Are you a knowledge junkie who loves when facts are stranger than fiction? Do you find yourself constantly tripping down Wikipedia rabbit holes (and delighting in the journey)? Have you ever been told you ask a lot of questions? If so, congrats! You’re one of us: a Part-Time Genius! Join Will, Mango, and the team as we scour the globe in search of obscure facts, offbeat locales, and hidden histories. Along the way, we’ll chat with experts, play some games, get in touch with our silly side, a ...
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Concrete Genius Podcasts
Sauce Mackenzie is the voice where street wisdom meets divine purpose. Born in Gary, Indiana, his early recklessness cost him freedom—but also forged the clarity and resilience that define his journey today. What began as struggle became strategy. What began as loss became legacy. Now a family man, author of The Game Changer, entrepreneur, mentor, and host of the Concrete Genius Podcast, Sauce delivers raw truth and powerful insight that inspire both the trenches and the boardrooms. His stor ...
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In 2020 and 2021, the fiction podcast industry was flooded with a crop of young high school and college-age creators, excited to take advantage of the medium’s low barrier to publication and take on producing for the first time. Audio drama veteran and “baby” “genius” Newt Schottelkotte knows how that feels. After starting their first fiction podcast, Inkwyrm, at fifteen, Newt came of age in the industry, and wants to share their tips, trials, and experience with young creators to arm them w ...
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Kevin Stefanski Is Every Bias Coach in America — The Shedeur Sanders Truth
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13:55Send us a text Big Sauce breaks down the truth behind the mistreatment of Shedeur Sanders — and why the outrage from fans, parents, and coaches is soaked in hypocrisy that nobody wants to confront. This isn’t just about the Browns, the NFL, or Kevin Stefanski. This is about AAU coaches, high school coaches, middle school coaches, youth coaches, ADs…
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Why Were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien Frenemies?!
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35:50This year marks the 75th anniversary of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so Will and Mango are climbing into the wardrobe to uncover some seriously surprising stories about author C.S. Lewis. Did you know he was known for his terrible fashion… but also his financial generosity? And that he had a long, complicated frenemy-ship with fellow auth…
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Why Puffy Combs Is The Worse Thing To Ever Happen To Hip Hop
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44:33Send us a text In this episode of the Concrete Genius Podcast, host Big Sauce delves into the controversial life and career of Puffy Combs, exploring his rise in the hip hop industry, the exploitation of artists like Craig Mack, and the impact of his actions on the genre. The conversation highlights the complexities of Puffy's character, his relati…
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Neighborhood Pride, Real Gangster Ethics & Protecting Kids — The Truth Nobody Tells
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45:47Send us a text @ConcreteGeniusPod — Sauce Mackenzie In this episode, Sauce breaks down the truth about neighborhood pride, street codes, childhood trauma, real gangster ethics, and why the hood stopped being a community and turned into chaos. Sauce covers: – What “repping your hood” used to mean – Why today’s hoods don’t protect kids or elders – Th…
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Did a 15-year-old really invent the snowmobile? What was the original use for a Kleenex? How come Eddie Bauer gets zero credit for his genius idea? And what's so special about Greenwood Champion Ear Protectors, anyway? Will and Mango spend a cold winter's day digging into some spectacular seasonal inventions. This episode originally aired on Januar…
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Highways, Crack & Busing: How America Broke Black Families On Purpose
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39:25Send us a text Concrete Genius Podcast | Hosted by Sauce MacKenzie (@concretegeniuspod) In this episode, Sauce walks you straight through the blueprint that broke Black America on purpose — from highways cutting through Black neighborhoods to crack, mass incarceration, and the removal of fathers and discipline from the home. This ain’t a conspiracy…
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9 Door-Busting Facts About Holiday Shopping
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32:22Tis the season for commerce, and Gabe and Mary are standing by with answers to all the questions you didn’t know you had. Like: What was the Tickle Me Elmo of ancient Rome? Why was Black Friday almost called Big Friday? And what happened when FDR messed with Thanksgiving in order to give people more time to shop? (Chaos, that’s what happened.) Plus…
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What Are the Secrets of the World’s Largest Birds?
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35:31Is Florida the birthplace of ostrich racing? Why do male Emperor penguins get an extra stomach flap? And why should you be extra wary of a loose cassowary? Today Mango and Gabe run through some of the world's biggest questions about the world’s biggest birds. This episode originally aired on July 20, 2018. Want an official, numbered, limited editio…
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Taking Risks and Traveling the World, with Tom Freston!
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40:42Tom Freston’s resume is real, but reads like fiction: he served cocktails in the Caribbean, created a fashion brand in India, co-founded MTV, became CEO of Viacom… and after he was unceremoniously fired, he helped launch a TV network in Afghanistan and became an advocate for global health initiatives. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s written an extra…
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Want to know what the Chanel No. 5 of Ancient Egypt smelled like? Or how the interior of Queen Elizabeth's royal car smelled? Or maybe you'd like to experience the fragrance of extinct Hawaiian flowers? In this episode, Will and Mango get nosy about how scientists have been working hard to build a scent library of disappearing smells. This episode …
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Ass Whoopings, Consequences & Why Kids Changed
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18:07Send us a text In this episode of Concrete Genius Pod, Sauce breaks down the viral Alabama story of the “Teacher of the Year” caught whooping her son on camera — and the internet fallout that followed. Sauce digs into the REAL conversation: Should parents still have the right to discipline their kids? Where is the line between discipline and abuse?…
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From Prison to Purpose: Real G on Faith, Freedom & Protecting Our Young Kings
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43:03Send us a text On this episode of Concrete Genius Pod, Sauce sits down with his brother Real G (Terrell) for a raw conversation about God, growth, prison, manhood, and saving young Black boys from throwing their lives away. They start light, talking about how the weed game fell off down South and how legalization up North flipped the market. But th…
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Super Food Science Excellence Trivia Blow Out! with Science Friday
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14:39What a treat! It’s a fact-packed food science trivia game, created in collaboration with our good pals at Science Friday. Mango and SciFri’s Flora Lichtman put one lucky listener to the test with questions about peppers, panda diets, and more, with special prizes on the line. Check out Science Friday, and subscribe to the show wherever you get your…
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Protect Your Kids: Fake Coaches, Non-Profits & the Black Athlete Trap
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47:27Send us a text On this episode of @ConcreteGeniusPod, Sauce Mackenzie goes deep on what it really means to protect your kids in 2025—especially Black boys with athletic gifts. Sauce breaks down how schools, coaches, non-profits and “community leaders” will ignore a Black child who needs help reading, but line up like vultures the moment he’s 6’4”, …
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Why Does New Zealand Have an Official Wizard?
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32:09Everything Will and Mango read about New Zealand made them want to visit! From how Hokey Pokey became the country's favorite ice cream flavor, to why the nation is giving away free gym memberships... to birds, to the reason the coffin clubs are taking off, Will and Mango dig deep into the country's history to discover why New Zealand is so much bet…
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Do Women Like Well-Groomed Men? Masculinity, Hair Units, and Real Grooming Rules
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35:23Send us a text Sauce Mackenzie keeps it all the way real about men, women, and grooming. No performative “internet gender wars”—just grown conversation. We start with why bashing women online is weak, then flip it into a real question for the ladies: do you actually prefer a well-groomed man? And where’s the line? Weekly haircuts, manicures and ped…
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Whether you love fusilli or spaghetti (actually, turns out many of you don’t love spaghetti), today’s episode will whet your appetite… for pasta facts. Join Will and Mango as they discover the rarest noodles on earth, a daring macaroni-powered prison break, and the visionary chef who paved the way for red sauce. Plus: Listeners weigh in on the best…
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Packers Exposed, Kill the Parlays, and Why LeBron’s Legacy Is Bigger Than Hoops
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33:35Send us a text Packers Exposed, Kill the Parlays, and Why LeBron’s Legacy Is Bigger Than Hoops | @ConcreteGeniusPod Description: Concrete Genius Pod — Sauce Mackenzie breaks down everything from Monday Night Football to manhood and mindset. He called it: Eagles 10–7 over the Packers. In this episode, Sauce explains why Green Bay’s window might be c…
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Protect Black Wealth | Browns Rant, Colts, Rams/Seahawks, Caleb Williams, Tyreek
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45:35Send us a text ConcreteGeniusMedia.com | Hosted by Sauce Mackenzie. Today: Why Cleveland must bench Dillon Gabriel and give Shedeur a real shot, why the Colts are quietly for real, why Sean McVay’s Rams and the Seahawks are true NFC threats, and why the Steelers have lost their identity. Plus: defending Caleb Williams from online weirdos, and a har…
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Bryan Crawford: KD in Houston? Knicks with Mike Brown? Real or Mirage. Plus Cavs, Bears & Hip-Hop’s Slide
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1:02:15Send us a text We back—ConcreteGeniusMedia.com. Sauce Mackenzie & NBA writer Bryan Crawford chop it up on who really finishes the season where, why the Cavs still feel “too small,” whether KD to the Rockets hits for real, and if the Knicks can thrive under Mike Brown. We get into the Melo–LeBron–Stephen A dynamic (loyalty vs. business), NFL reality…
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What Did Teddy Roosevelt Do to Dr. Seuss?!
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46:25Today Mango sits down with Erin McCarthy, editor-in-chief of Mental Floss, to talk about our 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt… from whether he really climbed a mountain out of spite, to how a seal inspired his fossil collection, to what made him so darn productive (hint: it helps to drink coffee from a mug the size of a bathtub). Plus, we get into j…
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From the super strange reason Burt Reynolds grew a mustache to why you need to invest in a mustache spoon, Will and Mango chat all things facial topiaries with their good pals Yves and Alex. Special thanks to @doodlynoted on Instagram, whose amazing sketchnotes of this episode made us want to listen to it again! This episode originally aired on Nov…
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Send us a text Support the show 🔗 Follow & Support: 📖 Read the book: https://a.co/d/1tqncVs 🎙️ Podcast: https://concretegenius.buzzsprout.com 📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@concretegeniuspod 📸 Instagram/TikTok: @concretegeniuspod 🐦 X (Twitter): @concretegenius6 🌐 Website: ConcreteGeniusMedia.comBy Sauce Mackenzie
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Exploring Alien Science with Daniel Whiteson!
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38:54What if aliens came to earth… and helped us unlock the mysteries of the universe? That’s the premise of our pal Daniel Whiteson’s new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics?, and today on the show he tells us how thinking through this wacky scenario can tell us a lot about ourselves, our science, and the boundaries of knowledge. Plus: Why sci-fi is just as …
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Veteran NBA Journalist Bryan Crawford on Integrity, Prop Bets & the Future
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21:04Send us a text Host Sauce Mackenzie sits down with veteran NBA writer Bryan Crawford to dig into the dark side of the league: gambling scandals, integrity concerns, prop-bets, and how this affects what we watch. They also break down the rise of the young phenom Victor Wembanyama and whether the San Antonio Spurs are legit Western Conference contend…
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On today's Rec Center, Mango introduces listeners to his pal Matthew Shaer's brand new podcast Origin Stories. If you're someone who misses the Longform podcast, loves to learn about the craft of writing, or just want to hear more from your favorite author and filmmaker, Origin Stories is probably what you've been looking for. On today's episode, M…
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9 Spooky, Ooky Facts About Charles Addams
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30:03We all know the famous family—but what about the man behind them, lurking in the shadows? Mango and Gabe decided to celebrate Halloween by unearthing some weird, delightful, and weirdly delightful stories about cartoonist Charles Addams, from his childhood love of creeping around vacant houses to the unexpected way his TV show made tech history. Wa…
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9 Halloween Facts to Stuff in Your Pillowcases!
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10:13In Iowa, you can't just show up on your neighbor's doorstep with a costume... kids have to work for the treats! Grab your pillowcase, bucket, or plastic pumpkin-shaped pail and join Will, Mango, and Gabe for a very sweet-and-spooky episode to get yourself excited for Halloween This episode originally aired on October 26, 2017. Got a question you’d …
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Being Curious for a Living with Josh & Chuck from Stuff You Should Know
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45:30We’re closing out this week of curiosity with our good pals Josh and Chuck (and super producer Jeri!) from Stuff You Should Know. It’s a wide-ranging, brain-tickling conversation that touches on everything from childhood obsessions to SYSK behind-the-scenes stories to the shocking truth about off-mic personas. Plus: Everyone tries to figure out whi…
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Are We Doomed to Lose Curiosity As We Age?
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32:31Today Will and Mango explore the science of curiosity at different ages: how school can help (or hurt) kids’ curiosity, why middle age may make you less curious, and what we know about babies’ curiosity, even though they can’t fill out questionnaires. Plus: A conversation with a researcher who made a surprising discovery about elderly people, and e…
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Can Pets Be Curious? How About Wild Chimps?
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32:09Today we’re taking a break from human curiosity and turning our attention to other animals. What makes hummingbirds explore different flowers? Are we to blame for rats’ curiosity? Are animals in the wild more or less curious than animals in captivity? And if you were a zebrafish, which would you find more interesting: a white shell or a purple cup?…
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Where did the saying “curiosity killed the cat” come from, and is it just a way for the rich and powerful to oppress everyone else? (Hint: yes.) Today on the show, Will and Mango take a look at curiosity’s checkered history: from the Middle Ages (when it was considered a threat to society) to the 17th century (when it became downright trendy) to to…
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What Does Curiosity Really Do To Our Brains?
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35:10Every day this week, we’re exploring a different aspect of curiosity—you know, the thing that makes you listen to this show. We’re starting off by discovering what happens in our brains when we experience curiosity, why some things make us curious and others don’t, how a lack of novelty can lead to pretty strange behavior, and how all of this ties …
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Mental Reset, Book Drive, NBA West Preview & Giannis Media Smoke | Concrete Genius
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20:33Send us a text ConcreteGeniusMedia.com | It’s Sauce Mackenzie. Took a step back to reset, breathe, and protect my peace—then came back with game for anybody carrying heavy. This one covers mental resets, why men overthink, learning to forgive yourself, and how to unplug to get your edge back. I’m also launching a 2,500-book donation drive for The G…
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Want to know which billionaire speaks Esperanto fluently? Or what country almost adopted Esperanto as its national language? Or why Hitler and Stalin were both afraid of Dr. Esperanto (actually Doktoro Esperanto)? Join Will and Mango as they dive into the incredible world of constructed languages and also discover why William Shatner isn't just the…
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Can Pneumatic Tubes and Robot Sharks Solve Our Garbage Crisis?
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38:59Today Mango and producer Mary are talking trash! Discover how people used to deal with trash (hint: it involved thousands of feral pigs), and why garbology is an actual science that can teach us a lot about ourselves. Plus, we take a look at the most creative modern garbage disposal technologies, from underground tubes to robot sharks to giant anth…
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The Tisa Jay Show PREMIERE | Breaking Glass Ceilings, Love & Boss Moves | Concrete Genius
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50:26Send us a text Premieres Friday, Oct 10 @ 7PM ET — set your reminder! From corporate tech to entrepreneurship, elegance, and resilience—Tisa Jay opens up about breaking glass ceilings, betting on herself, real love, loss, single-mom strength, and building brands (events, formalwear, and The Brides Wine Company). If you’re chasing purpose with class…
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Why Did Venus Flytraps Develop a Taste for Meat?
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35:02From plants that eat rats and frogs, to the strange reason bats curl up in pitcher plants, Will and Mango explore the eerie world of carnivorous plants. This episode originally aired on November 9, 2018. Got a question you’d like us to answer? A rabbit hole you think we should explore? Email [email protected] or leave us a message at (302) 405-5…
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Sheduer Sanders Media Bias, Athlete Confidence & Why Chick-fil-A Might Be Just as Bad as Lean
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15:11Send us a text Feeling good, looking good — back in rhythm. Today I’m breaking down the Sheduer Sanders media coverage, why some athletes get called “confident” while others get labeled “cocky,” and a quick hit on health, Chick-fil-A, and habits that hold us back. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you think Sheduer is being judged unfairly? Su…
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We all know which day Garfield hates. But what’s the best day to avoid a bank robbery? And when can you get the freshest sushi? And why are there seven days in a week, anyway? Will and Mango dive into your calendars, and emerge with some pretty surprising answers. Featuring author Melissa Heckscher. This episode originally aired on August 25, 2017.…
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Nicki vs Cardi B Saddest Day in NYC Hip Hop Since Biggie Died...
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24:25Send us a text "Saddest day in NYC Hip Hop since Biggie died." New York used to be the mecca of hip hop — Nas, Hov, 50, Wu-Tang, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, DMX, The LOX, Dipset. But now? Headlines are driven by Cardi B vs. Nicki Minaj gossip, not bars, not originality. Sauce Mackenzie breaks down why this moment feels like the final nail in the coffin …
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Millions of readers have been captivated by the adventures of Tintin, a swoopy-haired young journalist who races around the world with his little dog, Snowy. But it turns out the story behind the stories is just as interesting! Today Mango and Gabe bring you part one of our two-part dive into all things Tintin. We’ll meet the failed characters who …
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Why We Hate Each Other: Phones, Pride & The Collapse of Black Courtesy
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22:33Send us a text ConcreteGeniusMedia.com — it’s your boy Sauce McKenzie (ConcreteGeniusPod). In this episode I break down something that’s been eating at me: why black people have gotten so mean to each other — from customer service and the block to social media and our own music. I lay out the real causes (integration, the music industry shift, and …
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Why Our Kids Are the Target | Crime & Culture Hypocrisy- Concrete Genius Pod
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33:14Send us a text The FBI is shifting focus toward charging juveniles—especially poor and minority kids—with federal crimes that can ruin their future. At the same time, America glamorizes crime for entertainment while criminalizing poverty. In this episode of the Concrete Genius Podcast, Sauce Mackenzie breaks down: Why federal juvenile charges are a…
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9 Facts to Get You in the Apple-Picking Mood
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14:35Which apple could also be a hair metal band? Why is New York City the Big Apple and not the New Orange? And how did Japanese farmers figure out the secret to the biggest, sweetest apples in the world? Grab a flannel shirt and a bag of fresh cider doughnuts, because today Will and Mango are taking you apple-fact picking! This episode originally aire…
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Loss, Lessons & Legacy: Black Men, Health, and Healing in America
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41:08Send us a text On this episode of the Concrete Genius Podcast, Sauce McKenzie opens up about losing his cousin Denise and what that loss means for family, love, and perspective. He shares raw lessons on: Grieving while carrying the weight of leadership as a Black man The importance of men’s health: prostate checks, colon exams, blood pressure, A1C …
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There are lots of ways we could tell you about the art of secret messaging: we could waggle a blanket, grab a bucket of gallnuts and iron supplements, flutter our fans, or tattoo some information on a hapless intern’s scalp. But that’s pretty complicated, so Mango and Gabe made a podcast about it instead. Got a question you’d like us to answer? A r…
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How did the Mona Lisa get so famous? Why doesn't she have any eyebrows? And why was Picasso investigated for the painting's theft? Today, Will and Mango go deep on the mysterious beauty and discover what—and who!—is behind that sly smile. This episode originally aired on May 30, 2024. Got a question you’d like us to answer? A rabbit hole you think …
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Prison Pipeline Alert: Why Black Kids Are at Risk Right Now
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7:13Send us a text 7 minutes worth of game ⏳ … The FBI + local police locking in on Black youth. These prison beds gotta be filled. Parents, protect your kids before the system swallows them whole. Stop ignoring the signs, stop giving ‘em free weekends, stop letting social media raise ‘em. This is bigger than crime—it’s economics, politics, and surviva…
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