' Yo Gotti grew up in Memphis just across the state line from Mississippi State Penitentiary (aka Parchman) — so this year, when he learned about the squalor its inmates were living in, he wanted to help. Gotti enlisted Jay-Z and Roc Nation to sue the department of corrections for human rights violations. In our finale episode, Louder Than A Riot ask how much celebrity activism really helps the p
'Pixar's new animated film Soul is the story of Joe Gardner, a middle school school music teacher with big dreams about performing jazz onstage. "Music is all I think about, from the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I fall asleep at night," he says. "I was born to play." "Born to Play" is the name of one of the movie's many songs composed, arranged and performed by real-life musician
'Host Paul Holdengräber is joined by writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o on episode 137 of The Quarantine Tapes . A celebrated author of novels, plays, essays, and more, Ngũgĩ talks with Paul about how the themes of his most recent book, The Perfect Nine , resonate in this moment. Ngũgĩ tells stories of meeting Langston Hughes as a young man before unpacking his own theories about what makes a truly good st
'Musician and Broadway performer Mykal Kilgore grew up in a Southern Baptist home and spent his Sundays singing in the church choir. Today, the NAACP Image Award-nominated artist’s signature sound draws from his roots, melding gospel, country and R&B. The singer-songwriter’s storytelling is similarly steeped in personal identity. “It’s incredible to be … brave enough, to be available enough to sa
'Filmmakers Amitabh Joshi and Erik Spink spotlight Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah , the Grammy-nominated, modern jazz musician from New Orleans who defies the expectations of jazz while challenging how music is taught in universities nationwide.' -- American Masters PBS
' William Shoki talks with Sean Jacobs , author of Media in Postapartheid South Africa: Postcolonial Politics in the Age of Globalization (Wits University Press, 2020). In the book, Jacobs turns to media politics and the consumption of media as a way to understand recent political developments in South Africa and their relations with the African continent and the world. Jacobs looks at how mass m
'Guest host Naomi Shihab Nye is joined by poet Harryette Mullen on episode 142 of The Quarantine Tapes . Harryette reflects on her habit of walking in Los Angeles and how that has served her well during the isolation of quarantine. She talks about her poetry practice and how walking and the city have inspired her work. Naomi and Harryette dig into the challenges and complications of teaching duri
'The unrelenting stress of fighting systemic racism can alter a body’s normal functioning until it starts to wear down. The theory, known as John Henryism, according to Social Epidemiologist Sherman James , helps explain racial health disparities.' -- ProPublica
'On episode 144 of The Quarantine Tapes , guest host Eddie Glaude is joined by writer Sarah Broom . Eddie and Sarah’s conversation dives deep into the craft and practice of writing. Sarah reflects on the time she is spending with visual art lately and the influence of painting and color theory on how she thinks about writing. Eddie and Sarah are both writers from the Gulf Coast. Sarah talks about
| @BenJealous | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile) I don’t know about all of you, but it feels to me like Christmas came early this year. Electing a new president and vice president was a gift that 81 million Americans gave to ourselves and to one another. Every court rejection of Trump’s bogus stolen election claims was one more stocking stuffer. Now the only thing left on my Christmas wish list
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was August Wilson 's first Broadway hit — and a preamble to his cycle of award-winning plays about the African-American experience across the 20th Century that included Fences and The Piano Lesson . Now Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is the first of the late playwright's works to be adapted for Netflix . Wilson was a little-known poet when the play opened at Yale Repertory The
'NPR's Michel Martin speaks with science writer and medical ethicist Harriet Washington about the factors that contribute to vaccine skepticism among communities of color and ways to address them.' -- All Things Considered
' Born Leonard McGure , Futura made his reputation spray painting subway trains in New York City in the 1970s as “Futura 2000” — the number was dropped in 1999. He would go on to be part of the booming graffiti and street art movement in the 1980s, but was forced to depend on European venues and collectors after attention in the United States quickly dried up in the late 1980s, though he did go o
| @SashaPanaram | NewBlackMan (in Exile) Music anchors acclaimed filmmaker Steve McQueen’s five-part anthology Small Axe (2020) in a particular time and place: the West Indian community in Britain in the 1960s, ‘70s, and 80s. From the steelpan drums that usher in the opening night of The Mangrove restaurant in 1968 in Notting Hill to the sweet tunes that comprise the reggae subgenre lovers rock,
'Guns. They're as American as apple pie. They represent independence and self-reliance. But ... not so much if you're Black. On this episode of The Code Switch Podcast , we're getting into the complicated history of Black gun ownership and what it has to tell us about our present moment.'
' Comedian and actress Michelle Buteau is known for her roles in “Russian Doll,” "Always Be My Maybe," and her Netflix special, "Welcome to Buteaupia." In her book of essays, Survival of the Thickest , she brings her humor and insight to a wide range of topics, including dating, her early stand-up career, IVF, surrogacy, and chosen family.' -- All Of It
'T’s Book Club consists of a series of articles and discussions dedicated to classic works of American literature. Here, our first (virtual) event, on James Baldwin ’s 1953 novel, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” featuring the novelist
