Naa Sheka of One Love Retail & Fashion takes the first half. Ghanaian fabrics and Adinkra symbols, launching the brand at 25, two Vancouver Canucks jersey collaborations, and She Got Shea. She explains what her name means, what the racist comments under the Canucks post were actually about, and gives the most direct advice on this show so far for young entrepreneurs: ignore the critics, and start.

The second half is K-Ski and Kavawon on their own material. Trusting your engineer and catching lightning in a bottle, music as a team sport versus an ego-driven track meet, the complementary duos that lasted and the groups that split. Kavawon explains Spy vs Spy — eighteen songs in three months, made largely out of spite — and the Pudfluff battle track he gave away every copy of.

It closes somewhere heavier: passing out at reflexology, diabetes, pharma money, Dr. Sebi, and cures that never seem to arrive.

Recorded at B-Side Radio, Vancouver BC.

0:00 Welcome: Naa Sheka of One Love

0:48 Roots: 90s hip hop, family, FUBU

2:04 Ghanaian fabrics and Adinkra symbols

4:29 Two Canucks jersey collabs

6:32 She Got Shea and shopping local

8:43 Advice for young entrepreneurs

12:33 The White Rock store and pop-ups

13:37 Next goals: more sports collabs

15:47 Racist comments on the Canucks post

17:43 Ghana trip, HBCU days, fans in her gear

23:39 A signed Clippers jersey gift

26:03 Eagles champs and recording with Def

28:27 Trusting the engineer

32:47 Team sport vs ego-driven track meets

35:52 Duos that work and groups that split

40:08 Spy vs Spy: an album in three months

44:11 The Pudfluff battle track

48:41 Passing out at reflexology

51:37 Switching lanes as an aging artist

53:51 Set the Bar Call Up Season 7

1:01:04 Quarterly cypher episodes

1:04:22 Dr. Sebi and cures that never arrive

1:06:53 Diabetes, pharma money, poison food

1:12:49 Sunset Cypher, DJ Goodspin, closing

K-Ski and Kavawon are back after a month, and this one covers a lot of ground before the guests even arrive — Team USA snubs, the Biden-Kamala switch, Netanyahu at Congress, and a pointed run at double standards and who gets to stay quiet.

Then Nakio, on his upcoming project and the case for engineering yourself. He builds beats from guitar chords before drums, writes with intention, and makes the argument that gives this episode its title: Vancouver has no sonic stamp, and blooming at home is harder than leaving. The state-of-hip-hop stretch — trap glorification, what kids actually consume, Drake vs Kendrick as culture versus corporate — is the strongest part of the episode.

Red Shirt Mike arrives at 50:09 with the card: Spud vs Creative, the rookie battles, and why Set the Bar deliberately has no title belt.

Coleslaw closes it out. The Rupert Common mirror match, beating AA Ron with the ball cap line, slam poetry to her first battle at the Peacock Lounge, the Oakland work ethic, and what it takes to take up space as a woman in battle rap.

Recorded at B-Side Radio, Vancouver BC.

0:00 Intro: back after a month

2:29 Why artists release for themselves

3:53 Hardbody Dreams and Method Man/Redman

7:06 KRS-One and learning from hip-hop

8:05 Team USA snubs: Jaylen Brown

9:56 The Biden-Kamala switch

12:34 Netanyahu, Brittney Griner, hypocrisy

14:41 Calling out double standards

16:39 Show business: sponsorships and plans

18:10 Preseason football and Troy Vincent

19:29 Guest: Nakio on self-engineering

24:17 Capturing the sound of Vancouver

27:16 Nakio's producers and collaborators

28:54 Guitar chords before drums

30:23 Trap glorification and what kids hear

32:20 Drake vs Kendrick: culture vs corporate

35:48 Why big artists stay quiet

38:52 Vancouver's missing sonic stamp

43:43 School, nutrition, knowledge of self

46:32 Skill Lab Vancouver and coaching kids

48:58 Nakio's shout-outs and release plug

50:09 Red Shirt Mike enters: free Sudan

52:08 Spud vs Creative: comeback stories

56:24 Time limits and Rocky Nelson vs Mike

1:00:19 Fuller, AA Ron, and Pauly Freeze

1:03:41 Rookie battles: Nevaeh and Vito

1:09:49 Why Set the Bar has no title belt

1:16:49 Guest: Coleslaw on the mirror match

1:21:25 Beating AA Ron: the ball cap line

1:23:36 Slam poetry to Coleslaw's first battle

1:25:05 The grind and the Oakland work ethic

1:27:09 Taking up space as a woman

1:29:13 The Billy Shakes storybook

1:33:05 Dream opponents and women in the scene

1:35:53 Comedy, ukulele, and swim lessons

1:37:04 Coleslaw's shout-outs and sign-off

Two halves, two very different conversations.

First, the business of being an artist. Jessaii of Queen Level Productions and industry veteran Deshawn — 25 years in, from church drums to the business side — get into why artist development disappeared and why you now have to do it yourself. Treating yourself as a business, three-month plans, leaving breadcrumbs before a release, why college radio and the Exclaim charts still matter, and the case for promoting your own website instead of the platforms. Deshawn's line on 3,000 subscribers being a career is the one worth writing down.

Then Red Shirt Mike brings the Fully Reloaded card in, and it turns competitive. Mike Wiald and Shine 9 argue their co-main event to each other's faces — who is actually best in Vancouver, who belongs in the top five, storytelling versus overpowering defense, and how many BC names deserve a spot in Canada's top 10.

Recorded at B-Side Radio, Vancouver BC.

0:00 Intro: tech trouble and the lineup

3:11 Welcoming Jessaii and Deshawn

3:57 Why Queen Level Productions exists

6:13 Upcoming: Calabash and Guilt & Co.

7:35 New single 'You Delight'

9:57 Deshawn's 25 years: drums to business

12:43 Why artist development disappeared

14:28 Work ethic over talent

15:42 A Google search to a consultation

17:43 The task list and three-month plans

20:48 Breadcrumbs and posting with purpose

23:51 College radio and Exclaim charts

25:21 Building a team after injury

26:29 Music as medicine

27:42 Press releases and local media

29:59 Burnout, parenting and music

34:36 Queen Level services

38:01 Promote your website, not the socials

42:48 Monetizing beyond streaming

46:10 Where to find Jessaii and Queen Level

48:51 Red Shirt Mike on Fully Reloaded

52:00 Mike Wiald vs Shine 9: who's best

56:58 Ranking Vancouver's top five

1:03:12 Storytelling vs overpowering defense

1:10:33 Clowning Red Shirt Mike

1:15:23 Canada's top 10: how many BC names?

1:17:17 Raising the standard: honest rankings

1:20:49 Card rundown and Ellipsis vs G-Show

K-Ski sits down with Red Shirt Mike — organiser of BC's Set the Bar battle league — for a two-hour education in competitive rap. 

It starts with the thing casual fans get wrong: battle rap isn't freestyle. From there it runs back through the roots — the dozens, 80s Jersey, Kool Moe Dee vs Busy Bee, the Roxanne Wars, KRS-One vs MC Shan — and into the question that gives this one its title, whether battlers can actually make records.

The middle is Mike's own history: trumpet to online tournaments, his first live battle at King of the Dot Vancouver in 2010, hosting Smoked Out Battles until it fell apart, then launching Set the Bar directly into COVID. How a card actually gets built, how battles get judged, and why a promo run like Hard Body Dreams vs Save the Whales pops off when a straight battle wouldn't.

Channel 5 closes it out with the Cleveland Browns angle he used on Dan's Madigan, the railway qualifier that changed everything, and ten years of BC hip-hop friendships that started at a cypher in Nanaimo.

Recorded at B-Side Radio, Vancouver BC.

0:00 Intro: no co-host, no engineer

1:32 Battle rap isn't freestyle

3:11 Roots: the dozens and 80s Jersey

5:21 Pauses and comedic timing

6:58 Can battle rappers make good music?

10:18 Kool Moe Dee vs Busy Bee

11:05 Roxanne Wars and KRS-One vs MC Shan

13:04 Competition vs beef

14:42 Winning a hostile crowd mid-battle

16:37 Sonny Bonahoe and shock value

18:40 K-Ski's worst performer habits

23:34 Red Shirt Mike's pet peeves

26:52 Mike's origin: Nas, Immortal Technique

28:57 Running into Shad on Main Street

30:02 From trumpet to online tournaments

31:52 First live battle: King of the Dot

34:36 Smoked Out Battles and how it ended

36:49 Set the Bar launches into COVID

39:55 The stranded finale, the novelty check

41:44 Rebuilding the fan base post-COVID

43:59 Watching battlers grow: Gobi, Creative

45:34 How a card is built

47:37 Why battling earns respect

50:11 Kavawon joins; Shine 9 vs Revron

53:26 Battle at the Bridge and Rent Money

54:45 East vs West: Toronto and Vancouver

59:43 The four-league Canadian summit idea

1:01:08 Could battle rap tour like AND1?

1:06:35 Coleslaw vs Caustic: Cinderella dress

1:09:07 Fully Loaded and 'Fully Reloaded'

1:12:18 Judging battles: Nameless's system

1:16:34 Hard Body Dreams vs Save the Whales

1:21:46 Channel 5 joins the show

1:23:53 Cyphermatic days: Kavawon vs Shakes

1:25:03 Channel 5 vs Dan's Madigan

1:27:07 Street rapper vs studio rapper

1:30:07 Where's the line? Family bars

1:34:01 Props, volume and first round energy

1:36:09 Prepping per opponent

1:38:08 The railway qualifier

1:41:17 How the name Channel 5 came from radio

1:42:35 Kelowna to Nanaimo: the Motton cypher

1:44:13 The cypher's journey across the city

1:46:44 Ten years of BC hip-hop friendships

1:48:23 Busking on Granville

1:51:56 Outro: April 27 at Bully Studios

K-Ski and Kavawon open the 2024 season of Beyond the Lyrics 604 — the Vancouver podcast about the business behind the bars.

This one is a state of the union for independent artists. K-Ski tells the story of the record Clear Channel quietly buried. The pair launch "Breaking Bread," a new segment on the money side of music, and get into follow-through as the artist's Achilles heel, why Northwest talent stays slept on, and the difference between an alley-oop and a track meet when you're building a team.

The second half is unreleased music. Kavawon premieres "Trust the Process," K-Ski plays "Blues of a True Believer" and "Invisible," and the conversation turns to Roc Marciano, the boom bap revival, and the weight words carry — why spelling and casting spells share a root, and what it means to tell your story without glorifying it.

Recorded live at B-Side Radio, Vancouver BC. Beats by Ryze Def Beats.

0:00 Mic check — who's in the room

2:28 Mint lemonade, yoga, and the lotus

5:28 What "Join Us In The Struggle" means

6:46 Remembering Uncle Mickey

8:24 What's changing on the show in 2024

9:09 The Katt Williams interview

11:24 The Michael Jackson pivot

14:25 Why K-Ski never signed

15:38 "Breaking Bread" — new business segment

19:31 Follow-through: the Achilles heel

23:32 Collaboration then vs now in the scene

25:38 They'll rob you blind — and silence you

26:58 Homegrown, Teos, and getting low-balled

28:28 2024, the age of collaboration

30:26 Northwest talent that's slept on

32:38 Inspire, Inform, Empower

33:27 Booking his own Portland-to-Van tour

34:50 KUBE 93 and the payola ceiling

36:15 The "almost tier"

37:18 Finding your voice as an artist

38:18 Team roles and the sports analogy

42:39 Alley-oops vs track meets

43:58 The Sphinx, ego, and what outlives you

45:15 Wu-Tang, community, and shared resources

50:15 Segment 2 — unreleased music

57:31 Punchlines, concepts, and learning trap

1:01:44 Music: "Trust the Process" — Kavawon

1:05:03 K-Ski's upcoming releases

1:06:03 Music: "Blues of a True Believer"

1:09:25 Beats, Blues and Bars

1:10:12 Music: "Invisible" — K-Ski

1:13:32 The story behind "Invisible"

1:14:37 Roc Marciano and the boom bap revival

1:15:39 Tell your story — don't glorify it

1:16:41 Casting spells: the weight of words

1:19:35 Drill, Chicago, and the prison pipeline

1:22:35 Who gets called a sucker

1:23:47 Follow the money

1:24:23 Why hip-hop went silent

1:26:04 Why they do this

1:29:03 Just be authentic

1:30:46 Music that feeds the soul

1:33:26 Outro and shout-outs