NEW YORK — As if the New York primary could not get more New York, Hillary Clinton joined the Breakfast Club, a mainstay of the city's hip-hop radio scene, and the conversation was about as freewheeling as you can imagine.
Clinton joined DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne Tha God at a campaign stop at Harlem's Corsi Senior Center last week for the 30-minute interview.
Now, lest you think that the hosts went easy on her, Clinton was nearly immediately confronted with having been named "Donkey of the Day," which is something of a dubious honor.
She took it well: "I'm a Democrat so being donkey of the day is a little bit of a mixed blessing."
It's worth noting that Clinton was named Charlamagne's "Donkey of the Day" back in January for being inauthentic and for pandering to black people. Clinton, he said, kept trying to reach black voters in a "Grandma trying to be hip kinda way."
Last week, face-to-face with Clinton, Charlamagne had a few opportunities to confront her about a long list of issues he has had with her outreach to black voters, beginning with the one that he says is at the crux of the problem: "A lot of black people feel like they can't trust you because you mispronounced Beyonce's name."
Clinton chalked the egregious mistake to exhaustion and professed her love for Queen B.
"It's just like a natural phenomenon," Clinton said, describing how she felt after seeing Beyonce perform in person at Michelle Obama's birthday party.
But Charlamagne wasn't done: "Now you went to Brooklyn last night and you didn’t say rest in peace to Biggie Smalls or shout out Jay-Z, why not?"
Clinton: "It went by so fast!"
Charlamagne: "Just one big up to Brooklyn, RIP biggie."
Clinton: "I said I love Brooklyn."
Angela: "You gotta say is Brooklyn in da house?"
Clinton: "Brooklyn in da house, that’s right."
On a more serious note, Charlamagne also asked Clinton to answer for her use of the term "superpredator" in the 1990s. The term was once used to describe young, urban criminals and is now thought to be coded racial language used to describe black youths at the height of drug-related violence.
"
I’m a super predator — at least I used to be," Charlamagne quipped. He then went on to point out to Clinton that what is so offensive to him about the term is that people used it to describe black youths without addressing the "system that created the super predators."
"How do we hold the system accountable for that?" Charlamagne asked.
Clinton repeated that the term was a poor choice of words and added, "I was talking about drug gangs and traffickers and cartels but it was a poor choice of words."
"There is systemic racism that has to be called out and addressed," Clinton said.
Before they called it a day, Angela Yee had one more question for Clinton.
Angela: "What’s something that you always carry with you?"
Clinton: "Hot sauce ..."
DJ Envy: " Really?"
For those unfamiliar, Clinton's answer might have been an innocent — and perfectly timed — admission. Or — more likely — a well-planned reference to what has become a viral line from Beyonce's newest song "Formation": "I got hot sauce in my bag, swag."
The answer seemed to floor Charlamagne.
Charlamagne: "You getting that formation right now?"
Clinton: "Hot sauce …"
Charlamagne: "Hot sauce in my bag, swag."
Clinton: "Hot sauce."
Charlamagne: "What? Really ..."
"Now, I just want you to know people are going to see this and say ‘okay, she’s pandering to black people.' "
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