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The rapper, podcaster, and author talks about “freedom, liberty, and all of that good stuff.”
Nzube Udezue—better known simply as Zuby—is a rapper, podcaster, and author known for an engaging mix of personal uplift and political provocation that led to a highly publicized (if temporary) suspension from Twitter in 2020.
Born in England to parents of Nigerian descent and raised in Saudi Arabia, he now spends much of his time in the United States, where he criticizes identity politics on shows like The Joe Rogan Experience. He has built a massive following on social media and has just published a children’s book designed to showcase the benefits of good nutrition and self-control.
Earlier this year, Zuby spoke at a Mises Caucus event at the Libertarian Party convention in Reno, Nevada, where he said he was overjoyed to be “talking about freedom, liberty, and all of that good stuff.”
Reason caught up with Zuby at FreedomFest, the July meeting of Libertarians held annually in Las Vegas, where we discussed his experience of the pandemic in eight different countries, his defense of tweets mocking transgender athletes (and his support of rights for trans people), and why he’s bullish on the future of individual responsibility and freedom.
Produced by Nick Gillespie; camera by James Marsh and Noor Greene; edited by Adam Czarnecki and Danielle Thompson.
Photos: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, Attribution CC BY-SA 2.0 license
Music: “Designer Cowboy Boots” by Boi Ecchi via Artlist
I wasn’t familiar with Zuby but I think he has some well sorted ideas and I like what he’s doing with his platform. Solid interview.
"he's bullish on liberty"?
🤣 Apparently he never learned the trend is your friend 🤣
"This delusional Clown clearly has White Privilege"
– Charismá Oliphart Gorgonzola, 13th year Pre-Colonial Peruvian Social Equity Studies sophomore at Ché Guevara State, Napa Valley Campus
18:30 WOW the gaslighting! Yes the US is racist. But of course those that are privileged are blind to it.
Zuby? Really? Jfc
Damn Reasons comment section has really turned into The Hill or The Krystal Ball show. lol
Please stop pushing this grifter
All this completely ignores the one underlying fundamental that prevents any step in the right direction. As long as Women hold the power there's no going forward.
Too bad he didn't get to educate Nick on the difference between BTC and Bitcoin.
Great interview with Zuby. His confidence in his values is needed in these times.
I'm an American who spent twenty years abroad. I liked what Zuby had to say for the first half, but then he sounded completely corrupt when he whitewashed the change on the Right. Thanks for asking him about that, btw. The Republican Party today has elected leaders who openly proclaim themselves to being Christian and "Anglo Saxon" nationalists. That was never true before. Trump very deliberately focused on hatred of foreigners to provoke his audience. There is a shift on the Right favoring totalitarianism and racial supremacism. If you spent time abroad and actually studied the politics of other countries, you'd know this isn't new. Other countries have seen the rise of politicians using populist and radicalized nationalistic language. Modi in India, Erdogan in Turkey. Zuby may have attended an interesting school in Saudi Arabia, but he doesn't really know much. Yes, America is better than most of the world. Keeping it that way requires more than just flattering the country with praise. The same liberals he denigrates are the ones protecting America from devolving into a totalitarian ethno-state, which is more favored today by one of the two political parties than it ever has been in US history.
For the algo
Ah yes, a softball interview of a notorious transphobe and grifter, who stirs up bs to sell merch. Good job, Nick!
When Zuby was talking about the importance of traveling out of country, I had an idea how to get the American youth to do just that. When people graduate from high school, there we should require that they all either serve at least one tour of duty in a branch of the military or the same amount of time in an organization like the Peace Corps. That would give them all a chance to see what life is like in other countries and we could do for all of them what we do for military vets today…pay for a four-year degree. That would have the additional benefit of reducing the student debt numbers to zero over time. There are lots of other details to iron out, but I do believe this would benefit the country.
excellent
Careful bruh, you may be getting set up to be another scapegoat.
I cannot stand Nick. The worst libertarian ever.
I can always spot the college educated Liberal in a crowd who hasn't traveled outside the US, they are the one berating everyone about how bad the US is. They might have (probably did) do a tour of the hostels in other countries (just to be able to check the box) but only talked with other hostel dwellers and only visited the brochure tourist sights. In other words, their feet never actually touched the ground in that other country and they learned nothing. I barely graduated high school but I worked in post Soviet Russia and read a TON. I know how good we and I have it here in the US, even with all it's faults and problems, it's still without parallel.
Alright!!!! Zuby on Reason…heck yeah!
Excellent interview.
Spot on, Zuby.
Good stuff 👍
0D Monad is strong nuclear force
1D Line is weak magnetic force
2D Plane is electromagnetic force
3D Volume is gravitational force
(Gravity should be Ether)
mind is blown by the opportunities for grifting?
Can we get a Greg Graffin interview?
Completely changing the title of the video AFTER 93 comments? Low.
There are no rights but human rights.
Great interview. Gay marriage became the law in all 50 states in 2015. I have never thought about this, but this may be the reason the left became unhinged.
props
Hey why are my comments censored on Reason?!
America is definitely a systemically racist country
The more I hear this man, the more I respect his perspicacity.
The question asked by the host at the 20 minute mark, to paraphrase "why do you think 7 years or so ago was the point the "over correct" around racism and sexism happened then?"
The answer? Trump and white guilt. Quite a concoction.
The white guilt has been there on the left for decades. Originally very important for white people to go though since it finally woke them (us) up decades ago and led to real change. But as the vibe on the ground, in schools, throughout culture over 50 years changed, that white guilt has become less helping of black and brown people, morphed or normalized in white people even as things got much better (and indeed while not perfect, Zuby rightfully points out NOWHERE else is either, indeed humans are imperfect, and whites aren't the only peoples to enslave and war and steal lands, etc.)
So you have all these deep seeded with outdated narratives around white guilt whites in their deep virtue signalling life that's been normalized for decades as the problem became much less….but they think worse….and then Trump comes along….the modern left went full on nuts when Trump decided to run, and their white guilt virtue signalling and convincing a country it must still be that bad…all of it came together in one imperfect storm.
Voila!
Lost a little respect for this host right before the 24 minute mark. He is showing his left leaning libertarianism or roots or instincts. And i'm not from the right. But sadly even he is showing he's still beholden to these ancient lefty narratives of "the evil racist righty." Even if i'm projecting onto him a bit, he still does show that. I come from the far left, was for years. He has that world sense still, even if he would say he's not on the left.
These ancient lefty narratives die hard.
One of the most rational, logical and convincing interviews I have seen in years. I wish Zuby would get into politics. He is very well spoken and really likable.
Zuby Rocks !
3rd culture kid…or 4th culture kid….or 5th culture kid ?
Of course the US is a racist country. It really does now have systemic racism at the heart of government and its laws.
In fact its quite funny that anyine should look to the most racist group on planet earth, "the black community" for affirmation it isn't.
They might as well ask Hitler.
The problem with America is that laws and decisions made 30,40,50,60 years ago CRIPPLED black communities. So you can argue that in this current moment there are no active systems that work against black people BUT to say that the foundations laid half a century ago have no bearing on the current state of the socio-economic balance in this country is disingenuous. Redlined housing market(equity) blocking men from union jobs(pensions) and the literal destruction of black money( black Wall Street.) Then you have the effect of poverty(drugs, gangs and mass incarceration).
In my opinion America is a racist country for the simple fact that we as a nation set black Americans back for 100 years and when it’s all said and done it’s about “accountability”, accountability for who?
With regard to the comments about the left becoming unhinged after gay marriage, it boils down to two things, the same two things always behind all movements eventually. Wealth and power. Most of these movements start with good intentions, then devolve into the inevitable. The National party has two Ad campaigns, Democrat and Republican, the brilliance of this is they use the same tactics with different parameters to stay in power. Largely running on whichever target groups’ fear to keep them in a column. Same for other movements. It starts as a way of bringing light to a problem, working on fixes for that problem. As the problem gets addressed and eventually fixed, the movement has become an identity for followers and a source of income, notoriety, and power for leaders. So they have to continuously move the goal post and bring in more and more ‘true believers’, first as followers but eventually into the leadership. Eventually the initial goal is completely forgotten and in its place dogma. Makes me think of the engineer who started Greenpeace, then years later had to leave because it was no longer addressing the real problems. It happens across all movements. From the Moral Majority to the Civil Rights movement. The NRA to the WWF. Doesn’t matter the political leaning. Lately, Corporations have done serious harm by instantly capitulating to the demands of fringe groups. Or in many cases, one tweet. Most recently, the ChocoTaco thing. It’s ridiculous that i even wrote that sentence. But here we are. We’ve all been involved in it to some degree. Mine is the Linux and FOSS communities. Lots of good, but a lot of crazy and just meanness. Maybe i am way off. But that’s my current opinion. Appreciate the video very much. Apologies for taking up so much space. This was a rare instance where i felt moved to comment seriously.
606 lbs is around what my motorcycle weighs…. with me on it