In this week’s episode of The Black Lotus Podcast, we interviewed Marvin Toliver, a young black social worker who is dedicated to raising awareness of focusing on our mental health, particularly within black society. We talked about his career in social work, what capitalism has done to the American mind, black men’s mental health, and so much more. Follow him on Instagram @mtoliver_lcsw! This episode was very informative and we think you guys are going to enjoy this one. And as we always say, as long you guys show love, we’ll stay consistent! 

00:00 Intro

03:00 importance of therapy   

07:25 Understanding Body, Mind, and Spirit   

13:00 Balancing various clients' energy   

16:00 Has therapy evolved  

 19:45 psychology vs sociology   

24:00 Are you afraid of yourself   

30:15 The problem with holding things in   

34:35 Brain with trauma vs without   

39:25 Black people need to unlearn this…   

43:00 Grind culture   

45:55 Competition vs collaboration   

49:35 Can we ever be fine   

53:25 Praising the almighty dollar   

55:00 What schools don't want to teach about black history   

1:02:50 America sweeps its past under the rug   

1:05:15 mental health’s connection to intellectualism   

1:07:50 Melanated social workers podcast   

1:10:51 Where do you put your value in   

1:17:00 Social media in 30 years   

1:23:00 The need to hold each other accountable   

1:26:21 How can we move on from the past   

1:34:40 Word of the day   

1:37:00 Closing

In this week's episode, Josiah brings on good friend Ajani Collymore, a senior biology major from Prince George's County, Maryland. Amongst the Howard Community, he is known as DJ ASC. We talked about a lot in this episode, with topics ranging from what life is like in the Bay Area, what Howard culture is actually like, and what it's like being a DJ at the illustrious Howard University. You guys will definitely enjoy this episode, we kept it very real like we always do over here on The Black Lotus Podcast. We appreciate all the continued love and support, and if you go to Howard, make sure you go to any party that DJ ASC is at, you will have a great time. But as always, as long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent. Enjoy! 

00:00 Intro 

04:50 Life in the Bay 

12:30 Favorite bay area city 

16:40 DC vs SF 

21:00 What keeps you going? 

22:25 Origin of The Black Lotus 

24:17 How did quarantine shape your experience 

30:45 Become a producer not a consumer 

34:00 Power of connections and getting behind the scenes 

40:00 Howard games 

50:45 Vision for the future of Howard’s campus 

56:24 How covid affected each class 

1:00:34 You want change? Be the change 

1:13:30 What being a Dj has taught you about Howard Culture 

1:21:30 The DJ process 

1:31:20 The love for what you do will push you past any adversity 

1:36:31 Don’t be too cool 

1:38:00 Best parties 

1:49:41 People’s preferred music choice at Howard 

1:52:00 Learning the trending sounds 

2:02:30 What do people think about west coast music 

2:05:40 Closing

In today's episode, we did a Gametalk special with Claude, a member of the That's Tuff Podcast. As you can see through the descriptions below, we discussed a lot, including lessons learned from past relationships, our current dating philosophies, and masculinity in our current society. Real knowledge and game was given in this episode, every second will be worth it. We appreciate all the continued support and don't forget to check out That's Tuff, if you like us you'll definitely like what they got going on up at Hampton! As long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent. And if you want to watch the video version of this episode, it will be on Spotify.

00:00 Intro 

02:00 Current state of our relationships

09:00 Levels to Relationships 

11:20 The difference between Girlfriend and wife  

17:30 You Shouldn't put women on a pedestal  

21:10 Actively looking for a relationship without knowing how to act  

27:20 Trust within the relationship 

30:00 Don’t ruin your relationship before it starts  

31:30 Most valuable lesson from someone else’s relationship  

33:00 Respecting yourself and your partner  

37:16 Reciprocity  

38:00 Every relationship is different  

40:00 Do you switch up your game? 

45:00 Learn how to have a conversation  

51:24 People really don’t care about your insecurities  

56:00 you are what you attract  

1:01:00 Understand your problems before you get into a relationship  

1:04:00 The masculine black man is being killed  

1:07:06 you cannot establish healthy relationships without healing 

1:09:22 Men have to work hard for the beauty standard  

1:13:20 Equality vs difference  

1:18:00 Picking up women at a party 

1:30:00 Emotional responsibility in a relationship  

1:36:45 Future parenting  

1:42:28 Teach your kid how the world works  

1:51:30 Telling kids the truth about certain things  

2:00:30 closing

In this week's episode, Josiah brings on Cheron Lawal, Political Science major Afro-American Studies minor at Howard University from Chicago, and Lourena De Abreu, Bioethics Major, Philosophy minor at Howard University from Ann Arbor Michigan. In this podcast we bounced around a lot of different topics, ranging from the Black family, integration, relationships, and overall mental well-being. This episode was very informative and fun to record, you guys will love this one. And as long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent. Enjoy!

00:00 Intro 

01:30 The Shift in Black Family Dynamics 

07:00 Gentrification 

10:45 The Problem with the Black Wealth Mentality 

14:15 Black community is being tricked 

19:28 Results of integration 

24:00 Black community needs each other 

31:00 celebrating black education 

38:50 Understanding what’s broken and what’s not 

42:00 the importance of applying knowledge 

51:00 Getting different perspectives can alter your truth 

54:00 Are norms necessary 

1:00:00 Abuse of power and taking advantage of the weak 

1:02:42 healthy relationships with yourself and others 

1:07:30 the business of marriage 

1:09:55 Mind, body, soul 

1:18:00 The black dollar and generational wealth 

1:20:00 Integration helped everyone except black people 

1:24:00 Life insurance 

1:33:00 Changing the world starts with you and your family 

1:39:15 Motivating your friend group 

1:45:25 Effective manifestation 

1:52:20 Phone heads

1:55:00 Closing

In today’s release, The Black Lotus celebrates reaching episode 50. This episode was just a stream of consciousness as they bounced around a lot of different topics. First, we started off with Star Wars and how the politics tie into the real world, and then of course we had to talk about the black community. From that we went into a conversation about what’s been going on in our lives, and about the rise of black male podcasts in this current social climate, why people bash them, and most importantly, why they are so critical to the future of black men. And we want to give special thanks to those who have stuck with us through 50 episodes, every single listen means a lot to us, and we’re glad we can give quality content. Thank you for it all, this is just the beginning. We hope you guys enjoy this episode!

00:00 intro 

01:40 Star Wars connection to the real world 

05:50 Democratic party’s impact on the Black community 

09:40 The divide within the black community 

12:30 Thriller is the best album of all time 

15:03 The difficulty of buying Black 

20:00 The amount of resources countries take from the black community 

26:00 Warriors parade 

28:00 Future Ph.D. 

32:00 Importance of reading and writing 

43:00 Black lotus in the future 

48:40 Kevin Samuels 

54:00 Having realistic standards 

58:30 Importance of black male podcasts 

1:03:00 Was segregation a bad thing 

1:10:00 closing

In today's episode, The Black Lotus brings on Chandler Row, Accounting Major at Howard University from Baton Rouge and an aspiring Marine, to discuss the current events of Black Society and how the past and present are all connected. This was a great episode and one that's been a long time in the making, as we've been trying to get Chandler on the podcast for an extremely long time. We hope you guys enjoy! And as long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent. Recorded on May 27th, 2022.

00:00 intro

03:00 Condolences to recent acts of violence

06:45 Black people with guns are different than white people with guns

09:00 Would gun laws change if a Black person committed a mass shooting

11:40 The idea of Gun Control

19:31 Did MLK disservice the Black Community

22:40 Understanding the faults of our past

25:10 The end of the civil rights era saw blacks begging for acceptance

30:30 The Walmart Juneteenth Merch

33:00 The Black community will buy products despite being disrespected

38:55 Being reactive vs Proactive

43:16 How should Blacks interact with police

48:45 Black people need to stop living in an Inferior mindset

53:35 Women look down on 9-5s

59:30 Black entrepreneurship shouldn't be just goods based

1:05:35 the different races when acclimating to American lifestyles

1:08:19 Education of the next generation of black youth

1:14:00 the lack of positive role models for black youth

1:19:00 The Black community compared to LGBTQ

1:23:52 3 Things Black men are supposed to be

1:26:00 Feminism in the black community

1:35:00 Final thoughts

In this week's episode, The Black Lotus is reunited due to Josiah being back home from Spring Break. This episode was recorded on March 8th, 2022. Starting off with a simple conversation about life, in this edition of Black Anthropology, the Black community takes a heavy focus. We discussed solutions to the problems that we face and expressed hope for the future. Due to this episode being recorded a few months ago, some of the information might've changed, especially in the life experience aspect. This episode is very informative and we appreciate all who tune in. As long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent. 

00:00 intro

02:00 Catch up  

12:30 The sacrifices of being driven  

17:45 From cashing relationships to maturing  

20:51 Always put your energy into something  

22:00 Jack of all trades vs the Master of one 

27:56 Black empowerment is important  

30:38 companies run America  

31:20 Black interactions with police  

33:42 We have brainwashed ourselves into believing we have a strong community  

40:15 Teach kids something other than Marching  

42:10 The black need to be accepted undermines us  

47:54 Why Black youth don’t value education  

53:00 Role models for black youth  

1:00:00 Black people have more to offer  

1:02:30 Black men need to look toward the future  

1:07:30 Could the black community be worse off in 30 years  

1:11:50 Elitism in each race  

1:18:30 Storytime  

1:27:30 living with past generation’s trauma  

1:32:36 Learn uncomfortable truths  

1:36:14 Closing

In this week's episode, Michael and Raven, later joined by Josiah, talk about the talking stage, and what it specifically entails, as wells are myths that are prevalent in our culture about what the talking stage is. This was a very fun episode done on instagram live, and we hope you guys gain some insight that you previously hadn't thought about before. And as long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent!

00:00 Talking Stage 

01:33 Background

02:30 Is the Talking Stage Important 

06:30 There aren't consequences in the talking stage 

10:55 Multiple talking stages ruin relationships 

13:13 Do women have to wait or can they make the move 

16:45 We live in a cycle of pain 

20:13 Social media created today’s talking stage 

22:30 Advantages of the Talking Stage 

26:16 Does the talking stage get included in the official relationship timeline? 

31:00 What does age have to do with cheating 

35:00 Stop putting expectations on relationships 

39:51 We live in a soft-minded society 

44:30 Don't let your feelings hide red flags 

47:20 Perfect imperfections 

50:00 The black community needs relationship therapy 

54:00 Closing

In this episode, the Black Lotus hopped on Instagram live with TikTok sensation Zakius the Great, and had an honest conversation about black culture and what we need to do better as a group in black society. This was a great episode and we had a great time recording it, hope you guys enjoy!

00:00 intro 

02:00 Get better every day   

06:00 Black history month thoughts  

12:00 Stop blaming others for things you contributed to  

15:00 Glorifying the wrong. people  

19:00 The N-word 

27:00 Do African Americans have a culture   

32:00 Do people respect black culture  

36:00 Decision making    

42:00 Leaving the slave mindset  

47:00 Generational wealth   

55:00 Education systems fail us  

1:02:00 Being smart is looked down on  

1:04:00 Girls don't like smart guys until the mature   

1:11:00 Settling down is not respected  

1:13:00 Black men are more than good sex  

1:16:00 Expanding  

1:26:00 Closing 

In this week's episode we brought on Charles Taylor, a friend who Michael met at Remnant, a Church Retreat. During quarantine Charles made a website titled "Blackishistory.com." This website of full of information that most people don't know about the impact of Africans across the diaspora throughout all eras of history. This information is important and everyone should know the true history of the world. This was a great episode, we will definitely bring Charles back on to continue these important discussions. We hope you guys enjoy. As long as you guys show love, we'll stay consistent! 

00:00 Intro 

02:50 Why Charles got into teaching about Black History 

08:00 Craziest fact about African American History 

13:20 Key things African-Americans Should Research 

16:32 The ancient Minoans 

18:27 The difficulties of reporting information people are unaware of. 

21:45 Essential books and articles to learn information on history 

25:25 The affects programming has on our ability to learn new things 

28:40 Relearning history 

32:32 Language tells so much about history 

37:30 Not everyone is able to handle new information 

42:50 How can we make this information more accessible 

46:00 Understanding the reality of the world that we live in 

49:00 The Power in doing for ourselves 

55:00 closing