The pursuit of higher education aside,
there are so many reasons people go to college.
Some go to find love...
...others to find their purpose.
And for Vivek Shah, the number-one reason he went
was to reinvent himself and finally fit in.
But don't get me wrong...
there'd been some bumps along the road to his reinvention.
What's up with you and being so close to my body, bro?
Bro, you make it so hard to root for you.
Bitch, I will slap you.
But despite the growing pains,
Vivek had finally found his way.
I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. Is that a domi-yes? Hm?
Or a domi-nos, bitch?!
Whoo!
And since being kicked out of Winthrop house
by the rich kids and crashing at Hawkins,
he had really started to fit in.
But on the road to reinventing yourself and trying to fit in,
is it possible to fit in too well?
Get at me later, my [bleep].
What the hell just happened?
♪ Watch out, world, I'm grown now ♪
♪ I'm grown ♪
♪ Learn something new every day ♪
♪ I don't know, so I'm-a feel my way ♪
♪ Got the weight of the world on me ♪
♪ But no regrets, this is what I say ♪
♪ Watch out, world, I'm grown now ♪
- ♪ I'm grown ♪ - ♪ You can tell me ♪
♪ My heart beating so loud ♪
♪ Mama, look, I'm grown now ♪
♪ I'm grown ♪
Synced & corrected by kinglouisxx www.addic7ed.com
Hold up.
Did anybody peep that?
Why is nobody trippin'?
Trippin' on what? Somebody do something?
Your boy, "V-Didge."
Yo, it seems like he's starting to feel
a little too at home at Hawkins.
Well, I mean, the dude's been crashing here,
so technically, he is home.
No, no, I'm saying, like, homeland home,
motherland home, "For Us By Us,"
but he ain't... one-of-us kind of home.
Yo, he's starting to get a little too comfortable, man.
Well, I can argue Vivek has always... been comfortable.
Hey, Queen.
We do it for the culture!
Excuse me, Queen, you thirsty this evening?
You mad.
- Yeah. - No, I'm saying my problem is,
we're all a little too comfortable
with him being that comfortable.
Somebody's gonna have to check his ass.
What? Whoa! Can you...
Dude, this is our boy we're talking about here, okay?
Not some stranger.
This is harmless, sweet-faced, chipper-ass Vivek.
The dude's like a buff little Disney prince or something.
No, no, no. Did you not hear what Rafael just called him?
That's not Vivek's fault.
You cannot blame him for Rafael's dumbass comment.
Plus, everybody knows Rafael says the N-word all the time.
The dude's got a serious problem.
Come on, [bleep]. Come on!
Ooh!
My [bleep].
Talkin' bout.
Come on. Unh-unh. Don't do that.
But that doesn't excuse Vivek's behavior.
Bro, he's appropriating our culture... period.
How can Vivek be guilty of cultural appropriation?
By definition, it means taking
the elements of someone else's culture
without knowing anything about it
or having any respect for it.
Vivek isn't stealing anything, and you are buggin'.
Yo, when I watch old boy brush his hair
with the little wooden brush like that,
I feel mad disrespected.
From the way he brushes his hair?
Yes, and you don't find it odd that when we text each other,
he sends me the black thumbs-up emoji?
Honestly, I find it more odd
that two grown-ass men text with emojis.
Okay.
And in his defense, Vivek is brown.
What the hell color is he supposed to use?
Not the Wesley Snipes thumb.
Yo, and... and... Okay.
How do you explain the whole video game thing?
Doug, it's a basketball game.
The majority of the players are Black.
Here.
Yo, he had the option to customize his player
to look exactly like himself,
and he went and made it look like 2 Chainz.
Yo, I just think you're too close to dude to see it.
I guarantee you if this was anybody else besides your BFF,
you would find this whole thing mad sus.
Just sayin'.
So, after learning that a little volunteer work
would not only help society but also help me boost my grade
so I could get off of academic probation,
I decided to scour the Internet.
You know, it's too bad that Cal U won't give you
extra credit for the type of volunteer work that I do.
Which is...?
Writing sizeable tax-deductible donations
to private school students in Israel.
Wow. How noble of you.
I'm pretty much like the Jewish Oprah.
Okay, you're insane.
Well, I'm big on giving back, too.
Once a year, I go with my church
into low-income neighborhoods to paint poor children's faces.
You guys, you should see the smile on their faces.
After we paint them on.
Okay, and you're insane, too.
Ah. Damn it!
The puppy rescue is full.
You know, I would have killed
to rescue a poor little discarded golden retriever
named Hector.
- Ohh. - That woman looks so fulfilled.
Okay, well, is there another site you can check?
Uh...
Actually, you know what?
There's a site my father uses.
- Arts and culture... - Yeah.
And ZIP code...
Oh! "Project: Ballgown."
This is actually pretty perfect.
Not only can I stack extra credit,
but I can also stack the confidence
of high school girls who can't afford prom dresses.
- That's perfect. - Mm-hmm.
I mean... it's no face paint.
Yo, what's poppin', my people?
This is your boy V-Didge,
and we outchea in these Cal U streets!
Mm-hmm.
Ooh, God, what is that?
- Who taught him that? - I'm telling you.
Brrrratt!
Brrrr, brrrr, brrrr, brrrrrr...
Mm! Mm!
Oh, see? Look. Look.
Right there, Vivek just built the best defense for himself.
Black people don't let dogs kiss them on the mouth.
- That's just not a thing that we do. - All right, cool.
But none of the rest of that seemed sus to you? Come on.
I mean, sure, yeah,
Vivek, as a human, makes me feel very sus,
conflicted, confused, about a lot of things,
but as a Black person, no.
And besides, he's a minority, dude.
He can't steal from us.
It still doesn't give him an all-access pass
'cause he's not White.
But it does give him a limited-access pass,
because as a minority,
we know what it's like to have to assimilate.
We don't trust cops,
we know the difference between a well-seasoned piece of meat
and that bland-ass bullshit
White people cook for Thanksgiving.
What the hell is a turducken?
- Okay, I'm sorry, but, bro... - Hm?
...if you're not Black, right, it doesn't matter
how similar our taste buds or our hardships are.
You stay in your lane, I stay in mine.
It's simple.
But how can you tell which lane is which
when everyone's trying to be us?
Black culture is pop culture.
It's not Vivek's fault
that the lines are so blurred, you know?
What was that?
Who turnt up over there?
What's happening?
"Wave Cap Wednesday."
And these [bleep] about to be seasick! You hear me?
Ohhh!
Oh!
Ohh!
Man, I don't know about that.
Come on. Come on.
Ohh!
Come on. Don't let me down.
Don't let Daddy down.
Ohh!
My man! Unh!
He won. He won that one.
Yes, sir, hold up!
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh! Whoa! Whoa!
Hold up!
What?
Here we go. Here we go.
Ohhhhh!
- Ooh! Ooh! - Man, how you like that?
But the lines aren't so blurred now, are they?
Welcome.
The Zoey Johnson Styling Experience
has officially gone philanthropic.
I'm giving back in the best way I know how...
fashion.
Oh, my God!
She looks... stunning!
She is possibly the second most beautiful prom princess
I have... God, I've ever seen.
Uh, it's just... a little big on you,
but I can fix that easy-peasy.
- It's fine. - No, it's super simple.
All I have to do is take in the waist, pull up the straps.
Seriously, it doesn't matter.
It's fine.
Oh.
Thank you.
Okay, um...
...you're welcome?
Hey, you know that we don't have to sit with Aaron, right?
We can totally get our own table.
No. No. I'm... I'm good.
I'm good, because I am pivoting myself
back into the friend zone with him.
See?
Pivot. Right back.
So good.
Yeah. Pfft. You're so good.
And, look, you dodged a bullet, okay?
I mean, the dude has beads in his rattail.
Hey.
- Hey. - Hey.
Yo, Vivek.
I see you ditched the waves.
Yeah, dudes was getting nauseous.
Your boy was too wavy.
Yeah.
Hey, ma, can I get a Crown and Coke, please?
Out of curiosity, uh, why'd you order that?
I don't know.
'Cause it's a delectable cocktail
that you introduced me to.
And if I haven't thanked you before, I'm thanking you now.
Good lookin' out, homey.
- Mm! - No prob, homey.
Oh, snap! This is my joint!
Mm! Mm, mm!
Mm-hmm!
Mm!
Mm! Mm-hmm!
Hey.
Hey!
You look great.
Thanks.
It's good to see you. I, uh, missed you.
Thanks.
Uh, you want to dance, maybe?
I can get you a drink.
No, thanks.
♪ ...cash is being real ♪
♪ I need that loaf, and ♪
- ♪ I'm just being honest ♪ - Right.
Hey, hey, hey, peep your boy. Look. He knows all the words.
♪ I know you wanna ride with me, shorty ♪
♪ Road to success and swervin' lanes like I'm Tory ♪
And since when has memorizing rap lyrics been a crime?
I didn't say that it was.
But I guarantee you when that N-bomb drops,
he's not gonna stop rapping.
- Look. - ♪ ...my life to get no average pension ♪
♪ So I'm-a make you get the point ♪
What are you idiots doing?
Waiting on Vivek to drop the N-bomb.
Because he's a cultural appropriator.
- Alleged cultural appropriator. - Thank you.
Doug has been trying to convince us all day.
Fun!
I feel like we missed a lot.
Here it comes. Here it comes.
♪ Can't hate me if she choose ♪
Young [bleep] can't lose!
- Oh, my... - Damn it, Rafael!
- Every time. - Wait. I don't get it.
Why do you guys think Vivek is appropriating?
Think about it... from the Gucci he rocks...
- Right. - ....to the music he listens to.
Right!
All the drugs that he deals!
Huh?
Uh... Uh, which have...
absolutely nothing to do with Black culture at all.
Right. Right.
But neither is rocking Gucci. We didn't create that.
If anything, the guy's guilty of flexing too hard,
not robbing us of our culture.
If you ask me, I say he's just celebrating, not appropriating.
O-Oh, okay, but none of y'all find it weird
that out of all the things he celebrates, it's our shit?
Maybe those are just his preferences.
Oh, Sky, no.
We have to stay woke.
I mean, knowing the deep history
of fetishization of Black culture,
and especially Black women,
as an ally of the struggle,
I find it deeply problematic to excuse Vivek's behavior.
Do you want to take this?
No! No. I'm-a sit shotgun on this one.
Okay, Nomi, so, as an ally of the struggle,
would you consider your own behavior problematic?
Because I would.
Some would say you're very similar to Vivek.
I mean, you hang out with a mostly Black crew,
you're rocking bamboo earrings...
And apparently, now you give lectures to Black people
on how to stay woke.
Mm.
Oh, my God.
I've failed as an ally of the diaspora.
I'm sorry. I just don't even see the big deal.
Why can't people just dress they that they want to dress
or talk the way they want to talk
or do their hair the way they want to do it?
I mean, I don't care that Doug is always dressed
like my 50-year-old Cuban Uncle Pepe.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Okay, there is nothing flattering
about picking and choosing elements of my life
that you want to take.
My body, my music, my hairstyles.
All of a sudden, all of these White girls
are rocking cornrows and want to call 'em boxer braids,
and everyone's acting like they're making
a brand-new trend or something.
Then we're the ones who get penalized for it.
Yeah.
Okay, okay.
But isn't Black culture so much bigger
than cornrows and unlaced sneakers?
I mean, it feels like you guys
are minimizing the entire culture
by focusing on something so... so trivial.
But it's not trivial to us... at all...
because it's all we got.
This is a culture that we've been forced to create
because the first one was robbed from us,
and now it feels like we're at risk of losing it again.
Wait, wait. Hol... Hold up.
How is it that you can clearly see the problem
but you don't see what Vivek is doing?
'Cause I don't think he's doing anything wrong.
Okay.
So if you don't think he's doing anything wrong,
I'm-a just go check him myself.
No, Doug. Whoa, whoa. Wait.
What are you gonna do... walk up to him and say,
"Hey, Vivek, stop trying to be Black"?
What?
You guys feel like I'm trying to act Black?
Huh? No. What?
We're just... It's fine.
Nah, nah, nah, it's not fine.
Yo, look, man.
There's just a few things about you
that don't sit right with me.
Like the whole wave cap business
and some of your language and...
you use the Black Santa Claus emoji, bro.
You can't do that.
Wow.
I'm, uh...
I'm so sorry.
It was never my intention to hurt anybody.
And if I'm making anybody feel uncomfortable, I'll fall back.
Know what?
I'll even move out of Hawkins.
Deuces.
I mean...
goodbye.
Vivek.
Vivek, come on...
So, Cameo's enthusiastic "yes to the dress"
was more of a "meh, sure, whatever to the dress."
And after my styling disaster with the twins,
I'd promised myself
I'd never let a client walk away unhappy again.
Oh. Hey, Cameo. Good morning.
Hey. I saw all your missed calls and texts
saying you... wanted to see me...
at 1:30 in the morning.
Yeah. Uh, no.
Thanks for not reporting that to any adults.
Okay, listen, uh, I had a couple thoughts
about your prom dress,
and it's just really got me thinking that...
You know, I just don't think I quite nailed it for you yet.
And because this is your prom,
I really do feel like I really gotta nail this.
For you, o-of course.
I mean... sure. I guess.
O-Okay, I can work with an "I guess."
Nice.
"Nice."
Okay.
This?
Great.
"Great."
Ooh.
This one is it.
It's cute.
Mnh-mnh.
I'm sorry... Cameo, this dress...
this dress is not cute.
This dress is amazing.
It is a vintage beaded gown worn by Cher.
Matter of fact, I actually had to lie to the guy at the rental house
and tell him I was Sasha Obama so he would let me take it.
My point is... this dress is friggin' beautiful!
To you, maybe. But not to me.
It's just not who I am.
Um...
Wow.
This whole time,
I've just been feeding her options that work for me,
but I've never once stopped to ask...
Who are you?
Don't worry, man.
Just came to pick up my satin pillowcase.
It's good for my waves.
Yeah. I know.
Right.
Yo, Vivek.
Stop, man.
Look, it was never my intention
to have you bounce from Hawkins, man.
I was just trying to put you up on game. That's it.
Yeah, well, I can assure you,
I've never been more "up on game" in my life.
Hey, I'm killin' the "up on game" game right now.
O-Okay, I'm... I'm sorry, man.
Look... maybe I was too harsh.
You know, I'm the new dude here, so who knows?
Maybe the people in the crew know you more than I do
and you were just being yourself.
Nah.
Not entirely.
Truth is, I've always struggled with who I am.
All this extra stuff, you know...
the labels, the drug dealing, it's...
it's all part of running away
from the poor, nerdy kid who never fit in.
So, yeah, you know, maybe I did borrow some things
from the people here at Hawkins,
but not because I was trying to steal anything, you know?
I just think you guys are...
dope.
I-I get it.
Black people fly as [bleep], man.
So, bottom line is, you know,
when Aaron invited me to crash here,
everybody embraced me like I was family.
I felt like I belonged, so, yeah,
I guess I did get a little too comfortable,
but only because I felt like I was part of the community.
No, bro, you are... definitely.
It's just...
some things are
maybe more reserved for my community.
Exclusively, you know?
I get it.
You should probably have this.
Ohhh.
No. I-I-I should not.
Uh, but you could pocket the wave cap
and, you know, put your little satin lady pillow down
and come over here
and get molly-whopped in some bones, man.
I'd loved to get molly-whopped by you, man.
Come on.
Oh. Hugs. Okay.
Ay, these [bleep] in here huggin', yo!
Uh-huh. I seen that.
Shoulder-to-shoulder, nipple-to-nipple.
Y'all are nasty.
Come on.
It's amazing.
You heard it here first, folks.
The streets love the Zoey Johnson Styling Experience.
Now, let's just pray that when Luca gets back from New York,
he does not notice
the very expensive bespoke red tux
that he wore to freshman formal is missing from his closet.
Sometimes in life,
fitting in isn't always the best,
because it can prevent us from standing out
and shining as our true, authentic selves.
But other times,
it's exactly what we need to get the sense of community
that makes us feel like we're part of something bigger,
something special.
- Take that one time. - Set me up.
Hey, hey, man, something's bothering me.
Is there something in my nose?
- What? - Uh, no, I don't see anything.
Me, neither.
Oh, wait, sorry. I don't mean that nose.
I mean my domi-nose, bitch! Unh!
Are you kidding me? We should've never let him stay.
We shouldn't have.
Hey. I've been outside for, like, 30 minutes.
What happened to Wave Cap Wednesdays?
Pfft, [bleep], today is Thursday!
Thursday?!
Y'all made me waste a wave cap!
Ay!