Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Power of Audio Storytelling’ Hosted by Rachel Lindsay

Episode Date: July 20, 2022

At the 2022 Essence Festival, Rachel hosted a panel at Spotify’s ‘House of Are & Be’ activation called, “The Power of Audio Storytelling”. Featured panelists included Danyel Smith, host of Black Girl Songbook, Lovelyti, host of Tea Time UNFILTERED with Lovelyti, along with Dr. Titi Shodiya and Dr. Zakiya Whatley, hosts of Dope Labs. ENJOY! Host: Rachel Lindsay Guests: Danyel Smith, Lovelyti, Dr. Titi Shodiya, and Dr. Zakiya Whatley Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody? It's Rachel, and I have a special treat for you guys. Now, you might have heard me talk about the fact that I was down at Essence Festival, but I didn't really get to talk about what I got to do. And lucky for you guys, you can actually hear what I was doing. So I was at the Spotify House of R&B where I had a beautiful, beautiful conversation with the most incredible black women. I had Danielle Smith. I had Doctors TT and Zika of the Dope Labs podcast. and I had lovely tea who has the podcast, Tea Time Unfiltered. And we just had a beautiful conversation about black women podcasting, being creatives, the ups and downs, celebrating joy and blackness and telling our stories.

And I'm so excited that you guys are going to get to hear this wonderful conversation. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Hello. Hi, everyone. Hi, how's everyone doing? Good? Well, I just want to welcome everyone to the House of R&B here at Essence Fest. This is a home and destination to elevate our minds, bodies, and souls with the voices and sounds of black creators on Spotify. So my name is Corinne. I'm a senior executive at Spotify Studios, and I'm excited to hear to celebrate Spotify's slate of amazing black women podcast hosts to discuss the power of our

storytelling. And we're here to empower and elevate black women and audio, debunk, stereotypes and audio storytelling, and contribute to self-care and wellness and drop some gems. So to kick it off, we're going to hear from a lot of exciting voices today. We have Danielle Smith, the author of Shine Bright, a very personal history of black women and hip hop and host of a black girl songbook. We have T-Tee and Zakiya of Dope Labs and Lovely Tea host of Tea Time and filtered, but before they join us, we're going to kick off our panel with our host, our panelists today, the co-host of Higher Learning. Her name is Rachel Lindsay. I'm sure you all know who she is. She's known for making history as the first African-American lead in the franchise's

history on the 13th season of ABC's The Bachelorette. And as a contestant on the 21st season of ABC's The Bachelor, but she's obviously so much more than that. Rachel Lindsay, is a multi-hyphenate talent, an attorney, a media personality, author, speaker, podcaster, and she's here with us today. She's also an on-air correspondent for Extra. And please just everyone give her a very warm welcome, Rachel Lindsay. Where is she? Come on up, Rachel, right here.

Hello. I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for that beautiful welcome. But what I love is, this isn't about me. you are about to hear from some incredible women, some beautiful voices, who I'm so excited to bring to the stage right now. So you already gave such a beautiful welcome

and said who we're going to see. Now we're going to get to meet them. So I'm going to start with Danielle Smith. Yeah, come on up here. Come grab a seat. That's right. Give big cheers to Danielle. Big cheers to Daniel.

Yes, the host of Black Girl's Songbook. If you aren't listening, do yourself a favor and listen. It's pure genius what she's bringing to the podcast world. And so informative as well. So informative. Okay. Also, we have co-hosts. We have some doctors in the house.

Doctors. Zakiya and Titi, come on up here. Co-host of dope labs. Bringing science and entertainment into our world. And then last but not least, we have lovely tea. Oh, you got some fans in the audience. Time Unfiltered Podcast. Come into the stage right now.

Okay, ladies, we have so, so much to get into it. Thank you so much for being here. We're so excited to talk to you about what we do, but also about black women and using our voices in this space. I'm not sure about you guys, but I always knew that I wanted to do TV. I always knew that I wanted to do something where I was talking and communicating with people, but I had no idea what podcasting would do for me. It is the most fulfilling experience that I have ever had,

and I'm sure that you feel the same way when it comes to being in this entertainment space because it's very freeing. I don't feel beholden to a network. There are no commercials or anything. We get to produce our own content and say what's on our mind, where we can connect with our audience,

and it's just such a beautiful thing. So let's get into what it is that we do. So I want people know who you are, obviously, from the cheers that we receive from the audience, but I want to know how we got here because we're seeing that podcasts are more and more popular. It's a running joke that everybody has one,

but not everybody does it great like these women do up here, okay? Yeah, you can clap on that. You can give a hand clap on that because they do it well. But I want to know, how did we get here? How did you decide a podcast is what I want to do and how did you figure out what you wanted your podcast to be about

and to represent? And Danielle, I'll start with you on that. Okay, well listen, I have a book. It's called Shine Bright, a very personal history of black women in pop. And I'm just committed to black women in music receiving the credit that we're due. So when I filed the book late but filed, I was like, but this can't be it. Like this can't be, I'm not done. and so then I just started thinking about how I could continue to, as you mentioned,

just communicate with people about the work that black women in music do, you know, whether they're front-facing, whether they're producing, whether they're songwriting, whether they're executives, whether they're the most famous, maybe they're on their way up. But just to talk about those stories. And I've always been told that I am that girl that has good stories. I remember when I first spoke to Sean Finacy at The Ringer about the possibility. He said, yes, you should do it.

Just tell the stories you've been telling at the bar for the last 15 years. So it takes a little bit more work than that. But that's what it was. I just wanted to keep the conversation going from my book, Shine Bright, to what I like to call Your Black Girl Songbook. Titi, same question for you. Yeah, I mean, Zakiya and I, we met in grad school, And it was during that time where, you know, everybody had a podcast.

We thought we were a little bit funny. So we were like, okay, yeah, we should have a podcast, y'all. But really, Dope Labs was born kind of out of our friendship. The foundation is our friendship and our experience with communicating science with folks at the bar. And being able to sit at the bar and people say, oh, hey, what do you do? We would tell them at the time that we were grad students. And they would say, oh, my gosh, I have all these questions. And so we would just talk with them over a drink and get.

get them to an answer. And sometimes we didn't know the answer. And so we would say, well, I don't know the answer, but let's ask ourselves some questions so that maybe we can get there. And that's kind of how Dope Labs was born. It was like, people have this really strong desire to continue to learn. But there's always some type of like mental block where some people are afraid to ask certain questions. And so Dope Labs is like a really safe space where, you know, me and my friend chat with each other and show the science that's in everything. Zikia, if you want to add to anything, I know y'all do it. I think T.T.

pretty much hit it. That's what we do. But I think is the ability to take, yes, what feels scientific and where we've been othered in a space, like, oh, science isn't for you. Or if you're a scientist, you're not going to wear them Js, are you? Like, yes, yes, we can. We can do all of that. And so I think that's the kind of the energy we try to bring with dope labs.

Yeah. And same question for you, T. All right. So how I got started with Tea Time Unfiltered, a lot of people know me from YouTube. So I create online content. I've been doing video content for years. And one thing with the online space is that, especially on YouTube, we're dealing with a lot of censorship when it comes to issues that affect black people. So we can talk about celebrity news and celebrity gossip all day.

But when it comes to like real issues, like things that were going on in 2020, I come from Minneapolis. I was there a few hours after the George Floyd situation went down. And even live streaming, my streams were getting censored. I was getting kicked off of Instagram. I couldn't speak to my audience to the people about things that were really affecting us. So at that point, I was like, you know what? Let me start a podcast. Let me be able to speak to the people who want that extra information without it being censorship.

Censor, excuse me. And so that's what I did. And it's been a blessing. I mean, in less than two years, we've grown. My T-sippers, they come through, they support. And so we have real conversations. And another thing I love about the podcast world is that it gives a place for just regular people

to tell their story. Because like I always say, there's never a test without a testimony. And you never know how your story, your situation can touch somebody else. So for me, podcasting has been a blessing. And we're just on you up from here, y'all. beautiful on everything that you guys just said.

And I want to get into some of the things that you touched on because, you know, we're all black women. And on our podcast, we talk about our own experiences. And we talk about blackness and how beautiful that is and how much joy there is in blackness and how much love there is. But often we only hear about the plight of the black experience in media. And so how do you guys or how do your shows, you guys and your shows tackle these. difficult subjects with nuance in care. Whoever wants to hit that first. I'll talk on it for us.

I think for dope labs, like when you think about, okay, a show that science and pop culture, are you really talking about like blackness? People would think that. And I'm like, yes, absolutely we are. There are black scientists. I think one of the spaces where we've tried to incorporate this. This has been like from the very jump. We said we want people to know who we are.

So that means no style shifting. I mean, but when I came to this, I was a professor. So I had to turn off my teacher voice and just put on my Zakiya voice, right? And be able to show up and say, yes, this is what it sounds like. Just showing up as ourselves, I think, is celebrating our blackness, right? You can be in all of these spaces as yourself. I think additionally, when we plan our content, when we say, what are we going to talk about? I want to talk about, yes, some science, but first I want to start with what you and your friends are talking about in your group chat, right?

I want to talk about that and then tell you the science of that. So if y'all talking about manweaves and edges being lost, I want to talk about the biology behind that, right? If you're talking about, oh, Beyonce just had Beechella, be chella, I want to talk about the science of how you become a star. We're talking about all things, and we're showing how they affect our communities as well as, like, yes, this is scientific, and it can be applied to your life.

I agree with you. I believe in putting the medicine and the food, you know, and also, talking to black people and letting people understand that we're not a monolith. You know what I'm saying? And I go very old school in my podcast because I come from a generation where we're allowed to agree to disagree. And for some reason on social media, that's not okay anymore. And so that's the one thing. Like even if you don't agree with what I say, you have the right to disagree without fear of being trolled and, you know, threatened. And so I'd like to, you know, bring that to the forefront that as

black people were not a monolith. We all think differently. We come from different walks of life. Some people are from the suburbs, the hood, you know, just whatever your backstory is, you know, we all have a different walk. So I think leading with that is what's always helped me to be able to tap into the black experience. Yes, I love these answers and I identify with all of those things. And I think something maybe that we all have in common is I believe that God is in the details. I really feel like I definitely bring myself to the show to Black Girl songbook. I try to be honest and as vulnerable as I can be about my own experiences as a woman in black music as an editor and as a writer and as a producer. But I also feel like I don't think it's my show's job to talk about black women in terms of being firsts.

I feel like so often our history, I hesitate to use the word reduced, but sometimes we just get reduced to the idea that she was the first person. person to do this. She was the first black woman to do this. And all that is important. I just think the work of Black Girl songbook is to be about the details. And when I think of details, I say, I don't want to talk about black women's lives or one black woman's life in summary. I don't. I want to talk about it in detail. And just an example I can give you is the Dixie Cups who are from here in New Orleans. Everybody knows going to the chapel. and I'm, everybody knows Iko, Iko, those songs, or maybe your mom knows them, or your grandmother knows them.

They were big hits in the 1960s. The Dixie Cups are rarely, if ever talked about, like the stars that they are, that they bumped the Beatles, a huge rock group out of the number one slots. And so when they are spoken about, that's how they're spoken about. But are they ever spoken about? Do people say it's three black girls from New Orleans, from the projects of New Orleans that did that?

do they say that they were known around New Orleans for playing talent shows, and they were known as the girls in the green dresses, that their grandmother took them to stores during segregated times, and they would see the dresses, and the girls would say, we can't afford that, and grandma would say, I didn't ask you,

could we afford it, I asked you, did you like it? And then she would, from memory, cut the patterns, and they liked green. So then they were the girls in the green dresses. So my thing is, if I know what kind of moose that Bob Dylan or Justin Timberlake is using in their hair. I want to know what kind of wigs they was rocking in 62 that made them the stars that they were.

And that's the work that we do on songbook. I kind of want to piggyback on what you just talked about and you went into the details of a particular episode and kind of you're talking about what you do and what you bring with your Black Girl songbook. If each one of you could talk about a particular episode that you've done that means a lot to you, or that's just really resonated with your audience

and just reaffirms why you do what you do? I think one of the episodes that we're really proud of is an episode that we did at the start of this most reason season where it was on science denial. We were in the throes of the pandemic. Everybody was really confused about what was happening. I mean, even including myself, I'm not putting myself on a pedestal.

I was very confused. Zakea's background is in biology. Mine is an engineer. I knew nothing about what was going on. And we thought it was really important to talk about the pandemic, but frame it from an angle of the person who is skeptical.

And not look down on people who are asking questions because what we saw in our research was that it was only black folks that were being made to feel mostly in the media like, oh, you're not smart if you don't believe

these certain things, when really it is in our history, which puts us in a position to be distrustful of the medical community. So we came from that perspective and said, with all that we know about what has been done to black and brown and marginalized communities, how do we move forward, especially in this pandemic that's really dangerous, that is killing us disproportionately. And so the work that we were able to do with that, we were really proud of because we got so much feedback from folks that we're saying, you know, I really appreciated you all, just taking the time to talk to folks who are a little bit hesitant and feel a little bit uneasy. You know, we weren't saying, oh, this is what you have to do, and you're not smart if you don't do it.

We say, these are the facts. This is the experiences that our people have had in the past, and you are valid in your feelings, but let's try and figure out what we can do. Here are some tools for you to use some critical thinking skills and the right questions to ask, the right things to look for, how do you know when some headline is trying to be deceptive, giving you tools to be able to get to the answer yourself? So we were very proud of that episode. I would say the most recent episode that I've done concerning the whole Roe versus Wade situation because that's been very big in the media. And the way I tackled it, I basically broke it down that there's a lot of nuances.

And I think sometimes certain outlets only show, like, you know, the crazies. I've had 12 abortions and it's all good. And then, you know, you'll have other people who are like, you know, they're so against it. And I'm like, there's a medium in there, okay? And we need to understand sometimes people's mentalities why they feel the need to do this. And I think I really broke that down where sometimes, where I showed a mirror at ourselves. because a lot of times will shame women when they're single mothers, but men don't get that same shame.

So you guys will shame them when they keep their children, but then in the same breath, shame them when they decide, I don't want to be a single mother, so let me go get an abortion. So that was like a really deep topic that I had with my subscribers, and I got a lot of good feedback because so many times people don't talk about those nuances. They don't talk about the women who have had abortion, and the guilt because it's different when you're 15 and then when you're 30 and your life

isn't a better space and you have money, you're doing well, and you think about that. You know, those are conversations people don't have. So just basically teaching people to be sensitive, you know, like to be sensitive to other people's plights because you never know what caused somebody to go down that direction. So I think having an open dialogue like that and understanding that, no matter what side of the spectrum that you stand on, we have to be able to listen to each other. Don't just say because you don't agree with that person. I don't want to hear anything that they have to say

because you don't know what they've been through. We all have a story to tell. So I can say that that was one of like my most powerful thus far that I've did recently. No, absolutely. Oh, you want to say something, Danielle? No, I feel like y'all should be out. Dang, y'all's over here with them.

I know. I'm just post-inning everybody's episodes. It's amazing. I mean, the one I like is my most recent one, actually. It's about Stephanie Mills and really The Wiz, which is our musical. It's our musical. It's one of the most successful musicals in the history of Broadway. And the song, Home, is Stephanie Mills' signature record.

And I feel like it's never really been gotten into like that. It's a classic record. Whitney Houston sang it when she walked on stage for the first time for her first nationally televised performance before her first album came out. Beyonce used to sing it in talent shows. Jasmine Sullivan played Dorothy in her elementary schools. Look at you. Oh, now y'all call-signing me.

Oh, okay. Okay, okay, okay. But it's like, I feel like there's all these stories about home and the whiz, except we all are just telling them at home around the dining room table. We need to talk about them on Spotify. We need to talk about them on our shows. And so we got into it. And the main thing that makes me so excited about it is when we can get the actual person.

You know, life can sometimes be about booking. And so we got Stephanie Mills. And she's known for being. she has a right to be picky about the things that are said about her. So I was so happy when it came out. And also I could tell during the conversation, at least I thought I could. She just couldn't believe that we were asking her

that many questions about one particular song. And she was so happy to have her work dealt with in that much detail and passion. And so for me, it functions on so many levels of making me happy and I think our listener happy. It's just like, and making our subject, when we can make them happy.

To make them happy, I literally can't stand. And I stand on time, I really can't stand with black women in music, don't receive the credit that they're due. So then when we can actually do it to the actual person, and then the actual listener can actually hear that emotion to from the, it's just, it's like good time was had by all. Yes. When we walk off the stage, can we hear Home by Stephanie Mills please?

Can we? Can we? It's all in my head right now. I'm feeling it. So I do a podcast with Van Lathen called Higher Learning, and one of the recent topics that we did was about the slap. The slap heard around the world. People were either Chris Rock, team Chris Rock or team Will Smith.

And we spent the entire podcast breaking it down from the moment it happened to what happened to the response from the people in the audience, to the media's initial response, to the response on social media. media and really, and this is what we kind of love to do on our podcast is if there's an issue that's affecting the community and there people seem to be on both sides or really just torn, we want to talk about it. And what was particularly interesting about the slap is that people were telling black people how they should feel about it. And so we really wanted to dive into it. And that's why that podcast really stood out to me because I bring a lot of people, I come from the bachelor world, we know. So a lot of people who come from the bachelor world, we know. So a lot of people who

come to the show, aren't black. And so they come to understand how this affects the culture, how it affects the community, and maybe they take something from it, and they're able to go into their own communities and share that. And so I really appreciated that opportunity that Van and I had to really explain, it's not just, oh, I agree with Chris or I agree with Will, is so much more to that. And you have to understand what it is to be a black man, a black woman. You have to understand certain other things that happened around that situation and the history of it. And I was really happy that we had the opportunity to break that down. And it was one of our most listened to episodes. It really wasn't that. And it just shows that so many people were interested

in that. And it wasn't as black and white as everybody wanted to make it out to be. Next question I want to ask y'all. We do our own podcast. And there might be people in the audience that may be wanting to start one or you might already have your own. But as black female creators, what roadblocks have you faced? And when you have come across those roadblocks, how did you circumvent them to get past it? I can say one thing as a black content creator in general. One of the roadblocks that we face a lot of times is just even the topics that we want to hit on.

You know, things that really affect the community, everything from gun violence, drugs, you know, certain themes in hip-hop. It's almost like you're constantly dealing with a censorship where we're not pushed through the algorithm, you know, on certain platforms, or we're told to, you know, tone it down, even conversations about colorism, you know, like not, that being dismissed, you know, and those are things that are important that affect the black community. So the way I handle that is creating my own table. Okay, I stopped begging other people to see value in me. I created my own table. Not only with my podcast, I've done live shows. I did a live show

three weeks ago in Atlanta, over 400 my fans, they came through to support, and I'm definitely grateful for that. But sometimes you have to create your own table. You have to stop waiting for people to see value in you. So I think that's the best way. You know, if you start a podcast, you know what I'm saying? Believe in yourself.

And even if you think nobody's listening, trust me, somebody's listening, but you got to keep going. You got to keep going, and you got to know that what you're saying has value. So that's the thing is that you just have to keep. going, keep creating your own table, keep networking, and eventually people will come to you. Trust and believe. I think when considering roadblocks that we face, a lot of them have maybe felt external. So, you know, people may say like, oh, well, you guys are scientists.

You're not trained in media. How are you going to have a podcast? Or you're a biologist. She's an engineer. How are y'all going to talk about finance? You know, how are you going to do these different things? and how are you going to have a full-time job and start a show? And now how are you going to have a show that's now produced weekly

and how are you going to do live shows? And I think a lot of that is, it feels like external roadblocks, but I think it's actually self-propelled. Like you said, you know, if you, a lot of times what you're hearing is other people's fears, right? Or other people mirroring back like, I don't know how I would do that. And they're projecting on you, right? And it can feel like a roadblock. But I think one of the things that's been really great about having a co-host,

Like T.T. and I can big up each other, right? And I'm like, we're going to make them regret that. Did they sleep on us? Did they say, you know, oh, no, we're not sure. We'll make them regret it. And so I think one of the things, you know, when we consider those kind of road, it felt like roadblocks. And then it turned out not to be when we just kind of put our heads together

and built our own table, like you're saying. Trust in your voice. Yeah. Again, co-signing. Yeah, it's what's inside. I think it really is. I think I do feel out there by myself sometime. I don't know if you do.

I do. But I have a team. That's fantastic. We actually shared a team member for our show. She's leaving us. We forgive her, though. But it is hard sometimes just to keep, for me at least, even I've been doing this for a long time to say,

okay, but is this interesting to anybody but me? Like, does anybody want to really get that deep into Shaday? Does anyone want to know really what happened with Nali Koh? Like, because I'm getting into the grimy details and the glamorous details, but it's very detailed. And that's, and you would think, as you said, that it was somebody saying to me, no one's going to be interested in that. But no one's even really saying that. It's up here.

And it's even at this age, it's still a conversation that I have, with myself, which is basically like, then y'all, get out of your own way. Be creative, stop, write it down, make the call that you're scared to make. You know what I mean? All of these things that I was supposed to have knocked out and had on lock in my 20s and 30s,

the decade that I'm in currently, I still, even in this decade, even in this decade, I'm saying those conversations are still had, but at least I have that experience for my 20s and 30s and stuff to say, go ahead on girl. And also do it in service. Like a lot of times I feel very in service to my listener, you know. And it's like I hear her or him saying to me,

girl, get your stuff together. Our biggest roadblock is Reddit. Y'all have a Reddit? No. Reddit, no, I just say, if you listen to our podcast, it's Reddit. We got a love-hate relationship with our Reddit group on our podcast. But they keep us in line and they check us. And honestly,

helps. It helps. Like, they keep us in line. But people who are in this audience may have never listened to our podcast, right? They may be listening for the first time. And I think that what's so beautiful about podcasting, when you step in that room or that studio and you step up to the mic and you put your headphones on, it strips away a facade, right? That maybe when you're on camera, that you might, you know, you get yourself together and you're presenting yourself, you know, to a audience and they're looking at you, but when you're behind the mic and you're doing storytelling through audio, it's totally different. And it adds a level of vulnerability and it adds a level of intimacy. So for those in this audience who might tune in and listen to

your podcast for the very first time, what would you want them to take away as that first time listener? I'll go first. For me, we always say, so our podcast, started, it was supposed to start in March 2020. It started in May 2020. And if anybody goes back to May 2020, that was a crucial time. And there's a lot that happened that really affected black people. And I really mean, too, in a mental space. There was so much that we learned about, we knew how we were treated, but we were seeing it. And nationally was being recognized. And people were acting like racism existed for the first time in our country. And it was, it was a lot. And I remember we changed the entire way that we wanted to do our podcast because we wanted to be a response

to what was happening in the culture. We wanted to be the pulse of the culture. And we wanted to strip away anything that you knew about us before. And we brought that level of vulnerability where we would cry on the podcast, we would laugh. And so for that first time listener, what we wanted you to feel like is you were pulling up a seat to the table. Like you were sitting on a couch with your friends or like you pulled up your plate. You sitting. You know, like you pulled up your plate. You sitting down, you're just joking with friends, and it felt very loose and friendly and organic. And I feel like if you're listening to Higher Learning for the first time, that's what I would want you to feel.

Like we're old friends and we're just catching up. And this happened in the world, this current event, this current affair. And it's affecting our community. And you need somebody to talk to it about it. So you're talking to Cousin Van and Big Rache, because that's what they call me on the podcast. So that's what I, if you never listen to Higher Learning. That's what I would want you to take from that. I think for dope labs, it's some of the similar feelings.

It's one of the things that we always want people to feel like is that they're listening to their friends. That's one of our favorite pieces of feedback that we get when people say, I was listening at work and I laughed out loud because I forgot where I was. Or I talk back to my phone sometimes when I'm listening because I feel like y'all are my homegirls and we're just on like a group chat or a group FaceTime. And we love things like that. but we also want people to feel like it's a safe space, you know, because we're all friends. And when we talk, when we're talking to each other and we're talking to the people who listen,

we talk to them as if they're our friends, as if there are people that we grew up with. And then also that you can come to, that we're a reliable source. So if something's going on and you're not sure about it, you can listen to the show because we're going to talk about it and give you some social currency and some tools to help you digest. everything that's going on. So I think those are some of the main things that we hope that people find when they listen to dope labs.

Well, when you guys listen to T-Time Unfiltered, one of the things that you guys will take away from my podcast is integrity. We live in a day and age where it's all about shock journalism, just lying to go viral, you know, making up things. So for me, it's about accountability,

bringing people the truth. And most importantly, I want you guys to come of my podcast, listen and then leave learning more than when you came. I think that's very important. It doesn't make any time, it doesn't make any sense to spend your time or energy listening to something that doesn't make you feel good and that doesn't edify you. So that's one thing I'm very big about when it comes to my podcast. Another thing is accountability. I think we can hold, you know, we can talk about viral stories. We can hold people accountable without being disrespectful. It's no different than back in the day. If your slip is showing, I can just tap you.

I don't have to get up and announce your slip is showing, girl, what you think, you know? So it's about decorum, you know what I'm saying? We can keep it real. We can hold people accountable, but we don't have to disrespect anybody. We don't have to go down in the gutter. So that is what T-Time Unfiltered is about.

I just want people to feel the passion, I think. I think we all have such a, I think we all have, if you're a music lover, you're usually at the extreme. You know, you don't just, how you feel about music? Oh, music is cool. Most people, if you like music, you love music. So I want them to feel like this is that place where we love music

and we particularly love most the music of black women. I want them to feel like if I'm talking about Anita Baker and it's a song that brings a memory to me like too many. She has one called I Just Want to Be Your Girl From Before She Even Became a solo artist that rocks my world every time. And if I talk about it too long, then I'm going to get teary-eyed. And you're going to hear it in my throat like my voice is trembling in. My thing is, if I was talking to my girl,

girlfriend Candy used it today, I would have that same feeling. So why would I hide it from the Black Girl songbook listener? I want them to feel like, feel so often girls as fans, too, they aren't treated with respect when really we're the ones that push to me in terms of buying music, buying concert tickets, all of those things. It's us. It's us that does all that. And I want the woman fan, the black woman fan in particular to feel like,

finally oh my god i got some place to go where they're talking about who i love the most so i want them to feel comfortable warm feel the passion and somebody mentioned trust or you know accountability i want people to feel like if you heard it on black girl songbook it's facts only um our podcasts are impacted by the world around us and what i thought was interesting when i said tell me what your favorite podcast is that meant a lot to you or what resonated with your audience and t you talks about Roe v. Wade. You guys talked about, you talked about science and with the virus and all of that and like the doubts surrounding it. And then Danielle, you talked about the whiz and how much, and everybody's like, when you said it, you know, and how much that meant to us. But I love that.

I love those answers. And I'm wondering, you know, when you are podcasting, how do these real world issues impact the content that you put on your show? You know, do you, do you, even do you have a podcast that's planned and something that happens in the real world is like you're so like compelled to talk about it this is a this is real but we really did do this i mean when roe v wayd happened and we were going to talk about it based on the timing of our podcast the versus battle also happened with omarion and raja and marion we were like oh should we talk about that no we talked about rovey way to said but no i am wondering how do because you know the world around us impacts what we we do on our podcast in the community, how do those issues impact the content that you put out

on your podcast? I'll take this one on first and say, at the beginning of the show so often, I try to check in with the Black Girl song but listener. I'm always like, how are you doing, though? Like, this is a very wild world right now. Like, whatever is going on, I try to check in. And I do also try to check in in this way. People don't remember us enough for when it's an anniversary of an album, when it's a black woman

birthday when it's an anniversary of a black woman artist's death. These kind of things get overlooked to me in mainstream media. You know, oh my God, it's Saturday's birthday, or, you know, these things are important. These are the touchstones in our culture that make us remember people and lift them up in the culture. And I don't like those things to go and notice. I like to, as often as possible, for us to have a show that launches in conjunction with an anniversary or an anniversary of a wedding date, a birthday, an anniversary of a death, because I want these things, I want these women to be always remembered and their stories to always

be uplifted. And it's important to me that we remember them on their very special days. I think for me, how I come up with like different topics and show ideas is utilizing my audience. Like these are the people who listen to me. They're the ones who support me. So everything from checking DMs, checking emails, can't always reply back. Okay, because now like the DMs are crazy. But if I'm starting to see like a trend where everybody's screenshot and like, T, look what Ray J did. Omar, I can't sing. Can't you believe that?

You know, so when I start seeing that, it's like, okay, we got the topic for the week. So, you know, just utilizing social media, the trending topics, Twitter, things like that. That's really going to gauge, you know, where everybody's at, what they're focused on. And then sometimes it's okay to do two podcasts. Sometimes it's a treat. We're going to talk about the versus battle and Roe versus Wade. So just, you know, just depends on the situation. What are some podcasts that inspired you guys to create and launch your own shows?

Or maybe it's not even that and it's like, who are you listening to? I think, you know, it's interesting because we're a blend of like a little bit of news. Like, so it's pop culture, what's going on, but also science. So like my, what I'm listening to, probably most people are. I'm like, I want to know what's happening this week in viral. But like, most people are like, we're not listening to that girl. But I think taking a blend of that, I think we really liked the read when that, like, they showed us what was possible, you know?

People that didn't even listen to the read were wearing re-merchandise, right? I think also separate from just being in audio, I think we knew we took a lot of what we didn't want to sound like. Like we didn't want to sound like NPR. We didn't want to sound like Bill. Bill Nye. We didn't want to sound like the dry eyes guy. You know, like, once you figure out like, okay, you carve those things out, you can kind of make your own lane. And I feel like a lot of times just knowing what you don't want to do can be

helpful. That's what I'm biased. So one, that's comedy, what you just said, because, oh, Bill Nye. Listen, he's an OG. We love Bill Nye. Yeah, but we have a little bit different background. I'm biased. I like my husband's podcast. My husband's name is. Elliot Wilson. He has a great podcast with Brian B. B. Miller called the Rep Radar Podcast. And I used to be so jealous of he and Brian's podcast

because it's so good. They booked it so consistently and so well. And I just felt like they really asked important and good questions that other hosts weren't asking of similar artists. And I was nosy about the show all the time. I was far too much in his business with questions. So that really is who inspired me, honestly, in a lot of ways to start songbook is definitely Elliot Wilson and Brian B.D.Wilson's RepRat our podcast, which is, if I could just say so right now,

on this way back. I just imagine walking into your house, Danielle, and it's just like the best music being played. Between you and your husband. No, I'm serious. What is your playlist? I want to see it in your phone. Girl. You should stop by and see the truth.

I will. Because we a whole mess. I'll take that as an invite. Last question I want to ask, advice. All of you up here have successful podcast. You're doing your thing in a space that, you know, like I started off saying, some could say it's oversaturated, but I wouldn't say that. I think there's plenty of room at the table for all of us,

because we all bring something different. And you have a different voice. And that's what makes you unique and special in why people tune in every week to your podcast or every month, whenever it is that it's coming out. So what advice would you give to someone who wants to start and might be a little fearful because we know fear can hold us back

from doing so many great things? I think one thing that we always say to folks is if you want to start a podcast, just start it. Like start talking. You don't have to have fancy equipment or microphones like this. You can talk into your iPhone or your Android. I don't know what the quality on Android.

Shade. I said I don't know I didn't say it was bad but a hit dog and holler You can start talking into your phone and listen back hear what you like

about what you're talking about what you don't like is you feel like oh I sound a little bit more awake when I record in the morning or maybe I need tea before I start recording

and you can really just get to know yourself on mic with just your cell phone and it could just be you. And so that's always what we tell folks is just to get started. I think with podcasting, like you said at the beginning, you're not beholden to a network and all these things like that. There's no time slot. So you're not competing for a time slot. They can listen to her podcast, our podcast, her podcast, her podcast. They can listen to us all. So everybody can eat. And so I would say pick up whatever you can to start and, you know,

get your voice out there and don't be afraid to start because anything can happen. I would just to follow up, I think once you do start, like you said, and like we talked about earlier on the panel, being on the podcast, it's just voice, right? And so I think it's very intimate, is you're very vulnerable. And when you can feel like, oh, there's this, there's that, I should try this thing. I heard somebody do this. I want to do that. I think one of the best things we did when we were first starting dope labs was to set up kind of like three profiles of who our target audience was like who do I want to talk to? And I'm like, what's she listening to? What are they watching on TV? What she texted to her friends in a group chat? Like is she wearing a dark lip or is she wearing a

new lip? Like, you know, is she wearing flower bomb? She's wearing something else. And so I think once you kind of put in your mind who your listener is, you can always think about what they might want to talk about. What would they think if I said this? What other references will really resonate with them? they feel like this is the audio home for them. I think that is a great second step once you do start recording. Our first recording was terrible. It was bad. My mic wasn't even on.

Yeah. Okay? Took us very long. We got out of the mud. Yeah. So we always keep those people as our North Star. Every time we sit in front of the mic, those are the people that we envision. And those are the people we talk.

Well, I would say the advice I would give is to get into it for the right reasons. So many times people get into stuff because they feel like it's a bag. I'm just trying to get a bag. Well, your audience can sense that. People can sense when you're doing something genuinely out of your passion and wanting to educate people and give advice. And when you're just doing it, you know, lax it daisy because I'm just trying to get some ad sense dollars. Anything that you work hard at in life, you're not going to see the benefit right away.

Like, you know, we live in a microwave society. People feel like, okay, I put up a podcast. It should have thousands of clicks and views and nobody's listening. That's not how it works. You have to build. You have to build your audience. You got to stay at it. So that's one advice I would give to people is to stick it out.

You know what I'm saying? You're not necessarily going to have like a big base after a year. Sometimes it takes two years. Sometimes it takes three. But if it's your passion, you will stick with it. So get into it for the right reason. And eventually the money will come. Because when they see consistency and they see that you're dropping a podcast,

every week. Advertisers will come to you, but if you're coming into it just thinking, well, I just want some money, well, they see that, and they're going to go to the next podcast. So get into it for the right reasons. My job here is to just co-sign everything that's been said. Oh, my gosh, give these ladies a round of applause. They were fantastic. I know you're going to leave here with the word. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy the rest. Like, thank you to Spotify, House of R&B. This is absolutely incredible.

You guys, thank you so much. I didn't even know I was going to get all of that. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. And everybody be safe the rest of the weekend.