You probably have Jonathan Mannion’s work in your home. Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Aaliyah, Outkast, Nas, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, MGK – D.J. Khaled? Yep. That’s his work on the CD cover — he’s the Annie Leibovitz of Hip-Hop. We chat about growing up the son of creatives, his first shot, being his authentic self, and studying with legendary photographer Richard Avedon. Then, we hit the highlights, including shooting the cover of “Reasonable Doubt” in Conan O'Brien’s (soon-to-be) crib and working on the Beats by Dre “Straight Outta _____” campaign. 

Resources:

• jonathanmannion.com
• Instagram: @jonathanmannion
• Facebook: facebook.com/MANNIONphoto
• Twitter: @JonathanMannion

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Eugene S. Robinson is a multihyphenate of the highest order  — a singer-writer-artist-punk-ass-kicker-Editor-at-Large — and the first dude I’m going to call if I get into a fight. We talk about starting a hardcore band at 19, Black “authenticity,” life at Stanford University and getting invited to an orgy at 18-year-olds. We finally talk about the rise and fall of Code Magazine, and how Lenny Kravitz’ nipple may have short-circuited the greatest men’s magazine in history. I ask what Franz Fanon would think of an Oxbow show and Eugene has a really good reason for disliking Ohio.”

Resources:

• Twitter: @eugeneSrobinson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EugeneSRobinson
• Buy some cool shit: oxbow.merchtable.com
• Listen to Oxbow on Spotify
• The Show Stomper
• “Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking But Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking”
• “A Long Slow Screw”
• “The Inimitable Sounds of Love: A Threesome in Four Acts”

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

When my book was published, Jamilah Lemieux was one of the first critics to come out swinging. 10 years later, she’s one of the leading writers and critics discussing race, gender, and sexuality for the Millennial market. We converse about how “The Denzel Principle” was received by women (and how those women will receive Jamilah coming on this show), why you won’t find Jimi anywhere near the Dick Pic Defense Force, and the tangled web of father-daughter relationships. And we post up in different corners to weigh in on some big questions: Is Black Love dead? Has three generations of rap contributed to our culture’s transactional cynicism? Will you buy Jamilah a drink as your patriarchal sales tax or tell her how you’re going to burn that shit down? It’s a dichotomous conversation to make Dres and Mista Lawnge proud. Who’s right? The choice is yours.

Resources:

• www.jamilahlemieux.com
• Instagram: @jamilahlemieux
• Facebook: facebook.com/JamilahLemieux
• Twitter: @jamilahlemieux
• Jamilah’s weekly column
• Listen: Mom and Dad Are Fighting

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Dallas Penn is a scholar, griot and certified keeper of the culture: the current co-host of The Internets Podcast, past lieutenant of the legendary Combat Jack Show, we talk about getting on with the inlaws, the potential colorism politics of marriage, Michael Jordan, trappin’ and the Blackness of sneakerhead culture (and why white kids eat that shit up), and the Holy Trinity of Black Twitter. Also, Chocolate Snowflake, the woman who saved his life. Then we get off into the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan-era politics that seeded hip-hop culture, how The Combat Jack Show began, and then slowly came apart. Dallas rates my sneakers, then turns the tables … and makes a grown man cry.

Resources:

• Instagram: @dallas_penn
• The Internets Pod: allmylinks.com/internetspodcast
• Twitter: @dallas_penn
• Read: “The Denzel Principle”
• Byron Crawford: byroncrawford.com
• The Combat Jack Show: pod.link/412308823

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Erin O'Brien is an engineer-turned-writer, with the Fall calendar on her résumé to prove it, and the co-author of “Rust Belt Burlesque: The Softer Side of a Heavy Metal Town.” We talk about honoring her brother, John O'Brien, the gifts left behind by tragedy, and finding hope in the most unsuspecting place: a Rust Belt city’s Burlesque scene. Shout out to Bella Sin. We chat about who Erin might match with on Tinder, some good old-fashioned cuckolding by some good old boys, and how to guerilla market your interracial gangbang Down South. It’s sex and dead folks all the way down.

Resources:

• Erinobrien.us
• “Rust Belt Burlesque: The Softer Side of a Heavy Metal Town” by Bob Perkoski and Erin O'Brien
• Instagram: @erinobrien007
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eobnow
• Twitter: @erin__obrien
• “Leaving Las Vegas” by John O’Brien

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Mike Paramore Jr. is a good dude who stumbled into comedy. We talk about building the bridge between who you were and who you are, and my (alleged) stint as a white-collar high school hustler. We also chat about becoming a comedian the hard way: a knee injury, finding God on your sister’s couch (if any of you find him, let me know, dude owes me money), and getting signed up for a comedy contest behind your back. Finally, looking for the right boo to ride out the rest of this pandemic? We got you. #coronaboo

Resources:

• See Mike this weekend (8/13-8/15): Get your tickets here
• www.mikeparamore.com
• Instagram: @mikeparamorejr
• Watch Mike’s Dry Bar Comedy Special: “You’ve Just Been Flirted With”
• Listen to “The Things We Tell Ourselves” on Amazon, iTunes, or Spotify
• Watch Mike’s other comedy
• Accidental Comedy Fest: www.accidentalcomedy.com
• Tony Baker: www.tonybakercomedy.com

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Derf sells a nude portrait of his sixth-grade teacher for $2 and starts his career as a cartoonist-turned-bomb thrower who could be found in the pages of that “other” newspaper you saw at off-brand coffee shops. We talk about Mad Magazine, National Lampoon, and the rest of the cartoon underground, and how a grown-ass man draws cartoons for a living. Then we dive into Derf’s graphic novel and subsequent movie about his high school days with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, his new book about the untold story behind the Kent State Massacre and the death of White Innocence, and how the cycle comes full circle 50 years later. Finally, who gets better groupies: talking-head journalists, cartoonists, or Van Halen?  We investigate.

Resources:

• www.derfcity.com
• "Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio"
• “My Friend Dahmer”
• Instagram: instagram.com/derf_backderf
• Twitter: twitter.com/DerfBackderf
• Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008691630090

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

One year and some change after our first conversation, Betsy Gates returns to CFA all Patti LaBelle’d up with a new attitude, a new name, new stories, and a surprise guest-- her 16-year-old daughter. Betsy and I talk about the drunk-text from 8,000 miles away about drugs, extra “wives,” stray babies(?) and  “wyd?” Also, the daughter gives her take on the entanglement, parental respect and a forgive-but-sure-as-hell-don’t-forget approach to healing. In the aftermath, Betsy discovers Bumble, Tinder and other dating apps after 21 years of marriage and wonders “why does Date #3 keep texting me an eggplant emoji?” Maybe he’s a gardener. But not likely.

This special two-part episode of CFA is sponsored by Simply Betsy Company, where you can use the promo code CONVO to buy four bars of soap and get one free.

Resources:

• Simply Betsy Company
• Instagram: @simplybetsycompany
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SimplyBetsy

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Betsy Gates is a wife and mother who owns The Simply Betsy Company, her own soap and oil imprint --- she was Denise Huxtable before Denise Huxtable. In Part 1 of this two-part opus, we discuss white flight, Bobby Brown, and how civilized people have sex. Then, we dive into how she met her (then) husband and why she’s okay with his abscond to South Africa to coach basketball in the name of Jesus Christ, like Shaquille O’Neal as, say, a recently converted, over-zealous Kwai Chang Caine. Could this get “entangled?” Oh Boy.

This special two-part episode of CFA is sponsored by Simply Betsy Company, where you can use the promo code CONVO to buy four bars of soap and get one free. .

Resources:

• Simply Betsy Company
• Cleveland City Voter Hot List: cleveland.cityvoter.com/simply-betsy-company/biz/695686
• Instagram: @simplybetsycompany
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SimplyBetsy

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media

Frank Lewis is a veteran journalist and the editor-in-chief of Storylogic Media. We chat about why journalists are natural hipsters and that time he stole my signed copy of Black Tail Magazine (for research purposes, he says). We reminisce about the stories he edited for me — like the one about Elecia Battle, the *alleged* (wink-wink) blackmailer and lottery ticket liar and among the first American media misfits to “go viral.” We laugh about that time he watched me get fired, and how American treasure, amazing writer and journalist Scott Raab got on a very short list. On a related note, we discuss why it’s sometimes OK to be tokened by your white friends, in the name of “diversity.” There may or may not have been whiskey involved in this conversation.

Resources:

• www.storylogicmedia.com
• Instagram: @djflew
• Twitter: @frankwlewis
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djflew
• Listen: “Eric Brewer Doesn't Care What You Think About His Life OR His Eyeliner”
• Read: “Booty Queens”
• Read: “The Ticket”
• Read: “The Quiet Man”
• Read: “Armed and Fabulous”

Let’s Talk:

• Website: conversationforadults.com
• Instagram: @conversationforadults
• Facebook: facebook.com/conversationforadultswithjimiizrael
• Twitter: @convoforadults

Conversation for Adults is a production of Crate Media