Vic Mensa Is the Energy We Needed

Even at your lowest of lows, you know what I mean? In a jail cell, bologna sandwich, dirty drawers. They done took the strings out your hoodie and your shoelaces is gone. Even in that moment, you got breath in your lungs, man. Message. Message! What is up, neighbors? We've got Vic Mensa pulling up to the house today. He is a Grammy-nominated rapper, actor, and entrepreneur. And he's using his platform to speak on things that most people wouldn't even touch. And now, he's creating on his own terms, having conversations that really dig into things that matter. And I bet he's the kind of house guest that calls it like he sees it. And I don't know, maybe even teaches something new. Let's get it. It's so good to have you at the house, man. Oh, thank you so much for having me, man. It's so good to have you at the house. You ain't far from me, neither. This was like 10 minutes. See what I'm saying? Down the street. Down the street. You know, I just saw Dale at the gym. You know what else I saw at the gym? This was crazy. So I'm on the Stairmaster. And. I'm looking at each TV. Fox News. Fox News. Fox News. So it's about six TVs at Fox. At our gym? Yeah, nigga, I'm like, damn, wait, what's going on? You know what I'm saying? But I got past it, you know what I mean? Because I'm on the Stairmaster. I'm focused on what I'm doing. I find myself doing my kettlebell swings. I'm looking in the mirror in front of me. It's a dude who's got a Trump 2028 hat on. And I'm like, 2028? What does that even mean? What does that mean? Like, what are you trying to say with that? You know what I mean? And then the shirt. The shirt says liberal. It says liberal tears, you know, in a Starbucks logo. It was actually kind of hard. You're in. The design was kind of hard. I personally felt racially attacked. But my artist brain was kind of like. Cut that off. You kind of did that, whoever made that idea. I'm looking. Obviously, his presence is an egregious affront on my humanity, is how I feel. Of course. But maybe even more concerningly, it's 5 a.m. I work at a 5 a.m. We got Fox News on at 5 a.m.? That's a lot. That's a lot. And it's only eight people in the gym. Oh, my God. And five of them is his best goddamn friend. He dapping the nigga up when I notice him. He's looking you in the eye while they dap up. He's dapping the nigga up when I notice him. Then it's another dude who walks up the stairs, and he like, my man, you know? It's like, he everybody's best. Where am I? He everybody's best friend. And I'm dead confused, because I'm like, yo, how did I end up in this predicament? I need backup. I'm like, man, I'm going to bust this nigga here with a kettlebell. I'm like, this is. This is not 5 a.m. thoughts. This is not the way I like to feel at 5 a.m. It's like, you know, judging his physical prowess. You're like, couldn't he handle it? He's out of shape, for sure. But I'm like, he kind of big, though. You know, he's only doing biceps, so. That gym, I will tell you, is kind of a nutty place. I didn't know. It's a nutty place. I just love the steam room. Yeah, I don't frequent. Can I tell you about the steam room? Well, could I tell you about the steam room? Steam room changed my life. Okay, you have to say more words, Vic. Okay, so I do this thing. It's called Wim Hof breathing. It's a breathing exercise. You got to join. 30 breaths, you already know. I do the breathing exercise in the steam room, and it's like no negativity can survive in my body through that. Because your body is struggling to just stay upright. Yeah, so now I'm weighing how important is my physiological transcendent experience. Because you can't go to 5 a.m. anymore. I could go wherever the fuck I want to go, but I'm just saying it could get weird. Uh-oh, he's here. He's here. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Could you imagine? Okay, so I know you are Ghanaian. Yeah. Your father is Ghanaian, right? Yeah. And so we made a little sobelo. Oh, my God. You got the sobelo? You know, we made a little sobelo. Y'all are doing it with that shit. It's our take on sobelo. I got to get on y'all level. This shit is. Y'all got the sobelo. But I'm going to tell you, though, it's very similar to, like, sorrel that you find in the Caribbean. Yeah, sobelo is sorrel. This one got a little kick to it. I put the chilies in there. The sobelo has a little couple different. But that's the thing about African people across this globe, you know, which is why I'm always pushing back against diaspora wars and otherizing amongst black people is that you go to Ghana. We in this together. You get the same drink that they have in Trinidad and Tobago. You go to Nigeria, you find the same stew. Like, the way they do the okra stew is so similar to Louisiana. It's like, ain't no way. Right. Come on now. Bam. You went straight for the lip. You skipped the straw. Tell me what's wrong with the straw. Ain't nothing wrong with the straw. I mean, I don't know that I necessarily defer to straws. I feel a little bit like I'm at the county fair. So we got a little get-to-know-you situation going on, all right? So you might agree, you might disagree, you might be somewhere in the middle. But either way, you're going to have to. I got to do it with the microphone. Speak on it. Like Rachel Dolezal. Let me see. Like who? Rachel Dolezal. Oh, no, not like Rachel Dolezal. Let me see. Let me see. Okay, as the president of the NAACP. As the rightest president in NAACP history. I'm ready for the game. So we're going to speak on it. All right. You ready? Yeah. Okay, guess first. You can't have popularity and privacy. So, like, you know, you're beloved. Right. Folks everywhere screaming your name. Right. But then you also want to be. You know, private. You go out. Don't want nobody bothering you. Can you have both? Oh, no, I don't think you can have both. You don't? Of course you could engineer privacy for yourself. Correct. And you could go live in a remote corner of Hawaii. I mean, there's places in L.A. You could go, like, deep into Malibu. Yeah. I do think about this one a lot, though, because I'll run into people who will tell me, like, they met me at a different time. And oftentimes it'd be, like, I saw you on a plane. I wanted to say what up. And, like, you put your hoodie on real low. And you just, like, do not talk to me. And, you know, my mental health was often quite frothed. Probably doing everybody a favor by being, like, not right now. Oh, you know, I'm banned from multiple airlines. What? I would like to get unbanned from American Airlines, though. You maybe keep the American. Get Delta back. No, no, no. That's the only one I'm currently banned from. So I'd like to get unbanned from American Airlines. You're not even going to fly. You're not even going to fly on American Airlines. But I'm just saying, I want to get unbanned. Because some places, American Airlines only goes out there. Ah, yes. The only one that goes. You might have to find some other places to go to. Because American Airlines is. No, unban me. American Airlines, please unban me. I have learned my lesson. You might ban American Airlines. When was the last time you rode American Airlines? It's different. I'm banned, nigga. I can't ride. Fuck what he talking about. I've grown a lot. That whole thing that happened. The employee, he was wiling. He wasn't right. But I wasn't right either. Do you think both of you got banned? No. I don't want to take too much time. But I'll tell you why the fuck I'm banned from American Airlines. I have to know. So the flight was five hours late. Just imagine an entire lobby full of disgruntled customers. Sounds like American Airlines. Everyone's pissed. We're in line finally to get on the plane. I get up there. And, you know, I think maybe it wasn't my group yet or something. But he was just, he was barking at everybody. You know, and he's just kind of like, it's not your time yet. Oh, that gate agent will give it to you. I was just like, okay, okay, okay. I mean, we the ones been waiting for five hours. But like, okay, I didn't say nothing to him. I just kept it moving. Next, this nice white woman came. And she wanted to get on the plane too. And he was like, all in her face. And he was like, and you can go to the back. He was on that with her, yelling at her, pointing at her face. And so at this point, I'm like, yo. Like, we the ones waiting five hours. Like, why you on that with us? And he like, and you can go to the back of the line too. Oh, no. No, no, no. And so I said, you fat fuck. I said you did. And I fucking took my ticket. And I scanned myself in. And I got on the fucking plane. Shortly afterwards, the FBI also got on the plane. And they took me off the plane. You know? But people knew. There was a whole crowd of people that saw that I was not necessarily in the right. But I had some righteous intentions. So they were like, they were actually like, yo. We know dude was wild. And, you know, we're going to, like, just let everybody else board. And then we'll put you on the plane. I'm guessing that's not how it went. That's not how it went. So when that didn't happen, then I kind of went scorched earth. And I took, like, distinctions. And I, like, flipped a bunch of shit. And, you know, stormed away. And then I found myself with more FBI agents. So, Medina. The media once said, you might have to act a fool to get results. I got bad results. But how that sentence ends is, the result may not always be the one you're looking for. It ain't. It ain't. Damn! But the woman, she was a corporate at Shure Microphones. And here's how I know that I wasn't 100% bogus. Because she reached out. And she was like, yo, thank you. I bet. Thank you for standing up for me. Listen, there's been a lot of, you know, CEOs. You know, a lot of executives. That's what I'm saying. They probably won't even remember. What's up with this lifetime of shit? I mean, what is a ban? It's when you can't use this. Okay, here we go. The internet is home to outrage over honesty. Yes. I'm going to speak on that. That's an absolutely. People are outraged on social media about things they don't actually give a fuck about. And meanwhile, haven't reacted or responded to any of the things that you would think people should do. Be modestly aware of. I'm just learning about black Twitter. My girl. My girl been telling me about black Twitter. for a long time. I've never been a big Twitter user. It's now threads. It's now threads, but Black Twitter is like the incubator for so many cultural movements, and it's the place where a lot of things come from. I mean, a lot of things are grown. And so she's always been telling me, you better just pray it's not your day. You know? She was like, Black Twitter chooses one person a day pretty much to kind of barbecue, to roast, to skewer. And so I didn't really know about that, but, you know, recently threads, I've seen it that I'm like, oh, wow, like you wasn't lying. Like it is kind of almost like one person a day. If you on there multiple days and they don't ever come back around to the love. They didn't ever go to nobody else, bruh. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. So you've heard me talk about BetterHelp for a while now, but we haven't really talked about how much people really love this service. And you don't have to take my word for it. You can check it out for yourself at betterhelp.com slash reviews to see the customer reviews in real time. They're updated every day with hundreds of people saying how much they love BetterHelp and how helpful it's been to them. More than 6 million people around the world have used BetterHelp and the consistent feedback from real users makes it easy to see why so many people continue to choose the platform. Their therapists have at least three years and a thousand hours of hands-on experience. And they also hold all the required education, training and certifications across a range of mental health specialties. So see the reviews, see what stands out. And see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com slash houseguest. That's betterhelp.com slash houseguest. This one is tough. You can't separate the art from the artist. Ooh. Y'all picking and choosing, though. I'm gonna be real. We are separating the art from the artist all day long. We're picking and choosing. Yeah, when it's the most convenient. Yeah, if the music means that much to us, then we're 100%. 100% separating the art from the artist. Yes, I think publicly, how people comment, how people engage with content, that kind of thing, they're willing to separate. But I think ultimately, people will listen to whatever they want to listen to. Regardless of what the verdict of a person is. My mind's telling me no. No, right? In the cut, listen to that shit, boy. But my body. For a lot of people, I think it's, you know, it's tough to decide. And then you get to artists, like Michael Jackson. I don't even want to go into the Michael Jackson thing, but that's why I say we picking and choosing. Because it's like, we all separating that. At times, I try to like, not support things that I just like, firmly ideologically disagree with. If you only watched things by artists who had no controversy, or had no wrongdoing, what would we be able to see? It's not humanity either, though. And that's the thing about, where we are today in culture, is the idea that there is a perfect person. It just so happens that as people who are in the public, those that make the art that we consume, we're much more intimately familiar with their lives. But ultimately, there is no perfect person. And there's levels to the shit, of course. Absolutely. And there's harm done. And there's. There is also. There needs to be accounted for. Like, legality and illegality. Yeah. All that shit is real. But this whole idea. That I think really exists primarily within, like, the left of the spectrum. I don't even call it the left, because I don't really think liberalism is being left. It's really, like, centrism to me. I agree. But amongst the liberal community and otherwise, is, like, this idea of permanent discard of human beings. We already know them over there. They like, man, we don't give a fuck what these niggas do. They really could shoot a motherfucker in the middle. Like, because we just don't give a fuck. We hate all y'all niggas. And don't have to. Nobody's getting canceled over here. You know, so then the liberal community feels like people are to be discarded and thrown away. And we all fall into it. I fall into it, for sure. All of us. I've fallen so much into that so many times, to be like, this person did that. You know, there was so. Fucking egregious. Yeah. And ultimately, you know, it's hypocritical because I got so many things that I've done wrong. And I try to stand on the fact that, like, the grace that I ask for myself, I'm working on extending it. That, though. If I'm trying to grow, you know what I mean? And if I'm showing growth, you know what I mean? Demonstrated success. My homegirl, she said something to me. She was like, don't freeze me in time. Don't freeze me in time at the time of when I die. I did said wrong thing that allowed me to be a human being. Right, right, right, right. And now if I keep doing the same goddamn thing, you know what I mean? Like, but don't freeze me in time. Don't freeze people in time. Celebrities have a responsibility to speak out. I'm going to say no. Nah. Nah. I don't agree with that. It's a lot of celebrities that are not smart people. Yeah, if you don't know shit about shit, don't say shit. Please don't say shit. If you don't have the information, I don't think you have the responsibility to speak on some shit. I think. I think more people should take the responsibility of learning about some shit. Yeah. But I don't think it's the responsibility of celebrities to speak on things. I think it's interesting sometimes when you get to, like, the Oscars, for example, and the speeches at the Oscars all start to signal what their perspective is and how more people should be signaling the same. I think that's what gets people like, okay, why are you even. Just take the award and sit down. It seems like the Oscars speeches, they be kind of tame, though, don't they? They be very muted and, like. I don't respect a lot of that shit because I know them niggas know better. There's a different level of literacy in different facets of culture. Right. Just generally. And I know that they know damn better, but they are rightfully so afraid of the consequences. Also, I don't think celebrities are not exceptional people in every regard. Like, now that being a celebrity itself is a full-time profession, that doesn't necessarily have to do with, like, having talents or, you know. The democratization of attention doesn't necessarily mean that those who receive that attention are exceptional in any way. That you need to hear their perspective. It's hard to be informed in today's world, too, man. It'll drive you crazy. It would drive you crazy, undoubtedly. It would drive you crazy. Like, paying attention to that shit will drive you batshit crazy. Yes. And also, the amount of misinformation. That's out there. And disinformation. I'd be thinking, I know. I'm like, I know. My girl brought me some shit where it was like, Pooh Shiesty holds Gucci Mane at gunpoint. And it was AI, but I couldn't tell. So I'm looking, and I'm like. And she's like, you're so dumb. You can't tell this is. She's like, you can't tell this is AI? And then, the nigga really hailed him at gunpoint. A week later. What do I do with this information? Like, what's real? What's fake? I can't tell the AI video is fake, and then the nigga really do it in real life. This is fun, man. See? This game. Not every mistake needs a public apology. Agreed. Agreed. I think the apology matches the offense. What about private apologies? I think. If your mistakes are interpersonal. Yeah, I think if it happened in private, it's the apology matches the offense. The apology matches that. Yeah. If it happened in public, the apology matches that, I think. If we're at work, and you pop off at me in front of everybody, and then you try to shoot me an email later and be like, yo, I know that was a little crazy. No, no, hell no, hell no, hell no, no. You want me to come into the common room at lunch? Yep, I want everybody to come back into lunch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or next meeting, you're like, you know what? I said some really foul shit to Scott the last time we were in this room. Yes, you did. Okay, I like that. That matched the intensity. So below hitting right, ain't it? So good. Yeah. Okay, here we go. Being secretly recorded is only a problem if you're behaving badly. Hell no, but especially, because these little meta glasses, this shit here. This shit is outrageous. The meta glasses are single-handedly going to be one of the downfalls of society. Oh, man, it's outrageous. I got a friend, one of my best friends, he has a whole shtick that he does with the meta glasses. He goes around on the elevator asking white people, like, do you live here? I've actually seen that. He'll be in Foot Locker, and he'll be like, yo, I just wanted to make sure that, like, you're not loitering, because are you buying something? And the white people are out of their minds about this shit. So he's doing that. He was, like, touching their hair. He's like, can I touch your hair? It's so stringy. I've seen this video. It's really funny. It's really, really, really funny. And he's a pure troll. Like, he's not at all a hateful guy. Like, it's usually white people with him, low-key, while he's doing it. But I say all that to say that, yeah, the meta glasses thing, recording people without their knowledge. And the little tally light, you're supposed to have the little light where it's a signal to someone that you're recording, but now you can turn that off. No, it's wild. No, it's crazy. It's tough. It's crazy. Imitation is flattering, even when credit is missing. Oh. You got to credit people. for their shit, man. You gotta credit people for their shit. And there's so much inspiration going around. Obviously, we can't all cite sources with everything we do. Sure. You know, but you know, it's lines that you ain't gotta cross. It's times when you could just be like, yo, shout out to so-and-so. I fuck with what they did, and that was my inspiration for this. We in a weird place because, goddammit, niggas make whole lives out of just repurposing shit other niggas did recently. Or are still doing. That's what I'm saying, are doing right now. Yeah. Niggas got pages with millions of followers making money off of social media just reposting shit that somebody else just did. Yes. Now, my design style, my art style is highly sampling. I'm always ripping shit off, but I also feel like you should be trying to rip shit off from different eras. Okay. Don't do the shit I just released last week. And don't quote me on that because I might have sampled somebody's shit that just came out. I ain't gonna lie. I shouldn't even be talking about this, actually. Okay, so I think you should be thanking people or attributing people in their work. It should be easy for you to say, I was inspired by this, and here I am. It takes nothing but what's stranger is to be very clearly inspired by something very specific and put it off as it's your own, it was your own idea. No, in the comment section, go say what it is. Like, recently, it was a, like, Kith did a thing, an ad, where they did something very similar to shit I do, you know what I mean, with fruit trees and all this shit, and all in the comment section, they was like, yo, y'all could've just hired a nigga or something or credit him or something like that. I really don't know. They don't even blame individuals for the realities of the systems we live in, though. Straight up. I try not to, because it's like, yo, we live in a time when all attention is incentivized so heavily that it makes sense for a lot of people to create entire internet businesses off of just regurgitating other people's shit. Absolutely. As many times as you hear platforms say, we are no longer going to prioritize profiles that simply just repost. You know how many times they get me with the Instagram ads of like some crafty new product and I go buy the shit for 80 bucks and then I realize halfway through or once I already press purchase that it's cost 20 bucks on Amazon and a nigga just had the idea to resell that shit with a cooler advertisement? With a cooler advertisement. Now, you know, I don't be fucking with these politicians and shit. You know, I just don't fuck with them. Most of them spineless, lily-livered amphibians. They just hop from position to position depending on. It was the lily-livered they got. Yeah, because frogs jump on lilies. That's how I got there. No, I'm with you. But the real problem is that we have a political system in which you can purchase everything. Everything. So if you can just send a lobbyist to influence the policy Why wouldn't you? Coca-Cola relies on to make profit then, why not? Why not? I mean, that's why I like, I don't know so much about China's political system but I do know that when you try to purchase political power, they kill you. Huh. They put you in jail forever. I mean, you can amass extreme wealth. People think China is just like nobody's wealthy. It's more like a market socialism where you can amass tremendous wealth. But if you think you just finna buy the presidency, i.e. Elon Musk, it's lights out, my nigga. Yeah. Like, it's donezo. And that's what I'm saying. This society never, ever going to work as long as it's that easy. You can just purchase all political power. As long as lobbying in government and big business corporate packs have that much influence and ability to rap. Because human beings are human beings. It's like, you might have one exceptional fucking guy that's like, oh yeah, I'm too moral to take the fucking hundred million. But that's not the nature of man. Maybe you aren't, but somebody in your office That's what I'm saying. They're people. At the end of the day, they're people. He wouldn't do he wouldn't do how much? Right. I take that shit. I'm going to send an email. You be all right. In a poison dad system, everybody's not going to be exceptional. If you're going viral for the wrong reason, it's better to join the joke than fight it. Oof. Joining that joke. That joke is tough. It's tough. I don't know. I might say it's better to let it alone. Yeah. But fighting it sometimes ain't no No, don't fight it. You really don't. I don't think you supposed to say shit. I think about my good friend, the good brother, Kev on stage. Kevin is on stage right now, man. I mean, and probably on staging. On stage, Kevin. I love Kevin on stage. Kevin on stage is so fire, bro. The day you become a verb. He knew what he was doing. Yeah, but I don't know if he knew. Was that on his podcast or something? It was on his podcast. I mean, it's people who are like, now they're writing seven page letters. Oh, they're making it into dissertations. And this is why he going to hell. Using ChatGPT to do it. What? Yeah, you can do dashes. Because niggas can't write fucking a paragraph. Have you seen that social media profile that's just people out reading? He's got an index card and he's like, read this. Have you seen it? No. It's like. Then people really can't read? It's like the perpendicular assignment was too close to the circumference of the moon. And you got people who are like. Oh, no. The paralysis was. The percolator. Yeah. It is a very scary time. First of all, they don't want niggas to be able to read so they can keep robbing us. That's exactly it. That's why they push that anti-intellectual shit. They're like, yo, a president, yeah, he's a guy you can drink a beer with. Bitch, I don't give a fuck if my president can drink a beer with me. That's not my. I know he can drink a beer. That's not my barometer is can my president be an alcoholic. Right. The more likely you are to drink a beer with me is probably the less likely I think you are. I want you to be my president. to have the organizational. That's like their measure of like, oh, he's the everyman. He's the everyman. Why the fuck should the president be the everyman? He should be able to goddamn. That's one thing about Obama. I got my own feelings, but the nigga could just drop that goddamn three and walk off with his entourage. Every nigga can't do that. You should be able to do that to be the president. Exactly. Drinking a beer with me is not a fucking high bar. It's not it. But, you know, I digress, but goddamn it. Oh, no, I feel like that was right on target as far as I'm concerned. Kev on stage. What I love about Kev on stage is that Kev on stage shows what it can be to be a religious person, a God-fearing man. Yeah. that is not so bound by the dogmas of Christianity. Like, as a non-Christian and just a person who is anti-religious for a lot of my life. Yep. I look at so many religious people, see so many contradictions that it doesn't seem like they hold space for. Right. But what I love about Kev on stage is that he'll be so forthright and so. Honest. so honest about the contradictions of humanity and be like, yo, I'm a person. And I also know that I'm not a Christian. I'm not alone in this. Yeah, I believe in this religion. Let's not pretend like your public stance on this is your actual thought on this. Niggas, it's Kev and Nate on stage. Let's be real. If niggas is going to hell for Kev and Nate shit, heaven gonna be sparse. Nobody's fucking making it. No one's gonna be there. He posted something online that said, something to the effect, I'm paraphrasing, something to the effect of, one day I will talk about the toll on your mental health. It is to be a trending topic on social media. I would like to talk to him about that. What would you say? Man, it takes a tremendous toll on your mental health. I think the best thing one can do is to, you know, be rooted in faith and to stay in the moment, not to read it. I mean, don't read it. No, don't read it. You gotta know who you are. My God, turn the notifications off. Be connected to God. Trust and believe that God sees you. I mean, whatever you believe, the divine presence, sees you and the little, and the ways you treat people and the ways that you truly are. Right. Because if you adopt what the internet says about you as your own view of self, you're doomed. It's a wrap. You're up out of here, man. And it's also gonna change day to day, hour by hour. Not at all possible. You can't do that. Hey, niggas, Kevin ain't on stage, but you know what I'm saying? Niggas, Kevin ain't on stage. Kevin ain't shit, boy. I actually don't fuck with masturbation. I'm sorry, what? For me. For me. Got it. I don't give a fuck if anybody else is Kevin ain't shit. Okay, good. But like, I stopped Kevin my shit because year in and year out, I would see that as I dropped so many vices, I stopped drinking five years ago. And drugs, same time. Stopped smoking cigarettes. Yeah. Changed the way I eat, changed my diet. Year in and year out, I would still be Kevin my shit, and I would be like, why is it not coming together for me? you know? - Interesting. - And I really felt like, Sex has always been intertwined with a lot of shame for me and just like a lot of secrecy and guilt and all that shit. So in those moments when I'd be Kevin, my own stage, I would be like shameful, you know, I would feel hella ashamed. I'd be like, what am I doing? Like, I'm not elevating myself as I'm doing this. And I feel bad about me. Interesting. Especially with porn. Porn is corrosive. So many of those girls are like sex slaves. So porn to begin with is an incredibly dark. It's already, we're in a dark place. It's a super dark place. But if you don't use porn, you've got a very vivid memory. Even that, I would feel like, I would feel like I'm objectifying. And I'm not saying any of this from like a fucking heavenly place. I've kev'd my own stage more times than one can count. Right. What I'm just talking about in more recently in my life, actually, my buddy who I was talking about. He had this weird fucking thing in his like, that note, that little bubble on Instagram. Yeah. And it was like, day 67, no beat me. You know, he's just a fucking nut. But he like fucking inspired me. And so I started. Oh, word. And I was like, I was like, you're my accountability partner. So I quit. And I was like, I'm on a week. I'm on two weeks. Dope. You know, I'm on three weeks. The thing that you were noticing was away from you. Did you notice that it was becoming, it was coming closer to you? I think. I think that when I stopped kev'ing my own stage, that blessings started to come to me differently. My vessel was like more clear. You exit that shame. It's the shame thing. You exit that. So maybe if you feel real good about kev'ing your shit, then kev on. Kev on. If not, kev less. I study with Sai Guru. And Sai Guru, amazing yogi. And so the science of karma is not just what we believe it to be of like cyclical give and take. Right. You know, but karma is something you accumulate throughout lifetimes. And within this lifetime, the feeling of fear is an incredible karma accumulator. You're loading yourself with karma. Interesting. So staying somewhere where you're always afraid, the feeling of shame, just feeling bad about oneself. A lot of Eastern philosophy, they believe that the divine is with you. It's within you. So like, of course, you're polluting. It's the God within me. You're polluting the God in you when you feel bad about you. Yeah. I mean, so to continue doing something that gives you shame, you're accumulating karma. And you are separating yourself from that source. From the divine. I don't feel divine when I'm kev'ing my shit. Yeah. I, on the other hand, sometimes have had the most divinity in my life. And I've heard that. While kev'ing my stage. See, I have heard that. And so none of this is like my moral authority, but just for me. It stopped. But I hope that if this gets clipped, take the part where I'm saying how much I love Kev on stage. Because he's a real nigga. Absolutely. And I just love what he does. You ready to eat? Yeah, hell yeah. Let's do it. How's it feel? Kind of toasty, eh? It feels like the valley in the summertime, man. Yes, it does. When you go out to eat, do you feel? Do you feel like it's mostly just a bunch of sides? Oh, that's a vegan? Yeah, like that you order. Vegetarian. Yeah, for sure. I mean, California probably one of the easier places to eat. For sure. It's definitely sides. Like the first nigga I knew who was vegetarian, I would call him a professional side nigga. Like literally though. But oftentimes, yeah, you're just eating sides. And I'm also, I'm going to set this off and preface this by saying, I don't have no goddamn table manners etiquette. So. What's that mean? Before y'all try to like point out. The way that I'm eating like a caveman, it means that sometimes when I'm first entering a relationship. You got to warn people. If I go to, to, you know, my lady's family to meet her family. Yeah. I'll try to use the utensil in the way that like people do. Like you hold it like a pencil, right? Yeah. That's like kind of how. How do you hold it? Caveman. So you eat like this? Yes. I mean, right now I ain't got no knife, so let's see how I do it. But. Yeah, that, okay. We were off to a good start. No, it was like a caveman. Yeah, you got it. No. So you can use chopsticks? I can use chopsticks. I think I ended up here. But you'd just be stabbing the shit. You'd just be like. I think I ended up here, yeah, similarly to that. But I think I ended up here because my father is African. Okay. And so in my culture, they mainly eat with their right hand. You sop up with like stuff, right? Yeah, like foo-foo with stew and shit like that. So. The utensil using is not so deep in my blood. That's not my first language. And nobody called me. I didn't know I was doing it wrong until I was like 18. That's a little. I had a girlfriend was like, yo, why you eat like a caveman? Like, what's wrong with you, you know what I mean? I don't know, it's too late now. So many of y'all remember when I had a head full of long, luxurious locks, right? Before I transitioned to my natural blonde, the products that I use for my locks, though, just don't cut it for my current situation. So I had to learn all over again how to take the best care of my hair. And Baskin-Lather has me covered. These little coils of mine, they scream for hydration. But I don't want heavy products weighing them down, you know? And don't even get me started on that dreaded crunch. So every morning, I reach for their hydrating hair mist to keep my hair soft with a beautiful shine. And it's got ingredients my hair actually loves, like aloe vera and avocado oil that treat dryness, detangle, and redefine them curls. Y'all, I do not start my hair routine without it. You can explore viral bestsellers and products for healthier hair of all types from Baskin-Lather. Go to BaskinLatherCode.com and use code "Houseguest" for 20% off. That's 20% off at BaskinLatherCode.com, code "Houseguest." - I have been real worried for the vegans and the vegetarians out there. Well, you know, now it's like half the food you can't eat because of that crazy parasite. - The shitty virus. - Yeah. - I don't fuck with lettuce no-how, though. I ain't gonna lie, I don't eat lettuce for shit. I don't. I didn't fuck with lettuce before this shit. Ever since they said lettuce had zero nutritional value, I don't get lettuce and salads. - Iceberg lettuce is just water. - I know, but they did that, though. They said lettuce wasn't shit. So I don't even fuck with lettuce anyway, finding out lettuce is shit. - How have we become these people that lettuce ain't shit? - Fuck lettuce. - - That's the clip right through my ears. That's the clip. - That's why you gotta put kale in your shit, man. - Liven it up. - Because kale had a crazy come up, though. First it was cauliflower. - Yes. - Cauliflower wasn't popping like that like 10, 15 years ago. - So what, thanks vegans? - No, I don't know. Like cauliflower lobbyists? I don't know. Probably some capitalists somewhere that made cauliflower so sought after, but kale, too. 'Cause kale- - Had a moment. - Is still going. - It's having a moment. - Kale is the nigga now. - And totally unrelated. It's the nigga now. It's wild. But I'm thinking about you in this way, unrelated but similarly, in that you are finding new ways, other ways to bring art to life. - I appreciate that. I mean, I see myself very similarly to kale. I see myself so parallel track with kale. - With kale? - Always been valuable, you know what I mean? - Yeah. - Always had a lot to offer. - Yeah. - Had a lot of nutrients to give. - Yes. But now getting its due. - You know, and now- - Put it in a salad. - Finding myself in more salads. - Yeah. - But shout out to Lena Waithe. Shout out to The Chi. - I mean, The Chi is also, in a lot of ways, a love letter to those who have not only survived Chicago, but who have made Chicago this incredibly beautiful place, hard place to come up, but has created some of the most epic individuals. - Chicago's an amazing place. - Amazing place. - Yeah. - What did it feel like to get that call? Were you ready to do more acting? - I was, man. I was in Cannes in 2018. And I was on a South France, across this beach strip. And I saw Yassine Bey and Common. You couldn't miss him because this nigga Yassine was like Rick Owens head to toe. He looked like a ringwraith from the Lord of the Rings. Fly ringwraith. Super fly. You know? - Right. - And so the homie was like, "Is that Mos Def?" You know? I'm like, "Gotta be. The way that he looks. The way that he looks." - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - The way the pants is parachuting out. - Into the boot. - Yeah. For sure. I'm like, "Must be." You know? So I'm kicking it with them. I was asking Common about how he made that move. He was like, "You gotta immerse yourself in the craft." You know what I mean? So I started taking acting classes. One, Diana Castle. She has this acting school called the Imagination School. She's like, "You gotta immerse yourself in the craft." So I started taking acting classes. One, Diana Castle. Shout out to Diana Castle. That's my dog. One, Diana Castle. That's my dog. And she gave me just like ill shit. Gave me. Really saw me to begin with. Like not whatever exterior assumptions one might gather. She like saw me as a person. Gave me August Wilson. Two trains running. And like James Baldwin, "I'm in Corner." Yep. And like had me working on that shit. I just fell in love with it. You know, I started studying it. So ultimately, when I linked up with Lena Waithe, I was actually bringing her a script that I was writing at the time. Like getting. Looking for some help and input on that. She's also so good at that. Yeah. And she like. She answers the phone. She's like, "Come to the house." Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? She's like, "Come to the house." She's like, "Come to the house." Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like, "Come to the house." She's like, "Come to the house." - Yeah, yeah. know what i'm saying and really offers her time to that and so you go over there with the script and what happened ultimately i end up acting on the shot really yeah for sure she was like actually hold up matter of fact it was early in the shot i think that was like right after the first season yeah you know i mean so in some time i ended up acting on the shot i mean i'm still very new to this art form like i've been doing i've been doing music so long you know i mean so i understand the complexities of of the craft but it does strike a lot of the same emotional chords and like when you're doing something great it brings you to tears or it makes you laugh you know i mean and music is the same way like scarface once said if you're not crying when you finish writing a song you didn't write the right record i know that's right but working on something for so long you're acting in in this case when i did get the first actual role it definitely made me mad emotional really oh for sure so i was like man i've been i've been pushing at this yeah because like in other things that you push that hard you saw the fruit of that labor like when you work hard at something and then you experience that success when you have to work hard at something else to experience a little bit of that success again you can be like what is taking so long that you forget it took a while for the first one to hit two that's the crazy thing about tv too though it's like when you own the baby you know damn but when that season over yeah i kind of feel like you just back to square one yes i feel like you back to square one like it wasn't literally just on a set with your name on a dressing room and like people's entire jobs yep being to facilitate you doing your thing here i mean like that that's a very empowering thing and so many people go into a show it's a tremendous amount of work on all level one thing i learned from the shy one thing i learned from luke james actually who i love i mean luke james is just one of the best human beings that's human beings and when i first came on set on the shot i was just astounded by like his his resounding radiant humanity i mean just break in a song at a fucking drop of a dime so kind to everybody got individual tailored relationships with each person on set you know i mean takes his clothes from the goddamn dressing room to uh wardrobe when that's someone else's job when that's someone else's job yeah i mean he just goes above and beyond to be a wonderful human being yep that's something i've really learned from him and tried to take with me just through life the intention that one moves through life for sure with comes back to them for sure and you see it in the roles that he gets in the way and i still think that the love is still building momentum oh gotta be i mean because he's so talented looks so cold though it's like luke could be fucking you know 50 60 years old getting an academy award you know what i mean or maybe tomorrow but i just mean like i feel like luke will be doing this for good yes you know i'm saying he'll be this is really him well so now it's so funny that you say that because i ask him a similar question as a person as an artist who has come out as a musician first is it weird sometimes to be referred to as an actor instead of a rapper or a musician is it is it weird sometimes i would imagine for you it gets a little weird people like activists i've come to realize that people will identify you with whatever you've been doing for the last year interesting and you're not the center of nobody else's universe come on now i wake up as me every day you wake up as you every day but the reality is that like people are gonna see you and they're gonna think to the last time they saw you and that's gonna be how they categorize you for me the bigger pursuit is to not allow the world's categories to define me i mean the world will have labels yeah i mean it'll say you're an activist today you're an actor tomorrow you're a rapper on this day you're a criminal on that day absolutely you're undeserving of love on this day you're our favorite this yeah for sure we love you today you're you're you're prophetic you know yeah yeah yeah and then the next day it's like who are you did you ever think when you pulled that orange off that tree that you'd be pulling more oranges off that tree first time that i did that what i was Had recently purchased a Wraith. I think it was. Very nice car. Some super fire car. Yeah. And I was looking at the video of him in this new car. And I was just like, caught up in my head. I was like, damn, why the fuck I don't got this guy? I was like, what the fuck is wrong with me? I'm like, shit. And I was commenting in that first Orange Tree video on how futile it is to compare oneself to the things that you see outwardly and to look past your own blessings. Because I'm thinking that way while I'm surrounded by plenty. You know? It's plentiful in my life. Like, I have a woman I love and a child and a backyard with fucking fresh fruit that I could just eat off the tree. And I could go dive in a pool and do my meditation. But because I was comparing myself to somebody, who I fuck with, coveting success that he deserves, that he's dope, I was looking completely past everything that I have to be blessed for myself. So I wasn't even thinking about the future because it was like, in that moment, I was just like, yo, it's all about being in the present. To be grateful for what's happening in the present. You never run out. Message. Message? Message. They done took the straws. Strings out your hoodie and your shoelaces is gone. If somebody doesn't have that, they probably wish they had one more chance to cav on stage. One more chance. Just one more. At some point, it's coming. At some point, you might get mad. And I want to keep saying, cav on stage is the shit. I love that, nigga. I want to reiterate. I want to always reiterate that. But to say, man, look, there's always something to be grateful for. And that focusing on that presence in your own life draws more. It brings a lot to you. Yeah, it draws more to you. That's the big part. It brings a lot to you because coveting, jealousy. It does not bring more to you. It never has. Envy. It never has. It will never supply you. No. But gratitude. My God. Express gratitude. First thing in your day. For all the things you're grateful for is a signal to the rest of your day to provide you with more things to be grateful for. Because, you know, we resonate. Like those chimes. Yeah. I mean, like the things we say, the words we think. That makes me think of the video you posted. I believe it was on your four-year anniversary of. Sober. Yeah, not drinking. Not drinking. Yeah, yeah. And. Because sober is a little questionable. You know, sometimes I do. I do a little something when it comes to like some mushrooms and. I get out there for sure. Also, I want to talk to you about mushrooms. I get out there. We'll do that when we get inside. Oh, yeah, we do. I get out there, boy. What? Same. I'll be gone. I'll know the God damn. Gone. I'll be in here at the same time. For sure. Gone inside myself. Hello. I was watching this video of you marking your four-year anniversary of not drinking. And you were talking about a moment that almost cost you that progress. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this technique that you used to pull you back into gratitude. I wonder which one it was. Where you were talking about making a list of the things you were grateful for. Someone had ordered a drink on a plane. And instead of. If you drink would be really good right now. I could have a drink and then get back. Because I was sad. Yeah. We've been talking about my experiences on planes a lot today. We have. You know, but planes, for some reason, they oftentimes. They bring up a lot of the stuff. They bring it out of me, man. I don't know what it is. But not just you. You know. You traveling brings the real out of people. Yo, for real. Because I remember being very sad that day. I don't know what was going on. But I found myself just in that seat. And I'm just crying. I'm just like emotional, sad. And I see somebody get the drink. And I'm like, fuck. The escapism. Yeah. That is alcohol would be a welcome respite from these emotions I'm feeling. And why the fuck I'm crying all in public on this goddamn plane. Right. And a technique called the grateful flow. Yep. Where you just get into a flow of saying things you're grateful for. I'm grateful for breath in my lungs today. I'm grateful for the opportunity. To speak to Scott. And for people to care what I have to say. I'm grateful for every person that put together this massive production. You know. I'm grateful for this food. I'm grateful to Emily for making the summer low. You just keep going. You keep step after step expressing your gratitudes. I have a different story using this. Where I pulled up and I was hella like maybe envious. And just like in a dark mood. Instantly missed the flight. I missed the flight just like that. And I caught myself. I was like oh shit. I'm tripping. You know. Went. Did a meditation. Did the gratitude thing. Got on that next flight. About the time my meditation was done. And got upgraded to first class. It's just like that. It's so easy. And I know that there are people who are like okay. But that shit is real. I do that shit every day. It is real. I literally do that shit every day though. And it's real. It shows up. And when you interrupt that lower frequency. That is pulling your attention. Or your energy. Or your activity. away from your purest self, which is closer to the divinity in you and that's around you. For sure. When you interrupt that with something more in alignment with that divinity, things in your life, I promise you, they do just seem to get a little, even if it's a little bit easier. Things start to come together. They come together, especially with this show. What's beautiful is that what we're creating has such a resonant power that more people are wanting to tap into that and share that same kind of energy, that same kind of vibe. And so if there's more opportunities to create more of that versus some of the other more negative, lower, what I would describe as lower frequency kind of content or material. Low frequency travels too, man. And that's just the paradigm shift. That's the perspective shift. Yeah. To be like away from a scarcity mindset, to be away from a space where you're like, oh man, well, if niggas start doing my thing, then is my thing going, to be diluted, like poison your well. It's not worth your time. And it will ruin it. I think about that shit a lot because you can't choose what sentence enters your mind, but you can choose where the period lands. Hello. So if you say something to yourself. Come on, Vic. I'm saying you say something negative to yourself. You always can put a comma there and be like, actually, no, I believe in my path and the plan that God has ordained for me. Put the period there. You can't stop yourself. You can't stop yourself from thinking negative shit. That's just being a fucking human being. Especially in 2026. But you can play ping pong with it. Hello. You can counteract. That's not Marty Supreme. That's me with my ego. I be goddamn just, I'm ping pong with this nigga because he coming at me all the time. Right. Like, it's a battle with my ego from the time I open up my eyes, man. That's what my big homie in the joint told me. He was somebody that's always finding a way to be positive. He was serving 29 years. Man, he just got out. Shout out to Suavelle. Served 29 years. Wrongfully accused. Didn't even kill him. Somebody else shot the person that didn't like Suavelle. And so they put it on Suavelle. And in that time, though, something that America has stolen from him, but still, many men will be absolutely broken. Absolutely. But some will take that immense trauma and pressure and use it to fashion themselves into a diamond. And like, not that they're perfect, but use it to make them, mentally, spiritually, emotionally strong. Yes. And more useful. To other people. To see their life. For sure. Because then he gave a lot of game to my homie, who was his celly, who then, interacting with him, changed me. So then I ended up speaking to Suavelle and becoming close to him. Because the way he had fashioned his human instrument was, like, beautiful like those chimes. I mean. Yeah. And it just spread. I got to tell myself, there's a lot that. There's no fucking need to try to course-correct anybody else. I'll never run out of things to work on about me. Hello. I battle with that, because I know that so much of what I see in this world is dead-ass wrong. Absolutely. And so corrosive, so hateful. And so I find myself, like, you know, fighting against it. But I always do have to know in the back of my mind, like, man, criticism and judgment is for an entity. Far greater than me. And I'll never run out of Vic shit to work on. Like, to fix me. Right. And we can get back to that. Now, that doesn't mean. There should not be a lack of accountability. No. And you may need to. You may need to fry these niggas, man, because. The reality is, they're going to get it. Yeah, I mean, they're going to get it one way or another, man. They're going to get it. My boy Chance got a rap where he was like, either God got some lovin' or a oven for you. Oh, damn! You might need to fry these niggas. I was talking to my. I was talking to Butch White. Butch Ware, man, is. Butch Ware is a brilliant scholar of African history and Islamic studies. Ran for California governor recently. I was talking to him about this, and he was like, yo, one must defend truth and justice. Yeah. And that may mean frying these niggas, but also never forget the you in it. I feel like the chimes have been going heavy today because I feel like it's been a lot of those moments that are just real talk. And so I want to. I want to talk to you more about your own show. I want to talk to you more about. Oh, yeah, please, please. Because I imagine these are going to be the kinds of things you're talking about in your own show. Yeah, for sure. And I love that for you. But I also want to play this game. Come on. You ready? Yeah, how it go? Let's do it. Is it hot? Hell yeah, because it's hot as hell. I need some more soul. That soul is good as hell. Okay, so we're inside now. It was hot as hell outside, but it's game time. We're calling this one Square. Square Up. Oh, okay. Oh, good. Fuck you, man. Square Up. Have you seen the videos on social media where people are asking the kids, like, Square Up? And they're like. It turned into a square? Yes. The little boy who turned into a square. I love it. I love that for our generation, for sure. For our kids to, you know, not. Have that experience. Trauma the same way. I like that. That's a cool vibe. So in that vibe, we're playing a game called Square Up. Because you also have a way with words as soon as a performer and a rapper. You're going to choose a square with your marker and you'll get a corresponding word puzzle. Okay, okay. You have a couple words that have something in common. You've got to guess that word. Okay. The idea is to connect three in a row, either up, down, or diagonal. The guess goes first. All right. So make your choice. Oh, you're going eight? I'm going eight on it. Star and nap. These have one word in common. Oh. Kidnap, bear nap, cat nap, star cat, cat, star, star board, board nap, star fire, star player, player nap. Take a player nap. Neighbors, I spent half my life sitting in this vehicle. Driving to the studio, sitting in traffic. Getting the car washed, sitting in traffic. Driving to events or dinner. Sitting in traffic. But thank God I can listen to audiobooks on Amazon Music Unlimited to get me through it. And right now I'm listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama. And let me tell you, her voice is so soothing too. Because like, imagine me getting ready to go off on the car that just cut me off. And then suddenly you hear in surround sound, mind you, when they go low, we go high. Michelle, we are becoming who we're meant to be, but I'm not there yet. But it just lifts you up. And that's what I love about audiobooks. You can be driving, working out, even cleaning your house, and suddenly all that time that's passing feels like it's giving you something back. And with an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, now you get access to audiobooks too. So that's music, podcasts, audiobooks, all in the one app. Amazon Music. Get into it. I'm gonna go two. Head high, high bar. Head, head over Head, head, head over bar. Head high, high bar was valid, though. All right, let me go five. Plain Jane, Jane Unseen, plain. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Plain Bagel. Plain, uh, what's his show called, Parts Unknown? Oh, man, I should be better at this. Okay, give me 15. open c c weapon open open door door weapon open web fire weapon new used weapon open weapon this game is hard open hey this game is hard uh weapon Let me get an open weapon. Let me get ten. Final thought. Throat goat. Final throat. The last one you ever get. Slice. Slit. Final slit. Slit throat. Final cut. Cut throat. Ah, that was good. So which one was that? Number ten? Cut throat. Number six. Street home. Street, sign, sign, home. Home, sweet, home. Home, street. I don't get a, no, no. Street, think. Street, head. Head, home. What? Street, nigga. Nigga, home. Each time it's just like an expletive that comes to my mind as being the word that could combine these things. Let me go with nine. "Natural nigga." Like, all-natural type of nigga. They use, like, oils and shit. "Bias." "Inherent bias." "Natural." "Natural," uh. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, gang. Seventeen. "Block foul." - Block party, party foul. Oh, shoot. 14-- free-- what kind of therapy? Talk therapy, free talk, free speech, speech therapy. There you go. Oh, OK. I would have not got that. All right, all right. OK, OK, OK. So I'm going 18. I'm going for a block. Damn, you can fuck my shit up, though, if you get 18. Cold play play pad. Cold play play pad? Don't give it to them. Cold play play pad? Hello? Cold play-- Don't give it to them. So many of my seconds were in the-- That would mess up my-- Cold, cold war, war pad. Cold, no, no, no, no-- Give me 18. Well, not on that one, because she-- No. But then you would-- you would ruin my chances. Yes, the game would continue. No, it wouldn't. I wouldn't be able to string three together if I don't-- No, you'd just string another three. Start from square one? Hey, that's where I'm at. Give me that 18, man. Cold shoulder, shoulder pad, man. Come on, now. All right. Well, it came together, but it took time. That was a hard game. For somebody. For me, shit. Yeah. Yes, for you. I was supposed to trounce you more resoundingly. One might say you had a little hint. So did you, nigga. You wanted a hint on the last one? Yes, yes, yes, I did. But wait, so we didn't talk about the fact that you've got this talk show. It's cool to see you at the tree, right? But what brought on the talk show? You know, I really always saw what I've been doing as conversations, but they were purely conversations with the public, which has grown into a quite consistent group of people. Yeah, absolutely. They engage with what I'm doing and hold discourse in the comments, you know what I mean? Yeah. So to build it into a conversational format where I'm talking to other people seemed like a natural evolution of it, and just a new avenue, you know? Something that's exciting, and it brings together multiple mediums that I love. Exploration of ideas with film and cinema, and you know what I mean? The creative, aesthetic, visual aspect of it. So you're taking it somewhere. Yeah, for sure. It's not like podcast situation, like bring it up a notch. I do. I mean, I want it to be creatively fulfilling for me. Yeah, exactly. And then building the set, like I built this set. You built a set? Me and my boy Roberto from Home Depot. We built the set, you know what I'm saying? But I mapped it out. I tried to hire some people to do it, but they tried to tax me, and then the shit didn't even pan out. You know, the materials they ordered didn't show up. So I was like, fuck it, I'll just do it. So I found myself in like the flooring store, getting like some special orange tile linoleum, and like got certain furniture that expressed something I wanted to express, and had that reupholstered in a certain way, like really designed and built the motherfucker. And I'm having a lot of fun with it. I don't know, I just love projects like that. I've filmed like six episodes now. Give me an example of the kind of people, like the kinds of conversations and the kind of people that you're inviting over. Yeah, the first one is me and Chance. You know, we grew up together. And so we're kind of like going through our relationship from children. And then a time when we fell out kind of publicly. And you know, we're at odds for some years. And ultimately came back together and like strengthened our friendship to a dimension that it had never been before from age 14. And kind of breaking down the ways that conflict resolution can look, you know what I mean? Especially between black men. It was an amazing conversation. Through some healing processes. For sure, super healing. Like there were things we didn't talk about that we had never actually really addressed. You know, like shit that we forgot about. And just like the intimacy of having people, as you obviously know, like having people in your home and having conversations with people in that way. It's like very human. I say all the time that the internet and social media and ideas of things like content are new. But human beings conversing in a public public sphere is old. Yeah. I mean, Socrates and Plato were having a fucking conversation. See, we like Socrates and Plato. I mean, not on that 18. What was the last? Nigga therapy. Nigga house. Nigga freak. Nigga therapy. I philosophize about glocks and keys. Niggas call me young black Socrates. West Indies bitch drop to knees quick. That's what I'm getting at. Human beings have been doing this. I mean, the world we live in through conversation. To think about Socrates, he didn't write nothing down. Crazy. It was all in conversation. His wisdom was all through community. Right. And through discourse and dialogue. Right. And so even though the forums are new, the idea is old. True. And necessary. It's old and it's just, it's at our core. At our core. It's at our core about humans. And I think so much about, like, the conversations that I'll have with the people I love, like just people in my life, you know what I mean? And how much value is in them, but they're never recorded. Also, the house has become really intrinsically connected with a lot of what I'm doing already. It is such a, like, just plentiful place. And to do these conversations either right at the Orange Tree or in view of it or in the studio, right next to it, it's like. My big homie, he told me this, he said, "If you find yourself alive at the end of days, plant a tree." And so oftentimes this feels like the end of days in so many ways. It's the end of days for a lot of people. If you're in Gaza right now, this is, like, likely the end of days for you. Right. This is true for many people on this planet right now, many people in this country. And I do think that sharing insight and humanity and growth and mistakes and victories and losses and, you know. Yourself. A human being at whole is planting a tree. Because so oftentimes people will tell me that they saw something I said at the Orange Tree, when you were talking about the sober thing, when I stopped drinking. A friend of mine showed that to somebody in her life that's having a lot of trouble with, like, substance abuse. You know, serious substance abuse, and was like, "Yo, that was valuable for him," because he was like, "In ways, Vic is somebody I may resonate with." You know what I mean? Or doesn't seem so far removed from my experience. For sure. As somebody that has been, like, a deep drug addict, like, very publicly. So then going through this process where I'm at a place where I've been able to transmute a lot of that, then I can share it. And then that's planting a tree, because it's finding-- it's branches into somebody else's life to be like, "Yo, maybe that's, like, realistic for me." Yeah. And so I do think that having conversations like these, you know, real conversations, and not just those that are rooted in outrage-seeking engagement and attention, that at this time, perhaps especially, is like trees we got to plant, you know? Let's get to planting some trees, bruh. You already got a lot, nigga. Hell, yeah. You can always plant a little more. For sure. For sure. One more game? Want to do another one? Come on. One. Cancel culture. You heard me. Finally. Jesus Christ. You heard me. I should have never said that out loud. I heard you go-- let me go-- Sam? Sam? Sam? Deep shit. Shit towel. Bumba-ross clots. Bumba clots. That's the meaning of bumba clot, if anyone didn't know. And did I know that? Yeah, it took me some time to learn. Beach towel? Deep beach? Beach towel? Washed towel? Dirty towel. Deep and dirty. Deep towel. How many different kind of towel? Hand towel? Four. Sound call. Sound, sound, bird call, sound, sound, effect, effect call, sound, bar, bar call, sound. Whew. Boy, that's a hard game, boy. I'm going to get 13. Let me see if I did 13 yet. Oh, there you go. Honey walk. Honey pack. Pack walk. Plug walk. Honey plug. That sounds kind of crazy. It does. What other kind of walk is this? Board walk. Honey board. Board walk. Crip walk. Honey crip. Crip walk. Honey crip. Crip walk. You said bee walk, and I was like, actually, that works. Honey bee and-- And bee walk. And bee walk. You know, Bloods, they like to do special walking and stuff too. What is that one? It's a bee walk, not a sea walk. Honey moon? Moon walk. Honeymoon, moonwalk. Just tell us all of them at this point. Because now we're going to be mad. How are we going to get it? We tried all of them. Go to five again. Go to five again. Can we work together? Plain. Plain. Sight. Sight unseen. Oh, wow. That was good. I guess 15. Open sesame. Sesame weapon. Open field. Field weapon. Quiet weapon. Silent weapon. Open air. Air weapon. Open water. Water weapon. Open AI. AI weapon. Secret weapon. Open secret. Open secret. Yeah, that makes sense. That's silly. When are you launching the show? We're going to launch it at the end of August. Word. Are you excited about that? Are you nervous about it? What's the feel? I'm excited, man. I spoke to a psychic earlier this year. I'm sorry, what? Yeah, he was like a numerologist. He's like an Iranian dude. This really cool house in Beverly Hills or something. He had a lot of answers. He just knew shit. He was like, this person's going to be going through that. You got this venture coming up, huh? This seems like it's going to be a big thing in your life, right? And so this meeting with this numerologist. So far it's been on? Yeah, it's been on. Damn. And that meeting helped me to make sense of the many different projects that I'm working on. The numerologist said it was going to work. So we in. I was like, if the psychic said this shit's going to work, we going up. I'm going to run with that. That's what it is. Yeah, for sure. Bro, I'm so excited for you, man. I appreciate you, man. Truly, truly, truly. Thank you for having me, man. Of course, of course. Give it up one time for Vic Minson. This game is too hard. You need an easier game. It's just hard. It's just hard. It's just hard. It's just hard. Hey, neighbor. Our house guest is on the way, the way, the way, the way. A little bit of laughter, a lot of smiles. Won't you come in and stay a while? Hey, neighbor. Hey, neighbor. Yeah.