What Is Black? Podcast

Welcome back, and welcome Black for season two, the next revolution around that gas giant. This episode, we are joined by Jez. A multitalented, multifaceted, human that maybe the closest we come to interacting with a living myth as possible. THEY ARE THE REALEST! They do it all, and they do it with aplomb and grace. We get into it about music, the music industry, liberation of self through expression as a Black, queer, trans independent artist, and who’s people makes the best “Peppapot”, which also happens to be the name of their latest EP.

For more info, visit https://whatisblackpodcast.com

For more on Jez., visit https://allmylinks.com/jez-who and follow them on IG at @jez.who, or Twitter/Patreon at @jez_who.

For the “Peppapot” EP visit https://jez-who.bandcamp.com/

For more on Jason, visit https://linktr.ee/mckoy

*Starting off the new year by ending season 1. We'll be back in March 2021, though.*

WARNING: Off the ripcord, we open the new year with chitlin slander. I apologize in advanced to all the chitlin eaters out there.

Kelsey is one of those rare people you meet and you're like, "Did I just meet a hologram?" because the amount of dopeness she outputs is unreal. Her sanguine energy are nothing short of infectious. When she's not on stage in immersive theater, she's out there cycling... LITERALLY CYCLING... with a bicycle, through the United States up to Canada tracing and exploring regional histories of Black uprisings with her project Talking With Ghosts. The project is everything... LITERALLY EVERYTHING: performance art, photography, poetry, music, visuals... The whole 9.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

We on IG at @whatisblackpodcast; follow us.

Might as well call us Black Santa, because we're gifting you with several jewels and gems this holiday season. Kahlil Haywood and I, with our wonderfully deep voices are leaving 2020 behind with a dope conversation on creative writing, breaking into the the blogging/journalism industry, and basically being steadfast and powering through the worst of it to get to the better of it. Check your ego at the door and prepare to have your brainbox blown back. Make 2021 show and prove season.

Check out Kahlil's work at https://kahlilhaywood.contently.com/ then check him out on IG at @damnitpops, or Twitter at @damnpops.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

We on IG at @whatisblackpodcast; follow us.

Cyberpunk 2077 is nigh and goodbye to being social! Shoutout to Mike Pondsmith and CD Projekt Red for ruining so many relationships and making so many people broke at the end of 2020. Who knew Cyberpunk 2077 was a self-fulfilling prophecy?

This episode I sit down with Gail D Taylor and talk about the fate of Black people, from Jim Crow, to Alisha Wormsley, to the zombie apocalypse according to Duane Jones. We chat about afrofuturism and how morphogenic fields continue to guide Black traditions, new and old, like an invisible hand of the ancestors.

Check out Gail's work on IG at @prettykittypublishing or the many projects she has going on at https://linktr.ee/prettykittypublishing.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

We on IG at @whatisblackpodcast, follow us.

F-ck Pilgrims... Get turkey!

Pardon the technical difficulties and sound quality at certain points. Satan tried to stop us, but we shan't be stopped!

Kandaka can do anything. Kandaka knows everything. Even the stuff she doesn't know, she knows; she just hasn't learned it yet. Join us for this so-much-knowledge-you-don't-need-to-go-to-college episode where we break down what an artist needs to know and do to merchandise and maximize their profits, because lets be real: art is a business if you want to make a living from it. We also talk about the color of taste, the flavor of color, and how ouster mushrooms are basically the chicken of the non-animal world.

Check out art by Kandaka at https://www.artbycandirose.com/ and hit her up on IG at @Artbycandirose to cop some custom Timberlands.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

We're retiring the Episode Timestamps, but if you want them back, hit us up at [email protected].

Senator Kamala Harris and former Vice President Biden are presidents elect. I think... Now what?

What Is Black? Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast where we talk with Black creatives from varied disciplines, whilst defying the myth of a Black monolith.

I have a propensity to feel like I almost never know what I’m doing. Most of that is because I have difficulty accepting things outside of my control are outside of my control. I’m getting better though and didn’t allow myself to go down a spiral because of the technical issues in this episode.

In spite of that, novelist Chris L Terry and I had an awesome conversation about punk, Black authorship, and when you smash all that together you get this really appealing, thoughtful, and at times quite humorous sandwich. We explore our views on who or what determines Blackness and exchange notes on what we are digging in terms of music and pop culture.

You should also note that Chris has one of the smoothest voices ever. It’s like listening to lotion compared to my ashy nasal-ness. It creates a nice balance. We might have to start an R&B-Hardcore-Screamo-Lullcore band called Dulcet Bones.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

For literacy moments and links to info you might not know, check the Feel Notes on whatisblackpodcast.com.

Episode Timestamps

00:00:38 - Prelude

00:02:35 - Intro

00:05:25 - Johnny is just Rotten

00:07:24 - Black Card: A Punk Story

00:08:20 - Where do Black people fit in the spectrum of punk?

00:09:30 - How does Afro Punk differ from non-Afro Punk?

00:13:37 - Finding balance between writing and your wallet

00:20:00 - Becoming a *thing*er: the *PING* moment

00:24:00 - “Oh s*it, I’m a writer!” moment: Owning your s*it

00:30:10 - What is a Black story?

00:37:53 - Doctor Who? More like Doctor, where the hell am I going with this?

00:39:28 - What makes weird, weird?

00:41:16 - What Black creatives have to deal with on the regular: expectations and erasure

00:48:36 - Pushing past “white people shit”

00:51:28 - The (Specter of) “Culture”(?) - If sh*t is wack, sh*t is wack

00:56:57 - Plugs

00:59:10 - What is Black?

00:59:39 - Outro

What Is Black? Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast where we talk with Black creatives from varied disciplines, whilst defying the myth of a Black monolith.

This episode, we’re a step over joyous to welcome Quincy Ledbetter to the microphone. Quincy is a renaissance filmmaker, composer, writer, and quite possibly one of the coolest dudes you will ever have the pleasure to make an acquaintance of. This man is seriously capable of doing everything to the point where it may be more appropriate to call him a creative Leatherman’s Tool. He’s that friend that bounces early from the party because he has sh*t to do, but he ACTUALLY has sh*t to do, and does it quite well. We get deep on the tools it takes to be a Black artist and overcoming the barriers of bullsh*t that our White counterparts do not have to. Let this podcast set you free.

Want to support WIB?P? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

For literacy moments and links to info you might not know, check the Feel Notes on whatisblackpodcast.com.

Episode timestamps:

Prelude - 00:00:46

Intro - 00:02:45

The Heavy “Why?” Experience - 00:03:50

What Inspires Q? (Coo, Coo, Ca’chu) - 00:06:55

Expecting barriers from within, and without - 00:09:35

About our White counterparts in the arts - 00:19:35

The Owl of Minerva and working with your wife - 00:22:10

F*ck it: I’m out! - 00:27:12

Imposters are not your besties - 00:28:08

F*ck it 2: Electric F*ckittoo - 00:33:27

Two apparatuses, one big brain - 00:37:00

An impossible 6 minutes of film - 00:43:16

A moratorium on the N-word: “Nah” - 00:48:10

WIB?P: True to the naked artist, not the nude critic - 00:50:10

The Wrap-up/Plugs - 00:53:10

What Is Black? - 00:54:07

Outro - 00:54:40

*NOTE: This episode was recorded the week of Chadwick Boseman's (may he Rest In Peace and Power) passing*

What Is Black? Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast where we talk with Black creatives from varied disciplines, whilst defying the myth of a Black monolith.

SHEBA can't draw a straight line but in this episode we talk about how she IS the art. From being an abundant Black practitioner of yoga in these LuluLemon laden streets, to being a "heARTivist" (and why it's spelled that way), to how decolonizing your mind is good for White people against their own whiteness, this convo gets leagues deep to a depth where you'll have to open your third eye to see.

Want to support? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, donate/buy us a coffee to keep things going at https://ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

For literacy moments and links to info you might not know, check the Feel Notes on whatisblackpodcast.com.

For more info on what SHEBA is up to, peep her IG at @shebasheba7.

Episode timestamps:

Welcome to the first, GIANT SIZED episode of What Is Black? Podcast. WIB?P, as it’s been promoted ad nauseum is a bi-weekly podcast where we talk with Black creatives from varied disciplines in whilst defying the myth of a Black monolith.

Want to support? Subscribing always helps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Follow and rate us 5 stars; we might even shout you out and answer your question if you leave one in the review. Don’t forget to spread the love with your friends, and even your enemies: whatisblackpodcast.com. And if you’re feeling generous, buy us a coffee to keep things going at https://ko-fi.com/whatisblackpodcast.

For literacy moments and links to info you might not know, check the Feel Notes on whatisblackpodcast.com. For more info on Stéfon and his projects, follow him on IG & Twitter at @Stefonxcharlot and check out @Hello.sug on IG for his branding/creative direction services.