Rebel Without Applause

Tashawn Thomas talks about his basketball journey and what it was like transferring from the University of Houston to the University of Oklahoma. After going undrafted in 2015, Tashawn began his professional career overseas, with stops in Germany, Italy and now with the Israeli team Hapoel Holon. In 2018, Thomas helped Holon to win the 2018 Israeli State Cup and moving forward, he wants to build on his wining ways as a player.

Viswant Korrapati, the host of the "Pilot Boys Podcast," stops by to discuss the start of the NBA Preseason and all of the free agency signings and trades that dominated the headlines during the offseason. We also compare our early predictions for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and what teams will make the NBA Finals.

Shannon Shorter talks about his journey to become a professional basketball player overseas in Japan. When the Houston native went undrafted in 2011 after finishing his college career at North Texas, he seized on an opportunity to play professionally in Mexico. He then built on his success in Mexico to extend his career with productive stints in Argentina, Israel and Greece before landing with his current team in Japan, the Chiba Jets. Through it all, Shannon has shown that he is a living example of a man that always bet on oneself and because of that, he's living out his dream playing the sport he loves.

Kam Franklin talks about being the lead singer of The Suffers and her journey in the music industry as an outspoken artist that defies classification, charts her own course and pushes for the creative license to work with any artist of her choosing. Born and bred in Houston, Kam is proof positive that something is in the water near the Gulf Coast when it comes to producing incredible singers. Now, more than a decade into her career, she continues to rely on her strong upbringing, sense of self and powerful voice as she navigates an industry that often tries to tell her what kind of singer she should be instead of embracing the multitalented songbird that she is.

Eric Bostic talks about his journey in the credit card processing industry and how he and his company has pivoted to cope with building his business after the devastating effects of Covid-19. After serving in the U.S. Army as an Airborne Ranger, Eric got into sales and found his way to payment solutions and hasn't looked back. As the world moves towards life after a global pandemic, so does the credit card processing industry and Eric tells us how he and his company are doing just that.  

Tiffany Abney talks about being a Black stuntwoman in Hollywood, how she got started and how it's going.. After competing as a track & field athlete for most of her life and finishing at the University of Houston, the Philadelphia native moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Her first break was on the VH1 dating show, "Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch." Although she almost made it to the end of the show, she wasn't selected as Ochocinco's love match, but she did learn a lot from the experience. From there, she continued to pursue acting until she was led to jump into the world of stunting. Now, she's continuing to break new ground as a working stuntwoman, with a laundry list of television credits on her resume that include hits like, "Luke Cage" and "L.A.'s Finest."

Karton Zawolo talks about his new business venture, Feed Organics, and how he got started as a serial entrepreneur in Monrovia, Liberia. One day, he hopes to be able to export organic food to countries outside of Africa. Karton made the move to Africa years ago, but gives advice to Black Americans that are thinking of relocating outside of the United States, especially those that are concerned about what the country will look like for minorities if Trump wins another term.

Jermaine Crawford talks about his unforgettable role as Duquan "Dukie" Weems on HBO's seminal original series, The Wire. Bringing the character to life deeply affected the actor and still resonates with him almost two decades later. Today, he is still busy as an actor and has a burgeoning singing career in the R&B space.

Ronald Ellis (17-1-2, 11 KOs) on his professional boxing career, coming back from injury and his upcoming fight against Matt Korobov in a 10-round middleweight bout on Nov. 28 on Showtime. Bred in Boston, the pugilist loved fighting growing up in a family of fighters and turned that love into a Golden Gloves win that spring-boarded his career in the ring. He then had a few setbacks with hand injuries, but is now working his way back to form to claim the spot he so rightly deserves.  

Tyler Deauvea talks about how Kobe Bryant served as the muse in new “For the Luv of the Game” art series. The Houston-based artist began his career back in 2015 in photography and film, before delving into collages and other multimedia. Known for his signature "AFROPOP" style, Deauvea started his new series to honor the generation of NBA superstars like Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady and Michael Jordan, that inspired him as a youth after his favorite basketball player, the Black Mamba, tragically passed away in a helicopter crash. Currently, his work can be seen at Premium Goods and he has shown in the past at Houston's prestigious Museum of Fine Arts.