September 19, 2022 • 39 mins
Mouse and Nyla discuss the RAP Act with NY Congressman Jamaal Bowman. The law, co-written by Rep. Bowman, is designed to stop rap lyrics from being used against rap artists on trial.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What up, guys, I'm Alice mom and I am the
man to put the juckson juxtaposition, I am mouse join
you said that different? Why did you do that? That That
you were following? Yeah, but that's not I was lost.
But we're back again with another episode of the What Not.
Today we're gonna be talking politics. But before we talk politics,
(00:21):
before we talk politics, before we talked about what we
can't talk about, can we talk about the legend we
have in the room, the only woman on the bt
IF DJ of the Year nominee DJ knowled. Yeah, thank you,
the youngest and the only girl. What's up? Gang? You
(00:44):
though you thought I was gonna come in and talk
about that? That what you said? No, I just know.
Pretty crazy. How are you feeling? Did you cry a
little bit? Did I cry? I cry if he was crying,
but I didn't want to see it. Tears. I didn't
believe it. I still can't believe it. Actually, you're probably
not gonna be able to leave it until like, so,
(01:05):
how did you did you find out when the when
the post got posted or you already knew? No, I
didn't know. I just got an email. It was like,
congrats on your nomination. R VP and let us know
if you're coming, and I'm like, the hell are they
talking about? This must be a type bo you know,
they must you know, like they send and I'm like, okay,
they just must me to come or something like that.
And then I saw the nice posting tag. I'm like,
(01:26):
oh my god, no, that's just not a table that
I got back to the email, I'm like, oh my god, Like,
I can't believe it that I called my dad, called
my mom, like, Yo, I can't believe this. Can you
believe it? I can't believe that. I can't believe on
a podcast they can't see I can't believe it. And
all I gotta say is I can't believe it. But
I'm just really happy and honored. Honestly, it's crazy. We
(01:49):
already know you're my DJ the year, So no matter what,
you already know, no matter what, we're going, don I
don't even care to win, Honestly, the nominees enough that
we're going down there, We're going. We're going down there
to act the fool. You all going going to act
the food baby the win. So party over here they
say your name, now, yeah, that's it. I don't think
(02:09):
it's gonna get announced that they don't say. They say
the nominees, they say the names. All you're saying you
don't think the award is going to be announced. Yeah,
but it's okay, it doesn't matter. Don't worry. You're ready.
I'm doing right now. I'm gonna be mc light and
the nominees and the nominee is all for DJO Light
(02:29):
has the best. You can't compete. And I remember the
year it started. I remember the first year it started.
It was like, this makes sense, Why are there wait
so long? Yeah? But yeah, I'm super super proud of
you game, super proud, well earned, well, thank you so much.
Keep your food nus now. I can't believe it. But
(02:52):
I'm so happy and I honor. But let's get back
to the podcast. Going against heavy hitters. But you're you're
you deserve to be in that group. Yeah, that's why
I was like, dang, d nice, you know, Drama Mustard.
(03:12):
I've seen the leakers, leakers, sot sour milk. Incredible. You
can do this on a fan base to oh my god, voting,
please vote for me. Um. You just go to be
et dot com slash Hip Hop Awards. Go to DJ
(03:33):
category and they vote for me, and then why you there,
you might as well also vote for the breakfast club.
They got um in there for I guess hip hop platform.
So you know, I got to show love to the
home team. You know that. Now to another, from one
legend to another legend. Yes, we are about to chop
it up with Congressman Jamal Bowman, who was it was
(03:54):
extremely integral um to the Rap Act being introduced to Congress. Um.
So we get to talk to him in a little bit.
You talk to him about his his his hip hop
upbringing and you know what, you know inspired him to
bring such a bill. It's such a necessary bill to
Congress to the forefront. What took so called damn No,
(04:15):
I'm just point Congressman Bowman, Welcome to the what hip
hop Questions legends less Congressman Bowman, how are you well, ma'am?
How are you? I'm good? Thank you, congratulations on your
nominations for the sixteenth district. That's major. Thank you, thank
you so much. And I know that that's home to
(04:35):
hip hop legends like the Locks. Yeah did he too? Writer?
Did he did? He is from Mount Vernon or Harlem.
I think he claims both y did. He's all over
the place. I don't know, but but that's uh, that's major. Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you. How do you feel about How
(04:58):
do you feel about it? No, I'm mean it's it's incredible.
You know, I'm from Halem, East Hallom actually, and I've
been living in Yonkers now for ten years. You know,
my wife and now I just bought a home out
here about five six years ago, and we were renting
here prior to that. I never knew I would end
up in y'all now, particularly in this moment um. And
(05:21):
when you think about the hip hop legacy mentioned the locks,
you know E M Mex, Mary J. Blige, Uh Diddy,
h Pete, Rock, Swisen, Pollop City, it's an incredible legacy.
And on the Bronx side, where the valley is, uh,
it's just it's where it's where it all begans. So
(05:42):
it's very humbling to to to do this work in
this space, particularly in this moment right. Yeah, and let's
let's jump right into an act that you've been working on,
the Rap Act alongside Hank Johnson of Georgia. Can you
just talk about what that piece of legulation is about. Yeah,
we can't criminalizing hip hop. Um, and we can't be
(06:02):
criminalizing rap lyrics. You know, rapist poetry, rappist literature, it's journalism,
it's art. It uses metaphor similarly, personification, storytelling, and if
we allow it to be criminalized in any context, it
creates a slippery slope where now we are targeting the
(06:23):
culture overall and targeting the black men who just proporsonally
represent uh, the m c s in the culture. And unfortunately,
in many core cases across the country, hip hop lyrics
have already been used to criminalize people and put people
in prison. Uh. There's a young person right now who
was arrested at age seventeen and is doing life in jail. Uh,
(06:49):
simply because of his rap lyrics. No other forensic evidence
was presented, it was because of his lyrics. Uh. And
hip hop lyrics continue to be introduced in core cases
at disproportionate rates. We don't see it in rock and roll,
we don't see it in heavy metal, and they talk
about all kind of crazy stuff in their music as well. Right, So,
(07:10):
allow hip hop to be hip hop. We gotta protect
black art and stop targeting our culture. Yeah, I definitely
think it's a target directly on our culture because you
can't even see it within like comedy sits kits. You
see it within film, and like you said, you see
it in country songs where they talk about or literally
act out and paint pictures of crimes, rape and all
(07:33):
types of things. But for some reason we're the target.
Um yeah, I mean unfortunately, that's when you're black in America,
you're you're too often criminalized. Um. And this says, this
goes way back to you know, the Third Team Amendment
all the way to now you know what I'm saying it,
it's something that unfortunately continues. So what motivated you to
(07:54):
want to push this act along? Well, for me, you know,
when I saw the case of young Doug and what
was going on in that particular case, and I saw
how they immediately went to the lyrics to provide additional
evidence in that case, Um, it got my attention, and
then I started reading up on you know, the history
(08:16):
of this and how for the last several years, hip
Hop lyrics have been used over five hundred times in
court cases either they were introduced, attempted to be introduced,
was introduced and used to convict even though they were overturned,
but it's been used consistently and here in New York State,
UH Senators Jamal Bailey and Assemblywomen Catalina Cruz introduced a
(08:40):
bill at the state legislature which passed the state Senate
and now we're hoping it'll pass the New York Assembly
as well. California is also doing some work in this
area as well. But we need this to not just
be federal legislation. We need all states to follow suit
as well, because once we start criminalizing art, were criminalized
in free speech, and once you do that, you no
(09:02):
longer have a democracy. Yeah, it feels like we're already
kind of on that slippery slope between you know this
the art and just other areas as well. But um,
did you grow up a rap fan? Well, of course,
I mean it's my I wouldn't even say say it's
a fan, I'm a fan. I would say it's it's
(09:23):
it's my culture, it's my identity, you know, it's who
I am. Um, it's my it's my way of life.
You know, I was born in seventy six. You know
hip hop started in seventy three, or maybe even before
that if you go way back, right, Um, so I
came up with it. You know. The first song that
got that got me captivated and plugged in was uh
(09:44):
the Show by Dougie Fresh and Slick Rick Um. So
once I heard that, I was like, you know, the
rest was history. And then the first album I copped
and ran into the Ground was criminal Minded by Boogie
Down Productions, and I was followed by Paydon f by
Eric B and Rock Kim, followed by Long Lived a
Kane by Big Daddy Kane, and and the rest is history.
(10:06):
So I'm not just a fan, it's it's it's it's
who I am, um. And you know, as a black
man in America and being the first black member of
Congress in US history in this seat, you know, it's
it's my responsibility to make sure our communities are not criminalized,
whether it's through rap up through other means. So I
(10:27):
just want to introduce you to my co host mass Jones,
who has just joined us. He's gonna be congressmanulations legendary. Congratulations.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Yeah, I beat I beat
Uh Congressman Elliott England. Um. He was there for thirty
one years, So that was like the big start. When
(10:49):
one that's very we Yeah, and we just won the
primary a couple of weeks ago, but now we got
to win the general, so still work to do so
that oh well, well, first of all, I appreciate you
(11:09):
asking that question. You know, we you know, we need
all the support we can get. Um allowing me to
be on this podcast is great. Anyone else who wants
to learn more, you could go to Bowman for Congress
dot com and you can see our policy platforms, uh
any phone banking opportunities, volunteer opportunities, making making donations. All
(11:30):
that is really really important. But I think the bigger
conversation for me is how do we build political power
in hip hop and how do we leverage the power
of the culture to really move legislation at the federal
and state level. Because hip hop is the number one
selling art form musical art form in the world right,
(11:52):
so we have millions and millions, hundreds of millions of fans.
If those hundreds of millions of fans now leverage their
power politically to make sure my colleagues pay attention to
the issues that matter most to us, that's how we
build political power. So absolutely go to Bowman for Congress
dot com help me in any way you can for
my campaign, But I want to have a bigger conversation
(12:15):
about how we build political power because guess what, the
police union got political power in Congress. Uh, the fossil
fuel industry, gas companies got political power, pharmaceutical companies, drug companies,
weapons manufacturers, they all leverage power in Congress and make
us do their bidding. What if hip hop had that
(12:36):
same type of political power. That's the conversation I want
to do. You think that's possible because all those other
industries you name, no one else is in those industries
outside of the people who directly benefit from that industry.
There's nobody in the weapons firearms industry, no one in
the fiospil fuels industry. Like there's no there's no vegans
(13:00):
in the fossil field industry, right, Like there's no there's
no people against climate change in the fossil field industry. Right. Um.
With hip hop, it's completely different. Right that hip hop
is the biggest consumed um musical art for more just
cultural art form in the world. But how many of
those people that are consuming hip hop are actually black
(13:20):
or actually are negatively impacted from the things that hurt
or kill the community. Right, we have a lot of consumers.
Hip hop has had so many consumers that I'm not sure,
And that's why I'm asking. I'm not like giving my
I'm literally asking, um, I'm not sure if hip hop
can have that political um uh input that we would want,
(13:43):
because it's just so many people pulling from right, Like,
there's mag of people that love hip hop, right like
the people that are getting there's raisest people that love
Kanye you know what I mean. I love certain rap songs,
so they're listen to it, but then they'll vote against us,
or they'll be a part of the proponent um that
is against us. So how do we if we're gonna
(14:04):
leverage that in hip hop? How do we do that?
Knowing that that exists? Yeah, well, first of all, I
am already the manifestation of that, the fact that I
am here right now me and it was already done
at some level. Right. So again, this district never had
a person of color represented in US history. Now it does.
(14:26):
And not only is that person me representing it, it's
a person that wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
the knowledge of self I gained from Kara Swan Brother, Jay,
Chuck d and Kim Right. So I'm here as a
representative of the culture at that level. So the culture
already has a voice in me in Congress now if
(14:50):
we So that also shows how this district that I'm
in has changed over time as well for it too,
even a lex one like me. So I wasn't tap
dancing in the district trying to be someone I wasn't.
I was my authentic self as I ran for Congress.
(15:10):
So people in district know I love outang. They know
what I'm about. You know what I'm saying like it's
not even not even a secret. So I'm the beginning,
not the beginning. There was others in Congress, Hakim Jeffreys,
others who are are like this as well. But we
are the beginning of what can come next. The question
is what's next? If if, if Kendrick Lamar says something,
(15:34):
if that, if Drake says something, if the Future says something.
If certain artists say something, they're making a political statement.
You know, I'm excited to see certain artists now get
involved in criminal justice reform. You know, Jay Z and others, right,
But these artists have political power, YouTube have incredible political power, Charlemagne.
(15:56):
Anyone with a microphone has political power, and it's our
job to first engage and then educate, and then we
pull people in to leverage that power. So it don't
happen overnight. But the work has to begin at some point,
and I think we all are ready to do that work.
Do you currently listen to the what hip hop questions?
(16:16):
Legends and list will be right back after this break.
What is the What is the current status of the
rap Act bill at this moment? So we just introduced
it right before the August recess, So in August, everyone disappears,
people take vacations with their families, people go all over
(16:37):
the place. Right, So we don't have that many co
sponsors yet, but between now and December, we're gonna be
pushing incredibly hard to get as many cosponsores as possible.
What usually happens with these bills, and what can happen
with these bills, is they're signed to a committee, the
committee marks it up, the committee vote out the committee,
and then it comes to the House floor for a vote.
(16:58):
Some bills are fast tray, pass all of that and
come to the House for for a vote. So what
we would need is one anyone who listens to this.
Wherever you are in the country, contact your representative and
ask them if they have been a cosponsor of the
rap Act and push them to do so. That's a
big deal. The second thing is on the Senate side,
(17:19):
we need a Senate lead of the bill so it
could pass the House and the Senate. None of these
bills move without lobbying. So that's why your phone calls,
your letters, your emails, your tweets all matter. And the
fact that it's gotten so much attention and nationally really
matters as well. So we're in the very beginning stages,
(17:40):
is the short answer. To get it where we needed
to go. We need everyone to make calls to their
members of Congress encouraging them to support this bill. As
far as lobbying goes, are tweets really effective because just
like personally speaking, I don't really see myself, but I
definitely know I'm not writing or a letter, but I
(18:01):
would like to participate. So when you write a letter,
what's wrong with writing a letter? I mean, I wrote
a letter the other day and my hand hurt. My hand,
my hand hurt for like a good thirty minutes like, like,
you could do this. I don't know if you can
see it, but you could type. You could type a
(18:21):
letter or you could you get that from me. You
can definitely get a type letter. I don't mean write
like literally, you don't have to write it. You can
type it or do you do the thumbs what I'm saying.
So something like that also helps. Yeah, I was just
thinking when you guys are talking about how we can build,
(18:42):
you know, more of a political presence within hip hop
and vice versus, Like, I just feel like a lot
of the means of going about, you know, getting the
power are just really traditional. So you know, in our
minds it's like, well, how do we even start or
where do we go? But I didn't know we could
tweet to lobby. Oh yeah, yeah. We we read every
tweet just so you know, we read every tweet. Oh yeah,
(19:10):
we read every tweet. I don't read all the comments
because there's a bunch of crazy people out there, so
I don't read those. But but we read every tweets.
Someone tweets and us about something that makes sense, we
pay attention to that, you know, someone but also DM
me something that makes sense. I'm like, oh, I didn't
even know. Because sometimes, you know, we all got a
(19:31):
lot going on, right, and so sometimes we just need
you you to bring to our attention that this is
important to you. So you can do that via Twitter,
you can do that via I G. Facebook, TikTok, but
you can also call our offices, leave a message, write
a letter, you know, not a letter, but you know
what I'm saying, send the email like those things all matter,
(19:54):
and the more people do it, the more power it
has because again, let me say this, there are other
groups that called my office constantly about what they want.
And that's why you see people going to Congress with
these ideals or getting elected with ideals, but then they
don't pay attention to them no more because these other
(20:15):
lobbies are constantly harassing them to do what they want
them to do. Is that makes sense? Yes? Absolutely? Um.
I want to ask you if you could give us
some like examples right of rap lyrics that are being
used against rappers in court, Like what what would some
of those examples be? Because I know, like people have
(20:35):
you know, people here about the wrap back bill and
they see things like you know, what's going on with
YSL or you know, uh even you know we go
as far back as IRV. Gotti and and and murder,
ain'ting what they were dealing with. Um, it's such a
large spectrum, right, Like IRV. Gotti and and job Rule
and Chris Gotti. They were on trial trying to uh
(20:56):
and they were being uh, they were attempting to be
connected to you know, supreme and money laundering, and they
were using their names, and they were using like coded
things that they tried to make coded language. You look
at why it sell, and you look at you know,
young thugs lyrics and those. It's such a large spectrum, right,
So what are some of the lyrics that are looking
at right now that that are being perfect here. So
(21:20):
at the top of my head, I don't have a
list of lyrics. I mean, you definitely can look those
up very very easily to see what has been used.
But it all depends on the district attorney and the judge. Right,
the district attorney and the judges can decide on which
lyrics are going to use for what case and what
context and what circumstance and why. Right. The point of
(21:40):
the bill is when you're investigating a crime, don't start
with the rat lyrics like like artists said X, Y,
and Z. You can't start your investigation there. You gotta
start with evidence. You gotta start with with with testimony,
you gotta start with d NA, you gotta start with
other things before you even think about bringing the lyrics
(22:01):
into it. Well, we have seen in many cases across
the country. What you see is that many prosecutors starting
with lyrics and then working backwards from that to then
get to evidence that may or may not be there.
And we've even seen cases where, uh, the lyrics only
in and of themselves were used and not other evidence.
(22:23):
So that is just completely insane and crazy. I'll give
you an example of other artists, Um Freddie Mercury, Mercury
from the art from the group Queen talking about shooting
and killing a man right like. He said that point
blank on his record. He didn't do it, but it
was a metaphor to go into the literature that he
(22:44):
was spitting on a particular song, which is what rap
does all the time. One other point I want to
make is this, there's also ghost writing and rap. So
ghost writing, Uh, and someone says something that can be
interpreted as a crime, Uh, you know who do you
charge for that? Then? Who do you hold accountable for that? Again,
(23:05):
it's just it's the criminalization of a culture that's disproportionately black,
disproportionately black man, and that we believe that's why it
is being done, and that's why we introduced the bill.
What is the what is the um the expectation when
this thing goes in front, like when it goes to
(23:27):
its full completion, what is your you know what it like?
If it doesn't work, are you are are you prepared
to or is it even able to be for for again?
Or is this this like a one dude? Do you
get like a one time shot at this? Good question?
So every every cycle, you have the opportunity to reintroduce
(23:49):
the bill every site. The cycles are two years, So
assuming I'm re elected in November, that means I'll be
there again through right, So I'm able If we don't
pass it by December thirty one this year, I could
reintroduce it for the hundred and eight teenth Congress, which
(24:09):
begins January three. That makes sense, So it's we introduce
it this cycle. If we don't get the co sponsors
and votes to pass it this cycle, we reintroduce it.
You keep reintroducing it until the President signs it into law,
so that in order for that to happen, it has
(24:31):
to pass the House, has to pass the Senate, and
then it goes to the President's desk. Congressman, I have
one last question, one of our last question. I know
you gotta go soon. Um, is the freedom of speech
tenant of this bill important to get Republicans or the
across the aisle um side into this bill? Obviously, Um,
(24:54):
freedom of speech is something that we we know they
conservative right brings up a lot when it comes to
the constant tuition, Is that an important aspect of this
bill that needs that you need to lean into to
get across the aisle support? Yes, a hundred percent, and
it's what we've been leaning into overalls as I've talked
about this building on different media outlets. UM. So we're
(25:17):
hoping that we'll get us by parts and support now
in the House. We don't need by partisan support because
we can pass the bill with a simple majority. In
the Senate when there's fifty fifty split like this Democrats Republicans,
we need at least ten Democrats to go around something
called the filibuster. So yes, absolutely, what we're hoping is
(25:39):
you know, going forward, Republicans will come back to the
senses have been because they've been wildent in Congress on
many levels. So hopefully they'll come back to their senses
and we're able to work together on legislation that we
can agree on, and we expect to get a lot
of Republicans support because it is first and foremost a
free speech issue. Is it easy to leave? Leave it there? Right?
(26:02):
Is it easy to leave the the differences in the
courtroom or you know, on Congress steps, And can you
see these people that are opposing this bill? Can you
see them as decent people outside of this or is
this a true indicator of how they feel about us? Well,
it's not just this bill as a one off, right,
(26:24):
I mean other legislation members of Congress support and don't support.
That is indicative of racial bias, explicit racism, discrimination against
certain groups of people, lobbies that lobbies that they work with. Right,
So if you see a group of not just Republicans,
(26:47):
but Democrats sometimes do not support certain bills as well.
But if you see a group of legislators not supporting
the right back, not supporting the women's right to choose,
not supporting and voting rights legislation, and not supporting the
George Floyd Justice and Police and Act. Not supporting reparations
for African Americans. Right, there's a series of bills that
(27:08):
fall into categories where this would greatly benefit African Americans.
I'm not supporting that. I'm don and that other bills
for women, other bills for the working class, etcetera, etcetera.
So um, it's you look at a suite of legislation
before you make those determinations. But at the end of
the day, you know, it's fifty states in the country.
(27:30):
There's a lot of different a lot of different districts.
I'm gonna you're gonna see my name on the bill
with someone I probably don't would never go out and
have a drink with. But for whatever reason, we need
to get on that bill to make sure it passes.
Because that issue we were on the same page with, right,
but nine of the other ones we will not be.
(27:52):
That's just the way, Uh, that's the way democracy works. Well,
congresson moment, I'm not gonna hold you up too much longer.
Is that one last question? Is there any other issues
that you're super passionate about that you would just like
to speak on Yes. So education um is a is
a big one UM for me and for the country. UM.
(28:12):
Our schools, particularly schools in in in redline lower income communities,
have been underfunded for several decades. So we have to
look at funding in those schools. We also have to
look at the curriculum in those schools because there's not
enough black history and those schools, not enough multicultural history,
not enough for the arts and sports and enrichment activities.
(28:36):
And our system of standardized testing is completely obsolete and
we need to be doing a lot more implementing a
lot more creativity in our schools for our kids. So
education is a big issue. Uh. Climate change is another
big issue. You know, our our planet is literally dying um,
and we need to do something about that or we're
(28:58):
gonna have famine and and mask migration and more conflict.
That's another one. And other issues related to equality, whether
their gender based or racial based or economic because you know,
we still have a system where you know, and I'll
use a hip hop reference, you know, people like jay
Z have been bragging for many years about how how
(29:20):
wealthy is and how he's getting to a billion or
whatever he's at one two billion, Jeff Bezels at a
hundred and fifty two billions, right, And that's a system
of wealth inequality that we need to deal with as well,
which is why the issue of reparations continues to come
up for African Americans. Another. So there are many others,
but I leave it there, all right, and before we
(29:41):
let you get out of you know, this is the
one hip hop question legend and listen got to ask
a hip hop question. What is your go to political
hip hop song that gets you going before you got
to go in front of Congress, before before the votes
come in? What are you listening to? What's in the
headphones getting you stirred up? That's a one song song.
(30:06):
Will give us a few songs I've been with my
whole life. I don't know if it's a political song,
but the song Triumph by Wu Tang is like a
go to just to get hyped. But Kendricks whole new album,
it's incredible. Yeah, this is I'm voting. I'm voting for
(30:26):
this guy. He got me, he got my vote. My
philosophy of my Philosophy by Boogie Down Productions was gonna
be up there to see. I mean, it's hard to
go to one song. My philosophy would be up there,
my philosophy, Fight the Power Um the first Whole x
Plan album. I mean there's so many, but wull tang
(30:48):
he said get hyped. So when he said get hyped,
I had to go to triumph by wu Tang. Well,
we got our support here me and I love you
have our support. I have a weekend. You don't make
anything happen. Uh, let us know and will will definitely
be ready to help um and you know before you
get out of here, or do you want to tell
the people how they can support you, how to confine you,
(31:09):
how they can vote all of that? Yes, peace and
love everyone. So Bowman for Congress dot com. That's Bowman
for Congress dot com, not the number for the word for.
You could go there and learn all about our platform.
There's an election coming up in November election day. So
I'm on the ballot in New York sixteen in New
(31:29):
York State. The governors on the ballot, I'm supporting and
governmor Hocal. She's a Democrat. This Republican get in, it's
gonna be kind of crazy. So we've got to keep
him out. But whatever you are it's not just about
you know, federal and state elections. Pay attention to your
school board elections, pay attention to city council, pay attention
to county because these are people that are being elected
(31:52):
that they're making decisions for our lives and we're not
even aware these elections are going on. So go to
Bowman for Congress dot com. Learn more about us, and
you know a lot more work to do. Well, thank
you for joining us. Enjoy your day of course, y'all.
Two piece of love, see you soon. You're now listening
to the what hypo questions legend and listen. Will be
(32:12):
right back after the break. First reactions go ahead, oh
hell are you whatever? That whatever? He got our vote?
First of all, he said in the background, crypt walking
up anyway, this is crazy. I do think it's interesting
(32:35):
that there is obviously the criminal criminalizing of black art.
That's important, right, that that's an important part that he's
talking about with this bill. But you know what the
politics works is that you know, you gotta get every
multi layers of support. You need the Midwest to support it.
So there's a freedom of speech aspect of this bill
that I think, So you think to get it done
you kind of got to do the dirty work. You
(32:56):
kind of gotta do what we've seen, what we've like
grown to see on TV where it's like I think,
at least for me, I'll speak for me, like right, like,
before you know, doing any research or becoming politically whatever
the word is, I just always thought there was one
side and there was another side and they hate each
other or whatever. And then you know, you go you
see Scandal and you see all these like political TV shows,
(33:18):
and you see that sometimes to get to and to
get to a certain point, you gotta get in bed
with somebody you don't typically really agree with it, don't
really see it for um. So now that you when
you brought that up when you're asking, I was like, oh,
I never thought of that, right, Like there, maybe that's
why I asked that question, like you may be in
bed with someone who you don't typically see it for, right,
(33:40):
because you know, we know in two with all the
access to information, we know that not all Democrats support
black people. There are some Democrats that are very against
things that benefit black the black community. Um So, so yeah,
I mean that's that's interesting to see if you'll have
to lean into that to get them to. Like you
(34:00):
said across the aisle, there's a reason why prosecutors or
defense attorneys always say you have to wear a suit
in court. Right when you're on trial, the jury is
is judging you based on your character. So if you
are rapping about guns and stuff like that, if they
are able to use that against you, that's gonna you know,
that's really not good for that rapper who's on trick.
(34:23):
So if that's allowed in the courtrooms, rather than it
being used as an artistic expression, Robert Tuniro would never
be in court talking about the people he killed on film, right,
So they've that separation needs to be, you know, save
save the arts man. And I also just start targeting
this point blank period, and I was I was looking
this up while um he was talking. But I think
(34:48):
I talked about this before. Tour Bus tells it's like
an animated show on Hulu. The first season is on
Country Singers and Rock Singers, and I'm watching the season
and I just could believe the things that they got
away with saying and doing. So they're literally it's like
and I'm not even like being um, like putting them
down or being racist or anything like that, but it's
(35:10):
like they're literally like hillbillies that like are drug addicts
and um alcoholics, and they committed crimes. They beat people
up for no reason at bars, they like kill people.
They make songs. They made songs about it that thrived
back in the sixties, seventies, eighties, and then they're telling
(35:31):
it on a cartoon show and nothing is happening to them.
There's no there's no justice being found for the people
that they attacked back in the day, or for the
physical or the physical and mental damage that they've done
to people with the music they made talking about the
ship that they did. So it's like the fact that
they're using rap music and specifically only targeting us when
this has been happening in the country for years. It's
(35:53):
like you gotta go back and do all the art.
That's the case. Johnny Cash said, I shot a man
in Reno just to wash them. I that's a famous
bar that always gets brought up in these cases, and
they know nobody ever bore Johnny Cashing. I'm pretty sure
the FBI didn't. I didn't didn't hear that and started
looking into Johnny Cash is what should watch that after
(36:14):
washing that, I'm like I don't want to hear nothing
about black people being savages or anything, because that really
that's like I've never heard there being a country music
task force. Yeah yeah, I'm not who's who's checking it on?
Bring who's bringing in or the moons? No one's doing this.
(36:35):
But but when? But hip hop artists can't even book
a show in New York City because the hip hop
cops will go to the venue and say no. Like
I even think about Trump on the January six insurrection,
he wanted to get the metal detectors away for his
speech that he did that day. Could you imagine that
(36:55):
happened at a hip hop show where they said get
the metal detects away? That it never happened. They actually
bring extras in. But we're not to this. Yeah, it's
just like Bullsher every time it's brought up, right, It's
just like Bullsher every time it is brought to the forefront,
you know what I mean? Like this shouldn't have to
(37:15):
be Congressman Bowman's, Like that shouldn't have to be his
his thing, his platform to run on. That should be
fair across the board. But we do have to support
him since he is, you know, our representation in the House.
So if you guys are listening, you know, make sure
you guys check out his website, like he said, and
they got a lock show up in the up in
(37:36):
yonkers do all he should. That is how you run
a campaign. They need to hire you. D block no no,
d block no block no no. When we're talking about
I don't want nothing bad to happen to nobody. But
(37:56):
so what was the question for today? We got really
political fast. Um, well, I guess yeah, I don't know.
Maybe today was just a legend. You know, we have
have our question legends and lists. I think Congress Broman
was all legend. Yeah, yeah, he was a legend, Budge. Yeah.
I can't. I just can't. Like this ship is bugged out,
like even saying you're talking about it's like that that
(38:17):
that this is a conversation piece that we're having right,
Like there's a conversation that like the Salem witch hunts
are still going on and we're just now the witches.
Yea good analogy, take us out. That was good. So
if you guys enjoyed today's episode, of course makes you like, share, subscribe, comment,
(38:37):
tell a friend, and tell a friend, Um, follow us
at the What hip Hop Pot on hig So the
next time, don't miss an episode of The Hip Hop Questions,
Legends and List Listen to subscribe on the Black Effect
Podcast Network, I Heart Radio, app or wherever you get
your podcast So What hip Hop, Questions, Legends and List
Podcast is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network
(38:58):
and our executive producer is Darren Byrne and produced by
A King
What up, guys, I'm Alice mom and I am the
man to put the juckson juxtaposition, I am mouse join
you said that different? Why did you do that? That That
you were following? Yeah, but that's not I was lost.
But we're back again with another episode of the What Not.
Today we're gonna be talking politics. But before we talk politics,
(00:21):
before we talk politics, before we talked about what we
can't talk about, can we talk about the legend we
have in the room, the only woman on the bt
IF DJ of the Year nominee DJ knowled. Yeah, thank you,
the youngest and the only girl. What's up? Gang? You
(00:44):
though you thought I was gonna come in and talk
about that? That what you said? No, I just know.
Pretty crazy. How are you feeling? Did you cry a
little bit? Did I cry? I cry if he was crying,
but I didn't want to see it. Tears. I didn't
believe it. I still can't believe it. Actually, you're probably
not gonna be able to leave it until like, so,
(01:05):
how did you did you find out when the when
the post got posted or you already knew? No, I
didn't know. I just got an email. It was like,
congrats on your nomination. R VP and let us know
if you're coming, and I'm like, the hell are they
talking about? This must be a type bo you know,
they must you know, like they send and I'm like, okay,
they just must me to come or something like that.
And then I saw the nice posting tag. I'm like,
(01:26):
oh my god, no, that's just not a table that
I got back to the email, I'm like, oh my god, Like,
I can't believe it that I called my dad, called
my mom, like, Yo, I can't believe this. Can you
believe it? I can't believe that. I can't believe on
a podcast they can't see I can't believe it. And
all I gotta say is I can't believe it. But
I'm just really happy and honored. Honestly, it's crazy. We
(01:49):
already know you're my DJ the year, So no matter what,
you already know, no matter what, we're going, don I
don't even care to win, Honestly, the nominees enough that
we're going down there, We're going. We're going down there
to act the fool. You all going going to act
the food baby the win. So party over here they
say your name, now, yeah, that's it. I don't think
(02:09):
it's gonna get announced that they don't say. They say
the nominees, they say the names. All you're saying you
don't think the award is going to be announced. Yeah,
but it's okay, it doesn't matter. Don't worry. You're ready.
I'm doing right now. I'm gonna be mc light and
the nominees and the nominee is all for DJO Light
(02:29):
has the best. You can't compete. And I remember the
year it started. I remember the first year it started.
It was like, this makes sense, Why are there wait
so long? Yeah? But yeah, I'm super super proud of
you game, super proud, well earned, well, thank you so much.
Keep your food nus now. I can't believe it. But
(02:52):
I'm so happy and I honor. But let's get back
to the podcast. Going against heavy hitters. But you're you're
you deserve to be in that group. Yeah, that's why
I was like, dang, d nice, you know, Drama Mustard.
(03:12):
I've seen the leakers, leakers, sot sour milk. Incredible. You
can do this on a fan base to oh my god, voting,
please vote for me. Um. You just go to be
et dot com slash Hip Hop Awards. Go to DJ
(03:33):
category and they vote for me, and then why you there,
you might as well also vote for the breakfast club.
They got um in there for I guess hip hop platform.
So you know, I got to show love to the
home team. You know that. Now to another, from one
legend to another legend. Yes, we are about to chop
it up with Congressman Jamal Bowman, who was it was
(03:54):
extremely integral um to the Rap Act being introduced to Congress. Um.
So we get to talk to him in a little bit.
You talk to him about his his his hip hop
upbringing and you know what, you know inspired him to
bring such a bill. It's such a necessary bill to
Congress to the forefront. What took so called damn No,
(04:15):
I'm just point Congressman Bowman, Welcome to the what hip
hop Questions legends less Congressman Bowman, how are you well, ma'am?
How are you? I'm good? Thank you, congratulations on your
nominations for the sixteenth district. That's major. Thank you, thank
you so much. And I know that that's home to
(04:35):
hip hop legends like the Locks. Yeah did he too? Writer?
Did he did? He is from Mount Vernon or Harlem.
I think he claims both y did. He's all over
the place. I don't know, but but that's uh, that's major. Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you. How do you feel about How
(04:58):
do you feel about it? No, I'm mean it's it's incredible.
You know, I'm from Halem, East Hallom actually, and I've
been living in Yonkers now for ten years. You know,
my wife and now I just bought a home out
here about five six years ago, and we were renting
here prior to that. I never knew I would end
up in y'all now, particularly in this moment um. And
(05:21):
when you think about the hip hop legacy mentioned the locks,
you know E M Mex, Mary J. Blige, Uh Diddy,
h Pete, Rock, Swisen, Pollop City, it's an incredible legacy.
And on the Bronx side, where the valley is, uh,
it's just it's where it's where it all begans. So
(05:42):
it's very humbling to to to do this work in
this space, particularly in this moment right. Yeah, and let's
let's jump right into an act that you've been working on,
the Rap Act alongside Hank Johnson of Georgia. Can you
just talk about what that piece of legulation is about. Yeah,
we can't criminalizing hip hop. Um, and we can't be
(06:02):
criminalizing rap lyrics. You know, rapist poetry, rappist literature, it's journalism,
it's art. It uses metaphor similarly, personification, storytelling, and if
we allow it to be criminalized in any context, it
creates a slippery slope where now we are targeting the
(06:23):
culture overall and targeting the black men who just proporsonally
represent uh, the m c s in the culture. And unfortunately,
in many core cases across the country, hip hop lyrics
have already been used to criminalize people and put people
in prison. Uh. There's a young person right now who
was arrested at age seventeen and is doing life in jail. Uh,
(06:49):
simply because of his rap lyrics. No other forensic evidence
was presented, it was because of his lyrics. Uh. And
hip hop lyrics continue to be introduced in core cases
at disproportionate rates. We don't see it in rock and roll,
we don't see it in heavy metal, and they talk
about all kind of crazy stuff in their music as well. Right, So,
(07:10):
allow hip hop to be hip hop. We gotta protect
black art and stop targeting our culture. Yeah, I definitely
think it's a target directly on our culture because you
can't even see it within like comedy sits kits. You
see it within film, and like you said, you see
it in country songs where they talk about or literally
act out and paint pictures of crimes, rape and all
(07:33):
types of things. But for some reason we're the target.
Um yeah, I mean unfortunately, that's when you're black in America,
you're you're too often criminalized. Um. And this says, this
goes way back to you know, the Third Team Amendment
all the way to now you know what I'm saying it,
it's something that unfortunately continues. So what motivated you to
(07:54):
want to push this act along? Well, for me, you know,
when I saw the case of young Doug and what
was going on in that particular case, and I saw
how they immediately went to the lyrics to provide additional
evidence in that case, Um, it got my attention, and
then I started reading up on you know, the history
(08:16):
of this and how for the last several years, hip
Hop lyrics have been used over five hundred times in
court cases either they were introduced, attempted to be introduced,
was introduced and used to convict even though they were overturned,
but it's been used consistently and here in New York State,
UH Senators Jamal Bailey and Assemblywomen Catalina Cruz introduced a
(08:40):
bill at the state legislature which passed the state Senate
and now we're hoping it'll pass the New York Assembly
as well. California is also doing some work in this
area as well. But we need this to not just
be federal legislation. We need all states to follow suit
as well, because once we start criminalizing art, were criminalized
in free speech, and once you do that, you no
(09:02):
longer have a democracy. Yeah, it feels like we're already
kind of on that slippery slope between you know this
the art and just other areas as well. But um,
did you grow up a rap fan? Well, of course,
I mean it's my I wouldn't even say say it's
a fan, I'm a fan. I would say it's it's
(09:23):
it's my culture, it's my identity, you know, it's who
I am. Um, it's my it's my way of life.
You know, I was born in seventy six. You know
hip hop started in seventy three, or maybe even before
that if you go way back, right, Um, so I
came up with it. You know. The first song that
got that got me captivated and plugged in was uh
(09:44):
the Show by Dougie Fresh and Slick Rick Um. So
once I heard that, I was like, you know, the
rest was history. And then the first album I copped
and ran into the Ground was criminal Minded by Boogie
Down Productions, and I was followed by Paydon f by
Eric B and Rock Kim, followed by Long Lived a
Kane by Big Daddy Kane, and and the rest is history.
(10:06):
So I'm not just a fan, it's it's it's it's
who I am, um. And you know, as a black
man in America and being the first black member of
Congress in US history in this seat, you know, it's
it's my responsibility to make sure our communities are not criminalized,
whether it's through rap up through other means. So I
(10:27):
just want to introduce you to my co host mass Jones,
who has just joined us. He's gonna be congressmanulations legendary. Congratulations.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Yeah, I beat I beat
Uh Congressman Elliott England. Um. He was there for thirty
one years, So that was like the big start. When
(10:49):
one that's very we Yeah, and we just won the
primary a couple of weeks ago, but now we got
to win the general, so still work to do so
that oh well, well, first of all, I appreciate you
(11:09):
asking that question. You know, we you know, we need
all the support we can get. Um allowing me to
be on this podcast is great. Anyone else who wants
to learn more, you could go to Bowman for Congress
dot com and you can see our policy platforms, uh
any phone banking opportunities, volunteer opportunities, making making donations. All
(11:30):
that is really really important. But I think the bigger
conversation for me is how do we build political power
in hip hop and how do we leverage the power
of the culture to really move legislation at the federal
and state level. Because hip hop is the number one
selling art form musical art form in the world right,
(11:52):
so we have millions and millions, hundreds of millions of fans.
If those hundreds of millions of fans now leverage their
power politically to make sure my colleagues pay attention to
the issues that matter most to us, that's how we
build political power. So absolutely go to Bowman for Congress
dot com help me in any way you can for
my campaign, But I want to have a bigger conversation
(12:15):
about how we build political power because guess what, the
police union got political power in Congress. Uh, the fossil
fuel industry, gas companies got political power, pharmaceutical companies, drug companies,
weapons manufacturers, they all leverage power in Congress and make
us do their bidding. What if hip hop had that
(12:36):
same type of political power. That's the conversation I want
to do. You think that's possible because all those other
industries you name, no one else is in those industries
outside of the people who directly benefit from that industry.
There's nobody in the weapons firearms industry, no one in
the fiospil fuels industry. Like there's no there's no vegans
(13:00):
in the fossil field industry, right, Like there's no there's
no people against climate change in the fossil field industry. Right. Um.
With hip hop, it's completely different. Right that hip hop
is the biggest consumed um musical art for more just
cultural art form in the world. But how many of
those people that are consuming hip hop are actually black
(13:20):
or actually are negatively impacted from the things that hurt
or kill the community. Right, we have a lot of consumers.
Hip hop has had so many consumers that I'm not sure,
And that's why I'm asking. I'm not like giving my
I'm literally asking, um, I'm not sure if hip hop
can have that political um uh input that we would want,
(13:43):
because it's just so many people pulling from right, Like,
there's mag of people that love hip hop, right like
the people that are getting there's raisest people that love
Kanye you know what I mean. I love certain rap songs,
so they're listen to it, but then they'll vote against us,
or they'll be a part of the proponent um that
is against us. So how do we if we're gonna
(14:04):
leverage that in hip hop? How do we do that?
Knowing that that exists? Yeah, well, first of all, I
am already the manifestation of that, the fact that I
am here right now me and it was already done
at some level. Right. So again, this district never had
a person of color represented in US history. Now it does.
(14:26):
And not only is that person me representing it, it's
a person that wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
the knowledge of self I gained from Kara Swan Brother, Jay,
Chuck d and Kim Right. So I'm here as a
representative of the culture at that level. So the culture
already has a voice in me in Congress now if
(14:50):
we So that also shows how this district that I'm
in has changed over time as well for it too,
even a lex one like me. So I wasn't tap
dancing in the district trying to be someone I wasn't.
I was my authentic self as I ran for Congress.
(15:10):
So people in district know I love outang. They know
what I'm about. You know what I'm saying like it's
not even not even a secret. So I'm the beginning,
not the beginning. There was others in Congress, Hakim Jeffreys,
others who are are like this as well. But we
are the beginning of what can come next. The question
is what's next? If if, if Kendrick Lamar says something,
(15:34):
if that, if Drake says something, if the Future says something.
If certain artists say something, they're making a political statement.
You know, I'm excited to see certain artists now get
involved in criminal justice reform. You know, Jay Z and others, right,
But these artists have political power, YouTube have incredible political power, Charlemagne.
(15:56):
Anyone with a microphone has political power, and it's our
job to first engage and then educate, and then we
pull people in to leverage that power. So it don't
happen overnight. But the work has to begin at some point,
and I think we all are ready to do that work.
Do you currently listen to the what hip hop questions?
(16:16):
Legends and list will be right back after this break.
What is the What is the current status of the
rap Act bill at this moment? So we just introduced
it right before the August recess, So in August, everyone disappears,
people take vacations with their families, people go all over
(16:37):
the place. Right, So we don't have that many co
sponsors yet, but between now and December, we're gonna be
pushing incredibly hard to get as many cosponsores as possible.
What usually happens with these bills, and what can happen
with these bills, is they're signed to a committee, the
committee marks it up, the committee vote out the committee,
and then it comes to the House floor for a vote.
(16:58):
Some bills are fast tray, pass all of that and
come to the House for for a vote. So what
we would need is one anyone who listens to this.
Wherever you are in the country, contact your representative and
ask them if they have been a cosponsor of the
rap Act and push them to do so. That's a
big deal. The second thing is on the Senate side,
(17:19):
we need a Senate lead of the bill so it
could pass the House and the Senate. None of these
bills move without lobbying. So that's why your phone calls,
your letters, your emails, your tweets all matter. And the
fact that it's gotten so much attention and nationally really
matters as well. So we're in the very beginning stages,
(17:40):
is the short answer. To get it where we needed
to go. We need everyone to make calls to their
members of Congress encouraging them to support this bill. As
far as lobbying goes, are tweets really effective because just
like personally speaking, I don't really see myself, but I
definitely know I'm not writing or a letter, but I
(18:01):
would like to participate. So when you write a letter,
what's wrong with writing a letter? I mean, I wrote
a letter the other day and my hand hurt. My hand,
my hand hurt for like a good thirty minutes like, like,
you could do this. I don't know if you can
see it, but you could type. You could type a
(18:21):
letter or you could you get that from me. You
can definitely get a type letter. I don't mean write
like literally, you don't have to write it. You can
type it or do you do the thumbs what I'm saying.
So something like that also helps. Yeah, I was just
thinking when you guys are talking about how we can build,
(18:42):
you know, more of a political presence within hip hop
and vice versus, Like, I just feel like a lot
of the means of going about, you know, getting the
power are just really traditional. So you know, in our
minds it's like, well, how do we even start or
where do we go? But I didn't know we could
tweet to lobby. Oh yeah, yeah. We we read every
tweet just so you know, we read every tweet. Oh yeah,
(19:10):
we read every tweet. I don't read all the comments
because there's a bunch of crazy people out there, so
I don't read those. But but we read every tweets.
Someone tweets and us about something that makes sense, we
pay attention to that, you know, someone but also DM
me something that makes sense. I'm like, oh, I didn't
even know. Because sometimes, you know, we all got a
(19:31):
lot going on, right, and so sometimes we just need
you you to bring to our attention that this is
important to you. So you can do that via Twitter,
you can do that via I G. Facebook, TikTok, but
you can also call our offices, leave a message, write
a letter, you know, not a letter, but you know
what I'm saying, send the email like those things all matter,
(19:54):
and the more people do it, the more power it
has because again, let me say this, there are other
groups that called my office constantly about what they want.
And that's why you see people going to Congress with
these ideals or getting elected with ideals, but then they
don't pay attention to them no more because these other
(20:15):
lobbies are constantly harassing them to do what they want
them to do. Is that makes sense? Yes? Absolutely? Um.
I want to ask you if you could give us
some like examples right of rap lyrics that are being
used against rappers in court, Like what what would some
of those examples be? Because I know, like people have
(20:35):
you know, people here about the wrap back bill and
they see things like you know, what's going on with
YSL or you know, uh even you know we go
as far back as IRV. Gotti and and and murder,
ain'ting what they were dealing with. Um, it's such a
large spectrum, right, Like IRV. Gotti and and job Rule
and Chris Gotti. They were on trial trying to uh
(20:56):
and they were being uh, they were attempting to be
connected to you know, supreme and money laundering, and they
were using their names, and they were using like coded
things that they tried to make coded language. You look
at why it sell, and you look at you know,
young thugs lyrics and those. It's such a large spectrum, right,
So what are some of the lyrics that are looking
at right now that that are being perfect here. So
(21:20):
at the top of my head, I don't have a
list of lyrics. I mean, you definitely can look those
up very very easily to see what has been used.
But it all depends on the district attorney and the judge. Right,
the district attorney and the judges can decide on which
lyrics are going to use for what case and what
context and what circumstance and why. Right. The point of
(21:40):
the bill is when you're investigating a crime, don't start
with the rat lyrics like like artists said X, Y,
and Z. You can't start your investigation there. You gotta
start with evidence. You gotta start with with with testimony,
you gotta start with d NA, you gotta start with
other things before you even think about bringing the lyrics
(22:01):
into it. Well, we have seen in many cases across
the country. What you see is that many prosecutors starting
with lyrics and then working backwards from that to then
get to evidence that may or may not be there.
And we've even seen cases where, uh, the lyrics only
in and of themselves were used and not other evidence.
(22:23):
So that is just completely insane and crazy. I'll give
you an example of other artists, Um Freddie Mercury, Mercury
from the art from the group Queen talking about shooting
and killing a man right like. He said that point
blank on his record. He didn't do it, but it
was a metaphor to go into the literature that he
(22:44):
was spitting on a particular song, which is what rap
does all the time. One other point I want to
make is this, there's also ghost writing and rap. So
ghost writing, Uh, and someone says something that can be
interpreted as a crime, Uh, you know who do you
charge for that? Then? Who do you hold accountable for that? Again,
(23:05):
it's just it's the criminalization of a culture that's disproportionately black,
disproportionately black man, and that we believe that's why it
is being done, and that's why we introduced the bill.
What is the what is the um the expectation when
this thing goes in front, like when it goes to
(23:27):
its full completion, what is your you know what it like?
If it doesn't work, are you are are you prepared
to or is it even able to be for for again?
Or is this this like a one dude? Do you
get like a one time shot at this? Good question?
So every every cycle, you have the opportunity to reintroduce
(23:49):
the bill every site. The cycles are two years, So
assuming I'm re elected in November, that means I'll be
there again through right, So I'm able If we don't
pass it by December thirty one this year, I could
reintroduce it for the hundred and eight teenth Congress, which
(24:09):
begins January three. That makes sense, So it's we introduce
it this cycle. If we don't get the co sponsors
and votes to pass it this cycle, we reintroduce it.
You keep reintroducing it until the President signs it into law,
so that in order for that to happen, it has
(24:31):
to pass the House, has to pass the Senate, and
then it goes to the President's desk. Congressman, I have
one last question, one of our last question. I know
you gotta go soon. Um, is the freedom of speech
tenant of this bill important to get Republicans or the
across the aisle um side into this bill? Obviously, Um,
(24:54):
freedom of speech is something that we we know they
conservative right brings up a lot when it comes to
the constant tuition, Is that an important aspect of this
bill that needs that you need to lean into to
get across the aisle support? Yes, a hundred percent, and
it's what we've been leaning into overalls as I've talked
about this building on different media outlets. UM. So we're
(25:17):
hoping that we'll get us by parts and support now
in the House. We don't need by partisan support because
we can pass the bill with a simple majority. In
the Senate when there's fifty fifty split like this Democrats Republicans,
we need at least ten Democrats to go around something
called the filibuster. So yes, absolutely, what we're hoping is
(25:39):
you know, going forward, Republicans will come back to the
senses have been because they've been wildent in Congress on
many levels. So hopefully they'll come back to their senses
and we're able to work together on legislation that we
can agree on, and we expect to get a lot
of Republicans support because it is first and foremost a
free speech issue. Is it easy to leave? Leave it there? Right?
(26:02):
Is it easy to leave the the differences in the
courtroom or you know, on Congress steps, And can you
see these people that are opposing this bill? Can you
see them as decent people outside of this or is
this a true indicator of how they feel about us? Well,
it's not just this bill as a one off, right,
(26:24):
I mean other legislation members of Congress support and don't support.
That is indicative of racial bias, explicit racism, discrimination against
certain groups of people, lobbies that lobbies that they work with. Right,
So if you see a group of not just Republicans,
(26:47):
but Democrats sometimes do not support certain bills as well.
But if you see a group of legislators not supporting
the right back, not supporting the women's right to choose,
not supporting and voting rights legislation, and not supporting the
George Floyd Justice and Police and Act. Not supporting reparations
for African Americans. Right, there's a series of bills that
(27:08):
fall into categories where this would greatly benefit African Americans.
I'm not supporting that. I'm don and that other bills
for women, other bills for the working class, etcetera, etcetera.
So um, it's you look at a suite of legislation
before you make those determinations. But at the end of
the day, you know, it's fifty states in the country.
(27:30):
There's a lot of different a lot of different districts.
I'm gonna you're gonna see my name on the bill
with someone I probably don't would never go out and
have a drink with. But for whatever reason, we need
to get on that bill to make sure it passes.
Because that issue we were on the same page with, right,
but nine of the other ones we will not be.
(27:52):
That's just the way, Uh, that's the way democracy works. Well,
congresson moment, I'm not gonna hold you up too much longer.
Is that one last question? Is there any other issues
that you're super passionate about that you would just like
to speak on Yes. So education um is a is
a big one UM for me and for the country. UM.
(28:12):
Our schools, particularly schools in in in redline lower income communities,
have been underfunded for several decades. So we have to
look at funding in those schools. We also have to
look at the curriculum in those schools because there's not
enough black history and those schools, not enough multicultural history,
not enough for the arts and sports and enrichment activities.
(28:36):
And our system of standardized testing is completely obsolete and
we need to be doing a lot more implementing a
lot more creativity in our schools for our kids. So
education is a big issue. Uh. Climate change is another
big issue. You know, our our planet is literally dying um,
and we need to do something about that or we're
(28:58):
gonna have famine and and mask migration and more conflict.
That's another one. And other issues related to equality, whether
their gender based or racial based or economic because you know,
we still have a system where you know, and I'll
use a hip hop reference, you know, people like jay
Z have been bragging for many years about how how
(29:20):
wealthy is and how he's getting to a billion or
whatever he's at one two billion, Jeff Bezels at a
hundred and fifty two billions, right, And that's a system
of wealth inequality that we need to deal with as well,
which is why the issue of reparations continues to come
up for African Americans. Another. So there are many others,
but I leave it there, all right, and before we
(29:41):
let you get out of you know, this is the
one hip hop question legend and listen got to ask
a hip hop question. What is your go to political
hip hop song that gets you going before you got
to go in front of Congress, before before the votes
come in? What are you listening to? What's in the
headphones getting you stirred up? That's a one song song.
(30:06):
Will give us a few songs I've been with my
whole life. I don't know if it's a political song,
but the song Triumph by Wu Tang is like a
go to just to get hyped. But Kendricks whole new album,
it's incredible. Yeah, this is I'm voting. I'm voting for
(30:26):
this guy. He got me, he got my vote. My
philosophy of my Philosophy by Boogie Down Productions was gonna
be up there to see. I mean, it's hard to
go to one song. My philosophy would be up there,
my philosophy, Fight the Power Um the first Whole x
Plan album. I mean there's so many, but wull tang
(30:48):
he said get hyped. So when he said get hyped,
I had to go to triumph by wu Tang. Well,
we got our support here me and I love you
have our support. I have a weekend. You don't make
anything happen. Uh, let us know and will will definitely
be ready to help um and you know before you
get out of here, or do you want to tell
the people how they can support you, how to confine you,
(31:09):
how they can vote all of that? Yes, peace and
love everyone. So Bowman for Congress dot com. That's Bowman
for Congress dot com, not the number for the word for.
You could go there and learn all about our platform.
There's an election coming up in November election day. So
I'm on the ballot in New York sixteen in New
(31:29):
York State. The governors on the ballot, I'm supporting and
governmor Hocal. She's a Democrat. This Republican get in, it's
gonna be kind of crazy. So we've got to keep
him out. But whatever you are it's not just about
you know, federal and state elections. Pay attention to your
school board elections, pay attention to city council, pay attention
to county because these are people that are being elected
(31:52):
that they're making decisions for our lives and we're not
even aware these elections are going on. So go to
Bowman for Congress dot com. Learn more about us, and
you know a lot more work to do. Well, thank
you for joining us. Enjoy your day of course, y'all.
Two piece of love, see you soon. You're now listening
to the what hypo questions legend and listen. Will be
(32:12):
right back after the break. First reactions go ahead, oh
hell are you whatever? That whatever? He got our vote?
First of all, he said in the background, crypt walking
up anyway, this is crazy. I do think it's interesting
(32:35):
that there is obviously the criminal criminalizing of black art.
That's important, right, that that's an important part that he's
talking about with this bill. But you know what the
politics works is that you know, you gotta get every
multi layers of support. You need the Midwest to support it.
So there's a freedom of speech aspect of this bill
that I think, So you think to get it done
you kind of got to do the dirty work. You
(32:56):
kind of gotta do what we've seen, what we've like
grown to see on TV where it's like I think,
at least for me, I'll speak for me, like right, like,
before you know, doing any research or becoming politically whatever
the word is, I just always thought there was one
side and there was another side and they hate each
other or whatever. And then you know, you go you
see Scandal and you see all these like political TV shows,
(33:18):
and you see that sometimes to get to and to
get to a certain point, you gotta get in bed
with somebody you don't typically really agree with it, don't
really see it for um. So now that you when
you brought that up when you're asking, I was like, oh,
I never thought of that, right, Like there, maybe that's
why I asked that question, like you may be in
bed with someone who you don't typically see it for, right,
(33:40):
because you know, we know in two with all the
access to information, we know that not all Democrats support
black people. There are some Democrats that are very against
things that benefit black the black community. Um So, so yeah,
I mean that's that's interesting to see if you'll have
to lean into that to get them to. Like you
(34:00):
said across the aisle, there's a reason why prosecutors or
defense attorneys always say you have to wear a suit
in court. Right when you're on trial, the jury is
is judging you based on your character. So if you
are rapping about guns and stuff like that, if they
are able to use that against you, that's gonna you know,
that's really not good for that rapper who's on trick.
(34:23):
So if that's allowed in the courtrooms, rather than it
being used as an artistic expression, Robert Tuniro would never
be in court talking about the people he killed on film, right,
So they've that separation needs to be, you know, save
save the arts man. And I also just start targeting
this point blank period, and I was I was looking
this up while um he was talking. But I think
(34:48):
I talked about this before. Tour Bus tells it's like
an animated show on Hulu. The first season is on
Country Singers and Rock Singers, and I'm watching the season
and I just could believe the things that they got
away with saying and doing. So they're literally it's like
and I'm not even like being um, like putting them
down or being racist or anything like that, but it's
(35:10):
like they're literally like hillbillies that like are drug addicts
and um alcoholics, and they committed crimes. They beat people
up for no reason at bars, they like kill people.
They make songs. They made songs about it that thrived
back in the sixties, seventies, eighties, and then they're telling
(35:31):
it on a cartoon show and nothing is happening to them.
There's no there's no justice being found for the people
that they attacked back in the day, or for the
physical or the physical and mental damage that they've done
to people with the music they made talking about the
ship that they did. So it's like the fact that
they're using rap music and specifically only targeting us when
this has been happening in the country for years. It's
(35:53):
like you gotta go back and do all the art.
That's the case. Johnny Cash said, I shot a man
in Reno just to wash them. I that's a famous
bar that always gets brought up in these cases, and
they know nobody ever bore Johnny Cashing. I'm pretty sure
the FBI didn't. I didn't didn't hear that and started
looking into Johnny Cash is what should watch that after
(36:14):
washing that, I'm like I don't want to hear nothing
about black people being savages or anything, because that really
that's like I've never heard there being a country music
task force. Yeah yeah, I'm not who's who's checking it on?
Bring who's bringing in or the moons? No one's doing this.
(36:35):
But but when? But hip hop artists can't even book
a show in New York City because the hip hop
cops will go to the venue and say no. Like
I even think about Trump on the January six insurrection,
he wanted to get the metal detectors away for his
speech that he did that day. Could you imagine that
(36:55):
happened at a hip hop show where they said get
the metal detects away? That it never happened. They actually
bring extras in. But we're not to this. Yeah, it's
just like Bullsher every time it's brought up, right, It's
just like Bullsher every time it is brought to the forefront,
you know what I mean? Like this shouldn't have to
(37:15):
be Congressman Bowman's, Like that shouldn't have to be his
his thing, his platform to run on. That should be
fair across the board. But we do have to support
him since he is, you know, our representation in the House.
So if you guys are listening, you know, make sure
you guys check out his website, like he said, and
they got a lock show up in the up in
(37:36):
yonkers do all he should. That is how you run
a campaign. They need to hire you. D block no no,
d block no block no no. When we're talking about
I don't want nothing bad to happen to nobody. But
(37:56):
so what was the question for today? We got really
political fast. Um, well, I guess yeah, I don't know.
Maybe today was just a legend. You know, we have
have our question legends and lists. I think Congress Broman
was all legend. Yeah, yeah, he was a legend, Budge. Yeah.
I can't. I just can't. Like this ship is bugged out,
like even saying you're talking about it's like that that
(38:17):
that this is a conversation piece that we're having right,
Like there's a conversation that like the Salem witch hunts
are still going on and we're just now the witches.
Yea good analogy, take us out. That was good. So
if you guys enjoyed today's episode, of course makes you like, share, subscribe, comment,
(38:37):
tell a friend, and tell a friend, Um, follow us
at the What hip Hop Pot on hig So the
next time, don't miss an episode of The Hip Hop Questions,
Legends and List Listen to subscribe on the Black Effect
Podcast Network, I Heart Radio, app or wherever you get
your podcast So What hip Hop, Questions, Legends and List
Podcast is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network
(38:58):
and our executive producer is Darren Byrne and produced by
A King
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