Trying LA's Hidden Gem Restaurants with Thundercat

So getting a chance to see and work with Kendrick for me was like, it was like it was like watching Miles Davis. This is the most Dragon Ball coded meal. Eat like this. Eat like... Hand me another one of them steak plates. Steven ordered four orders of these bro. This is Thundercat, one of the greatest bassists of our generation and a super phenomenal musician. And fun fact, he's plant-based. Today we're at his favorite restaurant, Planta, and we're going to try a bunch of vegan dishes. And he's going to try and convince me that vegan food is actually good. Because secretly, I really ain't tried it like that. Look, everybody says that, man. You know, it's like vegetables are amazing. Never forget that. So we're going to see if his taste in food is as good as his taste in music. I have no idea what to expect, but all I know is I'm open. So let's dig right in. All right, so first things first, man. Where we at? We at Planta in the marina, one of the most beautiful vegan restaurants that I've had a chance to come across in my findings of stuff. So you've eaten a bunch of... What about this one? Makes this your favorite, bro? I don't know. I think that sometimes one thing that always gets me about vegan food or plant-based is just the protein or lack thereof. Sometimes I'm trying to find enough to where you feel like you've eaten. And I think that's a general issue with protein in vegan. The carb intake versus protein. And a lot of the time, me and you, we both train. The line for me is, as I don't eat chicken and steak and all that stuff can be blurry. And one day you walk up and you're like, man, why am I dizzy? And I'm not getting enough protein to sustain or even build muscle. And it is a bit of a weird place sometimes. But one thing I do love about here is that proteins that they have, this really dope steak-like thing. And I always ask, I'm like, what is this? And they tell me it's mushroom and pea protein based. I'm like, there's no way that this is like... And I just order it by the pound, bro. They got some of these amazing dishes here that are easy to digest. And with the Asian infusion, we all love rice. We all love rice. But you gotta watch it. Man, it's crazy. When you sent me this restaurant and they said Asian-inspired, I was like, bro, if there's anybody that doesn't get Asian-inspired in anything, of course it's you. Every time. I love them for this too, man. This is my first time. It's like I order from them all the time. But it's my first time seeing their full menu with the brunch added. So I'm sitting here like, oh, y'all got this all kind of look. Well, you never sat down here before? This is my first time physically coming in here. But I've been to the other locations. I've been to the one in Chicago, the one in New York and all that stuff. So this is actually a fresh, special moment. So it's like... We got the boats, the beaches over here. It's fire. Thundercat is completely in charge of the order today. So I really have no idea what I'm about to eat. But this is one of his favorite restaurants. And I'm expecting him to show me exactly why. I want to get like a feast, man. You got to put me on. You know, I'm not the biggest vegan. Oh, yeah. Connoisseur or like experienced genato or whatever you call it. Yeah, no, we're going to go in. I want you to take a look at it and see what kind of... What you gravitate to. Those look kind of good. I'll be honest, there's a couple of things. They have sushi? Bro, like you're going... It's about to mess you up, bro. I promise. I'm so happy. This is always a slippery slope with your friends. Because, you know, when you say you're plant-based, they're always just like, like, ew. You know, it's like, they think I eat cardboard for a living. But this is going to be a great experience because I know he's going to love this. I know you said the steak. Let's do the steak lettuce wraps. Yeah, those steak lettuce wraps go up, bro. Should we do like an al pastor bowl? I don't know how I'm feeling about a poke bowl. That's not fish. Don't knock it till you try it. Trust me. Matter of fact, I'm going to get it. You want it. No, no, no. Okay, look it. You pick what we order. What are we ordering? I want to try this myself. Okay. So I know this is fire. I know it is. So I'm definitely trying the poke bowl. We're definitely doing the lettuce wrap. We're definitely doing the sunimono salad. Okay. You know what I'm saying? We're definitely doing... Look at this. This is what I was telling you about on this menu that blows my mind. It's the side of the steak. Okay. We'll order a few of those just so you know what time it is. We got to get the crispy rice. We got to do that. We got to do... This is another one. Trust me. Bam, bam, bam, right? Okay. I think we're ready. We ordered a couple of things. Yeah. You said no allergies, correct? No allergies. I'm just allergic to bull. This is the last thing. We got a lot. So we have the... Hey man, it is what it is. It is what it is. This is the most Dragon Ball coded meal. Eat like this. Eat like... Just like hold the fork and knife like in prison. You obviously haven't been vegan forever, bro. Tell me about like your health journey and what got you to this point being vegan. I feel like the proper term is plant-based because vegan is like... I think it's more of a religious aspect and also the, you know, it's tied to different things with the economically and stuff like that. How you process like fur is murder. It's like there's a whole thing behind it. My choosing to be plant-based for me was like... It always felt hard at first because it was kind of like, you know, eating is such an emotional place for people. You know, it's like, you know, comfort food. It's called comfort food because it's meant to... You know, when we get depressed, there's people that you eat when you get depressed or like you get nervous, you eat. I personally, I tend to nervous eat too. It came around the time I also decided to stop drinking. So it was like, you know, one kind of informed the other. It was kind of like this weird like... Simply put, it was like Mac's death changed a lot of things in my life. A lot of realizations, a lot of like acceptance, a lot of like pain, a lot of like understanding of like, you know, it was like my eyes were wide awake, you know. And I feel like the first thing that came back to that was recognizable was this. It was the acknowledgement that whatever I was doing was not working and knowing that it was like not good for me. And like just trying to make better decisions all around. That was the moment that I realized that this was what I should be doing. It started off of being introduced to it by Erykah Badu and she just showed me that this is a thing. It's not, it doesn't have to be my thing, but she was like, this is what I do. This is what I, you know, this is how I walk, you know. And I remember it being like, you know, I don't care. I'm still, it's like, that's cool. But I mean, I don't see myself not eating Oceanoia and Popeyes and like, you know, you know, I can't see it. And it didn't stick to one of the most traumatic moments in my life that was coded with that said, like, you know, take the option, bro. And when it showed itself, I took it. You know, I knew it was like, this is, I have to do it. I have to do it. There was the moments where I was like, oh, I would try to reward myself. I'm like, I'll be eating vegan or eat plant-based. And then like, you know, once a year I like crash out. I'm gonna get like a 24 pieces and go get the family value meal at Church's Chicken or something. Like I gotta balance this out with some straight bullshit. And you know, I started feeling like an idiot because then it made me feel like I was eating to reward myself. And then I realized it was one of those moments where it was like, nah, man, just accept it. Hey, yo, this looks awesome. It's a very summertime thing right now. Yeah, let me just, you know, I got to keep my decorations because, you know, you know what I'm saying? I got to keep the decorations like this. Cheers. Oh man, cheers. Oh, that's great. That's fantastic. That's my thing. I don't like stuff too sweet. I don't want it to be too much. Drinking was my life. It was like me. I understood what it was for me. I found a lot of myself in alcohol. As I couldn't tell you because it's always like, you know, like it's still like, you know, as time has progressed, there's like my friends that have not, who they were used to seeing, it was almost like seeing a different person. So every now and again, like, you know, it would be for them. It's still shocking that it was such a drastic change for me. It still happens. It's still like, oh my God. Remember, like I hear a lot of the, do you remember the last time we hung out? And I'd be like this, no, no, I don't. You know, you're like, should I remember? Yeah. I'm like, Hey, I remember I went to the doctor around that time when we were, when I was like finding out these things, entertaining change or like, you know, considering these things. And I remember the doctor at one point had said to me, like, take me through a week of drinking with you. She just wanted to hear what it sounded like. It was a wild thing. She's, she's, you know, she's got her notepad. She's first thing I said, she just looked at me like, she looked at me like, what is, what is that? And I was just like, it was like, you know, she reserved her judgment. And I remember the doctor saying to me, it felt like a shotgun, bro. She was like, you're going to die. She wasn't saying it like, you know, like you got to be careful. You know, this is, you know, she was telling me that I was, I was on the edge of organ failure. Yeah. She was like, you came in at a time, innately, maybe innately, you came in at the right time. And she was like, you're right about to die, bro. And she was like, I don't know what to tell you. It was a part, bro. I was, and I was there, I was by myself. And it was the realest, one of the realest moments I've had in my life where she, you know, I cried, bro. I'm not even gonna lie. I cried at the realization of what life had done in my mind to me. You know, like seeing Mac die, Austin die, all my friends. I just kind of just took a breath and realized it was just like, I have to change. I have to, I don't have a choice. All right. So this is officially my first real experience with vegan food on the channel. And honestly, I'm trying not to judge it as vegan food. I just want to know if it's actually good food or not. I got the dogs and their crispy potatoes. That's what it means right there. And then I got the avocado beetroot tartare. Morris, come in right now, okay? Let's go. Oh, we come, we come with chopsticks. No fork and knife. Yeah, we, um, um, maybe for the American dishes, but I'm, they, these are some very nicely cut. They spent money on their chopsticks. This is how, you know, they care. Do you ever get chopsticks and they be just looking like you just break them apart and then just splinter them off in your mouth for this? What is it? Are those the steak orders? That's the steaks. Yeah, we have more steak coming out too. This is the alfonso burger. Oh, sheesh. This looks good. Oh my God. This is what we trying first. He ordered like eight orders of steak. It looks like steak. This is mushroom. This is mushroom and pea protein. What's that? What we got to do right now? We got all this food. Let's just dig right in, bro. Yes, sir. You heard that. Here we go. All right, so what are we eating first? This, this right here. There's, there's a few of them, right? He's like, take your own steak. We literally have four orders of these steak, bro. Cool. Steak first. Yes, sir. Cheers. What you know about? What you talking about? Well, I'll tell you, baby. You're seeing it. Bro, no exaggeration aside. I was not expecting this to taste like real steak, bro. I'll tell you, bro. I don't be crashed out overnight for no reason. I know you. It has the same texture of steak also, like almost like a skirt steak. Very juicy. For those that be thinking that just because I eat plant-based means that I'm just outside grazing like a cow. Yo, I'm not gonna lie. Bam. You see what I'm talking about? I'm not gonna lie. I have no, wow. You see the vision? All right, what's next? Try some of these nigiri pieces. Try one of these watermelon ones first. This is watermelon? That's watermelon. Jordan's mind is getting blown right now. Bro, as an avid sushi lover, bro. I'm so mind blown by this because I, it tastes like sushi. And it has a consistency of like sushi, like salmon. You want to know something funny? That this is another gem that stuck with me from a particular ex. She said to me, you don't like the dish. You like this. You like the seasoning. We like the seasoning. She was telling me this. She was trying to teach me the ways of like viewing it. And she said, you don't like the chicken. You like the seasoning. And I was like this. I was like, what do you mean? She's like, if you season it right, it can be amazing. That's all that means. She was like, she was like holding her hands out like Morpheus, like red pill, blue pill. And when she said that, man, when I say she broke the matrix where she was like Neo, she was like, it's your choice. And I was like this. I fell in love. I was like, whatever you say, sweetie. Yeah, there's every sense, this is constantly moments of revolving, like realizing you really love the seasoning. I'm not gonna lie. It tastes like you taste the soy sauce, the ginger, the wasabi. You're getting, you're not missing anything. Nothing. It tastes literally like a regular piece of sushi. Like nothing is missing on this at all. All right, let's try this next one. This is an eggplant one, you said? We could go either way. We can try the avocado or the eggplant. All right, avocado one. You lead the pack, bro. Let's try the eggplant one. I'm gonna take the ginger just because. Go ahead, bro. Bro, that one tastes more like sushi than the second one because the texture is correct. And you taste the sear from the torch along like the eel sauce. Yeah, I always, a lot of the time I, you know, I tend to judge like said sushi or like nigiri and stuff like that always off of the rice. And you can, you can feel that the rice, the rice is amazing too. Yeah, great quality rice. They know what they're doing. Hand me another one of them steak plates. Yo, bro, Stephen, Stephen ordered four orders of these, bro. Bro, I'm like, man, I'm like trying to save my stomach for all this stuff. You're like, give me the steak plates, the steak bites, the steak wraps, the steak, the steak burritos. Because it's light. You feel it, right? It's light. It's easy to digest. It's just vegetables. This reminds me of the episode of SpongeBob when he eats like the salad. I feel like I'm eating one big salad, but not really. You know, you're about to go on tour right now. You just released an album this year. I mean, fantastic music as, as always. I still think for me, my favorite song of yours is always gonna be Lava Lamp. Oh man. I don't think I ever told you that before. No, man, you never have. That's my favorite song by far. How do you maintain your like diet, exercise? I mean, the people don't know you box. You're like super into fitness. How do you maintain all that when you're on tour? You know, it's gotta be tough. It is. It can be if you're, if you're not rich enough. It can be very tough. The travel can be very like, you know, jumping on planes and having to wake up at, checking the hotels or like, you know, you got five seconds when you get somewhere. A couple of times I've taken trainers with me. Not too long ago, I took Justin Juco, who was Golden Gloves Uganda in the 90s, who also fought Floyd. Like he's a legend. Shout out to Justin Juco always. Thank you for the care you would give me on tour. He would go out with me and do, you know, just keep my hands sharp, do some mitt works, do some calisthenics. When it's, when it becomes a bit, yeah, look, look. When it becomes complicated, I accept, I accept because a lot of the time it's, it's complicated to juggle it. It's very complicated. I mean, I'm just, you know, trying to dip a little bit of soy sauce. It does become a bit complicated, but sometimes that rest for me is needed. So realizing that if that's the chance to pause, take it. Because I do it so viciously here. It's also like, I also look at it almost like a chance to recover. So, you know, doing it every day here is really intense. You know, you wind up in the hospital. So those moments I take it as a recovery and a chance to like reset my mind and like not stress too much about what I'm not in control of. But the one thing I can be in control of is my diet. I find it fairly easy on tour because I feel like most foods, cultures have vegan, vegetarian options. For the most part, it's easy to find vegetable dishes. Indian, Thai, they all have this. I think we're getting better about it. But one thing I do notice on tour, everybody loves to eat. That's the other part. Like we were talking about, it's such a comfort and emotional thing. Everybody on tour, just every five seconds, let's go eat. Let's go eat. So I like learning to like control yourself. Me on tour is what kind of keeps me going. Try to limit the meal to like the one time, you know, a couple of snacks in between, but like less crazy and more, more focused. And I try. I mean, you seem like you're doing a good job, bro. I mean. What's the next thing? We finished that last steak. I know you want to. What you want? You want to do the steak wraps? What you want to do this time? Should we go broccoli? Let's do that crispy rice. All right. Cool. All right. Crispy rice time. I know this is about to jump. You see it. Oh my God. Bro, that's good. Oh my God. Rock, paper, scissors for the last one. Wait, are we going to shoot or just rock, paper, scissors? Rock, paper, scissors. All right. Rock, paper, scissors. Damn. You know what? I want you to have it. You can eat it. You can eat the last one. You sure? Yeah, you want fair and square. No, but I know you want that. Do it, do it, do it. Actually, you know what? Give me that. I love it. I love to see it. This is the first time YouTube has ever seen me eat a full meal. I usually like eat a couple of bites. That's so good. I think all this is so good. Because you said it tastes identical. Same texture. Yeah. Same taste. And I don't feel like I'm missing any like tuna. And you get literally every single flavor is the exact same as what it usually would be if it had some meat alternative inside of it. This is really fantastic, bro. All right. Let's see here. Let me try. Let's try one of these because this is. I know this is ass. You got to blame me because it's the one. He was like, let me get the little joints. I mean, I mean, do we do the whole cube or? That's crazy. I think that's that caviar is like seaweed or something. Something. A good coconut flavor. I feel like you should wait for that one though because I just immediately made everything. That was good. Fantastic, right? Fantastic. So you said, what are those? Usually like these edamame dumplings. So there are dumplings, but they're maybe like edamame and a couple other things that are like green. So it's like I always started realizing the greens help you just break this stuff down in your digestive system. So I'll be like, I love when somebody makes a dish that has the greens as a as a strong point in there. You know, it's so funny when we were talking about greens in particular, I was with a Vic Mensa on his birthday. I don't know if you saw the podcast episode. I mean, the episode we were talking about how, like, you don't have no gray hairs. You're not balding at all because you're vegan. And he was like how he just recently went vegan because he was like, look at Steven. He's like, he'll have, he has like no gray hair because he's vegan. Bro, it tastes like a dumpling with some gentai fung, bro. They're giving you a run for your money, guys. I'm sorry. Plant-based is up right now, baby. I've only had, I think, plant-based or vegan food with you. Maybe like, where have we been? We went to Asanabo once. And we went to that other restaurant that's on, um. Crossroads. Crossroads, yeah. Those are the only two times I've had vegan food ever. But I feel like this is bodying both of them, bro. I told you I got mad. I'm still mad they don't deliver. Back to where I'm at. I'm like, y'all need to fix that. More planted queens around. No, we need more of these. We need more of this restaurant everywhere. What I really want to understand was how someone develops a sound so distinct that you can recognize it almost instantly. And what happens creatively once the world starts recognizing you for it. All right, man. So let's talk a little bit about the music. I feel like I never ask you about it like this, bro. You know, obviously when we're out, I've seen you get recognized a billion times. Is there like a particular moment in your life that made you realize like, damn, I'm Thundercat now? Like going from like Steven to now being like this person that's like globally recognized, Grammy winning, platinum selling like, you know, this is huge inspiration to people and just like someone that has literally millions of fans around the world. I don't know. I think if there if there was a moment I'll never forget. I think that I think it kind of blindsided me, to be honest. Where you want to go? Pick your poison. You let me choose last time. I'm gonna do this one because this is this is this. All right. I didn't mean to interrupt your question, but oh, my God. There was one conversation I had and I thought I thought I thought he was joking. I definitely thought he was like being cheeky. I was talking to Bruno Mars one day and I was describing stuff and how it felt. I was like, man, people just keep talking to me. It felt like the room was smaller, you know, makes me makes you feel like you're going crazy or something. I was just like, man, what is going on? And Bruno said this to me, like, look me dead in my face. I was like, hey, man, you're going to have to move. And I was like, I was like, he's like, I had to. He's like, oh, that's how it happened. I was like, what do you what do you mean? He's like, I knew I had to move when this is, you know, Bruno. He was like, I knew I had to move when I walked outside to go, you know, get my mail. And my the place I was staying was a stop on the TMZ tour bus. He walked out to go get his mail. And here you have Bruno Mars getting his mail. He's like, I got to go. And I thought I was like, easy for you to say, Bruno. You know, I was like, you know, he's the closest thing to Michael Jackson. We have on this planet, you know, and I was like, sounds like a money problem, Bruno. I don't think I don't know what you're talking about, bro. I'm sitting. I'm crashed out, bro. I don't know where I'm at. And those words came back to haunt me when I realized I had to move. I never forget it. There's one reason. One of the reasons why I'm grateful I got the chance to spend so much time with Mac is because he showed me the way he showed me, like, you know, be kind, be kind to your fans. Be like, don't ever take it for granted. You know, it's like, be there with the people that are with you. And I, again, stuck with me. Oh, you were trying to go into the the avocado rolls or not even avocado rolls. Which one is this one? This is a miso truffle, but avocado instead of the eggplant. Okay. And yeah. So please, my man, you can get addicted to those. You can get addicted to this dish. Wow. Yeah. Go ahead. This one top a little truffle. Yeah. Mr. The sweetness of the glaze. I got to put a cap on this one because that's the eat it like a liter of rice. Yeah. Let me go ahead. Get some of this in there too. We're going to knock back the last two. Yeah, let's just go ahead and just nerf them. You see the table almost finished. Yeah, but I'm jumping. Dumb jumping, bro. What? Nice and spicy too. I mean, you talk a lot about you and Max's relationship. I know you guys are really close. I've seen you guys have been on tour together, if I'm not mistaken, right? You guys have done a lot of stuff. I don't know if you mind talking about it, but tell me a little about you and his relationship. Like, I know that was one of your closest homies. We'd have fun, man. Everything was fun. Funny and terrible. What does that mean, bro? It was like, we always could see the joke, you know. There's nothing funnier than somebody you can see the joke with. He was full on all the time, man. Like, he was like always on fire, always inspired, you know. He was always milling about like what next, what to do next. And like the tour that, the tour that, the funny thing is that tour that was supposed to happen, the swimming tour, it was me, him, and Jid. I remember his excitement about it. I remember him being like, he was like, this was something that he put together personally. He's like, I want this, you know. He was always kind of like that, you know. You take who, you really pick who you take out with him, you know. Internet, you know, me or Jid, you know. Very instrumental in making sure there was a really strong balance to like the force, so to speak. And in music, you can't have one without the other, you know. That's, that's why even when you look at the personalities that he had as the different characters, like from the delusional Thomas to Larry Lovestein and all this stuff, you're like, what is this multifaceted? I think he tried to, he would try to keep them all together on things. Bro, the dishes are good. You see what we did here? Yeah, this is very good. I want to get that lemonade that he was talking about next. Mac was just one of the most solid dudes, man, you know. And that's the simple, the simple explanation, you know. The things that we would see with him, like his music and like the places he would go with it. It was just, I think it was tight for everybody to be able to see every aspect of how he was. How did you two meet each other? Oh, this is a fun one. The way I met Mac, we always made this joke. It was almost, it was a joke and he had to laugh because he couldn't. How did we meet? We didn't, neither of us knew. We would joke about it, point and go, how did we get this close? You know, and at his memorial, you know, I kind of told a little anecdote. He didn't know how we met. I just wound up on his couch one day and it was one day, I'm not lying to you, man. Dating this lady at the time and she said to me, she said, you never, you don't remember how you guys met? And I was like, no. Or like, you know, she said, she's, she told me and I'm paraphrasing. She said, you used to become so ungovernable at the house that I would take you to Mac's house and drop you off in front of his house and just leave you there. And I would just wander up his driveway. And it was like, when you ever see those, you ever see the videos, like where somebody like hits their hand with a hammer and then they hand him a guitar and then he just starts playing the guitar. I'm not lying. Me and Mac would just, oh, press the space bar. It would almost be like our muscle memory of music would just kick in. Like, oh, I was here. Everything would always start at Mac's house. Like, oh, I was already here recording. Some of y'all best stuff has just come off of a vibe. Oh my God. Walk in the studio. You have your bass? No. Is there a bass here? Yeah. Okay. Well, nice bass. And we always pick each other's brains. You know, we love just bowling. We love going bowling. Bro, this is one of the only people that be beating me in bowling, bro, and I'm nice. On his birthday, he rolled like a casual, like 215, 230. And we're just like, all right, bro. I knew that it was going to be, we were going to be great friends when we asked each other, it was like, what's your favorite movie? And it was like, The Big Lebowski. And I was like, sir, we are going to be best friends. It seemed like you guys had like a really tight affinity for one another though. Just like a good vibe in terms of music, interests, personalities, values. All right. We complimented each other very much in many different aspects of life like that. Our girlfriends at the time, we thought we were the kings. You know, we got some bad girlfriends, man. Let's have a game night. You want to play mafia? It felt like we were just right where we were supposed to be. So you talk a lot about just the different vibes and how you connect with people like Fly Low, Mack, obviously, y'all relationship contributes to the great music that you guys have made. But you've been in a room with a lot of great musicians. You have a lot of songs of people, people don't know you've written for a lot of folks and just been on a lot of just different people's albums and music. What's one thing that you've learned or taken away from some of the bigger artists or different artists that you've worked with? What are those experiences been like? I mean, you have Kendrick on your features. Like, you know, you have a lot of... You have a huge rapport of just different artists. One thing I do take away from a lot of the things I've experienced is like they are photos and snapshots themselves in time. And don't always savor and appreciate these moments because nothing of the sort is guaranteed, you know? So getting a chance to see and work with Kendrick for me was like... It was like watching Miles Davis. It was like I would just sit there sometimes. I just watch his mannerisms. I watch him, like, watch his, you know, watch the way his eyes blink. Like how he'd be processing. Watch how fast he'd be moving. Watching how he was always... It inspired me, you know? Different life lessons to learn, you know? I was like, oh, this is what consistency means. Like, oh, this is what work ethic means. Oh, this is what artistry means. Oh, this is like what it means to express yourself. Putting this food away. This is crazy. I know, but we got to try this and the al pastor. Which one you want first? Oh boy, you want to try that al pastor? Let's hit the al pastor. Let me smash one of these down real quick before you put this... I don't want to get you talking too much and then not eat. I'm like, I know you see the food right there. That's mushroom, bro. I would say this is more technology than the iPhone, if we're being honest. This is the best thing that ever happened since FaceTime. You found a new way to make mushrooms. The one moment that stands out for real is me and Tyler. Because I've known Tyler since he was a teenager. You know, my younger brother was in the internet, you know? Really? Yeah. Jameel was in the internet. That album, that one giant cover. Then they're all on the cover. That's my little brother in these. Really? With the god hose hat on. My favorite moments that stand out? Tyler. In the manner in which I say things aren't always guaranteed and you'll never know. I always wanted to work with Tyler. I heard Bastard when it came out, when he was recording it. And my little brother, he brought it home before it came out. I've been hanging out with Tyler and these kids and he's recording this album. He's recording. I'm like sitting here and I'm watching something I ain't never seen before in music at all. I'm like, oh my god, this dude is amazing. He says the most volatile stuff that you're not supposed to say out loud. You know, he'd be saying this crazy stuff. But it's like, he's inside my mind right now. I was like, this dude's inside my head. He's crazy. I was like, man, I would only hope one day. I was like, man, one day I'll get a chance to work with him or something, you know? And meeting a younger Tyler was, again, needless to say, was hilarious. Like he was full tilt Sonic the Hedgehog, bro. He was just gone. Couldn't speak English. Kicked the door in, cartwheel, fart, throw something at somebody's wall, unplug the TV. And he walked in. It was like Animaniacs, bro. And I remember he said it when he was younger. He was like, I just, I don't have a reason to call you. And I was like, I feel you. I was like, well, maybe one day. And I'll never forget it when he was a bit older, you know, different Tyler, different part of his life and all this stuff. And we talked about it. He was like, man, in this moment, I need you here. And I was like this, I'm happy you see it. I'm happy you see something for me. I'm happy that there's a place that, you know, you see something that I, you know. I was so grateful, man. Let's get into the al pastor real quick before I ask you another question. We're almost done, bro. This is crazy. I'm like looking at it at first, overwhelmed. And I'm not even that full. That's what I'm saying. Oh, it's got really like pineapple and stuff too. Jalapenos. Oh, it's fantastic. It's great. Yeah. If you know anything about Thundercat, you know, music isn't the only thing he's deeply into. So naturally, I had to get his thoughts on anime, including a few opinions that may get him in trouble. Now we can get to the fun stuff. We heard enough about the music, man. At least your anime hot take, man. If you should happen to ask me, do you love One Piece? Always know that I just know you're in your twenties. That's it. Can I go like this? I can understand. I get it. You know, it's like One Piece is great. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a hater. I'm not. I am a hater. But I also just go. It's like watching somebody pick up on the latter part or the like the B side of a record. You know what I mean? Like somebody, you know, like the hits on this on the A side. And then you pick up and you're like, man, but the B side, you know, like the B, you're mistaking the B side for the A side. One Piece is fantastic. But you're also letting me know that you don't. You're just gotten anime. I love whenever somebody calls it, what they call it, un-slop where it's like you start going back into the old anime stuff. Now, have I ever steered you wrong when it comes to? Never, never, never, ever. We just, we just recently before, before this whole, before we came to eat today, watch the whole Rurouni Kenshin, movies and everything else. Elite. Classic. Shout out to the Bato Sai. We got this last dish right here. Did you actually like these? They're a little, they're a little much. Yeah, they're heavy. I mean, but that's the thing. That's that heavy carb load. If we ate this, we'd be a lot less plates down right now. Oh yeah. But we got to try this one. Last but not least. So what is this? So what is this one? Like it's beets, avocado. Yeah, it's like a beet tartare. Oh, beet tartare. Yeah, with taro chips. By this point, Thundercat had deeply changed my experience of vegan food, but there was still one question left. Is this somewhere that would actually come back without him? Can we tap out? I feel like we slowed down right where we're supposed to. I know. It's super carb heavy. As soon as it got carb heavy, it's like, all right, cool. Look, we just got to recap the damage. You got to play the... There are so much plates. Man, bro. This is like, honestly, though I'm stuffed, I don't feel like I need to take a nap afterward. You know, I'm not gonna lie, bro. You might've convinced me to start trying more vegan food. They are special here, man. You have another favorite vegan spot in LA? There's a couple. Give the people your favorite vegan spots. One place I love, they have plant-based options. Kitchen Mouse. I love their dressings for their salads and the different options that they have that are plant-based. The good guys at Asa Naval, you know, they're one of the most prestiged sushi restaurants in Los Angeles. And they have accommodated me sometimes with this stuff and I appreciate it very much. They have such a special place. But another one that I do love very much is Hope Cafe. All right, if you could leave the people with one thing, what you're leaving them with? Keep holding these anime studios accountable for showing up with this mid-recycling and CG background. Hold them responsible. Keep that standard. We gotta keep that anime standard, bro. You know, telling the truth feels just like lying, but I guess you feel better or you can sleep better after you tell the truth. You'll get cussed out more, but if you lie, you're still gonna get cussed out. But if you tell the truth and you get, you're gonna get cussed out. Just choose the amount of cussing. I don't know. Be honest. Well, man, I appreciate, I enjoyed this meal with you, bro. This has been like a fantastic conversation, bro. I mean, definitely got me convinced on all this, man. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to smash that like button. Hit that hype button. Let me know if you want to eat with some more of my friends. Steven is one of my best friends, as you can tell. We got plenty of stories. Maybe next time we'll do like a cooking class or something like that. Maybe make him cook some vegan food, who knows? He's like, I don't know about that. But yeah, if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to hit the subscribe button and we coming at y'all with more videos, bro. I think I've been converted to a vegan fan, man. But until then, we out.