Andrew Schulz's Flagrant with Akaash Singh - Towel Mates - Flagrant 2 Patreon

Episode Date: April 5, 2019

Andrew, Akaash, and Kaz discuss Gentrification, Express Trains, Gangs, Conor VS Khabib, and more. INDULGE!!! www.Patreon.com/Flagrant2

don't be mad and even you know you should be mad at express trains motherfucking express train if you have an express train your shit is getting fucked because somebody's gonna say look i can't afford 86th street anymore but if you're on the express train 125th is just one more stop that's facts if you're if it's all local you're like that's like 20 extra minutes i don't live that far if you want 125th express just one more stop. That's facts. If it's all local, that's like 20 extra minutes. I don't want to live that far. If you want 125th Expressway, that's an extra four minutes. I can save $500 a month for four minutes? True.

Fuck yeah. And then that's the first place to genderfile. You're 100% right. That's 100% right. 59th Street on the west side. This is why West Harlem genderfied before East Harlem. 59th goes right to... Because if you're on the express line.

Right to the heart of Harlem. And D train. 59th Street Columbus Circle all the way to 125th. You skip like eight stops. It's four minutes. Julian McCullough had that funny joke about that. Did you hear that? What did he say?

Where he goes, you ever on a D train and you fall asleep and then wake up and you miss 59th Street? And he goes, and you're going to Harlem with people who wanted to go there. I remember I didn't know the Express. It was when I first moved here. I wanted to get off

at like 72nd. I saw Express. I was like, all right, Pet, Express. 59th Street, past 72nd. I'm like,

all right, I don't know what's going on. 81, we keep going. 86, keep going. 103, I'm like,

what the fuck is going on? Stop at 125th. That's a lot of streets. But that's why 125th's the first place to flip because it's like, bro, this is one stop on the express train. Six extra minutes. Who gives a fuck? I'm saving $800 a month in rent. Easy, easy.

I lived off that train station for about four years, first time I moved to Harlem. train station for about four years first time moved to Harlem and I've seen it go from a lot of locally owned stores like your your Jimmy Jazz's and you know your Harlem USA like if you watch like old dip set videos like basically the whole strip right to like blink Fitness Whole Foods Banana Republic Victoria's Secret because exactly the price difference price difference between a fucking apartment and Columbus Circle, a one bedroom is $6,000 a month, I bet. The only home... Way more.

Yeah, way more. In that building, there's a $50 million apartment. The 59th Street, the one you're talking about. In New York, you pay for location. Everybody says real estate is location, location, location. I didn't understand New York in particular because mass transit sucks, so it dictates everything. That didn't understand New York in particular because mass transit sucks.

So it dictates everything. That's why we're always in a hurry because the fucking trains are late. That's why New Yorkers are mean is because we're always running late. We're just trying to get somewhere. Get the fuck out of my way. I'm running late. I can't pay $50 million in fucking Columbus Circle

but a goddamn two-bedroom condo in Harlem is is one it's 49 million dollars less for twice as much space brand new building brand new building gym in the building doorman it's 49 million dollars i can say for six million for six minutes let's go and then when i get there everybody's like oh well these guys are all coming they got a little money let's put a business here you know the whole food's here you know what's funny? It's like we want to gentrify the business place so much, but not in the neighborhood. What do you mean? It's like, hey, all these businesses are like, hey, we need diversity hiring.

We need to make sure that we have a diverse workforce, and we need to make sure we have opportunity for everybody. And then some white people are like, well, Harlem looks really nice. It's like, how fucking dare you? This is segregated. You know what it is? There's one group of people that are allowed in here. Because a lot of you motherfuckers never had Sylvia's before.

That's why. Y'all never had Sylvia's before. And they got, like, the only shit that hasn't been touched in Harlem is, like, the salt. Oh, white people love Sylvia's. Of course they do. That's the only reason why it's still alive. I knew Sylvia's was for white people when Yasser Lester wanted to go there. I was like, oh, go there got the white folks

sound like the fucking cranberry sauce in kansas with sylvia's face on it i was like oh yeah they're never leaving they're good they're good to go and sylvia found a way to make tons of money do you think that you think that sylvia would reverse it never well she's dead now but like the family yeah absolutely do you think the family is going you know what i think that we should run it back and we could no because they got a bunch of houses and buildings now. They're going to get priced out eventually. Here's the thing. That's the rules of the game, though.

Somebody's going to try and price them out, and then every fucking celebrity who's ever walked through that place is going to be like, nope. And that's when you see that shit happen. And that's when these conversations of gentrification will be like, oh my god, gentrification's going too far. You know what I'm saying? Barack Obama ate there. The only Like Barack Obama ain't there. Like, what way ain't it there?

What's the difference between gentrification? The difference between gentrification and diversification is whether you're making money or losing money. Right? Yeah. Diversity is what we all want when people are making money. Right, right, right. Gentrification is what we don't want

when we're losing money. Right, right, right. Hey, this job needs to be more diverse. There aren't enough minorities working at ESPN. That took me a second, but that's a bar. You see what I'm saying? There's not enough minorities working as executives at Whole Foods.

So it's like, okay, let's definitely diversify this Whole Foods a little bit more. But you know why they do that? What's that? They do that because it's good for business. You want to be able to talk to not just one section of people. They don't do it because it's good for business. You think these tech companies want to hire women?

Are you out of your fucking mind? You really think for a second. You think Google is sitting there going, we need more ladies over here so we can get this code right. No. They want to hire Akash, and then another Akash, and then another Akash, and then another Akash. It would be only fucking Indians if it was up to them.

And we don't like women. That shit in my blood, family. That shit in my blood. Me and FAA hate women. Relax, Bert. family is complete horseshit they're doing the product better maybe not Google but when you're selling it when it's a product based thing I think people don't really give a fuck like diversity gets away capitalism often all the time. And when it doesn't.

When it's time to market. No, no, no, no, no. When it's time to market, you need diversity. When diversity doesn't get in the way of capitalism, you move it the fuck out the way. Look at this thing called sports. Nobody's saying, hey, we need some cultural enrichment in the NBA. Yeah, you want that nice quota. We can use an Indian on an NBA team.

It's not about the team. It's about marketing. I want to see an Indian face on the fucking... There are two billion people in the NBA There's one Indian guy in the fucking NBA and he got a whole fucking movie about him. And he got a whole fucking movie about him. You know why? Because there's a billion fucking people in India. So why do we have to...

Because he's not good enough and at the same time... Why is he not good enough? Why does that matter? I billion fucking people in India. So why do we have this one? So it's a smart business decision. Because he's not good enough, and at the same time, right? Why is he not good enough? Why does that matter? I want to see myself reflected. I thought. I'm going to see myself reflected. I agree. I agree.

I think we should lower the standards. Did I not just say? We should lower the standards so that we can have more of you in there because diversity is important. I just want to see myself reflected. I just don't like to listen. I think. You know what we should do?

I don't think being a fireman is diverse enough. I don't like to listen. I think, you know what we should do? I don't think being a fireman is diverse enough. I don't like to listen. Okay, I think we need more female firefighters. I don't care if they can't lift anybody. Handicapped firefighters.

Have them go up there and get the cats. The cats are always in the fucking tree. Have them climb up the fucking tree and get the cats down. You don't think

handicapable people can be firefighters? Roll your ass into the fire. I'm saying. Throw someone on your lap. I'm saying. Roll your ass back. Come on. Professor X ass into the fire. I'm saying. Throw someone on your lap. I'm saying. Roll your ass back. Come on.

Professor X never stopped a fire. Like I was saying. What we're trying to say is everybody want gentrification. Everybody hates gentrification but loves diversity. They're really the same thing. So choose which one you want. They're not. And what I was trying to say before I got really interrupted is when it comes to marketing,

when you have a good to sell, you need diversity because you want to sell to as many different people as possible. In a performance-based job, we just hire the people who do the job best. What job isn't performance-based? That's all I'm talking about. What job isn't performance-based? What job isn't performance-based? What job isn't performance-based? That's all I'm talking about. What job isn't performance-based? What job isn't performance-based? What job is not performance-based? Because you said

in a performance-based job, you want the people who do the best. My argument would be every job is performance-based at the end of the day. For example, marketing is a performance-based job. You're correct. So you mean to tell me if you're marketing a product, you can tell Akash, you work for Google.

We need you to market Google to women. Could you do the job? Yes. I'm sure you could. And I'm sure he could. Easily. Would a woman do a better job than you marketing to women about Google? Not at all. Exactly! So it's a performance-based

gig. She wouldn't do a better job. She wouldn't do a better job. Are we marketing cookbooks? Hold on. What Are we marketing cookbooks? Hold on. So you think. What are we marketing? Cleaning supplies?

You're an asshole. I got to find the fun, man. We finally found the fun. So you think that marketing is not a skill in and of itself. No, I think it is a skill. You think it's directly dependent on your gender or race. Can you repeat that? So you think that marketing is not a skill itself that you can be good at. You think it's directly dependent on your gender or race.

No, I think gender and race is part of the skill of marketing. So if you're a woman, that automatically makes you better at marketing than the best male marketer? No, that's not what I'm saying. It seems like it's what you're saying. That's why I'm asking to clarify. No, I literally just said what I was saying. You just said you think you'd be better at marketing to women than a woman, and I said yes, and he said yes, and then you thought that that was an absurd answer. I don't think it was an absurd answer.

I'm saying it wouldn't matter the gender. It's who does the job best. Exactly. So what if that's a man? All right. So if there's a woman that works at Google that does the job better than Akash, how is that? Who gives a fuck about hiring 100 Akash's if there's a woman who could do the job better? And what we're saying is that there are way more men that are applying for those jobs in tech that actually have higher scores, that actually are more qualified, and because the tech companies care about diversity

in terms of gender and in terms of race, that they're accepting people who don't do as well, but they have this other qualification that has nothing to do with the merit of the job. That is... I could argue with you. I could argue that part of the merit of the job is seeming like a diverse company.

Like in 2019, if you look diverse, people will want to spend money with you. If we're being honest. Like I'm more willing, like if Aquafina was a black owned company, I'd be like, yeah, we drink at Aquafina. I don't care how terrible the water is. Sure, but you're going to Google regardless. You're not going to ask Jeeves? I don't care how many black chicks are answering to askjeeves.com. If Jeeves is a black dude, you're asking Jeeves?

If there was a black Google, I'd use it. That was Bing. No, it wasn't. Fucking Arkansas. If there was a black dude that made a fucking Google alternative search engine, I would absolutely use it. If it's not as good as Google, you're going back. But I'll say this to your point about the marketing. If I want to market to a woman, I might say, hey, a woman would be better for this job.

But our issue is the push for diversity in all areas shouldn't matter unless it matters. You know what I mean? We shouldn't just be diverse for the sake of the face that we can... I'm not some fucking... Dog, Case Rosso, a good friend of mine, said some shit with liberals. He goes, there's a lot of mascotism. It's like, hey, here's our black friend. Let's parade around our black friend and show we got a black friend.

Companies, there's a lot of mascotism. I don't want to be your fucking mascot. If you're a company that doesn't have an Indian and you need one to shut people up, don't hire me. I don't want to be your fucking mascot. Hire me because I'm the best. He's the best. If I want to market to a woman, yeah, I can see the merit of a woman being better. I was joking, but definitely. So that's when I'll hire a woman.

If it's just everything else, if it's just who's best, I'm going to look at who's best. And in that situation, a woman's the best. Rent to me because I'm paying the most. Valid. No, i don't have an issue with that it's capitalism it's america nobody's saying it's wrong i've never said you were wrong for this i've never said i understand i'm saying culturally this is why people get i understand the black landlord that has you know invested their life savings in this uh three-story

walk-up building and they have the opportunity for the first time in their life to really capitalize on this investment by selling it to a couple white girls whose parents are going to guarantee make that rent every single week. It's going to be maybe 30% higher than they were charging for the rest of the people in the neighborhood. And if that black family took this massive risk on buying that property a long time ago and worked through it their whole life so they could finally get to the position where they could really capitalize, they should not do it to maintain the culture of their neighborhood.

They should continue to suffer and almost not pay their rent to maintain the culture of the neighborhood. No, get your money. Get your money, black family. I believe in black business. Yo, what's up? This is Akash. That was a preview of our Patreon episode. I believe in black business.