Hard Knock Radio

Hard Knock Radio

4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME: MONDAYS - FRIDAYS

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting. Hosts Davey D and Anita Johnson give voice to issues ignored by the mainstream while planting seeds for social change.

Hard Knock Radio

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. on Chicago, Propaganda, and Building Real Coalitions AND Jessica Care Moore Honors Black Brilliance With New Childrens Book

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ChairmanFredHampton Jr. on Chicago, Propaganda, and Building Real Coalitions On Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D checks in withChairmanFredHampton Jr. of the Black Panther Party Cubs to unpack the fast-moving situation in Chicago and the wider national climate. From the talk of deploying the National Guard to the shifting justifications around crime and immigration, Hampton … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

Alec Karakatsanis on Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News (Encore)

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In this timely episode, Davey D speaks with civil rights attorney and author Alec Karakatsanis about his new book, Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News. Alec unpacks how police departments deploy strategic storytelling and cultivate media partnerships to shape public perception of crime, fuel fear-driven narratives, and justify ever-expanding police budgets. The … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

Build and Fight Formula for Self-Defense PT.2

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Today on Hard Knock Radio we bring you a special edition of Rootwork on KPFK, Thandi Chimurenga of Black Liberation Media sat down with Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson to discuss bold strategies for grassroots survival and resistance. Part of the ongoing Build and Fight Formula series, their conversation explored the urgency of self-defense in … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

Artificial Intelligence

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On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sits down with X. Eyee, one of todays leading voices in artificial intelligence ethics, policy, and responsible tech. With a career that spans Microsoft, Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, and now CEO of consulting firm Malo Santo, X. Eyee has seen AI from every … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

Samora Pinderhughes on Craft, Abolition, and the Soundtrack of Now

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Host Davey D opens with “Am I Human?” and frames Samora Pinderhughes as a Bay-raised, Juilliard-trained composer/pianist/vocalist who blends jazz, R&B, and movement work. Samora embraces that lineage—crediting his parents’ community praxis—and talks frankly about maintaining integrity in an industry that rewards spectacle and “Black dysfunction.” The antidote, for him, is purpose and craft. On abolition, Samora widens the lens: prisons, … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

300,000 Black Women Pushed Out of the U.S. Labor Force

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Host Davey D convenes SEIU 1021 organizer Jennifer Esteen and Women’s Economic Agenda Project director Ethel Long-Scott to unpack a seismic—and largely ignored—economic gut punch: 300,000 Black women cut from the federal workforce in the first half of 2025. Both guests frame the layoffs as part of a broader, deliberate restructuring—legal, political, and technological—that targets … Continued

Hard Knock Radio

Prosthetics for Palestine: Culture as Care, Art as Strategy and Poor News Magazine

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Host Davey D checks in with producer Tarik “Eccentric” Kazaleh and singer-organizer Naima Shalhoub about Gaza’s ongoing crisis, the grassroots effort Prosthetics for Palestine, their instrumental collective Shadow Band, and a benefit show this Sunday in Danville. Tarik explains Prosthetics for Palestine began as a family idea and, over the past year, has grown into … Continued