I Take My Coffee Black Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

The wonderful Tyler Merritt is back to talk about his new book, I Take My Coffee Black. Also, it's a really powerful conversation, I think, with, you know, really just talking about how we process and deal with our anger, how we can choose or not choose to lead with love and have that be our default as well as to protect our peace.

And your book, I Take My Coffee Black, seems to be an extension of that. You continue that conversation of talking about your story, your upbringing, your parents' upbringing, growing up in the South and talking about racism and gang culture and the pressures of a young black man and all those things.

I didn't have to write a book. I wasn't sitting here like itching, like man, somebody please come and ask me to do this. I can make something up really quick and maybe make some money from it. It was the opposite of that. This is a book that everybody needs to read. I'm not just saying that because I wrote it. I'm saying it because it's special. It's special in a way that I could have never anticipated.

I highly recommend people read it. I'm a listener. I listen to the book. If you like an audio book, Tyler brings his charisma and energy into the audio book. He makes it an experience rather than a read, if I may say so.

Pre-orders help all of us book writers out. And the audio book really is fun. It has Jimmy Kimmel on it, it has my mom on it, my dad on it. If you're a musical theater fan, it has the James Monroe Idleheart Sony Award winner on it. It's a good time.

I picked up Tyler's book, 'I Take My Coffee Black', opened it and didn't stop.

Tyler, you are so smart. You tricked me into learning so many things by, by making it funny.

And then I'd be three pages past and I'd be like, wait a minute. I feel like I'm learning things about states. That was history. Tyler tricked me into learning history.