The Black British English Podcast
Episodes
A Black Man was Recalled to a UK Prison for saying “My Nigga” ! Linguistic Injustice ⚖️🇬🇧 (PART 1)
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this powerful and timely episode, I take you inside one of the many legal cases I have acted on where Black languages practices have been criminali...
Why Gatekeeping the AAVE Term “Fed” Is Counter-Revolutionary
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unpack why gatekeeping the AAVE term “fed” when used between Black people across the diaspora is not revolutionary, but counte...
🎙️ Clock It 🤏🏾🤏🏾🤏🏾: Black/Ballroom Expression in Sign Language 🖐🏾
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From ballroom culture to Yoruba sign language, Black expression is all about movement, rhythm, and style. In this episode, we explore how Clock It and...
Code-Switching Is Political
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Code-switching isn’t just a habit; it’s a response to racial power. In this episode, we call out the denial of the “white voice,” explore how ...
White People Don’t Get to Police Our Languages! ✋🏾🗣️🔥
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Black language, Black rules. 🖤🔥💬 In this episode, I call out white commentary policing our words, dismantle the idea that the academy gets to...
What Makes Black British Words So Popular in South Africa? 🔥🇿🇦
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when South Africans start dropping “Mandem” and “calm” the moment they find out you’re from London? Join me as I recount my exp...
🎭📱 “Digital Blackface 2.0: Stop Sharing Those AI ‘Roadman in Parliament’ Videos”
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Black British English is a language full of cultural rhythm shaped by generations of Caribbean and African influence. Yet on TikTok, it’s being copi...
Assata Shakur’s Rejection of Her European Name & Language Justice
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
By rejecting her Eurocentric name, Assata reclaimed the right to self-definition on her own terms and in ancestral languages. • “Assata” (Swahil...
🇳🇬 Pidgin Na Full Language & Owambe vs Owanbe 🎉🍾”
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🎙️ Episode Explainer (English):In this episode, we dive deep to show that Pidgin English isn’t “half a language” at all, it stands strong 💪...
🚫 Stop Explaining Black Words Online 📱 London’s 6 Black Accents 🔊
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Black British English, AAVE, Pidgin, Creoles and Patwa are not trends. Yet online, every word, phrase, and term gets packaged into a TikTok explainer ...
Rolling Ray Changed the Way We Talk… and Why I’m Learning Haitian 🇭🇹Creole
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I reflect on the cultural impact of Rolling Ray and the unique ways he influenced African American Vernacular English. Since his passi...
Our Languages, Our Legacy: International Day for People of African Descent 🇲🇶🇰🇳🇧🇫🇬🇭🇳🇬🇯🇲
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🌍✨ Join us as we celebrate International Day for People of African Descent by diving into the incredible world of Creole languages and the cultur...
Carnival Is Resistance: Soca, Creole, and the Politics of Joy at Notting Hill
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, I found myself dancing to soca from Antigua 🇦🇬and without even meaning to, I started picking up words and phrases in Antiguan Creole....
❤️🖤💚 Do For Self 2.0: Marcus Garvey’s Vision in Creole & Digital Spaces
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Garvey told us: “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.”But what does that destiny look like in 2025 in the age of TikTok, Instagram, and global Cr...
Asake, Yoruba, and the Lingering Legacy of Colonial Language Control
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I dive into the recent backlash against Nigerian artist Asake for using Yoruba on his Gunna feature and why the anger reveals somethi...
Black Language, white systems: How schools police Black speech !!
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do a courtroom in 1979 Michigan and a government report in 1985 Britain have in common? The answer: Black language, and the systems that tried to...
Is Black British English a form of Time Travel via Afrofuturism?⏳
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to speak the future while carrying the past? In this episode, we dive into Black British English as an Afrofuturist language, one sh...
The Diaspora Loved It 🇯🇲🇸🇷🇸🇱 Nigerians Dragged Me Over Sabi & Pikini 🤓
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if Jamaican Patwa and West African Pidgin aren’t broken English but living African languages? After my viral interview with Professor Hubert ...
🇳🇬God Forbid Challenge : Why This Trend is Not Non-Black People’s Portion
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast episode, I talk about all things wrong with non-Black people jumping aboard and on the “God Forbid Challenge” currently trending o...
Reflections on my trip to the Jamaican Language Unit
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is all about my visit to the Jamaican Language Unit (JLU) at the University of the West Indies, Mona—and trust me, it was a beautiful e...
Anti-Black Linguistic Racism
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I explore the meaning of this term coined by Dr April Baker Bell and explore the ways in which we see this type of linguistic racism ...
Can UK Slang be a Language?
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join your host Black Language Researcher Ife Thompson as she explores what makes something a “slang” and if what is called “UK Slang” meets th...
The Black British English Podcast (Trailer)
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas