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December 9, 2019 29 mins

The two competing parts of George’s brain - contentment and ambition - battle it out. George looks at how black creativity shapes trends through music to fashion and beyond.

Written by George The Poet. Produced by Benbrick & George The Poet. Original music by Benbrick.

Featured songs: Didn’t Cha Know by Erykah Badu, 1,2,1,2 by George The Poet, Scribble Paper by Little Dragon, Real N****** (feat. Cam’ron, Jimmy Jones & Juelz Santana) by The Diplomats, Ambition (feat. Meek Mill & Rick Ross) by Wale

Featured guests: Ty Logan as Benji, Arnold Jorge as Damario, Young Talented Individuals, Hussain Manawer (presenting the Best Arts & Culture award at The British Podcast Awards 2019), Patrin, Andrew Bell, Tyra Mai, Tasneim Zyada, and Kenny Mpanga.

Thank you to CJ Obi and everybody who attended my meeting to discuss the future of St Raph’s, Matthew Walker and Penguin for allowing us to use elements from the book Why We Sleep, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson for writing the book Why Nations Fail, and Peter Gregson for his cello performance.

Clips taken from the BBC Archive: BBC News October 28th 2019 Brexit delay agreed as MP’s vote again on an election & EU agrees Brexit extension to 31 January.

Have You Heard George’s Podcast? is a George the Poet production for BBC Sounds.

Commissioning Executive for BBC: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor for BBC: Jason Phipps

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