X - @FlyNiggaMuseum

IG - @blvck_vdvm

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@skmgcavali

Podcast Discussion Points:

• First time traveling outside the United States—headed to Thailand.

• Growing up in the projects in Bed-Stuy.

• How the Five Percent Nation and kung fu helped give William a foundation in life.

• William’s background in full-contact martial arts tournaments in New York City.

• William’s Muay Thai background in NYC, and the key differences between training in the States and in Thailand.

• William’s initial interest in fighting in Thailand.

• How having connections in Thailand helped William find the right gym.

• How William is preparing for his fight on March 12, 2026.

• William’s advice for fighters coming out to Thailand.

• William making friends with Thais and other foreigners.

• D ating Thai women.

• How this trip has helped William mature as a traveler.

• Why William is not interested in living in Thailand.

Travelers discussed:

Barbara Hillary (Explorer)

Yasuke (Samurai/Warrior)

Ronald McNair (Astronaut/Physicist)

Richard Evans (Bullfighter)

Musa Kaleem (Researcher/Historian)

Phillda Ragland (Photographer)

Novell Bell (Martial Artist)

Robert Harris (Explorer)

Eugene Bullard (Pilot/Boxer)

Anthony Browder (Author/Historian/Researcher)

Frank Matthews (Drug Dealer)

- Why Mental Health is an issue for Digital Nomads

- Adjusting to Foreign Cultures as a Digital Nomad

- Signs of Depression

- Unresolved Trauma from COVID-19

- The False Realities of Travel Content Creators

- Plan for Emotional Well-Being while Nomading

- Mental Health and Consideration for Slomading

Links to travel therapists:

Kindall Tyson - Aspire Counseling & Wellness

Emily Bowland - Truman Group

Matt Walsh – On The Road Therapy

Mental Health and Emotional Wellness for Digital Nomads

• State department suspends immigrant visas and impact

• Why the “Visa Run Era” is coming to an end

• Why living abroad on a tourist visa won’t work anymore

• Which countries should you consider for a 2nd passport or residency

Origins of passport bros and their true intentions (dating, marriage)

Early Black travelers were English teachers

Two groups that infiltrated the passport bros movement

- Sex tourist, mongers

- Content creators

Did the Passport Bros get infiltrated by the government?

Weak foundations of the ideology

Which way should so-called Black men take for travel moving forward?

Hispanic Nomad Website

PODCAST DISCUSSION POINTS:

• Alejandro’s origin story: How he started as a digital nomad

• Why finding your purpose or value as a digital nomad is crucial

• Losing control on the road — and how to regain focus

• How digital nomads can find true balance while traveling

• How to properly settle (even temporarily) in a foreign country

• Are nomads just traveling to escape their problems?

• Making real friends as a digital nomad

• How constant movement affects you mentally and spiritually

• The biggest difficulties of the digital nomad lifestyle

• Dealing with depression while living as a digital nomad

• Best cities and locations for digital nomads in 2025 (and places to avoid)

• How the travel world has permanently changed after COVID-19

• Current travel trends and personal observations in 2025

• How AI is disrupting (and transforming) the digital nomad landscape

• The most overrated travel destinations right now

• Marriage as a digital nomad: 9 years and still going strong

• The importance of language learning for long-term travelers

• Alejandro’s educational program for aspiring and struggling digital nomads

stephenstorey.com

Podcast discussion highlights:

• Starting out in the Deep South and eventually living abroad for close to a decade

• How his parents’ involvement in travel exchange programs encouraged him to see the world

• Traveling to Europe as a teenager

• Discussing his life philosophy, not seeking validation from others and living courageously

• How he is helping his students think differently and enabling them to change their lives

• The benefits of taking calculated risks

• How Tim Ferriss’s book The 4-Hour Workweek changed his life

• A decade of developing himself and brand while working in the insurance industry

• The benefits of paying for professional coaching

• Why he settled down in Bahia, Brazil and how he developed there over 6 years

• How he developed a network of friends during his first few months

• Navigating the down periods of living abroad

• Benefits of living abroad, including self-reflection

• Why he references Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help with self-actualization

• How his educational program in insurance adjusting is enabling people to change their lives

Podcast discussion points:

• Travel experience that prepared him for Colombia

• How he started his journey in the Spanish language, while in Canada, which actually provided him with passage in Colombia.

• Benefits of language exchange programs

• Why he prefers Colombia over other Latin American countries

• Why you need Spanish if you’re going to invest in Colombia

• Arriving in 2012, and political and tourism atmosphere

• How tourism has improved over the years

• Is Colombia safe for first-time travelers?

• Advice for Colombia newbies

• Why Colombia is a low-trust society

• How have the influx of Venezuelans impacted Medellín?

• Why a lack of a middle class affects relationships with Colombians

• Dating Colombian women, and how class plays a role in relationships

• Why there is a high amount of competition among Colombian women

• How Medellín changed after COVID-19

• How the Passport Bros movement impacted tourism in Medellín

• Why you shouldn’t date women in Medellín or Cartagena (Cities where you should date Colombian women)

• Tips for meeting and dating Colombian women

• Safety in Colombia

“Guys, get your passport; you’re gonna get all the pussy you didn’t get in the States. You will live in paradise, and your life will be just like mine or what you see when you watch my videos.

Buy my digital nomad course; it will enable you to make six figures and live the travel dream. Every day out here is an adventure.”

Cousins, when it comes to life abroad and social media, ‘Don’t believe the hype!’

Many of you weren’t outside in ‘88, when Strictly Business Samurai Suzuki’s patrolled the hood, with Public Enemy’s anthem on repeat. The hook was infectious, and it told listeners that we should not believe the hype: that being the bullshit in the media, politics, and/or any slander about the group.

The hook also had a haunting loop of a soul brother wailing. It was slowed down, but jarring enough to wake your punk ass up and remind you not to believe any of the bullshit the masses were trying to push on you at the time, and basically forever.

It ain’t ‘88, but I definitely have to patrol the travel block and drop science on the Black travel community. I’m the older travel God, with seven years to this life abroad.

Social media has you gassed; many of you are hyped up, and I’m here to dispel some travel myths and call out all the folks who are lying on their dicks.

1. You’re missing out - Social media travel is kind of like reality TV years ago. You’re watching people on different platforms, and their job is to make you think that their lives are very interesting. You’re watching them instead of going out in the world for yourself. Life abroad is filled with difficulties. Your favorite social media personality often edits their darkest moments and failures. Take care of your shit; focus on your purpose. Your time for travel will come when you are ready, and if it is even necessary.

2. You need to get a passport to have a fulfilling travel experience - This isn’t true. One of my most significant travel experiences was leaving NYC and heading to Atlanta in the ‘90s. The ATL was the new Black Mecca, and it was a wonderful time to be alive. Although I’ve traveled around the globe, the most interesting thing I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes is the Grand Canyon, and if you’re a Black American who believes that you might be indigenous, that place will speak to your soul. Traveling within your own country is just as enlightening.

3. Travel cures depression - We’re all a bit crazy, but the pandemic fucked a lot of us up even more so, and many brothers participated in “Revenge Travel,” hopping on the first flight out of the country without actually doing any healing and knowing where they were going in life. Traveling won’t fix your problems. Sit with yourself and deal with your stuff, and despite what Andrew Tate says, therapy can help. I know.

4. Black travel is something new — Crazy thing about travel and social media. You see all the stuff on the vlogs now? The YouTuber who had a taco in every city in Mexico? The lady who visited every country on the planet? All of that was done a decade ago. It wasn’t on YouTube, but it was actually featured on blogs. Before that, much of it was on MySpace. Really, the first Passport Bro (he didn’t refer to himself as a Passport Bro) I ever met was a guy named Shawn Don, who had pics of himself and international shorties on his MySpace page back in 2010. Brothers been out the door for a minute. I’ve mentioned several times that the first time I heard about anyone going to Brazil was 1997. Still looking for that Maxim magazine article from the turn of the century that featured the brother traveling around Europe in a hot air balloon.

5. Paradise abroad — There have been people in the social media world, and many who are so-called Black men, who’ve tried to sell you on a location, presenting it as an ongoing paradise. If you go to YouTube, you’ll see a number of people admitting that places like Thailand aren’t sustainable long term. In fact, recent reports suggest that a high percentage of foreigners who move there, don’t make it. Timing is everything with travel. Many of us so-called Black men missed the golden years to experience Thailand, which was in full effect in the ‘90s to mid-2000s. Many of the places being advertised heavily on social media have had their day.

6. You can escape racism - As long as there are Caucasians on this planet who believe they are so-called White people and the rest of the people in the world subscribe to their color coding fantasy, there will be racism. We’re all looking for less of it, but yeah, White Jesus is in the so-called motherland, amongst the descendants of the Mayans and out in Asia, Buddha’s image has been lightened. So yeah son, whatever.

7. Africa is the motherland — A number of Black Americans are doing the knowledge to so-called African American history and the slave trade, and as one brother in Harlem mentioned, “the math ain’t mathing.” Many of us have come to the realization that we have not only been in America but other parts of the Earth. As I have traveled around this planet, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to decrypt portions of the out of Africa story. The so-called motherland is a middle chapter in a larger portion of this history of the so-called Black man on this planet.

8. You’ll get better women abroad — Yeah, you can buy better pussy, but the woman who will be your girlfriend or woman - she will be the equivalent of what you have had back home. If you’ve never had a woman or a solid relationship in the States, don’t expect anything different abroad.

9. The digital nomad lifestyle is functional - Internet stays talking. The word, from myself and other experienced travelers who became digital nomads unintentionally years ago: The lifestyle is actually dysfunctional. The remote work lifestyle became popular after 2007 thanks to Tim Ferris’ book THE 4 HOUR WORK WEEK, which created the illusion of life abroad and an ongoing vacation. A number of nomads have come to the realization that the digital nomad lifestyle doesn’t really work long term; in fact, it creates dysfunctional habits for travelers. Choose a country and plant your flag. Moving around every few months prevents you from maturing as a traveler.

10. You need to be where everyone else is - When it comes to travel, truthfully, you want to avoid any hotspots. As I’ve previously mentioned, my people, we arrive at places late and by that time, the best years at that spot are already done. Don’t believe me, check out what happened to Tulum. What is currently happening with Black folks inundating cities in Thailand. While you’re plotting your journey, avoid the crowd, and plant your flag somewhere before too many people get there.

11. Black folks will have your back abroad — Honestly, you can join all of the Black Facebook groups in any foreign city if you want, but when shit goes down, your tribe will consist of people from various races and ethnicities. When I have been down and out abroad, helping hands have included a female Maori from New Zealand, a so-called redneck from the South, a Chinese explorer, and a DJ in the favela. Not saying Black folks will write you off, but your travel tribe is from every walk of life.

Remember cousins, the goal of content creators is to entertain you. If any traveler has a place that was really good, they would go out of their way to keep it to themselves. If they had any sense. That’s my spin around this travel block, and for this build, I’m Harry Allen, the media assassin, warning you about travel entertainment and the shit that don’t sound right when it comes to life abroad and influencers: “Don’t believe the hype!”

WORDS: ILLMATICAL

IMAGE: MIDJOURNEY

Podcast discussion points:

• Everton’s Performance Résumé and Dance Companies: Sekou McMiller, Santo Rico, Dance On 2, La Fuerza, FnF, Kingsmen, and Empire Mambo (Adolfo Indacochea)

• His introduction to Mambo and Latin dance

• Advice for Mambo newbies: education, learning, and what to look for in a school and instructors

• How to break out of “Salsa Hell”

• Changes in NYC’s Mambo scene over the last 15 years

• #MeToo and sexual assault in the Mambo community

• Experiencing resentment and having to prove himself as a Black American

• Understanding the Mambo/Latin subculture: hobby, sport, exercise, social activity

• Understanding what your goals are when you come into the Mambo scene

• Dancing in different countries and cities

• What happened to bachata over the years, the rise of sensual bachata, and the fusion of zouk

• Teachers who made an impact on him as a dancer

• Making friends overseas

• Budgeting for dance education

Stefan Grant on X

Podcast discussion points:

• How Noirbnb creates a global community for Black culture and travel.

• The inception of Noirbnb and experiences of discrimination on Airbnb.

• How Stefan transformed a negative situation into a viral travel story.

• Benefits of using Noirbnb for Black travelers.

• How COVID-19 impacted travel.

• Predictions for the future of Airbnb.

• Reflections on the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack.

• Discussions about Black American travel movements.

• How the digital nomad and remote work lifestyle have become normalized.

https://nostalgiaking.com

Podcast Discussion Points:

• The origins of hip-hop from a Philadelphia perspective.

• How Philadelphia is an underappreciated contributor to hip-hop culture.

• Earliest experiences traveling as a DJ in the early 2000s.

• How movies and TV helped him understand international cultures.

• International interpretations of hip-hop.

• How Black American military personnel were among the first to spread music culture abroad.

• How the Japanese preserve Black American music culture—arguably better than Black Americans.

• How to adapt to different cultures while traveling.

• Preparation for performing in different cities.

• The best countries and cities for hip-hop and Black culture abroad.

• How he uses hip-hop to connect and make friends around the world.

• How hip-hop has evolved over the years and where he sees it going globally.

• Reddit Sub Discussion on Black American Travelers Not Keeping It Real About Racism in East Asia and Southeast Asia

• My observations after living in Asia for 4.5 years (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Cambodia). Racism out there is real, but different dependent on the country.

• Do Black Americans get a pass in Asia? Are there class issues?

• Are Black American content creators avoiding topics about racism to gain more views?

• Was there a difference in Black American travel content pre-COVID-

• How are Africans treated in East Asia compared to Black Americans.

• Despite the racism, why do African men do well for themselves in Asia?

• My experience with harsh racism in Southeast Asia.

• Black travelers aren't taught that tipping or paying people off is part of travel culture, especially for Americans."

• You will take losses when you’re on the road.

• Despite research, you will get scammed.

• Get use to paying people off while traveling.

• If you live abroad, and you have a business, you will have to take some financial hits. Get over it!

• Be prepared to grease palms while you’re on the road!

Nuclear Caudillo Youtube

Nuclear Caudillo on X

Podcast discussion points:

• Learning how to dance (Salsa, Bachata)

• Breaking Out of Salsa Hell (Learning Curve)

• Why Do Women Learn Latin Dance Faster?

• How Do Women Approach Latin Dance Circles?

• Why Are Dance Scenes Full of Toxic Energy?

• What Are Realistic Expectations for Men entering a Latin Dance community?

• How to Approach and Make Friends in a Salsa Community

• What Types of Women Will You Find in a Latin Dance Scene?

• How to Deal with the Haters!

BOWTIED PASSPORT NEWSLETTER (Controversial Newsletter for Expats & Nomads)

Article: How to Break Into a City’s Social Scene

Article: Building a Social Circle Abroad

Podcast Discussion Points:

• Finding local events

• Key people to connect with in a new city

• How to build relationships

• Strategies to make yourself valuable at social gatherings

• Social strategies for introverts

• Crafting your persona and presence in a new city

• Choosing the right women (being selective)

• Using social media to meet high-quality women

• Avoiding burnout

Mervin Persons

EL ONE

Points of discussion:

El One and Mervin Persons discuss their travel experiences, interest in dating foreign women, and reasons for doing so

Treatment by foreign women

Initial difficulties of marrying a foreign woman

How Charles Tyler has influenced the movement

Origins of the term “Passport Bro”

How social media has shaped Black men’s travel

How the Passport Bro movement has been co-opted

Misconceptions about Passport Bros

The seven types of Passport Bros

Benefits of marriage and starting a family

Traits to look for in a foreign wife

When it comes to travel, specifically travel secrets, I’m in the camp that believes that everyone can’t go, nor should they. Gatekeep like a mother. Keep the cream—the good stuff—away from Black folk.

My people, the so-called Black folk, from America—we have a history of fucking up travel secrets and anything good related to the flight game.

I’ve tried telling y’all that we’re some of the worst travelers on the planet. When we have something good, we don’t hold onto it. Our culture of flexing doesn’t often work well with hush travel info, and as a result, we compromise shit and fuck things up for ourselves and other travelers.

It wasn’t always like this.

Black folks used to have a history of traveling for necessity and keeping our mouths shut. Those of us whose families can be traced back to American slavery knew that if we wanted freedom, we had to take flight. There was talk of a drum and an Underground Railroad.

Some Kuntas got north, and some Djangos below the border. The smart ones settled abroad, and as the sun set, they knew it was better than the horizon on the plantation.

The smart ones never looked back.

Years later, when everyone was “so-called free,” we shared a Green Book amongst us, dodged sundown towns because those not-so-good Christian White folks would hang us for traveling while Black.

My father’s father, back in the day, he went to the south for some reason. I never got the full story, but my father said those good Christian White folks convinced him to never come back. My father’s father understood that he was a Black traveler in America; that meant that he was free, but not free.

Years later, Black folk got tired of being meek; we grew out our afros and delivered Black power to the people—and to the world. Some of us were Panthers, and we shot first. We took flight, some to the Motherland, others to South America. We kept shit hush, cuz we understood that we were free, but not free.

We were living in the White man’s world, where they are the ones chosen, and they had every intention of making our freedom conditional.

We started losing ourselves in the 70s, after Bumpy and the older guard of hustlers left us. Pimps were way up, and so were the hoes, and we wanted everyone to know about our get down and how free we thought we were. Bossman Cutty came through every hood flexing on every square ass Anthony—cuz somebodies got to do it.

Not sure what happened, perhaps it was the H on the streets or the pimps on the corners, we wanted prestige. We wanted niggas to know that we were free. We collectively put up our arms to show our bling—perfect timing.

H turned to the white, and the blizzard flooded the streets; every hood from Compton to Harlem. During the snowfall, we drove around in circles, rims spinning and shining. Dope boy fresh and cee-lo kings on every corner. Four-finger LOVE and HATE; we ran the block.

While the people who ostensibly didn’t have any culture were developing and molding a genre that would impact the world, a small number of travelers were quietly heading out of the country to Southeast Asia, in search of a mystic beach.

Unfortunately, when it comes to travel, the lessons from the older gods, keeping quiet about travel, the Negro Motorist handbook lessons—all that got lost. Whispers about getting free, or hush stories from your Vietnam veteran uncle about the super-tight-pussy-fine-ass-bitches in Asia—all that science got lost too.

We were up, and we fronted on niggas. Floss was steady in us, but lucky me, I first got put on to travel by Asian friends and then a movie about a backpacker who understood that when it comes to life abroad, the good travelers kept their mouths shut.

On the real, there has always been tourist shit, but there was also the cream, the travel secrets, which wasn’t for everyone. The good travelers knew that everyone could not go, nor should they.

If everyone goes, then they bring all of the bullshit with them, and the special travel spot you had—it isn’t so special anymore.

When it comes to this travel game, you have to gatekeep. When there are too many of us, the Black people from America, it is usually a bad thing. Keeping it real, we’re trying to escape the hood, not bring it with us.

Fronting, flexing, and shining, it doesn’t work on the other side of the globe. The popping bottles mentality is often disastrous because it destroys any decent travel secret, anything that is pure out on the road.

Many of us don’t understand, we’re free, but not free.

There are a host of double standards for us, regardless of how much money we have and the color of our American passport. There are people in the world who want to make our freedom conditional.

For that very reason, we have a responsibility to hold shit down, just like when our ancestors took flight or when we quietly shared the handbook for safe travel. Unfortunately, we don’t.

So-called Black people from America, we have a history of blowing up shit abroad and ruining travel secrets.

THE NOT SO AMERICAN GANGSTER

For all of you who don’t read, Frank Lucas’s story became infamous when Denzel gave life to a fictitious version of his story in the 2007 film American Gangster. We wanted to see Mr. Training Day be the man in this larger-than-life travel hustler story.

Ostensibly, Frank Lucas, the Southern transplant who became a Harlemite, traveled to Southeast Asia and outsmarted the man by hustling H in dead veteran caskets.

According to the internet, Frank Lucas swagger jacked story elements from the guy who was quietly moving weight from Southeast Asia—Ike Atkinson.

In his memoir, Atkinson revealed, that after some time in prison, when reflecting on Frank Lucas—he realized that the so-called American Gangster was already working for the FEDs when he came out to see him in Thailand.

Lucas, the chinchilla coat-wearing, loudmouth snitch, blew up the spot in Southeast Asia and ruined the cheap connect and all the good pussy that came with it.

The not-so-American gangster was a bad traveler and an early example of Black folks compromising something sacred abroad.

FREAKNIK: A COLLEGE PICNIC TURNED NATIONAL SEX PARTY

The first time I heard about anyone going to Brazil for tail was in 1997. I was growing alongside the internet, working at a telecom company in Atlanta. A brother I went to trade school with, he would send photos to me and another homie who were NYC transplants, working in the Dirty South.

The photos from Rio didn’t get me open. I had my little female friend at Spelman and shorties I would meet on them 404 phone lines. Magic City and Jazzy T’s was in effect, and any sexual fantasy I had could be met by the fine ass females who converged on the ATL at the time.

Me and my friends, we didn’t make any websites; we didn’t tell everyone else either. The shorties in the Brazil photos were cool, but they weren’t better than any of the fine ass sisters on the Black women newsgroups.

Like I said, it wasn’t enough to make me get a passport when I had tail nearby. Atlanta in the late 90s was still America’s Black Mecca. The entire country converged on the city, and if you happened to make it there, there was a special annual event that added to the city’s international reputation.

The first time I heard about Freaknik, my brother and his Jehovah’s Witness friends started talking about it.

“Sister Carr was taking out her trash, and there was an orgy on her porch!”

The stories never stopped; they came from coworkers, security guards, a guy who worked at the record store in Decatur passed on tales about an epic public freak off in that gay ass park downtown.

Yeah, but whatever, the origins of Freaknik were shared by an older sister named Cheryl who worked with me at Turner Broadcasting.

Without any fanfare, she made the event plain. She was at one of the first Freakniks, and it was just a picnic for all of the kids who did not go home during spring break. Since there were more women than men, girls started showing out to get attention.

It was a college event that became a national Black party and then, it fell apart because too many ninjas decided to attend.

Since we Black, and we all family, Cousin Pete and everyone who never cracked open a textbook felt that it was their mission to crash the annual college picnic.

Too many folks started showing up and showing out, and it became a problem. Eventually, it got shut down, proving that not everyone who is skin folk is automatically invited to the cookout.

I saw one of the last real Freakniks in ’97. The following year, there were reports of sexual assault, and eventually, it was canceled.

What should have remained a party for college students, became a national invitation for sex, attracting everyone from hustlers, working girls, dope boys, porn stars, athletes and rappers.

Freaknik was an early Black travel lesson. Everyone can’t go.

If they do, they bring all the n-word shit, along with the hard “ER” behavior, and things get fucked up.

While Freaknik was on its last legs in the late 90s, Black American men had shifted their attention south of the border.

BLAME IT ON JELANI COBB, NOT RIO

I kicked and pushed and returned to NYC after three years in the south. The internet had spread its wings, and dot coms were all over the city. Investors were tossing money around at various startups, and I eventually got hold of some of that long green while employed at a company in Manhattan.

When I was near six digits, I got cool with some Asian guys at work. We were early twenty-somethings who thought we had the world in our digital palms.

Eventually, after getting to know me, they invited me out for beers, and when they really got to know me, they invited me to go with them on their next trip to Thailand. They shared images and stories about how they were young kings, in a place where anything goes.

Several invitations were made, and months later, the towers fell. I left the company, and while in between tech positions, I stumbled onto a travel film about a guy who heads to Southeast Asia and learns about a mysterious hidden beach.

I had no idea that the film was based on a bestselling novel at the time, but the message imparted in the film was that everyone could not go. The secrets of travel were to be left to the people who earned it, and everyone else, they deserved the touristy shit.

I filed Thailand and the secrets of THE BEACH in my mental. Held that shit down like it was some dope deal. The beach was a symbol. You weren’t supposed to tell everyone about travel secrets—the cream.

Two years later, I found myself in New Jersey, on some bullshit.

While still hustling 1s and 0s, I stumbled onto a film that would change my life. The year LeBron stepped into the league, I found myself chasing after a skinny brother named Rocket, desiring to be a photographer and live in the CITY OF GOD.

Less than a month after watching the film, my buddy Rick returned from Brazil. He had shared wild stories and images. He said the women in Pharrell and Snoop’s BEAUTIFUL video (shot in Rio) fell short of what you’d get when you touched down.

I filed it in my mental.

Neither Rick nor I made a website. We didn’t get shirts, and we didn’t feel the need to tell all the brothers online.

In fact, Rick suggested that we didn’t tell anyone about Rio.

I still wanted to make The City of God a reality for myself, but I didn’t know how.

Three years later, when I was making my way out of corporate America, a so-called Black man took the secret of Brazil from the Black male consciousness and handed it over to Black women.

Jelani Cobb went down to Brazil and snitched on all of the Black men who had visited Rio to pick up chicas on the low in the 2006 September Essence magazine article BLAME IT ON RIO. The article ostensibly discussed American Black men and their fascination with sex tourism in Brazil.

It was the issue that had Beyonce on the cover with her good hair.

What many peopled don’t realize is that it was the second, BLAME IT ON RIO article. The first was published in 2001, under the guise of Black women going to Rio for general tourism.

Black women were also going to Rio for sex, but Cobb’s article shifted culpability to Black men.

At the time, I was new to journalism, and several female friends who worked for hip-hop mags were surprised to learn about Black men and Brazil. The discussions were started. There was plenty of fake nigga outrage. In hindsight, I honestly believe that Mr. Cobb might have been a gay brother, sabotaging Black male spaces for the Beehive.

I still have the email I sent Cobb in 2006.

Ironically, Eugene Robinson, a Black American correspondent who worked in Brazil in the 90s, wrote a travel memoir, focusing on race relations and his experiences as a Black man in Brazil. He never said shit about the mama sans in Rio. Perhaps he knew it wasn’t necessary, or since he was an older god, he knew that not everyone should know.

I’d finally make it to the City of God in 2010. I was disappointed when I found out that Brazil was more racist than the United States or just as bad.

I played in the sun and got glimpses of Rio while living in the favela. It wasn’t a vacation, and eventually, the harsh poverty got to me. I also met a brother who I’d consider an early Passport Bro. His name was Shawn Don, and he collected receipts from Europe and other parts of South America. He had all kinds of pics with shorties from all over the world posted on his MySpace page.

For the record, that nigga didn’t pay for shit.

I got back and posted videos to YouTube, talking about race issues and how the city was actually overrated. Brothers reached out to me with emails and digital kites.

I didn’t make any videos about brothels, hotspots, or whatever, because I didn’t think it was necessary. That information was already online, and I also came to the realization about relationships there: the woman who became my girlfriend, she was the equivalent of what I had in the States. Nothing more.

Brazil wasn’t a fantasy land, and I knew it wasn’t anything to be sold.

I had no idea that a gang of Black men were also headed to Rio and they had every intention of inviting everyone to the cookout — even if they didn’t live there.

WHEN CHARLES TYLER LET BLACK WOMEN CRASH THE PARTY

I returned from Brazil in 2011, and that year, the FRUSTRATED documentary dropped, basically damage control for the brothers who traveled to Brazil for stank pussy hoes, and at the same time, opening the door to a whole gang of reckless ninjas.

Two years later, when I was headed to Asia, a brother from Philly, named Charles Tyler, who had a Facebook group called The Black Man’s Option, created YouTube vids heavily promoting Brazil, while hosting an annual beach party.

Rest in peace to the brother, but he did all of this without actually living there.

Your baby mommas heard about the annual cookout and decided to invite themselves with the intent of crashing out and making sure that Black men did not have any peace.

If I was still in Rio, I would have pulled the brother aside and made it very plain: Everyone can’t go.

Even if I don’t agree with the way he moved, Charles Tyler had a significant impact on American Black men, encouraging them to seek relationships with foreign women.

Buy yeah son, whatever.

On the other side of the planet, from the Asian motherland, I was part of the collective of YouTubers who spoke from their rooms, discussing highs and lows, race, and other types of shit.

I got a glimpse of the end of Blade Runner City, and I headed back to NYC after getting deported from Hong Kong in 2018.

I had no idea about the massive bullet I dodged in Asia, and what was getting ready to happen to the world.

HOW KRISTEN GRAY FUCKED UP PARADISE

In 2020, while Hong Kong was wrapped up in political protest, a mysterious virus from China put the world in a headlock.

Right around this time, when I was hunkered down in Brooklyn, when the bodies were dropping, when the masses were washing groceries and masked up, an American named Kristen Gray was living it up in Indonesia and flexing on Twitter.

Gray was chilling in Bali, paying almost nothing for rent. Instead of being content, getting while the getting was good, she posted photos of her inexpensive luxury apartment and thought the world was hers.

She didn’t realize that in this White man’s world, when it comes to travel, we’re not the ones chosen.

She got comfortable and decided to sell an ebook, a how-to guide on how to get into Indonesia, despite the COVID restrictions set in place. Those of us who had travel experience, we understood that we had to move with caution during the pandemic. It was a time of uncertainty. The world was on edge.

Gray also took it upon herself to promote the conservative religious country as being queer or gay friendly.

Bali Twitter came for her ass, and instead of playing it cool and laying low, she decided to argue. Her Twitter beef went viral. She lost, and eventually she was deported.

It was at this time that I realized there was a problem with younger Black travelers. They had a lack of street smarts and the inability to read the room.

Everyone can’t go.

Gray represented the new generation of Black folk abroad, young, without knowledge of self, and armed with social media. A dangerous combination.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t the last.

WHEN THE PASSPORT BROS WERE INFILTRATED BY CONTENT CREATORS

I managed to dodge that horrible vaccine; shout out to all of you who managed to do the same. Shame on all of you who didn’t.

I bobbed and weaved that needle until I settled in the planet of Harlem. Right around this time, YouTuber Richie Mac and his series Zoom to Thailand had brothers salivating over a place that had been smutted out since the 90s.

The self-proclaimed Travel OG became the ambassador of The Passport Bros, a Black men’s travel movement that has been around for several years, named by YouTuber King Sigma, with energy from Charles Tyler’s Black Men’s Options Facebook group.

Subsequently, every decent travel spot, places that brothers could go to without much attention, like DR, Colombia, Thailand, they were all put on blast, and the block got hot for every Black man with a passport. Whether we wanted the label or not, we were all called Passport Bros, and by default, our journeys abroad were reduced to sex tourism.

I started off this build discussing veteran Ike Atkinson and him coming to the realization that Frank Lucas was already a fed when he visited him in Thailand. Similarly, I have the suspicion that the Passport Bros were infiltrated by government ops, so that Black American men and their relatively lowkey travel movement would be common knowledge, and their image tarnished—globally.

Keep in mind, for the most part, the Passport Bros operated on Facebook groups before COVID and remained below the radar.

The Passport Bro movement was hijacked by many of the faces you see on social media now.

As a result, your favorite spots have been overrun and damaged because of content creators, and as a result, the WorldStar Hip Hop crowd followed.

Build with brothers who have been traveling for a while; a decade ago, you’d rarely see any Black men in Medellín, or Pattaya. The content creators have fucked up the flow, and now, Black folks are mob deep in Thailand.

A gang of Black American women are in Colombia and every other space that Passport Bros congregate, simply to get attention from men they claim they don’t want.

Your favorite travel spots were compromised—for views.

For all of you so-called Black men who travel and have the desire to actually live abroad, you’re going to have to safeguard travel locations. YN content creators lacking knowledge of self, they are going to try and infiltrate anything that is sacred in travel and sell you out to go platinum.

Yeah, son whatever.

These are all just lessons. In this travel world, where we aren’t the ones chosen, you’ll do the knowledge and realize that niggas ain’t really free, and as soon as you get that in your mental, you’ll stop posting high and sharing everything on social media.

Yes, there has always been travel content, but the cream, the travel secrets, have always been offline. These are discussions on the other side of the map, shared between travelers who’ve earned it.

Moving forward, brothers, you’re going to have to work twice as hard to keep the cream to yourselves. If you have anything good related to travel, understand that it’s only for a limited time. There will be some ninja showing up to your spot with a camera, running his mouth, telling everyone how inexpensive his place is, how cheap his electricity bill is, and encouraging everyone to come down—then wondering why prices go up a few years later.

When it comes to travel, every Black person is not invited to the cookout. Meek told y’all there are levels. The Butcher flipped a great album and said that “everybody” wasn’t invited. On the real, that saying has been in the atmosphere for over a decade, and when it comes to this travel game, there are some things you should know: regardless of complexion, all Black travelers ain’t kinfolk, and everyone can’t go.

WORDS: ILLMATICAL

IMAGES: MIDJOURNEY

Podcast Discussion Points:

• Introduction to the Japanese adult entertainment industry

• Aspects of the Japanese adult entertainment subculture

• Dating Japanese women

• Japanese culture from a Black American perspective

• Day-to-day life for adult sex workers

• Maintaining relationships as a porn star

• The importance of mentorship while living abroad

• Japanese perspectives on foreigners

• Realities of filming adult scenes

• Handling celebrity status in Asia

• Maintaining spirituality and managing depression as a traveler

• Do Black men compete over women in Japan?

• Reflections on different eras of Japanese adult films

• The benefits of being a Black man in Japan

• Observations of the American adult film industry

• Current life in the Philippines

• Advice for future travelers and aspiring adult entertainment stars

• Upcoming podcasts

Podcast Discussion Points:

• How YouTuber GS350JPN transformed his life

• How a chance meeting with a Black traveler encouraged him to apply for an internship in Indonesia

• The impact of travel content on YouTube over the past decade

• Using travel to achieve academic goals

• Internship in Hawaii: Balancing work and quality of life

• Reflections on Black travelers and their trends

• How Colombia has changed over the years, particularly differences before and after COVID

• Why are Black American women struggling in foreign destinations while pursuing relationships with Black men?

• Favorite travel destinations in Asia

• Advice for younger Black men who want to travel

• Avoiding the hype of travel influencers

• The importance of working in different states within the U.S. and how it shaped his maturity as a traveler

• How to find the next travel hot spot (before it gets crowded)

• How traveling contributed to the development of his career as a creator and designer