The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Erika Alexander On New Film 'American Fiction', Black Men Supporting Black Women, Neo Noir + More

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

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Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help! That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast

Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop.

Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different, inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it.

And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host. And do I have a

treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building and friend to the room. Yes, indeed. We have Erica Alexander back. Welcome. Thank you.

I'm glad to be here. Y'all in your king chairs. It's fabulous. We're going to have king chairs there, too, shortly. King and queen chairs. King and queen chairs. Is that right? It's going to spin, though?

Because this is really not. No, it's not going to spin. That's the only problem. This is just for look. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. How are you? I'm doing well. I'm well and blessed and highly favored. I love the hair.

Thank you. These are N. Ray Locks, the great Debra Hair Bay. She created these. You've actually seen these when I played Max. They were in black. They were yarn. This is yarn. It's just done in color. Yeah, because the more it wears, the more it looks matte like real locks.

So it was a costume. I didn't know that. I thought that was your real hair the whole time. No, it wasn't. It was a hairstyle that I'd gotten right before I'd gotten the audition. And I came in with that look and it just worked for the character and it became sort of synonymous with it. And then I've rocked with her for now 30 years and she's innovated on it. These are the in-ray locks.

Did the executives fight you then? Like, you can't wear dreadlocks on TV. Well, you know, they didn't fight me because they had already fought Yvette Lee Bowser about the entire character. They had asked her to get rid of it. They didn't want Max. And she said, no, if you get rid of Max, you get rid of me I'm identify most with her because I wanted to be a lawyer she went to Stanford so she said okay I'll put her across the street Wow why didn't they want the characters they felt like the cats too big already too strong Wow

to black too strong Wow strong they said the characters too strong wow she said no why am I doing the show then and so that was a compromise so that's why you always saw her coming across the street. She was supposed to live in the apartment with the girls. Wow. The bullshit in Hollywood has been going on for a long time. Long time. Somebody need to write a book.

Oh, they have. I thought about you the other day when Taraji was talking about, speaking about against work conditions and getting paid your worth. Yeah. And when you were here, I'm not sure if it was the first time, a second time, a third time, you were comparing other shows and saying that these other shows are getting so much more money, but

the ratings were pretty similar. So when you seen that, what was your thought? Well, I hate to think about it because my heart goes out to her. I love Taraji P. Henson. She's right. Here I am crying. I'm crying because I hate to think about it because my heart goes out to her. I love Taraji P. Henson. She's right. Here I am crying. I'm crying because I hate to see black people in pain, anyone in pain, but especially black people, because there is a systemic paradigm, a template that's placed upon

us. And it acts upon you whether you know it or not. People try to equate it with, say, the contracts that athletes get. And that's the wrong thing to compare it to. People don't understand how it works. So they make all these assumptions. You negotiated that. You shouldn't have taken that. There's a floor and a ceiling already. And it doesn't exist based on merit or, say, performance. It's based on anything they could come up with that day. But it's based on mostly your skin color, your gender, and things like that. And it doesn't matter often what you've done and how much you've made, how much you've contributed to the culture, the overall American culture.

None of that. It's random. And so it hurts to go and you do all that work, and then each time you go to the table, it's like starting at the base again. I've gone through that my whole life. And people say, well, it's because you haven't been successful in film in this way and that way. I said, is it really?

Because I see people who have none of my success, none of my experience and or talent, and they get more coming in the door. So what is that? They didn't even need to prove themselves. Often they're getting offered these roles and we're still auditioning for it and they have tons of tape on us. So it's true and she's not the only one to speak about it. She won't be the last and there needs to be something done but unless you get it at the root meaning in distribution and creating a whole different system then we're always working underneath that now you said something template you said negotiate right so the first thing that most people say is something that you said you have to negotiate what it is but the problem

in negotiating if they're not negotiating anything close do you not take a job do you not take an opportunity and when do you finally work if they're all negotiating at the same scale? That's right. But you know who does know those numbers? The agents. They negotiate all those contracts. And somewhere in there, there's a real conversation, a hard conversation about why they're starting their female and their people of color, meaning their actors of color, their clients of color

at a lower starting. And that goes to how they see us, how they value us, if they value us at all. I was told by someone who used to manage me for a very short time, but he said, Eric, if you ever wanted to know why I didn't really do much for you, it was because I had three different partners from the same, this is a big management company, take him out to lunch to tell him they'd seen his roster of clients and they said, that's casting, that's not investing. Wow.

And they all took him out. Can you break down the difference between casting and investing? Meaning when we need them, we can get them. Okay. We don't invest in their careers. There's no way that we want your time put in those careers. So we don't want to invest as a management company in that we don't want you spending your time. He was a black man. I've heard that over and over again. So if they're already dissuading you from representing your people or the type of person, unless it's maybe somebody

who's already crossed over big, if you're not Will Smith, if you're not Denzel Washington, then they're basically saying don't invest in those people. Perhaps maybe an athlete or maybe a singer might make the cut, but not actresses because you're right. They can just go get someone else. If you don't take what they're offering next. Wow. Is it because there's, I'm sitting here trying to think

of who would be the black woman equivalent to a Denzel or a Will. Who's the person that has done three or four blockbusters that have made profit for a theater or for a studio? I don't know. Well, maybe Halle Berry at one point. You might say that Viola is in that space now because she's done The Help and she's also done Woman King. I don't know if those numbers meet the standard but her life does and um if you just say okay when she puts she she talked about it she said you know merle street did this i've done that if you just sort of equate it with merrill the great merrill street no one wants to take anything away from her she should be on par

and i doubt she is she's saying she's making a tenth of what her white female counterparts are making. Jessica Chastain famously linked her salary to Octavia Spencer so she could get her first payday. Wow. Why is that after she's gotten her Oscar? That's great. Thank you. That's being not only an ally but an abolitionist you're you're linking your you know your star power to someone else to make sure that they get something but that's uh unacceptable i saw uh i think i read american fiction has made almost six million dollars at the box office with a budget of like almost two if I'm not mistaken it's the budget was more I think it was over five a little five yes okay and but it is

very critically acclaimed but then I see like Booker Clarence had a budget of like 40 million but they've only made three million at the box office color purple had a budget of 140 they made close to 60 so what do you feel the route the goal is when you're making black cinema well first of all we shouldn't call it black cinema. We should call it cinema. They've done that to television. When they started saying that we were on a black show, suddenly those marketing dollars went down here. When you're on the Jeffersons, when you're on even Sanford and Son or What's Happening, those were shows on NBC and ABC. They were sandwiched

right between MASH and other shows. And I think that that was a paradigm shift that actually harmed us. We're always using the oppressor's language to define us. And black music, what's that? All this music is ours. But it starts to categorize us and put, you know, it's redlining. If you can't get past that, and they're already saying it's a black show,

they don't say it's a Chinese show. I don't see nobody saying it's black basketball or black football. Show me white football then. No, that's football. Soccer. Right. Same. He's trying to say white football is soccer.

There you go. Don't tell that to all those, you know all those countries of color that play so well. But that's what we're talking about. And that goes down to the myth that we don't translate well overseas. But they don't say that about the music. You couldn't put a black. They would expect you on some sneakers to link that with a black player. Because they're seen as the best.

But no, we won't buy your stories. So then they did in 12 Years a Slave, in other countries, they put Brad Pitt right center and big and minimized the lead character. And Brad Pitt was furious when he saw it. He said, absolutely not. You're not going to do that. But they've been doing that for decades and so that's a problem we shouldn't call it black cinema

we should call it cinema and we should also know that those marketing dollars and the promotion is not the same and when we were living single unfortunately we were mostly sent to cities of color DC, Atlanta and we said look can we go to Prioria we have fans

all over, but they didn't want to spend the money. So then therefore they're limiting their own bottom line. Why are they doing that? Because was the Cosby show a black show or was it a television show? Just after that, they started to create the type of language and very distinctive around television shows. They had already done it with music, but around television shows. And we paid the price. And unless we get in there and look at the system and diagnose the real problem, because it is systemic and it starts at representation and all those things that know those numbers and yet continue to offer their clients as less than valuable then we never get past the problem you're absolutely right i wonder you know because a lot of times we do it out of a sense of pride right like we say black music or you know black black film but i guess we're kind of doing that to our own detriment

business-wise right seeing a black book that's's what American Fiction Party is about, is that he doesn't want to be in a category of black anything. He wants to say, I'm an author that happens to be black. And Toni Morrison talked about it, saying very famously, that everyone's seen the clip where the woman asked her, would you ever write about white characters the way you write? She goes, do you know? No idea how insulting that is. Because you would never ask a white author that. But you presume that we want to be in your world. She said, I'm writing my book

and it's about the characters that I know. So it's not meant to be a book that's meant for black people. It's meant to be a book for everybody, but we don't say those things to anyone else. So black people are constantly being attacked by an American paradigm that's locked us in a black identity, which is an identity crisis for them. It makes them schizophrenic. They have no idea where to put us. But with music, that music is all of ours. Rock and roll, punk metal, all of ours. So why are we excluded from country and seen being seen as rock and rollers? Why is little Richard demanding that even while he's passing away and can't make a living, can't pay his rent?

And we have Lisa Cortez make that great documentary. But we shouldn't have to do that after they pass away. We should be working toward that right now to destroy those things that are destroying us. I was going to ask, you know, we talk about it all the time, but now it seems like it's a lot different. We always say that we have to support our own, support our own movies. But from hearing from you, it seems like you're saying that we don't have the same marketing dollars. So a lot of times, a lot of our people don't even

know our movies are out when it comes to, you know, the Book of Clarence that just recently came out or even the Color Purple that, you know, we don't get the same amount of marketing dollars that an action box office movie. Origin is coming coming out i just knew it was outside of the i think it was the golden globes passing out flyers for origin which is insane to me yeah well what are you gonna say so i was asking it's so it doesn't necessarily mean that we're not supporting it's a lot of times we're not aware of some of the stuff that's actually happened that's what it seems like that you're saying that it's not the fact that we don't want to support or we can't

support it's the fact that you know we're saying that we don't hear about it we don't have the same promotion we don't know it's not on our mind every 10 minutes like some of these other movies are you know often that could be the case but it's also not the level of sophistication that we deserve. They're not putting the marketing dollars into how they present it to us of a level of importance allowing us to sort

of have the same types of ability to take it in in a way that says not only is it important, we know it's important because look at how well it's presented. We depend a lot on word of mouth and black people have the least amount of time to watch movies and these types of things. We're doing so many things all at once that sometimes all you want to do is go home and watch the game. You don't want to step out the door. And yet we do support the film and television and the books that people are doing.

We're great readers. We buy books and all these other things. We're willing to go to a lot of things. It says that we're 13% of this population, and many of us are incarcerated. Many of us are under huge burdens that take our numbers down. What they're not doing is promoting to white audiences. Why do you think, this is the last question, why do you think they pick certain movies to do that on, right? Like we talked about a couple of movies, but then I'm watching The Game the other night and I see the Bob Marley movie and I see that primetime. So it's like, well, why do you promote this one and then not all of them?

It was just always a thought to me. It's a great thought, Envy, because the truth is a lot of white people embraced Bob Marley. When they go down to tour the tours they put that on and we know it. Ember Resort. They know him almost better than we do. A lot of people don't know that he's the the son of a British officer. He's mixed. You know they don't know that about Bob Marley. We don't know about him. They should do a movie about him. They should advertise it. That's what they should do, like they did Black Panther. What they won't do is something that they don't value. They won't do it to that. And if they've already made that calculation, then that's what you're seeing. And you can tell in the amount of

power that's put behind it and where it's going. Black people shouldn't have to always save everybody, including us. We should have a right to sometime make choices based on whether we want it and where it's going black people shouldn't have to always save everybody including us we should have a right to sometime make choices based on whether we want to see something they're giving an opportunity to say yes or no and we are not American fiction explores so much of what we're talking about right now I watched it last night very interesting film what is it about that's that's the obvious question for the people who haven't seen so core Jefferson is the writer director he's a

very accomplished writer he wrote and with Damon Lindelof the Watchmen series that we see with Regina King they put a whole reparation storyline in it's because the great core Jefferson was there on it and really strong uh stable let's just say of writers you know a writer's room that could talk to it and damon lindelof was right to to include that so he won the emmy for that he's been writing on succession he's done late night um but he hadn't directed so he uh he says the story that he suffered a great defeat he was trying to do a series that didn't make it he was so heartbroken during 2020 he's a reader defeat he was trying to do a series that didn't make it he was so heartbroken during 2020 he's a reader so he started reading book and he read percival everett's erasure

this is based on percival everett's amazing um book eraser and he said i can see this as a film and so he put his mind to that and then he thought the whole time he's writing it he heard jeffrey wright's voice and he wrote jeffrey wright once he was finished and said you know I think this is you I hope that you like the script and I have no plan B. Jeffrey Wright at the time was grieving his mother the loss of his mother and that's what also Cora Jefferson had gone through they're both men who were raised by women and loved their mothers and so Jeffrey Wright didn't get back right away. But he eventually got back and said, you know what?

Let's see. Let's try this out. It's a magnificent script. It's funny on the page, which is hard to do, to laugh out loud. He did it well. And so he got his first choice there. And he had a list. And all his first choice you see in the movie.

I am one of them. Coraline plays the love interest of Jeffrey Wright's character, Monk. Monk is an author who wants to be seen as an author and not a black author. He's in the black session, but he's like, why am I not up there with everyone else? Why do I have to be in this section? I don't think he would complain if he was there and in the African-American section. But just being the African-American section, but just being the African-American section is he feels dehumanized.

He feels like he's not on par with his contemporaries. And that's what the story is about. It's about a man who's discontented. And I think in midlife, we can see and be sometime really restless with how our life has panned out thus far. And some people can shift or pivot and be all right with it. Other people are like, no.

And they raise hell and they want to do something that totally turns it on its head. And he does. And that's what the story is about. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this.

It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition.

The Waikana tribe own country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warheads. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We need help!

We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show,

where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun.

Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself and leaning into her dreams. I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, It was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going.

This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Like grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing.

Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, y'all? This is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right.

A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. Nimminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap is another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history.

Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world.

It took drama and mayhem to an entirely new level. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, every backstab, blackmail and explosion, and every single wig removal together. Secrets are revealed as we rewatch every moment with you. Special guests from back in the day will be dropping by. You know who they are. Sydney, Allison, and Joe are back together on Still the Place with a trip down memory lane and back to Melrose Place. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I play Coraline, his love interest. Now I got to say real quick that the movie at first was called

Fuck. The title was Fuck. Oh, like the book? Yes. The movie was called Fuck. So there we were filming it thinking it was Fuck, but so when it came to me and they said this director wants to speak to you he thinks you'd be great for this role. always want to be invited it's wonderful to be invited to something and i looked and it's jeffrey wright is the uh lead character and you play his love interest and i saw the word on it i said my god this is my nine and a half weeks

be like brando we gonna be in blue light just having sex eating grapes and drinking wine talking about deep stuff it's fab I've waited my whole life. Let me start doing my ab work. Nah, it wasn't like that. I get to snuggle on him and hump a little bit. Imply that y'all just finished. Yeah, imply to rub lotion on myself. But other than that, nah.

But I was excited because he not only invited me to play, but I knew that I was being asked to play against somebody I admired. And he was probably only asking me because he thought that when you go to the majors and you're in you know a major league you know team that you yourself are a hitter or you're a runner or this and you can be counted on and so I felt like yeah I'm in my class heavyweight class that's where I'm supposed to be. Random question about a detail because you just mentioned it we was watching it last night and after it was implied that y'all had just slept together and i go oh i said to my wife they're implying that they just slept together and she was like yeah he's getting dressed and she's putting lotion on her hand and you just said that too what what is the lotion on the hand for women i don't know women come up to me and say we

love we thought that was one of the best sex scenes we ever saw i said what sex scene you know afterwards when you put the lotion on your hands. They like the efficiency of that. What is the deal? Who puts lotion on their hands after sex? I never thought about it. She's washed up and she's putting lotions on her hand to show that, you know, not that they've done something, but she's, yeah.

She's clean. She just got out of the shower. She's clean. She got out of the shower. She's done her thing and she's back in, you know. Listen, it takes, look, I don't know why. I was ready to hump the man. Do you hear me?

I hear you. But it's a detail women know, clearly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, especially, I think, again, it's a mature relationship. We don't need to see him going in and bucking his back and doing all this. This ain't Jason Zarek. Yeah, yeah.

This is something else. You know what I'm saying? We've grown. That implies enough and then we get on with a discussion about not love so much but liking and being sort of saying you know there's is there some symbiotic relationship here do we we feel the chemistry is that okay that's mature I think people need to see that more often why why did the title turn on American fiction and from fuck and well apparently he was really strong on that court was like no that's what it is you

know I just got a stand by it and then they started cutting it and they said look here whenever we put it in you know the this is when the all those people start to get involved in marketing if we put that word fucking porn comes up all the time how we gonna be synonymous with porn he said you know what let me think about it so he says he went you know what, let me think about it. So he says he went and spoke to Lil' Ganja, thought about it and came up with a few

and American Fiction was the one he chose. You know, they told me that about my first book because I wanted to name my first book I Don't Give a Fuck

and Neither Should You, a self-help guide on how not to give a fuck and they told me that a book like that would never sell, you could never have the title fuck

and then Mark maron comes out with uh the subtle art of not giving a and has sold millions of copies international everywhere i think your instincts were right on but fear is fear did they make that based on solely the writing or were they actually factoring they told me it wouldn't sell color no probably yeah there you go different person we're always having to go through some kind of, you know, thing that we don't understand. We maybe can't see now. And as powerful as you are in the world,

they will always lay that on you. That's one of the reasons I pushed back and named it. Well, I didn't push back, but I named it Black Privilege. Because I knew the reason I couldn't say fuck was because I was black. So I said Black Privilege. And still knew the reason that I couldn't say fuck was because I was black. So I said Black Privilege, and still sold millions of copies, so. There you go. I mean, but, I mean, we'll never know.

And you know, you could start it off the whole, the whole kick to that. That's right. Yeah. So what does the title American Fiction mean to the movie, you think? So American Fiction being not true, or you know, there's fact fiction, and there's non-fact nonfiction, which is true. What is the American fiction that's all around us?

The fictional definition of our lives around America's definition of us. Black people have had to carry that weight our entire time since we arrived in America throughout the enslavement, after emancipation and the reconstruction, through civil rights, and now there is a fiction around us, but that fiction is locked with American exceptionalism. So it's not just the idea that black people are working inside of an identity crisis, it was put upon them by people who created the nigger. And we've adopted the language of our oppressors. That's when it's successful. That's when you know it works. I don't know any other people that have done that as successfully.

You know, a lot of Latinos who go around calling themselves wetbacks. Fun. We're. I feel for us. You know, because I see the strength in sort of trying to take that word and reframe it. But can you reframe something that was meant to damage you from the core? Has it done its job the minute you start to reframe it toward yourself and your children, and then they carry it on, and then the world adopts it for themself?

I don't know. But that's what American fiction is. Jeffrey Wright is playing a man who's saying that I am not that version. They're telling him that you're not writing books that are black enough, but who are they to say that he's not black enough? He's black.

He's an author. That's his book. That's black enough. They didn't say that about our music. They just put Elvis up and he started shaking them legs. Yeah, you're right. Right. So that's what attracted you to this film, how strong and how powerful it is.

Absolutely. In the writing. Court Jefferson is a modern master and how powerful it is. Absolutely. In the writing. Court Jefferson is a modern master and he's made for this moment. His road to being here was through being a journalist. He was a White House journalist. So he didn't get here just overnight. And I think that helped him.

I think that he didn't have, he had different voices in his head every time he was creating something. And he said he didn't want to do journalism anymore because they had him on the race beat. You want to write about Trayvon Martin, you want to write about this. It's like, you know, I'm a full person. I can write about more than racism. I know it's very important, but I have other things to say. So a lot of people have said that, that they've been forced into a position of having to carry that, that they've been forced into a position of having to carry that weight. And they're happy to, but they don't want to always have to speak to it. Can't we have something that we just, you know, talk about? There's tons of movies where they're not doing any of that. And, you know, at one time I was married to a writer and he was, he was the first African-American to write a movie that made over a hundred million dollars he wrote eraser Wow right you sometimes

just want to write eraser mm-hmm you know but that's not if you come at all from a racial paradigm you know conversation they will always try to put that on you even when you're trying to talk about something else you said something made me think about the n-word like I always tell myself I'm gonna stop using that word because I never use it as a term of endearment. I use it as the oppressor would. You know? I do.

So that's one of the reasons. I don't feel the need to hold on to that, you know? I think we've forgotten who we are. Mm-hmm. And I think when we remember, we understand that maybe we've been brought across the ocean to make this case, to live these lives so we can create a better tomorrow today. We're having conversations about voting.

We're having conversations about the next election. And I always remember that black women are the Marines on the front line, but they don't want to always have to be. That's where men are supposed to be. They're supposed to see the clear and present danger and stop the wolf at the door from hurting the most vulnerable people. That's what it is. Black people are tired of that. They're like, I don't know if I'm going to do it.

I said, what's your choice? Could have, should have, would have. Work toward that. But right now you can see there's a danger at the door. That wolf stopped them. You're a warrior. You're a king. You're supposed to do that that's what we were

that's what we have to do right now don't want to hate it but that's what we're doing i don't want to have to keep talking about these things i'm an actress i would love to be a river runs through it remember when there was another movie that meryl streep did where she gets in and she's fighting somebody in a canoe. I'm taking her family. Love it. Let's do it. No, you're going to have to do this, Erica, your dark skin and your nappy headed. You will not be Zendaya. You will not be Halle Berry anytime soon. You won't even be able to cross over. Thank God for Court Jefferson who saw me as being delicate and put me in more in a position to be desired. I needed that black man to step up, to create the space, to see me as being delicate and put me more in a position to be desired. I needed that black man to step up to create the space to see me as a woman who could just chill and drink wine and have somebody seduce her and she seduce him. I get to drop my tomatoes, you see.

That's called meeting cute. We meet cute. Meeting cute. Like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks does. A black man saw that. And he took somebody who's usually hired as the hammers. Jeffrey Wright is a hammer. I'm a hammer.

You bring me in, it's like, what do you need done? He's like, you're a hammer, Erica. But I also see you as being desirable and beautiful and delicate. And we need some of those muscles. Work that out here. And so I lay in the cut a bit and do a little less of what i've been asked to do for over four decades the movie got me to thinking how you know how hard is it to sell things of substance in hollywood you know because then you know it got me to thinking about you as a creative because everything that you do is of substance and it has intention behind it so how hard is it to sell things of substance in hollywood well for

somebody like me it's near impossible because they're always going to rate you as what you've done before and if you haven't leveraged that power yet they don't think you have it so i needed somebody like you charlamagne and kevin hart to hire us the Color Farm part of me, who's got a company, to create something and get the opportunity. Because you're in rooms that I'm not. So we need men, mostly, who have those opportunities, having those conversations with cigars and cognac, to bring up the women and say, you know what?

I'm going to make sure that I bring them to the table. They're always with me. Because you don't have those opportunities. Which is so fucked up because we're nowhere near as brilliant as you. You know what I mean? Like not even close. You certainly are. The thing is that you know that there's a wide sort of palette that we're missing

if we don't bring our women in. And again, that's why I say black men are supposed to protect the most vulnerable. They're also to lift and elevate them. And if done well, we can change the world. Look at what 13% have done thus far. We are the world. We had white culture, European culture, impressed upon us.

The world chooses our culture as their own that's phenomenal that's great power and there used to be a time where black men want you want to be cool like them and then became sign of dark and kind of angry materialistic and just grabby grabby and I'll do this and selfish what is that we weren't doing that James Baldwin Malcolm X you saw him at the the door. That's a famous picture. I'm not saying that I'm not a strong woman, not able to protect myself. I certainly mostly will. And I have no children of my own, but I will protect yours as my own. I vote for the village. So that's what we need. We need that whole thing to come together. Because I think if we start thinking and having conferences about how do we get past this? can we stop looking at our our great players die like dogs and not say anything we have

beautiful people like Whitney Houston it MJ and all these people just passing away those are generals we can't just come together when there's George Floyd and use them as props we have to come together before and say how not only can we protect you how can we strengthen you how can we give you financial management training? How can we show you what you, how can we say that your mental health not only matters, but you can tell us when you're not winning, when you're under stress because you don't have the dress to go to that place and you're ashamed and embarrassed to admit to people what you don't have. We need that for our, our, our people in our community.

And it's not just us that we're lifting. We're lifting everybody. That's black. That's Latino. There's all of that. The Asians are now pushing forward. They got the gold house. Check out what they've done with the gold house.

What is that? They say, well, they know how to support each other. We do too. Segregation. We had to support each other. That didn't die just because we got blown across, you know, like a diaspora in America. But what happened is we stopped talking to each other and realizing that we need to support each other no matter where we live.

And so we need more of that. And black men need to lead the way. You are at points of power that we are not still. But black women are often told, you're the ones saving us. 98% y'all voted. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that to black men. They need to be reminded that they put us in those slave dungeons because they wanted you to hear the screams

of the women and the children and not be able to help them. And that would break your spirit before you got on the boat. And then they put them out and humiliated them, raped them in front of the women and children. So the women thought, no, I'm going to protect black men. I'm not going to say anything.

And they did that and often treated their children so hard that people don't think that we have a core. They did that because they were losing their children all the time. So they created this hard coding. And then we have conversations now online about whether black women are too masculine. How dare they? Where were we supposed to be this idea of feminism that they want? We supposed to curl up and relax on the white couch with Ms. Kardashian? More power to them. But when was that supposed to happen? We're doing that, and we're saving the village,

and we're trying to push forward on ourselves. And you see it when you see Stacey Abrams. You see it when you see Anna Presley. You see it when Katonji Brown. We need more of that. But black men need to understand that their place is not behind this. It is in front. Because we can do it together. And we are raising your black children.

That's our goal in the world. Not just black children. These children are markers of the world of how high up is they are the standard. So let's act like it. You know the in American fiction the one thing I wish that they would have explored more was why people liked the book fuck because like when y'all had the argument at the table I thought she was about to tell him why you liked it and he was about to have a

revelation but why don't you think they explored why people actually liked fuck more because that is a part of us too as black people like we can be righteous and ratchet and we can blend it too maybe that's what she dug because maybe the mindlessness of it you're right they should have had that conversation in it right now we're left to sort of on to think that jeffrey wright is by right uh writing great novels who knows they could suck they could be intellectual they could be they could be like a professor that's not really accessible. Remember, they said he's closed off. So maybe his novels are closed off. Maybe when he allowed himself to go a little crazy during his anger moment where he writes the novel, that's the closest he got to being open and writing characters that allowed him to be,

because he didn't have any of the stakes in the game that he puts on the other ones. You're right. We don't have that conversation. You can send that complaint to Court Jefferson. I can only speak so far for myself. Because I feel like, you know, well, I'm going to ask you, do you think it's possible to put medicine in the candy

to find that balance between substance and the bullshit? Because that's what I was hoping he did, ultimately, or that was the conclusion of the movie. I think that that's what black people and people who are clever do all the time, is that they make it entertaining, yet you're seeing something that could be really questionable. Dave Chappelle does it all the time.

Absolutely. Our comedians do it all the time. So I believe that smugglers are important, and they did that especially when they had the black codes on and they also when they were blacklisting Jewish writers and they had to you know be under aliases. They did all the time when they wanted to talk about things in the 70s and they you thought you were seeing something different but it was really just a different sort of way to go into a subject that was maybe more radioactive so great creators have done it all the time black people have had to

do it um but yeah have you ever attempted to do it is that what you do with the comic books oh that's what you want to do with the comic books and science fiction comic books that's exactly it so if you look to concrete park which i did with tony perrier the writer i'm talking about you'll see that in there you see'll see how beautiful it is. Frankly, you'll see how these gorgeous, beautiful, bodacious bodies are, you know, just made for, you know, being, I don't know, in that place where you have black nerds and white nerds and nerds. I shouldn't say black nerds, just nerds overall. You'll dig it but um what they're talking about is uh you know earth since it's poor it's youth off to another planet will they rep will they reproduce the uh violence and

hostility and the uh racism or will they make something new and that's concrete part but look at star trek same thing you know jane roddenberry wanted to talk about race and those types of things so he made a very colorful diverse cast that is on the Starship Enterprise. And where are they going? To seek new life, new civilization, to boldly go where no man has gone before, which was his motto for how do we get through this world being different? Well, let's go someplace where everyone's different than humans. And let's see how they figure that out.

With their prime thing that they can is that they can't interrupt the new civilization. They're not supposed to disrupt them. They're not supposed to come in and change things, which is difficult, because everywhere he went, he was tested. We were tested. Uhura. Ah, you know, all that. You needed that.

Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired? Depressed? A little bit revolutionary? Ahura. Ah, you know of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Kaperburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Why can't I trade my country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warheads.

Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire?

Join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself, and leaning into her dreams.

I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, it was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Like grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Sup, y'all? This is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand-new history podcast

for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Flash, slam, another one gone Bash, bam, another one gone brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing.

Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same

as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. It took drama and mayhem to an entirely new level. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, every backstab, blackmail and explosion, and every single wig removal together. Secrets are revealed as we rewatch every moment with you. Special guests from back in the day will be dropping by. You know who they are. Sydney, Allison, and Joe are back together on Still the Place with a trip down memory lane and back to Melrose Place. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I mean, you know, Eric, I think you're just brilliant. I love everything you do. Like Finding Tamika was, did we do Big Payback before Finding Tamika?

Yeah, we did Big Payback first. Big Payback, we did that with the Black Effect. Yes. Phenomenal podcast that turned into a documentary. Yes. Right? And then Finding Tamika that we put out on Audible, myself and Kevin Hart. You won a Webby for Best Podcast Series Documentary, Audible's Best in True Crime,

and you won the DuPont Award for excellence in journalism how did that make you feel talk about the impact of finding to me well let's correct that we won yes we wanted together it was a great collaboration we wouldn't have gotten that far without the power and strength that you provided and Kevin provided and the leverage that that that matters and certainly to the Houston family we're allowing us to be intimate with them and uh tell sell that story what was the question what was the impact of that how did the impact how did it make you feel it was a huge so there's a black and missing foundation they've been doing this type of work for a long time and it helped tell their story and they had been um featured in

another documentary but it also talked about this thing that up until that point, people didn't really know what it's about, which is the white women's missing syndrome, missing white women's syndrome. Why do we do that? We're talking about that now, the fiction that if you get missing, everyone's going to come to find you. No, but they're not. And they're really going to not come to find you if you're dark-skinned and all that other stuff and live in a certain area. They're not going to find you. They're not even going to find you if you're cute

because Tamika was beautiful in lighter color. She's had a background of being Ethiopian and mixed like that. But they will find that blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl and our obsession with that. So the impact was even explaining a little bit what it was, but we made a neo-noir ghost story. We knew immediately because, you know, you want to make sure that the audience knows they're invited,

that we had to frame it in a way that we could build audience, that we could build awareness. That's your mandate is to create something that the entire... Because if you're not using the power well, then you're just placing it within one category. But no, we knew that we had to make it entertaining. So the neo-noir ghost story was because Tamika kept showing up as a ghost in her own story. And neo-noir is a genre that can actually encapsulate all those different things. She's the femme fatale. She's the person we're trying to find, she's the naive, I'm the naive in it,

the narrator going through. She's also the detective, she's still looking to find herself in the world, and she helped them, the law enforcement, find her through strangers who came and said, "'Tameka visited me and she's here, and it found her. So I said, what can do that? Noir.

Noir is a genre that can do that. So we did that. We just put the things that were there. But you've got to be aware of them. And I think that that helps to talk more about the sophisticated level that it rose to. I think that that helped change things. The way that we did it created a way to talk about something and say, look at how popular that was. And that was a black woman's story that you didn't want to put nationally.

That's right. But we did it, and we did it several years after we knew the end of her case. So we didn't even need the mystery of that. We just were looking for her. Who is she in all of this? Because we know that black girls and women don't have to go missing for us not to see them. So we looked for her. That was important. I think that changed things.

But also the fact that black women and men could go missing and now there's an awareness about the lack of support that comes to them. Now we can talk about it mainstream. And people, when we were in that room at the DuPont Columbia Awards, what are they called that manage the radio stations? Program directors? Program directors came up and said, I did that. And now I won't.

They passed on those emails. Wow. That's what is changing. it needs to change behavior also white house the white house started looking at different designation we went to the white house with rebecca and the black and missing foundation and they started looking at how they're designated as runaways too often actually most of the time um also the amber alert there's an amber alert and there's one for older people but nothing in between why isn't there so they're looking to change legislation and bring in new legislation or to partner with people who are

doing that to push it forward. That's the change. The best change are some things that are systemic. Mind change is huge, but we got all of the above. And I remember you saying something on Finding Tamika where you said anybody who helped Tamika with this case, they were elevated, like their careers and things were elevated. And so when I look at the success that Finding Tamika with this case they were elevated like their careers and things were elevated and so when I look at the success that Finding Tamika had all the awards it won I'm looking at you know I feel like you're getting your flowers in a real way and it's just like okay Tamika Tamika wasn't playing no she wasn't playing at all she wasn't playing and she was a strong entity now look I come from a religious background I'm not religious myself but I am

spiritual and I asked her please not to visit me I said I come from a religious background. I'm not religious myself, but I am spiritual. And I asked her, please not to visit me. I said, I see you're doing that, but I'm not, I'm too vulnerable. Did she listen? She did. She actually visited JT Green, who did the audio was fantastic with it. And she said he would, actually they now would say that she she came behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. I could feel her there. I said, are you freaking kidding me? Oh, she don't do that to me. I don't need that. You know what I mean? So, you know, that it's a beautiful thing. But yes, elevated. Yes, I can say that this has been a magnificent years. But also it's because I'm doing something that people believe in me.

They're asking me to come because they think I have something to offer, but they also are not coming to do a questioning whether I can do it or not. You didn't question that. You just call me, say, Queen, you want to do a reparations podcast? I said, OK, you know, and then you said, you know, remember that other thing? I got a deal. We do it over here. It's done. I can do the hard work of thinking about how to get it done. But you've done the hardest work of building your career so I can get it done. And then allowing us to do it and giving us the freedom not to make mistakes but to blossom. And I think that when you have that kind of support in your life, it's like an athlete saying, run.

You can run now. You've trained enough. Run. I can win if I can run. Do awards matter to you? Because, you know, I know American Fiction, there's no question. Yes. Because American Fiction was even nominated for Best Motion Picture Musical Comedy at the Golden Globes.

And I saw you on Tamron Hall, and they're talking about Oscar buzz around your role in American fiction. So they do matter. Charlamagne, I wish they didn't. But this world puts a premium on people who win awards. And I think if we can't make content that is uniquely on a black subject, a subject that has a black person in it and has agency and can't prove that we can make the dollars, that's another award, box office and

awards, then they'll keep putting us in the cultural ghetto. And we can't afford to be there anymore. So I think that it's all right for us to shoot for it, but we need to acknowledge how many people never got those awards and we're still inside of that. So if you look at the great Felicia Rashad, who never got an Emmy for her work. That's crazy. Patricia Heaton got eight for Everybody Loves Raymond. No shade to her. Where's Felicia's?

Where's Cecily Tyson before they gave her an honorary Oscar? Angela Bassett. Exactly. Why? What is that? So, no, those awards matter, and people want them because they think it's going to also help their trajectory of their work. Lou Gossett said it didn't help at all.

It said it ruined his career. I think so. I don't want to speak for him. He's still here to speak for himself, but I think it was because suddenly people didn't want to pay him what he was worth. They didn't want to, oh, next. Remember I told you, next. You're asking for too much.

Really? Are we? From the great Lou Gossett? So it's, I think, a catch-22. We need to have it. We shouldn't expect it. And don't be brokenhearted if that happens. The award is the love that you get from the audience.

Every day I go out, whether it's at the bank or otherwise, I get love from everybody. Jewish, black, white, all of that. Every in-between, it doesn't matter whether it's working class, all of that. That's sustained me, and I will forever be grateful for that. That is payment, and I think that Taraji understood that. I love him. But she wants what she's earned. We'd like what we earned and we're demanding it, but we have no way to get there. And that's frustrating because people think, oh, you're just high paid, spoiled children.

Really? Artists? Most artists can barely make enough to get their insurance, and that's like $24,000, $25,000 a year from SAG. 89% of the union does not work. So we're spoiled, but we're good enough to call when you need to talk about something that matters to the world to get the word out. We're your mouthpieces. Shame on America that they're in such a way that creatives could go underfunded, undervalued, but also shame on them for denying something that they do to a particular class of people overall and not understanding that that's not just happening to us.

If it's happening to you in corporate America, that is corporate America. You just happen to see what we do for a living, but not unlike you might see what Hannity does for a living. Is he spoiled? Are all these pundits spoiled who constantly say, well, you know, that's not kitchen table. We want to go to flyover country. You've flown over us all the time.

But we've made it it anyway selling out the back of our car as you see that these men have created whole genres from from um louis armstrong who was an orphan on the street in new orleans no we we we not only earned it all we deserve it all i asked uh miss uh ava doing it ava duvenay this other day, how many more labels of love do you have in you? Ooh, Lord. That's what it feels like, all of the labels of love. What did she say? I think she said none.

She said, I'm pretty sure I don't have any more. I'm done. I feel like that. I think that's what she said, right? She's a marketing genius. I'm tired. I'm tired. She's a marketing genius, Nick.

She's a marketing genius. And she's used all of her powers, her powers for good. She needs more support, and we need to understand what she's up against. She's even created a place that you go to that trains filmmakers. Hooray. Yeah, it's powerful. But who could do that and keep it up? And that's why I say she's a black woman that needs help from black men.

She's a black woman who needs help from black men who have access to power. And that's white America. Those are children's books. What you got there? Oh, oh, yeah. Thank you. So next time we're talking about books and everything. And so my mother wrote a book, Ayo.

So I brought one for each of you, for your families. Thank you. Your family's library. Ayo. So I brought one for each of you, for your families. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your family's library. Ayo and the Rainbow Forest. And the Rainbow Forest. That's great. Sammy Alexander, excuse me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sammy Alexander, the twice-orphan woman I speak about a lot. She's a teacher and an educator, and that was important to her. And I'm helping her while she's 82 years old to get her ideas out there. So that's Ayo. Show them the back, Charlemagne, so they can see. That's amazing. That Jacob, what is the illustrator's name right now? Jacob Duncan.

Yeah, Jacob Duncan from North Carolina. Nice young illustrator did that. And then also Grandma's Hand. This is a friend. This is the Bill Withers family. And so he's passed away, but Grandma's Hand, we Grandma's Hands. family and so he's passed away but grandma's hand we'd grandma's hands he's done a book and after he's passed away about it and so i make sure it gets into as many hands as possible we build

our libraries that way you guys are both uh great builders of uh of families and communities so i wanted to make sure you had that thank you thank you so much my mama's book there you go i got i got maybe two more questions but really one more nikki haley said america isn't a racist country right do you think the decision makers in hollywood believe that i don't know who she was talking to you know what no they you know what they act like there there isn't racism but that's that's what keeps it going is that people want to act like. And these are people often that have been the most persecuted people on Earth.

We can't act like it's not there. We can't afford to. And her standing that up and not facing it is making her look weak. And nobody wants a woman who is weak. They already have that you know in in the negative but the fact that she's taken that stance is uh especially coming from South Carolina your home state is is disgusting mm-hmm she should know better also she's an East Indian woman an American yes she knows what's

behind it. If she doesn't get to be president, it'll be because she's not a woman and also that she's not, that she's a brown woman. So she can ignore that if she wants to, but the party she's going to need to help her cannot afford to ignore that.

All right, well, we appreciate you for joining us as always. Erica Alexander, so much. Make sure you go out there and see American Fiction. That's right. sure you go uh listen to finding tamika on audible check out the uh big payback on the black effect iheart radio podcast network and erica just you i about to say keep being brilliant but you ain't got no choice that's right god made you what you are thank you you know you know god willing the creek don't rise and would help collaboration

all is possible. So thank you, Charlamagne. Absolutely. Thank you, DJ Envy. Thank you. All that you're doing for the culture and all that you mean to us and for giving me this platform this morning. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you.

Erica Alexander, ladies and gentlemen, it's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? The Breakfast Club. gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High,

is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand-new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, the Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop.

Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing.

Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host.

And do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.