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CNN This Morning
Melinda French Gates Focuses on Women; Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Greg Harris are Interviewed about 50 Years of Hip-Hop. Aired 8:30- 9a ET
Aired June 29, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:33:19]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Melinda French Gates detailing her latest mission, getting more women elected to public office. As a philanthropist, the long-time advocate for women and girls, she has already pledged $1 billion to promote gender equity. Now she tells me she's using her resources and her energy to get women elect at all levels of government.
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MELINDA FRENCH GATES, CO-CHAIR, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: I believe women should be every place the decisions are being made. And that's just - we're just not there yet as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Back with us, Natasha Alford, Jessica Dean, Christine Romans.
Good morning again, guys.
I was struck by a lot of things. I wasn't surprised that she took sort of this mission of politic. But what was notable, Natasha, is, she said it's no coincidence that she wrote this big op-ed about it, making this announcement one year - one year to the mark after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
NATASHA ALFORD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely.
HARLOW: This is about policy.
ALFORD: Yes, it is about policy. I mean I - I think a lot of women are uncomfortable with the idea that people who don't have our lived experience are making laws about our bodies and dictating what we can do. And it's not necessarily, as she said, about where you fall, but making sure that women are in the room with these decisions. Globally, we are not leaders. America is not the leader in terms of promoting women at the national government level. We rank 66th in the world. There are no black women in the Senate despite the fact that there are millions of black women in the country. So representing -
HARLOW: Yes, and no black or indigenous women elected governor either she points out.
ALFORD: That's right. That's right. And so we are already playing catch-up in a country where women were left out of the democratic process for so long. And so that's why organizations like She Should Run exist, or the Campaign School at Yale because there is a political ambition gap.
[08:35:03]
It's not that we're not qualified, but someone has to cultivate that interest -- that sense that we can do it.
HARLOW: But also - you read her op-ed, also make it possible, right? Like there are so many impediments to women, especially women with young children, being able to run as well.
MATTINGLY: Right. It's creating the conditions in terms of -- and I don't want to take a side here, but men are convinced that they're qualified for literally everything and --
HARLOW: You can side with women any day, Phil.
MATTINGLY: Women are like constantly put -
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE), Phil.
ALFORD: Research has (INAUDIBLE). That's not a feeling. Research has shown that.
MATTINGLY: But there's also the - not just kind of the mental aspect or how people feel or think about things, but real life. You know, if you are having kids, if you are trying to be -- like it is a lot - I'm sorry, it just is. I don't know if I'm allowed to say it is.
HARLOW: You're allowed to say it.
MATTINGLY: Like, you guys carry a lot more weight.
HARLOW: You've got four.
MATTINGLY: And I think there's a - there's a perception of, you have to do x, y and z, and that gets in the way to some degree.
DEAN: Yes. And, look, being on The Hill, you know this, so much of their lived experience, like what you're talking about, is - it impacts the bills that they're going to put forth, what they get behind.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
DEAN: And if you don't have that lived experience, it takes groups or people coming to you and trying to plead with you to do x, y or z. And so more women across the board is a better thing. Representative government should be representative of the country it serves.
And we are seeing more of it. But to Natasha's point, we still don't have a black woman in the Senate. And we don't have one right now. Kamala Harris was there. Now vice president, obviously. We are seeing more. But, you know, I think about somebody like Katie Britt, the senator from Alabama. She has young children. Tammy Duckworth, of course, young children. And it is hard. It's hard on families and people to both serve. And that goes for dads too. But also to run. Running for office is tough.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
DEAN: And they come after you. And it's not always an enjoyable experience.
HARLOW: I don't cover The Hill. You guys do. But we do sometimes see people who are business leaders, right, CEOs, et cetera, then go on to run for the Senate, et cetera. There is always been a dearth of woman leading businesses.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HARLOW: The number now I think is 10.5 percent of Fortune 500 companies run by women, which is the most but so low.
ROMANS: It's still - but there are more Fortune 500 CEOs named Jim than there are women CEOs, you know, of Fortune 500 companies. I mean it's -
MATTINGLY: That's like a fact. We've -
HARLOW: Is that -
MATTINGLY: We've talked about this before. Yes. Yes.
ROMANS: It's a real thing. It's like Jim or John or something.
DEAN: Wow. Yes.
ROMANS: But there are more Johns than there are women running - running Fortune 500 companies. And that is just a real shame.
But you are seeing better representation now. And that pipeline, I hope, will get better. But it's -- it's - some of these - it's just shocking to me that covering banking for 25 years, you know, 25 years ago we were like, wow, we've got a pipeline of great women, managing directors, and we're going to have all these CEOs someday, and there's like one.
HARLOW: Jane Fraser.
ROMANS: Yes. You know, there's like one. There's one. And that was 25 years of trying to develop women. So, there's - we've got a lot of work to do.
ALFORD: This is why affirmative action exists. We often talk about it in the context of race, but gender also applies, right? And so, in the workplace, letting women know that they are qualified or cultivating that talent pipeline when you look at research it starts to fall off as girls go from school to college and then into the workplace. They start off thinking, I can do it, and then there's this messaging that feeds into lack of confidence.
HARLOW: And listening to them, Katie Porter, for example, on the Democratic side, we just had Nancy Mace on last week, who's a single mother of teenagers, and those lived experiences inform how they - how they legislate.
MATTINGLY: Not to change the topic, but, Romans, you've got economic data, and I've been very excited to talk to you about economic data. And we were both looking at our phones during the break.
ROMANS: I know.
MATTINGLY: Looking at economic data.
DEAN: Look how excited you two are.
MATTINGLY: So, then, tell me about the economic data. What did we get?
ROMANS: First quarter GDP, 2 percent. A big revision. A stronger first quarter than we had thought because the consumer, the consumer, look at that. So, 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter. Slow down to 2 percent. But we thought this was going to be 1.3, 1 -
MATTINGLY: Yes, 1.4, 1.5, something like that. Yes, 1.3.
ROMANS: Yes, so this is stronger.
Consumer and exports. So, the economy is still pretty stable leaning towards strong here, and then jobless claims low. And 239,000 first time unemployment benefits. What that means in English is, there aren't a lot of layoffs. You're hearing about layoffs in tech, hearing about layoffs in banking and in media, but we're not seeing it in people actually going and filing for unemployment benefits. So, this is still a strong job market.
Good news for main street. A headache for Jay Powell and the Fed because they're going to have to keep raising interest rates to get inflation down.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Yes. Can you very quickly give me your favorite saying about the recession that we've all been waiting for and watching for today.
ROMANS: If this is what a recession feels like, bartender, pour me another.
MATTINGLY: That's my favorite, Romans.
HARLOW: It's so great.
MATTINGLY: All right, guys, stay with us. That was great. We've got more coming up, including, Run-DMC - I'm very excited about this. The hip-hop pioneers from Hollis, Queens, helped usher in the golden age of hip-hop. Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darryl DMC McDaniels, shares his thoughts on the genre's 50th anniversary. That's coming up next.
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[08:43:54]
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RUN-DMC (Rapping): Here we go. It's tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time. It's tricky, it's tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: You know it. I don't even have to tell you, you know it. One of the most iconic and earliest mainstream hip-hop hits by the accomporable (ph) Run-DMC. It's a great one. But what about "Walk This Way," their collaboration with Aerosmith. Run-DMC gave the rock group a second life, arguably changed American music forever with that one.
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RUN-DMC (Rapping): She told me to walk this way, talk this way, walk this way, talk this way. She told me to walk this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: That was one of the first hip-hop groups to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Run-DMC helped defined hip-hop. And, let's be honest, American culture for that matter. Tonight, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, will take part in the main event in Cleveland to honor the music genre's 50-year anniversary and unveil the new, in depth exhibition of hip-hop called "Holla If Ya Hear Me." Handwritten lyrics, iconic jewelry. I was looking at some of the jewelry. LL Cool J's stuff is there. It looks great. And some of the biggest moguls, just some of the items that be will on display.
[08:45:01]
And joining us right now, the president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Greg Harris, and hip-hop icon, the hip-hop icon himself, co-founder of Run-DMC, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darryl "DMC" McDaniels. He's also the author of "Darryl's Dream," which Poppy and I are going to be reading to our kids very soon.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: But, guys, one, thanks for joining us. Two, Darryl, I want to start with this because I was watching your acceptance speech, or your induction speech when you were inducted into the Hall of Fame and a lot of the notes that you guys made resonated with me.
But the idea of hip-hop itself and where it has come over the course of 50 years, what is it like the genesis of it's, I think, DJ Kool Herc back to school party with his sister or something like that. The evolution of it. What stands out in your mind when people ask you, how did hip-hop get to this point?
DARRYL "DMC" MCDANIELS, MUSICIAN, ARTIST, AND AUTHOR: Well, hip-hop is just basically music. It's a culture. We was inspired by rock, pop, pop, funk, so R&B, jazz. So Grandmaster Caz, probably the greatest rapper ever, he said this, hip-hop didn't invent anything, we reinvented everything. So, we were those kids watching "Soul Train." We were those kids watching "American Bandstand." So we was influenced by rock and roll.
And, if you listen to hip-hop before it was recorded, before "Rapper's Delight," and all the early rap songs, when you heard the live performances of the tapes of Grandmaster Flash, the Funky 4 + 1, the Treacherous Three, the Cold Crush Four, the Fantastic Five, every mc, every mc prophesied this is from '73 to '79, before "Rapper's Delight," every rapper said these words, one day my name will be found in the Hall of Fame. So, it was a prophetic creation that came from the spirit of these young boys and girls in New York City, more importantly the Bronx, who the world thought had nothing.
HARLOW: Yes.
MCDANIELS: But inside of them was this beautiful music.
HARLOW: You know, I'm so glad you said that because I was so touched when I was reading that you talked about growing up in New York City and you said, when the reality of the struggle of life brought hell, music brought heaven.
MCDANIELS: Music brought heaven. Rock and roll brought us heaven. Soul brought us heaven. Jazz brought us heaven. Rhythm and blues brought us heaven.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Greg, can I ask you, tonight's event itself, you know, there's been a bunch of stuff that's happened around the 50th anniversary. I think it was a big - there was a big event here in New York in a month or two as well. What's tonight represent. What should people be looking for?
GREG HARRIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: Yes, you know, tonight, again, it's the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and it's -- this is the premier exhibition that's going to celebrate that. We're going to cut the ribbon on this thing tonight. It's going to be open all summer long here at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
And there's a major significance in this. We are the premier music museum in the world. We've been open 28 years. We had 14 million visitors have journeyed to Cleveland to experience this. And hip-hop is, as Darryl said, hip-hop is the, you know, powerful, powerful synthesis of so much that's come before it. But it's the most important cultural art form in music that's being made today. It really resonates around the world. And this is going to tell that story. And, by the way, on the Hall of Fame reference, not only were the
other artists talking about it when Run-DMC made one of their earliest videos, it was about being inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rock --
MCDANIELS: And it didn't exist.
HARRIS: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame didn't exist.
MCDANIELS: That's crazy! It didn't exist. We had Larry - we had Larry "Bud" Melman from "The David Letterman Show" saying, you guys can't come in here. This is a Rock and Roll Museum. That was in '85. And then in '86 it came to fruition.
HARRIS: And so this exhibit, like this is for anybody that loves hip- hop. They're going to come and see their favorite artists. They're going to see special stuff from our vault. Special artifacts. They're going to feel that connection. That's what music does, it connects us.
And people that don't really know hip-hop that well, they're going to learn about it and they're going to feel it and they're going to understand how it fits into the continuum of rock and roll. And it's all one big family.
MCDANIELS: And you've got to understand this though. I've been traveling this world forever globally. People say, when Stephen Tyler took their mic stand in that "Walk This Way" video, it knocked down the wall that was separating y'all. That didn't just happen in a video, that happened in the world for real. That's what music does.
HARLOW: I love that.
Let's open it up to the table here.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, on that note, if I could, Darryl, honored to talk to you.
[08:50:03]
So, when you all dropped "Raising Hell" in the mid '80s, that was the first album in my experience that really just blew up and crossed over and hit the suburbs and really spoke to even kids like me. Did you understand at that moment just how much of an impact that record was having and just how much history was being made?
MCDANIELS: No, not really because the reason why "Raising Hell" is one of the best, if not the best hip-hop album ever is because we was just trying to get the approval of all the mc's, dj's, wrappers and break dancers before us. We wanted Grandmaster Flash and Kool Moe Dee and Afrika Bambaataa (ph) and Kool Herc to say, we love you guys. Love what you're doing. We had no idea it was going to take the world by storm.
HONIG: You got through to me, too.
MATTINGLY: Astead. ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: When you look back at the scope of a long and storied career, what's the highlight? For you, what's the peak moment that really defines your relationship to hip-hop? What's the moment you're most proud of?
MCDANIELS: I think the moment that we're most proud of for representing hip-hop because, look, I'm not a pioneer, I'm not a legend. I'm a participant in the culture of hip-hop. I think the defining moment, besides being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was 1985 when we was called to participate in Live Aid. Bill Graham said, I will not participate and work with y'all if you don't have Run-DMC here. And a lot of people on the board of Live Aid said, why do you want those guys here? Rap's a fad. They're not even going to be here in three years. But for us to be chosen to participate in Live Aid, where Black Sabbath and Tina Turner, and Mick Jagger, it showed the world that we are a legitimate form of entertainment, like everybody else.
MATTINGLY: Natasha.
ALFORD: Darryl, for the young people who have something to say -
HARRIS: And that was - that was nearly -
ALFORD: Who fear that perhaps they can't break in the industry, right, they're commenting on social issues. They have substance but they feel like modern day hip-hop wants them to be something else. What would you advise them?
MCDANIELS: Here's the advice to them. Study David Bowie, study Bob Dylan, study Janice Joplin and study Run-DMC. See what we did. Look at what we did. Look at what the world is doing, and do whatever it is that you like doing. Make that song. Play that beat. Write that verse. Do that dance. Paint that painting.
DEAN: Also we can -
MCDANIELS: That's all your got to do.
DEAN: We need to learn how to manifest like Darryl.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
DEAN: I mean that's it. You would be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it didn't even exist yet, and yet you manifested it, which is incredible.
HARLOW: So true.
MCDANIELS: Exactly. Exactly.
HARLOW: Thanks, Jess. So true.
MCDANIELS: All you have to do is just get up and create. It's art. It's for everybody.
HARLOW: Made our morning, guys, just like that.
Darryl McDaniels, Greg Harris, thank you, thank you.
Darryl, huge congratulations. What a career.
MCDANIELS: Thank you.
HARLOW: Thank you.
MCDANIELS: Rock on.
HARLOW: Rock on indeed.
And, guys, don't forget, pick up "Darryl's Dream." We're going to get it for our kids. Pick up his new children's book, and watch tonight.
MATTINGLY: I'm like so fired up right now.
HARLOW: I know.
MATTINGLY: All right, well, this also fired me up this morning when I looked and saw this. Something happened that hasn't happened in 11 years. Only 24 times in Major League Baseball history, that's right, perfection. See the moment this Yankees star made history.
HARLOW: And Biles is back. Simone Biles set to make her gymnastics return for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics. Those details ahead.
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[08:58:01]
MATTINGLY: Can we talk about perfection? Every professional athlete strives for it. It's rarely ever achieved. Wednesday night, Domingo German was perfect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Esteury Ruiz stands in his way. Grounded to third. Donaldson has it. There it is. Perfection!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And amazing that that was -- amazing that that was the last play.
MATTINGLY: Last play. The 24th person ever to throw a perfect game in a major league game. He did it against a team, hasn't been no hit, since 1991, and he owes a lot of it to the team around him, especially first baseman Anthony Rizzo. You see this play right here, diving stop in the fifth to preserve baseball history. German becomes the first Dominican-born player to retire 27 straight batters in a single game. He also became the fourth Yankee pitcher to do it. And I love it.
HARLOW: I love it too. Favorite story of the day. We agree on this one.
I also love this, Simone Biles is coming back -
MATTINGLY: This is a great story.
HARLOW: Two years after she famously withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics after suffering the twisties, which is a mental block where gymnasts lose the track of their position midair. She is now listed to compete in the U.S. Classic, which is set for August just outside of Chicago.
MATTINGLY: Now, The Classic is considered a precursor to the U.S. championships, which have been used as a soft launch for comebacks in the past according to the International Gymnastics Federation. Biles has won seven Olympic medals, including four golds, over the course of her career.
HARLOW: I think many more to come.
Also this before we go. We want to end the show today saying good-bye to one of our teammates, one of the favorite people here in the studio, CNN cameraman Mike Stein. There he is.
MATTINGLY: There he is.
HARLOW: He can't come on set because he's actually running the camera that we're reading this on.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
HARLOW: He is retiring today. It's his final day at CNN. He's our guy on camera three on this show and he's been at CNN for more than 20 years. So, we wish you lots of love and good fortune and lots of sleep in the near future.
Also, Mike is a huge New York Rangers fan. Look at that.
MATTINGLY: Look at that.
[09:00:00]
HARLOW: Can you see the screen? Look up -
MATTINGLY: Mike, look up.
HARLOW: That's your name and your jersey. Look at that.
MATTINGLY: That's in our studio, what you're seeing right there is a Rangers jersey in our studio, retired, Mike Stein. Not an Islanders jersey or a Devils jersey.
HARLOW: And they just announced their 2023-2024 schedule. So, Mike, you might able - be able to catch a few of those games now.
Thank you for all you've done.
"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is now.
