My favorite new podcast, and possibly my new favorite podcast.
Once a week, TKO, K-Badd, and Basa have a round table discussion on American sports, popular culture, and societal issues...from a Black perspective. For those not fully immersed in world of sports, the hosts inject enough humor to keep that particular section of the podcast entertaining. The rest of podcast is open season, and everyone from Toure to Pitchfork has felt the Fiya in past episodes.
Co-host Basa took a moment to speak with me, and provides a brief rundown on the podcast and the FiyaStarter crew.
---
Boothe: Before posting the first episode, the blog was in a period of inactivity. When did you guys decide on trying the podcast format?
Basa: We'd been kicking around the idea of a podcast for years, even while we were regularly filling the blog with new content. The podcast is just the natural evolution of Fiyastarter. The response we received for the things we did with the blog gave us the confidence to reveal our actual personalities and comedic sensibilities on the podcast and not just hide behind the characters we created for the blog. However, Basa, TKO and K-Badd could also be considered characters in a sense.
The chemistry between you, TKO and K-Badd is very strong. How long have you known each other?
TKO and I met at Howard University in Fall of 1995 and quickly bonded over our love for Seinfeld, Craig Kilborn, Madden, NBA Live and our complete and utter disdain for Cheese Eyes (Michael Jordan). To that point in my life, I hadn't met too many other young black men who'd never owned a pair of Cheese Boots (Jordans).
I think I met K-Badd at our boy Gooch's (I met Gooch through TKO, as they roomed at Howard) spot sometime in the late-90s. Or it could've been an HU Homecoming event. But, K-Badd and I clicked over socio-political issues. I remember commiserating with him about our shared disgust for the willing tools of the conservative agenda, such as Armstrong Williams and Larry Elder.
The coverage and knowledge of sports here is pretty in-depth. Between seasons of MLB11: The Show and horrible double dates, where do you find the time to keep up with it all?
I think we do a good job of keeping each other informed. Before Fiyastarter even existed, we would all send each other links to every bit of minutiae we could find about sports and the entertainment industry. Between every one in our circle, there's not much we're going to miss.
 |
| Don't you ever forget... |
Speaking for myself, I have never been a Bullets/Wizards fan and my love for the Redskins faded after they let Art Monk go, who was pretty much the first athlete I idolized. Things had already gone left when they treated Doug Williams like dirt after he'd won that Super Bowl, but don't fuck with Art Monk! That man is all class. And everyone knows I don't mess with the college teams. I've been a Duke basketball fan since I can remember liking basketball, and that's all about Johnny Dawkins.
TKO is originally from NYC and he could never shake the Giants. And he's a Laker and UNC b-ball fan because of his uncle's influence.
K-Badd is a classic DMV dude who loves all the local teams and we love him for it, because his misery can always be mined for non-stop comedy.
 |
| He's almost made PG Warz a non issue. |
Rookie rankings. Power rankings. Allen Iverson Award (given to the player who contributes most to his team's loss by shooting too much or turning the ball over). Bamma Big Man of the week. TYRUS! PG Warz. The Calvin Murphy FT% watch. And much more. We think of stuff on the fly a lot...obviously.
The 'Single Black Woman Put on Notice' segment might be the most controversial part of the show. What has the reaction been like?
TKO should answer this.
TKO: People seem to have strong opinions one way or another, which is the purpose of the segment; to get a dialogue going through reaction. If a woman or a man, for that matter disagree, which has happened on the show, the dialogue helps people begin to understand different perspectives on a given topic. Nothing is too big or small, because everyone has their own pet peeves that may be deal benders or breakers...and on top of all that, if it provides some amusement, wonderful.
Single Black Woman Put On Notice clip
Black Walnut was the gift that kept on giving to this podcast. How disappointed were you in his decision to end his campaign?
 |
| ... |
It was a huge blow, because he was the lynch pin to our final segment. So, we were totally disappointed in his decision to call off his campaign. But, it's not a total disaster. He's now starting to hit the cable news show circuit and he's set to give his endorsement, so the comedy will not stop with B-Nut.
For the uninitiated, can you briefly define the following?
Goon Running Back:
A RB with very limited skills and gets by on brute strength and giving maximum effort on every play.
Tank:
When someone says something that sounds as if it could be correct, but upon further investigation is incredibly wrong and stupid. As you may know, Tankings was born when I incorrectly identified "Gangsta Bitch" hit-maker Apache as Cherokee.
Cyse:
A cyse is when someone exaggerates something. It can be good or bad, but mostly bad.
Final words or any agendas new listeners should be aware of?
If you like what you hear, please keep spreading the word. If you don't like what you hear, please keep spreading the word. We started Fiyastarter because we are regular black dudes and we felt there wasn't enough stuff out there appealing to "regular niggas" ("regular niggas like us" is how we actually identified who we wanted to appeal to when we started Fiyastarter). We aren't nerds...or hipsters...hardcore gamers...super-duper hip-hop heads..."conscience" brothers...we're just regular. We have fans from all of those subcultures, but we exist primarily to entertain the regular brothers who go to work, come home, take care of their families and stay outta trouble.
---
Warning: Repeated podcast listening will increase your usage of the words "young" and "dawg"
Follow FiyaStarter: Blog | Twitter
