In this week's T.I. And Tiny: Friends And Family Hustle episode, the Harris crew takes aim at luxury fashion brand Gucci, while Monica is pushed to her limit and forced to finally rely on her circle for support and guidance.
Read last week's recap here.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Gucci Ban
Not content with simply voicing his disgust with luxury fashion brand Gucci over their recent use of blackface in a sweater design, T.I. links up with local activists for a roundtable discussion about how to move forward as a united front.
Motivated to impact their bottom line, Tip first calls for, at the very least, a 90-day-boycott of purchasing any Gucci goods in an attempt to slash their quarterly earnings report.
"I'm not fighting for my respect no more," says T.I., delivering an impassioned speech to the roundtable explaining the impetus behind his call to action. "I'm fighting for my children's respect...and they children's respect. Our communities spend the most money with these corporations and are the most disrespected. The only way we can demand this type of respect is to stop spending our money."
"I feel like our people were met with disrespect," Tip continues. "And we must meet that with opposition."
Toya's Commitment Struggles
Still focused on repairing their fractured relationship, Toya and her sister Beedy join LeToya and Tiny for a much-needed night out. With the alcohol freely flowing, (not enough to make Toya's bedroom alter ego "Mocha Latte" come out, unfortunately) the conversation soon turns to a recap of their recent shared "trust bootcamp" experience.
While each of the ladies were satisfied with their own individual experience, they all soon realized that they have a common takeaway from the therapy session-- their friend Monica may need more help than she's been letting on.
"She said she's tired of being the 'strong one' and nobody checking on her," says Tiny, revealing that Monica is hard-pressed to ask her friends for a shoulder to lean on.
"We all just need to call her and check on her," says Toya, increasingly worried about her longtime friend. "It's easy to get busy with our own lives and assume everything is fine but, you know, check on your strong friends."
Bringing some levity into their heavy conversation, Toya brings up the prospect of a possible commitment ceremony with boyfriend Red sometime in the near future. Unable to contain their laughter, the girls brush off Toya's suggestion while likening it to little more than a "friendship ring." Explaining her reasoning behind keeping any and all legality out of their union, Toya explains that she's not able to handle the prospect of possibly getting divorced for a third time. With two failed marriages already under her belt, Toya's status as a self-proclaimed commitment-phobe makes perfect sense.
<p">"The divorce word, it f---in' scares me, it really does," says Toya. "I've been hurt in both of my marriages. To Wayne and Memphis. I didn't imagine that shit could go like that. I don't wanna go through it again."
Monica Takes Some Time For Herself
Taking Tip and Tiny up on their longstanding offer, Monica drops her boys off in their care for the day in order to check some items off of her to-do list and to get ready for her upcoming video shoot.
"Everybody's pockets and stomachs are full...I know you got it," says Monica as she leaves T.I. in charge of Rocko and Melo.
Eager to impart his message of impactful opposition to the children under his care, Tip takes the gang to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Historical Park in order to show them just how powerful protests can be.
"I'm hoping the King Center will help all of the kids understand the meaning and the impact of protest and how they helped the civil rights movement...the same way they could help us today." says Tip, motivated to inspire change in Messiah, Major, King, Melo and Rocko.
While most of the kids are down with the message and ready to learn about their history, King's head is clearly in the studio as he'd much rather be making beats than spending a day out with his old man. On his way out of the center, King starts up a conversation with his mother on the low about an upcoming tour proposition made to him by Members Only. Tiny, while in agreement with her husband about the importance of education in King's life also believes that he should take up their offer and join them for their North America/European tour dates.
The catch? The tour is promotional only for King, and his parents would have to cough up his living expenses while he travels the world without collecting a single paycheck for his performances. Clearly, this will be a hard sell for T.I.
Marriage Or Nothing
Unfortunately for Toya, Red wasn't too keen on her commitment ceremony proposal. Winding down in bed together at the end of the day, Toya opens up and lets her man know just how happy she is to have him as her rock and support system. Emboldened by her own admission, Toya tells Red that she's more than down for a commitment ceremony to seal their bond.
"I'm not havin' no damn commitment ceremony," says Red, not at all sold on the idea. "What is gonna be the difference? Weddin' or nothing. Whenever it's time...weddin' or nothin'."
Later dropping the bombshell that he wouldn't be wearing a ring even if they did eventually tie the knot, it seems like Toya and her man won't be exchanging "I do's" anytime soon.
Check On Your Strong Friend
True to her word, Toya swings by Monica's hotel room to check up on her and see how she's handling all the stress dumped on her lately. As the two sit down for an intimate conversation, Toya is floored by Monica revealing that she's in the beginning stages of going through a divorce. Completely unaware of her friend's painful and private struggle, Toya offers her support while Monica fights back tears and refuses to reveal on camera exactly why her marriage is crumbling.
"I really wanna keep it on the low for now...nobody else knows anything that's really going on beyond my mom...I just didn't expect to be a 38-year-old, single mom of 3," says Monica, sharing the weight of her burden with her longtime friend.
As Toya has been through two divorces herself, she promises to keep the severity of Monica's personal struggle to herself and continues to offer her the support she so desperately needs.
"You strong, you gonna be OK," says a sympathetic Toya. "You always there for everyone...and we here for you."
Bye Bye, Gucci
Spring-boarding off of his previous 90-day Gucci boycott, T.I. takes it upon himself to rid his entire household of all Gucci (and Prada, as Tip deems them problematic as well) products. Tossing all of Tiny's high-end duds in a bag, his wife retaliates by dropping the bombshell of King's upcoming tour on her husband. Understandably, Tip is far from ready to drop 100k on his son's next venture when King doesn't even have a complete project on the market. While combing through his wardrobe, King follows up on his mom's admission and has the audacity to tell (not ask) his father about his spot on the Members Only tour.
Teyana Taylor Behind The Camera
Teyana Taylor and Monica go way back. Not only is Monica the godmother to Teyana's daughter Iman (Junie), but the "Maybe" artist is also the director spearheading the R&B singer's latest music video for her "Commitment" single. In the video, Monica wields a gun after finding her man in the arms of another woman.
"In this video, you're gonna see another side of me," says Monica over B-roll footage of the visual, depicting her character walking up to her cheating man gripping a gun before pulling the trigger. "Even though I don't run around discussing my personal life, I will say that this video is allowing me to get some stuff out."