Let's Talk Bruh

Yall thought we'd go all year and NOT have an episode about sex? As we wrap up 2018, we're hitting yall with a 2-part series on that 3 letter word that so many of us love. From consent, to losing our virginity, to our current feelings about sex, we cover it from all angles in this episode.  This episode was important because we wanted to not only break down sex & intimacy but also discuss those sometimes taboo subjects. C'mon fellas we've all been there. We know those 2 letters all too well. Shoutout to PE & ED for blocking our blessings.  And what about sex toys for men? Because why should ladies get to have all the fun?  We even discuss every straight man's favorite subject: The Orgasm Gap.  If you're unfamiliar, do a quick google search.  It's exactly what it sounds like.  This episode was a lot of fun and we hope that the listeners take away the importance of listening to your partner and exploring EVERY way to make each other feel good.  Because as the studies show, we have a LONG way to go to cl

When talking about brotherhood, how often do we include gay brothers into that conversation? As a society we've made progress in terms of LGBTQ rights, but we certainly have a long way to go in order to be better brothers to gay men especially in our community.  On today's episode we talk with The Great Jayden aka Jayden Hollywood about the relationship between gay and straight black men.   On Let's Talk Bruh we talk a lot about masculinity from a straight male perspective, but it's important to talk about the differences from our gay brothers as well.  We bring back some concepts from our Black Male Privilege episode and even touch on what Black Male Privilege looks like from a gay black man's perspective.  There's no way we could cover it all in one episode, but without a doubt there's a ton we can learn from each other. Follow Let's Talk Bruh on Twitter & Instagram Follow Jayden and his podcast, Unapologetik Podcast Email us your questions/comments/feedback at letstalkbruh@gmail.com and we'll read and

MINI EPISODE ALERT Here's something for your Thanksgiving Dinner conversations with grandma: The Kinsey Scale.  Now at this point, you may be wondering wtf the Kinsey Scale even is.  So to briefly explain, in 1948 The Kinsey Scale determined that people typically did not fit into exclusive heterosexual or homosexual categories. Essentially suggesting that sexuality is fluid. The Kinsey Scale measures sexuality from 0-6.  For example: 0 being exclusively heterosexual, 3 being equally heterosexual and homosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual.  With our sex episodes coming very soon, as straight black men, we wanted to challenge both ourselves (and yall), briefly tackle this topic and see where we fit according to the scale. Is your sexuality fluid? The answer could be yes. Take a listen and find out. Then discuss with your family over dinner. If it goes south, just tell them to blame Let's Talk Bruh.  Follow Let's Talk Bruh: Twitter Instagram Email us your questions/comments/feedback at letstalkbruh@gmail.

According to the calendar, Cuffing Season is officially upon us. Dating, relationships, situationships, swiping left and right is in full swing so it was only right to break down our thoughts on relationships. We talk about love languages, how we want to be loved, and what's important for us in relationships. We talk about the dreaded "C" word and what compels us to commit to someone. By no means do we claim to be relationship experts, but with our experiences we offer some keys to happy relationships as well as getting pretty candid with areas we need to improve upon in our relationships. Relationships are hard work and we can't make any guarantees, but hopefully after listening you'll be better prepared for this year's Cuffing Season. Follow Let's Talk Bruh: Twitter Instagram   Email us your questions/comments/feedback at letstalkbruh@gmail.com and we'll read and respond to your email on an upcoming episode.

We spend of a lot of time on Let's Talk Bruh talking through the ways that men are impacted by patriarchy. So we discuss vulnerability, Black male privilege, Black men's health and more as a way to combat those issues. But we haven’t as much as we should have talked about some of the ways that Women are impacted by patriarchy. So in today’s episode you’ll hear us start that conversation and we couldn’t do it alone. We invited our friend Taylor to share some of her experiences to the mic, but don’t get it twisted. Taylor doesn’t speak for all women nor did we expect her to. We couldn't cover everything in one episode so today's show is just the start of several episodes to come in breaking down ways women are impacted by patriarchy, what men should know about women's issues and feminism. Tune in! Twitter Instagram We want to hear from you! Email us your questions and feedback at: letstalkbruh@gmail.com

This episode is the heart of this podcast. This episode is the reason we do Let’s Talk Bruh.  This episode wasn’t in our plans but perhaps the universe planned it for us.  A much needed conversation between 2 Black Men, 2 brothers and friends, ex roommates, trying to figure this shit out one podcast at a time. This conversation is the result of when things get swept under the rug for so long that eventually they become impossible to ignore. It’s a tough conversation for a number of reasons because: 1) When you feel disrespected, how do you still hold your friend accountable for their actions even as they're battling mental health issues? 2) How do you even explain your mental health to your friend? 3) And wtf happens to a podcast when all this is at play? In true #LetsTalkBruh fashion we talk through this on the mic invite y’all to our conversation. 

When you see the word, "family" what comes to mind? Maybe it's mom, dad, sister, brother.  Maybe it's summertime cookouts, holidays, and family traditions.  For many of us, family is all we have. But how do you define family? Do you include chosen family like friends? We talk about it all in this episode and get some help from the good brother BeMo Brown.  We also talk about what "Breaking the Cycle" looks like within in our families, family secrets, current frustrations with our families, and what legacy means. As much as we ALL love our families, everyone's family can be a bit "dysfunctional" at times. Can't live with em. Can't live without em. 

We're continuing our look at masculinity in culture this week by examining how masculinity and toxic masculinity were both presented in Season 3 of HBO's Insecure.  If you remember a few months ago in June, Issa Rae commented that for the upcoming season she wanted to examine Black Masculinity and toxic masculinity as they relate to Black Women.  This statement alone caused many of us Black Men to collectively lose our minds, because how on earth could a Black Woman have any knowledge on how Black Masculinity impacts them? (insert any applicable sarcasm gif here).  Now that the season is over, we took a look at a few examples of Black Masculinity in Season 3 AND the ways in which it impacted the Black Women in the show.  And as the old saying goes, art imitates life so many of these on screen moments reflect real life scenarios. So hopefully Issa, Molly, Nathan, Daniel, Lawrence, Kelli and everyone else did that so we don't have to go through that.  Now without further adieu it's time to press play.  Spoiler

You ever remember riding in the car with your mom as a kid and turning to a different station or feeling wild uncomfortable when you knew your favorite MC was about to say some problematic shit? Maybe you can relate to this, but maybe not.  The point is, it's interesting to note how sometimes we're more sensitive to certain lyrics when women are present. Have you ever felt conflicted while listening to your favorite artist? Or maybe you block it out completely and just enjoy the music?  In today's episode we break down some of the more toxic elements of the culture we love. We acknowledge that Hip-Hop isn't responsible for sexism, but there's a need to address the misogyny and homophobia not only to push the culture forward, but also to be more inclusive for women and queer folk. We even look at how masculinity is presented in hip hop and ways it impacted us growing up.  Let us know what you think! Twitter Instagram We want to hear from you! Email us your questions and feedback at: letstalkbruh@gmail.com

So this week we called an audible. We had plans to drop our Hip Hop episode but during our discussion, we got into a slight debate over whether or not Black Men need a male Beyoncé.   For everything Beyoncé represents and means for women and specifically Black Women, Jeremy believes it would be dope to have a male version who would uplift Black Men in a similar way that she does for Black Women.  Currently, Jeremy believes that there is a void when it comes to mainstream male artists who make music specifically for the uplift of Black Men and believes we need more mainstream artists to break down patriarchy in a dope way. On the other hand, Kyr doesn't believe having a Male Beyonce is necessary because there are certain artists who talk about similar issues, a la, Beyoncé's husband aka Jay-Z.   So what do you think? Do we need a Male Beyoncé? 

We're hitting yall from all angles today! We value the small and growing community that we're building with the #LetsTalkBruh fam so in this episode we really wanted to include yall in the conversation. Coming off of last week's Black Male Privilege Episode we wanted to recap the episode a bit, respond to some feedback as well as some pushback we received.  It was important for us to address some of our blind spots with topics we may have missed during the discussion as well as speak to the responses folks had with the episode. But that's not all.  If you've been following us on social media you've seen us ask for your questions and today we'll be responding to a few. We even introduced a brand new segment titled: This Week In Toxic Masculinity.  Needless to say, this episode was a lot of fun.

Black. Male. Privilege.  The mere idea of this concept is controversial and causes pushback for many of us. But let's talk about it because this is real. As Black Men we exist in a rather unique space of both oppression AND privilege. However when we talk about Black Male Privilege, first and foremost, we are not saying we possess the same privilege that white people and white men do.  Black Male Privilege is based on the privilege that we experience in relation to Black Women. Black Male Privilege also does not deny the oppression, racism, and prejudice that we as Black Men experience, but causes us to listen and acknowledge Black Women's experiences with oppression which differs from ours and take accountability for the ways in which we can be oppressive to Black Women (physical & sexual abuse to name a few).  If the idea of Black Male Privilege makes you uncomfortable, good. This episode is for you. Note: The Black Male Privileges Checklist by Jewel Woods as well as work from L'Hereux Lewis, and Kimbe

Would you say that you're a good friend? Be real. Cuz lemme tell you, as we discussed in this episode, apparently there's legitimate research proving just how trash men can be when it comes to our friendships. Ask yourself this question, how many of your friends fit into 1 of these 3 categories: Activity based, Convenience based, or Mentor based friendships?  In this episode we take a look at some of this research, examine why it's sometimes difficult for men to make new friends, and even discuss some of the dire consequences of not having friends as we get older.  Because as we found out, having friends we can depend on can actually save our life.  Twitter Instagram We want to hear from you! Email us your questions at: letstalkbruh@gmail.com

It's been awhile since dropped the script and hit y'all with a good ol fashion venting session and let's just say it was much needed.  This week's topic? Going the doctor. Recently we both went to a volunteering event, shoutout to Be Great DC, and got our blood pressures taken.  Needless to say, both of our readings were a lot higher than we anticipated and caused us to pause and re-examine our health. So in this venting session you hear us talk through this frustration as well as the importance of going to the doctor for those regularly scheduled visits that bring us so much joy. 

Fellas, when's the last time your eyes got sweaty? Can you even remember the last time your allergies started acting up? Jokes aside, when did you know it was okay to cry? Growing up, most of us are taught that crying is not an acceptable part of manhood so we suppress those natural urges.  Needless to say, today we dive all the way into our feelings and talk about not only when we knew it was okay to cry, but vulnerability as a whole. What it looks like for us today, what it looked like for us as kids, and ways we want to improve our ability to be vulnerable with the ones we love. So get ready because this one gets deep. 

Chakras. Meditation. Crystals. Reincarnation. The Universe. Retrograde and a bunch of other sh** that happens to be brand new for us too. See the thing is, we don't pretend to be the experts here on #LetsTalkBruh and we're not afraid of talking about concepts that we have little to no information on.  Today we talked about this concept of Spirituality and what it means to us. We invited a couple friends on, Michelle and Deb, to join our conversation and act as our spiritual guides for this journey. Now many of us would agree that having some type of spiritual foundation helps one lead a more fulfilled life, but wtf does that even look like if you can't even see it? Well join us and prepare to have an existential crisis as we tackle spirituality in today's show. 

This episode completes our 3 part series on Mental Health & Therapy.  Now, this by no means will be the last time we ever discuss mental health on #LetsTalkBruh, but it was important for us to discuss these issues now and continue to discuss them as they play a significant role in our lives. In this episode you'll hear us talk to 2 therapists, Dr. Justin Hopkins as well as Jeremy's own personal therapist, Dr. Jonathan Goode. So needless to say we got schooled by the professionals in these quasi-therapy sessions/conversations, but don't get it twisted, these conversations cannot be substituted with real therapy. Ya gotta put in that work, when you're ready.  Speaking of being ready, you'll hear from some brothers, who have experienced therapy, call in that to speak about their experiences in this episode. We also want to make it clear that it's perfectly fine if you're not considering therapy or simply just not ready. We just want you to know, as black men, that it is okay to talk our shit out and you don'

How often do you really think about your mental health? I mean, it's easy to know when we're physically sick or in pain, but mentally? Naw. Not so much. To be honest, as your hosts we really just started considering our own mental health to be important probably less than a year ago.  So we took this episode as a moment to reflect on how stress, anxiety, and depression has shown up in our lives. We also talk through the ways in which we cope with mental health issues and explain what self care looks like for us. It's Minority Mental Health Awareness Month and one thing important to remember is that none of us our alone. Once we begin to open up and talk about experiences we realize they are more common that we had thought. So if you're willing and able, comment below on how mental health has showed up in your life. 

We're back with another installment of #LetsVentBruh and this week we broke from the script and stumbled upon the topic of therapy. In the upcoming weeks you'll hear us have a few deep dive conversations on the topic of black men in therapy with some licensed professionals who actually know what they're talking about, but for now you'll hear from us. In this episode Jeremy talks about his own recent therapy experiences and Kyr starts to process what therapy may look like for him, deflections and all. After all, we're all still works in progress and in this episode you get to hear another glimpse of where we are currently in our journey. 

Now, #LetsTalkBruh is not a music podcast, so this won't be a 4:44 album review. However your hosts happen to be 2 hip-hop heads so we felt obligated to tackle this topic. Last Saturday (6/30/18) marked the 1 year anniversary of Jay-Z's 4:44 album. An album in which he was far more vulnerable than most mainstream rappers exhibit on wax by admitting his infidelity in his marriage with Beyonce and the affect it had on not only himself, but his wife, children and family. So we used that cultural moment of Jay-Z's growth and Beyonce's pain to talk about the broader conversation and impact of why often times black women and their pain are the catalysts for our self discovery and growth as black men. So buckle up, because this one gets kinda deep. We both get personal with some reflection on our own past mistakes as well as solutions for the future. And before we get started, this podcast episode couldn't be done alone.  You'll also be hearing from a very talented friend of ours, PhD student Courtnee Fenner, who to