At the peak of her musical career, Dawn Richard lost her city. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the New Orleans-born artist traces where she comes from: born and raised in the Ninth Ward, daughter of a Creole mother from New Iberia and a father who fronted the Allen Toussaint-produced funk band Chocolate Milk, parents who met at 14 and 15 and have been together ever since.

Dawn opens up about being her dad's after-school roadie while he played every wedding and funeral in New Orleans; the blue-haired punk kid raised by strict Catholic schoolteachers; turning down a softball scholarship and marine biology to stay and sing; hustling her way onto an NBA dance team just to sing the national anthem; the $200 gamble that got her from a roach motel in Orlando to Making the Band; and Katrina, the storm that took the family's home, her father's baby grand, and every Thanksgiving since, but not the thing underneath. 

Guest: Dawn Richard
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island 

00:00 "I lost my city"
01:09 Ninth Ward born and raised
02:26 The golden child & the punk kid
03:39 Her father, Allen Toussaint & Chocolate Milk
05:11 Her dad's roadie
08:09 A standing ovation & the fork in the road
09:22 The NBA anthem hustle
10:57 Idol, Making the Band & leaving home
19:33 Katrina: losing everything
21:30 "We fight": what family means

-

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

At the peak of her musical career, Dawn Richard lost her city. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the New Orleans-born artist traces where she comes from: born and raised in the Ninth Ward, daughter of a Creole mother from New Iberia and a father who fronted the Allen Toussaint-produced funk band Chocolate Milk, parents who met at 14 and 15 and have been together ever since.
Dawn opens up about being her dad's after-school roadie while he played every wedding and funeral in New Orleans; the blue-haired punk kid raised by strict Catholic schoolteachers; turning down a softball scholarship and marine biology to stay and sing; hustling her way onto an NBA dance team just to sing the national anthem; the $200 gamble that got her from a roach motel in Orlando to Making the Band; and Katrina, the storm that took the family's home, her father's baby grand, and every Thanksgiving since, but not the thing underneath.&nbsp;
Guest: Dawn Richard Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island&nbsp;
00:00 "I lost my city" 01:09 Ninth Ward born and raised 02:26 The golden child &amp; the punk kid 03:39 Her father, Allen Toussaint &amp; Chocolate Milk 05:11 Her dad's roadie 08:09 A standing ovation &amp; the fork in the road 09:22 The NBA anthem hustle 10:57 Idol, Making the Band &amp; leaving home 19:33 Katrina: losing everything 21:30 "We fight": what family means
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Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.

In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.

Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?

Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.

The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.
In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.
Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?
Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.
The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

Identified with Nabil Ayers

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.
In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.
Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?
Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.
The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

Dawn Richard on How New Orleans Taught Her to Fight.

Chad Clark's father was Martin Luther King's lawyer, a man who, as Chad puts it, "changed the 20th century." 

On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy musician talks about what it means to make art in the shadow of that kind of legacy, including the thing he rarely says out loud: he never shared his music with his dad.

Guest: Chad Clark
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Produer: Kieron Banerji

00:00 "My dad changed the 20th century"
00:34 MLK's lawyer, the atheist & the reverend
02:57 Why he never shared his music with his dad
03:42 "I was shot at there once"
04:52 The Carter years
06:57 Harlem, Philly & the family line
09:42 A New York childhood
12:03 Arlington, and a hard first
13:36 The questions he'd ask his father now
16:42 "Songwriting equals girls"
17:54 Dischord, Ian MacKaye & the privileged-punk verdict

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Read more about Nabil:
➡️ https://www.nabilayers.com/

Chad Clark's father was Martin Luther King's lawyer, a man who, as Chad puts it, "changed the 20th century."&nbsp;
On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy musician talks about what it means to make art in the shadow of that kind of legacy, including the thing he rarely says out loud: he never shared his music with his dad.
Guest: Chad Clark Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Produer: Kieron Banerji
00:00 "My dad changed the 20th century" 00:34 MLK's lawyer, the atheist &amp; the reverend 02:57 Why he never shared his music with his dad 03:42 "I was shot at there once" 04:52 The Carter years 06:57 Harlem, Philly &amp; the family line 09:42 A New York childhood 12:03 Arlington, and a hard first 13:36 The questions he'd ask his father now 16:42 "Songwriting equals girls" 17:54 Dischord, Ian MacKaye &amp; the privileged-punk verdict
Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.
Read more about Nabil: ➡️ https://www.nabilayers.com/

Chad Clark | What I Learned From My Father’s Role With Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter

Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups doesn't believe in perfect families, just ones where you feel safe and loved. Everything else, he says, is colouring. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, he traces where that idea comes from: a childhood in Los Angeles shadowed by his mother's brain tumour, she was given six months in 1980, and lived sixteen more years, and summers in Kailua, Hawaii, inside a sprawling "calabash" family where nobody's quite sure who's actually related.

Along the way: the grandfather who drove around Kailua with "Pearl Harbor Survivor 19" on his car, the great-grandmother with hidden whiskey bottles and four husbands, an engineer father "fascinated and terrified" watching his son on stage, the son who draws the band's merch and sleeps through their sets, and why, for a man who performs for a living, family is the one place you shouldn't have to.

Guest: Brian Aubert (Silversun Pickups)
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Creative Agency: Palm Tree Island
 
-

Check out our Podcast:
➡️https://linktr.ee/identifiedpodcast

-

00:00 The myth of the perfect family
01:33 "Safe enough to be a jerk"
02:30 His mom: given six months, lived sixteen years
04:18 Two sets of grandparents, best friends
05:36 Pearl Harbor Survivor #19
06:54 Gran-Nana Leah & the hidden whiskey
08:24 A math man watches his son on stage
09:41 Nico, the band's youngest artist
14:27 Hawaii: island fever & calabash family
20:18 A place where you don't have to perform

-

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Read more about Nabil:
➡️https://www.nabilayers.com/

Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups doesn't believe in perfect families, just ones where you feel safe and loved. Everything else, he says, is colouring. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, he traces where that idea comes from: a childhood in Los Angeles shadowed by his mother's brain tumour, she was given six months in 1980, and lived sixteen more years, and summers in Kailua, Hawaii, inside a sprawling "calabash" family where nobody's quite sure who's actually related.
Along the way: the grandfather who drove around Kailua with "Pearl Harbor Survivor 19" on his car, the great-grandmother with hidden whiskey bottles and four husbands, an engineer father "fascinated and terrified" watching his son on stage, the son who draws the band's merch and sleeps through their sets, and why, for a man who performs for a living, family is the one place you shouldn't have to.
Guest: Brian Aubert (Silversun Pickups) Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Creative Agency: Palm Tree Island &nbsp; -
Check out our Podcast: ➡️https://linktr.ee/identifiedpodcast
-
00:00 The myth of the perfect family 01:33 "Safe enough to be a jerk" 02:30 His mom: given six months, lived sixteen years 04:18 Two sets of grandparents, best friends 05:36 Pearl Harbor Survivor #19 06:54 Gran-Nana Leah &amp; the hidden whiskey 08:24 A math man watches his son on stage 09:41 Nico, the band's youngest artist 14:27 Hawaii: island fever &amp; calabash family 20:18 A place where you don't have to perform
-
Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.
Read more about Nabil: ➡️https://www.nabilayers.com/

Silversun Pickups' Brian Aubert: "Family Is Where You Don't Have to Perform"

Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors never meant to be in a band together. They were two brothers making music separately in the same house, until Casey started sneaking downstairs to jam with Sam's band. 

On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, they trace how brotherhood became the band.

This is a conversation about family as both anchor and choice: growing up in a small upstate New York college town with a film-publicist dad away on sets for months at a time; the acrimonious split their parents hid from them; Sam growing up fast, partly because Casey, the older brother, is visually impaired, and Casey wondering whether they'd be as close if he could see; the raw recent moment of facing their father's mortality; and why being brothers is exactly what keeps the band from breaking up: "we fight, and then we still go on stage together."

Guests: Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors 
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island.

-

00:00 Anchors: why family is why they play
01:34 Brothers, 20 months apart
02:42 Growing up fast
07:03 A father on film sets, months away
09:00 The split — and staying a phone call away
14:06 Facing a parent's mortality
17:36 Nabil on meeting his own father
19:12 The band they never meant to start
25:15 Fighting, choosing, staying brothers
29:36 What is family to you?

-

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors never meant to be in a band together. They were two brothers making music separately in the same house, until Casey started sneaking downstairs to jam with Sam's band.&nbsp;
On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, they trace how brotherhood became the band.
This is a conversation about family as both anchor and choice: growing up in a small upstate New York college town with a film-publicist dad away on sets for months at a time; the acrimonious split their parents hid from them; Sam growing up fast, partly because Casey, the older brother, is visually impaired, and Casey wondering whether they'd be as close if he could see; the raw recent moment of facing their father's mortality; and why being brothers is exactly what keeps the band from breaking up: "we fight, and then we still go on stage together."
Guests: Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors&nbsp; Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island.
-
00:00 Anchors: why family is why they play 01:34 Brothers, 20 months apart 02:42 Growing up fast 07:03 A father on film sets, months away 09:00 The split &mdash; and staying a phone call away 14:06 Facing a parent's mortality 17:36 Nabil on meeting his own father 19:12 The band they never meant to start 25:15 Fighting, choosing, staying brothers 29:36 What is family to you?
-
Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.

Dawn Richard on How New Orleans Taught Her to Fight.

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