Down in the Valley Episode 1 - Diamonds of Memphis
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00:00You
00:19Hey, what up y'all it's your man Nico on it your favorite uncle
00:25This
00:28Right here is that real-life dirty Delta and we about to give y'all that grip down in the valley it is what it is
00:49And that's how you do it down in the valley
00:54You
00:58All right y'all now we ain't in chuck-a-lisa no more we out here in that grind city that they call Memphis, Tennessee
01:18And in grind city ain't nobody grinding harder than these girls doing that naked hustle for they bags
01:24And ladies when you see them, make you clap to it
01:29Alright security, I know what to do. I know what to do. I'm assuming the position now
01:33I'm here at this little shake joint called Diamonds of Memphis and I hear it's going down just like the paint
01:49The real talk Diamonds of Memphis needs a win
01:52Cuz this here's not they first reopening the doors that barely opened before Rona shut it down
01:57And then after that some pipes burst and the flood closed it again
02:02Long story short. Everybody needs to make money up in her. Okay?
02:06You know what it is
02:08They say they got a re-re-re-re opening up in this bitch. All right, come on. Let's go
02:14What is girls that which way is the locker room? Now if diamonds wants to keep its doors open for good
02:20They got to have a stable of the baddest baddies in the city
02:27Come on, let's go and a great rotation of dancers requires some re-re-re-opening auditions
02:36Now each of these fresh faces is looking for an opportunity to bring home some stacks
02:41But even if they get past the judges, huh, trust and believe you me
02:45These current diamond girls don't want no newcomer stepping on a money cuz this life here. It ain't easy
02:53So before these auditions pop off
02:54Let me see what these wings in this club hitting on and chop it up with these ladies a bit
02:58Can I order some lemon pepper wings? Yeah, where to drive?
03:02All right
03:06One thing I know about a dancer's life is folks got mad judgment
03:10So we're here to put some respect on their names
03:12While these diamonds in the rough are out here selling fantasy they each got their own dreams and reality
03:17So there's this line that uncle Clifford has that says legends aren't born. They're made it takes pressure
03:25like diamonds
03:28And one of the diamonds who's been here the longest well, she sustained the most pressure
03:33Canada
03:37I'm Georgia peach, and I'm known as a og to be og. It means respect
03:46When customers come in I need to let them know this is my house and my pussy
03:51Period you gonna be that one. I am that one
03:55When I step on the floor, I'd be a whole different person
04:00Girls, they know not to say not to me
04:02They know not to step on my money and stay away from me unless I allow you to be in my prison at that time
04:09I used to fight a lot. I used to fight a lot. There was a
04:14Mate, basically, this would my og status came from in the club because I was the only girl in the club
04:20Basically, this would my og status came from in the club because I don't play
04:39Say that
04:41We all have means of survival, but as an og Georgia peach has earned the right to make her own rules
04:48But she ain't the only one with some clap back
04:51Uncle Clifford always has all these rules that she got y'all have rules. Don't smack my ass. Do I smack back?
04:58Me like the bounce back. No, I smack back
05:06If you don't want me to smack you don't smack me
05:09My name is Couture and I like to work the pole because it makes me feel like I'm flying like I'm above you
05:16That's the way you came to watch me so watch me and see if me too, why are you watching me?
05:23Spoken like a true hustler you ain't said nothing but a word
05:27Now both Couture and Georgia peach know to make money
05:30You gotta stand out and that means spending that money on your floss
05:36So you the one been making out of money you need get three or four
05:40This is Tameka. She out here helping these diamonds shine and you can call her fast money adjacent
05:47I've had jobs now, but I was mainly a scammer. So I was writing checks print money
05:57Make that money. Don't let it make you it's the name of the game
06:02As
06:04The weekly open call ramped up there was a young lady named miss Cherry who was hoping to claim her spot as a
06:12diamond girl
06:14My name is Carissa Watson. My stage name is Cherry
06:19I've been dancing for about five years now strong and I plan to audition for the new club diamonds of Memphis
06:27I
06:29Have three children a mother of three and if I were to become a house dancer at diamonds
06:34It would mean more money or regular income. So that would help a lot
06:40I'm hoping that I make it my plans and my expectations going in are to
06:46Go hard or go home
06:49But before this audition jumps off miss Cherry got to be taking care of all the details
06:56Yeah
07:01Let me guess fall to up here and spoil me. Yes
07:11I love it. How often do you come and get your nails done?
07:14I try to go every week cuz like I do my hair. I try to change every week
07:17I like you don't see me at that club or at work
07:19You don't feel different for me every week black women are so beautiful y'all and there's access to power in transformation
07:26Carissa one week charity next week candy the next week karma the next week. Whatever. Come on now like autumn location Haley
07:36Whatever my man need me to be wherever I gotta be at the club. I'm back
07:40Do you change around like your looks and stuff for yourself?
07:43I do cuz I like I like red mostly but I like long long ponytails or long
07:48Inches and wigs and I like long long and sexy. What does the long do for you brings out the Beyonce in me?
07:57When I'm on the stage when I'm on the pole, I'm past cloud nine, I feel like I'm a celebrity you can't tell me I'm not
08:09When I sell fantasies, I don't mean that just for the customers
08:12I'm selling myself one as well because when I'm dancing I'm showing myself at the same time that
08:19You are somebody you're gonna get somewhere you're going somewhere. You're doing something that you love
08:26And dancing is what I love. That's my passion
08:30But be clear passion or no passion these local shake joints ain't gonna pay all your bills now
08:36So in addition to dancing, I also work a part-time job
08:39I am a cashier at a donut shop, and I'm a cosmetologist student at her school from five to nine every night
08:47How you find time to work do hair go to hair school and dance and take care of them three kids?
08:53And take care of those three children when you want things you'll find a way if you really want it you'll make a way
09:01You ready to get your hair done
09:08When I'm a mom
09:10That's the real me. That's the authentic me
09:13Make sure you kick your feet too, and that'll keep you going is what I live for is who I live for first
09:19They really light up my world don't let go
09:23I met the father my children in elementary school
09:30Had our first shot in the 12th grade
09:34He was my true love he is the love of my life still
09:50He passed over at 25
09:52Father's Day 2017 in a car accident coming from Nashville with his best friend
10:01And a few other people he was the only one that didn't make it I
10:06Used to always tell him and think to myself. I I can't never lose you. I'll never be able to make it
10:12I I don't know what I do without you I
10:14I
10:17Was just a child very much mostly he was the breadwinner so
10:21When he left I had to find my way. I had to find out how to do a lot of things by myself
10:26You know
10:27And it was hard and it hurt it. You know
10:31So
10:34That's all good, baby
10:37Come here
10:39That's all good
10:40I don't mean to be crying. I'm sorry. I'm sorry first of all one thing
10:44We're not gonna do is apologize for how we feel because you can't get past it if you don't get through it
10:51My biggest thing is just providing for them because I'm not gonna lie these last six years mommy has had them on the move
10:59They've experienced a lot. I lost my car. I lost our apartment. We've been in homeless shelters
11:06I'm not ashamed of that
11:09It's still very hard to keep going not the physical aspect of it
11:14but it's the mental capacity in which you have to have to push yourself to keep going a
11:19Sister knows something about keeping it pushing in the name of opportunity
11:23Don't she now we'll get back to these auditions in a minute y'all
11:27See, we ain't just here to talk about these dancers trying to make it
11:31Now let's get back to our OG diamond girl
11:35Come on, Georgia peach
11:38I
11:53Got the name peaches from my grandmother. She called me there because I was so hairy and juicy
12:02See miss Ivy aka, Georgia peach been dancing at diamonds since before it was diamonds
12:09Diamonds used to be New York, New York, and I was dancing there back in
12:152013
12:17Customers can come in the club and they basically know who I am
12:20Oh this Georgia peach and then the girls say hey, Georgia peach and I'd be like, who's you a peach of soft?
12:27Y'all but don't forget she got that stone in the middle
12:31Because out here in the streets of grind City sometimes shit go down and left real quick
12:38You know what? It is. I
12:44Got shot six times
12:50I actually was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I
12:54Was sitting on the block and they just came and spray the street where we were sitting it
13:00before I go out to dance I
13:04Be praying because anything can happen inside of the club
13:09I
13:10Can come in there and shoot the whole club up anything. So I'm very paranoid. I'm very cautious
13:18I'll be scared sometimes but hey
13:22This the lifestyle I'm living right now
13:26See every good diamond girl knows it's best to check your fear at the door because it ain't free to dance. Okay
13:35Dancers paid a house to work that pole
13:39Gotta pay that tip out
13:41Tip out means that dancers pay a percentage up front to cover the club costs for the bartenders the bouncers the DJs
13:49Now this is a standard in any club
13:51So once you pay to play it's game on
13:55The club is my house because we controlled everything
14:00Yeah here we in the time, but we controlled everything y'all don't control nothing. I
14:07I realize that I can get some money. I move my book and how they just be so
14:14Fascinated special when I touch it and I realize it's real for real
14:18But these bodies ain't just for a stranger's pleasure. I
14:28Love my body. I'm fascinated with my body. I dance in the mirror
14:37I love that. I'm not you and I didn't have to go and get surgery. I'm nothing
14:45It moved the way I wanted to move
14:48I just love everything about I love my flowers. I love the scratch marks. I
14:56Mean sometimes I say I need a titty lift
14:59But they just come from me having my son and it is said it looks like they drop down like an old DJ
15:05but
15:08These young drop they don't run and somebody gonna pick them up she gonna make a
15:19What's something though that y'all think that like it's a misconception about
15:23dancers mean they already
15:26categorizes
15:28We ho they think our dance is feel pussy and that's not true
15:33I feel like every dancer has a problem of relationships and
15:39Men's just and even women's they come up inside of her and they be looking they knows up in the air
15:44We look because we dances and they not winning in their back. They might I want to be
15:50Don't lie y'all know y'all out here wearing a shoes
15:53But
16:00Make no mistake about it a real hustler got to have her head on swivel at all times
16:06Come on, miss cherry
16:08The headspace I'm in going to the audition is treated like you treat it at home so that you're not nervous
16:14But the headspace I actually get in when I get there is oh shoot. What's gonna happen?
16:24All right, thank you ladies this we got money coming to the stage money I
16:31Do know what to expect because I do know some of the girls that's already there and I know their attitudes
16:39Some of these girls competing are more seasoned dancers in their own, right?
16:42But all the girls are hustling just as hard as cherry for their chance to shine
16:54Now we have bubbles and
16:59Don't like the fight I don't like the messiness. I don't like the drama
17:04I don't even really like that. It's the whole competition thing. Next. We got flawless
17:09My main thing is to go and impress and make my bed
17:14I'm happy to bring everything gonna go
17:18This we got cherry come to the same as cherry
17:23I
17:34Feel like I was rushed they were playing the music before I went on stage
17:53I
18:12Feel like I didn't get a chance to get in my zone
18:23I
18:39Know that wasn't my best she caught herself on this slide. Oh you saw
18:45We just gotta help in some areas
18:48The shoulder move I seen the abdomen
18:50That really startled me them starting the music so fast. I was I up
18:54Like I was not ready. I was not ready. I was not ready
18:57I
19:12Making mistakes is all a part of pulling yourself up out of the deep and
19:15Every club around these here parts stay full of stories of what it takes to survive
19:21It's not just your dancing that you judged on
19:24It's about what you wear the look you create that fantasy sometimes it's the difference between making the cut
19:32Or not when you in these business, you gotta hustle because it's gonna be some days when the club you slow
19:41Dancing is actually not the only thing I do. I have a business
19:44It's kind of brown wing where I do body wakes and eyebrows hand. I wake the couple of girls. They dance here
19:50I wake these out and they are my pussy. I'm a hustler. I'm out around who's gonna get about me
19:58Miss couture know what it is
20:02Whatever you want though and speaking of getting it by all means
20:06Thank you. Miss Tameka moved from being fast money adjacent to running her own shop naked attire
20:14See she put that needle to that thread and let it do what it do, baby. How did you start?
20:18So I was on my own at the age of 10
20:22So I had to figure some shit out. I start stealing or the jail so much you talking some real
20:28This is my life, you know, so that's how I got into naked attire. I was like, I gotta do some different
20:37To be that's to be for you, but you know, you're really sleeping on a red one-piece cuz it fits your body
20:44Mm-hmm. I see miss couture regular here
20:48So like what kind of floss do you try to pick to accentuate your moves? I love fishing it anything fishing
20:55It is you got me. I'm so
20:58Okay. Now, how long does your flossers last you and so somebody steal my baby?
21:03Really? I hate when they steal her babe, but I love when they steal her
21:10Why you
21:17Was
21:20What did you do like you knew who stole it I'd be her friend, you know, cuz she ain't come back to work
21:26Wait, what the friend took a woman for her friend that she made three days ago that she met three days ago
21:33That ain't her real friend. Now. She know. All right. I'm just saying
21:40All right, which one you want to get
21:48That's what I call a good country chic
21:50Here it is with the crimson fishnet
21:54rhinestone studded side cropped
22:00That's preserves
22:13This is just cornbread green bean
22:18Which one you want to get
22:26So we look like I'm gonna go with this one the green one makes my hair huh and the lead
22:33Okay, so that's all three. I love it when they won't everything
22:37Yeah
22:44Now let's check in on cherry trying to make it by any means cuz these audition results are in y'all
22:51Let's start with baby. So
22:53Nice body for me. Yeah, my body my space. Most definitely nice. We got the tag-team the duo
23:00Oh, yeah, they talked. Oh, yeah. I like both. No money was the real petite. This is wrong
23:06Yeah, she actually great. It's very entertaining
23:09acrobatics move
23:12Cherry
23:15Cherry was good on the pole, but I was still a little on the fence. I
23:19Feel like I did not take my time. I feel like I didn't have time. I was not connecting with the music
23:25So smooth over the pole was good
23:28It's just the dancing was a little out, but the pole was good the whole time. I was dancing
23:33I was feeling like they're gonna say no I
23:36Feel like I let myself down
23:39Oh
23:52Ladies thank you all for coming. We appreciate your efforts your hard work your energy. We appreciate all of you. I
24:00Am very tough on myself
24:01I am but it's hard not to be because I don't want to go back to
24:06Struggling or losing everything again
24:09Everybody brought something different
24:11How are?
24:13amazing body
24:15Smooth you're more of a glider. Just the energy to sex appeal
24:19Loved it. Cheer. Oh, it's good. Your energy is good. Once you get your groove. You're gonna be good and
24:27We did come to a decision
24:29All
24:33Of you are higher I am a piece of diamond of Memphis girl, we excited to have y'all I feel shocked
24:42Because I made it I definitely thought I was not going to
24:45Cuz I know I didn't do my best, but I guess I did do good enough for them
24:52And sometimes good enough is all you need to conquer your fears
24:59My biggest worry was providing for my kids
25:02If I was gonna be able to take care of them by myself
25:05Wondering if I could do the single mother thing
25:08But I can't stand on my own. I can take care of my kids. I can be a single mother and still make it
25:16Now that Miss Cherry's officially a diamond girl
25:23It's time to put on them platforms and work that stage
25:29Everyone comes to this game for different reasons everyone stays in it or leaves it for different reasons
25:37I don't look at it as a good or bad thing. I look at it as it's a woman thing
25:43And all these women know that there's power up on that stage
25:48Dancing is an outlet for me. So
25:50When I'm on stage, this is my safe haven. When I'm performing and I feel like all eyes on me, I'm that bitch
26:00But even if you are that bitch Uncle Clifford's rule
26:03Number one is that you best let that stage be your stepping stone and not your tombstone
26:09If I can do it out of again, I won dance because I don't wanna say I'm stuck
26:14But it's hard to get out right now. It's just something about that fast money
26:20And in order to leave that fast money you gotta know why you are there in the first place I
26:26Want to ultimately be a better mom a better person I want to take my kids to a better environment I
26:35Don't want to just survive anymore. I want to live I
26:44Learned a lot about how these ladies show up in the world. They fierce
26:49funny
26:50fearless and
26:53always resilient
26:55Each of them diamonds in their own, right?
27:00Catching the light in the most unique and precious way if only we all could do the same
27:25Oh
27:49We are out here in Baton Rouge
27:51We're not just a sex shop my goal was to be stigmatized sex in the south, but I'm also a woman of God