Dear Culture

Bald Headed Games: Just a Phrase or a Way of Life?

Episode 12
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Bald Headed Games, a black colloquial phrase known and practiced by so many and so little at the same time. But how did we get here? Panama is joined with his panel of “blackxperts” The Ill Informed Homies in order to dissect this term and the games that go along with it here on Dear Culture. 

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Intro [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black Culture, Amplified.

Panama Jackson [00:00:03] The juxtaposition of all of it together is, chef’s kiss.  You wrong. So wrong. But you know, and I agree with you Tahira, you’re playing Bald here games right now. Yeah. Actually. By taking the stance that you took. 

Panama Jackson [00:00:22] What’s going on. Everybody and welcome back to Dear Culture, podcast for, by and about Black culture, the community. All things Black. All Black, everything, as many rappers like to say on occasion when some of them aren’t mumbling tremendously. That was the shots fired for absolutely no reason. But you know what? Hear at the culture, that’s what we do. We take shots for absolutely no reason. That’s not what we’re here to talk about today. Today we’re here to talk about something very Black. Something I probably should got an etymologist  on here because my limited research did not turn up what I was really looking for. But we’re going to talk about a colloquial Black term. So my name is Panama Jackson, the host of Dear Culture. And I’m joined today by the Ill Informed Homies podcast was I know, love, been a part of, am a part of. So I’m joined by Tahira Henderson, Jibri Griffin, and Corey Wilson. How are you all doing?

Tahira [00:01:18] Great.

Corey [00:01:19] Great.

Jibri [00:01:20] What up Panama?

Panama Jackson [00:01:22] Listen, when I decided that I was going to have a discussion about a, what I believe is a common phrase in the Black community, and we’re going to find out. I was like, who? Who would be perfect to have this conversation with? And then I thought about some of my favorite people, my panel of Blaxperts, Black Experts, who when I have a very Black question, you all are the people that I go to. I say, hey, Black people. I have a question about Black people. And that’s what we’re doing today. We’re going to talk about the term Bald Headed Games. Before we jump into heavy, I have a question for you. I have two questions to start this out with. Number one, is it Bald Head or Bald Headed Games? How do you all know this term? Jibri let’s start with you.

Jibri [00:02:09] Me with the ED, its Baldheaded, but it’s pronounced Bald Head. You don’t say, you spell it Baldheaded, but you pronounce it Bald Head. These Bald Head Games.

Panama Jackson [00:02:19] Oh, we have dissent already. So. So the ED is silent.

Jibri [00:02:24] Right. Exactly.

Panama Jackson [00:02:25] But then why do we pronounce it light skinned? Why do we make the light skinned? Like, why do we put the. Why is the EDI not silent on light skinned?

Jibri [00:02:33] Because we Black.

Panama Jackson [00:02:36] Corey, you were going to say something.

Corey [00:02:37] Yeah. No, no, ED, man, that sounds too proper, man. You gotta speak in Ebonics when you’re playing Bald Head Games. It’s  Baldl Head Games. No Bald Headed. No, no. correct English, here. No ED .

Panama Jackson [00:02:50] Tahira, what do you think?

Tahira [00:02:51] I  agree. That it’s written. Bald Headed, but it’s pronounced Bald Head. It’s unapologetic. Unabashed in your face. No, ED.

Panama Jackson [00:02:58] Interesting. Yeah. So I. When I was writing this down several times, I actually got confused, and I just used it both ways, and it was very Black. My writing was very Black in this. Sometimes I just put a Bald Head without the ED. Sometimes I added it. I confused myself. Is this a phrase you all grew up with? I grew up with this phrase. I don’t know why I grew up with this phrase. I don’t know who the first person to say it was. But did you grow up with this phrase? Tahira?

Tahira [00:03:22] I did not grow up with the phrase. I first became familiar with Bald Headed Games, actually, relatively recently. I was introduced to Bald Headed Hoe Stuff, which I kind of believe is the predecessor to Bald Headed Games. First it was Bald Head Hoe Stuff and then there became the more universally accepted Bald Headed Games in my opinion. I don’t know. You grew up with it. It’s relatively new for me.

Panama Jackson [00:03:46] I have never heard Bald Headed Hoe Stuff actually. This is, you’re literally introducing me to a new phrase.

Tahira [00:03:51] Okay.

Panama Jackson [00:03:52] That is either the originator or derivative of the phrase that I’m familiar with.

Jibri [00:03:58] Yeah. I think that speaks to the origins.

Panama Jackson [00:04:00] Yeah, it gets it. Wait, so, Corey, have you ever heard this term?

Corey [00:04:03] I’ve heard the term, but isn’t a term that I grew up using or that I heard a lot of people use around me. But I feel like more recently I’ve heard the term the term often. But yeah, I don’t I don’t use it a lot but like Tahira said. It is obviously originated with like from Bald Headed Hoes.

Corey [00:04:26] Obviously Bald Headed Hoes play Bald Headed Games.

Panama Jackson [00:04:33]  Okay. All right, we’re off to the races. Jibri, did you grow up with this term?

Jibri [00:04:40] I encountered it from time to time. It wasn’t like a common thing that we said every day or that we heard every day. But from time to time, something rose to the level of a Bald Headed Game.

Panama Jackson [00:04:49] Yeah, I. I know I heard this term growing up. I definitely been a part of my life as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t like a frequent. Like people weren’t. Hopefully you weren’t around people playing Bald Headed Games enough to use it that frequently.

Jibri [00:05:02] Exactly.

Panama Jackson [00:05:03] If you were, you had to make some changes in your life which should reduce your use of the term Bald Headed Games because you don’t need to say it. So what is actually a very situational and a functional term that hopefully is not does not need to be a part of your lexicon with your friend, group or family.

Tahira [00:05:23] Actually as I think about it, I grew up with Bald Headed foolishness, not necessarily Bald headed games, but Bald headed foolishness in my childhood, not not the. I feel like the embracing and the celebration of it is more of a recent phenomenon. But Bald headed foolishness was what I grew up with. So it’s adjacent.

Panama Jackson [00:05:41] I definitely think the internet makes everything that was probably a little more fringe, more popular. Like all of a sudden people latch on to something and then it shows up in means and all that other stuff. But we so we’ve kind of tangentially jumped into the origin story of this already, right? So I have literally spent upwards of 7 to 8 minutes trying to find out where this term originated from. If you Google Bald Headed Games, literally the first thing that pops up is Urban Dictionary. There’s like nothing else. Like there is maybe one other hit for Bald Headed Games, but it’s probably like Bald, Head, Games, kind of like it’s not really specific. I have no idea where this came from. So my, my, my go to whenever I don’t know where something came from is to make up something, right? So I’m assuming this probably originated somewhere in the 1880s where some people were. Yeah, I’m giving it the 1880s where there was a whatever the predecessor to spades was. Somebody was playing a card game over some money and it was a Bald Headed gentleman and somebody was messing around with his money and it was like, Man, you bought you playing Bald Headed Games because the guy couldn’t think of a better comeback. And all of a sudden we had a phrase that traveled somewhere from the delta of Mississippi north to Harlem, where it spread like the plague after that and trickle down everywhere else. Because because I think that’s what happens with most culture. But that’s my origin story. Does anybody else have an origin story for Bald Headed Games that they can share that might be more accurate or perhaps more reasonable than mine?

Jibri [00:07:17] I’ve only got a theory.

Panama Jackson [00:07:19] Okay. I like theories. Let’s go.

Jibri [00:07:21] I think that it probably originated somewhere around, like, “boldface lie”. Like, you know, a “boldface lie” is a more mainstream term. So I feel like we kind of took it. And y’all know, there’s few things that Black people find funnier than wigs, weaves and hair extensions. So I feel like, you know, once that wig is removed, that’s when your lie is exposed. So, you know, that’s where you got the Bald Headed Games come in. That’s what I think.

Panama Jackson [00:07:50] Bro. That is profound. I think you might have actually, like, nailed that. Honestly, that was profound, man. Anybody? Well, Corey, what you got?

Corey [00:07:59] Well, you know, Project Pat spoke of Bald Head, Scalawags in the Chicken Head, so. And I’m sure whatever young lady inspired that probably also started playing Bald Headed Games. And whoever that young lady in Memphis was that he was talking about is probably the originator of Bald Head Games. Her name probably Shaniqua.

Panama Jackson [00:08:22] So why are we throwing people name Shaniqua under the bus? What did Shaniqua do to you?

Corey [00:08:27] Seem like, you know, they started the Bald Headed Games.

Tahira [00:08:31] Okay.

Panama Jackson [00:08:32] Good ol Corey. Tahira what you got? What is your theory? Do you have a yeah. So, you know Bald Headed Hoe Stuff is where you think this started from. So where did that come from?

Tahira [00:08:40] So I think that, you know, as part of the kind of Black women taking the helm, cultural phenomenon, hot girl, summer, unapologetic, be bold, be who you are. That’s where Bald Headed Hoe Stuff came in and just like Hot Girl Summer where people wanted to mainstream culture one to make it fitness girls so summer business summer they kind of watered it down to make it more socially acceptable. Bald Headed Games is something that universally like everyone does it around the world. We just happened to do it better. Our cultural buy in  makes it more and more funny, more appealing. It just makes it better. We play Bald Headed Games better than everyone else, although everyone else plays it. I like the pattern of urban migration following Bald Headed Games around the 1800s as opposed to Corey Shaniqua. I would say I’ve known all of you through several hair phases and you all have become your true selves in your bald headed state. So I feel like the emergence of Panama became a Bald Headed Man. I would say that embracing your true self is you in your Bald Headed State.

Panama Jackson [00:09:50] Okay. Thank you for the shots fired unnecessarily. I didn’t take a shot as Shaniqua. Corey did. But you know, hey.

Tahira [00:09:57] It always love.

Panama Jackson [00:09:59] It was. You mentioned the cultural buy in because one of my questions is, is this a Black thing? And you said that this is a Bald Head Games are for everybody, but Black people do it better than other people. Please tell me more about this culture buy. Let’s dip into our anthropological bag here. Let’s talk about the cultural buy in of Bald Headed Games. Why are we so dedicated to being so good at things that everybody can agree is a negative? And, you know, the funny thing is we haven’t even defined this yet, but I’m pretty sure we can all agree contextually that Bald Headed Games are negative. So let’s do this real quick. Let’s define it before we get to the culture buy in part because I think that’s important. I’m going to tell you my definition of a Bald Head Games. I think I nailed this. It’s activities that have a negative impact on my money or my time. Those are Bald Headed games to me.

Jibri [00:10:46] Okay. Yeah, that’s I’m with that. I think it has a couple additional factors. I think that is something where you know that it’s wrong. You know that there’s wrongdoing. If you’re playing a Bald Headed Game, then you know that you are wrong. You know you daring somebody to call you out. You know what I mean? Like it’s like Think Shaggy It Wasn’t Me. Right?  That’s a Bald Head Game. 

Panama Jackson [00:11:08] He was playing Bald Headed Games?

Jibri [00:11:09] Everybody knows it was him. He know’s it was him. He probably on tape but  he gon tell you anyway. It wasn’t me. That’s a Bald headed game.

Corey [00:11:16] I like that one.

Tahira [00:11:17] Yeah, I would agree.

Panama Jackson [00:11:18] Listen, we got some examples coming later, so let’s. That’s awesome. Already. You already go down. Alright Tahira what you got?

Tahira [00:11:24] It’s games where you should be ashamed. Like you ought to be ashamed of yourself, but you’re not. The initiator of the Bald headed game is so completely unashamed, unabashed, unapologetic in their foolishness that everyone can appreciate. Even though you know that the action is wrong and you may not agree with the action, you would appreciate the style and the flair of really not caring at all. That’s where the buy in comes in the appreciation for the level of foolishness and the style and panache in which that is applied.

Panama Jackson [00:11:55] Okay, I like to use the word panache and always levels things up when we’re discussing cultural phraseology and things like that. I’m all in. Corey.

Corey [00:12:06] Yeah, I would think a Bald Headed games is just like people just, you know, having, you know, the audacity just to, you know, be upfront with foolishness and trying to get over on someone like really like trying to get over on someone. I think that’s like kind of what will Bald Head Games is that’s what I would describe it it.

Panama Jackson [00:12:28] I agree. I do think foolishness is the cornerstone of playing a Bald Headed game. Like you are engaging full stop and some absolute nonsense and foolishness that nobody asked for, nobody wanted. But you decided to bring it anyway, because that’s just that’s just what you decide to do then. Which is why I said earlier, you try to minimize the amount of time you have to say Bald Headed games, because if you’re messing around, people who play Bald headed games and your life is completely inundated with foolishness and thus you are probably not maximizing your ability to make money or or live a peaceful life. Bald Headed game players are not peaceful people. So back to the cultural buy in though. Why are we better at Bald Headed Games than everybody else? You said this Tahira. Please elaborate.

Tahira [00:13:11] Like I think Black twitter is a perfect example. Like Twitter is an international platform. Everyone uses it. But when something happens and we all latch on and either add our own stories of, you know, being able to relate or just the jokes that we just happened to be funny or we happen to be. It’s part of our culture is part of the snap culture. It’s something ingrained in us to latch on and add. It’s like a school of fish. There’s one pool and then everyone jumps in on the foolishness and makes it a much bigger living organism that is fluid. It’s a cultural phenomena and we just we’re the best.

Panama Jackson [00:13:48] So I have a question based on that, and I’m curious about you all’s opinion about what you just said, too. But so you remember like it was a couple. Well, okay, Are Bald Headed Games, negative or can Bald Headed  games just be fun? So, for instance, once when you remember a couple of years ago on Twitter when people started like recreating like Black Ph.Ds, but like using stuff like chicken heads, right? Like project pats, chicken heads, discovery and experience in the Area of scalawag. And this was something like that, right? Turning these ridiculous things into PHD sounding theses and stuff like that, dissertations, whatever it is, are those Bald Headed Games like can Bald Head Games, be fun. Are we all playing Bald Headed Games when we do this?

Corey [00:14:37] I think Bald Headed Games have to be negative.

Jibri [00:14:40] You already said that Bald Headed Gamea take away from your time and your money.

Corey [00:14:43] Yeah, I think it’s being negative.

Panama Jackson [00:14:45] But I said that. But everybody’s definition didn’t didn’t imply the negativity necessarily. It implied foolishness, which is not always a bad thing. Mine would, I use negative in mine because I’m thinking it takes me from my time, my money, but I’m not viewing it in the larger scope of. Like, if I say you playing Bald Headed Games, I’m usually mad at you, right? Like, I’m usually annoyed by something, but could we be having fun when we’re playing Bald Headed Games if we’re doing it as a community, is it I guess my question?

Corey [00:15:12] I think so. I find foolishness quite entertaining. So I could find Bald Headed foolishness entertaining. Yeah. So it doesn’t have to be a negative. Not everything in this. It could be a positive.

Jibri [00:15:24] Yeah, we have a great time with it. That goes back to the cultural buy in question that you just asked. You know, coming up with the term Bald Headed Games, that’s a good time. You know, we come up with terms that are a good time. You know, we set trends on Twitter like you guys both brought up, you know, the PHD things that, you know, Black Twitter is famous. Black Twitter is famous. Black Twitter is famous. So, you know, we know how to have a good time. We know how to make lemonade out of lemons.

Tahira [00:15:47] I would say maybe the originator lost time and money. Like somebody might have lost time and money in the process, but everyone latching on to it, it’s no loss for them. They’re having a good time laughing at the original loss, and that’s what makes it a game for us all. For instance, like Legs And Hips And Body, that’s universally bad. It was some foolishness to sit in the studio, invested studio time for that terrible song. But the jokes and the memes that have come from it are a really good time. Like it’s been years for them to see any kind of benefit for it.

Panama Jackson [00:16:24] True. I mean, but now the benefit exists, right? Because all of a sudden everybody’s paying attention to this thing again and now you get, you know, so this is so interesting to me, like because I’ve always viewed as a negative thing, but now that it’s possibly could be negative too, but it could just be foolishness that we all engage in. Like, could you walk in somebody’s house that you’re interested in some Bald Headed Games? And we all like, Yeah, let’s do that. I don’t think you could do that. Like, I don’t think you would all be like, Yeah, let’s do that. I don’t think I guess maybe you got to, maybe you start with something and sometimes I, you know, this feels like Bald Headed Games and we’re all like, Yeah, we’re having fun, so this is cool. I don’t know anymore. I need to understand this.

Jibri [00:17:01] I still think it’s negative, man. I think basically you could walk out on your homies and they’re doing something that they shouldn’t be doing. And it then you might. They might be like, you know, this is a Bald Headed Game. I’m trying to think of an example of something. I don’t have one because you guys are good guys and I don’t really catch you playing Bald Headed Games too often. But you know, I think that generally  it’s a bad thing, you don’t want to have somebody call you out for playing Bald Headed Games.

Panama Jackson [00:17:28] Yeah, I that’s how I view it. But I really am in really enjoying and loving this whole idea of the foolishness of Bald Headed Games being something we can all engage in together as a community. But I do think it has to be kind of an after the fact thing too. Like you can’t start out saying, Let’s play some Bald Headed Games because that’s like, let’s go rob somebody. Like that’s a Bald. Robbing is a Bald game. I think like that’s you playing Bald. You know what? Maybe the people who are robbing are not playing Bald Headed Games, but asking you to play, asking you to rob it, rob with them. You know, you try to play Bald Headed games right now, bro I aint with that,. I’m about to leave. I’m going elsewhere. This is this is fascinating. I love this I love the the the vastness of Blackness in all of its forms. We’re going to take a quick break here at Dear Culture, and then we’re going to come back and discuss a couple examples of Bald Headed Games. And eventually we’re going to get to some Blackmendations, some Blackfessions. We got a lot of Black people here. So this should be a lot of Blackness on display. Stay tuned right here on Dear Culture.

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Panama Jackson [00:18:49] We’re back here on Dear Culture. We’re talking Bald Headed Games with the Ill Informed Homies Tahira, Jibri and Corey. My panel of Blackxperts, Black Experts and that first segment illustrated exactly why you all are Black experts. We broke down. We use words like panache. I’m sure I use the word etymology. Somewhere in there, chicken head popped up like Shaggy made an appearance. Like literally there’s the Blackness is on display. And it is what I love most about about the culture. We are going to talk now about some examples. I, I asked everybody to show up with some examples of Bald Headed Games. I’m going to start I’m going to show you where I’m coming from because my definition was “activities that have a negative impact on my money or my time.” So here are two distinct examples of Bald headed games from my perspective. Feel free to weigh in once I share them. On Kanye second album Late Registration. He has a song called Late. In this song, he has a lyric that says, I’ll be there in 5 minutes. 5 hours later, I’ll be there in 5 minutes.

Song [00:19:56] Yeah, I’ll be. There 5 minutes. 5 hours later. I’ll be there 5 minutes. Go here. Ride with it.

Panama Jackson [00:20:03] Kanye West is playing Bald Headed Games because he just told me he’d be there in 5 minutes and I hit him back 5 hours later. He’s still only 5 minutes away. Any time people play with my time like that is vastly annoying. They are playing Bald Head Games and Kanye West has proven to be a Bald Headed Game savant over the course of his career. He has illustrated myriad ways to play Bald Headed Games from his shenanigans. All social media here running for president, I think was a Bald Headed game of the highest order. He wasted everybody’s time at his rally in South Carolina and everybody’s money because, you know, some people probably donated anyway. Kanye West’s Bald Headed game, Mount Rushmore, as far as I’m concerned. Great. Here’s another example. We all agree is everybody agree. Kanye West, a Bald Headed game enthusiast and savant experts? 100%. 100%. All right. So I was watching Friday recently. Great movie. And you know, there are a couple antagonists in the movie, but I realized that there’s one person who’s who gets done wrong that I don’t think it’s enough credit. Smokey was given some drugs by big kids don’t use drugs. Smokey was given some drugs by Big Worm to sell to get his money back. But he smoked it all up. Him and Craig smoked everything up and then Big Worm shows up is like, Listen, if you don’t have my money, I’ma kill you and I’ll kill you. Big worm would probably say that Craig and Smokey were playing Bald Headed Games. I think that’s that’s a very clear cut example of playing Bald Headed ames. They’re supposed to be making money together. But you smoked up the money. And then when I ask you for the money, you can’t you not only can you not produce the money, you can’t produce the thing you’re supposed to make the money with. Bald headed game.

Jibri [00:21:47] And as illustrated when he’s counting the money and he flips it over and keeps like, he sounds like he has more money than he has. That’s a Bald Heded Game if I ever seen one.

Panama Jackson [00:21:55] Oh, my goodness. That is the highest level Bald Head game. But it’s also an illustration of Black excellence, because that is in the moment thinking. That is very quick thinking. That is a very quick attempt to deceive somebody whose entire goal is to to make your life was to try to get their money from you. But you don’t have it. I’m all for it. All right. So, yeah, my Bald Head game enthusiast is going to be Kanye West. I think he’s on Mount Rushmore, especially in the Black community and in Friday. All right. Who wants who wants to go next? Who got some more examples?

Corey [00:22:28] You know, so because I think Bald Headed games were originated in a primarily played by Bald Headed Hoes you know I think a good example of a Bald Headed Game is wanting me to buy McDonald’s for your four kids that I didn’t father. You know what I’m saying? That’s a Bald Head Game. Like you wildin right now. And get mad cuz I didn’t show up with 4 bags of McDonalds.

Panama Jackson [00:22:52] Wait a minute.

Corey [00:22:54] Yeah, that’s a Bald Head  game.

Panama Jackson [00:22:56] So who’s playing Bald Headed games in that situation. The dude who didn’t bring the food for the kids or the or the mother asking?

Corey [00:23:03] Shaniqua playing the Bald Headed Games for asking me to bring kids for four kids food for for kids that I didn’t father she playing Bald Headed games.

Panama Jackson [00:23:11] Okay.

Jibri [00:23:12] Did you know those kids were there because I might disagree with you. I might say to bring food somewhere and not  bring enough for everybody is a Bald Headed Game.

Panama Jackson [00:23:18] I disagree. I completely agree with you Jibri 100%.

Tahira [00:23:25] Ability, that Corey’s ability to make me want to cuss and love him simultaneously is a Bald Headed Game in itself. You even bring it up this topic first of Bald Headed Hoe Stuff.  

Panama Jackson [00:23:41] But I love that. The juxtaposition of all of it together is mwah. Its chef’s kiss. You wrong. You so wrong.. And I agree with Tahira. You’re playing Bald Headed Games right now. Yeah actually by taking the stance that you took. In this particular.

Corey [00:24:00] Nah. I gotta  totally disagree with this. You asked me to bring food for the whole house for six, five, six. No, you know.

Panama Jackson [00:24:07] But she didn’t ask. He showed up with one. He showed up with one like like burger. It’s like how you go, you know, it’s other kids here. You aint even bring her nothing. How you just show up to my house, the one with one meal for one person.

Corey [00:24:20] I’m financially responsible for one person. That’s why.

Panama Jackson [00:24:22] I will say well, I will say that did launch a very entertaining week of of memes of parents shunning children, which I totally disagree with. But the Black communities ability to display disrespect to other people’s kids is extremely entertaining. By the way, Tahira . You’re going to say something.

Tahira [00:24:43] Simply Corey’s ability. But also the most recent example is that dag on Pink Sauce. Where she. This Tic Toc chef comes up with this weird concoction of expensive like ingredients and nonsense. Every batch is completely different or the nutrition information is stuff that she completely made up. She made the number of servings in angel number because it just sounds good. She slapped a label that said, okay, I’m just going to say whatever it wants on the on the nutrition information and I will put whatever I want in the bottle. Then I’m going to send cream based products and not refrigerate. Though the level of just unapologetic foolishness, I would say, is a Bald Head Game And it’s hilarious to me.

Panama Jackson [00:25:29] I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m disturbed, like.

Tahira [00:25:32] Yall havent heard?

Panama Jackson [00:25:33] I didn’t. I don’t spend enough time on social media. I have heard about this. 

Tahira [00:25:37] Yeah Tic Tok Chef comes up with a bottle called Pink Sauce. Like some weird condiment. She’s made up selling it for $20 a bottle of essentially her own homemade ketchup mix, like, you know, to put on fried chicken and various foods. The ingredients have nothing to do with what is on the label. She doesn’t refrigerate them. Several people have gotten food poisoning from this $20 bottle.

Tahira [00:26:00] Yes, thousands of people got sick with this.

Corey [00:26:05] The person who purchased this is at fault here.

Panama Jackson [00:26:09]  Well, this begs the question. You know, are those people who have been very negative, adverse reactions from these BBLS, these homemade BBLs? Is everybody involved in this playing Bald Headed Games.

Jibri [00:26:21] What’s a BBL

Tahira [00:26:22] Brazilian Butt Lift.

Panama Jackson [00:26:23] Oh you know like the famously people like you know and I’m not trying to make light of this because some people have definitely passed away because of the doing some of this stuff. And but there are a lot of people trying these homemade ways of doing some of these things and buying into it. Like, I don’t understand why. Like, if you’re going to like the altering of your body, probably needs to happen in as professional capacity as possible if you’re going to do some of these things. Um.

Tahira [00:26:51] I would say that the humor is lost in that one. It’s not like universally fun. It’s a it’s a scam. It’s a travesty. But you can’t. BBLs are funny when they look terrible when you have a straight fix, a flat booty, there can be jokes. But I don’t know that it’s fun enough to really qualify as a Bald Headed game. I don’t know.

Panama Jackson [00:27:12] Okay, that’s good. So I like that. I like that we’ve gotten to a place that we have to be careful about what constitutes the Bald Headed Game, which I think speaks directly to the foolishness aspect of it. Its foolish but harmless. 

Corey [00:27:25] It can’t be life or death, right? Gotcha. Yea.

Jibri [00:27:27] I don’t think it’s always harmless. It runs the gamut. There could be some pretty serious Bald Headed Games. I mean, if you watching the January 6th hearings, there’s lots of Bald Headed Games being played that were definitely pretty serious and pretty harmful. But my example is. So I believe there’s a current king right now. There’s nobody who can be who can touch this guy right now. Tristan Thompson. Tristan Thompson is the Bald Headed Games King right now. He’s got the crown. He’s got the championship belt. Okay. Everybody knows who his girlfriend is. He’s on several TV shows with her. Okay. Everyone knows that she’s even more famous than he is. He cheats in public and he is nearly seven feet tall. That’s a Bald Headed Game.

Jibri [00:28:17] Everybody knows what he’s doing every time he step out the house holding hands with some chick. That’s. That’s a stone cold Bald Headed Game yall. Nobody’s touching that. That’s Bald Headed AF.

Panama Jackson [00:28:32] I’m going to make a very interesting reach that I think I can support. All right. Are the Kardashians literal Bald Head Game Export Queen Pins? Because think about it, you just name Tristan Thompson. I say Kanye West. I’ma have to throw Ray J into the Bald Headed Game Hall of Fame. Ray J is absolutely. He wakes up trying to play Bald Headed Games. When he when he went on the air with his Rays Glasses and they broke it after he made a whole thing about not being able to break that’s a Bald Head Game in a…  His Verzus performance with the baby on stage is like high level Bald Headed Gameness right? But also one of the, I don’t remember which one of the Jenners which one of Kylie or Kendall did the commercial with the Pepsi that was supposed to solve racism?

Panama Jackson [00:29:27] I think solving racism with Pepsi might qualify as a Bald Headed Game.

Tahira [00:29:32] I would agree. I would agree.

Panama Jackson [00:29:34] I we might we might be on to something with the the Kardashians are Bald Headed Games exporters. Okay. All right. We so. I do I do have to circle back to Ray J here. I wasn’t planning on doing this. I actually just added him when I start thinking about the Kardashians. But I do think Ray J might literally be one of the greatest Bald Headed Game players of all time. I mean, I am I’m of the belief and you all know this, that where Ray J shows up, entertainment and foolishness exists. But it makes all of our lives better because it’s all more entertaining. I watch every show that Ray J is on. For instance, here’s a Bald Headed Game from the show College Hill. I’m watching that. Ray J  doesn’t go to class and got mad because he got a C plus. He literally got upset because he got a C plus because part of the grade was for participation. He didn’t participate because he wasn’t there and he got really upset that he got like a C when he really deserves an F or an incomplete. I feel like that’s a Bald Headed Game When you upset that you didn’t do your job, but somebody graded you accordingly.

Jibri [00:30:33] You got to know you’re wrong though. I’m not sure. You have to know that you’re wrong to be playing a Bald Headed Game. That’s part of my definition. So I’m not sure that Ray J just doesn’t have an outside sense of self that he thought he deserved something he didn’t deserve, as opposed to knowing good and well he was wrong.

Panama Jackson [00:30:49] Hmm. That’s interesting. Self-awareness, this part of Bald Headed Games?

Jibri [00:30:53] I think so.

Tahira [00:30:53] Yeah. I would say that the rest of the class like participating in the Bald Headed Game, either laughing in support. I feel like you… I feel like alone You’re on that Bull. You have to have buy in from. It can be a small community or larger community to officially be a game. You cannot play Bald Headed Games alone. You have to have others to play with you. And he was alone in that one.

Panama Jackson [00:31:15] Hmm. So you somebody has to acknowledge that a Bald Headed Game is being played in order for Bald Headed Games to be played.

Tahira [00:31:22] Exactly. Its a tree falling in the woods.

Panama Jackson [00:31:23] Interesting. I like that. I like that. You want to say some Corey?

Corey [00:31:27] No, no, I was just agreeing with Tahira. I think you need you need two. You need at least two participants to have a Bald Headed Game. Its not a one man show.

Panama Jackson [00:31:36] This is important work we’re doing here. I just want you all to know this. This is this is top shelf level because you just now now we have outline how many people are required in order to have Bald Headed Games being played. You can’t just do it by yourself then you just I don’t know what it is. If you’re just doing it by yourself, then its just sad.  You’re just makikng mistakes.

Panama Jackson [00:32:03] There’s a challenge right now on social media where people are slapping each other with tacos or things or tortillas or something like that. A tortilla is okay. Are these Bald Headed games? Because this is a very odd thing to to turn into a challenge, like we’re all harming each other for the sake of laughs. And seeing who’s going to spit out like is is slapping people with tortillas Bald hit for four clicks Bald Headed games.

Corey [00:32:26] Well I so I disagree with something Tahira said earlier and I think Bald Head Games are Black games only and slapping each other with tortillas seems like a very white thing to do, which doesn’t sound like a Bald Headed Game at all. 

Panama Jackson [00:32:41] Except We’re participating.

Corey [00:32:42] We are participating and slapping each other with tortillas?

Panama Jackson [00:32:45] The Rock and Kevin Hart are participating in this challenge, maybe as we speak.  I saw clips of them doing this as we speak. And they’re both Black.

Corey [00:33:02] Yeah.

Jibri [00:33:03] Everybody plays Bald Headed Games, but we’re the only ones that call it Bald Headed games. But everybody else plays Bald Headed Games like we are the originators of the term and we use the term and we proliferate the term. But everybody does it. Everybody does. I mean, all lives matter is a Bald Headed Game.

Panama Jackson [00:33:21] Right? You mentioned January six. You said it was a lot of Bald Headed games happening on January six. I mean, you could call that The Bald Headed Games. And I think you might be able to like to just like put a stamp on that one as the the literal top shelf Bald Headed game. Not of all time, because clearly this was, you know, derivative of the Boston Tea Party, which I’m I’m assuming Britain thought was a Bald Headed game, but the Colonials probably didn’t. There’s a lot there’s a lot to work through there. But so what do other cultures call it? I mean, it’s probably a hard question to ask since we’re not at our cultures right now. 

Panama Jackson [00:34:00] They don’t even say foolishness like we do.

Corey [00:34:02] You know, they don’t say foolishness like we do. But I feel like other cultures,….

Jibri [00:34:06] Malarkey Poppycock.

Corey [00:34:14] I dont even know what those words mean. 

Panama Jackson [00:34:14] Well, poppycock is in the dictionary that poppycock is an old term. And I think that’s probably this is poppycock that could be indicative of a Bald head game being played. Yeah.

Tahira [00:34:23] Stunts, schemes. Sure.

Panama Jackson [00:34:25] Do we have any other examples? Anybody have any other examples they would like to share of Bald head games?

Jibri [00:34:30] Just generally misunderstanding stuff on purpose. Is a Bald headed game?

Tahira [00:34:33] Yeah, I would agree.

Panama Jackson [00:34:35] Gaslighting, you mean?

Jibri [00:34:36] Yeah. Yeah. Gaslighting. Yeah.

Panama Jackson [00:34:39] Okay. Gaslighting is Bald head games. I like that.

Tahira [00:34:42] I think that the people who pack the lunches for the Fyre Festival, like even more than the owner of the Fyre Festival, the people who put the one piece of cheese and the tomato and the one piece of lettuce in the styrofoam container with the most of the the Bald Headedest of Bald Headed Hoes ever. The People who actually packed the lunch and said, here you go.

Panama Jackson [00:35:03] But wait a minute, they were trying to make lemonade out of lemons. They were literally trying their best to salvage. Now, perhaps you could argue that trying to salvage something that you already know is terrible is participating in a Bald Headed game, and you are as equally as fault as everybody else, and you should just quit. There’s literally no win to be had here.

Jibri [00:35:24] Well, once you hand it to somebody and say, here’s your line, you are now engaged in a Bald head game, right? Whether you were doing the best you could or not.

Tahira [00:35:31] Right. Once you hand me one slice of tomatio,.

Jibri [00:35:33] You know thhis aint right. Right?.

Tahira [00:35:38] And have folks get in line for it and hand it out, like feel like they’re more Bald Headed.

Panama Jackson [00:35:43] I mean.  I think everybody involved in the Fyre Festival from the top all the way down was playing Bald Headed games. I mean, the people who feel who felt fleeced, but also because of their status as influencers, felt like they were entitled to this experience, were also playing Bald Head games because they were kind of putting themselves on a pedestal that got jacked from underneath them. So, you know, the Fyre Festival is a good one and that is definitely an example of Bald Head Games, top shelf Bald Headed games, actually. So I’m with you there. Is there any reason to stop playing Bald Head Games?

Corey [00:36:20] No.

Panama Jackson [00:36:23] Like, should we as a community perhaps try to ratchet back Bald Headed games in the sake of productivity and optimization of cultural excellence? Or are Bald head games part of cultural excellence?

Tahira [00:36:38] Yeah, I would say Bald Headed games are a form of resistance in this capitalist society. You need the comedic relief of a Bald Headed game occasionally. We don’t surround ourselves with Bald Headed game players, but we need it in our lives. You don’t always need to be productive.

Panama Jackson [00:36:53] I like that. Okay. Of course.

Corey [00:36:56] Yeah, I agree. I think some level of foolishness is good. Like you need it to keep you balanced. You know, like. Like what our foolishness is in life. You know, keep the Bald headed games in there, man.

Panama Jackson [00:37:09] All right. Jibri What do you think?

Jibri [00:37:11] I mean, listen, I still think Bald Headed games  are negative. If you tell me I’m playing Bald Headed games, you can hurt my feelings. So I think generally a widespread cut back on Bald headed games just benefits everybody.

Panama Jackson [00:37:23] I have come around on Bald Headed games because I like the foolishness angle more than a negative angle, so I do enjoy a good Bald head game myself. I try not to partake of them myself, but I enjoy seeing other people engage in Bald Headed games that don’t negatively impact my life.

Jibri [00:37:37] Yeah, recognizing them can be fun. Calling out Bald Headed games is a good time.

Panama Jackson [00:37:42] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Bald Headed games is a funny term, so if you feel like, yo, you playing Bald headed games, I mean, everybody’s going to know what you’re talking about. And it gets an absolute reaction from everybody because we all know and appreciate it, even if you know, that’s not why we showed up that day. Right.

Tahira [00:38:01] Right. You can play Bald Headed games, but sometimes you do have to pull back. Yall know, I struggle with timeliness. When I started really seeing myself with the Lauryn Hill comments, I recognized that I needed to pull back on my own Bald Headed games, which is why I happened to be on time for this discussion. There are levels to the Bald head  games that we play. Self-reflection is important when playing these games.

Panama Jackson [00:38:25] You know, I wasn’t going to do it, but I’m glad you mentioned Lauryn Hill, who might be the patron saint of bald head games. I mean, she caught out the Vatican. She said she don’t want to pay taxes because of the time space continuum or something like that. Said time say her lateness, really, she wasn’t bound by like human constraints or something. Look, she really went for. But most over various like time span, you know what I’m saying? Like she’s dedicated and I love Lauryn Hill, you know. But, you know, we got to call a spade a spade here. She’s been dedicated to Bald head games for quite some time now and has proven that she is quite adept. Lord, I love you. All right. Well, we’re going to take one last break here at Dear Culture. I think we’ve quite effectively given some examples and describe a Bald Headed games are if you didn’t know. If you don’t know now, you know, you can walk away with a good idea of Bald Headed games and see how you are if you are participating in playing them. That’s why we have a panel of experts here. That’s that’s what we do. So we’ll be right back on Dear Culture with some Blackfessions and some Blackamendations. And we might have a Bald game on display because one of these people might not have a Blackfession, which would be a Bald game right here on Dear Culture. Stay tuned.

Promo [00:39:38] Don’t forget, you can listen to the Grio’s Writing Black Podcast hosted by me, Mayisha Kai. This isn’t your typical writing podcast. We interview any and everybody that has anything to do with writing. From comics to poets to authors to journalists, to politicians and more. Remember, that’s Writing Black every Sunday. Right here on theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Download theGrio’s app to listen to Writing Black wherever you are.

Panama Jackson [00:40:08] All right. We’re back here on Dear Culture with two of my favorite segments here, where we get to describe both why Black people are not monolithic is one of our favorite sayings in the Black community. In the culture here, Dear Culture, we prove it weekly. So we give everybody an opportunity to come with a Blackfession and illustrate just how non monolithic we can be. So everybody, I’ve asked everybody to show up with the Blackfession. Perhaps everybody has one. Perhaps we will see a Bald head game in action. I don’t know. We will find out in real time. So we’re going to start with you Tahira. You have a Blackfession for us.

Tahira [00:40:39] I enjoy the white singer songwriters of the seventies. I get in my emo state right now is all of the sing songy. Carly Simon, Simon and Garfunkel. Really, really white songwriters and I have a Black ass good time at home in my room and don’t let anyone know what I’m listening to.

Panama Jackson [00:41:07] Confession. I will blast this stuff in my car in southeast D.C., very loud, especially Bobby Caldwell, who I’m always amazed that people find out who are still discovering that he is actually white and Black. But okay. Got a Blackfession there. Corey you got a Black fession?.

Corey [00:41:25] Yeah, I sure do. So my Blackfession is that I hate hot sauce. I think it’s disgusting. And it’s one of the worst condiments ever created. I don’t know why anybody chooses to put that on anything. I don’t eat it. I think it’s disgusting.

Panama Jackson [00:41:41] Like as a as a genre. You hate hot sauce.

Corey [00:41:44] I hate hot sauce. Yeah, I think it’s bad. Bad stuff, man.

Panama Jackson [00:41:49] Thhat’s curious because you’re from Louisiana.

Corey [00:41:51] Yeah.

Panama Jackson [00:41:52] Where hot sauce is just part of like. I just assume they give you all that on the way out the hospital when you’re babies.

Corey [00:41:58] But for some people act like that. I seen people put hot suace on eggs. Man and put hot sauce anything. But I find hot sauce is just disgusting. I don’t eat it.

Panama Jackson [00:42:07] Do you use anything in place of hot sauce where hot sauce might typically go?

Corey [00:42:12] Yeah. So? So, like, I love fried catfish, just like one of my favorite foods. Like, people frequently put hot sauce on it. I don’t. I’m gonna use tarter sauce on that. I mean, whatever. Like, I probably would find whatever other things people put hot sauce on. Like, I’d find, like, a replacement sauce, but just not hot sauce. I just think it doesn’t taste good.

Tahira [00:42:34] Do you like spicy food?

Corey [00:42:35] Um, some would not, like overly spicy. Not like where I got to be taking a sip of water after every bite. But I like a little spice. Yeah.

Panama Jackson [00:42:44] Okay. Interesting. All right. I learned something. I had. No, I did not see that one coming. All right. That is a Blackfession. All right. Jibri Do we have a Blackfession?

Jibri [00:42:55] I do. Even though I was told by yourself, Panama, that I didn’t have to worry about a Blackfession.

Corey [00:43:00] That’s a Bald Headed Game

Jibri [00:43:03] I didn’t have to worry about it. And then you call me out on it. You know, I think that my Blackfession.. We touched on it on the Ill Informed Homies podcast, My Love for Cobra Kai and you know, the television character I see myself the most in right now is Johnny on Cobra Kai. That’s my guy. I feel like his journey mirrors my journey.

Panama Jackson [00:43:26] Interesting. Do tell.

Jibri [00:43:28] I just feel like, you know, being when you’re younger, being not quite who you intend to be and then, you know, come in to see see your flaws and and work on them and change them and and like be a better person to the people in your life. You know, I feel like I can get with that. Like, for example, Im wearing a WNBA Hoody right now. I had a daughter, so then I started respecting women more. Now that’s a joke, but.

Panama Jackson [00:43:54] That’s a Blackfession.

Jibri [00:43:58] But but yeah, man, just the journey that Johnny’s on. And I can really appreciate that. That’s my Blackfession.

Corey [00:44:04] I got a quick question. Can your Blackfession get your Black card removed? Cause Jibri and Tahira came up with some questionable  Blackfessions. Which I think should put their Black cards…

Jibri [00:44:16] Not liking hot sauce is the worst one.

Corey [00:44:18] Listen to all white seventies music. Listen to all white seventies music. And watching Cobra Kai is pretty unBlack I feel like. 

Panama Jackson [00:44:24] But I like both of those. Like. Like actively. And I like Cobra Kai. That show’s  awesome. I don’t know how you can watch it and not like Cobra Kai It’s hilarious. It’s great.  And I mean. Who doesn’t like like Hall and Oates, who doesn’t like Crosby, Stills and Nash? Like, who doesn’t like this?

Tahira [00:44:43] I mean, I like other stuff too. Don’t do that to me.

Corey [00:44:48] I don’t know. It was just a question I was just asking.

Panama Jackson [00:44:51] I see. I mean, you put out the hot sauce thing. That’s just surprising, if anything. I mean, that one just kind of caught me off guard just for so many reasons. But, you know, but I appreciate you all sharing these Blackfessionns. And I think you’re right Jibri. I think I accuse you of playing Bald Headed Game. But maybe I’m the one that played the Bald Headed game. And then and then I might have doubled it. I might have played two Bald Headed games. I accuse you of taking one, which might be a Bald game, even though I’m the one who did. I think I might have landed the double Bald Headed game. I think that’s quite. I’m going to give myself an award for that. That’s Black excellence right there. But we like to end the show on a high note by giving everybody an opportunity to recommend something for, by, and about Black culture, a Blackmendation. So everybody can just share something that they’re interested in listening to, that they like whatever. Some some way that we can pay it forward and introduce other people to new potential to things that are potentially not up on that are Nlack in nature. Does everybody does anybody have a Blackmendation they want to start with?

Corey [00:45:53] No, I got one. I just finished watching season two of the Upshaws on Netflix starring Mike Epps and Kim Fields. It’s a comedy about a guy who owns an auto mechanic shop for him in his family. I find it pretty entertaining. It’s really funny. It’s a comedy. I’m recommending that to all Black folks.

Panama Jackson [00:46:13] It is very Black. Yes, very, very Black show. Very Black show.

Jibri [00:46:18] Can I do one, a Blackfession that I hate that show. And I’m very surprised that they’re still doing episodes.

Corey [00:46:22] You’re watching you’re watching Cobra Kai with you watching Cobra Kai. But you don’t watch the Upshaws. See, that’s what I’m saying.

Jibri [00:46:28] I know. I watched it. I watched it for a couple. I did not like it. .

Panama Jackson [00:46:39] Jibri Do you have a Blackmendation?

Jibri [00:46:40] Oh, yeah, sure. I want everybody to be ready for the upcoming and final season of Queen Sugar. I want you to follow us on on our Bourbon and Bordelons. Catch up before the before the season. All right. So that’s my Blackmendation. Bourbon  Bordelons on the Black  Podcast Network and Queen Sugar on Own. 

Panama Jackson [00:47:01] Bourbon Bordelons is a podcast. It’s a podcast that you’re talking about. Nice, Tahira. You have a Blackmedation.

Tahira [00:47:08] I didn’t. But I went and looked on my phone real quick just so I could have something to participate, which is some Bald Headed shenanigans. And I found two things. I have friends doing local exhibits in museums and summertime. You know, even if you’re not a museum person and, you know, you only kind of want to be seen at the premieres, summertime is a great time to check out your local galleries and support Black artists. There’s several in the National Gallery of Art local galleries, you know, highlighting Black artists. So check that out. But on a national scale, Rap Shit it is now streaming on HBO Max and Issa Rae is back. Love her to pieces. Some of the writers are comedians that we all know and love, so we definitely want to support, you know, Black productions where people are actually taking their time to write. Its not a reality show. Their putting time and quality into the work. So we want to highlight those things.

Panama Jackson [00:48:07] Yeah, I started watching that show already. I love it. I highly entertained already on that show. So I’m with you completely. All right. Thank you for those Blackmendations. Where can we find. Where can we find you all? If you want to be found, that is, you know, where can we find you online? If you want to be found .

Tahira [00:48:26] Um, you probably are not gonna find me. The only place you would you would actually see me is on the Power podcast also with you that actually came out nicely and we’re there. It’s good stuff. If you haven’t heard it, check it out. I’m good.

Corey [00:48:45] You can find me on Instagram, C Wilson Tha Great. T H A for the Tha  because that’s how I do it. You can find me on Facebook. Corey Wilson but usually on Instagram. C Wilson Tha great.

Jibri [00:48:57] Yeah we are started plugging the podcast, the Black Podcast Network. Bourbon and Bordelon follows. Queen Sugar. Ill Informed Homies Podcast. Where we kind of talk like this. We talk about Black Culture, we talk about current events and things in the media affecting the Black community. And you can find that everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Panama Jackson [00:49:17] All right. Well, look, I want to thank you all for joining me for this conversation about Bald Headed Games. Again, this was a lot of fun. This is highly entertaining. A few Bald Headed games were played during the making of this podcast, but I guess that’s to be expected when this many people, Black people, are gathered in one place at one time. If you like what you heard, make sure you download the Grios app so you can get all the original content of theGrio  Black Podcast Network. In all the editorial written content of theGrio.  Email all questions suggestions email scams money. Please fulfill my Cashapp requests at podcast at theGrio.com. Dear Culture is an original podcast on the Grio  Black Podcast Network is produced by Camille Cruz and edited by Cameron Blackwell, the logistic associate producers, Taji Senior and Regina Griffin is our managing editor of podcasts. I’m  Panama. Jackson. Thank you for listening. Stay Black.