Black and Snerdy Podcast

Black and Snerdy welcomes actor, playwright, director and music artist Le’Asha Julius for a bonus episode as Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit) trace a career that runs from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and SUNY Purchase to NPR’s Tiny Desk with The LOX. Le’Asha explains how the hip-hop duo Quincy Vidal started with classmate Caleb Eberhardt when DJ equipment proved too expensive, and what opening for Kendrick Lamar and Talib Kweli taught her about respect. The conversation moves to Black Thought’s School of Thought program at Carnegie Hall, where imposter syndrome met one very specific note about articulating a fast verse, and then to the Tiny Desk session with Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P. Le’Asha also names home as the truest place to recharge between plays, tours and an upcoming trip to Greece, and explains the difference between following the heart and following anxiety.

Then comes a punishing round of This or That built on Black music icons: Aaliyah vs. Mýa, Teddy Pendergrass vs. Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin vs. Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder vs. Prince, and Michael Jackson vs. Beyoncé. Along the way, Le’Asha reveals she went to elementary school with Mýa’s little brother, once ran into Aretha, and has performed at Paisley Park, while Ode picks Beyoncé despite a childhood spent double fisting Michael Jackson’s HIStory. In What’s Making Us Mad, Ode addresses the Cornell and LSU sexual assault cases and the victim blaming that followed, and Mo takes aim at unleashed dogs on Flatbush Avenue. The episode closes with Goo Punch from My Brother and Me, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Fridays, and Le’Asha’s plans to finish a new play and album, with more on Instagram at @leeocious.

Find Le'Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeocious/

Find her on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLeeocious

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Percy (she/they), a comics, gaming and literature devotee whose fandom began with Sailor Moon and grew through years of high school fandom blogging. Percy explains how New X-Men made Quentin Quire a favorite mutant, while Mo stands up for Beast and Ode claims Mystique and Storm. The conversation moves through DC’s Speed Force, Mo’s gloriously overbuilt Dungeons & Dragons backstory, Percy’s towering reading backlog, Call of Duty, Cardcaptor Sakura and a Sharon Draper book Percy wants on the big screen. Percy closes the interview with advice for anyone intimidated by decades of comic continuity: ignore the retcons, pick a character, grab a reading guide and just read.

In Pop Topics, Black and Snerdy celebrates Debbie Shields, the Bed-Stuy owner of Confessions bar who went joke for joke with Conan O’Brien on SubwayTakes, then weighs the reported news of Jay-Z headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, from Reasonable Doubt turning 30 to Ode’s prediction that Beyoncé drops Act III at the game. Disneyween revisits Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloweentown, Twitches, Under Wraps, Tower of Terror and Don’t Look Under the Bed, and Percy refuses to let anyone slander Belle. Big Mad covers Percy’s call to vote, the George Washington Bridge killing of Con Edison worker Koran Irvine and the charges against retired NYPD detective Victor Romero, and Mo’s tribute to Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza. The episode ends on Black joy with 3-year-old soccer phenom Nevada and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure going weekly, and Percy can be found at @krakoais4luvrs and @evangelinedovie on X, genosha_is_forlovers on League of Comic Geeks, and @persephoneyyyy on YouTube.

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Kai Grayson to a Black and Snerdy bonus episode, a screenwriter, producer, cosplayer and pro wrestler whose credits include Work It Out Wombats!, The Creature Cases and Genevieve's Playhouse. Kai arrives with blue hair from her Mollymauk Tealeaf cosplay from Critical Role's The Mighty Nein and traces her path from Altadena to Emerson College, London and Tokyo. She credits Over the Garden Wall with turning her from a would-be director of Narnia-style fantasy films into an animation writer. She also describes having her own experiences edited out of scripts and being let go from two shows about Black families.

The conversation moves to the ring, where Kai explains how a joke about late friends became Kai Maintenance, a mean janitor who debuted at Dyke Day LA and earned a standing ovation at her first in-ring show. She names Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jade Cargill and Nyla Rose as dream tag team partners and talks about Roles for Initiative LA, her D&D live play improv show. Two games follow: an anime and video game trivia round covering Ouran High School Host Club, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Jujutsu Kaisen, Gurren Lagann, Persona 5 and Baldur's Gate 3, then Emoji Me, Senpai with Gojo, Tanjiro, Nezuko, Link and Sora. The closing segments cover The Legend of Zelda concert tour, New York bureaucracy, subway etiquette, and Halloween cosplay season.

Kai Grayson's Linktree: linktr.ee/kaigrayson

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit) open Episode 203 of Black and Snerdy with a weekend recap featuring Blerd by Nature, then break down Megan Thee Stallion’s debut at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Mo crowns her “Megan the Pegasus” for wearing the brand’s signature wings, while Ode points to Meg’s resurfaced 2011 tweet about one day walking that runway. Ode also praises the dancers and the thicker bodies on a stage long criticized for its lack of body diversity, recalling how Tyra Banks was once called fat over five pounds. The segment wraps with Meg’s upcoming album and her beef with GloRilla.

The heart of the episode is a Watch Out Now double feature of two horror hits from YouTube creators. They review A24’s Backrooms from Kane Parsons, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, covering its 4chan roots, 30,000 square feet of practical sets and $81 million opening, and comparing its found footage to The Blair Witch Project and The Shining. Then they take on Curry Barker’s Obsession, the first original film of the 2020s to pass $500 million, digging into the nice-guy deconstruction, the One Wish Willow, Jordan Peele’s influence and Inde Navarrette’s performance. The episode closes with Ode on the Haitian Revolution and the protests in France, and a happy recap of a visit to Kodansha House.

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome D. Frie, founder of the SOLC Network and host of The Lando Cal Experience, to a Black and Snerdy bonus episode. D. Frie starts at the beginning: a February 1981 birth in Chicago delayed by the bad brakes on his father's Gremlin, then a St. Louis childhood on rollerblades in the Mighty Ducks era, with Nas's "Project Windows" as the soundtrack and neighborhood guys asking about Green Lantern back issues. The three trade notes on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, One Piece in both its anime and live-action forms, and the night each of them gave up on the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. He also explains his show's name, crediting Lando Calrissian as the first Black man to survive in space after Yaphet Kotto in Alien, and shares the story that Billy Dee Williams was once positioned to replace Harrison Ford's Han Solo.

From there, D. Frie breaks down the SOLC Network, named for Straight Outta Locash from CB4, and its twelve shows, including I Only Listen to 90s Music, Womanology, Everyone Needs an Aquarius with its Surviving Diddy series, and Hip-Hop What Ifs, which has tackled Canibus and LL Cool J, Lauryn Hill, Eminem and Dr. Dre, and Tupac and Death Row. He gets candid about editing, YouTube analytics, and why consistency beats polish. Ode then hosts a Star Wars edition of Emoji Me, Senpai, where Mo and D. Frie race to name Chewbacca, Palpatine, Jar Jar Binks, Jabba the Hutt, Mace Windu and more from three emojis each. The hour closes with a mental health check-in, gripes about YouTube monetization and MTA subway etiquette, and praise for A Different World, Mahershala Ali's new film, and JoJo's Steel Ball Run.

Find the Solc Networks Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Solcnetwork

D. Frie's Instagram: instagram.com/diggameisu

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Howard alum Keith Benn, host of the Build Different podcast on the Watts Productions Network, returns to Black and Snerdy for the first time since episode 50 to sit down with Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit). Keith explains how a producer’s pitch for a politics podcast became Build Different, a show about perspective, Black love and late-night rabbit holes about life. The conversation moves from Black boy joy and the case for men to frolic more, to his uncle’s argument that Good Times was more realistic than The Cosby Show, to Howard University’s range of backgrounds and the professor who asked a full class who had been called “not Black enough.” Ode adds her childhood love of Avril Lavigne, Billie Holiday and Harry Potter, along with a pointed word about J.K. Rowling.

Pop Topics opens with the sentencing of Duane “Keffe D” Davis to 40 years to life for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing, after his book and Vlad TV interviews, with Keith drawing a comparison to O.J. Simpson. The hosts honor RJ Mitte of Breaking Bad and an Atlanta teacher who died on the Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia, then celebrate Druski hosting Saturday Night Live. Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel gets a full breakdown, from Coogler’s mother’s love of the original to hopes for David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson cameos. The episode closes with the federal raid on Representative Ilhan Omar’s home, Howard Homecoming, Jools Lebron’s new teeth, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and John Boyega’s growing family.

Find Keith Benn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithingtonb

Find the Built Different Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@BuiltDifferentKB

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome S. Carlos Carbon, co-host of The Blerd Effect podcast and founder of Harlem Cinematic Universe, to this Black and Snerdy bonus episode. Carlos traces his fandom from West Baltimore, where Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Kevin Conroy's Batman were his way into DC Comics, to a Harlem cafe where a barista's latte art led him to Demon Slayer. He lays out why The Blerd Effect treats One Piece, Attack on Titan and Code Geass as political texts, and why Black nerds need institutions of their own. That conversation runs through Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Octavia Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois and Afrofuturism. Mo counters with his case for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Hirohiko Araki, while Carlos argues that Demon Slayer moved anime forward and compares the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack to Waiting to Exhale.

The interview closes with My Hero Academia, the Deku and Bakugo scene that made Carlos cry, and a Golden Girls versus Living Single breakdown he uses to coach new podcasters. Then comes an anime edition of Emoji Me, Senpai, with clues for Tanjiro, All Might, Light Yagami from Death Note, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa from Attack on Titan, Guts and Griffith from Berserk, Anya from Spy x Family, Speed Racer and Roronoa Zoro. The mental health check-in covers therapy, anxiety medication and managing bipolar II. We Big Mad takes on a Hasan Piker interview with Symone Sanders, split streaming rights for Spy x Family on Netflix, and AI deepfake channels that manufacture Black trauma stories. The closing segment turns to Big Brother on CBS, Black women's friendship, and the weekly return of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.

Check Out S Carlos Carbon's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/s.carloscarbon

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Black and Snerdy clears out months of headlines in this bonus episode, as Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit) record from opposite coasts, with Mo in Oakland and Ode at home in Brooklyn. Their one-word rapid fire round opens with #EmmysSoWhite after the 2026 Primetime Emmys, Jasmine Guy’s return as Whitley Gilbert in Netflix’s A Different World sequel, and ER Fightmaster’s resurfaced comments, along with the responses from Drew Afualo and Franchesca Ramsey. From there, they react to Sky’s documentary on the Duane “Keffe D” Davis murder trial, Jay-Z’s accuser recanting her claims in the Tony Buzbee lawsuit, and Crystal Mason’s acquittal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The round wraps with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s $131.5 million DoorDash settlement for New York City delivery workers and Stanford and Arc Institute scientists using AI to design bacteriophages that fight drug-resistant E. coli.

The hosts also pay tribute to Angela Stribling, The Mighty Sparrow, Christy Knowings of All That, Michael Wright of The Five Heartbeats, and AEW wrestler PAC. Then they take on the viral Views from the Seven clip claiming nobody on Living Single was attractive. Mo answers with a three-point rebuttal, and Ode breaks down the colorism, sizeism and homophobia in the take while celebrating Khadijah James and Queen Latifah. The mental health check-in covers Ode’s experience with a new anxiety medication and the five-minute stillness challenge Mo gives her. In We Big Mad, Ode discusses an Arizona congressional candidate’s account of being assaulted and Mo argues that GTA VI could become Sony’s excuse to end physical media, before the episode closes on Opal Lee’s 100th birthday and the planned National Juneteenth Museum.

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Malcolm McFadden, the writer and founder behind Six Fifteen Comics and the voice of Yo! A Nerd, into the Black and Snerdy universe for a bonus conversation about building an indie comic book universe from the ground up. Malcolm explains that Six Fifteen Comics is named after the address of his late friend Kevin's house, a creative hub where their circle made music and art. He also describes how his interconnected universe borrows from Valiant Comics, with standalone series that cross over over time. Mo compares that structure to the classic Harvey Comics lineup of Richie Rich, Casper and Little Lulu. Malcolm then breaks down The Legacy, a father-and-son superhero story about powers and memories handed down through generations, and Ode connects it to Dr. Joy DeGruy's work on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome and the joy and resilience Black families pass down.

The conversation moves to Subject Zero, Pinpoint and The Bear, a horror-action crossover with Paige Alfred of Page One Comics that follows up Beer & Bullets and started as a joke about both books featuring bears. Malcolm shares what he looks for in artists, why horror comics depend on the right art, and his brother's advice to borrow Michael Jordan's jump shot and Charles Barkley's rebounding to build a game of his own. In the mental health check-in, Malcolm talks about his excitement for his first Baltimore Comic Con, and the hosts talk about new psychiatrists, medication and being kinder to themselves. Big Mad covers a funeral home mix-up reported on The Breakfast Club, the grand jury decision in the Nolan Wells case, and WWE's chicken-wing "Lemon Pepper Stepper" shirt for Trick Williams. Mo also opens the show with his Liar Trilogy of Earl Sweatshirt lyric shirts and a dream that cast his family as the 300 against Ode's cavalcade of the diaspora.

Malcolm McFadden's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/sixfifteencomics

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Black and Snerdy reaches episode 200 and its five-year anniversary as Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) open the archive for a night of clips, questions, and callbacks. They revisit the Episode 50 celebration with Keith, Ben, and Sam, reopen the "good host versus amazing host" debate, and compare their nerves now with how they felt at episode one. Mo debuts a CM Punk AEW soundboard drop, and a throwback to Shannon Sharpe's leaked audio and his "That's My Michelle" shirts leads into a conversation about Michelle Obama, Jonathan Majors' Coretta Scott King comment, and fetishization. Mo also retells the day he and a friend went looking for a shopping mall on the National Mall during the Guitar Hero release, a story that detours through Baltimore, the DMV, and a nap during The Passion of the Christ.

The retrospective continues with Black Geek Energy and the Howard University versus Hampton University rivalry, comedian Samson McCormick and Mo's Howard comedy days, and Black Girl Nerds founder Jamie Broadnax on Shonda Rhimes' Year of Yes and knowing her worth. They also relive the Knicks winning the NBA championship and a Beyoncé Cuff It Challenge outtake, and Mo crowns the "Nobody Cares" drop from The Care Bears Movie his most underrated sound. A game of Mind Meld moves through Tyler, the Creator's "Sticky," "Earthquake," and "Cash In Cash Out," then Odd Future, Frank Ocean, and Earl Sweatshirt, before landing on "Super Rich Kids." In We Big Mad, Ode covers the 2026 cases of Black people found hanging from trees, including Demetrius Fleming in Roanoke Rapids and Tasia Fortune in Jackson, Mississippi, along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's call for independent oversight. Mo takes on DoorDash and Uber Eats rating requests, and the episode closes with "Goo Punch" from Nickelodeon's My Brother and Me, new merch, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Yusuf In The BUILDING of the Relationship Status Podcast for a bonus crossover episode covering podcasting, dating culture, and a deep rewatch of a 1990s Black cinema classic. Yusuf shares the origin of his seven-year-old show, launched in 2019 with co-founder CL after an earlier coaching podcast attempt, and traces its breakout moment back to a viral clip involving Cocktails with Kiki and Medina and a discussion about "flying somebody out." The conversation moves into a pointed critique of Tinder, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish as subscription-driven businesses rather than matchmaking tools, along with the generational shift from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok and its effect on how younger daters learn relationship habits. Yusuf also recounts a personal story about flying to meet a woman he had only FaceTimed, illustrating his argument that physical attraction cannot be judged through a screen.

The back half of the episode is dedicated to A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, the 1996 film starring Martin Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield, with debate over whether Darnell or Regina King's character functions as the true protagonist, Lynn Whitfield's calculated pettiness as Brandy, and Regina King's Air Force training informing her response to an onscreen hostage situation. The group also touches on Bobby Brown and Tracy Morgan's supporting performances before landing on a 3.5-out-of-5 consensus rating. The episode closes with Ode recounting an underwhelming Marlon Wayans stand-up set built around jokes about his feud with 50 Cent, and Mo discussing the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ahead of its Steel Ball Run arc premiering September 25th, alongside Yusuf's Patreon and an upcoming Singles Game Night event on October 25th.

Social Media: @Relstatpodcast

Website: Relationshipstatuspodcast.com

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome author, speaker, and Brace No More founder Casey Muze for a bonus conversation built around a phrase Casey Muze repeats after being told a music therapy idea was "stupid": this is stupid, but I'm going to do it. Casey Muze traces a path from a depressive episode in a Dallas, Texas apartment through discovering box breathing and the drum rudiment known as a paradiddle, to founding the community nonprofit Star Avenue Co in Nacogdoches, Texas, and later being co-signed by a California-based organization called Trap. Casey Muze also details the structure of the book Cadence and Clarity and explains Avenue Speak, a music therapy program built for neurodivergent, special needs, and dementia care populations, including partnerships with Alzheimer's alliances and associations. Ode and Mo press Casey Muze on the difference between resilience and endurance, and on outdated mental health ideas that prioritize diagnosis over symptoms instead of treating the whole person.

The cultural lens portion of the interview turns to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with Casey Muze using Splinter's kidnapping by the Foot Clan and the near-death of Raphael in the film versus Leonardo in the comics to talk through boundaries and bouncing back from hardship. Casey Muze also breaks down turning an overwhelming dream into a written goal, advice Mo connects to his own early stand-up comedy attempts in Washington, D.C. The Mental Health Check-In includes Ode discussing travel exhaustion and Mo discussing an ongoing period of mania and new access to medication, alongside a lighter debate over anime-themed glasses versus a One Piece Halloween costume of Dracule Mihawk. A DMX tribute opens the We're Big Mad segment, where Casey Muze addresses assumptions about drum circles, before the episode closes with Freakazoid's return to Tubi, a nod to Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Road Rovers, Waynehead, and Histeria!.

Find Casey's Work at BraceNoMore.info

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome rock journalist and MP3s and NPCs founder Terrance Pryor for a conversation that traces his path from a college radio host at UCCR through booking tours and writing for NJ Underground and Examiner, all the way to launching his own outlet in June 2019 after years of frustration with industry access. Terrance recounts publicly calling out Metal Sucks and Metal Injection over how the metal press treats Black writers, and he describes being passed over for credentials in favor of comedians and Twitch streamers with large followings despite two decades of experience. He connects that fight to Cheryl Lee Ralph's Emmys red carpet remark about building a table when none is offered, the same instinct that led MP3s and NPCs to eventual distribution through Microsoft Start and Apple News. The conversation moves through fandom territory covering Bocchi the Rock, The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and Samurai Pizza Cats, alongside newer game favorites like Vampire Survivors and Fear & Hunger, plus a detour into Slipknot's real-life Burger King collaboration from his time on AXS TV's Music's Greatest Mysteries.

Terrance closes with direct advice for anyone breaking into journalism: start a blog, own the platform instead of renting space on TikTok or Instagram, and treat BET's recent deletion of its journalism archive as a warning about what happens when writing lives on someone else's server. Mo shares an update on new medication and describes the adjustment period using a Goldilocks analogy, while Odie discusses recently connecting with a psychiatrist ahead of upcoming talk therapy. The big mad segment covers Terrance's exhaustion after PAX West travel, Mo's frustration with YouTube's repeated interface changes and his past experience working for the MTA, and Odie's breakdown of designer Telfar's 9/11-themed shirt and the backlash to its accompanying Instagram caption. The episode ends on lighter ground with Terrance's love of LA's improv scene at UCB and The Pack Theater, Odie's upcoming trip home to North Carolina, and Mo's seasonal apartment cleaning ahead of Halloween.

Terrance Pryor's Website: terrancepryor.com

Instagram: instagram.com/terrancepryor

mp3sandnpcs.com

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcomed Cleo and Callie of the Melanin Muses Podcast for a bonus episode built around Hamilton trivia, anime, and mental health advocacy. The conversation traced how Melanin Muses began during the pandemic, moved through the meaning behind the podcast's name via Disney's Hercules, and dug into how algorithm bias against Black-branded content shaped their marketing decisions. Cleo and Callie used Fruits Basket's Tohru Honda to illustrate self-neglect, referenced Naruto's Sasuke and Fullmetal Alchemist while discussing community building, and pointed to Avatar: The Last Airbender's Zuko as an example of using pop culture to spark connection. Callie, a clinical therapist, grounded the discussion in practical guidance for creators, including warnings about parasocial relationships and the permanence of internet content.

The Mental Health Check-In featured Kendrick Lamar's "United in Grief" as a reference point for Mo's disclosure of living with bipolar II and a prolonged manic episode, alongside Ode's discussion of unmedicated ADHD and PMDD and Cleo's reflections on upcoming travel to Japan and Korea. The Big Mad segment covered postpartum depression awareness, the loss of public figures including Tim Curry and Dolly Parton, and the arrest of Milo Yiannopoulos by ICE, closing with a critique of science fiction's robot-as-oppressed-minority allegory. The episode ended on Making Us Happy, featuring the Love and Deep Space character Valko, a karaoke callback to Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century's "Supernova Girl," and mentions of the Melanin Muses Fruits Basket episode.

You can find Melanin Muses Linktree here: https://linktr.ee/melaninmusespodcast

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) sit down with advertising veteran and author Mark Robinson to discuss his book Pitch Black: The Best Black Ads of the Past Fifty Plus Years. Robinson explains how he assembled a panel of Black creative directors, each assigned a specific decade, to select the ads that shaped the book rather than choosing them himself. The conversation traces a three-decade evolution in Black consumer advertising, from 1950s ad-buy inclusion that funded publications like Ebony and Jet, through 1960s representation demands, into the 1970s Black pride movement that gave rise to Black-owned agencies such as Procter and Gardner. Robinson also shares his hopes for the book's future, including an exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a possible PBS documentary, and mentions that historian Henry Louis Gates has read and supported the project.

The trivia round covers Pepsi-Cola's 1940 Negro Markets Department, the surprising role of Black-owned VJ Records in bringing the Beatles' music to America ahead of Capitol Records, Coca-Cola's "Hilltop" commercial and its songwriter Roquel "Billy" Davis, and the real woman behind Aunt Jemima, Nancy Green. That trivia leads into a broader discussion of how platforms like Disney Plus handle older, racially outdated content such as Song of the South and Aristocats. They also run a Star Trek-themed matchup covering Benjamin Sisko, Michael Burnham, Nyota Uhura, Guinan, Geordi La Forge, B'Elanna Torres, Worf, and Tuvok, weighing each character's place in the franchise's history of representation. The episode closes with a candid Big Mad segment touching on ICE and immigration coverage, before Robinson points people toward his book and his website, markrobinson-writing.com.

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome filmmaker and musical artist Marck Angel to discuss the making of his film Seraphim: The Motion Picture, tracing its origins back to the Trayvon Martin verdict and his 2019 album Angel Dust. Marck Angel walks through the film's COVID-disrupted production, the diverse cast and crew he assembled, and the specific influences behind his lead performance, citing the Nina character from Love Jones and Dow Stevens' role on Noah's Ark. He also details the musical lineage behind the Seraphim soundtrack, naming Janet Jackson's Reformation, Michael Jackson's Bad and Moonwalker, Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Prince's Purple Rain and Sign o' the Times, and Beyoncé's Break My Soul and Lemonade as touchstones, alongside his father's early introduction to Alvin Ailey's choreography.

The conversation moves into a mental health check-in where Mo "Kid" Licorish speaks about living with bipolar II disorder and Marck Angel discusses the exhaustion of a four-year independent film process. A news segment follows in which Marck Angel raises the case of Nolan Wells and the absence of Black-led queer films at the Toronto International Film Festival, while Ode covers the death of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday amid plagiarism accusations, a lost publishing deal for Southern Methodist University student Jerry Falade, and ongoing disaster recovery in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Cuba. The episode closes with a tribute to actress Hayden Panettiere and her past work on Remember the Titans, Bring It On, and Heroes, along with details on where to stream Seraphim: The Motion Picture on Deku through Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Dominic Jordon, founder of Slevin Studio, for a bonus episode of Black and Snerdy. Jordon traces his path from an early clothing brand and freelance photo and video gigs into founding Slevin Studio, drawing a comparison to the HBO series How to Make It in America along the way. He points to his manga-style photo book, Tei Travels Volume One: Tokyo, Japan, styled after the visual work behind Your Name and Weathering With You, as the project he is most proud of, and offers advice to aspiring Black creatives about building community through Facebook and Discord groups. The conversation turns to anime-inspired tattoos, with Jordon explaining a Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood piece pulled from a Roy Mustang scene and naming A Silent Voice as a story about forgiveness that shaped his outlook, while Mo shows off a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tattoo of his own.

The Watch Out Now segment breaks down the first three episodes of the English dub of Ghost Stories, tracing how the anime flopped in Japan before American voice actors were given free rein to rewrite it, with comparisons made to Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Bleach Abridged, and Bob's Burgers before Jordon, Ode, and Mo each score it out of five snerds. A One Piece trivia game called Emoji Me Senpai follows, running Jordon and Ode through emoji clues built around characters including Luffy, Nico Robin, Trafalgar Law, Shanks, Mihawk, Big Mom, and Orochi. The Big Mad segment covers the industry's move away from physical media following the Funimation and Crunchyroll merger, ongoing MTA service disruptions, and concerns about AI tools such as Claude replacing literacy and critical thinking in education and medicine. Making Us Happy closes things out with the Kingdom Hearts 4 release window, an SVU return that may include New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson by way of Mariska Hargitay, and a family conversation Mo describes as difficult but rewarding.

Dominic Jordon (aka creative_teddy7) is the founder and creative lead of Slevin Studio, a media production company based in Ogden, Utah. He specializes in cinematography-driven storytelling, helping brands and organizations create meaningful, high-quality content for digital platforms.

Drawing on a background in both cinematography and photography, Dominic blends strong visual composition with intentional narrative to help businesses communicate who they are, what they stand for, and why it matters. His work spans branded films, social-first video content, and authentic behind-the-scenes storytelling — always aiming for visuals that feel human, cinematic, and purposeful.

https://www.slevinstudio.com

dominicjordon.myportfolio.com

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) are joined by stand-up comedian and film critic Rallo Boykins for a conversation that moves through his path from Howard University to stand-up comedy and Instagram film criticism, including his takes on I Got the Hook Up, Christopher Robin, and the difference between Joker and its sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. The discussion turns to Marvel's recent handling of Black characters, covering the cancellations of Wonder Man season two, the long-delayed Blade project starring Mahershala Ali, Ironheart, and Iron Wars, alongside the fallout from Jonathan Majors' exit from the Kang Dynasty storyline and the newly cast Maya Boyd as Storm in the upcoming X-Men film. Ryan Coogler's outsized role in Marvel's Black-led projects and the franchise's post-Endgame slump, including Shang-Chi and Black Widow, also come up as part of the larger conversation about representation.

The group then reviews House Party, breaking down the film's cast of Kid 'n Play, Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, John Witherspoon, and the late Robin Harris, along with its lasting cultural footprint and the age gap between the actors and the high school characters they portrayed. Rallo Boykins shares frustration over Jonathan Majors' MCU exit and praises his performance in Magazine Dreams, while Mo "Kid" Licorish closes the episode with an extended look at the manga and anime Dandadan and how its use of assault as a plot device is discussed within anime and manga fan spaces. Rallo Boykins closes out by pointing to his channel, Rallo TV, and his upcoming series, See Me in a Madden.

Rallo's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/rallo

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) sit down with author and world traveler Phil the Blerd Explorer to unpack his journey from a university job board ad to nine years teaching English in South Korea, and eventually a second career as a licensed ESL teacher in Atlanta, Georgia. Phil explains how teaching pay, employer-covered housing, and currency exchange rates worked while living abroad, describes the housing discrimination foreign and Black expats can run into in South Korea, and details getting his Washington, D.C. and Georgia teaching licenses within days of each other. The conversation also covers his Black Travel Guide Series, upcoming travel plans across Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, and Botswana, and his advice for staying safe while traveling in countries dealing with visible poverty.Phil then joins the Anime or AniNay game, guessing alongside Ode whether Mo's anime synopses are real or invented, with titles including One Piece, Berserk, Code Geass, Food Wars, Violet Evergarden, Kill la Kill, and Steins;Gate all coming up in play. Big Mad covers Phil's missing teacher badge, Ode's long-running frustration with never learning to drive paired with a breakdown of MARTA and transit expansion in Atlanta, and Mo's criticism of social media platforms failing to flag graphic content for users. Making Us Happy closes the episode with Phil's excitement for Dragon Con and an Atlanta book festival, Ode celebrating friends' pregnancies, and Mo sharing a correctly guessed gender reveal.

Phil the Blerd Explorer can be found on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_blerd_e...

and TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@theblerdexplo...

IndieGoGo: https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects...

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Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo AKA Kid Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome Davies and Tiffany of the Anime Nokori podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on Black and Snerdy. Tiffany opens up about how Fruits Basket helped her rebuild her sense of self after ending an engagement she entered right out of high school, while Davies credits Princess Mononoke with expanding his imagination beyond Western fantasy storytelling. The four also trace their earliest anime memories back to Kiki's Delivery Service, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, and the original Dragon Ball, before Tiffany and Davies offer newcomer recommendations including Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Samurai Champloo.

The group then runs through two original games built around anime trivia, correctly identifying characters like Naruto, Goku, Deku, Shinji Ikari, and Edward Elric, along with real-versus-invented plot summaries for shows including Bleach, Sword Art Online, Devilman Crybaby, and Ergo Proxy. During the Big Mad segment, Tiffany describes having her laptop and hard drive stolen at DreamCon, while Davies and Ode dig into Sony's move to gatekeep Crunchyroll's physical media behind paid tiers and the broader frustration of streaming platforms splitting shows across services. The episode closes on lighter notes, with Davies detailing a new Claude-powered editing workflow built with Audacity and Tiffany celebrating the arrival of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Aang movie on Paramount.

The Anime Nokori Podcast is An Anime Discussion Podcast that talk about series from the past and present.

Instagram: Anime Nokori

Twitter: Anime Nokori

Blusky: Animenokori.com

Youtube:@Animenokori

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