Unglossy with Bun B
Unglossy is a raw dive into the cultural forces shaping identity, creativity, and influence today. Hosted by legendary rapper, professor and entrepreneur, Bun B, alongside music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge and brand and marketing guru, Tom Frank, this is a conversation about cultural impact.
Through real stories and unfiltered dialogue, Unglossy explores how artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries define themselves, move culture, and build legacy beyond the gloss of hype and headlines.
Tune in to "Unglossy" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @UnglossyPod and join the conversation.
Unglossy is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios. Let your story take the mic. Learn more at https://wearemerrickstudios.com
Unglossy with Bun B
The Future Is Conversational: Cardi, Kimmel, and Football
No guest, no fluff—just Bun B, Tom Frank, and Jeffrey Sledge turning up the signal and turning down the noise. We kick off with what’s cooking at Merrick Studios (Unglossy, Mixed & Mastered, Our Love/Hate Relationship with Comic Culture, Pitch Lab) and why podcasts are becoming the new cable. Then it’s Cardi B at Trill Burgers and the rise of celebrity cosigns as cultural currency. We get into comedy vs. consequence (Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and the line between accountability and censorship), why Fashion Week’s real runway is now the sidewalk, and football’s full takeover of pop culture—from NIL swagger to breakfast kickoffs abroad. Plus: Jeffrey’s bionic-eye comeback, a pro-wrestling guest tease, and enough food talk to make you order something you’ll love and regret.
"Unglossy with Bun B" is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio and hosted by Bun B, Tom Frank and Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to hear this thought-provoking discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @UnglossyPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://unglossypod.buzzsprout.com/
Last week on Unglossy. I'm gonna take the biggest cultural innovators that we got. Hip hop artists. And I'm gonna see how I can study the way that they became these cultural icons. And can I model my career the same way? Like, not put my culture in the background. I'm gonna wear it on my chest, wear it on my sleeve. I'm gonna come in this space as only one person. I'm the only black person in the space. I'm gonna be unapologetically me.
SPEAKER_03:From the top.
SPEAKER_02:I'm Tom Frank.
SPEAKER_04:I'm Jeffrey Sletch.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm Bud B. Welcome to Ungloss.
SPEAKER_02:Real stories, unfiltered dialogue, and the voices moving culture beyond the gloss of hype and headlines.
SPEAKER_04:So buckle up, Unglossy Starts Now.
SPEAKER_02:Alright, folks, there's a lot cooking in the world right now. And today, no guests. We're gonna break down some interesting topics. We're gonna start with what's happening at Merrick Studios and how podcasts like Unglossy, Mixed and Mastered, Our Love Hate Relationship with Comic Culture, and Pitch Lab are leading to real conversations, not just echoing headlines. Then we're gonna dig into uh Cardi B's Stop at Trill Burger and the rise of celebrity co-signs as cultural currency. We'll tackle comedy and free speech from Jimmy Kimmel's suspension to the line between accountability and censorship. We'll dress Fashion Week. I know Bun's a big fashion week guy. So where the runways become the ultimate content stage. And lastly, we're gonna hit football's takeover of pop culture from NAI ideals to Dion Swagger to games from all over the globe. No phone, all flame. This is on glossy. Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_04:This dude loves his puns, boy.
SPEAKER_02:I like my puns, man. That's what makes me makes me smile.
SPEAKER_04:I love crazy. Before we get all into that, you how are you doing, Jess? I'm alright. So for those who I guess nobody knows uh outside of the this the circle, I had eye surgery almost two weeks ago now. I had a a uh cataract and a detached retina all in the same eye. This eye. So hence the reason I'm wearing the shades because I have to keep my eyes covered and the lights are way too bright to deal with. But um, I'm healing nice. I went to the doctor last week. He said that the healing is coming along well. Um I gotta have one more minor surgery to put like a man-made lens in my eye because my natural lens was so messed up from the cataract they had to take it out. Which is like a bionic eye. Yeah, yeah. This girl I know was like, You should get one blue eye and one brown eye. I was like, come on, B. But um, but yeah, it's it's coming along. It was it's a way it was a way more intense process, well, has been a way more intense process than I initially thought it was. Like the surgery was like a two-hour surgery. It was like way more, way more than I thought it was. But the doc said it's healing well and uh when it's all over with, I might not even need glasses. I should be good to go.
SPEAKER_03:So, you know. Did they tell you where all of this kind of started at?
SPEAKER_04:You know what? They didn't. Um I I had shingles in 2023, early 23, on on this side of my face. It hit my side of my face and it in my eye. So my eye was like swollen shut for a while. It was terrible. Anybody who's old enough, please get the shingle shot because it you don't you don't want to deal with that. But I suspect that this might be a remnant of the shingles in my eye.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and over So the shingles were just prominent on one side.
SPEAKER_04:On one side of my arm from here over and up. Like the I couldn't I could I couldn't get a haircut for like like three months, maybe more. Because I could like my head, the top of my head was so sensitive, like even just touching it like this. It was crazy. I can't even explain how painful and crazy it was.
SPEAKER_03:So I immediately went and got my shots when when after I talked to you. Like not even playing. I went straight to get my shots.
SPEAKER_04:You do not you do not want it. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, the shingles. I never want that again.
SPEAKER_03:Um I don't think they really explain that to the general public. Like, I feel like I know way more about misothelioma than I know about shingles.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, they make the shingles seem like it's a little it's a little thing, it's kind of kind of kind of irritating. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's it's awful.
SPEAKER_03:Awful. Did you have an exaggerated case? I always went to ask. I think so. Or is that typically the reaction?
SPEAKER_04:You I I've heard other people say I I think it also depends on where it is. Because a lot of people get it on their arm, on their on their back, and of course that hurts, but on your face?
SPEAKER_06:Your face. In my eye. Right.
SPEAKER_04:Like my eye looked like I got punched in the eye. It was super swollen. I couldn't, I couldn't be in light. Like it was just, it was it was horrific. It was horrific. But I think I think this uh this eye stuff now was a remnant of that. But um, but yeah, so you know, I'm here, I'm but I'm I am healing, God bless. You know, always for some, you know, God has blessed me with the ability to always bounce back. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know how many how many lives I got left, but I'm I'm using this one.
SPEAKER_03:You could always put on the black leather and go for the body vibe.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, this is true, because yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you do have a new vibe going in. Yeah, it's a vibe. Yeah, it's a vibe. They gave me some decent glasses, like at least they look kind of kind of real, you know, kind of like designer-ish, you know. Kinda.
SPEAKER_03:And so you say after this is over, you'll actually have improved visions.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, because the good eye is working, working very good. So he said if the bad eye keeps healing the way it's healing, I might might not even need glasses, because then it'll just be about balancing out the the eye. So right now, right now I can see out of the bad eye, but only shapes. Like if you hold a like I hold a Pepsi bottle up, I can see the bottle, I can see the colors, and I can probably see the big Pepsi, but I couldn't read it. Like I couldn't tell you if it was 16 ounces or 12 ounces, or I couldn't read the ingredients. So I could see the shapes details.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if you want to know what's that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, that was I don't I don't even drink soda, but that was just an excuse.
SPEAKER_03:That was just um a main example, you know.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Well look, get well's just going to be a good one.
SPEAKER_02:Get well, we need you back rolling again. But I'm still working. Merrick Studios is is going, folks. Yes, it is. Unglossy has been great. I gotta say, I really, really enjoyed our talk with uh Chef Chris Shepherd. I mean, that was they've all been good, but I looked back at that one and I I really, really like that one.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I've known Chef for a while, so I've known how interesting a character he is and how passionate he is about what he does. Um and he talks really good. He's got a very good way of explaining what he does. You know what I'm saying? To make not make it seem like everything else that everyone in the space is doing. And uh, I mean I I've learned so much from him in terms of culture and how how much of it is so representative in what we do. You know, everyone has their job in the village, you know? And I understand the chef's job in the village, which kind of goes beyond just cooking food, right? Like there's a when it comes to running a restaurant and being a chef, cooking food is, you know, a big part of it, but there are so many other things that go into it that have nothing to do with knowing what the recipe is of a dish, you know what I'm saying? And he's been able to excel at all of those things and go beyond that and help others, you know what I'm saying, find normal stuff in their life after tragedy and uh, you know, all these big things. I don't want to, you know, dwell on it because we did a whole episode to talk about it, but he's always been such a fascinating dude, and I'm glad that you guys can see that as well.
SPEAKER_04:He's super and very like he's a very grounded guy for like all the accolades he's met over the years. He's like super, he's like folksy. He's like, I feel like I go to his crib, he cooked me a burger, and we like just watch the game and talk shit. Like he's really like a comfort comfortable.
SPEAKER_03:Crack a beer. He's a great guy to drink a beer with.
SPEAKER_02:I want to drink a beer.
SPEAKER_03:And I don't even like to drink beer, but proverbially, right, when we talk about the kind of men that men tend to gravitate to or men that they would quote, love to drink a beer with, he's definitely one of those guys. He's one of them.
SPEAKER_02:And mixed and mastered is going well. We got it's going great. The comic culture podcast. For anybody who hasn't seen that with Pete Rock, Mickey Fax, Tat Wizard is going well. We're gonna we're we're gonna do a crossover coming up very soon. A crossover. We're gonna start here, and then we're gonna go talk some comics.
SPEAKER_03:Jeff, I've got some great recommendations. Oh, yeah, please. So yes, I've got some some great guys I think that people would love to hear.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. The Mortimeria. There's there's a lot of stories to tell.
SPEAKER_03:I'll have my guy call your guy who make it work. You guys make it which is Tom.
SPEAKER_02:I'll I'll I'll I'll do that. Yeah. We we we got we got our sales team, our advertising sales team in place. We got a great new podcast that'll be coming out very soon called Two Mothers, Wan Ashe. We're gonna get into that a little bit. Uh and then we we got some we got some fun stuff. I can't tell everything. We got some interesting partnerships. We got some maybe some interesting live event opportunities. People are reaching out. There's stuff happening, guys.
SPEAKER_03:There's so much going on that we're actually looking into 26 now. Like that's what I like. Like, you know what I'm saying? We can see what's working, what's connecting with people, expand on that type of stuff, and then I'm I'm excited to bring it to an audience. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04:Live events are gonna be that was that was always one of my visions is to do live events because I got the kind of put my head from from our friends, um, the Rosenthals, when they were doing their live events with the locks with the movies and stuff. I was like, yeah, this is like, you know, because people are engaged and you know, they you can cast questions, and yeah, I always think I always thought live events would be the next step in this process, you know?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and keep in mind, folks, that we're all in different places, right? So let us know where you would want to see Unglossy, right? Should we do the debut live episode in Houston? Should we do it in New York? Like let us let us know who's listening, who's watching, absolutely who wants to see us pull up.
SPEAKER_04:Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02:And and we're getting into a space that's kind of interesting right now, right? Because podcasts are starting to matter. Like people are paying attention, right? This is a new form. It's not a new form, it's an old form of entertainment, but it's one that I think is becoming more and more relevant every single day.
SPEAKER_03:We're the new cable. Yeah. Yeah. We're the new cable. You know what I'm saying? We're I would say this show is probably maybe TBS.
SPEAKER_04:I'll take that. Yeah, I'll take TBS. I'll take TBS. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03:We got a lot of we got a lot of a lot of people.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Where do you guys see podcasts heading though? I think it's only going to grow.
SPEAKER_04:They're becoming more powerful and more influential, like across the board, and pot and all in all everything. Politics, sports, movies, whatever, fashion, whatever it is, like podcasts are driving industries now. You know? They're driving industries.
SPEAKER_03:I think this is gonna be the new when I say cable, I think of it as the new way for people to get information in their downtime. Right? So, like, more sports shows are gonna look like Pat McAfee, right? Yeah. Like the new kind of in the future, the new Jimmy Kimmers and those guys, there's gonna be more of a Joe Rogan guy. Because these are the guys that honestly they've got booking down to a science, right? The the Joe Rogans, the you know, the Shannon Sharps, those kind of guys, those kind of shows. They they're the ones that are booking the top-tier talent, which is what talk shows do. The better talk shows are the ones that can dig or dig deeper into finding different, you know, guests and different interviews that really kind of shape where the country is now. You know what I'm saying? I think the masses are not going to go to to see what Xfinity thinks or what Comcast thinks. You know what I'm saying? I think, I think that's what's gonna happen. I think there's gonna be an alternative for people through podcasting and podcast hosts to define who they want to get their information from. You know what I'm saying? And then have it presented to them in a different way. I think the not like the OANs, or so to speak, but it's just gonna, these networks are gonna pop up. People are gonna want their information in the entertainment from certain people. I think that's gonna shift to where they receive it from. And it's just, it's not gonna be like, well, no, I don't want the cooking channel and the home and garden network and this and that. I want this, this, and this. And I think you'll be able to curate your information in the same way that you curate who you follow, the same way you curate your playlist. I think that's where entertainment from a visual intake aspect is gonna lean towards. So I love the fact that Merrick is on the cutting edge of where that's going so that we can bring in enough programming and not just be a podcast network, but a network. Like that's what I think is gonna start happening.
SPEAKER_02:And you saw that Netflix already came out with the the idea that they're gonna start putting podcasts on their platform in the same way that YouTube, in the same way that Spotify, in the same way of Apple. And I think that's gonna change things.
SPEAKER_03:It absolutely is. Like these podcast networks that are popping up, we're the new we're the new content hubs.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And then that there's inherent value to that. You know what I'm saying? And in the same way that they're buying up publishing and buying up catalog and all of that, I think they're gonna start buying content houses. I think real life keeper option in Paramount or people, you know what I'm saying? CBS Studios, no offense. But I, you know, I think, and and again, we're a network, so we offer a diverse uh list of content to provide to people. So, you know, let's not sell ourselves shorts, guys.
SPEAKER_04:Uh genres. Nah, no doubt. And you said, but people are gonna be buying networks and just be like, okay, you guys got all this different content. Here's X, and like just we'll implement you onto our platform, you know.
SPEAKER_03:So don't be surprised if a couple of years from now you see Jeff at six o'clock with a suit on, giving you the what's up going on, it's gotta be a flying community. I'm serious. I I I I think I think I think as corporations and and these entertainment conglomerates are broadening their view, we should broaden our scale. You know? Content is content. I don't want to be in the I don't want to be left in the background. I was late on the internet and I'm still ahead of many people from my you know my contemporary. So I want to stay ahead of the curve. Good thing I got rocks like you to keep me on my toes.
SPEAKER_02:I like it.
SPEAKER_04:That's funny. That's funny, man. You know, this is exciting. It's very exciting.
SPEAKER_02:So lots to come. Americ Studios. We are just scratching the surface. Just scratching the surface. Lots in the work. I'm I'm very excited about it. But talking about a little excitement, I want to hear about Cardi B rolling up in the Trill Burger. How did this happen? What is going on here?
SPEAKER_03:It's it's been an amazing month for Trill Burgers, I'll be honest. It started with I forgot about that. Pop up Tony Blanks.
SPEAKER_04:That was fire.
SPEAKER_03:These things, you know, we have we have worked very hard to make ourselves not just a great record uh restaurant, not just a beacon in the city, but a cultural hub to where this took a while. This is not a new thing. This took a while, but at some point, people decided that the trip to Houston ain't a trip to Houston without a stop at Thrill Burgers. You know what I'm saying? And we have been happy to oblige that sentiment and try to not disappoint people on these different excursions they make out to our Trio Burger locations in the city. So having our show speed speed stop by was it really gave me a viewpoint on what the phenomenon is that these kids have created for themselves and this level of connection that they built up with their own.
SPEAKER_04:He's the number one guy.
SPEAKER_03:So I was so I was giving a heads up that you know they wanted to bring the guys by. Like they were making a stop at a few places. My guy Joggy, um, shout out to Joggy. Um he reached out and he was like, hey, would you be at Troilburger Sunday? Uh you in town? I'm like, yeah, I'm around. If I show, if I brought I show speed by, could you would you host him? Would you stop by? I'm like, yeah, of course I would. It's not a problem. And so, you know, we were like, they were like, yeah, so maybe about 12:30 or 1 o'clock, he's gonna stop by or whatever. And then the day of these things, obviously, like, well, you know, he had a late breakfast, so he's not hungry, so we'll bring him by. So I'm just at Troilburgers, right? So I'm just kind of posted up. And I'm like, how many of you people how many people do you think you guys are? And he was like, well, with speed, there's maybe eight or nine, and then there's probably about 10 security guards. I was like, okay. Um, how many vehicles? He's like, probably about six XUVs. I was like, okay, said, but I want you to be aware there's a hundred kids following him. I was like, what do you mean? Like, everywhere we've gone today, there's been like anywhere from 80 to 100 kids on site. They've been following him all around town. I said, okay, well, I gave him altern I gave him an alternative way to enter the restaurant. Because one way is a fairly open street, but we don't always let you in that way, but we were gonna let them in that way. But the other way draws a lot of traffic. And so I was trying to help them get to us in a way that would help them lose these 80 to 100 kids that were following them. They took the way I didn't tell them to go. The kids caught them in traffic, so when they pulled in, there's like 40 kids running on the side of the trucks. By the time they get all six trucks in the parking lot, there's about 80 kids outside my store. Now, in the time that it took for them to get from, they were coming from Johnny Dane to Trailburgers, which is about a 20-minute drive. You know what I'm saying? A couple of kids who were trying to head to see him at Johnny Dane heard him say live on the stream, we're gonna head to Trailburgers. They're like, no, don't go. We're close to the trail. Just go to Trill. So you see these little groups of three and four kids come in and get burgers or whatever. And it I didn't really, I didn't really pay attention. I was like, wait a minute. They're just kind of sitting there. I'm like, they're thinking, I think these kids are waiting for speed. And then like a group of four kids came in, and one had the phone on the on the on the gimbal. I was like, okay, I see, I see what this is. Uh and I didn't have a problem. Most of them had bought food, but then you started seeing kids just kind of coming in and wanting to stand around. I was like, guys, you can't just stand in the store. This is an active restaurant. Like, buy a soda, buy some some fries or something, but you gotta buy something. You can't just stand around. Yeah. And then when the truck and the kids came in, it just became a whole thing. So half of his security was outside keeping the kids out of the store. The other half of the security is in the store, keeping the kids in a you know, in a safe distance, like keeping a barrier around him inside the store.
SPEAKER_04:I saw that.
SPEAKER_03:Uh he he tries the burger and he beats on the table, which is a thing, right? He took another bite, he beats on it again to re-emphasize the thing. Then he takes the third bite and he stands up and he starts barking. And then the kids in the store start barking, which is apparently a big sign of uh, I really like this. I really like what I'm having. He ate the burger all the way through. Then he ate another burger.
SPEAKER_02:Two burgers.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, he ate another burger right there. Nothing to drink. I don't have nothing to drink. Just smash two burgers. Yeah. Real quick. And um, I feel like the rest is history. It was like one of the biggest, one of the biggest posts we've ever done. You know what I'm saying? Over a million views in 24 hours. It was, and that was split between Instagram and Facebook. Last time I looked, it was like almost a million on Instagram and like maybe 600 on uh Facebook. So just an incredible moment that he was able to create just by stopping by for like 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_04:Did you get a chance to spend any time with a one-on-one, or was it just too hectic?
SPEAKER_03:I I mean the entire engagement was he and I one-on-one across from each other. Me talking about the burger, why the burger was the best burger in the world. You know what I'm saying? Because the best burgers in the world come from America. We make the best burgers in the world. So if you can make the best burger in America by default, you end up with the best burger in the world. The Cardi B thing came a little bit different. Shout out to my guy, AJ. AJ reached out to Tubby, our manager, and was like, yo, um, Bun would love to cook for her when she comes into town. So Tubby was like, we can make that happen. So, and this was about four days before she got there, five days before she got there. So we like to do custom boxes for our collaborations, uh, but this wasn't a full collaboration, it was just a moment. So um we could only make a couple of sample boxes. So we made four boxes, and one of our chefs was already in LA on Sunday, so he stayed over to pick up the boxes, flew them back with him on Monday. We basically went and set up at the Walmart Tuesday morning, um, preparing to cook for her, get there at 11, prepare to cook at one. She showed up about five.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I'll be saying she was.
SPEAKER_03:We're in Houston. It's still very hot here. It was about 95 degrees that day with the high level of humidity. Um, the plans were very patient when she showed up. She was very, you know, apologetic to all the people that had been standing around outside. She was very excited to meet me, to, to see the burger, to see the box table. Is that the first time you had ever met her? I hadn't met her before, but she wouldn't remember. I didn't even want to get into it. But I was at the OBO Fest in Toronto when she came out.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Which was it was literally an icon making moment. Like she had come out, she had on a two-piece underwear like Lou Kim with the Mink Coat. And like, she used to have that part in her show when she was first doing Bodak Yellow. She'd pretty much dressed like that for a lot of her performances. And then she would drop down into the little Kim Squat with the Mint Coat and do like the verse from there. Like, you know what I'm saying? And um, but just a very iconic moment. And looking back, you could tell a star was born, you know. Um, but I didn't think she would remember that. I could only imagine how many interactions she'd had with people. And she would, this was very new into her relationship with Offset, and I wouldn't want to have to mention him to her to because, you know, to reach back for a moment, because I don't know what that dive into the subconscious becomes at that moment. And I'm sure it could be somewhat triggering, possibly. So, but hats off to her, man. Consummate, consummate professional, very, very gracious person. And let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about what a person of her caliber, what an artist of her caliber now has to come behind her and do. She's seven months pregnant, and she's putting in four to six hour installs.
SPEAKER_04:And around the country, too.
SPEAKER_03:She's making artists look lazy. She's making artists look incont and how do I put this inconsiderate of their fan base. So I think I think this game is going to revert a lot more. We see it with with these merch bundles, right, that come with these CDs, which are now more nostalgia than anything, right? It's more marketing and merchandise than something that people are literally listening to as a CD player. But the idea of the hand-to-hand that she's been able to do across the country, day after day after day, meeting thousands and thousands and thousands of people, giving them a personable experience, giving them a hand-to-hand on experience with the artists, with the entertainer. People that drop albums after this, they're going to have to look at how they start doing hand-to-hand. They're going to have to look at how they do meet and greets now. Because these same people are fans of many of these other artists.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And they're going to have an expectation.
SPEAKER_03:So when the next artist, and I'm not just saying female, although it's probably going to be a big comparison when the next big female rapper drops an artist and doesn't do this or chooses to consider having to do this. But now I think we've set a new level of what the interactions can be and what fans may decide should be. Because the reality is that anyone could do what she's doing, that's on her level. They can get those private jets. They're going to fly private anyway, right? So they can get those private jets. They can carve up. They're going to do a week of promo across the country anyway. Right? So it's either, you know, do it, do a one-stop at a, you know, a club meet and greet or something like that, or get hands-and-hands with the people. Now, I can't say that everyone can fund something this in the way that Walmart is, but I'm sure there are sponsorships that are comparable. I'm sure people would love to have thousands of people not only going into this store, buying thousands of pieces of something. The Walmart process is pretty similar to the best buy algorithm for back in the day, right? Get them inside, you know, save them$2 on a CD and hope they buy a microwave or a dishwasher, right? Kind of a thing. So I I can see companies being like, you know what? I would I wouldn't mind having that line in front of my business. I wouldn't mind having that many people in my store. You know what I'm saying? And I and I see artists who are up for this. I can see sexy red doing this all day.
SPEAKER_02:And we'll be right back.
SPEAKER_03:Welcome to Merrick Studios, where stories take the mic and culture comes alive.
SPEAKER_02:We're not just American, we're a family, bringing you smart, soulful, unjusted conversations.
SPEAKER_04:And this season, we're bringing the heat at our biggest lineup yet. Whatever you're into, music, sports, business, we got you covered. Merrick Studios, where the conversation starts and keeps going.
SPEAKER_02:Check out our full lineup, including unglossy with Bun B, Jeffrey Sledge, and myself, Tom Crank. Now streaming at wearmerkstudios.com.
SPEAKER_00:Master the art of lyricism with Pendulum Mink, the first school for rap. Learn elite techniques through immersive lessons, real world exercises, and guidance from hip hop icons. This is where MC sharpen their skills and glow boldly on the mic. Ready to level up? Visit pendulummink.com and start your journey today.
SPEAKER_02:And now back to the show. So explain this tour though, because I didn't know the details of this. So this is a partnership between her and Walmart. Absolutely. And she is going across the country and hitting as many Walmarts as she can. No, no, no. No.
SPEAKER_03:So what it is is there's seven cities, seven stores.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I'm not sure about the other Walmarts, but I know the story they chose here is a brand new location.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:But the idea is you go into Walmart, you buy Cardi B's album, and you get to come back on the day she's in town, and you are guaranteed a meet and greet with her. So no matter how many people shows up, she sees every single person. Wow. So just because she was late for Houston doesn't mean we're going to stop at a certain time, regardless. Everybody that stood in line and bought that product and then came back and stood in line for the meet and greet is going to get what they came for. She's anyone standing throughout this week.
SPEAKER_02:How long did she end up being there?
SPEAKER_03:Seven months. Oh, I know in in um in Houston, I think it was about maybe four and a half, five hours. Wow. That's cool though. That's a cool partnership. But I'm sure the one in I'm sure the one in Long Island was crazier because New York has more people.
SPEAKER_04:And the cooler is like the cool thing.
SPEAKER_03:And it's not that New York, the the idea of New York and the boroughs is kind of beautiful because Long Island technically isn't far enough from her fans and other boroughs to go to see her. You know what I'm saying? So it's not like LA people having to go to San Francisco.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03:So it's a lot of it gives fair proximity to all of her fans. New York was, and if she could stand in line for that multitude of people, every other city's gonna be a breeze. Right? But I hear that they're paying her a pretty penny. I won't divulge it. I'm not sure. I was given an idea of what they're paying her. I would stand there, I would open Walmart. You would open and close the Walmart. I would open the store, I would sweep, I'd set up the line, the red carpet. You know what I'm saying? I'd be out there setting up the gate, the barricade, the tent, everything. Absolutely. But I don't know anyone who's more built for what she does. And the reason I say this is that unlike other artists, I don't believe that an artist like Cardi B. Is going to come into contact with someone that doesn't represent where she comes from. It's very easy to find people on her level where she is financially. But people tend to isolate themselves from people that were that, you know, where they were from or out even further beyond places that they wouldn't have gone to when they were young. You know what I'm saying? But there is no social disconnect with Cardi being the people. Because she comes from the, you know, she got it out the mud. Like literally. She got it out the mud. So none none of these people are beneath her. Because of where she came, had to come up out of in the Bronx. She doesn't look at people as being beneath her. They just worry that where she was. And they could potentially be where she is. So it's a different relationship that she has with her base, right? She doesn't get to she doesn't sit around and pick and choose who she wants to represent what a Cardi B fan looks like or sounds like. And I think someone like Sexy Red is in that same vein, right? You know what I'm saying? Where they don't come in and make judgments or uh preconceived notions about people based on how what they wore that day. You know what I'm saying? If their hair and shit, what Cardi B's gonna be like, girl, you cute and all that type of shit. It's very empowering. It's very empowering, it's very relatable. I I say this because I've seen where this girl came from. No one made it out of where she made out of. And I'm not just talking about the Bronx, I'm talking about reality TV, right? And all these people that pretend to be this artist and all of that on these shows, they get some relative fame wherever the show, you know, hip hop, Miami, they get some fame in Miami. And the only other person I've seen that's actually become a legitimate artist out of that world is her and Spice, right? You know what I'm saying? And and again, though, and that's because what they come out of and they still kind of speak to that community. You know, Spice is Jamaican full buddy, she hasn't assimilated, she ain't trying to be like nobody else. I saw some random clip of the show where she had the blue outfit on with the blue hair. Like, we know what you represent, and those people feel empowered when they see someone that looks just like them. And I don't mean skin tone. Yeah, right? I mean struggle and all of those different things that look just like them, make it. It gives these people hope. Cardi B is hope incarnate. Dixie Red is hope and carnage. You know what I'm saying? No matter how you want to look at it, no matter how you want to frame it, when those people see those people, they see themselves. When those fans see Cardi B and she's like, hey, and she starts torking, those people feel seen and heard. Nobody speaks to these people. Resident B Club God, he was a big proponent of communities that were underserved by music and underrepresented in culture. But to in many communities, they're the fucking majority. Yeah. You know, and I I'm from small town America, and a big part of what UGK did was facilitating small town America and meeting them where they were and not looking down on them. We grew up in a town where tours didn't come.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I'm saying? We used to have to go to Houston to see the Fresh Fest and all that stuff back then. Our community was savagely underserved on every level, but culture being a variant part of it. Yeah, we had food deserts, we were discriminated in housing and all of that shit, but we also were discriminated in culture. Like black people couldn't wouldn't come to where black people were because they feel like it wasn't a big enough venue, they couldn't get enough people, they wouldn't make enough money. So God bless social media for leveling the player field of the entry into culture.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, it wasn't a big enough margin.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think what she's doing is representative of a very big, uh, a very big gap in the culture of hip-hop in terms of the way we are meeting people. But also it's a sign of where society is on the larger scale of how separate we are because of social media. That we feel like if we do put the post, collaborate with the right brand, um the the media team gets it out there, circulates it properly, puts up the small clips on TikTok and YouTube, all that, and we feel like we've quote touched the people. You know, we got the message out. This type of thing here creates moments. She's been able to create a moment without people having to spend, no disrespect, the Chris Brown expense to get up close and personal.
SPEAKER_02:It's a much more authentic moment than just a pure celebrity moment.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I mean, look, you gotta look at it from a financial standpoint. When you make these things cheaper, you make them more accessible to the lesser served community. Yeah. Right? You normally would have to buy a Chris Brown ticket, which I think is around eight to a thousand dollars, depending on where you are. You know what I'm saying? At the very least, you'd have to buy a normal price meet and greet ticket that ain't cheap VIP package with the commemorative lamb uh laminate, you know, laminated pass and all of that stuff. Or you can buy her album, which was under ten dollars, if I'm not mistaken. Because I know it was like six bucks on six bucks on iTunes. So not only do you get the album for cheaper than you would normally get music, it comes with an experience for some people is immeasurable. It's a priceless experience.$10, and I got to meet Cardi B. We twerked together, we took a picture, she hugged me, told me I was cute for ten dollars.
SPEAKER_04:And I noticed that she was like, You can't beat that. Yeah, you can't beat it. And I noticed that she she went to a lot of market, like you said, she went to a lot of places, like even like even here in the Atlanta area, she was in Riverdale. She wasn't in the city, she was out in Riverdale, where you said, well, people don't people if you don't live out there, you don't really go out there. Or Long Island, like you said, she's like these places where like you don't really go unless you can't she went to the Queen's Center, the Queen's Mall. Like the nobody goes to the Queen's Mall, like, but she's going to these places where people don't feel seen. It's like, oh, she's in in Queens at the mall. Oh shit, I fucked with her. This is a five-minute walk for my crib. I ain't gotta get on the trail and go to the artist game artist. So she's been doing that everywhere. Are you gonna still rent that big hotel suite? It's really working, right?
SPEAKER_03:Get on phoners and zooms and shit like that all day from a very comfortable environment and aspect, but you know, a a space that you can command. Are you gonna get out there and touch the people? Are you gonna get out there and touch the people?
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. And speaking of that, even um, I saw today a clip. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but uh the you know the Kelsey's have their. Well, I haven't seen this one yet. And they had Leonardo the castle. Yeah, Benecio too, right? But he was talking on his, he was talking sports. Wasn't Benicio on it too? Yeah, he was talking sports. And you know, but he don't do no what's that no, no, ever. You know, Lonardo don't do no interviews. Yeah, but Leonardo don't do no interviews ever. But he's only talking about he was at the he was at the Kobe Shaq game, and he was like, Yeah, I was at George. He because again, it's like he's touching the people. He's like, I gotta promote this movie, and I can't just be like this mysterious guy. You only see the press junket. He's like, nah, I gotta get out there and that's a pretty interesting choice for him going to be.
SPEAKER_03:In an environment that will make him look more human, right? If they're all sitting there, if all they ever see of him is that a press junk and press junk, and then you're just doing what everyone else does. But to be like, you know what, put me on the fucking Kelsey show. I'll get on that show. That's fucking America, right? That's the people. And I can be myself. I'm I these guys are guys I sit down and drink a beer with, right? I keep going back to it. I keep going back to it. People don't want information from people that have been trained to give them information. Yep. They want to talk like they're in a barber shop. They want to talk like they're on the back of a fishing boat, they want to talk like they're on four-wheelers. You know what I'm saying? Like they they want they want these things to feel personalized to them. Cardi B is on the cutting edge of it. I obviously the Kelseys are as well, because they're making hands over fist money over there, like bananas money over there, just for being fucking brothers.
SPEAKER_04:Crazy. Crazy.
SPEAKER_03:Just for being brothers, yeah, talking like brothers talk. Big brothers more famous, you know what I'm saying? No, um, big brothers less famous, but you already know. Hey, I'll kick your ass, kid. And you believe it. Yeah, and you believe it. I absolutely believe Jason Kelsen and beat the shit out of Travis Kelsey. Yeah, I'm still your big brother.
SPEAKER_02:No doubt. Oh, yeah. I mean, those guys are a phenomenon. And and the fact that they used a podcast to blow things up the way they have, because they were well known. It's not like they weren't well known, but their relationship and the and and kind of that behind closed doors that they've brought to light is amazing. And that's what's made them feel human and made like you could be friends with them.
SPEAKER_03:If you can get out of your head that you're speaking to millions of people, thousands of people, 30 people, whatever, yeah, you can go forth and create good content. They're talking like that in the back room of their mom's house. So we're like in the garage, yeah, kind of a thing. You know what I'm saying? And I and it feels authentic. And I think everything that we've been talking about, all these guys, the McAfee's and the Rogans and the Kelseys, and even the Rosenthal's and all of these people that we've been talking about in the space of content, the one thing that links them all together and us as well, is authenticity.
SPEAKER_02:Let me ask you a question about that, which leads me to my next topic. There is a negative and a downside to all of this as well, right? Look at a guy like Jimmy Kimmel, right? And the and the and the week that he just had, or the two weeks that he's just had, right? Where in some ways he was speaking his mind. He was using humor. He was talking like any of us would be talking, but got himself into a little bit of hot water, which I don't know if you agree with, disagree, but I am kind of curious the the your vantage point on the situation with him and kind of what happened. And I don't know if you watched the his his comeback uh episode, which I did, and it's free to be.
SPEAKER_03:He's very aware of everything. He I think he came back brilliantly. But uh let me say this.
SPEAKER_04:I watched the monologue.
SPEAKER_03:The problem and what he's doing is what we have can you know convinced ourselves is the solution. He doesn't own the network. He's beholden to the network. That's the problem. I was an artist, right? I was a recording artist for many years. I'm still a recording artist, but not in that way, right? But I was beholden to my label. So if there were things that I said on my music that my label didn't agree with, that song didn't come out. And I couldn't really argue it because I was on their dime, I was on their time, and I was on their label. Three things that Jimmy Kimmel unfortunately was as well. He's on ABC's Time, he's on ABC's dime, right? He's in their studio, right? You know what I'm saying? And and the idea of the show was there. He just had to convince him he was the right guy for it.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Right? If you own the network, you don't have to convince anybody. You are the network. You believe in yourself, you go for it. You know what I'm saying? You bring in people that you believe in, give them room to be who they are, let them have their own space, bring in their own separate advertisers, which I believe is why he's back on air. I believe, I believe he they were losing millions upon millions of advertisers and advertising money per week, and they just couldn't really do. And not just losing dollars for television shows not airing, meaning commercials aren't airing, but you know, corporations who are, you know, ideologically opposed to where they stand. So it's like I don't want to sell my fucking furniture, I don't want to sell my soda, I don't want to sell my toys and you know, all of that stuff on you if that's how you guys are fucking acting. Matter of fact, pull me off of this too. Right? Pull me off of Jeopardy at 6 30, right? You know what I'm saying? Pull me off the soul property from 11 to 3, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03:Like take me off, cancel our contracts. Canceling the Disney subscriptions and the World of the Disney. Your media conglomerate across all platforms. Matter of fact, not just ABC, take me off the ESPN, take me off this, take me off that. There's a big blowback from this stuff. People don't realize that the majority of people that consume entertainment do identify for the most part with the left.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:They typically do. And if you just take what you feel like, and I don't want to get too deeply political into this kind of stuff. I don't want to start drawing those kind of lines with our studio because we want everyone to take in our content. But once you start censoring people, people start looking at things very differently. And even if you can get some people back, they're always gonna have that question in the back of their mind when are they gonna pull this again? And that can happen, and that's on both sides. That's on both sides. Once we start pulling people, just because we don't necessarily agree with it, I've seen people talk shit about the networks they're on, you know what I'm saying? They crack their jokes, whatever. Everybody's in on it because everybody's making money. You know what I'm saying? And some people's skin is a little bit tougher than other people. You know what I'm saying? So I just I just wish the best for Jimmy. I would love for politics to stay out of television and sports in that way, but you know what I'm saying? But I know one thing we can control is keeping that kind of shit out of our shoes. That would start to separate people. You know what I'm saying? We want we're the Michael Jordan of Podcast Networks. We want to show truth to everybody. We don't need that.
SPEAKER_02:I'll make that comparison.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But we've got some great diverse content that goes across a couple of different people, too. Yeah. That's what I love. Like, we're not just picking, you know, I have Trill Burgers, and I know most people come in thinking O'Bumbi is a hip-hop artist, he has a restaurant, it's a hip-hop restaurant. But if you come in to my restaurant, it's the most it's it and and it's one of the most diverse places in Houston. No, it's a restaurant. You have Asian, Latino, you have street, you have great, you can have single couples, families. We represent everything that is beautiful and wonderful about Houston. And that's what we want to do here at America. Represent everything that's beautiful about content, the things that you guys want to hear about, the things you want to know, the people you want to see. That's what we fucking want to do. That's what we want to do. That's it.
SPEAKER_02:I'll say one last thing about Jimmy Kimmel, though. Go for it.
SPEAKER_04:I did watch the first night he was back, and it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_02:It it didn't matter what side of the fence you were on. He did, he was very elegant, eloquent, eloquent, and of what he said and how he said it and how he just to me brought everybody back together. It was actually beautiful. And I yes.
SPEAKER_03:That's why he had the job in the first place. He brings people together. He does. He was. I I refuse to believe all his fans represent just one side of America. Yep. Yep. I I refuse to believe that.
SPEAKER_02:I I agree with you.
SPEAKER_04:No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He wouldn't be able to stay, he wouldn't be able to be a successful stay-home. Watch out from Cohen.
SPEAKER_02:It's got to be a good one. Watch out from there. I tried to I tried to call him. I didn't have his number. I tried to email him.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and say, hey, you can come join us. We'll we'll give you a platform. You can do anything you want.
SPEAKER_03:Shit. If you want to tell those kind of jokes, just go back to the show.
SPEAKER_02:We'll give you a podcast. Don't get busy. Okay, I'll tell you the podcast. All right, I gotta ask you about Fashion Week. You're you're a big fashion guy.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. I don't know if I'm bigger than Jeff, though. Well, yeah, I mean, well, but obviously you've you you probably couldn't see the fashion week.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I'm pretty big. Yeah, yeah. Tom always sleeps on me. Yeah, I was watching it, yeah. Literally, I was watching it from one side of my eye. It's very interesting, though, with with uh this fashion week and a couple fast weeks before this, but this one in particular. Fashion, uh, you know, Fashion Week has been in New York for a long time. It's um it's a thing, it's part of the New York culture of New York Fashion Week. But now it's it's gotten, you know, I'm not saying this to be negative at all. I'm saying, but it's gotten so young and so diverse and so uh, like, you know, kids could just come down from the Bronx and just hang out. They just want to hang out. They're not nobody, most people aren't invited to the shows. You know, getting those invitations, they just want to hang out and be amongst each other. They're meeting each other, and now, excuse me, the way culture is now with social media and stuff, you don't need to be invited to the shows. The show is on the street. You know, the show, now the business of fashion is in those tents, but the show is on the street. It's all those kids meeting up and taking pictures of each other and exchanging information and yo, where you get that, and what you wearing, and I'm a content creator and I'm filming this, and I'm, you know, we're standing outside while you know Zendaya came out, and it's it's all it's all it's it's a it's a very different, like you like Bun said before, it's touching the people. You have to touch the people. Whereas fast week before was very elitist. It's like you had invites to the shows and to those parties, and if you don't, like you don't you had the cops push you like across the street. You couldn't even get near anything. It was very like we're like like uh Endeavor World Prada. Everybody wants to be us. But not everybody is you, and they don't need you to have that, they don't need you to have uh the the pass to get in anywhere. Matter of fact, it's hotter where they are than where you are. You are you you want to come out the party and go to them because they popping over there. Like it's it's just become this very different thing, and I'm and I'm really enjoying how how it's growing, you know. How it's how it's here, it's New York, it's Paris, is it wherever there's fashion shows? It's become this young thing.
SPEAKER_03:I actually attended my first visual fashion week. I hadn't been invited to a show into in New York, but um last year when for Pharrell's men's line um lent itself to more of a Western lifestyle and and couture, yeah, um, he reached out to Slim. With the cowboy screen. He called Slim, he said, hey, we're doing this Western style, you know, runway show, and he reached out to Toby. Obviously, because Toby's just fashionable in general and a great friend of Pharrell's. But he was like, Yeah, I want to bring you in because we're doing some some more Western wear type shit. Who else do you think would be cool to bring? He was like, Oh, you should probably bring Bun, because you know he's doing the rodeo and all that stuff now, so you should bring out Bun. So uh they flew us out. Queenie literally had to get off the plane, she wasn't feeling well, like before we took off. Turns out she had COVID, so she would have been in Paris, fucking isolated and all that. But and I hate, yes, and I hate that I couldn't share that experience with her.
SPEAKER_04:Quarantined, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It it felt almost like how can I explain it? If it felt like Complex Con in Paris almost, if that makes sense. I remember talking to Don, I said, Don, yo, uh Don, I mean Don C, uh Chicago Don C. And uh I was like, yo, this shit is crazy, man. Y'all got this like on lock. He was like, Bon, you don't understand. Like, they they couldn't stand us. They wouldn't let us in anywhere. They left us outside. Every show, no house would let us in, no fashion house would give us an invitation. They would not let us sit in the building for these shows for so long. You know what I'm saying? And then when Verge got in, everybody wanted to be a part of the new cool. So when they couldn't get Verge, they called me. If they couldn't call me, they called this one or that one. They wanted to try to find some level of our coolness to tap into the demographic and our culture. But Verge made them, showed them how they had to pay for it and give us this real freedom. Let us lead. You know what I'm saying? This whole thing. So now, yeah, so now Paris will now. He said it'll never be what it was before. He said it'll never be what it was before because we hold the keys now. Never we hold the keys now. Even if we don't, we're not in your room, they just want us in the vicinity. You don't have to go on the show, just walk our red carpet. You know what I'm saying? Let us take photos of you outside the building. And now that's kind of what it is. Like to just to what Jeff was stating, the coolest shit about these fashion shows sometimes ain't even inside.
SPEAKER_02:On the outside.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I'm saying? You know, it's if it's I like to look at it as I call it capture culture. Because sometimes people are like, yo, we don't even need to be a part of the month. We are a part of it just by being here. Like, I don't even have to go inside your shit. I'm popping because I think your shit is the shit. That's how I'm contributing to your fashion show. You ain't gotta give me an invite. I give you a good example. Legend already made, the kid on social media that's always got the Gucci's and the big hat, the Haitian kid. He's the Haitian dandy, right? He used to be a guy that just would stand out in front of shows. And because he looked so different and unique, they would they would ask him questions, they would take his picture. Then he started explaining, uh, explaining Caribbean dandyism, you know, from Haitian culture and all these different things. Now he gets invited to shows. You know what I'm saying? Now he gets drinks. Yes, absolutely. Like he was so broad outside, they was like, yo, bring some of that shit inside. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_04:Yep. Make us make us. He makes them look new by being there.
SPEAKER_03:That's outside that everyone's photographing and and taking pictures and asking questions. Should we know who this is? Should we have invited this guy in? You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah, track it. That's the that's the we're always in the medical. Yeah, man. Absolutely. Always. It takes me to the time. I've been to fashion week a few times.
SPEAKER_02:I've been to fashion week a few times. I got a quick story to tell you guys. I was in New York one time. Okay. I merged three brands all into one fashion show. It was a maple syrup company, a vodka company, and a big like hair and makeup company. And they did this big show, and I I had never been to Fashion Week before. And so I show up, my job was to make sure all the brands are happy and photograph everything. It is cool when you get into some of these places. I don't know what I was walking into, but I remember the entire thing was black and white. Everything was made of trash bags. So it was kind of this weird, funky thing. But by the end of the night, I had talked them into letting me pose as one of the as one of the models up in the front. And so they had these tall, six foot three, skinny white women, and then me standing there and dressed in all black. And I still have that photo to this day, and it was one of the just craziest nights, just running around, having no idea what's going on. But there was a vibe to it all, and it was exciting, and there was like a funness to it. But I mean, these designers are crazy. I mean, some of the stuff is just you can't even imagine what it could be. But then years later, it ends up becoming reality. So it yeah, it's it's kind of a cool process. For someone like me.
SPEAKER_03:I I think it is actually. I think I think you might want to add that in.
SPEAKER_02:I might share the photo with you. Maybe I'll put it up on this uh episode. I'll put it up on this episode. That's it. Put it up on Instagram, man. To refer back to that.
SPEAKER_03:I I think he really wants us to see how his maple uh outfit. I'm available.
SPEAKER_02:I am available.
SPEAKER_03:How his maple serves popping was popping back then.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. All right. Our last subject, because it's one that we all enjoy. Football. We are deep into football right now. I I I kind of am curious of how you're holding up.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, Houston. I'm I'm not I'm not doing good. I'm not doing good in real football. I'm not doing good in fantasy football. It's just all bad for me right now. First off, my home team, we're discombobulated. And, you know, many times we hear the word, and the word doesn't really fit the situation. But if you've seen the Houston Texans play these last three games, you can see it. We're not on the same page. First of all, we the experiment with Laramie Tunzel didn't necessarily work out in the way that they hoped it would, but I didn't think it was a firable offense. The biggest thing that we had going for us in our quarterback, which is our the least of our problems right now, was that from the weak side, you know, where Laramie Tunzel protected, he only got sacked.
SPEAKER_02:Now in Washington with me, by the way.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Yeah, exactly. Congratulations. But they didn't have those problems. The issue with Tunzel were was the penalties. He would get anywhere from six to ten offside penalties, you know what I'm saying? Um, a game, which at the very least gives them in uh in terms of yardage, gets them in the field goal position. But at worst, you give up a hundred yards of offense. That's a touchdown. You walk these people into the into the end zone. You know what I'm saying? And they felt that that was something that they couldn't overcome. Keep in mind Laramie Tunzel um is the highest, was the highest paid Texan. And they thought they would have been better off just letting him go. And he he was having issues with the team. They weren't getting agreeing on certain things. But now we're left with okay, yeah, it opens up the cap, but now you got to bring in four more. The offensive line is almost practically brand new. And you you match that with our our offensive coordinator who made our quarterback look so good. Now he's gone. We've got a new O-line and a new coordinator. Our number one RB is injured. He doesn't start the season off properly. Our new addition, um, Christian Kirk from the Jaguars, he's injured. He doesn't get started right. We get Nick Chubb as a starting running back who is coming off of a massive injury. They're just not gelling right now. That's the nicest way I can say it without going. I didn't realize I was gonna open up a whole can of worms here. I don't I don't want to go off on a rant. I'm trying to temper my my statements and my emotions right now. It's not looking good. Now, to be fair, it's week four. There's a shit ton of football left to play. You know what I'm saying? But this kind of start this kind of start for a fan is not the best thing we want to see. You know what I'm saying? I mean, when when cowboy fans are calling you as a Texan fan to laugh at you, it's not a good day. Not a good thing, especially after all they've been through. That's a big part of our diet down here, is that we get to live and feed off of the tears of cowboy fans. But it's a drought right now. It's a drought right now. They're actually playing better than we are, and I can't stand it. And it's it's by a minimal amount of effort that they are, but still, that that's enough to drive you crazy as a Texas fan. It really is. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I'm excited. I love football back. I mean, isn't it crazy that football and culture? We're all talking. You can talk to anybody about football.
SPEAKER_04:Is it who hurt? Absolutely. Jaden Daniels? Yeah. Is it Jaden Daniels?
SPEAKER_02:We're a little bit hurt right now, but we're gonna be alright. We're gonna be we're gonna be all right. We'll be all right.
SPEAKER_03:Let me ask you let me ask you a question, Tom. What do you feel about this Merritt experiment? How much how many weeks have you got before you uh you feel like I don't know about this? Just give it to Gibson. Because you guys are gonna have to. I think this week you guys are gonna feed Merritt. I think you're gonna feed him and feed him and feed him and see if he can go.
SPEAKER_02:I I agree with that. Yeah. This is it. We got to get through this week, then we get Jaden back, then everything will be okay again.
SPEAKER_03:I don't I don't think so. I don't think so. I think you're living in that space that we're one year ahead of you. So you were we were in that sophomore season where because we had a great rookie talent that they had they had no film and no tape on, right? They didn't necessarily know what his skill set was, how he was gonna play, uh, how they were gonna draw up the offense. So we came back to moving. We had a, yes. I think in terms of experience. I think in terms of experience, and let me know. All right. So you guys came in, you had a great rookie talent, right? First round draft pick, no difference there, right? No defense has any film, any tape on what you guys are doing. You're bringing up new schemes and everything. So your guy looked amazing his freshman year. Just like my guy looked amazing his freshman year. Your guy is proclaimed to be the new quarterback in the NFL. My quarterback was given that same title a year before you, but now in that sophomore year, we've got tape on you. We've got film on you. We're studying your tendencies. You're not a mystery to our defense or our coordinator anymore. So now we're meeting you right where you thought you could be slick. Somebody's there now. The little tricks you used to hide in those plays, we know where they're going now. You know what I'm saying? We're gonna adjust to that before you even get the HUD out of your mouth. So now you're going through in this season what our quarterback went through last season. You are no longer a mystery. We know everything that Jaden Daniels is. We have very competent defensive coordinators to scheme against that. And now Now you're not as beautiful a pony as you were the first time we got you out on the dirt. And the reason I can say that is because for us that properly his sophomore year, and now we're, you know, we adjusted some things, but now the coordinator's gone. So we're literally starting from scratch. We as a team, as an offense, are starting from scratch against defenses who have now had not one but two years to plan against our deficiencies.
SPEAKER_02:Now, I got a rebuttal to this, though. Okay. This is not exactly the same. Right? We had a guy who took us to the NFC championship game. We had a guy who hasn't really played this year yet. He's played two games, but you know, he was hurt last game. I don't know if that's a fair comparison yet.
SPEAKER_03:Look, you're now you're arguing between a B student and an A student, right? That's what you're doing. You're arguing, we're I'm you're arguing my quarterback is a B student and your quarterback is an A student. What I'm telling you is that the defenses you are playing are not the C students you played the first year. These are A plus students now. So you can look at the difference between the level of quarterback play that we're getting out of our respective quarterbacks, but what you can't argue is what the defenses are going to bring to your quarterback. Even with his, you know, whatever six or seven points of level of better play that you can get out of him, you're still gonna run up against those defenses that know you much better than they did last year. So whether you're A-sooting or B student, you're still gonna hit that same wall.
SPEAKER_02:So how do you explain then the ones who do break through? Like the quarterbacks that come in, right? They they they start out hot. Most of them, you're right, have a little bit of a sophomore lump. How do they come back though and stay on top? Like the Tom Brady's the same thing.
SPEAKER_03:This is where organizational, this is where organizational chemistry comes in. This is where your defensive coordinator has to be honest and tell you what your quarterback tendencies are. Because he's gonna see that in practice, right? He's gonna see that in scrimmages. And he's gonna you've got to listen to those guys. You've got to have better scouts on your team than your opposition has on their team. You have to be you have to be very self-aware about what your team can and can do, about what your quarterback's strengths are and aren't, and you have to scheme to that. We can't properly do that because we're going from one coordinator into another. So the things that may have worked last year will probably be thrown out just because it's not just the way he, it's just not the way he coaches. You know what I'm saying? Now we do have the same coordinator back. We got a new mix of players. Like we did in our second year. So we kind of pushed through. We made it back to the postseason, right? We made it back to the postseason, but we still hit that same wall. And now, because of we've got, like I said, we're starting from scratch practically as an offense. We're starting from scratch. We'll be lucky if we get as far as we did last year. Look at the start. We're still trying to get the get our feet under us as an offense. You know what I'm saying? You guys still have consistency in coaching. That's the one thing you have going for you. That's a good thing. You still have consistency in coaching.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you don't have a new O-line either.
SPEAKER_04:Tommy, you're gonna play.
SPEAKER_02:All the way at the end of the year. Two matchups within the last four weeks of the season.
SPEAKER_03:Y'all play them twice again? Darren Home.
SPEAKER_02:Darren Home, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I feel bad about it.
SPEAKER_02:All right, let me ask you about this though. Bigger than our own teams. Okay. This week, I believe, we're back to another global game, a game outside the U.S., starts early. What do you guys think about NFL football? I mean, if you think about it, it's it's it's no different than music or anything else. They're expanding into other regions. Is that a good thing for the for us as football fans? Is it a good thing for the spread of football? Is it is it watering it down a little bit because now we're s we're getting even more spread out?
SPEAKER_04:I get what they're doing, but the thing is football is such a the rules and stuff I'm talking about now are such a American cultural thing. I think I think I think people from overseas go go to kind of watch the spectacle of it. But there's this a cultural thing that you we grew up as four, five year old, five, six-year-old playing, you know, pee-wee ball all the way up, but we understand the rules and uh so many of the nuances of the game, and I'm not sure that that I I think that's gonna take a quite a while for somebody in Germany or somebody in Mexico to really figure out. I get they try to make the goal global expansion, but I think it's almost similar to like how soccer was been doing the same thing. But there's countries in South Yeah, there's countries in Europe and South America and Africa and other places where like it's such a cultural thing, and they play from the time they're babies, and so we were watching it. We it's just not we're not look we're not looking at the same game as they are because they there's so many things that they that they see and understand that we don't understand. Same way another.
SPEAKER_03:Same way with us watching football to them. I'll give you a perfect thing. I give I'll give you a perfect example. Are you guys familiar with the Savannah Bananas?
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Oh, yeah, those guys are playing. I call them the Harlem Globe Trop that are baseball.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. We don't know what the dances are, we don't know what the means, we don't know what the backflips, all this kind of stuff. We don't know what it means, but we're we're it's we we want to eat the popcorn and check out the show, right?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh now I understood when an NFL owner who owned a stadium in London wanted to bring football to London. I understood the idea of that. Right? I have this venue, we don't use it that time of year. I own a fucking team. If I can convince the NFL to send another team, I'll fly my guys, no problem. If I can convince another owner to come and play everyone and sell it. No, no, I don't I don't think that's how it started, but I think that's the modernization of the effort kind of lent itself to because of Khan. Yeah. Khan was like, look, we can play two games a year at my stadium. I'll give you my stadium to play in because he owns a soccer team in the stadium over there, right? I also, as a fan, don't mind, for example, they're playing in Brazil this this week. The game this week is being held in Brazil.
SPEAKER_02:I think so. I'm not 100% sure, but it starts at like 9 a.m. or whatever it is, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Look, that just means I get more football. They're literally squeezing another day of football, another game, three hours of advertising, right? I know that's not lost on the NFL, right? And now, like I just talked to my guy yesterday. He was like, yo, I get to wake up, go to church, get back home, get ready. Football starts at 9 o'clock, then 12, then 3, then 7. Like, I got a lot of great football I can watch. You know what I'm saying? And I think I think that people aren't don't really care about it. Most Americans will never go over to that game. Never give it a game. Right? They're not really bringing. I think Kansas City might have been the biggest team they brought overseas, like in terms of fandom and how they're looked at in the in the NFL.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, so I could see it. But yeah, I think Jeff, I think Jeff hit it on the nose. It's the spectacle of it, right? We'll go somewhere and watch some shit as long as we can drink a beer or or laugh or have, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. We'll go. What kind of food they got in that motherfucker? All right, I'm with it. What do I got? What do I got to lose? You know, and you talk, you spoke, you spoke to the leagues, right? You spoke to the leagues. We have NFL, we have XFL, we have semi-pro, we have professional flag football. We have a lot of different programs and football for various fans. So does fucking wrestling, right? Like, this is all entertainment. Different people are just being smarter about how to find their way into these billions and billions of dollars that the NFL not only generates but brings into different companies, brings into venues, brings into these cities, right? What does the country have to lose if the NFL is going to bring$500 million to one of their cities because of this NFL type of activation, the corporate sponsors, who gets to be a part of it, all of that type of shit. You know? I'm all for it. As long as I get to see more football, I'm all for it. Just don't bring me halfway across the goddamn world to lose. That's all I'm saying. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:That's the sad part. If you're a fan and you travel all the way over there and you lose that game, that is the longest flight home.
SPEAKER_03:That's the longest flight home.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you gotta go back.
SPEAKER_03:But to be fair, we went to Mexico like two years ago. Um, the Texans went to Mexico two years ago. That was a pretty Did you go to the game? I did not go to the game.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03:I couldn't convince Queenie to go to the game, so I couldn't go to the game. Yeah, I got you. Mexico City's a beautiful place. Mexico City is a beautiful place. I heard it's incredible. Really, really. Mexico City is dope. Like Mexico City is in the way that Mexico City is where you should go. Not saying that the Mexico they project to us doesn't exist. You know what I'm saying? In the same way that the Chicago they project to us doesn't exist. Yes, it does. But that doesn't mean you can't go to the United Center and catch a good game. That means you that doesn't mean you can't go catch the bears.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I'm saying? Or anything like that.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I'm saying? Everywhere you just know how to navigate. You can go anywhere in this world.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. Everywhere is yeah, it's gonna be pockets of everything because it's a huge city, but like, so you don't go over there and like get off the plane and the cartels are shooting. Yeah, exactly. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_05:That's what I picture.
SPEAKER_04:Nah, nah.
SPEAKER_03:It's some fly hurts, some fly shit. It really is, bro. Some of the best food I have a and the price, the price on the food. Now, the shopping, I've been around the world. I've shopped around the world. Louis costs what Louis costs, right? Like, there's no difference in that shit. But, like, steak, it doesn't necessarily cost what it costs in Mexico City. Lobster doesn't cost what it necessarily costs. Oysters, all is they've got some of the best food, some of the greatest chefs in the world. And you can sit there and eat that shit for you. You have a two, two and a half hour dinner and barely crack a hundred USD. Barely crack a hundred USD per person. It's beautiful. The people are very kind. You know what I'm saying? The street food is bananas.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I heard the street food is amazing. I was shooting a promo.
SPEAKER_03:I was shooting a promo for Shell during F1. Shell has a had a promotion where everywhere F1 did, everywhere F1 had a race, they did a they did an amazing race style show. So basically, a friend of mine that I met from Gumball called me and was like, hey, they're doing F1 in Mexico City. They want to do someone from the Americas to do the race. Would you be open to it? So basically it's like I pop up in Mexico City, I'm I ask somebody if they can ride me around, and then that person takes me here, I get a clue, I go here. Like I did lucha libre, I did, you know, the museums, I did history, I did a bunch of different type shit. And they paid me like 15 grand. And they're like, if you know someone, they were like, you know somebody in Mexico. I was like, I called the homie, but the homie was in Monterey, and there was war. There was cartel war between Monterey and Mexico City. So he couldn't get there. So I didn't get to I had a homie that was literally traveling through Mexico City. Like on the way somewhere else.
SPEAKER_06:And he just had to grab him.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like, are you home, bro? I gotta go to Mexico City. He's like, nah, but I'm actually like, I'm leaving uh, I forgot where he and his dad were, but he was flying through. So he's like, yeah, I'll I'll come and fuck with you. And they gave him a rental car, they paid him a couple grand, and he just drove me around and we saw all the sights. We ate all Queenie got sick, so Queenie spent three days in the hotel room in the W, which was a nice room, but then on the last day, she was like, Oh, I think I can go out. And I had a friend connect me with somebody, and we went to one of the best dinners of our life for for next to nothing. Next to nothing.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:So if they ever go back to Mexico City, I'm gone because I know where to go now.
SPEAKER_02:You know where to go. We gotta we gotta go to we gotta do Merrick, Mexico City. Merrick, Mexico City. And the one thing I heard you say about just sports is entertainment, and now I'm starting to think about this. Here's my challenge to you, Bon. I think we should get a professional wrestler on this show. Who do we know? I know a couple. I know a couple. I don't want to say now you said wrestling a couple minutes ago, and I started thinking.
SPEAKER_03:I don't want to say now because I don't want to spoil the guest.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But I know exactly who we can have on here.
SPEAKER_04:Make some calls?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, absolutely. Former world champion. Oh, I want to go off. Absolutely. I got a great guest.
SPEAKER_04:That'll be amazing.
SPEAKER_03:Got a great guest. And I've done their podcast already.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, we're in there.
SPEAKER_02:So drop the mic right now.
SPEAKER_03:So it is. So I got you, Tom. See, that's the beauty of these beautiful minds coming together. That's what we can offer here. Yep. One guy sparks an inspiration, another guy can find it, can meet it. You know what I'm saying? Make it happen. I love it. Like it.
SPEAKER_02:And we talked about we started with food, we ended with food, now I'm hungry again.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think it's time for eating eating. Here we go. I think it's time for me to go eat right now, to be honest.
SPEAKER_02:It's time to wrap it up. Hey, follow on Glossy. Drop us a rating. Share it with someone hungry for real talk that actually feeds the mind. Come hungry, leave sharper. This is Unglossy. Until next time, I'm Tom Frank. I'm Jeffrey Sledge.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm Bun B. We'll see you guys next week.
SPEAKER_02:Unglossy. It's produced and distributed by Merrick Studios.
