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Unlock the shocking true story behind Oakland’s infamous gay gangsters 🌈🔥 in this exclusive Sway In The Morning interview! Dive deep into the gripping journey of Dwayne Curry, whose life inspired the groundbreaking BET Plus movie "Fighting to Be Me." From battling identity struggles to leading a life of high-stakes crimes—credit card fraud, scams, and more—Dwayne’s transformation as a transgender woman sheds light on acceptance, resilience, and the search for love and belonging. Hear AJ Akua Johnson share powerful insights about playing Cynthia Curry, Dwayne’s mother, and how this story challenges societal norms. Plus, raw, unfiltered discussions on identity, family dynamics, and why this movie is a MUST-WATCH for the culture. Don’t miss out—subscribe now for more exclusive interviews and thought-provoking content from Sway’s Universe!
#movingtoghana #thairivera #thairiveracomedian
#truecrime #lgbtq+crimeculture #crimetalk #documentary #dwaynecurry
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Introducing The Movie "Fighting To Be Me"
00:48 - AJ Johnson Joins The Show
02:28 - AJ Johnson's Trip To Ghana
08:16 - AJ Johnson's Decision Making Process
10:22 - Tracy G
12:40 - Fighting to Be Me
16:40 - The GGs
19:40 - Discussing Children's Sexual Identity
23:51 - Fathers and Children's Sexual Identity
26:17 - Duin’s Story: Credit Card Fraud Ring
28:10 - Caller from Connecticut
31:37 - Caller from Kansas City
37:50 - Rap Discussion
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
yo listen this is a movie that you can find on BET Plus that you just heard the trailer for Fighting to Be Me and uh
0:07
this is a story about a person who um really came to fame in my hometown of
0:13
Oakland California town business in the early 90s and this was a man who uh or a
0:18
woman who uh dealt with um coming up in a community um dealing
0:25
with uh identity issues and coming into her own and coming out as being gay at
0:32
the same time entering a underworld of scams frauds drugs credit card scams
0:40
jail so on and so forth based on a true story about the person named Dwin Curry
0:47
right and my sister called me and said "Hey you going to be in LA i want to
0:52
come by the show to talk about this movie because I play Cynthia Curry right the mother of Dwayne Curry." And this is
0:59
based on a true story but listen I just got a list i told Khani put together a
1:05
list of accolades of this person and I I want to just read them off real quick we
1:11
have to okay acted alongside Will Smith Jamie Fox Julia Roberts Alfred Woodard
1:17
uh Sylvester Stallone Whoopi Goldberg starred in House Party starred in a baby
1:23
boy earned a psychology and chemistry degree from Spellelman College graduated
1:28
with honors multiple certifications in wellness and lifestyle coaching
1:35
recognized as one of the most world worldrenowned lifestyle cultures and wellness advocates featured in Essence
1:40
magazine and Women's Health magazine for her work in health wellness and philanthropy founder of the AJ Zone Inc
1:47
promoting health and wellness became a citizen of the Republic of Ghana expanded her global mission founded the
1:53
bridge to be the bridge to better partnering with the US embassy and the office of the diaspora affairs in Ghana
1:59
to improve education health entertainment tourism and economic development executive producer and host
2:06
of VH1's couples retreat season 3 coach and reality TV couples executive
2:11
producer and host of life therapy on TV1 we saw in school
2:17
days we saw in house party don't you love after all of that he goes back to we saw in school two days we saw in baby
2:24
boy she's the woman that first told me "Suay you haven't been to Ghana." Some
2:30
of us have to go and what it does for your life it does for your life what did it do for your life oh my goodness i
2:38
mean first of all it taught me who I am as an African who's living in this
2:45
country it taught me um the true meaning of our names had we been born and raised
2:51
in Africa that we don't have as Americans which is why I use Aquia um in West Africa it means I was born on a
2:57
Wednesday and that's valuable because when you meet other Africans and you say your African name they say "Oh I'm born
3:03
on Wednesday." Or "I am too." And even males males born on Wednesday you connect with differently and so you know
3:09
we hear at least I I heard a lot about "Oh your name tells the navigation of where you're from in Africa." But to
3:16
experience that to meet people who say "Oh you're from this region oh you're from West Africa." It just blew my mind
3:23
and then you know I studied dance all my life tap jazz ballet you know I grew up
3:28
dancing and I could not stand taking um Ottawa class that was the form of
3:33
African dance don't know why started dancing when I was four when I stepped off the plane in 2019 the dancers at the
3:41
airport were dancing the same form wow and when I tell you it just it it it
3:46
showed me I was home and that my whole life had geared me to going to Africa wow i love this uh Aqua aqua aquia so
3:55
help me understand what I was feeling because I try to explain it right and salute to Chance the rapper and his
4:02
family they're the people who invited me they took care of my trip aqua well you
4:08
know what i'm not going to do that so Oh wow see I'm here for this way so I love
4:14
that your brother Chance hooked you up to throw that in because you know I mean
4:19
not that I don't want to chance was in a different position to do that and and and again listen I'm doing my part i'm
4:25
I'm creating retreats i'm inviting people over but I really do want to find
4:32
that 20 people over at one of the things um someone I was explaining to my daughter she said "How
4:39
did you feel?" And I told her when I say this I you know don't take it the wrong way but
4:47
I felt more than black right i didn't feel like that construct
4:54
which is a limiting construct in my opinion i didn't wear that shackle anymore when I landed right and what
5:02
what is that feeling because because you're not black there you don't have to
5:08
prove who you are there you don't have to try to stand out or try to matter or
5:14
try to You don't have to try cuz you just are we're royalty when
5:20
you're there you just are i was I was seeing sisters you know beautiful
5:25
fabrics beautiful jewelry capes draping the ground and I would say "Excuse me
5:30
excuse me where are you going?" And they would look at me and say "Anywhere sister anywhere." And I was like "That's
5:37
who we are that's who we are." And so you know I just decided to start wearing
5:43
internally and externally right inside outside who we are and I think that's what you went through started to learn
5:48
who we are we're not we're not taught that here in school in conversation we're not taught all that you have to go
5:55
over and experience it you got to go over and experience it in the time I was there that was the most transformative
6:01
trip that I ever taken and all I could do is think of you because we didn't get
6:06
to connect when I when I was there we didn't we didn't connect it was we were both so busy um but I check I was
6:13
checking on you i was I was talking to my sources and my resources saying "Where's he at where's he at what's he
6:18
doing has he been to the slave dungeons what's happening call me when he's there make sure he's cool so I wasn't We
6:25
weren't connected physically but for sure for sure on the soil spirit to spirit and I every time I see you I'mma
6:31
thank you because if it were not for you um I might not cuz Chance even with Chance I didn't just immediately say yes
6:38
because it was uh it was the week of that he asked would I go and I said I can't I can't remember i can't remember
6:44
we just got back from uh holiday break and I was I can't just go and do I came
6:50
up with every excuse in the book until one day I said Yeah yes why not thank
6:57
you you know and his family wanted to honor me by doing that too and you know Taylor Bennett his pops his moms they're
7:03
beautiful people and once you go what I love at least my experience is we think
7:09
it's so far it's so different but it's a a 9 to 10 hour flight non-stop from New
7:15
York a six-hour flight from London so if you're really really interested in expanding your life which I was
7:22
expanding your your horizons your knowledge of who we are as a people which I was it's not that far so when I
7:28
say I'm back and forth I People say "AJ you go to Ghana like you going to Target." Not anymore of course but that
7:34
we don't like we go to Target like we go to Costco hook me up Tracy right we got an update i'm going I'm going to go to
7:41
Right costco like I'm going to Costco and it's true like I come home do laundry i come home to us to do laundry
7:46
and I go back home to the soil wow beautiful beautiful man aj Aia Johnson
7:53
aua aua ku aqua aqua aqua aqua that's all right people got to practice i know
7:58
i just say it like that so you can say it the correct way more that's all aua and in Ghana they say eua the a is like
8:05
a e they don't even call me aj equia yeah they call me euia equia come on they
8:11
call me na na aua that's queen uhhuh so I I would feel like that would be a huge step because like for me coming from
8:19
Jersey to here was a huge step right it was like Jersey to
8:26
LA it was a It was a big move like it was a move i had to find a place i had
8:31
to do this i have to get accustomed time change all the things right but how do you You're in a different country how
8:37
did you find where to live was that all a feeling we were talking about decision making earlier today and our process and
8:44
I was sharing with Sway and the team i base my decision- making on feeling like I have it has to feel good even if I
8:51
don't understand the how I say God is my how it will get done but it at least it
8:56
feel I feel like I'm supposed to be at a place or do a certain thing how did you feel or find your way where you should
9:02
settle there the same thing you just said like I don't even know if I'm literally settled there in the space
9:09
where I am because I'm still exploring it's still so new and you know Ghana
9:15
alone as a country is massive so there's parts of Ghana the the northern region
9:21
that's probably eight hours uh an 8 hour drive from from central Ghana which is Acra i've never even been before but
9:27
that's where the elephants are and that's where a whole different level of nature is so I hope to go this year okay most of my time has been working in
9:34
Ghana and and and going back and forth with my retreats so I have in across so I haven't necessarily been out yet but
9:40
even going to synagogue going to Kottovara other countries the countries are so massive that I'm just like you
9:46
know once my plane lands I'm going where God tells me to go amen and so I get the
9:51
devotion all the time go where I send you and so I've started to trust that and so I don't know if where I am is
9:58
going to be where I settle i'm not living that life anymore i'm just I'm more living I got I got 50 more
10:04
countries to visit and so to me it's like my settle is getting to these
10:09
countries not not anchoring it yeah right right right yeah global citizen style come on now i like that we got AJ
10:18
Aquia there it is johnson is up in here all right all right we're going to talk about the money of the movie Fighting to
10:24
Be Me in a moment but we got to you know keep building tracy G I know you you want to jump in from New York City yeah
10:30
I absolutely do and I have two things because I want to stay in Ghana i'm wondering AJ have you experienced any of
10:38
your fairs skinned friends so to say going to Ghana or would you recommend to
10:45
um a white person that they go as well would that pitch be different than how you communicate with us
10:53
i mean to be quite honest I'm not interested i'm not interested in that pitch um you know I'm not interested in
11:01
their experience there um I've met some people primarily from Europe you know
11:06
when they're there and I and I speak with them you know and interestingly enough I see them at the slave dungeons
11:12
and that's where I mostly have the conversations and say "So how do you feel here you know is there anything new you're learning and a lot of times
11:20
they're in tears a lot of times they're very quiet because again not only for us
11:25
but for them as well it's a history lesson none of us are taught that you only learn when you are there you know
11:32
and really learn the history of when slavery started and you know the the the transatlantic slave trade and and and
11:39
who was involved and why and and the hows it's just a history lesson none of us have been taught and so for you know
11:45
to come through schooling and think you know and then to show up and you know nothing compared to what you're learning
11:52
real time there touching the walls touching the bars i just feel like the you know our light-skinned friends as
11:58
you said they've got to be interested enough to go just like we have to be interested enough to go and whatever
12:05
pulls them there is their education and experience and I just love not having to
12:11
be black as you said right i just love going Tracy and not having to worry about you know when a cop pulls me over
12:17
what's going to happen right you know I I like I like you know being served by
12:23
us um at restaurants i love going to the gym and it's nothing but us working on ourselves i just I just love the African
12:31
of it and not having to think about I'm black versus not it just it's a vibe for
12:37
me 8887423345 if you're vibing it too tracy go ahead yeah so fighting to be me and
12:44
AJ thank you so much for the wealth of knowledge that you're giving us and your ability to bounce around so many
12:49
different topics with so much dexterity and generosity and just knowledge um in
12:55
fighting to be me with it centered on a transgender woman and it just has me
13:01
thinking about transitions and identity and this is not solely a dialogue you
13:07
know amongst those in the LGBTQI plus community right we are all transitioning
13:13
evolving you know making um decisions currently that service us you know to
13:20
who we are that may have been different to who we once were and may be different to who we're going to become for you
13:26
right now AJ do you feel like you're still collecting pieces of yourself or
13:31
do you feel like you've reached wholeness whoa what a nice question my god
13:39
come on give it give it give give it give it up for that one there give that applause jesus my God i mean I got to go
13:45
back a little bit because what you said is so powerful in the fact that we're all in transformation and that's one of
13:52
the reasons why I was attracted to this this project i mean Dwyn herself was like AJ there's nobody else to play my
13:59
mom you have to do it you have to do it you have to do it and so that was a big part of me saying yes but the other part
14:05
is what you just said i'm constantly in transformation um I'm constantly using
14:10
the hashtag on IG a woman with global options because I love that my life is
14:16
global i love that I seek it to be global from the people the friends the languages I speak the food I eat the
14:23
music I listen to we put ourselves in a box that we don't have to live in and so
14:29
when I realized that I could step outside that box whenever I wanted to and prioritize and people said "Well
14:34
you're back and forth you know who's paying for that?" I said "First of all no it's not no man in Africa paying for me to go back and forth sometimes but
14:40
not always." Okay um that's that's another question right
14:47
that's another question um but really you know when I started to prioritize my globaless I started to you know put my
14:55
red bottoms in consignment my Hermes bags on consignment you know I started to downsize the material side of my life
15:01
to afford the flights because I started saying which is really more important and I was telling Colani this really hit
15:07
me in pandemic because I wasn't wearing my red bottoms i wasn't going anywhere to carry my my air but but I could get
15:13
on a flight and leave the country and changed my life and that's when this really started for me it really start I
15:18
really started to see I am living in a box by thinking that the boundaries of my life start and stop in America and so
15:26
you're right with with fighting to be me I just felt like this was an extension of me supporting those people who decide
15:34
transformation is something within their soul and again like you're saying it could be within us it can be gender it
15:41
can be trans community you know and that's why for me it's part of our culture yeah so because I've learned and
15:48
it's interesting I really got this confirmed doing Baby Boy that my work on screen is for sure a testament to the
15:55
culture i can't do a project and not have a message for the culture whether I want it to be or not that's just a
16:01
divine assignment and so I said you know what it's really time for us to to spend more time and advocate and really really
16:08
understand that love has no gender amen and so how do we live that come on bam
16:13
we got AJ Aquat Johnson here oh you got it down oh man i'm meling it down you're saying you're saying it with with you're
16:20
saying it with the with the the energy is supposed to be said right that's what you Well it just takes me a second i'm a quick learner you know what um you say
16:27
it different than AJ Johnson you know that's the point that's why I use it you put that Earl Jones on it you know put
16:34
that thing on it i love it and I love it too
16:39
much yo so listen i I'm from I'm so Oakland you could look up Oakland in the
16:46
dictionary and my face will pop up right besides born in a Oakland hospital went
16:51
to Oakland Elementary Junior High High School went to Oakland Junior College right yeah yeah and I never heard of the
16:59
GG's really i didn't but I wasn't in that world right you weren't in that world
17:04
right i was I was We were breaking at Pier 39 rapping MCing doing all those
17:10
things right for those and maybe people in the Bay Area will know i want to see if folks tuned in know about the uh GG's
17:16
the Gay Gangsters uh that was a organization that was founded by uh Mrs
17:22
curry right dwin Curry right tell us the story of Dwin Curry in the GG's
17:29
well you know the reason why I'm surprised you are born and raised in Oakland and don't know about the GG's
17:35
not that it's in your world yeah but they were so they were so everywhere and run in Oakland and and eventually back
17:42
and forth between LA and Oakland and so the way that I even know about them is because Dwyn actually started styling me
17:50
when I first got to LA because he was styling the everybody's right mh and I started to see where you know how we
17:57
talk about the God feeling something wasn't feeling quite right like styling's great and I get it but you
18:02
driving drop top Bentleys and we're talking this is early 90s right you've
18:07
got diamonds and Chanel and Gucci everyday sweatuits i mean and I was like
18:13
I I know you got a hair salon and in your styling but you know um yeah DB DB
18:19
um uh one of the actors that plays my brother and and her uncle in it says in
18:24
one of the scenes "I know you're doing good but you ain't doing that good in the salon there's something else going on." Um that's how I heard about them
18:32
and Dwyn at the helm um basically said "I love you know what money's doing in
18:38
my life i love to be able to take care of my family i love to be able to take care of my friends and so he pulled in a
18:44
lot of his gay friends at the time this is before she was trans she pulled in a
18:49
lot of the the gay family that she found in Oakland because she actually came to
18:55
Oakland from Detroit to um to really get into rehab and uh with her uncle with
19:01
her uncle right at the at the at the um the begging of her mom Cynthia who I play but also um you know she just came
19:08
to Oakland to straighten up and the straighten up was no more drugs but it got into the credit card fraud and
19:14
that's where the gay gangsters came in wow they were running it they were running it running it and you know back
19:20
in that day it was the All-Star game it was the the Grammy Awards it was the Vibe Awards it was And you had to be
19:26
there you had to be there and so a lot of us had to be there and didn't have Airplane Fair a hotel well the gay
19:31
gangsters was hooking folks up i'm If you're in the Bay you're from Oakland you know about the gay gang i'm surprised Lord Rabin the GG's
19:39
8887423345 there was a scene in this movie and also I want to appeal to parents who um at some point in your
19:46
child's life had to discuss you know their identity their sexual identity and
19:51
and if you're a parent that who lived with a child that I identified as gay or
19:58
otherwise and I want to know what that conversation was like because as a parent you know you never know i
20:04
anticipated maybe one day my daughter might say you know I don't know what direction she may fall what she may have
20:10
um been going into i didn't I couldn't read anything you know uh she's heterosexual but I growing up in this
20:17
day and age I anticipated that conversation possibly and how I would respond i knew I would respond with love
20:24
you know you had to play the mother of Dwayne Curry what kind Did you do research have you had to deal with this
20:30
you know me you know me did I do research i did so much research i spoke with um um gay and trans men and women i
20:38
spoke with families i spoke with mothers for sure outside of even Cynthia mothers of of gay and trans children and not
20:46
only is it interesting to hear the family dynamic when that's discovered in the family but even in the '9s and I
20:53
think the difference is in the early 90s there were no resources like there are now there were no support groups it
20:58
wasn't as as vivid as a of a lifestyle and as accepted as a lifestyle as it is
21:04
now so you've got mothers who don't know what to do and don't know where to go and it's interesting because a lot of
21:10
the mothers separately said the same thing a lot of times they they were led by fear fear of safety for their
21:17
children um you know I at that time a lot of gay and transgender were being
21:23
killed in the street um I talked to some women in Chicago um some mothers you
21:28
know that lost children being set a fire you know in the street and so in the 90s
21:34
it was very different and so there was a lot of fear there was a lot of anger um a lot of guilt a lot of the mothers told
21:40
me that they felt like a lot of guilt what did I do wrong that you know that this is going this direction um and then
21:46
even in terms of speaking with the gay and trans community including Dwin I found a lot of people talk about I
21:54
really just wanted to be accepted and loved and that's where that's what I was after in Dwin's story these gay
21:59
gangsters they became his family in Oakland and so the love turned them into this posi um there's a line in the movie
22:07
where Dwyn says you know the love and and and adoration we shared became more important than the fact that we realized
22:12
we were stealing and so you know they they knew they were criminals but it didn't matter at that point until of
22:18
course things started to go left with the feds but they were just after love and acceptance and aren't we all to a
22:25
certain degree especially with family and close friends right and so if we if those of us who have it and I'm one of
22:31
the ones blessed to have had it from my family i don't know that life of growing up in a family where you're constantly
22:37
fighting to be accepted or fighting to be heard or um to just you know even if
22:42
not being understood accepted and so even playing Cynthia playing that dynamic of anger and frustration and
22:49
hurt and love but still angry but still fearful it was like there was so many different colors to her emotion once I
22:56
finished my research that I just said you know every scene I've got to figure out what what is this about what
23:03
emotional level is this about um clearly she's a colorful woman still is yeah um
23:08
playing somebody in a biopic it's not easy cuz I know for me I wanted to honor her um not really imitate her but at the
23:16
same time you know bring her to life but but make sure that the friends and family we're talking about that are
23:21
watching this now understand and learn from it did they receive it well the family oh everybody family friends
23:28
everybody like "You killed it you ate you ate you killed it." And even people that don't know Cynthia or Dwin are
23:33
saying you know this story is definitely one for the culture because you know it's it's really bringing a lot to to to
23:40
the surface i've had gay men say "I've never seen a a heterosexual man in my
23:45
family or otherwise support a gay man or trans a trans person like depicted in
23:51
this movie." Yeah see that that was going to be my question to you doing your research I was wondering if you
23:57
were able to hear from fathers of of children that identify especially their
24:04
male children because they seem to respond differently um that that's been my experience like the mothers find a
24:12
way if you will and this is just like to accept whereas fathers sometimes seem to
24:17
run away from it or not reject it almost you know well what I did find I'm glad
24:23
you asked that interestingly I found more single parent homes in the gay and trans community than I found co-ar co
24:31
co-parenting in the same household um even if the parents were together the father traveled a lot okay wasn't around
24:38
much um wasn't really the disciplinarian and so the mothers were extra strong um
24:44
were extra present um if there's such a thing as as as as black mothers right um
24:50
that's what I found and found that that was interesting so now you've got women who are trying to be father and mother
24:57
um and then of course in this case and in Cynthia's case she's also got other children in the house so at one point
25:03
she tells Dwin you know you got to go with all this craziness because I'm trying to keep the other kids right and when I say right not sexually just in
25:10
terms of away from the drugs away from the the life of crime yeah so you know there's also a little bit of apple
25:17
doesn't fall far from the tree so she she could sense it and knew what was going on because she had her own share
25:22
of that life in terms of the drugs and the alcohol and and dating yeah yeah you know dating a lot of drug dealers and
25:29
you know so so she recognized it because it takes one to no one yeah i want to
25:34
open up the phone lines and you know these phone lines stay lit all day so don't don't don't shy away don't shy
25:40
away now if if you're a parent and you you know you you had you raised a child that um identifies as gay or trans how
25:49
did you go about it how did you receive the information when it when it was brought to light what information can
25:55
and insight can you shed to us i'mma open up the phone of the parents
26:01
8887423345 we're talking about fighting to be me on BET Plus yes we are talking
26:07
with AJ Aquia aya Johnson we're talking about the movie Fighting to Be Me it's
26:12
on BET Plus if you don't have it you should and the story of Dwin Curry um
26:18
who tell me I like when you explain Dwin's story yeah you know Dwyn um was
26:25
fighting a life in Detroit of drug addiction and that started leading into
26:30
to a life of theft and his mother Cynthia Carrey who I play in the movie sent him away to Oakland to live with
26:36
his uncle who was a um um at the time a a counselor for drug
26:43
addiction and so um Dwyn went into rehab in Oakland and not only got clean but
26:49
started a life of of of not only gay but trans and it became a life of crime and
26:55
so um the fact that he he at the time was able to to just transcend the drugs
27:02
but get into the money game and even though it was illegal created
27:07
an amazing life for his friends his family between Oakland and and LA and now as a trans is advocating um for the
27:15
trans community in terms of you know you don't have to go to a life of drugs and crime to find love and to be loved and
27:21
to find success in your life and so you know I'm looking at some of these callers and and and one of them saying
27:26
you know you go through tough times Dwyn is still trying to manage life a as a as
27:32
a transgender and so even you know spending time with her and other transgender this is the first time I've actually dug so deep myself and you know
27:41
our our world is not embracing of of of difference yeah and why why like why are
27:48
we so judgmental why are we so aggravated and frustrated by anything different and so that's a question I
27:55
think we have to also ask ourselves right and then we also have to ask ourselves how different is it this has
28:00
been people have identified as trans since the beginning of time like you could trace this back in the history
28:07
books that part right so that part it's just okay so it's a matter of accepting we got Andrew on the line from
28:13
Connecticut welcome to the show Andrew what up Andrew hey Andrew hey what up Clay what up guys what up Andrew how you
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doing what are you What's up man i'm living the dream man you know you know just living the dream every day man just
28:26
turned 40 last week come on you made it man i'm a 40 she made that time right beautiful
28:33
number so what are your thoughts all right so my thoughts so I don't got
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any kids right but I have I grew up around the well back when it was just
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the LGBT um era now there's a couple more letters to it and stuff right but my mother is a
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lesbian who now has a boyfriend that was her girlfriend like
28:58
four years ago okay so I've been around this trans community my entire life i've seen some I've seen some tough some
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tough dudes all of a sudden change to a woman and I just what she said what uh
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what the lady just said was just beautifully said just think about being
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born thinking that you're really born in the wrong body like try to put yourself in their shoes because I've been around
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it and I see the struggle and it's like it's just wild to me that in America
29:30
this the greatest country in the world the most accepting the melting pot that
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people are so judgmental and they won't just try to you know walk in somebody else's shoes for a mile you know and it
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just it kind of just upsets me you know and it's just I wish people would be more respectful that's all yeah uh you
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you you i would I would love to get your thoughts on this movie Fighting to Be Me i think you should search for it and
29:56
give it a shot man i think it it speaks the language you're speaking
30:02
well I'm going to absolutely look into it because I heard you talking about it and it's something I'm going to call my mother about as soon as I get off the
30:08
phone and uh you know maybe watch it with my little niece and just you know because it's it's all about education
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you know you got to teach people that you got to teach people that we're all just people just trying to get by yeah
30:21
you know yeah and Andrew just be happy i gota I gotta tell you what you just said is beautiful and and a big reason why I
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did this movie is because you know I understand when I step on screen that I have a responsibility right um and a
30:36
responsibility to the culture and so what I want to do is exactly what you said we have to start talking about it we have to start educating each other
30:43
about it and it doesn't have to be something that you you pull into your life but it also doesn't have to be
30:50
something that you judge and that you you turn away from and so that's the biggest thing it's like you know I'm
30:56
sure I've got differences that that somebody may not agree with but why does it have to be gender that that we're all
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intimidated by and I think as a as a society especially as a community as a culture the more we learn the less we'll
31:09
be afraid of it and that's my biggest thing the more you learn the more you speak with transgender the more you
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you're around transgender and gay as well the more you'll learn there's a soul in there that that's beautiful and
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and that you may connect with it has nothing to do with who they sleep with or are attracted to or how they present
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but what's the soul what's happening in the soul on the inside and if most of if more of us dealt with that I think
31:32
there'd be less judgment absolutely andrew thank you for your call you're a citizen Andrew good morning love to your
31:38
family we got Rick in Kansas City on the line rick tell us your story rick
31:44
what up what up what up Sway how y'all doing how you doing first time caller first time let me give you that first
31:49
time call hey you got it Rick welcome to the
31:54
cipher Rick tell us your story go ahead i appreciate I appreciate you Swag thank
31:59
you he be I love y'all hey listen listen man uh this was a this was a touchy
32:05
subject uh this is something that I kind of had even know many friends and stuff
32:10
like that wait Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick I want you to turn your radio down and I want you to uh stay in
32:17
one spot and speak your connection is a little janky all right now Khani Kehani kind of
32:24
mentioned that my bad okay okay stay in one spot that sounds great go
32:30
well this is like a touchy subject this is something that I didn't really Most
32:35
my friends don't even know this kind of stuff wait hold up rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick Rick one more thing are you on speaker phone Rick
32:43
no you was on What was that what was that Rick cuz
32:48
Bluetooth I want to hear you Rick that's why I'm I'm making sure we doing the We pulling back the curtain talk to me Rick
32:55
sway there you go there you go okay go for it there we go all right i'm sorry all right it was I mean this was a
33:01
touchy subject like I was saying before this was something that I I haven't told my friends or anything like that it
33:06
wasn't nothing that I was hiding either but um I've been raising my son since he was 3 years old he is 16 years old now
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uh he identifies as gay um and it was it
33:18
was it was kind of it wasn't hard to me at first but it was just a process it
33:24
was uh because you know you like I was telling Lonnie you go from putting them in sports and you know just thinking you
33:31
have a regular kid and not saying that a person that identifies as gay is not a regular kid but it just was it was kind
33:40
of I don't know it was kind it was a process and when he finally came out to him I just told him now you can be who
33:46
you are amen you don't have to hide who you are you can be exactly who you are so I I feel like sometimes I feel like
33:54
sometimes when you're you're putting that burden on them they can't be who they are they can't blossom you know
34:02
what I mean and for a person that's going through this I I mean I just say
34:07
love your kid don't stop loving your kid don't turn your back on your kid because
34:13
that's what they are i I just Rick I got a quick question while you're talking about that was it always that for you or
34:20
did you have to grow and flow in the space of you know reminding yourself
34:26
you're giving your son the freedom to be his full self have you always felt that or did you I've always been like that
34:32
okay okay how about AJ i've always been like that because uh I mean that's my son i love him i love him to death right
34:38
and I would I I mean I loved him since he came out so uh why would I change on
34:44
him just because he identifies as that right now one last question you said that you didn't discuss this or you
34:50
haven't discussed this with your friends no I haven't why well I'm not ashamed
34:56
it's not like nothing I'm ashamed of i've talked to one friend about it but uh I I mean it's just something that
35:02
just never came up it's just something that like I just you know I don't know it's just something that it just never
35:08
came up i mean it's not like I'm scared to talk to him about it because I'm not ashamed of it right cuz one thing about
35:13
it if they going to be who they are regardless right well I I asked that because again if if our culture and
35:20
community is striving to be more accepting then we have to educate right so if it's not ma'am if it's not a big
35:27
deal then your friends if they love you they'll accept you and your and your your son's situation and your son will
35:34
become even more comfortable around the people that you deem special because you're calling them friends so that's
35:40
the thing the sense of community you know in this movie you you know I don't know if you've seen it but I hope you do
35:45
tune in uh BET plus I will yeah fight me please yeah please i I I think you'll I
35:51
think you'll enjoy it number one but I also think there's some lessons in it but you know Dwyn actually turned to
35:56
crime and in this space because he did he at the time of course now trans but
36:02
he didn't have the support as a gay man until he moved in with his uncle in Oakland and by that time he was you know
36:08
early 20s I believe so that's what I'm asking in terms of saying you know you may not know how much the support really
36:15
matters but it really does and I think Rick you may be surprised about some of your friends who may be going through
36:21
the same thing and have not been able to find a friend to talk about it that's true you know and then the third leg of
36:28
that is your friends probably already know well that too and they're staying quiet cuz you're quiet you're right
36:34
right i mean I You're right i mean like I said I my friend we have a tight We
36:39
have a tight relationship i It's just something that just never came up it's not like like I swear I'm not ashamed or
36:44
I'm not scared to tell them it's just something that just never has came up and like Sway said they probably already
36:50
know man and I'm glad you rock with us and tune in to our show yep all right i appreciate you man thank you for sharing
36:56
one more thing one more thing one more thing i know you One more thing yes kansas City got something to say on this
37:03
beats and bars okay we coming to Kansas City bro we do we do a we do a
37:09
competition show called Beats and Bars and we got a $250,000 cash prize 125 for the
37:15
rapper right come on i know you got I'm sleeping got something to say okay we'll
37:22
be there hating on the cheese all the time man
37:29
come on man hey just Hey just the cheese hey look hey look i know you I know you did all that with Tech 9 and all that
37:35
and I respect that i love it you know what I mean no I got Kansas City got something to say and I got KC roots yeah
37:41
I know what Outcast said you said it 10 times to say something that Kansas City got to say not ATL all right Rick you a
37:48
citizen man way in the morning god bless hold up lord Rab he must have heard me say his name from um from No Vultures
37:54
Podcast straight out of Oakland oakland rab welcome to the show
38:00
hey man the bat signal was in the air i heard I heard no vultures it popped up out my sleeve
38:06
what up with it Rap number one podcast in Northern California great rap you got
38:12
to get AJ on your show too yeah man definitely and I I wanted to say this i
38:17
had got a call last week from my man Will he's from out here but he in Atlanta now and he was talking all about
38:23
this show and this I mean this movie and he talked about the win and he said "Man the whole cast need to go on sway." and
38:30
and I wake up and this morning it's already happening so this is a beautiful thing yeah we we're all over the place i
38:35
think Dwin's in New York today i'm here i was in New York last week and we just we bouncing all over the place that's what's up Brad well you familiar with
38:42
the GG's back in the 90s well it not these this particular group
38:48
but it was a group of boosters that I used to buy my clothes from that I was familiar with that's them and like you
38:55
said not not maybe the same people but the same group same group okay same group and what's so crazy is you know we
39:02
we were never like open to that until it was something for us in the community
39:08
right and so when we was getting something out of it when we was getting something out of it we accepted it but when that wasn't happening and people
39:14
were you know downtalking them and talking bad to them I mean times have changed now you got people like Lil Nas
39:20
X and you know people who dress kind of feminine we don't know if they're necessarily from that community but they
39:26
you know they they um they blur the lines yes but back in the day it was so it was so hardcore everybody was and I
39:33
think the the people that went the hardest on those people probably you know has some secrets right right right
39:41
yeah you know something you just said is is deep and we can talk about it even further when when I come to hang out
39:46
with you but you know if you think about it when when we don't understand
39:51
something it makes us uncomfortable
39:57
i understand but it
40:04
als that's your okay i mean I I it makes me want to dig deeper into what what is
40:09
that what's happening um I don't judge it i just get curious about it it's not my thing but I'm just curious about it
40:16
to learn who you are more right it's not that I have to go negative it's not like you can't still love a person right
40:22
right and that's and that's what we we we lack sometimes is compassion and love
40:27
you know like you said Rab would never carry a purse bigger than yours
40:34
i his never you know but but you can still love exactly exactly rap man I
40:41
appreciate you man no vultures podcast aj Johnson i'll make that connection when you going up to the when you going
40:47
to the bay i'm already claiming I'll see you soon okay one more thing yes i want to say one more thing aj I can't Every
40:54
time you take a picture I wonder how does this lady keep her body like that and her arms look angela Bastard arms
41:00
ain't got nothing on yours okay well listen Angela and I share share our arm formulas so so we we in this thing
41:07
together right it's not either or it's together okay um it's lifestyle bro it's lifestyle and I'm going to say this i
41:14
can tell you that the food in this country is poison yes and so living so much in Africa a lot of my situation and
41:22
my better health is from Africa the food you say the food in this country is poison okay yeah i mean it's
41:29
just And what I mean by that is it's just too many chemicals too many man-made items the way that we prepare
41:35
our food heat our food i mean a lot of people I don't know if you experienced it but people in Africa always say "Why is it taking so long?" I say "Well
41:41
because the food is fresh they're not microwaving it they're not putting you know um additives in it and I personally
41:48
I can be in Africa for 5 days when I say Africa I mean any country i can be in any country and notice the difference in
41:54
my skin my hair my my body muscle tightness i can feel and see the
41:59
difference in just 5 days and when I come back I can feel and see the difference so it's the food it's the
42:05
food it's the food there you There you go Rap hey man love you R tell the family i said peace and love all right
42:11
give it up for Lord Rab no voters come on man give it up for no voters aj Aquia Johnson i love the way you say
42:19
it i love the way you say it yo thank you listen thank you you know I um
42:25
that's what family does right you call and say "Let's let's have a conversation." And uh I just love you
42:31
for saying yes and like I said I just I want I want our culture and community to
42:36
learn and move and grow and so that's what you fighting to be me is about there you go i love you too and um I
42:43
will always say yes all right okay
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