Amena Brown:
Ooh, y'all. I'm so excited. I'm excited to be here for two reasons. Number one, this is the first episode of HER With Amena Brown recorded in front of a live audience. So, audience, let's give it up.
Also, I am interviewing a legend today. I'm excited to welcome Emmy award-winning journalist, host of NPR WABE Radio Show A Closer Look, the Rose Scott is here. So Rose, I have a lot of things I'm trying to ask you. First of all, you are usually the interviewer?
Rose Scott:
That is true.
Amena Brown:
You have interviewed politicians-
Rose Scott:
True.
Amena Brown:
... activists-
Rose Scott:
True.
Amena Brown:
... entertainers-
Rose Scott:
True.
Amena Brown:
... athletes.
Rose Scott:
True.
Amena Brown:
What are you looking for when you're looking for a guest to come on your show and be in the interviewee spot?
Rose Scott:
To be authentic, to tell the truth, even if that truth is, "That ain't none of your business, Rose." Which some have politely said, "I'm not telling you that." And that's okay. I tell people, "You don't have to answer any question. It'll be a short interview." Folks, to be authentic and be compelling and understand that I'm not, usually when my producers, when we have a segment, we're not trying to embarrass anybody. We're not trying to put anybody on blast. We do want to have a conversation. I might ask some difficult or tough questions, because that's my job.
But I always tell people, "Was I fair? You could not like a question, but was I fair?" My father used to say that to me. He would say, "Now, you don't like the fact that I'm asking you why are you coming home at one o'clock when your curfew is 10?" No, I ain't like it. But was it a fair question? Absolutely. That's kind of the approach that we take. We're not looking to embarrass anybody, or I'm not looking to create an emotion. I'm looking to have a conversation, and that might entail some very difficult and tough questions, but they will be fair.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, I like that. What is it like to be interviewed?
Rose Scott:
I hate this shit. And I'm so glad it's a podcast, because I was told I could cuss.
Amena Brown:
Yes, yes.
Rose Scott:
I don't get to cuss on radio. It's like, public radio you're not supposed to cuss. No, it's interesting, because I'm not used to it, but I take the same advice. I want to be authentic. I want to tell the truth. If it's something I don't want y'all to know, I ain't going to tell you. It's the same application for me. I'm no different. It's a little, I'm kind of shy about being interviewed.
Amena Brown:
Really?
Rose Scott:
Yeah, believe it or not.
Amena Brown:
I can kind of see that, because it's different when you're in the seat of someone asking you the questions. Yeah, I can see that.
Rose Scott:
I'm like, "What's she going to ask me now? She going to ask me who I'm dating?"
Amena Brown:
I feel like that would be like a HER after dark. We'll have to-
Rose Scott:
Definitely would be.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
Way after, way after dark. Some margaritas.
Amena Brown:
I want to ask you about the importance of journalism. We're in an era right now where we are dealing with a lot of not facts, a lot of things that are put out there that are actually not truth, but are put out there as the truth. Journalism has always been important, but in this moment, in this era of history, why is journalism so important for us in this moment?
Rose Scott:
Because we've been battling probably the last, I'll be fair, I was going to start with 2016, but I'll be fair. The internet, which has been a great advancement for humankind, it's been wonderful, but we're battling against instant. Someone can put something up within the next two seconds and it can get shared and read. It's not Twitter anymore, whatever the hell it is. It can be reposted and people take that as being factual. We're in a space where we have to compete with that. And I tell my producers all the time, and I used to tell the journalists when I was in the newsroom, "I don't want to be first all the time, but I want to be right." Because people remember when you get it wrong, they remember when you get it wrong. We're up against that. We're up against Uncle Bob putting something out there that says, "The president's really an alien," and then everybody shares that.
Or we're up against technology where people can create these images and these Reels that look very real, and they're not. So, we're up. We're constantly up against that. And also competing for clicks and likes and all that, because what does that do? That drives sponsors and advertisers. It used to be people wanting to know, "Hey, what are your credentials?" Now it's like, "How many followers you got? What are your socials like?" Somebody asked me that, I had no idea. I was like, my nephew's like, "Auntie, what's your socials looking like?" I'm like, "I don't know. Are they good?" He's like, "No." He's like, "You need to have more followers." I'm like, "Is that the only way you're going?" He listens to me, because I'm his auntie, but he gets his news from Instagram and what's that thing called? The Shade Room and the TikToker and all that stuff, and I know what it is, but it's like I would have rather that he got his news from credible outlets.
And so we're up against that and we have to change, I think how we are delivering and disseminating information. And it also means we need to call the BS when it is out there. I'm constantly finding with people in my own family I'm like, "That's not true." My nephew's ex-wife would not send my grand grandnephews to school because she was told that Hamas was going to come in and they were targeting the schools in Missouri.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Rose Scott:
And I had to do, I'm like, you can't keep him from being educated because of something that you see someone is posting as being factual. I'm constantly up against that with members of my own family. So, imagine society at large what we're up against, and we have to be on guard about that all the time. But I also tell people, "Y'all have to be better consumer of news if you're not. The effort that you put in when you get some new kicks or you go buy a car, you do your homework, you do your research. When you buy them little lashes, y'all know what lashes to get, what lashes not to get, right? So, do the same thing for your news."
I read and listen to a lot of different outlets, but they're credible. Do your research and be a better consumer of news. And whether it's NPR or CNN or MSNBC, or BBC, Reuters, I watch some conservative news outlets, but ones that are going to be fair. I don't care what your political leaning is, but be fair in your assessment. And we're in a space where people just aren't.
Amena Brown:
Right, right. When you were starting your career in media and in broadcasting, there-
Rose Scott:
There was no Twitter.
Amena Brown:
Well.
Rose Scott:
There were no Facebook. I had a pager. What do you mean, "Oh, wow?" Act like you don't know.
Amena Brown:
When you were starting out in your career, it seems like there was a type type. There was a type that maybe certain media companies or media outlets were looking for on radio, or were looking for on TV, and that type typically excluded people-
Rose Scott:
It wasn't me.
Amena Brown:
... who were from marginalized communities.
Rose Scott:
It wasn't me, was, I remember I went for an interview, news, because my career was in sports. My career began in sports, and I was going to be the next Robin Roberts and I can talk about football, basketball, baseball, hockey, NASCAR, and I went to be interviewed for this, it was a TV job. It was a small market station, and it was a brother behind the desk that said, "Well, you're going to need a nose job." And I hadn't started locking yet, but I was in that pre-lock stage. Y'all know, sister knows that, brothers, y'all know too, that prelock stage where here's like, "Eh," so that prelock stage and coming off a perm, whoo, that's rough.
Amena Brown:
That's a tough time. That's a tough time. That's a time.
Rose Scott:
You got to really work hard to come up with something. And I was in between Whoopi Goldberg and Tracy Chapman. That's with a little bit of Bushwick Bill.
Amena Brown:
That's a time right there.
Rose Scott:
I was at, their hair was ... My man was like, "Well, first of all, I think you might need to get a nose job and straighten your hair." And I was like, "No, man, I'm not doing that." I remember I told my father and he was like, "You don't need to do that." The first black woman I saw on television doing the news was a woman named Carol Simpson for ABC News, and then Robin Smith in St. Louis who's a local anchor. And for me that was, "Okay, that's what I want to do." But to go up against these barriers from people saying, "I have to look like and sound like Barbara Walters or Jane Pauley, whoever."
And I was like, and I always loved radio too, but I was like, "I'm not getting a nose job." I thought about it, I really thought about it, and my father's like, "You're not getting no nose job." And I was like, "I've always wanted locks." I said, "I'm going to lock my hair." I just didn't do it. I stuck with it. And radio's been a passion for mine anyway, but I've been able to do TV and documentaries and win an Emmy with locks. So, go figure.
Amena Brown:
Yo, yo. What advice would you give to people who are coming from marginalized communities and want careers in media and journalism?
Rose Scott:
I give the same advice, no matter what community you're coming from. If you want to do this job, if you want to be a journalist, and if you want to be a credible journalist because you want people to either A, learn from what you're disseminating, or you're bringing information that perhaps people haven't heard before, your lived experiences matter. We all have lived experiences and it matters, and it can help define or shape how you approach any industry. But when it comes to journalism, I think sometimes it's hard for people who are not from a specific community to understand. I've had heated debates with colleagues about, "Well, there should be this. There's always an antagonist. There's this side and that side." And I'm like, "No, I don't believe in objectivity. I believe in being fair. There's a difference."
And Gwen Ifill, who's a shero of mine would say, "My job is to be fair." That's where I get that from. Because objectivity always implies that you have to tell this other side. Well, I've covered sex trafficking. There ain't no other side. It's wrong. Now, we can have debates about policy and sentencing and all that, but it is wrong. I remember when I did the documentary, How to Stop the Candy Shop, which was about child sex trafficking here in Atlanta in Georgia. And this lawyer, there was this infamous, he was a pimp. I call him a trafficker named Sir Charles. And he would have the girls marked with his moniker and all that, and his attorney was like, "You want to talk to him?" I was like, "Nah, what do I want to talk to him for?" Now, if he has a story that might be an explanation, as far as I'm concerned, I don't know what explanation excuse you can give for trafficking kids or trafficking anyone, but especially children. Some of us don't need to talk to him. There's no need.
So, understand that if you are covering a community for which you may not be familiar with, one, be respectful when you go into that community. Research, don't go in there thinking you know all the answers. Don't go in there with this sort of process of, "I want to show these people's pain." Folks love, we call it pain porn. Folks love to profit off the suffering of people of color and poor people. And don't just drop in because it's a problem. Now, I get it. Sometimes you got to cover that story, that's your story. But for me, I'm not dropping into these Atlanta communities. I'm in these Atlanta communities. And they can call me. I feel like all of the Atlanta got my cell phone, so if you want it, I just give it to you.
Because that's not fair. I'm from that community, so I'm not going to treat my people like that. I'm going to be fair, because when you do wrong, I'm going to get you. But I'm not looking to try to get you to cry, or get you to show this emotion because it will get me clicks or whatever. And I tell reporters, "Let a story breathe. Don't put your voice over another community. Don't put your voice over another person." If I ask you a question, I put the microphone there, I'm going to let you say what you got to say. Yeah, we may have to edit for time, but I don't need to come in and say, "Jackson felt this way and dah, dah, dah, dah." Let Jackson tell his story. That's where whatever community you come from.
Going with, to me the expectation's that I'm doing a story, but I might learn something else too. And I'm definitely not going in trying to make them say something that I want them to say because the editor thinks that's what's going to get people to read more, or listen, or download, or whatever. I don't work that way. That ain't me.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, it requires a certain kind of honor that you want to give.
Rose Scott:
Well, I'm going to be fair. They're my people. They're my people. They look like me. I look like them. I'm going to go in there and then come on now. That ain't me.
Amena Brown:
Right, no, yeah. I want to transition to asking you about your favorite things. On this podcast we have a segment we do that's a HER favorite thing. We want to get into Rose Scott's favorite things. I want to start talking about snacks, because that's very important.
Rose Scott:
For sure.
Amena Brown:
A part of the premise of this podcast came from me hanging out with my girlfriends in my living room. And sometimes, depending on money or time, you may not want to go to a restaurant. You might want to be like, "We need to talk about some things. I need to come to your house." And we might not have money maybe to get the charcuterie board of our dreams. I have some hummus I opened up two days ago. You bring a bell pepper that you cut last night. We're going to bring our snacks together and hang out. When you were in this type of moment with your friends, with your people that you hang with, what is your favorite snack to bring into this situation? Are you a person who is going to buy a snack? Do you have a snack you like to make? What are the snack vibes?
Rose Scott:
With my crew, we've been around for a minute, but we call ourselves the Wakandans, but. And some of them are through from the Caribbean, so it's always going to be some type of wings. Might be some jerk wings, might be some lemon pepper wings. There's going to be some wings, probably some type of adult beverage.
Amena Brown:
Love it. Love it. Is there a favorite spirit or liquor that you prefer?
Rose Scott:
I love tequila.
Amena Brown:
All right, all right. Okay, tequila has some fans in the building.
Rose Scott:
But as a journalist you can't just be going, "I love tequila." Just keep going around saying that. But I love tequila. I think it's a great, you can just do a lot with it. Yeah, I like wine. I've been digging Snoop Dogg's 19 Crimes wine. That Cali Red is dope, right? I mean, it goes with everything, but I like tequila, I do. But as far as the other, wings. I like hummus too. I can get down with some hummus. I'm going to have a little bit more than that. And I'm a little bit older now, so I can't do as much cake as I would like to. But you put a brownie in front of me. Now, when I say brownie, y'all. Not the, y'all be making putting a little stuff in there, but-
Amena Brown:
Just to be clear.
Rose Scott:
Just to be clear, like-
Amena Brown:
A regular brownie. Okay. You want it from the edge or the center?
Rose Scott:
Give me the center.
Amena Brown:
Okay, the center brownie.
Rose Scott:
The center brownie, ice cream.
Amena Brown:
A la mode?
Rose Scott:
Yes. And then I'm there. And I like licorice. I'm a big licorice fan.
Amena Brown:
Oh?
Rose Scott:
Yeah. Licorice, the little gummy bears, Sour Patch Kids. My dentist hates me when he's like, the steel listeners is like, "Why you tell everybody you eat gummy bears?" Yeah, I'm a simple gal. I'm from St. Louis. I like barbecue.
Amena Brown:
Having had barbecue in St. Louis and in Atlanta. Is it the same? Is it different? Discuss, tell us?
Rose Scott:
Yeah, here we go. I got to rep for my people now. In St. Louis we like ... It is about the meat. And I think it's about the meat here, but if y'all boiling ribs and putting sauce on it, I'm not saying y'all are doing that, but some people do.
Amena Brown:
Some people do.
Rose Scott:
You got to marinate your meat. And you clean it, you got to marinate it. And my father would marinate pork steaks. Pork steaks are real big in St. Louis. And he would marinate them in coffee, Folgers Coffee and mandarin oranges. And then he'd put them on the grill. Then he'd throws some eggplant, because he knew I had to eat some vegetables. Like got to eat your vegetables like eggplant. That ain't no pork steak. But so yeah. And in the sauce, St. Louis, we are big on sauce too. There ain't a whole lot, but you just need enough just to give it that nice little. And I think in St. Louis too, we're more of a sweet sauce.
Amena Brown:
I see.
Rose Scott:
In Texas they like that good on, the dry rub, and yeah. Y'all don't really do sauce in Texas, but y'all do barbecue. Y'all grill. There's a difference between barbecue and grilling.
Amena Brown:
That's right.
Rose Scott:
And in North Carolinas they do a lot of that mustard. The mustard, which it's not bad. And then rib tips are big, I think here in the south. Y'all like tips.
Amena Brown:
Mm-hmm.
Rose Scott:
But we do St. Louis style pork ribs. I love St. Louis. I can't eat pork a lot, but I can throw some chicken on there.
Amena Brown:
I enjoy swine on special occasions. I think that's nice.
Rose Scott:
If you go to the store, I'm not going to mention the store. No chicken is, the chicken breast that's this big, don't get that.
Amena Brown:
Yikes.
Rose Scott:
Ain't no chicken that big, y'all.
Amena Brown:
That's a no.
Rose Scott:
Your wing should be little. If your wing's like this is a problem. I'm just saying. Ain't going to get like Oprah with the beef and get sued.
Amena Brown:
Right, okay. Because we don't want that. We don't want that.
Rose Scott:
But farmer's markets are usually going to have. My dad, we used to go straight to the barn to get the hog meat. I mean, straight to the barn after the hog had had his last rites read to him by the priest. Yeah. So, we used to, picking greens and snapping peas and all that. Y'all know about snapping peas?
Amena Brown:
Oh, yes.
Rose Scott:
And making hot water skillet cornbread.
Amena Brown:
Hot water skillet. Yes.
Rose Scott:
You know about some hot water skillet corn bread. All right.
Amena Brown:
Mm-hmm. Let's speak about it.
Rose Scott:
With some crackling in there. That's-
Amena Brown:
With the hogs.
Rose Scott:
There you go.
Amena Brown:
I felt that when you said crackling that really, it took me to a place.
Rose Scott:
And then neck bones.
Amena Brown:
Yes, neck bones.
Rose Scott:
With some butter beans.
Amena Brown:
I didn't know we were going to go to church today, but I thank you for bringing that to us. I thank you for bringing that.
Rose Scott:
No, that's all right. That's how I grew up, and I'm proud of it.
Amena Brown:
Oh, I love that.
Rose Scott:
I got the thighs to the show.
Amena Brown:
Listen, listen. Earned, earned, okay? Tell us your favorite Atlanta eats. I'm really curious about this, Rose, because you get to experience quite a few things around the city.
Rose Scott:
You're going to get me in trouble.
Amena Brown:
We know you can name all your favorites, of course, but a few places that you would say are your stomping grounds?
Rose Scott:
So, vegetarian.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
Twisted Soul, that's Chef Deborah VanTrece's place.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Very good.
Rose Scott:
I'm digging the Bomb Biscuit. And of course, both of them were just added to the Michelin recommendations. But I want to get any type of Korean inspired. I just go up Beaver Highway and pick a spot. I'm not going to mention barbecue, because I will get in trouble.
Amena Brown:
That's fair.
Rose Scott:
They'll be at my door with baseball bats.
Amena Brown:
No, we don't need that.
Rose Scott:
"Why don't you say my spot, you be over there every day?" I'm like, "Oh bro, I get you."
Amena Brown:
Those are good eats. I like it. Okay, I know you're a hip hop fan.
Rose Scott:
All day.
Amena Brown:
And I too am a hip hop fan, and I feel there's a question that used to be asked. That was your, you are going to a new school, you're starting a new job, you're just meeting some people. There was a time where the first thing you want to know is, "What's your top five MCs?" People don't ask this question as much anymore. And I want to put a parenthetical note. That's because there's not as many great MCs there used to be. But anyways-
Rose Scott:
That part.
Amena Brown:
Anyways, I want to hear your top five. What would you say?
Rose Scott:
All right, in no particular order.
Amena Brown:
Yes, of course.
Rose Scott:
So KRS-One, Chuck D, Nas, MC Lyte. And it's like three people at number five, LL, Andre 3000, and Rakim.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, that's so solid.
Rose Scott:
That's the starting five with some people coming off the bench. And then can I give you my other ones?
Amena Brown:
Yes, yes, I'm in there.
Rose Scott:
I was mad at him for a while, but Ice Cube, because Cube, Cube got flow. Man, Cube got crazy flow. He just talking crazy right now.
Amena Brown:
He is right now. Right now.
Rose Scott:
Jay-Z, Method. Yeah, that's my dude right there. Pac. And y'all know who Jean Grae is?
Amena Brown:
Yeah, yeah, Jean Grae.
Rose Scott:
Jean be so underrated, so underrated. But yeah, Jean got some [inaudible 00:24:04], boy.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, very.
Rose Scott:
She got some. And then my man from the Locks, Jadakiss.
Amena Brown:
Jadakiss.
Rose Scott:
Jada be killing people, man. So yeah.
Amena Brown:
I like that. These are good votes. Do you have newer or newish hip hop artists that you love? Do you have any that stand out to you?
Rose Scott:
I want to put Eminem on that list too and [inaudible 00:24:33] back, because that boy got crazy. I mean, I try not to be like my dad when hip hop came out. Because what he said to me though, he said, "If you're going to listen to this," because Grandmaster Flash, The Message. I was like, "Oh." He's like, "Well, why don't you listen to these cats named The Last Poets? Okay, so that's The Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron. Okay, so I don't want to be, I don't understand these young people's music. I don't understand these young folk's music. What-
Amena Brown:
Amen.
Rose Scott:
... they're saying.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, it's a struggle.
Rose Scott:
I don't know. My nephew loves Kodak Black and I hope he listening, "Dude, what you talking about? I'm trying to go, I'm trying to flow with you, but I don't know." And I like Kendrick, obviously. I like J Cole, I like Rhapsody.
Amena Brown:
I love Rhapsody, yeah.
Rose Scott:
But I mean, I like the independence of what people like Meg and Cardi are doing. I don't necessarily really, I'm not their target audience, and that's fine, but I love it. Let them be them. Because there's always a separate set of standards for the women. I don't have daughters, I have nieces, so I may not want them to listen to some of this stuff until they're older. Because they're influencers, let's be really clear. But also it's up to the parents to say. My dad said, "I'm not with NWA, but if you want to listen to it, that's fine." But also said, "You're going to listen to something else." I think that's okay. Now them city girls, woo. I had to grab a Bible to listen to them.
Amena Brown:
Boy, boy.
Rose Scott:
I'm like-
Amena Brown:
Note taking.
Rose Scott:
... is this legal? Is this moral? No, I'm just kidding.
Amena Brown:
I'm kidding, no.
Rose Scott:
But they got art and I want them to be themselves. Let them be, because look, when Lil' Kim came, we was like, "God Lil' Kim. Yeah, do it." But I grew up with like [inaudible 00:26:44] Queen, and Salt n' Pepa, and Sequence, and Yo-Yo. When she said, "Don't play with me." So, I want them to, because eventually they'll grow away from that. I mean, we all do. I'm not going to be one of these people. I wish hip hop would still embrace its roots, because it was about, matter of fact, MC Lyte told me this. I interviewed her right around the corner over there in Studio three. She said, "MCs are like street journalists telling the story." And some of these folks, they ain't telling their story, they're just telling something.
And I don't want to knock that, but hip hop was about the start as community, what's happening with us. And then also having a good time, but I realized things are different. And also what's happening, it's police brutality, HIV, AIDS. I mean, we had artists that were talking about that, so I get it. I just would hope that it comes back a little bit. And then some of this, the violence that is around it, I mean, we don't need that. And when you start making money, it's what Gz talked about, "You're making money, you need to leave all that alone." T.I. said the same thing, "Leave all that alone." And then take it, give it back to the community.
I think some of these guys that were, and women were former street pharmacists, especially during the crack epidemic, I hope that they can give back to the community, because we need centers, resource centers, drug abuse centers, substance disorder centers. Because we're still dealing with the effect of y'all selling that crap in our neighborhoods. I get it. Were no Uber wasn't no DoorDash. I think there were other ways. But now that you've made your money and you'll come up, give it back to the people. Y'all move out, which is fine, but give back, do something. We don't need no Boomer's Barbershops. Well, if that's what you got, okay, fine. But do something, because we helped you make it, so.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. I'm in agreement with all of the top that you named. I always have honorable mention for Black Thought. I enjoy, it's like if there were a most consistent MC award, like Black Thought falls in that category for me. That I'm like, "I really can't think of a bad verse. I love Jay-Z and I can think of a couple of bad verses."
Rose Scott:
I can think of a whole-
Amena Brown:
Bad songs.
Rose Scott:
I mean, Jay-Z was misogynist. I mean look, a lot of them were, I'm not knocking. I get it. I'm not knocking that, because at least Jay-Z was talking about his truth at that time. But Jay-Z ain't talking about that now. And that's what other artists should understand too. That is your template. That's your model right there. Look at Queen Latifah. Some people don't even know Queen Latifah came out with Ladies First.
Amena Brown:
That part.
Rose Scott:
They just think, "Oh, she an actress, go by Queen Latifah." No, Queen Latifah should spit that fire. And she said, "Who are you calling a bitch?"
Amena Brown:
Listen-
Rose Scott:
I was like, "Hell, yeah."
Amena Brown:
She had the Kufi. That was a time. That was a time.
Rose Scott:
I love it.
Amena Brown:
Love that for her. And I like you, I'm trying not to become a hip hop curmudgeon. I'm trying not to do that. But there is an era of it that I love very much.
Rose Scott:
Nothing wrong with that.
Amena Brown:
I try to be about, there's a my hip hop category that I don't get to decide what is hip hop, because hip hop is so broad and has grown so much now. But I can say, "This falls within my hip hop," and other things-
Rose Scott:
And that's the beauty of it. Because everyone, we got different generations here, so everyone can say, "Look, this is my hip hop, this is my experience, this is my path. This encapsulates what was happening in my community or for me." And that's okay, because 80 years from now people be looking at, "Oh, what was going on when Jay-Z was popping, or Rakim or Kodak Black." Kodak, man, if you listen, I'm trying to work with you, bro.
Amena Brown:
Just want to understand. Want to know.
Rose Scott:
What the hell you talking about?
Amena Brown:
What you mean?
Rose Scott:
Yeah, what you be talking about.
Amena Brown:
I'm normally not a person who listens to new music. And I actually got, you know how on the Apple Music app they'll have a playlist that's like, "You can listen to new music that's out now." When Cardi was first coming out, I actually decided I was going to hate listen to this new music playlist. And I was like, "Let me listen to this so I can decide what I don't like about this." And then Bodak Yellow came on and I was like, "Sis said, I don't got a dance." I got money now. I got money shoes.
Rose Scott:
That's her truth. And I'm glad. Yeah, that's her truth.
Amena Brown:
She got a fan out of me right there, to this day's.
Rose Scott:
That's her truth.
Amena Brown:
She was like, "I paid for these teeth, and it wasn't cheap." It wasn't cheap. It cost me money to get these teeth.
Rose Scott:
That's her truth. I got no problem with that.
Amena Brown:
I'm trying, Rose, I do.
Rose Scott:
I know.
Amena Brown:
I'm trying to take in a new artist every three years, and then that's it.
Rose Scott:
You're better than me.
Amena Brown:
Here's my limitations.
Rose Scott:
Yeah. My nephew would send me stuff, "You like this person?" I'd be like, "Nah." Now I send him something, you like this person. They cool. He don't want to admit that.
Amena Brown:
That he might like it?
Rose Scott:
That he might like it, yeah. I sent him some X Clan. He's like, "Ooh, they're coming hard." Yeah, I sent him some Poor Righteous Teachers. Oh, man, he was like, "Oh, damn, auntie. I can't counter this." I said, "No, you can't counter with that.
Amena Brown:
They don't have a counter.
Rose Scott:
Can't counter Poor Righteous Teachers. Who you're going to counter that with?"
Amena Brown:
Nobody. Mm-mm. I have always thought, because I shared a birthday with Busta Rhymes, that if I could have an MC do a verse about me, I feel like I would choose Busta because we share a birthday. That just seems like it would make sense. Maybe he could make the whole thing rhyme based on Amena, like he did some of his other verses. If you could have an MC rap, a verse about you, who would you choose?
Rose Scott:
Oh, without a doubt it would be MC Lyte.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
It would be Lyte. Because she gets me as a woman, as a Black woman. And yeah, no, I just say, "Come. Do what you got to do."
Amena Brown:
I would love to hear that. MC Lyte, we know you listening.
Rose Scott:
And in second, it's going to surprise some people. Second, Too Short. I got a Too Short side y'all don't know about.
Amena Brown:
I'm interested. I'm interested in this.
Rose Scott:
I got a Too Short side. Y'all don't know about that.
Amena Brown:
I'm interested in this, Rose.
Rose Scott:
Too Short, Ice-T.
Amena Brown:
I want to know about this. Too Short, I don't know if you're listening, but Too Short, we want to hear this. We want to hear this Rose Scott verse. Because I will admit, Rose, I had a chance to hear Too Short live at ONE Music Fest here in Atlanta, and it really does clear the lungs when you can just say those words with Too Short. Just being there and just out into the air, "What's my favorite word? B." I mean, wow, that's a time, bros. I can see why you would want him to be the one there.
Rose Scott:
And I like Short because he's like, "I'm not a good rapper. I'm your nephew, and this is what we talking about too short is that guy you playing spades and dominoes with and then he just going, you do something, he's just going to snap on you and then come with a line. Then y'all go have a 40 or something like that. Yeah, and I'm able to criticize too, some of the other stuff they talk about.
Amena Brown:
Right, right. We're looking for this Rose Scott mix tape where you curate, sort of like you could be the Khaled of that where you bring these artists together to make the songs you have decided. I want you to know we're awaiting that. This sounds very fascinating. I mean, Too Short and MC Lyte right there on the same album. That just sounds, this sounds like the thing, Rose, I want you to consider.
Rose Scott:
It sounds like a thing, okay.
Amena Brown:
I want you to think about that.
Rose Scott:
And Nelly's, my homeboy, he's from St. Louis, so I got a fun side too. I like to dance and party and all that, so I can bring Nelly in for that. Because one thing about Nelly, again, being true, he wasn't trying to come and say, "I'm this and that." That song, Country Grammar, y'all seen that video?
Audience:
Mm-hmm.
Rose Scott:
I swear half my cousins' in that video. I'm like, "Ain't that little bit daughter?" Mm-hmm. Ain't that So-and-so went, yeah, he kept it real. So yeah, I can show some love for Nelly.
Amena Brown:
Last question from me, and then we'll take a couple of questions from the crowd. As a journalist you have to take in a lot of stories. Some of them are heartwarming, some of them are heartbreaking also, how do you keep joy in your life? What would you say is bringing you joy at this season of life?
Rose Scott:
The fact that I got through the pandemic and everything else with that, with the social injustice rallies and covering that and the protests which were justified, let's be really clear. Polarizing politics, which were crazy. But I had a lot of grief during that time. From the end of 2019 through 2021 I lost my brother to drug overdose. Then five months later my sister died. My great uncle died, and he was 102, so he was ready to go. He's like, "I'm out. Y'all got this pandemic. I wasn't ready for this." So he went to sleep, said, "I'm gone." We was good with that. Lost some very good friends. And then I had to put both my cats down.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Rose Scott:
My cat of 21 years, she was a Siamese, and my Maine Coon was 15. And it's like all this grief. And I kept working through all of this. Right upstairs in studio 4 WABE where we're recording this podcast. And I'll never do that again. I will never sacrifice my mental health for my job. I ain't never doing that shit again. But for me at the time, it was like, I got to get through this. And I remember I found out my sister had passed 20 minutes before I was to go on air, and I don't remember the segment. I just got through it. Then I got home and I just cried. And by the grace of some good girl, you always got to have good girlfriends, some good boyfriends or whatever. You got to have that, because without them I probably wouldn't have ... It was tough, it was rough, but I should have taken time away from this job, and I didn't do that.
And then nobody was checking really on the journalists, especially the Black journalists. Nobody was saying, "How y'all getting through this?" When you see someone that looks like you from your community dying. And we've seen the video and cell phone footage of stuff before, but George Floyd was so different. Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, you're constantly taking all this in. These are your people. And then the pandemic, and then who was early on, what communities were being greatly affected. There was a disparity. It was rural communities, poor communities, black and brown communities, so you got that going on. And so it was an assistant, I can't remember her name. I would love to give her proper credit. She wrote up in the New York Times about Black journalists are not okay. And I retweeted it or posted it.
And then finally someone I went to college with, or actually he worked in sports information when I was in college, we worked together. His name was Tom James. He just tweeted, "Hey Rose, how you're doing?" And that meant the world to me, because nobody asked me how I was doing. Nobody said, "What do you need?" And so then as I started to open up a little bit more and my friends were like, "Hey, what can we do?" And I remember Gigi, she called me and she said, "How you're doing? You didn't sound like yourself." She was listening to the show. And I was like, "Gigi, it's rough." And she sent one of those edible bouquets of chocolate covered pineapples and bananas and all that and strawberries. And she came over with a bottle of Puerto Rican rum.
Amena Brown:
Love to see it.
Rose Scott:
Now, I'm not saying that's how you deal with your issues, but God damn, we dealt with it that night.
Amena Brown:
It do the work, it do the work.
Rose Scott:
But just friends, some really good friends. It was just like, "What do you need? We're here." And I should have taken time. But I'll never do that again. Because I think if I ever deal with something like that again, it's going to kill me. And no job is worth that. No job. Right now it's bringing me joy is that I got through that and I'm okay. I'm still working things out with the universe about all this death. Lost some very good friends, but we're going to work it out.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Rose.
Rose Scott:
Thank you.
Amena Brown:
I want to take a couple of questions. We have time for maybe two or three questions if anyone in the audience has one. You can say it out loud, I will also say it here on the microphone, so we'll have it for the recording. Anybody, questions for Rose? About snacks, anything? Yes, what you got?
Speaker 5:
I'm trying to be concise, since you got to repeat it. You were able to win an Emmy talking about very sensitive subject with Syrian refugees in Jordan a few years ago. What advice would you give to journalists today covering similar topics in a media environment that has put a lot of more controls on what people can and can't say?
Rose Scott:
Well, I think if you are working for an outlet that is trying to control what you say or the images that you all disseminate or show, I think you need to reevaluate who you you're working for. But I get what you're saying. When I went to the Middle East in 2013 to cover the Syrian refugees, I was covering how CARE the Atlanta organization here was helping them. It's about people. Y'all can argue all day about policy and politics. Who's wrong? Who's right? I'm talking about when people are suffering and they have nothing to do or they are the consequences, the unintended, or maybe sometimes intended consequences of a greater issue. I'm always interested in the human story and the human side of this.
And when you talk to a woman who left Syria with six kids, her husband, his arm was ... He lost his arm in a bomb blast and he bled out in the back bedroom because there was no hospital to get him to. And she still hadn't told the kids by the time I interviewed her. They still thought daddy was coming home. That story, that's what people need to hear.
Y'all going to argue all day about the government and all that, but these are human lives here. I'm trying to do it with respect. I'm not trying to get her to say something. Also, in that instance, I'm with a translator. So, what was interesting about that trip was I had interviewed another woman who fled with her daughter. And first of all, it was a 16-hour flight from ... I had to go to Chicago from there to Amman, Jordan straight, and it's like seven, eight hours difference. So, I was tired the entire week. And I'm in this woman's home and she says something and the translator laughs and looks at me. And I was like, "What'd she say?" She said, "The American looks tired, so I'm going to make coffee for her." She was worried about me.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Rose Scott:
She had lost everything. And then I get a text from somebody in my family, "They need a new phone." I'm like, "No, let's put things in perspective here." So, in covering some sensitive or complex or just tough issues or stories, what have you, my approach is to be respectful, to get what I can. Get the information I can do the interviews. It's going to be tough. And if I need to check out at some point, I'm going to check out. If it's too much, you got to disconnect. The human trafficking, the sex trafficking story we made, the center of that. The core of that documentary was about a young woman who was forced into it at the age of 12 by somebody at her church. And so I wanted Keisha to tell her story. And we did that interview right over there in Studio A. And she said, "No one ever asked me my story." So, we let her story kind of guide the rest of the documentary.
Depending on what it is, sometimes you have to really plan, "Okay, let's get this voice, get this voice, get this voice, get that." But then also, sometimes if something's missing, I say, "Well, there's got to be a human interest in here somewhere. Who are we missing?" And let them tell their story. And there are times where I had to, "You know what?" I'm sitting with the editor, this is for the documentary. I was like, "You know what? I can't anymore." I know we're on deadline, but I'm tearing up. I cry, I'm human. I get emotional like everybody else. I know I have a job to do. But when it comes to disconnect, then I go put on some Nina Simone or Tupac or whatever, Led Zeppelin, whatever I got to do to get through the night and I come back at it in the morning. I hope I answered your question.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
All right.
Amena Brown:
Yeah?
Speaker 6:
This is actually a tough question for me. I'm Muslim and a lot of the places where I value the news were covering Israel in a light that it was really tough to watch.
Rose Scott:
I can imagine.
Speaker 6:
Even the places that I respect.
Rose Scott:
I can imagine.
Speaker 6:
I think, well, so what my question is, what is your suggestion on how people should navigate this type of stuff? Because even places that you feel are safe for you to ingest what they're giving you, you realize that they're driven by finances, things like that. What would you suggest is a good solution for people to always stay on your toes as far as the news cycle, or-
Rose Scott:
In terms of the consumer? In terms of the consumer, or? Look, I love America in a sense. But we don't own the patent or the rights to credible news. Mainstream media, it's always interesting to me to see how other international outlets cover things in America. I use that same approach to something that was happening with Israel and Hamas. I suggest, seek out other outlets. I think the BBC has done a pretty good job. I think Reuters has done a pretty good job. I don't think all of the American-based outlets are doing a very good job. Look, the war is between Israel and Hamas, all right? And I think it's unfair to go after people if they're echoing cries for peace, or echoing cries to please be, show some humanity towards the Palestinians who are not the terrorists. I think people have a right to say that's how they feel. And they also at the same time say, "We feel for these 1,400 people that have been murdered by the Hamas."
Now, do we know the history of all that? Yeah. But for right now people are being killed and people are the consequences of this. And if we can't try to work towards some type of peaceful resolution, because let's be really clear about this. Israel has a very forceful military, and they should, just like the U.S., right? Hamas ain't got no chance. But who's to say that you are going to wipe all of them out? There has got to be, I'm not smart enough to know. Well, I have an opinion I ain't going to tell you. I'm not smart enough to know how they can come together in terms of, but there has to be a way. There has to be a way, because people are being murdered, and kids are being killed. There has to be a way figure that shit out. There has to be a way.
And I don't want anybody being murdered. I lost my brother in line ... My brother was murdered. He was a police officer killed in line of duty. So, I know what that pain is like to lose somebody, and to lose someone in an act of violence. I feel, because we shouldn't lump all Muslims under one umbrella, just like we do with Black folk and brown folk and white folk. And I wish I had the answer to tell you that you could go here and magically you'll get what you want to hear. Because let's be clear too, people turn to the news because they figure like ... They have their favorite news outlets, because they want to hear what they want to hear. Most people, right? Folks that watch Fox want to hear that. Folks that watch MSNBC, they're going to hear that. My job where I am is, I'm not trying to tell you what to think or how to think, but I do want to give you something to think about. I'm going to be fair about it.
And is it complex in covering this? It can be, if you're not going to thoroughly come from a place where you're really trying to see, sometimes a story is not the story. And what I mean by that is we have this bigger story with Israel and Hamas and Palestine, right? Delcourt. But I'm also interested in how are folks trying to navigate through all of this? That's a story for me. How are you navigating through this as someone who's Jewish, as someone who's Muslim, as someone who's that? Can y'all come together and work together for the good of the community? That's a story to me. That's what I'm interested in. If y'all want to argue, my platform, that ain't what we doing. I have a very powerful platform. I admit that. It took me a while to really understand that. I have a very powerful platform. I'm not going to misuse it to attack anybody or to get people to think one way or the other. That's not what y'all need from me.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
That answer your question? Did I answer your question?
Speaker 6:
Yeah.
Rose Scott:
Okay, all right.
Amena Brown:
Last one, yeah.
Speaker 7:
Who or what influenced you to want to do journalism?
Rose Scott:
That's a great question. When I was six years old, so my dad used to listen to Cardinals' baseball games on the radio, because back in the day, believe it or not, folks really loved listening to games on the radio. And there was a guy in St. Louis named Jack Buck, loved Jack Buck. I'm a big Cardinals fan. I mean Brass Eye. But look, I'm going to rep Cardinals until I die. I would hear Jack Buck, my dad would sit on the porch, listen to the game. We could have the TV on in the house, but he'd turn the volume down and he'd turn on the radio, because he wouldn't hear Jack Buck. Jack Buck was a announcer. And I was fascinated about how he would just have my daddy hooked. I could get $20 from my daddy. "Dad, give me $20. I go to White Castle." "Here you go." Because he in tune to the Game.
I lost it. But anyway, so I loved radio and I loved news and information. Before The Jeffersons came on I had to watch 60 Minutes. I was like. Or Good Times, whatever. So, I watched the news. Jack Buck was an influence because how he could control his anything around him coming out of this box. And I used to take the antenna, remember radios had the antenna, and I would pretend like I was broadcasting. I was so cute. And then I watched 60 Minutes. I saw these folks interviewing people. I saw an interview with the Shah of Iran. I was like, "Oh, cool. Interviewing all these people." And as I got older, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I didn't really know about NPR until a bit later, but I wanted to go into sports too. And so when ESPN came about and Robin Roberts, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to be like Robin Roberts." And I actually wrote to her.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Rose Scott:
And when I graduated from college, I knew I was coming to Atlanta. I ain't knew how I was going to get here, but I knew I was coming to Atlanta. I knew the Olympics were here. And I wrote to her and I was like, "I want to come to Atlanta." And she wrote me back and she's like, "Rose, Atlanta's a great place. There are a lot of people that can help you." Because she had been here. "But," she said, "The key is to surround yourself with people who are willing to help you." And that's a big difference. So, Jack Buck, Robin Roberts, Gwen Ifill, who is a big shero of mine. But also two people who were not in the industry, Toni Morrison. I was a big fan. Roger Lord. I used to read their stuff. Langston Hughes. That kept me in my Blackness. Because I like, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to stay Blackity, black, black, black, black."
Amena Brown:
There you go. Period. Very Black. Black every day.
Rose Scott:
Every day. Unapologetically all the time.
Amena Brown:
That's a great answer.
Rose Scott:
Except when you go to Alaska. No, I'm just kidding.
Amena Brown:
Right. One last one. What you got?
Speaker 8:
With all this heavy information that you receive all the time, how do you take care of yourself?
Rose Scott:
Another good question. I disconnect, like I said, I'll come home and I might put on the Cartoon Network, or I may not put anything on. Look, I work in this space, so I get the alerts from AP and all that, but I'll disconnect. I'll go for walks. I'll ride my bike, I'll hang out with friends. I dog sit my friends' pets. I'm going on a trip. I'm going to Ghana in a few months. And sometimes I just sit in silence and just listen to the universe. I know that sounds very cerebral and all chamomile tea and incense and all that shit, but it's real. That's how I disconnect.
Because you're right. It is a lot of heaviness. And you can't let that, if it gets to a point where it's draining on you, then you got to do something. You go do something else. I'll go raise llamas or something like that. But I'm not there yet. But I think I got maybe six more years maybe. But I'm going to go do something else. Yeah, y'all the future. Let the next folks do it. I just hope I'm leaving a pathway for them to be better and do bigger and better things. And for our industry to really play a pivotal role. Because the power of a free press and democracy go hand in hand. Let's make, be clear about that.
Amena Brown:
Give it up for Rose Scott.
Rose Scott:
Thank you. Got it.
Amena Brown:
What an honor, y'all. HER With Amena Brown is produced by Matt Owen for Sol Graffiti Productions as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network in partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.