When 2 Chainz and Keith Lee sat down on the Den of Kings podcast, the conversation turned to what has made Lee one of the most influential voices in food: his honest reviews, including the one he gave 2 Chainz’s own restaurant.

The rapper and Atlanta restaurateur, who owns several restaurants across the city, opened the conversation with respect for what Lee has built. “Today is the day where you can actually create who you are, create a job, create revenue, create ways to take care of your family. So I can never take that away,” 2 Chainz said.

He then addressed the review directly, but made clear he wasn’t there to argue about it. “I saw you do my restaurant. I saw you do other people’s restaurants. I really can’t judge it because it’s your opinion,” 2 Chainz said. “It’s like your taste buds.”

2 Chainz confronts Keith Lee over restaurant reviews, Debates that celebrities deserve special treatment: “If I go in, if you, 2 Chainz, go in, you’re going to have a completely different experience than if my mama go in… because they’re not who other people think they are here. Specifically, the experience was completely different once my face was shown. I send my mother-in-law to 10 different restaurants, couldn’t eat nowhere. I go in, table ready right now. I don’t ever want to put nobody in a situation that they get a different experience only because they not Keith Lee.” (🎥Den Of Kings / YouTube) https://t.co/5KfWCTmzLJ

— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) November 2, 2026

For 2 Chainz, the bigger issue is what’s at stake in a city like Atlanta. He called the city “Wakanda” and “the Mecca,” a place where Black people own businesses and property in ways they often can’t in other major cities. “If we was in L.A., no Black person own a building in L.A.,” he said. “But down here, I’m telling you, I got three, four properties downtown.” When Black-owned restaurants open, he explained, a bad review can carry real weight, and some owners take criticism personally.

Lee, the Detroit native and former MMA fighter whose food reviews draw millions of viewers, explained that his perspective comes from the same place. “I believe in advancement of Black and brown people,” he said. “I never come from the perspective of an expert or the perspective of a chef. I come from a perspective of somebody who is a consumer of Black community, that’s a part of Black community, and somebody who want the advancement of the Black community.”

Lee said his concern is making sure everyday customers get the same experience he does. He noted that celebrities like 2 Chainz, Desi Banks or himself get treated differently the moment they walk in, which is why he sent his mother-in-law to try restaurants on her own. “I sent my mom-in-law into 10 different restaurants. She couldn’t eat nowhere. She couldn’t get no food. She couldn’t get no service,” he said. “I go in, table ready right now.”

With fans who board planes and wait in hour-long lines to try the places he recommends, including more than 20,000 people at his first festival in New Orleans, Lee said he takes that responsibility seriously. “I don’t ever want to put nobody in a situation that they get a different experience only because they not Keith Lee,” he said. “If honesty come with that and me saying this is how our experience was, if I got to get the backlash for that, I’m OK with that.”

2 Chainz pushed back on that point. He argued that special treatment for public figures isn’t an Atlanta problem, it’s just how the world works. “I’m an entertainer and obviously we get perks that other people don’t get,” he said. “That’s not even Atlanta. That’s just period.” He also suggested that Lee’s background as an athlete, used to strict diets and meal prep, may shape his palate differently than the average diner’s.

Lee, who cooked for his wife twice a day throughout her pregnancy, explained that his time as a fighter is actually where his love of food began, studying cooking while cutting weight. He also emphasized that he only reviews restaurants that invite him. “I never go anywhere unsolicited or uninvited,” he said. “If I go in and I give my opinion and it’s not the opinion you want to hear, you invited me here. You asked me to come give my opinion.”

2 Chainz, host of Most Expensivest, used his own experience to make the point about expertise. When he asked whether it would be fair for him to review Wagyu, given that he doesn’t eat beef or pork, Lee agreed. “It’s dead wrong because I don’t eat it,” Lee said. “So I don’t even know what to compare it to.”

Check out the full conversation.