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Achievements & Challenges: Beyoncé's Triumph & Allison Russell Blocked
41 Plays1 year ago
Join Bruce Anthony and J. Aundrea in this riveting episode of "Achievements & Challenges: Beyoncé's Triumph & Allison Russell Blocked" where we dive deep into the heart of America's cultural landscape. From Beyoncé's groundbreaking success in the country music scene to the unjust barriers faced by Allison Russell, we're uncovering the stories that shape our society. #Beyoncé #AllisonRussell #CulturalDiversity #UnsolicitedPerspectives
Dive into a whirlwind of culture, change, and controversy in today's episode of Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony and J. Aundrea. From Beyoncé's groundbreaking stride in country music to the undeniable talent of Allison Russell facing industry barriers, we're unpacking the stories that shake and shape our society. But that's not all—we're also taking a nostalgic trip back to our childhoods with a tribute to the genius behind the Super Soaker. Join us as we navigate through the complexities of racial issues, celebrate cultural diversity, and advocate for personal growth. This episode is not just a conversation; it's a call to action—a reminder to embrace empathy, challenge the status quo, and foster a more inclusive world. Don't miss out on our weekly content that connects the dots between America's past and its potential future, tackling everything from the history of hip hop to marijuana laws and transgender rights.
🔔 Subscribe for weekly content that doesn't just scratch the surface but dives deep into the essence of culture, society, and the untold stories of history. Bruce Anthony is here to lead the conversation, and you're invited to be a part of it.
Let's celebrate achievements, confront challenges, and foster a community that's informed, engaged, and unafraid to tackle the big issues. Join us on Unsolicited Perspectives, where we're not just talking – we're listening, learning, and growing together.
For exclusive content and behind-the-scenes access, join our Patreon community today. Plus, enjoy special offers and discounts curated just for you. Dive deep into America's true history with us, as we commit to unveiling the stories that need to be told, fostering inclusive discussions, and advocating for the rights and recognition of all.
#BlackHistoryMonth #Beyonce #AllisonRussell #SuperSoaker #CulturalDiversity #RacialIssues #UnsolicitedPerspectives
#CountryMusic #Activism #Podcast #SuperSoakerBusiness #AllisonRussell
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Introduction
4:48 - Beyoncé’s Texas Hold Em
13:08 - Beyoncé and Country Music
17:38 - Divas & Country Music Fans
23:11 - Essence of Country Music
25:41 - Liquid IV Sponsorship
28:24 - Allison Russell's Music Journey
37:23 - Neo-Nazis in Nashville Discussion
43:16 - Intro to Super Soaker
46:36 - Lonnie George Johnson's Invention
56:40 - Bruce’s Aunt Maria’s Racetrack Story
58:27 - Best Passive Aggressive Insults
1:02:24 - Final Thoughts on Beyoncé & Country Music
1:03:11 - OUTRO
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Teaser
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm Bruce Anthony. Your host here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society. Join the conversation by following us wherever you get your audio podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our video podcasts. Rate, review, like, comment, share, share with your friends, share with your family, help, even share with your enemies.
00:00:35
Speaker
On today's episode, it's the Sibling Happy Hour. I'm here with my sis, Jay Andreer. We're going to be talking Beyonce, Alison Russell, more black inventors, and some reactions to some interesting questions. But that's enough of the intro.
Sibling Banter and Travel Tales
00:00:50
Speaker
Let's get to the show. What up, sis? What up, Breta? I can't call it. I can't call it. I'm going to see you soon.
00:01:05
Speaker
yes live in person live and in color not much color for the people who are listening but some you mean for the people that are watching no for the people who are listening because they you know if they never watched us they don't know it's not a lot of melanin floating around here but for you for me there's plenty but uh for you not so much
00:01:29
Speaker
Tessa, you're not that much more than me. You're completely different colors.
00:01:37
Speaker
At any rate, we're not going to get into colorism. Because we got a lot to talk about. I know I got a lot to talk about. I know you do. Because you sent me some stuff this morning, and I was like, oh, Jay chose violence today. Amen High. I was like, all right, I guess this is what we talk about today. That's cool with me. I am excited to see you, but I'm going to be real honest. I'm really excited to see Roscoe. I'm really excited to meet Roscoe. Yeah, I know. That's going to be an interesting drive.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah, I am not looking forward to it. But, you know, the way that I trick myself is by leaving really, really, really, really early in the morning. So by the time it's like breakfast time, I'm usually like halfway there. So that's how I trick myself. Because if you leave, you know, it's a 10 hour drive if I drove it straight, which I'm obviously not going to do. So you can't because you've got to pull over to let little Roscoe out.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. So that's going to be a 13, 14 hour trip, right? Yeah. If you try to do that in the middle of the day, it's going to feel like it takes forever. Yeah, you're right. Because it's the whole damn day. But if you start two, three o'clock in the morning, it just doesn't feel as long. So.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, but I know nobody is, nobody cares that I'm coming home. They just are excited that I'm bringing Roscoe. And that's fine, I get it. I'm not gonna say it don't hurt my feelings a little bit. It does, because I'm pretty great too, but I get it. He's a puppy and he's adorable and yeah, I get it. Oh, don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm.
00:03:24
Speaker
I am going to get tired of Roscoe really quickly. Cause I've been without a dog for a while. And it's going to be like, Oh, okay. All right. And he hasn't, he hasn't been in like a building building. So it's going to be interesting to see how he interacts. Cause my neighbor got two yappy ass dogs. So it was going to be interesting to see, you know, when he hears other dogs barking, how is he going to react to that?
Podcast Theme and Jay's Preferences
00:03:52
Speaker
And also I should probably leash train him. That just occurred to me. Yeah. I should probably leash train him. Really important. Luckily he's so small that you could control him, but you have a harness for him, right?
00:04:08
Speaker
Nope, don't have that. Yeah, okay. Well. That would be important. I guess who's going to a pet smart tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. Well, you can get it off of Amazon. It'll be there by the time you leave, if you order it tonight.
00:04:24
Speaker
I want to see the size of that. You know what, this is not here nor there. We aren't allowed to talk about. Yeah, we are. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, my sister is going to be on one and it is back to back on one episode because I dropped my on one episode on Tuesday. So this is going to be another on one on on Friday. So you know what, Jay, let me just do the intro to this first topic and then I'm going to let you
Beyoncé's Country Music Journey
00:04:51
Speaker
go.
00:04:51
Speaker
All right. So the first topic is Beyonce. Her new song, Texas Hold'em, dropped and it's finally started getting airplay on country music radio stations across the nation. Initially, a station in Oklahoma refused to play the song, but after an online campaign, they added it to their rotation. Now, I am going to give them the benefit of a doubt because I didn't even know Beyonce was dropping country music.
00:05:18
Speaker
So if I'm a country music station and somebody's asking for Beyonce, I'm like, we're a country music station. No. They would have to tell me, no, Beyonce's got some country music songs. Also, that particular country music station was so small that they don't get like record labels, don't send them records. So they had to go out to get the record.
00:05:39
Speaker
I'm not going to say that that was racist. I'm going to say that that was, you know, pretty understandable given the situation. When people call in to a small Oklahoma country music station and they ask you to play Beyonce's new song, the gut reaction is going to be no. Right.
00:06:00
Speaker
right? Because this is a country station, you know. And so basically what the station says, we didn't even know she had a country song out. We didn't know it was available for us to play. Now, most people knew this country song was out because most people watch the Super Bowl and that's where she debuted
00:06:23
Speaker
Both songs, I think, there's another song, 16 Carriages. Yes. So she bought Add Time or something like that. I don't know. I actually missed it, but I follow, obviously I follow her on social media. So I, her, I was like, oh, she passed through a little country, you know, and then all the memes popped up, you know, black people in cowboy hats. Like, this is a, we, you know, we coming back to country. All of it.
00:06:51
Speaker
Well, I would say I did watch the Super Bowl, but I had to sound off. It was on the second TV as I was playing video games and other TV. I did not know that she dropped the song HD. Right. You told me and I was like, oh, Beyonce got country music song.
00:07:06
Speaker
Anyway, Texas Hold'em has topped the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart at number one, making Beyonce the first black female artist to have a number one country song. 16 Carriages is also charting at number nine on the charts. These achievements are significant, especially considering historical exclusion of black artists, particularly black women from the country music genre.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. So she's the first black woman to do this. This is a really big deal. So I did the intro. Go ahead. Yeah. You choose your violence. As far as I know, the only other woman to do that unaccompanied. So no collab with another artist was incidentally Taylor Swift. So yeah, they are right.
00:08:00
Speaker
I'm going to get to my little rant in a little bit, but I want to speak to something that you just said about black female representation in country music. And it's true. I mean, you have black male artists, like we all know Darius Rucker and Charlie Pride. Was he Hootie or the Blowfish?
00:08:20
Speaker
He was Hootie, because he was the lead singer. And I assume, honestly, I don't know. Right. Neither one of us knows. He was the lead singer. It could have just been a name. It could have. And nobody was Hootie, and nobody was the blowfish.
00:08:37
Speaker
I don't know. Okay. Um, you know, you got Charlie pride and Stoney Edwards, Blanco Brown, Jimmy Allen. These are all, we all, we know black male country singers, but we don't, there isn't a lot out there, black female country singers. So, so far from what I found, especially from the country music community, as far as artists are concerned, they're like,
00:09:06
Speaker
Hey, welcome, right? They're like, welcome. Well, the ones that matter. Garth Brooks and them. Well, see, that's not, Garth is socially progressive. So that doesn't count. What are the kid rocks and the Jason Aldean saying?
00:09:32
Speaker
Oh, hell, I don't know. My algorithm won't even allow me to search for anything that they say. Well, before you go on your rant, I could tell you somebody who did have a major issue with it. And when I found out about it, it broke my heart. John Schneider. Now, people might be like, who the hell is that? I am. He was in Dukes of Hazzard, the original TV show. And he was Jonathan Kent on Smallville. Oh, OK. He was Clark Kent's adoptive father on Smallville. So a rando.
00:10:02
Speaker
Well, I mean, no, I mean, but he's, no, no, no, no, he's not no Garth Brooks. Uh, but he made, he made it clear that he was not in favor of part of pop or R&B artists jumping into country music. Uh, he expressed his views openly on his appearance on one American news. Take that for what it is on one American news. Uh, basically saying that, you know,
00:10:28
Speaker
It's a situation where dogs are marking the territory. And there has been some other backlash from Beyonce, from fans. Fans of country music, not really some of them, not really being accepting, which is kind of weird since Post Malone is about to drop his fourth country music album.
00:10:51
Speaker
That's it in my notes. Okay. Well, I'm sorry. I'm going to stop. Go ahead. Go ahead. But you're absolutely right because nobody is saying anything about Post Malone. Lana Del Rey is dropping some. Justin Timberlake had a crossover hit country music. He's from Tennessee.
00:11:12
Speaker
Nobody said nothing about Taylor Swift. And then there's also a lot of young country music artists who draw on pop and R&B influences. So what you're saying is fans of country music who don't want some fans of country music who don't want pop and R&B artists crossing over is that
00:11:37
Speaker
Country music is a one-way road, right? So you guys can pull stuff in, but kind of might take nothing out. So, okay, I get it. I get how it is. That's so disingenuous. Right. Because country music is not, probably out of all genres, country music is not a monolith.
00:12:04
Speaker
There are so many different ways
Race and Genre in Music
00:12:09
Speaker
you can express.
00:12:11
Speaker
Americana music period. It covers blues, bluegrass, all of that stuff, country music. Even within country music, there's so many different sounds because there's different artists who come from different backgrounds and they have different sounds. You got the old school banjo type country music and you have- Originated from Africa.
00:12:35
Speaker
And then you have artists like I grew up on, like Faith Hill and Shania Twain, who were more pop country. And who got mainstream airplay. Or Kid Rock, who's rap country. Right. And isn't my boy Jelly Roll also rap country?
00:13:01
Speaker
But go on, keep going. Speaking of rap country, I'm gonna make this little aside because I think it should be noted. Nelly's Country Grammar was a country album. Now y'all didn't, y'all was acting like it wasn't. Y'all was acting like it wasn't. Just because he was rapping. Right. But that was a country album. And that boy is a country music artist. Yeah, he's country. Yes.
00:13:29
Speaker
underlay, underlay, mama, yeah, yeah. Listen, now I know that's from Speedy Gumps Islands. Right. But that, I mean,
00:13:40
Speaker
His songs were country music. They were, you know, with hip hop influences. But I found- Just FYI, Jelly Roll scored his first number one song on country radio with his debut country single, Son of a Sinner, in July of 2023. So yes, even Jelly Roll, who's categorized as an American rapper, also has done country music. And didn't nobody say nothing about that. And hey,
00:14:08
Speaker
Can I just say this also? One of the reasons I like country music is the song titles. Just grabbing you. It sounds like it's good. It sounds good. I mean, it does. It sounds good. It's poker. She just took poker. Well, all's I know is it sounds like it's good. And country music, they have great song titles. Time out. What you just said was country as hell. All's I know.
00:14:37
Speaker
Stop it. Okay. Okay. So I found this great opinion article on KX and KX and Austin by Maya Turner. And she listed out the reasons why Beyonce is country music. One Beyonce is a Texan.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. Right there. Okay. She's a Texan. That's country. That's country as hell. And she listened to the country music. She's a Texan. Yes. Okay. This is not her first country song. Anyone who listened to the Lemonade album remembers Daddy Lessons. And when she dropped that song,
00:15:23
Speaker
there was an article in the Associated Press where Garth Brooks said, welcome to country music. Like welcome. Once again, Garth can't be your only defense. Blake Shelton. Even, well, Blake another social progressive. Like we got to find them people. We got to find them ultra conservatives that say, yeah, Beyonce, come on in. Again, my algorithm won't even let me type it. It'll, it will auto correct to something.
00:15:54
Speaker
It's just ultra conservative, social progressive. No, that's not what I typed. Yeah, it'll autocorrect. So the way I cannot even, I don't know where to even find that information. In 2017, she performed at the CM Bay's with the Dixie Chicks, who then went on to... They just called the chicks now. They dropped the Dixie. They just the chicks? Okay. They dropped the Dixie.
00:16:18
Speaker
I don't like the chicks. I feel like they dropped the Dixie because they didn't like what it stand for. And then there was a backlash between the country music community that turned on them. Oh, yeah, that was actually a thing. So there was and it's also, again, socially progressive. Mm hmm. Yep. There's a common theme. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um.
00:16:42
Speaker
Again, this is a thing about country music being a one-way road. Beyonce has been sampled by country music artists, including Mickey, and I'm going to butcher this lastly.
00:16:54
Speaker
Gutton, Reba McIntyre, the Chicks, Sugar Land, Dolly Parton. Sugar Hill Gang. Not the Sugar Hill Gang, even though they are also great. We're talking about Sugar Land. Sugar Land, okay. Even Dolly Parton in an interview with Trevor Noah says she wanted Beyonce to cover Jolene, which is probably one of my favorite country songs, which lets you know, like,
00:17:22
Speaker
Like I'm a mainstream country music listener. Don't try to, don't get in the comments and try to like debate me about country music because I'm just going to be Googling the whole time. Like I'm not that deep in it. But yeah, there, I think any backlash that she is receiving from country music fans or the industry or what have you,
00:17:53
Speaker
For them to say, we don't want pop and R&B artists crossing over. It's such a disingenuous argument. She's not the first. Ray Charles had country songs. Lionel Richie, The Pointer Sisters. You just talked about Post Malone. A lot of Del Rey. Jelly Roll. Yeah, Jelly Roll. A lot of Del Rey is coming out with a country album. Taylor Swift, who I assume is pop.
00:18:20
Speaker
but has also had success in country. Yeah, she's pop. I was trying to think about it the other day. What is Taylor Swift? She's pop more than anything. And I'm not a Swifty, but she is pop. Yeah. I think, yeah, there's some component to it that can be racial. But I also think it has a lot to do with they know Beyonce is going to eat.
00:18:46
Speaker
And what does she do? She's number one. She's number one. Yeah. She's got two country songs on the country that are in the top 10. And if country music loves anything, they love a diva. I don't know. I don't know. Dolly Parton is a diva. They love it. The glitz, the shiny cowboy hats. They're still wearing rhinestones.
00:19:17
Speaker
I hope Beyonce gonna put some rhinestones. Yes! There's French, French hanging from the jacket.
00:19:23
Speaker
I don't know if rhinestones is still a thing. I don't know. Rhinestones are always going to be a thing to the end of time. But she's ushering in a new era of Western wear. People have been seeing she's been dressed in cowboy hats and bolo ties. She showed up to the Grammys like that. She's been wearing Western-style clothing. And people are buying it. Why? Because it's Beyonce.
00:19:51
Speaker
I will say the cowboy had been around ever since Gloria was wearing the cowboy hat and the thong song.
00:20:01
Speaker
Now, the cowboy hat has a much deeper and richer history. And Big Pimpin, she wore it in Big Pimpin as well, Gloria. The frickin' thong song. Well, I'm just saying the Gloria wore it, the cowboy hat in Big Pimpin. When Pimp C, when Pimp C was, smoking high, pulling up, putting a lean up in my cup. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna,
00:20:31
Speaker
I'm going to walk right past that. I'm choosing to walk right on past that. The thing that I think if people give it a chance, especially those fans who are
00:20:55
Speaker
who feel like they're opposed to it and it's not racial. Like you literally are like, oh, here comes a pop or R&B artist trying to- Some of it ain't racial. Right. Encroach on our territory. Even though- Some of it is absolutely racial. Those have racial undertones when you say encroach on our territory. I've already explained to everybody that listened to the last episode on Tuesday, how black people
00:21:22
Speaker
originated both country and rock music. And really, I explained how they originated. All genres of American music comes from black people. Yeah. And it's not us being funny or self aggrandizing. It's just the musical history. It's just American music history. Just look it up in a book.
00:21:49
Speaker
on American music history. Is it self-inggrandizin' or self-grandizin'? Is it in or grand?
00:21:57
Speaker
Because I kept saying it on one episode, and I could have said it wrong. I had to just tell somebody recently, they tried to say that I was using hyperbolic wrong because they're an engineer. And I was like, no, I'm using it right. And they were like, that's not what it means. And I was like, yeah, no, hyperbolic means exaggerating. Oh, it's also an engineering term for an instrument. And I was like, OK. And nobody talking about that. And I'm not talking about that. Yeah. First of all, context matters, people.
00:22:28
Speaker
If I'm not talking about nothing engineering. And that was a lawyer, so I thought they was good with words. It had me questioning my vocabulary. I was like, I know I'll be messing up some words sometimes, but I think I got that one right. I was like, no, I got it right. Yeah, no, it's self aggrandizing. Aggrandizing, so it's not in, it's not grand, it's self aggrandizing. So I said it wrong. Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, out there in the world today.
00:22:54
Speaker
Oh, I mean, sometimes you say something wrong. That's life. Yeah. And that's coming from me. That's life. But I think what is important to remember, and this is a quote from nationally syndicated country radio host Bobby Jones, who has the iHeartRadio morning show The Bobby Jones Show.
00:23:19
Speaker
He said, with country music, it's all about the message, how you are able to present it and the authenticity of it. It's not just an acoustic guitar and a cowboy hat. I think the message of being true and honest has stayed the same from the beginning. And I think the Beyonce song fits that mold. And I 100% agree. But for the people who are just racist, I definitely think that there is a segment
00:23:49
Speaker
of that population who literally believe that what is bothering them about it is the fact that she is a pop artist crossing over in the country. I think there are people who genuinely believe that that's the problem that they have with it, not that she's black, even though if they dig a little deeper into that. It's because she's black. Right. Yeah, that's all I feel about that. And also,
00:24:18
Speaker
she made a point of saying that this album is sort of like an homage to Black American music roots. So like the artist that she's chosen, so for instance, like Rhiannon Gibbons, who plays the banjo in Texas Hold'em, and then in 16 Carriages, the steel,
00:24:49
Speaker
The Pedal Steel is played by a gentleman named Robert Randolph. So these two black folks who are in Americana or American root music. She's highlighting black roots musicians, highlighting the whole Renaissance album series, it's going to be three albums, is a tour through
00:25:15
Speaker
black music history. And that is what she's giving us, and I think it's going to be amazing. I think people should just give her a chance.
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00:25:28
Speaker
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Tennessee Politics and Social Issues
00:28:26
Speaker
All right, Jay, so that first segment, it wasn't complete violence. I had more violence and venom than you did. So that was surprising. My violence and venom is still coming from last weekend. So that's what that's coming from.
00:28:42
Speaker
if we're gonna choose violence and venom, this next subject is definitely one that is gonna lead to some violence and some venom verbally, not physically, verbally. Yeah, obviously, yes. Alison Russell, for those people who don't know who Alison Russell is, Alison Russell is a Canadian singer-songwriter currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, this is important to know, musician and activist.
00:29:08
Speaker
She's been a member of various music groups, including Poo Girls, Poe Girls, Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters, and Sisters of the Strawberry Moon. Now, I don't know of these groups personally. What they sound like. You can put it on and smoke a J and just drift.
00:29:28
Speaker
Right. It really, really, really does. She released her first solo album, Outside Child, in 2021. Her second album, The Returner, was released in September 2023. She received a total of eight Grammy nominations. She won one, four Canadian Folk Music Awards, and two Juno Awards. I don't know what Juno Awards are, but I'm going to assume that they are pretty important.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. So is it their Grammys? No, because she had some Canadian, no, it was a Canadian folk music. So maybe it is their Grammys. All right, once again, I want to bring back the fact that she currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, or roundabouts Nashville, Tennessee.
00:30:24
Speaker
This is important. Okay. A resolution was proposed in Tennessee state legislator to honor Allison Russell. It was proposed by one of the Justins from Tennessee, Justin Jones. Y'all know the Justins from Tennessee. They were the ones that was kicked out by the Tennessee legislator only to be brought back off of a special election.
00:30:45
Speaker
He nominated this resolution for her Grammy win. However, the resolution was blocked by a House Republican caucus chair, Jeremy Faison, a similar resolution honoring the band Fillmore for its Grammy wins. Fairmore. Okay. All right. Paramore. That's a stupid name. No, it's not.
00:31:09
Speaker
Black people love parabors. No, I'm just joking. Don't attack me.
00:31:17
Speaker
Paramore. I'm sorry. I just never heard of you, but I'm old. I'm old. That's all. Another resolution was brought up honoring Paramore for its Grammy wins. That one was actually approved. This has led to accusations of racism and sparked a lot of conversation as to why one resolution was accepted and the other one was not. It was a white group. It was a black woman.
00:31:42
Speaker
The white group was accepted. The black woman was rejected. Russell responded to the situation by calling out bigotry from the Tennessee GOP because it's not like the Tennessee GOP wouldn't have been accused of bigotry before. The Justins faced that. I'll get into more, but I want to hear your thoughts about this whole situation.
00:32:06
Speaker
I mean, we just, you know, we talked about it on this show about the Justins and Rep. Gloria Johnson. They were voted on to be ousted from the Tennessee legislature because of their protest against gun violence or for gun reform. And only Gloria Johnson, a white woman,
00:32:34
Speaker
escaped being ousted. So, I mean, it's not like, what did they say? Oh, it was decorum, decorum, which again, feels like a dark whistle. Yeah, not surprising. And if you think that it's because, well, Alison Russell, she's an activist, she's been critical of the Tennessee legislature before. Because once again, she lives in Tennessee. Yes.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah. But guess what? Paramore, also a Tennessee band, also has been critical of the Tennessee legislature. So you can't say it's because of her activism, because Paramore didn't have the same, you know, weren't blocked in the same way.
00:33:32
Speaker
Paramore... They weren't blocked at all. No, right. So Paramore, unsurprisingly, said, y'all can go to hell. They basically told the GOP-led house in the Tennessee legislature to go to hell. The lead singer, Hayley Williams, said in a lengthy statement, the blatant racism
00:34:00
Speaker
of our state leadership is embarrassing and cruel. Myself as well as Paramore will continue to encourage young people to show up to vote with equality in mind. So shout out to Paramore. This is also another reason why black people love Paramore.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's not surprising. Again, it's like the erasure of black people, particularly black women from folk or Americana music. I had to look it up because she is an American roots music artist. And I was like, what is that? Well, it's actually- Does she play with the roots, the group, the band?
00:34:44
Speaker
She does not, but I would love that collab. I like where your head's at. No, American Roots music or Americana covers a broad range of musical styles, including blues, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and traditional country.
00:34:59
Speaker
among others. So it's actually all of those fall under the umbrella of country because country modern country is an evolution of all of those genres. If you listen to Tuesday's episode when I told you the history of country music and why black people were the creators of it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
So yeah, as a brilliant black woman being blocked, yeah, that's not going to stop her. It's not going to stop her hustle. And nobody has taken the Tennessee state legislature seriously. Well, I mean, you have to take it seriously because it's a state legislator. But nobody's surprised.
00:35:49
Speaker
Nobody's surprised. So obviously if they block this resolution, more specifically the House Republican caucus chair, Jeremy Faison, obviously he would give a reason why.
00:36:01
Speaker
Right? Yeah. No, he didn't. In a punk maneuver, he blocked the resolution, bouncing Jones' resolution back to committee, where many objected consent items often meet their demise. In other words, he blocked it, is going to go back to committee, is going to die.
00:36:21
Speaker
Jones wrote in his social media that Russell has worked tirelessly to foster an inclusive Nashville through her music and continues to make black history here in Tennessee. Once again, if the argument was from the state legislator that she doesn't live here, then that would be a legitimate argument. However, she lives in Tennessee.
00:36:51
Speaker
Paramore is based in Tennessee. That's the reason why they were resolutions brought up for both groups, because they won Grammys, both of them. One was blocked, one was approved. The approved one was the white group. The blocked one was the black female. There is nothing to be confused about any of this. And that's not all Nashville was known for this week.
00:37:19
Speaker
Because last weekend in downtown Nashville, not some small town in Tennessee, not some backwards town in Tennessee, in downtown Nashville, a neo-Nazi group had a march in broad daylight. Middle of the afternoon, they're out there marching. I was curious. I'm going to take a little detour. I was curious because I saw this in the news.
00:37:46
Speaker
And, you know, I get my news from various different news sources. Right. So I was very, very curious and I'm about to take a detour and I'm going to try not to get us canceled, but I'm trying to make a point. OK. But I'm trying not to get canceled. So ladies and gentlemen, just listen to what I'm saying, please hear what I'm saying. OK. You know, you know, there's going to be a segment of the population that just will not heed that. Yeah, I know. I know. I know there will. But I'm going to say what I'm going to say anyway. OK.
00:38:16
Speaker
These neo-Nazis are obviously anti-Semitic, correct? Yeah, that's literally the main thing that makes you a Nazi. Right. So I saw this in the news. So I went to one news source to find out if it was at all in any of the headlines or any news story. And what was that news source? Fox News was not in
00:38:46
Speaker
on their website absolutely at all, dominated on everybody else's websites. Yeah. NBC, CNN did stories on their main broadcasts. Fox didn't do anything, at least on foxnews.com. Okay. But, but, but they were quick to call out anti-Semitism through colleges and other companies and things of that nature. Fox News was, but didn't,
00:39:15
Speaker
point news to a neo-Nazi group that is marching in Nashville, Tennessee. What does all of that mean? What that means is, is they care about anti-Semitism or they care about Jewish people when it's important for them to point fingers at somebody or some groups that they don't like. But they're not going to point fingers.
00:39:44
Speaker
to the politicians that are actually supported by these groups. Case in point, nobody on Fox News talked about how there were neo-Nazis in the state of Florida that had swastikas and neo-Nazi flags right next to DeSantis and Trump flags. They're not gonna bring that up. But Harvard, Yale, Ivy League, institutions that they have a problem with,
00:40:15
Speaker
They are quick to see, quick to point out these institutions, these people are anti-Semitic. I just want people to pay attention to the news and see the slant that they're trying to do. Either you care about Jewish people completely and totally, or you don't. There is no great area for being against anti-Semitism. Either you're against it all the time,
00:40:45
Speaker
or you're against it none of the time. Fox News likes to pick and choose. They didn't pick this very major thing and they should have. Well, let's be clear. Fox News is a tool of the conservative party and the conservative party in this country does not care about Jewish people.
00:41:15
Speaker
support or, uh, not support Jewish people. They don't care. They don't care about children. They don't care about women. They don't care about everybody. I'll say, I'll say, well, we're talking about the Fox news crowd. Okay. Yes. Only because
00:41:39
Speaker
they only watch Fox News. So they're only seeing what Fox News presents to them. And this is the point I'm trying to make. Fox News gives them information that Fox News wants them to have to push a certain agenda and they become indoctrinated because if you see something all the time, you believe it to be the truth.
00:42:03
Speaker
Well, this is the thing that I think I want to get you to understand is that when you see Fox News, what you don't see is the quotations around news, right? Like it's not. The whole station is a tool.
00:42:18
Speaker
I know that. What? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Are you talking to the audience? Are you talking to me or the audience? Because I know these things. That's the reason why I brought it up. Oh, OK. I just want to let the audience know that I know that. I'm trying to enlighten you in case you didn't know that. But I'm going to assume most people that listen to this podcast.
00:42:34
Speaker
They already know that. They already know that. And like I said, they don't care either way in any of the... They don't care either way about abortion. They don't care either way about... They are self-interested. Yes. Fox News is a business. Whatever is going to further their self-interest, they'll be on that side of the issue. Period.
00:43:02
Speaker
Um, they don't actually care. Because I can tell you this art, there was nothing about this article or this story that was on Fox News when I first heard about it. Because I heard about it before you sent me the article. I think I heard about it sometime.
00:43:19
Speaker
last week. It was actually Tennessee was on the map this past weekend because the neo-Nazi thing happened and then this happened, the state legislature, which is just also another bad look. I know it happened that the march happened before, but they had to go for permits because one of the Justins was down there. Matter of fact, the Justin that put this resolution together for Alison Russell was down there counter protesting the neo-Nazis and even gave a speech on some
00:43:48
Speaker
maybe the courthouse steps or something like that. So they knew, the state legislator knew that this was going to happen and then they still didn't pass this resolution. It's a bad look for the state of Tennessee. And let me tell you, I love Memphis. I would move to Memphis. No, no, no, I'd move to Memphis. Now I need to check out Nashville because Nashville looked like it might be popping. I hear Nashville's fine.
00:44:17
Speaker
Not because of the neo-nazis, because, you know, Allison Russell is down there and, you know, the Justins just be popping up in Nashville. And I heard Nashville is dope. Yeah, I don't think you're wrong about that. So anyway, shout out to Allison Russell. Shout out to Paramore. Shout out to...
00:44:38
Speaker
Justin, was it Justin Jones? It was Justin Jones. Yes, Justin Jones, yeah. Yeah, and Gloria Johnson. We'd be forgetting about Gloria, but Gloria would be right there with them. Gloria do be right there with them. You right, Gloria. I saw Gloria at the Source Awards. No, no, you didn't.
00:44:57
Speaker
No, because I don't think they got the Source Awards anymore. They might. They might. I don't know. I don't know. I'm pretty sure they don't have the Source Awards. Actually, I don't know. But shout out to Allison Russell and shout out to Paramore for standing their ground and being like, no, you're not going to do no disservice to Allison and think we're just going to pop up.
00:45:18
Speaker
Missed us with all that and I love that. That's how we get people to look at themselves when you make them be accountable for their actions and you stand up. So yes, I like that. And she said something and I love it. She said the Tennessee GOP blocking it. I take that as a compliment.
00:45:48
Speaker
In case y'all didn't know, I'm black, y'all, and I'm black, y'all, and I'm bliggly black, and I'm black, y'all. Why? Why did I just do that? Well, that's a little cut from the movie CB4, but more importantly, we are
00:46:04
Speaker
pointing out black excellence throughout this month. And I told everybody I'm going to be pointing it out all year long.
Inventions and Cultural Impact
00:46:13
Speaker
Cause y'all gonna stop giving us the shortest month of the year. This year it was an extra day, but even 28 days is still shorter than 30. We got, we got gypped out of two days. So I'm going to do this year round and the person I'm going to talk about today,
00:46:32
Speaker
You, most of the people out there probably don't know he's an inventor of this. I'm talking about Lonnie George Johnson. Who is Lonnie George Johnson? Well, he was born October 6, 1949, a boomer.
00:46:45
Speaker
And also, consequently, I said, I think Gen Z will be the next great generation, but the boomers are actually the greatest generation, not what is constituted as the great generation, which are those people born in 1902 to like the 1920s, those people that went off the World War II. It's actually the boomers, because you're not going to tell me
00:47:09
Speaker
that the greatest generation was the generation that didn't do nothing until they got punched in the mouth and then all of a sudden decided to fight. The Boomers. You're not going to tell me it's Boomers. Well, the Boomers were the ones that were fighting for civil rights, for women's rights. They were the ones protesting the Vietnam War. Very true. They were the ones that made change in this country. Absolutely. So we might knock them now because they're old and crusty. Yeah, they got old and they forgot
00:47:35
Speaker
Well, you know, that's kind of what happens. What they did when they were when they were younger. Or did they not get the appreciation of which they deserved and maybe a little bitter about it?
00:47:50
Speaker
What else do you need besides the GI Bill and cheap education? No, but think about it. Think about it. They get dragged by the younger generation. They get dragged by the younger generation. They say the generation before them, which is labeled the greatest generation,
00:48:09
Speaker
called them degenerates and hippies and needed to get their life together. So they were shitted on by the previous generation, shitted on by the generation after them. They never, they have never gotten their credit for the social progress that this country has made under their watch.
00:48:26
Speaker
Yeah, they have. And I'm sorry. Oh, you're a generation that gets shitted on by the one before and after. Welcome to the club. I'm sorry, but literally everything going wrong in this country, the media loves to blame on millennials, even when it's not us, it's Gen Z. You mean Gen X, not Gen Z.
00:48:49
Speaker
No, Gen Z, case in point, they just put young people under the umbrella of millennial, but it's incorrect because millennials are in their thirties and forties. We have children and mortgages. So when I was seeing like, especially like during the pandemic, you know, young people at the beach and stuff like that, and they're like, here are these millennials, not heeding advice. Excuse me, we're home.
00:49:12
Speaker
working and now trying to teach our kids because they can't go to school. They got to do homeschool. And we just realized we can't stand our spouse because now we stuck an ounce with them. So we tried to buy a puppy to break the tension. And now we got this bad dog in the house.
00:49:33
Speaker
A lot of people return them bad dogs. That pissed me off. That's a dick move. But nobody gets more crap from society than millennials and we didn't earn it and we don't deserve it. You know who got a lot of crap?
00:49:53
Speaker
Lenny George Johnson during this segment. Sorry, Lenny George Johnson. Sorry, Lenny George Johnson. Let's circle back to what RNG Woodson fought for. Negro History Week, Black History Month.
00:50:11
Speaker
Born October 6, 1949, he's an American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur, of course. He was born in Mobile, Alabama. He earned a B.S. That's like a B.A., but it's a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, because a lot of people don't know what B.S. is. They don't.
00:50:33
Speaker
It's bullshit. No, never mind. He earned a BS in mechanical engineering in 1973, a master's degree in nuclear engineering in 1975 from Tuskegee University. He holds an honorary PhD in science from Tuskegee University. He has a distinguishing engineering career with the US Department of Energy.
00:50:57
Speaker
Well, he had a career when I tell you what he invented. He distinguished career with the U.S. Department of Energy, worked for NASA and the U.S. Air Force before devoting himself full time to inventing. I'm going to get to what he invented. But during his time at NASA from 1979 to 1991, Johnson worked on a variety of projects, including the Air Force Missions Lab, developing a nuclear power source for the Galileo mission to Jupiter.
00:51:25
Speaker
Cool, very cool. But that's not what he invented. In 1989, he came up with what all millennials, Gen Xers, Gen Z, played with. Yeah. The Super Soaker water gun. Yes, or if you're black, Super Soaker.
00:51:49
Speaker
Right, maybe black and super soaker. For some reason we didn't say super soaker, we said super soaker. The prototype combined a PVC pipe, acrylic glass, and an empty plastic soda bottle.
00:52:02
Speaker
The Super Soaker, the gun is manually pressurized air to shoot water with great power, range, and accuracy. This was completely different than the punk water guns that we used to have that basically was nothing. And now our childhoods were built on them little dollar store squirt pistols. That didn't hit nobody, okay? It was just about the fun. Yeah, no, you had to be right up on somebody to hit somebody.
00:52:31
Speaker
It taught us what stealth, how to sneak up on somebody. Cause you, it wasn't close range. You know, the little squirt gun, they was about a 22. They was worse than the 22. You had to get real close. You had to get point blank, right? They had to be contact. You had to be gun on skin contact for it to hit his target. But when he came out with this super soaker,
00:53:01
Speaker
You could be at great distances and shoot the gun. Now, it sold later, but it didn't sell a whole lot because the first Super Circle went on sale in 19... I said it too, Super Circle. The first Super Circle went on sale in 1990 and was originally called the Power Drencher. Now,
00:53:26
Speaker
I don't ever remember the power drencher. No, I don't. And that does not sound as cool as Super Soaker. Yeah.
00:53:34
Speaker
Super Soaker, it's the alliteration of the two S's. It rolls off the tongue. It does roll off the tongue. Yeah. Super Soaker. So what they did was it was rebranded the Super Soaker in 1991. That's why you should say Super Soaker. Super Soaker. It was rebranded the Super Soaker in 1991 and then was advertised by a bunch of TV commercials. Look, let me tell you something. If you was alive watching TV in 1991 and you was an adolescent,
00:54:04
Speaker
Them Super Soaker commercials was coming on every 30 seconds. Yes. And I, I remember running to mom and dad. I need to get me a Super Soaker and them guns weren't cheap. No, they weren't. They were not, they were not cheap because in 1991 when they rebranded the Super Soaker and started advertising them commercials, 2 million of them suckers were sold.
00:54:30
Speaker
Eventually, the Super Circle has gone on to generate more than a billion dollar in sales. Now, this is just the one thing he invented. He has invented a lot. Like I said, he was part of a mission. He was part of Galileo that went to Jupiter. And here I am talking about the Super Circle, because you know why? The Super Circle was important to me. But he also founded his own company, the Johnson Research and Development Co Incorporated.
00:54:59
Speaker
in which he is the president of. Also in 2022, Solid State LLC and Johnson Energy Storage and Johnson Electromagnetic. Electric mechanical. Look, Super Soaker, he got some businesses out there, my man. He got some businesses out there. He's inventing, he's got technology development companies and he is doing his thing.
00:55:29
Speaker
He's doing his thing. So black facts. George Johnson, the creator of the Super Soaker. Wonderful. So proud. So proud. He filled many a child's summer.
00:55:46
Speaker
with giggles. You know what I was always jealous of? I did eventually get one of them little super soakers, but I wanted the one that had the extra, the backpack, where it had the extra canisters on the back, and it had a hose connected to the gun, and it was like a shotgun. Our aunt had that.
00:56:08
Speaker
She did? Yeah. I don't remember that. Maria had one. She had it in her apartment with the tanks on the back and everything. I actually believe that she did have it because- Yes, she absolutely did. We found it and we were like- Did we break it? Well, me and our younger brother found it.
00:56:28
Speaker
I knew it had to be you two, y'all two common hoodies. Because we were nosy. Yeah, we were nosy. We was going through stuff. And I think she had like the whole set and it was just like under her bed and storage. And of course, why was we up under there? Because y'all was bad. Y'all was bad. Yeah, we were bad. Both of y'all was bad.
00:56:47
Speaker
Yeah, we were bad. And we found it. We were like, can we live here? Because this is all we need. We don't need food. We don't need a bed. We just want to play with the Super Soaker. Let me tell you, we have been bothering our Aunt Maria for decades. Because she had a racetrack when we were living in Illinois. You were born, but you weren't like,
00:57:15
Speaker
You weren't like, around, around. I was a toddler. You could just say that. Yeah, I mean, you don't notice, but she lived upstairs and she had a racetrack and she was like, it's fine, Bruce, for you to play. Just make sure I'm here. I broke into her place. My racetrack, he's talking about the RC racetracks. Yeah. Like the Hot Wheels type of thing. I'm five or six. I literally broke into her place, played it.
00:57:44
Speaker
broke the racetrack and tried to act like I didn't break in and break the racetrack. But I think it was like 20 years later, I bought her a new racetrack. So she got a new racetrack back. Well, at least you replaced it. Yeah, at least I replaced it. So that was Lenny George Johnson. But Jay, before we end, I found something interesting on the internet and I wanted to ask you your opinion.
00:58:12
Speaker
what to you is the best passive aggressive insult? The best passive aggressive insult. Well, I have two that I use. Okay. The first one is you like it. I love it. I am calling you an idiot. That's universal. And you've just done something dumb or you're about to do something dumb.
00:58:40
Speaker
And I know that you've already, you've already doubled, tripled down on it. It's going to happen. There's nothing I can do to dissuade you from it. And so at the end of that, I just, you like it. I love it. One time, one of my boys said that to me and I wasn't paying attention at first. And he was like, if you like it, I love it. And I was like, yeah, thanks. And I said, wait a minute. Hold up. I know what the hell that means.
00:59:07
Speaker
All right, you said you had two, what was the second one? It just slipped my mind. Okay, ADHD. ADHD. All right, this isn't necessarily an insult, but it's a passive aggressive way for me to insult somebody without it being a direct insult. Okay. This is what I love to do. All right.
00:59:29
Speaker
This typically works when I break up with a young lady, but this has been in the works for this year of me no longer hanging out with friends. I say this last thing, I wish you the best in life, take care and God bless. Because I don't mean none of it.
00:59:52
Speaker
Well, I mean, I kind of do, but I do that on purpose to be so pleasant.
00:59:59
Speaker
as to act like, and most of the time I actually don't care. Like really, I am absolutely done with the situation. But I'm doing it in a nice way when other people, when you end things with people, end relationships, friendships, relationships, business relationships, what have you. And the other person feels like you don't feel any pain from that, that you're not bothered by it. That pisses them off even more. Yes, and they won't leave you alone.
01:00:29
Speaker
Cause they, cause misery loves company and they have to make you feel as bad as they feel. And they can only do that by continuing to contact you. Yeah. And hopeful with all, boy, they go through all the stages of grief. Yeah. Okay. All the stages. Yes. If I go through the stages of grief, you ain't going to know about it now. That's necessarily probably not healthy.
01:00:57
Speaker
But that's the way I deal with stuff. You leave me alone. And so for those people out there that were once my friends and are no longer my friends, but for some reason to still listening to the show and still follow me on social media, even though I'm not going to respond back to you, or if I do respond back to you, because I will
01:01:15
Speaker
If you send something to me, I will say something. It'll just be real short, typically one words. That's also a passive-aggressive thing that I do to get back at people. Just know that I really didn't feel no pain from it. Really, emotional cutoff is real with me. It's called emotional cutoff. And it's like flicking a light switch. It really is. Is it healthy?
01:01:45
Speaker
It's therapists that told us, what you're doing is called emotional cutoff.
01:01:51
Speaker
You don't have to do his accent. The crazy thing about the fact that I keep doing his accent is that it's the wrong accent. It is. It's the wrong accent. It is. It was a therapist that we had back in the day. Y'all need to know all that. But anyway, Jamie, what do you want to tell the people out there?
01:02:09
Speaker
Because obviously it went in the second insult, because you couldn't remember that. Damn, and you know what I was thinking? It was on my mind and I completely forgot, but maybe I'll remember for the after hours, so that will be a reason for everybody to tune in. But for what I want to say to everybody, it's like, look, hey.
01:02:28
Speaker
When you get a puppy, people don't care about you anymore. They only care about your puppy. And that's okay. That's part of it. That's part of pet ownership. And, you know, just ride the wave. Anywho, as always, I want to thank you for watching. I want to thank you for listening. And until next time, as always, a holla.
01:02:54
Speaker
That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast wherever you're listening or watching it to it. Pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock with will enjoy it also. So share the wealth, share the knowledge, share the noise. And for all those people that say, well, I don't have a YouTube. If you have a Gmail account and you have a YouTube,
01:03:22
Speaker
subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can actually watch our video podcast. But the real party is on our Patreon page after hours uncensored and talk is straight ish after hours uncensored is another show with my sister and once again the key word there is uncensored those are exclusively on our Patreon page jump onto our website at unsolicitedperspective.com
01:03:42
Speaker
for all things us. That's where you can get all of our audio, video, our blogs, and even buy our merch. And if you're really feeling generous and want to help us out, you can donate on our donations page. Donations go strictly to improving our software and hardware so we can keep giving you guys good content that you can
01:04:01
Speaker
Clearly listen to and that you can clearly see so any donation would be appreciative most importantly I want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening and watching and supporting us and I'll catch you next time Audi 5000