Episode 016: For The Love of The Game (Feat. Van Lathan)

Van Lathan is our guest today. He's a academy award winning film creator and renowned media personality. Many know him from his time at TMZ in which he most famously 'checked' Kanye West, others know him for being a host on 'Higher Learning' and winning an academy award for Best Short Film. The episode kicks off with Akademiks and Van talking about women in Miami, jewelry and respecting women. Conversation then goes back into the history of Van and Akademiks back in high school/college and brings up the age old question of if Nerds are winning. Van explains how its possible to navigate and escape out the friend zone and how that was a effective strategy in college. Things get a bit more serious when Van attempts to hold Akademiks accountable for the effects of his 'War in Chiraq' series on the city of Chicago. Akademiks offers pushback in questioning where the energy is at for others who are more influential in that city for example rappers. Akademiks and Van discuss what Akademiks considers 'The League' and Van questions if some of Akademiks motivation is because of hurt he's suppressed from the past. Akademiks discusses 'beef' with other podcasters which Van also has a relationship with and also questions if there is hypocrisy when others are mentioned compared to him. Conversation gets even more heated with Akademiks accusing Van Lathan of spinning and avoiding giving honest criticism about others he might consider his peers. As you may expect, there isn't much of a resolution in most things discussed but nonetheless it makes for a entertaining episode.