Episode 003 - Roots & Rhythms with Dr. Daniel Black

Exalted Over Who? Exploring Cultural Identity with Dr. Daniel Black
🚨 NEW EPISODE ALERT 🚨
In this special episode, NAH is thrilled to welcome the incredible Dr. Daniel Black-author, professor, and cultural historian-to our show.
Malcolm engages Dr. Black in a thought-provoking discussion about the usage of the N-word and B-word in hip-hop culture, exploring their complexities and impact. Dr. Black shares his views on the practice of code-switching, questioning its implications on assuming intelligence. He passionately advocates for embracing personal truths without seeking validation from others and delves into the spiritual connections within Black culture.
Dr. Black also shares his unique insights on the significance of locks and braids, the cultural importance of these natural hairstyles, and the broader experiences of Black people who embrace them. Notably, Dr. Black's voice from his conversations with Malcolm is featured on Malcolm's Grammy-nominated album, Hiding In Plain View, a beautiful body of work on social consciousness.
Don’t miss out on these powerful stories and moments! 🧡 Tune in now for an enlightening discussion that celebrates cultural pride and honors the influential voices that shape our world!
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Not All Hood (NAH) podcast takes a look at the lived experiences and identities of Black people in America. Infused with pop culture, music, and headlining news, the show addresses the evolution, exhilaration, and triumphs of being rooted in a myriad of versions of Black America.
Hosted by Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Candace O.Kelley, and WeusiBaraka Executive
Produced by Layne Fontes
Produced by Kelly Brett
Associate Producer Troy W. Harris, Jr.

[@FlyGuyCWest]

So glad an enlightening and empowering podcast has touched down!!!✊🏿🙌🏿

[@michellehollinger4359]

I’m heading to CAU for grad school and I will DEFINITELY be connecting with Dr. Black!!! Such a DEEP thinker!!! This episode is🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@BlackWomenAmplified]

Dr. Black is incredible. Reserved his books at the library.

[@joestu2123]

That’s my babalawo putting in good work . Great inspiration

[@blackwomeninartificialinte620]

Guard YOUR Excellence. Dr. Daniel Black. - ALL of This!!!

[@tynecejohnson8594]

I have read all of Dr. Black's novels. I love him! If he is speaking I am listening.

[@leahneal6981]

Great start with Dr Black who is all the things ❤❤❤❤❤

[@nicolelee4837]

Oooohhh he is PREACHING on that N word debate!!!!! I LOVE THIS PLATFORM!!!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@PariwoRecords-ie3py]

We need him back by all means necessary. Some other elders to have your platform like like Professor James Smalls, Dr SHarazad Ali, Dr Phil Valentine, Dr Claude Anderson.

[@fellastriptv5423]

This episode is GOLDEN!!!!!!

[@marcusalexander3985]

Epic fr

[@Walteroblanks]

I absolutely love this conversation!!!

[@gadeyeye6268]

Maaaan I appreciate this brother god spreading the wisdom in his ways. This is what I'm talking about, quantum leaps and bounds in a few conversations.

[@c.e.harvey1006]

Difference between us and animals is our ability to justify and rationalize our behaviors.

[@rhasaansmith2848]

The Word itself is not Divine but when spoken from the lips of the Divine it moves from the lower vibration to a higher vibration and the frequency it resonates in is determined by the intention. 🤲🏿💗👑. We Are The Divine‼️💯💪🏿Asè

[@PariwoRecords-ie3py]

Hence not using it in the first place and us forming and using other semantical words for divination

[@marcusalexander3985]

🤯 this was incredibly helpful! Thank you!

[@chrisbirch7735]

This episode was so so dope! I have to listen to it again!!! Thank you!!!

[@BlackGirlInADoggoneWorld]

Skip to 8:46-11:00 if you were completely confused and wondering if you played it mid-interview. The introduction of who he is is there. It's definitely helpful to know his background and then go back to hear the beginning of the video again. (Warning: This may make you want to stop listening and go check out Malcolm's album to hear him talk. He's dope! Either way, return when you're done. I wish they would've started with an intro, but the scenic route got us there anyway.)

[@BlackGirlInADoggoneWorld]

I finished this episode and loved it. Audio is back to being really clear like it was in Episode 1. Yippee! I linked this video in a Substack post I wrote called "Not all black folks embrace the n-word." It's at the very top. There aren't enough comments on this post. I hope I can bring a few listeners over too. Only thing I disagree with is black folks moving to the south to sit on porch/community. My favorite part of NOT being in the south is more privacy and gossips not sitting on their porch minding everybody's business but their own. I like the hustle of Chicago and lack of idle time to just be sitting and staring. I saw this a lot in Tennessee and was miserable.

[@NAH_NotAllHood]

@@BlackGirlInADoggoneWorld you're awesome!! thank you Comrade

[@ClaytonHedgepeth]

Love this moment at 40:04. It's something, I want to understand. Hopefully be apart of the change.

[@MartinStaton]

A term of not old power but of new existence . A word that through vibration can be known to justify our true nature. I'm with brother Daniel on this one . Bless that

[@sylvesterwest8251]

Great Conversation 👍🏽

[@jupiterhammon689]

Dr. Daniel Black came out of the Temple University African American Studies graduate program aka the "Molefi Asante School of Africology." He is very performative in his approach and focused almost exclusively on the psychological, cultural, and spiritual. Black people as a collective group are not going to overcome racial oppression and Anti-Blackness with just "positive thinking," culture, and religion/spirituality.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

Dr. Carr of Howard University is also allied with Temple University and Dr. Asante. Dr Black and Dr. Carr are associated with Karen Hunter also, and her and Carr have teamed together and are working on the idea/concept of a governance structure among Black people. They have been engaged in this for at least two years now. You likely know this. I have a problem with them, in that how do you talk of a governance structure among Black people without systematically informing us of it? What is the purpose of it, if it is not for all of us? Why not indicate exactly who and what this endeavor is for? It can only have any significant impact on Black people as a whole, if we as a whole give it our consent and cooperation. This lack of a governance structure is fundamental to our problems. All the talk that has taken place around reparations is useless, given the lack of a governance structure that regulates our interactions and serves as a means for which we use it to reach a consensus on issues that impact all of us. No one can guarantee that all of us will, get the most out of reparations if they ever materialize. All of us don't make the most out of the opportunities that have existed since we've been here. Reparations cannot make us whole nor repair us. It can only pay and unpaid debt.

[@arvelynlewis]

I so appreciate the wisdom on the N word. That was really good. I have the same desire for women to free ourselves from calling ourselves the B word. Wait, guys too, calling your lady the B word is not a compliment.

[@SimplyBrina69]

What a PROFOUND episode and discussion!!! Thank you for this!!!!

[@NAH_NotAllHood]

we're so glad! Thank you for tuning in

[@paulamiddlebrooks7875]

Powerful!

[@Justtrendy2k]

I’m three episodes in!! Ok ok!!! 🎉

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

Dr. Blacks comment about the Bible being a challenging book to comprehend, and thus Black Christians must have a significant degree of intelligence to comprehend it, is another way of stating something I try to emphasis. It is that Black children from religious homes have an advantage, because they learn to read at an early age. It raises the question of the impact of rapping on Black children. This hyper glorification of the "oral tradition that for years we have heard many of our intellects give praise to as a pillar of our culture. Long before the internet there was the grapevine among us., but even back then the negative as well as the positive was passed along by it. I would say, the internet vastly passes more negative stuff among us than positive, or it seems so. As rapping ascended to never before seen levels of popularity of a music genre, the academic achievement of our children declined. It has been said there is a correlation between criminality and a lack of reading ability.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

I think we need to ask the question, are Black people moving to the south more to get something that is there or to get away from something that is where they are presently at? People are transient - period. They bring the best and the worst within themselves wherever they go. That is why anti-crime efforts must be nationwide in scope. It is the same principle why gun regulations are not effective because they must be uniform across the country.

[@treedstafford]

This was an amazing episode 🙏🏾🙌🏾Thank you for so many nuggets. My only wish is that this was a call in episode!!! Also, the sound is getting better 🥴🥺

[@KimberlynCrawford]

This is a great podcast - please keep it going!!!

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

In terms of the perceptions of beauty, it does no good to try to deny the reality of what people find beautiful/appealing. As the saying goes, God blesses those that have their own. Many people who don't see themselves as physically beautiful, will not deny that another is beautiful. It doesn't mean that they don't like themselves significantly. We all have aspects of ourselves that we are not satisfied with, or we wish were different or better. Most people handle it well enough. They often compensate for it in other ways. They focus on the qualities that others like in them, and those areas where they are more gifted in than most, and/or are their greatest attributes. Long hair that hangs down from the scalp, seems to be widely viewed among people as attractive. That may be a reason some ancient people braided their hair, but texture of hair is a whole nother consideration. Soft hair is difficult, if not impossible to duplicate. The sense of feel is more intense than just the sense of sight alone.

[@NashvilleNikkie]

Love these discussions!

[@meldoynhc]

I'm three episodes in but the way my brain is set up I need an intro to these conversations like "what we talking bout today?" Like I started this episode over twice thinking I missed the intro. Also, Weusi was not making Dr. Black's point at all. I caught was he was trying to say but he needed more time to flesh it out. Also, why is "closing our eyes when we pray" the last thing we should do? Appreciate y'all!

[@DRSRPrime]

GREAT EPISODE !!!! I love these discussions. The N word is such a special topic because I feel as black ppl we are split down the middle with it being ok and degrading

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

My thoughts on the n-word have always been that and n-word by any other expression is still the n-word. Negro and negro-pean are used by many Afro-centric people just as the n-word has been used to denote disdain for those who it is projected at. Younger generations say they changed the pronunciation of the word, by adding the a at the end. Black people have always pronounced it with an a at the end. White people people put emphasis on the er sound. If anything younger generations just extended the a sound, but even that was done by some of us before hip-hop. In any event the claim that they use it as a term of endearment is also false, as it has fostered no more sense of endearment among us, than have our use of terms like brother sister and family. The same demographic among us who use the n-word are the same demographic who do the most physical harm to one another.

[@kimholloway2592]

ABSOLUTELY would not cut my locs...

[@flowersrisin]

As a student of Baba Omotosho aka Dr. Daniel Black, I can completely appreciate this conversation. He continues to move throughout any space with radical care and unprecedented grace. He forces us to imagine another way. The way my brother in the green hat was pondering on different concepts truly brightened my spirit. This is what it’s about. This is community care. 🫶🏾

[@NashvilleNikkie]

A reset

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

What exactly do you mean by a reset? From my perspective, when was any previous state of our existence ever adequate? This computer analogy is not applicable to our situation, from my perspective. We must be as clear and detailed, in our communication as possible, and if we truly believe racism in all its forms are the main cause of our problems, then it logically follows, that we must be as systemic and structured in our collective response to it, as we say it is.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

It is difficult to decide where to begin in commenting on what I'm seeing in this conversation. It is filled with assumptions and generalities. What must be said first is to bring your focus to what I see as the fundamental reasons why just our discussions, are not productive, at bringing us to any significant degree of agreement, which we then should/would use to start actually resolving the many problems we have. Why do we discuss our problems so much, if we are not serious about resolving them? Do we do this to entertain ourselves or what? We have debated the same issues for over half a century without any resolution around agreement being achieved. Our problems are not just external but internal as well, but the woke rhetoric that we allow to be propagated by a significant numbers of Black activists and intellectuals, is allowed by us, and assumed by the general public, to be representative of how most Black people think and feel. Their attitude and perspective is that racism in all its forms are our main problem. They don't acknowledge that we, to a significant degree, make our already disadvantaged position and condition in society worse. They put all their attention on the external forces, which we obviously have little to no control over, and neglect the areas we do have control over. If we dealt with those, it would strengthen our ability to resist and counter the forces that oppose our well being. These are the fundamentals of our situation that we must be focused on. It is what the two people mainly responsible for the idea of White supremacy, which is really White hegemony, and structural and systemic racism household terms among us. All this talk merely amounts to romanticizing Blackness/African-ness. There has never been one way all Black or African people were. We are the newest of people. We lost our original identity as a result of the most unnatural of human conditions imaginable. We developed new identities and cultures (emphasis on the plural) out of this condition based on our individual personalities. Some of these cultures or subcultures among us have been taken by us and the general larger society as representative of all of us - as stereotypes, if you will. Many of us on the other hand don't recognized or acknowledge how fractures we are, and continue to think and speak as if we are monolithic. There is no significant agreement of us on the most basic of values, and thus no operable system/structure of governance that regulates our interactions. Many of our communities are thus highly dysfunctional. I could go on, but sadly few will consider these points. I'll try to end this as soon as possible. I hope Warner will read and consider these thoughts. I would suggest, that he at the end of his discussions, do an assessment of each discussion, at least make note of what they all come to agreement on, that they did not previously agree on, and what new understanding did each person acquire, from the discussion. What new constructive ideas, were shared or discovered that, should be propagated, and made common knowledge among us, is another routine summary exercise, that should be employed by all of us, in the discussions that we have. There must be nationwide efforts/campaigns, around all of the internal problems we cause and thus, we can easily do something about, unlike the external where most of our attention has increasingly been focused, since the days of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. We need a true Black agenda - a list of things we do together for our individual and collective benefit. All that we have talked about have been government agendas for us. I'll end with an illustration of the ineffectiveness of our rhetorical discussions. What is more important for us at this time? Is it to learn an African language, or the language of the society we live in? We must think and speak, in terms of what is needed by those whose lives are lacking the most. We must as individuals and as a group, take advantage of all the opportunities that do exist. It is false that environment alone is the greatest cause of our failures. Those who gravitate into criminality are often, if not most often, the exception in their family. It is more the personality of the individual - the individual inherent strengths/gifts and weaknesses they are born with, and also the individual choices they make in life. Poverty is just a number. Only a literal few countries in the world, have none of their citizens living at or below the poverty line. Poverty in the U.S. is certainly not akin to a situation of survival, like the starving emaciated Africans us baby-boomers grew up seeing on TV on long treks, in search of food water and shelter, as a result of droughts, famine, and wars. Obesity is a problem in America, even in many of our communities, and many pro and world class athletes come out of the so-called "hood". We must get honest with ourselves and commit to a basic level of agreement on some group of values and standards, we will use as the binding agent to hold us together. We must do this, or forget about continuing to think of ourselves as a functional homogeneous group. To do this is to act insane - doing the same things over and over again, while expecting different results. We do this or at the least break completely into smaller groups, based on the various beliefs, ideologies, and subcultures that are representative of the various fractions among us.

[@dntfeedthesimba]

I agree with your point that why are we talking about this if everyone at the table is still going to keep their own opinion. I'm also hoping they go further than the use of the N word topic. Even after what Dr.Black said, Barack didn't budge on his stance

[@marcusalexander3985]

Eloquently stated. I hear you. I believe change starts with us. Right? We’ve said this over and over again. My parents their parents etc. I don’t know if standing on a street corner shouting out what we plan to do will be effective. But then again, it might be. What I do know is that smart black folks like to watch and observe. Change happens slowly until it goes quickly. Especially when it comes to technology. These discussions will penetrate a remnant of people slowly. Next thing you know it’s reaching the masses. Sometimes the word isn’t for everyone. I’m glad I heard it. Now it’s up to me to ask the ancestors how can I become an effective role model so that eventually we see change.

[@letstoastmedia3673]

Talking heavy

[@kimholloway2592]

Dr Black is brillant and this group did not open up. to HEAR...the "but" "but" "but" became too much. Dr Black was expressing Malcolm X-who taught you to hate yourself. STOP looking to your master for permission???

[@PariwoRecords-ie3py]

I couldn't agree more. It will probably take a while to dismantle notions of black identity for some of us. It's like going through the five stages of grief.

[@kimholloway2592]

Brother NEEDS to LISTEN and stop trying to prove what HE thinks....this became tiresome..hard to learn waiting on him to reason with brotherman...

[@c.e.harvey1006]

Choose another word! You justify using the word to embrace AND degrade your brother? That’s just stupid!

[@MartinStaton]

Get your man's in the green hoodie off the show. Ridiculous

[@dntfeedthesimba]

I'm hoping he gets better at vocally defending his stance. Because rn it seems he's there holding up forward moving dialogue.

[@c.e.harvey1006]

I agree. I don’t think he’s well read enough to engage in these conversations.

[@marcusalexander3985]

@@MartinStaton NAH.

[@marcusalexander3985]

@@dntfeedthesimbanot really, he represents a percentage.