The Score

Global Majority Media

It's time to put the arts on game! Hosts Lee Bynum, Paige Reynolds, and Rocky Jones are three Black, queer artists and pop culture aficionados, who are working every day to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusivity into the arts. Noted by The New York Times as one of the "Podcasts Opera Pros Tune To" in 2021, The Score is their provocative, thoughtful, and humorous commentary on the industry's past, present, and future, as seen through an antiracist and unapologetically Black and queer lens. Each episode features a variety of stories from a variety of perspectives that bring People of the Global Majority, queer, trans and nonbinary folks, and everyone else into the discussion of ownership over and access to the arts. From the opera house to the statehouse to your house, each episode will amplify the voices of those in the field who are pushing the boundaries of what opera is, who it is for, and how it can transform us and our communities.

  1. 05/11/2025

    Blow Your Whistle (Carnival Catwalk: S1, E1)

    Dear Scorekeepers, we've got an announcement to make. We simply couldn't finish Season 11 of RDPR. The shade stopped being fun, our eyes were starved for eleganza and we so were tired of getting on here and complaining at you. So you can imagine our delight when Lee found a little show on Peacock called Carnival Catwalk, a Project Runway-inspired competition show where 10 contestants from Trinidad and beyond create fashion inspired by Carnival! Black people, queer people and West Indian people making clothes for us to judge? Where do we sign up? So as we close the book on our RPDR era, we hope you'll join us for this new adventure. It's gonna be a party! Plus, stayed tuned our election day thoughts and a PBJ where Kayla Nicole get her well-deserved flowers, because you did that, girl! Let's do it to it, y'all! Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds Producer: Rocky Jones -- Links Watch Carnival Catwalk along with us: Peacock Get your tickets to House of Masks (BUY NOW!) 2025 Naked Stages Artist Fellows (Website) -- Hey hey, THE SCORE is now on social! Follow us @thescorepod on Instagram and Bluesky! -- New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com. Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube Follow Your Hosts on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

    1h 38m
  2. 28/10/2025

    Musical Reparations (w/Big Freedia & Hannah Mayree) [RE-RELEASE]

    Hey there, Scorekeepers! On our off weeks for the next few months, we're revisiting ART CLASS, the 12-episode series all about arts and arts education that we released last year. We hope you enjoy taking this stroll down memory lane with us! -- This episode was originally released on March 26, 2024. Let's get straight to it, Classmates! Today on ART CLASS, we are honored to be talking with a bonafide legend! Whom you ask? How about the ambassador for New Orleans bounce music, who's also an iconic entrepreneur, and a fierce advocate for racial justice and queer rights? Yes, that's right, on this episode we will be chatting with the Queen Diva herself, BIG FREEDIA (0:13:55)!!! 🤯 And as if that weren't exciting enough, we're also bringing you the next installment of our Kinfolk series with Hannah Mayree of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project (0:42:28). In this first conversation of two, Hannah and Paige talk all about BBRP and their mission to reconnect Black people with the banjo, an incredibly important part of our musical and cultural history. All that, plus the Morning Announcements with Emile (0:39:11) and a special PB&J for all you soap opera fans (0:59:14). Take your seats, y'all, because class is in session! Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds (Mabolé Inawale) Guests: Big Freedia, Hannah Mayree Contributor: Emilia Mettenbrink Producer: Rocky Jones -- Links Big Freedia (Website) (Instagram) Black Banjo Reclamation Project (Website) Hip Hop Education Center (Website) Generations with Jonelle Allen and Vivica A. Fox -- Syllabus Ashley N. Payne (2024), “Hip Hop, identity, & Black girlhood: how Black girls (re)construct racial and gender identity through Hip Hop” Ashley N. Payne & Aria S. Halliday (2023), “From #HotGirlSummer to #HotNerdFall: Megan Thee Stallion, ratchet-respectability, and the Socioeducational identities of Black girls/women” -- Hey hey, THE SCORE is now on social! Follow us @thescorepod on Instagram and Bluesky!  -- New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your...

    1h 8m
  3. 21/10/2025

    House of Masks

    Hello, dear Scorekeepers! On today's very special episode of THE SCORE, we celebrate an amazing milestone in the career of our very own Paige Reynolds! A few months ago, we were so thrilled to announce Paige's selection as one of Pillsbury House and Theatre's 2025 Naked Stages Artist Fellows. Well, now their performance, House of Masks, is premiering at Pillsbury House and Theatre in Minneapolis on Thursday, November 13! House of Masks invites audiences to “The Porch,” where three Black queer ancestors come out to play through the Afro-diasporic cultural tradition of masquerade. Tricksters, sirens, and aunties share stories that call us to remember what is sacred for here and now. Join us as Paige invites us behind the scenes to tell us all about the making of and inspiration behind this amazing new project and gives some pretty important advice to other young creatives embarking on a new adventure. All this, plus a tribute to the dearly departed D'Angelo and, of course, a bit of Pure Black Joy to get you through the end of the week. Let's do it to it, y'all! And you better get your tickets to House of Masks before they sell out, or we're gonna be mad! Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds Producer: Rocky Jones -- Links Get you tickets to House of Masks (BUY NOW!) 2025 Naked Stages Artist Fellows (Website) Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley Playable Games (Website) -- Hey hey, THE SCORE is now on social! Follow us @thescorepod on Instagram here and Bluesky here! -- New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com. Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube Follow Your Hosts on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

    1h 29m
  4. 23/09/2025

    It's a Different World

    Greetings, dear Scorekeepers! And congrats to the Rapture Class of 2025! "It's a Different World" couldn't be more apt for today's political climate as well as today's episode. As is now customary, we start off with a little rant about this week's Republican shenanigans, but this time it's tempered with a chat about some of the art-making we've been doing in our spare time to stay sane. And then, for years now, we've been wanting to talk about one of our favorite things, but haven't had the chance. Until now! Hopefully, you love Black 90s sitcoms as much as we do. From A Different World to Martin to Living Single to In Living Color and more, these shows had a profound affect on us as kids and really helped shaped how we saw ourselves and the world around us. Join us as we take a stroll down memory lane and chat about our favorite shows, characters and moments and why they just don't make 'em like they used to (0:27:25). Plus, of course, a super-sized PBJ, because God knows we could all use it (1:15:33). Let's do it to it, y'all! Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds Producer: Rocky Jones -- Hey hey, THE SCORE is now on social! Follow us @thescorepod on Instagram here and Bluesky here! -- New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com. Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTube Follow Your Hosts on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky

    1h 27m

About

It's time to put the arts on game! Hosts Lee Bynum, Paige Reynolds, and Rocky Jones are three Black, queer artists and pop culture aficionados, who are working every day to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusivity into the arts. Noted by The New York Times as one of the "Podcasts Opera Pros Tune To" in 2021, The Score is their provocative, thoughtful, and humorous commentary on the industry's past, present, and future, as seen through an antiracist and unapologetically Black and queer lens. Each episode features a variety of stories from a variety of perspectives that bring People of the Global Majority, queer, trans and nonbinary folks, and everyone else into the discussion of ownership over and access to the arts. From the opera house to the statehouse to your house, each episode will amplify the voices of those in the field who are pushing the boundaries of what opera is, who it is for, and how it can transform us and our communities.