In the inaugural episode of Race Beyond Borders, I sat down with hip-hop artist Akua Naru, who is really a theorist of the Black experience. She is known for her sagacious and prophetic lyrics as well as her classic jazz-hop sound. Paying homage to James Baldwin, Alice Walker and Tricia Rose, her music is steeped in the rich intellectual ancestry of poets, writers and thinkers who have shaped and coloured the Black American experience. Through her expansive repertoire, her music invites us to see the world through her eyes.