Five time Grammy Award winning production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis dominated the music industry in the late 80’s through the early 90's working with various artists  such as Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, Usher, and many more. With a career spanning four decades they have moved into a mainstream market freeing them from the limits imposed on many Black producers in the music industry. On this episode, Adrian, Jimmy, and Terry discuss the duo's journey to success and how the cultural zeitgeist made way for them to crossover from urban to pop charts. 

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Russell Peters knows the power of using comedy to challenge the status quo and how to make light of unconscious bias. In this episode Adrian and Russell discuss the expression of cultural intelligence through comedy, the power of hiphop to inspire identity and the subtitles of understanding intention when applied to humor. 

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Brooklyn raised composer, singer-songwriter, and producer, Brian Jackson, is a true luminary for Black American music. Brian is the long time writing partner of the late Gil Scott Heron. Throughout the 70s, Brian and Gil created music that elevated black consciousness and continues to inspire younger generations. In this episode, Adrian and Brian discuss Music as a tool for education, the nuances of segregation and how the struggle for civil rights informed revolutionary music in America. 

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Caroline Randall Williams is an esteemed activist, author, poet, and professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Caroline has been a featured guest on MSNBC and has penned a myriad of captivating articles on racial bias. Her New York Times essay "You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument" tells her story as the great-great granddaughter of the nefarious confederate hero, and KKK leader Edmund Pettus, that fathered a child with a formerly enslaved woman. On this episode Adrian and Caroline discuss the romanticism of the South, American patriotism, and how she uses her "white" or ancestral privilege to denounce the evils of America's past.

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British singer/songwriter Estelle began as a rapper in London. She rose to international fame, keeping her African and West Indian roots intact. 

In this episode, Adrian and Estelle discuss the African diaspora, Britain's National Front and Parallels between the racial justice movements in the UK and the United states.   

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A highlight from Adrian Younge and Mahershala Ali's conversation on the importance of nuanced representation in film, finding oneself through faith and the transformation of ideas into ideology.

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Mahershala Ali is one of the most celebrated and accomplished theatrical performers of our time. Winning an Oscar for each of his roles in Moonlight and Greenbook, he became the first Muslim to win an Academy Award. In this episode Adrian and Mahershala speak about the importance of nuanced representation in film, finding oneself through faith and the transformation of ideas into ideology.

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Jeff Chang is a renowned historian, journalist, Stanford University Professor and critic on the music, culture and politics of hip hop. His books, Can't Stop Won't Stop, Who We Be, and We Gon' Be Alright have become acclaimed assets to the analysis and understanding of the culture. In this episode, Adrian and Jeff discuss hip hop's evolution from its community roots to its worldwide phenomena. 

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