The Midnight Miracle

The Midnight Miracle's promo video appeared on my IG feed. It is a podcast hosted by Dave Chappelle, yasiin bey, Talib Kweli and friends. I immediately smiled because I love these three gentleman for various reasons. I listened to the trailer and cackled at Dave’s account of a time he had gotten high off ‘shrooms while maneuvering his way around New York City. The story was told over the jazz stylings of Robert Glasper who melodically retells Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk. Glasper is a melodic griot and Dave is an impeccable storyteller. My ears were blessed. Dave ends his storytelling of that high day by sharing that a picture of him and his wife from that day, years ago, was mailed to him and it brought back so many memories. “I'm trying to tell you, any time we get together we never know if it's going to be the time that we'll make the memory that we never forget,” said Dave. “Welcome to The Midnight Miracle,” he says with that smokey warmth in his voice. Then in pops horns, drum roll, rest, repeat, crescendo, and a yell, “Ahhhhhh!” 4 worth it minutes spent on social media, I must say. I saved the trailer to wherever posts on IG go while mental noting that I would return and listen to other episodes later.

A couple days had passed and I knew I’d be driving in the car by myself so it was the perfect time to catch up on podcasts I’d missed. I remembered The Midnight Miracle and went searching for it. The Midnight Miracle could only be found on Luminary. I had an Apple user entitlement moment I must admit. I went ahead and downloaded the Luminary app and saw that there was a 7 day free trial. After the trial there are yearly or monthly payment options. “Lawd, not another streaming service payment,” I wallowed. Anyway, I deemed subscribing worth it because as a creative I crave inspiration. I knew it would be worth it. I wasn’t wrong. 

I got  all cued up and headed out to the car free and clear of the cicada war zone. 

Pressed play. 

There's a short clip with yasiin bey praying over an engineered pipe organ. Let me just pause here because those who know me know that I love yasiin. Adore! I’m talking packing up and moving to South Africa to live with him...in my dreams. Crushing on the intellectual Black man hard. Don’t box me in as a fan girl, ok? I'd like to think of myself as more of an energy believer.

"To the one who has created the all" he prays “you know us better than we know ourselves and we know ourselves better than others know or pretend to know us. So, pardon us for our shortcomings whether they be known or unknown. Make us better than whatever they say. And do not make us responsible for whatever they say. Amen.” Prayer is the only thing really getting me through these days. The consistency of prayer as practice has always been inspirational to me. I couldn't think of any better way to start a podcast.

The Midnight Miracle so far has 4 released episodes. 2 episodes were released May 11, 2021 and the other 2 on May 25, 2021. The episodes are labeled Side A and Side B. I read in an okayplayer article that Dave plans to release the podcast on vinyl so this makes perfect sense. The episode even starts with the sound of a vinyl record spinning against a record player needle. At the start of the first episode, How to Inspire (Side A) which you can listen to for free, Dave begins reciting in Arabic a Quranic command which he translates in English as meaning, “we all come from god and to god we all will return.” He goes on to pose the question, “how do you keep a despondent person alive?” yasiin discusses his friendship with Amy Winehouse who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. Dave discusses his interactions with Robin Williams who committed suicide 2014. They all discuss the recent death of founding Roots member Malik B. The friends on this episode, Radio Rahim, Mo Amer, Chris Rock, Donnell Rawlings, Jarobi White, and Questlove all chimed in. The hosts don’t necessarily claim to have the answer to the question but listeners are left with Dave’s call to action, “I don’t know how to inspire anyone to live...just live," he encourages. The call to action is echoed by a clip of Stevie Wonder singing, “when you feel your life’s too hard gone head have a talk with God.” I drove down F Street crying. I feel for those who struggle with depression enough to succumb to their suicidal ideations. As a person who finds myself captured by depression at times it’s also scary. There’s also the burden of an empath which many creatives carry that many do not understand. Life is hard and can be lonely in a room full of people.  The act of living in a world of nouns...soul draining. So I don’t have an answer to Dave’s question either. But the hope for me is found in the luxury of prayer. I say luxury because we are all able to bow our heads to whatever our belief is and surrender our deepest woes and desires. yasiin’s prayer reminded me that praying in its purest state can get you to the next day even if you are hanging on by a thread. 100% prayer no additives. How humanity should pray for ourselves, each other, and our world, coupled with a large side of therapy.

Gladiator Circus World (Side B) puts listeners on high alert through an orchestrated soundscape with an alarm clock sound effect, angry crowds chanting, and an audio clip of 45 telling the good ole boys how loved and special they are and to fight. We all lived through that. Won’t ever forget it. The President of the United States inciting a race war. yasiin terms it as a “gladiator f*ckn circus.” Talib talks about using his platform to go toe to toe with racist hate mongers on Twitter. Hilariously, Dave calls Talib a “racism sommelier.” Clips of Alex Jones talking about eating his neighbors and Rush Limbaugh's moronic statements are discussed with friends, Questlove, Radio Rahim, Lamorne Morris, and Jon Hamm who all chime in. yasiin closes out the episode with a call to action for listeners to be “committed and vigilant to being beautiful and sincere in whatever way that you can” accompanied with music by Black Star.

It’s the creatives who are saving the world. We see it everyday. I’m grateful that these men knew their assignment and gifted us with one of if not the best podcasts of the century. Full of everything that makes our culture beautiful.

The newest episodes are out. Go listen! Let’s discuss! Hit me up!