This week I talk about the Grammys and some key take aways from what artists are standing up to fascism and which are deafeningly silent, including reflecting on how some of my favorite bands have not said anything. I also gab a bit ab out Texas district 9 Democratic upset and and try to get you to get your friends to vote (GO REGISTER TO VOTE RIGHT NOW). I also am THRIVING with the cold weather in Florida. I talk about Depressed While Black and why you should donate to and support their work during Black History Month and all year long. Skip down passed the links to read the episode if that's more your thing! Please forgive the typos in the text / captions -- I am still trying to get into a rhythm!
In This Episode:
Fan girling over Kehlani and hyping up Puerto Rico post Grammys
Bullying you (with love) on getting everyone you know registered to vote (and voting the Republicans out of office)
Fan girling over Angie Nixon's Florida senate campaign
I make fun of the last name Wambsganss (sorry Germans)
Texas District 9 win: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/30/texas-senate-district-9-runoff-rehmet-wambsganss-special-election/
Bad Bunny wins album of the year: https://apnews.com/article/2026-grammy-awards-4d631de5d968b51276a8f06b76580e20
Kehlani Next 2 U music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpI7ekFG8A0
Kehlani Grammy Wins: https://pitchfork.com/news/kehlani-wins-best-randb-performance-for-folded-at-2026-grammys/
Check your voter registration: https://www.vote.org/
Depressed While Black: https://www.depressedwhileblack.com/
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/okayishaf
Socials
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@okayishaf
Instagram:: https://www.instagram.com/okayishaf/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OkayishAF
Hire me: https://okayishaf.com/vibes
Read this week's Podcast:
January always feels like the longest month of the year. Like, truly, it really does. January 434th. And we're finally in February. Happy Black History Month.
And what a way to start Black History Month then turning out for the Grammys. I didn't watch the Grammys, but I was following the highlights. My favorite thing to do is not actually watch things as they're happening live. I kind of watch them through the filter of commentary, through specific people that I enjoy listening to. And so there are TikTokers that follow pop culture, and they'll break down the Grammy outfits and the wins and performances and tributes and stuff. And I'll watch through that sort of lens. I don't really care. I like the music that I like. I find it interesting to see who wins what and what speeches people are making, what performances and collaborations are happening, but someone winning a Grammy doesn't really mean a lot to me. It doesn't change my life in any way. I also don't really get excited about celebrities. There's that there's a trend on TikTok or whatever that's like, what if your favorite celebrity was in the Epstein files and like... Y'all have a favorite celebrity? (I don't.)
I was happy to see Kehlani won a couple of Grammys, and good for them. They really deserved those. And they announced in their speech, I think that there's a new album coming out in March that's exciting. And of course, Kehlani stood up for marginalized people and said, fuck, ICE. They said in an interview on the red carpet that there's too many powerful people in that room for them to not say something, and it's so easy to do. It's so easy to do when you have that much money, that much power, that many connections and success. It's not hard to say anything. By contrast, I find it very interesting that everybody's favorite blond lady hasn't said anything. Taylor Swift went from Miss Americana to silence. And it's deafening. It's interesting because her fans are so weird. I saw a post on threads this morning that said that, they could tell that, like Taylor's silence and her "not showing up to awards shows means that she's grieving too. She's grieving this country too." And I was just like. Girl, what? How do you get to a place where you are so obsessed with someone you don't know? That you make up delusional excuses for them to fit whatever narrative you want to put them in to excuse yourself from defending a shitty person.
I think it was 2016. Miss Americana came out and she's sitting around like I think with her parents and her team and was like, "I can't not say something. I have to say something. He might win the election." And now either that was bullshit or, her views have completely changed. She's one of the richest women in Hollywood, in music, in the world. And has so much sway and power and influence with people. Why wouldn't she use it for good? She doesn't have to. But you have to ask yourself, why wouldn't you? A self-proclaimed feminist. Why wouldn't you want to?
And I love that Kehlani does. Always. I'm going to link down below, a music video where Kehlani dedicated the video to the people of Palestine. It's incredible. It's very well done. And, they are what I would prefer my daughter aspire to rather than anything to do with Taylor Swift, to be honest. Bad Bunny got album of the year. That's very exciting. I don't listen to his music. But people who are fans of Bad Bunny are obsessed with his music. And I'm excited that he's the first Latino to ever win album of the year, which is incredible. Very happy for the people of Puerto Rico to have one of their own take home that win. It's an exciting year for him because he's also going to be headlining the Super Bowl and he recently said that he wasn't going to be doing any, tours in America because he didn't feel like that was safe for his fans due to the ICE raids.
And I'm looking at some of the synthwave folks that I like and they're still doing tours -- especially tours in Florida -- and they haven't said much. And again, you don't have to. But it does send orange flags that you're going to come to Orlando, a place where they're trying to actively build another concentration camp where Ice raids are happening all the time. I don't know how you can't say something. To signal that people will be safe or like, are you having conversations with the venues on how they're keeping people safe? Are you choosing venues that will keep people safe? I mean, you can call me the too woke friend all you want to, and I think that people deserve to enjoy things. And also, I want to support artists who are looking out for the best interests of the people.
And sometimes when I look at what some of these other artists are doing and saying publicly, it's really tough. An Instagram post is not hard.
Do you know what things are hard a Democrat winning in a Republican district in Texas. I am so excited for district nine and Texas. There was a special a special state election there. Taylor Rehmet Won by 14 points over the Republican competitor. He's only going to be there for 11 months, but. If a Democrat in a county that that voted for Trump by 17 points in the last election. Can win by 14 points. That's an indicator of where we're going to go. And I hope it is. I hope it is. Texas has a Senate seat coming up for grabs this year. I'm rooting really hard for Jasmine Crockett to win that seat. That that would be incredible for the people of Texas.
We also have a Senate seat that's coming up this year in Florida. There's a few different people. Alex Vindman. Trump whistleblower announced his campaign. He raised like $1.7 million with the first day. And then Angie Nixon is also running, and Angie has been in the state, Congress for years. And she's an incredible lawmaker. Really excited for her to run. We'll be voting for her in the primaries. I think that she has the experience and the care for Florida that that we need and deserve. And I'm really, really excited for her campaign. Taylor Rehment's opponent. her name is so stupid, Wambsganss, it's a stupid name. I'm so sorry.
She was quoted, I believe, in the Texas Tribune or somewhere. I read that she said that a low voter turnout was the reason why Republicans lost too many Republicans stay at home. And this just echoes what a lot of Democrats have been saying. Just look at Zohran Mamdani Winning in New York. Like when, when we show up to the polls, we win. But we have to show up. We have to show up. So your homework, as always, on top of calling your congresspeople, is to get up and fucking register to vote.
Go to Vote.org to check your voter registration, all of the facts on on voting -- it's very, very easy, especially if your state has mail in voting. They will mail you a ballot, you can sit it on your phone or your tablet or computer, look up the candidates, look up the judges, look up any of the laws might be on the ballot, take your time filling it out. And then what I do is I go drop it off at my precinct. I don't trust it. I need to physically put it in the little box. And then I get my sticker and then all is right with the world.
It's been cold here in Florida. It snowed in parts of Tampa Bay where I am. It hasn't done that since the 70s in Tampa, I think. I'm thriving. I'm so excited. I love the cold. The only thing I don't love is the little cough-y and my throat's a little slimy. It's it's because my body is producing extra mucus because it's so dry. I don't have a humidifier because I live in Florida, and we don't need that shit here most of the time. But it dropped into the 30s the last two nights here which is sort of rare.
There are iguanas falling out of trees. People are like waking up to ice on their car down here. We had to turn on our faucets so they wouldn't freeze. I remember growing up in north central Florida, about two hours north of where I am now during the winter. We would have to turn on our faucets and it got it got cold enough to freeze. It got chilly for long periods of time. But down here in like, south central Florida or southwest Florida, it doesn't it doesn't really do that. But oh, man, it was very exciting. There's two kinds of Florida people -- no, there are three kinds of Florida people.
There are Florida people who hate the cold gets below 70 and they're grumpy. They're mad. The heat is on and the heat is set to 70 degrees. Now, if you're northern, if you're a northern person, you're like, that's crazy. But the heat is on and it's cranking. And then you have the Florida people who are cool with the cold because they know it's not going to last. We will take any reprieve from the heat and humidity that we can get. I'm going to enjoy this weather while we have it, because I know in a few months it's going to be fucking miserable. And I hate that for me.
But then you have the transplants, the people who moved from the north and down here who know that how cold it is down here, and know that not all Florida people are wimps, that it does get cold when it's cold. It's fucking cold. The humidity does something to you down here. It's different. There's so many TikToks that I saw of people from Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and they moved down here and they're like, "I would rather be home than deal with the 20 degrees in Florida. I would rather be back home with the wind chill and the snow.
It doesn't last very long is the thing. We don't have the longevity of it. It's not going to be like this for months. Next week, there's going to be a few days that are going to be in the 70s, and the low will be in the 50s. It doesn't last very long, but it it is cold, but I'm thriving. It's like 38 degrees outside right now as I'm recording this. I haven't turned the heat on in my house and like since I moved in here five years. I love it.
Also, it's Black History Month. All month long I'm going to be sharing posts from depressed while Black. Depressed While Black helps to raise funds and collect items for psychiatric patients who don't have the self-care items that they deserve. It is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded by Imade in 2014. She is incredible. I have had lots of conversations with her. She's so supportive and lovely and wonderful and I just want all of the success for her this month and always.
As someone who has been to a psychiatric hospital against my will. But it happened. When I was there, I had nothing. You don't get to like when you're admitted. You don't get to just like, pack your stuff you just you go and you're stuck with whatever's there. Luckily, I was in a room with a girl who chose to be there, and she shared her toiletries and stuff with me so I could shower. But I didn't have a change of clothes I didn't have shampoo, I didn't have soap. They don't give you anything. People who are in psychiatric facilities deserve to have those things because they're not provided to them.
They also provide things like activity books and Black children's books and hygiene products and feminine hygiene products and anything that you would need to make your stay more comfortable that wouldn't be provided to you otherwise. It is an amazing way to show care for people who deserve it. Because sometimes when you're in a facility like that, you don't think anybody gives a shit. It's incredible the work that she is doing
As always, I want to give a shout out to all of my Patreon. Some of you have really showed up. I went on a campaign on social media to get 150 Patrons at $10 a month. That's my goal for this year. That's what I want. That would help me to continue doing this and to continue to do more projects, see my daughter stay housed. It would be so fulfilling to be able to put my whole pussy into fighting fascism and helping others find their footing when it comes to resistance, because most people are just getting into advocating for change for the first time.
And I don't think that Black women should be hand-holding anybody anymore. It's up to white women to grab other white women's hands and say, okay, let me walk you through this. Let me, let me help you get into this pool with the rest of us and help others from drowning. Let me teach you how to swim so that you can help save others.
And so that's my goal. And as of today, we only need 145 more people have joined at the $5 tier in the $15 tier. And it has been so lovely to see so many people in the Patreon. There's also a postcard tier, and I'm really excited. I'm using. I have these if you're watching the video on Patreon or YouTube, you can see. So everything is connected. I've had these for years and just haven't haven't had a reason to send them out. But they have like they have like little activities on the postcards for all the people who receive them. So if you are on the postcard tier and I send this to you, and it has a little activity, please go into the group chats and, and show me the activity that you did with your postcard. I'm really excited for it.
Thank you to all my Patreon members. It was. This is possible because of you and I'm so so so grateful. Also, special shout out to my Twitch community who has. Really stepped up and made sure I was taken care of. The last couple of years I. Am so grateful and thankful for y'all.
I posted a video. Luigi Mangione, for those of you who don't, just briefly, before we end the podcast, Luigi had federal murder and weapons charges dropped, which means that they can't seek the death penalty for him. So I posted about that. It got removed from TikTok because I'm celebrating. Whatever TikTok, it's fine.
But on Facebook, one of the, one of the comments was like, "if he ever gets out, I'll kill him myself." I'm like, okay, Brad, sure you will. If you say so. Like it's so stupid. And then another one was like, "he killed my boss. It's not right!" Like, what do you mean? What do you mean he killed your boss? No, he didn't shut up. And then another one was like, "you're next." I was like, you're not even real, Russell. You're not even a real person. Russell. What do you mean? The comments are so unhinged from. Just from some of them are bots. Some of them are real people. But it is all just wildly unhinged and weird and silly.
So every time I get one, like, I usually just block and delete, the comments because I'm not I'm not going to argue with Nazis, but I just think about my Twitch community and how much they have my back, and that shit would never fly in a live chat. It would never fly in a live chat on Twitch. They only do it in comment sections on Facebook because they know it's going to get buried and only the conservatives are spending that much time on Facebook. I go on to delete comments.
Anyway, all my social links will be down below. All of the things that I talked about and the articles that I've referenced in the in this episode will be down below as well. Please donate to Depress While Black. Please join the Patreon if you have the if you can join in a paid tier, otherwise join in a free tier. That's totally fine. I hope you guys are staying warm out there and we will see you next week.
