Feel the Void

There were a host of great cameos during October's Verzuz battle between Big Daddy Kane & KRS-One. To wrap this year up, I spend this episode celebrating my favorite one: KRS-One on stage with the legendary Das EFX, with a particular focus on their classic collaboration, "Represent the Real Hip-Hop", which appeared on both KRS-One's eponymous album and Das EFX's album Hold it Down (1995).    

 Juvenile blew up in the late 1990s with the release of "Ha," but purists like myself held their nose. Years later, I understand and appreciate the song. In this episode, I delve into the connection between the track, Juvenile's hip-hop and the soul of blues music.

Episode 6 centers around the former U.S. president George W. Bush and the lies he told about Iraq that resulted in the deaths of 1 million Iraqis. It's a brief diatribe that also addresses the corporate media's role in insulating him from real criticism.

 George W. Bush left the office of the presidency in January of 2009 with a very low approval rating. Thanks to the mainstream media, he's gone on a rehab tour to recover from his low favorability wounds. This episode is a brief diatribe against his crimes in Iraq and the corporate media's refusal to treat his lies as lies, and instead label his invasion of Iraq as simply a mistake.

KRS-ONE is a household name in the world of hip hop, a larger than life pioneer from hip-hop’s Golden Era dating back to the 1980s, and there are plenty of articles and podcasts centered around his most influential and important songs, both as a solo artist and as the emcee for BDP, some of which include “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know” (1995), “My Philosophy” (1988), “Step Into a World” (1997) and, of course, the breakout track “The Bridge is Over” (1987). This episode instead focuses on his use of the literary device repetition . We'll take a look at his 30+ year career and examine his use of the writing strategy as I encourage educators to study his poetry in the classroom.

"Mrs. Rogers are you there?" When I was in middle school listening to Rap City in the late 90s, there was a now classic hip hop song that came out called "Holiday" by a member of the Dungeon Family (the Outkast/Organized Noize crew), Witchdoctor. I was hooked.   I bought Witchdoctor's album A S.W.A.T. Healin' Ritual (Interscope Records, 1998) from NRM and listened to it until I probably scratched the hell out of it. I even talked about it and recited & referenced some of Witchdoctor's lyrics ("Hurting") when I did a report on different hip hop styles back in 10th or 11th grade in a Speech and Theater electives class.  Several tracks are produced by Organized Noize, making any fan of Outkast likely to embrace the album. For me, what stands out about Witchdoctor is his unique and somewhat eccentric way of rhyming. He's sort of choppy in his delivery; bluesy and less interested in inner rhyme. He's also introspective, reflective abou

As the western United States burns up with over 70 forest fires in 13 states , and Germany deals with the aftermath of devastating floods, the world's richest man, not counting Vladimir Putin, rocketed himself up to outer space for 10 minutes at a cost of of $2.5 million every sixty seconds.

 Timothy Jerome Parker, known worldwide as Gift of Gab, died on June 18, 2021. He was 50 years old. In this episode, I pay tribute to one of the most important emcees and poets of the last 50 years.