 What's going on everybody, welcome to another episode of the Hot Pot Boys. We got a very special NYC based episode today. We are joined by the famous Kareem. That's it, that's me. Yo, can you introduce yourself real quick? Hot Pot Boy number three. That's my introduction. Do they eat hot pot in Egypt? Is there such thing? They have dishes inside of hot pots but they wouldn't be traditional hot pots. All right. They're North African hot pots, AKA Tajine. It's Tajine, North African hot pots. All right, so we wanna talk about you're a native New Yorker, right? No, I'm from Minnesota. But I look like one. Yeah, that is what I asked. How long you been living in New York for? 12 years. So officially, I am a New Yorker. But you make a lot of New York content. You're well known for subway takes, a bunch of other stuff. And we'll pop it up right down below in Supers. But I guess we gotta talk about how New York has changed even in the 12 years that you're here. Because you're one of those transplants and I feel like we may fall into it but we haven't been here as long as you have. That are kind of dedicated to New York. We're like, yo, I like New York. I wanna be here. I'm not just here for a couple years unlike a lot of other people. My plan is to stay here. Let's talk about it. Yeah, I mean, I think the major difference and on a serious note is that some people come here and they contribute. They contribute to the culture. They contribute to the food. They contribute to the vibe. They contribute to the fun. Like whatever, they contribute. Other people come here and they exploit. And they take, take, take, take but they never give back. And I think that is the difference between a person who lives in New York and a person who is a New Yorker. Like I, and I think you can contribute in any way, shape or form. But I guess it should be culturally in some capacity. You know what I mean? Like contributing funds, you're just rich. You mean just spending money on expensive things? It's still, I'm saying that's still a contribution but on a low level. It's, it's the, it's like donating. It's the cheapest, like paying taxes is a donation based kind of entry into New York because it's 6% on top of the 10 per. Well, I don't even know how much I get taxed anymore. They, they keep going up and I just keep paying. But yeah, no, I think that is what makes the difference between someone who- Adding clay to the slip versus if the, if the slip was made out of cookie dough they'd just come in and they're just eating it. Where you're like, yeah, I'm eating it but I'm, I'm also adding to the slip. So what does it mean? I heard this quote before, is give more to New York than you take. Like let's be, let's, let's just point out certain archetypes of people that we know now in New York, right? We got a lot of transplants. We've got a lot of software engineers coming for tech. Nothing wrong with that. Do your thing. They make good money. They're a lot of work from home. They live in nice apartments and stuff like that. But what, what is, can we criticize them? Of course. Let's do it. I mean their contribution is literally not. Their, their contribution is turning New York City into whatever city they left. You know, it's like, it's like the immigrants of the past were like, oh, I'm going to come to America and make it a better place and be a bit, I'm going to be a better person and I'm going to have like some American dream. They're just like, oh, I work from home in Cincinnati. I would like to work in New York from New York or work from home in New York. Well, hence, I guess why there's so many like raising canes and everything that's opening up. What do you feel about that? These like, because I feel like 50-50. I feel torn about it. Cause I'm like, when I used to live in the suburbs in LA and raising canes opened up in like Alhambra, California I thought it was cool. Cause I was like, all right, this is this weird chain from Florida. I only saw it when I did college shows at Florida State or UF, you know what I mean? And then now I'm like, okay, that's like more, I guess a hyper local thing from Florida spreading nationally, but when I see it in Manhattan or when I see it in New York, I kind of don't like it. So I think that with those regional chains, I think with the, I think with the regional chains, I kind of was regional chains. You know what I mean? Yeah, like I kind of, like cause there was no raising canes in New York and now they have like a grand opening. There's like, I don't know how many there are. It seems like they're opening up time. But you know what's heavy in the city. But they're contributing. Right. It's not like they're opening up more Taco, like how many Taco Bells are in Manhattan by the way? Not, not that many, not enough. I'm legitimately serious. Are there too many stickies? I don't even know what that is. Stickies is the local chicken tender chain that was started by New York. Not in New York. I'm not a New Yorker. If it's New Yorkie, the raising canes taste better than stickies. It does, but- Is Popeye's from New York? No, it's from Louisiana. Well, that's shit. Hey, but there's every, that's everywhere too. Yeah, not in Minnesota. All right. What does there, Korean, what does there need to be more of in New York now? Taco Bell. More Taco Bell. What's the next one? Do you like the Taco Bell cantinas? The ones that serve alcohol and stuff? Oh, the fancy ones. Those are the fancy ones. That's where I take people on date, my girlfriend on dates. They're gonna Taco Bell cantina. Yeah, I'm like, hey, do you want to get Mexican foods? You want to try some nice local Tex-Mex? Honestly though, Dairy Queen, have you guys known? Yes, yes. They only have one. Oh, there's only one in New York though, so we could use that at least one. Where is it? Pinkberry, bring it back. Were you guys around for the pinkberries? I think a lot of pinkberries just went down, period. They're just gone. Wendy's, not enough Wendy's. CEO kind of case. You don't like- I think Wendy's is mid. That's crazy. Never frozen patties? I haven't had it in a long time. I would, I would retry it. I'm a Wendy's fan. I'm a Wendy's fan. What is there not enough of in New York? I guess how do you compare the New York chains like a Seventh Street burger versus an incoming Smash Burger chain from, let's say where Smash Burgers were created? California. Seventh Street burger is not a chain. That's the difference. But is a chain in the sense that now- There are two locations. No, no, no, there's a lot. Oh, they're like- They expanded, expanded. They're like blank street coffee? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's a local chain that's like- Oh, really? Oh, I thought there were only two locations. Several. So they're like, they're literally the blank street coffee of burgers. Yeah, but it is at the same time from the area. No, I don't mind that. I think that's fine. I think I'll go with that. I would rather have Seventh Street burger than Smash Burger simply because it's more delicious. You mess with blank street coffee? No. No, it's not good coffee, right? It's just whatever. Favorite coffee chains in New York that have chains? We'll have multiple locations. I like grumpy's. Okay. You guys do grumpy's. Cafe grumpy with the smiley face. With the smiley face also because it was in Girls. Girls, that show. Okay. Ray from Girls Work There. He's a fictional character in a real place. Yo, that's interesting. I didn't even know that. Did you like Broad Street? What was that hyper local show that was all about LES? Broad City. Yeah. Yeah, that was a good show. Zaza shops. What do you think about all the Zaza shops that obviously have- Are there too many Zaza shops, Kareem? Yes. That is a resounding yes. No, no, no. Not just Zaza shops. Exotic snack shops. Have you done a sketch about that yet? Because let's be honest, with the look, you could, if I pop in the Zaza shop and I see- Well, there are some Kareems in the shops. If I do a Zaza shops exotic sketch, which I will do, you will get credit. Because it is a really good idea. But Zaza was like a fun novelty, but like everything else, it became washed and played. Like I remember when there was one Zaza Exotics, I was like, that's fun. That makes me go cool. Exotic snacks. I like Cheeto, like the green Kit Kats from Japan. Fire. Where else am I gonna get them? Zaza Exotics. Now, the snacks ain't even exotic. That's funny. No, no. Like what have you just- Now they just got like regular Kit Kat. They don't have the green one anymore. Kareem, can I, I'm gonna rock with you because the first time I walked into those exotic snack shops, I saw some like Japanese Oreos and Japanese Kit Kats. I was like, okay, kind of exotic. I went to Asia, so I know this stuff is not that crazy. But then I was asking the guys about snacks and I had no ideas what these shops were at first. I was like, hey, so like, are you guys gonna carry this snack? And they were like, I don't know. I don't know. And I just found out that they didn't know anything about the snacks. Bro, I think exotic snacks is codeword for marijuana. So you went in there asking about literal exotic snacks and they were like, why is this freaky creep? That isn't Halloween, bro. This dude's- They're probably like, bro, all the Asians don't even get it. They're coming in here, asking for the Sakura Special Edition Tokyo Kit Kats. I don't know- He's out here trick-or-treating. He's out here trick-or-treating. He says, oh, do you have, do you have the green Kit Kats? He's the weirdest shop, he's the weirdest shop. It's wide open and there's like not that many snacks. And I was like, why is the colors like this? This is so weird. That's the whole time we were unaware. And this was way early in the process that it was almost more like the bodega scene from White Girls, when they're trying to get the ice cream delivered. Wait, what's White Girls? Marlon Wayne's and the Wayne's Brothers. Oh, that's so fun. You know that scene in New York where the bodega's getting delivered, ice cream from the Russians? I gotta be honest, I don't remember the scene. Okay. It's the first scene we'll pop it up. That's a crazy question to say. Keep it moving. Do you remember that scene? Do you think that like the transplants, do they need to care about the pre-existing old New York culture of like coffee and bagels and all, you know, get a slice in, like maybe more newer hyper local New York culture, obviously from Harlem, you know, chopped cheeses and things like that. Is there any, you know, you were talking about giving and taking, do people at least in need to know what a chopped cheese is? Yeah, I think so. You don't want to use sign up for health insurance and you have to put down your pre-existing conditions. I think that there should be a test for New York transplants that they know some of the pre-existing conditions of the city, making a cheese. Stay or go? Chopped cheese. Stay or go? Yeah. That you said it so fast, I almost slipped up. You almost caught me slipping, bro. Stay or go? Stay or go. I still get caught by that, but I always remember that's how they say it. What do you say? Oh, you know something I could never get behind? When you go to the pizza shop and you say I'll have a plain slice instead of cheese. Oh, yo, I didn't even catch that, yeah. No, they say plain. Like that's the slice, like a cheese slice as a plain slice. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I thought it was a cheese, like where I come from. Cairo, Egypt, just kidding. Where I come from in Minnesota. But it's, okay, when you go to Minnesota, they call soda pop. I remember that. We grow up sometimes saying pop, yeah. Which is crazy. I've never heard anyone, if you said, hey, can I get a pop at Raising Canes? They're like, what the fuck? Oh yeah, from Minnesota, can I get a fizzy pop? And then in the South, everything is called Coke. Right. It's all just different types of Coke. But it's all Coke. Like you just think I could Coke, but it's like, which one? Seven-O. Oh, right, right, right. No, that is interesting. Well, I think Coke is based in Atlanta, right? I don't know if that matters. What did you think about how they kicked that dude out of the city for getting the scoop bagels? I couldn't tell if it was a fucking joke or not. You mean when they bought him the ticket out? No, when he actually did that thing. I was like, oh, this is a comedian. Turns out he's a real guy. Yeah, I thought he was a comedian too, actually. I thought he was like the West Coast version of you. Oh, yeah. Like doing the super deep cut. Like a good deep bit. Karim, I got a question. Do you think all the New York meme pages, what does it do for keeping and preserving New York culture and giving New Yorkers a platform to judge and almost be accountable for other people? There's probably five really good meme pages. I like when they make fun of people who, like I don't really know. I don't know how I feel about the transplant thing. I'm kind of just like people make mistakes I mean, transplants have always been a part of New York. Yeah, and if you've been here for two years, like I was a fucking loser when I was here for two, like the first two years I was here, on one hand I was like, this is the greatest city in the world, I love it. I want to eat everything. I want to do everything. I want to experience everything. On the other hand, my videos were so cringe and my content was so cringe because it was not in the know. So the meme pages that make fun of, I think the meme pages that make fun of deep cut New Yorkers are more funny and interesting because they are literally like anthropologists. Right, like I would rather study the culture than study the people new to the culture. And I think what the meme pages do is they're, they're literally studying people who are into deep, people who got lost in the sauce. Like, if you're standing in line at Amy Leondor and you live in New York, I'm like, bro, you're lost in the sauce, bro. Like we lost him. But if you were a tourist and you're standing in line at Amy Leondor, I'm just like, whatever. No, you're like, that's what you're supposed to do. Yeah, but like the ones standing in line that are just like standing in line, not even to shop. I'm like, bro, you're into, like you're literally, they got you. The most New York thing is still probably waiting for a supreme drop that you're gonna flip right after you, right after you copy. That's, but that's also what I like about all of the different niches. Cause like you wouldn't be, I wouldn't be caught that doing that ever because I have A, no interest in clothing. B, no interest in flipping anything. And C, no interest in standing in line. But like for a lot of people, it's a way of life. And that is another thing that's so nice is there's so many micro communities in the city that you just, you just plug yourself into the one that you affiliate with most. You can be, I mean, everyone knows you can be whatever you want, you know, you can make it. There's a tribe for every vibe. Yeah. Oh, is that, is that an original? I mean, vibe and tribe have been right. I think I saw it in a neon LED sign. But I really think it in like a Sazar shot. Cause one thing I realized is true because like I ride a lot of scooters, right? Around the city and electric gang, we're electric gang. And there's a lot of different gangs for the scooters. You could be Dualtron, you could be Cabo, Mantis. Like we're talking about like specific models. Do you guys have conversations about them? Like do you ever stop a guy? I'm not part of those. Cause I've ride like the really ultra light joints, but I'm saying that I know people that are like, I'm in a Dualtron gang and we're going to ride out and 30 with the LED lights going crazy. Yeah. Because like if in a smaller town, you would be doing that alone. Yeah. Cause you can't find 30 people. You can't even find one. About the Dualtron light. You can't even find one. Cause no one's going to ride to the 7-Eleven, like four miles away to get some Zazas on their electric scooter when you have car. And you know what I used to see more of was the EUC's, the unicycles. Like I feel like those gang, those groups, those gangs, I mean, we have some friends that are deep in that world, but I feel like they, I don't know if it peaked, but like that was hot two years ago they've been replaced. They've been replaced by a different kind of one wheel, the electric. So all the unicycles, this is a fact, all of the unicycles in New York now have one wheels. The not, not a literal one wheel. The skateboard one wheel. Yeah. They all convert it. Yeah. Yeah. The one wheel, the one wheel is a different tribe too. They're a little bit more skateboard too. But that's why the unicycles have gone extinct. You talking about the unicycles that were on the natural. That's a theory. Yeah. They're like a tiny unicycle, like a guy riding a tiny unicycle in park. No, I'm saying that electric unicycle. No, I'm saying that the tiny guy, the big guy riding the tiny unicycle in Prospect Park, he is now riding a one wheel. What do you think? How do you think this? Cause that is the modern day unicycle. That is true. That's true. How do you think the skateboarders perceived like the electric skateboarders? They probably think that they're so lame. Yeah. No, I agree with that. I agree with that. Eric Adams, he's the mayor right now, and he's a particularly, I guess like clippable mayor. Right? Memable kind of. You know, there's mayors like, I don't think Bloomberg outside of him taking the train every morning was that memeable. You know what I mean? There's a quote in succession. Do you guys watch that? I know what you're talking about. Where Logan Roy says you are not serious people to his kids. That's what I think about Eric Adams. He is not serious people. He's literally having a good time. He's doing the mayor ship so he can have fun. Which, look, I guess if I was in his shoes, I would do it too. It's lit. But I don't think he wants to be a mayor. He wants to be a celebrity. Like he would probably come on this podcast. We probably have a hell of a time too. But yeah, you're right. We wouldn't be signing necessarily the. He wouldn't be on here to be like, look, I'm proposing a new bill. He would be like, look, I got a plus two at zero bond tonight. Like, do you guys want to come? You know, he's trying to get his numbers up on Instagram. That's why he's here. He's like something crazy. He's not trying to get reelected. He's trying to like literally take selfies with Ariana Grande. No, it's true. It's true. He got some funny quotes, though. But yeah, as far as policies and the execution on a strictly functional level. Bad mayor, good personality on social media. And easy to make fun of, which is fun. In a way, very 2023. Yeah. He's like the movie. Everything has become like the film idiocracy. I look at that. I use the word film instead of movie. Right. Which means that I'm an expert. Yo, that's funny. Honestly, you're right. And we haven't used that comparison in a while, but it feels like idiocracy more and more everyday. Yeah. And now it's normal. Now it's like not even idiocracy. Nobody can even bring that up because everybody's accepted it as the normal. Yeah. It's just like this is America. What do you think about like your show on the train? Like why is it becoming so successful? Like why do people relate to it so much? Because obviously we're talking about hyper New York things, probably one of the most defining traits in New York, MTA. Well, I think for one, everyone has an opinion. But when you go to share your opinion, you want to sound sophisticated and have an opinion about something important. I think subway tastes gives people an avenue to express some, an opinion that doesn't matter. Like it's made for, but there's, what's funny is it's an unimportant opinion to most people. But I think everyone's in on the joke of like making it serious. So when you say something like Jack Harlow should be able to say the N word, which was subway take, not mine, Assads. He's a brilliant, funny comedian, love the kid. Amazing. How viral did that go? It was, I mean, it doesn't even matter how viral it went. The comments debating this topic were so fucking funny. And analysis and perspective about literally something that no one in the world has ever thought about except for Assad. Like why was Assad thinking about that? Why was he saying, like, why is that his take? Why did he come on the show with that opinion? And I think the reason that it's so successful is because it's engaging. Because you are learning about the ways that people think. People are treating it like ethnic studies, 103 at Wesleyan, right? Exactly. Again, it goes back to anthropology. Like subway takes is a study of what New Yorkers are thinking about while they're sitting on the train versus while they're sitting at work or where they're sitting at home. It's like, when you sit on the train, like to me, the train is kind of like the shower. You're just standing there and like some great ideas come to you and you're like, well, I gotta write this down. I gotta record a voice note. Like I do that a lot on the train. Like I'll just be, because you're just standing there. I don't read, I'm anti-book. So I'm just sitting there with my thoughts and all of a sudden I'm like, ooh, that's a really good idea or that's a really funny thought. And I think that's where a lot of the best, it's like being in the shower, except there are 40 people coughing and sneezing around you and like some little kid with a nose in your mouth. Do you think that shower meditative, almost like third state where you're floating will go away once the trains have actually good Wi-Fi at all the stations? Because you know how it's only like very select, probably like 25%. That's a really good question. So you can't, like a lot of times, especially if you got a boost mobile or something like that, you forget it. You are not getting signal in the train station. Yeah, dude. But like, will that change once people are able to fire? That's an interesting question. I think what's happening more and more is that it's become a personal choice. Do you want to be on the internet right now or do you not? So I have to think about that. Before I take my phone out, I'm like, do I wanna use this moment to not be on the internet? Because I'm on the, my screen time's seven hours a day. That means that in my waking hours, which is probably how many hours, 14? I don't know how long people stay awake. So half of my time is spent on the phone. The other half, I'm on my computer. So like, I don't know, bro, it's a choice. You gotta be like, I'm not using my phone right now. Because they've added that recently, I wanna say in the past about three, four years, you can get self-service now. Yeah, so you have to make the decision. Do you want to be on your phone right now? I think we'll see a 50-50. I think a lot of kids, especially young people, as much as they are addicted to their phones, they're also a lot better at regulating and managing their screen time than I think people our age, I don't know how old you guys are, but I would assume you're millennials and not Gen Zs. Are you? Millennials. Yeah, so millennials I think are more addicted to their phones than Gen Zs are. And I think Gen Zs have the ability to be like, I'm not gonna use my phone today. And I think millennials don't have that ability or it's a struggle. That's interesting. Yeah. Because they were born within their hand. Is it kind of like how the boomers can't really regulate their like beef intake? You know what I mean, like. Milk. Yeah. It's an old milk. It's part of my life, man. How you going milking out? How you going milking almond? What do they got next? Sunflower milk? I could see a boomer getting real upset about a new milk. Oh, a new milk just dropped. I guess. There's protest. Last question. Last topic. About New York, man, where do you see it changing? You know, a lot of people have talked about how the city is so rich now, the Dubaiization, the Londonization. Obviously, New York for a long time was a place for local people. Then it sort of changed. And I want to say with the work from home advent and short-term furnished rentals, so many people are in and out of the city. People are doing three months stints in Lisbon and everywhere, Tulum, Bangkok. New York is also one of those stops as long as you have the means. Good, bad. I mean, people are like, I know New Yorkers that are like moving to Guatemala for like two months and then coming right back and I'm just like, what's going on? Is anybody even from anywhere anymore? If only we could be so lucky to have the Londonification or Dubaiification of New York City, because right now we're getting the Cincinnatification and the Denverification of the city. Like, everything that looks rich is a piece of shit. Like all these buildings in Williamsburg. Hudson Yard? It's like, it is rich for no reason. Or it's like some, or it's like, it looks rich but it's actually made a shit. So is it just gonna continue? Are we just gonna have more skyscrapers? No, New York City is not becoming a grandiose, wonderful city. Like, look, I don't fuck with Dubai but at least it's actually well built. I don't, I mean, I guess I fuck with London. But those cities are great. Like they're great cities that are being built. New York City is becoming mid because we're allowing developers to make it mid. Like we're not making it nice. We're not making it cool. We're not making it interesting. It's literally just shitty. And the problem is there's no housing. So people accept a shitty apartment that you pay $10,000 a month for but it's not even fucking nice. It's actually just shitty. So that I think is the big challenge is that like they're shoving mediocre down our throats and making us pay top dollar. Like I would pay top dollar if it was a top dollar product but it's simply not a top dollar product. You know what I mean? It's, it's mid. And that is the, I think that is the biggest threat is that New York becomes mid. Not like rich, you know? Like cause it could be rich and fly. It could be, yeah, it could like Dubai as much as I don't want to live there or be there I would visit. I have visited. And it's fun. Hong Kong, fun, rich, Tokyo, fun, rich. Like these are places that are cool. They maintain an aesthetic. They maintain a vibe. And that's because they're regulated in a way that like, oh, cool. Look at this building. We're going to make it like actually special. Whereas in New York, it's like, let's put up a building that looks like it should be in Santa Fe. You know, like, like it doesn't even belong in any city. It looks like it's like belongs next to a lake in Milwaukee. Right, right. I guess what building are you talking about? I'm talking about the general aesthetic of the new buildings being built. Yeah, no, it's true. Especially, I think Williamsburg is the ugliest and probably the worst neighborhood in New York right now. Say it again, real quick for the clip. Can you say it again for the clip? I think Williamsburg is the ugliest and worst neighborhood in New York City. Woo! Like, cause you're saying what? They all used to have the old Dutch architecture and then it was, then it was just all glass. It just used to be interesting. I'm not even saying, aesthetically, yeah. Aesthetically, it's not even, it's like you've got the all glass and then you've got those weird colorful joints that are like, that are like red and blue. You know, the developers like, well, you know, Williamsburg is an eclectic neighborhood. So we're gonna add some color in the buildings. Bro, it is so ugly. Like, give me bridge. It reminds me of this really. Give me some concrete. You ever been to Oakland? They have this Alameda School of Arts. It is so ugly. It's like an art school that is a no just to you guys, but like, it just reminds, that's what it reminds me of. Yeah. Like, it's like somebody's concept, an unartsy person's conception. Right, exactly. And I think I'm convinced that they're not even doing it because they're artsy. I'm just convinced that like a piece of red plastic is cheaper than some concrete or some bricks. They're just like, oh cool, we can buy this piece of plastic and put it on the side of the building. They literally are just putting pieces of plastic on the side of a building, rather than like putting up some concrete or some bricks. So I don't know. I think that place is so ugly. I used to live there. So I can say that. Okay. It's like, it's like. I would start that up. Williamsburg kind of gave me like Texas vibes. Like it's all the hipsters from Texas. But that's why there's so many like Southern tribes. The thing is, it's not even hipsters from Texas. It's people cosplaying as hipsters from Texas. Crazy. I know what you mean. It's like inception. It's very meta. Yeah, it's like double. Actors acting. Korean for mayor. Korean run for mayor, man. At least cultural mayor. I can't. Cultural, there needs to be another position. Now that is an idea. I mean, they create a head of New York media or you need to be one on that on the board of New York head of internet media. Okay. Internet architecture. Kareem for the New York City head of digital media. That I mean, they have the rats are. So that's a newly created position. We need to start a more like street version of the Met Gala. You know how that was for like all the old money use to run and still is to some extent the Met Gala. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. Like where would we have where we where would we hold that? Oh, no, no, you'd call it the Met Gala like that. The Brooklyn Internet Scala. Internets. Okay. Throw that Barclays. Let's go. All right, you guys hope you guys enjoyed that segment about what is changing and what is still the same about New York City. Everybody check out Kareem on social media and let us know what you guys think of our hot takes in the comments section below. Check out us.com. All right, everybody. Thank you. So next time. The sauce is good. The sauce is good. Peace.