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‘Yasuke’ Writer Nick Jones Jr. On Exploring Trauma, Adding Magic And Mechs, And Definitely Not Smoking Anything While Writing

Yasuke recently arrived on Netflix with striking visuals (from Japanese animation studio MAPPA) and a trippy score (courtesy of Flying Lotus), both of which help complete the experience of watching, but make no mistake: the story itself is consciousness-expanding. The six-part series dives into the mind of history’s first Black samurai and imagines what his life would be like after a nearly unfathomable trauma. Twenty years later, Yasuke’s attempting a quiet life in a feudal village, but he can’t shake the memories of his mentor, the warlord Nobunaga, committing forced suicide (by the ritual known as “seppuku”) in front of him. To somehow make matters even worse, Yasuke (voiced by LaKeith Stanfield) was tasked with cutting off Nobunaga’s head during the ritual, and let’s just say that all subsequent bets of a calm mind were out the door.

Following that trauma, Yasuke evaporated from the history books, which encouraged plenty of creative license in the writing department. That’s where Nick Jones Jr. (Hulu’s Casual) arrived as head writer alongside creator/director/producer LeSean Thomas (The Boondocks, Cannon Busters, and Black Dynamite). Together, they explored lingering fallout from Yasuke’s ordeal as a launching point for abundant creative liberties. So yes, that means magic and mechs were on the table, and it’s not too bizarre for a samurai to face off with a giant werewolf. In short, Yasuke picks up the sword again to protect a young girl from mysterious forces, and not all is what it seems. The series arrives in a compact package, but there’s still a lot to absorb, and Nick Jones Jr. was gracious enough to talk it out with us.

Nick, you recently tweeted about serving as a U.S. Marine in Japan and feeling “a bit of a full-circle moment” after writing about the first Black man to serve alongside Japanese forces.

Looking back, it’s just kind-of crazy knowing I was there and actually had the opportunity to work alongside Japanese military forces. It puts a lot of things in perspective, looking at Yasuke’s history of being a Black man and being in the same situation, working alongside Nobunaga and Japanese forces from the time, so it just felt right, like this full-circle moment, being able to look back and be like, “Yo, I was actually there, boots on the ground in my own way.” There was some synergy with things that I was able to do in my military career and the things that Yasuke did with his.

Not to take away from the way that Yasuke’s story hits hard culturally, but I was initially intrigued after hearing about this series because my grandmother was Japanese and married into the military, and that’s a whole mindset.

Yeah, this just hits people differently! And I think that this whole project, over the last couple of months, it’s come to a trip down memory line with us starting this process three years ago, and also to dive back into those emotions that I drew for in character development for Yasuke. This took me back to my military days and not just in Japan but while serving in the Marines altogether, and it’s tough, especially when you’re, in my case, a Black man that’s in a space that’s predominantly white, which speaks to the military experience as well. It definitely takes some maneuvering in a lot of places and for me, coming from the South, it’s crazy. It’s dope and took me through a lot of emotions that I’d had, and the honor that I had for serving my country in the military, which is probably the same feeling that Yasuke would have had, since he was given this purpose after being brought there and finding this new family and purpose and having honor and to fight for something. I don’t think there’s any greater feeling than having a purpose and finding something to fight for.

Why do you believe that Yasuke fell out of the history books?

There’s that quote, “The victors write the history books.” Obviously, with Nobunaga being the guy that he was and being progressive in a lot of ways, and Yasuke being a product of Nobunaga, the fact that ultimately he lost, it was a lot of “trying to hold onto traditions and the Old Way.” And in a case like that, someone like Yasuke, who was loyal to the losing side, I think that played more into it than anything else. Nobunaga wasn’t successful in the end, and a lot of things that Nobunaga stood for and people that he brought with him weren’t celebrated or hung onto in the way that they would have, had Nobunaga succeeded.

I was also thinking it could be along the lines of Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen, with history being resurfaced after certain parties, you know, intentionally buried it.

Oh, I remember watching that show and going on Twitter with people asking, “Did this really happen, is this real?” I knew about it, but that’s because it’s my history and not necessarily white history and history that people wanted to acknowledge, but Tulsa wasn’t the only place like that. They were doing it all over the United States. If there was a Black neighborhood, they were burning it down, and in Tulsa’s case, dropping bombs on it, literally. That’s a lot of the underbelly of a lot of the history that gets too mucky for some people to accept that it happened. Some people are like, “Nazis didn’t exist,” and I’m like, “Of course they existed, we fought them in a war!”

Well, during my review of Yasuke, I very classily wrote that I was wondering what you and LeSean Thomas were smoking when you wrote the show.

Ahhh yes, I laughed at that! You were like, “I don’t know what they were smoking when they wrote this stuff, but you should just go with it.” [Laughs]

So… were you smoking something or…. no?

Well, I can assure you that I wasn’t smoking something when I was writing it, but I can’t make the same promise as I watch it, soooo…. Obviously, LeSean brings in the anime pedigree with all of the stuff that she’s worked on, dating back to his time on Boondocks and how he brought in a lot of that flavor and style in the fight sequences in his show, Cannon Busters, so when Netflix brought us to together for this project, I was like, “Dope, dope, dope.”

And not only was there a lot of anime flavor, but a hefty emotional component to the writing as well.

One of the things that I wanted to infuse on my end was that military mindset that Yasuke would have, being that he’s a samurai and a general, and these forces in Japan, and also diving into some of the underlying emotions and trauma and PTSD, which I felt that he would definitely have, if we’re telling story twenty years down the line with the current storyline of him with Sake. Comparing that to my experience in the Marines and having friends that committed suicide, and having to personally carry their caskets at funerals, and knowing how that made me feel. You feel like you’re in quicksand and can’t move because any movement you make hurts, and knowing that pain, I felt like it would be like that plus some, being in a situation like Yasuke, where there are some that believe that he was Nobunaga’s Kaishakunin.

It doesn’t seem like anyone could shake that off, ever.

If you’re given that job, where someone commits seppuku, you have to chop their head off, how would you feel if your friend and mentor not only commits suicide in front of you, but you have to participate in the act? It would mess you up, and I wanted to start from that point and build the story out from there, emotionally. And it’s just like, what are the circumstances, events, and relationships that get you to that point, and then what’s the trauma and the emotion that lingers on after that point. And then after that, like I said, with LeSean bringing in that anime aesthetic, it’s like, great, let’s throw in the mechs, let’s throw in the mercenaries, let’s throw in the magic. And I was like, “Fuck yeah!” Oh wait, can I cuss?

Netflix

Are you kidding? Go for it.

Yeah, and for me, just being an anime fan — I grew up and consumed as much as I could. Obviously, being in the South, I didn’t have a lot of outlets, but Cartoon Network Toonami saved my life, and I think USA Network had some anime on Saturday mornings at the time. That’s where I watched Street Fighter, but just being a fan of Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, things like that. I think for me, it was obviously an opportunity and a dream to finally dive into the anime space and really do something that I felt would be a cultural event.

That anime space is so much more accessible in 2021 with Crunchyroll and every streaming service. Still, I think people are intimidated and don’t know where to start. Jim Belushi recently asked for recommendations on Twitter.

Tell him to start with Yasuke!

For when people want to dive in, do you have another go-to recommendation?

I’d say Akira and maybe Ghost in the Shell.

Not the movie with Scarlett Johansson, I take it.

Oh no no no, the original! And if you wanna jump into a series, Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, that was one of my favorites growing up. Bleach is actually pretty cool. It’s out there, but it’s super dope, but there’s a lot of things Cowboy Bebop, but Akira and Ghost in the Shell, start there.

People wondered how Yasuke compares to Afro Samurai, which some believe was inspired by Yasuke’s legend. How would you differentiate the two?

Well, for one, I think there’s something to be said for Black creatives having the opportunity to tell the story about a Black man in Japan who was really there. And obviously, we’re diving off into alt-history and things of that nature, but to be rooted in fact with this particular historical figure. That sets it apart from anything else. This guy actually existed. He’s a real dude, and that’s the main point: we’re trying to shed light on someone real while telling a cool, trippy anime story on top of it.

What would you say about a Season 2? It seems like the story’s wrapped up in a nice bow, but maybe?

You know, I’d love to dive back in. I tried my best to seed in some stuff with prequels, and I think we’ve got some very cool supporting characters who could probably support their own side stories moving forward. And even with the nice bow we put at the end of it, I think there’s still an opportunity to continue on with Yasuke because, in the history books, he just kinda fades off, so we can write our own path for him like we did with this, where it’s twenty later, and what’s he been up to? Now that he’s been motivated to do what he does, I think there are a lot of avenues for him to move forward and to be this warrior that’s roaming Japan or maybe other places.

‘Yaskue’ is currently streaming on Netflix.

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The ‘Sex And The City’ Revival Will Reportedly Include Women Of Color As Regulars (Following The Samantha Departure)

HBO Max announced earlier this year that a Sex and the City revival (titled, And Just Like That…) is coming our way, even though Kim Cattrall will not reprise her vampy Samantha Jones role. Whether the show can survive that omission remains to be seen, and given that Samantha is a fan favorite, there are definitely big heels to fill. TV Line is now reporting that, in addition to addressing criticisms about the original series’ lack of inclusivity by diversifying the writers’ room, there will be progression onscreen as well with returning showrunner Michael Patrick King in the driver’s seat.

TV Line reveals that the revival will be “dramatically expanding Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte’s social circle with roughly a half dozen new characters. And three of those newbies will be full-fledged series regulars and women of color.”

Additionally, it’s worth noting that HBO Max did not comment upon this tidbit upon request from TV Line, but the outlet did previously speak with HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys, who appeared to suggest that nothing terrible has happened to Samantha… and maybe she just moved onto a new circle of friends? “Just as in real life, people come into your life, people leave,” Bloys said at the time. “Friendships fade, and new friendships start. So I think it is all very indicative of the real stages, the actual stages of life.” He added that friendships in one’s 30s don’t always stick in one’s 50s, which is a fair point.

However, I will add that the confirmed return of Aidan Shaw, played by John Corbett, is not the most excellent news without further context. Nothing against Corbett’s portrayal, but he and Carrie were totally wrong for each other and went their separate ways (twice) for good reason. Perhaps Aiden will be in a non-Carrie-centric role this time around: much less drama that way, but who knows? Maybe they want that drama back.

(Via TV Line)

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6lack And Westside Boogie Put On For Their Team In LVRN’s ‘RapCaviar Cypher’ Video

Over the past couple of years, LVRN has flown a bit under the radar in terms of labels that also function as rap crews. Where lots of attention is (rightfully) lavished on Dreamville and TDE for their tight-knit groups, Love Renaissance has seemed like more of a loose collective under one banner until recently. That changed last December when the label released its first compilation, which was, incidentally, also a holiday album showcasing the singing talents of its R&B roster. However, it looks like the rap unit is beginning to jell as well, as shown in the LVRN Cypher for Spotify’s RapCaviar.

For the first time, all of the group’s impressively gifted rappers come together on one track. While the better-known members 6lack and Westside Boogie may be the big draws, the track highlights the newbies as well, including OMB Bloodbath, who kicks things off with a breathless verse, BRS Kash, who shows he’s more than the “Throat Baby” crooner, and NoonieVsEverybody, who should increase the team’s trap appeal. The video sees the crew take over what looks like a bank lobby as DJ Kitty Cash spins from the concierge podium and the rappers do their thing in matching maintenance uniforms emblazoned with the LVRN logo.

It took a while for the Avengers to come together; now it looks like rap has a new superteam aiming at taking over, one verse at a time. Meanwhile, the team also released individual videos for each member with extended verses, ensuring even more content to hold fans over for whatever comes next.

Watch the LVRN RapCaviar Cypher above.

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‘Loki’ Will Step Away From Disney+’s Friday Release Pattern With A Slightly Bumped-Up Premiere Date

Despite experiencing massive success with both WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that followed in the footsteps of The Mandalorian by dropping new episodes on Fridays, Disney+ is shaking things up when it comes to Loki. In a new video released by Marvel, the God of Mischief actor Tom Hiddleston breaks the news that not only will the Loki series drop two days early on June 9, but it will have its own unique release schedule as he declares that “Wednesdays are the new Fridays.”

As of this writing, there’s been no elaboration given for Loki‘s pivot from Fridays to Wednesdays, but much like WandaVision, the series seems rife for fan theories. Disney+ and Marvel probably won’t mind seeing discussions dominate social media for the back half of the week instead of getting lost in the weekend, particularly with summer approaching. The release date switch up also follows the series’ new Special Look that dropped during Monday night’s Warriors vs. Pelicans game.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Picking up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.

Loki premieres June 9 on Disney+.

(Via Marvel Entertainment on Twitter)

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Justin Bieber Is Being Accused Of Cultural Appropriation After Putting His Hair In Locs

Bieber has a history of being accused of profiting off of Black culture, like how his recent Justice album sampled a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. without context before transitioning into a track about how much he loves his (white) wife. But the latest outcry comes from his new, allegedly culturally appropriating hairstyle. Bieber revealed he got his hair loc’d this week, and people are understandably mad about it.

Bieber has been very active on social media this week. He’s currently filming a video for his 21 Savage and DJ Khaled collaboration “Let It Go,” and apparently decided to take on a new hairstyle for it. Bieber shared several photos of his hair in locs, a style that has been very central to the conversation about cultural appropriation in the last ten-plus years. Loc’d hair has cultural and historical significance for Black people, not to mention that it’s an easy way to protect against hair damage.

After showing off his new hairdo on social media, people were quick to call him out for cultural appropriation.

Several people drew comparisons to the doll from Rugrats and even movie The Grinch.

But this isn’t even the first time he’s received backlash for a similar hairstyle. Bieber first loc’d and dyed his hair back in 2016, which he also drew accusations of cultural appropriation for.

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Report: Aaron Rodgers Mocks Packers GM Brian Gutekunst By Calling Him ‘Jerry Krause’

One of the reported reasons Aaron Rodgers wants to leave the Green Bay Packers is his relationship with the team’s front office. In particular, Rodgers is reportedly not happy with how general manager Brian Gutekunst goes about his job, to the point that he has a nickname for him that’s not exactly meant to be flattering.

A new piece by Bob McGinn of The Athletic breaks down the current situation in Green Bay, which confirms reporting that has popped up elsewhere that Gutekunst keeping his job would mean Rodgers will not return to the team. In fact, Rodgers sees similarities between Gutekunst and former Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause — who was blamed for not keeping together the Michael Jordan-led squad after winning a championship in 1998 — to the point that he straight up calls him “Jerry Krause” in communication with his teammates.

According to sources, Rodgers has mocked Gutekunst in group chats with his teammates in Green Bay by referring to the GM as Jerry Krause. The late Krause, the general manager of the Chicago Bulls during their run of six NBA championships, was loathed by Michael Jordan for some personnel moves with which Jordan disagreed.

Krause received plenty of scorn during his time with the Bulls, something that was reignited when The Last Dance aired last year. Of course, things were a bit more complex than “Jerry Krause ruined the Chicago Bulls,” but Rodgers is not letting that get in the way of what is admittedly a pretty good nickname.

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MF DOOM’s First Posthumous Album Is A Joint Effort With Czarface, ‘Super What?’

MF DOOM is returning this week — in a way — thanks to Super What?, a joint album with Czarface (Esoteric and Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck) releasing this Friday, May 7. The project will be the first posthumous MF DOOM release since his death was announced by his family on New Year’s Eve last year, two months after his passing. The album is a follow-up to the trio’s 2018 effort Czarface Meets Metalface and was recorded and scheduled for release in 2020. Those plans were paused due to COVID-19 but will proceed this month as a tribute to the late, great DOOM.

Super What? is available for pre-order on both CD and vinyl on MFDOOM’s website GasDrawls.com, with a special edition vinyl already sold out (sorry) and a GasDrawls exclusive vinyl still available for the price of two standard editions. The album is accompanied by a comic book written by Czarface MC Esoteric and illustrated by Benjamin Marra. The ten-track tape features guest appearances from Gorillaz’s Del The Funky Homosapien and Run-DMC’s DMC.

DOOM’s passing sparked a renewed interest in the underground icon’s discography, as streams of his old projects leaped nearly 900% in the wake of the announcement of his death and tributes poured in from both collaborators like Open Mike Eagle and admirers such as Playboi Carti. Hopefully, Super What? will satisfy that interest as fans continue to await news on the Madvillainy sequel that was also reportedly in the works.

Super What? is due 5/7. Pre-order it here.

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Jon Stewart Verbally Annihilated Tucker Carlson On His Own Show In 2004 — And Many People Are Just Seeing It Now

Tucker Carlson has always been a pompous windbag. Even worse, he used to be a pompous windbag with a bow tie. While his tendency toward bloviation might seem like a prerequisite for hosting a show on Fox News, there was a time—from 2000 to 2005—when Carlson was employed by CNN. From the very beginning, it was clear that the pairing was not meant to be. But it took a hero named Jon Stewart to make this painfully obvious to the world (and the news network’s powers-that-be).

Recently, a short clip of Stewart’s infamous 2004 appearance on the Carlson-co-hosted Crossfire has been making the social media rounds and fans can’t get enough of the then-host of The Daily Show’s utter evisceration of Carlson—and his bow tie.

Though Stewart was on the show presumably to promote his new book, America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, it was clear that he had other plans. Namely: To ask Carlson and his co-host Paul Begala to use their platform to encourage real conversations with politicians and to speak for the American people instead of being “partisan hacks.” Carlson’s response? To reference Stewart’s recent interview with then-presidential candidate John Kerry and call him a “suck-up.”

Carlson did attempt to backtrack a little and assure Stewart that he and Begala were there “to love you, not confront you. We’re here to be nice.” But Stewart wasn’t having any of it. Even if Carlson was there to be nice, Stewart was not: “I’m here to confront you, because we need help from the media and they’re hurting us… It’s hurting America. Here is what I wanted to tell you guys: Stop. You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.”

In addition to the clip, you can watch the full interview above—or read the full transcript from the show here.

There’s also an interesting postscript to this story: Many media insiders have pointed to Stewart’s interview, which aired on October 15, 2004, as a key factor in Carlson’s contract with CNN not being renewed. When that was announced less than two months later, Carlson immediately went on the defensive. Oddly, he used much of what Stewart himself had been saying to explain his departure from the network:

“I resigned from Crossfire in April [2004], many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation… each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument,’ and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.”

Kind of interesting to see people discover and resdicover this moment from (gasp) nearly 20 years ago.

(Via Keith Edwards)

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The Author of ‘Taco USA’ Breaks Down The Birria Craze Sweeping Social Media

If you’re into food TikTok at all, you’ve seen it — dried chilis rapidly de-seeded and chopped, boiled, blended with more spices, and combined with tender chunks of savory meat and onion stewed to perfection, forming a bubbling, almost orange broth so appetizing you can smell it through the screen. Next, the meat is removed, shredded, and placed atop a tortilla that has been dipped in the savory stew’s abundant juices, covered in cheese, thrown on the grill, and folded in half, only to be dipped back into the broth between bites. A delectable bit of food porn if ever there was one.

This is the culinary marvel known as birria tacos. Or, more accurately, quesabirria. A French dip quesadilla of sorts.

The dish looks so appetizing that it’s inspired a whole wave of fusion weirdness — from birria waffles to birria pizza. But while I’m happy to see the birria love buzzing around the internet, I do feel compelled to mention that this isn’t exactly a new dish. For me, growing up in Southern California in a Mexican family, it’s always just been birria, a beef chuck stew reserved for the coldest winter days with a comforting aroma that seems to slip right through the walls of the house. For other Mexicans, it might be birria de chivo, made with goat and reserved for special occasions like a wedding. In the streets of Tijuana, it’s quesabirria, rapidly prepared street food that is grilled on site with speed and efficiency that puts every TikTok version to shame.

To get the rundown on the hottest new food “trend” and why it’s resonating so strongly with an online audience of food lovers right now, we linked up with Gustavo Arrellano, journalist and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. In our brief phone chat, Arrellano broke down the history of Mexican food trends in America, revealed what great birria ought to taste like, and unloaded some thoughts on how we can truly help the Mexican American food community going forward in a post-Covid world.

Why do you think birria has taken off on social media over the past year?

It hasn’t taken off in the last year. It’s been a phenomenon in Southern California for at least five years! It really started to slowly get national about 2019, before COVID and then in 2020. It just follows the same trajectory that Mexican food in the United States has always followed and I write this in my book, Taco USA. Every decade it seems that something lowercase “new” with Mexican food is sweeping across the country. In The 1890s, it was chili — what we now know in chili dogs, chili burgers and tamales. In the 1980s, it was fajitas. In the 1970s and 60s, it was the margarita.

After the great recession, it was taco trucks, food trucks. Now it just happens to be birria.

Something a lot of people don’t seem to understand about Mexican food is that it’s highly regional. I always hear people say ridiculous things like “in Mexico, they don’t do this or they don’t do that.” But it’s more varied than that. I’ve always been told birria is more of a Jalisco thing. What is it to you?

Well, birria to me is something I’ve grown up with my entire life, except with de res, birria de res [beef]. My family’s from Zacatecas which borders Mexico. So I’ve been eating birria — goats stew is most famous from Jalisco, with res it’s most famous from Zacatecas. So when people started telling me, “Oh, it’s a trend, it’s a new food.” I’m like, what the hell are you talking about? I’ve been eating birria de res my entire life, how can something I’ve eaten my entire life be a trend?

Have you seen any bastardizations of the recipe that have shocked you? Though, if i remember right it’s a fairly simple recipe.

Don’t dismiss birria as a simple recipe! There’s this idea in Mexican food, “Oh it’s simple peasant food.” No, no, no, no. Even the best refried beans take talent. But when it comes to these bastardizations, as some people call it and I have others peers who say, “Oh, you could only eat it in a certain way.” Even in tacos, “that’s not how you really eat it.” For me. If it’s good, why not?

Again, having eaten birria my entire life, I’m not running out of my house to try birria ramen or birria pizza, or birria hamburgers or whatnot. But hey, if I have a chance to eat it, I’ll try it. Sure. But I’m not going out to do so. So I’m not going to say I’ve tried these places, but for me, if it’s good, why not? If people enjoy birria on pizza or birria with ramen, cool. God bless them for that.

Do you have a favorite birria spot?

Well, if it’s to go, there’s a place called El Cabrito which is here in the city of Santa Ana. That’s birria de chivo. If you want birria de res, that’s going to be a spot, it’s also in Santa Ana, but also in LA and El Monte called Burritos La Palma, and they’re the ones who really kicked off the whole birria de res trend. They’re from the same part of Zacatecas where my family’s from Jerez, Zacatecas. The way they serve their birria de res, is just the way I ate it growing up.

For someone who has never had birria de res, what makes it so good?

The meat has to be stringy and soft. It can’t be too tough — not tough, but it can’t have the texture like say carne asada or chicken, but it has to have some texture. It can’t be just a glop of meat. The broth can’t be oily. You have some of this birria de res, it’s completely oily. It’s disgusting. Traditionally, birria comes with salsa macha, but it used to be called salsa de setas, like oil salsa. You put that for the flavor, for the spice, but you can also eat it straight up.

It has to have an enveloping taste, comforting. Birria is best eaten when it’s cold outside cause it warms you up. It has to be a little bit spicy — enough so you know that there are chiles in there — but it cannot be spicy so that it burns you. Not like, “Oh my God, this is too spicy.” It can never get to that, because it’s up to the eater to decide, “How much spice am I going to eat there?”

So it has to be comforting above all, has to have that flavor, more chili flavor than chili spice. You have to put the onions. I think the onions are key. Some people put cilantro, I’m not a big cilantro person. So I don’t, but don’t put oregano, oregano is more for pozole. You put in a squirt of lime that gives it a brightness with the acidity. Then that’s when you put in the salsa.

For birria, I like to put serranos, you chop up some serranos and you throw them in there, you mix it all up. It’s all super good.

It’s interesting that you talk about the comfort food aspect because I feel like the social media interest might have sprung out of the pandemic in terms of people having more time to kind of sit and roast meat and just needing that kind of external comfort.

Yes, you’re seeing more of it on social media because if you want to play that game, it’s a social media star because it seems people love to put messy food on social media. You split the hamburger in half and you see all the meat, you split the burrito in half — I personally find those pictures disgusting. There’s nothing appealing to me about that. Also, you have the stained paper or whatever and I’ll be honest, I’m guilty of that. I’ve stained my reporter’s notebooks with birria or chile when I’m eating. So I’ll admit to that.

But in that sense, especially if you’ve never eaten that food and you see it for the first time, of course, it’s going to be a trend, but it’s important to note that birria de res is not an invention. It’s not something that people quote-unquote “discovered.” Basically people like Columbus — and I’m adding Mexicans to this by the way, not just white people — that all of a sudden realized, “oh my God, birria, it’s such a cool deal. It will be perfect for Instagram or whatnot,” but this is something that Mexicans in Southern California have been eating for 40 years.

Pivoting a little, how do you think we can best support Mexican restaurants in the post-COVID age? There’s already obviously a financial strain on every restaurant, but Mexican food, in particular, has always kind of been undervalued.

Go there. Go eat at those restaurants. Simple as that. Go figure out which one’s going to be most to your palate and go spend money and tip well and go again. And if you like it, go take your friends, get take out. I don’t think there’s anything unique to Mexican restaurants that I wouldn’t say the same about the food industry in general. I’m not going to say, “don’t go to white-owned Mexican restaurants.” I think that’s stupid. Go to the places that you like!

I could tell you Mexican restaurants where the food’s horrible. Should you support them? Well maybe. Maybe you want to contribute to a GoFundMe account, but you shouldn’t feel forced into eating something as a charity case. At that point, just leave them some money. But if there’s a place that you like, go! Go and support and support some more.

I wanted to get your take on this. I was looking at the local prices of birria tacos near me, and it’s something like $1.99 or something for a plate of multiple
tacos.

Wow!

It makes me think of this Anthony Bourdain quote that I want to read you really quickly. He said, “Americans love Mexican food. We consume nachos, tacos, burritos, tortillas, enchiladas, tamales, and anything resembling Mexican in enormous quantities. We love Mexican beverages, happily knocking back huge amounts of tequila, mezcal, Mexican beer. We love Mexican people. We employ a lot of them… We demand that Mexicans cook a large percentage of the food we eat, grow the ingredients we need to make that food, clean our houses, mow our lawns, wash our dishes, and look after our children. As any chef will tell you, our entire service economy, the restaurant business, as we know it in most American cities would collapse overnight without Mexican workers.”

As the pandemic ends and we enter the post-Trump era, what does the food industry need to do better in regards to Mexican food?

I think the issue is not so much with Mexican food, but rather the Mexicans that work in the food industry, they’re the ones who are in the back of the kitchen. They’re the ones who are not getting the wages that they deserve. They’re the ones who are getting exploited more often than not. They’re the ones who are picking the crops in the field. They’re the ones who are butchering the animals that we eat. If you really want to be “woke,” when it comes to Mexicans, don’t just worry about the food, worry about the entire damn ecosystem that makes food in the United States.

And in that sense, advocate for them. Advocate for better wages. Advocate for amnesty. Advocate for everything that needs to be done to help make the food world a more equitable place. Not just in what you eat but all across the board from the beginning all the way until the end.

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From ‘Takeover’ To DJ Khaled, A Timeline Of Jay-Z And Nas’ Tumultuous History

A lot of people do not like DJ Khaled. That’s not a controversial statement; it’s as close to being outright fact as anything in our post-truth, “fake news” saturated modern world. But on Khaled’s glitzy new album, Khaled Khaled, he tries hard to give us reasons to appreciate his presence. One of those attempts is the latest in a series of ultra-rare occurrences in hip-hop that I’m almost shocked he didn’t try to have minted as an NFT first: A collaboration between erstwhile foes Jay-Z and Nas on the song “Sorry Not Sorry.”

These are a rare animal indeed, the rap equivalent of Halley’s Comet. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the two veteran rappers have seemed reluctant to join forces over the years. After all, some truly nasty things were said during their early 2000s war of words that took nearly a decade more to address and get over — if they were ever truly able to actually get over them. Between their cult-favorite status, continued longevity, popularity, and commercial viability over the last 30 years, and the animosity that once simmered between them, their team-ups are infrequent events that would make most Marvel execs salivate.

Unfortunately, they’ve also never truly lived up to their hype, as the actual products have nearly always fallen well short of their outsized expectations. Again, I’m not trying to be controversial here; you could almost sense the disappointment of long-time fans in their Twitter reactions the night of the album’s release. Not even Khaled’s motivational speaker energy could liven up the proceedings. Nas and Jay-Z’s verses sound like they come from two different songs; although Jay’s verse is light and bouncy, Nas seems almost bored by his own money talk as he brags about getting in on cryptocurrency early (tech bro rap has a very limited audience, as it’s a lot like trying to have a conversation with a tech bro).

The reasons behind this are likely myriad, from lack of chemistry between the collaborators (the people want Rae-and-Ghost-level verse trading, but Nas really only has that with AZ while Jay’s last real back-and-forth was with Kanye West on “Otis”) to perhaps some lingering tension between the two. Fans have noticed Jay’s unfortunate tendency to step on Nas’s release dates, Nas refuses to punch up his verses after hearing Jay’s contributions, and their subject matter has been, after everything the two have been through together, very shallow and empty, more flash than substance.

It’s been a problem throughout each of their prior collaborations — two on their own, and one with Ludacris — that bears some looking into. So, here’s a timeline of their collaborations, beginning at the beef, as we try to get to the bottom of why these two just can’t seem to find their groove.

“Takeover”/”Ether”/”Supa Ugly”

The only time Nas washed Jay came during their actual battle in 2001. Countless histories have been written already but Nas was the consensus winner even if there are plenty of Jay-Z diehards who’ll take their “Takeover was better” beliefs to the grave (guilty). While “Takeover” kicked things off with a flurry of bars undermining Nas’s newly adopted mafioso image at the time, as well as poking at the declining public perception of his music’s quality, Nas’s schoolyard taunts got personal, ratcheting the excitement up several more notches. Unfortunately, it was Jay who blew a gasket, revealing his hurt feelings by sharing the “Supa Ugly” freestyle to radio and later apologizing after being admonished by his mom.

“Black Republican”

In 2006, just two months after Jay-Z’s “I Declare War” concert which saw the two former foes share the stage for the first time since the extremely early ’90s — possibly ever — Nas and Jay delivered their first collaboration on Nas’s eighth album Hip Hop Is Dead. It should have been a historic moment — certainly, it came with an epic beat. But it was also bogged down by its focus on tax brackets and the relative disparity between the two performances. The normally laid-back Jay sounds energetic, going for broke with rhyme schemes deadset on proving he could hang with the more “lyrical” Nas, who took the opportunity to rap an overly-smooth verse that completely ignores the monumental vibe of the beat or the moment.

“Success”

A year later, Nas would return the favor, appearing on Jay-Z’s 2007 movie companion album American Gangster. This time, the beat was an airy production by No I.D. that had a lot of potential but becomes overwhelming after a few repetitions. Again, the unrelatable subject matter weighs on the proceedings, but this time, the two reverse roles. Jay delivers a lethargic pair of verses that comes across as careless (Jay hollering “Let that b*tch breathe” when he was barely jogging wasn’t the flex he thought, making him look out of shape after a light jog), while Nas yanks out the brakes for an overly wordy contribution that could have used a lighter touch.

“I Do It For Hip-Hop” (with Ludacris)

This is the closest the two have come to a balance on one of their collaborations, probably because of Ludacris’s leavening influence. His boisterous, megaphone flow elevates the energy of the downtempo track, although the verse sequence means the coasting that Jay and Nas do here resembles a hang glider aimed at a cliff. They don’t quite crash; Jay finds his sense of humor again and Nas displays some timely self-awareness, pulling things up just in time to stick the landing. What works is getting the two out of their “emotionless rich guy” schtick. While too much nostalgia can get treacly, there’s just enough of it here to transport listeners back to blocks where the New Yorkers owned their crafts, more concerned with accessible endeavors.

“Sorry Not Sorry”

One thing this track does right: pairing that dreamy, glittering beat with James Fauntleroy and Beyonce vocals — pardon, Harmonies By The Hive vocals — and finding a smooth lane that reflects the elegance and opulence the two rappers try to convey. But again, it all sounds kind of perfunctory; they’re just listing brags, checking off lists, barely trying to impress, and certainly not trying to compete. Oh, and Nas calls himself “Cryptocurrency Scarface,” which doesn’t call to mind a swaggering rap titan so much as a nerdy, underachieving undergrad, trying way too hard to shed his dorky high school image — think Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. Jay’s verse is clever and smooth and makes you wonder why Rick Ross wasn’t paired with him instead because this is very “Maybach Music” territory… it just turns out Jay and Nas aren’t the right Lewis and Clark to explore it.

Clearly, mellower beats are the way to go, but it seems like the two should be more collaborative in their approach if they really want to make people care about their collaborations. As it stands, it feels like they’re writing their verses to different beats in separate rooms and slapping them together. Considering the rarity of their alliances, fans deserve more than this slapdash approach. I’m not saying they have to write each other’s bars, but the joy evident in their collabs with other artists is always lacking when they get together. Maybe they can never truly get past what Jay said about Nas’s baby seat or Nas comparing Jay-Z to Joe Camel, or maybe the hype will simply always overwhelm the final product. But considering the reputations and skill levels involved, perhaps it’s just about finding the right person to put it all together. Khaled came close, maybe another producer will be the one to pull it off.

Khaled Khaled is out now via Epic Records. Get it here.