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IDKMYDE: Paul Revere Williams · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Paul Revere Williams. No, not Paul Revere,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the Britagure coming, the Brinager coming, Not that guy. I'm
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: talking about the black man who was out here designing
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: building so dope that folks is still flexing in them today.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. No, I didn't know. No,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. Now I picture this. It's the early
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, and of course racism is off the charts,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: like segregation is in full effect. Meanwhile Paul's out here
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: like I'm gonna be an architect. People probably look at
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: him like, bro, you sure black people can't even sit
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and have these buildings and you want to design them?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: And Paul was like, watch me. He was born in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: la in eighteen ninety four, and this man was out
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: here grinding y'all. He went to USC, got his architecture
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: degree and became the first black architect certified west of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the mississ That was already boss. But let me tell
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you something that even up that Paul figured out how
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to draw upside down. Why because white people was two
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: racest to sit next to him and look at the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: sketches like normal people do. So he flipped the script literally,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: bo can you imagine how smooth you gotta be it
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: not just designed dope buildings, but to do it upside down.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: And he wasn't designing regular stuff either. This dude had
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: range Mariah Carey in the nineties range you know the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Beverly Hills Hotel at Pink Palace with rich folks and
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: ig influences. Take all them bougie picks. Paul revamped that joint.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: He gave it that drill. Then there's lax. You know
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: that funky spaceship looking thing in the middle of the airport. Yeah,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Paul did that too. Who else could take a barn
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: airport and make it look like the set of a
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: sci fi movie. And let's not forget the mansions. Paul
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: was out here designing cribs for Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: a bunch of Hollywood big shots. But Paul didn't just
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: design for the rich folks. He was about the people too.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: He built schools, churches, affordable housing. He made sure his
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: work touched everybody. My man was like I'm building legacies,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: not just luxury. Now let's talk about why he's important today.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: First of all, his buildings are still standing, still being used,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and still looking fresh. But more than that, Paul Williams
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: showed us what it means to hustle with style. He
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: didn't just survive racism, he out designed it. They wouldn't
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: let him sit at the table, so he flipped the table,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: drew from the other side of the table, and made
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that table his own. And here's the kicker. In twenty seventeen,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: years after he passed, Paul became the first black person
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to win the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. That's
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: like the Oscars of architecture, y'all. Imagine them handing you
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a trophy after you did like, hey man, you was dope.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I'm bad form not saying it a little sooner. Paul
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Williams is proof that no matter what barriers they put
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: in front of you, you can still break through and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: look good doing it. So next time you drive by
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the Beverly Hills Hotel or you flying the lax, remember
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a black man did that, and he did it up
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: side down. Just a stunt on them. And I didn't know.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't either, MHM.