AirGo

Poets are expected to be in touch with their emotions. A stoic poet is viewed as holding back or guarded. As a result, some folks tend to manufacture the markings of emotion–a crack in their voice, a tear down their face, shoulders shaking with emotion. When real passion is performed, however, the result is far more impactful. Emon Lauren Black doesn't hold back, on stage or off, and is becoming a forceful and important voice in the city's poetry community.

Recorded live Thursday 3/24/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Reactions - @louielastic

Family Matters - @chancetherapper feat. @Jamilawoods

Drive In - @stefanponce feat. @themindmusic

Window Shopper - 50 Cent

This week's guest has been mentioned on AirGo more than anyone else, for good reason. Kevin Coval is a poet, educator, and community builder who is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors and the co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb, the world's largest youth poetry festival. He has worked to center the stories of strong young voices from Chicago and beyond for decades, and the legacy of art and community that trails him is unmatched in this moment and city.

Recorded live 3/17/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Where They At - Molemen

Shut 'Em Down (Pete Rock Remix) - Public Enemy

Burnout (feat. @Erynallenkane) - @SabaPivot

Fatimah Asghar is a poet, photographer, and writer whose forceful presence and fierce work from stages, on pages, and behind lenses have made her one of the city's strongest young poetic voices. She is a member of the Dark Noise Collective, a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors, and is the creator of Let Me Love Me, a "a nude photo project for people of color to talk about [their] bodies and [their] journeys with self love." Her chapbook After dropped last November through YesYes Books.

Recorded live 3/10/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Tha' Coop - @karavelo

Patriot Act - Heems

Always on Time (feat. Ja Rule) - Ashanti

Akenya is a singular talent in the Chicago music community. She commands the stage like a combination of James Brown, Billie Holiday, and a hungry MC conquering a cypher. She has collaborated both with Chicago hip hop stalwarts including Chance the Rapper, Noname Gyspy, Mick Jenkins, Eryn Allen Kane, Donnie Trumpet, and the O'My’s, as well as performed alongside contemporary luminaries like Esperanza Spalding, Fred Hersch, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Luciana Souza, and Dave Holland. She is preparing to drop her first LP, titled Moon in the 4th, this year.

Recorded live 3/3/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

It Might Work - Alicks

Absentmindedness - @akenya

Disappear - @akenya

Back to Life - Soul II Soul

Tangos del Cerro - Estrella Morente

Chante Linwood fills rooms across the city like Chance the Rapper's Open Mike, Louder than a Bomb, and nightlife hotspots East Room and Mad River with good music, and perhaps equally importantly, a wonderful, hilarious spirit and smile. The DJ, filmmaker, and mother is one of the cofounders of We Are Cliché, a self-described "collective by women for women."

Recorded live 2/25/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Scientist Friends - @steeltippeddove

Supplier - @Karifaux

Lullaby (feat. Softglas) - @chargaux

Thanks to Ben Niespodziany for curating the instrumentals every week!

Many of the organizations and groups mentioned on AirGo have developed in response to ways that existing institutions have failed to successfully serve the purpose they claim to serve, from the classroom to the corner to the studio. News media has also largely failed its purpose of honestly, fairly, and accurately telling the stories of Chicago. This week's guests, Andrea Hart and Darryl Holliday, are editors of City Bureau, an organization "aiming to restore civic media coverage of the South and West Sides of Chicago by training a new generation of young reporters in the practice of urban journalism." In this meeting of the media minds between City Bureau and AirGo live some ideas for how to continue extending the Chicago Renaissance onto the newsprint and airwaves that are tasked with telling the truth.

Recorded live 2/18/16 at WHPK in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Into the Trees - Kodyak

Mercury Rising - @themindmusic

BLK PR (feat. @ali-of-new-kingz, sydshawmusic, & Chapo)- @kingronthepoet

In the performance spaces and venues of Chicago's cultural renaissance, it becomes easy to tell who has the work ethic to keep growing, learning, performing, and moving forward. Couple that work ethic with undeniable talent and a warm soul, and you get Sam Trump. The soul singer and musician takes a break from creating very rare vibes across the city, and touring the country with band Sidewalk Chalk, to swing by AirGo.

Recorded live 2/11/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show

far away - @tomppabeats

Love, Peace, and Happiness - @Samtrump

Brother (feat. @add2music) - @Samtrump

That Thing - @Samtrump

People Make the World Go Round - The Stylistics

Check Sam out at http://samtrumponline.com

follow us @airgoradio, @airgodaniel, and @Damon_AF

After 28 episodes, we've started to hear some consistent threads and ideologies emerge. In a city with a broken education system and a massive amount of misinformation, these Strong Young Voices have to have learned these shared ideologies from somewhere. Mariame Kaba is one of the city's great mentors and community builders–she's the founder and director of Project NIA and co-founder of We Charge Genocide, and has worked to combat violence against women and girls for decades. Just a few weeks before she moves from Chicago, she joins AirGo for a conversation.

Recorded live 2/4/2016 on WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Boathouse - em Nu no vox

Follow Mariame on twitter @prisonculture

Ricardo Gamboa isn't here for hypocrisy. The Chicagoan artist, actor, director, and activist challenges the hypocrisies and half-truths of the city and nation's institutions through his work tirelessly, and his work has both exploraed and created space for others to explore diaspora in Mexican(-American) communities. His videos, productions, and performances have forcefully issued rallying calls and challenges with a fist behind his winking humor.

Recorded live 1/28/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

french inhale - bds.u

When did you first hear a voice that cut through madness and helped the listener heal and grow? Perhaps more so than any other person in the city of Chicago, Jamila Woods brings meaningful empowerment to the spaces and people with whom and which she connects. She's the Associate Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, an award-winning poet who is member of the illustrious Dark Noise Collective, and a magnificent vocalist and songwriter, who listeners may know as the voice of the Social Experiment's hit song "Sunday Candy." The wonderfully talented and supportive Woods is a Chicago native.

Recorded live 1/21/16 at WHPK 88.5FM

Music from this week's show:

Questions feat. Jamila Woods - Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment

Blk Girl Soldier - @jamilawoods

The Joy (live @kdicrecordings) - M&O

Lovin' You - Minnie Riperton