YAS Podcast: Rain Supreme Episode #93 Transcript

New York Native and around the way girl discusses growing up in Queens, performing burlesque to the music of her childhood, Black 90’s pinup, and flexing in her complexing. From Hollis to Hottiewood, Rain Supreme.

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*This transcript was auto-generated and may contain minor errors.* Begin transcript after opening credits.

GiGi (00:00)
Greetings and welcome to Yes, a stripper podcast. Today’s episode, I chat with the chocolate deluxe queen from Queens reign supreme. I am your hopra GG holiday.

Hello everybody. I am so excited about my guest today because we have only been internet friends and now we’re group chat friends and

Rain (00:29)
We keep getting closer

GiGi (00:34)
closer,

but we keep blaming COVID for and first it was me not being in New York and then it was COVID. But now that we’re here, it’s, we’re both in the same place.

Rain (00:46)
Yeah, we’re mostly in city, not too far. It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen.

GiGi (00:51)
that

happened, but I am pleased to introduce to you all the one, only rain Supreme. ⁓

First of all, can I just say, I fucking love that name. And I know I’m gonna ask the question of how you came up with that name. I love that name. It’s up there with Maine Attraction. And I feel it’s so beautiful and bold that black women are just like, I reign supreme. I’m Maine Attraction. What about it? I love it. So, Rain, tell me and others your origin story.

Rain (01:26)
So, I actually was a big fan of Burlesque for a long time before I started. had my best friend, Jason Mejias. Do know Jason? He’s an aerialist. He and I have been friends since like 2005, before either of us started performing. He was doing like trapeze classes and stuff, and we used to work together at our old like day jobs. And so I would go with him to his trapeze classes. And then when he started performing at the Galapagos Art Space, which is no longer in New York, but he used to perform there.

And so I went there to see him perform. And that was where I saw my first burlesque show. That was in like 2008 or 2009. ⁓ And it was great. I loved it. But I didn’t really see many black people. The only black person I saw at that time was Main Attraction. She was like the first black performer I ever saw. ⁓ But I remember like I would see people performing and just be like, man, it just must be so much fun to be up there with everybody watching you while you’re taking a close, like it just looked like so much fun.

GiGi (02:11)
Stay

Rain (02:22)
or would listen to music and be like, wonder what I would do if I was performing to this song without even in my head thinking like, this is what I want to do, just having those thoughts. But what made me actually start performing was I became good friends with Poison Ivory in like 2016.

GiGi (02:38)
Yeah,

that was my first guess. That was my first guess on this show. I could not leave out the queen. Of course.

Rain (02:46)
But we became friends in 2016, like not long after she won Queen and just being friends with her and you know, she’s like a black girl from the hood like I am. It kind of just made me see myself in it more and then I went to, I started going to sweet spot shows.

GiGi (03:05)
Yes, I performed for them for like a little bit. I went to the cup of tea at the beginning, but now I feel like I am. Yeah.

Rain (03:11)
Yeah,

I feel like you are too. I would go to those shows and everyone’s black there. saw, right now, Rouge was one of, she was the resident performer there. Yeah, and so I saw her and then I remember Essence, Essence Revealed had her Golden Lady Bless show and that was the first actual show I went to that was all black. First realest show I went to, was her, was Quam’s, it was Poison. I forgot who else, a couple of other people.

And then Qualms also produced a Black History Month show that same year. That was all, and I was just like, look at all these. I didn’t really even know, because I was friends with Jason, and I knew all of his friends, but they were mostly white, except for Maine. So I knew all these white performers, and they were great, but I didn’t really see a whole lot of Black people. So once I started seeing all these Black people, I was like, you know what? I’m going to do it. I’m going do it. And I took classes at the New York School of Burlesque. Burlesque? Yeah. But I also knew, since I knew so many people,

GiGi (04:01)
Yes, New York Philab…

Rain (04:07)
performing already, like I knew that I had like connections, but I felt like taking the the course at New York School of Brunettes would give me like just a platform to debut like, you know, a sure stage. And it was great. Like all my friends came. I remember Joe told me it was like the most attended student showcase they’d ever had. And I think it was because all my friends came. Because we should have had student showcase. Yes. Yeah, because I had so many friends in Brunettes. They all like, we’re coming to see you because I’ve known them for so long.

GiGi (04:27)
She was like, I’m gonna be…

Rain (04:37)
And I would always go to see them. So they all just decided to come. It was great. Oh, I love it. started in September of 2017. So just like four and a half years.

GiGi (04:43)
How many years have you been performing?

Billy, you are baby with BB and now. don’t well, don’t like, yeah, you’re not a newbie. You’re not a newbie. Four years. I tell people all the time, like four years for me, because I’ve been in this game for like 11 years in county. Four years is when you decide, like, do I want to stay in this or do I want to go? Like, that’s the.

Rain (04:59)
according to some people, but you…

GiGi (05:16)
turning point and the fact that you’re just like, I’m still in it.

Rain (05:18)
I mean, I think about like when I’m like old and how I’m gonna be changing like I’m saying this until I can’t move anymore. This is what I’m

GiGi (05:26)
my goodness. I, my goodness. I love it. I love that you were like surrounded by it. in your connections, like I’m with you regarding Poison Ivy. Like, damn, I see another hood chick, you know, like I see another one. I, and I remember fangirling over Poison and Poison was looking at me like, you’re sweet. Like girl, who’s that in this? you talking about? And the way she said it to me, I was like,

Rain (05:33)
I really

He’s just so like down to earth and like, it’s like we are.

GiGi (05:57)
And I love it. love it. can’t wait for all three of us to hang out because I know we know and I still have the still have the Omarion ⁓

Rain (06:01)
That was like last week.

We all need to be hang out once I start I’m taking yeah, I’m smoking but next month we need to hang out black history

GiGi (06:12)
All needs, yeah.

Yes, of course. feel like, you know, I feel like we all need to get together for Black History Month. I’ll, you know what? I’ll put that in the group.

Rain (06:28)
Yeah,

definitely put it in the group. Foxy said, you know, we can all hang out at her house, so we’re going to do that.

GiGi (06:32)
We just need one good meeting and hanging out and just getting all of out because seeing yourself on stage and seeing yourself in the audience when you’re on stage and seeing the audience reaction, how does that feel for

Rain (06:50)
Yeah, it feels so listen, I love because you know, I perform at Slipper Room too. Yeah, a whole lot of black people there. But whenever there are like and they always love to see me they come up to me when when I’m go go dancing and I’m just like, I’m so happy to see you. I’m I’m so happy to see you too. Like, I love it. I love it. One one black girl came up to me and she was like, you are the reason why I want to perform burlesque because I brought my parents here so they can see what I want to do. And I knew your performance. I brought them here tonight. And I was just like me.

Me, my new little baby self, you, I inspired some new person. It made me so happy.

GiGi (07:21)
It’s beautiful.

Rain (07:24)
And so I feel like when you’re like darker skinned black people, know.

GiGi (07:28)
was

just about to say that. I know being a Black performer is hard.

Rain (07:34)
Yeah, especially in the city where

GiGi (07:36)
especially

in city, but I always want to be empathetic, sympathetic and understanding of dark skin performance because trust, I come from a dark skin family. I don’t know how I got this. At that light, was, well, here’s the thing. During the quarantine when we weren’t going outside, I became light skin and everybody kept calling me light skin and I was livid.

Rain (07:48)
But I mean, you’re not that light. You’re like brown.

Girls, your complexion ⁓

GiGi (08:10)
I literally was saying… Tell people I’m brown.

Rain (08:13)
gonna go.

Please. Especially when you say next year girlfriend, I’m sure.

GiGi (08:19)
Listen, you can clearly see there’s a stark difference. But I actually, I always want to hype up the dark skinned burlesque performers more because I feel like y’all are way more, like society, I feel like, I don’t know. I guess what I’m trying to say is, colorism in burlesque. That’s what I was trying to say. Colorism in burlesque. How?

Rain (08:22)
Bye.

Hehehe!

definitely a thing.

Yeah.

GiGi (08:47)
Have your experiences been good or bad or just ⁓

Rain (08:51)
haven’t really felt it in burlesque and I think part of it is because you know I’m pretty slim I have like the desired body type you know I’m slim I have big breasts I have like you know a small weight

GiGi (09:02)
You got some big titties. was staring at them the other day. Huh? I was staring at them the other day. Where? Yes. It was the boomerang for you in the slipperoo.

Rain (09:07)
Oh, you were? What were you looking at? What picture?

Oh yeah, all about the Rudy. Yeah, I I loved it. You know it’s funny because my husband always makes fun of me. I’ll be looking at my phone. goes, what are you looking at? Pictures of yourself again? And I’m, yeah, I am because I love it. I’m looking at scrolling through videos. We’re gorgeous. gorgeous.

GiGi (09:31)
You haven’t you haven’t felt it in burlesque?

Rain (09:34)
I

haven’t, feel like a lot of times, well, a lot of times I’m like the one, you you’ve probably experienced it too, like the one black person in a show. But in black shows, you know, I haven’t, no, I really haven’t. I haven’t felt like I’ve been looked over in favor of lighter skin performance.

GiGi (09:50)
That’s good.

Rain (09:51)
Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Maybe there are gigs I’m not booking because of it, but I don’t know about it.

GiGi (09:55)
Yeah, ⁓ with, know, Bibi Bardo is, you know, I always mention her in a crowded room because I fucking love her. I love her. That’s my baby. But one of the things that she has is like a tagline is just like the darkest motherfucker in the room.

So where we went out we went out somewhere in New York and there was this beautiful dark skin woman and she was like who is she because normally I’m the darkest motherfucking in the room

Rain (10:27)
Yes!

GiGi (10:29)
Who’s she? And I’m just like, baby. But colorism, and colorism in general is really fucked up. I get hit with it from time to time. ⁓ In the sense, like I said, people keep thinking I’m light skinned. I’m like, no, I’m brown. But then I have to check myself and go be like, I can see how you think I am.

Rain (10:30)
Larry.

I’m a year lighter than I am.

GiGi (10:55)
Yeah, but then when people see the rest of my family and see everything, I just be looking at people like, yeah, ain’t no colorism in my family. Okay, my daddy dark, my aunt dark. Like, right, we all dark. And I love it. Like I be telling people like, please, I need to see more dark skin girls on stage because that gives other chocolate dark skin babies the ability. Like my goddaughter.

is your complexion and I have shown, she has met Bibi. I’ve shown her pictures of you. I mean, when she’s just like, ⁓ cause you know, understand on Tik Tok and stuff, you don’t see stuff like that all the time. And then when you do see it, know, she’s 12 and she’s like, ⁓ this could be me. Yeah. She’s already X. Can she be surrounded by a bunch of black? Yeah. I’m, when y’all see her, y’all going to be like,

Rain (11:30)
I love it.

We’ll hang out.

She does like you.

GiGi (11:56)
attitude. It’s the like she got her mama’s Sagittarius attitude, but that Aries arrogant of just like, yeah, I’m great. I’m cute. You know, but then she’s also a tourist, so she loves to eat. And I love to eat too.

Rain (12:08)
Okay.

to you.

GiGi (12:13)
I love to eat. So we got it like you got to eat what? my goodness. want to like how so are you from New York?

Rain (12:23)
I am born and raised in Hollis. Hollis Queens!

GiGi (12:27)
Born and raised in Hollis, Queens. Yes. Come on, Christmas.

Rain (12:29)
I

used to see Run DMC walking around my mother was like those are rappers over there and I one time LL Cool J we see him too sometimes I remember once these kids ran over we were playing outside and it was like LL Cool J is playing basketball in the church basement so we ran over like looked in the window to look at 80s and 90s in New York

GiGi (12:45)
⁓ my god, okay, so you know I’m a hip-hop historian

Wait a minute, you know, I’m a hip-hop historian. I know But you got to see LL like this

Rain (12:54)
In the

church basement, like around the corner from my house, we all like, you know, because basement windows, you can see them from the ground levels. We were all just like crawling around the windows, sneaking in, looking at looking at him playing.

GiGi (13:08)
Was

it growing up during that time? Because that’s like, that was one of the pinnacles of hip hop. Like, how was it growing up that time knowing that like you’re walking? Yeah, you’re walking the streets and there’s rapper.

Rain (13:13)
Yeah.

Yeah,

mean, didn’t know who Run DMC was, but I remember my mother pointing them out to me because I was really young. I was like five, six, you know, in the 80s. And we would walk to the store and I remember specifically her saying that those guys are rappers. And I was like, that’s cool. What? Yeah.

GiGi (13:38)
Like, I…

Rain (13:39)
Like there’s a big mural of Jandmaster J in my mom’s neighborhood.

GiGi (13:46)
God, you have no idea. I’m freaking out because you I know my hip.

Rain (13:52)
tell you one other thing, because PS 118 is an elementary school that was around the corner from my house, and it has this big rock, big red, black, and green rock. And LL Cool J filmed part of one of his music videos, like sitting in front of that rock. And my brother and sister were in that school at the time. So I remember they said all the kids were running outside to go over to watch him film the video. I think it was the one where he’s rapping about some girl, the one with voice men.

GiGi (14:14)
Yes, hey lover. Oh yeah, listen, I know. I know my music, okay. Oh my goodness, I will admit moving here and being at one of the places where hip hop was born really freaks me out because what is up with New Yorkers? They, y’all constantly keep playing Jay-Z everywhere.

Rain (14:21)
You know.

Okay.

GiGi (14:40)
Maybe in Brooklyn, maybe in in Bed-Stuy because I’ll be sitting here typing and all of a you just hear

Rain (14:44)
Yeah

I mean, I listen to Jay-Z, old Jay-Z especially, I listen to more. These days I listen to a lot of female, like old female. I listen to a lot of Missy, a lot of Trina, a lot of… And like, you know…

GiGi (14:58)
My bitch.

Trina will forever be my queen. Forever. Like, baddest bitch.

Baddest bitch started like the whole beat. That whole beat just. And the way she begins.

Rain (15:15)
yes!

I listen to that song all the time.

I love it

GiGi (15:28)
I love it, but no, I’ve been listening to a lot of old school, like what is your favorite, what is your favorite female MC?

Rain (15:37)
Oh man, okay, I like a lot of them. I really like Queen Latifah.

GiGi (15:42)
Dana Owens? Dana Owens.

Rain (15:44)
I’ve been to a lot of her lately. I like Lil Kim. I think probably my favorite is Lil Kim. Like her older stuff. I listen to it a lot. ⁓ I don’t know that I have a favorite. I like Lil Kim. I like all the ones from like the 90s. When I was in high school, I like all the ones that were popular then. Lil Kim. even like MC Lyte. She was doing a lot of stuff in 90s too. She had another album that came out in the 90s.

GiGi (16:05)
MC

light is, you know, yeah. well, Megan all day every day for me at this moment, but definitely little Kim. Uh, Trina, like I said, Trina was Trina, which is why I. Remy Ma.

Rain (16:09)
I think I like Megan.

Trina.

I like Remy.

I want to dance to Melody and Magic. Like I have, I have, I’ve been practicing with this bow hair. I’m like, I’m to dance to this song.

GiGi (16:35)
Please do, please do. I’m working on a, it’s not really a secret project, it’s actually coming out in February. But one of my costumes that I’m working on is all brown in different shades of brown. And it’s called, I’m naming the costume Drippin’ in Melanin because I’m fighting brown, it, trim. Like it’s literally gonna be all brown. It’s a dedication. It’s like a thing to Black Burlesque and all the beautiful Black women.

Rain (17:04)
in.

GiGi (17:05)
Yeah, like everyone, you know, I just love us all doing black and brown burlesque. Like it’s something about us.

Rain (17:14)
doing it to music that I like, like music that like to dance to. like dancing to R &B, I like dancing to hip hop.

GiGi (17:20)
Oh,

that’s great. I’m glad you said that. Because, you know, normally we’re in burlesque classes and even me as a burlesque teacher, I always hit you with the classics. Yeah, you know, I hit you with that big band. Thank you. And like that big band music, but I rather dance to classic R &B. so what

Rain (17:33)
Many classics. None.

I RMB have some of that.

that I want to dance to in my house.

GiGi (17:47)
So yeah, tell us your motivation. what, like you just said, you rather dance to that. Tell us some of that. us, tell us your music.

Rain (17:55)
For me, all the acts I have were inspired by the music, all of them. And some of my favorite, like, okay, I have an act to Black Butterfly by Denise Williams.

GiGi (18:04)
Yeah,

listen, when I heard you had an accident, I cried. Huh? I cried because one, butterfly is my symbol. Wait, you saw it? No, I didn’t see it. I when you said, have one, I remember shedding one tear. Aw.

Rain (18:18)
It was the reason I wanted Black Feather fans. I wanted Black Feather fans so that I could dance to that song. And when I sent, I performed it ⁓ virtually, because I created it last summer in Foxy’s show. I performed it virtually, but I performed it for the first time on a stage ⁓ when Slip Room opened back up. And I sent some clips to my mom, because she is the reason why I love that song. And she was like, my god. She’s like, this is so great. You’re so beautiful. She just really loved it. She loved it.

She told me I was like a tribute to her fun loving, sedentary mother who passed away before I met her. She was like, look at you, you’re a black butterfly. It was really beautiful.

GiGi (18:55)
love it. How do you feel like performing to the songs of our parents?

Rain (19:00)
I love it, I love it because this is the music that I love. It’s music that I loved since I was a child. Like I have that one, have, what else? There was another old song I have and had to recently. I’m trying remember, my mind is a…

GiGi (19:13)
No, we’re going to get on how our brain is here. ⁓

Rain (19:18)
Yeah,

active red light special.

GiGi (19:20)
Yes, I know.

Rain (19:23)
One 12 out back to a one 12 sweet love.

GiGi (19:26)
Listen, I have an act too. And this is my first like 90s R &B. There was a moment where it clicked where I was just like, I don’t want to dance to this white girl shit. I’m not a white girl. I want to dance to the shit that moves me. And I was like, man, you know, I got to stay true to myself 90s R &B. And I had to put on an act. I was headlining GZ Juke Joint. Okay. I was like, I got to bring some black ass music.

Rain (19:37)
No, because you’re not a white girl.

perfect place to do it.

GiGi (19:55)
I chose Shy’s effort if I ever fall in love with Capella.

Rain (19:58)
saw video. saw video.

my god.

GiGi (20:02)
And when I say everyone was just like.

Rain (20:08)
Bye.

GiGi (20:10)
And I was I was just like damn I got a deep cut that’s it like poach op, you know poach Poach op came to me. It was like that’s a deep you went deep bitch

Rain (20:14)
I know, yeah.

That’s a The average person, you gotta be black and from a certain time.

GiGi (20:25)
So the question one time someone asked me when they saw me perform that they asked me how old I was. I they said Gigi can’t be that old. How old are you? I’m not telling y’all. I’ll tell you off the record.

Rain (20:34)
Okay, you can tell me offline. ⁓

GiGi (20:41)
grown. For the audience, I’ve grown.

Rain (20:43)
Good enough.

You

GiGi (20:49)
I can rent a car.

and I can buy liquor.

The question was just like, how old are you? And I was like, what? And then I also have to remind people, please note, I have a sister who is 14 and a half years older than me. So my sister was at the birth of hip hop. And just imagine like all of that got trickled down.

Rain (21:05)
wow.

Right. So even if you’re younger, like you had your older sister who

GiGi (21:15)
I have my older sister and my parents are older than like I have old parents. My parents are 72. I got old. You’re the oldest. See, I’m the baby. How is it being the old?

Rain (21:20)
the oldest.

god, it’s well, you know, I’m the oldest of four and there are three girls and then my brother is the youngest

GiGi (21:31)
I bet you he gets spoiled but beat up all at the same time.

Rain (21:34)
Yeah, all of that. He wanted to watch wrestling. were like, no, we want to watch soldiering. But being the oldest I like, I kind of feel like I haven’t really ever felt it. But these days, I’m feeling more of a responsibility to just kind of make sure my siblings are OK, even though we’re all very close in age. Like, I’m 40 and my brother is 35. And there’s still two in between us. So my parents had us like back to back.

GiGi (21:57)
Yeah, nah, Brenda.

Rain (22:00)
Yeah

GiGi (22:02)
⁓ You know, yes, everyone knows I call my mother by her first name.

And it’s a family joke that I do it because it’s more when you act in a, we’ll just go, we’ll call you by your first name. I ain’t got time for this. so you’re, wait a minute. Okay. Thought monkey just left. You know what? Let’s just get straight to it. Both of you and I share something where you have been officially diagnosed. I am starting to get, I just got health insurance in New York. I’m officially diagnosed.

Rain (22:36)
Congratulations! ⁓

GiGi (22:40)
But for me, you both have ADHD.

Rain (22:43)
Right. How neurodivergent!

Like we’re on that spectra!

GiGi (22:54)
How do you navigate your life now knowing that you have ADHD and especially being a performer?

Rain (23:01)
and also having a full-time day job.

GiGi (23:03)
and having a full time. Holy shit.

Rain (23:07)
It’s a lot. It’s a lot.

GiGi (23:08)
How many tabs do you have open in your last copy?

Rain (23:11)
I like on my phone. I have like 70 tabs open at any given any given

GiGi (23:15)
there music?

It’s embarrassing at my ⁓ save list on Instagram. Save it there.

Rain (23:26)
huh. Yeah, yes, yep.

Or my bookmarks on Twitter. Every social media, have everything saved, everything.

GiGi (23:33)
Everything saved. my goodness. But how is that navigating?

Rain (23:37)
It’s hard. It’s hard. Lately, I’ve been trying to just be more organized by like using my I use my calendar a lot. The other day yesterday, I was supposed to go pick up some shoes from someone and I completely forgot I was on my way home and she was like, Are you still coming? I’m like, shit, I forgot. So he used my calendar. At all. I use digital because I don’t like paper like at all. hate paper.

GiGi (23:53)
Yeah, do you use paper or digital?

I’m learning how to transition over to digital.

Rain (24:02)
How

much performers use a paper calendar? I’ve noticed that.

GiGi (24:04)
I’m pinning paper. I need to see it.

Rain (24:06)
I don’t

like having paper. I don’t like having paper. That’s… Yeah. I like paper books, but like to read, but like if I’m… If I can do something electronically, I’d rather just… Which is probably okay, because what if something happens and everything gets wiped? Paper is probably safer. But that’s just more clutter, you know? ⁓

GiGi (24:25)
Yeah,

as someone that used to work in private sector of the government, I will say this at least keep seven years of stuff. know that seems like a lot like returns, student loan payments, in. here’s the thing.

Rain (24:37)
I think that’s tax

I

go to college. I have no student loans. Yes, bitch! I know, and you know, for the longest time I was like embarrassed about it, but like I’m still really smart and I read a lot. Like I’m definitely educated about the things that I’m interested in and the things that I feel like I need to know, but I just don’t have a formal education.

GiGi (24:44)
You ain’t go to college!

Yes, you know what, I didn’t finish. only had a semester left. Shout out to depression. Yeah, depression really fucked me up on my last semester. I, how should I put it? My mama don’t have a degree and she navigating this world just fine. You know.

Rain (25:04)
live where you were talking about that.

Right. She

has three degrees and she’s working on her PhD right now. And here I am with no degrees.

GiGi (25:24)
Save some degrees for the rest of us.

Rain (25:25)
She’s taking ethno musicology and she’s taking some like black studies classes and she comes to me for help with those classes.

GiGi (25:31)
Like, yeah. And I know for me, I do plan on going back to school only so that I can become a librarian.

Rain (25:38)
Okay, that’s good goal.

GiGi (25:41)
That’s my end game.

Rain (25:43)
Yeah, I love the library man, always have.

GiGi (25:46)
my gosh. ⁓ that’s good to know. Okay. We can have a date at the library. Cause I heard that New York libraries are fucking lit. Like, yeah, I heard they’re lit. Like.

Rain (25:53)
In the city and in Brooklyn, yeah.

Whatever,

we can do anything. Go library, can smoke and then go to the library. And then go get some food.

GiGi (26:05)
I gave them some food and all between that having ADHD conversation. Yes. I want to talk to the next. Exactly. And here’s the thing. What I love about it is that we already know like where that conversation could have happened an hour ago. But if you go back to it, on for some reason, ADHD, we know exactly where you are. And we can pinpoint, we go, yeah, sure. But it’s also very much out of sight, out of mind. Yeah. Like I feel

Rain (26:09)
Yeah, that’s one topic to the next.

GiGi (26:34)
Rest in peace to all the friends that I have lost because like they no longer work with me no more. So I didn’t see him no more. then yeah, and he, you know, and it sucks. And people think you’re being a dick and it really isn’t. It’s just your mental health, you out of sight, out of mind.

Rain (26:41)
Got about them.

I to think I was being a dick, but now I realize this is what it was. It wasn’t that. I’m this way because of my brain. It’s not my feelings. I don’t hate these people. It’s just my brain. Yeah.

GiGi (26:52)
This is

It’s just my brain.

But like, now that you are officially diagnosed and you’re on like treatment or whatever, how does it feel? I’m curious. The choir reminds me to know, because there are other people listening to this going like, how does that feel to be diagnosed and with treatment?

Rain (27:20)
Yeah, so it felt very, it was a relief first of all to have the diagnosis. The treatment feels good. ⁓ You know, I was sick recently where I had like some stomach pain and was throwing up a lot. So I kind of feel like the medicine is still kind of getting back into my system now. I’m still kind of anxious and all over the place like at this moment. But in the beginning, when I first started my treatment, it really helped a lot. Like I felt like I was able to focus more. ⁓ Even my psychiatrist noticed like when our next visit after I started taking medicine, she was like, you’re fidgeting less.

I so fast. It’s hard for me to still.

GiGi (27:53)
It’s hard for me to sit still and like

Rain (27:56)
my burlesque too because there’s still moments where I should be still, I always feel like I should be moving. So I got to like practice that, work on stillness.

GiGi (28:03)
my gosh, come over. I’m the queen. I love slow burning. I love teaching people how to slow burn.

Rain (28:08)
I need some slow burn help. ⁓

GiGi (28:10)
Huge

living room and mirrors. Yeah, I have a huge living room and mirrors. love to. Yeah, I love teaching people how to slow burn like and especially being a black burlesque performer. I feel like we don’t need to pardon the term shuck and jive and keep moving so much. I feel that we the audience need to take the time and like admire us because society is constantly either shitting on us or taking from us.

Rain (28:14)
I’m coming over.

Yeah, making us work for them. ⁓

GiGi (28:40)
it

does work for them and now I’m gonna sit here, I’m gonna stand here and take my everlasting time.

Rain (28:46)
Yeah, it’s hard. have a hard time with it, but I need to work on it. Definitely. I know. watch myself sometimes I’ll watch a video and be like, okay, I need to be moving less. Yeah.

GiGi (28:55)
Moments of stillness is hard.

Moments of stillness is hard when you have ADHD.

Rain (29:02)
my god, it’s so hard.

GiGi (29:07)
You know, the lights and everything are happening, the energy’s in the room, so…

Rain (29:11)
Right, I feel like sometimes if the audience isn’t making any noise, like I need to do something. Even if the plan was still there, sometimes I’ll just divert from the plan. They’re quiet, so let me,

GiGi (29:22)
I know, like they’re too quiet. And we just have to realize maybe they’re mesmerized.

Rain (29:27)
Yeah, they could be. I am pretty mesmerized.

GiGi (29:30)
You are, again, Rudolph. Yeah, yeah!

Rain (29:34)
I mean, I didn’t get to perform that act enough in December. I was traveling for so long and COVID, but I love that.

GiGi (29:41)
course you were traveling, that’s what Sagittarius do.

Rain (29:44)
Yeah, and I was, turned 40, I needed to travel. I’ll be like…

GiGi (29:48)
a cheap flight? Let’s go. ⁓

Rain (29:51)
And I took two flights and the first one I didn’t have to pay for it because it was a birthday gift. Second one I paid for it, but it wasn’t that expensive. Yeah.

GiGi (29:57)
Yeah.

my goodness. Okay. How did you come up with your name?

Rain (30:07)
So actually, you know, it’s funny because you were talking about black people need to have names like this. Three white women came up with this name. Really? Let me tell you the story. So the year I started, it was summer of 2017 and I was still taking classes. know, Ellen Stagg, photographer. And she and I used to be pretty good friends. don’t really hang out. We kind of like drifted apart, but we used be pretty close. And so one weekend I was at her house in Asbury Park.

GiGi (30:23)
No. Okay.

Rain (30:36)
just for the weekend, know, at the beach. Meet her, Gigi, Bon Bon, and Boo Boo Darling. Do you know Boo Boo?

GiGi (30:42)
Yes, Boo Boo Darlin is from Richmond, Virginia.

Rain (30:45)
that’s right. So she she was

GiGi (30:47)
was

the, I think before she was the next DC person like in my area to move to New York and then it was me. Okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Rain (30:59)
three of us were there and we were like this weekend we’re gonna come up with a name for me that was the plan at the beach. So we’re sitting there talking just like what can it be and Gigi says you need like a name like a solid name something like the main attraction that’s why it was funny when you mentioned main attraction before she was like you need something like that a name like that and then I don’t know who said it first but someone’s like what about Reign Supreme it’s like the Supremes and it’s like but spell it like R-A-I-N so that it’s not too on the nose you know and I was like

I love it and that was it. That was it. They gave it to me and I was like, yes, that’s it.

GiGi (31:35)
No, those things work. you know, God damn, it’s such a good name.

Rain (31:37)
Because

Thank you. I had this one white lady tell me I was arrogant. so, when I, right before I started, you know, yeah, no, I mean, that was my face too, but do know, do you know little miss licks? Well, she wasn’t the one who said it. wasn’t her, but right before I started performing, she was getting ready to teach a pace, tea making class on in some festivals she was doing. So she wanted to do like a practice class first. And since I was new, she was like, here, come to come learn how to make pasties.

GiGi (31:48)
Did you see my face?

Yes!

Rain (32:07)
⁓ so she, was me and, her and two other people. I don’t know if I should say the name of. ⁓

GiGi (32:14)
That’s another podcast. ⁓

Rain (32:20)
But we were talking and I was like, yeah, I’m about to debut in a couple days and they were like, what’s your name? And I said it and she goes, don’t you think that’s a little arrogant? And I was like, well, as long as I’m good, then it doesn’t matter if you think I’m arrogant. And then I had never seen this person perform before, then I did see them perform and I was just like, okay, well, I don’t really care what she has.

GiGi (32:39)
I also what I would been like why you mad cuz you wanted his name That would have been me you mad cuz you ain’t think of it

That’s, I’m just very shocked that someone came up to you and was just like,

Rain (32:54)
Another white woman says something like that to me. mean is it Considering what we know

GiGi (32:59)
considering what we yeah that’s

Rain (33:02)
ridiculous. It definitely is, but it definitely happened. That’s ridiculous. Wait.

What if it is? So what? You got a problem? I don’t even really know who you are.

GiGi (33:15)
What’s it?

Do you know? it’s, it’s, listen, the audacity, the nerve and the goal. That’s the gumption, the goal. Ain’t nobody got no nerve, charisma or talent. Everybody.

Rain (33:23)
That’s good one.

It’s all nerve. It’s just nerve. It’s always the chicks. No talent.

GiGi (33:34)
No talent, no uniqueness. It’s always them bitches. It’s always them bitches that got something to say. Like you and I have been talking about like the scene because you the one you pointed out that I came here with the 40 waving a 44 like.

Rain (33:51)
door yep needed to be kicked in I saw your speech that you gave at the New York burlesque festival when you won you were like listen diversify y’all shows and I was like yeah I didn’t go but I watched it ⁓

GiGi (33:56)
My leg!

It was a call out

Rain (34:08)
I wonder who felt called out in that room

GiGi (34:12)
And I will admit being new here and being, you know, I’m the new kid in school and I will have to say thank you for making me not feel like the new kid in When it came to being a Black Burlap’s dancer in New York, you know, the rest of this, you know, I’m not, the rest of the scene that has their ups and downs, you know, they’re good people and they’re, I gotta keep my eye on them bitches.

Rain (34:24)
in school.

Yeah.

Yeah, it’s a mixed bag.

GiGi (34:42)
a mixed bag, but I don’t, I’d never got that mixed bag with the New York black for last scene. Y’all looked at me like, get in this house. Right. Yup. Coming on this street light coming on, get in this.

Rain (34:57)
there. ⁓

GiGi (34:58)
But I have to say thank you for being one of those people that literally was just like, nah, Gigi’s coming. just let her.

Rain (35:07)
Everyone

was just like, hey, let me. ⁓

GiGi (35:11)
like where is

Because even You’re out in Rockaway. Yes. Yeah. Okay, so I didn’t realize how far Rockaway was until I went to far Rockaway Beach ⁓ And I was just like it took us an hour and a half and some change to get to a beach And people were just like what mind you my dad is from Long Island. My dad’s a Long Island boy

Rain (35:25)
I mean, yeah, they call it faraway first.

Go to the beach.

Pee-pee King on Island,

GiGi (35:40)
Yes,

and so when I told my dad, I said, yeah, I went to the beach. He goes, which one you go to? Rockaway and I was like, yeah. How did you?

Rain (35:49)
When I was a kid, Rockaway was not a nice beach. It was dirty. was…

GiGi (35:53)
That’s what he was saying. He was just like, it wasn’t cute. It wasn’t, it was like, what? But he admitted, he was, he was just like, was nothing to go on a train and go to the beach. Yeah. So when he moved to DC in Maryland, he was like, y’all gotta go two hours away.

Rain (36:05)
Successful.

that’s closest beach when you were in DC? Maryland. Okay. Yeah. I mean, Rockaway is closer to you.

GiGi (36:13)
Yeah, we ought to drive to Ocean City. Yeah, we got.

True. that’s a bad for me. Like going to Ocean City, it was like you hit one route 50 and it’s a straight shot. Like you literally run into Ocean City on route 50. So that’s a two hour trip and it doesn’t even feel like two hours because you just. I was cruising and we had to get on that train. I was like, we got to wait for another a which is. ⁓

Rain (36:37)
driving straight on highway.

We had our beach day last year with all the Black Pearl Eskers. That’s the picture. That’s the header on our group chat. year before we jumped double Dutch. We’re gonna put it in this summer.

GiGi (36:56)
Yes, I

Yeah.

Let’s do it again. This I’m excited. I’m excited. ⁓ my goodness. I’m also trying to think of like, I have so many, my ADHD is like going crazy. So many questions I want to ask you and they, and they’re like all over the

It’s like deciphering the matrix right now.

Rain (37:21)
So I don’t really really get that

GiGi (37:22)
⁓ well, it’s like doing a murder board, like a murder board. Yeah, matrix, it’s good. I because the story was written by black women, I highly suggest watching it. But also

Rain (37:37)
And then by black women, then stolen by those two white ladies.

GiGi (37:40)
Yeah, yeah. Look.

Rain (37:42)
Yeah. Yeah. I tried to watch the first one years, years ago and I fell asleep.

GiGi (37:48)
So this new one, fell asleep on, not gonna lie. Halfway through, was just like. The new one is meta, but not that good. I think what made the first one so unique is that because like the internet was so new.

Rain (37:52)
I’m over here.

Okay.

Right, this was like in the 90s or early 2000s.

GiGi (38:05)
Yeah,

but now the internet isn’t new. The internet is the same old Beyoncé Alvore internet. so what are you going to be doing now? Like, what is the future of Reign Supreme? ⁓

Rain (38:25)
I mean, I produced a show last summer, a virtual show for Juneteenth. And it went really well. I had a lot, I made a lot of money. I was able to pay everyone a lot. I did it last summer during the height of all the protests. Cause I was like, white people are really looking for ways to support black people right now. This is the perfect time. I made it free for black people. So it was free for black people with like a discount code. Everyone else, was either 15 or $25, depending on if they wanted to rent it or buy it on Vimeo.

And it was great. made enough money to pay everyone a good amount, a good show amount. I told everyone I didn’t want it to be stressful, so if they wanted to send me a video they already had, that was cool. And I really enjoyed producing. I enjoyed editing. I enjoyed all of it. So I would like to produce in the future. I also want to take more dance classes and just up my dance game, because I don’t have any formal dance. I mean, when I was younger, I took ballet classes. since I started performing, I’ve been taking dance classes here and there.

I don’t have like formal dance training really like some people do. So I kind of feel like I want to do that more. I really just want to perform as much as I can. It’s hard with a day job having time because for one, I’m tired a lot. When I come home from work, I don’t really feel like doing anything. having time to work on costumes and all that is hard. And also weeknight gigs, I do them, but they’re hard because I’m always tired the next day when I have to go to work. So.

GiGi (39:33)
Guys.

Rain (39:52)
It’s hard. try to do, I try to do like, my max is usually like eight, eight or nine shows a month.

GiGi (39:57)
Wow, that’s good.

Rain (39:59)
In January I had eight scheduled. One of them was canceled on the first, but I have, you know, that’s kind of like where I’m at, like seven, eight, nine shows a month, which I think is a good, it’s like maybe twice a week I’ll perform, you know, including Go Go.

GiGi (40:12)
And that’s a good, you know, I understand what you’re saying. Like I have a daytime job and when I come home, I’m tired. How, how do you balance it all? I guess just with knowing your limits.

Rain (40:18)
way

I’m just

tired a lot. just, stay tired. You know what mean? There’s really no way to balance it. I’m just tired all the time, you know? I, on the weekends, I’ll work on stuff. I’ll work on stuff like rhinestoning stuff while I’m watching TV, you know? It’s, I do it, but I’m just tired all the time.

GiGi (40:38)
I ⁓ my goodness

Rain (40:40)
Go Go gigs, like I’ll try to do maybe just one or max two a month because that’s harder on my body. I try to save my energy for things that I really love like performing burlesque. I’d rather do that than Go Go dance. But Go Go is good money, you know? So if I do one or two a month, that’s good. But then I need to make sure I take it easy the next day because my body is always, you know, my 40 year old body gets tired.

GiGi (41:02)
So now that you’re like 40, I know, I hate that people would be like, oh, you’re 40, that’s old, you you’re the aging dancer. know that. How do you feel now being the 40 year old burlesque dancer?

Rain (41:19)
for less than two of my age, know, a lot of us are 40 and plus. I feel good because I feel like, first of all, because I’m black, I’m dark skinned, people don’t think I’m 40. Never, people never think I’m 40.

GiGi (41:23)
Yeah.

Again, when you asked me my age, I was like, grown. That’s all you need to

Rain (41:33)
Yeah, yeah, I Love like I was so excited to turn 40 like I was shouting from like I’m about to be 40 I’m about to be remember that girl who was putting out those videos talking about how women are when they’re 30 and when they’re about to be 40 she goes I’m about to be 40 and I can’t deal with this it was just some comedian who’s putting out these videos

GiGi (41:54)
I have already said I can’t wait to turn 40 because I everyone told me that that’s when it clicks that you don’t care anymore. I don’t give a fuck. And I’m just like, please, I just want that. I don’t want to give a fuck.

Rain (42:02)
I really don’t. I really don’t.

Foot, foot, foot, foot.

Yeah, no, I mean stopped giving a fuck maybe around 35. I really never gave that much of a fuck. I think it’s that sedentary of me. I kind of was like, you know what? I’m doing what I want to do.

GiGi (42:22)
That’s again, that’s what attracts Aries to Sagittarius. Yeah, we care a lot. so we’re more amazed and amused that you actually don’t care. And you’re just like, how do you do that? A lot of it for me with Sagittarius is morbid curiosity of like, how do you not care?

Rain (42:27)
Y’all care a lot.

Yeah.

What are they gonna do? Fight me? Because they don’t like something. They’re not gonna fight me.

GiGi (42:49)
They’re not. That’s what my friend literally kept telling me. She goes, they’re not going to fight you. ⁓

Rain (42:54)
Right, right. I’ve never

been in my life except for like with my siblings. Yeah, well you’re an area.

GiGi (42:59)
I’m sorry.

I’ve done some world

Rain (43:05)
yes you are.

GiGi (43:08)
World star, ⁓ world star, that’s me.

Rain (43:12)
I’m in the one shot world, sorry, why you fight?

GiGi (43:15)
I’ve also been a chick holding the camera.

Rain (43:19)
God! Beat it! ⁓ my God!

GiGi (43:21)
GET IT!

Rain (43:26)
his egg.

GiGi (43:27)
I don’t know how many.

Two straight

days and you were a nerd. I was like

was bullied but the moment I met my Sagittarius friend ain’t nobody bullying me that much no more. ⁓ Because she cuts one of them out in class and after that she was just like you hanging out with me blah blah blah and they saw I was hanging out with with them the Gros sisters.

Rain (43:50)
Yeah.

That was their name? No. ⁓

GiGi (44:02)
There was a family. The

Show Proud

Rain (44:06)
I

think I’m a little too old to laugh for that. was a after.

GiGi (44:11)
but like hanging out with them like fist to cuffs. So yeah, I love it. I also love that you were another hood chick. That’s the thing with burlesque. I feel like everyone is so prim and proper and prissy, especially the white burlesque dancers. Like I’m not gonna lie, a lot of them bitches come from money. A lot of them bitches got money.

Rain (44:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

They do, they do. And I have none. I my parents, you know, I don’t have, my mom has a house, my grandfather owned the house. So my mom has the house that my grandfather owned. But if my grandpa didn’t own the house, we would have been, I don’t know where we wouldn’t have lived, we wouldn’t have had a house house, you know.

GiGi (44:47)
Right. that’s, you know, the, thing that I always say is that my family started from the bottom that we hear, you know, my parents are in Bowie, Maryland with a house they had built and they’re retired and blah, blah, blah. So when people pull up, right. When people pull up and go, Gigi, you got money. I’ll go, no correction. They have money. They had it. We did not have it. I, now we have it, but now I, know, and I’m very thankful for the

Rain (45:06)
and they have it now.

Yeah.

GiGi (45:17)
part of my life where I was a bougie black girl, I at least know what that feels like.

Rain (45:21)
in DC yeah ⁓

GiGi (45:24)
We are a special… special breed.

Yes, just just them Howard University girls, that’s what I always say No, I actually went to a predominantly white college frostburg state Okay, which is why I’m always done with white people’s bullshit. Yeah, like I’m over it Yeah, yeah, already made it terrible during my college education to the point that I couldn’t even finish

Rain (45:38)
Did you go to Howard?

burlesque was my intro into that because I grew up in a very black neighborhood. I went to black elementary school. My middle school was more diverse, but all my friends were black. I had some like non-black friends, they were like West Indian non-blacks, you know? And then in high school, still, I had mostly black friends. I had some other friends, but all my friends were black. And then burlesque is really what threw me in the mix of whiteness. Okay.

GiGi (45:57)
Mmm.

⁓

Let’s talk about that. How was that cultural change?

Rain (46:18)
It still is a lot sometimes.

GiGi (46:21)
My eyes got really big on that like, wait, wait, like thrown into white.

Rain (46:23)
Yeah, I saw it!

⁓ Like seeing, being backstage and hearing people say, my God, look, my costume is so ghetto. And I’m just like, what do you mean by that? What do you mean? You mean like a great and talented, but ignored until a white person discovers it? Is that what you mean by ghetto? Like I’ve heard, I’ve had people say that to me, like, or talking to other people and saying it. I’ve had people backstage say things like ⁓ introducing a person whose name, whose last name is Brown and saying, you can just say his name is Brown, like shit. And I’m like,

And then when they were introducing me, they’re like, do you have a tagline? I’m like, no, but you can just say, you know, she’s brown. I’m like, shit. And they’re like, oh, Uh-huh.

GiGi (47:08)
Listen, you were just in this all black space.

Rain (47:09)
SUGAR!

I was in like a very safe, yeah. I mean, there were some other issues, because you there’s always issues with black. There was some colorism back then when I was-

GiGi (47:19)
And

listen, we will keep in house in house. That’s I know that’s how the black community thinks. respectability thing I will keep on to. We will keep in house in house. That is the one everyone knows in my family and friends. They’d be like, don’t don’t don’t you dig. Don’t give them fuel. Don’t let them.

Rain (47:28)
there and I get it.

about our business in front of white people. This

is not like a podcast that only black people listen

GiGi (47:47)
I know don’t worry. They know they completely understand. I appreciate the producers Here there. They’re definitely two white women who listen to it and go damn. This is good You right we fucking up

Rain (47:58)
Yeah

Good, at least they can acknowledge and realize that because so many of them just like, they must be talking about you because it’s not me.

GiGi (48:08)
No, like, ⁓ sometimes when I record it, they’re here, but because ⁓ a lot is happening, they was like, you can do it, you know, blah, blah, blah. But they will be like in the background and then they’ll come back like at the end and go, that was really good. I took notes. I’m learning. ⁓

Rain (48:25)
love it.

GiGi (48:26)
It works, but like…

Rain (48:28)
But yeah, burlesque is what, and it wasn’t even just when I started performing, it was when I became friends with Jason because like I said, most of his burlesque friends that he knew were white. So I was hanging out with him and his friends a lot. And it was just a lot of me saying, this is how that is. And also I think when you don’t grow up with that kind of ⁓ experience and that kind of racism, like that kind of subtle liberal racism, you don’t always recognize it right away, you know?

GiGi (48:51)
That you don’t in.

Rain (48:52)
I

had to be like questioning myself like wait is that me or am I like am I tripping or is this you know

GiGi (49:00)
I will always say I think the New York Black Pearl last seen for opening arms to me because remember I came to y’all going, yo, what’s Gucci? Why are they talking to me like this? Y’all like this.

Rain (49:11)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What are you talking about?

Your racism is some unique shit,

GiGi (49:16)
Yeah,

and I was just like, and I just kept trying to figure out like, why y’all talking to them like this? Why y’all talking to us like this? Why are you talking to me like this? Who the fuck? And it was very much, I caught myself trying not to say to a white performer and producer, who the fuck you think you talking to? ⁓

Rain (49:32)
Say

GiGi (49:35)
Because

you know code switching, I felt.

Rain (49:38)
I rarely do that

GiGi (49:40)
I could feel all of the hood coming just, and going, right there, right there, just going, who the fuck you, and like change the mannerisms, like in the evening, I felt it, and I was like, nope.

Rain (49:44)
Right to the br-

Can’t do that. Can’t do that because who knows what will happen if you do?

GiGi (49:59)
But literally I remember feeling it like But So like no, ⁓ my gosh, I’m still shocked that you were just thrown into it, but you’re right like

Rain (50:15)
Because New York is very segregated, you know? So I grew up with Black. Everything was Black. I watched Black movies. I watched The Wiz. I never saw The Wizard of Oz. I still haven’t ever seen it. I’ve only seen The Wiz.

GiGi (50:25)
It’s, I mean, it’s alright.

Rain (50:27)
I’m sure, but it’s not gonna be as good as, and I’m not gonna, I have no interest in it. I don’t care about it.

GiGi (50:33)
You know, my dad even said that.

Rain (50:35)
to the Emerald City sequence. ⁓

GiGi (50:37)
Yeah

So does ⁓ go to mystique did it at the what the funk fest, you know, like yeah is she

Rain (50:46)
And then it was red and then it was gold. Yeah

GiGi (50:48)
Yes,

but what she would do was do it have the wrong color each time they would announce it. So it would be like, she’d be like, God dang it. ⁓

Rain (50:58)
I

wanna see it! I wanna see this act! wanna see that video, I wanna see it!

GiGi (51:02)
Yeah,

she’s like, God dang it. thought I, you know, I had the right color. It was great. It was great. But like.

I guess my thing is like, now that you have been in that fold, know, like, the culture thing, how do you navigate it now?

Rain (51:20)
You know, now I just, try to stay, like, I like to do black shows the most. They’re the most comfortable. They pay the best.

I do, I still work at like Slippery Room. still do, ⁓ that’s like the only like white, white show that I do regularly. And it is sometimes it’s a challenge, but I, know, it’s a lot of fun working there too. Like I have fun every time I’m there, especially with certain people. There are some certain people who I would prefer not to be around. And we could also talk about that online if you want.

GiGi (51:51)
No, that’s completely understandable. I mean, I did a

Rain (51:55)
People

are cool and I kind of just stay keep it superficial with a lot of people, you know I don’t really get deep except for with the black ones or the ones who I know well Like I know Gigi Bon Bon she and I have been friends for a long time, but she was friends with Jason So I’ve known her for like 10 years, know, So like we can talk real talk and like Jason I can talk real talk with him and there are a couple of others but for the most part I just keep it superficial ⁓ Unless I’m with the my people, you know

GiGi (52:19)
Yeah, that’s, know, keeping it, I will admit, I do keep it cute. I keep it superficial. keep it cute with some people because you’re right. It’s a very fine, it’s a line. It’s a line and it’s a boundary. ⁓

Rain (52:35)
I’m

still too familiar and I have to be like, okay, what are you talking about? Why are you saying this to me? They’ll be like, hey girl, hey boo. And I’m like, who taught you how to talk? That’s not how you talk. Why are you talking to me like that? You don’t talk to your white girlfriend.

GiGi (52:50)
Do you call, do you say hey boo to Susan?

Rain (52:54)
Wait, wait!

GiGi (52:56)
Hey girl, what’s the camera?

Rain (52:58)
say it to people and sometimes I say it to white girls but I had to stop saying it to the white girls because then they started saying it and I’m like, let me stop being the one to, let me start gatekeeping my language. ⁓

GiGi (53:10)
Keep

the language. Listen, another, like I went to college to become a, you know, try to do news anchor and linguistics and all that other stuff and word etymology.

Rain (53:24)
You

GiGi (53:26)
Yes, I really, I’m at this point now, I’m just like, nah, we shouldn’t have told them any of our…

Rain (53:35)
We should have gate kept more. Everything about us has been so cool. Listen, have you noticed that white girls have started using that Stevie Wonder birthday song when they’re saying happy birthday to another white person? Like I saw that Instagram recently. Posting like happy birthday to, posting the Stevie Wonder version of the happy birthday.

GiGi (53:38)
We should have a-

I’m sorry, what?

That was for Martin Luther King in black.

Rain (53:59)
I I know. And a lot of white people didn’t even know that song until recently, but like I saw recently someone’s birthday happened and I saw like two or three different white people were like, happy birthday so and so and if they put that song, it pisses me off. Like my face. I know, I know. No. But that’s

GiGi (54:18)
No!

Also

with the song Oops My by Tweet and it came out Missy Elliott said, y’all thought it was about masturbation. It was actually about the appreciation of your dark skin.

Rain (54:27)
huh.

in the mirror and how look how sexy I am yeah

GiGi (54:38)
And all of the white women who had burlesque ex to that was just like, shit. I have multiple times. Multiple times and they all thought it was about masturbation, was always a pale white woman doing it. And now that is actually about.

Rain (54:45)
think I’ve ever seen a bullets got to that song. I bet, yeah.

I should make one and just have a mirror on stage and just be me looking at myself.

GiGi (54:59)
Let’s go!

I would hold the mirror for your

Rain (55:04)
Yes,

we’ll do it together. You hold the mirror back. We should, I want to do your Sanctuary Noir show and I’m going to do it for that.

GiGi (55:12)
Please,

I was just about to write yesterday because clearly and I were both doing it. And I wanted to say, hey, y’all want to be in the audience one day or do y’all want to do it? Let a bitch know.

Rain (55:24)
I wanna do it. I’ve seen like some clips of it, but I wanna watch it I also wanna be in it. Yeah.

GiGi (55:29)
Awesome. ⁓ great. Yeah, we actually do record it. So

Rain (55:33)
Because I have, you know, I got all this shit in my room, got mirrors, I got lights.

GiGi (55:37)
Yes, because poisoned ivory did it and it was lit like everyone was just like what do you mean Miss exotic world 2016 is stripping in your living room Like what Egypt like now did it one year Last year she did a virtue. Yeah, you did it Brickhouse did G’s did it Brickhouse did it? Yeah

Rain (55:59)
Didn’t she?

GiGi (56:03)
Trust now that I am in New York and I’m literally trying to figure out how to make it like y’all in the studio on it like we’re just doing. We just that’s it we just need like.

Rain (56:13)
You just say the word, I’m coming.

⁓ my, it’s gonna be all about my brown skin.

GiGi (56:21)
But

that’s what we want, you know? The celebration of the brown skin, that’s the most beautiful thing about burlesque, especially being black and doing burlesque. You know, it’s cute or whatever when I see the white girls rub their skin, but when I see black women rub their skin and touch ⁓ it, yes. You can’t take it. It looks so, like, ugh.

Rain (56:42)
Tuck the skin, honey.

Especially when the light is good. Like I really am like in love with my skin. Like when I go to the beach and pictures with the sun, like I love it. Like when Beyonce said your skin just like pearls. I’m like, yeah, that’s me. When the sun glistens on my skin, it looks like pearls and I love it.

GiGi (57:05)
There was, I saw it tip-top and this beautiful black woman had, know, her legs were nice and shiny, but she, her shoes had Swarovski crystals on it. And she was just like, I put Vaseline on cause these Swarovski’s ain’t gonna outshine me. I was like, bitch, say less. So where I put that, you see how I said that so quickly. Cause I put it in my brain.

to the next time that a white girl says, only Swarovski shine or I only do Swarovski. And I was like, sucks to be you, babe, because all I gotta do is put on Vaseline and I’m shining Swarovski.

Rain (57:41)
So yeah, exactly. So so I’m still shinier

GiGi (57:46)
No shinier. That’s the one thing the classes. A member less got me all the way fucked up.

Rain (57:52)
So much and it’s because of all those white girls who have money like It’s it’s definitely a class. It’s definitely classes. It’s Need to be that way because I have seen so many great acts I’ve seen like poison every has that act to grill gorilla and Her pasties and that’s it she takes places off like it’s

GiGi (57:59)
Classism.

Nothing but is a she-

Rain (58:14)
She has like no crystals basically and it’s one of my favorite acts and it’s so sexy and it’s a crowd pleaser like everyone loves it. I saw her do it once and this guy next to me was throwing money on stage. Good.

GiGi (58:26)
that’s like, I remember Y Performance telling me that, oh, you always need to have rhinestones on your costume and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, that’s stupid. Like, why? And you can’t dance to hip hop.

Rain (58:42)
see white girls dancing hip hop all the time. They want to do it. They want to do it. They want to take it and dance to it. ⁓

GiGi (58:48)
I literally had it right. I literally had a chick tell me That all of my black burlesque acts all of my hip-hop acts only belong on a black burlesque Yes, and if we were not on a plane I would have cold softer, but we want a public plane like again, I

Rain (59:00)
What?

You can’t walk around with the plane and the air and can’t stand in place and shit.

GiGi (59:12)
Right. Right.

And I was just like, I can’t do this. can’t do this. Anytime something happens to me in another state, just have to do that. That cost and effect.

Rain (59:22)
You won’t be locked up in a foreign place, even if it’s not in another country, still it’s not home.

GiGi (59:26)
It’s it’s not true. You know, you don’t know how the cops are there. So I kind of did like a fuck you act to wear a dance to Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda.

Rain (59:34)
Mm-hmm.

GiGi (59:39)
No heels, no rhinestones.

Rain (59:42)
And I bet it was great I bet it was perfect ⁓

GiGi (59:44)
walk

away with $200 in tips on that act alone. I was twerking all over the was giving all my hip hop mule literally and it never mattered the audience black, white agents, never everyone was just like throwing money. But then that person saw it and was just like,

Rain (59:48)
my God.

Good boy!

GiGi (1:00:05)
I’m like, you thought you needed all of You thought you really needed all of that, huh?

Rain (1:00:07)
Thank you.

You maybe you do. I know you do

GiGi (1:00:13)
That’s the thing. Rhinestones are just seasonings on the costume. It’s not real.

Rain (1:00:20)
Right, I have costumes with no rhinestones.

GiGi (1:00:22)
And I bet you they be slaying.

Rain (1:00:24)
My

Rudy act, the only thing I have Rudy act. But my costume is like a red onesie pajamas and I have some antler ears and I have snap tape up the side and I have wedge sneakers on. I can use some heels to twerk but I need sneakers so I can move around. That’s like a twerking act, it’s Big Freedia. It’s Rudy the big booty reindeer and it’s Big Freedia. It’s my favorite act that I have, favorite act to perform, it’s so much fun.

GiGi (1:00:35)
Listen!

I want you to produce again so bad. I want a lot of black people to produce because what I want now is soul Christmases. I want Juneteenth shows.

Rain (1:01:03)
I a second night in my mind.

GiGi (1:01:06)
If we could have a group act as silent nights.

Rain (1:01:09)
Yes! Jason has an act, Silent Night by Patti LaBelle. Patti LaBelle has an acapella version of Silent Night and Jason has an aerial act. So that is really beautiful.

GiGi (1:01:19)
I, this Christmas I danced to this Christmas but the Mary J Blige version because New York. I can’t, yeah, because New York. Like, I’ll be looking around and go, I know where I’m at. I need to play the New York. But, everyone’s homegirl. The moment, I think I did that act at Rex Halligan’s show. He, yeah, Fire and Fury. And when he first saw that it was this Christmas, he was like,

Rain (1:01:32)
is our favorite. Everybody’s homegirl.

Okay,

GiGi (1:01:48)
⁓ no, and he’s like, no, it’s Mary J. Black!

Rain (1:01:51)
Oh shit, got a new shoe! That’s because the New Yorker. Oh, it’s Marjah Blatch! Okay, she did it right, okay! Yep.

GiGi (1:01:55)
Surprise was like…

But I also danced to Temptations, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And I like years ago, like I had to be a baby burlesque. And I remember people coming up to me going, I’ve never heard that version before. And this was me. Yeah, I don’t know. Y’all know all these other Christmas songs. Right, but you don’t know this. I, okay, so you grew up here. Did you, I don’t know if you watched the documentary about the

Rain (1:02:07)
Yeah.

No, I’ve been

track.

GiGi (1:02:31)
concerts that were happening in Harlem during the summer of 60.

Rain (1:02:35)
Summer of of Soul, I haven’t seen it. It’s on my list, but I haven’t watched it yet.

GiGi (1:02:38)
Please watch it. I watched it twice. I watched it twice and then I called my dad and told him to watch it. Cause Long Island boy, you was here. Do you know my dad called me back and said, baby, I know this was happening. And I was like, what?

Rain (1:02:40)
Amen.

here. He was in Long Island.

GiGi (1:02:56)
Yes. And that’s, was just like, it would, you know, I was in Long Island. He was like, but I travel all over, you know, I was always in the five boroughs. He was like, he even said I was home from Howard university that time. he’s like, he’s even say your uncle was like on break from high school. They could have gone and I bet you anything. I think they just went to work. I think they were just working. It had to be like 68 or 69.

Rain (1:03:17)
They could have gone.

year, when was that happening?

Okay, because my mom was born in 1959, so she would have been a kid, so she probably…

GiGi (1:03:30)
Yeah,

but no, my dad was in college. He admitted it. He was just like, I don’t know. And I was just like, dad, how did you not do it? But David Ruffin is in there and he’s singing and he’s solo singing. And when I saw him on the screen and I’m surrounded by all my white friends and I see David Ruffin, I just go, anybody come to see you, Otis?

Rain (1:03:45)
Yeah. ⁓

GiGi (1:03:58)
So my girlfriend is friends with Jeeze Louise and I had to text Jeeze Louise and go, let me go ahead and show my VR. ⁓ Your friend, my girlfriend, the temptation to know.

Rain (1:04:10)
You

know, I haven’t ever seen it, but I know all the references. It’s weird. I haven’t seen it, but I still know the references because I’m so black and I still am around black people all the time.

GiGi (1:04:18)
my God, that’s the best thing about being black. Because we all know the references because it’s a part of our culture. Part of our culture, like even the, like you saying black butterfly, I was just like my brain automatically, you know, I haven’t heard it in years, but I know the tempo.

Rain (1:04:20)
Watch it.

It’s part of our culture, yeah. ⁓

Sorry,

can I just say the other the other old R &B song that I was thinking of that I couldn’t think of before is Baby Come To Me by Regina Bell. I haven’t acted that song. Baby come to me. Yeah, the other one. That’s the one I haven’t.

GiGi (1:04:43)
Baby, call me

I will admit my next step in music that I want to dance to, my mom is a huge Phyllis Hyman fan, and so am I because of my mother.

Rain (1:05:03)
Because of your mom, yeah. That’s how it is for me as an employee.

GiGi (1:05:06)
Yes, my mother is a Phyllis Hyman, Patti LaBelle, my dad and Asley Brothers. Brenda loves some Asley Brothers.

Rain (1:05:16)
That’s how it’s like Earth, ⁓

GiGi (1:05:18)
Okay,

so here’s the thing. I danced the footsteps in the dark for my mother by the Isley Brothers. My dad loves earth, and fire. So the verses was literally made for my parents. verses in I do. Yes. In a bathtub gin, I danced to ⁓ reasons. Yeah.

Rain (1:05:33)
my god!

Reasons right I saw video so

much

GiGi (1:05:47)
Can I just say, cause what I’m about to say is going to lead to a question. Can I just say I love when the audience is majority white, but there’s like five black people there because the black people know.

Rain (1:05:59)
They know. They know it. Yep.

GiGi (1:06:01)
I danced to reason the last time I was in this hub and dance to reason somebody black ass daddy was in the audience my man stood up

He had to him to sit down. He had to tell him to sit down because he’s still up like, you better dance to Earth when it comes.

And you know, it was disgusting, but like, you know that.

Rain (1:06:30)
Yep, yep, uh-huh.

GiGi (1:06:33)
my question is, how have you have you ever experienced that? And like, how does it feel being that black performer on stage and all white, but you see, like you said it earlier, they run up to you when you’re go go dancing and say, but like when you’re in the thick of it, when you’re performing, do you see the black faces like?

Rain (1:06:53)
Sometimes I do. It’s hard. I like slipper because of the lights to see like audience. But when I was at nurse Betty, I danced, I danced the baby come to me at nurse Betty once and I had some friends in the audience. They were black. And uh, when that song came on, like they, could tell they were just like, Oh, they were singing it. And it wasn’t like a majority white audience, but they were like, they had dreads. Like they were like a very black section of audience. They were living for that song. Like all of them were singing. It was great. I love when that happens.

GiGi (1:07:14)
Yes.

It’s just it’s magic

Rain (1:07:22)
Yeah, yeah, it feels really good.

GiGi (1:07:25)
Yeah, I always find burlesque is like a conversation. And then when you are the only black person on stage and you’re dancing to a black ass song or you’re just the only black person on stage and you see those five black people you have. Yes, thank you. This is for you. I feel like we’ll have another conversation. Right.

Rain (1:07:44)
You!

It’s

a minute a minute intimate and more personal. Yeah

GiGi (1:07:54)
It’s very much.

What’s the word I’m looking for? That Africa Dyspora. It’s like we see.

Rain (1:08:02)
Yeah, it’s like that, that connection.

GiGi (1:08:05)
that connection, you know, we know that we’re connected in some way and we’re really looking at it. You know, I understand why Ancestry and 23andMe exist and it should. And I also feel like Black people should not have to pay for it. ⁓ No, I’m doing my campaign again this February that I need three 23andMe tests for my family and I refuse to pay for it. Someone else has to pay for it.

Rain (1:08:20)
And I will never, I never.

Yeah, i’ve been looking into the african ancestry one because I know they said they don’t keep your dna and they are more Accurate when it comes to like tribal information. I don’t really want to give my dna to any of white companies I don’t know what they’re doing with it

GiGi (1:08:42)
Yeah,

there’s also I have to find it again, but it’s on TikTok and I’m following this dude. has like the last name, know, slave last names and all the registries and everything. And he goes and contacts like he finds the family in contact, the white family and go, I’m actually your your relative. Actually, your relative. And it was interesting because he actually said like,

Rain (1:09:03)
So give me some money.

Ne-

GiGi (1:09:10)
you know, a lot of people get defensive, you know, blah, blah. But yet they’re trying to say that they’re liberal, but they’re defensive. This can’t be.

Rain (1:09:17)
You know the history of this country. Like why are you so so defensive? You know that that’s likely what your family.

GiGi (1:09:23)
I appreciate some of these white liberals, but I also need to say that white liberalism is a level of white supremacy that we have not dissected yet, but it’s there. It’s defective white supremacy. Now we need to dissect white liberalism because like we said earlier, the nuances in the racism that they’re doing here, the little paper.

Rain (1:09:39)
I checked it more, yeah.

paper cuts. ⁓

GiGi (1:09:52)
NICE!

Rain (1:09:54)
But you can die from a thousand of, like if someone cuts you a thousand times, like it’s, it’s, like someone stabbing you with a knife. Even if it’s a million little paper cuts, it still hurts.

GiGi (1:10:03)
million of my gosh, that’s that. ⁓ man, you just made my brain hold on to that phrase, so that I can write a blog and call out even more. I’m going to be writing more, but I want to say a little paper cut. That’s what it is, especially when we’re dealing with, you know, you and I have had the same struggles with producers and other white people. And I really do want to say you are a thousand little paper clips, cuts, and you will kill one of us one day.

Rain (1:10:32)
Are you kidding

me? Is that what you’re

GiGi (1:10:34)
trying

to kill me? Like, oh my god! Could you imagine saying that backstage?

Rain (1:10:40)
I’m gonna I’m gonna say it next time like what is that are you trying to kill me? ⁓

GiGi (1:10:42)
Are you trying to kill me? Are you trying to kill me?

Don’t ever ask me that again. Are you trying to kill me? Yes, please. Oh my God, I feel like we should just all have little things that we should just say. Because I love making a person.

Rain (1:10:58)
We’ll have our inside…

GiGi (1:11:02)
love making people stuck on stupid, as my mama say. Make them stuck on, uh-uh. Favorite thing on the earth. Favorite thing. Making them stuck on stupid. Just, uh-uh.

Rain (1:11:16)
I love it, I love it. ⁓ So they’ll just say so many reckless things and have no clue, have no clue or not even care or think.

GiGi (1:11:17)
like just turn

Yeah, no clue, no oblivious to it. Oblivious to the world. I, I’m just so thankful that one, we got to have this conversation too. I’m friends with you. but it’s just like, I know we’re running out of time and it’s just like so much that I just want to know about like,

Rain (1:11:47)
We can just talk and hang out, know, if any time. True!

GiGi (1:11:50)
⁓

that, true that. I just, I’m just so thankful that you are here and like, you may not see, but I feel like you’re a pillar in the New York Black for Less community. Like you may be like four and a half years in, but I, like, I just, yeah, I actually feel like all of y’all are annoying. It’s just like this, but like, feel like with you, I’m just like, my God, Rain is actually very like,

active on social media, really, like we were cracking jokes on everything.

Rain (1:12:26)
Yeah, a lot of funny shit and it’s gonna be funny we make things funny ⁓

GiGi (1:12:31)
Exactly. And I’m just.

Rain (1:12:34)
I’m just- I’m making laughter.

GiGi (1:12:37)
And that because we need to, you know, we need to laugh from crying. And I’m just so thankful. And I just love the fact that you’re in this beautiful head wrap and those beautiful silky jobs.

Rain (1:12:47)
I’m gonna show you my wall where I have like all of my like I do have any prints because I want to hang you up on my wall

GiGi (1:12:55)
I need to print. People have been asking me.

Rain (1:12:57)
I have some burlesque people and I also have like porn stars and like… I have everything.

GiGi (1:13:04)
⁓ wow, porn stars? Ooh, I’m gonna pick this.

You know what? That’s a smart idea. I need a picture of Pinky. That’s my favorite porn star.

Rain (1:13:16)
Get pinky! I want porn, want pinup, I want any kind of naked black woman I want on my wall.

GiGi (1:13:20)
I still want more Jeb Beauties of the Week.

Rain (1:13:23)
Yeah, yeah.

Like players magazines. I got the copy of Playboy with the first Black Playboy cover. I bought a copy of it from Black Market Vincit.

GiGi (1:13:36)
For my studio, I want write-on magazines. Oh! I want them big. Yeah. Oh!

Rain (1:13:41)
King magazine. You

Kinos was in King magazine? You know what Kinos? She was in King magazine. Twice. Of And I’ve been trying to find the issue. It was like July 1998 or something. I’ve been trying to find it. can’t find it. Of course.

GiGi (1:13:46)
or she was.

of

the Keno was. You know what I’m trying to locate? It’s real sex and it’s Miss Black Nude Universe. Cause apparently there are a few black burlesque dancers that were in it. And I need to find the episode again. I just need that segment. Black Nude Universe that was on real sex. I need to find that segment because they were covered in just

Rain (1:14:12)
Yeah

GiGi (1:14:21)
shea butter and oils and glitter and just naked.

Rain (1:14:25)
Just glistening. ⁓ my god ⁓

GiGi (1:14:27)
Like,

need to understand, like that is sexy to me. That is, but I’m just so happy that you’ve shared your sexiness with us. Also just to let all of our listeners and viewers know it is a Saturday morning. So we’re still in jammies and drinking.

Rain (1:14:50)
Yeah.

I was like, really don’t like putting on clothes when I’m home. I’m just going to put on these pajamas. I can still look nice, but be-

GiGi (1:14:59)
Listen, I love it and I love it and I appreciate it.

Rain (1:15:03)
One more thing I want to tell you before you go. It’s just something I think you’ll think is funny when you talk about the Black Dad standing up at your show. I went to see Indy RE with my father and Flowertree opened for them and when they sang, say yes, my dad was in the audience like, yes, he was screaming and it was so embarrassing, but he was screaming yes.

GiGi (1:15:23)
would have been me. No, oh my god. I love this because I love embarrassing black dad stories. Because black dad I’m telling y’all an active black dad is hilarious.

Rain (1:15:36)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. My guy’s from Brooklyn. ⁓

GiGi (1:15:43)
I love how we both have New York fathers. And I’m a DC chick with a New York dad. recently, listen, yeah, that’s when I tell people like, my dad’s from Long Island. They’re like, so you belong here. Like you a New Yorker. And I was like, no, I’m a Washingtonian. But my dad’s favorite song, one of his favorite songs is Too Close by Nets.

Rain (1:15:47)
Check. ⁓

things your man won’t do by Joe. He used to play it blasted before we went to church. He would blast it in the morning before we would get ready to church. You’re supposed to play it before church, dad. That, as soon as I get home by faith, I think my dad is in love with Faith Evans. And Waterfalls by TLC, he loves it.

GiGi (1:16:27)
My dad is a Gladys Knight band. When he told me, so going back to the summer soul, I had that conversation with my dad. was like, I can’t even call my friends. They didn’t even remember. Like we was probably busy. Like what was we doing? And he said, I was like, daddy, I thought you’d be there. Your girl Gladys was there. He goes, let me tell you Howard University saw that Gladys Knight was about to perform in Baltimore.

Rain (1:16:37)
yeah, yeah, yeah.

GiGi (1:16:56)
Me and my friends got in the car and we drove to Baltimore. That’s an hour drive.

Rain (1:17:02)
from DC.

She’s gone, let’s go, come on, let’s go.

GiGi (1:17:09)
Even my mama has said this man will probably leave me for Gladys. As long as I can leave him for the Isley brothers. I was like, damn.

Rain (1:17:19)
Your mom was like, choo choo.

GiGi (1:17:23)
What time the train arrive?

What’s happening straight around? Listen, I cannot wait for the time. I’m going to interview my mother for this.

Rain (1:17:36)
You

GiGi (1:17:37)
Because I want to ask my mother questions about like her growing up, but also like her ties to like sex work and like her thoughts on it. But also like me doing this. Brenda is the reason I have the tagline chocolate city, city.

Rain (1:17:53)
She came up with it?

GiGi (1:17:54)
Yes, both of my pasties popped off at Howard theater. So all of DC got to see both of my nipples. I got on the microphone and apologized to my mother and said, I’m sorry that all of DC got to see my chocolate titties. And my mother said, it’s okay, baby. You just a chocolate city, titty.

Rain (1:18:11)
I your mother. I love Brenda. ⁓

GiGi (1:18:13)
Listen,

Brenda loves burlesque shows. And when it’s beautiful black women and listen, my fear, and it’s not really a fear, it’s more of like, yeah.

Rain (1:18:16)
I love it, I love it.

I want to perform.

Did you have a problem with that?

GiGi (1:18:31)
She probably be good. I feel like she really would be good, but also I was breastfed, so those are my titties. ⁓

Rain (1:18:31)
I

GiGi (1:18:39)
My sister wasn’t breastfed. My sister wasn’t breastfed, but I was breastfed. Oh, you was in my team. Yeah. My sister was not breastfed. My sister, my mother was just like, nah, it was a bottle. Here you go. and she was like, you are allergic to everything. And they were just like, you, you have to breastfeed this one. Yeah. And so those are my titties.

Rain (1:18:52)
You mean the uncle? Yeah.

Yeah, aww, and yours only because, but they’re your dad’s too. They’re also hers, they’re her titties. My mother dressed them all for me. No, they’re not his, they’re hers.

GiGi (1:19:11)
Look, are they my father’s breast?

But yeah, it’s just my, my, along with my mother performing, it’s my mother seeing certain performers. I don’t know how my mom would react to Samson.

Rain (1:19:34)
Samson is very sexy. All the moms love him.

GiGi (1:19:37)
And I’m nervous. I’m nervous. I won’t even let my best friend watch Samson perform. I’m, I’m. She already followed him on Instagram. That’s too much. That’s too much. That’s too much.

Rain (1:19:48)
So she saw it’s following him on Instagram, she’s seen like clips of him performing this.

GiGi (1:19:52)
But my mom has already said like, oh, I would love to see all of your friends performing you. And I’m just like, there’s a few I don’t want you to watch. Who else Because I feel like you would make me a middle child.

Rain (1:20:03)
Besides that.

That’s gonna be your stepdaddy.

He already has a partner. He’s not leaving Marco. ⁓

GiGi (1:20:20)
You’re not leaving my and if they listen, if they say they were breaking up, I would actually block them both in a room and go.

Rain (1:20:26)
Great, I like Margot. She’s one of the few we can trust, I think. Listen.

GiGi (1:20:33)
I will admit, same thing with my girlfriend. She was in an all black space and all she did was sit there and eat. She was just like, I’m not saying.

Rain (1:20:39)
That’s what they

I don’t

GiGi (1:20:46)
We

were invited over to Maine’s house. It just so happened that all of sudden it was just like it was only a few of us. But she she brought food. She brought drinks. then she just sat there. I’ve said five things and then.

Rain (1:21:06)
I like her. I only met her that one time at Nurse Betty when I came to see you in like September, I like her. She’s cool.

GiGi (1:21:14)
Yeah.

She does. I also appreciate that she saw what was supposed to be a jazz band perform. I’m not going to say where or who, because it’s like a big entity in New York. she looked. Yeah, they were all white. And she just went, how you going sing summertime, ain’t no black people. Ain’t no black people. She said it. She pointed it out. No, she didn’t say it to them. But she was just like, I saw her looking like.

Rain (1:21:25)
Mm hmm. ⁓

The fantasy!

She said it’s like-

Yeah. My grandfather is a jazz performer. He has a few Grammys. He’s like a legendary jazz performer. His name is Roy Haynes. like, feel with jazz, I feel like a special, like I feel very, when I see all white jazz bands or jazz shows that only have white performers, like it fucks with me. Cause I’m like, I know my history, my family history is jazz.

GiGi (1:21:46)
And then she came to me.

In the words of Nina Simone, jazz is black people’s classical music. Same thing with 90s R &B. is.

Rain (1:22:14)
Right, right. And grandfather of hip hop.

That’s my classical music.

GiGi (1:22:23)
I’m

going to say that is our generation of classical music. ⁓ and it sucks that people are just like, you know, I actually do.

Rain (1:22:28)
Yeah.

Like

it’s worthless. Yeah.

GiGi (1:22:37)
⁓

And I actually do feel a certain way when I see white girls dance to Beyonce.

Rain (1:22:43)
Yeah, I get it. I see it.

GiGi (1:22:44)
I’m just, feel uncomfortable. I’m like, you dancing to Beyonce? Like that’s especially anything on her more blacker albums.

Rain (1:22:48)
Okay.

Like lemonade or… If I see any white girls dancing to some lemonade, I’m gonna be like, who the fuck do you think? Who the fuck do you think?

GiGi (1:23:02)
You gotta- you gotta cl-

That’s it. Like, my goodness, but I’m just so happy that we got to do this. Tell the audience. I know. Tell the audience where you would like to be found.

Rain (1:23:17)
I’m sorry.

⁓

Well, I’m on Instagram at reignsupremenyc. My old account was deleted by Instagram about a year ago.

GiGi (1:23:30)
Boooo

Rain (1:23:32)
Yeah, I hate them, but I still am on there. But it’s rain, R-A-I-N, Supreme NYC on Instagram and also have a website that’s rainesupremeny.com. You can find like my show information there and stuff. Rain Supreme NY. And that’s pretty much it.

GiGi (1:23:54)
I love it, y’all.

Rain (1:23:56)
Next week I’m Nurse Buddy, next Wednesday. But yeah, I’m at Nurse Buddy next Wednesday.

GiGi (1:23:59)
You’ll be a nurse, Betty.

Yes, y’all follow, please follow Reign Supreme on all of the social media so that you can see the root off the reindeer titties, but awesome.

Rain (1:24:15)
Harmony first of the month announcements of my shows. I was I always do it with the look up wake up ⁓

GiGi (1:24:21)
I

love it. I love the first of the month.

Like guys, I cannot wait to do more like hip hop hood red shit with you.

Rain (1:24:37)
I can’t wait to hang out. I can’t wait for us to hang out in real life in person. ⁓

GiGi (1:24:40)
It’s

going to be great because trust and then when I finally get this hip hop brunch, going to this party brunch. Yes.

Rain (1:24:50)
Then I’ll dance to Melanin Magic by Remy Ma.

GiGi (1:24:54)
Geez,

because Mia dances to Conceited.

Rain (1:24:58)
Yes, yes.

GiGi (1:25:00)
And yeah, yeah. ⁓

Rain (1:25:03)
Don’t you don’t you have an act? ⁓ What’s a big big big old freak?

GiGi (1:25:08)
Yeah,

a big old freak. I also have an axa body.

Rain (1:25:12)
dude, I don’t see that one, but I saw it.

GiGi (1:25:14)
I

only do that one at All More Logo because, you know, the producers suggested like, you know, it’s working music.

Rain (1:25:25)
I’m gonna keep my mouth closed.

GiGi (1:25:29)
I’m the word zombie in this-

Bye! Bye!

Rain (1:25:35)
He suggested it’s working.

GiGi (1:25:39)
Let me just put it this way. I am fully aware that there are certain shows that I do that I’m going to outshine. I’m either going to outshine or I’m going to match if the group is really, really like performing last night with Frankie Eleanor. It was like a match of energy. Like we know each other. So the fact that we were the bookends of this show was like perfect. Like I danced to Chloe Bailey’s Have Mercy. ⁓

Right. Yeah. And then Frankie dance to this like other like Spanish and it just work book.

So much, the energy.

Rain (1:26:17)
Oh my God, we were together. told you we were together. We were not spending on Wednesday and it was just so great being backstage with her because whenever I’m with her, usually if she’s hosting, I don’t get to be backstage with her as much, but we had so much fun.

GiGi (1:26:27)
Yeah. my goodness. Thank you so much for doing this. And you’re welcome.

Rain (1:26:31)
Welcome!

GiGi (1:26:35)
Alrighty tell the audience. Bye

Here is your auntie’s tip. Take the time to check in on you and write in your journal. Five minutes of writing can go a long way and it’s better than posting on Facebook.