Deanté Kyle has gone from the cab of an 18-wheeler to one of the most respected microphones in culture. While sitting down to speak with Kyle about his journey from one career into another, one that he believes is his calling; it was evident that he was correct. To acknowledge that Kyle has a way with words that is as entertaining as it is educational is only the surface. The host has a very unique appeal to audiences in large part due to the versatility of his perspective. That kind of reach isn’t often seen in mainstream media. While many influencers, podcasters, or media personalities generally have a tight niche audience, Kyle has proven his ability to unite people across generations. From the young first cousins to our familial OGs, there’s a natural infatuation about the Grits & Eggs podcaster that is impossible to ignore.
Now, Kyle is making his way across the country in his second live show tour, selling out shows while ultimately following his dreams. The Coming Thru America tour has 24 shows slated across 23 cities and the voice behind this latest cultural phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down.
EBONY: Before we talk about the Coming Thru America tour, I’d love to talk about your career and how we got here. You went from driving an 18-wheeler to being a full-time host of the Grits & Eggs podcast. What was the true allure or ‘aha’ moment that made you pursue it full time? Were you anxious at all to fully bet on yourself?
Deanté Kyle: There was no way for me to really keep it sustained without doing it full time. Other than that, it was very inconsistent. You can’t build an audience based off of that. People might like you for a little while, but after, they can’t depend on you. It was really a demand. Once I fulfilled that demand, I started to see that people was really interested in a weekly show. I was doing it biweekly for a little while. People was like, “Nah, man, we need you every week.” And that went from once a week to now twice a week, every week.
I think the allure was just that this is a space that I feel extremely comfortable in. This is kind of what I feel like I was made to do. Maybe not just a podcast per se, but just the opportunity to speak and express and have an audience that is looking for someone to speak and direct these things the way that I do.
And no, not really on being anxious. Taking the risk on myself is the thing that I’ve always been confident in. I’ve always been trusting of myself and my intuition. I think the bigger thing is the stability, my family, the security of them, and making sure that they knew it was gonna be an adjustment. Once I had that confidence, it was pretty much caution to the wind after that.
EBONY: Your first tour, First Cousins, looked like a great time and gave you the chance to engage with your supporters offline. How did that experience lead you to follow up so soon with the Coming Thru America tour?
I am very traditional in the sense of supply and demand, and there was a clear demand from other cities. We had a show in New York in December, and it sold out. It was the first time I had ever received that type of praise from a crowd in person. That led to the First Cousins tour. We had a five-city tour that sold out, and we added two extra dates in Philadelphia and LA. I was like, we need to piggyback off of this. We got to capitalize on this moment, because if we wait too long, people move on from things.
We already had the machine working. We saw what we did wrong and what we did right, and of course there’s always more to learn, but we have a good base for how to approach touring. Let’s do it in more cities and let’s just do it smart. Let’s not run ourselves ragged. Let’s take time in between for promotion and for recovery, and keep the main thing the main thing, which was to continue to focus on getting two pods out every week.
You can’t match the energy of being in a room with real people. A video getting a quarter million views and all these likes and 2,000 comments does not equate to 1,000 people in a room, ready for whatever you got to say, and excited to be there. You could just feel the energy of anticipation. It’s unmatched. I love the live show aspect. I like being immersed with the people, and I like being there to talk to them directly. There’s also talks of doing an HBCU tour.
EBONY: How does it feel to be one of the most influential voices in culture, and what do you think has prepared you most for your career?
The only thing it does is make me want to be better. It makes me want to be more informed. It makes me want to make sure that I’m approaching the conversations with all my people in mind, no matter how they show up, how they express, how able they are or not able. We try to make sure more than anything that people feel there’s a call-in and not a call-out, and that we’re talking to each other and not at each other.
I’m not waiting for enough recognition to cross over. I’m cool with Black famous. I don’t need to be appealing to other groups of people, because I don’t desire to be appealing to other groups of people. I don’t desire to be acceptable or safe. I’m here for my people and my people solely. First, foremost, and last. The responsibility feels natural. It’s not something that I feel burdened by. I’m gonna be who I’m gonna be, and I show up as that.
As far as who prepared me, I’m gonna give so much credit to my mother for my character. That woman was fine-tuning this thing from the jump. She saw where the gaps were. She saw where the flaws were, and she made sure that she made me aware of them as well. She was a tough love mother, but as we got older, definitely more embracing on the emotional side, and she always just had so much belief in me. My father had an incredible work ethic that I just naturally picked up on.
I also give a lot of credit to my wife and the family we’ve built together, because the person that’s having children with you, the person that’s with you when you’re going through your struggles, they see you as you are completely. You can’t put it on for them. Even in times where I feel like it’s criticism, I know it’s in my best interest. I would love to just attribute it to one person, because that would be easy, but to not acknowledge everybody would just kind of be a misstep.
EBONY: What are some of your goals to expand your brand, and what’s coming next from you?
More than anything, the acting. I don’t believe in dimming my own light. I walk in and I do my thing. Film has always been my solace. If more opportunities come, I would definitely take them. If there’s more opportunity to be on the creative side of film, behind the scenes and in the producing space, I’m going to definitely be producing a lot more independent things myself, getting behind the camera and in front of it, but also directing and writing. I believe that it’s a great tool to tell stories, and there’s some stories that’s not going to be told if we don’t tell them.
I love history, and I think there’s a time where a serious director can have a vision and have the right budget and tell some Black historical stories without repeating the same ones we’ve heard before. I would love to see a series about Jack Johnson, and his plight as a Black boxer in the early 1900s.
The influence is great. The podcast space is amazing. But there also has to be forethought about what else can I do and how else can I be of service to the culture. Telling stories is a big part of that, because representation just makes people feel good. It brings people together. And I’d love to get into books, and have this as a media company that can lend an outlet for other Black voices, both young and old, both male and female, and everything in between. The media company aspect is more so how we give back and create a platform that provides space for other voices. The other things are personal endeavors, and I want to do them all. I don’t think there’s any reason why I can’t.