The Nod

For Colored Nerds is back! And to kick things off, Brittany and Eric sit down with actor Jay Ellis, who plays the most divisive character on Insecure — Lawrence. He told us all about his thoughts on Lawrence, what it’s meant to play such a controversial character, and what’s in store for the rest of Insecure’s fifth and final season. To get your weekly dose of Brittany and Eric, be sure to subscribe to For Colored Nerds wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 campaign season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 culture and the most pressing issues of her city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 a killing on OnlyFans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Nod Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 to uplift her community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 personal stories. The conversation continues around the documentary as activist and accuser, Sil Lai Abrams, and author and journalist Dr. Joan Morgan discuss the allegations against Russell Simmons and the practice of silencing of women in hip hop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 lost. #BlackLivesMatter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 it has been like to work together over the last few years, and make some recommendations for podcasts to listen to once you've exhausted the entire archive of The Nod.And this isn't goodbye! Sign up for updates on the new daily Quibi show The Nod with Brittany & Eric at thenod.show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 in the empty living room at the Banks house. In this jam-packed clip show, Brittany and Eric take a trip down memory lane, and talk about how some of your favorite episodes of The Nod came together.Be sure to come back next week for the final episode of The Nod podcast! And sign up for updates on the new Quibi show The Nod with Brittany and Eric at thenod.show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 the years since, Saidu has struggled with how distant he felt from his mom, often using poetry to work through his feelings. On this week's show, a beautiful story about the infinite gratitude--and resentment--we can feel for the parents who gave us everything.Plus, an update about our podcast."Borders Between Us" was produced by Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. and Jay Allison for the public radio website transom.org. The story was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's BONUS, Brittany and Eric discuss their intentions for the coming year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 people who lived it: Diamond, Princess and Lil Jay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II.*This episode of The Nod contains mentions of suicide and serious mental health issues, and may not be suitable for all of our listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 approached crafting Watchmen's explosive sixth episode, and what makes the show so singular in its unflinching look at race in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, comical tone. Can Eric convince Brittany that the cruelty he sees in Friday is real? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 to learn more about what led this season of Mogul to the 305. And Brittany and Brandon go head to head in a special Miami themed round of Six Degrees of Black Separation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Gimlet fam over at Every Little thing to find out. Get ready to learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the Cha Cha Slide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, whose groundbreaking research parses the intersection of thinness, whiteness, and beauty ideals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 from our friends at The Cut On Tuesdays featuring Brittany and other Black women sharing their experiences of growing up with the beloved writer.Featuring: Zoe Haylock, Aminatou Sow, Glory Edim, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Angela TK, and Ashley C. Ford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 in the show is by Takstar  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 life. A couple of months after completing the show, Reggie was diagnosed with colon cancer and he passed away in December of 2017. The folks at Mogul are going to tell you Reggie’s story — his early days growing up a hip-hop head in Brooklyn, his time as a lawyer representing legendary artists like Jay-Z and Dame Dash and his reinvention as Combat Jack, hip hop’s flagship podcaster.Subscribe to Mogul on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 the right choice. So he decided to go on a journey to learn more about Afrocentric education. Find out what happened, and stay tuned for an update on how Eve is doing two years in.This episode is part of our summer podcast club series. We’ve put together a handy guide on how to organize your own podcast club. For more information, visit thenod.show/podcastclub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 experts Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins of the Thirst Aid Kit podcast. And Brittany also spoke with the woman who made her fall in love with romance novels in the first place, New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.Stick around after the episode to get an update from Jasmine about her third book, The Wedding Party, get the lowdown her recently announced fourth book, and hear how she’s learning to have her cake and eat it, too.This episode is part of our summer podcast club series. We’ve put together a handy guide on how to organize your own podcast club! For more information, visit thenod.show/podcastclub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 using the same methods that his enslaved ancestors would have used. (He even did it dressed as they would have dressed.) Since our conversation, Michael has won two James Beard awards  — the Oscar’s of the food world! — for his book and food writing. In a follow-up to our original episode, Brittany calls Michael to hear all about what it was like to win the food world’s highest honor, his recent travels all over Africa, and his unfiltered opinions on collard greens.This episode is part of our summer podcast club series. We’ve put together a handy guide on how to organize your own podcast club. For more information, visit thenod.show/podcastclub.Also, make sure to check out Michael Twitty’s book, “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 “There Will Be No Miracles Here,” back in November of 2018. At the end of the episode, there's a very special update from from Casey, including the realization that he was thinking about freedom, and how we get free, all wrong. We want to encourage you to discuss these episodes with friends and family, too, so we’ve put together a handy guide on how to organize your own podcast club. It’s like a book club, but for podcasts. Visit thenod.show/podcastclub for more info.Recommendations from Casey:Chani Nicholas workshops"Awakening the Three Psychic Knots" meditation"An Ecstatic Experience" by Ja'Tovia Gary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 that it changed music forever-- for the better. But with autotune’s many detractors, this case won’t be an easy one. Will T-Pain’s spin on autotune finally get the recognition it deserves? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 of a man named Jerry Lawson. Brittany tells Eric the story of the man who helped make video gaming way more fun, paving the way for the video game industry as we know it today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 makes millions of dollars for their colleges. Strangely, all this started with a video game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 political messaging. But just as conscious rap was reaching its height, one song threatened to bring the whole movement crashing down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Harlem of the West”.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 health. But the concept of self care didn’t really click for her until her own life took an unexpected turn. In this installment of Get Yo Life, Rachel tells Brittany how she found joy in the least likely of places—and gives practical tips for small ways to improve your life in a big way.https://www.rachelwmiller.com/Additional Music Credits by Calid B and Bobby Lord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 choosing. Will Eric FINALLY belt out that R&B slow jam about Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball? Will Brittany pen a ballad about The Real Housewives of Atlanta? Listen to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices