Kevin Samuels, Joe Budden and the Politics of Ashy Ni***S
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I have lots of thoughts about this entertaining, but deeply misinformed interview
Last week, famously problematic and retired Emo-rapper Joe Budden decided to have dating Guru and “Life Coach” Kevin Samuels on his Podcast. For those of you who aren’t in the know, Kevin rose to fame when a video of him giving very colorful relationship advice to a woman was posted on Worldstar And then went viral.
Kevin’s basic idea about love and relationships is that Black women are struggling to find love because they demand a “high-level man”, defined as an “Alpha Male” who is a high-level earner and established in the world, but are not willing, or do not have the skills to do the things it takes to keep one. He believes that “High Level” men desire women with a specific physical look, are without children, submissive, and have strong home-making skills.
These ideas are grounded in a worldview that sees women as lesser beings than men and is generally supported by people who have shit stains in their underwear and believe that using lotion will convert them to homosexuality. Having said that, toxic masculinity is the norm of society, so he has a lot of believers. This is why Ashy Ambassador, Joe Budden wanted him on the show.
The interview, which you can find here is an hour and 20 minutes of Kevin’s worldview. During that time he explains how the de-emphasis of marriage has hurt both Black women and men. Turning Black men into “grass-eating lions” and Black women into overeducated “wanna be alphas” who can’t keep a man.
There were a lot of things wrong with what he said, but I plan to only address a couple of things. Let’s get started with the basics.
During this hour-plus-long interview, Kevin repeatedly assumes that women are entitled and that most, if not all of them want to be married. For example, at minute 16:29, he starts to ask the question, “if Black women are doing well, why is their average weight going up, and more women being diagnosed…
