Hi, I'm Jonathan Capehart.

If you loved my previous podcast Cape Up, then you're going to love Cape Up 2.0, or as

we're now calling it, Capehart.

You'll hear some of the best conversations I have during Washington Post live events.

I'll still be talking to interesting people about a range of subjects from social issues

to the arts to politics.

Sometimes we'll do it all with one spectacular guest.

That's why we're kicking off Capehart with John Legend.

McDonald's had a black history month essay competition called Future Black History Makers

Up Tomorrow, and the prompt was, how do you plan to make black history?

And my answer was, I'm going to become a successful artist and I'm going to use that

success to help my community.

John Legend was only 15 years old when he wrote that.

Today he is one of just 16 people and the first black man to reach Egot status, meaning

he's won an Emmy, a Grammy, actually 12 of them, an Oscar, and a Tony.

When he's not serving as a coach on NBC's The Voice, he's touring the country and advocating

for racial equity.

In this conversation, first recorded on October 1, legend talks to me about police reform,

voting rights, the local issues he hopes to tackle through his new organization called

human level, and why he's afraid of Ariana Grande.

John, welcome to Washington Post Live.

Jonathan, it's great to see you.

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