NO GPS

Underdogs on Top - NBA Playoffs Recap | Ep13

Today's NO GPS episode with Mez & Aharon has the guys discuss the NBA playoffs, the Draft Lottery, the head coaches playing musical chairs with each other and the NBA Finals. Enjoy this one! The guys were in rare form.
Podcast episode produced by Matt Joseph.
Music provided by TrethWest.

Part 2 - The Soul Rebel Generation | Ep12

In part 2 of The Soul Rebel Generation Mez & Aharon talk about the intellectually provocative cultural critic Armond White in great detail. Time stamps: (1:05) Detroit & the genius and formative years of Armond White
(8:15) Armond the rebel outsider
(13:48) Armond's & Pauline Kael's uncommon common American Americans and their humanism
(18:54) Armond's grand philosophy: Art isn't about seeing yourself, it's about seeing other people and how they are like you!
(23:14) suspicious liberal foxes lurk on every ghetto corner - again, Armond won't be bought!
(27:12) Armond the outcast black intellectual that never gets invited to the cookout
(30:04) Gilroy & Armond both call out the black careerist who use the gains of the civil rights movement for their own profit gain. Armond calls them race hustlers (the Chris Rock's, Cornel West's and Spike Lee's of the scene).
(35:39) The bad but good American movies that Armond loves and thinks that you should love too
(40:17) The issue with Marvel movies for Armond is they have no finite endings and therefore cannot give people a moral worldview to embrace.
(41:32) Mez pushes back against this idea and reveals why Marvel in fact brings people together in the way Armond suggests good films should do.
Corrections: Aharon refers to Armond White's The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture That Shook the World as The Resistant Years. He pleads mea culpa and tells us he was in the throws of battling the flu when recording this podcast episode. Aharon, do better! Hahaha
Podcast produced by Matt J.Music provided by TrethWest.

The Soul Rebel Generation | Ep11

In this episode of NO GPS Mez & Aharon talk about Daniel McNeil's fascinating new book 'Thinking While Black'. The book is a unique interdisciplinary study of Black cultural critics Armond White and Paul Gilroy that spans continents and decades of rebellion and revolution.
Join us as we take a journey through the Black Atlantic!
Disclaimer: Aharon's microphone blew in the middle of this recording. Due to that the audio for this episode is not up to the usual standard we ascribe to. But we thought the content was just too good to scrap. Enjoy and apologies from the NO GPS crew, namely Aharon!
Podcast produced by Matt J.
Music provided by TrethWest

The West is a Mess, or the Best? | Ep10

Mez & Aharon, with the help of producer man Matt, talk about who won and lost in the most eventful NBA tradeline ever on this latest episode of the NO GPS podcast. They discuss the Hollywood antics of the now better equipped Los Angeles Lakers (2:01), the now disbanded Basquait painting Brooklyn Nets squad (11:23) and Aharon’s beloved & underperforming Toronto Raptors (14:54). 
 
Everything from how restless and perpetually unsatisfied elite NBA players (free agent - 33:47) persistently seeking out greener pastures is analogous to the digital nomadic lifestyles of privileged Millennials & Gen Z’ers who roam the world searching for idyllic landscapes and the most plaint of populaces to satiate their fantasies & libidinal desires is discussed (consider this a knock on the passport bro movement). You’ll love this episode of NO GPS because the guys are bringing you novel takes, comedic segues and seering cultural analysis.
 
0:00 Intro
2:01 Lakers
9:35 Basketball Styles/Preference 
11:23 Nets
14:54 Raptors
22:13 Phoenix & Dallas 
29:38 Denver, Playoffs and the West
33:47 Free Agent Nomads 
44:58 Popular Justice 
56:57 Golden State
1:00:00 Closing
 
Art by Matt
Music by TrethWest

Most Important Show Ever? | Ep9

The revolution has been televised?!
In this episode Mez & Aharon, with the help of producer man Matt, talk about the last 3 episodes of Andor. The guys discuss the nitty gritty and less glamorous aspects of a revolution (17:55). Everything from the epic prison break in Narkina 5 (2:27) and Andor's critique of mass incarceration to the skulduggery of Luthen and the necessity of his morally questionable tactics for the success of the rebellion (52:05). 
 
Although Andor's 2nd season is still in the works we are considering putting Andor in the same vein as shows like The Wire - namely, as one of the greatest shows of all-time. Email us at nogpspodcast@gmail..com to let us know what you think of that hot take. 
 
Seriously, the guys for this episode stay true to having NO GPS - they go as far as using the conversation between Mon Mothma and Davo(s?) to go into the nature of financial capitalism (11:54) and use Maarva Andor's eulogy to get into the depths of a proto-revolutionary's mindset (37:10).

NO GPS Ep. 8: The Wakandans learn how to Swim, Again

The Indigenous and Afrocentric dream of reviving ancient civilizations untouched by modernity and colonization come to life in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Mez & Aharon (with the genius guidance of producer man Matt) talk about what happens after this dream is shattered and the world happens upon it.
How is insurmountable grief dealt with? For the first time the Wakandans deal with the unrelenting wave of disaster and pain visited upon the black-African diaspora. The way they surf that wave of grief is instructive for all of us. Mez & Aharon discuss how Princess Shuri, the new Black Panther, learns how to swim through the pain and grief, not as a means of escape but as a means towards self realization.     
They talk about how the film treats righteous anger with the due respect it deserves. Emotions of this caliber are usually discarded in productions of this quality and size. But in Wakanda Forever, Princess Shuri, the Black Panther, becomes a synthesis of both her nobel brother King T'challa and her militant cousin King Killmonger. But one has many rivers to cross before this level of black consciousness is reached. Mez & Aharon act as ferrymen in this podcast episode. Enjoy!
Correction: the Year of the Elephant is the year 570 not 1626.
Artwork by Sham & Matt.

NO GPS Episode 7: Andor & the Globalized Managerial Industrial Complex

You are going to have to use your little grey cells to understand the grey side of the force for this episode of NO GPS. Mez & Aharon talk about feeling like tourist's in the world - not belonging to a specific place, and the mania that feeling produces. Further, what happens when people don't have a relationship to the past or to their indigeneity? They become rebels and fight to become newly rooted in what was before seen as alien worlds. 
 
Also discussed are the managerial strategies of the carceral and democratic-capitalist states. The similarities between both managerial styles are highlighted. And the critical question must be asked: will the manager take up for the worker against the forces of oppression? Lastly, the societal outcasts that fill up the ranks of revolutionary forces and fund & catalyze them are the very ones forgotten after final rebel victories. Mez & Aharon center their contributions and give analysis to them.
 
You can find all of the featured music in this podcast at:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1xub7I9nszNj8hdB9Ezihm?si=sI5nwoG0SL6wjuQEPq46ow

NO GPS Episode 6: Wakandan & Mayan Futures

In this short episode Mez & Aharon give their initial takeaways from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. They talk indigenous mythology, the guiding ghost of Chadwick Boseman and the romanticism of the precolonial past.

NO GPS Episode 5: Escaping the Hellish Repetitions of the Sampled Drum Loop?

In this weeks episode Mez & Aharon (with the help of producer-man Matt) talk about music. Everything from the deep meanings laden in the fast raps of the Heavy D's & Bone Thugs n Hamrony's, to Luther Vandross' extraordinary rendition of Burt Bacharach's 'A House Is Not a Home', and to the transcendental Blues of Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure. Peep this treasure of obscure facts and philosophical insights into the true cultural functions of black music in the New World.
*Correcting Mistakes:
Aharon mistakenly refers to Tevin Campbell as Tevin Brown.
He also mistakenly refers to Robert Johnson as Randy Johnson.
For more information on some of the topics discussed on the podcast you can check out the Soker substack page for part 1, 2 and 3 of the article 'Why do I RAP so fast':
https://open.substack.com/pub/soker/p/why-do-i-rap-so-fast?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
https://open.substack.com/pub/soker/p/why-do-i-rap-so-fast-cce?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
https://open.substack.com/pub/soker/p/why-do-i-rap-so-fast-5c3?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
 
To hear more of Aharon's music featured on the intro and outro, go to:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1xub7I9nszNj8hdB9Ezihm?si=pMhf6FjZQmabxcsMfVdH4A
 
 

NO GPS Episode 4: Why you should be a Raptors fan & The problem with Sports Analytics

In this episode of NO GPS Mez & Aharon, with the help of producer Matt, talk the global reach of the NBA, their issue with sports data science, the Toronto Raptors (or as they affectionately call them: The Toronto Africans), Nick Nurse and all manner of things interesting in the world of culture and sport. Hold tight to your seats for this ride! And remember, it's about the journey and not the destination.
All of the music in this episode is provided by TrethWest and performed by Aharon. You can hear more of their music at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1xub7I9nszNj8hdB9Ezihm?si=PD0vC3oPQYGgP-QX3de3bQ