Eli

Today on the pod we're joined by Gonnie Garko. She's a Toronto or Toronto based DJ and model, we dive into how she got started on the turntables, the tracks that are in her go to mixes and whether or not she takes requests. But before we jump in my favorite segment, what's in our scrolls? To kick things off over to you, Clara? Because I know you got, you got some great ones.

Clara

I'm excited. So starting off, I think we discussed this when it first came out about Brian Johnson, the world famous bio hacker who is spending millions of dollars every year to try and get himself to be younger, he claims to have shaved off five years already, I think off of his like, I guess the age of his body. I don't know how that's measured. But in any case, he's taking it a step further, he's exchanging blood with his son, who I think is about 17 years old, in the hopes that that will sort of like help him to expedite this aging in reverse process. And, you know, in researching further discovered more disturbing information like this is not his first blood infusion of young blood. He was formerly using anonymous young donors of blood, which is probably like, worse, maybe than just taking your son's blood. He's also giving his father blood. And his father said, and I'm quoting now, that like, he's basically saying, Oh, it's so great that I like got this blood or whatever. And he's like, there's a benefit in getting this much volume of him. Like, if you haven't really sat with the article and read it through, I can't recommend enough. But basically, this sort of like blood transfusion thing, I think goes back a few years, I guess, Peter Thiel, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, he was interested in it as well. Obviously, lots of ethical implications and whatnot, but it's just like, a very creepy new development from this. Billionaire bio hacker dude, that stopped me in my scroll. Last week, or whenever this came out. Also, some really creepy like editorial shots of everyone like, I don't know, I don't even know how to describe those photos.

Trey

Am I clothed, like the Cullen family.

Clara

Am I clothed. Yeah. It's like, it's very vampiric. Like, I've seen this before

Trey

I've seen this movie before.

Eli

Yeah itt was definitely a jumpscare. But also, I find it interesting in the backdrop of all of these kind of like, quasi pseudo scientific treatments that are like in Vouge, particularly among the wealthy, obviously, this being like one of the most noteworthy but then like, alongside that there's, I feel like a widespread normalization of kind of, you know, cosmetic surgery and, you know, nips, and tucks and etc. This obviously goes to the extreme and is kind of the stuff of horror movies, one might say, maybe psychological thrillers.

Clara

Yeam I mean, I was thinking about it more in the school of like, you know, like people get like the IV treatments like Kylie Jenner and like Bella Hadid, they get these like IV vitamin treatments and like the Vampire Facial that like Kim Kardashian and others kind of made famous, like, just like incredibly grotesque.

Trey

I bet people died from that.

Clara

From the Vampire Facial? I don't know, but, that's like scary.

Eli

I'm just waiting to get the profile on the first person who was approved to take or have Elon Musk's neural link chip implanted in their brain.

Clara

Oh my god.

Eli

Editorial photos on that will be...

Trey

Isn't it Grimes?

Eli

Doesn't he have one already.

Trey

This is why we need to tax the rich, I know it's not coming with our like debt ceiling negotiations. But if there's no taxing of the rich, we're gonna hear more and more from these vampires.

Eli

The OG blood boy.

Trey

If it rubs the lotion in its skin.

Eli

Well, that's something that you can't write really. And speaking of not writing, I want to talk a little bit about the WGA writers strike, which is at this point, around one month in and as a quick refresher, the the WGA is a union that represents about 11,500 writers of film and TV, some of your favorite shows, and you might have seen some funny signs on Twitter, etc. There's a lot to kind of unpack about why they're striking, but I think the crux of it is around streaming. And making it as an a kind of middle class livelihood as a writer now is no longer sustainable. There's kind of a lot to get through with that, for the purposes of time, well, there isn't a specific article that I want to talk about, at least not as visceral as Clara's blood boy. But the one thing that's interesting to me is kind of how this will affect consumer behavior, because there's no real end to the writers strike at least one that we can see as a whole. Because all these streaming platforms can kind of sit on content that they have already. So three kind of key themes that I'm interested or curious to get your takes on as, as this writer's strike is prolonged, is one potentially a rising interest in foreign TV. So, you know, we know that Netflix has already increased investment in South Korea for content to be made their 2.5 Billion, another is TikTok, are we just gonna go further into our phones? You know, in our last episode, we talked about a lot of behavior on TikTok is mimicking that of Quibi, where full feature films are being watched in bite sized clips. And then Clara's favorite fast TV free ad supported TV, home of Freebie the home of Jury Duty. So I'm curious to see, we'll see an uptake and all those, but I'm sure both of you have at least short, quick thoughts on the WGA writer strike and where we're at right now.

Trey

Well, I was just talking to Sheila, our coworker, shoutout Sheila, who was telling me that she had recently watched XO Kitty on Netflix, which is a Korean show. And after watching that, she was recommended, like five other Korean shows. So I think like, once you kind of dip your toe and the algo kind of just comes to life and recommends you all these other global shows, which has sort of been kind of gaining mainstream acceptance since the rise of like, Elite on Netflix and other kinds of shows and remakes from other countries. Even Emily Paris, in some ways, was like a gateway drug. So now that you know America is not producing, will we kind of accept the sort of lowest common denominator culture from other, you know, countries not saying it's bad or all bad, but I just think like, it's very much tailored to a specific audience. And now that everything lives on one streaming service essentially, is it's kind of like the same everywhere.

Clara

To your point, Trey too, I think, for a long time, this sort of dominance of Hollywood, I guess, I took for granted at least and I think as like you're saying, like, streaming takes off. And there's sort of like a decentralization of a lot of these, like, where do we need to film and like, you have access to all the talent in the world, all the IP in the world, like, if they're doing it better for cheaper in South Korea, like, sort of what is the answer from Hollywood and like US entertainment in general. And I think that like the writer strike, like they obviously should be striking and like they should be compensated fairly for their work. And I think that, I don't know, it's kind of all to say it's kind of a testament to maybe the state of American entertainment on the whole. And to that point, you know, we talked about like Fra-tigue, and I saw an article about how like, IP is the new talent, like there aren't really any next gen Hollywood actors that can carry an action film the way that Tom Cruise can.

Eli

And just, I mean, okay, that's some fan girl fan girl.

Clara

You know, okay, it is.

Eli

Can you just take one, maybe three steps back? Explain what Fra-tigue is?

Clara

Okay, Fra-tigue is the concept of like, Marvel movies are getting beaten to death, like the Super Mario Brothers movie that every piece of IP intellectual property is getting, reaped and sold ad nauseam over streaming platforms over movie theater releases over video games, and it's like, how much can we possibly extract from every single thing that's already popular? And a lot of that is maybe not the fault of the actors is that, you know, like a Timothee Chalamet. While he is, you know, a darling among some Gen Z girlies doesn't really have maybe the action chops or like it's perceived that he doesn't, to carry a big sort of like action blockbuster, or like, carry a rom com and get moms and middle America into theaters the way that Harrison Ford can and he's like, 80, something years old, in Indiana Jones, you know what I mean? But like the Star Power Factor just isn't really coming out anymore, and that instead of relying on Star Power studios, or relying on IP, which I mean, you can agree, disagree, it puts a lot of onus on like actors to be, I guess, more compelling to viewers, which I don't know, but I thought it was an interesting take as like a corollary to all of this that like, you know, the dominance of certain, shall we say, like well, trodden paths of whatever but...

Eli

Final take?

Clara

That's my final take.

Eli

Trey, I need to know what's in your scroll.

Trey

So I've been reading a lot about peak dupe. First of all, a confession session, have any of you purchased a dupe of another product?

Clara

I mean, I buy stuff that's cheap and probably is a dupe, but I don't know it's a dupe.

Trey

So, if you've been anywhere near TikTok, in the last like year or so, you've definitely come across dupe culture. So essentially, they're cheaper alternatives to expensive products and they kind of flood TikTok and all of these TikTok creators, you know, have their Amazon storefronts, which are curated dupes that they get affiliate income from, but essentially, dupes have become so proliferated, I suppose, in culture that now brands and mainstream brands are kind of embracing dupes. So recently, L'Oreal tapped multiple sets of twin influencers to make ads for one of its shampoos, which is a dupe for a high end item that looks like one of Olaplex and Whole Foods posted a dupe alert video about the dupe snacks itself, which are like organic and gluten free versions of Oreos and Coke and like Cheez-its. And then I'm sure you've all heard of this one Lululemon invited customers to a dupe swap where they can trade in their copycat leggings, that Lululemon align leggings have long been kind of a popular item to dupe. So they could trade in their copycat leggings for a pair of real ones. So I think it's just so strange, because while dupe culture originally I think was there to, you know, satiate people who couldn't maybe afford the higher end versions of the thing. What they are getting is like often fairly crappy made versions that have no resemblance whatsoever to the thing, and they are essentially just knockoffs. But now there are like knockoffs of knockoffs. So this sort of like counterfeit culture is just everywhere. And there's kind of like no end in sight. And now brands are fully kind of embracing it to hop there maybe lesser expensive products or talk about their offerings, but I don't know it feels a lot, the same as like the iterative IP discussion where it's like, how many versions of this same thing are we going to get before? We're all just sick? And we want some originality.

Clara

Just sick.

Eli

Yeah I'm literally sick. But I agree, like, there's kind of a Russian nesting doll of duplicates. And I do think there's a ton of parallels to the Fra-tigue to kind of how far can we stretch this IP with a slightly different alteration? Because there is kind of a creativity crisis. Maybe it's not necessarily even a creativity crisis. Maybe we're just not putting the funding and effort into people who are doing actually interesting things. But yeah, I'm certainly Fra-tigued with all the dupe conversation, that's for sure. I'm over it, like, yeah.

Clara

But yeah, I think what's also interesting, like with the Whole Foods example, is using dupes to basically talk about products that are not dupes like Whole Foods, gluten free vegan, whatever Oreos are not dupes of Oreos, right? But I mean, like, they're not cheaper. They're not more delicious. They're just shitty, dry biscuits. Like, meant to be a dupe of Oreo, but they're just like, and so shittier one, and this happens, though, across everything, where it's like, I get all the TikToks it's like, here's like, some aesthetic Home Essentials you need. And it's some girls like $16 like, whatever like composition notebook these like $17 pens that like don't even write well. And then like aesthetic, paper clips, and all of this shit. And it's like these aren't Do you know what I mean? Where there's like the reverse to do right, like a more expensive aestheticized sized version of something that's so mundane, that I'm like, how much do you need to have taste? Or feel like you have taste that you have to buy aesthetic paperclips? You know what I mean? And I'm not trying to come for any of these girlies necks. But at the end of the day, the line has to be somewhere and I'm drawing it about the home goods and the Oreos.

Eli

Drawing it with with your Sharpie dupe.

Clara

I'm drawing it with my Sharpie dupe.

Trey

Well is that vampire blood guy like duping his son?

Clara

He's duping his sons plasma. But yeah, I mean, surely there's a metaphor here to be explained.

Trey

We're gonna dupe ourselves to death.

Clara

dupe silly.

Eli

Yeah. Anyway, as always, I'm super interested in hearing what stopping your guys's scroll some great takes, as per usual, and I can't wait to dive into part two of the pod so tune in!

Gonnie Garko Welcome to the pod. How're you doing?

Gonnie Garko

I'm doing excellent. How are you?

Eli

I'm good. I'm good. So you are a model a DJ. I'm assuming a fan of Richard Kelly films. Is that where the name comes from? Donnie Darko?

Gonnie Garko

Oh, is that who directed it? Because I honestly didn't even know who directed it. I'm just like obsessed with Jake Gyllenhaal. And sometimes I think I'm not real, too. So...

Eli

I think we can all we can all relate a little bit to that though. Is that where the is genesis of the name?

Gonnie Garko

Yeah, so I'm definitely into film and definitely, like, not a big nerd. Like I can't say I know the most but when I was like, 15 and a half or 16, I was also really into Halloween as well. So I changed my Instagram for Halloween because I was like, oh, yeah, that's so cool. We'll totally change your name to something great for Halloween. And I was just gonna keep it for a day. But then it kind of stuck. So it was Gone Girl and Donnie Darko, were my vibe at the time. So I just combined them. And I think there's still my vibe today.

Eli

It sounds like it would become like a niche TikTok aesthetic, like Gone Girl, Donnie Darko. Cool. So let's dive in. I'm curious to hear about kind of how you got started in the music space DJing specifically.

Gonnie Garko

So when I was younger, I played instruments just like every kid did in school, like playing like the flute or like whatever. I played clarinet. And then once I got to high school, I started doing guitar. And then I had to stop because I have a deformity on one of my fingers. And it just like pained me too much. So I had to, like I couldn't go as far I don't know, chords yet. But I just knew, like, since I was a kid that I needed to be involved in music in whatever capacity I could be. And since that wasn't working out, and I didn't know any other instruments, I did try to learn piano

and I got discouraged from continuing but anyways, I used to listen to a lot of mixes on SoundCloud. I would listen to Soulection a lot OVO Sound Radio. I was really inspired by Kaytranada and like his boiler room sets as well. I was having to, watching boiler room sets at that time two, and I was like, you know what, I need to go do this because it seems like is not that hard. And guitar was pretty hard, even though I understand sheet music but I was like yeah, like you know, the finger thing. So I told my mom that when I was 15 and then the following Christmas, she got me my first mixer which was like a Numark Mixtrack Pro 2 or something like that. It was really tiny, and you couldn't do that much with it. And I only had Serato DJ Lite, because we didn't have a lot of money. But I did what I could with what I had. And then I really just wanted to make SoundCloud mixes because I've always been pretty socially awkward and like very anxious around people. So like the fact that I'm where I'm at right now is like insane because I'm so I'm still pretty afraid of people, but I figured out how to make it work for me.

Eli

How would you like define your style? And was it kind of like immediate to you you like the type of music you play? Or was it some or has it like evolved over time? For instance?

Gonnie Garko

I believe that it definitely has evolved over time. In the beginning I was very like R&B centric. I would dibble and dabble with Dancehall and like SoundCloud rap and this and that. Like house, Kaytranada stuff like just pretty much everything I grew up on but I can say over the years I've gotten more into like, Balie funk and like reggaeton and just like more electronic music because over time going to more parties and like just experiencing the world more like there's it's there's just so much out there that like I can't even name the actual what genre any of like most of my music is at this point because it's just so like, all over the place. But in general overall, it's always been pretty like open format like I've always been into every genre just not. I wasn't as well versed in every genre as I am now.

Trey

Can you tell us when you kind of figured out that you know gotten something going because I know you've played like some insane events, some crazy parties, I wonder if you can just kind of like, name drop a bit of like the things you've done musically. And then, you know, was there a moment for you where it was like, damn, everyone was really into what I'm playing.

Gonnie Garko

I think that the first like, oh, wow moment was I did boiler room, I think I was 18 or 19, I think was in 2019. But I think my birthday is in September. So I was literally like 18. And I was so so nervous. And it didn't necessarily go the greatest because I was super nervous. And I wasn't allowed to drink. Because I was under age and it was in New York. So yeah, I was like, so nervous and jittery. But like my mom, my boyfriend at the time, my best friend, my sister. My mom's best friend. That's like my aunt, my mom's other best friend. That's like my aunt. And then my ex boyfriends best friend, like all came out for me. And I was like, wow, guys, like, this is cool, because I never, I knew like what goals I had in my head. But like actually putting them down on paper makes it a completely different thing. So when that was something that I had

written down, like three years prior to, and it became true, I was like, Oh, yes, here we go. That was a tough time for me though. Because there were some people being kind of mean, like saying that, like I wasn't ready. But I tried my hardest to practice, like in the upcoming weeks, it was very last minute as well. And I had just switched over to USBs from laptops, so I was like learning something totally new. And I still did it. But that's why I'm so nervous. And that's why it's not the best boilder room set ever. But I'm still glad it happened. And I'd love to do another one one day. I think that more so recently that like after that it was kind of just like... like went down because I was just like in Toronto doing like, whatever the heck. I did like the Do Over event in Toronto with Adidas. I did OVO, RBC, Tiff? maybe not Tiff. I don't know, there were three different major brands for that event. I did that event. And I was like, Oh, this is fun. This is nice. So it was like, kind of the boiler room was in maybe like March or something. And then it went like a little down. And then in the summer things pick back up. And then it's kind of just been like up from... Oh, it has its waves because like I live in Canada once it gets cold there's nothing going on in Toronto. But then Okay, so now sorry, I'm going on and rambley. But now more so I get so much more love when I'm in the US versus when I'm here. So let's say I'm here and I'm doing a night at like Apartment 200, my guest list is like four people. Well, now I have more friends. I have a lot more friends now.

Trey

Yeah. your the DJ, you can throw people on the this it definitely gets you some friends I bet.

Gonnie Garko

But then opposed to like when I was just in the Apartment 200 in LA like, let's say my list was like 35 people like 40 people my list for the Favela event that I just recently did out there. It was like 80 People like it's just like, people are so much more welcoming to me and like just less like hating I could say, unless like afraid of me. I don't know, because I'm little bit of like local celebrity, niche internet micro celebrity, like in Toronto. And it's like people are afraid of me and think I'm too cool or something sometimes. And I'm like, bro, like, just tell me when it comes to the party. And I'll put you on this. Like it's not a big deal. But yeah, feeling that love that I feel when I do parties out there when people see that I'm out there. And they're like, oh my god, can I book you like that? Feels really good to me. And when all my friends show up or even like strangers and stuff, and they come out just to support like, it's really nice.

Trey

One thing I'm curious about too, because, well, especially because of your age, and I know you're so talented for your age, but like, as a young person, the thing on every young person's mind is like how do I build a name for myself? Especially, you know, in our business, we talk to like a lot of influencers who are like, how do I become more visible? How do I work with brands? How do I get noticed more? I wonder if that's ever been like a game plan for you or something you've thought about or like, try to plan in a way or if it just happened organically? Like do you have any tips? I guess?

Gonnie Garko

I think that everything has kind of happened pretty organically. Like, I get a lot of questions like that, too. And like people asking for advice. And like, I never did the like hashtagging or like anything I just posted photos on then it just went up. But it also, I feel like another misconception that I just want to touch on really quickly is that I didn't have followers before I started DJing. And I think a lot of people dismiss me and my talent, because I have followers and like, I'm a DJ, and I'm just like a pretty light skinned girl. But like, that's not why, oh, that's not why I became a DJ is what I'm trying to say. I wasn't just like, oh, this is, yeah, I have followers now I'm gonna do this. Like, it wasn't like that. I think that just doing things like organically and like not trying too hard. Like, you should try your best. But like overcompensating to try to get to something to try to be in a rush isn't really like the way that life goes, because people will see that you're trying too hard. And they'll be like, oh, this person is like such a try-hard. Calm down.

Trey

So I think though, what you're maybe saying and not to put words in your mouth is like you have been always authentically yourself. Which is also not easy for a lot of people. I wonder, in that sense, like, how did you kind of come out so confident and you know, just own who you are. And like what you're about without feeling like it's like, package it up nicely in a hashtag or like aesthetic or whatever.

Gonnie Garko

I think that like, so for something like Instagram, like, I just don't really take it too seriously. Obviously, I want to post like a good time of day, but that doesn't even count anymore. Because like the algorithm is crazy. But I think that, like just the way that my mom raised me in the way that she is like, she's insane. And but she's like, fully herself, like she's always fully been herself, like her humor, her style, everything. And my grandma is the same way as well. So we have like a family full of like a lot of strong women. And so growing up like that. I was usually pretty confident in myself and like, able to express myself however I wanted within my household. It wasn't the same at like school, because I went to predominantly white schools, and I was in Catholic school. So once I switched to public school, I was like, oh, yeah, we're trying everything. And that was around the time I started DJing as well. Yeah, it's also it's not easy. Being yourself. 24/7 because people look at you crazy. A lot people, a lot of people think I'm crazy. But I also think my mom's crazy. And I think my grandma is crazy. So I guess we're all crazy. But I'd rather be crazy than boring for real, like, it's way better to be crazy than boring, because we're just boring ever gonna get you, nowhere. So everybody should be crazy.

Clara

Curious to that like to what you were talking about, about sort of like being yourself and like prioritizing, like your own authenticity and like vision, like you were saying at the beginning, sort of some of the brands and like the places you've worked, like, I'm curious for you in terms of like, any criteria that you have in terms of like evaluating whether something is right or wrong, sort of for where you want to go and like the types of places that you want to show up. Like, you don't have to name any names or anything like that, but just sort of like red flags and green flags you look out for like when someone floats in opportunity by you, if that makes sense.

Gonnie Garko

I think a red flag is if I know that someone who was male has worked with them before and they got paid more than what they're offering me. I don't appreciate that. I would like to go for like some equality or something or reparations, you should pay me more. But there's that and also just anything that has any history of like, being anti black or is not like currently working on bettering that and being more inclusive also size inclusivity and like I just there's some brands that are just like really corny in terms of like aesthetic, and product and like just things that aren't like quality. I am also not super into what was the other part of the question sorry. Sorry, it

Clara

Oh sorry, it was red flags, red flags and green flags. So like positive things that make you want to do a project like that or an event?

Gonnie Garko

I think positive things are when they're like really excited to work with me or like if a brand has produced like really quality work or is like always working with like POC beginner brands like or like, like brands that are starting up like I'm I wouldn't be afraid to work with them or anything like it's just all about, like, if the brand really has like passion or like a message or sometimes if the stuff just looks cool. It looks cool. It has a good vibe.

Clara

Oh, totally. I mean, I'm curious to your point as well like what you were saying at the beginning of, you know, knowing that you know, a friend of yours or someone who you know, who's a guy has gotten paid more and sort of looking at the track record of different brands, because one thing we talk about a lot is sort of like how people like our age like sort of Gen Z and younger are a lot more open about things like patrons currency, bad experiences with brands, good experiences with brands, but this sort of like network of influencers, it's like maybe a little bit younger than like, the OG IG influencers, a little bit less inclined to like, I don't know, like mince words, or like, actually have conversations amongst themselves about rates and things like that. So I'm curious, like, have you found sort of like a good community? Do you feel like sort of among the music community that like people are open about discussing those things are just like, what has your experience been? I guess on that side.

Gonnie Garko

I feel that my experience has been different when I'm interacting with people that are around my age, like around like, 20, to like, 19 to like, I don't have any 19 year old friends like 21 to like 25. There are a lot lot more open about it, because we're all just still coming up. Like if I'm talking to someone who's 30 about it. One, I'm not really comfortable sharing my pay with them, especially

if they're like male, because I already know that they're getting paid more than me most of the time. But when I found out, I'll be like, Okay, well, what did you get for that? And I'd be like, oh, like, let's say, it was like, 1k. But then I know that I got like, 3k I'm like, Oh, ha, ha. So that feels

like sometimes, but yeah, people older, generally seem to ask me more, versus it being like a discussion. Like, they're more like, nosy about how much I make. And I usually just don't discuss it with them. But I feel more open talking to people that are my age about like, yeah,

like, that's not a good rate or like, that's a great rate that's a good one, you should do that. Or you should ask for more. Like, I don't think that that's really worth your time. Kind of thing. So, yeah, I've been hanging around people my age a lot more lately. So the past couple months of my life, and it's freaking amazing, because we all understand each other. It's great.

Trey

Can you walk us through the process of like, how a brand approaches you? Do they give you a brief of like, what they want to hear at their event or party or whatever? Where are you just like, I'm only taking, you know, carte blanche. Like, how does it work?

Eli

And do you take requests? Sorry.

Trey

I thought you had a request!

Gonnie Garko

Well, requests yeah, I do normally no. When it's like a corporate gig or like a fashion gig. I'm like, Yeah, I will I have to listen to you guys. But when like, because they're like the client. But when I'm just like at the club and somebody like drunkenly comes up to me, I'm like, okay, like, what song is it though?

Eli

Yeah, you know when they pull their phone up?

Gonnie Garko

I wish they would do that. So I wouldn't have to talk to them and smell their stinky breath. That's way better. But yeah, if it's, I really like to say no now, and I like to say yes to things. But I love to say no, when I don't want to do something because I'm, I'm so polite about it. But if the songs trash respectfully, I'm just gonna be like, no, I'm not doing that. Like...

Trey

Wait give us some of the songs. I'm dying now. Like, what's a no Gonnie song.

Gonnie Garko

I know would definitely be like. Dude, it's hard because I love a lot of corny bad songs. Not gonna lie. One example might be if somebody's like, can you play like, some like house music? And I'm in the middle of like, bashment like dancehall set going crazy. And I'm like, Dude, I love house music. But just like, read the room. Like, oh, somebody asked me to play Taylor Swift once and she does have like, I heard her in the club the other day. I guess somebody asked my friend to play Taylor Swift and he was like, yeah, totally. So I heard it. And I was like, this is lit. So maybe next time someone requests Taylor Swift I should just say yes. But it'll always be the wrong time though. Like I'm it's like it's so energetically black in here right now. And you're like yeah, I play like country music like no bro not right now.

Trey

Did you grew up with Dancehall or how did you kind of discover more of that? Like, was it trips to Jamaica? Was like listening session. Like how did it kind of...

Gonnie Garko

All of the above so my dad is Jamaican, and my mom is native and white. But growing up, she was always around a lot of Jamaicans so she knows a lot about the culture and I was raised in a single parent household, I still saw my dad and stuff like that's, that's my guy love that guy. But yeah, so if it was like, we were on a road trip or like, music was always playing like it was never not playing unless we were like watching TV or something or I was in my own room playing my own music and she's in her own room playing her own music. But like cleaning the house, like, we'd always be playing reggae or like, the laundrapp that drives reggae. The first time I went to Jamaica, I was, like, 15-16, I went like, two or three years in a row with my mom and my brother was my I have five half siblings. But they're all Jamaican, too. Yeah, so I found like, a lot of new music through going to, like the dancehall parties out there. Not gonna lie, I didn't love the experience. But that's because I do have social anxiety. And I was drinking at the time, but my mom didn't know about it yet. So I couldn't drink in front of her. And like, we'd be there, we'd go at like, 1am It'd be there until like 6am. And I'm just like, here with my mom. She's faded. My brother's faded. I'm just sober little 16 year old girl like, ah, but it was like a lot of things to see that shit is crazy. It's amazing.

Trey

Um, okay, we have a special segment that we have. For you to kind of talk through a couple of different things we're seeing happening in the news, I'm gonna kick it over to Eli. But

Eli

Cool. Thanks for that, Trey. So basically, how this is gonna work is I'm gonna run down, well, actually, I will go first and read a headline, maybe a little bit of background, just to get the lay of the land. And then from there, you will respond with a few different options. There are six of them. Is this news? Or is this news? Still processing. Send to the group chat. Who did this. Stop scrolling or open your wallet? And I can re-up those after I read the headline because I know damn well, I'm going to forget all of them as well. Cool. So I will kick things off and then hand it over to Trey and Clara. So the first one, orcas have sunk three boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same, but why? And just a quick blurb because I feel like this one needs a bit of context. So it's believed that a female orca named White Gladys experienced a quote, critical moment of agony, such as getting tangled in fishing gear, which turned her against boats. And she's now teaching other orcas to do the same. What's a you?

Gonnie Garko

Oh, I think that's a slay. And I think was it news or news? Is that what you said? Eli 37:57

Yeah, it could be is this news? Still processes? Sent to the group chat? Who did this? Stop scrolling and open your wallet. Although I think that's a slay could be added to that as well.

Gonnie Garko

You should add that.

Eli

All right, cool. We'll leave it at that then.

Gonnie Garko

Girl power.

Trey

Right. And I dropped them in the chat just in case you need a refresher.

Eli

Clara that's where you come in with your pun, because I don't want to steal steal the joke.

Clara

Oh, you can steal it. My pun was orchestrated, which makes more sense. Yeah, it makes more sense when you read it. Yes. Yes. I was excited about that.

Gonnie Garko

That is a great pun I wish I thought of it.

Clara

You can have it too. You know, it's like sharing the puns.

Eli

Can you use it. Can you use as a transition like a track transition?

Gonnie Garko

Totally. Exactly.

Eli

All right, Trey, over to you.

Trey

So because people in Sweden just do not care about news a Swedish newspaper is having AI rap its articles in an attempt to get young people interested in the news what say you?

Gonnie Garko

Who did this and stop scrolling because I hate like AI like just them making things.

Trey

Yeah, did they come for like DJ stuff much or like?

Gonnie Garko

Oh yeah, they're starting to come for it man. Yeah. Oh man songwriting which is like I'm trying to get into that, like I do that but like not professionally obviously yet. But everything that I want to do they're coming for. Even like jewelry making which my sister does they're coming for all of us.

Trey

Oh my god. That's very scary. All right over to you Clara.

Eli

Now they might be coming or pets but basically my one is about: there's been two articles this week one talking about I'm sure you've seen this like on trips to New York and probably other cities. But with all the outdoor dining that has gone up in the past few years, more and more dogs are being allowed In different restaurants and some people are more happy about that than others and this one guy in the UK wrote an opinion piece this week about how people that have dogs and take them out you know to restaurants should be taxed like in a similar way that people like cigarettes and other stuff has like a sin tax associated with it to basically de-incentivize I guess like being really psycho about taking your pet out everywhere with you so curious your thoughts? On dog taxes basically...

Gonnie Garko

He should open his wallet to everybody that he disrespected by saying that because I love my dog

Eli

Way to turn it around!

Gonnie Garko

We need reparations for that because that is so mean if I could take my dog everywhere and smoke cigarettes at restaurants I will

Eli

Honestly large you speak for a large majority of folk.

Gonnie Garko

I got all these folks. Got your back guys.

Eli

Well, actually. What is this in the independent Samuel Fishburne? That's a British name if I've ever heard of one.

Gonnie Garko

Open your wallet.

Clara

Yeah AI generated for sure.

Gonnie Garko

Not real, NPC.

Eli

AI generated Mr. Beast.

Clara

Oh God, the comedy central roast of Laurence Fishburne.

Trey

Awesome. So before we close out, I just am curious what's next for you? I'm wanting to know where you're heading this summer. What events are you. Where can we see you? Where can we find you what is happening next for Gonnie Garko. Open up that diary.

Gonnie Garko

I'm just free balling it for real. Like I'm only 22 once. It's like I'm hitting the yellow button so hard this year, because everything that I wanted to do, I'm not waiting anymore. I'm getting it done. And it's happening. And YOLO.

Trey

That's our mantra to here at Day One FM. Amazing.

Eli

Cool. Well, we learned about when it's right to do DJ requests and your thoughts on a pet tax. So thank you so much for coming on the pod today Gonnie. Really appreciate it. Real quick, where can our listeners find you on social, Spotify wherever.

Gonnie Garko

On SoundCloud, it's Gonnie Garko. On Instagram it's Gonnie Garko. On Twitter, It's not Gonnie, but only look at my Twitter, if you're ready to giggle and you're non judgmental, on Spotify, I think it's also just Gonnie Garko, and I am going to be releasing more playlists on there. I have one titled humble abode which I'm going to also follow by like a very small like interview series. Yeah, there's that and then also with SoundCloud, I'm going to be dropping new mixes because my older ones are not reflective of how much better I became. They are not reflective. I just have to put this out there. They're not reflective. I'm much better. So I'm dropping a dancehall mix before Caribana, naked beauty bar.

Eli

Cool. Well, thanks so much for the time today. I really appreciate it.

Gonnie Garko

Thank you so much for all your guys's time.

Eli

Thanks for listening in. Be sure to check out more on d1a.com/perspectives. And sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter to get the latest trends and insights directly to your mailbox.