Georgia Anne Muldrow On The Personal Origin Of "Stay Woke"
The Questlove Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This segment from the Questlove Show was so powerful, we had to share it on its own.
Georgia Anne Muldrow breaks down the deeply personal origins of her “Stay Woke” lyric from Erykah Badu’s “Master Teacher Medley" over 18 years ago, and reflects on how its meaning has evolved—and been distorted—over time.
Questlove and special guest Open Mike Eagle share their reactions to her story. Please make sure you've heard the nearly two hour conversation between Georgia and Ahmir that published earlier this week.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:03.0 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.2 | The Questleff show is a production of I-Heart Radio. |
| 0:28.5 | I-Heart Radio. Okay, I was going to avoid this question. |
| 0:29.7 | So here's the thing. |
| 0:40.1 | Like, I initially had so many musical questions, but because I didn't know you as a human being. |
| 0:44.4 | I wanted to go through that route and just ask about your life as a human and a creator. |
| 0:45.8 | Yeah. |
| 1:08.9 | But I'm going to close on this last question, which is, how does it feel to see something that you created as in three words that suddenly becomes almost, it's like you named this period. |
| 1:26.4 | Like when we look at the time period, when we speak of the Jim Crow period, when we speak of the civil rights period, when we speak of the reconstruction period, we will probably call the 20s. I don't know, but I know the word woke is going to, to enter the |
| 1:33.0 | lexicon when it comes to, uh, yeah, like describing it. What point did you realize, holy shit, |
| 1:43.6 | this like when I realized that you know white political pundits |
| 1:47.8 | were now using it when our enemies were using it yeah especially i liked it better i like |
| 1:53.2 | it better when i kept saying the new n word right but i kept saying like god i pray to god that georgia |
| 1:59.9 | like trademark that word so that |
| 2:03.0 | it stays with her. When did you first coin the term? Was it when you were doing Master |
| 2:09.7 | Teacher or, like, how did it come to be? It's so interesting, right? Because just even with Master Teacher,, right? That song, that was the day before I had a nervous breakdown. |
| 2:23.3 | Like, if I meant anything, I said it that day. Do you know what I'm saying? So, like, if I meant anything, if I was, like, about to, like, it's so many times where I'd be so cringy about that song because of what would happen |
| 2:36.4 | the day after I made that song, you know? And I think that that's something so beautiful because |
| 2:44.3 | it's like when you mean something so much, anything can happen. When you're actually truly |
| 2:49.6 | yourself, anything can happen. And so the actually truly yourself, anything can happen. |
| 2:50.9 | And so the state walk came from me and Lakeisha Benjamin being in New York in school, |
... |
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