Detroit: The City That Made Us

Childhood Memories and Detroit's Impact

Leaving Detroit: Guilt and Determination

Rick James and the Motown Experience

Balancing Detroit Roots with LA Success

Crazy Stories from Detroit and LA

Embracing Your Hometown Legacy

Val Young sits down with Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis, Amir, and Greg Jr. for a Detroit homecoming conversation that moves from Motown history to a question every person who has left home has faced: what do you owe the place that made you?

Val shares how church, Aretha Franklin, and Detroit shaped her before the Gap Band, Rick James, and Motown. She explains how she refused to wait quietly for opportunity, how a determined backstage meeting with Rick changed her career, and what people miss when they remember only his wild public image.

Judge Mathis tells the story of the Detroit voters who elected him despite his past and why he believes success creates a debt to the community. Linda describes a different Detroit childhood, one rooted in Black excellence, while Amir admits he once avoided saying he was from the city. The family also debates whether hometown identity belongs to the next generation and whether giving back must involve money.

And yes, the conversation includes Rick James’s feet and Linda’s accidental visit to a Beverly Hills “pajama party.”

Val Young sits down with Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis, Amir, and Greg Jr. for a Detroit homecoming conversation that moves from Motown history to a question every person who has left home has faced: what do you owe the place that made you?
Val shares how church, Aretha Franklin, and Detroit shaped her before the Gap Band, Rick James, and Motown. She explains how she refused to wait quietly for opportunity, how a determined backstage meeting with Rick changed her career, and what people miss when they remember only his wild public image.
Judge Mathis tells the story of the Detroit voters who elected him despite his past and why he believes success creates a debt to the community. Linda describes a different Detroit childhood, one rooted in Black excellence, while Amir admits he once avoided saying he was from the city. The family also debates whether hometown identity belongs to the next generation and whether giving back must involve money.
And yes, the conversation includes Rick James&rsquo;s feet and Linda&rsquo;s accidental visit to a Beverly Hills &ldquo;pajama party.&rdquo;

Judge Mathis is used to giving the verdict. At home, everybody gets a say.

On Mathis Family Talks, Judge Greg Mathis and Linda Mathis are joined by their adult children, spouses, and guests for the honest, funny, and sometimes heated conversations families usually save for the group chat, the kitchen table, or the ride home.

Rooted in Detroit and shaped by life in the public eye, the Mathises get into the issues beneath modern Black family life: marriage, parenting, money, mental health, identity, code-switching, success, privacy, and the complicated line between helping the people you love and trying to control them. Every generation brings a different truth, and nobody is above being challenged—not even the Judge.

This is not a perfect family performing perfection. It is a loving, accomplished, opinionated family telling real stories, owning what they got wrong, laughing through the tension, and turning disagreement into something listeners can use in their own lives.

Come for the strong opinions. Stay for the heart and the humor.

From our couch to yours.

Judge Mathis is used to giving the verdict. At home, everybody gets a say.
On Mathis Family Talks, Judge Greg Mathis and Linda Mathis are joined by their adult children, spouses, and guests for the honest, funny, and sometimes heated conversations families usually save for the group chat, the kitchen table, or the ride home.
Rooted in Detroit and shaped by life in the public eye, the Mathises get into the issues beneath modern Black family life: marriage, parenting, money, mental health, identity, code-switching, success, privacy, and the complicated line between helping the people you love and trying to control them. Every generation brings a different truth, and nobody is above being challenged&mdash;not even the Judge.
This is not a perfect family performing perfection. It is a loving, accomplished, opinionated family telling real stories, owning what they got wrong, laughing through the tension, and turning disagreement into something listeners can use in their own lives.
Come for the strong opinions. Stay for the heart and the humor.
From our couch to yours.

Mathis Family Talks

Val Young on Rick James, Motown and What We Owe Our Hometowns | Ep. 9

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e6b63b3f-441c-4405-a6e7-b4ac0099c975/transcript