This season on The Limits, host Jay Williams has spoken to some incredibly successful people. But no matter how famous they've become or how high they've risen on the corporate ladder, they always circle back to the role of race in their lives and their industries. In this final episode of our Remix series, Jay shares two conversations from The Limits Plus about being Black in America that have really stuck with him: with actor Colman Domingo and football coach Brian Flores, who sued the NFL for...
Dec 13, 2022•18 min
Today, we're featuring an episode of a new podcast called In the Moment. Each week, an elite athlete talks about career defining moments in their lives and what it took to get there. During the 2007 NFL Season, Steelers safety Ryan Clark was pulled off a plane after a team loss in Denver Colorado and rushed to the hospital. Clark would later have his gallbladder and part of his spleen removed due to a medical condition caused by the sickle cell trait. "I laid on the floor," Clark told David Gree...
Dec 08, 2022•42 min
This month on The Limits, we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. In this week's Remix episode, host Jay Williams talks about love: not just romantic love or family love, but loving yourself. Jay hears inspiring stories from two guests who learned to accept themselves, and who they love, unapologetically: actress Niecy Nash and NFL player turned reality TV star Colton Underwood. Learn more about sponsor m...
Dec 06, 2022•13 min
For the next few weeks on The Limits , we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. In this week's Remix episode: Every magic moment on the court or the field actually represents a lot of hard work and discipline. So what makes a player truly great? Host Jay Williams asks his mentor Coach Mike Krzyzewski (better known as Coach K), and legendary athletes Megan Rapinoe and Magic Johnson. Follow Jay on Instagram ...
Nov 29, 2022•24 min
For the next few weeks on The Limits, we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. In this week's Remix episode, host Jay Williams – a star basketball player turned TV commentator – reflects on the downsides of hyper-visibility with two musical artists who have seen it all: Kelly Rowland, who became famous as a teenager as a member of Destiny's Child; and Denzel Curry, a pioneer of 'SoundCloud rap' and one of ...
Nov 22, 2022•17 min
For the next few weeks on The Limits, we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. There may be no moment more defining in the last decade of sports than when Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem. But Kap isn't the only athlete learning to speak out on important issues. In this week's Remix episode, host Jay Williams discusses the intersection of sports and politics with sports analysts Dave...
Nov 15, 2022•28 min
For the next few weeks on The Limits, we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. In this week's Remix episode, host Jay Williams talks to some hugely successful people about the mentors who helped them along the way: fashion icon Dapper Dan, NFL legend Deion Sanders, and Jon Gray from the Ghetto Gastro collective. Follow Jay on Instagram and Twitter . Email us at thelimits@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor m...
Nov 08, 2022•17 min
For the next few weeks on The Limits, we're pulling together some of our favorite conversations from The Limits Plus that were only available to subscribers – until now. In this week's Remix episode: host Jay Williams and his wife Nikki just welcomed their third child. Jay's kids are the joy of his life, but balancing multiple careers while raising a family is tough. He breaks down the parenthood struggle with streetwear mogul Bobby Hundreds, actress Gabrielle Union, and Larry Miller, chairman o...
Nov 01, 2022•15 min
On the season finale of The Limits , host Jay Williams sits in the guest chair, interviewed by Gene Demby from NPR's Code Switch . Gene has been following Jay's career since his days playing college basketball for Duke, but their conversation starts even earlier: with Jay's childhood in Plainfield, New Jersey, a place with stark racial and economic divides. Jay digs deep into the challenges he faced at school and at home, and explains how he learned to take out his feelings on the court. He led ...
Oct 25, 2022•36 min
This week on The Limits , Jay chops it up with Fat Joe: the Grammy-nominated rapper, entrepreneur, and legendary storyteller. Growing up in the Bronx, Fat Joe witnessed the birth of hip hop, then made hip hop history himself. Over three decades in the game, he's put out 13 albums, started his own record label, and mentored other great MCs like the late Big Pun. He's also faced multiple bankruptcies and battled depression, which he's open about: he wants people to learn from his successes and his...
Oct 18, 2022•38 min
On this week's episode of The Limits, Jay speaks with comedian Amanda Seales. Formerly known as "Amanda Diva," she has worn many hats in entertainment: acting, singing, hosting, and stand-up. She might be best known for starring as Tiffany DuBois on Issa Rae's Insecure. But in 2019, she became the second Black woman to ever have her own comedy special on HBO, I Be Knowin'. She has her own podcast, Small Doses: Potent Truths for Everyday Use. And now she's back on the road, touring with her wildl...
Oct 11, 2022•38 min
On this week's episode of The Limits , Jay speaks with the legendary Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Often called the greatest point guard in NBA history, Magic earned five titles over the course of 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers – and changed the nature of the game, too. But before he was "Magic," he was just Earvin: a kid from East Lansing, Michigan. As he carved out a name for himself on and off the court, he learned how to navigate his public and private personas. But Magic's private life be...
Oct 04, 2022•38 min
On this week's episode of The Limits , Jay speaks with his old friend, Scott "Scooter" Braun. Scooter is an entrepreneur, investor, and one of the most well-known talent managers in Hollywood today. Scooter first got his start when he dropped out of college to pursue a professional career in marketing, after organizing a successful trail of parties for high-profile musicians. But today, he's probably best known for recognizing talent; after first seeing a video of young Justin Bieber on YouTube,...
Sep 28, 2022•39 min
This week, we're in instant replay mode. Jay is revisiting his conversation with the one and only Kelly Rowland. In your mind, she might be the teenager of Destiny's Child fame, or the solo artist with dance floor anthems like "Commander." But these days, Kelly's much more than a pop star. She's an entrepreneur, philanthropist, writer, and mother of two beautiful children. She recently published a children's book called Always with You, Always with Me , her ode to working moms. She's also due to...
Sep 20, 2022•33 min
On this week's episode of The Limits , Jay speaks with his longtime friend and former colleague, Cari Champion. Cari has hosted flagship ESPN shows like First Take and SportsCenter , and currently hosts her own podcasts, Naked with Cari Champion and The Brownprint . She's also shattered glass ceilings as a Black woman in sports journalism by staying committed to speaking her truth. She's done this from the start; when her on-air candor about a local news story got her fired early in her career, ...
Sep 13, 2022•34 min
This week on The Limits , Jay talks to author and editor Dave Zirin about the intersection of sports and politics. Dave has written 11 books on these topics, covering the many ways that activist athletes have unveiled larger systemic issues of racism and injustice in America. Dave gets into it with Jay on overlooked female athletes like Wyomia Tyus and Brittney Griner, on whether the NFL is better safeguarding players from longterm brain damage, and the hypocrisy of criticizing the business of s...
Sep 06, 2022•44 min
On this week's episode of The Limits , Jay talks to his ESPN colleague and longtime friend, Stephen A. Smith. The First Take co-host and network star has reinvented how sports, politics, and candor can go together on the air. As one veteran executive told him shortly after his 2003 ESPN audition, "It was the greatest audition I have ever seen in the history of this business." When the studio lights come on, Stephen A. Smith is always ready. But he stumbled in his early career, letting his ego ge...
Aug 31, 2022•42 min
Hollywood powerhouse Tracy Oliver sums up her career simply. "When people go right, I always tend to go left." She wrote the hit 2017 film Girls Trip , becoming the first Black woman to pen a movie that grossed over $100 million at the box office. On today's episode of The Limits , Tracy tells Jay how she has navigated her biggest Hollywood successes, from an eight-figure deal with Apple, to creating and executive producing the Amazon series, Harlem . Tracy credits a lot of her wins to her contr...
Aug 23, 2022•48 min
This week, Jay is in mixtape mode, pulling together three of his favorite conversations on The Limits . With The Breakfast Club losing co-host Angela Yee to do her own show, Charlamagne tha God shows what it means to be proud of longtime colleagues as they move on to other things. He talked to Jay about his own journey of education and discipline, from jail to finding his voice on the mic as a now-legendary interviewer. Next, with the NFL pre-season underway, Jay revisits his conversation with B...
Aug 16, 2022•39 min
On this week's episode of The Limits , Jay looks back on his conversation with a recently split, beloved comedy duo. For years, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero lived the lives of many struggling New Yorkers: juggling multiple odd jobs, battling roaches, and just trying to make ends meet in the Bronx. But they also spent plenty of time online, where their constant back and forth on Twitter was so funny that followers demanded they make a podcast. Their eponymous show, Desus and Mero , has since explo...
Aug 09, 2022•36 min
This week, Auntie Oprah (as Jay calls her) lent us an episode from Trials to Triumphs , a podcast on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Hosted by Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins, Trials to Triumphs discusses the personal and professional struggles of innovators–just like The Limits . On today's episode, Ashley speaks with actress and singer Amber P. Riley. Amber is best known for her role as Mercedes on the hit comedy-drama series Glee . She also starred in the West End debut of Dreamgirls and won seas...
Aug 02, 2022•42 min
This week, we revisit one of Jay's favorite conversations with the incomparable Niecy Nash. In her own words, Niecy has made it "from the hood to Hollywood." She talks to Jay about her early days in Hollywood with clarity–and hilarity. The 2022 Oscars may be infamous now for very different reasons , but this interview originally happened the month prior, when the nominations were still being scrutinized for lacking diversity. Niecy got real about the deeper reasons the Academy so often overlooks...
Jul 26, 2022•31 min
On today's episode of The Limits , Jay speaks with Colman Domingo, star of stage and screen. He's the ultimate character actor, known for stealing scenes in films like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , Selma, and If Beale Street Could Talk . He embodies every character he takes on, most recently earning an Emmy nod for his role as father-figure Ali to Zendaya's Rue on HBO's Euphoria . Colman is a triple threat in Hollywood, with experience as a producer, director, and writer. He just wrapped shooting t...
Jul 19, 2022•44 min
In this week's episode of The Limits , Jay talks to Steve Stoute, a music executive responsible for shaping the careers of the biggest stars in recent memory. Nas, Mariah Carey, Will Smith...Steve Stoute's resume rivals any of the biggest players in the industry. He spent the '90s molding talent at Interscope Records alongside Jimmy Iovine. But in 2004, when he felt his vision for marketing wasn't being realized, he left Interscope and founded his own firm, Translation. The company now has a net...
Jul 12, 2022•40 min
On today's episode of The Limits , Jay talks to legendary fashion designer, Dapper Dan. For over five decades, "Dap" has revolutionized the way hip-hop and fashion have influenced each other, dressing the likes of Eric B. and Rakim, LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa. He also always makes sure everything goes down in his native Harlem, where Jay met up with him. Once a gambling prodigy, Dap briefly went to prison on drug charges, but he came out with a renewed respect for Black culture and sensibilities....
Jul 05, 2022•42 min
On today's episode of The Limits , Jay sits down with his mentor: the all-time great, Duke college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, better known as Coach K. For Jay, this is the man who helped him channel his inner rage and insecurities as a teenager into reaching the ultimate heights of college basketball. He was also one of Jay's biggest supports after Jay's career-ending accident. Over 42 seasons at Duke, Coach K won five championships and guided hundreds of players to their greatest potenti...
Jun 28, 2022•36 min
We're in instant replay mode this week on The Limits, revisiting Jay's conversation with billionaire tech mogul Mark Cuban. Whether it's the NFL or the NBA, healthcare policy or America's two-party political system, Mark Cuban believes that when you buck tradition, you begin to grow. In this episode, the Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank investor challenges NFL franchise owners to rethink who they hire and why. He applies that same logic to the healthcare industry, where he is upending the m...
Jun 21, 2022•34 min
One of Al Harrington's biggest takeaways from his sixteen-year run in the NBA? Never let a rookie take your spot. The former power forward constantly found ways to evolve the game to outsmart new competitors — and, in his words, "provide a new offering." In his post-game career, he's used that mindset to build the cannabis company Viola, which sells high-quality forms of marijuana. But Viola's mission isn't solely to sell product. Instead, Al wants to ensure that Viola gives Black and brown entr...
Jun 14, 2022•44 min
When New York multi-hyphenate Jon Gray set it upon himself to bring the Bronx to the world through food, he faced two battles: establish a successful business at the tail end of a recession, and overcome the high-end culinary world's historically white gaze. Now, Ghetto Gastro, the food collective he co-founded, is connecting the dots between fashion, design, hip-hop and the culinary arts. They've created unforgettable food experiences and products in collaboration with Nike, Microsoft, Airbnb, ...
Jun 07, 2022•33 min
U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe is of course a champion on the field, but off the field, she's a champion for the causes that matter. She has long been one of the biggest voices advocating for equal pay in the U.S. Soccer Federation, which was historically reached via collective bargaining agreements this month. Now, as she's reaching the end of her trailblazing run in professional soccer, Megan sat down with Jay Williams to talk about the path to equal pay for the U.S. Women's National Team, and...
May 31, 2022•37 min
