The Nod

By Gimlet

What's The Nod about?

Luther Vandross ballads. Oil sheen spray. ‘Twice as good.’ What do these things have in common? They are each, in their own way, essential to some facet of the Black experience. In The Nod, a new podcast from Gimlet Media, co-hosts Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings gleefully explore all the beautiful, complicated dimensions of Black life. It is a fun, yet poignant examination of both the biggest moments and most underexplored corners of Black art, media, and culture.

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Prentice Penny, Inside 'Ins...

10.20.2020

Girlfriends, Insecure, Uncorked — what do they have in common? Executive Producer and Director Prentice Penny of course! Today, Prentice talks about his origins on Girlfriends, Insecure's Emmy noms, and the need for more Black writers. Learn more about your ...

The Nod episodes:

10.20.2020 Prentice Penny, Inside 'Insecure' Girlfriends, Insecure, Uncorked — what do they have in common? Executive Producer and Director Prentice Penny of course! Today, Prentice talks about his origins on Girlfriends, Insecure's Emmy noms, and the need for more Black writers. Learn more about your ...
10.13.2020 The 40-Year-Old Version Sundance award winning director Radha Blank joins B + E to discuss her debut film, The 40-Year-Old Version, produced by Lena Waithe. She shares why Spike Lee and New York City play a major influence on her work. Learn more ...
10.08.2020 VP Debate: What's at Stake What do candidates Pence and Harris have to lose, and what do they have to prove? Political commentator Shawna Thomas reveals how the VP candidates and the debate moderator have prepared for one of the most important moments of the ...
10.06.2020 Cosplaying While Black With New York Comic-Con going remote, Eric talks with internet sensation, Korra — ahem — Kiera Please about its most beloved tradition: cosplay. They talk Blackness, anime's mainstream re-brand, and she even helps Eric with a Halloween surprise. Learn more ...
09.29.2020 Big Freedia's Bounce The New Orleans Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, has a lot on her plate! From a doc about gun violence to a brand new cooking show; she tells us how she’s using her platform to shine a light on the ...
09.22.2020 The Shade Room: Pros & Cons Brittany and Eric put the internet's most controversial gossip blog in the hot seat. Is The Shade Room good for the Blacks? Author George Johnson discusses The Shade Room's place in Black celebrity gossip and internet culture at large. Learn ...
09.15.2020 The Cost of Student Debt NYT best selling author Michael Arceneaux chats with Brittany and Eric about his latest book, I Don't Want to Die Poor, and the untold emotional toll of student debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
09.08.2020 The Power of La La Anthony Actress La La Anthony tells B + E all about 'The Chi', her journey as an actress, and how she seeks to uplift Black women with her work as a producer. Plus: La La shares which 'Power' character would make ...
09.01.2020 Sports Strike Against Racism Brittany and Eric discuss the unprecedented decision of numerous athletes to strike in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
08.25.2020 Aminé: Life in Limbo Aminé’s 2nd album Limbo released this month and is already being heralded as his best work to date. The invigorating rising star takes a moment from his wild videos and hectic schedule to reflect with Brittany and Eric on The ...
08.19.2020 Kamala Harris: Making History Senator Kamala Harris made history when she became the first Black Woman to run for Vice President on the Democratic ticket. Brittany and Eric reflect on this moment and hear reactions from some friends of the show. Learn more about ...
08.11.2020 Trans Lives, Front and Center POSE star Angelica Ross talks about merging activism with all parts of her life. From working on a show that employs transgender cast and crew to enriching lives through her work in the tech space, she shares her life's mission ...
08.05.2020 Revolutionary Photos Photographer Mel D. Cole is known for capturing some of the most famous faces in hip hop, but now he's using his skills to document what's happening on the front lines of America's civil unrest and protests. Learn more about ...
07.28.2020 Master P Has No Limits Hip hop mogul Master P joins Brittany and Eric to talk about his new BET docuseries “No Limit Chronicles” and how his No Limit Enterprises has become an icon for Black generational wealth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...
07.21.2020 Justice for Breonna Taylor with Andrea J Ritchie George Floyd’s death inspired an uprising, but there has been a lack of attention given to Breonna Taylor, another life lost to police brutality. Brittany and Eric speak with Andrea Ritchie about the need to demand justice for Black women. ...
07.16.2020 Better News with Sam Sanders NPR's Sam Sanders joins Brittany and Eric for a conversation about how mainstream newsrooms are covering these unprecedented times—and how they need to do much better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
07.14.2020 The Case for Police Abolition More people are beginning to declare “abolish the police”. It’s not a new position, but it’s still largely misunderstood. We’re joined by Bilphena Yahwon, a dedicated abolitionist, who explains why she thinks we shouldn’t dismiss the concept. Learn more about ...
07.09.2020 Could Kamala Harris Be Our Next Vice President? Eric and journalist Errin Haines discuss how the current state of upheaval in our country might affect Senator Kamala Harris' chances of becoming Biden's VP running mate. Will voters, now focused on police brutality, support a former prosecutor? Learn more ...
07.07.2020 A Reckoning for Black Journalists with Wes Lowery Black journalists are speaking out against the racist culture of their employers, leading to the departure of some of media's highest-ranked executives. Journalist Wesley Lowery joins us to discuss this trend and how he hopes the industry can change. Learn ...
07.02.2020 On the Record: Black Women and Hip Hop On the heels of the bombshell documentary “On the Record,” which details the reported sexual abuse of Black women at the hands of Russell Simmons, two of his accusers, Sherri Sher and Drew Dixon, join The Nod to share their ...
06.30.2020 Kendrick Sampson: Actor and Activist Kendrick Sampson dishes on the explosive season finale of Insecure, his new film Miss Juneteenth, and reminds us that we all have a role in the fight for Black liberation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
06.01.2020 We’ve Been Here Before Amid a still raging global pandemic, the nation has been reeling over the most recent spate of killings of Black people at the hands of police. Brittany and Eric sit down to process their feelings and memorialize the lives we ...
01.27.2020 See You Soon! On this final episode of The Nod podcast, Brittany and Eric take some AMA questions from listeners and each other. As they prepare to embark on their newest journey (a daily video show on Quibi), the friends reflect on what ...
01.20.2020 A Nod to The Nod The Nod podcast is coming to an end, and this week we are looking back at some of the highlights from the last 2.5 years of the show! It’s just like the moment right before Will turns out the lights ...
01.06.2020 Borders Between Us Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Sierra Leone, and when he was eight years old, his mom brought him to live with her in the States. Then, when he was a teenager, his mom got sick and passed away. In ...
12.30.2019 Intentions for 2020 In this week's BONUS, Brittany and Eric discuss their intentions for the coming year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12.16.2019 Brittany's Choice: An Oral History of Knuck If You Buck We reunite members of Crime Mob to get the inside story of Knuck If You Buck, the club anthem that defined the crunk era and took them from high school kids to rap legends. All tea, no shade—straight from the ...
12.10.2019 Lady Sings the Blues w/ Bassey Ikpi This week, Brittany gets personal as she sits down with author and poet Bassey Ikpi to talk about her new book, I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying. In the book Bassey re-examines her life through the lens of her ...
11.26.2019 Why We’re Watching Watchmen Watchmen, the new superhero drama from HBO, contains some of the sharpest and most deliberate commentary on race currently on television. This week, Eric sits down with Watchmen writer Cord Jefferson (The Good Place, Succession) to talk about how Jefferson ...
11.11.2019 Eric's Choice: I Am a White Woman The movie "White Chicks" may have made critics— and honestly, the world —cringe, but Brittany delivers her treatise on why the film deserves a second look. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
11.05.2019 You Ain’t Got No Job, You Ain’t Got Shit to Do Friday, the 1995 comedy starring Ice Cube and the late, great, John Witherspoon, is one of Eric’s all-time favorite movies. But during a recent re-watch, he noticed some deeply unsettling themes that lay in stark contrast to the film’s cheery, ...
10.22.2019 Six Degrees: Mogul Edition The Gimlet podcast, Mogul, is back with a new host and a new season about Miami hip hop and the infamous 2 Live Crew. Brittany and Eric invite the new host of the show, Brandon "Jinx" Jenkins, into the studio ...
10.14.2019 Cha Cha Now Y'all Weddings, school dances, birthday parties for your great auntie—if you’re having a big function, the Cha Cha Slide is going to be on the playlist. But how did the Cha Cha slide become so ubiquitous? Brittany teams up with the ...
10.08.2019 Fearing the Black Body What if we told you that every fad diet, fashion editorial, and #fitspo post on social media could all be traced back to racist pseudoscience? In this episode, Brittany is joined by Sabrina Strings, sociologist and author of Fearing the ...
09.23.2019 Growing Up With Toni Morrison On August 5th, 2019, the world lost one of the best of us in Toni Morrison. For Brittany, just being able to grow up in a world where Toni Morrison existed felt like a gift. This week, a special episode ...
09.16.2019 Six Degrees: Listener Edition Brittany and Eric face off against listeners in their favorite game: Six Degrees of Black Separation. Thug tears are shed, hair is snatched and Black history is made. RELATED LINKS: -Twitter thread: Celebrities describing how good Rihanna smells -Additional music ...
09.10.2019 Elouise Goes to Washington Eric tells Brittany the story of Elouise Westbrook, a legendary housing rights activist in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco who never, ever took no for an answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
09.02.2019 The Life and Times of Reggie Ossé Brittany and Eric share a new episode of Mogul that's a tribute to the life and career of Reggie Ossé. Reggie hosted the first season of Mogul and he had a personality and a presence that was truly larger than ...
08.26.2019 Back to School Two years ago Eric was faced with a dilemma. He hosts a podcast about Black culture. He went to an HBCU. But when it came to choosing a school for his daughter, he wasn’t sure if an Afrocentric education was ...
08.20.2019 Isn't It Romantic? feat. Jasmine Guillory Earlier this year, Brittany finally discovered the steamy, sensual world of romance novels that center Black women. A fire was lit, and she had to know more. So Brittany got schooled on the history of Black women in romance by ...
08.12.2019 Michael Twitty's Cooking Gene In our last conversation with Michael Twitty, the chef and culinary historian told us all about his “Southern Discomfort Tour.” The tour, which he wrote about in his book, “The Cooking Gene,” involved travelling the south and cooking on plantations ...
08.05.2019 You Don't Make Free People Each week this August, we’re updating some of our most thought-provoking episodes. This week: writer Casey Gerald reflects on what we lose when we buy into the promise of the American dream. We first talked to Casey about his book ...
07.30.2019 The Vindication of T-Pain Was T-Pain’s heavily autotuned music totally genius… or the death knell of hip-hop as we knew it? In this edition of Vindication Court, Brittany tries to convince Judge Eric that T-Pain’s use of autotune was not only artistically ambitious, but ...
07.22.2019 The Gamer Godfather You've Never Heard Of Video game consoles were super boring in the early days: you could only switch between a few basic, built-in games — no Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog or Legend of Zelda. But that all changed thanks to the contributions ...
07.16.2019 The Man Who Beat the NCAA Eric talks with Ed O’Bannon, a former professional basketball player whose landmark lawsuit forced a national conversation on whether the NCAA should pay college athletes. It’s a conversation with massive implications for the thousands of unpaid Black athletes whose work ...
07.02.2019 Conscious Rap: The Birth and the Backlash The turbulence and violence of the late 1980s pushed hip-hop away from its party music roots, giving birth to a new subgenre: conscious rap. Groups like and Public Enemy and artists like KRS-One became stars, creating music that emphasized pro-Black ...
06.25.2019 The Last Black Man in San Francisco Brittany talks to Jimmie Fails, star and co-creator of the award-winning film, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”, about about the meaning of home, starring in his first movie, and what it was like to grow up in “the ...
06.18.2019 How to Show Up Rachel Wilkerson Miller is a lifestyle writer who has made it her mission to help people find ways to take better care of themselves—whether through meal prep, DIY projects, or learning how to use a dot journal to track mental ...
06.04.2019 Six Degrees: Music Edition June is Black Music Month, so Brittany and Eric decided to celebrate with a music-themed edition of Six Degrees of Black Separation… with a twist: the loser has to write and perform a song on a topic of the winner’s ...
05.27.2019 The Vindication of Snap Music Vindication Court is where we decide whether to redeem people or things that are reviled and ridiculed by the culture. On today’s docket: snap music. Eric tries to prove that snap music was falsely accused of being a stain on ...

Older episodes

The Nod

What's The Nod about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Nod episodes:

Prentice Penny, Inside 'Insecure'

The 40-Year-Old Version

VP Debate: What's at Stake

Cosplaying While Black

Big Freedia's Bounce

The Shade Room: Pros & Cons

The Cost of Student Debt

The Power of La La Anthony

Sports Strike Against Racism

Aminé: Life in Limbo

Kamala Harris: Making History

Trans Lives, Front and Center

Revolutionary Photos

Master P Has No Limits

Justice for Breonna Taylor with Andrea J Ritchie

Better News with Sam Sanders

The Case for Police Abolition

Could Kamala Harris Be Our Next Vice President?

A Reckoning for Black Journalists with Wes Lowery

On the Record: Black Women and Hip Hop

Kendrick Sampson: Actor and Activist

We’ve Been Here Before

See You Soon!

A Nod to The Nod

Borders Between Us

Intentions for 2020

Brittany's Choice: An Oral History of Knuck If You Buck

Lady Sings the Blues w/ Bassey Ikpi

Why We’re Watching Watchmen

Eric's Choice: I Am a White Woman

You Ain’t Got No Job, You Ain’t Got Shit to Do

Six Degrees: Mogul Edition

Cha Cha Now Y'all

Fearing the Black Body

Growing Up With Toni Morrison

Six Degrees: Listener Edition

Elouise Goes to Washington

The Life and Times of Reggie Ossé

Back to School

Isn't It Romantic? feat. Jasmine Guillory

Michael Twitty's Cooking Gene

You Don't Make Free People

The Vindication of T-Pain

The Gamer Godfather You've Never Heard Of

The Man Who Beat the NCAA

Conscious Rap: The Birth and the Backlash

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

How to Show Up

Six Degrees: Music Edition

The Vindication of Snap Music

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