Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - African Film and Adapting ‘The Color Purple’ With Blitz Bazawule

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Van and Rachel are joined by musician, author, and director Blitz Bazawule to discuss the importance of African films made by African filmmakers (7:27), his experience working with Beyoncé on ‘Black Is King’ (10:44), and his upcoming musical adaptation of ‘The Color Purple’ (14:39). Plus, which country has the best jollof (26:30)? Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Blitz Bazawule Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blitz. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something real quick, bro. We, I was telling, I told Donnie, my producer that we were having you on today. Donnie, jump on. Why are you such a big, why are you such a big fan of Blitz? Tell him to his face. I mean, how are you doing?

It's an honor. The burial of Kojo. I saw that on Netflix a little while ago and it was amazing. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this conversation. Let me tell you something. I saw it before you. You did. I saw it before you.

Let's talk to Blitz right now. I hit the day. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Blitz. You know, he gets so excited when his friends come on. Doesn't even do the right thing. It introduces us.

It's so nice to me. You're so happy to have you on the podcast. Such a pleasure. So I knew this man. He was going by Blitz, the ambassador. Okay. So this is my first question. I know that you, we talked to you, first of all, the gentleman that you're, that, that we have on higher learning right now.

And I say this with absolutely zero hyperbole. I've talked to, I've talked to him before. He's going to be a central figure in defining the next couple of decades of film. I promise you guys that that's true. I promise you that it's true. High praise. High, but it's real praise. It's coming out.

the director of the barrel of Kojo, the director of the upcoming color purple musical. Indeed. I knew him when I interviewed him years ago as Blitz the ambassador. What made you change how people are referring to you now? Well, Blitz the ambassador, first of all, was my music, Monica. You're right. I did music for solid 10 years. is. And, you know, for those of you who know, no, I mean, now we know Afro beats is a big thing, right?

But, but, you know, when I started mixing what public enemy was to me and what Falakuti was to me, people had no idea what it was, you know? It was like these two worlds that were just kind of coming together at a very interesting time. Like, I remember, like, distinctively the World Cup in 2010. That was like a real defining moment. Like every time Ghana will win a game, like ESPN will play my song. I'll get a nice check. It was like, you know, K-Nan had the World Cup anthem. You might remember waving flag, big record.

So, like, there was this push. And, you know, my, you know, when I first got into this culture of rap, it was about really trying to explain and explore this vastness of blackness, man. And it's vast. And we know blackness is vast. And my job, you know, I saw myself as an ambassador then. You know what I mean? And that was really how I came into the music business.

But over time, you find that, wait a second, you know, your last name matters. You know, your last name matters. And my name is a very distinctive name in Ghana. It's not like the popular name that everybody knows. My family's most very tiny village, northernmost part of Ghana. Have any of y'all ever been to Ghana? No, have not. Come on.

That's a problem. We are going to have to fix. Got to get out there. Yeah. because because you will love it, period. Besides, everybody's going there. So it's not just no reason. Everybody's going there like this December,

everybody's trying to get us to come to God or we might have to make the trip. I will be there. So please find me. Okay. Yes, I will be home. But, you know, again, for me, you know, my family's from a very tiny village in the Upper West.

You know, my tribe is very small. And it's like that name is important. It's important that. those people see that and recognize that. And so I changed it to my last name. So I had split spousalooly. I kind of want to piggyback on that because the New York Times had a really great article profile on you. And some of the things that you talked about,

because on this podcast, we've had conversations about my black is better than you're black and how sometimes we're very divided in, you know, American, Canadian, the islands, Africa. when we should all come together and you said something that I'd love for you to talk more about. You said it's incalculable, sorry, it's incalculable how much the world loses every day by intentionally excluding Africa, whether it's in the creative endeavors or the sciences, which is sad because it's the world's loss, which is so true.

Can you talk a little bit more about that and how you implement that feeling, that thought, that creativity into your work. Absolutely. I mean, the way I look at it, you know, let's do the math for a second. You know, the continent is about 1.3 billion people. And that's a significant chunk in this planet. And when we add the diaspora, I mean, we're pushing two billion. If there's only 7 billion people on this planet, then we're close to one third,

you know what I mean, give or take, right, of this world that we're in. And I find it really odd because imagine if one third of your body don't function. You know what I mean? Like you can't operate. And that's how the world operates every day without even blinking. Nobody goes, I have never seen an African movie made by an African. And it's fine. And like you just keep going.

Nobody stops to say it's odd. I don't know, you know, an African scientist. And it's fine. We just keep going. And again, I just found it odd that if a world is connected, you know what I mean, and how we lean on each other, and we all have something to offer. We all got our good traits, our bad traits. It's odd to me that there's so little interest. But also, let's not forget the continent birthed all of this anyway.

So it's just how are we forgetting that such a critical part of our, you know, amalgam as human beings is, being excluded. And I've never understood that. And shout out to, you know, African-American culture for holding it, you know, some sort of mantle, you know, for a very long time. And I mean, you can see now we're all kind of participating in the discourse, but African-American started it, like, without a doubt, in terms of this loud voice, at least in the last, you know, 30, 40, 50 years of just going, listen, culturally, we're here. And it might be that, you know, the media monopoly exists here and so you can stand on it and the whole world to hear you. But again, I remember as a kid being in Ghana here in public enemy for the first time and

seeing them echo what we knew to be true and public enemy actually visiting them. And then I, you know, we talked about this before. That visit was so transformational, just not for me, but for several people who were looking for something to stand on and hip-hop culture was that thing. Yeah. When you say African movies made by Africans, how important is that to you? Because there are movies that like, you know, that I saw when I was growing up that were, that were took place on the continent.

And I don't know if they were directed by Africans. I don't know if they're directed by black people. I don't know. You know what I mean? I'm not sure how much Africa by Africans I've consumed in media besides what's really going on with WizKid and and Burnabor. And, Darvido. So I'm not sure how much I've actually consumed.

What does that look like? What is that? Where is that? So first, we'll talk about film for a second. So African films have been Oscar nominee, I think, about five, six of them for best foreign picture. Out of those, almost 100% of them, have been made by non-Africans.

Interesting. Right? And a few who have won are like Europeans who went to Africa and make movies. And again, I, you know, I found it odd. I found it odd because there are no other people, you know, have their story told by others at such a rate. Now, again, if it was one for you, one for me, look, I get it. Yeah, I see. But when we're talking 90% of what you've consumed, you know, and that's why I'm, I'm

so grateful for this time because we're actually living in the reality that we've hoped for for a long time that we will actually have a get to the means of production, create the work as we see it. And again, right or wrong, that's how I see it. And it will be more truthful in terms of my take on it than someone who is voyeuristic. You know, someone who's just on the outside going, oh, this is a little cool. They'll pick and select. And I feel like we're, we're finally get into that place where if you look at Netflix, picking up a lot of African films now, you know, high quality films, a lot of the music that's being consumed globally is is Africans made by Africans on the continent exporting. And again, we grew up being bombarded by the world.

You know what I mean? And it's just now that we're like, okay, well, let's have a discourse and a dialogue. It's not going to be a monologue anymore. Where we're over there just accepting and receiving we're going to have something to say because that for me is how we grow as a, you know, as a species. Right. Reality TV. I watch young, famous and I watch all reality TV shows. Do you watch young famous in Africa? I have not seen that, but I have heard

incredible things. So I'm just out of their minds, but I love them. Again, again, it's true. We're a myriad. There are a myriad of people, man. And it's such a vast continent. I've had the blessing to travel every corner of it, at least, not every country, but every, you know, cardinal point. And you go, man, North Africa, it's his own fan. You go to Morocco. Yeah. Different kind of Africa. You go to South Africa. You go to Kenya.

You go to Ghana. And it's like, it's, I love that now we're all going, all right, it's time for me to have some personality and bring something that is me. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya, guselcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment, your doctor should check you for

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You worked on black, not worked on, we're a director for black is king. Yes. And I remember, now this might give me some trouble. I wouldn't categorize myself as in the beehive. Okay, but I have a mad respect. I've said it before. Be careful of what you say next. I have mad respect for, no, I have mad respect for, like, I listen to her music and everything.

I'm just saying I'm not like the first one to go run out and buy her concert tickets. But there was something about Black is King that moved me in a way that I wasn't expecting when I watched it. And I know, and I know this. Wasn't just me now. But you were behind it and it's your vision. And I'm just working on that project. I felt like it didn't open my eyes, but I just felt so connected and so proud.

That's the word. I felt so proud watching Black is King. When you get the call to work on this, you're not sure. And maybe y'all did have conversation of what you wanted this to be. What was your goal? What was your hope when, someone who's not from Africa is watching this.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, first, I mean, shout out the Beyonce, man, because she was just a generous host, you know, just a beautiful person, a kind person, and a genuine person. Her genuine goal was to create something beautiful for her kids, my kid. You know what I mean? Folks who haven't seen Africa the way we know to be. Like, when you touch down, you know what it is.

And she has been, but she hadn't seen it immediate. And oldness to, I mean, name it black as king already, was like, wow. But ultimately, she chose people who were proximate. You know what I mean? She chose people on the continent. She chose people who were from the continent to do the work. She had already collaborated with a ton of them.

And she was like, yo, go do it. You know? And she gave us autonomy. Like I literally would come into the office with her. We'll sketch out, you know, the storyboards. And she'll be like, I blitz, that's it. That's how you feel. Go do it.

And I went down to South Africa, put together an incredible team. And, you know, the thing of people forget about Blackest King is it's, it's one of the first times that you've ever, you've actually seen the continent shot beautifully. You know what I mean? It's a very under, you know, underappreciated fact. but it's a major fact because we're very socialized to see the continent out of like the National Geo NatGeo viewpoint.

It's very rare that we've seen, first of all, urban Africa that's beautiful. Yeah. You know, and Beyonce was very particular about that. It was like, you know, we're going to, we're not only also just going to shoot it at is it. We're going to shoot it also as to how we

hope it could be. You know what I mean? And that gave us a lot of just inspiration to go out there knowing how I grew up, knowing the communities I grew up in, and knowing how I see them and knowing how beautiful they are innately and just making sure that my camera captured that. And really, that was it. But, but I mean, the impact. It was literally two years ago, around the same time, literally, we were in COVID times. It was wild. We were all going through

high emotion and see something as beautiful. Yo, I cried, yo. The night it came out, I watched it alone so low. And I was like, I can't believe we have achieved this. It was incredible. Yeah. Shout out to Jen and Kuru. Shout out the, you know, I mean, EBRide, all, you know, all the amazing creatives that worked on this.

And we have to talk about the color purple now. Oh, yeah. Yes. Got to talk about the color purple. Oh, okay. So I remember when I was a kid, one of the movies that we would get together and watched together as a family, which was really tough for the men, was the color purple.

Yeah. You know, my mother had a big issue with Danny Glover for a long time. So did mine. It was like, it was like a long time. I remember lethal weapon two came on one time. And she was like, I don't want to see that man. I'm like, it's a totally different, like a Tomon, it's a totally different thing. This, as I understand it, is not a reason.

telling, because I'll be honest with you. At first, when I hear they're going to do the color purple, I think, don't do it. Leave it alone. Because, because, because just the moment of time that it represents with all those people. And I even left the comment, I didn't

even know Bliss was directing. I left the comment on the Shai Room. Oh, no. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. What did you say? I left the comment on the Shade Room. I was like, man, just leave it alone. And then O.G. Hit me up.

OG was like, hey, you know your man, Blitz is, I'm like, oh shit. Go back and delete the comment. And now, you know, because I want to see, for people who might feel that way, for people who might feel this is a, this is, the color purple is a classic movie with such classic scenes, amazing performances. What's different about the color purple that you guys are bringing to the screen? And why don't you tell us who's all working on it with you? Absolutely. I mean, first, bro, like, I couldn't be more blessed. Let me just say this. Coming up for Black as King, I couldn't be more blessed to have this opportunity to direct such a, because let's start first with Alice Walker's novel. Because you can't, that's the beginning, you know? That novel, like, is so deep. Like, I read it in college, freshman year blew my mind because it was one of the beginning. It was one of the novel.

of the first times I had read African-American literature that also had a window into Africa. Like, I didn't know that even existed. I said, wow, here's this poor black women living in rural South who knows Africa, who knows her sister is in Africa, who is connecting with her sister on the kind. And I was like, that enough itself was was radical to me. And so getting the opportunity to, to reimagine, and I have to call it a reimagination. It is not, not a retail, it's not a remake. Okay. Complete reimagination.

And where that starts from first is the book. It's like, you know, we start first of what was left out because it is such a deep well. And you know about movies that, you know, come out of books. You know, it's only so much you can take, right? And so there's still so much story that is within the book that, you know, we explore further in this version. It's also a musical.

And, you know, you know, you know, but, but my love and respect, for black music, not just certainly in the Americas, but globally and how they evolved, man, like from the continent to Jamaica to like, you know, the states to back to the continent. Like that's the circle for me. But getting an opportunity to explore after American music specifically from the gospel to blues to jazz. It's like, and I birthed everything else as we know it. There is no popular music in the world without that music and that struggle. And I have, in a way, you can align Seeley's story with the evolution of African-American music.

It's look that has degraded, but the world can't live without it. You know what I mean? And that's what happens with Seeley. But I will say the one thing, when people ask me, what's different? The one thing I will say is that in our version, Seeley has an imagination. And you know how I love, how much I love to play with that world. Why? Because, bro, and sis, there are no, there are no, nobody deals with trauma without having a fertile mind, without exploring a fertile mind.

Because, again, that's why black folk, no matter where you find us in Brazil, on the kind of the mind and the creative energy is so fertile based on the suppression that we've faced over time. And Ceeley has dealt with all of the. this suppression until her mind becomes a fertile place for us to go to. Amazing. Every time that she's dealing with something, we can go there. So she's not just caught in, you know, because the other thing is this. When you put an abuser and someone who's abused on the same platform, you've already given the abuser power, right?

Because there is no such thing as an equal footing with the abuse and the abuser. And personally, the way I view it ultimately is that. that given Seeley and imagination ultimately allowed her to elevate past her abuser because we were in her world. And so we were navigating with her how she's dealing with her abuse. And I think that's a huge difference. I mean, and people will, I really believe people will connect to this version based solely on the focal point. You know what I mean? It goes really deep and her mind is beautiful.

And she grows and she tries to figure out. how to navigate Mr. How to navigate Shub, how to navigate, you know, Sophia, Hoppo. It's a fantastic, you know,

new, as I, as I see it, it's an incredible reimagining that I really hope people come in, open-minded, and be ready to be blown away because visually,

it's also just some of the most incredible. I mean, again, you guys are familiar with what I do, but I also got this phenomenal BP, Dan Larson, who dated Ship of Water did recent. Oh, wow. Okay.

Yeah. Bro, when I see, we go there. Yeah. It is some of the most beautiful we have seen us. Now, besides that, you ask who's in it. I mean, Coleman Domingo. Oh, wow. The man.

You know, Fantasia. Raji P. Henson. Daniel Brooks. Her. Oh, my God. Her acting date. Oh, I didn't know. I guess I did.

Who is she in the movie? She's squeak. Oh. I love her. I love the music. Hallie Bailey. People are going to be amazed at her brilliance. I mean, yo, it was a love fest, yo.

It was just beautiful to be around these incredibly talented people who heads, no, but the world doesn't. You know what I mean? Like, we know, Coalman is one of the best. He's great. He's great. He's great. Like, incredibly great. But again, you need the work.

You need Dexterous work. I mean, you know, the reason people believe Daniel Day Lewis, for instance, one of the best is because he got the work. Yeah. It's written. It's written. I mean, there will be blood. It's some of the most dexterous writing.

So he's going to be great. Yeah. Like, that's what I feel like all my cast are going to have an amazing arrival. Because the material is dexterous. It's beautiful and that performance is matching. And you'll, I mean, you will be amazed to watch some people that you went, I didn't know her could do that. I know Ali could do it.

I know Fantasia could do that. I mean, it was like that for me every day on set, just going, yo, I'm lucky, I'm lucky. You know, anyway. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya, Guseucumabab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis.

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Services not available in all areas. I'm very curious when, because they panpicked you for this. Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, you were the man. They wanted you. Was this always the idea or were you like, this is what I want to bring to this musical and making it into something, a reimagination, as you said?

And then too, I just want to know if some of the same songs are going to be in this. Sister, God's trying to tell you something. I know we're going to get new music, but it's one of the others. I mean, we honored the music that, you know, some of the music that people know. But, you know, in terms of, you know, I know, I was adamant about making this mind. You know what I mean?

And I always talk about this quote. As a Tony Morrison quote, she says, I stood on the border, stood on the edge, claim that central force the wall to move over to where I was. And that has been my match for years. It's like, you can't lose on the edge you pick. You can't lose. And going into this film, you know, there were expectations that it don't mirror the original. There were expectations.

And I was very adamant. about saying, no, if it's done already, you don't have to do it. You know, remember their audiences who have never seen this film. But you can't only assume that everybody. Oh, of course. I've seen it, right? For people, for some people, this is going to be their color purple. That's their color purple.

And so you have to factor them in. You have to factor the heads who know it already. You have to also honor the ones who've seen the stage play. It's to honor the ones who have only read the book. It's like there are multiple ways in it. but I was very adamant that this is going to be mine. It was going to be ours. Let's put it that way.

It was going to mirror how we think. It was going to mirror how we see the world. Because again, remember, it was 1985 when they made this film. I mean, the concept of blackness. I mean, let's even talk about the African-ness of the original versus this one. You know, I'm able to go, you know, it ain't going to be a mix of African- no, we're going to pick one Africa. We're going to deal with that Africa.

We're going to use that tribe, their country. their costumes, their language, and we're going to make it authentic. And, you know, that's something that didn't, you know, for most people, didn't matter in the 80s. It was just, it was Africa. But we've grown out of certain things that I feel like, you know, so the queer story, that's very central to this. I mean, we can go at it in a way that's more honest and truthful than say back then when there was stigma and taboo.

So all that to say, man, we were very blessed and lucky. And I did work with the best. Indeed. Fatima Robinson, I have to shout out. Oh my God. Come on. Let me just say this. Legit.

When I was in high school, Alias, I used that somebody. And this high school in Ghana, right? It's not like America high school. It's high school in Ghana. Aliya's how you there somebody was out. Every young girl in my grade,

you know, back then, you know, we had YouTube. So it was cassette tape. You got put it in. You got to rewind, learn the moves. Yeah.

And when I met Fatina's first thing I took it, I said, yo, your influence. You know, because of course they're trying to tell me she's never done a major motion picture. She's, I said, yo, culture. Yeah. It is a culture. I love that.

Come on. These people don't even be knowing. They don't know how much they've done. But people don't know. I mean, that's why we have to give people their flowers because she doesn't know. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.

And I told her, I told her, I said, yo, you're influenced globally. I mean, there were people who were trying to be you learning every, every move that you had thought about. And I have to say, y'all, one of the beautiful, most beautiful things on this on the show was being at rehearsals, you know, and watching these geniuses, these black geniuses come up with like magic on the spot. And I'm just like, yo, I'm, I couldn't be lucky. I couldn't be lucky. Last question for me, Blitz. Am I actually to do something right now that you're not going to be able to do? Uh-oh.

I know you. I know how you are. You're erratic. You're passionate. Fascinate. It's time to talk about Joluf. No. Yeah.

No. Yeah. Yeah. We have to talk about Jolm. We have to talk about Jolm. But look. No. Look.

We have to do it because I need his answer. That's a question. See? There's nothing to discuss. I know you're about to It's a non-question. I'm going to tell you straight up. I can get Waleigh on the phone right now.

The homie Wiley, shout out Walee. He's going to tell you something different. I can give my other homeback. I got some homies from Sierra Leone. They'll tell you that there, Joe Liff is the best. So Sierra Leone is not even in the conversation for Joel. When you said I'm erratic, I'm passionate, I thought you're about to ask you.

You have completely exposed me for who I am. I'm very passionate. What? Who does it best? Because Liberia, Liberia also jumps into the situation. Labia, I hear, I hear Liberia, I hear Liberia, I hear Sierra Leone. I hear Gambia. I hear all of these, who does it the best? Who does it the best?

Who does it the best? Between Ghana and Nigeria, okay? Okay. Let me tell you how I vet it because I don't do the, I ate it in America shit, because, you know, what happens? travel, they forget who they are. So I forgave them. I had some hand. I was like, bro, you guys are not, this is not it.

So I took my eyes to Lagos, yo. Legit. I went to Lego. Oh, and away game. Away. I went all the way, guys. I went there. And I was like, all right, guys, you're going to have to show me.

This is Joll off you speak of. Okay? Show me. It was embarrassing, yeah. It was embarrassing. Listen, I love my Nigerian. They're the greatest of all time. There are no, listen, if I could, if I could switch, I'll be a Nigeria, bro.

Because they are some of the most brilliant Africans, tenacious Africans. They lead. You know, that's just who they are. I love Nigeria. But the Jolov game, bro, they are not winning. And listen, when I see y'all in a crowd, okay, we're just going to go with Joloff hunting, y'all. Like, literally you guys have so much Jolov. Van, you're going to come back, and this conversation will be not on.

Okay. Now, look, before we go, I do have to show you something. Donnie's got it queued up right now because you guys are all arguing. I've actually found in my YouTube food searches who actually makes the best, the best rice. I'm telling you right now, I found it. Donnie, whenever you're ready, just go ahead and share the screen and show. So, yeah. So wait a second. Right. This is the guy. Who man's that? This is the dude. This is the man. This is the man. What is this European? Suddenly addictive.

Look, look. He's saying, don't eat the Doritos. Yeah. He loves it. This guy is the dude. That's the Joel off King. I can't unsee this now. Rachel, I can't unsee this now.

I can't see this. This is ruined. This was a fantastic. conversation. I'm so disappointed. I can't believe I have witnessed it. They colonized it. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or road trip goes sideways. Catchup goes rogue ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those Weather Tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud,

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Say it with me, the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. Be a two percenter. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms of play. Listen, before they have everything, must they have included in Joe? Yes. Last thing I want to say, your new book, we got to give you a chance to talk about it, the scent of burning flowers. Yes, yes. You seem to do it all. I read you paint to music. Literally, there's nothing you cannot do. One of the best things that's ever happened to me in my relationship with

Nick May, Ava Duvonne, and the people over at R.A. Was they turning me on to this guy who is an absolutely brilliant creative. I'm going to stop talking. Just a brilliant creative. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. First of all, man.

The center of birth flowers. Yes. It is I needed to write this story. I needed to do it because I'd, you know, I'd explored it in other avenues, different mediums, but it just needed so much backstory. And the literary medium is really the only one that you can actually create layer upon layer upon layer of like cyclical storytelling. You can't do that in cinema. People are going to walk out to theater, you know? And so books just give you this rich, deep

ability, you know, and shout out to you van on your book, man. You know, it's like, you know, the feeling of like having Rachel. Rachel as well, she dropped the book earlier this year. Oh, beautiful. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I will be on it now. Uh-huh. I mean, so you guys know this feeling where you go, man, I can time jump and time skip

in ways that you just couldn't do it in music, couldn't do it in fine art. You couldn't do it in any other medium. You can be talking about your life right now. You can, something could trigger you to go 20 years back and the audience is right with you. So anyway, this story. story, this book is about an African-American couple who an incident in the South triggers them to have to flee America. They end up going to Ghana because, and this has happened in 1960s, because the first president of Ghana went to college with our protagonist, one of our protagonists that we're following. And the problem when they arrive is the right, right when there's a coup d'etat and the country is in free fall because they've, oh, wow.

They've overthrown the president. So now the question is, you know, where's home for these guys? You know, and they end up with this musician who now has to try to harbor them. And it's a crazy, you know, they're pursued by an FBI agent. It's one of those story that for me, I've always thought about how the larger, because you'll find out the hands of the West and how they kind of have these coups, but they are not there, but they, like, influence it all. And they choose who's going to be the next leader.

And then at the time, remember this is right at the breath of the Cold War. So you got Russia on this side playing their games. And you got America, England, and the rest of the West on this side playing a game. And a lot of the victims ended up being a lot of the global South. Sure. So, like, you know, I mean, the continent just fell apart based on who you align with, you know. And I've always wanted to tell the story of our first president because he was a cat who came very much like me, came from Ghana, went to college, went to NHBCU.

He went to Lincoln University. and pledged, stigma, I believe. The first president of Ghana, was a Sigma? The Sigma, bro. The Sigma's bearing the lead on that one. I ever heard about that, Sigma.

Shout out to the Sigmas. It's made. And so the book, the book kind of follows his journey when he comes to Lincoln University, how he gets radicalized, how he goes back home. And like out of Ghana's into, came every, Ghana was first. Down was first. And the beauty of Ghana, too,

it was born as a Pan-Africanist country. W.E.B. Du Bois is buried there because he came down to help us, you know, organize our newly born country. Lots of, and that's why African-Americans generally going. That's why I was a, Ganeas generally are open and warm because that's part of our history. Like, we understand the diaspora. We understand how part, you know, we don't always live up to it,

but we try to go, yo, we are a, home, dog. You can come home when you're tired. And so anyway, the book really just explores that relationship. It's fast-paced. It was something that I really believe needed to exist. And I did it. It's amazing. Blitz, I smell something. I smell movie adaption. I smell six Academy Awards. Oh, shit. That's a lot. That's a lot. The book's been picked up for miniseries already. It has been picked up. It actually was picked up before it came out. It's FX. Get, okay, that's not. All right.

No more for Bix. No more for Bliss. I'm dreaming, Bliss is doing. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming of Bliss is doing. Blitz. Blitz is recent status.

Book for it. Yeah, the Bliss. Hey, man. Like, you know, you ever been in a pitch meeting? Blitz is in the pitch meeting. He goes, I'm thinking of writing the book. Sold. Hey, hey, listen, it's the Jol off, guys.

Do not eat Nigerian Jol off. That's all I'm going to say. I love that. Thank you all. My man, look, we are so happy. I'm so happy for you. Man. When we first met, you were an up-and-comer. You're there.

It's happening, bro. You're doing your thing, man. Very proud. Happy to see you. And I'm proud of y'all, man. I love this podcast. Guys, I'm on it. This was beautiful.

Thank you all for having me. Thank you so much, man. Oh, of course. Thank you for being here. We're going to talk to you again. the night the movie comes out the three of us going to throw back some drinks when is it coming out?

It comes out December 23rd No December 2023 Yeah December 2023 So like when it comes out We better be invited to the premiere Okay We'll come and we'll have some drinks All right man

Appreciate you brother Thank you all so very much God bless Thank you for joining us Ohio Same to you all right