Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed MAGA rapper Bryson Gray to the newsmaker line to talk about his latest hit song, “Alex Jones & Kanye,” which deals with being canceled and freedom of speech in America.
Leahy: In the studio, all-star panelist Roger Simon. Roger, we have a special guest on the newsmaker line right now. He’s been in the studio here with you.
Simon: Yes.
Leahy: It’s Bryson Gray! The MAGA rapper, who brings an element of cool to this program that we never have. Good morning, Bryson.
Simon: Don’t undersell yourself.
Leahy: Good morning, Bryson Gray.
Gray: Good morning. How are you all?
Leahy: We are delighted to have you on, Bryson.
Simon: Just keep it clean, Bryson.
Leahy: So, hey, you are probably one of the most prolific rappers out there. Not that I know a lot about rappers, but I know you and I like you because your music is really fantastic. You do a new song, like, once a week, right? Something like that?
Gray: Every Friday, even though I dropped this one on a Tuesday, but usually every Friday I release a new song.
Leahy: Now, you have chosen to put a song together about two unlikely characters to combine. So I’m very curious about this Alex Jones, the Infowars guy, who just lost a billion-dollar lawsuit. And then Kanye West, who’s been out there, very controversial …
Simon: Who can afford to lose a billion dollars.
Leahy: Who has done a number of things. He put a White Lives Matter thing out there. He’s made some controversial comments that have been criticized and Twitter has dismissed him again.
And then he just made news by acquiring a social media company called Parler. How is it that you decided to put those two together in a song?
Gray: Because the pipeline is real and the slippery slope is real. It started with Alex Jones a few years ago when they banned him from everything. They banned his bank accounts, and Alex Jones said it would keep happening to people and everybody excused it because it was Alex Jones.
Now, look at Andrew Tate. Now it’s Kanye West. And Kanye West getting banned from the bank. They banned him on every platform. He can’t even have an interview without it getting banned. So, I mean, free speech is truly under attack.
Now we have the – I guess it’s called the hook from your song, not the chorus – but I’m told it’s the hook from your song. We’re going to play that here right now for you, Bryson. Here we go.
(“Alex Jones & Kanye” song plays)
Leahy: Very good, Bryson! That’s a great one.
Gray: Thank you.
Simon: Being a white boy, I should be just totally disqualified. (Gray chuckles)
Leahy: So you know what’s interesting about your lyrics? You are very up to speed on everything that’s going on. You mentioned the cancellation of his bank accounts and you said you referred to him as Yee or Ye? Kanye West. What’s his official name now?
Gray: He is “Ye” now.
Leahy: Ye. Y-E. He’s legally changed his name. By the way, are you going to stay Bryson Gray for your career so I won’t have to refer to you by a new name?
Gray: Yeah, I’m Bryson Gray. I won’t do the switcheroo.
Simon:Â Think about that more carefully. (Laughter)
Leahy: But what’s interesting, and as we’re listening to it, so the Alex Jones thing is sort of a known thing. And they sued him for some of his statements, which apparently were not accurate, but he’s got a billion-dollar judgment.
Simon: He’s going to court forever.
Leahy: But the Kanye West thing, the Ye thing, as you say. As he would say. That’s interesting because they closed down his bank account. Closed down his bank account. And then Twitter said, we can’t have you anymore, so he buys Parler. This is interesting to me. What does it say to you as a MAGA rap artist when you see these things happening?
Gray: This is why I made the song about what’s going on. Because for somebody like me, who myself, I’m fairly controversial. Will I even be allowed to get to a certain point?
Because the difference between me and Kanye is I’m not a billionaire. The difference between me and Alex Jones is I don’t have my own platform.
So if they are taking the freedoms from these people, that’s just showing me what was going to happen to me in the near future.
Simon: Yeah, you might get lucky, Bryson, because then if a few more people cancel you, you can have your own platform.
Gray: (Laughs) Yeah, maybe so. Maybe so.
Leahy: You’re on the web at brysoncreates2.com. You can go there and see, you have a clothing line, you’ve got hats, you’ve got a bucket hat. I got to get a bucket hat. Although it looks much better on you than it does on me.
Gray: You gotta get one, man.
Simon: You know, as a Nashville guy, they really ought to give you a slot at the Ryman.
Leahy: Yes. Well, country music has gone pop.
Simon: Exactly.
Leahy: Do you know anybody at the Country Music Association here that we can push your music to?
Gray: I don’t know anybody at the Country Music Association.
Leahy: Have you met John Rich? I haven’t met him, but he actually retweeted that song yesterday on Twitter.
I tell you what, you know what? I’m going to be the musical promoter here for a moment. Are you ready? I think what we need to do is to get John Rich and Bryson Gray to do a concert together. Would that be cool?
Gray: Oh, that’d be awesome.
Simon: Hey, listen, Bryson, I’m going to get from Michael your contacts, because I want to do a profile of you for The Epoch Times.
Gray: Let’s do it, man, let’s do it.
Leahy: What’s next on your agenda?
Gray: Keep releasing music, keep releasing content. I’ve been going on Blaze TV, Jason Whitlock’s show, multiple times a week. So of course a lot of music. I just got to keep grinding until they ban me off everything. (Laughter)
Leahy: Bryson Gray on the web at brysongraycreates2.com. Congratulations on another rap hit. That was very clever. We really appreciate you.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Bryson Gray” by Bryson Gray.
