Your name is one of the most important things you will ever have in your life. Potential allies, enemies, employers, and loves interests glean from it a glimpse into your upbringing, culture, and status in society. A name passed down from an influential and wealthy grandfather can open doors without you ever having to lift a finger to turn the knob, while a quote unquote “ethnic” name that originates from a culture of lower standing in the hierarchy of the class, or caste system of society, can close those doors just as quickly.

In the world of Hip-Hop, we choose our names carefully, piecing them together from names we acquired from our neighborhoods, attributes that we embody or aspire to become, and role models, whether fictional or nonfictional, that have some quality that appeals to us.

Throughout the conversations that we’ve had with various artists in the Hip-Hop world, we’ve gotten to hear the fascinating origin stories of their names. On this episode, we take a look back though our conversations with Stone Mecca, Shawn Setaro, Born King, Joker The Bailbondsman, Cole James Cash, and Gemstones about how they got their names, but before that we have a clip of Channel 10 Podcast co host Singodsuperior explaining his name, a name which I’m sure many of you have probably wondered about.

Are someone with an interesting store of how your name came to be? Call us and leave a message with your story at (443) 885-0997 or email us at [email protected], and we may air your story on a future episode of the show.

For full interviews, plus our full catalog of amazing content, be sure to visit channel10podcast.com. You can also purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise by clicking the store link, and help to support using the Amazon link on our site when ordering from Amazon.

As always we ask that you rate, subscribe, comment, favorite, and like us wherever you listen to podcasts. It really does a lot to help to grow and expand the show. We ask that you support us by pledging a dollar or more per episode at patreon.com/channel10podcast.

Two of the most busy people in the world who live 1300 miles away from each other finally connect to bring you a new episode of our thoughts. Topics range from food and how it affects our lives to various happenings in music. And drugs.

RIP Prince.

Support the Channel 10 Podcast and pledge a dollar or more per episode at https://www.patreon.com/channel10podcast.

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

Tristan Art is the quintessential young black entrepreneur. From humble beginnings graduating high school and working in factories in the small South Carolina town of Anderson, to seeing success and losing it all promoting parties in Charleston, to starting over in Baltimore and creating a foundation for lasting success, all by the age of 24, Tristan’s story is inspirational. You may have heard of Tristan because of his work creating custom iPhone cases for the likes of Nicki Minaj, Lebron James, Shaq, and Joe Budden, but his grind is so much more. He is an illustrator, creates animations for commercials, his clothing line, and his own cartoon “Tristan’s World,” and most importantly works in the community speaking to kids at schools and assisting charitable organizations.

We spoke with Tristan about his journey and his grind for one of the most legendary episodes of the Channel 10 Podcast yet. If you feel stuck and need some real inspiration, listen to this episode right now.

You can see all that Tristan has to offer at tristanart.com and instagram.com/tristanyv.

Support the Channel 10 Podcast and pledge a dollar or more per episode at https://www.patreon.com/channel10podcast.

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

Channel 10 Podcast is one year old! Take a trip down memory lane with us as we reflect on the progress we've made with the show. We've come a long way since our first episode.

RIP Phife Dog!

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

Shawn Setaro is the host of the critically acclaimed Hip-Hop podcast The Cipher. More than just a podcaster, he has a very interesting life. From growing up in a small New Jersey town, to attending Berklee College of Music, to playing in and going on tour with rock bands, to being one of the first employees of Hip-Hop/tech startup Rap Genius, to writing for Forbes, Vibe, the Atlantic, and more, and of course The Cipher podcast, his career has taken a variety of unexpected twists and turns, which makes for a great and inspiring story. Shawn is a wealth of knowledge and is great to talk you, which makes this episode a must listen.

You can check The Cipher at http://theciphershow.com, check out his articles at http://www.forbes.com/sites/shawnsetaro, and say hello at https://twitter.com/SameOldShawn.

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

DeRay McKesson is best known for his activism and protest in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, his Campaign Zero proposals, and now his campaign to become the next mayor of Baltimore, MD.

We had the chance to speak with DeRay about his upbringing in Baltimore and his connection to the city, and we reminisced on the shared Baltimorean experiences of The Big Phat Morning Show, Shake and Bake, K-Swift, club music, and more.

We speak on a variety of other topics as well, such as addiction, education, politics and what it's like to campaign, and his conversation with President Barack Obama. We also get into some of the points of his detailed platform which outlines his plans once in office.

We apologize for the shaky audio, but this episode with one of the most interesting, polarizing, and important figures in modern civil rights is a must listen.

You can learn more about DeRay and his plans for Baltimore at https://www.derayformayor.com.

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

We're all over the place on this episode, hence the title. Before our conversation with Stone Mecca/Tru James, we chopped it up about everything from DMX to Nas albums to wack production on certain artists' catalog. If you enjoy good Hip-Hop talk, check it out.

Check us out at channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

"I don't want to pollute the world with music that I'm apart of..."

Stone Mecca aka Trú James is a knowledgeable multi-instrumentalist musician, artist, and producer who has a lot of history in the game. We first met him after his band tore it down with RZA on the Digi Snacks Tour.

We talk about his super interesting journey through music, from growing up in L.A., dancing for and playing with Earth, Wind & Fire (RIP Maurice White), to his band Stone Mecca (listen to their project "First Contact" on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, or wherever else you get music), to joining the Wu-Tang family and working with RZA on various projects (such as Afro Samurai, Digi Snacks, 8 Diagrams, and The Man With The Iron Fists), to what he's doing now. We talk making music with integrity, and music nerd stuff like capturing the right sound in the studio and on stage. This episode is a must listen for anyone who is thinking about going on a musical journey and a music industry journey as well.

Search Stone Mecca and Trú James on Google, Facebook, and iTunes to see everything that he has to offer and connect.

Check us out at http://channel10podcast.com and email us at [email protected]. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

For our 40th episode, we get into a range of topics and stories. We try to figure out what the hell is going on with Martin Shkreli. We get into how rappers get older, get more successful and stable, and then seem to forget their younger wild ways and start judging the youth. We get into the upcoming mayoral elections and DeRay Mckesson's announcement of his candidacy. We get into crazy stories taking public transportation in Baltimore and how ridiculous Baltimore's public transit system is. We get into all kinds of interesting topics, so check us out.

Email us at [email protected].

Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.

We apologize for the hiatus, we've just been really busy with the various things going on in our lives and the other projects that we've been working on that you will hear about soon. Singodsuperior escaped to the 70 degree weather of Oklahoma just in time to avoid the historic Blizzard of 2016 in Baltimore that Artic is still digging out of, but we were finally able to get together over Skype to talk about a variety of subjects, including all things Kanye West, Drake, Meek Mill, Max B and jailhouse freestyles, simple life in the flyover states vs. complex city life stereotypes, and how if you encroach more than 15 feet onto someone's property, you might get shot.

Email us at [email protected].

Keep it locked to Channel 10 Podcast as we revamp and build the show. Please favorite, subscribe, and comment on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Visit channel10podcast.com for more dope episodes, and click the "Store" link at the top to purchase Channel 10 Podcast merchandise and support the podcast.