Tony Porter is what we call an OG when it comes to the work of healthy manhood. He's been doing #thework of breaking out of the "The Man Box" with A Call to Men for decades. Tony also speaks about his personal journey of being called out for his sexism while in his career of anti-racism work and how those moments propelled him to become passionate about the work of healthy manhood and anti-sexism. We also talk about our differing perspectives about toxic masculinity and have a great conversation...
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Living your best life is more than just a song by Lil Duval. It's a real thing. But how exactly do we get there? Yeah sure we all want to get the bag and level up, but what does that really look like? How do we become our best and most authentic self in a world that constantly tells us as Black men what we are and what we aren't? Jason Rosario believes it's through something called: Self-Actualization This week on Let's Talk Bruh I was joined by Jason, Founder of The Lives of Men to break down w...
Oct 09, 2019•57 min
We all know what it's like to feel like you have the weight of the world on the your shoulders. But what if that stress has become so commonplace that you've forgotten what it's like to feel normal? What happens when we've become so disconnected from our norm that our normal is stressed out? Today we're joined by Arron Muller , a Social Work Therapist to discuss how we can identify the stressors in our life as well as manage the stress we experience in our lives. Arron also breaks down how stres...
Oct 02, 2019•48 min
Being a Black man and working in corporate environments can exhausting to say the least. Racism. Microaggressions. Stereotyping. And all that can happen before you even make it to your desk. The struggle to bring your full self to work is real. Not to mention, we know that toxic masculinity in the workplace is usually the expected and preferred type of masculinity. Domination. Win at all costs. Talking over people. Not taking breaks. Where does healthy masculinity fit in corporate america? This ...
Sep 25, 2019•1 hr 2 min
What does vulnerability look like for you? Are you in tune with your feelings? Are these questions already too much for you? We feel you, but today I'm joined by my good friend Nomad the Native of talented supergroup Not Alone and we break down what it means to be vulnerable, how difficult vulnerability can be for us as Black men as well as the shame associated with acknowledging our insecurities. However as difficult as it can be to open up, we also talk about the benefits of being vulnerable l...
Sep 18, 2019•1 hr 8 min
This week we're giving yall a one time pass into the Let's Talk Bruh Facebook Group on for a particular discussion that set the group on fire last week. One of our members, who you'll be hearing from shortly, posed the following questions shared from an Instagram story: Is two guys cuddling gay? Is two girls cuddling gay?" So we break down the differences between intimacy and attraction as well as the importance of platonic touch in our lives. The conversation produced several different sides an...
Sep 11, 2019•38 min
We live in a culture where porn is only a smartphone and a couple taps away. It's literally at our fingertips. It's never been this accessible. And for many of us, we've had access to an unlimited supply of porn since the age of 10 so where do we draw the line between healthy habit and addiction? Today we try to find some answers. On previous episodes, you may have heard us say that masturbating is a good form of self care, which it is. However it's important to be aware of when that self love w...
Sep 04, 2019•1 hr 19 min
When's the last time you sat down and talked about love? When's the last time you talked about love more than the romantic type? Today we dive deep into love and relationships and we do so with a little help from licensed therapist Bashea Williams. This week on Let's Talk Bruh we talk about love, relationships and what all this means for us as men in both romantic and platonic relationships. Most of the time, girls are socialized to think about love at a much earlier age than boys so by the time...
Aug 28, 2019•1 hr 19 min
"Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth." So that's the textbook definition thanks to UC Davis , but what does it actually look like to be well? to feel well? How can we put this into everyday practice? This week on the show we talk about wellness and other ways to live a healthier life. I invited Jarrick the Floating Yogi to join me for...
Aug 21, 2019•47 min
When you think of masculinity what comes to mind? Men. Manhood. Manliness? Typically as a society, we conflate masculinity and manhood as interchangeable terms. We've done it many times on this very podcast. But what does masculinity look like for women who identify as masculine? On today's episode we talk with Nalo Zidan, founder of Black Girl Masculine, about what masculinity means for her as a queer Black woman. Nalo breaks down why we shouldn't conflate masculinity with manhood and we also t...
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 9 min
This episode is important because for 52 episodes we've talked about masculinity from primarily a cisgender perspective. Today, thanks to our guest, Geronimo Collins aka Geronimo Knows, we are able to learn about the experiences of a Black transgender man and what masculinity means for him in particular. Geronimo is a former blogger, podcast host, urban culture + lifestyle enthusiast and full-time conversationalist. On this episode we talk about his navigation through life before and after his t...
Aug 07, 2019•1 hr 31 min
They say change inevitable. They say life is gonna throw you curveballs. They say when life gives you lemons...ight enough of the cliches. Today we're talking all about the various changes and transitions that we experience throughout life. From breakups, to entering and exiting college to even the current cultural change in discussions of masculinity, we're tackling it all today. With the help of a little internet research and personal experiences, we also cover how to handle or better yet embr...
Jul 31, 2019•1 hr 31 min
They say everyone gets the define Black masculinity except for the Black man. And well, historically this has been largely true. However as true as it has been, we have not only the power, but the responsibility to redefine what a healthy masculinity looks like for us. But before we get there, it's important to talk about toxic masculinity and hold ourselves accountable for the ways in which we've ALL at one point participated in this toxic culture of manhood. We can't get to a place of healthie...
Jul 24, 2019•59 min
Nowadays it seems that everyone is talking about two words: toxic masculinity. There are endless articles, tweets, IG posts, and now podcast episodes on the subject. But what is it really? And if you're a man/masculine identifying person it can feel like your masculinity is under attack with the recent attention on toxic masculinity. Today we break down what toxic masculinity is, our experiences embodying toxic masculinity and we talk to a couple guys about their opinions on toxic masculinity. A...
Jul 17, 2019•1 hr 6 min
This week on Let's Talk Bruh we're talking all about dick. *awkward silence* We're bringing yall the sequel to an episode we dropped in February titled, "You're More Than Your Dick | The Fetishization Episode" . Only this time we're expanding the conversation to discuss our close relationship with our penis, why for many of us our dick = our manhood and the pressure to live up the BBC. In order to have this conversation we invited our extremely talented artist friend TJDDN to the show who is ver...
Jul 03, 2019•1 hr 7 min
The Black barbershop is a staple in the Black community. It's a safe space for Black men to be themselves, vent, talk shit, and establish community with Black men of all ages. However, as much as some of us love the Black barbershop and regard it so, historically it has not been a safe space for ALL black people as much as we'd like to think. This week on the show we break down our experiences in the barbershop (the good, the bad, and the Bibby), the types of barbers in the shop, the feeling of ...
Jun 26, 2019•58 min
Has racism ever made you sick? This week on #LetsTalkBruh we talk about the impact that racism has had over the course of our lives as Black men. As we know all know, racism and just dealing with white folks in general is stressful, but how exactly have we dealt with both the overt and subtle racism we've experienced in our lives? How does racism impact our health both physically and mentally? And since it doesn't look like racism is going anywhere anytime soon, what can be done to live healthie...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 14 min
1 Year + 46 Episodes later and we're still here! On this week's episode we celebrate making it 1 year in the podcast game and NOT getting cancelled! We catch up with other about what's been going on in our lives, getting out of our introvert bubbles and break from the script by tackling some current events in black masculinity + mental health including: - Kevin Durant's Injury - Ava Duvernay's "When They See Us" mini series on the Central Park 5 - Kanye West talks about his mental health journey...
Jun 12, 2019•52 min
Self Care is defined as "the powerful commitment to constantly choose activities and situations that make you feel healthy and good about yourself”. It's a very simple concept in theory, yet for some reason it's very difficult to put into practice for many of us. Well for starters, let's take into account how much time we spend at work, time spent supporting family + friends, time wasted on social media, time committing to our side hustles, time trying to make relationships work, trying to get 2...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Welcome to Part 2 of our Black Man's Guide for Mental Health series. Next up? Depression. As Black Men, most of us have been taught by family, media, or peers that expressing our feelings is unacceptable. Unmanly. Weak. Even when we're at our lowest and know deep down we should talk to someone we still choose not to. According to research, 90% of Black Men with depression never seek treatment for their mental condition. That means that many of us exist in isolation and it's resulting in a slow, ...
May 28, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Welcome to Part 1 of our Black Man's Guide for Mental Health series. First up? Anxiety. As your hosts, you've heard us joke a lot about how we're both introverts and experience slight to moderate to sometimes extreme cases of social anxiety in various spaces of our lives. But along with social anxiety, what are some other types of anxiety? How does anxiety show up in our lives as Black men? Can anxiety ever go away? Our guest Dwayne James aka Waynes_Ambition , a licensed Social Worker specializi...
May 21, 2019•43 min
Invisible work. Thankless jobs. When we talk about Emotional Labor these are some of the things we're talking about. If you've been following us on Instagram this week you've seen women say the following things regarding emotional labor: - Emotional labor takes work. And emotional labor is not just for women to deal with - Women are doing the extra work in your platonic/familiar relationships too. - It's not our job to bear it for you. It's exhausting. We don't want to be your therapist. Whew. H...
May 15, 2019•1 hr
Brotherhood. Growing up Black. Growing up fast. Relationships. Trying to make it out alive. What do all of these things have in common? They're all significant themes present in both films in Part 2 of our Black Masculinity in Film series. Boyz n the Hood (1991) & The Wood (1999). Two films both set in Southern California - South Central LA & Inglewood respectively. Both films being "coming of age" classics centered around 3 Black males attempting to mature from boys to men. One film cen...
May 07, 2019•53 min
Malcolm X. Shaft. Two names. 1 real. 1 fictional character. But both extremely important in film and real life in terms of their impact on Black Masculinity. Today we explore the 1971 blaxploitation classic Shaft starring Richard Roundtree, directed by Gordon Parks alongside Spike Lee's 1992 classic Malcolm X starring Denzel Washington. Why these 2 films? Well there's more commonalities than you may think. Black men in leadership. Cool. Poor & Black and at times both having similar conceptio...
Apr 30, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Admit it. At some point whether it was 10 years ago or 10 days ago, you've experimented in some type of way with your hair. Growing up, YouTube videos and Instagram pages dedicated to Black haircare weren't the norm so experimenting with unhealthy hair products and practices were Black rites of passage. And when it comes to Black men, as long as our shape up is tight, we're all good right? Naw. Growing up we put all types of wild shit in our hair from sporting waves, to our sister's Luster's pin...
Apr 24, 2019•32 min
Left out. Forgotten. Not cared for. Do any of these resonate for you as a Black man? Sometimes as Black men we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. On average, our life expectancy is the lowest, our suicides rates are at an all-time high, mass incarceration and police brutality are everyday issues and many of us feel we don't have enough spaces to be vulnerable with our most pressing mental health issues. On top of that, we hear our sisters, as justified as it is at times, tell us "men...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 10 min
What's the meaning of life? How do we find our purpose? What happens when we die? What does this all mean for Black men? We spend the next hour and change trying to figure out life in one episode. Spoiler alert: We end up not being able to figure everything out. We answer a few things, but we probably end up with more questions than answers. As Black men we already feel like our time here is limited. I mean, shit at the time of this recording Nipsey Hussle was still with us. How do we make sense...
Apr 03, 2019•1 hr 12 min
MINI EPISODE ALERT Today we're hitting yall with a mini-episode that really serves as a preview for next week. This week on Let's Talk Bruh we're talking a little bit about the existential crises that we all have at certain point in our lives. As your hosts, being in our late 20s, we're both at the place in our lives where we've seriously started to question and consider next steps when it comes to career, family, relationships, and kids. What happens when you get to a place in your career and y...
Mar 26, 2019•21 min
Hoteps, Noteps, Fauxteps, & The Ankh Right: Why Some Black men find liberation in these movements It's 2019 and if you've been on the internet at all in the last few years you probably know how to identify what is commonly referred to as a modern day hotep. Afrocentric. Pro Black. Anti LGBTQ. Anti Feminist. Fear of the destruction of the Black family. Fear of the Black masculinity being under attack. But let's rewind and actually understand that the word "hotep" is a greeting and roughly tra...
Mar 19, 2019•1 hr
Our personal hoop dreams for the NBA ended years ago, but as avid fans of the basketball, football, baseball and other sports we clearly had a vested interested in this week's episode. When talking about masculinity in sports, like other areas of life, there is a certain type of acceptable masculinity. The fire, passion, competitive spirit and in some cases aggressiveness that sports fosters can help create a healthy masculinity, but what happens when that shit becomes toxic? And if we're being ...
Mar 12, 2019•1 hr 11 min
