Zuby (Round 2)
Zuby (Round 2): The Polarization of Social Media, The Genius of Kanye West, & Why Donald Trump Is Not a Fascist
@ManoaRaine
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Today on Auxoro, I speak with Zuby, a rapper, author, speaker, Oxford graduate, and host of his own podcast called Real Talk with Zuby. Of Nigerian descent, Zuby was born in England, was raised in Saudia Arabia, and is now based back in England.
2019 was a huge year for Zuby. He saw his Twitter following grow from 15,000 to over 175,000 people. He also appeared on some of the biggest podcasts and programs in the world including but not limited to:
In early 2019, Zuby went viral on Twitter after posting a video of himself breaking the British Women’s Deadlift record. In this episode, we discuss Zuby’s travels across the US, the genius of Kanye West, the culture war in America & the UK, building a following on twitter, his journey through fitness, and more.
Here are a few highlights from the conversation:
“I’ve had so many great opportunities to go on some of the biggest podcasts, do some of the biggest interviews, and go on some of the biggest interviews in the world” (4:20)
“Twitter is one thing, but nothing beats the real world. Nothing beats meeting people in person.” (7:09)
“It’s hard to gauge how many people you are really reaching...what kind of influence and impact you’re having. It’s something all musicians deal with. You make a song, you make an album and put it out there. You can see that 100 thousand people have watched the video on YouTube. At that scale, it’s easy to lose what that means. When you think of 100 thousand people, in this weird internet era, to some people, that doesn’t sound like a lot. That’s a small city. Even if one-tenth of those people are genuine fans, you’ve got a gigantic audience.” (9:00)
“People don’t need to be boxed into their immutable characteristics, their demographics, or anything like that. There’s a groupthink mentality where people think in a collective and go along with what they’ve been told, rather than dissecting things and looking at different sides of arguments - thinking for themselves.” (14:00)
“Sometimes it is necessary to say the stuff that should be obvious and should apparent because a lot of people don’t want to voice certain opinions due to social pressures.” (16:00)
“A lot of what I do on Twitter is starting conversations and debates. I’ll purposely kick the hornet’s nest because I know people are going to react in a certain way. Then it’s like, cool, let the discussion begin. I like to understand how the world works and how other people think, whether I agree or disagree.” (18:30)
“People talk about the culture war and how America’s never been more divided. That may be true in some ways, but look, I’ve been in states now for 8 weeks walking around meeting people from all different cities. As far as I can tell, things look pretty normal. With social media, things can be more polarized and amplified than it is in real life.” (21:30)
“If Donald Trump were really a fascist, you’d be in prison for protesting outside of the White House. There are lots of countries where if you go outside their parliament and shout how much you hate their leader, within minutes you’re going to be locked away, if not beaten or shot. In the United States, people have the freedom to say what they want - to have dissent and debate.”(23:00)
“As long as people are talking, they’re not fighting.” (26:40)
Deplatforming and the treatment of speech as violence (31:00)
Kanye West and Jesus Is King reaching the top of the charts as a Christian album (36:00)
“Kanye has always been a free thinker. When all these rappers were rapping about violence or dressing in a certain way, making more gangster oriented music in the early ’00s, Kanye was the one who came out in the pink polo shirts and the backpack. He’s never been afraid to go against the grain” (37:00)
“People have such short term memories. Kanye West was the guy who ten years ago came out and said rappers should stop being homophobic. He took a lot of heat for that. Now, LGBT lobbies are saying to boycott Kanye because he mentions Chick-Fil-A on his album. Have you forgotten everything else he’s said?” (38:00)
“One of my goals in life is to, as best as I can, understand the human experience.” (45:20)
Cultivating an array of creative skills - 21 Lessons For The 21st Century (47:00)
“We’re already there in some ways, but I think in the future each person is going to be their own media company.” (50:00)
Tim Pool (50:30)
“It’s a good time to be a truth seeker and a truth speaker. People are hungry for it.” (52:20)
T.I. and Alex Jones Podcast (59:00)
Strong Advice: Zuby's Guide to Fitness for Everybody (1:00:00)
Some things mentioned in the conversation:
21 Lessons For The 21st Century
This actually Zuby’s second appearance on Auxoro. If you’d like, you can check out his first episode right here: Apple | Spotify | Overcast
Listen and Learn:
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Google Play | Stitcher
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