Transcribed with Whisper from the original audio, so nothing is masked. Names corrected. Published in full, as spoken, so it can be read, searched and quoted. Search every transcript →
0:00Ready. Boom. What’s up? My name is Maceo and this is for We Them Media. What’s your name? Ranier. How old are you? I’m 33. I’ll be 34 on May 8th. Okay. Happy early birthday. And where are you from? I’m from North Philadelphia. Okay. And what do you think about the city? It’s gentrifying. It’s beautiful though. Like I love my city. I ain’t gonna egg like I don’t. What’s your favorite part? It’s gentrifying. I guess my favorite part would be the home ball that’s still in it. It’s still the city.
0:41The negative impact is that all of the kids I grew up with is now gone. I had the liberty of owning my house. I paid taxes like my mama taught me and I still got my mama house. A lot of the people I grew up with is born. White people live in their homes. That’s a negative impact in my head anyway. Yeah, yeah, people have been displaced. I mean, yeah. Absolutely. Okay. And where are you headed today? I’m headed to the Black Pride Festival. It’s called R-Fest. I just left work. I work at RASA Hair Salon. Okay. How’s the hair business? Amazing. I’ve been licensed in cosmetology since I was 21. I’ve always worked in a salon. I’ve always worked for myself. Okay, that’s cool. I do New York Fashion Week twice a year. Oh, yeah? That’s tough, that’s tough. So you’re established out here. I like to say that. That’s cool.
1:29Yeah, you should say it. Absolutely. And so what would you say about the R-Fest that happens here in Philadelphia? Where’d that come from? What do you know about that? Well, it’s like, cause you know, every June is Pride. So R-Fest is just, you know, it acknowledges the Black people a little bit more. It highlights the different people of color that’s around the city that’s doing big things for the Pride community. You know, the LGBTQ++ community. The Art Fest is just like a spin-off on OutFest or a spin-off on the regular June Pride
2:09If I’m not mistaken, it was going on since 1999 and I was born in 92 Okay, I was born in 99 Okay, you was born in 99? Yeah, yeah I’m out here That’s cool! And how did you first find out about it? Probably when I was a teenager I’ve been watching before for years. It’s not that I’m actually going to any of the events or anything, but I hang around in the ollie. We call it the ollie, but it’s the entire Gabriel. There’s a bunch of ollies put together with a bunch of gay bars in it. So it’s just, really it’s a block party happening today. Tomorrow is an actual Warfest parade.
2:41So I’m going, it’s in front of Woody’s, it’s on the block of 13th and Walnut. Okay, yeah. I’ve been to Woody’s before. We’re going to a block party. I’m going to the block party, if you say it like that, because I ain’t doing anything. I’m just walking up for free. It’s a free festival, so that’s another thing that we love. We love free things, right? Amen. But it takes real work to do that. So who are some of the people you would shout out who actually put in time and energy to organize? Who knows the FIRM? P-H-R-I-M. I believe I’m explaining that right. The FIRM is like a black gay community.
3:10It does a lot of the different events around the city. It’s really a community-based program for us black people because it’s not a lot of them. There’s not too many things that people of color can go to for the LGBT girls anyway
3:27What’s it called? What’s been your favorite memory from attending these events the last several years? Always meeting somebody new, you never know who you meet, you never know
3:52I was asking what’s been your favorite event I guess this is happening right now unfolding right on camera
4:22Anyway, what was the question? Okay, I got this has been your favorite event from our fest year to year to year. This is my favorite event happening right now. We said shout out to the firm. What do you feel like is a story I should be focused on covering this summer with my friends here? I’m about to go see Omar. He shoots a lot of content. I’m really trying to recruit him. So it’s funny that I met you and you’re like, oh, I know there’s one dude you follow and it happens to be the dude I’m going to see. I only dance here a few times, but if I’m not mistaken, I did the holidays, will God.
4:50I think that’s so cool. You never know who you know in the world, it’s very small. I love networking and I love the idea of talking to me randomly and making me be on your podcast because I really didn’t want to do it, but I’m glad you made me do it. And that’s a good thing. Networking can get you far and you never know who you know and word of mouth will get you farther. So absolutely, I’m here for it. And one of the things you should do is maybe talk to more of the people that’s going through I’m looking at my teeth like I’m looking through different issues. I’m not going to name issues, but people are going through a lot of issues here in Philadelphia and it’s not too many people trying to help. It’s a lot of resources, but people don’t know how to open up their phone and look up these different programs, different buildings. There’s different institutes that you can go to when you have issues. I just feel like maybe you can stop and talk to some people like this one young lady up in the front.
5:44I’m sucking my teeth, like I did talk to her before you got on the bus, I’m the only person actually back here who talked to her The gag is when I first got on the bus, she’s like oh my god I haven’t seen you in so long and you look so good and I didn’t know who she was right But I paid it because I’m like oh nice to see you too I don’t ever get on the 23, I normally get on the XH But I wanted to go straight downtown so I was like let me get on the 23 But that’s a great reason why I don’t get on the 23
6:08Because you never know who’s on it And the XH is a little bit more sophisticated It’s now called, what is it called? The 81? Something like that? I don’t know. I haven’t been on it. It’s called the 81. But yeah. My car broke down like two months ago. I drove it across the country and it broke down in Denver. Oh, that was fun. Yeah, but this is my first time being on a bus in a couple of years. I really try not to. Omar is the reason. I said, all right, I got to go see Omar. I utilize Septa a lot, but I actually utilize the Indigo bikes more. That’s a good incentive at the city port.
6:43and I would ride the bike to work. We need more of those. We need more of them farther up Germantown. Absolutely. They’re not past ordinaries. Anyway, what was the last question? Maybe I should get back on task. It’s okay. It’s pretty open-ended, right? But you were saying that something I should focus on is people who are going through stuff, right? Yeah, maybe talk more to people that need help. Like clearly, need help. But what do you think good? What good does me doing that do? What do you see is like the value? I don’t want people to feel like I’m coming to... offended or used. I don’t want them to feel like I’m going to use their stuff to go viral. Like, oh, he’s just trying to get me in my craziness.
7:18I wouldn’t say, you know, definitely you’re always going to ask permission to record like you did with me. And if they deny it, they deny it. But you can still use that good old brain you got to maybe, what do you call it, dismantle the situation. But she definitely came back here like she wanted to be a part of the interview. Yeah, for sure. She was like, I’m going viral today. Tyler Perry. Maybe we could have tuned in together and help her because I feel like she wanted our attention But she was in center stage. Yeah, she just didn’t say anything. She looked at me a few times, but I’m not really sure how I could have
7:51Interacted, right? Right, but because we was together and I felt like you’re recording this Maybe we could have tried something new, but that’s just for future reference Maybe you never know when you meet. You can play, right? It’s just like yeah, I appreciate that. You never know I carry Mace, I carry Tazers, and my nose are going to be long, I mean I hear it. Weapons everywhere, you never know. I tackle people. You have to be prepared, stay ready, okay? Or you’re going to have to get ready. And you don’t want that? Never. Okay, okay. I think, um, oh, my Instagram, teddybear underscore razor blade, my business, 1500 styles, I’m from 1500 styles, um, I work at Ross and her salons owned by a white woman, she does locks, always on her back, she’s amazing.
8:36Any message for children under the age of 10 years old in Philadelphia? Never stop, keep dreaming, believe in yourself, pat yourself on the back when you do good accomplishments and listen to your mama and give your daddy a chance, if he’s worth it, a lot of these daddies in Philly ain’t shit and mamas rule the world, listen to your mother’s fucking mother, alright that was it, what do you feel like fathers could be doing better? I’m not going to answer that question, that question I refuse Because I’ll be on this bus for another hour talking about some trashy things Anyway, okay, well thank you for letting me
9:16Mother’s rule Okay, what are some things you’d acknowledge your mom for if you were to give her a little shout out She taught me how to be exactly who I am She gave me the mouth that I got, she gave me the fashion sense that I have And she gave me the brain that operates everything else So yeah, I don’t know what else to say about that My mama is my goal, okay Hell yeah. Shout out to her. Shout out to our chef. Shout out to our chef. Boom. We got 20 seconds there. 10 minutes. Are we going 10 minutes? What was your name again? Maceo. Maceo. Shout out to Maceo for making me do this because I was like, no. And show me your other videos first and let’s see. But I think it came out kind of cool. We got some raw footage, which I really, really love actually. I can’t wait to repost it on my Instagram. Hell yeah. Let’s go.
