EP. 008 • Left & Right

On Episode 8 (Ocho) of I Don't Make the Rules, Mark & Larry sift through another packed lineup of topics — from global perspective to personal debates. They open by reflecting on the benefits of living in the U.S. and the lack of war on our soil, before reacting to the assassination of Charlie Kirk and its fallout (08:37). From there, they dive into the Charlotte train stabbing that killed a Ukrainian refugee, sparking a bigger convo on whether schizophrenic people should be charged the same as others for brutal crimes (15:33). Moving into lighter news, they break down Clipse becoming the first hip-hop artists to ever perform at the Vatican (18:08). Music headlines keep rolling with Cardi B's album promo (19:43), Young Thug updates (21:29), including Glorilla's diss and his follow-up apology track. The conversation shifts from music into sports, with the bridge being Ciara changing her son Future Jr.'s last name to Wilson (27:40). Mark also asks Larry for his thoughts on SMART beating Akeem Supreme in a bench press battle (30:57), leading to a quick discussion about fit Black influencers in the conscious community. Before leaving sports, they touch on the NBA Hall of Fame inductions, especially the conversations surrounding Carmelo Anthony's speech (34:15). Before closing out, Mark & Larry cover the potential benefits of Apple's new AirPods Pro 3 with live translation (39:32), react to Ghostface Killah's son calling him out for lack of support (42:15), and revisit music with Mark's personal top 5 Beyoncé songs list backlash (44:40), which prompts Larry to press him on his top 3 feature rappers of all time. They finish with a cultural debate on 50 Cent acquiring the rights to the story that inspired Paid in Full — asking whether the Black community has too many drug dealer movies, slave movies, and if they're really just two branches on the same tree (47:40). The episode winds down on a personal note: are there movies so sad you'd never watch them again? (50:30). Tap in — it's another one packed with debates, hot takes, and everything in between.