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Ep. 198 – Emcee Coattailz: KJ 52 VS Eminem
346 Plays4 months ago
This week we skipped the presidential debate to discuss the clash of two actual titans: Christian hip-hop sensation KJ 52 (it’s important that you pronounce it five-two) and Eminem. For those troglodytes that just aren’t plugged into contemporary culture like we are, back at the turn of the century KJ 52 wrote a song called “Dear Slim” which was an open letter to Eminem. It did garner the attention of a couple of music news outlets, but it’s unclear whether Eminem actually heard it. Nowadays, Pastor KJ 52 (that’s right) uses the incredible story of his speaking truth to power to illustrate how God uses even the most unlikely of people to accomplish big things. I think you’re going to enjoy this story…
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Transcript
Introduction and Humorous Confessions
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to MDA. That's Mountain Dew Anonymous. For those that have abuse problems with Mountain Dew, we have a new member today. His name is KJ52. KJ, introduce yourself. Oh, yeah, it's KJ52 and I'm addicted to Mountain Dew. Yeah. Tell the people a little bit about what happened. Hey, what am I gonna do? What? I was addicted to Mountain Dew. Yeah. When I drink like one or two, these people be like, what's wrong with you, man? I'm acting like a fool. If you want a caffeine in the sugar too, peeing ain't like I ain't got a clue. This is what I'm gonna say to you. I'm like, uh, give me that Mountain Dew. Give me that Mountain Dew. Give me that Mountain Dew. I ain't playing with you. You better give me that. Give me that. Give me that Mountain Dew. Give me that Mountain Dew. Give me that Mountain Dew. I ain't playing with you. You better give me that. Give me that.
Political Commentary and Debate Discussion
00:01:02
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Happy 9-11 Eve. And welcome to another episode of Growing Up Christian. I'm Sam. I'm Casey. And it's also the debate tonight. What a great way to commemorate the Eve of 9-11 with yet another seemingly as disastrous event. I mean, we'll see. I don't know how it's going to play out, but I'm not watching it. Obviously, I'm not. We're here doing this right now.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, it's the sort of thing that- Which team are you rooting for? Oh, I'm full in on Trump now. who Ever since you saw- I'm tired of resisting. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you your inclinations bring you that way and ever since, ah, ah man, I'm blanking on that British hacks name who did Tucker Carlson's little event there.
00:01:54
Speaker
oh Oh God, that long hair dude, he the the guy who's a Russell Brand. Yeah, he the the addict to conservative pipeline. Dude, he went all in on that. That's a real thing. You're like, I'm an addict and I've i lived my entire life in chaos and going to crazy sex parties and definitely not making sure everyone who was there was actually over the age of 18. And you go from like that chaos to like,
00:02:21
Speaker
the right wing nut job. I guess it's such a common way to go. We've covered it so many times here where it's like, I was an addict and now I'm a conservative douchebag. You're like, okay. Yeah. I mean, we, that tracks, we get it. You need order in your life. Otherwise you're going to ruin all of your relationships for the second time in your life.
00:02:43
Speaker
it's a but too. might I must flee from all appearance of ah my former self. Yeah, it's a complete detour from who you were. Dude, I'm actually I'm not, I'm not so much a Trump fan as I am a JD Vance fan. no and It's because you guys see eye to eye on couches I hear.
00:03:03
Speaker
yeah Similar inclination. No, it's because I'm masochist and not having kids. I just like being berated a little bit. Oh, yeah. Yeah. yeah By Daddy J. Well, it's really it's really your wife, the one who's getting berated. I'm sure he doesn't blame you or hold you accountable for that at all. If anything, she was supposed to like wrap her legs around you and make you finish inside of her in order to have children. And you're just the pull out champ. Yeah. Night country style.
Critique of Trump's Interview and Style
00:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, I can't watch it i I'll watch it after I'll watch like highlights and clips and lowlights and But I can't do that shit. I can't I Watched shockingly enough ah Lex Friedman had Trump on his podcast last week ah Which was I mean he's doing the wild yet. It's a wild get ah even for Lex and I think really like it was bad. I mean, it was bad. Trump just like dug his own grave on it. Not that people who like Trump will see that, but like ah you could you could get a solid counter in the top right corner and keep it steady throughout the interview of just Trump contradicting himself at the beginning.
00:04:24
Speaker
of a circular like ah of an argument and then he just like just goes in circles until he finds himself accidentally on the other side of it like it happened the whole it was it was abysmal it was like it just if you're a human with a pulse it's an embarrassing position to put yourself in but Whatever we we know like plenty of people aren't gonna care about that Lex interviewed him horrifically it was it was embarrassing on Lexus part two at first I was kind of like I get it you're just asking questions and letting him run amok
00:04:59
Speaker
But the more I thought about it, the more I just felt like the worst way to do an interview. Like if you're a serious person interviewing a fucking potential president, you're like someone who's running for fucking president and you have zero remarks or retorts for any claims made. Like every, every false claim Trump made blatantly false. Everybody does that, though, like the whole like, oh, they didn't call out the lies. It's like the worst thing for Trump is to be uninterrupted. Like when he just gets to talk stream of conscious, that's when he looks the worst. That's when it becomes apparent like that. There's just that the emperor's got no clothes. It becomes a parent.
00:05:44
Speaker
It's just, I think it's, your help I mean, those people are not, they're not like one clever retort away from, from being like, Oh, wow, he's full of crap. Like, no, but and just sometimes nobody's being convinced at this point. So like, it's just, I don't know. I don't, I don't, I'm not sure what I'm not sure what a good interview with him looks like anymore. Well, but i think Kamala's interview on CNN. I thought they, and I mean, I thought it was a little bit annoying, that c but I don't know.
Kamala Harris's Interview and Political Analysis
00:06:15
Speaker
I take that back, I'm gonna walk it back a bit. CNN approached Kamala's interview as if they were Fox News, I felt like. It was all like, well, people say this and you did this, what's your response? It was kind of antagonistic. And I was like, that felt right. You don't wanna go on CNN and have a bunch of liberal softball questions. You kinda wanna know.
00:06:43
Speaker
like It is just, ah I don't know. So I found her interview fine. I thought that was another one that I watched shockingly. um And I thought she did pretty good responding to like some bullshit questions here and there. ah Of course, she loses me fully on her like unwavering support for Israel's absolute destruction of Palestine. So that fucking sucked. They let her be clear. Yeah, they did. She was clear. Yeah, very clear.
00:07:13
Speaker
Let me be clear, nothing's gonna change. Nothing. At least she was like, a lot of times they're like clear on the worst parts of their stances and then they're just ambiguous on everything else, but I'll hand it to her. She was pretty clear about most things.
00:07:29
Speaker
I thought it was a solid interview. But Trump, of course, goes on. I'm guessing like I'm guessing for Trump to do any interview. That's going to be a quote unquote off the cuff as with Kamala. I'm not. This isn't a I think this is just what happens at this point in any presidential election. I have to imagine that they know, to some degree, the questions up front. Right.
00:07:54
Speaker
they're not walking into like an ambush they need to be like prepped with a sort of response that's my guess i could be wrong but if commas going on cnn i'm guessing there's like at least like a little like one pager on like the general idea of the questions that are going to be asked Yeah, there's not supposed to be, but they kind of got caught doing that earlier this year with Biden. Oh yeah, did they? I just assume that's how things go, but right right before the the debate debacle. But like Trump's not going to talk to any serious player either. like
00:08:28
Speaker
It's not like Trump's ever gonna bear these things like he's not dude which is he's not trying that hard anymore like he's totally seem it he's got no like like message discipline or anything like that like he's all over the place I mean he The, the magic of 2016 is just v long gone. And I think the more of this he does, the more talking he does, the more it becomes apparent that there's just nothing there. And like, he's an old man too, you know? and That's looking more obvious now that he's not compared to Biden. Like when I watched his interview with Lex, I was like, he reminds me a lot.
00:09:10
Speaker
At times when he goes in circles and says nothing for like six and a half minutes, I'm like, Oh, this is talking to my wife's 94 year old grandfather who has like dementia. You're like, yeah, this is, I mean, I sent you a video. I actually posted it in our discord of me sitting on the porch with him while he talked about birds.
00:09:31
Speaker
Yeah, that was great. Yeah, it was great. He's he's ah ah awesome. I fucking love it. But I was in that conversation for 30 minutes and all I ever said was, no way. Huh? Oh, yeah. Oh, really? Like, that's it. And that's all he needed to go like 30 minutes on the birds that show up at the bird feeder.
00:09:50
Speaker
And that was what I was brought to when I was listening to Trump be interviewed by Lex Friedman. I was like, that's crazy. Like he's really, it's really, it is, I mean, he was, I, 2016, I always heard that and go, wow, this is really dumb. But now I hear it and go, it's not just dumb, it's it's incoherent. It's not, it's you're not sir you're not connecting the dots and you're not is you're not all the way there.
00:10:17
Speaker
did tim dillon said like some of the best stuff about this whole deal and like why trump is like slipping and his poll numbers have gone upside down to some extent and stuff like that he's like He was like, none of this was ever about policy. He's like, the the winner is going to be the one that's throwing the best party. And he's like, right now, Kamala's throwing parties. And it's fun. And people are showing up for him. And Trump, on the other hand, is just kind of like trudging from interview to interview, just grousing about nothing, talking in circles, not really laying out anything meaningful. And like most importantly, like it's not fun anymore.
00:10:57
Speaker
You know, he's grumpy. Allegedly, ah you know, people part of his inner circle say that he spends a lot of time just playing golf and like just being grumpy about how things aren't going his way.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's that's exactly what he should be doing. Yeah, campaign circuit. Maybe he can do that professionally in a couple of months. That'd be nice. But at the same time, it's definitely not. It's it had like the I feel like, at least my understanding is like the polls had this like flash of like, everyone being amped. But it's definitely not. It's not in the bag for Kamala at all. No, she's still a terrible politician. And yeah yeah, yeah, she didn't change like her her whole persona between, you know, June and now. No, she's doing better off the cuff than she was several years ago. I'll give her that. um
00:11:59
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know, man, it's it's still a toss
Electoral System and Political Impact
00:12:02
Speaker
up. It seems like whenever you look at those little maps, the road to victory maps, the fucking electoral. Also, i free you kind of forget ever and in between election cycles, but every four years you're reminded of just how fucking stupid this idea of the electoral colleges. God, it's so obviously dumb.
00:12:23
Speaker
I don't think so. You don't? Oh my God, it's so stupid. Nobody in the center of the country would have like any say in anything if it weren't for the electoral college. At least we get like a couple of votes that we can throw in a direction. But why should why should a smaller number of people swing anything? Because you live on the coast and you have totally different concerns and views and ideas and needs than like people in the middle of the country.
00:12:51
Speaker
And so they should have a say too. So because they're a minority, their their voice should be weighted more seems like a wild idea. But they have no voice whatsoever if it's just a popular vote that's completely swung by like, you know, 1520 major cities.
00:13:10
Speaker
Most things run on a smaller level. Very little should be done on the national stage. That's that's kind of my thoughts. you know if they dis If they just disbanded the electoral college, like i wouldn't I wouldn't so much as write a like a sad Facebook post about it. I'm acting like I care a lot about this, but there's it's just words. yeah I guess i look policy should happen on like the state level or lower because Like the idea of just like major so like New York City having like any sort of saying what happens in like rural Kansas is kind of stupid. But I feel like it it mostly does. Like i I can say for certain that like the the shift between Trump and Biden and presidency had very little impact on my personal life as a resident of Massachusetts. That's also true. Like it's
00:14:06
Speaker
I felt it. yeah I got a better child. I got a good child tax credit for a while and then COVID ended and things wore out and no one resigned. it Like there's just like, like on a national level, like what the things we, we talk about a national level is like healthcare, uh,
00:14:25
Speaker
abortion ah and and and taxes, taxes on the rich, corporate taxes, shit like that. ah Capital gains, ah whether or not the people voting on, whether or not they should be allowed to trade stocks, the stuff that you can't do anything about and that they have no interest in doing anything about. so like It's I don't know. i At the end of the day, though, like I live in Massachusetts and we have mass health.
Healthcare and Personal Voting Reflections
00:14:56
Speaker
And I know that almost all the like where I work, which is a poor district, a poor school district, almost all the families are on mass health and can get health coverage without it absolutely bankrupting them because they barely have enough money for groceries. And I believe in that. I just believe in nationalizing that as well. So that way we just have health. People just have health care.
00:15:18
Speaker
And the government can you know negotiate slightly better rates than $10,000 a box for insulin or whatever the fuck it was. But either way, I think for the most part, that's what we are voting for. And if you could have a clear delineation or partition. And I think what mixes that up for people is just we live in a culture war era of politics where they act like where they act like what they're going to do is for the fucking rural fucking wherever they are. Because at the end of the day, like, it's not like Trump, despite how they voted, did anything for anyone in rural America anyway. It was just like, he still gave tax cuts to the rich in corporate tax breaks and all that fun stuff. He said Merry Christmas and he didn't care what people said. That's true. So you got me on that one.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, now I just I'm going to edit all this out because I just feel dumb for like getting triggered over nothing and then being confronted with facts. Well, usually i am I don't even have any ideals anymore. I'm just like a collection of triggers that might send me into an angry rant that I immediately rethink and go, I don't know if that's I don't know if that's the case.
00:16:32
Speaker
and That's kind of all anyone is. ah The amount of times I've been overly triggered on things that I have no business having. I have no skin in the game. I have very little knowledge. I just have like emotions about something that doesn't impact my life at all. That's kind of what we're all doing. We're all playing this game. We all sit down and watch the news and vote like we're like, like we know.
00:16:59
Speaker
And that's what's so funny is people like us who are like like, we're marginally more informed than the average like Fox news or CNN consumer. Uh, we at least engage with people who view things differently than us. I think that's something both you and I do on a regular level is listen to people that we might not agree with. And, uh, at that alone, it's like,
00:17:27
Speaker
Then but then I go like ah then you see all these like I see all these Instagram posts from people who live around me. And it's like a Tuesday afternoon and they have I voted stickers and I go, oh, fuck, we were supposed to vote today. Like, I don't know. And then I don't even know who's in like my local politicians are. We have one that I don't like, but wins all the time and runs uncontested. I could run, dude. I could do something about it.
00:17:55
Speaker
But my wife doesn't want me to. No, that's not why, but she doesn't. She does not want me to do things. in a total milwaia about it But I would, I would like that. I'll start my political campaign. I unfortunately have a couple hundred hours of this podcast that might cause some problems for me, but I can't lie. that's a problem I mean, I could flip flop. A lot of people do that. But I if I'm going to win in my area, I have to just like, let's see, this is why I shouldn't do it. I'm already thinking about how to play the game. And that's the fucking problem. Yeah, I would love to for you to get to your first like press conference and somebody be like, um, hey, Mr. Mr. Sam, did you or did you not make masturbation jokes about Jesus's ah the holes in his hands?
00:18:46
Speaker
is stig, stigmata masturbatory jokes. Um, I did. And I have no way out of that one. I don't. I mean, I'm on the record. I don't know. I don't know how to lie. It's just locker room. Yeah, I guess that's why, see, that's why I wouldn't be a good politician. I didn't immediately have a good lie.
00:19:05
Speaker
for how to get out of that. I think if I did run though, my commitment to it would be to at least keep like the way, like this about me, like my my rhetoric and language. i I feel like the leftist movement hasn't had someone that brash enough yet.
Trump's Political Appeal and Cultural Reflections
00:19:25
Speaker
Like that's what people liked about Trump.
00:19:27
Speaker
To some degree is just like that off-the-cuff brashness. um That's why Fetterman won. I mean, he didn't, you know, turn out to be the best, but that helped. Yeah, sure would suck if he had an aneurysm. He yeah he had that every man kind of like...
00:19:44
Speaker
feel people were like, I relate to this guy. ah So I don't know if I was going to run, I'd want to make sure I keep that plus it i mean it is helpful. Like all I have to do like for local elections, a couple of F bombs gets you write ups in every local paper pretty quick for just being unprofessional. Boom. I don't even need a marketing team or strategy. Yeah, like I would love to be like the Rob Ford of like rural Kansas.
00:20:11
Speaker
But instead of like smoking crack, I'm only doing legal drugs like imported cratum and B vitamins.
00:20:21
Speaker
i I still don't even know what that stuff is. I just know it's funny. a Yeah, it's it's white trash drugs. I like it. It's very fun.
00:20:34
Speaker
I need to give you laughter, because I think it's not like it doesn't it's not like it gets does it it's not like a high, right? It's not like you're... No, it's just kind of like a it's like Adderall light in powder form. Okay. Choked down in green chunks. If you do like a ton of it, does it like can you can you do too much of it and feel like, well, now I can't even really function?
Substance Use and Personal Experiences
00:21:01
Speaker
I think you can do too much of it and have to go to the poison control center.
00:21:06
Speaker
ah yeah it's got It's got a built-in safety mechanism where like if you overdo it, you just puke brown all over. Gotcha. It's so it's not going to overly impair your judgment. it'll You'll get sick before it does that. It's not like accidentally doing 50 milligrams of THC.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah, that would be a, I mean, just the anxiety of knowing that that's going to hit at some point would probably do me in. I wouldn't even be feeling it yet. And I'm like, oh my God, oh, it's coming. It's true. I don't, I have a relatively low tolerance. ah The most I've ever done over a period of time, like the most I've ever done at once is five milligrams.
00:21:52
Speaker
Uh, I've done the most I've ever really done over like a, maybe it was like a three hour period was like seven and a half. Um, and that was all I need. like I don't need to do more than i more than that. I probably at the time that I did that, whatever circumstances in planetary alignments were going on at the time.
00:22:14
Speaker
I felt like I was good, but under normal circumstances, I'm like, I don't do it to hang out. Like if I do it when I'm hanging out, I'm like, I guess I i just kind of zone out. Like I don't enjoy it. And I know I'm zoning out and I know that I'm thinking about what to say too long. And then a moment passes and then I don't say it. And I go, well now it's too late to say it. right And then I'm like, but maybe I should. And then you do. And then you go, wait, how long ago do we have that conversation?
00:22:42
Speaker
Like I don't I don't like that for hanging out. That doesn't work great for me. um So I just very rarely use. I very rarely use weed. I just don't know how to have a good time on it. And some people just do it so casually and they're like, now we're going to hang out. If I smoke weed, forget it, forget it. It's like 40 minutes at max. I have left in me after I smoke weed before I go to bed.
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It really makes me just fall asleep, which I do enjoy like the, the sleep that you get yeah from, uh, from a good high. It's fantastic. But, uh, yeah, I can't, I can't really do much on it. Like I just, I kind of clam up. I can't talk, you know, if I have like just a, just a millimeter too much of it, then I'm, I'm silent and it's just a dumb grin on my face and like me swatting imaginary flies. And getting cottonmouth. Smoking weed gives me cottonmouth like a motherfucker. But also, anyone who tries to give me any business about indica or sativa, I just go, it doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't matter.
00:23:57
Speaker
I could probably give you some like peer-reviewed research on why that doesn't matter really that like or did the studies done on strains of weed from dispensaries that claim to be like 60, 40, indigo sativa, shit like that. All wrong, all wrong across the board. There was a great sides versus episode on it where they cite probably over, there's probably over a hundred citations in that episode of studies that have been done on this shit. It's just not accurate. The this the controls on like what is being bought quote unquote is just not that stringent. So like,
00:24:40
Speaker
If it says 60 40 blend 30 70 whatever you're probably not getting that and then Even to the point where it's like you you whatever wedding cake. That's a that's a strain, right? ah if you get wedding cake from one dispensary and wedding cake from another and you test them not the same like just because it has the same name doesn't fucking matter I believe that and i so I can't even say clearly if i if I know if I've truly had indica or sativa or whatever the fuck. I just know that whatever it says on the package has never made any difference on how I respond to it. And I think it's possibly in people's heads. That's my take.
00:25:24
Speaker
I don't think you're wrong. kind of ah I'm kind of of the same opinion based on my experience. I think when you have such low tolerance, like i never I never smoke weed, use weed, whatever. like It's maybe a couple times a year. When you have that low of a tolerance for it, like I don't think any of that stuff really matters. That could that could be part of it.
00:25:47
Speaker
it could be a lower tolerance which i've previously stated that i have which yeah that might be part of it that might be why everything just makes me fall asleep i don't know i do i do know and have noticed my tolerance improving but i really seldom do it my I know countless people who go, if I had to pick, if I had to give up one weed or alcohol, I'd give up alcohol all day. Like not me. If I had to, I just don't, I don't, I could, I could go the rest of my life without smoking or using weed. I like to drink. I would prefer that over weed in almost every situation. I, if, if something happened and I had developed like a condition where like I could never have alcohol again, like I it wouldn't,
00:26:36
Speaker
I wouldn't care like, yeah you'd be fine I really don't enjoy alcohol very much. And I don't know, i I don't need it. Like, I would uppers would be a big problem for me. Yeah, because I just want to go fast all night long. And I could see myself getting ah into real trouble with, ah you know, coke or whatever else.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. There's still time. Yeah, there's play time. I could see that. I mean, if you've ever done Adderall illegally, I've actually never popped an Adderall. I've never borrowed, like borrowed, you don't give it back. I've never used a friend's Adderall. I've never, that's a drug I've never, I've actually never fucked with an upper in my life. I use Adderall a lot. Yeah. I enjoy it.
00:27:20
Speaker
I should. ah Well, maybe I shouldn't. I think I would, I think it'd be great. I do. I do wonder if it would become a problem, but that's why, but I don't know. I feel like people who like people who say they could give up alcohol, but over weed or whatever, I feel like they say it with like a scoff in their voice and maybe I'm being defensive, but I feel like I don't, I could, I don't, I could easily give up. I just, I would rather weed. I'm like, I don't,
00:27:49
Speaker
I don't know if that's like a flex or a brag. I don't know why we're even having this conversation. They're both bragging, problematic substances that have definitely impacted the lives of many in negative ways.
Fast Food Anecdotes and Societal Issues
00:28:00
Speaker
I don't care what other people do, but I do think that I'm better than them. Of course. I mean, that's the general. That's the human condition, right? Right. he I drink, but I feel like I should start like a fantasy football style bracketing thing.
00:28:19
Speaker
Maybe like, uh, what do you know, like sports bets or whatever dot.com would sponsor the podcast and we could do like a bracketed system on which substance is eventually going to kill which of my internal organs. yeah Okay. And I don't know. It's hard to say I did, uh,
00:28:37
Speaker
I did have Wendy's saucy nugs for dinner and immediately regretted it. They have saucy nugs now. That's like that's a thing. That's just the Wendy's nuggets, but they spin them in sauce like it's Buffalo Wild Wings? Yeah, exactly. It's disgusting. It's really bad. i tried to I was trying to order Asian food and I tried- It was just in a puddle of sauce? It was. Yeah, like the Orangist buffalo sauce.
00:29:04
Speaker
Oh, gross. You went Buffalo, too. I i don't know about. It's rare that I want Buffalo because I feel like most of the time you get Buffalo and like, yeah, that orange that.
00:29:17
Speaker
I could get behind a good buffalo. I have a low heat tolerance, but fast food buffalo, I know I'm out on quick. Oh yeah, it's disgusting. It's like once a year I have to remind myself that that's a bad idea to order. Yeah, and this was it. and This was that time of year. Every year around 9-11, you remind yourself.
00:29:36
Speaker
It's like, this wouldn't melt steel beams, but it will melt my pancreas. There's a it's funny cuz like on the menu, you know, they have them in like, it's like four, eight, 10 and 20 piece nuggets, something like that, right? 20 is the top. And then they have all the sauces listed and they have the calorie count. So like a 20 nuggets on its own is like 900 calories, right? And then it says below. You don't need to see that. You know what you're doing to your body. like That's not helpful information. Once you're there, you're like, whoa. Nobody's making different choices because they saw what saucy nugs was about to do to their diet. Yeah. But like below it, there's like a list of all the sauces that they have. And it shows you know how much in calories the sauces add to whatever you're eating.
00:30:27
Speaker
And they have like a Parmesan garlic ah that was from like 200 to a thousand extra calories. That's awesome. That's because it's soybean oil. I doubt it's because there's actual cheese in there. Or garlic. I mean, that was crazy. A thousand calories worth of sauce on your terrible chicken nuggets. Like you've doubled the nutritional value.
00:30:57
Speaker
yeah like probably not the right word yeah You're eating 2000 calories worth of nuggets in one sitting. That's incredible. That's a day's worth of calories. If you're not trying to get yourself into any sort of calorie deficit.
00:31:14
Speaker
as an average weighted male. Yeah. I think if you order 20 Parmesan garlic nuggets from Wendy's, you could only listen to specific songs while you ate those. I didn't know there was a soundtrack to garlic parm nuggets. It's going to be sad. It's going to be, I walk this lonely road.
00:31:41
Speaker
ah see It's got to be some pretty, some pretty dire, dour, whatever the word is, music. i I say more, but I'm reflecting on my last five meals and realizing they were cheeseburgers, so I shouldn't. I think i don't have much more to add.
00:32:02
Speaker
I've literally the past five meals eaten eating cheeseburgers and it wasn't on purpose. Life just kind of you play the hand your dealt kind of thing. You know, life gives you lemons kind of thing.
00:32:14
Speaker
as a ah want it What day is today? It's Tuesday. So it would have been Sunday, I guess we were trying to figure out what are we going to do for food? I have a pizza place right down the street. It turns out they're special of the month. They have a pizza and in grinder special of the It's eight bucks for a foot long grinder.
00:32:38
Speaker
10 bucks for a large one topping pizza depending on but but the topping is specific so the grinder was cheeseburger grinder I was like great we'll do that cheeseburger grinder it's so good dude I mean it's just a it's just an Italian sub role with burger patties and cheese shoved in there, lettuce, tomato, onion, everything you want. It's a burger. It's so good. Love it. ah I love it. And I ate that for dinner. And then I had or an extra one for my father's son. And then he didn't eat it. So I took his for lunch the next day.
00:33:14
Speaker
And then Monday I had before I realized that the night before I had thrown some ground meat in the fridge to thaw so I could make burgers and then we were just too lazy to cook. And then it happened to be that the special a month was cheeseburger grinders. So then the next night I made cheeseburgers.
00:33:35
Speaker
And then I took one of those for work for lunch today. And then ah Tuesday night, I go to my in-laws for family dinner and I show up and they're making burgers. So I was like, God damn it, this is my... oh It was... fine I was fine with it. I've ah i am ah i've been crowned ah the burger slut by a but my good friend Jesse. I have a tendency to order burgers everywhere I go. I think I've talked about this no matter how fancy the restaurant is. I'm like, I kind of want to try their burger.
00:34:12
Speaker
I'm the sluttiest of burger sluts. Don't burger slut shame me. I was fine eating it the past five days. I'm good on six. I don't need them six meals in a row. Uh, but I was good with it for five, but I shouldn't, I don't, but all that to say, I don't really need to comment on whether or not someone eats a 20 piece soft, 20 piece soft nugget. I'll just, I'll let that one lie.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and you know you took a you took cheeseburger grinder to work the next day. like Something tells me nobody's taking leftover saucy nugs to work the next day. that That's in one sitting sort of dude. If you brought fast food nuggets to work to reheat. I don't know if I've ever told this story on here.
00:35:00
Speaker
But there was a there's really nice kid when we were in college and I was in a band. There was like some local teenagers that really liked our band and would come to all the shows. And that's the best you ever felt in your life. You felt kind of famous, didn't you?
00:35:19
Speaker
Oh yeah. I mean, I felt like, uh, I was letting it shine, you know, full speed. You're like, it was nice to take some, some kids under your wing, have give him someone to look up to. You felt good about that. Yeah. Just really be a role model for Christ. But, uh, the, one of the kids, he's, he was a, he was a big, boy And he was maybe like 16, 17 at the time. I know. that boy Yeah. He was so nice. He's such a great good guy. Oh, he was awesome. Very nice. like Very fun to be around. He was at every show, supported every local band. No, this kid was a great kid. Yeah. And he invited April 9 to his birthday party one time.
00:36:09
Speaker
And we were like, well, it's, you know, we, let's go. We'll, we'll go. We'll show up and say hi. So, uh, we went to his house and it was, it was an apartment somewhere south of, of town there. And, uh, he was like, he's like, oh yeah, come on in and grab some food. We got a little everything and, and I went in and there's like.
00:36:31
Speaker
there's, there's like five or more different fast food items, like in bulk on the table ready to go. There was like, ah like Sonic chicken wings, um McDonald's burgers, there was little Caesars, ah hot and readies. He had like, like Arby's roast beef sandwiches or something. I mean, there was literally it was like a buffet of fast food from like all over town.
00:37:00
Speaker
It was the wildest thing I've ever saw until yeah he offered us a drink. So I went over to get something out of the refrigerator and in the refrigerator, there's fast food lined up like groceries in the fridge, like the vegetable drawer, you know, that you pull out the little clear drawer. It is neat. It's like cheeseburgers from McDonald's have been filed in this door.
00:37:26
Speaker
ah Dude like meticulously stacked up still in the wrappers and everything like that like ready to go for whenever I mean it was Like no joke. It was probably you know 80 to a hundred bucks worth of like value menu Fast food items in the fridge and I I was just my mind was blown. I've never forgot about I and that just found and work yeah and they And this kid wasn't you said he was a ah little bigger like I think what's
00:37:59
Speaker
I know that there's something funny about that. There's like a bit in there that you could tell, ah but I'll, I'll bring it back down to earth. But it's also very sad because we knew this kid as a high schooler. Like it's not like he has any choice with the food that he eats as a kid is dependent on someone. And he was more than a little big. It was like, you meet him and it's like, it's troublingly large. It's, it's shockingly large.
00:38:29
Speaker
Especially realizing like how old he is you're like, yeah as as a As a teenager realizing that like it was it's Unsettlingly large you go. This is this goes beyond like body type. It goes beyond Everyone's built different it to like, there's something, there's something particularly unhealthy. Yes, even abuse. like i i had I was hesitant to use that word because there's possibly a, you know, a poverty piece to that. I don't know what the family dynamic was, but like, sure, there's something going on where you, it was just unfortunate. I remember like, yes, yeah i I remember you telling that story.
00:39:16
Speaker
a while, like years ago and being like, it's there's something that, you know, yeah, there's a comedic take there. There's a bit there. You could do whatever you want with it, but also like knowing the kid and thinking about it from that angle. go Oh my God. It's just, it, it made me just like feel like sad for him because there's no way a kid that age, like he, in he great. Like we said, like he was a good kid and he was, he was funny, silly, so lovable. Everybody loved this guy.
00:39:43
Speaker
And you know that there's there is like that Chris Farley element part of it where you're like. There's no way that you that this kid was like a hundred percent like comfortable with with who he was like I think a lot there's just no way there's like perhaps some of the that.
00:40:03
Speaker
the extra personality was like cultivated as a defense mechanism. But either way, I just am like, there was an uncomfortability ancomforability there ah and a recognition, I think, even on his part where you're just like, this is not this is not fun. It's not fair um that your your mom's grocery shopping is is fast food. And that's what you eat for breakfast before you go to school. That's what you throw in your backpack.
00:40:32
Speaker
for lunch at school, whatever it was. Yeah. It was not just a big boy. It was like, might've been the biggest boy I had ever met in my life. Yeah. Between the ages of 15 and 21. Yeah. Poor kid.
00:40:48
Speaker
Yeah, sorry, I made that a bummer. No, but you're right. But lift our spirits because I know you brought some fun shit to the table.
Christian Music Culture and Personal Reflections
00:40:58
Speaker
Yes. Oh, my God. You've been getting excited to to talk about this because I was so i've we've talked a lot about music on this show. And, you know, I didn't really listen to anything but Christian music until like my sophomore year of college.
00:41:17
Speaker
Until I went to Liberty, I only listened to Christian music by and large. A little bit of like classic rock and some country, but most of it was Christian rock and Christian rap. and Everybody who listened to Christian rock or Christian rap has like a list of of bands and albums in their head that they're like, I still like this one. These rooms are pretty good. I think this one actually stands up. you know like There was plenty of really good Christian bands.
00:41:47
Speaker
I think there was some pretty good Christian rappers, but there was one that I even at the time even like when I was fully invested in it and wanted to like Christian I like There was one guy that I could just never Wrap my head around and deal with and this man is named KJ five two. Yes I dude. I'm totally with you. I I i I would go to those websites, I would hear, before I went to the websites, I remember the first time I was in a car with someone who did the whole, told me about the website. A website that'll tell you that you could, whatever band, whatever secular band there is, you can put it in and it'll give you a Christian band that sounds just like it, which,
00:42:41
Speaker
Just that idea is hilarious because it goes, how how how much artistry does that lack if that's what they're doing? Like I get that there are bands that sound similar, right? You put out like, you know, let me go ah kill, switch, engage, quintessential metalcore. And I think of ah the fall of ideals from all that remains.
00:43:04
Speaker
right after, came after Killswitch with that, but I mean, similar, almost, it's very similar style, different sound, sure, but like, heavy you I could see why they're like, if you like Killswitch, end of heartache, you would like fall of ideals by, and there are those similarities, but when Christians do it, it's just shittier, I guess, because it's like,
00:43:30
Speaker
It feels like they didn't try to do their own thing. It felt like they Christian bands go, what band is popular that doesn't have a sort of like Christian doppelganger? Oh, let's let's be that. Let's try to do that.
00:43:46
Speaker
and See, I don't even know if it's so much that. I think it's just like we grew up in this like very strange time in Christian culture. I think where it was, you know, everything was about, especially in like evangelicalism, like everything is about evangelism. You got to go out and minister to people and, and, you know, go tell the whole world about Jesus and this and that.
00:44:09
Speaker
But there was certain aspects of Christian culture like we talked about that were they were kind of meant for our kids. like this is a This is a safe thing that we can give them so that we can keep them away from all the like bad versions of it out in the world.
00:44:28
Speaker
ah like parallel institutions is what we always talk about, right? yeah And Christian music a lot of times kind of fell into that, especially the like you know Christian metalcore, not so much, but like Christian rock and rap, it was a lot of that. It was like, well, if you enjoy you know Jay Z will try a note of verbs, you know, like and there is there is kind of it seemed like an insular community where like they were kind of kept within their little record labels and stuff. They all featured for each other. It's not the worst thing in the world to be, you know, have a supportive community.
00:45:07
Speaker
But it is weird when it becomes like a, like, yeah, but we don't want our kids mixing too much with everybody else. So here's a safe alternative. Yeah. And I think you're right about the metalcore piece. I Christian metalcore actually really, I'll exclude that from my previous comment because I think Christian metalcore changed the genre. I mean, that was metalcore. I know kill switch wasn't Chris. I think I'll, I'll always stand by kill switch being like, like the, the original, so to speak. I mean, I just feel like they nailed, like what?
00:45:48
Speaker
There was like metal bands that brought in some hardcore elements. There were some hardcore bands that would do some metal riffs. I feel like Killswitch is the first like genre defining metal core band and
00:46:02
Speaker
I think that Christian Metalcore, like I think they just progressed that genre and changed it in a way that's just undeniable. I mean, the the bands that come to mind are just like August Burns Red. They they they like kind of nuked Metalcore for a while. And it's like they they made it like they did something amazing that was like unparalleled, but they also made it worse because they did it so good that everyone wanted to be them for a while. And that was annoying as fuck.
00:46:31
Speaker
But it Christian Metalcore, that's the one piece of Christian music that I think i can you can exclude from that whole like, what's popular? Let's do it for Christians. I think Christian Metalcore, as we've talked about, was like I think it was a bunch of Christians that found metal and were like, I need this. I need this so fucking bad. And they just made it their own and made it original and unique.
00:46:59
Speaker
so We've found over the years that like, you know, I figured there would be a lot more people that listen to Christian rap. Um, I just kind of viewed it on the same plane as like Christian rock, but like that has not been like my findings at least. Like very few people that we've talked to listen to like any Christian rap whatsoever. So.
00:47:26
Speaker
I think this just it just never took off in the same way that like you know bands like Reliant K and Pillar and Skillet and stuff did. Yeah, yeah. But KJ52, so, you know, it was classic like Christian bookstore. That was where you got Christian music. So I would go once in a while, they would have like a sampler thing that might have like one or two of the albums in there that you were thinking about buying. And the rest is all like worship music and stuff. But most of the time you bought stuff like sight unseen. Like you had no idea what the band sounded like. You'd never heard of them before or whatever. It just looks like it might be like a rock band or a rap, you know, thing or whatever.
00:48:03
Speaker
and and i buy it and i made some bad choices and some good choices one of which was i bought kj five two album i heard him before on a couple of different like sampler things like dj magin some of those for fans of m&m well i remember So I remember getting the album, taking it home, listening to it a couple of times over the course of a week or so, really trying to like find the songs that I liked the most. That you could graft into your identity for a moment. That's all we were trying to do then, right? Yeah. And I just wasn't there.
00:48:45
Speaker
like so he's So he's a South Florida guy um and I only got like a little bit of his bio ah like reading around for this and stuff but he's like a South Florida guy that you know he like quote unquote came to Christ at a pretty early age when he was like you know 14 or 15 years old or something what which is funny cuz i was listening to an interview from like two thousand six or something earlier today and uh... the person asked him about that and he's like you know
00:49:19
Speaker
i was just you know i was just ah I was just a crazy kid. I was all mixed up. you know I didn't know what ah what to do. so I tried a little of everything. you know i tried to he does He does talk like that. I tried the party scene. you know I tried to get into that. and i just you know It didn't didn't fill me up. and I tried like you know just going hard after my friends. I tried going after the girls. and ah It just wasn't working for me. It just wasn't there. you know and then ah finally like I God, I said, God, if you were real,
00:49:50
Speaker
show it to me and he did he did show it to me and i said i'm gonna give my life to him and so i at the age of 14 does he say how he showed it to him no but it's just like so funny because he's he's laying out this like archetypal you know cut and paste you know, road redemption story. And then he's like, so when I was 15, I got saved. And it's like, Oh my God, dude, he tried out everything, I guess. Everything there was every you you experienced all of life's troubles before you knew God could pull through for you. Dude, I think what's so funny about that is for every
00:50:31
Speaker
person who goes I asked God to show it to me and he did there's about 376 people who go God if you're real show me and they're like still drowning in debt and dying from god knows what like there's just like there's people who do that and there's no pull through and you go if you're 15 and you go god if you're real just just prove it to me and things work out for you as a 15 year old like there's a good chance that like one you got lucky
00:51:06
Speaker
Because things worked out for me when I was 15 quite often. I just wasn't facing the same kind of dilemmas I i was when I was in my early 20s and 30s. That's wild. Because statistically, the amount of people who are saying, God, if you're real, prove it to me.
00:51:26
Speaker
that don't believe in god for that very same reason it's like okay so you're yourre a coincidence change the course of your life which whatever i guess it could and if it does for the better that's fine but i don't buy it no it's not proof to me it's not proof to anyone else well so it didn't make him better at rapping Well, that's my opinion. All right. I actually a part of how I like came to decide like, Oh, we we have to talk about KJ five two is like, I was April and I were talking about music we used to listen to and stuff. And I started playing her some KJ five two songs. And Oh, man, are they bad? yeah They're so bad. I don't know any I know all I know is that one he wrote to Eminem.
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to we'll get to okay. It's a it's, it's funny, because his songs range from like, they're either really like, goofy, and, and dorky, or they're like, ultra super serious. But one thing that like, you have to give him is he has that like, psychopathic competence in himself. And like, he'll say stuff that you're just like, you How do you have this much self-esteem? You've not earned this. Like it doesn't make sense that you would think you're like so great at this or that like you have tons of fans or whatever, you know? But his videos like he looking at like is his early videos from that era, like he really enjoyed dressing up. That was very apparent. Every video.
00:53:12
Speaker
Oh yeah every every video he's got like a goofy wig on and some funny clothes and he's doing like a big act out. Like oh this one he's a hillbilly type guy and this one he's a nerd oh oh he's a nerd he's got tape on his glasses he doesn't know how to talk to girls like.
00:53:31
Speaker
everything is like thing. And it's a lot of like very repetitive lyrics and stuff. But then like on the flip side, it's just the most serious, like almost comically serious stuff. So there's one. ah There's, there's one song that we were listening to called fan mail. And I remember this one being on I think it was on the album that I had. And This is all about ah fan mail that he's gotten and this is like it's ultra serious says.
00:54:07
Speaker
My arms are sliced up, but I'm not embarrassed. It's the only way I get attention from my parents. It's not like they really take the time to be caring. They just use me to watch the baby when they run their errands. My name is blank. I got a friend named Karen. She gave me your CD with the track for Eminem. You wrote a song called Number One Fan I Listened, and I wanted to know if you could help me like you was helping them.
00:54:35
Speaker
Uh, she had something even harder to be mentioning like every single day I struggled just with fitting in Plus the boys won't give me no attention and I get teased and made fun of by all my friends and then See i'm feeling like i'm wishing now that I could end my life because i'm sick and tired of all the time oh boy Trying to figure out how I could be worth anything. Can you help me kj from your from your fan?
00:55:04
Speaker
That was word for word. He read that. That fan wrote to him in rhyme scheme. And he read it word for word. I also really don't love, well, I don't love a lot of that. ah I feel secondhand embarrassment just from you listening to it. It hurts to hear. Yeah, it hurts.
00:55:29
Speaker
To like, oh. I don't know. Honestly, I am a little bit speechless. I had a thought. i At first, I didn't realize that he was writing that from the perspective
KJ52's Creative Process and Fan Interactions
00:55:42
Speaker
of a fan. It took a second for that to click, which it shouldn't have, because it's called fan mail. And I should have expected him to be on the nose like that. But yikes. He's got a few letters that he got here. So you want to hear number two? all he got So he got these letters.
00:55:59
Speaker
and he he Whipped him up in the song in verse for us. I got you. I'm following I live with my mom ever since my parents split and at home I spend my time on the internet looking at porn I'm addicted and I'm sick of it myspace dot.com is mostly where I'm getting it this was not po on myspace dot com I okay, we all look On top of that, there's videos that I can watch and I really want to quit, but it's like I can't stop. See, I'm scared that I'm just going to get caught. And when I see a girl, all I think is dirty thoughts. And it's, I don't know, but it's really wrong.
00:56:41
Speaker
But it's right there for me every time I'm logging on. I got all your CDs. I really like your songs. Well, I downloaded them. But anyway, moving on. My screen name is KJ five. Two is the bomb. I want to do a website. KJ KJ rocks dot com. I really I really need some help because I can't tell my mom. Oh, by the way, my real name is blank. He doesn't say the real name.
00:57:09
Speaker
No, there's a real floaty chorus in this too where it's like I'm writing this letter because I have to tell you I need some help from you. How old is he? How old is he at this point in his life? He's 49. He's 12 years older than me. No, not now. I mean, when this came out, how old is he?
00:57:33
Speaker
Oh boy, let's see if there's a yeah maybe there's a year on it. He's 49 now, you look that up. Damn, he's almost 50, that's wild. Boy, I can't, I don't see it right away here. What's the name of the song? It would've been like, it's called Fanmail. Fanmail, KJ.
00:57:52
Speaker
Five two, let's see. Came out in, well, it was posted on YouTube 13 years ago. 2007. So that would be three, would be 10, 17 years ago. Okay, so he was like early 30s.
00:58:13
Speaker
OK, early 30s, I guess that's fine for you to have that level of arrogance. I know I wouldn't put if I got OK, if anyone ever sent a letter to the show about what to do with how their life is going, I promise you, nobody here would ever hear of it. I don't know the answer to your problems. I don't have the audacity to point out that you know standing on a firm foundation dude comfortable asking me what to do like to to put this in song form one it's all made up it's youth of the nation 2.0 it's not real this is this is generalized problems like the way that he took the this is just generalized problems personified that's all
00:59:04
Speaker
Johnny Boy always played the flu. He broke all the rules. I don't know if I mentioned this. I have this guy at my who works at my school. He's a janitor. ah Custodian. I'm sorry. And look, this has nothing to do with disrespecting that role. It has everything to do with disrespecting the person who's filling that role at my school. I was I was end of day walking out the front door, going down the hallway,
00:59:33
Speaker
custodians vacuuming and i hear the sound of rapping into the distance he walks out of the classroom and it's that it's johnny boy always played the fool he broke all the rules so you would think he was cool this guy listens i like that guy this guy he's the he's the quintessential like he's new metal poster child with the faux hawk and the gauged ears um he i I don't like this. It's not a bad place to stop development if you ask me. This guy regularly walks around the school while students are there at end of day dismissal.
01:00:17
Speaker
singing nu metal rapping rap rock loudly as he walks by other adults because he honestly thinks he sounds good and looks cool as fuck oh no it's it's so hard every day you walk by him you go Jesus Christ Jesus Christ please don't please don't please don't please don't please don't and you walk by him without him saying anything, you're cool. I've heard him yell at children in the school. I've heard him walk into, I've heard him he walks into the teacher's room. He's there to do his job. Do your job. That's my biggest gripe in life is people not staying in their lane. My job at the school as an adjustment counselor is to work with children who are having adjustment problems.
01:01:07
Speaker
When certain people try to tell me all of their theories on why children act the way they do, it's annoying. I generally find it annoying. I don't say anything. I'm kind and polite. But the types of things I get are like, oh, this kid, look, he's trouble. All of his siblings have been trouble. All of them. This kid's trouble too. It makes sense. All of his siblings are trouble.
01:01:35
Speaker
The next day, this kid's a great kid. Such a good kid. I don't know why he's such a good kid. All of his siblings have been trouble. All of them. But this one's a good kid. Such a great kid. Day three. Different kid. This kid is trouble. I don't know why they're trouble. All of their siblings have been great. Every one of them. Great. I want to be like, shut the fuck up. It sounds like none of your theories amount to anything.
01:02:05
Speaker
And that's kind of how education seems to work, is like certain people, they'll always have theories about why people do the things they do. But this guy, our new metal friend, he'll he'll walk into like the break room. It's teachers, EAs, IAs, Paris, whatever people call them based on where they live, just wanting to enjoy their lunch.
01:02:28
Speaker
And he starts complaining about too much toilet paper in the toilet. I'm like, you know, you're dealing with four, five and six year olds here. Like that's going to happen. I know adults who use too much toilet paper, but these kids are four, five and six. They're learning how to toilet properly. And he's like, the problem is kids need discipline and they need respect and they need. And he just goes on these tirades screaming to a room full of teachers just trying to eat their lunch.
01:02:58
Speaker
I don't know how he hasn't been fired yet. He yells at children, he yells at teachers, and he raps, rap rock in the hallways. Three very fireable offenses.
01:03:11
Speaker
Well, boy's down with the sickness. Yeah. Well, that is the exact same kind of bizarre self-confidence that KJ-52 seems to have. like He's just got a bead on like what's wrong with everything, and he knows the answer to it. and i he He holds him in his career in very high regard.
01:03:33
Speaker
like We can tell and I so we're gonna look at a more recent interview from him or not an interview This is a so he's a pastor now. No way Yeah, so he he According to his website like four years ago. He decided to step off like step down from full-time professional touring to focus on raising his son and being a better dad and Pursue ministry full-time And that has nothing to do with only having 52,000 followers on Spotify despite starting his career in 1999. Nothing to do with it. okay Just wants to be a better dad. and And he's just started making some new music. He's released a couple of songs recently. One of them is ah Down the River. Is that right? I think so. I'm on Spotify now. I was shocked by a 2024 release.
01:04:32
Speaker
One was like, my dad rap my dad raps better than you. Come on. Yeah. But he it comes across like all the time in like his lyrics and just the ah the audacity. And I guess like hip hop is like, bravado is a big part of it, right? It is, of course. We know that. ah We see that in a lot of hip hop of just like, yeah, it's very common thread.
01:04:58
Speaker
but just the way that he approaches like very serious subjects with like the flippant like Jesus is the answer sort of like yeah it ruins it ruin it discredits him it doesn't feel real because we grew up with that message and it also like I think that's what's weird is rap does have the bravado and there's something appealing to like I'm the shit and I'm gonna fuck up all of you if you try to fucking deal with this. And then you have like Christian rap be like, I'm not the shit, it's all Jesus, Jesus is all of it. I'm just like here, I'm his messenger. like It just doesn't have this, you don't connect to it the same way that you do when it's autobiographical and in the sense of like telling your story or going through your experiences.
01:05:54
Speaker
But in fluffing them, who cares if you fluff them? That's what we all do. ah But to just deflect it all as though you're just like here to be a messenger for somebody else is like, no one ever listened to like, it's not why people like things. You don't like mob movies because the guy at the bottom of the totem pole talked about how awesome their mob boss was. Like that's not fun.
01:06:22
Speaker
Well, this is the last verse of that same song where he's like answering, you know, there was a third verse where he talks about ah a girl who smokes and drinks and nobody knows about it, but they think she's a good Christian girl. So his actual like answer to them in verse form is, if I could write to every kid that's out there, every kid that's hurt and feeling like nobody cares, I would tell them that God can wipe away tear.
01:06:51
Speaker
I would tell them that God can wipe away tear and he's right near. And I would say it quite clear. You hear for a reason. You're not a mistake. You are a special creation that God himself made to the victims of abuse to every girl that was raped. You can live. You can be free from your pain and find strength and no longer be ashamed. and You can find peace and hope in Jesus name.
01:07:18
Speaker
It sounded like he was writing a children's book about God until he read said the word rape. Yeah, it just doesn't sit right. No, it's just so uncomfortable. So OK, so let's jump to this. ah This is so I want to play a song that was I would think it was his top song. I'm going to play you a snippet of it just so you've got some context. Sam mentioned it so.
01:07:46
Speaker
Talking about Audacity, KJ52 wrote this song that was like an open letter to Eminem. i i even here i knew it was coming but i heard it and i could i had to audibly sigh it's frustrating because he doesn't He doesn't have a big following. It's literally like 12 Christians were like, oh my God, you sound like you sound just like Eminem. And, you know, it's like it's the Christian version of Machine Gun Kelly at this point trying. That's ah what you are. It's not. Here's it. Here's a snippet. So this is de this is the opening to Dear Slim. Oh, whoops.
01:09:01
Speaker
So that's where we start. ah be there And this is Spotify. Artists tour around before Spotify, like KJ is one of them, obviously. But like our artists tour around before Spotify, you can't you can't factor in listens and followers to just what's on Spotify because people were obviously listening, burning their albums, spreading the word well before Spotify. But Eminem has 75.8 million monthly listeners. How many does KJ have? KJ, I believe I said, has, he has 50, just shy of 53,000.
01:09:43
Speaker
like That's actually like kind of impressive that he has that many monthly listeners. It's not I mean, it's definitely not bad. I mean i it's bad, but He's really bad and it's crazy that people listen to him. It's bad for someone who's writing an open letter to Eminem. It's bad for that. like I listen to bands on Spotify that have 10,000 monthly listeners that are some of my favorite bands of all time. I'll give one a plug. Keep Flying. Keep Flying is one of my favorite bands. We had John James Ryan on the show,
01:10:19
Speaker
ah ah a little while back.
KJ52's Music and Eminem Connections
01:10:23
Speaker
ah They're like a pot punk with horns. It fucking love this band. Just good jams, fun loving, good. to I love it. And they have on Spotify, 9,500 monthly listeners. So I'm not here to just like shit on monthly listeners.
01:10:42
Speaker
it I know there are other factors. I know you can have a good career in music, despite not having millions of followers. i'm My point is, if you're writing an open letter to Eminem, that's a wild disparity. And it comes with an audacity that's not warranted at all, at all. I think that I remember in youth group,
01:11:07
Speaker
I remember being 12, maybe 13 and hearing about this and thinking, there's no way Eminem hasn't heard this. He sounds so much like him. wait so and in the In the song, like do do you think Eminem's heard this?
01:11:27
Speaker
Well, don't jump ahead. Oh, I'm so excited. Because we can't speculate here, but um there is some parts of this song.
01:11:38
Speaker
that are, they're absurd. like it's it's It is absurd to think that this guy, and I remember like hearing it and thinking, like even with that like Christian, like I see what he's doing, he's trying to like reach out to this guy, which is clearly not what he's doing. He's trying to just catch lightning and get a little rise out of like hoping this guy like hears him and pulls him up from the bottom, you know or whatever.
01:12:06
Speaker
But he goes up. OK, here, this is this is verse. This is verse two. I don't know. Seventeen. I mean, is this like ah is this like the David playing the harp song? What the up what's the song I'm thinking of? I don't know. Any hymn that was written before like 1950. Yeah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I like 17 verses, whatever it was.
01:12:36
Speaker
Dear Slim, I never wrote you or been calling. This is my second letter because, see, son, I gots a real problem. It's that to you that I'm always catching these comparisons and after shows I get these people come up to me and saying, you sound like Slim Shady, you sound like Eminem, and I'd be like, now really, man, do I gots to go through this again? See, I used to get mad and sick of people saying that till at this one show, this one day, I met this one cat.
01:13:03
Speaker
He told me how he used to listen to you, but now he listens to me. This dude lays with the source in his lap. That's what he does. Had your LP, but threw it out and bought my CD. I'm like, for real? He's like, yeah. He said my music made a difference. It got him away from all your words and images. I got to mention this now. What about the effects you have on kids? You ever stop to think about the millions you influence? Probably not.
01:13:32
Speaker
Or is it just irrelevant? Is it true life you're telling it? Or just a way for some record company selling it? The only thing we got in common is our melanin, or lack of it. But anyway, now this is what I'm saying. It's for you that I'm on my knees, now daily praying, praying that God opens your eyes now to what I'm really saying. and God! oh It's just so desperate. The only thing... Oh, God.
01:14:02
Speaker
I like that. I love how important is that for him to call out that he's a white rapper too. Like he likes to do that. Yeah. That's the thing I can tell. I don't, I'm not familiar enough with Eminem's discography to know how much he does that.
01:14:21
Speaker
But I feel like what is obvious is that Eminem has the respect of people in that world. Like I've never heard anybody other than other white rappers disrespect Eminem ever.
01:14:37
Speaker
So to like I don't I just don't I don't know I don't recall him calling that much attention to it. I'm sure he's made a joke or two about it because he he always he did have some self deprecating music from the start like he would do that ah from time to time.
01:14:53
Speaker
Um, I never really listened to him. I don't know. I shouldn't speak to it particularly, but I know that whatever, even if he did, even if he does at some point in his career, call attention to it, ironically.
01:15:08
Speaker
jokingly in any form or fashion, it is not the same way that people like KJ52 are calling it out. KJ52 says it as a self-deprecating thing, it's but I think it's almost like he sees it as like a badge of honor, almost like I'm brave enough to do this even though I don't belong here. yeah So what I noticed in the little bit of sermon, I listened to a few, he's got a bunch of his sermons, which sound like they're all being given to kids. Like I think that's the focus of his ministry as kids. He's a children's pastor, not even a youth pastor, but a children. He's the children's pastor is the one that shows up like 13 minutes before the service and after the worship music ends with like, let's call all the kids up to the front right now. Let's call them all up to the front.
01:15:58
Speaker
and he gives like a seven minute homily. Is it that? I feel like it's that. I think he's ah he's, I would guess that like if you you had an acquire the fire style event, like he would do a couple songs and then he would be the guy to like like give the sermon invitation thing. And I noticed in the so sermons that I listened to of his. How many have you listened to? Just a few. Just a few.
01:16:26
Speaker
But like I noticed that he ah he kind of reuses the same stories over and over again. And I feel like part of that that like audacity and just like unearned arrogance that it comes through in the fact that like he seems to just take some liberties with like the stories that he's telling. like He doesn't feel like he's got any reason to like downplay anything. like He stretches it.
01:16:54
Speaker
Okay, so I'm gonna give you a snippet from a sermon this and this is this was from like five years ago or something that he gave this talk but aha specifically in regards to ah He's a like he's like a South Florida guy. I think he's in like Cape Coral. Okay still in South, Florida. Okay So this is a sermon clearly given to kids. You can hear them in the background now and then, but it's about Dear Slim. For those who don't know, I do Christian hip-hop music, and one of the first songs I ever wrote when I first came out was a song called Dear Slim. Came out as gay. Now I wrote this song because people used to compare me to him, and I used to get frustrated about that. But I thought about it for a second. I said, if I had to say anything to Eminem, what would I say?
01:17:39
Speaker
And so my letter that I wrote was called Dear Slim. Now this song that I wrote at 2 a.m. in the morning, not really thinking about what was going to happen. I put it out. We shot a video for it. I thought he'll never hear it. He'll never get a copy of it. Nothing. This guy is the biggest rapper on the planet, the biggest selling rapper of all time. There's no way some little white boy from Cape Goral doing Christian rap is ever going to get this song to him. But here's the deal.
01:18:03
Speaker
Let me tell you something. God uses the most unlikely people to do the most amazing things with it. And I'm not saying that in fact, I'm hearing to say you are that person. got I think he's drawn comparisons to himself and Jonah, like on a number of a occasions. I didn't want to. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to deliver the message.
01:18:24
Speaker
I ran. I ran at times, but I woke up at 2 a.m. Do you think it was 2 a.m.? Do you think he wrote that 2 a.m.? You can just write that backstory into your shit 30 years later. This is so dumb, dude.
01:18:39
Speaker
This message has like, there's like four different stanzas to it. Just remarkable events that only the Holy Spirit could orchestrate. Okay. So I didn't clip everything, but, uh, major cliffhanger. Well, the first stanza here, um, George Costanza.
01:19:04
Speaker
Might as well. So this guy comes up to him and says, he goes, you don't know me, but I carry your music around everywhere with me and I give it to people because your words have power. That's a direct quote. Like the Bible. So this is a random guy that supposedly carries KJ52 albums around in his pocket to give to people because that is quite literally the most powerful thing he could hand them.
01:19:32
Speaker
Definitely a real guy, not a figment of his imagination.
01:19:37
Speaker
He eats the shit out of a pocket New Testament. Hey, that's, yeah, okay. I think that's fair. This guy says that he was at the VMAs.
01:19:49
Speaker
For some reason, this random guy that carries around KJ five, two CDs, and he saw Eminem backstage. This would have been, this must've been like mid 2000s or something is when this supposedly took place. Dude, I heard this story. This one has stood the test of time.
01:20:07
Speaker
So he's surrounded by his bodyguards. And this guy just prays and he's like, Lord, let, you know, here I am, Lord, use me. Let me get this message across to Eminem. And the bodyguard suddenly part, he walks right up and he says, uh, basically like, Mr. M. Because, hey man, Terry Slim, uh, Mr. Slim, uh, Mr. Shady.
01:20:37
Speaker
You don't know me, but you know, this guy, he's a he's a rapper like you and he's got a message for you. And Eminem said, is he dissing me? And he's like, no, no, he's not dissing you. No part of his song is about dissing you. It's just ah about, you know, it's it's a letter written to you. And so he hands this guy the album and Eminem walks out, it and like every little piece of this, it's such a like cut and paste, like you pass through a message, he's like,
01:21:07
Speaker
He's like, now, you know, I wrote that song. I didn't know it was going anywhere, right? I was just i was just putting my my pen to paper. I just put my thoughts down. And now the biggest rapper in the world is walking out of the VMAs with a copy of my CD, my song, written to him. God can use you in amazing ways. You may not think so. You may think, oh, I suck and stuff. And you're right. But God can still use you, even though you're awful.
01:21:33
Speaker
And because looks like that's the big, like, that's the big, uh, close to the, to the first section. dude I remember that. I do remember hearing that story as a kid and being like, wow. Like I remember talking about, wow. Can you imagine? Like Eminem might hear that and get, he could get saved. Imagine how powerful it would be if Eminem got saved.
01:22:02
Speaker
And then I think of all the times, think of all the times I just as a, as a person, as a bystander, civilian, where you're given a CD. I i if you have to be given hu into the garbage in front of a person, I think one time in my life, I listened to a CD that was given to me on a street corner. But if you're it but if you're Eminem,
01:22:28
Speaker
How many albums a year do you think people try to give him? They show up in his PO box. They are mailed to the record label. It's a constant influx. kind Hundreds a week guaranteed. If someone goes, am I need you to listen to this?
01:22:46
Speaker
youre Even look, your bodyguards parted for me. they they They allowed me in. That's the work of God. Listen to this album. Eminem would get that, and as soon as he started walking out of the VMAs, he would just drop it in the nearest trash can. He's not going to listen to it. Maybe he did. Maybe he put it on, and the first thing he heard was,
01:23:10
Speaker
Yo, this them I never wrote you have been calling now. My name is Stan. So now we might have a mitten Okay, my name's KJ. Let me begin by introducing now myself to you and these viruses that I've been writing How how far into a song? like that think Even if he was gracious enough to listen to it's a real interesting situation because I do remember reading that Moses was like I don't want to talk to Pharaoh because I don't speak good and I stutter. And he goes, take your, he goes, take Aaron, take Aaron. And he will say the words for you, you fucking loser with no backbone. a And ah so I think of it like that, I guess, where it's like, maybe KJ couldn't say it right. But God doesn't care.
01:24:02
Speaker
About the the words you use and how good you talk he cares about your heart and your willingness to deliver the message Now look if you are going to stand up strong for Christ and deliver the message The world probably doesn't want to hear what you have to say Okay, so you need to be prepared for that and that's where stanza 2 comes into play. Okay? Whoo, right cuz cuz there was a show called TRL on MTV and they got a copy and of deer slim okay it's building up now dude because TRL was a real deal so here's here's uh i love you about this i'm stuck in traffic in toronto canada all of a sudden they say guess what we got a guy today we're gonna play his video and he's dissing m&m but we're gonna let you be the judge of it
01:24:51
Speaker
In front of all of America and literally all of the world, all of a sudden, my video that is being played on the biggest show on earth. Did they give it a fair shot? No. They played one minute of it. They cut it off. They said I was a hater. They said I was trying to diss Eminem. There's nothing about my song that's ever dissing him. And they cut it off and they never gave me a chance. Do you know what it's like to be humiliated in front of the world?
01:25:15
Speaker
That's what happened. Oh, but he's humiliated. I'm here to tell you, if you are scared about sharing your faith, if you're scared about being real who Jesus is in your life, there are going to be people that are going to twist your words. They're going to say things about you, and they're going to paint you with a picture that's not true. Amen. brother You know, he was he was bruised for Eminem's affliction.
01:25:36
Speaker
yeah du I love that. I love that he is i love that he's making getting his five minutes of fame on one of the biggest television shows in the United States and getting air time on that. I love that he made that into a curse.
01:25:55
Speaker
Oh, can you believe that they said that I was being mean to Eminem on it? It's like, dude, you probably got 25,000 of your 50,000 followers on Spotify from your shit being played on TRL.
01:26:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was literally probably the biggest break he'd ever had. If I was listening at that time, I would have become a fan because when I was watching TRL, i did it out ah I did it with a little bit of guilt in the back of my mind because I knew I shouldn't have been watching it.
01:26:28
Speaker
I did it. I watched TRL and VH1 and friends. I watched some friends for a little while when my mom would take my younger brother to baseball practice. That's when I watched all the shit I shouldn't.
01:26:44
Speaker
which was just MTV and and reruns of Friends. I don't, it's benign. I mean, I was such a benign kid and that was like the worst thing I ever, I did was like, Oh, okay. Mom leaves for baseball practice with my younger brother. And I would turn on MTV or VH1 and watch behind the music. If there was a, if there was a cool, a quote unquote cool band from the,
01:27:13
Speaker
late nineties, early two thousands to learn about their history with drug addiction.
Controversies and Legacy of KJ52
01:27:18
Speaker
So that brings to a close section two of the message. Okay. Now we're going into the third section. This one is a little weird. I don't, ah this one is, we're getting into strange stockery territory here. Act three usually throws us through a loop. So.
01:27:38
Speaker
So he gets um an email from another just random guy, just random guy that God put in his path, right? The guy says, you don't know me, but I'm a huge fan. I tell people about your music all the time. I work at a correctional facility and Kim Mathers, who's Eminem's ex wife, x yeah right? Is, you know, a prisoner here.
01:28:03
Speaker
It's like she's at a low, it's still lows. Can you do that as a CEO? Can you just email people and talk about what inmates you're working with? I don't know. I imagine you can't. That feels like you can't. Maybe you can. Maybe what inmates are at which places. We can just play the rest records and stuff. Yeah, I guess that's public. It just feels...
01:28:26
Speaker
It feels like a no no. That's all. It's very strange. And it's like, it's weird. I don't know the whole thing's weird. And he's basically saying like, she got arrested for for something to do with drugs. yeah Her life's in shambles. She's at her lowest of lows right now. And I'm trying to every day I share the gospel with her.
01:28:48
Speaker
trying to lead her to Christ because you know. That's a no no at work. You know that. i I know for sure you can't tell as a CEO you cannot tell all your inmates about Christ all day long. Yeah I mean I guess if you're gonna be governed by man's laws.
01:29:06
Speaker
ah That's true. I guess also CEOs beat the shit out of inmates and have sex with them and don't always get fired for that. So I guess you can kind of do whatever you want as a CEO, but yeah, there are worse things than yeah evangelism happening. It's true correctional facilities. That's true. So this guy is sharing the gospel with her because she is just literally in tatters and is, uh, you know, really going through some stuff probably on her way off of drugs. If this story is even true or whatever.
01:29:37
Speaker
While everybody else there is just doing fine. I love that like that she's a standout character in all of this. She's the most important because she's tangentially connected to Eminem, who is also very important. That's what matters. That's the only thing. it's not You have a prison full of people struggling and you go,
01:29:54
Speaker
But this one's related to a person that God could use. I don't know. It's like ah all glory to me, all glory to God. I could be part of the story. It's main character syndrome, but this like through second person narrative, I guess. Well, and he's telling this during the sermon to these kids, and he's like,
01:30:14
Speaker
He goes, you know, I told the guy, I said, I said, yo, can you print, if I write some letters to her, can you print them for her? Can you print them and take them to her? And so he starts writing these letters to Kim Mathers in prison. He's being delivered by a correctional officer and supposedly like sharing the gospel and stuff with her. And the guy at one point says, hey, I'm going to play her your album next week.
01:30:43
Speaker
And he goes, dude, I'll do you one better. I'll send you a signed copy. Cause of course that's what everybody wants is like signed KJ five, two CD, especially why is that pro like, detailized that better. I mean, I don't even know why that's better. It just, it's more powerful with a signature on it. Yeah, apparently i mean maybe. approaches or so money On the inside.
01:31:06
Speaker
Maybe you could get some soups out of that. Maybe. Change my KJCD for five soups. A pack of cigarettes, maybe. I'd say it's at at least, I'd say a signed copy of a KJ52 album is is definitely worth a pack of, like a pack of cigarettes. I don't know. Did people make change in cigarettes? Like, you do like could you do like three, three Lucy's?
01:31:35
Speaker
Yeah. Oh yeah. You can lose cigarettes. have ah Those go, I mean, ah obviously higher exchange rate. you You make more money on loose cigarettes than you do on packs like you you want a basic yeah n j five two album is like I don't know, man, ah only got big bills here. Can you break a pack? I'll trade you six blue cigarettes for a KJ52 album. So he said, ah I'm going to play her album for her or your album for her. And he's like, I'm going to send her a signed copy. So ah here, I'm going to send it to you. So the guy texts him back and says that.
01:32:11
Speaker
She listened to Dear Slim and she said, no, this isn't a diss and I appreciate what he's doing. And then they played a song for her called pick yourself up. That must be a real, uh, emotional, like, you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps anthem. And she did. Incidentally, they had to never allow her to have bootstraps in her cell with her again. That's a good one.
01:32:44
Speaker
so that it's it's that was the That was the big conclusion of that section of the sermon was like, you know I wrote this song, I was a nobody, I was just sitting in my room at two in the morning and now you know a man who's sharing the gospel with a lady who was once upon a time married to another man who's famous is now listening to my album. I can't believe how God is using me and that's why you got to be fearless when you serve God.
01:33:10
Speaker
Fearless like Taylor Swift exactly now. um
01:33:19
Speaker
oh Boy, I'm trying to think of where ah where this goes. Okay, so this is this is number four is my favorite one. So he's like, you know, I was getting off a plane and I just got a message from this guy who was like, yo, bro, they did you dirty. And he's like, what, what happened? You know, I'm trying to figure out what's happened. I finally, yo, I, they did you dirty bro, but don't worry. God's in control. And he's like, what happened? He goes, you were featured on VH1's 40 worst moments of hip hop. It's like a raspberry award, dude. Yeah.
01:34:00
Speaker
They had like a 40 worst moments in hip hop history countdown and KJ52's Dear Slim was number 26. The best part is that every single person watching that had never even heard of that worst moment before. Well, they gave him um they gave him a better shake and they didn't try to hide the fact that he was a Christian. So here's ah here's the clip. Unreal. Goes like this.
01:34:27
Speaker
answer To the age old question what would Jesus do apparently if he were around today he would rap badly it's like christian rock It doesn't work man yeah In 2002, Christian homeboy KJ52 decided to write his own book of revelations and take on the dark angel of secular hip-hop, Eminem. His holy assault was a prayer rap called Dear Slim. Why KJ52? Because you bring it 52 weeks out of the year? No, it means five loaves and two fishes.
01:35:08
Speaker
did you say having him in The song poor e but good news is for KJ 52 that he's taken on Eminem And there's a guy who's got no support in the rap community take down an easy guy first take down Eminem Take down Dr. Dre while you're at it. You know what? Take out Snoop. When Jesus, Moses, and Abraham are in your posse, anything's got to seem possible.
01:35:37
Speaker
I'm surprised that Mel Gibson didn't hire KJ 52 to rap over the end titles of Passion of the Christ. What a nice, fun way to wrap up that movie. sir
01:35:53
Speaker
okay my cage five was that KJ52 saying five loaves and two fishes is that his thing that is the thing yeah that's crazy is the KJ stand for kill Jesus or but I mean what's KJ I don't know King James King James okay Dude, that was hard. I love that. I that's i mean, dude, VH1 has a special place in my heart, especially watching, I'll i'll never forget VH1 behind the music for Creed. That was a life changer. ah They did a lot of countdowns that were super memorable for me. um I never saw this one, so this is spectacular.
01:36:37
Speaker
I would have been very excited to see it at any point during my life. I feel like a I would have laughed pretty hard at most of those points. So he calls this his low point. He's like bummed about this. does this he He talks about this in his sermon or what? That's the second time I've been humiliated in front of the world. ah you can't be you know If you're going to stand up for Christ, you got to understand the world doesn't want to hear what you have to say. The world doesn't like your message.
01:37:04
Speaker
There's no such thing as bad publicity. It's literally like, yes, the people who would think it's dumb will think it's dumb. Do you know how many people like me who watch TRL, if I was watching TRL or VH1 during any of that as a 14, 15 year old, I would be like, holy shit. I am a KJ52 fan now. it would have I needed, I would have loved that at that time.
01:37:32
Speaker
His whole thing in the in the sermon is like, he's like, rap rap is just full of like negativity and attacks and vendettas and personal beefs and all this stuff. And and look how the world responds when you try to do something positive with it, when you try to reach out and uplift somebody. The world can't stand that message of Jesus, Jesus' salvation or whatever, something like that. We just don't like it in rep. I wanna go,
01:38:03
Speaker
I want my options to be like Kendrick or Drake. I want Eminem or Machine Gun Kelly. You want that. That's so fun. Machine Gun Kelly's a bitch. Fuck off. Eminem's great. Awesome.
01:38:19
Speaker
Kendrick Spank Drake and now he gets to do the Super Bowl like hell yeah. That shit rips. We love that. Hip hop beef is fun as fuck. It's just not with KJ52. It's not, oh, we need positive energy. Look, there's places for positive energy. There is. I want it sometimes. I don't want it from KJ52. And I certainly don't want it mingled with the redeeming message of Jesus Christ. That's just boring now. Well, and it's like, I don't know if it's like ah an unwillingness to acknowledge it or if they just don't understand how people view it, but it's like, that's nobody thinks. Nobody thinks that you are sincerely looking out for Eminem's eternal well-being. Like everybody sees this and goes, this is just like shameless, like ladder climbing to try to get some attention and
01:39:16
Speaker
Cloud chasing. It's deserving of ridicule. Mm-hmm. But, but the fifth and final part of the sermon. The closer. Was when Eminem responds. No. To KJ52. I'm aghast.
01:39:32
Speaker
in a song called Be Careful What You Wish For. It's like 15 years later. I hope it's not a real response to. i hope he's I hope he's reading himself into the narrative. I'm looking forward to finding out. ah Well, yeah, you want to bet money on that? Here we go.
01:39:53
Speaker
Why did I call this message? Be careful what you wish for. Because that's the name of the song that Eminem responded back to me on. I've edited it just a little bit. He listens to Eminem. But I'm going to go ahead and play you his verse, which is a response to my song 12 years later.
01:40:47
Speaker
His response was, I appreciate the prayers, but I've already got God on my side. Why would somebody pray for you when they don't know you? Now, can I say with the definitive 100% that that's directed to me? No, I can't say that. Then the most honest thing he said in this chat. You directly said that you definitely said that he responded to you, initial to you, like eight seconds before that. That's crazy.
01:41:16
Speaker
Yeah, and it's like funny when you listen to it. It hasn't gotten thousands and thousands and thousands of letters over the years of people being like, I'm praying for you, man. ah Even you just look at hip hop in general. i don't I can't name a gang banging rapper from the 90s gangster rap era that doesn't simultaneously talk about having God on their side. It's says it's a tale as old as time.
01:41:45
Speaker
ah Yeah, and like, it's a total misrepresentation of what the guy was saying in the song, because he s said, like, he takes the piece of his lyrics that are convenient for his sermon and says, like, you know, he asks why anybody would pray for me when they don't know me.
01:42:01
Speaker
It's like, yeah, and he followed that up with, you weren't praying for me when I was local. Like it's a flat out acknowledgement that this is just like an attention seeking measure with no sense of so of of actual like, you know, wholehearted feeling in it whatsoever. Like he's calling you out for being like a clout chaser. Like that's what the song's s saying. The song is not baffled by your, you know, measure of goodwill for praying for him every day.
01:42:28
Speaker
like it's it's so ridiculous and like he's telling this to like little kids who aren't gonna pick apart like that piece of it you know but it's like oh my god dude and it's that's the kind of stuff where you just you listen to these guys talk likes pastors who have gotten like some degree of spotlight and you can see that in there all the time that like the truth doesn't really The truth is what I say it is because ultimately I know that God has a plan for me because I'm ah i'm important and my job is to minister to all these little people who aren't important.
01:43:03
Speaker
yeah and exactly which is why i got become pastor i don't almost every I've known very few pastors who don't have that ego. Very few. Maybe maybe only one. in You look at churches, how they're built around a person who gets paid by the people who show up to hear the things they want to hear.
01:43:26
Speaker
And if they don't, and if they misstep, those people leave in their church splits and they have a whole crisis of like a financial crisis in a church. but it's it I don't buy for one second that this guy went from like, that this guy doesn't have an ego that's leading the charge here. I just, I'll never buy it. I don't, again, I think I said recently that like, I, I have a real problem with pastors whose life, if, I don't care if you get a stipend. Look, if you're, if you have a job and you want to be a pastor and you do X, Y, and Z,
01:44:04
Speaker
Maybe you have some act, maybe you had some benefactor, right? You inherit a bunch of money. Maybe your spouse, maybe your pastor and your spouse makes a shitload of money. Great. I'm over trusting any pastor whose livelihood depends on their church salary. I don't believe any church should pay a pastor a living salary. I don't believe any church should structure themselves around an individual who's in financially and we see this that's the biggest criticism of politics right you you look at any structural power and go as soon as ands it's incentivized by financial gain it becomes corrupt immediately
01:44:49
Speaker
And I'm not saying that there isn't a Venn diagram where there are pastors who just speak their mind and say what they believe, regardless of repercussion, but sure it's small. It's fucking small to the point where those i I feel like people like that. I feel like the minority is always used as like the reason for people on the outside to argue why things shouldn't change. And that's exhausting, right? It's like, yeah, in every scenario, in every situation, you will find good actors.
01:45:27
Speaker
cop Let's talk cops in that manner. Like, it's just the same. Like, of course, of course there's a couple of good cops here and there, of course. It just doesn't matter. It's a corrupt institution that's not incentivized properly. And you just go, so that's, that's the problem. It's institutionally problematic. Churches, politics, it's all the same. They all have, at some point have to look out for their own self-interest. Otherwise it collapses for them.
01:45:56
Speaker
and not their constituents, which would be the people who go to their church, the people that voted them in the office, the people that they're supposed to fucking protect and serve. It's just that. So like, KJ52, all that to say, I'm done here. I just, I don't trust you. I don't trust that you've gone from being an egotistical, like mid rapper,
01:46:17
Speaker
to pastor where people continue to pay you to say what you to say the things that you're comfortable saying. like it's just It's a joke. It's horseshit. and i actually I think the the music game, I think that was a more respectable scene. I don't know what his financials looked like in that game, but it probably wasn't quite as sure as just doing hack sermons like this and making a livable salary.
01:46:47
Speaker
I think what's funny about two is like, as much as we're talking about deer slim, as much as he talks about deer slim, he also doesn't mention deer slim part two, which there was.
01:47:02
Speaker
A slightly different twist on the beat and hook. The stolen beat just ripped it completely with a little twist. and i wrote you but you make He does a bit of the ice thing. It's like, no, it's not. d andund did and and it's It's like, yeah all right, buddy. Whatever it was that he did.
01:47:25
Speaker
So here's here's how dear slim part two kicks off the forgotten verse Do you slim I wrote you but you ain't calling it's been a couple years now since I wrote that song in a Lot has changed for now for you and I I had no clue that I would write a song for you and it would change some lives Kids with tears in the eyes now they come up to me showing Showing love to me and telling me they look up to me. Don't talk about kids and showing love to you in the same sentence, dude. You're fucking weird about it. Did you put those tears in their eyes? Something to cry about, dude?
01:48:02
Speaker
of the effects to me well were really kind of strange to see i only wanted to share with you now jesus done for me but there's a whole other side to things now that i come to see it's a huge influence you got you got upon the industry, but enough of me, because it's not what I came to say to you. It's not a day goes by while I take time to pray for you. Sorry now for what your mom and dad, what they did to you, but I can relate with you because well, see dude, I've been there too. I know there's a lot of pain and hurt now that you've been through, but never forget there's a real love that God gave to you.
01:48:42
Speaker
I love how he's like, look, I get it. I grew up in South Florida. You grew up in, where'd he grow up? Detroit? Yeah. Like, yeah, rough part of Detroit too. Real rough. That's why he has cred. That's why no one ever gave him shit about like,
01:49:00
Speaker
No, no credible rapper ever gave him shit about being white. They go, like, I'm sure there was, I'm sure there was some. It's maybe the territory not really ah part of it. and You're in ah an arena that's not really for you.
01:49:15
Speaker
No, no, no, no. Eminem, not KJ52. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's what I mean. But like, obviously, in rap battles coming up, yeah. Like, he was the white guy in in all black space. I just mean, like, once he made, like, there was no, like, diss tracks really to Eminem from other, like, rappers. Like, and people just, like, got it. Like, he came up in in the shit in Detroit. Like, I don't know. he He has cred. People respect him. They don't think that he, like,
01:49:45
Speaker
They don't think that, at least as far as I know, there's very this barely anyone who's like, well, it's because he's white. Like, no, he he kind of proved himself where he was and gained people's respect and that elevated him to the top. Like, that was it. And then you have KJ52 is like a South Florida boy. Like, what's his pay? I want to know his parents' income, you know? All I really heard him say about his parents is that they got a divorce when he was like 16.
01:50:16
Speaker
So sad. 50 feels paid too, bro. did Dude, I get it. You grew up in Detroit. I grew up in South Florida, hanging out on beaches with my button-down Hawaiian shirt wide open, getting some breeze up on my nipples while my parents went through a divorce. You're like, fuck me.
01:50:38
Speaker
did yeah and I think this is a funny example that shows like how important the legend of this story has become to him. It is. It's a legend. It's not real. He puts it into the song here where he says,
01:50:53
Speaker
Yo, dear slim, I wrote you and you still ain't calling backstage at the V&A. Somebody gave you my song and I kind of wonder and what you thought, man, or when you or when that guy walked up to you and talk to you and put it in your hands. Maybe you never listened to it or maybe you lost it or maybe you heard it and you just got mad and tossed it. Did he hits you back? That's the question I always get. I'm like, well, God forbid you might even have liked it.
01:51:22
Speaker
it Okay. Now it just sounds wavy. This is Dear Slim part two? Yeah. ah That came out, I want to know when this came out. It came out in, no, this is 2003, but that can't be right. Dear Slim part two, 2011. Okay. 2011, the first one was 2007. So five years go by.
01:51:48
Speaker
Four years go by. Somewhere in that range. a The hype had died down. It wasn't getting the the the hits on it. it's just what a kidsfesing their The the profound changes that it had made in their lives had dwindled slightly, so it was time to revisit. Dude, Slim, maybe you heard it and you got mad and you threw it away. like why Why are you doing this, dude? you think You think if you pissed him off with the first one and he got rid of it, and then he goes, oh, he wrote another song for that. He's done with you, dude. He doesn't care. And the chorus has about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 64 laws in it. That's pretty cool. No, 64, five, six, seven, eight. 68 laws.
01:52:42
Speaker
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la and we may concern la la la la la to whom it may a concern ah sixty eight la la
01:53:00
Speaker
but there's one thing that's got me thinking bro does the grammy mean anything if it's just gonna cost your soul In case you didn't know there's a love that will never go away You say you're going to hell but it don't have to be that way See the bottom line of what I'm trying to say is God puts back the broken pieces That we were that are worth that are were thrown away I like I really am too. I can't get over this now. I'm looking at the lyrics. I love this
01:53:32
Speaker
Yo, dear Slim, did you hear the junk that I'm going through? Because he's really dealing with it. Like he's going through it. Kid sending me mail and telling me how I'm biting you is apparently really hard for him to go through. Telling me how they gonna beat me up and just kill me too.
01:53:52
Speaker
But a lot of people they just seem to get my song confused see what I say to you I know I might even sound funny But I never came at you just to paint you as the enemy this guy fucking sucks at rhyming do these off it wasn't about hating or starting some controversy it wasn't about blaming you or trying to make some money now I don't claim to know everything that you've experienced man I don't even know if even ever been here in this but I said it once and I still hold on to this it's that life without Christ
01:54:28
Speaker
is still a life that's never fixed that's profound so good i like that he believes that he stirred up such a big controversy like look i get it i could see why you'd feel that way after being just denigrated on vh1 but it's not like a real controversy and being like look man i get it i get what you're going through Like, I'm going through a lot, man. People are threatening to beat me up and kill me because I, because I talked to you in a song. This is a, this is a tangent that I don't, we don't need to go down, but I, I'm going to state my policy is like the minute somebody mentions that they got a death threat, I'm out. Whatever it is, your kitchen I'm out.
01:55:17
Speaker
Because that's what people do. The minute they get any sort of controversy or pushback on anything stupid that they say, they're like, I'm getting death threats. That's what gets them to move every single time. I don't care. I don't care if you got death threats. Go deal with it. Like, who cares? therapy I'm going to mull that over. I love that. I'm mulling that over. I'm going to think about all the times I've heard people say they got death threats.
01:55:41
Speaker
unless you show a game shark I want to you're right I want receipts if you go I got death threats I want receipts I want user names and I want you proving that people have your address so that they can kill you if they chose to I you're right I im like I don't know that you're right. um I'll walk that back a bit, but I'm intrigued and I think you might be on to something. Yeah, I'm not saying there's no exceptions to the rule, but I'm saying that I can't think of any right now. Anybody who who's like, I've been getting death threats, it's like, ah, shut up.
01:56:20
Speaker
carner sympathy love it all right should end this and we've been going out for a minute this is great anyways uh have a newfound love hate hate love for kj5 too i think we probably ruined any chance of getting him on the podcast but maybe he'll also want to review himself. Maybe he'll write a new song about us. Oh man, just just like you make a joke about him and he just like immediately just goes and starts furiously writing. He annoys his kids for three days so he can write things. like I um wrote you this song but you ain't been calling.
01:56:58
Speaker
I would love it if we could get him on and every time we got him like flustered, he just like broke into spoken word and just went hard on us. That'd be sick.
01:57:12
Speaker
Oh, man. Well, yeah. So go listen to Dear Slim. And if it affects you at a visceral level, you should write some snail mail and send it to do not threaten violence. Just tell him how meaningful it was and how it changed your life. Tell him how you're looking up to him.
01:57:33
Speaker
and how you used to like bad music, but then you got a KJ5T CD and now he helps you get rid of all the bad images that you was putting in the head. He still loves that. People picked up his album from 2007 and he's still like, that did something. That did something. I just got an email last week, someone who said they listened to my album from 20 years ago.
01:57:58
Speaker
and they go, it changed my life. That's the power of Christ. That's the power of Christ. it can He can use what you used, doesn't matter when you did it, doesn't matter how you did it, he can use it. 20 years ago, Christ is still moving to my music.
01:58:13
Speaker
You don't understand what it's like to make a difference. You don't understand what it's like to stand on stage and acquire the fire and fashion a cattle prod out of peer pressure and internal like self hatred and goad people to the front of the room to confess that they look important. Five. You don't make a difference. I love that. i learned if if If I learned anything tonight, ah it's five lobes, two fishes.
01:58:43
Speaker
So, special thank you to KJ52. Keep doing what you do, bruh. You know, however, however you're supposed to say it in 5-2-wingo. If you're not in our Discord, join it. It's theVilinks in our Instagram bio. And thanks for listening. We will see you next time.