It's Always Personal

As a longtime hip hop fan I was "pandemic-late" on Masta Ace & Marco Polo's fantastic 2018 LP A Breukelen Story. The world slowed down and I kept seeing the album from hip hop veteran Ace with a weirdly spelled title. I enjoyed it enough to make a note of the arrival of the duo's sophomore album entitled Richmond Hill. The follow-up project's lead single "Life Music" was a dope upbeat record with a very overtly positive message, and I thought that central theme was deserving of an IAP album review.

Seems like we, or the culture, aren't all that interested in Masta Ace's brand of truth. So, this episode opens with 90s RnB artist Mya's sharing on why she double middle fingered the entertainment industry, and made the choice to make indie music that serves as her brand of 'life music.' I probably won't review Benny the Butcher's Def Jam debut album Everyone Can't Go, but I will acknowledge the Butcher's personal strain of life music as well.

With the recently released AMERICAN FICTION film garnering all sorts of mainstream attention and critical acclaim, I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't support Ava Duvernay's latest film ORIGIN. Origin can't boast of 5 Oscar nominations including for nods for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor but Duvernay's battle to get the movie made sounded like it was important to check it out.

The majority of this episode is spent on Duvernay's skillful handling of author Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents to be able to turn a non-fiction work into a well-made movie. However, Origin is also timely as host Reggie Woodson struggles to deal with the online and social media pressures to oppose racism, White America, and most mainstream headlines in manner that's acceptable to Black people.

Lastly, IAP salutes the late Joe "The Black Eagle" Madison for his lifetime of legitimate service towards the fight against unfairness, injustice, and the infringement of Civil Rights.

The new movie American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has garnered five Oscar Nominations. Amazing! But, is Cord Jefferson's directorial debut really that good? Wood takes a look at the trending movie, and wonders if he himself is actually "Monk Ellison" (Jeffrey Wright). Also, why are we listening to Gillie da Kid for marital advice, and to learn what's, or which type of woman is, acceptable as a Black wife? When it comes to my marriage, I'm not seeking out any brother's game. This 'competing wife' talking point has nothing to do with "everyday" marriages. While we're dealing with new movies, let's see if the Teyana Taylor-led A Thousand and One (Amazon Prime) is really a great performance, or just more uncomfortable struggle on-screen. Wood no longer watches crime series centering Black violence, or Blacks enslaving Black people via drugs, but what's the reaction to Netflix's The Brothers Sun? Every ethnicity is trafficking sumn!

We seem to be enthralled with what happens after putting a mic and a camera in front of a struggling celebrity, artist, or athlete. Oh, can't forget to throw in something to smoke on, unlimited alcohol and several years severe clinical depression, limited income and overall irrelevance. Katt Williams is latest go full Masked Magician - and the culture was lit for the first weekend of 2024. Same ole same in Blackland. I passed on Katt spilling his tea, but took a look at Taraji P. Henson's struggling empire, David Oyewolo's Bass Reeves, BJ the Chicago Kid's latest album Gravy and smiled at Ayo Edibiri's ascendance on FX's The Bear. We ain't all down bad - but could use some heightened awareness. I almost forgot, I discussed the spectrum of problematic Black podcast content from Jason Whitlock to liberal/progressive Reecie Colbert... What's your diet like?

After covering boxing for nearly 17 years at Yahoo Sports veteran, and award-winning, combat sports journalist Kevin Iole eyes some new challenges in 2024. Similar to Premier Boxing Champions finding a new home for the coming year, Iole has announced his plans to continue reporting on the sport he's devoted decades to starting in June 1981. We talk about the new online home for Iole's boxing content, take a look at the fight game's exciting 2023, and discuss the important changes that need to be considered for growth of the sport in 2024.

Brooklyn emcee SKYZOO took his fandom for FX's drama series Snowfall to a whole new level. Sky teamed up with D.C. production duo The Other Guys - Mighty Joe and Isaiah - and crafted a 10-track album entitled The Mind Of A Saint where the veteran emcee portrays lead character Franklin Saint (Damson Idris). I did a reaction/review of TMOAS on my YouTube channel Pay Me No Mind, and it led to a chance to fully unpack the phenomenal project with its creators.

You may have heard a couple of things about the National Football League this week, right? The founder/creator of Strike 7 Sports, Derrick Branch, stopped through for this week's episode to discuss the season's highlights, the post-season and the fallout from former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. Flores has filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and its hiring practices concerning minority candidates. In this week's intro segment, long-story short, all many of us can do out here is fight a good fight and complete the game as best we can. But depending on what industry/product/service it is, we don't really keep a count on the number of black owners, creators or managers. 

Had to drive home a couple of "Black Monday"-related talking points, and the harsh realities of ANY career in professional sports. While doing so, I just had to acknowledge the brothers doing the work and achieving the progress. IAP welcomes guest Phil Greene (at ~35:00), one third of a trio of Philadelphia entrepreneurs who recently launched Bikes By Design. IAP host Wood and Greene (@phillscorp_64 on Instagram) discussed a variety of cycling topics including Pennsylvanian's racing background and current cycling training, the Philadelphia cycling community, and how a request to build a bike for some longtime business partners resulted in the launch of their own business to design, build and sell high-quality customized road bikes of their own.