Deep Cover is a show about people who lead double lives, how far they?re willing to go in pursuit of a greater cause, and how sometimes, seemingly small decisions can change the course of history. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern reveals dark underworlds most of us know nothing about. The new season, Mob Land, tells the true story of a high-rolling Chicago lawyer who fixed court cases for the mob. He did this for years... until he decided to betray them and work with the FBI. He wears a wire to expose a black market of corruption?where politicians were bought and justice was sold. Where, for the right price, even murderers could walk free... With first-hand interviews from FBI agents, mobsters, family members, and criminals, MOB LAND is truly a wild journey into a world of corruption, murder, and deceit. Today, we?re sharing a preview of Episode 1. You can listen to the new Deep Cover season now at https://link.chtbl.com/bestfriendsdeepcover Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

In the final episode of the season, Khalil and Ben delve into how the ?some of my best friends are?? trope functions in the world of comedy, particularly when comics like Dave Chappelle use it as social commentary. Spoiler alert: it doesn?t always work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Khalil has been dying to talk to Ben about his relationship with Judaism and whiteness all season. In this episode, Khalil and Ben invite Ben?s other best friend Sascha Penn, the creator and executive producer of the television show Raising Kanan, to join the conversation. Together they take a look at Ben and Sascha?s identities and how being Jewish has inspired their writing about race and racism.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Presenting: An Excerpt from Miracle And Wonder: Conversations With Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam. Download the audiobook today at miracleaudibook.com and receive an exclusive listener's guide pdf featuring additional commentary from Bruce, the producers and editors of Miracle and Wonder. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Reeling from a terrible string of crimes that happened recently in Ben?s neighborhood in Chicago, Khalil and Ben wrestle with the question of how to respond to violence so people can feel safe, without over-policing communities. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

This week, we're presenting a special episode from our friends over at The United States of Anxiety, a show that unpacks the choices we make as a society. Khalil talks to host Kai Wright about his show and how it invites listeners to have difficult conversations, leaning into the ugly truths of our past in order to carve a more just future.  In this episode: History shows that our country?s actually been divided from the start. If secession is in our DNA, what?s keeping us together? Should we just break up already? Kai talks with author Richard Kreitner about his book, ?Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America?s Imperfect Union.? Plus, a look at how the Internet and the ?Filter Bubble? contribute to our isolation today.  The United States of Anxiety airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. You can hear more podcast episodes at WNYC.org/anxiety. Follow on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email them at [email protected] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Khalil and Ben talk with New York Times journalist and author Jay Caspian Kang about his new memoir, The Loneliest Americans,  and his experience growing up Asian in America. In this episode, the three men ? one White, one Black, one Asian ? discuss notions of identity that divide the country, and how one race experiences invisibility as a result. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Khalil and Ben talk with two Chicago artists they admire who are calling for justice through their work?in museums and on the streets. Tonika Johnson, an activist and photographer, takes Ben for a drive to describe her latest project, Inequity for Sale, an art project on reparations and housing. Later, Amanda Williams, a Chicago artist, joins to discuss her works, Color(ed) Theory and the Black Reconstruction Collective Manifesto at MoMA.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

For nearly a decade, Khalil and Ben have vacationed together at the magical beach town of Oak Bluffs, MA ? a historically Black enclave of predominantly-White Martha?s Vineyard. In this episode,Ben and Khalil reflect on the summers they?ve spent there, the transformative beauty of that corner of the world, and the legacy of race and power at the beach.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Introducing our new, subscriber-exclusive bonus series, "Some of My Other Best Friends..." Each month, Ben and Khalil invite one of their *other* best friends to talk through unanswered questions and further debate a recent Some of My Best Friends Are... episode. In our first bonus episode, Ben and Khalil are joined by Turner Classic Movies host and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures artistic director, Jacqueline Stewart, for a deep dive on Interracial Buddy Movies. Some Of My Other Best Friends will be available via PushNik ? our subscription program on Apple Podcasts. To listen to these bonus episodes, visit our show page in Apple Podcasts and start your free trial. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

In the weeks after the groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Library, Khalil and Ben revisit the Obama memoirs, Becoming and A Promised Land: Volume I, on how the Obamas talked about race and racism. From Obama?s retelling of the financial crisis to Michelle?s upbringing on the south side of Chicago, Ben and Khalil discuss how American exceptionalism is intrinsically tied to the Obamas? stories and their vision of America. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Still basking in the glow of the 2021 US Open, Ben and Khalil take a trip down memory lane to talk about what it was like growing up on South Side Chicago?s predominantly Black tennis scene. From Khalil?s mother watching Arthur Ashe in the 1970s, to the Williams Sisters and Naomi Osaka changing the game, they break down why this sport is in a league of its own when it comes to Black female athleticism.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Can you stop history from repeating itself? That's a question Khalil and Ben ponder at the start of this school year amid conservative attacks and legislation across the country on the teaching of our shared history. They discuss the 1619 Project, the weaponizing of ?Critical Race Theory?, its backlash, and the best ways to actually teach American history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

To celebrate the release of the new Candyman reboot, Khalil and Ben revisit the original 1992 film and discuss its deep connections to time and place. They then dive into the 2021 reboot, exploring how each film portrays Chicago, public housing, gentrification, and the ghosts that still inhabit the city. Do you dare say his name five times? Ben and Khalil are up for the challenge! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

On the heels of the 50th anniversary of the Attica Prison Uprising, Khalil and Ben discuss trips they took, separately, to visit prisons in Europe. How did the Nazi occupation influence Germany?s modern day prison system? How do guards and incarcerated people interact inside of Norwegian prisons? And why is America?s criminal justice system so broken? Ben and Khalil answer these questions and more, while reminiscing over what made these trips so monumental, and debating whether or not what they observed abroad could ever be replicated back home. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Khalil and Ben reflect on the formative movies they saw in theaters growing up that portrayed white and Black men as friends?mainly the 1980?s classics 48 Hrs.  and Lethal Weapon. How did these films shape public views on racism and the police? What did they say about being white and Black men at the time? Khalil and Ben share their take?examining the racial tensions in 48 Hrs. and its reaction to the reconstruction period of the Civil Rights Movement, and shedding light on the Cold War politics of Lethal Weapon.   For a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/show/some-of-my-best-friends-are/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Coming September 9th, from Pushkin Industries. Some of My Best Friends Are? is a podcast hosted by Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the 1980s. Today a Harvard professor and an award-winning journalist, Khalil and Ben still go to each other to talk about their experiences with the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. In Some of My Best Friends Are..., they invite listeners into their unfiltered conversations about growing up together in a deeply-divided country, and navigating that divide as it exists today. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com