Nobody Wants You — Javel Watt on Identity, Prison, and Building Beyond the Narrative

Nobody Wants You — Javel Watt on Identity, Prison, and Building Beyond the Narrative

Javel Watt arrived in the UK at age 3. By 12, the identity he'd been given had collapsed — he found out via Facebook that the man he called his father wasn't his biological dad, and an internal voice started telling him nobody wants you. By 16 he'd been stabbed — knife through his lung, diaphragm, liver, and intestines, one centimetre from his heart. He went to prison three times. After his final release in November 2024, he spent nine months homeless while raising his daughter Linnea weekly from a caravan on a holiday park. Today Javel is the founder of Beyond the Narrative — a lived experience consultancy working across schools, prisons, and public sector organisations to change the system from the inside. While still incarcerated, he contributed to the David Lammy Review and was the only prisoner invited into governor-level policy meetings. He wrote and performed a play about stigma in prison that was used for staff training across multiple prisons. In this conversation, Tino and Javel go deep on what happens when a child is handed over informally without the system noticing. What school exclusion actually does to a young Black man's life trajectory. Why punishing behaviour is the same as saying "I don't like how you express your pain." And why self-actualisation — not safety, not shelter — might need to come first for people living in chaos. They get into Javel's Collective Individualism workshop, The Hustler board game built to channel street drive into something that builds a future, and the friend's funeral that made Javel realise he was living like a hypocrite. This is one of the most important conversations Black & Raww has ever had. SURVEY FOR LISTENERS [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDuqMdDxkKVPKfGfwV7dxOfh4jNeIKTjLPy8YgjoGZgTB0uw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=111405258284951513335] 🌐 Beyond the Narrative: www.beyondthenarrative.co.uk [http://www.beyondthenarrative.co.uk] 📸 @beyondthenarrative_BTN 💼 linkedin.com/in/javel-watt-4b9a38238 [http://linkedin.com/in/javel-watt-4b9a38238] 🎙️ Hosted by Tino Bvunzawabaya | @tinotalk25 🌐 blackandraww.co.uk [http://blackandraww.co.uk] | 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk [heard@blackandraww.co.uk] | 📸 @blackandrawwcic

Keir Starmer Did More Than You Think. So Why Did He Fail?

Everyone was happy he was gone. I wasn't sure I was. In this episode, I'm sitting in my garden just thinking out loud about Keir Starmer — what he actually did that nobody gave him credit for, why he couldn't sell it, and what it means that Andy Burnham is almost certainly next. This isn't a defence of Keir. It's an honest look at a man who could execute but couldn't communicate. And in politics, that might be the only thing that matters. We also get into: Trump, the Peter Mandelson scandal, U-turns, the pipeline from austerity to now, and what any of this actually means for regular people in the UK.Spoiler: keep calm and carry on. 🎙️ Subscribe to the podcast —https://open.spotify.com/show/6YuvShs10SwaKexOf1JcHo [https://open.spotify.com/show/6YuvShs10SwaKexOf1JcHo]📩 Substack (Thoughts Out Loud + more—https://tinobvunza.substack.com/ [https://tinobvunza.substack.com/] 📋 Got thoughts on the podcast? Fill in the survey — https://forms.gle/ZhUEkqhCEbmBSki18 [https://forms.gle/ZhUEkqhCEbmBSki18 ]

Father's Day Special Episode

This one is personal. For Father's Day, Tino sits down with his own dad and asks him the questions most sons never get to ask. What does it mean to be a biblical father? What is servant leadership when you're the one who has to hold the house together? And what happens when you get it wrong? They go into the reality that our grandparents were learning just as our parents were learning, and our parents were learning just as we are now. The mistakes aren't excuses. But they are in context. They talk about what it means to lead a family through faith, what his dad actually loves about Father's Day, and the fears that don't go away — no matter how long you've been a parent. And then it gets deeper. They talk about power imbalances in marriage. What it does to a man when that's off. What it costs him. What he carries quietly. For the young men out there navigating life without a father — there's a message in this one too. This is the Father's Day episode we didn't know we needed. 🎙️ Listen on Spotify and YouTube 🌐 blackandraww.co.uk 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk [heard@blackandraww.co.uk] 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @blackandraww 🎙️ Hosted by Tino Bvunzawabaya | @tinotalk25

3 Men Died Alone. Nobody Knew for Days. This Is Why with Ajani Kingdom

Three men in my guest's life died alone last year. People were around them. Nobody knew for days. This is the conversation about silence we've been avoiding. In this episode, I sit down with Ajani Kingdom — educator, author, founder of Brunch Brothers, and one of the most important voices on Black men's mental health in the UK. We talk about the mask, the cost of silence, what it actually looks like to build a table and invite men to it and why "I'm fine" might be the most dangerous sentence a man can say. CHAPTERS00:00 — Introduction02:30 — Who is Ajani Kingdom?07:00 — Building Brunch Brothers14:00 — The silence spreading through our community22:00 — Three men who died alone31:00 — What masking is actually costing us40:00 — How do you build a table men actually want to sit at?51:00 — Faith, identity and what grounds us58:00 — What Ajani wants young men to know ABOUT AJANI KINGDOMAjani Kingdom is an educator, author and community builder who has spent 13 years working in schools, churches and alternative provision centres across the UK. He is the founder of Brunch Brothers — a space for men to come together, eat, and have honest conversations. 📖 An Invitation to the Table — available on Amazon📖 Four Fires — available on Amazon🎭 Stories Boys Don't Like to Tell — Oct 9–17 · Dugdale Art Centre, North London Follow Ajani:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajanikingdom/ [https://www.instagram.com/ajanikingdom/]→ Brunch Brothers / Stories Boys Don't Like to Tell: https://www.instagram.com/sbdltt/ [https://www.instagram.com/sbdltt/]→ Brunch Brothers Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3skpoeY2Sks6qVUNAW0QrC [https://open.spotify.com/show/3skpoeY2Sks6qVUNAW0QrC] ABOUT BLACK & RAWWBlack & Raww is a podcast and community space for young Black men aged 16–25 to speak honestly about identity, masculinity, mental health, and everything we're taught to carry in silence. 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk [heard@blackandraww.co.uk]📱 Instagram & Instagram: @blackandraww Watch On Youtube [https://youtu.be/lsFnSyPfgTM] #BlackMensMentalHealth #MensMentalHealth #AjaniKingdom #BlackAndRaww #Masculinity #MentalHealth #BlackPodcast #BrunchBrothers #UKPodcast #YoungBlackMen

The Allure of the Manosphere: Full Discussion.

The allure of the manosphere is real and that's exactly what makes it so dangerous. After watching Louis Theroux's Netflix documentary, I had to talk about it. In this episode, I break down the 4-step funnel that traps young men: from self-improvement bait, to identity formation, to finding a villain, to having your pain monetised by men who don't actually care about you. I also talk about the human cost. The young man crying in his car, the trauma behind the figures we see online, and why I'm not shocked our boys are falling for this. And I bring in a faith perspective that nobody else is talking about. This isn't a shame episode. This is a reach-out episode. If you're a young man listening to this I see you. And I want better for you than what the manosphere is selling. 📺 Watch on YouTube: Youtube Episode Out Tomorrow 🌐 www.blackandraww.co.uk [http://www.blackandraww.co.uk] 📸 @tinotalk25