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A Match Made in Heaven
117 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of The Lounge, student doctor Isabella Ntigbu and Dr. Aldwin Soumare discuss notable Black physicians, American Heart Month, Couples Match, the Netflix Series Love is Blind, Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, and Usher's Super Bowl performance 2024.
In the financial corner segment, Dr. Aldwin Soumare discusses Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt.
To share your thoughts on our discussions or if you have any questions to ask our hosts, email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
The Lounge wants to wish you all a Happy Match Season!
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
SNMA Publications Committee Feature Invitation
00:00:01
Speaker
The Publications Committee of SNMA wants to feature medical students, residents, and attendings who are involved in SNMA and SNMA alumni.
00:00:09
Speaker
Please fill out the information below to possibly have your submission be featured on the SNMA website. You can send professional photos of yourself to publicationsvcatsnma.org. They will contact you in two weeks in advance. If your submission is chosen, they will inform you when it will be published to the website. You will then be asked to confirm your current or previous SNMA membership at that time.
00:00:32
Speaker
For any questions or concerns, please email publicationsvc at snma.org.
Introduction and Question of the Day
00:00:38
Speaker
We are looking forward to hearing from you, and we hope to feature your many accomplishments in SNMA soon.
00:01:04
Speaker
Hello, everybody, welcome to SMA presents the lounge. And of course, to start up this episode, we always have to do our question of the day. So
00:01:16
Speaker
Hi everyone, I'm student Dr. Isabella. And the question of the day is, as a pre-med medical student or physician, are you willing to date outside your field or profession? I'll go ahead and start. So for me personally, I feel like I am willing to definitely do that because I think that with the demographic of men that I tend to be interested in, when they fall into the same profession as me,
00:01:42
Speaker
It's a hit or miss. It's a hit or miss for me. And I feel like I have had success with people who are in other fields that are different from mine. Alden, I don't know where this energy is coming from that I'm seeing on my screen, but I stand by my opinion.
00:02:00
Speaker
And I just feel like, yeah, I think that it's also nice to just learn something new about things that you may not necessarily be familiar about. Because every day you're doing something that is very specific and siloed, and not a lot of people who aren't in medicine know what goes on in medicine. And so it's just kind of nice to take a break and be like, oh, like, I'm learning something new. This person is doing something different for me. And maybe I can take some of those things that they're telling me and incorporate that even into my own career or just the way that I live life. So yep.
00:02:28
Speaker
That's my opinion. But I would like to know how you feel. She always got to bash us men, but you know, I'm gonna let you live anyway. But I do agree with you. I think it's important to date outside of your profession. It just depends on what your mentality, what your mental space is. But for me, I've always tried to diversify my interests, relationships, and not updated people that were truckers, people that was
00:02:55
Speaker
in nursing, people that was in other alternative careers that we wouldn't consider professional, but to me they was professional. We'll keep it at that. And for me, I think keeping an open mind is very important. Medicine is a very stressful field, but when you have somebody that could take you away from studying and getting on that grind, being in the hospital, and help you be encouraged in a different sense of the word, I think that's a beautiful thing to behold. So y'all shoot your shot out there. Like there's 4 billion,
00:03:24
Speaker
women and four billion men out there and et cetera, et cetera, that's out there. So put yourself out there. You never know who's going to bless you. It's not about the profession anymore. It's not about the six figures. It's not about the six other things that we can mention on the podcast. What it's really about is compatibility and you feeling great about yourself and great about the person that you're with. And that profession does not necessarily mean less or more than what you could feel, right?
Black History Month and Medical Contributions
00:03:49
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So be open-minded, love, cherish yourself and love who you're going to be with.
00:03:53
Speaker
Okay, okay. That's a nice response. I'm here for it. Speaking of love, y'all know what time it is. Y'all got to love this section as we always bring the heat because it's getting hot like a chimney. Okay. Whoo! Okay. I'm feeling like Rick Flick. Can I do another one?
00:04:24
Speaker
I know what time it is. Run the list for our pre-clinical students. Running the patient list on the wards allows the team to address pressing matters of the day. In this segment of the show, we'll be discussing some recent events in medicine affecting our communities.
00:04:39
Speaker
and the populations we serve. And with that being said, it's February. You know, we got to celebrate Blackity, Blackity, Black. No matter what people say, it's Black History Month. I remember when I was in medical school, one of my classmates, she said, what's the point of Black History Month? I don't know violence, but in that setting, I wanted to be very violent. But I'm going to keep it at this, right? Black History Month.
00:05:02
Speaker
We celebrate Black History Month because we have historically dealt with oppression, racism, institutionalization of Black and brown bodies from Dr. Marion Sims to taking advantage of the Mississippi Appendectomy. We can go down the whole list, right? We know that the Black power that we have in ourselves and our DNA and our genetics has allowed us to be resilient, has allowed us to be the most successful individuals
00:05:25
Speaker
that society has ever known. And so I want you all to tap into this in this Black History Month, celebrate who you are, and you're a part of history. History wasn't just in the past. Like right now is history. So what you're doing, what you are committing to, what you are protecting for your progeny and for where you are right now, it's the most beautiful thing to behold. And with that being said, we're going to talk about some notable Black physicians and health professionals. The first one being Dr. Charles Drew, who was a pioneer in developing a technique that made it possible to store blood.
00:05:55
Speaker
and used it for transfusions. And he found that plasma could be dried and then reconstituted, which led to the invention of blood banking. I'm gonna let, you know, my sis talk about her presence for Black History Month as well. And I got one too, but shout out to Andi.
00:06:10
Speaker
period. Yeah, shout out to Dr. Charles Drew, who also is the name on UCLA's HBCU component of their medical school. So, you know, and at Howard University undergrad campus, we do have a Drew Hall that is the freshman voice
00:06:26
Speaker
So, you know, Charles Dr. Charles Drew, he's a pretty famous guy and we appreciate all the work he's done. For me, I have to highlight someone who's very alive, very well, very like in the grind of the medical space, but at the same time is kind of carving out her own path.
00:06:42
Speaker
She is a emergency medicine physician, which is the field that I am planning to apply into. I don't think I've ever said that before, which is crazy because I've never told you guys what I'm applying into, but that is my choice.
00:06:58
Speaker
I have known for some time now, but I've kind of been just keeping it hush hush with me doing the research fellowship and everything. But yeah, so I had to bring out another EM sister. So Dr. Uche Blackstock is her name. She is someone who received her medical degree and her undergrad degree from Harvard University. She completed her EM residency at SUNY Downstate slash King's
00:07:20
Speaker
County Hospital where she was actually chief resident as well. And she completed a fellowship in EM ultrasound at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital. So she was in academic medicine, left in 2019 to focus time on just creating her own organization called Advancing Health Equity in which she's the founder and CEO. And there she's pretty much just doing a lot of work trying to eradicate health, racial health inequities. She also just recently came out with her own book titled Legacy of Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.
00:07:49
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So she's just doing a lot of things. She's kind of like hitting the pavement and just really covering a lot of ground when it comes to medical injustices and just kind of creating spaces for Black people in medicine to thrive and for us to not feel like because we're Black that we are limited in what we can do. So shout out to Dr. Uche Blackstock.
00:08:08
Speaker
I also noticed like I didn't even peep until you said her bio but she went to Harvard for undergrad in med school but then she went right into the hood in Brooklyn, SUNY downstate and then did a residency program at a non Ivy League program and I'm just saying that to say like for all of you out there, it doesn't matter where you are, what school you go to.
00:08:26
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All that matters is that you become that physician, you envision yourself to be, and be in the spaces where you could continuously heal. And I feel like I'm really connected to her mission and her purpose in being able to expose racism in medicine, especially during this month. Fantastic book. Make sure you cop that. I'm a definitely cop.
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah. I have it in my Spotify audiobooks right now. I'm going to listen to it because I kept seeing it, but I was like, oh, I didn't click to me that she made the book. I'll send it to you. I have the premium account so I can listen to up to 15 hours free of audiobooks on Spotify. That's so fun. Yeah.
00:08:59
Speaker
And speaking of racism, our last person for Black History Month is Dr. Chester Pierce, who is a psychiatrist who is well-beloved in an organization that I love and I represent the Black Psychiatrist of America. He was one of the first Black athletes to play football in an all-white
00:09:18
Speaker
dominant school south of the Mason-Dixon line in 1940. Actually, he went to Harvard College and they petitioned him to be able to play in that football game. And at the behest of his coaches and the rest of his teammates, they were able to successfully make that happen. Despite the terroristic threats that he was receiving from a lot of the communities in the Northeast and in the South, he still made his way there, knowing fully possible that he could be endangered and also receive some type of antagonistic actions toward him.
00:09:47
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And then he, you know, the later developed so many different things within the realm of psychiatry in specific. He was the first one to note microaggression as a term, a term that Dr. Blastock potentially
00:09:59
Speaker
as mentioned in her book, I'm sure. But microaggression, as you guys may or may not know, is a term that means when you're experiencing multiple cuts and wounds throughout the experience of being in whatever industry that you are, as a person of color or as a person of minoritized and marginalized communities, and how that cut can seep deep wounds into you and cause a disastrous effect in terms of trauma, in terms of behavior toward the world. And so microaggression is something that we don't necessarily
00:10:28
Speaker
feel directly in that sense directly, but we do develop over time and that can cause significant events. So shout out to Dr. Chester Pierce. And then he also was involved in the creation of Sesame Street, which was built to create an integrative society for everyone and make everyone inclusive, especially during the time of the 1970s. And it's one of the longest running shows to this day. And I'm proud to be part of his historic legacy and learn from him.
00:10:58
Speaker
Right. Love it, love it, love it. Well, happy Black History Month to all of our listeners. And we hope that you guys can identify some figures as well that you admire who kind of have been hitting the pavement running when it comes to just being black, beautiful, and excellent.
Military Service and Racial History
00:11:15
Speaker
That's a fact. But what has not been excellent was that three American soldiers were killed in Jordan earlier this month. Unfortunately, three Black soldiers were represented
00:11:27
Speaker
There was a drone attack on the U.S. military outpost in Jordan. Sergeant Williams Rivers, age 46 of Carrollton, Georgia, Specialist Kenny Sanders, 24 way across Georgia, and Specialist Brianna Moffat of Savannah, Georgia, unfortunately were killed. And it's probably one of the first times that a drone has actually been able to come on an actual American base, no matter where around the world, and attack individuals. More than 40 people were actually injured in the attack.
00:11:57
Speaker
And unfortunately, these three servicemen lost their lives in this process, these three beautiful black people. And they were, you know, when I think about situations like this, you know, it reminds me that we're in a constant space of violence and hatred and antagonism in our society and our world today, whether we talk about Godzilla, whether we talk about what's going on in Sudan, Congo,
00:12:25
Speaker
And it's a very hurtful thing to know that you're putting your life out there and your life isn't necessarily respected. There's no sort of diplomacy. You could get up, walk out, and lose your life. And for these individuals, unfortunately, that's what had happened. And this is at the behest of the United States, which continue to significantly escalate a lot of their attacks.
00:12:53
Speaker
But what has been known is that roughly 165 attacks have been on US and coalition forces since October 17th, and things continue to worsen. When we talk about Iran, Iraq, Syria, it's just a whole complex mess in regards to trying to stabilize the Middle East.
00:13:13
Speaker
But what are your thoughts on what's going on with this attack and what does it mean to the stability of the American militia forces? Yeah, for sure. I definitely think that it's important to just highlight the fact that these three people who were injured or sorry, not injured, killed, excuse me, that they were human beings first and foremost, right? With like their own personal lives and personal
00:13:40
Speaker
motivations of wanting to be a part of this, the military. I thought it was really heartwarming to kind of see the mother talk about one of her daughters, which was Mo Fett, one of the sergeants last named Mo Fett, the mom. She just kind of talked about how like her daughter was a second female and the family to join the military and like she was very proud of that because she was kind of like going on that legacy. And just the fact that like she
00:14:05
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the last time they spoke that she was just asking for her to send a package that had like a real estate book, some clothes, and even making sure that she doesn't forget to include a strawberry shortcake snack. Like, I just feel like those things are just, it's just so humanly for somebody to just care about something like that, knowing that they're also serving such a big purpose, which is trying to serve our country and protect the lives of Americans. And so it just, it was really, it was honestly kind of bittersweet to just see that yes, their lives were lost and that
00:14:35
Speaker
they didn't get to see tomorrow at such young ages but that there was a purpose behind their story, there was a purpose behind like why they enlisted and that they're receiving the proper reference that they deserve but also too that we're not forgetting their humanity as well and I think that's very important to note. So at least for me, it's like I think it's very hard. My
00:14:59
Speaker
My idea about black people in the military is always going to veer towards the negative, in my opinion, just because I feel like our early history in this country, we weren't even really looked as human beings. So the fact that people put their bodies on the line for this country, even though we didn't even have that appreciation. I'm somebody who veers more towards, I'm not a supporter of black people enlisting, but
00:15:23
Speaker
I recognize that everybody has their own reasons for doing it. And for some people, that was a good choice that they're happy making. And so for other people, maybe they have regrets. For other people, that's just what they had to do. And so I try not to... Yeah, I try not to judge people's choices. But I would say for me personally, I don't know if I'd be the parent that would encourage my kids to enlist just because of the complicated history that Black people have in this country. And yeah, that's kind of what I would say on the matter.
00:15:52
Speaker
She said what she said. I agree with you, Hunter, the whole party. I didn't say what I said. Lives were lost, but I do feel like we have to tackle the historic racism that many Blacks face, even in entering the armed militia forces, having separate groups for the forces. Being at the front line, when we talk about World War I and World War II, they actually sent Black soldiers as the front line, and they were the ones that were devastated casualty-wise because of that.
00:16:22
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Um,
Heart Health Awareness and Tips
00:16:23
Speaker
even barring them from reaching higher, uh, ranks as well. I mean, there's so many things that we could even talk about and delve into this, but beyond the scope of this podcast episode today, um, rest in peace to the three individuals named and, uh, you know, still shout out to the soldiers that is representing holding down overseas and even domestically as well.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. And I think that we're talking about Black people's history with America when it comes to just whether or not we're appreciated, respected, and all of these things. And I feel like, especially from a medical standpoint, Black people have a very complicated history in medicine as well when it comes to trusting their providers or feeling like their health is respected and valued. And I think it's important to note that this month, February is American Heart Month,
00:17:13
Speaker
And when we talk about the heart, right, the heart controls so many things in our body, it, you know, it is the bane of how we're able to pump blood throughout our system to allow us to just do functions, right? Of course, the brain is up there, but the heart also holds so much value as well. And there's so many conditions that can, you said what? Your brain is better.
00:17:37
Speaker
Yes, the brain, without the brain, you will not be who you are, 100%. But I do feel like people do undermine the heart because the heart, when you have heart issues, that can really mess up a lot of other things too in your life. So we got, because it's American Heart Month for February, we're gonna shout out the heart this month, right? We're gonna let the brain say to the side, let's talk about the heart this month, okay?
00:18:02
Speaker
But like, what are some things that happens to the heart, right? There is like congenital heart disease, there's like arrhythmias, there's atherosclerosis, there's coronary heart disease, heart failure is a huge one. When I was on my cardiology rotation, heart failure, heart failure, heart failure, like that's a big one. Peripheral artery disease, so it, you know, there's a lot of things that happen to the heart or just the, or the, what did, what did you say? Dr. Justin Marchegiani I said rheumatic disease.
00:18:30
Speaker
According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death among men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing almost 400,000 people in 2021, and about 1 in 20 adults aged 20 and older have coronary artery disease. I think it's important to highlight women.
00:18:52
Speaker
Because women in the United States are experiencing avoidable heart-related disease and death, and over half of U.S. women do not recognize that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. I think it's also important to note, too, that when it comes to myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, that a lot of women present differently and with symptoms that aren't as recognizable when you would see it in a man. So...
00:19:13
Speaker
This is, I think, a great time to kind of highlight the ways that we can really be cognizant about our heart health and what is it that we can do to prevent these issues. I don't know if Alden, if there's anything you can speak to about things that people can do as our resident doctor to prevent heart-related issues. Okay, listen, you know, I got one more year and some change, so I'm not gonna say no, but I feel like you might have a little more tidbits that you can give the listeners.
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's many of them, but some of the things that I think are very controllable and modifiable, as they call it, something that you can modify directly. So isolation is one of them, right? I recently did a real whatever. And most Americans feel some sense of isolation, but there is a protective barrier that happens when you socialize with others. Because think about it, for most of human history, humans have been civilized to socialize with each other. And now we're saying everyone's going to the crib
00:20:11
Speaker
laying down, watching Netflix, being in their own world. But there's positive hormones and there's positive chemical, neurochemical benefits that happen when you socialize with others. Another thing is exercise. So you don't got to be in a weight room working out for two hours a day, right? 30 minutes an hour will set you a good pace in terms of having positive health benefits for your heart.
00:20:36
Speaker
As long as you get your cardiac rate up to a certain extent, right? Anywhere between 100 to 150. And you do that for 30 minutes an hour a day, four or five days a week, you're good. And it doesn't have to be something so, you know, physically strenuous. It could be a simple walk in the park, right? A simple, like you get on, like I have an elliptical at the crib. So I get an elliptical and I'm playing my PS4.
00:21:00
Speaker
And I used to go to med school. I would jog in place while reading my slides. You know what I mean? I'll say it out loud. So for y'all, that's in med school. Y'all could try that out if you want to. You know what I mean? Another thing is your diet. So a lot of times, unfortunately, in our American diet, we have a lot of saturated and trans fats. And we don't necessarily look at what is the component of what's going on. In other countries like Europe,
00:21:25
Speaker
In Africa, we have more of a natural sense of what's going on with the foods. They use less chemicals, less pesticides. They don't use steroids, which also increases your risk.
00:21:35
Speaker
for heart attack as well. But the thing with the diet is the Mediterranean diet is among the most studied diets and continues to be widely came for his health benefits. So which includes like, you know, peas and fish, right? A lot of like seafood, like, you know, things, right? And rice can be included in that if you want as well. So your diet really, you know, matters. You know, in America, we have so much accessibility to fast food nowadays.
00:22:01
Speaker
And fast food is akin to slowly killing yourself. So you are what you eat, right? And there's a study that showed like 40 to 50% of people actually ingest fast food three to four times a week. You know what I mean? So people don't even realize like a lot of these things that you ingest and they're actually going kind of grain against what it means to truly be healthy. So heart health is very important.
00:22:24
Speaker
Like you mentioned,
Match Season and Couples Match Process
00:22:25
Speaker
the heart is connected to your kidneys, your stomach, your brain, so it increases your risk for a whole host of diseases in all of these different areas. So take care of your heart and you truly are taking care of yourself.
00:22:37
Speaker
100%. We got to keep all the organs functioning and in tip-top shape. And, you know, it's just funny that we're already talking about medicine, we're talking about being aware of our Awareness Month. And this time of the year is actually very important medicine. It's not just Heart Month, but it's also match season coming up very soon. It's happening next month.
00:23:02
Speaker
So shout out to all the MS4s, technically my class, who I would have been graduating with this year, but I said, you know what? I need to take a mental health year. I need to take a break. I'm not trying to hip-stop and run into residency. I'm like, residency is always going to be there. I don't need to rush there. So, you know, I gave myself a little bit of a break. And so shout out to the class of 2024, who is soon going to be preparing for the match. I have seen a couple of my classmates recently and, you know, everybody's a little bit antsy about
00:23:31
Speaker
what they're gonna see in that envelope come March. But I think it is important to note that there's a part of the match that a lot of people don't really discuss, which is the couples match. And, you know, I personally never really did too much investigation into couples match before because I was like, oh, I mean,
00:23:49
Speaker
I didn't necessarily know if I was ever going to be with anybody that was in medicine or ever you have to care about it. I mean, I'm still in that position. So thankfully, that's not something I need to worry about. Because from what I've heard, couples match is something that is an extra step. And I found out recently that with couples match, it's like when you are putting your application to match, you're not being seen as just like an individual, but you're being seen as like a couple. So if you don't match,
00:24:15
Speaker
The other person not gon' match, right? That- that's- that's a- that's a gamble. Like, you better make sure you want somebody who was on their Ps and Qs during med school, because I'll be damned. Excuse my French. I will be damned. If- If I don't have- Love what? Love conquers all.
00:24:36
Speaker
So what, what is your perspective on couples match? Because I know that that is not my perspective, that love conquers all. Love does not conquer my student loans. Love does not conquer my career. Okay, there's a lot of things that love is not going to conquer. They look at for residencies. So they know it's all about being in a position where they know you're going to be supported. So typically people that couples match, they're more likely to, if they are in the same field, despite
00:25:01
Speaker
The rigor is a residency. They'll be able to hold each other accountable, support, encourage each other through the darkest moments. And a lot of times that's what residency looks at. They look at geographical location. They look at these, again, modifiable factors that are surrounding an individual. And even for me, like when I was going through the match the first time,
00:25:19
Speaker
actually was gonna do couples match with somebody. We were- Stop capping on this podcast. You was in a couple match before? Yo, I would die right now. I would die right now, yo. What? Okay, me, I rebuke that. Nobody's dying as long as we're on this episode. I'm just saying, like, it wasn't somebody I probably was a couple with, but, you know, me and her, we was cool. Like, shout out, you know, I still love you. We don't talk no more. So, wait, you were legitimately gonna couples match with a girl the first time around?
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, I was we was talking about it, like, for real, for real, like, but then we didn't understand. And then we had argument and all this stuff, not to go into that. But the fact of the matter is that couples matching, you know, merges two people's listen to the into one. Yeah, rather than a single list per individual becomes a list with two columns, you know, I'm saying. So the programs combine, you know, these two lists, and then they're ranked
00:26:13
Speaker
You rank the programs in the order that you desire. So some people, you know, we have a website here that recommends that a strategy is go to areas where there are multiple programs that you guys may be interested in. So for many, when you're going through the couples match, you may not be in the same field. So OBGYN, you might have plastic surgery, et cetera, et cetera. So typically, although you may be interested in rural areas,
00:26:39
Speaker
there's going to be places where your residency programs are going to be, you know, multiplying like New York City, Miami, LA, Newark, you know, random places like that where, you know, you'll have a lot of opportunities so you have a good spread. So one of the things we recommend is going to a big city where you can maximize your effort. You know what I mean?
00:27:00
Speaker
And another thing is, if you felt strongly about one program than the other, while you're discussing this with your significant other, you look at the goals, what are your goals for each other, like in terms of a competition? Because when you're going through the match, it's like, yeah, I've both got to rank it together. It's not a single thing. It's like, yo, what's the, you know, we're going to try to maximize it. So although you guys independently can rank your programs, right?
00:27:24
Speaker
you could also you know you could rank it differently but it probably is you know it probably is smarter to rank them similarly because based off of the algorithms you are in the position of advantage right so if you guys both rank a program number one you know you increase your chances of both going there now there's no perfect program as people know
00:27:47
Speaker
And you're not going to get everything out of every program. But communication is so key while discussing the rank list, while being with your significant other. And it's a very personal decision. And I think also we got to take into account, even if someone is not ranking the list similarly to their significant other, not to get tight, not to get mad at them.
'Love is Blind' Discussion
00:28:09
Speaker
Everyone has to make a decision that's best for them. But you also got to be a part of your partner, in my personal opinion. Right.
00:28:17
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely think that, like, it does add a twist to the match and, like, according to you, love conquers all. Others may even say that love is actually blind and there is a show that is already highlighting whether or not love is blind.
00:28:35
Speaker
I'm not sure, I'm not sure how familiar you are with Love Is Blind. Are you familiar with Love Is Blind, Alden, like you watched an episode? But I'm going to let you familiarize myself with it because I've been seeing this all over on the group that I'm in Young Black American Doctors on Facebook. You have all seven people on it. They always talking about this show. Please let me know. I haven't watched it like that, but you know, I'll listen to it for now.
00:28:57
Speaker
Right, right. Yes, yes, it's okay. It's okay. I'll take one for this because I've watched every single season of Love is Blind. I have actually just watched the episodes that came out a few hours ago the same day. So you can tell that I have a problem. I have a bit of a problem when it comes to that show. So just to kind of give a rundown, what is Love is Blind? So it is a social experiment where we have single men and women who are looking for love and also getting engaged without
00:29:22
Speaker
Seeing each other in person at all and they're literally dating through these pods where there is a wall in between them And you cannot see these people right? So it is essentially blind dating Like but on a grander scale in the public eye so Yes, there is going to be a spoiler alert because if you have not watched the show and you feel like you want to watch the show and you don't want to hear any
00:29:49
Speaker
feedback or comments about characters, I would suggest you skip through this segment into whatever we talk about next. However, let's go back to the show. This season, I would say in terms of its run, I think that Love is Blind started really strong with America's popular couple at the time when it came out, Lauren and Cameron. Lauren being a black woman, Cameron being a white man, but there was something so electric about their chemistry. I think that everybody fell in love with them. I fell in love with them as well.
00:30:18
Speaker
and so they kind of set the tone I think for people actually wanting to watch the show. Now I would say that as seasons kept going on, there were some very low quality seasons where people really came there for the spotlight or came there for the clout, not really there to actually find love. Now this season is particularly interesting and I think what makes it interesting is that
00:30:39
Speaker
The plot twists are very, very unexpected. Like what ends up happening is like far from what you would expect when you're first watching it. And it seems like there's a lot more people who are coming onto the show who
00:30:56
Speaker
were assuming that they believe that love is blind, but in reality, they actually are as vain as you can imagine them to be. Like they care about looks a lot more than they let on. And so when they actually see the person, they are being very, trying to be diplomatic about how they feel. So I will give some example, two main couples that I think are very popular is AD and Clay, as well as Jimmy and Chelsea.
00:31:18
Speaker
So AD and Clay is interesting because they are a black couple, right? It's giving black excellence, it's giving like black beauty, whatever. But Clay makes a very interesting comment. Did you, you said something? I just said black. Oh, okay, okay. I wasn't sure if he was already making the comments. I was like, let me, let me, let me lay out my point first before. Because you know with you all that I always got to be careful.
00:31:51
Speaker
So Clay, he literally makes a comment during the pause and he says, oh, um, you know, honestly, in order for me to propose to any girl, I would have to see or have an idea of how she looks like. And it's kind of like, wait, bro, what you're on love is blind. Like, how does that work? Like, you just, you came up to a show that's about meeting somebody and loving them for who they are on the inside without any concern about their looks. And you're telling her,
00:32:15
Speaker
Oh, I need to kind of get an idea of what she looked like. So that did kind of put a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Somehow they came out of it. I guess he apologized for it and they moved forward. So they did get engaged. We're going to continue to see how their relationship plays out. I don't know. Honestly, I want it to work because they are a black couple, but at the same time, I don't condone toxicity and a man who needs to be in therapy rather than being engaged. So I feel like I'm going to let that play out.
00:32:41
Speaker
Now, Jimmy and Chelsea, Jimmy and Chelsea is a very interesting couple. I didn't expect to be as invested in them as I was. However, the similar situation happened between them where Jimmy was dating this, was dating this one woman who is a single mom. And so she has a daughter who's 10 years old. However, I think she's only like a year or two years older than Jimmy. And he was dating another girl seriously named Chelsea. And she was just married in the past, but she doesn't have like any kids or anything like that. But it was very, very clear to everybody, right? That like,
00:33:11
Speaker
Jimmy and Jessica were a much better match compared to Jimmy and Chelsea. However, because once she gives out the news that she's a single mom, Jimmy kind of like, in my opinion, it seems like he's unsure even though he says that it's not a deal breaker for him. But I feel like from that point on, he gets a little bit like nervous and double guessing like, or double like thinking like, should I really end up with her? But he doesn't really, he's not really forthcoming about it. Now with Chelsea,
00:33:40
Speaker
Chelsea, she is very clearly much a better match with this other guy named Trevor, but I think what it is is that it's very clear to everybody that Jessica is conventional. Like, if we want to talk about, like, what society would say is more conventionally physically attractive, Jessica would fit that bill more. Maybe because she, like, she has more of those physical attributes that people in our society today would say is more attractive, right? I'm not gonna say she looks better than Chelsea, but I would say that
00:34:07
Speaker
maybe to most people's eyes, they would say, oh, Jessica's clearly more of a catch than Chelsea. So, Chelsea does make a little comment about Megan Fox and saying, oh, like, you know, on flight, because she's a flight attendant, she's like, oh, on flights, I get told sometimes that, you know, I resemble Megan Fox. And it's very clear that Jimmy, like, gets this whole change in his head, like, oh, look out.
00:34:30
Speaker
can I marry you right now?" Like, it's so clear that he's vain, but he's not trying to be forthcoming about it. So now we're in a situation where Jimmy rejects Jessica, Jessica reads him for filth, as she should, as a Capricorn Queen should, and he ends up being engaged to Chelsea. But Chelsea is, to me, in my opinion, she's deeply insecure because she knows that at some point, Jimmy's going to figure out how Jessica looks like and she may not want her
00:34:54
Speaker
like, in that, want her as much as he did before. So that is kind of like, love is blind in a nutshell. But I want to, or at least in terms of the current season, but I want to kind of give you a chance to just tell me, what is your perspective of blind dating? Like, what is your perspective thus far of like, what I've told you with the characters? Like, do you have any huge opinions about, about it? Go for it. Like, I love it. I mean, I love the concept. I don't watch the show.
00:35:23
Speaker
I just don't watch it, but I will say that I think that in a world where we have so much accessibility to dating through social media, through dating apps, why not switch the game up? Why not find your love in a different way and connect to that? Now with the vain stuff, I think that's crazy. Like humble yourself, Shorty.
00:35:47
Speaker
There's always going to be somebody that looks better than you, that is more fit than you, that has better blue eyes. But you said shorty though, who are you talking about? Because I said that the men are vain. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You call men shorty, how do you feel? The point we're seeing is the men. The women probably are vain there too. You're just not thin because you're biased minds. No, no, no, no, no. You haven't watched the show yet. You haven't watched the episodes yet.
00:36:15
Speaker
Hey. While you're watching, you let me know what it's giving. But yeah, keep going with your opinion. But after hearing that, honestly, I'm about to sign up for Love Is Mine to get on that show, because I'm not supposed to be thinking about it. It sounded like they don't have appropriate batches on the show. Okay.
00:36:41
Speaker
Now, when they see the doctor, they might start flipping out. When they see the doctor all the way, who knows? They might start having heart buffetations. That's a scope on my neck. You know what I mean? Like Baywatch, you know what I'm saying? Heard you. Man, got the white coat, you know, pull that joint out. They're going to see like, because you start from the feet up, right? So I'm going to wear one of my suits with the white coat down, you feel me? Heard you. And then Crocs, so they know what's up. Okay, period.
00:37:07
Speaker
And I feel like with, you know, the co-show and the concept of the show, what becomes difficult is that as you move through the characters, the harder conversations have to kind of start happening, right? So there was this other couple that they briefly discussed child planning and like what that would look like. The man did say that he would rather be financially stable when he's having children rather than having them
00:37:33
Speaker
in the near future. And so, I think that's a big testament to the importance of contraception, especially in partnerships and marriage, whatever it may be. And it is actually also National Condom Month, which is a very popular contraceptive option for couples. So, I think it's self-explanatory. I mean, we all know what a condom does, right? It helps to prevent... You know, there's people that, they just be, you know, a well in rural Maine that doesn't know what it is, be that clean to us.
00:38:01
Speaker
Okay. You're right. Let me not. I'm telling all myself. I'm expecting everybody to know what a condom is, but there might be somebody. Wow. So for the listeners who do not know what a condom is, it is this rubber
00:38:20
Speaker
usually rubber latex, non-latex options that you will put on your penis when you are having intercourse with a girl in order to prevent pregnancies. And there also is female condom options as well. Thank you, Alduin. And so it's cheap.
00:38:41
Speaker
it's simple to use. And so it's actually probably one of the most effective ways that a person can prevent pregnancy. According to Healthline, from 2007 to 2017, the usage of condoms among US high school population decreased actually from 62% to 54%. So it's like, it's effective, it's cheap, it's accessible, but apparently, there has been a decline in its usage. Now, whether this is due to other forms of
00:39:09
Speaker
contraception that people are choosing to use like birth control, the pill, the IUD, the copper, the, the copper, I think it's called the one that you insert in your arm or next next one on yes.
00:39:24
Speaker
Maybe that's why it's declining, but I also don't know if high school students aren't getting on those forms at that age. So I wonder if it's just the fact that we're not educating the youth enough about condoms. However, we all know that the only 100% reliable way preventing any form of SCDs, unwanted pregnancies is abstinence. And that includes avoiding oral, anal and vaginal sex.
National Condom Week and Safe Sex Practices
00:39:51
Speaker
I'm gonna ignore the sound that she made, but I will let you tell our listeners, you know, what else do you want to add about why we should care about National Condom? Is it actually, let me correct it. So it's actually National Condom week.
00:40:11
Speaker
Yes. It is National Condom Week, which goes from February 14th to February 21st. And we are recording February 21st. So it is actually the very last day of National Condom Week. Just want to make that clarification. But go ahead, Aldi. I mean, you hit everything on the nail. I think even regards to when I look back in high school, we didn't have any sets at classes. I mean, I went to all boys school. But regardless of whether you're a male, female, we're born a growing society where SEDs can kill you.
00:40:41
Speaker
And CDs like HIV, which can then develop to AIDS, syphilis, you could get neurosyphilis, tabbies, dorsalis. You get all these conditions that we learned in medical school, gonorrhea, you know, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease. Right. So these are, and just because you don't see that, like, because on a common day to day, right, a lot of the SCs, SCDs, they don't show and manifest with the person that you walk across, like you come across, right, or someone you have a relationship with.
00:41:09
Speaker
A lot of them are very silent and not until you start experiencing symptoms that you're like, Oh, now I need to like make sure everything is good because a lot of times they stay in your system.
00:41:21
Speaker
And before you know it, they're causing wreck and havoc. So I think it's beautiful that we're having these conversations about National Condom Week. Another thing to even note is that when we speak on even our capabilities of educating our youth, I think we have to do a better job of doing that. Because regardless of what we say as adults, the youth, they're going to be youth and they're going to be doing their thing. You know, when I was young, I'm doing my thing. And you are what you see, you are what you hear. And if you're not hearing it,
00:41:50
Speaker
And I feel like we try to be absent-minded. Oh, they're innocent. And nah, bro, these youth, they getting in. Like, think about social media accessibility. They seeing, you know, people twerking, showing off, doing this and that. Like, people get hyper-sexualized before they need to be hyped. I mean, I saw in the Shade Room yesterday, there's a little girl, her mom hired her to, you know, help out with doing, you know, like,
00:42:16
Speaker
like cutting the, you know, private parts and all that. You know what I'm saying? You got like a case on it. But anyway, regardless, waxing. Yeah. Waxing. Regardless, the case of the matter is that please, guys, protect yourself. Be safe. Just because you don't see the long term circle sequally today doesn't mean that it can't manifest. And there's
Nicki Minaj vs. Megan Thee Stallion
00:42:36
Speaker
a lot of diseases that we don't know about that you can transmit, whether you're a sex worker, whether you're in medical school. These diseases, they do not discriminate. You know, they they will
00:42:46
Speaker
manifest when they want to manifest if you don't protect yourself appropriately. So, we have been in this medical space for some time now. I think we have really crossed all our T's and dotted all our I's with making sure that our listeners understand that it's important to practice safe sex, it's important to care about your heart and couples match is
00:43:11
Speaker
It is something that is going to take an extra step, but it's people have had success with it. And as long as you do your research, it's very feasible. But I think, you know, with all that being said, there is other
00:43:24
Speaker
things going on outside of our own private bubble. The entertainment industry right now has experienced another black female rap beef that it hasn't experienced for some time now. I think the one that was most significant was maybe, at least the one I can remember is maybe Cardi and Nikki as the most recent. Well, Nikki's still having beef with people, right? And she's trying it this time with Megan Thee Stallion. So...
00:43:57
Speaker
I want to be different here and let you tell me what you think because I feel like
00:44:04
Speaker
I want to start this conversation off with somebody who may have less of an investment in such a turbulent situation. So you, Aldwin, where I know that Nikki and Meg are not people that you necessarily probably have on your playlist 24-7, what has been your perspective of their beef? Yo, it's crazy because in 2019, they had that anthem, Hot Girl Summer,
00:44:32
Speaker
You know me like Nicki Minaj and Meg's they was like besties and then now it's like four or five years almost later like y'all popping off like for what reason like we got to be having black excellence black celebration the caddy stuff got to go out the window like we in 2024
00:44:50
Speaker
Of course, they want y'all to be in that position where y'all going against each other, where y'all criticizing each other, y'all enemies. But this is a problem with Black society and Black communities that we're not working together. We see each other as enemies and we're working for the man rather than working for ourselves.
00:45:06
Speaker
and thinking independently. Now, with that being said, the controversy is benefiting both of them because people checking their music out, they tapping in. Nicki Minaj, obviously, she dropped the album a couple months ago and then Megan Thee Stallion, she dropped a single called Hiss.
00:45:25
Speaker
which, you know, made a couple of targets. You know, we could say, you know, was it Meg or was it, you know, Nicky that started, but we could probably say Meg started and she took some.
00:45:38
Speaker
He took a hit at Nicki Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, who has been notoriously known for being an individual involved with sexual assault and potentially rape, I believe, in California in the 90s. But they've pulled up to Megan Thee Stallion's mom's grave, and they were starting to get to the point where this cemetery called the police and was like, yo, y'all got to do something about this.
00:46:04
Speaker
Y'all fucking out, bro, but y'all walling up. Y'all that infatuated with a figure that you will do something so unholy and so disrespectful. And the thing is, Megan Thee Stallion's mom was one of her inspirations into going to New York one thing. And so I just hate to see it for a black woman is creating a bad,
00:46:31
Speaker
a bad outlet, a bad perception of how black women need to interact. We need to love, we need to cherish each other. I want to see more of that. I want to see more collabs.
00:46:41
Speaker
Like y'all both phenomenal artists in your own. Do I listen to y'all like that? Nah, not really. Yeah, not for me, but y'all put a lot of black women and a lot of women in general and the black woman empowerment and feminism and all that. And now y'all taking away from everything y'all doing. And especially the thing that's really hurting me is that we got two generations. Nick, you've been out since like the early to late 2000s.
00:47:03
Speaker
Megan Thee Stallion been out like the last four or five years she really got popping off like mentorship like what's going like what's up with that bro like y'all shouldn't y'all a whole generation apart so this caddy petty stuff is just unnecessary like get on the phone call each other and be like yo what's up like you got beef like throw to him whatever like but don't like come out here and like do this because it's it just doesn't look bad
00:47:27
Speaker
For a black woman and we already know black woman is one of the most vilified villainized and hated in society Yeah, just exacerbating what's going on in the perception of the world
00:47:37
Speaker
I'm glad you started off. I'm very glad you started off with your opinions because I have a lot of context to provide on the beef. Who is at fault? Who started the beef? And who is notorious with always having issues with people in the industry time and time and time again? Now, for the last four or five years, have we seen Meg in tussling with any other artists?
00:48:01
Speaker
Okay, yep. Now with Nikki, how many artists have we seen her tussle with since she's come out? A lot. Yeah, a lot. A lot. Yeah, I'm glad. Yes, I'm glad you made that discovery. Yeah, so we know when someone continuously has issues with people in the industry, it kind of speaks to their character. And I think when it's a pattern of people saying the same things, we have to kind of pay attention, right? Listen,
00:48:22
Speaker
I listened to Itty Bitty Piggy. I was in Nicki Stan growing up. I mean, she's a part of the Young Money Cash Money Generation. I was in that era. I remember all of it. I remember Bedrock. I remember when Drake, before he got the BBL and the Abs. I remember all of that.
00:48:48
Speaker
I'm saying this as somebody who loves Drake a lot, but at the end of the day, did this man have work done on him? Allegedly, right?
00:48:58
Speaker
Okay, I'm a part of that era. So my thing is though, Nikki has the upper hand of being in being like notable for so long compared to Meg, she has the leverage, she has the connections and all that stuff. But yes, but for some reason, she oh, she doesn't seem to use that as a way to uplift woman from what I've seen with her time being there. Cardi
00:49:22
Speaker
you know, is somebody that she could have made that impression with or had that level of interaction with. For some reason, they didn't jell, okay, the Barbie still stood with Nikki, right? She had issues with Remy, Remy Ma, who technically is her elder, but she still felt the confidence of, you know, have issues with Remy Ma, and Remy Ma ate her up in Shether, okay? Ate her up.
00:49:45
Speaker
left no crumbs yes and Nicki came out with something that she needed support from two rappers and they didn't even really diss Remy so it's like and then we have to also bring up little Kim little Kim listen there would be no Nicki Minaj with any little Kim little Kim is the one that started off the whole colorful outfits like
00:50:04
Speaker
The the animated read like that was little Kim. I don't care if she's not relevant now There will be no Nicki Minaj no little Kim but for some reason to Nicki had issues with her too So it's like I've been seeing this pattern with her always having problems always having problems and it's like I won't deny She's a talented artist. I never said that Nicki cannot rap but let's be honest Nicki gets afraid when she is told to told somebody who actually has more talent than her and
00:50:27
Speaker
Megan, if you have listened to her freestyles, Megan actually raps. She's not just here to, you know, put on a cute little outfit and shake her butt. She does that too, but if you listen to her freestyle, she really, really does this rap thing. And I wish that she could show that more in most of her mainstream music, but I think hiss was a good way to show her actual lyricism. Some of those lines in that song
00:50:53
Speaker
the Megan's Law verse, that's gonna go down in history as one of the coldest verses ever, period. Most people never knew that Megan Law even existed until Meg put that in her song. That girl's mind is different. So my thing is that I feel like Megan is one of those few female rappers that can actually go toe-to-toe with Megan and possibly beat her. And I think Nicki's afraid of that. And I think that because of that,
00:51:14
Speaker
She targets people who she knows could be better than her, and she doesn't uplift them. And we see that too with Lotto. Lotto also had issues with Nikki. And Lotto actually had, you know, commended Nikki before saying, oh, I look up to Nikki, I've always said good things about her, but for some reason, Nikki still tried to pick at Lotto. And Nikki, you know, didn't really gel with her like that. And I think also too, just to kind of summarize it, is that
00:51:42
Speaker
We just see that in this female rap industry, like you said, it's important for Black women to uplift each other, for Black women to support each other. And it's kind of unfortunate that that's not what's being shown. We need to make sure that we're encouraging
00:51:58
Speaker
healthy behaviors amongst Black women in the industry. And I don't condone anybody who bullies or antagonizes just because they feel like they're against somebody who maybe could have, if not the same or better, more talent than them. And I think that's the situation that happened with Nicki and Meg Thee Stallion.
00:52:16
Speaker
But I think it's important to highlight Aldi about the Meg and Nicki beef. The biggest part of the beef that Nicki took offense to was the Megan's Lovers. And it is known that her husband is a registered sexual offender. You already stated some of the allegations that he has against him. I don't really know the man or care enough to divulge on his whole history, but I do think that it's important as a medical podcast that we highlight the fact that rape
00:52:42
Speaker
sexual assault, any forms of sexual abuse or sexual violence is not condoned on this podcast. And I would like to inform our listeners what Meghan's Law actually is, because a lot of people didn't know what that law was before they heard it on the song. So Meghan's Law is the name of a federal law in the United States, which requires law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. The laws were created in response to the murder of Meghan Kamka.
00:53:08
Speaker
So Meghan, she was a seven-year-old girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. And so in the wake of that tragedy, her parents sought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. What are your thoughts just kind of about Meghan's law?
00:53:29
Speaker
I think that is necessary needed. And one of the things people don't even know is that I actually, I watch a lot of predator videos just because I want to understand like on YouTube, it sounds crazy, but on YouTube, I watch a lot of people that actually pretend to be young adults or young children or teens to catch a lot of these predators. And a lot of times they be people that ask like uncles, people with children, people that you wouldn't even necessarily think about being in those positions that will take advantage of our youth.
00:53:58
Speaker
And I think there's something to say about how do we protect our youth, but how do we regard them as important as they need
Megan's Law Explanation
00:54:08
Speaker
to be? The same thing with the education system. Like I feel like our youth are, now when we see social media, we have cyber building harassment, all these other things, but a lot of people use social media to engage in predation toward our young. And so what are the barriers that we have for these individuals?
00:54:26
Speaker
And we have to realize that we have to look at the signs psychologically, physically in our children to ensure that they don't experience this trauma. I mean, there's statistics that show one in four women under the age of 17 have some form of sexual assault, abuse, rape that they experience. And many people go through it that
00:54:48
Speaker
aren't able to vocalize it. And what does that do to you as you progress toward an adult, right? You can engage in the same behavior. You can be, you know, less receptive to engage in a relationship or you can be, there's so many different things that happen from the trauma of these things happening. And I love that this law is manifesting because when you actually, you have to really go out to a way to find out like who are the sexual predators like in your neighborhood. And I actually did that one time I did the search and I was surprised by the number of people there's just
00:55:18
Speaker
directly in the Bronx, like within like a mile to mile radius, that you don't even know. You say what up to, you're giving them a dap. And these dudes, they serve like four or five years in prison. You know what I'm saying? And the other part is what is the rehabilitation? What is the consequence that are manifesting from doing those things? So our kids, like we have people in jail and prison.
00:55:40
Speaker
for 20 years for marijuana offenses. But they changed someone's life significantly in what happens. And I'm going to talk about a personal story because I know I'll be transparent. I have a family member in Cameroon currently, an 11-year-old niece.
00:55:59
Speaker
that I've not met, because I have a lot of family members, but my mom was telling me that she was sexually assaulted and raped by an older family member. And the family is like, yo, trying to figure out how to nap. I'm like, yo, call the police, bro. I don't care who the dude is. It could be my father. It could be my cousin. Yo, he dead to me, bro. If I see him, you know what I mean? I'm not with that. You know what I mean? We've got to protect our children. So I feel like that is a part of a lot of these scenarios that these things happen.
00:56:26
Speaker
families be like, nah, you know, that's not real. That's not really happening. Go do a physical exam. You see what's happening. Like, you know, kids are not going to lie about these scenarios. And a lot of people try to conceal it because of shame and things of that nature, too. So it'd be the closest people that engage in this type of behavior that it just makes it so disgusting.
Usher's Super Bowl Performance Recap
00:56:45
Speaker
And I'm going to shock for words a lot of times. 100%. Thank you for that. And yeah.
00:56:52
Speaker
but we're talking about Super Bowl 2024 49ers in chief shout out to the G man who didn't make the playoffs and you know, I gotta give him a shout out though. They trash but my next might make it but one of the hottest headlines from Super Bowl which is everything in everything that anybody ever watches because a lot of people don't even watch the Super Bowl for the football game. They watch it for the commercials but in specific this year, they watch it for earth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:22
Speaker
Usher. That Super Bowl performance was Liddy. He played songs called up. You don't have to call superstar. You don't have to call. It's okay, girl. Oh my gosh, that song, that brings me back. Then it got you sung by Alicia Keys.
00:57:47
Speaker
Now, what was he doing? What was he doing with Alicia? What was he doing? This one is happily married. Happily married. He's wearing the waist, man, real quick. That's what he was doing. Oh, my gosh. He joined us. Oh, look. You know, speaking of that was like the hot take for the night. When I first seen that, I'm like, nah, yo, after that, me and Usher, we're going to have to have a talk, Brody, because that's my wife is married. And shout out to Swiss Beast, man.
00:58:14
Speaker
my Bronx brother, he's doing a lot of great things. Actually, shout out to them. They actually, they have a black artist museum that's going on at the Brooklyn Museum currently. So if you haven't, check it out. Shout out to them. But regardless, Swissbeast came on Instagram and was like, yo, that's my wife. Like, yo,
00:58:34
Speaker
Y'all taking it too serious, like she coming back home to me basically. Like, yeah. He said, I know my wife's body though. I know my wife's body. We love it. And actually got his own thing going on. He got married. He got married during the interval.
00:59:00
Speaker
You don't want to shout her out, you don't want to shout out Usher's new wifey. I don't know. Apparently Usher was talking about he was still heartbroken from Chile and that breakup. I'm like, dude, you cheated on this woman. What are you? What's the confusion? So I don't know. They just did the same thing, but anyway. Interesting.
00:59:22
Speaker
But anyway, we're talking about the Super Bowl. Yes. Sorry, Asha. I'm happy for you. Do your thing. But I do think that it was one of the more phenomenal performances, certainly, with the effectiveness, electricity.
00:59:37
Speaker
having Alicia Keys pull up, even though her vocals wasn't hit in the beginning too. Everyone keeps saying that. Oh my gosh. Y'all take it easy on my sister Alicia. Alicia's from New York. They re-edited it. I don't know if you saw it, but they actually re-edited her vocals. I don't know. They probably did AI for that. But they re-edited her vocals.
01:00:01
Speaker
versus when in live versus when they put it on the NFL channel, like on Instagram was completely different. I don't know if you see that. Oh, wow. I didn't see that difference. That's crazy. I got to check it out. I didn't know they changed it up. I mean, like I said, Alicia, she still got the vocal. She could maybe she had a bad maybe her throat. She didn't do the proper warm up or she forgot to drink water. I mean, there's so many explanations as to why the first note wasn't really hitting the way she hit. But she's proven that she's an artist. So we can we can let that slide.
01:00:30
Speaker
And he had her, he had Will.i.am, Ludacris, Lil Jon, and to make the people up, which is a talented assembly of artists. And I love that now, like even like last year, Snoop brought like Dre 50 and all of that, which is like, I mean, like dope, you know what I'm saying? So it's like phenomenal that we're having so many of these collaborations happen.
01:00:56
Speaker
I think it was great to just have Usher bring us back to that era where he was really hot and popping with his songs and Usher's been having a great year from what I can see. He's been having a great year. Like literally, he has done his residency concerts and everything and you know, he's been in some controversial things too with the Kiki Palmer situation but we already saw where that went, I mean.
01:01:18
Speaker
The moms had some alleged things about Usher, but he's with Wifey though, so I don't know. Now I'm confused. I don't know what's going on in that industry anymore, but I think it was great that we ended off the Super Bowl with another Black artist performing, putting on that work. Some people have said that he's probably gave it a piece, kind of the male version of Beyonce.
01:01:40
Speaker
I'm not too sure about that, but I think that Usher is a trusted name in the industry and we can give
Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Impact
01:01:46
Speaker
him his props. So shout out to Usher on an amazing Super Bowl performance. And yeah, it was great to see. I had a great time watching it. Usher is Usher. But one thing that we do know is that Usher doesn't have to worry about what we'll be talking about next on the financial corner.
01:02:02
Speaker
Ooh, because he got that money. Okay. I need that bread, son. I always have a voice. But regardless, right now.
01:02:15
Speaker
Today, we recently saw that Biden will be forgiving 153,000 student loan borrowers. Yes, I did see that. My financial corner heads, what does this mean? Does it mean anything for you guys? That's in medical school, you pre-med students? Well, the realities are most likely not.
01:02:42
Speaker
Because I had to trash their dreams like that. You have to trash their dreams. Like you could have let the, let the rattle down. My dream, man. I'm in the 90th percentile with that, bro. I've been talking on this podcast, a storm from left to right since 1999. Since the Air Max has pulled up the retros, man, like Joe announced $1.2 billion of student relief.
01:03:04
Speaker
for 150,000 bars and he said that he will be emailing them, but okay, you're going to email me and I'll pull up in my email. Yo, yo, I will vote for you, Biden, and I will get my whole hood to vote for you if you forgive my loans. You've been having an issue with Biden since this man became president, I swear.
01:03:32
Speaker
So I think this is honestly, this is a way for him to connect back to his source of young voters because they're seeing that a lot of young voters aren't as interested in this election cycle.
01:03:47
Speaker
Right. What we're seeing is with this is that those who are enrolled with the Biden's new loan repayment program, if they initially borrow $12,000 or less and have been repaying their debt for at least 10 years, they're automatically forgiven, which is
01:04:02
Speaker
You can't make this up because the average amount of debt that people take out from college is over $20,000, you know what I'm saying, at least at minimum. And we're talking about repaying for 10 years. Who's repaying $12,000 for 10 years, Brody? That's like a specific 150,000 people it applies to. But 150,000 out of the millions,
01:04:25
Speaker
No, you're not really doing nothing. They say that it has now approved loan discharges totaling nearly $138 billion for nearly 3.9 million borrowers. Sorry, this doesn't include us medical students or residents or pre-meds in most of the cases.
01:04:44
Speaker
And if you want to hear the email ladies and congratulations, all or a portion of your federal student loans will be forgiven because you qualify for early loan forgiveness under my administration's save plan. This is directly from the email message, which I check my email. I check all four of my emails. I didn't get that, but I was hoping you just never know.
01:05:08
Speaker
But regardless, how I feel about this, I think that this is just a ploy for him to get more people into voting for him in this upcoming election. It's not necessarily doing a dent. He has specific promises, but what we know with a lot of politicians is that they make promises that they can't maintain or upheld for a variety of reasons, sometimes due to political reasons, sometimes due to financial reasons.
01:05:32
Speaker
Sometimes, too, that is not a priority for them. And we're seeing even there's a question about Biden's mental state. And this is not a point for the financial corner. But I will say that I need my 12, 15K forgiven. Stop playing with it. Don't play with it. Don't play with it. Don't play with it, Biden. And with that being said, I'm sorry, my fellow people in the medical environment. I do believe that.
01:06:01
Speaker
In the next couple months, we may get something. I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic. But if not, continue paying them loans, bro. 60% of people who actually have received federal loans are paying, and there's 40% that have not yet paid. But that's in due parts of the fact that over this last year, you will not be penalized on your credit if you don't pay because they gave a year grace period. So if you haven't paid your student loans as of yet, don't feel sad.
01:06:31
Speaker
But I think that better things are to come because I'm optimistic, but they probably not going to come. But all right. So with that being said, financial corner has ended. Shout out to all of y'all working hard to be the doctors you want to be or residency or wherever you are in the process. Just know that nothing is guaranteed in this life, but loans and death. And I don't want to see, I don't want to be somber and pessimistic, but the realities are that
01:06:59
Speaker
You are the one that can guarantee your abilities to forgive yourself of your loan. And you can't rely on any president of federal structure, city structure. If it comes, it comes. But if it doesn't, it doesn't. And at the end of the day, there are other ways in which you could allay some of the loans to Public Health Service Forgiveness Program, through working with collaborative organizations. There's also people that give signing bonuses
01:07:27
Speaker
for coming on to their specific organizations or working in a private practice that you use toward loans, et cetera. So the end is not the end. And I believe that everything will manifest the way that it needs to manifest. So just do your research, keep in tune and make sure you pay them loans soon after June, 2024, because
01:07:49
Speaker
There will be repercussions to that if you are outside of medical school and you have loans coming through. Period. Another successful financial corner by the doctor himself, Dr. Alderman. Well, we talked about a lot. This was a jam-packed
01:08:08
Speaker
February episode, but I'm so grateful that we were able to sit and just discuss the month at large. So to our listeners, that is our show. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Lounge. Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had or ask us a question for a chance to be featured on the show at podcast at SNMA.org.
01:08:31
Speaker
And be sure to follow the SNMA on all our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events. Thank you guys so much for listening and we will catch you next episode.