Higher Ground

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Channel • 8 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated weekly
Self-Improvement

Self-Improvement

Updated 25 Mar
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated weekly
Music

Music

Series
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated weekly
Medicine

Medicine

Updated weekly
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Series

EPISODE 1

Music of My Mind | 1972

How does Little Stevie Wonder grow into just… Stevie Wonder? Years after signing his first recording deal as a kid with Motown Records, Stevie decides to renegotiate his contract. One of the things on the table? Complete creative freedom. What follows is the beginning of one of the greatest streak of albums in American popular music ever: Music of My Mind. Featuring Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Babyface, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

E1

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58 min
EPISODE 2

Talking Book | 1972

How do you follow lightning in a bottle? Well, if you’re Stevie Wonder, you go on tour with The Rolling Stones. Now catering to a wider (and whiter) audience, Stevie expresses himself as a Black artist in the best way he knows how: through music. And just months after Music of My Mind, he releases the second album in the streak, Talking Book. Featuring Barack Obama, Questlove, Deniece Williams, Ray Parker Jr. and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

E2

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56 min
EPISODE 3

Innervisions | 1973

What more is there to say? For Stevie Wonder, a lot. He’s got more love songs, sure. But as Stevie takes a hard look at the world around him, he’s itching to address different concerns — drugs, politics, and religion in America. Stevie’s next album isn’t just about him. Innervisions, the third album in the streak, is about the Black American experience. Featuring Barack Obama, Brittany Luse, George Clinton, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

E3

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56 min
12/10/2022

Fight Club | E5: The Blueprint

“Masculinity is a lot like Fight Club. The first rule is that you don't talk about it.” In this episode, we’re breaking that rule, examining what Fight Club has to say about the emotional lives of men, the links between masculinity and extremist violence, and the path out of the darkness. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host, Writer: Alex Pappademas Showrunner: Colin McNulty Producers: Sabrina Fang and Taylor Jones Production Assistant and Fact Checker: Stella Hartman Composer, Sound Designer, Mix Engineer: Alex MacInnis Studio Direction and Theme Music: Dan Leone Executive Producer for Western Sound: Ben Adair Editor: Jamie York Executive Producers for Higher Ground: Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, Mukta Mohan, Janae Marable Editorial Assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive Producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara, Corinne Gilliard Special Thanks: Joe Paulsen and Eric Spiegelman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

12/10/2022

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47 min
15/10/2025

Introducing Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

If you loved The Wonder of Stevie, you cannot miss Higher Ground and Audible's newest music show. In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton's America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy' traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. In a world that’s on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do? Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15/10/2025

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58 min
BONUS

A Conversation between Stevie Wonder, Barack Obama and Wesley Morris

In this bonus episode, Wesley sits down with Stevie Wonder and a superfan named Barack Obama to discuss the politics of optimism, the power of a love song, and what it feels like to break artistic ground. And the best part? Stevie brought his keyboard. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bonus

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44 min
23/11/2022

Pokémon | E5: Evolution

The battle is over, and Pokémon has won. Almost twenty-five years after it arrived on these shores, Pokémon hasn’t just survived— it’s become the kind of pop-cultural phenomenon that parents share with their kids. But what does that say about Pokémon, and what does our yearning for an ever-more-immersive pocket-monster-catching experience say about us? TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Writer and Host: Alex Pappademas Showrunner: Colin McNulty Producers: Taylor Jones and Sabrina Fang, with help from Tyler Hill. Production Assistant: Stella Hartmann Fact Checker: Savannah Wright Composer/Sound Designer/Mix Engineer: Alex MacInnis Theme Music by: Dan Leone Executive Producer for Western Sound: Ben Adair Editor: Jamie York Executive Producers for Higher Ground: Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, Mukta Mohan, and Janae Marable. Editorial Assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive Producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

23/11/2022

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41 min
02/11/2022

Pokémon | E2: Red Versus Blue

In which a red-hot video game company crashes and burns, with a little help from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The decline of Atari paved the way for a gaming renaissance— think Donkey Kong, Mario and eventually Pikachu. But as Japan took the upper-hand in the console business and taught a generation of American kids how to play, some Americans grew paranoid about a resurgent foreign power beating us at our own game. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Writer and Host: Alex Pappademas Showrunner: Colin McNulty Producers: Taylor Jones and Sabrina Fang, with help from Tyler Hill. Production Assistant: Stella Hartmann Fact Checker: Savannah Wright Composer/Sound Designer/Mix Engineer: Alex MacInnis Theme Music by: Dan Leone Executive Producer for Western Sound: Ben Adair Editor: Jamie York Executive Producers for Higher Ground: Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, Mukta Mohan, and Janae Marable. Editorial Assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive Producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

02/11/2022

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46 min
21/09/2022

E2 | Memphis, TN: The Sweetest Water In The World

In 2020, Memphis residents began to hear rumors that a company called Plains All American was set to build a 49-mile oil pipeline through the city. At first, the pipeline appeared inevitable, planned to run through a “sacrifice zone” of all-Black neighborhoods that had already been poisoned by nearby heavy industry. But when local environmentalists discovered the pipeline would threaten Memphis’ prized drinking water, they joined forces with a charismatic 26-year old, Justin J. Pearson, to build a multi-racial coalition that united Black and white neighborhoods in this segregated city to protect their hometown’s treasured water. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

21/09/2022

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42 min
30/09/2020

Across Generations: Michelle Obama and Her Mentees

Part two of our discussion about mentorship features Michelle in conversation with her younger team members, in which they explore the ups and downs of professional life and what it’s like to be a black woman right now. Find the episode transcript here: https://spoti.fi/TMOP_transcripts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

30/09/2020

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54 min

Founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama with a mission to elevate stories and voices that bend the arc.