Right now, man, there's so much going on. I'm looking at one story, getting distracted by another story, but we will get to all of it. We always do. So, Miles, tell me about Lil Durk from your perspective. You know, I always make you talk about all the rappers, even if they're not even like your peeps, but we have had conversations in the past about what seems to be the growing number of prosecutions against rap artists, a lot of it happening in Georgia, this one happening in California, but it's a federal case. From what it looks like, it seems like Dirk hired the same lawyer that Thug hired for the YSL trial that they had. It looks like he's kind of playing the same playbook. It seems like they're trying to bring in the... The main thing that they're presenting is the associations with people plus the rap lyrics. What's really going to get Dirk caught up in his murder for hire trial that he's going in right now. Is the... Receipts. The receipts of, like, flights for people and actually wiring money to people and, you know, the gifts for the people and everything. You got to call people on his own team that are going against him. So it looks like they're not fighting the fact that there was a murder for hire. They're kind of, like, fighting the fact that it was not Dirk's motive to do it, I guess. So we'll see how it goes. Yeah, I mean, that's what they're saying. They're saying that he was trying to get revenge because... Because of his, you know, his friend. But to me, and this isn't some, this isn't like, this guy's a pretty mainstream artist. He's not some guy you've never heard of. And he's got, and he had, him and his crew have a very extensive violent history. Very much so. The people all around him, not just himself. Just himself. But yeah, the whole, the whole gang does for sure. For sure. Yeah. Well, um, I mean, what I'm seeing is that they're saying they're trying to blame his assistant. They're trying to blame other members of the crew. I'm not sure how effective that will be. I guess we'll see. If you're the money source, it's hard to like. Seems like the people that are testifying against their seems like they took pleas already. Yeah, they did. That's what according to the L.A. Times, they took plea deals. I don't know. That could be the play. You guys already took your plea. It's okay to snitch and go against me or put it all on me if you're dirt because that may be your only way out is to put it all on somebody else. Yeah. I don't know. I used to think that if anybody did that, like take a plea deal or what they used to call snitching, that it would be over for them. But we've seen that that's not the case in the rap world anymore. People, from what I can see, people turn on other people and then they go on and have careers. And then, you know, you get up there and take the stand as the witness and end up butchering the whole case. That's how it turned the YSL thing into a, you know what I mean, what, a two, three year long trial? Yeah. You're saying because the witnesses or. The Witnesses are in on the game, so they get in there, the defense calls them up to the stand, and they'll end up going completely off the script. Talking in circles. I mean, I think we see a little bit of that going on with the Tupac situation as well, although I really haven't followed it stroke for stroke. But some of these alleged gang members are up here just, well, you know, talking in circles. Clearly not wanting to walk away being labeled forever as a snitch. Not on paper, not on the federal paperwork. Nah, that's going to be a bad look for you once you go in there with your plea deal. Forever. Yeah, but also, you know, I mean, murder for hire, this is the stuff that, you know, law and order episodes are made of. I mean, it's pretty dramatic. And to me, whether it was Lil Durk or this guy, Kavon Grant, the personal assistant, that they're trying to blame who goes and buys ski masks at REI. Like, I mean, I'm not a master murder mastermind, but if you've ever been to REI, it's like a very white, you know, sporting goods store. It's like where hikers go when they're going to go up, you know, the Himalayas or whatever, a bunch of black dudes going in there and buying ski masks. I mean, Stand out on that flock camera, brother. For sure. Dreads and your diamonds and your platinum teeth and everything. You don't even need the flock camera. It's just a little security camera in the store. Anyway, it's like that David guy ordering murder stuff on Amazon. What? I guess they don't watch those old, like, police drama movies because that seems like it would be it just i'm sorry it just seems very dumb to me. It's unfortunate for dirk um i'm sorry it's an unfortunate situation because i feel like they dirk and everybody else put themselves into the situation in my opinion but yeah it's unfortunate to see um i hate to see hip-hop go back on trial like it's about to go i hate to see them comb through these lyrics And, you know, paint the picture through the lyrics. But this is what we got. And it's going to be, I think it's going to be messy. I think yesterday was the first day. Am I right? Yeah. Yesterday was the first day. He's pleading not guilty to death and conspiracy to commit murder for hire, a stalking resulting in death. Conspiracy to commit murder for hire resulting in death. And they're saying that he spoke, you know, encoded language. in order to tell people he would pay money for anyone who killed this guy. I also noticed that little Dirk is 33, and a lot of the people around him as assistants and stuff are much younger. And I just wonder about that. I mean, not so much in the context of murder, but in the context of the entertainment world where people have these crews and entourages that surround them. And, I mean, that plays into, I guess, what defense is going to play about them saying that it was the assistant's call when it's like, bro, you the big dog. You the big homie. You know what I'm saying? So I think that's going to be the angle the defense probably takes, too. It's like it can, whatever you feel about it, Big Dirk is not this big fish. I'm sorry, Big Dirk. Little Dirk is not this big fish. He seems big. He seems like the big homie, but he's Little Dirk, yeah. Well, the money, I'm saying he's the one on Front Street. He's going to put a lot of people in position. So, you know, it's going to be hard to beat. I see how the angles are going to be played for sure. I am. I've never had an entourage, you know, or an assistant, but I've worked for people that do. And I, I don't, you know, I've worked for and with a number of celebs with entourages and It's hard to imagine that they just take your money and go and do a whole project, but I guess you never know. You never know. And as you pointed out, it's starting to seem like so mainstream in hip-hop for there to be murder trials and the lyrics go on trial, although I thought that we were moving away from that because.. These aren't no new lyrics that they're going to be putting on trial. This is from, like, this was, what, 2019, I think, when Vaughn died? King Vaughn died around the same time like Nipsey and Young Dolph died. So what was that, 2019? Before COVID. How about that? So there's not no brand new lyrics that they're pulling out. So he's writing that same.. You know what I mean? That same vein when that was what was hot in hip-hop and on the streets, on the blogs, was talking about your beefs and drilling and, you know what I mean, calling hits on your ops live on stage and everything. That was the way. Yeah, I mean, I get it. My point is just that legally I thought they were moving away from it. Seems like not, which means you have to be mindful of what you put in your lyrics. And I'm not saying go murder someone and then cover it up in your lyrics, by the way. I'm not suggesting that at all. But if you look at screenwriters and TV show writers and all these other people that write fiction, what we would assume is fiction, their lyrics and their content are not brought into their trials. I've never heard of that anywhere except hip-hop. I wonder if it's going to be, you know, is that a factor for David? Because he does have that, you know, I'm not a David fan. I just know the title, but something like, you know, homicide love or something. I mean, you got, you got him on trial. Still, you still got, if you follow, if you follow in the hip hop scene in Florida, you still got the YNW melee. That's been going on for about six years. He's still in prison for a song. Yeah. I caught murder on his mind for, allegedly often his best friends. Right here in L.A., you got the whole Big U tribe that's going to be coming up soon. That's going to involve a lot of other artists and their. Lyrics as well. So, you know, it's not over yet by a long shot, unfortunately. I mean, David, do you consider him hip-hop? I'm saying him black music person. I wouldn't say him hip-hop. Yeah, he's kind of like... Kind of like punk rock, rock and roll. Alternative kind of vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's black, but yeah. I like to be specific because I get irritated when people call Chris Brown a rapper. Right. I never heard can. Chris brown rap you're. Right okay i i never singer though he's more of a dancer than a rapper how about that. He's more yeah he's a singer and a dancer i mean i've seen him perform i didn't really see him rapping. Seen him act more and i've seen him rap he's a dancer. Yeah yeah so i mean i i just yeah i'm just I point it out because I think when we go along with the mainstream media calling every black man a rapper, we set ourselves up not to say that we should be murdering people or we should be having these other legal problems if possible, but I think defining how we are labeled and being specific is helpful. There's my little talking point. tip of the day we've got news traffic and sports and then we'll be back with more conversation only right here good morning happy talking point Tuesday I'm Dominique the show is called first things first and my first thing is always prayer giving thanks giving praises and asking for blessings from God asking for the blessings of the ancestors and the elders and court is in session All right, so this is how we do it on a Tuesday. Hour one, we look left coast. Hour two, we go national, international, and beyond. And in the third hour, we do a deep dive with a hot topic or a person or persons of interest. We are doing all of that today, and you are welcome in every hour at 800-920-1580, 800-920-1580. That's the number if you want to say something about something. Hour one today is just me, you, Miles, and your devices. Is that what they mean when they say leave you to your own devices, your phone? The phone works. You can hit me up on all of the socials at KBLA 1580 or my socials are at the Prima Radio. Whoops. Just knocking stuff down. Bull in a china shop this morning, but I'd love to hear from you at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580. Today we'll ask the question, do Africans accept black Americans? Are black Americans accepting Africans? A huge number of our so-called migrants now are black. And that's changing the dynamic a little bit. And then you've got some movements, some, I don't even know if I want to call them. Yeah, some movements, some schools of thought. How about we put it that way? within our community that seem to be creating more division, some that are creating more unity. And there's a big festival going on here in LA, so we'll talk to the man who's putting that together, who is actually Igbo, but he is on a mission to create more dialogue. So we'll have Dr. Obina Okere in here and we will talk with him. And you, you know these phone lines are always open at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580. It's hot. I hope you're okay. It's going to stay hot. We get snow relief this week. If you're on the left coast, if you're in L.A., you already know it is hot. I am one of the at-risk persons who does not have air conditioning in my home. So I feel it. I have one little window unit in one room, and that's pretty much where I've been huddled up. If I got to do anything else, it's all bad. So I'm feeling it. I hope you are hydrating because, you know, I'm over here complaining and joking, but also... people die from heat. And even though it's not Las Vegas hot miles, if it's hotter than what you're used to and your body is not properly hydrated, you can die. Okay. So, and, and a lot of the times that people are kicking the bucket from heat exhaustion or heat exposure, there's one other, there's three different diseases that, well, conditions, I guess they're conditions. that occur because of heat and all of them can kill you. So part of what's happening now is because it doesn't cool off that much at night, right? So your body doesn't get a break. It doesn't get to go back down in temperature. So you can call 311 and they will give you a list of cooling stations. Those cooling stations are places where they have air and where you can find water. Um, and just get your body back to normal before you go out and do whatever you got to do. Even if it's stopped by the library or one of these other spots that they have some senior centers and other rec centers set up, have some water, let your body temperature go down and before you go home and go to sleep. Because it's really, if you're like me and you don't have air, right now the fans are just blowing around the weather. I couldn't believe it was like mid-90s downtown LA yesterday. That's hot. That means the valley is cooked. I mean, because between here, between the beach and Crenshaw, there's probably about a 10 degree difference. Another five degrees up, downtown and probably another five to 10 into the valley. It's hot, hot, hot. So I just need you to be careful. I need you to take care of yourself and be mindful, especially if you've got your mom or your auntie or, you know, your big homie in the house, because a lot of times folks do not want to drink a lot of water because they don't want to have to go to the bathroom. They don't want to have to deal with incontinence. But you can really literally die. So even if you have to stay near a potty, you know, or take extreme measures, put on, you know, some kind of adult pamper or whatever, whatever you got to do, you don't want, trust me, you don't want to die. And I think especially as Southern Californians, we kind of, you know, think, well, we're used to the heat. We got this. But no, you're not. This isn't what we're used to. And even though they're saying that the temperatures aren't that different from other years, again, the fact that it's not going down at night is different. We don't have that for days and days and days where it just, It's hot in the day and hot in the night. You try to get up real early to work out, it's already hot. Anyway, 809-20-1580, that's the number to call. It's going all the way through Friday. Looks like we'll be down to the 80s for the weekend. So that's the relief we're getting. And then it's going hot again. And, you know, it's a weird cycle because the waves are big. So getting in the water, you even have to be careful. Just be careful. Oh, one more thing I'll say about this, because I don't want us to die. is that if you're really dehydrated, the best thing to do is eat something with a lot of water content, like watermelon or cucumbers, other various different types of melons, because it's hard for the body to go from completely dehydrated to just guzzling a bunch of water. You have to kind of help it out. And sometimes, well, all the time, eating food that has high water content is a good way to quickly hydrate the body because Whatever water you drank, that's more hydrating you for tomorrow. If you need to not die right now, you know, just munch on some cucumbers or some watermelon. Keep your body good. Miles, I see you rolling your eyes inside your head. But this is serious business. And I, you know, I just don't want us to die. Okay, so the... other, there's, there's a trial going on in Vegas, Miles's hometown, uh, about the, the murder of Tupac. And it's very bizarre, but that is happening, um, 30 years after the fact. Here in Los Angeles, there's another rap artist on trial on federal charges. And I haven't been following either one of them very closely, but, um, We'll take a little look at that, what's going on with that. Also, the deal, the merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers has got Southern California's entertainment community on the edge of its seats. It could really make or break something. the industry in this town, which is a big deal. Now the Attorney General has walked away from the negotiating table. Take a look at what that means, if anything. And so that and more on the table, 809-20-1580. If you want to bring up something else, I'm Dominique DiPrima, and this is KBLA Talk 1580. That's a little dirt right there, KBLA Talk 1580. In case you were not putting two and two together, I know you've heard that song. Huge hit. But he is on trial for murder for hire right now in the city of Los Angeles. Also kind of coming to a head in the city of Los Angeles, a situation with this merger, right? This mega merger. And when it was announced that Skydance was trying to get Warner Brothers, because they got Paramount. So now they're trying to merge Paramount and Warner Brothers. I was not happy about it because I know that this is the people that own Oracle and that they would then not only own TikTok and Paramount Pictures, but they would also own Warner Brothers, which includes CNN. It seemed like too much of a stranglehold on American media by one very Very conservative family. The elder, Allison, reportedly a close confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu. They're billionaires, obviously. They're Trump donors. And so I just felt like it was very problematic. Some folks were saying, we don't want Netflix to buy them because Netflix is already too big. And I can understand that, but I would have rather that. But now that deal is off the table. And if you think about it, the President of the United States put his thumb on the scale to help one of his big donors get this deal. But now 29 state attorneys general have joined. Actually, this one has 12 states. I'm thinking of the meta states. We got lawsuits around here, people. I'm thinking of the Meadow one. That has 29. This one only has 12 states. It's an antitrust lawsuit, and it's blocking that merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery. I don't know how long that will hold up, but there are lots of folks in Hollywood, including the Writers Guild, that have weighed in and said this merger is a huge problem. It will cause massive job losses. It will undermine the agency of Unions that will undermine our wages, which are already small enough here in Hollywood. If you look at it in terms of how often writers or directors or actors actually get to work, and then you divide the money that they make over the amount of time that they're going to go without a job, these wages are very low already. And so a massive monopoly, which is what we're talking about, will, you know, bleed jobs from LA, which we cannot afford because we're already in this very contracted economy where the streamers say they're resetting their business model, where we're being punished for going out on strike, trying to get protections against AI, trying to get better wages, where there was a rush of production right before COVID. And then These streamers looked up and said, oh, we're not making enough money. And then they started to realize that they can get actors, writers, and have huge hits with using overseas talent, which is not unionized, or even if they are unionized in some cases, they are making much lower wages. So there's all these different factors coming to play. The fact that the theaters, people aren't really going to the theaters like they used to ever since COVID. So what does that mean? It's not just actors, directors, and writers that are out of jobs when the industry contracts or when it consolidates. It's everybody in the region. It's the caterers, the florists, the makeup artists, the people that sell the makeup, the costume designers, the regular clothing vendors, because all of these businesses are the Uber drivers for that matter, all of these businesses are fed by the big mama Hollywood entertainment industry. And so this particular merger is an existential crisis for LA because of the jobs that are associated with it. Yeah, there's the content piece, which is part of what worries me. When you have one far right wing conservative billionaire and his son who are huge donors to the resident of the White House and who are huge supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu, who represents the most conservative, problematic element of the Israeli government, that's raising my eyebrows in terms of content, right? We're getting closer and closer to having total state control of our media. And this, speaking of talking points, it's one talking point that I always push back against. The media, the big mainstream media is not liberal. It's just not. It's owned by rich, conservative billionaires, for the most part. You could say MSNBC, I don't know, you know, yeah, maybe a little bit more liberal. Still owned by NBC. It's not. There's no left-wing media, unless, you know, democracy now. That's not mainstream. There's no real left-wing media in this country. What they call left in this country is center. What they call center is right, and what they call right is far right. And for the most part, the far right controls the media in this country. Rupert Murdoch, Fox, you know, OANN. News Nation, these are all very conservative outlets. CBS, now with a far right-wing owner and a far right-wing conservative over their newsroom, who's not even a news professional, so even the pretense of objectivity is gone. They used to pretend like they were being objective, even though the default was their perspective. which was a middle class, upper middle class, or wealthy white male perspective. That's who was running everything. You can only see the world through your own eyes. It's not a condemnation. It's just a reality. And if you don't acknowledge that, then you are allowing your bias to control the content. But I digress. What I was saying is that this is an existential crisis, content to the side, because it creates a monopoly at, I mean, look, Paramount is already huge. It's already a monopoly. Those folks own TikTok. They own CBS. They own plenty of media. If it merges with Warner Brothers, which it looks like it's going to. I mean, the deal is only being stopped right now by these 12 state attorneys general. And now the Writers Guild and other entertainment players are weighing in and saying this merger is bad. I was surprised they didn't see the writing on the wall sooner, but I'll take it. Now is better than never. Meanwhile, the Attorney General for California, Rob Bonta, who's leading the charge here, which makes sense because this is LA-based stuff, right, was meant to be meeting with folks from Paramount today. and Rob Bonta, our Attorney General, canceled those talks. This is a $ 111 billion deal. Billion. $ 111 billion. That's what we're talking about here. The Attorney General says he canceled the talks because Paramount was not meeting in good faith, that they were leaking stuff to the press, talking about possible problems points of a settlement with the press. And he says that means they were acting in bad faith, that they're leaking to the media and that they misrepresented the conversations. In other words, they're leaking stuff that wasn't even true. And Paramount is saying that's not true, that they didn't They didn't do the leaks. Okay, well, if it wasn't you and it wasn't the AG, who was it? Because nobody else knows what you guys talked about. Let's blame the assistants. But in any case, they may end up back at the table. They may not. It was supposed to be yesterday. And there was no guarantee that anything would come out of it. Of course, it's now entered the mayor's race as well. because the council member, Nithya Raman, says that the courts should decide whether or not the deal is legal. And the mayor, Karen Bass, has been pushing for talks. She says that she wants them to find some kind of resolution right away, as soon as possible. And I think that it's been unfairly reported that the mayor supports the merger. I don't think that is correct. She has not said that she supports the merger. What she has said is that she supports talks, which makes sense if you're the mayor. She says, continued, and this is a quote, the continued uncertainty is not good for workers, not good for productions, not good for the future of this industry. Too many productions in LA are now at a standstill, which means Angelenos are out of a job and they're not getting paid. And you know, that's coming from her being contacted by producers and others, workers that rely on these jobs, right? So, um, she did say that, that, that, A settlement would have to include meaningful, enforceable commitments to keeping these entities in LA and protecting jobs and productions and investments in LA. Not sure what that looks like. But she says specifically that this is about fighting for LA, standing up for union workers, and keeping the companies here to protect the future of the industry. She has not said, oh, I, I side with Larry Ellison and I want this merger to go through. She has not said that. She has said she supports talks and I would imagine that's because she wants this expedited, whatever's going to happen. If it goes to court, um, then a judge will decide or a jury will decide whether or not it's legal to create this monopoly. I don't, that's you know, I can see the upside of that in the fact that maybe if we get a decent judge or a decent jury, they block the merger altogether. That's a gamble though, because you could end up, you know, with a Trump judge, a conservative judge, it could end up dragging on for a long time. It could end up going to the extreme court and they're going to side with Trump and Ellison. And so we could end up dragging this thing out and then ending up with a worst case scenario where So that's a big gamble to take with a lot of people's jobs and an entire industry that supports the prosperity of this region. I can see the arguments for both of those approaches. But what is not cool is people saying something is true that isn't true, which is neither the mayor nor the council member have said they support Paramount's uncontrolled takeover of of Warner Brothers. Neither one of them have said that. And that, my friends, should be pretty telling in and of itself. 809-20-1580. That's the number if you want to get in. Hop on YouTube if you want to talk in the comments section. That's KBLA 1580 on YouTube.com. I'm Dominique DiPrima for Unapologetically Progressive KBLA Talk 1580. Hey, KBLA Talk 1580. I'm Dominique DiPrima. Just went live on my Instagram. We're also streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and you can tap in on our app. We have an app, KBLA 1580, available for free at the App Store, the Google Play Store. Talking about this Paramount-Warner Brothers merger, I do feel like this is an inflection point for Los Angeles and for the entertainment industry wherever it is because we are talking about such a massive consolidation of entertainment and news that it almost becomes state-run media, right? And you're talking about Larry Ellison, who was one of the broligarchs, one of the supporters of this resident of the White House, who has been very unapologetic in his close ties with Netanyahu. They're like besties. So that's not just Israel, that's like the most conservative and toxic element of the Israeli government. On top of that, they already own Paramount. They already own TikTok. They already own Oracle. And so I think we have to, on this Talking Point Tuesday, we've got to really be mindful about what is going on here with the media consolidation. The talking point that mainstream media is liberal is not true. It is, in fact, an untruth, also known as a lie. So I mean, there isn't, like I said, MSNBC, they consider that the left, but that's really the center. What they call the center, what they call the left is really the center. What they call the center is really the right. And what they call the right is very far right. Okay. That's where we are in this country. MS and what they call MS now, that's what it's called, is not radical, but also even if they You know, even if you consider that sort of liberal Democratic Party talking point outlet to be radical, they're not controlling the media landscape. They're owned by NBC. And the dominant forces are Fox and OAN. and News Nation. And these are very, very conservative, not to mention the podcastosphere. I'm not sure what that is. Podcastosphere, all these podcasters, many of the big, big, big names are more on the conservative side or they're undercover conservatives. So that talking point is a lie. The mainstream media is controlled by wealthy people, many of them very conservative. And so When you look at the Warner Brothers-Paramount merger, you've got to look at it through that lens. We're talking about further consolidation under the control of very, very conservative, very, very rich people. Is that what we want for our country? It's a fair question. Quamel says in the YouTube chat, we've got to get serious about antitrust laws and hostile takeovers and price gouging. And that's where we are. It's happening in everything from housing to media, right? And now entertainment. And these are all related to one another. And I just think it is a crucial crossroads. Let's go to Paul calling us from L.A. Good morning, Paul. Good morning, Dominique. How are you doing today? I'm blessed. What's on your mind? I got something to get off my chest. So black people do not hang themselves. And there is a very, very concerning trend that is going on There was a Julian, which was a civil rights group in Mississippi, had a report that at the time, over 70 lynchings were identified in the South that was going on. At this time, that is over 100. We've watched even recently people such as Tisa Fortin, who was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi, Demetrius Fleming. which is in North Carolina, these are things that have happened recently. So I'm telling my people right now, specifically for sure in those southern states, to make sure we're watching out for each other and to be on a buddy system right now, because this is a seriously growing trend that we need to discuss. Well, it's a huge problem, and it's not, it is mostly in the south, but we've had one of those, at least one of those in southern California. The problem is, well, there's a lot of problems, but one of the problems is How do you prove it? Why is there no videotape? I mean, I feel like there's flock cameras everywhere. There's surveillance cameras everywhere. But somehow, these hangings, there's never videotape. There's never witnesses. There's never evidence. How is that even possible, Paul? And every single time the police say no foul play, we've seen a situation with Brother Nolan. This is a growing trend. And in some ways, and to be honest with you, in some ways, I believe that there are some of those people that are allowing it to happen too. So again, my people, make sure we're looking out for each other because this is a growing trend. Yeah. Growing again, right? We'll call it a resurgence, right? Right, resurgence. This is not new for America. That's what Ida B. Wells, that's what she was doing, was covering these lynchings when no one else will, and I'm glad you brought it up. It's so easy for the mainstream to dismiss it right now, though, and it's hard to talk about it because we don't have proof. And we do know that, you know, suicide is up among black men, particularly young black people. But I still don't believe we hang ourselves. I just don't. Black people do not hang themselves. And then again, and then again. There was a recent, one of the people that I brought up to attention, she was so high up that when the fire people got her down, it just doesn't make sense that she did that. Right, how could she even get up there? Yeah, it's terrible, Paul. um thank you for for bringing our attention to it reminding us to talk about it thank you for calling we've got news traffic and sports and then we're talking uh power outages when we come forward next