Against The Grain

In the final episode of Against The Grain, Carl, Edgar and Jacquis welcome previous guests to wile out behind the mic one last time. We have Cody Ziglar, Kevin Chestnut, Ego Nwodim, and Peter Banifaz all here to celebrate our run and talk about the stuff on our minds. We hit the NBA, diversity in the writers rooms in Hollywood, the song of our lives, Queens (and King) of the Week, and much more. Put this is your ear, as the crew bring you ATG for the final time. But rest assured, the crew isn't leaving forever... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the second to last episode of Against The Grain, the crew is chops it up about the upcoming NBA season, talking about the juicy storylines, and predictions. We then discuss the decision by the Biloxi, Mississippi school district to pull the book To Kill A Mockingbird from its reading list because it made people feel uncomfortable. We then end on the most heart warming of notes by going around and telling each other what we like about one another. It's the penultimate episode of Against The Grain! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The crew is back together, behind the mic for the big 2-0! We kick it off talking about this crazy NBA offseason with the current trade of Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then that smoothly transitions into us chopping it up about Donald Trump, his racist bitch assness, and his current war against black athletes in the NFL and NBA. Then Carl, Jacquis and Edgar give you some wild conspiracy theories. Ranging from Michael Jordan to the government and sci-fi movies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's been a crazy, fun, controversial at times ride going Against the Grain. So in this episode, we pull a few of our favorite segments and moments from the previous 18 episodes. Segments like The Pepsi Commercial, Queens of the Week, our Favorite Baseball Walk Up Music, and a few more. We're behind this mic, and ya homies not slowing down anytime soon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With special guest Peter Banifaz (Shameless, Veep, UCB) goes behind the mic with the crew, who once again are minus Edgar for an indie improv show. We jump into so much with one of the realest talking about the NFL and it's bullshit, and hip hop before we jump into a conversation about Jason Whitlock and the problematic nature of his black conservative narrative. We then chop it up about boxing after Peter, who is a huge boxing fan, wants to talk about the Mayweather vs McGregor fight. We close it out by recasting our favorite movies and TV show with predominately white casts with black entertainers. Jump in and go Against the Grain! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For one week, we go with a dynamic duo with Carl away making Texans laugh at a comedy festival. Jacquis and Edgar start off touching on Hurricane Harvey and the relief for all the victims of the tragedy. Then we rundown all current pop culture bullshit hitting on Game of Thrones, Insecure, and Kyrie Irving. We then jump into an entire segment dedicated to Donald Trump and the way we talk about him and his effect on our outrage. We then chat about music as Edgar is mistakenly outraged about Jacquis' lack of listening to Brockhampton, and end chopping it up about the state of the comedy community we currently live in. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The episode we all have been waiting for. We finally get the guest we have been wanting since episode 1, as we welcome former Queen of the Week, Ego Nwodim (UCB). We talk to her about a topic we've been sitting on, black men dating white women and outside of their race. As 3 black men who have and do date white women, we have had this conversation many times and wanted to have it behind the mic with a black woman we respect and she had a lot of great things to say. After that, we chop it up about men sliding into ladies DM's and why we're scared to make definitive moves when it comes to dating. The episode we've waited for over 15 episodes, and it doesn't disappoint. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The crew welcomes back Edgar to behind the mic and we jump into some of the things he missed last week, including hairstyles and Charlottesville. We then chop it up about the so called Tina Fey controversy and outrage in comedy. Jacquis binged watched Insecure and is now caught up, so we get his thoughts on the series so far and we give our thoughts on the characters and storylines and why Carl has been #Lawerencehive. Finally we give you what would be each one of ours lit parties! We choose what 2 music acts we would have, who is going to cater the party, and what the theme will be! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

While Edgar takes an episode off to make the people laugh on stage, we invite special guest Ishmel Sahid (UCB, White Women) to chop it up with the crew. We talk about our hairstyles growing up, that covered braids, afros, S-curls, too much grease, and Carl's current baldness. We then jump into a topic weighing heavy on our minds with the events of Charlottesville and White Supremacy. We get heavy and talk about the issues facing us with our enemies and our allies. We're back and even though we don't have our resident white culture black boy behind the mic, we still go Against The Grain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's the Hometown Show! The crew jumps into the pod interviewing each other about each other's hometowns and upbringing. Jacquis, from Chicago, IL, talks about his favorite foods, crazy stories growing up in a dangerous neighborhood and everything Chi-town. Then Edgar tells us of growing up in Yonkers, New York, a place where his pops survived a gunshot to the head and his mom moved them from to the border of the country in McAllen, Texas. We end with Carl telling us about living with his family in Pascagoula, Mississippi. We learn of crazy misfortunes in his family's history and him being moved to his second hometown of Los Angeles without him knowing and the origins of the Carl we all know and love. We learn each others perfect day, and much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In an episode that left a lot on the cutting room floor, the crew jumps into the pod with a little NBA talk and Kyrie Irving wanting out of Cleveland, a topic that has Carl feeling like a jilted lover. Of course, we couldn't let a week go by and not talk about the parole of The Juice. OJ is getting out, and we're talking about it right before we chop it up about the new show by the Game of Thrones show runners, Confederate. Then we bring back the segment people are loving, our Queens of the Week. This week we had a lot to get of our chest, and most of it made it on the final cut. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Special Guest Anna Hossnieh (Ethnically Ambiguous Podcast) joins the Jacquis, Edgar and Carl to tells us a crazy story of her being held hostage recently in the Caribbean. We then jump into the the Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian twitter and revenge porn scandal, and navigating hip hop as a millennial as we talk about a topic we've hit before, how trash Joe Budden is. Then as our first female guest, Anna gives us some dating advice, and Jacquis hits us with some relationship knowledge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The crew kicks it off with Edgar revealing he's a conspiracy theorist and doesn't believe we landed on the moon. Then we jump into a conversation about standing up for black folks doing the most. After discussing the outrage some had with Deray McKesson, a Black Lives Matter Activist, after he had Katy Perry on his podcast to talk about cultural appropriation, the question is posed if you're labeled as woke, will those you gave you that label let you make mistakes, and hold you to a different and unfair standard. After all that, we all give our top 5 lists of anything we want to. Edgar talks movies, Jacquis talks TV, and Carl talks music. Then we close out with a segment that was too good to die, Queen of the Week. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After a 2 week hiatus, the crew is back! We catch up on our past two weeks that included a trip to New York for the Del Close Marathon Comedy Festival. We touch on NBA Free Agency, then jump into a conversation about whether artists have an obligation to give good interviews after the Migos and Joe Budden interview at the BET Awards. Jacquis has a black republican view on it while Edgar depends on these type of interviews for insight. We talk about things we do in private that we don't tell many people about because of how whack it is. And in what was supposed to be our black moments of the week, we then jump into an impromptu segment started by Edgar naming our black queens of the week. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In an episode that left a lot on the cutting room floor, we welcome in loyal listener Kevin Chestnut to chat with the crew about what's on our minds this week. Kevin gives us some notes on some of his favorite topics we've discussed on the show, then of course we talk about the NBA Finals fresh off a Cavs game 4 win, much to Carl's delight. We dive into a conversation about whether success and commercialism has a negative effect on black art, and we give interesting takes on why it's not. Lastly, Edgar wonders if we are still capable of having long relationships in today's society and culture like our parents and grandparents use to have. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Carl, Edgar and Jacquis go ahead and dedicate an entire episode to a topic they could and usually do talk about for hours. The NBA and basketball. We recap the first 2 games of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavilers. We talk LeBron and Kevin Durant, if the Cavs have a chance at all, and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team vs the 2016-17 Warriors. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We give our full 2017 NBA Finals Predictions between the Cleveland Cavs and Golden State Warriors in what was supposed to be a quick segment, but turns into a MJ vs LeBron 2 on 1 argument between Carl and Jacquis and Edgar. Then we discuss if we were baseball player, what our walk up music would be, which includes some wrestling tunes, hip hop and surprisingly a country track. Afterwards, Edgar poses the question he thought of after his recent 26th birthday of where we want to be in 5 years in our lives, emotionally and socially. We also plan our first on the road Against the Grain show. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With special guest Phil Augusta Jackson (FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Key and Peele, UCB Theater), the crew touches on the very serious issue of racial profiling and discrimination after a recent episode writing by Phil on Brooklyn 99 touching on the same issue. Then Phil asks us to settle a debate he's had for years, is peanut butter salty or sweet? This turns into a mini food debate pitting foods against each other. All of this after Carl gets out a basketball rant that had him steaming. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We chop it up about Lavar Ball and our dislike for his style. A conversation about an interview between Joe Budden and Lil Yachty that has us discussing older generations not respecting newer generations way of evolving things. Then we throw out our favorite TV shows with primarily black casts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With special guest Cody Ziglar (UCB Comedy Podcasts Network, The 2nd Team Podcast) the crew debates on Rachel Dolezal and if she should be getting all the flack she's getting. Then we all discuss something we are currently doing, watching, or consuming in our current lives. And since we're all black, we introduce a new segment called the 'Black Moment of the Week'. By the end, Carl comes to a sad realization that he's not happy about! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jacquis and Carl realize they may actually be related through old Mississippi family ties, then the crew talks about their top 5 hip hop artists of all time and it may surprise you. Then, we do a segment called 'How Jesus Touched Me' that turns into us singing our favorite gospel songs from artists like Kirk Franklin and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this first episode, we talk about whether Russell Westbrook is deserving of the 2016-17 NBA MVP award. Then Edgar and Jacquis debate whether comedy is timeless, as Carl moderates and gives a history lesson about Eddie Murphy on SNL. Then we all give our surprising take on the fallout from the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.