ENTRY POINTS with Arthur Turnbull

Scoop Jackson has had a remarkable career spanning over 30 years as a professional journalist, primarily focusing on music and sports. His byline has appeared in Slam, XXL, Wax Poetics, Vibe, and The Source magazines, as well as several projects with ESPN. Currently, he serves as the president of his production company Strong Island Media based in Chicago, where his journey has taken him through various platforms, including magazines, television, and books including The Game Is Not A Game (available from Haymarket Books): https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1409-the-game-is-not-a-game PRODUCTION NOTE When I started Entry Points several years ago, I recorded and released 12 episodes before I stopped and eventually withdrew them all from publication. As I decided to resume the podcast, one episode particularly stood out as one of my favorite conversations among several wonderful guests who took the time to sit with me. I hope you enjoy this “classic” episode of Entry Points from the original series in 2017, featuring my guest and friend, Scoop Jackson.Special Guest: Scoop Jackson.

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Troy Gua is passionately creative: a self-taught artist, designer, maker, and tinkerer, continuously cultivating a prolific output of smart, bold work in a diverse range of media, produced with wit and a crisp visual aesthetic. His art invites viewers to take a closer look, below the surface, into themselves and outside to others, with empathy and understanding rather than judgment. His most famous work is Le Petit Prince (also known as LPP), which is an ongoing series of detailed and meticulously staged photographs — a surreal reimagining, in sculptural miniature and in chronological order, of the life and career of Prince. A single figurine, LPP is a constantly evolving one-of-a-kind sculpture with countless hand-crafted outfits, props and a selection of facial expressions (heads), that serves as the subject of the photographs. The project is long and storied and has become beloved to many in the Prince fan community.Special Guest: Troy Gua.

De Angela Duff is an Associate Vice Provost at New York University and Industry Professor in Integrated Design & Media at NYU Tandon in Brooklyn, New York. She organizes and leads conferences and workshops on generative AI for teaching and learning in higher education. She also curates music symposia and has conducted more than a dozen of in-person and virtual events that focus on the artist Prince. In addition, Duff produces and co-hosts What Did Prince Do This Week?, a weekly online book club series on her "polished solid" YouTube channel.Special Guest: De Angela Duff.

Jason Orr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, arts curator, and festival producer. Notably, he is the founder of FunkJazz Kafé Arts & Music Festival, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia. As such, Jason received a proclamation from the City of Atlanta in 2014 for his contributions to the city’s music, film, and cultural arts communities; and he made a documentary about his own creation, titled “FunkJazz Kafé: Diary Of A Decade”. And speaking of film, he is also a producer of “Maynard”; the documentary on former Atlanta mayor and visionary, Maynard Jackson. Jason is a fascinating individual, whose story is uniquely Atlanta. A person who has used his talents to both produce his vision and benefit his community.Special Guest: Jason Orr.

Miles Marshall Lewis is a cultural critic, journalist, and author of several books, the most recent being “Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar”. A former editor at Vibe and XXL magazines, his articles have been published by GQ, Essence, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. We recently spent time discussing his path to journalism, leaving New York City to live in Paris for several years, and his unexpected interview with Prince that led to an Ebony magazine cover story in 2015. Because Miles and I are close in age, our talk begins with a subject that’s close to both our hearts: hip-hop. Which is a good thing, because as of August 5th 2024, he became the Cultural Historian for The Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx, opening in 2025.Special Guest: Miles Marshall Lewis.