Summary
Welcome to the Karat Juice Podcast. This is the pilot episode of The Karat Juice Podcast where you can expect to get Commentary & Perspective on Popular Culture, Dating, True Crime & Productivity. On todays show, I introduce myself, dive into consumerism in America, and discuss The Association. So sit back, relax, grab a beverage and some popcorn, and indulge.
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Podcast Transcript
Host: Thank you for listening to the Karat Juice podcast and i want to let you know about one of our sponsors Anchor. if you haven’t heard about anchor, let me tell you a little bit about it. First of all it’s free you know I’m always about a deal so that’s a big right there. There are also creation tools in the app and in the software that allow you to record and edit your podcast right from your phone or computer. Anchor will also distribute the podcast for you so it can be heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many more platforms. You can make money from your podcast with no minimum listenership. It’s literally everything you need to make a podcast in one place download the free Anchor app or go to anchor.fm to get started!
Yes! Welcome.. welcome.. welcome… so welcome everybody to the show. I’m your host, Montay, this is the Karat Juice podcast the inaugural episode. It’s been a long time coming a little bit of background about me. I’m born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For the longest time. I’ve been influenced I’ve had the ability to grow up around great friends and family who’ve always engaged in conversations about a variety of things which I’ve really credited to shaping my world view.
So what is Karat Juice? What can you expect in this podcast? The first thing you can expect ..you can expect me to give you some rants, give you some insight, give you some my thoughts on a variety of different topics. I didn’t want to pigeonhole this show into being about one particular thing because I think about a plethora of things. So in this particular episode, I got some topics that I’m gonna cover that I find interesting and I hope that you guys enjoy what I have to say.
Later on I’m going to also give you some ways to reach out to me with any feedback you might have any topics you want me to cover and that’s all welcome.
Why am I doing this podcast? The reason why is for the longest time I’ve always had a love of audio in general. Like when I listened to my first audiobook when I was in college 21 years old 20-21 years old. I was working for a landscaping company and at this landscaping company we would work outside.. manual labor.. pretty hot, summer days. And while working.. I love that type of work by the way. I loved going somewhere… seeing dirt and seeing gravel and seeing rocks and then coming up with a plan on how we would you know do the landscape. And then by the end of the day at the end of the day’s work you see this entirely different.. you know.. product. It’s something beautiful. I’ve always said there is something rewarding about seeing your work. But I digress but while doing that work I remember listening to audio books and then one of my favorite audio books up to this day
was Stephen King’s “It”. I remember listening to “It”. It was about 52 hours long and while listening to that audiobook it was one of the first times that while the story was playing at that same time I could be doing something strenuous be working really hard sweating but I was in another place. I was literally in another place while doing that because I got so enthralled in that story and from then. I’ve been addicted… been addicted to audiobooks to podcasts to interviews.. all different types of conversations. And then one day I said you know what I think I got something to say. So here goes nothing.
Alright, so first up first thing that I want to cover today. I actually saw the story a couple of days ago it was about a particular artist, a recording artist. Who bought a very expensive pair of wait for it… sandals. Here’s the main line here, credit goes to Complex. Future wears $48,000 sandals made out of Birkin bags. Sheesh! $48,000 sandals.. where are you going? Where… where are you going? If I had some $48,000 sandals I would think I’m walking to Saturn. Like I’m walking outer space.. like those things better come with a cappuccino maker. They better come with… uh my personalized assistant and a rocket. It better come with a lifetime supply of uh Culver’s sandwiches and custard. You know black card, Wow! And I just I heard the article I mean. I’m not hating if you got it and apparently he does but wow. Like and today’s culture in today’s day and age. It made me think about when you get stuff like that when you buy something that expensive does it fulfill you? Because I know in my personal experience. I’ve never bought anything that expensive. Okay not going front, okay the highest price item I’ve ever bought was my car and that was like a fraction of that price. So I’ll leave it at that. However, when I have bought things that I thought I really wanted in the past. You ever bought something and you really wanted it before? You know whether it be like a pair of shoes or a particular phone or anything you’ve bought that was an amount of money maybe $1200 $1500 right. You buy it leading up to it you’re looking at the reviews and you’re figuring out you know what color, what style you want. And eventually you save up the money. You buy it, you get the item to your place. You open up the packaging. You take it out. You look at it. It looks good right, looks nice and then what?
I would say most of the time those couple of days –couple weeks after you’ve gotten that thing you realize that that’s not what you really like you could have lived without it um so
I bet you he loves them but for me it just stood out to me that where are we going as a culture right now that we got people buying 48 000 sandals
I know Jesus wore sandals but I know they won $48 thousand dollars I mean come on let’s be real uh so apparently these sandals according to the article as the name makes them clear so they’re called Birkin stocks and apparently the article says as the name makes clear the sandal boasts leather that’s sourced from genuine Birkin bags which are disassembled before being flattened and cut into a pattern atop a Birkenstock cork footbed with a rubber sole so it’s a $48 000 Birkenstock. With uh… some branding. Sheesh! Um. and another thing that this article made me think about was why do we consume so much in America. I did realize luckily at a younger age that I didn’t like commercials. I would try to you know mute them when I’m watching something on tv because the consumerism has kind of gotten out of hand. and I do understand that we got to have certain products but I’m a firm believer in less is more
uh quality over quantity um and first of all you just be happier because you got less stuff around but I’ve also noticed that the the more I’ve given stuff away the better I felt in general so I just found that as crazy first of all that people are willing to pay that much for a sandal but I think as a culture. We can start unveiling what is really going on and hopefully understanding that just because you can buy it doesn’t mean you have to buy it and I’ll leave that at that. Moving on, I don’t know if you guys have heard but there is another artist by the name of oozy vert. I heard that Mr. Vert recently got a procedure done. What kind of procedure do you ask? Well apparently, his vertness got a $24 million dollar pink diamond embedded in his forehead. Let me say that again. Apparently, this guy got a $24 million dollar diamond embedded into his forehead. The reason I don’t know. Like knowing me if I like the diamond that much
I would probably take a picture of it and i walked away. At least it got a memory of it right? But I got so many questions. Like what happen if it gets… like how do you clean it first of all? Do you take it out? But then I feel like if you took it out you might like you know turn into ash like vision and avengers or do you like go get you know quarterly checkups to make sure it’s not infected i have so many questions it just seems like a a hazard also when you out and about in the world and people know you didn’t have to let people know you got a 24 million dollar diamond in your forehead what if like that’s gotta be a security risk right I wish him the best but you thought the sandals were consumerism that is nuts as far as I’m concerned he’s he’s walking around with a whole mansion on his dome. I mean I’m talking about mansion that got the hillside view infinity pool you know a whole uh staff he’s got that whole deal on his head. When’s enough-enough? Like me personally, I like nice things. I like to eat I’m a foodie. I like a good steak, some mashed potatoes, some corn, a little garlic bread, little onions with some mushrooms. You know saute them.. put them on top of the steak. I made a steak the other night actually. I made a wagyu steak.. legit okay that was a good time and that didn’t cost more than a hundred dollars. I guess I’m not your normal joe.. but sheesh.
I guess I’m just out of touch huh? Technically, I’m in the millennial generation but I think we’re on to something. I think that the younger people have put for the most part have put less value on material things and more value on experiences. And I think there’s something to that I’ve been the happiest and had the best moments in my life revolved around things that I’ve done. People that I’ve met. Experiences that I’ve had.. rather than what I wear and I think the sooner we can get to that as people the happier we can be. And that’ll put a bow on that for now. I have a feeling there’s going to be some more stories there’s going to be some more you know definitely things for me to cover when it comes to the outrageous consumerism and when that happens dang it I’ll be here and I have some more content for you.
Okay and moving on to another topic that I wanted to get into today for this the association. I’m a huge sports fan love the NBA. A lot of people talk about how much they like college how much the NBA they don’t play that hard but I like to see the best of the best on the hardwood getting buckets and a team that I wanted to highlight uh today right now is those feisty Houston rockets i haven’t been watching before uh like last week I hadn’t watched a lot of the Houston rockets because James Harden left I figured that they weren’t going to be the best but they got a black head coach, Stephen Silas, who’s doing a hell of a job by the way shout outs to Mr. Silas.
the team the makeup of the team a lot of people talk about how they don’t like the NBA and they they don’t like how soft it’s gotten you should watch the rockets
almost every player on their team has something to prove they have a collective chip on their shoulder coach Silas said the other day and I agree you just go down their roster and you’ll you’ll see what I’m talking about john wall tore his ACL and then right after that tore his Achilles was out for like two years now he’s out on the court hasn’t missed a beat playing hard playing gritty diving for loose balls running the team being a floor general talking trash too I’m all for that Eric Gordon a lot of injuries throughout his career but it’s always had talent always been a an aggressive attacking scorer can give you a ton of buckets in a hurry strong he’s got a chip then you got another player like Victor Oladipo that came from the pacers was having an amazing uh campaign with the pacers two years ago until he got hurt and like i think he like ruptured his quad or something like that but it was a pretty serious injury and he wasn’t quite himself in Indiana he was working him his way back and then he got dealt and now he’s with the rockets and he’s looking like victor “Ola” — “Odipo” and I’m loving it. Playing hard and a lot of these players can play two ways. Both ways defense and offense aggressive.. You know steal the ball from you got a mean mug on their face like I’m all for that type of energy. Then there’s PJ Tucker. Everybody know what he does. What he brings to the table. Aggressive… very tough.. always hustling, diving for loose balls, bumping people. Reminds me of me when I play basketball never played at a high level but I always loved the physical contact. I always loved to be aggressive when I played and they remind me of that it’s very. You know it’s beautiful to watch and then there’s players like Jesean Tate, their rookie. Who uh was overseas a couple years ago playing in like china or something like that undrafted but if when you see him play he reminds you of PJ Tucker. I think he’s 6’5 240 pounds. Strong, plays defense, will hit the open corner three… not backing down from anybody, getting loose balls, love it. He got a whole bag of chip chips on his shoulder like just aggressive love that kind of reminds me of Draymond Green. And I respect Draymond shout out to Michigan State. With that being said the Houston Rockets. I think they have a top five defense and they’re not too shabby on offense as well and I almost forgot another player that they have DeMarcus Cousins, “Boogie” been through a lot everybody knows his injury history i think he tore his ACL most recently but before that it was an Achilles and he’s been kind of for the past two years people questioning if he could ever play at a top level like an all-star center again and he’s showing us some stuff for the rockets this year so it’s exciting shout out to the Houston Rockets fans so keep them on your radar. If you see the rockets playing show them some love if you like 90s 2000s throwback basketball you will be entertained
moving on that was my positive note when it came to the association my negative note
the team that needs to come up to the front of the class and speak for themselves
Brooklyn Nets I’m calling on you come on up here Kyrie come on up here James what in the tomfoolery is going on with you guys on defense
I don’t know if they’re basketball players or valet there’s literally just open lanes to the basket all day. I think they’re giving up like 140 points a game the Brooklyn basketball nets they got a ton of offense they’re very talented Kyrie Irving is one of my favorite players to watch he’ll sauce on you hit you with a duggy spin move hit you with the filet at the rim poetry in motion that’s all well and good offensively
but defensively he couldn’t guard a mailbox and it’s bad every night it seems like the team that’s playing the Brooklyn Nets has one of their players go off for a career night a couple weeks ago Collin Sexton. I think he dropped 45. a couple nights later Russell Westbrook goes off of 40 something and Bradley Beal adds another 37 and he didn’t even have a good first half it’s crazy and there’s a lot of people talking about James Harden, Durant, Kyrie, it’s a big three.
It’s not a big three until they play some D. Because as of right now I don’t see them getting out of the second round in the league and I love basketball I want to see the stars playing but Brooklyn step it up they don’t need to talk about offense for the rest of the year they’ll they’ll get 120 points in their sleep the problem is the teams that they’re playing is getting 140 130. your 120 don’t mean nothing if you can’t stop anybody
sheesh as you guys well I’ll let you guys know right now I’m a huge LeBron fan Lakers look good right now the association is in good hands there’s great basketball games coming up this weekend so I’m looking forward to watching that but I just had to get that off of my chest she’s Brooklyn come on get it together i got faith in you guys all right so
we’re getting to the conclusion of this uh inaugural episode here and to wrap up today’s show i just wanted to leave you guys with um some reflection so
the word of the day thought of the day right now is just gratitude i have so much gratitude for all the people I have in my life for the friends i have for the opportunity that i have to first of all be alive in these times that we have with covet so i hope everybody’s being safe out there and that we get through this eventually with the vaccines and all that and social distancing but i encourage you to have gratitude for where you are in your life for having shelter having food
and having the ability to add value to other people in your particular way no matter what that might be the quote of the week is one of my favorite quotes of all time it’s a quote by a great martial artist the name of Bruce Lee and this is how it goes:
“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own” – Bruce Lee and that’s going to be it for the show today.
If you enjoyed this show if you want to give me some feedback please subscribe. Please leave me a review with any feedback you might have it’ll really help out on wherever you listen to podcasts also if you want to reach out to me and you have questions want feedback or just want to reach out you can reach out to me at karatjuicepodcast@gmail.com that’s k a ra t j u i c e podcast@gmail.com
Also coming up in shows coming up in the coming week I’m going to be releasing these weekly I will most likely be covering some of the things that are going on as far as with politics I’m not going to get too political on this show but i think it needs to be addressed we have the impeachment trial going on with the former president for the former president Donald Trump and then we also have senators bickering about stimulus packages and uh apparently q anon senators as well which is nuts so I’m gonna be covering some of that but also keeping it light keeping it fun and putting my perspective on things so until we meet again.
Have a great day. Eat something good. Hug somebody. Love somebody, till we meet again, peace.