The Stoop
Hana Baba and Leila DayThe Stoop
The Stoop podcast digs into stories that are not always shared out in the open. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba start conversations and provide professionally-reported stories about what it means to be Black and how we talk about blackness. Come hang out on The Stoop as we dialog about the diaspora.
2017
The Stoop podcast digs into stories that are not always shared out in the open. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba start conversations and provide professionally-reported stories about what it means to be Black and how we talk about blackness. Come hang out on The Stoop as we dialog about the diaspora.
2017
"It's not hard for a black man of my caliber to say I love you." But is it? Many black people say they never heard I love you much growing up, including both Leila and Hana, hosts of The Stoop. In Episodes 2, we examine the reasons why we...
When the teasing isn't funny
What happened to the promises?
Celebrating 100 episodes on The Stoop
Hana is trying to enjoy the Sudanese music she loves, but something isn’t feeling right.
Black bears, giraffes and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
It’s movie night on The Stoop. We explore the history of love in Black movies with film scholar Dr. Artel Great.
Sutanya Dacres transforms her life after heartbreak
What's next on The Stoop
Hana and Leila get real.
When you decide America ain't for you.
A tale with two stories. The Moth visits The Stoop
What’s it like when everyone at home speaks a language you don’t understand?
Leila meditates in this collab
Why does being called 'Auntie' feel this way?
Interest in psychedelics is ramping up, but can we believe the hype?
Hana and her community are feeling the pain of war
Hana has a dilemma. As a diasporan, is she basically a diluted African?
Leila explores legacy through a conversation with her mom.
What does it mean to be Black enough?
Hana's writing a folktale book, but she has some questions
Looking inward
Tighten your durags and brace yourself for an intergalactic Black comedy
Infertility: A Black Man’s Journey
The Black hands that built the town
A story from our friends at NPR's Rough Translation
Is the phrase 'Black don't crack' causing us more harm than good?
Exploring Blackness Down Under
Meet The Village Auntie
The foods we eat, the shame we fight
What's in a dream?
Celebrating the Black queens of RuPaul's Drag Race
An audio memoir about achieving the Ghanaian-American dream
When you're caught between two generations- where's home?
Exploring touch with strangers
When you crave a different portrayal on TV, but have conflicting feelings when it actually happens..
A tribute to slow dancin'
I'll have my meal sans racism, please
Making space for Black Arab beauty
Is it fair to charge kinkier textures more when it comes to hair braiding?
Sometimes, it's complicated to be an African comedian in America.
What it means to be a Black autistic woman
Why is it harder for Black women to get pregnant through IVF?
When it comes to reparations, not everyone agrees on who should get paid.
It's that time to celebrate the Black sounds we love - what's yours?
When the horror is just too close to reality
The Booty- sometimes shunned, sometimes celebrated, but always ours.
Polyamory. Loving multiply. We talk love with Black folks who are loving on their own terms.
How we discipline our kids & the consequences we may not think about
Sometimes the parts of our history we're proud of can also make us feel conflicted, when we know the whole story
Season SIX of The Stoop is comin' soon
An ode to the dads doing their thing.
We celebrate some Black podcasters who are starting young
Sometimes, the ones keeping us from entering the gate are Black like us.
Our wives tales, superstitions & folk sayings - do we believe them?
Some of us who chose not to go to HBCU's have some major envy, and regret. In this episode we hear from people about their experiences at Black colleges. Stories about when they fit in and when they didn't. Featuring Special guest: Stacey Abrams
We've heard people threaten to pack it up and move abroad, and today we to talk to two of them who followed through. Natalie Gill now lives in Ethiopia and Noleca Radway relocated to Amsterdam. Two stories about making the move, and getting the...
It's been 33 years since the original film Coming to America, a film that gave many of us some laughs at a time when tensions were high. Now with the new film are we still laughing? We get into the African perspective and talk about what made us laugh...
What is a sound that embodies Blackness? Today we invite you to unwind, lean back, disconnect and drift while we ask some phenomenal personalities, like LeVar Burton, Stacey Abrams, David Oyelewo, Shangela and more what is a sound that is...
Sellassie doesn't plan to take the Covid vaccine. He doesn't trust it. But it feels like the whole world is trying to convince him to. We unpack 'Black hesitancy' and talk to some of the people tasked with convincing their communities to vaccinate.
Lately, some of have been watching our back. It's not something we always want to admit, but the current vibe is triggering. We're back, a new season, and today we get a bit personal. We meet two people with different takes on maneuvering their...
African responses to the Black Lives Matter protests have been complicated and varied- some marched, others didn't. We explore some different African points of view. Let's Stoop this out.
Black is King, the visually stunning film by Beyoncé has brought up a lot of conversation. We talk to “the blue man” dancer Papi Oji about his role in the film and dig deeper into some of the praise and criticisms from Africans and African...
We're at that moment — again. Another black person gone, and another, and another. It hurts. Everyone seems to be watching, and everyone seems to have questions. But this isn't new, and we're not here for everyone. We're here for...
For many of us, success and 'making it' also means you're expected to help out and support your family. Whether you're Black American, or a child of Black immigrants- that 'Black Tax' is often something you're going to be thinking about. Today we get...
We're getting into the myths surrounding the coronavirus and discussing how Covid-19 could have a different impact on black people. We also hear from workers in the service industry who share their stories about how they are pushing through. Let’s...
The pen, the mic, the camera - all powerful tools that people in media have used to get our attention, but for Black women journalists, getting a hold of that power and keeping it, has been a tough path to navigate. From how we sound, to what we look...
In this episode we meet Deborah from Brooklyn, who’s about to pack her bags and move to Paris. It's a place she’s always adored, along with the likes of other famous African Americans; Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Josephine Baker to...
Why might things be different for a Black introvert? When writer Sequoia Holmes broke it down in her essay "Black Women aren't allowed to be Introverted" we wanted to stoop this out some more. So we sent our introverted producer Jessica Jupiter...
Should we support Black no matter what? We discuss the pressure to conform with liking all things Black, even when you don’t. Whether it’s Black art, the Black politician, or a hashtag. The feeling that we have to always align is tied to a...
Season 4 is here! In this episode we're talking about Black folk and water. Yes, swimming. We hear from a man who nearly lost his life while on vacation, and take a deeper look into our relationship to swimming. There are a lot of jokes...
It's our season finale and we're getting into issues of the fam; the things that our families say and do that have helped us or hurt us. We get into what it's like to gain a family unexpectedly and hear from a family whose cultural differences and...
Whether it's the music we hear, the clothes we wear, or the way we talk- a lot of us at some point have felt 'not Black enough.' In this episode, we go deep with comedian W. Kamau Bell who's felt awkward in Black circles and before Black audiences,...
What’s a sound that embodies blackness? In this episode we ask around and then get deeper into conversation with Glory Edim, the founder of Well Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn based book club and online community. What’s it mean to be well read? This...
Killer Mike calls it like it is
Being Muslim, black and a woman; that’s something that deserves some stoopin’ out. Anti-blackness in Muslim America is real, and in this episode we look at how it often seems to fall on BMW’s (Black Muslim Women). What happens when the shade or...
Sometimes conversations stop when you walk into a barbershop, but sometimes they keep going no matter how uncomfortable you may feel. In this episode we unpack what it means to be a hotep; from personal experiences, to the root of the word, to online...
What can love look like when your partner might not ‘get it’? In this episode we talk to interracial couples having difficult conversations around race, love and identity at a time when racial tensions are high. We also hear from Professor Shantel...
Thin nose, high cheekbones, kinky hair, what you got in your blood? Your blood won’t lie, but does it determine your identity? We meet two women- Uzaz Shami, a Nubian woman who didn’t expect her results, and Shonda Buchanan who has always...
It's that silent acknowledgement. That "I see you," moment. But not everyone is a nodder. We send producers on the streets to see if the nod is still going strong, and hear from one hesitant nodder who breaks down why it's not always been her thing.
The Stoop goes to the low country of South Carolina to uncover some of the hidden history of the Gullah Geechee. The mix of African cultures in the deep south eventually transformed into a unique language and culture that is Gullah. Lean in...
We end this season by going deep into how we express ourselves at the intersection where spirituality meets artistic expression - and how that intersection can be complicated. We meet - a Black Muslim woman hip hop artist who raps about her...
Our babies and their hair. We hear how two parents discuss hair with their kids. Author Robert Trujillo wrote a book about his son, Furqan's, first flat top. Then we meet Fatima Jones and he daughter Aponi, and listen in on an intimate...
It's summertime and we're sharing some stories, portraits essays and things that you've been telling us you want to hear more of. In this episode we hear from Shelton Johnson, a park ranger at Yosemite National Park who reenacts the story of a Buffalo...
Black veganism and Joloff rice
Black homophobia is real- and we meet two influential people who are fighting it - each in their own inspiring way. Bishop Yvette Flunder, and author and activist Darnell Moore are Black, queer and free. This episode is delves into the language we...
He is from Rwanda, grew up in New Zealand and lives in Australia. Architect, Jean Yves Dushime has a unique diaspora story, not just because of where he lives but because of how he has chosen to handle situations that would make many of us very...
Who gets to choose which African stories get told? We meet three writers, each of them pushing against a mostly white US and UK-based publishing industry in their own way. Guests:Siyanda Mohutsiwa, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, & Namwali Serpell ...
Black women birthing
Getting tangled up in the black hair chart
Black skin is my leotard
Struggling with colorism. Still.
New Season on the Stoop
Black women are something else
Season Finale
We explore the phenomenon of African immigrants returning to the continent from the US through the stories of three 'returnees'. Guests include actress Maame Adjei, award-winning author Yaa Gyasi, and radio entrepreneur DJ Taha Roubi.
Tone it down, Angry black woman. A conversation with two black women in the corporate world who sometimes tone it down in order to avoid stereotypes. What's behind the Angry black woman stereotype, and what's it doing to people psychologically?
Many immigrants imagine the US to be heaven. A a moneymaking, perfect paradise but when they get here, it's a different story. We meet African immigrants who tell their stories of Coming to America, and what the wish they knew before they came. ...
When you're from an immigrant community, becoming a successful musician isn't an easy journey. We meet 3 dope diaspora musicians: Meklit Hadero, Oddisee, and AlSarah - each with their own struggle that comes with belonging to two identities-...
"You're black, but you ain't BLACK black." Like many African kids in the US, Stoop host Hana Baba was ridiculed for being from Africa. She was called names like "African booty scratcher." And the name calling came only from the black...
Breaking down voice, stereotypes and linguistics
Let's hit pause and take a breath. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba break from the chatter of stoop talk to send out a special double episode that allows for a moment of grace, a place where one can catch a breath and regroup in order to move forward....
Can African Americans appropriate African clothing?
Preview Season 1 of The Stoop to hear the funk and flavor of the stories to come in Season 1, starting Summer 2017. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss an episode. We'll be dialoging about the diaspora all season long. The Stoop podcast...
Episode 2: Why is it so hard for some black folks to say I love you?
July 27, 201723min 23sec
"It's not hard for a black man of my caliber to say I love you."
But is it?
Many black people say they never heard I love you much growing up, including both Leila and Hana, hosts of The Stoop. In Episodes 2, we examine the reasons why we don't hear I love you, and what that means. We talk to inmates at San Quentin state prison, a professor who studies black male emotional expression, and Stooptalk with Al Letson about I love you in his home.
Did you hear I love you growing up? #blacklove #blackfamilies
Want more Stoop? Go to our website www.thestoop.org. There you will find videos, audio shorts, behind-the-scenes peeks, and more. We drop preview audio clips, photos, and all kinds of interesting etcetera on social - so follow us on Twitter, and Instagram (@thestooppodcast) and on Facebook (stooppodcast) to get the latest and to see the conversations around our shows. Have an idea or question? hangout(at)thestoop.org.
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Credits:
Thanks to Al Letson (@Al_Letson) and Serie McDougal (@SerieMcdougal) for contibuting to this episode.
Sound Design: Chris Hoff
Illustration: Neema Iyer
Digital Production/PodOps: Megan Jones