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The Dap Project discusses the award winning book from Clint Smith. "How The Word is Passed" is a necessary read. Aaron and Rhonda point out a few reasons why.

Intro music: "What We've Come From" by Wes Felton

After months of talking with folks about resilience, and hearing powerful testimonies of persisting through adversity and disappointment, staying on the path to excellence, we thought we should talk with an expert.

Phillip Reynolds is a behavior and mental health professional who brought wisdom, jokes, and practical advice to the Dap Project podcast.

And of course, we talked about dap. You know that feeling of a solid dap? Reynolds says that’s good for the spirit. When Reynold’s closes a session with a client, they dap it up. Yes, get you a therapist who will dap you up! But, unfortunately, it can’t be Phillip because, in his words, “he’s full as a tick.”

Listen to our episode on Apple podcasts and Spotify.

Tag a brother who’s in your corner when you’re going 12 rounds with something challenging

Resilience is using HEALTHY ways to cope with adversity. Gym? Cooking? Watching sports? What’s an outlet to reduce stress, and help you endure the hard stuff?

When we asked saxophonist Marshall Keys about resilience from a musician’s perspective, he had to pause. Playing music has always been a joy, he said, and he could not imagine doing anything else. And playing in Washington, DC, in his early years was especially magical. You could play music every night of the week, and make a living, he told us.

However, he still offered a nuanced discussion about resilience, surviving and thriving as a musician, and the song that brings him joy.

Did Keys also record a song with Chuck Brown, the Godfather of DC’s authentic sound, go-go? Listen to find out.

Listen In! Our book talk on We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin.  Our new favorite New Orleans author evokes a humor packed review of a book that reflects on a world that is far from funny. 

Demelanization, racism, work and family relationships weave themselves together to provide a chilling look at how a tainted sense of self can haunt a family in ways we never imagined.

The intimate Art of Noize art gallery and event space reflects owner Adrian Ferguson’s childhood of Saturday evenings listening to choir practice, aesthetic appreciation for Marvin Gaye’s album covers, and determination to showcase locally created art.

In our ongoing series about resilience, he tells us about his formative years at Morehouse college (despite a naysaying guidance counselor), and the perseverance it took to become a cultural destination in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Listen to the Dap Project on Apple podcasts.

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𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘀’ father, an Alpha, taught him the basic dap when the younger Harris was five years old. This lesson was emblematic of how his father wanted Harris and his siblings to grasp the fundamentals to be set up for success in life.

With that sense of great expectation, Harris attended Alabama A & M University and discovered that the foundation of his father's lesson, and exposure to inequities in America, gave him a critical understanding for the disparities in and around his college town. Alabama A & M had been historically underfunded, and it showed. Harris observed the imparity between A & M and neighboring University of Alabama Huntsville, and he was driven to understand why. The answer became his book, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢'𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭 -- 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.