In episode five, I go back four years to December 2020, when I reunited with a long-time friend and collaborator, Mike Payne, host of The Ethically Immoral Podcast. This is part 3 of 4 of the P.O.P. PRESENTS interview series. We met right at the birth of social media as we know it.

Yes, it was the dawn of it because Facebook was born in 2004, and we met on a website called Hi 5 in 2005. This website housed a chat forum called AAP ( African American Poetry), which developed my poetry skills.

Then, in 2006, Mike recognized my growing popularity as a poet and suggested I create my writing forum. I knew I didn't have the discipline to keep up and maintain a writing forum, but I saw the administrative gifts in him, so we put our brains together and created The Mecca Lounge writing community.

I inspired the conception, but Mike's diligence and hard work executed, built, and maintained a fantastic platform that gave us a home to write, read, support, and hone our skills. The community of writers thrived. Our platform was the Medium of 2006, founded in 2012, and I joined as a reader and writer in 2020.

Mike Payne was also a trailblazer in the podcast movement with a show on blog talk radio in 2007 in which he had me on as a producer. In this, we cover the span of my artistry from 2004 to the present.

We had known each other for 15 years at the time of this interview, so Mike saw my creative pivots, changes, and evolution as a writer, rapper, music producer, and photographer.

We cover many topics in 90 minutes, the closest thing I have to an audiobook memoir. So take a 3-mile walk or a long scenic drive and dive into Episode 5: The Ethically Immoral Inner View, hosted by Mike Payne and featuring.

Walter P.o.p. Matthews IV