Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / New York Knicks Are Delicious w/ Manny Faces

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New York Knicks Are Delicious w/ Manny Faces · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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They were like, Miss Kelly, Dr. Kelly, you gotta
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listen to this song, birthday song. She's like,
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okay, sounds fine. And then they played the song
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and she's like, oh my God, oh, this song, right?
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Because it's birthday song by 2 Chainz and Kanye
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West and the chorus is all I want for my birthday
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is a big booty -o, right? And it's like, oh my
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God. And she's like, as a black woman, I feel
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very uncomfortable that we're talking about this
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song. But she breaks it down and they watch the
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video and it's very, you know, girls lap dances,
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very like misogynistic, very, you know, objectification.
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There's a birthday party. They're having cakes
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that are in shape of women's bodies. What do
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y 'all get out of this? Why do you find this?
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And they're like, ah, you know, we just, you
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know, we vibe to it. It's all good. She's like,
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is this what you want, like, your birthday to
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look like? They're like, no. Like, is this what
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you want your life to look like? Is this what
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you aspire to? They're like, no, no, no, no,
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no. We don't like... This, this, but we'd like
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to do this if this is what we wanted. Hey, delicious,
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grab a plate and taste the delicious culture.
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I'm your host, John Francois. We are feasting
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on food, pop culture and lifestyle with quite
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a man, Manny Faces. Now, F -A -C -E. Is that
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your actual last name or is that your stage name?
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This is private information, but my government
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name is Bobby Elbows. No, I'm just kidding. It's
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a stupid joke. That's ridiculous. I was going
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to say, I was like, oh crap, I got to do some
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editing work. Thank you for entertaining me.
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No, it's my stage name. It's a continuation of
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a... rapping, but more like a DJ producer, you
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know, moniker that has stuck. And so professionally
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known as Manny Faces. So describe your role in
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the hip hop world and what made you come up with
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the name of Manny Faces. Yeah. Well, at the time
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I was doing a lot of production and beat making
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and I had a small studio, you know, like home
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studio kind of deal. And so for many years I
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was that was kind of my my bag. I had done some
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rapping and stuff. I was not much of a dancer
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or a graffiti artist. So those elements I didn't
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mess with too much, but I did. I definitely was
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a beat maker and producer and remixer for a while.
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Some brushes with industry intersections, but
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nothing really came of it. But it was a... most
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people in hip -hop, I think, to most, would say,
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like, there was more than one name across your
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path, you know, that you chose. And that was
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just the one that kind of stuck with me. It's
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a play on, of course, the Manny Faces character
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from He -Man. I don't want any trademark infringement,
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so let's just keep that between us. But yeah,
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you know, the He -Man character, you know, kind
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of spins his head around and has like several
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faces. He's a man. He's a monster. He's a robot
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in the cartoon. And I thought it was interesting
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because Previously, I had been known as schizophrenic.
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Which was medically incorrect, but the idea was
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sort of that I had multiple Personalities as
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a as an artist and that I could bring around
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different, you know styles and different I had
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different names for all these little sub He was
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like a one -man Wu -Tang Clan and it was just
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way too much to manage So I gave up on that and
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plus like I said, it was not medically correct
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And but this kind of harkened it to that that
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there you could be several several types of artists
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in one person So I kind of stuck with it namified
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it and it stuck for many years now. I use it
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now Which is interesting because I'm a journalist
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and I write under that that moniker and I've
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actually published a book Even though I did use
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my government name in part, but I'm really professionally
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known as Manny faces So when I go into speak
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at like colleges or at conferences, you know,
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I'm Manny faces. That's my name So yeah, it's
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stuck and I use it professionally and actually
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think Like consciously, my old me doesn't exist
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anymore. I am just now him. All right. And the
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book that you mentioned, is this the book hip
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hop can save America inspiration from the nation
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of from a culture of innovation? Wow. Yes. You
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know how to make it rhyme, man. You know how
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to... That's quite a title. So tell me, so give
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me like the elevator picture of what it's about.
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And I know you mentioned that it's been endorsed
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by one Cornel West himself. So tell me about
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the book itself and how someone like a Cornel
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West was just like, wow, this is a great read.
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Yeah. Thank you to the good brother, Cornel West,
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Dr. Cornel West. So, like yourself, I'm a podcaster,
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you know, I'm a writer. I've been doing a lot
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of online media for a very long time. I've done
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offline media. I've worked in newspapers and
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such. But for many years, I covered the New York
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area hip hop music scene. That was sort of my
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beat, you know, music and culture, what was going
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on. And I kind of celebrated the independent
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artists and maybe the showcases that were happening,
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not necessarily like the industry stuff. I liked
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that gritty underground independent scene. And
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I covered that for a long time. I started realizing
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that there were some interesting people doing
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interesting things with the music. in culture
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that they love, but in areas like education,
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or science and technology, or health and wellness.
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I met some people that were, you know, teachers,
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but they were also freestyle rap artists. And
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I met them at the freestyle rap event. And I'm
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like, you're pretty brilliant, because you can
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rap about anything, and you're pretty smart.
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And they're like, yeah, well, I'm a teacher.
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I'm like, ah, that makes sense. Do you get to
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use rapping in your classroom? Oh, yeah, here's
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how I integrate it with the kids. Or I go to,
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actually, I go to Rikers Island on the weekend
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and work with young men incarcerated, you know,
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so that help them with their. development skills
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and expressing themselves and dealing with stress
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and anxiety so that when they get out they're
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in better positions. I'm like, wait, what? This
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is amazing. We love hip hop. We love helping
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people. And you're doing this kind of work. And
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so I decided that I would kind of sunset the
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focus on New York area, because these folks are
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all over the country and the world on top of
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that, and start advocating or telling the stories
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or journaling or documenting the people doing
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that work. So I started Hip Hop Can Save America,
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the podcast, looking for people who are in those
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intersections and doing great things and sort
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of improving. society right through hip hop culture
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and a bunch of them are teachers or mental health
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professionals or even like hip hop theater or
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you know archiving like all these nice juxtapositions
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that are happening in the world and so I did
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that for several years and through you know at
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some point somebody suggested that maybe I should
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take some of the foundational interviews that
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I did, which sort of to me tell this story, because
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I went on this discovery as well, and put it
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in a different format. Put in a book. I'd seen
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that there were a bunch of books that, you know,
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had been kind of adapted from interviews, you
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know, especially in the academic world. And so
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I pitched it to Peter Lang, which is an academic
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publisher. And they were like, this is pretty
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interesting stuff. You talk to a lot of people.
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It's like a hip hop studies kind of thing. And
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so I put the book together again, just a collection
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of the fundamental interviews that I did and
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then my own thoughts kind of stringing it together.
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And I sequenced it like an album so that you
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follow it. And now each one kind of feeds off
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the next. And then overall, this is my grand.
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that the music and culture have really unique
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ways to improve society and uplift humanity.
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Dr. Cornel West I had known from previously interviewing
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for another podcast that I worked on for a while,
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which is called Newsbeat, which was a social
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justice oriented podcast. So we were familiar
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with each other and he knew obviously he's sort
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of tuned into like the hip hop pedagogy, hip
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hop studies movement. He knows about it, he knows
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some of the people involved. And so I asked for
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his blessing and he gave me a really nice endorsement.
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Can you give me an example of how you use hip
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-hop in an educational problem -solving sense?
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Like, do you take a specific song and say, oh,
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here are some life skills that you can learn
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from this song, whether it be, I don't know,
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this is America from Childish Gambino or WAP
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from Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B. I don't
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know. I mean, you take your pick. There are lessons
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to be learned from all of these things. So there's
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a few ways that, and again, this is a pretty
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mature... The idea of hip hop pedagogy has really
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been around for almost a couple of decades now.
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But there's different ways to do it. So one of
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the early things that I came across was, it's
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defunct now, but it's a program called Fresh
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Prep. And it was in New York City. And in New
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York, we have to pass these state mandated tests
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every year, the Regents exams. And one of these
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schools that kids weren't doing really well academically,
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sort of a rough and tumble kind of area, maybe
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they didn't have the resources that they should
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have had. And so they were having trouble. passing
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these I think social studies these region exams
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some kids had failed up to five times and all
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the kids had failed like at least once and so
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they were trying to do test prep to try to get
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them better equipped to pass these tests and
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so this program would take a rap artist right
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doesn't have to be an educator per se but some
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of them were or they had one foot in education
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or they were like I said just these really smart
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really capable artists and they would come in
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the classroom they would work with the teachers
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and they would formulate songs based on like
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sort of the the curriculum with the things that
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the kids had to learn. And of course they would
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learn the songs and by learning the songs they
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would learn the curriculum. And think of like
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Hamilton now, like this was way before Hamilton,
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but like how many of our young kids like know
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way more about the Founding Fathers than we ever
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did studying, you know, because they watch Hamilton
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and they learn those songs and now they have
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this history lesson. So it's a pretty simple
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idea to say, well, we memorize songs. I mean,
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shoot, the ABCD song is... The alphabet songs
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practically a rap song is our first song we ever
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learned. And so we could learn that way. And
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so that's like sort of at like one level, one
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real cursory level. But you mentioned like problem
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solving, like sort of a deeper, deeper way of
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understanding. curriculum, and I want to point
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to like a program called Science Genius Battles,
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right? And this was started by Dr. Chris Emden,
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Dr. Edmund Adjapong, and Jizza from Wu Tang was
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involved very, very early, the genius. And what
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this program does, same concept, they bring teaching
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rappers, right, to partner with teachers in schools,
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in science classes in particular, right? This
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was the pilot program that ran, and it's still
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running, it's run for many years. And so the
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kids that are in the science class have to basically
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craft a rap song. About some it's like doing
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a book report, right? You know, we had to do
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book reports now like do a rap report, right?
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But you have to and so not everyone knows how
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to rap like inherently but they're all generally
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familiar with it the the teacher, you know the
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the rap teacher kind of coaches and they learn
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about The subject they put it into a song and
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then they have to perform it. They have to kind
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of battle each other. That's where the battles
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part comes in. So it's a little bit of friendly
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competition. And then the winner in the classroom
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battles the winners of the other science classes.
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And then they went and battled the other ones
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in the district. So at the end, you have an auditorium
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filled with parents, friends, siblings, all cheering
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kids rapping about science, right? Phenomenal
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program. And the thing about that is that to
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do that. It's a little bit different than just
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rote memorization. You have to have a pretty
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masterful command of what you're talking about
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to be able to make it into a song that's compelling
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and competitive. So it goes a little bit deeper
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than just taking the actual I don't know, content
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and ramifying it, right? It actually, these kids
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have to know exactly what they're talking about.
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I'll just give you the last thing I'll say as
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a quick example of this, which really was profound
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when I first learned about it. They told me that
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there was a young lady in this program and she
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did this thing, she did the thing. And it's been
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featured on NPR. You can catch snippets of what
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they do. You can watch it. But she did her rap
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on what happens to the body when it's been poisoned.
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Like, you know, you take a toxin and then, like,
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you know, all the... What happens first? The
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respiratory starts, you know, and then it spreads
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to the liver and then the sepsis and it all shuts
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down. I don't know. I'm not even smart enough
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to be able to tell you what happens. Right. But,
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you know, she went through this, like, biological,
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real smart way of how the body breaks down and,
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like, eventually stops the heart, right? Which
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is great. You have to really know the systems.
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What they came to find out was she was doing...
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at the same time as a metaphor for having had
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her heart broken. She was going through a breakup.
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Wow. And so she made these analogies of how she
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was feeling. I mean, I'm like, come on, stop
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it. Can you give me a sample of this rap? I hope
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you remember it. I don't. I haven't. I don't
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know if it was, like, ever released. You know,
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like, if we could ever hear it. But this was
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relayed to me by the instructors in the program.
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And it showed me, and again, this ties into the
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mental health work that I see people do. It goes
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into the fact that she may never have talked
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about this. She may never have talked about this
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personal incident if they didn't have an outlet
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to do that. And so I see that in mental health.
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You know, one of the guys in my book, Dr. Ian
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Levy, he's a school counselor. He does the same
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thing where he allows kids to come in and write
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rhymes about their trauma and their... You know,
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when do young black men, especially like in the
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hood, right, talk about their trauma and their
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vulnerabilities? It's not... We don't do that
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as any men, right? Especially in places where,
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like, your vulnerability is frowned upon or looked
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at as weakness. But he gets them to do it because
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he introduces it through music. And next thing
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you know, they're talking to each other. They're
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in counseling sessions. They're making a mix
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tape together about these incidences that are
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going on. And the last thing I'll say, the last
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last thing I'll say is that you asked about like
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particular songs that are out there, even like
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WAP or what some might perceive to be like they
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don't really hold value in a educational setting.
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And just for entertainment. Yeah. Yeah. But they
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can. And Dr. Lauren Kelly, who's in my book and
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is a great colleague, she teaches at Rutgers.
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She tells an amazing story where she's talking
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to some young kids, maybe high schoolers. And
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they were like about like songs you listen to
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today. Like, what are you into? Like you said,
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pop culture, right? What are you into? And they
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were like. Miss Kelly, Dr. Kelly, you gotta listen
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to song, birthday song. She's like, okay, sounds
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fine. And... Then they play the song. She's like,
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oh, my God. Oh, this song, right? Because it's
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a birthday song by 2 Chainz and Kanye West. And
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the chorus is, all I want for my birthday is
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a big booty -o. Right? And it's like, oh, my
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God. She's like, and she's like, as a black woman,
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I feel very uncomfortable that we're talking
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about this song. But she breaks it down and they
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watch the video. And it's very girls, lap dances,
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very, like, misogynistic, very objectification.
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There's a birthday party. They're having cakes
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that are in the shape of women's bodies. It's
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wild. It's absolutely insane. And she goes, what
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are y 'all? Why do y 'all get out of this? Why
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do you find this? And they're like, ah, you know,
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we just, you know, we vibe to it, it's all good.
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She's like, is this what you want, like, your
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birthday to look like? They're like, no. She's
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like, is this what you want your life to look
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like? Is this what you aspire to? They're like,
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no, no, no, no, no. We don't like this, this.
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But we'd like to do this if this is what we wanted.
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And she's like... Oh, and she's like, I understand
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that what I've been seeing as objectification,
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misogyny, materialism, it's not really that for
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at least these kids. It was the fact that they
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just want the power. They just want the freedom.
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They want the choice. They want the choice. That's
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exactly it. And they feel like they don't. And
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so they admire it when they see it in the music.
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And so from that, even as I say, there's educational
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value in talking to students about big booty
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hoes. It's how you present it. You know what
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I mean? There's your quotable. Yeah. So those
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are some examples that I've seen. I wonder, I
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mean, do you have a rap of your own that you
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have made for these students? Just any rap in
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an educational sense that really stuck with you
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that you can share with us? Because I would love
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to see this applied to an actual brief rap verse,
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if possible. I mean, I don't, because I don't
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really spit too much myself anymore. I will point
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to a friend of mine, a colleague, a collaborator.
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His name is Silent Night. And I can send you
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this. Yeah, sure. So we worked together. I mentioned
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this other podcast I did called Newsbeat. And
15:22
the idea with that, you might be old enough to
15:25
remember Schoolhouse Rock. You know what I mean?
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Like the whole, I'm a Bill, you know, right?
15:29
And all that. And the idea was, and then Hamilton
15:31
came out and we're like, OK. But we were in the
15:33
journalism world and we were covering sort of
15:35
social justice and civil liberties issues. And
15:38
so a little heavy. But we wanted to start a project
15:41
that would kind of. have that DNA. And my journalism
15:45
friends, a couple of great actual journalists,
15:48
like award winning newsmen, and our publisher
15:51
at the time knew my connection to hip hop, knew
15:53
my connection to really smart people doing this
15:55
kind of work. And he says, what if we did that,
15:58
this thing that I've been describing in the education
15:59
sense, but what if we did it for news? What if
16:01
we did it for topics like this? And we piloted,
16:04
we ended up doing this for many, many years,
16:06
but the basis of an episode would be we would
16:09
interview, this is where Cornel West came into
16:11
play. activists, people who are studying an injustice
16:15
of some kind, mass incarceration, the movement
16:19
that closed youth prisons or the racial disparities
16:22
during COVID, things like that, stuff that was
16:24
out in the world. And we'd interview people.
16:26
And then throughout the episode, we would drop
16:29
in basically three 16 -bar verses that were written
16:33
specifically for that episode. by these artists.
16:36
So Silent Night was our first artist in residence.
16:38
The first one was sort of on the pilot was Martin
16:40
Luther King, you know, Dr. Robin Martin Luther
16:42
King and kind of the stuff we don't hear about
16:44
in school because it kind of gets whittled down
16:46
to this real simplistic bumper sticker kind of,
16:48
you know, analysis of what Dr. King was about.
16:51
And we went in deep and then we interviewed a
16:52
couple of people and then Silent Night spit a
16:55
verse for that particular thing. It turns out
16:58
that that now has been used in schools to help
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teach, you know, like the history of Martin Luther
17:03
King and what he's done. Indirectly, yes. We've
17:06
done it where we've crafted this thing as from
17:09
a journalistic standpoint, from a I want to say
17:13
like a documentarian standpoint. Like what if
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a rapper did a documentary or did a news verse?
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Because he's very sound, especially when we had
17:21
many come on six or seven or eight different
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kind of artists that would come on and do this
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sort of thing. And each had their own kind of
17:28
angle. But to me, that's what I'm saying. Like
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hip hop can be journalism. Hip -hop can be education.
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Hip -hop, it is. Like, we've shown it. And so
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I'll be happy to send you some examples of very
17:39
compelling work. Um, that won us like some journalism
17:42
awards, like against, I don't know if you've
17:44
ever heard the New York Times. No, no, small
17:47
unknown newspaper. No, some rag, some rag from,
17:51
you know, upstate up in the Northeast. So we
17:54
beat them. We beat them for journalism podcast
17:56
of the year. Wow. There you go. Good for you.
18:00
You know what I mean? So just that those intersections
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of those are some examples that actually live
18:04
in the world and that I'd be happy to send people
18:06
to check out. So Martin Luther King was alive
18:08
way before hip hop came into. If he were alive
18:11
while hip -hop came into fruition, do you think
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he would like it? Do you think he would be one
18:15
of those judgmental Christians that just kind
18:17
of has this black and white view of hip -hop
18:19
as the devil's music? I wonder if Martin Luther
18:22
King would have, you know, loved the hip -hop
18:25
coming up in the 80s and 90s and present day.
18:28
I mean, far be it to me, you know, for me to
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even begin to think what he might think. It's
18:33
a good question. It's good mental exercise. I
18:34
think he... I like to think that it'd be a little
18:39
bit of both, right? As a lot of us who look at
18:41
the entirety of hip -hop, right, and we see the
18:44
commercialism, we see some of the detrimental
18:46
aspects of it, but, you know, like life or, you
18:48
know, just like society, it's nuanced, right?
18:51
There's different levels to it. I think that
18:53
the, you know, when we wrote about, when we...
18:56
Recorded about him and when dr. West was on the
18:58
on the program and such you know and talking
19:00
about it was actually an episode about Civil
19:02
unrest right right the the riot is the the voice
19:05
of the unheard which was a you know a king quote
19:07
I like to think that The way that hip -hop has
19:11
the ability to amplify the voices of, you know,
19:16
underrepresented communities has always been,
19:18
like, kind of in its DNA. In fact, it's born
19:21
from a lack of resources, right? A response to
19:25
socioeconomic distress, you know, in the Bronx
19:27
and the North. So, it's in its... after a gang
19:30
truce. right, turn gang culture and gang wars
19:33
into rap battles and dance battles, right? Like,
19:35
it's, in its DNA, it is a collective, unifying
19:39
culture. Like, that's, I forget Mbata, who's
19:42
problematic, rest in peace, but, you know, also
19:44
has some problems, but definitely, like, coined
19:46
that idea that hip hop is about peace, love,
19:48
unity, and having fun. Those are tenets of hip
19:51
hop. So, whatever you think of hip hop today,
19:52
whatever Dr. King would have thought of hip hop,
19:54
he would have known, because he would have come
19:55
up in his birth, that it does have that in its
19:58
core. So, where we still see that, Two things.
20:02
Karis won. Great artist himself and a lecturer
20:05
on hip hop spoke. You can watch this on YouTube
20:07
in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he spoke
20:09
at a lecture. And he says in that, you know,
20:11
that Dr. King, again, the bumper sticker of,
20:15
you know, we should not be judged by the color
20:17
of our skin, but by the content of our character.
20:19
He says, in the United States, and we live by
20:21
that quote, we herald that quote. He goes, but
20:24
that doesn't happen in the United States. He
20:27
goes, in fact, it doesn't happen anywhere in
20:28
the world. He says the only place where you can
20:31
find actual, like, coming together of people
20:35
from all demographics, all kinds of borders and
20:39
ideologies and languages and what you look like
20:41
and what you sound like and what country you're
20:43
from is in hip hop, right? And because Tony Blackmon,
20:47
who's a great artist herself and has written
20:48
books about the idea of the cipher, the coming
20:50
together of people in a performance cipher, says,
20:53
you could pick me up and drop me off anywhere
20:55
on the planet. where there's people, it doesn't
20:57
work in the ocean, but like where there's people.
21:00
And she goes, and like, give me a little bit
21:02
of time, I'll find hip hop. It's in every country
21:04
of the world, right? We know this. She goes,
21:07
I'll find the hip hop. And when I do, I'll find
21:09
a place to eat. I'll probably find a place to
21:12
sleep because we have this global unifying cultural
21:16
thing that only, that I argue only, and many
21:19
of us argue, that only exists in... It doesn't
21:23
exist in politics, right? We know that. It doesn't
21:25
exist in religion. Everything is so, like, fragmented.
21:28
But when you talk about real hip hop, the core
21:30
kind of, I don't know, ideals that live in the
21:33
center of it, it's the most unifying cultural
21:36
force, perhaps, in history. So I think that Dr.
21:39
King, and again, Marlon Richard, and I'm name
21:41
dropping all kind of people because I always
21:42
shout out other people. So go down these rabbit
21:44
holes. I've interviewed... Tony Blackman, I've
21:46
interviewed Marlon Richardson, known as Unlearn
21:48
the World. He runs a great nonprofit in the Bay
21:51
Area called Hip Hop for Change. He literally
21:54
says hip hop is the dream. Like hip hop is Martin
21:59
Luther. He says it. I'm just quoting him. He
22:00
says this is Martin Luther King's dream in practice,
22:04
in that that's a place where we can actually
22:06
all come together. And if you respect the culture
22:09
and be authentic to it, you're welcome in the
22:12
cipher. And where else do we see that? So I would
22:14
hope that that would be something that, you know,
22:17
he would recognize. It's certainly modeled in
22:20
sort of his, what is it? The beloved, you know
22:25
what I mean? The, you know, in the kind of that
22:27
idea, that framework of, you know, we are actually
22:29
all in the beloved community. Like we're all
22:31
in this sort of together. And if we just realized
22:33
that, we would actually not be at each other's
22:35
throats all the time because we have a common
22:37
enemy and it's not each other. Manny. Tell me
22:41
a delicious meal that you have enjoyed lately.
22:44
I cook, so everything is delicious, because I
22:48
can get down in the kitchen, and I usually cook.
22:51
My wife cooks as well. She probably cooks...
22:54
She certainly cooks better than me, but I cook
22:57
more. So I win by quantity over quality. But
23:01
my stuff is very good. But one of my delicious
23:04
meals is actually a meal that I got from her.
23:06
And I learned to cook from her. My wife is American,
23:09
but her family is from Ecuador. Ecuador in America.
23:11
And they have a dish called seco de pollo. And
23:15
it's basically a chicken stewy kind of thing,
23:17
but it's cooked very particularly. sort of a
23:20
tomato base, but just a lot of vegetable sofrito
23:24
kind of mixtures and garlic and stuff, and chicken
23:27
simmer for a long time, cilantro, cilantro, cilantro,
23:29
cilantro, you know what I mean? Really delicious,
23:33
delicious meal. It's the meal that I cook now.
23:35
I cooked it for her mom. So and I got the okay,
23:38
I got the approval So I must do something right
23:43
because otherwise she was not gonna give it to
23:46
this gringo Wait, what is a cringo? Is that like
23:49
an Ecuadorian slur? I'm saying gringo like like
23:52
American white man, you know More of a Mexican
23:55
thing. But yeah, okay. Yeah Yeah, but um, so
23:58
anyway, so I would just so I got her seal of
24:00
approval it's now the meal that like I'll cook
24:02
if I'm like like I did a a retreat with some
24:06
friends and we were in a we call it the podcast
24:08
house because we stayed for a few days and we
24:10
did some hip hop education podcast recording
24:12
because I make podcasts and then so each night
24:15
like kind of one of us decided to cook and so
24:16
I was like that's this is what I'm going to cook
24:18
and invariably like people were like oh my god
24:20
this is great so it's my delicious meal I love
24:22
to eat it when they cook it I love to cook it
24:25
and then eat it when I cook it. Seco de pollo.
24:28
Seco de pollo how do you spell that? As far as
24:31
I know, S -E -C -O, S -E -C -O, nude, pollo,
24:36
chicken in Spanish, P -O -L -L -O. Did you meet
24:39
your wife in Ecuador? How did you guys meet?
24:41
No, no, she's from Queens, New York. We're from
24:43
New York originally. We did the thing that New
24:45
York is doing. I moved to Atlanta, so that's
24:47
where we are now, outside of Atlanta. We met
24:51
many, many, many years ago. I was married. We
24:55
didn't even meet to hang out. I was managing
24:57
a comedian. My cousin -in -law at the time was
25:00
a comedian. He was coming up in a New York comedy
25:03
set, and I was managing him. He didn't know what
25:07
he was doing, and I didn't either, but we were
25:09
just out there doing it. And we did our right
25:12
together. We actually said, I don't know about
25:14
comedy, but I know about hip -hop, so I'm just
25:15
going to promote you like you a rapper. And he
25:17
was like, let's go. And so we were just doing
25:18
all kind of guerrilla marketing that was very
25:21
hip -hop influenced, which is where a lot of
25:23
my mindset comes from. If you put a hip -hop
25:25
mindset into regular stuff, you actually create
25:27
something really, really compelling, just like
25:30
I'm saying. doing journalism, we throw some hip
25:32
-hop in it, oh my god, it's something different,
25:34
right, than the idea of the remix. Anyway, and
25:37
we were online, I was online, just hitting up
25:40
people, like, come to the comedy show, come to
25:42
the comedy show, come to the comedy show, and
25:43
she was one of the people I hit up. We had the
25:45
same birthday, and so that stood out to me. I
25:48
mean, she was cute. But I was married, sir. Stop
25:50
it. Stop what you're thinking. But we had the
25:52
same birthday, and I was inviting everyone to
25:54
the show, so it wasn't even like that. But we
25:56
ended up, like, kind of, you know, knowing each
25:58
other, and over many, many, many, many years
26:00
became great friends. And then after a while,
26:03
when I wasn't married any longer and some time
26:05
had passed... I was seeing someone else, and
26:08
then she was like, oh, you got a girlfriend.
26:10
I'm like, yeah, you know, marriage didn't work
26:12
out. You know, she's like, OK, I got a boyfriend.
26:14
Cool. And we're just talking. And then eventually
26:16
she's like, yeah, I don't think we can be friends
26:18
anymore. Oh, what do you mean? What? She goes,
26:23
because I want to be more than friends, and,
26:25
you know, you're clearly not thinking like that.
26:27
And I'm like, oh my god, wait, hold on, stop.
26:30
No, hold on. I didn't know that that was. No,
26:34
wait, hold on. Stop. Let me think about that.
26:37
I didn't know that was an option. Because, you
26:39
know, we missed all the signs. I appreciate the
26:41
directness. That's so great. I always find that
26:44
very attractive in a woman when she's doing it.
26:46
Oh, my God. I was like, oh, my God. Of course,
26:48
I'm stupid. I'm told about my girlfriend problems.
26:51
I'd already told about my wife problems. And
26:53
she's like, oh, my God. Will you just either
26:55
recognize it? I want to hang with you or don't.
26:58
I was like, I'm so stupid. And we've been married
27:01
17 years. Let's go and I have no idea what your
27:07
nationality is. Are you born here in America?
27:10
Yeah, I'm Italian Americans like sex second generation
27:13
I was born in I was born in Pennsylvania lived
27:17
in New Jersey till I was four and then I moved
27:19
to Long Island until very Later in life, we lived
27:23
in me and my wife and our daughter moved to and
27:26
I had other kids and other Baby mamas and only
27:29
one other marriage. So I've been you know, a
27:32
lot of relationship things But yeah, I'm American
27:34
dude. My dad is first. I'm second generation
27:37
immigrant from Italy My wife actually was born
27:40
here, but her parents were immigrants. So, you
27:42
know, we have a lot of different, you know Influences
27:45
and perspectives, you know all through our so
27:47
it sounds like your wife has made you fall in
27:50
love with the Ecuadorian cuisine and... Yeah,
27:53
for sure. I mean, I grew up around, you know,
27:57
Black folk and Caribbean folk and, you know,
27:59
had some Puerto Rican girlfriends and you know
28:01
what I mean? And so, and my dad actually could
28:03
cook as an Italian. He actually could get down.
28:05
He was a college professor. He rarely did. But
28:09
he could get down. Like, he would cook a lasagna.
28:12
He would bake bread from scratch. And Saturday
28:14
morning, uh, um, omelets. You know what I mean?
28:18
Like, breakfast omelets. How does your wife feel
28:19
about the Italian cuisine? Is she, like, vice
28:21
versa? Like, is she... I mean, I didn't really
28:23
learn too much from him, so I've learned on my
28:25
own. Like I said, I do a lot of cooking. I do
28:27
a lot of experimenting on... I don't know how
28:29
to make butter chicken like Indians do, so I'm
28:32
just going to, you know, figure it out. And then
28:34
I kind of do it. So, I do a pretty... I do a
28:37
pretty kickass... lasagna myself um but like
28:40
my dad didn't do bechamel you know i mean like
28:42
he didn't do a bechamel so i do you know i mean
28:44
because i'm like well let me try to razzle dazzle
28:46
it a little bit um so yeah so when i when i get
28:49
down in my when i get in my italian bag it's
28:51
it's it's good stuff it's good stuff well okay
28:53
but like like i said like is your wife into the
28:56
italian just as much as you're into the ecuadorian
28:58
cuisine or is it i mean and she's nothing yeah
29:01
nothing beats you know good latin food Mediterranean
29:07
kick this month. We're like, hey, let's just
29:09
cook Mediterranean stuff for a while. So now
29:11
we're doing that So and you know, it's fun because
29:14
it you because of that like because I got that
29:17
Really got that because now I'm living with her
29:19
and we're married and you know We're cooking
29:21
and so I'm learning a lot of like the stuff they
29:23
make she makes some great stuff her mother Her
29:26
her godmother makes a hot sauce like from scratch
29:30
with all kind of like oh My little vegetables
29:32
and all that and it's just and I'm like I gotta
29:35
learn that I have to learn So it's real good
29:38
to get like those influences so that I'm like,
29:40
hmm, when I'm cooking, I'm gonna take a little
29:41
bit of this, a little bit of that. Again, I'm
29:43
a remixer. I'm a hip hop guy. So I'm gonna, my
29:46
Italian food might start having some Ecuadorian
29:48
influences and now I have fusion. You know what
29:50
I mean? Like that's how they do. That's how these
29:52
things come about. So there'll be a thing that
29:54
we cook or we make and the running house and
29:57
the joke is... Put it on the menu. Like if we
29:59
ever have a restaurant, like a fusion restaurant,
30:01
put it on the menu. Remind me of the name of
30:02
the Ecuadorian dish that you named? Seco de pollo.
30:05
Seco de pollo lasagna. How does that sound as
30:08
a fusion? Listen, it might work. I mean, we make
30:11
it with rice. We also make it with pasta. So
30:12
I wonder. I'm going to have to try that. Yeah.
30:17
That Ecuadorian dish that you mentioned, you
30:19
were talking about it, and it just reminds me,
30:21
because my family is Haitian, and bouillon, like
30:24
bouillon was a very nice, thick soup that we
30:29
would always grow up with. It had the potatoes
30:31
and the dumplings and the chicken in this hot
30:33
broth and carrots. And it just, yeah, it was
30:37
chicken. It just was really nice and delicious
30:41
and hot. And you get that on a cold day and you
30:44
need to be... up for five hours, you're good
30:46
to go. Yeah. You know, it's funny, every culture
30:48
has that, right? Because, you know, the Dominicans
30:53
and whatever, not the Sancocho, right? But they
30:57
have that soup. My wife is like, it's like hangover
30:59
soup, you know what I mean? Or it's I'm sick
31:01
soup, you know what I mean? Yeah. I got to try
31:04
that. I got to remember that. One of my very
31:06
good friends and collaborators is Haitian, Tasty
31:08
Quiche, TK, TK Dutess. And she's super dope.
31:12
And so I've talked to her often about... you
31:14
know, her family cooking and food and such. And
31:17
I've never, I've never tried it. I've never dabbled.
31:19
I'll have to do it. I'll have to try it. Well,
31:21
tell her I said sac passe. All right. She'll
31:24
say, she'll say nabouleh, right? Is that a little...
31:26
Nabouleh, something like that. A common Haitian
31:28
greeting for those of you listening and watching
31:29
if you don't know. Oh. I mean, I'm from New York.
31:32
We know it all. We hear it all. Yeah, New York
31:37
is a nice diverse melting pot. That's absolutely
31:39
things. I love about the city Earlier you had
31:41
mentioned that New Yorkers are moving to Atlanta.
31:44
Why? Down south in general, you know, it's cheaper
31:51
You know, people have been doing this. Yeah,
31:53
taxes, you know, property values. I mean, if
31:54
you had come, if I had come pre -pandemic, I
31:57
would have really caked. And I think a lot of
31:59
people, obviously that migration of people that
32:02
have come down south from New York, you got in
32:03
a few years ago, you've already, because now
32:05
even outskirts of Atlanta. are not as bang for
32:09
your buck, but New York is also exponentially
32:11
rising at the same time. So it's just more bang
32:14
for your buck. It worked out for us because my
32:16
kid, my grown kids, who had been living with
32:19
me, my ex -wife had moved to the Atlanta area,
32:21
but they stayed with me and eventually with,
32:23
you know, Mrs. Faces. But then they went to college
32:27
and one of my older kids had moved down there.
32:31
My ex -wife's daughter, which was my stepdaughter,
32:33
she moved down there. Then my two through us
32:35
went down there, different times for different
32:37
reasons. So they're all down in Atlanta. So during
32:39
the pandemic, we were in Newark. We moved to
32:41
Newark, New Jersey. We were on Long Island. I
32:42
wanted to be closer to New York City and just
32:44
more accessible because I was doing a lot of,
32:46
like I said, I was still kind of in those music
32:49
and culture circles, right? Pandemic happens.
32:52
And we're back and forth to Atlanta. My daughter's
32:55
graduating college. We're having a baby. Right.
32:57
So we're coming back and forth to, you know,
32:59
to bubble. Right. We had to be in the bubble.
33:01
Right. Airbnb. We bubbled together for Christmas.
33:04
Like, you know, she's doing a gender reveal.
33:06
Then we come down for the baby shower. Then the
33:08
baby's born. So we're making these trips back
33:10
and forth. How's Nas say? Making moves to Atlanta.
33:13
Back and forth. Scrambler. Like, we were back
33:15
and forth so many times. It was ridiculous. And
33:17
it was pandemic. And a pandemic kind of really
33:19
changed the vibe in New York City. Oh, yeah.
33:22
It's not a great place to be for the pandemic,
33:24
because it reminded people, like, oh, yeah, I'm
33:26
in my little box of an apartment. And New York
33:30
City is all about going out and experiencing
33:31
things. And if there's nothing open, it's like,
33:33
what are you doing? 100%. And I knew all these
33:36
artists. I was going to shows, like, once a week.
33:38
It was beautiful times. I was like, man, listen,
33:41
and I don't know if it's going to bounce back.
33:42
And I just wanted to be around my kids. You know
33:44
what I mean? So we just decided on one of the
33:46
trips, like, let's just, man, while we're here,
33:48
let's drive around and look at some of the neighborhoods
33:51
and where we might fit in. And our daughter was,
33:53
at the time, like four, three, four. And so we're
33:58
like we kind of want to be settled settled at
34:00
some point before she like shan't there's like,
34:02
you know first grade You know, I'm like, you
34:03
know, and so we came down here lived right We're
34:06
right around the corner like three minutes from
34:07
my ex -wife and where my kids were then staying
34:09
and we all get along now Everyone's cool. It
34:11
wasn't always like that But it's worked out and
34:14
then we we stayed there for two years rent was
34:16
increasing Dramatically in the place we were
34:18
staying and then we were like now let's we're
34:20
gonna be down here. Let's let's get a house Let's
34:22
settle in and and we did and we've been where
34:25
we are now about 30 minutes west of it Atlanta
34:27
proper for three years, and we love it. And it
34:29
reminds me very much of Long Island where I grew
34:32
up. It's a little suburban, but close enough
34:34
to the city. You can go in, do your city things,
34:36
and then come back home. You have trees, you
34:38
know, and my dog's going in the backyard. And
34:40
my wife's from Queens. She's a city girl, but,
34:42
you know, she also likes, you know, she doesn't
34:45
long for those days. She likes a nice, quiet,
34:48
peaceful yard. And so we both feel very comfortable
34:51
here. And I think that's probably why a lot of
34:52
folks from up top come down here. We're very
34:56
arrogant as New Yorkers. You know, every city
34:58
sucks. Because it's New York. It's still the
35:01
greatest city in the world by far. But, you know,
35:03
Atlanta's a vibe. You're reminding me of my visitation
35:06
there. My visitation. I'm acting like I'm an
35:08
old person. So I visited Atlanta a couple summers
35:13
ago to watch a live podcast. A wonderful queer
35:18
community there. So there was a nice queer podcast
35:21
that I got to see. And it was, god, it was...
35:25
a really fun, alcohol -infused vibe. Oh, I love
35:28
it. That was good and bad, but more on that matter.
35:30
Are they still around? Are they still around?
35:32
Who is this? Oh, who's the podcast? Yeah, yeah.
35:34
Oh, god. Uh, that is a good question. I will
35:39
have to get back to you on that. Oh, I put you
35:39
on the spot. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. No, but no,
35:41
but no, you're reminding me of like, uh, the
35:43
Airbnb that I stayed at. It was in this beautiful
35:45
suburban neighborhood. It was like 10, 15, maybe
35:48
20 minutes from the city. I remember, uh, it
35:50
was like sort of this like little, um, I dunno,
35:52
this little guest house, uh, that, uh, the bigger
35:56
house owners, uh, were able to let me sleep in
35:59
and they had the, uh, the very environmentally
36:01
conscious toilet where there was an actual flusher.
36:04
Like I had to do the little... uh, lever roly
36:07
thing to flush my stuff down the toilet. But
36:10
no, other than that, I mean, you know, beautiful
36:12
city. I mean, I got to take a nice bus tour to
36:14
see like Martin Luther King's neighborhood where
36:16
he grew up and Ebenezer Baptist Church. And,
36:20
um, the whole King Center, which is right there.
36:22
Yeah. Yeah. We got to go inside the King Center.
36:24
Um, the silver rice museum got to go inside the
36:26
Coca -Cola museum. Uh, the only thing I would
36:29
do differently next time is not go in late August
36:32
because that Atlanta summer heat. does really
36:36
kick. There is that. There is that. I prefer
36:39
it over the cold. I don't even like to visit
36:40
New York. I love to visit. I love coming back.
36:42
I'm coming back this week. I'm in two days. I'm
36:44
back in New York. So I go back frequently for
36:46
the stuff that I do now. I'm speaking at conferences.
36:49
I'm going to the Hip Hop Ed conference. I still
36:51
DJ. So every time I come in town, my silent night,
36:55
the band called Fuse, the guys I rock with, we
36:57
do a show. We're doing something at Aloft Harlem.
36:59
So every now and then, I go up there. But I don't
37:00
like to go in the winter, because I'm done with
37:03
that. So I'll sweat it out in August because
37:07
I'm okay with the December's here, which is fine.
37:13
And again, my wife is Ecuadorian, so she's like,
37:15
hot old day, let's go, it's in my blood. So I'm
37:17
like, yeah, so we're pretty good down here. It
37:19
does get hot though. And then the other side
37:22
of it is the spring, the pollen, the pollination
37:24
is insane down here. And it's like, you'll think
37:28
you have tuberculosis in like two weeks and you'll
37:32
go to the doctor. Do what I do, take Allegra
37:34
every day. That's what I do for my allergies.
37:35
Well, even with that, we start in February. We
37:38
got to train our bodies. And then you go to the
37:40
doctor, you're like, no, I'm dying. And they're
37:42
like, no, it's allergies. I'm like, no, I'm dying.
37:45
I'm literally dead. And they're like, it's allergies.
37:47
And it's allergies. Because the pollen will be
37:50
this thick sitting on your car. Every car is
37:52
green down here, like yellow green. But anyway,
37:54
but I love it. No movers remorse. I advocate
37:58
for it. A bunch of us down here that I know from
38:01
up there, we're like, oh. We're neighbors. Look
38:03
at that. And Atlanta's a vibe. There's definitely
38:07
a lot to do. It's an international city. They
38:10
got FIFA coming now, so they're going to be turned
38:12
up for that. There you go. And if you're into
38:15
that, I am not. I'm not either. No, no. I got
38:18
to see the. I got to see the Knicks beat the
38:20
Hawks. That was great. I was going to say, so
38:22
you may have left New York, but the New York
38:24
man not left in you because you for people watching
38:27
this on YouTube and Spotify, you have your Knicks
38:29
hat because New York Knicks for the first time
38:32
in like 25, 26 years have made it to the NBA
38:34
finals. How do you feel? And I feel ecstatic.
38:37
I'm so happy. Like I'm giddy. Like I'm giddy.
38:40
We're giddy, man. We always think we should get
38:42
we're going to get there. And then like it's
38:44
actually happening. This is great. Very nervous.
38:48
Obviously optimistic, of course. With you being
38:50
based in Atlanta right now, are you getting some
38:52
looks from Hawks fans if you show your Knicks
38:54
support? There's enough of us down here. We're
38:57
gang gang down here. There's enough Knicks fans.
39:00
Every time the Knicks come, me and my kids, we're
39:02
all Knicks fans, so we go to the games at State
39:05
Farm. And it's at least like 45. 45 percent Knicks
39:09
fans in the stadium. Like we are thick down here.
39:12
So at this point, no, probably during because,
39:15
you know, we played earlier in the playoffs.
39:17
Yeah. You know, probably then it was like, yeah,
39:19
whatever, yeah, whatever. And now they're they're
39:22
they're home. They're in Cancun. So what are
39:24
you going to tell me? We're in the finals. Let's
39:25
go. So having not caught up in basketball in
39:28
a little while, I think literally the last time
39:30
I was catching up with what was going on was
39:31
when my family and I, we went to a Celtics game.
39:34
I'm here in Vermont. So Boston is our closest.
39:37
So we've been playing Celtics games. And I think
39:40
the regular season Celtics game that we went
39:43
to was like before they ended up winning the
39:46
finals in, I'm going to say 2024. So then I think
39:52
the Knicks were still not good. And I would imagine
39:57
that... The reason why they became so good to
40:00
get to the finals is that, is it just related
40:02
to that thing in basketball where it's like,
40:04
oh, the batter you get, the higher your picks
40:06
are during the draft and you just gradually become
40:09
a great team because you get good picks in the
40:11
draft? Or am I wrong? Not for us. Yes, that happens.
40:16
And teams now are being accused of tanking to
40:18
try to get that higher pick. We didn't have high
40:21
draft picks. We ended up trading away all of
40:23
our draft picks for less than stellar players
40:25
over the years. We got Jalen Brunson. And when
40:29
Jalen Brunson, we had Julius Randall, good player.
40:32
Thibodaux was a coach. He was changing the culture.
40:34
We have some good players. They're trying to
40:36
figure it out. We have a good front office now.
40:38
We didn't always have a good front office. They're
40:39
bringing in the right players. When they brought
40:41
Jalen Brunson, who is now like a bona fide superstar
40:45
in the league, but was a backup point guard,
40:48
you know, where he came from. It was just, it
40:50
turned the switch. It absolutely turned the switch
40:52
and then they built around him. They brought
40:55
in some of the players that he had played with
40:56
in college. So there's Villanova, Nick's connection,
40:59
Mikhail Bridges. We had Dante DiVincenzo who
41:02
they traded away, but you know, we still have
41:03
Josh Hart. So you have this connection with these
41:06
guys played together in college, won championships
41:08
in college, right? So they have this long standing
41:11
chemistry, long standing, you know, and Brunson
41:13
is just... become an incredible, incredible super
41:17
like Jason Tatum level, you know, superstar.
41:20
And, and now that we've got Carl Anthony Towns,
41:22
we made a couple of trades and that kind of took
41:24
some, we had a new coach this year. So it's wild.
41:27
We got to Eastern Conference Championships last
41:29
year. Yeah. Almost won. So it's been a steady
41:31
progression over the last five years where everything
41:34
they've done builds on the lasting finally in
41:37
a way that kind of helps get us to the next level
41:40
each time. And that that train is still training
41:44
because literally we were one game away from
41:47
the year before we were in the finals didn't
41:49
make it to the Eastern Conference finals last
41:51
year we made it to the Eastern Conference finals
41:52
one game away from getting to the finals this
41:54
year we're in the finals so literally it's just
41:56
been building on building so they Leon Rose is
42:00
the you know the guy making all the pulling the
42:01
strings and making all the trades and for once
42:04
you know Nick fans know that James Dolan the
42:07
the owner had always had his finger in the pie
42:10
and you know too much too many cooks in the kitchen
42:12
for too many years and a few years ago they he
42:15
backed off and and let this guy cook and he's
42:18
been cooking so it's just been a good collection
42:20
of people and i don't know mindset you know what
42:23
i mean culture uh that's paying off so we'll
42:26
see how it goes but it's been working and they
42:30
are locked and loaded they've beaten teams by
42:31
30 points in the playoffs they swept The last
42:34
two rounds, no one does that. So we're pretty
42:38
optimistic. By the time this comes out, we may
42:41
have changed the game or who knows. Well, when
42:43
a team has that great of a record leading up
42:45
to the finals, it could go either way. They could
42:46
either continue that or maybe they'll be exhausted
42:48
and nervous. We've been sitting and waiting.
42:50
The other team's been playing, so they should
42:52
be tired, but they're also in a groove. We were
42:55
in a great groove, but now we have to sit and
42:56
wait because we sweat. We finished so fast. And
42:59
we've been just waiting. So we'll see. It's going
43:01
to be. And as far as it and when Benyama is an
43:05
alien, like he's just incredible player, bright
43:09
future ahead, one of the greatest of all time
43:11
in the making. So if we don't win this year,
43:14
our windows are going to get tougher because
43:16
he's going to get tougher. When loss when loss
43:19
prediction right now, what it was in six. Nick's
43:21
in six. Nick's in six. All right. All right.
43:23
I'm wondering what the energy in New York City
43:25
is right now. It's insane. It is. It's absolutely
43:28
insane. Like it's like it's like like riot police
43:31
insane. Like it's just people just losing their
43:33
minds. And of course, the real try to shoot Nick's
43:35
fans will go crazy, but we won't be disrespectful.
43:38
But there is that kind of new generation, especially
43:41
in New York. It's sort of like a little bit of
43:43
clout chasing, a little bit of trend chasing
43:45
and social media. Like they're trying to be crazy
43:47
on purpose. You know what I mean? Instead of
43:50
just actual like fandom. Right crazy and it's
43:54
actually kind of tarnishing it a little bit.
43:55
They just want attention They just want attention
43:57
and you know, like we're having an out They had
43:59
used to have a section outside of Madison Square
44:01
Garden where they had a giant screen You can
44:03
just stand outside just walk up and just be part
44:05
of this giant crowd Milwaukee Bucks does that
44:07
there's a huge outdoor So you don't have to go
44:09
inside off to go to watch party it they did watch
44:11
parties at Radio City musical They're doing an
44:13
indoor watch party at Madison Square Garden for
44:14
the away games But they were doing it outside
44:17
and it's just got to be unruly and it's a shame
44:20
because it's not like diehard Knicks fans doing
44:22
that. It's sort of like the social media generation
44:25
that's going a little bit overboard. So all that
44:29
being said, New York is absolutely thrilled beyond
44:32
belief. It's a... Know New York's really a two
44:36
-city town a two sports team town at Yankees
44:38
and Knicks You know, I mean the Mets we love
44:40
we're not gonna come We don't count the Mets.
44:42
We certainly don't count the Nets because that's
44:44
the New Jersey. That's the New Jersey the Brooklyn
44:46
Nets They're still and we don't we never adopt
44:49
really real Knicks fans never then real New York
44:51
fans never adopted them You're outsiders you're
44:56
still yeah, just come on. It's only Knicks. So
44:58
yeah, and you know football whatever when the
45:01
Knicks are playing The crime rate's gone down
45:04
since the Knicks have been in playoffs. It's
45:06
just insane. It's, you know, it's like everyone's
45:07
happy. People are too focused on this to shoot
45:09
anybody. We're so happy. So yeah, so we'll see
45:12
what happens. I wonder if Stephen A. Smith is
45:14
crazier than he usually is on ESPN now that he's
45:16
on the playoffs. I guess, but he's like so, like,
45:18
so whiffle waffly and you know what I mean? Like,
45:20
he's like, these New York Knicks are the worst
45:23
team in it, and then I love my New York Knicks,
45:24
they're so great. And I'm like, oh, come on,
45:26
man. He's definitely a fair weather analyst,
45:30
but... I suppose that if in his heart of hearts,
45:33
he's probably very happy. He certainly seemed
45:36
very ecstatic and over the top as he is. But
45:39
yeah, it's real. It's a real deal. And we often
45:41
get counted out for delusions of grander, but...
45:46
Can't deny it. Like we're here. And so whatever
45:49
happens, we did the thing we needed to do. So
45:52
let's see how our guys perform. And it's been
45:56
a great year. So I hope that it ends where we
45:59
want it to. It's been great. It's been fun. It's
46:03
been fun being a Knicks fan this year. I love
46:05
it. Good luck. Best of luck to you on the Knicks.
46:09
Tell me a delicious piece of pop culture that
46:11
you've been loving lately This could be a TV
46:13
show movie book podcast play just anything in
46:15
the culture that you're that you're loving. Oh
46:17
gosh First of all, I got a shout out my friends.
46:19
So again TK do test puts out a great podcast
46:22
herself called the secret life of TK She's a
46:24
just she's a she's been in podcasting radio for
46:26
years But also been a creative and part of the
46:29
music scenes apart of culture scenes in New York
46:31
City part of activism scenes She has a great
46:33
podcast that I've helped work with so a little
46:35
biased but just a brilliant unique uh example
46:40
of a woman reinventing herself at a certain age
46:43
and after having to deal with like corporate
46:45
how corporate does to women and to black women
46:47
you know in particular great show and so i've
46:50
been enjoying working on it but also just being
46:52
a fan of it uh my guy Silent Knight again does
46:55
does music so he's uh he's an artist that i i
46:57
love to point to pop culture wise i've been i
47:00
do watch shows um it's the last show that i well
47:05
i watched the boys so the boys just finished
47:07
their run So I hear it's a very interesting graphic
47:13
adaptation of a comic book. It's on Amazon Prime,
47:16
I think. Can you tell me more about the show?
47:18
Yeah, it's superheroes, right? And supervillains,
47:21
I guess. But if they were run by... a corporation.
47:26
Like, if superheroes were commercialized, you
47:28
know what I mean? And it's extremely gory and
47:33
graphic. I don't like gory and graphic. I don't
47:35
like horror. I don't like gory. I like psychological
47:39
stuff, but this is ridiculously, like, violent.
47:44
sexual, gory, it's ridiculous, absolutely over
47:46
the top, but I couldn't turn away. What makes
47:49
this goriness the exception? What makes it good?
47:52
I mean, it's so, you know, we watch superhero
47:55
movies and we see like people get beat up, but
47:58
we don't see their bodies ripped into shreds
48:01
and all of that that comes with it or exploding
48:04
people or, you know what I mean? Or, you know,
48:07
laser eyes that'll split someone in half and
48:10
you'll just watch like the top half of their
48:12
bodies. slide off of the bottom half of their
48:14
body. With entrails, it's disgusting. It's horrific.
48:18
But really well done. And it tells a story. But
48:22
there's an interesting parallel here. And those
48:24
that have seen it, or obviously not going to
48:26
go too far into it, but there is a very interesting
48:29
parallel between sort of this idea of power,
48:33
who controls it. how absolute power corrupts
48:37
absolutely, right? That old phrase. When politics
48:41
gets involved, there's absolute, and part of
48:44
this was unintended, but there's an absolute
48:49
parallel throughout the series with a right -wing
48:54
turn that obviously has happened here in America,
48:57
but has happened across the world. And so it
49:01
doesn't matter what part of the... What side
49:03
of the aisle you you live in? There's a really
49:06
interesting like parallels and from what I understand
49:09
it wasn't it's not like it was baked in it's
49:11
like this is where the storyline was going and
49:14
It's like art imitating life in a way. That's
49:17
really interesting and it really plays out in
49:19
like the last couple seasons and I remember I
49:22
think early on because there was a there's a
49:25
very American centric America centric lead hero
49:32
It was very much like the idea of patriotism
49:35
today. I don't want to get political, but you
49:38
know, like how some would say, like, even the
49:40
flag, right? Even the symbols of America have
49:44
been sort of co -opted by one political party
49:47
over the other, right? I think that's fair to
49:49
say. You know, we have Trump flags and, you know,
49:53
they've taken over sort of the symbolism of a
49:56
lot of things. And so early in the season or
49:59
early in the series, perhaps folks on that side
50:01
of the aisle who were loving the show were feeling
50:04
some kind of like, I don't know, allegiance with
50:07
it, you know? And then they started realizing
50:10
that it's very anti -fascist, that the show is
50:11
very much an anti -fascist, anti, you know, anti
50:14
those things that you're seeing in this. And
50:17
I think there was a time when, I mean, people
50:20
on sort of maybe the left side of the aisle were
50:23
like, you know they're... You know they're kind
50:25
of talking about you, right? But it's very interesting.
50:29
That's all I'll say. There's definitely political
50:30
undertones to it. Or social and cultural undertones
50:33
to it. And I guess I think that's why it struck
50:36
a chord to so many people. And it's action. And
50:39
it's excitement. And you're rooting for this
50:41
ragtag bunch of folks trying to do right. I love
50:44
that. So a very timely conversation for what's
50:47
happening today. The boys on Amazon Prime. Did
50:49
someone's penis get cut off in this show? Probably.
50:52
I think multiple. I think that's what little
50:55
I've heard of it, based on like running short
50:57
radio conversations. Perhaps more than once.
50:59
Yeah. There's definitely enough penis action.
51:04
So to speak. To fill your quota. Whatever that
51:10
weird quota might be. Is Jensen Ackles in the
51:12
show? From Supernatural Jensen Ackles. I don't
51:15
I don't know Let me let me see what character
51:18
tell me what is it Jensen Ackles? Yeah, the actor
51:21
Jensen Ackles. He's from Supernatural I think
51:23
he's currently on a tracker with Justin Hartley.
51:26
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's in that. Yep.
51:28
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah What's this? Yeah, he plays
51:30
a God what's his name? He's soldier boy in the
51:34
boys soldier boy. Yep. So the boy. Yeah take
51:37
on it's it's like a Captain America -esque kind
51:40
of character. Yeah. I wonder if the rapper Soulja
51:42
Boy has tried to get a lawsuit going based on
51:44
that. Listen, Soulja Boy is having some other
51:47
legal troubles he needs to... Oh, is he? What's
51:49
new? Unfortunately. Unfortunately, yeah. What's
51:52
the latest? I haven't caught up with the troubles.
51:54
If I'm getting this right, I think... I want
51:57
to say he was, like, shot his cousin or something?
52:01
Jesus Christ. I know. Maybe I want to get it
52:05
right. I know he had a civil... Am I thinking
52:10
of the right person? Maybe. I don't know. I don't
52:13
know. He's been arrested for weapons possession,
52:16
civil lawsuits for sexual assault and abuse,
52:17
prior probation violations, according to a quick
52:19
search that I did here. Yeah, he shot somebody
52:22
in like a home invasion. But he's definitely
52:25
had some kind of legal troubles, you know. So
52:28
yeah. And it's really incredible. It's incredibly
52:32
tragic. Soulja Boy, I do a whole keynote about
52:36
hip hop and tech and so those intersections based
52:38
on, you know, the kind of stuff that I talk about.
52:39
Soulja Boy did an, his savvy in the tech sphere
52:44
and how he got to be famous so young and by...
52:47
totally like hacking the systems that were, you
52:50
know, in place. One of the greatest things was
52:52
when he did, he wrote, you know, Crank That,
52:54
the song that he wrote and produced. And then
52:56
he would go into the peer -to -peer networks
52:57
at the time, the LimeWire, where you could share
53:00
music. And what he would do, and this seems simple
53:03
now, but it was unheard of at the time, he would
53:05
just rename his song, whatever popular song was
53:08
popular at the time. So he would take his song
53:10
and rename the MP3 file like Jay -Z, you know,
53:13
Izzo. And so you would download, hundreds, thousands
53:16
of people would be downloading what they thought
53:18
was like the popular song. And then being his
53:20
song, they're like, what the hell is this? This
53:21
isn't, see, so, but he'd be like, I like it.
53:23
And then they would be surprised that it's a
53:25
good song, yeah. Right. And so he did that. He
53:26
was early on MySpace. And so he became like the,
53:31
when MySpace came, he was like the number one
53:33
artist because he was so early on it. And he
53:34
was like already kind of popular in digital spheres.
53:37
He was one of the early artists on YouTube. Like
53:40
he did all of this. He made thousands, he was
53:41
making tens of thousands of dollars a month.
53:43
like in high school, because he was one of the
53:46
first, he was selling ringtones when that was
53:48
a thing. He was 16 years old when he did all
53:50
this, when he started doing all this. So I talk
53:53
about that. Again, the brilliance in a hip hop
53:55
mindset coming from a hip hop kid doing things
53:58
that you're not supposed to do. Again, the fusion
54:00
we talked about, right? The seco de lasagna,
54:03
right? Putting it all together in ways that I
54:05
just think that creative folk, certainly under
54:08
privilege, but you know, like folks that don't
54:09
have a lot. Gotta make do right and so you learn
54:12
how to make a dollar out of 15 cents this goes
54:14
back to any You know a press group in history.
54:16
It's like well. We don't have all the trappings
54:18
So we got the scraps, but we're gonna make something
54:20
cook out of them scraps, right? That's hip -hop.
54:23
You know I mean, that's where it comes from and
54:25
so again. I I didn't grow up with that kind of
54:28
desperation, but I was I absorbed it and I learned
54:31
from it and I admire it and respect it and I
54:33
think that when you throw all this stuff together
54:35
again superheroes being controlled by corporations,
54:38
it's brilliant like it's brilliant juxtaposition
54:41
that you wouldn't normally think of. And that's
54:43
for all the gore and graphic. It speaks to corporate
54:47
greed. It speaks to political power seeking.
54:50
It speaks to fascism and corruption in a really
54:55
brilliant way. So I love all that kind of stuff
54:57
and I'm glad we got to talk about it today. What
55:01
is a delicious thing that's happened in your
55:03
life lately? Oh man, so many, you know, so many
55:07
good things. My granddaughter, I have a granddaughter,
55:10
new grandbaby girl faces. She just turned five,
55:13
and so my youngest daughter, who's 11, and her
55:18
and me and her mom, my daughter just spent a
55:21
few days at Myrtle Beach. We just went on a little
55:23
vacation. Nice, South Carolina. Yeah, so I've
55:26
been doing a lot of traveling, very lucky and
55:28
blessed that I'm getting paid to do keynotes
55:31
and I'm getting paid to go places, and hip -hop's
55:33
brought me to a lot of great places. It's cool
55:35
and all. And I've been traveling a lot the last
55:37
few months, but it was actually nice to just,
55:39
and I love coming home to wifey and the dogs,
55:43
my dogs. But it was just nice to kind of just
55:47
sit around for a few days. for once because even
55:49
when I travel, it's great, but I'm working. So
55:51
it's like, you got to prepare for the presentation.
55:53
You got to do it. And I'm in great places, but
55:55
it's like, oh, it's so very tiring. So it was
55:57
kind of nice to just sit with my girls and just
55:59
hang out for a couple of days. Myrtle Beach with
56:01
the Myrtle Beach with the granddaughter. So is
56:02
Myrtle Beach like the Cape Cod of the South where
56:04
it's like, oh, you lay on the beach and maybe
56:05
you go to a restaurant that's like, you know,
56:06
it gives you. Yeah, it's very, it's very much.
56:08
Yeah, it's very much. You know, I mean, it's.
56:11
You get both sides, like you get like, it's like
56:14
a very accessible place to go. It's not like
56:17
maybe a Hilton Head, you know, South Cape West,
56:19
like a little bit more upscale, but you definitely
56:21
have strips in Myrtle Beach where you can do
56:23
it all. There's very touristy. We stayed in a
56:27
really nice place, because my granddaughter's
56:32
birthday, so it wasn't like we're just going.
56:34
So it was right on the beach, which was nice.
56:37
But yeah, I've been there three times over the
56:39
course of the past 30 years, and always had a
56:42
nice time. It is nice beaches. It's a good time.
56:45
You drive there from Atlanta? We drive, yeah.
56:47
Yeah, we drive. It's about six hour, five, six
56:50
hour drive. Nice light work. Fantastic. It's
56:53
not my favorite place outside of New York City,
56:57
but it's cool. My favorite place, speaking about
57:00
delicious, my other favorite place in the world
57:02
is New Orleans. Yeah? Why? Yeah, so I've been
57:05
there a few times. I've always just wanted to
57:09
go there. And so it was for one of my milestone
57:11
birthdays, which is in January. My wife and I
57:14
have the same birthday, January 31st. But I wanted
57:16
to do something in New Orleans. And so, again,
57:19
Airbnb, whole family come down. But we did it
57:21
in like April. I didn't want to do it when it
57:22
was cold. I wanted to do it when it was already
57:23
starting to be nice. And we had a blast. I mean,
57:25
it's a great city. Bourbon Street is crazy. The
57:28
hype is real. It's madness. It's just chaos.
57:30
But it's beautiful. All kinds of people from
57:32
all over the world. You'll see businessmen walking
57:34
in suits. You'll see a bridal party. You'll see
57:36
a guy with a snake. you'll see drug dealers,
57:38
it's great. It's everything, it's everything,
57:40
you know, it's New York, but you know, but not,
57:43
right? And the food, man. Yeah, I was gonna ask.
57:47
There's no, there's no place in the, I think
57:48
they kick you out of the city. You know, like
57:50
in New York, they have like the grade for like
57:51
how clean your establishment is, like A, B, C,
57:54
and it's posted on the window. I think they just
57:55
grade you for how good your food is. And if it's,
57:57
you did, they exile you from the city because
58:00
I don't care if it's a gas station food or, you
58:02
know, a touristy spot, like a tourist trap or
58:05
like a top tier restaurant. I mean, everything
58:08
was just delicious. Yeah, absolutely. 100%. I'm
58:12
going to wrap up our conversation here. Manny
58:14
Faces was fantastic. Remind people where to find
58:16
you, what the title of your book is, what your
58:18
socials are. Just give us everything. Yeah, I
58:20
appreciate it. There's two places depending on
58:22
which angle, but you could find each one from
58:24
the other place. So MannyFaces .com is sort of
58:27
my personal centerpiece. You can find me, contact
58:29
me. You want to bring me to talk about any of
58:31
these things. You want some advice or some counseling
58:33
or some consulting. Let's go. The other place
58:36
is Hip Hop Can Save America. That's my media
58:38
ecosystems home base. The podcast is there. My
58:41
YouTube channel is there. I do a lot of the interviews
58:43
appear on both, obviously. And the link to the
58:46
book is in both places. The book is Hip Hop Can
58:48
Save America. Inspiration for the... nation from
58:50
a culture of innovation and I think that it has
58:53
advice. and inspiration for educators, for health
58:56
care professionals, for media folk, for people
59:00
who work in government, who people who work in
59:02
non -profits, parents, and generally anyone who
59:05
says, I'm looking for ways to make the world
59:07
a better place that I may haven't explored yet.
59:10
And so the book and the podcast and everything
59:11
I do is centered around those ideas. So you can
59:14
find me there. On Instagram is the best place.
59:16
Manny Faces official. Love that. All right. Find
59:18
the delicious culture with Jon Francois wherever
59:20
you get your podcasts. Apple, Spotify, iHeart,
59:22
SiriusXM. YouTube, wherever. Watch us on Spotify
59:26
and YouTube. We're on video there. It's lovely
59:28
to have you join us. If you like the podcast
59:31
on Spotify, leave a five -star rating. That would
59:33
be great. If you like the podcast on Apple Podcasts,
59:35
leave a review. That would be wonderful. TheDeliciousCulture
59:39
at gmail .com is where you can email about any
59:41
questions, comments, concerns, feedback. TheDeliciousCulture
59:44
at gmail .com. Feel free to give us a follow
59:46
on Instagram and TikTok at The Delicious Culture.
59:49
That is at The Delicious Culture on Instagram.
59:53
TikTok. Manny, thank you again for being on the
59:56
podcast. What an honor and a privilege to be
59:57
here. Thank you for having me. And it's like
59:59
I said, it's truly an honor to be here with you.
1:00:02
Hopefully I'll get a chance to be on your podcast
1:00:03
sometime. I hope at some point at that point
1:00:07
in time. And for those of you listening and watching,
1:00:10
let deliciousness ring.