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Brittney Griner's Russia sentencing and Nigerian afrobeats on the rise : It's Been a Minute What does Brittney Griner's hypervisibility as a tall, queer, Black woman have to do with her 9-year sentence in a Russian prison? A lot, according to historian Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, who studies race and Blackness in Russia. She chats with guest host Tracie Hunte about what Griner's detainment means for Black queer folks who travel and the antagonism surrounding the case.

Then, Tracie talks about the big moment Nigerian pop culture is having in the U.S. She is joined by Nigerian American filmmaker and artist Amarachi Nwosu to discuss why this is happening now and how Nigeria's success might impact pop culture from other African nations.

Plus, we play Who Said That! Tracie connects with NPR's B. A. Parker and Juana Summers to test their pop culture knowledge.

You can follow us on Twitter @npritsbeenamin and email us at ibam@npr.org.

Perspective

It's Been a Minute

Russia's long played with U.S. racial politics. Brittney Griner is the latest example

Russia's long played with U.S. racial politics. Brittney Griner is the latest example

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Brittney Griner, #15 of Team United States, poses for photographs with her gold medal during the Women's Basketball medal ceremony on day sixteen of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games at Saitama Super Arena on August 08, 2021 in Saitama, Japan. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Brittney Griner, #15 of Team United States, poses for photographs with her gold medal during the Women's Basketball medal ceremony on day sixteen of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games at Saitama Super Arena on August 08, 2021 in Saitama, Japan.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

What does Brittney Griner's hypervisibility as a tall, queer, Black woman have to do with her 9-year sentence in a Russian prison? A lot, according to historian Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, who studies race and Blackness in Russia. She chats with guest host Tracie Hunte about what Griner's detainment means for Black queer folks who travel. They also discuss the antagonism surrounding Griner's case, and what to do if you're detained in a foreign country.

Then, Tracie talks about the big moment Nigerian pop culture is having in the U.S. She is joined by Nigerian American filmmaker and artist Amarachi Nwosu to discuss why this is happening now and how Nigeria's success might impact pop culture from other African nations.

Plus, we play Who Said That! Tracie connects with NPR's B. A. Parker and Juana Summers to test their knowledge news and culture.

This episode of 'It's Been a Minute' was produced by Barton Girdwood, Andrea Gutierrez, Liam McBain and Janet Woojeong Lee. Our intern is Ehianeta Arheghan. Special thanks to KQED's Corey Antonio Rose. Our supervising editor is Jessica Placzek, and our editor is Jessica Mendoza. Engineering support came from Robert Rodriguez. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. You can follow us on Twitter @npritsbeenamin and email us at ibam@npr.org.