Black in a Box

“But the game is out there, and it’s either play or get played”

Michael K. Williams was one of the great small screen actors of his time. And yet, even with characters as compelling as the legendary Omar Little, Chalky White, Bobby McCray and Montrose Freeman on his resume, he was so much more.

The pod took to the mics to talk about the loss of a man who redefined black masculinity for an entire generation of men, while becoming an icon (05:27).

In the rest of this episode we talk music. Alahna, Angelo, Dan and Dom run through their projects of the year so far (35:24) and inevitably get into Donda v Certified Lover Boy (42:10).

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Season 3 Episode 6 covers a topic hot on all our minds... TRAVEL (finally!)

Alahna, Angelo, Dan and Dom explore the ups and downs of traveling whilst Black and share their upcoming holiday plans and places they'd love to visit. We start with each of the BIAB hosts sharing a quintessential 'traveling whilst Black' anecdote and how that experience was shaped or influenced by their Blackness (8:22). Then, we take a look at the occasions where Black people can feel restricted in our ability to travel in spaces and places where we feel unwelcome (23:35). Then Alahna flips the script and asks the group what it's been like to visit African countries and other predominantly Black nations (39:45). We finish off with a draft of the next destinations on our travel bucket lists (44:36).

Season 2 Episode 5 is the wellness episode and Black in a Box are joined by guest Dora Atim, founder of UltraBlackRunning.

Alahna, Dan and Dom hear about how and why Dora began to build a thriving trail running community that catered for mental wellness as well as fitness for Black women and Black non-binary people. 

A sadly topical issue is that of safety for women when out running after the killing of Sarah Everard. Dora and Alahna talk about how the fitness community can continue to make women safe while they exercise, with Dan and Dom weighing in on the role of men.

On the seventh day God rested. Our guest fills us in too on her Self-care Sundays social media routine.

Finally for our draft we each weigh in with our Top 3 Online Feel-good Gurus.

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This episode is a tribute to Nate.

Talking as a podcast about your friend who is no longer here to talk back is not something you ever think you’ll have to do.

The world lost one of its brightest with the death of our friend and fellow pod founder Nate Alexander Sterling. We wanted to get together out of respect for a man that meant so much to us and so many others and share some thoughts, stories and precious laughs.

Thank you for sharing this time with us.

From Alahna, Angelo, Dan and Dom.

Nate Sterling forever X

The abduction and murder of Sarah Everard and the national response to it led us to recording a special episode, joined once again by guest contributor Shabazz.

We open up the episode by providing a space for Alahna and Shabazz to express how they feel (4:15). Next Dan talks about his experience of being at Sarah Everard's vigil at Clapham Common (15:46).

As violence against women is a men's issue, Angelo, Dan and Dom have an awkward, uncomfortable and extremely necessary conversation about male behaviours around sex and consent, the socialisation of men and what steps they need to be taking to do better (34:00) and striking a balance between leaving toxic groups and staying and changing them from within (50:09).

We finish by thinking about the next steps for men and society in general (1:26:42)

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In this Women’s Day episode, midwife and baker elite, Shabazz Irving and actor and writer, Yana Penrose join us in the Box to discuss a few issues at the intersection of race and gender.

We open up the episode with a discussion on toxic masculinity in the workplace (03:06). Next Shabazz guides us through an understanding of racism and sexism within the medical profession (33:00) and how to ensure Black and Brown patients receive good care. Then, we switch gears to talk about safely navigating dating, chat-ups, and new relationships in these pandemic times (1:02:30).

WOMEN WHO BE WINNING DRAFT: In our second Draft in a Box (1:21:40) we each take turns to pick our Top 3 Black Women we are honouring for Women’s Day (and beyond). Each of our lists will be posted to IG so let us know whose list is your favourite.

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Chiedu Oraka, “The Black Yorkshireman”, one of the UK’s most exciting musicians joins Angelo to talk about his motivation to make music during lockdown and how to make it in music.

First up we talk about what caused him to make music during the lockdown than he did in the year prior (01:27) Next, Chiedu speaks on how lockdown has helped him innovate and how he has learned not to put too much focus into streaming numbers (05:20) before speaking about his experiences with record labels and the importance of focusing on your art over clout (7:20). We go in depth on the things that up and coming artists can do when they get to the position of levelling up their career and how to balance commercial success with keeping your creative vision (10:20) He also speaks honestly about the successes and failures he has had over the last year (12:05) and how artists need to broaden their horizons if they want to take the next steps (16:05) Chiedu speaks honestly about finances and how being an emerging artist has presented its own challenges (21:00) He finishes by speaking about what 2021 has in store for him 24:50.

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DJ Cueball joins Alahna, Angelo, Dan, Dom and Nate to talk about creativity and methods and motivations behind making music during lockdown.

We open up talking about the Golden Globes snubbing of I MAY DESTROY YOU and whether it is down racism or the nature of the content and audiences today.

Next Cue gets into how lockdown hit the music industry (26:40) and how he kept his creativity up regardless. We go into how DJs and the music industry pivoted to the changing circumstances with livestreams (44:45) and other innovations before grilling Cue on the economics of the business, (55:55) picking up on a theme begun in rapper Chiedu Oraka’s recent interview with Angelo.

NEW SEGMENT ALERT: In Draft in a Box (1:16:00) we each take turns to pick one of our Top 5 of a given category. To get things going we pick out five slow jams to mark Valentines Day. Each of the lists will be posted to IG so let us know whose was the best, then take in the combined playlist on Spotify.

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New year, new series. Black in a Box welcome 2021 with Series 3 and the whole cast celebrating Angelo’s cameo performance and writing in Netflix feature Death to 2020.

Recorded the day after the Inauguration (18:19) Black in a Box seek the view of our resident American Alahna now that Joe Biden has been confirmed as the 46th US President.

The pod gang talk through goal setting and our respective strategies for success in 2021 (41:12) before finishing with a discussion on Amazon Prime film One Night in Miami (58:42).

Who is Ali, which of us is Malcolm X, who is as smooth as Sam Cooke and who would you place as Jim Brown? Listen in to find out.

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A designer, a management consultant, a marketing guru and teacher embark on a multimedia venture. As far as origin stories, it is lacking. All of them are black. Slightly more interesting, but so what? Three of them are proud Yorkshireman.

Ok, I’m listening.

Black Guys in a Box is the lovechild of Dan, Dom and Nate, three friends from university and Alahna and Angelo, who came along for the ride. If this podcast sounds different, it’s because it is. The Northern working class black voice is one that is rarely heard from in the media.