J.T. the L.A. Storyteller

Suzy Exposito is a born writer, whose Belizean-American mom taught her to read as early as 3 years old. She is also the founder of “The Mixtape Club” at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in her ole stomping grounds of Jacksonville, Florida. Since 2020, she has been a music reporter with the L.A. Times and is now also a culture columnist with their new De Los platform and initiative.

In our convo, we talk especially about the impact of movement-making in the 2010s on the music industry and pop culture today; we also share some thoughts on the evolution (or lack thereof) of certain artists over the last decade, including Drake, Tyler the Creator, and more. You can read Suzy’s interview with Bad Bunny—Rolling Stone’s first cover story authored by a Latina—here; and you can keep up with her via “X” at @hexpositiveh or via Instagram at @brujacore.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, please see my new page at PATREON.

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Fidel Martinez joins us to chat about Blood In, Blood Out, dog-walking to pay the bills in L.A., the L.A. Times’s Latinx Files and De Los platforms, and even the second season of This Fool on Hulu.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, do so through my new page at PATREON.

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Mike Bonin of What’s Next, Los Angeles joins us to talk about the impending eviction of at least 500 renters at the Barrington Plaza in West Los Angeles this September, which if approved would be one of the largest mass evictions in Los Angeles since the forcible displacement of residents in the La Loma, Bishop and Palo Verde communities–more commonly known as “Chavez Ravine”–between 1953 – 1959 in order to supplant Dodgers stadium on top. We also discuss the expiration of affordable housing at the Hillside Villa in Chinatown and its implications for L.A.’s affordable housing supply overall, and how the city attorney’s office can do more to defend L.A.’s renters from billionaire landlords.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, do so through my new page at PATREON.

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A few weeks ago, Ali Rachel Pearl and I went to the grand opening of a new housing project in our neighborhood, the Avenida. Last week, on August 4th, we had a conversation in the recording studio at the Robinson Space where we reflected on this specific housing project. More specifically we discussed what, exactly, constitutes a home or a community when it comes to housing those most in need in our city. To subscribe to Making a Neighborhood, please visit our Substack page here. And if you’re not subscribed to J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast yet, it’s about that time, Los Angeles.

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“Fweago,” “Don Cee” and “Forbs24K” of the V.V’s stop by to chat about the local Family Arcade, the gentrification of Virgil avenue, and even the state of hip hop for Latino rap stars today, among other things. Forbs and Fweago also share a microphone in this session due to J.T.’s mishap! To see the video recording of this discussion and more, visit patreon.com/jimbotimes and sign up for the new seven-day free trial.

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“DeuceSeis” and “SickAssHam” of the V.V’s stop by to chat about VIRGILVILLAGE, the album with yours truly in a brand-new studio setup for the podcast.

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