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IDKMYDE: Grace Wisher · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Let's discuss the American flag. Whenever I'm quizing folks on
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the American flag, I asked three questions. How many stars
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on the flag, how many stripes on the flag, and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: who created the flag. Now, if your answer was fifty
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: thirteen and Betsy Ross, you got two out of three,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I'll explain I didn't know.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe I didn't know.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't know. I didn't know.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Now, when folks talk about the American flag, all you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: ever hear is bet See Ross this and bet See
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Ross that, But Betsy don't know ish because Betsy came
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: round out like that Bo Jackson commercial.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Keep up.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Look, the point is folks is always talking about Betsy
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Ross in that flag, like she the Beyonce in the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: so On World or something. But what they don't tell
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you is that there was someone else putting in the work,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a young black woman named Grace Wisher. Now Grace wasn't
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a prentcess right there with Betsy Ross helping stitch that
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: flag together. But you think Betsy ever gave her as
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: much as a shout out. Nope, that Joe, don't say
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the flag was created by Betsy Ross featuring Grace Wisher
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: at the bottom of it.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Nothing. It's like Grace was the AZ to Betsy's.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Nas, you know what I'm saying, Like a z a
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: lyrical genius co wrote some of the best verses on
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: io Matic. But when folks talk about that album, they
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: act like he wasn't even there.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Grace was in the same boat, y'all.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you, Grace didn't even have the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: option to shine. It wasn't like she could hop on
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Instagram and post herself in like day three of stitching
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the stars and stripes on y'all hashtag black girl magic. No,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: this was the seventeen hundreds. Grace wasn't gonna get no
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: flowers because back then black women didn't get no flowers. Hell,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: black people weren't even allowed to get near the bouquet.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Grace's story is wild to me though, because her hands
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: were literally on the symbol of freedom.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Freedom, but she didn't even get a seat at the table.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: She like most death or y'all seeing Bay now that
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: what we call him, see another one of them dope MC's.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: But he wasn't chasing commercial fame.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: He was out there spitting truth, making classics like black
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: on both sides, but mainstream was like, nah, we're good
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: on that. Grace was out here sewing up history, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: society was like, nah, we good on that. See, Betsy
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Ross is like the doctor dre of the whole operation.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: While she had the connections, she got the credit, and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Grace she were like Goodie Mob in the South, pioneering
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: doing soul for conscious work.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But usually our cast get all the credit for the South.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: And I mean, come on, like, without Goodie Mob, Southern
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: hip hop wouldn't have been the same. Without Grace Wisher,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: that flag wouldn't have been the same either. So here's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the real talk. When you see that American flag flying, Hugh,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: don't just think about Betsy Ross. Think about sixteen year
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: old Grace Wisher, a little black apprentice that was behind
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the scenes making it happen even though she was not
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: allowed to shine. She like Ray Kwan from Wutang, only
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: built for Cuban Lynx, is a masterpiece. But you know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: folks is always like, oh method man, oh ghost face,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: nah ma, give Ray Kwany's flowers and give Grace Wisher
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: her flowers. Che's proof the history ain't all about who
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: gets the credit. It's about who did the work. So
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: next time you see that fifty star, thirteen striped American flag,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: you just remember sixteen year old black woman helped to
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: make it happen, and I didn't know.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe you didn't either.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I