Putting Black Voices Into History — Texas Trio Shakes Up the Podcast Game With Gentlemen’s History Hour

The minute Jay “Savvi” Fowler sets off a loud clap, the hosts of Gentlemen’s History Hour immediately get into it. Surrounded by mics and iPhones on tripods in Fowler’s Houston apartment, Eric Blaylock and Robert J. Mayberry IV — known on the podcast as “EQuality” and “Rob Jay 10x” — start a conversation.

On this particular occasion, they begin talking about Black masculinity and how contemporary brothas don’t seem to have the internal strength their forefathers once had. Mayberry is the most vocal of the pair, going off on such topics as how the Black Lives Matter movement pales in comparison to the movements that were being spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panthers back in the day.

Blaylock, on the other hand, comes in with a Zen-like cool, occasionally pondering questions like why can’t anyone on social media simply say, “I don’t know.” Every now and then, Fowler will chime in from the sidelines.

While an Gentlemen’s History Hour episode usually lasts around 30 minutes, this trio is out to do a show where they break down the current state of African-American culture in a quick, informative, non-gossipy manner. For Blaylock, Hour isn’t like other Black-themed podcasts that spill the tea on “relationships, celebrity gossip and celebrity gossip on relationships.”

It’s where two men sip bourbon and get into weighty discussions on Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Huey P. Newton.

“If we sit here and talk about hip-hop, we can break that down and talk about the music and lyrics and all of that — but (also) that vast knowledge of history on the shoulders of the ancestors we stand on,” the 41-year-old Blaylock says. “We feel like it’s really our contributions to say, hey, we’re not taking any of that for granted.

“We don’t wanna grow up in a world 50 years from now and some stuff has been erased and the content that’s available is what I just named.”

The podcast originally began as just the three of them unrecorded, shooting the breeze after work at some downtown Houston bar. They soon would invite other people to join in the discussion.

“It just became an ongoing conversation of sharing notes about Black history,” the 37-year-old Mayberry says. “And that’s when, you know, it was kinda like we already had the Gentlemen’s Happy Hour. So, we kinda evolved it into the Gentlemen’s History Hour.”

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for them to have the post-work bull sessions they used to have. Eventually, they decided to take it online.

“Savv already kind of had a vision for creating content, like a podcast network,” Mayberry says. “So, it was just kind of a natural fit.”

Gentlemen’s History Hour isn’t a program filled with pro-masculine, misogyny. Dropping episodes weekly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, Hour also welcomes women to jump in on the conversation.

“We don’t wanna apologize for our masculinity,” Blaylock says. “And I don’t wanna think that it’s chauvinistic because I wanna hang out and sip bourbon. Because we have women that we include in the happy hour as well, and the women that come around for the happy hour, we’ll say the same thing in front of them.

“And they respect us as guys that they know that we’ll do anything for them. We’ll protect them. We’re not the guy that’s trying to be saying that he loves Black women on social media, but secretly doesn’t.”

“It’s not a show for the fellas,” Mayberry adds. “It’s a show for Black people.”

Music Men

Blaylock and Fowler are also part of the hip-hop/soul trio The HUE with Alycia Miles. Considering that the group hasn’t dropped any tunes since the Georgia Anne Muldrow-produced single “Own It (Hunnid)” in 2019 (which is supposed to be on their next forthcoming EP Colored City), will Gentlemen’s History Hour get in the way of them working on new music?

“Right now, I don’t think there’s a need for us musically,” the 42-year-old Fowler says. “I think the voice that’s needed from us right now is kind of what we’re providing with Gentlemen’s History Hour. We have plenty of content that people can go to for the music we’ve created or whatever.

“So I think, you know, this perspective is gonna actually kind of help, kind of propel what we do next on the musical horizon.”

At the moment, these guys are just hitting the web with Hour, sipping whiskey and trying to enlighten and inform people.

“Just get in the ride and ride with us, man,” Blaylock says. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to take the journey with us, man.”

“That’s a good parting note,” Fowler jumps in.

Adds Blaylock, laughing, “And it ain’t gonna scare white people.”