what if it turns out what you really were worth was $20 million?
21:47Yeah, yeah.
21:48Now you've taken $2 million, you've lived your wildest fantasy, you've had the most
21:52fun year of your life, and trust me, I'm a rapper, it's easy to spend $2 million in
21:55a year.
21:56The government's going to tax you $800,000, then you're down to $1.2 million.
21:59You're going to get the nicest house you can find.
22:00If you're in the South, you can probably get a nice one for $600,000.
22:03So you got $600,000 left.
22:05And then you have the rest of your life to figure that out.
22:07You're probably going to buy a Lamborghini Jeep.
22:09Mm-hmm.
22:09Something dumb.
22:10Yeah.
22:10Big-ass chain.
22:11You get what I'm saying?
22:12So we got to start asking ourselves, okay, what can we learn from other groups?
22:17Now, what I would have asked, I would say, if Georgia's 35% African-American, then I would
22:23want 35% of the marijuana business from his going forth to be African-American.
22:26That means in terms of land ownership, growth and development.
22:29I would like for some type of land lottery to be given.
22:32I've had to do a lot of research on this, too, because, you know, you get your nuts
22:35checked, you go read.
22:36Yeah.
22:36Frederick Douglass never thought the United States should have to get reparation.
22:39Frederick Douglass, who was the most photographed person in the 19th century,
22:42the Barack Obama of his time, thought that only the people who owned slaves should be
22:47responsible for it.
22:48See, I disagree with that.
22:49But he was an actual slave.
22:51Wow.
22:51So who am I going to argue with an actual slave?
22:53But see, for me, if the government allowed it, the government should acclimate something
22:57to it.
22:57Yeah, because everybody reaped the benefits of it.
22:58That was way.
22:59So what I would like to do as a black community is for us to start holding some Sunday meetings
23:04that are not online, that are not on live, and let's start talking what we want
23:08and what we deserve.
23:10Because 54% of all African Americans live in the South.
23:13The South is still great in terms of land ownership.
23:16We could own that part of the country.
23:18Essentially, I want black people to think of yourself as Mormon and the South is Utah.
23:22I want you to start thinking, what could we do from a power-based perspective there?
23:25And then let's put it together.
23:27Can we legalize polygamy there like in Utah, too?
23:28I would like to.
23:29My wife ain't with it, though.
23:30I actually slapped her.
23:31But, you know, for me, I would like to know what are we asking for.
23:35And I think that what we ask for starts with what Muslims want by Elijah Muhammad.
23:39It starts with the study of the Honorable Marcus Garth.
23:41And you're right about the Senator Sanders thing, too.
23:43The Wall Street Journal did a study where they said that the most reparations has been
23:48mentioned was when Ta-Nehisi Coates did that article for The Atlantic.
23:51And then when I asked Kamala Harris about it on The Breakfast Club.
23:55And it was like that was the start of the conversation happening.
23:58I don't think that was a fair question for her.
24:00I mean, not in defense of her, but just saying she's not an American descendant of a slave.
24:05Yeah.
24:06She's of Jamaican descent.
24:07But you mentioned Marcus Garvey.
24:08Marcus Garvey was Jamaican.
24:09Yeah, yeah.
24:10I know he was.
24:10I didn't say he wasn't.
24:11But he came up.
24:12He came up with a plan.
24:13His plan was a Pan-Africanist one.
24:15His plan would have not only held America to accord.
24:18It would have held Jamaica and Britain to accord.
24:20It would have held France with Haiti to accord.
24:21So, yeah, he was like a master thinker, a master teacher.
24:25If you're not Ados, you can talk about it if you have a plan.
24:27Yeah, yeah.
24:28I'm not saying no one else deserves to talk about it.
24:31I mean, just in matters of how it's really going down, what do you think about it, you
24:36probably want to ask someone who's a descendant of it because they're going to view it differently.
24:41Got you.
24:42You know what I'm saying?
24:42Your great-grandparents actually toiled the land in South Carolina.
24:47You have a right to the Geechee and Gullah Islands that a black person who's from Louisiana
24:52may not have.
24:52You know what I mean?
24:53Because that land was toiled there by your people.
24:56And I'm 97% West African.
24:58Do you know what I'm saying?
24:59I did my DNA test.
25:01Now, which subjects have you yet to tap into on Trigger Warning that you want to explore?
25:05What are we going to see for season two?
25:06We better see season two Netflix.
25:08Yeah.
25:08I'd like to see what black polygamy is heading for.
25:11And that can save the black community.
25:13I'd like to create a high-fashion brand.
25:17But who knows, man?
25:18There are just questions I have about black privilege after reading your book.
25:22Okay.
25:23Like, you know, we do have certain privileges.
25:24And why aren't we taking advantages of black privileges?
25:27Like, why aren't we working from a place of power?
25:30You know what I'm saying?
25:31Ooh.
25:31In terms of black privilege.
25:32It's like, I'm friends with people from Asian communities, from Vietnamese communities,
25:36Korean communities.
25:37Whatever starts working, they start doing.
25:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:40Oh, tennis is it?
25:41Oh, yeah, you playing tennis, kid.
25:42You know what I mean?
25:43Like, oh, engineering is it?
25:44Oh, you doing engineering.
25:45Like, so from our power base, we tend to talk down on our power base.
25:49Oh, don't rappers and singers and dance.
25:51No, no, no.
25:51That's what they're paying us to do.
25:53No, hold up, hold up, hold up.
25:54We're going to get some Sammy Davis Jr. and Michael Jackson going on.
25:57You're going to sing and dance, then we're going to take this money and invest.
25:59So I'd like to see in the real world what that looks like.
26:02So, you know, just some of the crazy thoughts I have.
26:06Killer Kill from DeVille.
26:07Man.
26:07Always a pleasure talking to you, man.
26:09You know, I love you too, my brother.
26:10Absolutely.
26:16You know, I love you too, my brother.
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