- You out on a date,
who should pay for the date?
- First date it should definitely be to dude, respectfully.
- Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- What is she ask him out on a date?
I'm not going into it
like she she's paying the bill, nah.
That's some bum (bleep).
(jazzy music)
- All right, I'm Kenny Warren, AKA @_theaverageblackman.
I'm from Portland, Oregon.
Work here in Harlem, Levels Barbershop.
White people go to therapists,
black people go get a haircut
and they leave looking better.
We giving each other support, advice.
Your barber/client relationship is crazy
'cause a dude will cheat on a girl
before he'll cheat on his barber.
People serious about they barbers,
especially in New York City.
(smooth R&B music)
- All right. How you feeling?
All right, have a seat.
- [Kris] What's up y'all?
- Good to see you, man.
- Another day. - Yeah.
- My name is Jonathan. - Aye, how you doing, man?
- So what's your name, man?
- Fitz, Fitz G, Fitzgerald,
any of the three cool with me. - All right.
- [Kenny] You from New York?
- I'm originally from New Haven, Connecticut.
Out here working on my music.
- [Kenny] What type of music you do?
- R&B.
I actually just dropped a EP last month.
- [Kenny] So you are somebody?
- You know, I'm trying to be.
- Would you say Beyonce
is at the same level as Michael Jackson was?
- If she's not right now she's definitely on her way.
- Do you think her being married to Jay Z
had anything to do with her superstardom?
- I think it complemented it
'cause she was definitely Beyonce before.
'Cause even for him to get with Beyonce
it was like, damn Jay pulled that?
- Beyonce is major but Mike was like,
Mike was so major
that people let they kids stay at his house at night
when he didn't have no kids.
- Come on, man.
- If you ain't got no kids, (Fitz laughing)
I'm not letting my son come to your house!
For what?
You ain't his coach.
(energetic funk music)
- So who's your favorite rapper?
- Definitely Drake.
Drake is the best rapper in the world.
- Drake?
He from Canada.
- He has rhythm.
He's got like these offbeat rappers nowadays.
- How you feel about Kendrick Lamar?
- Yeah, he's fire.
- [Fitz] I'll put Jeezy in there for sure.
- Jeezy?
Where you from?
J Cole for sure.
- Andre 3000 always on my list.
- Yeah, Andre is fire.
- How you feel about to Tekashi69?
- Nah, he's a snitch, I don't listen to snitches.
- You don't listen to snitches?
Oh!
- Who would you say it was one of the white artists
that we in the black community accept?
People like Hall & Oats.
Eminem.
- I don't know, man, Eminem been tripping lately.
I don't know if everybody still accept him like that.
- So you're saying nobody want to hear
no Eminem at the cookout?
- Nah, they gonna listen to him
but do they want to invite him?
- Nah, I wouldn't invite Eminem to the cookout per se.
He get a little aggressive.
- What about JT, man, Justin Timberlake?
- Justin Timberlake is definitely invited to the cookout
and we'll listen to his music.
- He gonna come and bring some stuff,
that's what I like about him.
He seem like it.
He'll come with a recipe,
you got to help out a little bit.
- Kim Kardashian.
- Oh, Kim-- - Kim Kardashian.
- She coming whether she invited or not.
- 'Cause the Kardashians is gonna get them a black man
somewhere, some way, somehow.
They be getting some pretty well-to-do brothers.
They're not really just gonna go get
no broken down dude and take care of them.
(rhythmic organ music)
One of my boys from Portland,
he was playing for the Spurs back about seven,
about seven, eight years ago.
He was supposed to be having a date with Nia Long.
It was during that Black Women Rocks thing
they was doing a few years back,
and he was kind of like,
"Yeah man, her people contacted my people
"and we were supposed to go on a date."
I was like "Knock her up."
He did it.
And I'm sure he thanks me to this day for it.
You out on the date,
who should pay for the date?
- I mean for me,
because it's two dudes in my situation,
whoever gets to the bill first.
If I'm in a relationship with you then that's the vibe.
But if I'm taking you on a date
and I ask you to come on a date with me
then I'm like, "I'll pay."
I'm expecting to pay 'cause I asked you to come with me
or vice versa.
But if we together and we in the actual situation
then we need to be fighting over who's gonna the bill.
- All right, so now I'm asking
what you think of there's a dude and a girl?
First date it should definitely be to dude, respectfully.
- Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- What if she ask him out on a date?
- First date, respectfully,
as a man you should pay.
- If a girl asked me out on a date she paying.
- Nah. Nah. - Yeah.
- Are you kidding me?
- If she suggests at the table, like, "No, I got this,"
then that's different.
But I'm not going into it like she she's paying the bill.
Nah, that's some bum (bleep).
- Nah.
- First impressions are everything.
- Yeah, but if she asks you on the date,
that's her wanting to pay.
She feel like you worth paying for.
(jazzy music)
Lot of times when we'd be in these relationships
there be the moments where you find out
if y'all really love each other or not.
When would you fart around your girl?
Or when would it be okay for your girl to fart around you?
- That's a tough one, man.
'Cause after they start they don't stop.
Let her fire off any time if y'all live together.
- I think if it just happen while I happen to be tapping
then I feel like that's part of life.
But if she do it while I'm eating
I'ma have a problem with it.
You understand?
- You can't do while you're eating
but you can do it while you're beating, I feel you.
- How old are you? - I'm 12.
- Oh, you 12.
So you probably got a girlfriend.
- No. - No?
- Nah, nah, nah.
- You had a girlfriend
would you ghost her ever?
- Yeah. - Oh, little Casper.
- Why you act like that?
- I got other stuff to worry about.
- People be wanting, they gotta get in touch with you.
- --.
- Look at that shape up.
I would of did your mustache but I'm waiting till you're 13.
(Jazzy music)
- The advice that I hope to give these young brothers
is that be true to themselves,
go with your inner feelings,
but at the same time
let different types of people
and different types of cultures do their thing
without us kind of criticizing them so much or whatever.
But just in general I just want them
to just be at peace with themselves.
You got to look at yourself in the mirror.
(jazzy music)