Of everything I have ever written, created and conceived, I consider the podcast that became “Drapetomaniax: Unshackled History” to be my greatest work.
While I consider it a work of art, the thing that makes me the proudest is that it was a group project created by a, diverse, international all-Black cast and crew of gay, straight, queer, trans, American, African and Caribbean creators led by Black women.
It all began with a celebrity encounter.
(Warning: This story contains an absurd amount of name-dropping, so get ready.)
No matter how important or famous you think you are, I soon learned that the ability to get anyone on the phone is the thing that defines a true “celebrity.” In 2018, I didn’t know about this celebrity superpower. So imagine my surprise when I was sitting in a McDonald’s drive-thru and received a phone call from someone who was obviously playing on the phone. “Who is this?” I asked after the caller introduced themself. “Do I know you?”
“I’m a fan of your work,” the prankster replied. “My name is Pharrell Williams.”
Anyway, we got to know each other over the next couple of years. Interestingly, we never talked about music, other celebrities or anything involving show business until one day, while discussing something (I don’t remember what), I mentioned that I had an idea for a history podcast.
“You know I own a podcast,” he said. “Pitch me.”
“Now?” I asked.
“Now.”
Fortunately, all this happened when I was working on the manuscript for the book that became “Black AF History.” I essentially told one of my favorite stories in the book about a superhero bandit who wreaked havoc across the country after un-enslaving himself. A week later, I was on a Zoom call with Noleca Radway, recording the pilot.
Then, the pandemic happened.
For two years, I walked around with the pilot and this idea. If luck, fate or destiny is real, then Noleca Radway and Janicia Francis — the two Black women who became showrunners — are proof of its existence. Although the concept was originally my idea, they are the ones who put together a band of rebels and made me believe it could be done. When Radway suggested that we put together a writers’ room, license music and hire composers for an original score, I didn’t even get excited. I knew Pharrell had pull, but there was no way he could convince a company to fork over that kind of money. But, through the sheer force of her creative will, she made it happen.
They put together a motley crew of voice actors, engineers, sound designers and creators from all around the globe. Head writer Silas Miami Mandela was a Rhodes scholar from Kenya. Music supervisor Patricia Wangechi Kihoro would literally have monkeys tapping on her window. Writer Rod Morrow, host of what’s arguably the longest-running Black podcast, took everything and made it hilarious. Not only was I lucky to be working with people who instinctively knew how to execute my absurd creative ideas, but they knew how to tell me (and anyone else) when to shut the fuck up and let them cook.
Aside from my idea to have John Legend do a parody of “Real Men of Genius” Budweiser commercial on Black women who practiced armed resistance (Noleca nixed it, but I still think it would’ve been hilarious), there was only one role in the entire series that was specifically written with a person in mind — a character who repeatedly brought up culture that was appropriated from Black Americans. The celebrity actually agreed to do it, but it didn’t work out.
Damn, I wish we could’ve gotten Soulja Boy.
But before John Legend, Yvette Nicole Brown, Roland Martin, Bob the Drag Queen, Charlamagne tha God, Tiffany Cross, KevOnStage, Malcolm Jamal Warner, W. Kamau Bell, Monet X Change, Angelica Ross and some of Black culture faves helped us turn our crazy ideas into something real, Roy Wood Jr. and Joy Reid appeared in the pilot episode and essentially provided us with the proof of concept.
You can listen to every episode of “Drapetomaniax” wherever you get your podcasts.
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