Living for the City

By Side Stage

Before Detroit gave the world Motown, techno, and hip-hop, it gave the world something harder to name: a feeling that music made in basements and backrooms and borrowed spaces could become the soundtr... more

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FAQs about Living for the City:

How many episodes does Living for the City have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.

Living for the City episodes:

July 08, 2026 DJ Minx on Building Detroit's Techno Scene from the Ground Up | Living for the City FULL Interview
DJ Minx is one of the founding architects of Detroit's techno and house scene, the creator of Women on Wax, and one of the most important DJs the city has ever produced. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this extended interview, Minx traces her origin story from discovering techno through Electrifying Mojo on the radio to walking into her first gig with a bag of records and getting laughed at by the women at the door. She breaks down the difference between house and techno, the short-lived clubs that kept Black dance culture alive in Detroit, and what the Music Institute meant to an entire generation of dancers and DJs. She talks about Moodymann showing up at three of her parties before finally telling her she was starting a label in two weeks whether she felt ready or not, and how that conversation led to the Airborne EP and the birth of Women on Wax.
Minx also reflects on the responsibility of preservation — why Detroit techno needs to be in history books, why playing vinyl is a skill that not everyone has, and what it felt like to be on stage with K-Hand the last night she ever performed.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - The Shelter, the Music Institute, and Early Black Dance Culture in Detroit
03:56 - House vs Techno and the DJ Culture That Grew from the Dance Floor
08:00 - Radio, Electrifying Mojo, and Keeping Detroit Techno Alive
12:00 - How Minx Got Into DJing as a Woman in Detroit
18:59 - Moodymann, the Label Conversation, and the Birth of Airborne
23:03 - Women on Wax: From Mentorship to Movement
33:34 - The DJ's Role, Vinyl as a Craft, and Preserving Detroit Techno
41:00 - K-Hand: The Last Night
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
DJ Minx, DJ Minx interview, Women on Wax Detroit, Detroit techno history, Detroit house music, Music Institute Detroit, Detroit DJ culture, Electrifying Mojo, Moodymann, K-Hand Detroit, Detroit women DJs, vinyl DJing, Detroit techno pioneer, Airborne EP, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, techno history, house music history, Detroit underground music, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast

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49min
July 01, 2026 The Teachers and Students Carrying Detroit's Sound Forward | Living for the City Ep. 8
Detroit has never been a city that lives in its past. Its greatest tradition has always been inventing the future.
In the season finale of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib looks beyond Detroit's musical legacy to the people who will define its next chapter. At the Detroit School of Arts, teacher Maritza turned a hallway conversation with Waajeed and Cornelius Harris into a techno program where students are learning not just the history of Detroit music, but how to shape its future. Some had never heard of Detroit techno before. Now they're creating original tracks on Roland machines and preparing to perform during Movement weekend.
Kevin Saunderson reflects on what it means to watch a new generation inherit the sound he helped create and why every generation has a responsibility to leave the door open for the next one. StanWill, one of Detroit's rising voices, shares how he's building a career on his own terms, making music relentlessly, cultivating community online, and refusing to wait for permission.
Throughout the season, Hanif has asked what makes a music city. Here, he arrives at his answer. It's not just the records, the venues, or even the artists. It's a culture that believes knowledge should be shared, opportunities should be created, and every generation deserves the chance to surprise the one before it.
What moved Hanif most wasn't simply the music these students were making. It was the faith their teachers and mentors had placed in them – the belief that the future isn't something to protect from young people, but something to build with them.
This one is about hope. About handing over the tools. And about believing the next great Detroit sound hasn't been heard yet.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - The Future Detroit Is Already Making 02:00 - Detroit School of Arts: Where Techno Gets Passed Down 06:48 - The Lineage: Gospel, Motown, Techno, and What Comes Next 09:43 - Brian McCollum on Independent Artists in the Digital Age 11:01 - Stanwill: Building Worlds and Kicking Down Doors 21:00 - Kevin Saunderson: One of the Original Architects Looks Ahead 25:00 - Complete Faith in the Process

LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267

Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/

TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit School of Arts, Detroit techno future, Kevin Saunderson, Belleville Three, Stanwill Detroit, Nasan Detroit, Brian McCollum, Waajeed, Detroit techno education, Detroit hip hop future, Movement Festival Detroit, Roland Detroit, Detroit young artists, Detroit music next generation, techno education, Detroit independent artists, TikTok music, Detroit music 2026, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2026 podcast

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28min
June 24, 2026 How Detroit's Crate Diggers Kept the City's Music Alive | Living for the City Ep. 7
In Detroit, records were never just records. They were history, community, memory, and proof that you cared enough to go looking.
In Episode 7 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib explores Detroit's enduring vinyl culture and the people who have dedicated their lives to preserving music one record at a time. This is a story about collectors, DJs, store owners, and believers — people who see a record not as a product, but as a relationship.
Ben Blackwell walks through the Third Man pressing plant in the Cass Corridor and explains why DIY was never a trend in Detroit. It was a necessity. Andrey Douthard reflects on building Paramita Sound in the aftermath of losing J Dilla and Proof, and how records became a way to process grief, build community, and connect generations through music. Mary Cobra arrives with an armful of 45s and traces the Detroit Cobras' history back to a simple reality: if no one else was going to preserve the music they loved, they would do it themselves.
House Shoes made the decision to pull his catalog from streaming. If you want the music, you have to seek it out. DJ Minx still prefers vinyl because collecting records and truly knowing how to play them are two different things. Together, they make a case for something increasingly rare: intention.
Beneath every story is a larger question about what gets lost when music becomes frictionless. In Detroit, records remain a way of slowing down, paying attention, and honoring the people who came before.
This one is about preservation, intention, and a city that still believes discovery should take work.

CHAPTERS
00:31 - The First Record You Buy With Your Own Money
02:05 - Third Man Records and the DIY Philosophy of Vinyl
05:54 - Paramita Sound: Records as a Vehicle for Grief and Community
11:27 - Gatekeeping as Quality Control
14:05 - Mary Cobra and the 45
18:09 - House Shoes Pulled His Catalog. DJ Minx Won't Give Up the Needle.
21:44 - Digging for Records Is Relational

LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267

Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/

TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit vinyl culture, crate digging Detroit, record stores Detroit, Third Man Records Detroit, Third Man Pressing, Ben Blackwell, Jack White, Paramita Sound, Andre Duhart, House Shoes, DJ Minx, Mary Cobra, Detroit Cobras, vinyl renaissance, record collecting, Detroit techno vinyl, Detroit hip hop, crate digging, vinyl vs streaming, physical music, record pressing, Archer Records Detroit, Detroit DIY music, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast

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25min
June 17, 2026 The Artists Who Left Detroit and the Pull That Brought Them Home | Living for the City Ep. 6
Every artist Detroit has ever made has had to decide at some point whether to stay or go. The ones who left never fully left.
In Episode 6 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib follows the migration patterns of Detroit's musicians — where they went, why they left, and what brought some of them back. Berry Gordy IV, son of the Motown founder, speaks from Los Angeles about what it meant when Motown moved west and what that departure did to the city it left behind. House Shoes, the DJ who spent a decade as the keeper of Detroit hip hop culture, opens up about leaving after losing Dilla and Proof in the same year and why Detroit felt like a coffin he had to grieve somewhere else. Waajeed spent nine years in New York trying to make an ambitious plan come to life before coming back to a Detroit that had changed, but still needed him. And Ben Blackwell, who moved to Nashville to help build Third Man Records with Jack White, talks about the karmic weight of leaving a city that shaped everything he became.
Not everyone left. Some stayed because they couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Some came back because the stamp Detroit left on them was stronger than the distance. Hanif traces all of this through the lens of the Great Migration — what it costs to leave a place, and what it costs to stay.
This one is about the pull of home, and everyone who has ever felt it.
CHAPTERS
00:30 - The Episode Detroit Couldn't Contain
01:37 - The Great Migration and What It Costs to Leave
02:00 - Berry Gordy IV: Growing Up at Motown and the Move to LA
09:16 - House Shoes: Detroit Felt Like a Coffin
10:36 - Waajeed: Nine Years Away and Why He Came Back
16:47 - Ben Blackwell, Jack White, and the Nashville Decision
21:44 - Detroit's Stamp Never Fades
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit musicians, leaving Detroit, Berry Gordy, Motown history, Motown Los Angeles, House Shoes, Waajeed, Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records, Jack White, Nashville, J Dilla, Proof D12, Nasan, Detroit hip hop, Detroit Great Migration, Detroit migration, Detroit vs everybody, Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, Eminem, Detroit music scene, Detroit culture, Detroit identity, music and place, artists and home, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast

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25min
June 10, 2026 How Detroit Keeps Its Greatest Music Legacies Alive | Living for the City Ep. 5
Every great Detroit artist had someone who believed in them before they believed in themselves.
In Episode 5 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib traces the mentorship chains that run underneath Detroit's music history like a second infrastructure. Guilty Simpson, the last artist J Dilla was working with before he passed, reflects on what it means to carry that gift forward and why Dilla's music still feels so urgently alive. Nasaan, Proof's son, opens up about spending years running from his father's name before realizing the legacy he'd inherited wasn't just weight, it was a support system built by people who still love him. Waajeed opens the Underground Music Academy and reflects on the moment he realized he'd become the OG he once needed. And DJ Minx tells the story of Moodymann showing up at a party, watching her DJ, and telling her she was starting a label in two weeks whether she felt ready or not.
Hanif opens with a 1997 video from the Palladium Club where Eminem, D12, Dilla, and Slum Village all share the same stage on the same night, and asks what it means that this kind of overlap wasn't rare. It was just a Tuesday in Detroit. In 2006, the world lost Dilla in February and Proof two months later.
Together, their stories reveal that Detroit doesn't just produce great artists. It produces great mentors. People who drive across the city to show you how to use their machine, who tell you you're ready before you feel it, who stay when they could have left because someone has to hold the door. This one is about the people who keep the torch burning and make sure there’s always someone there to carry it next.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - The 1997 Palladium Video: Detroit Hip Hop's Interconnected DNA
02:51 - Each One Teaches One: The Detroit Mentorship Ecosystem
05:31 - Moodymann, Amp Fiddler, and the Gift That Doesn't Wait
11:13 - 2006: Detroit Lost Dilla and Proof Two Months Apart
12:44 - Guilty Simpson and the Aliveness of Dilla's Music
14:33 - Nasaan: Carrying Proof's Name Without Losing Your Own
20:31 - Underground Music Academy and Passing It Forward
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit hip hop, J Dilla, Proof D12, Eminem, Slum Village, Guilty Simpson, Nasan, Waajeed, Underground Music Academy, DJ Minx, Moodymann, Amp Fiddler, House Shoes, Nick Speed, Sterling Toles, Bill Blackwell, Bob Seger, Isaiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons, Detroit mentorship, passing the torch, Detroit legacy, Detroit rap, Detroit music culture, hip hop mentorship, D12, Royce da 5'9, Marcus Belgrave, Detroit creative community, each one teaches one, Detroit vs everybody, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast

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29min
June 03, 2026 How Detroit's Women Claimed Their Place in the Music Scene | Living for the City Ep. 4
Every era of Detroit music has been shaped by women, even when history tried to leave them out of the story.
In Episode 4 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib explores the women who pushed past barriers, challenged expectations, and transformed Detroit's music scene in the process. DJ Minx reflects on three decades of demanding respect in spaces that weren't designed for her, and how that struggle led to Women on Wax, a collective dedicated to opening doors for the next generation. Brenda Franklin Corbett traces her journey from the choir at New Bethel Baptist Church to the stage alongside Aretha Franklin, sharing stories of the Queen of Soul that rarely make it into the history books.
Don Was revisits Nick of Time, the Bonnie Raitt album that defied industry assumptions about who could succeed, while Waajeed explains why real inclusion requires more than good intentions—it requires building institutions that last. DJ LADYMONIX reflects on the dancefloor as a place of healing, belonging, and radical possibility.
Together, their stories reveal that progress doesn't happen on its own. It happens because people fight for it. The episode closes with a tribute to techno pioneer K-Hand, Kelly Marie Hand, who spent her final night doing what she loved most: behind the decks.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Finding Your Way Into a Room That Wasn't Designed For You
02:07 - DJ Minx and the Making of Women on Wax
05:43 - Brenda Franklin Corbett: From New Bethel to Aretha's Stage
13:05 - Don Was, Bonnie Raitt, and What the Industry Got Wrong About Women
19:56 - The Dance Floor as Sacred Space: Lady Monx, K-Hand, and the Next Generation

LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/

TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, women in music, women DJs Detroit, DJ Minx, Women on Wax, Brenda Franklin Corbett, Aretha Franklin, Don Was, Bonnie Raitt, Nick of Time, Waajeed, Underground Music Academy, Lady Monx, K-Hand, Kelly Marie Hand, Detroit Cobras, New Bethel Baptist, Detroit techno, Detroit dance music, women in electronic music, women in Detroit, Motor City Wine, Movement Festival, Detroit hip hop, Black women in music, inclusion in music, Detroit music scenes, DJ culture, dance floor culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, Detroit musicians, 2025 podcast

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33min
May 27, 2026 How Detroit's Radio Stations Shaped a Generation | Living for the City Ep. 3
In Detroit, radio wasn't background noise. It was the whole conversation.
In Episode 3 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib traces the invisible infrastructure of Detroit's sound. Not the studios or the stages, but the airwaves. Kevin Saunderson remembers hearing the Electrifying Mojo and knowing, before he ever made a record, what music was supposed to feel like. Brian McCollum, the Detroit Free Press journalist who has spent decades refusing to let the city's music go undocumented, traces the arc from CKLW and the golden age of AM radio to the commoditized '90s that drove artists to make the music they couldn't hear on the dial. And Liz Warner, who returned to Detroit's airwaves in 2024, talks about what it means to inherit that responsibility.
Hanif revisits the memory of waiting by the radio with blank cassette tapes, as he lands on the belief that he keeps coming back to: the best DJs don't play what you want to hear. They play what you need to hear before you know you need it. Electrifying Mojo understood that. So did Martha Jean “the Queen,” who carried the city through the 1967 riots with nothing but a microphone and a commitment to making people feel less alone.
This one is about the frequencies that shaped everything else.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - The Porch Lights Flicker: Electrifying Mojo and the Power of Detroit Radio
02:11 - CKLW and the Golden Age: When Detroit Was a National Radio Market
03:32 - The Segregation of Sound: Breaking Artists on Black Radio
05:41 - FM Radio Opens Up: Space, Songs, and the City
07:06 - Raised by Mojo and The Wizard: A Generation Built on the Airwaves
23:51 - Martha Jean “the Queen” and What Radio Owes a Community
27:42 - What Radio Gave and What Streaming Can Never Replace

LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/

TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit radio history, Electrifying Mojo, WGPR Detroit, WJZZ Detroit, CKLW Detroit, Jeff Mills The Wizard, Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Martha Jean the Queen, Mojo in the Morning, Liz Warner, Brian McCollum, Sterling Toles, Detroit techno, Detroit radio, FM radio history, Black radio history, Midnight Funk Association, Detroit music culture, Detroit creative community, Detroit hip hop, J Dilla, Drexciya, radio vs streaming, music discovery, Detroit DJ culture, techno origin story, Belleville Three, Detroit labor, working class Detroit, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, Detroit musicians, 2025 podcast

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32min
May 20, 2026 The Buildings That Built Detroit's Sound Are Almost All Gone | Living For the City Ep. 2
The city’s sound was shaped by places never built to last – until the music changed everything.
In Episode 2 of Living for the City, Hanif Abdurraqib asks what happens to the spaces that shaped the music once the city around them begins to change. Waajeed, DJ and producer and one of Detroit's living encyclopedias, walks through what was lost when the lofts at The Griswold got converted into luxury apartments. DJ Minx reflects on the Music Institute as something close to a religion, and what it felt like when it was gone. Don Was goes back to being 16 at the Grande Ballroom, a place that offered what he calls a utopian vision of teenage freedom. And at Underground Resistance, still standing, the conversation turns to what it actually takes to preserve not just a building but the community that gave it meaning.
Hanif argues that the innovations that allow people to gather are just as important as the innovations of the music itself. You need the sound. But you also need the basement, the warehouse, the bar on a bad block that somehow sold out on a Sunday. Detroit has always found those places. The question is what happens when those spaces no longer exist.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Griswold: What Was Lost When the Lofts Became Luxury
01:56 - Cheap Space and Creative Community: Why Affordability Builds Scenes
05:25 - The Music Institute: A Religion That Ended Without Warning
06:05 - St. Andrews, The Shelter, and the Art Versus Commerce Shift
10:00 - Underground Resistance: Community Project and Music Factory
12:28 - The Gold Dollar and Grande Ballroom: Freedom on a Bad Block
16:17 - Motor City Wine: How Detroit Keeps Building New Architecture
New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! 📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS/KEYWORDS: Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit venues, Detroit gentrification, Music Institute Detroit, The Griswold Detroit, St. Andrews Hall Detroit, The Shelter Detroit, Grande Ballroom Detroit, Gold Dollar Detroit, Underground Resistance Detroit, Motor City Wine Detroit, Cobo Arena, Waajeed, DJ Minx, Don Was, Detroit techno, Detroit DJ culture, Detroit creative community, Detroit music venues, Detroit dance music, Black dance culture, Detroit rock, MC5, The Stooges, Detroit Cobras, house music Detroit, techno history, creative displacement, affordability and art, Detroit neighborhoods, Detroit nightlife, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast

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21min
May 13, 2026 How Detroit's Working Class Built the Sound the Whole World Stole | Living for the City Ep. 1
Detroit’s music didn’t come from nowhere. It came from working people who carried the rhythm of the city with them long after the shift ended.
In the debut episode of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib traces the thread between labor and art that runs through everything Detroit has ever made. Berry Gordy IV reflects on his father modeling Motown on the assembly line and what it meant to build stars the same way Detroit built cars. Kevin Saunderson breaks down the early days of proving parents wrong in a blue-collar town that didn't yet believe in them. Don Was recalls playing bar gigs for $10 a night before becoming one of the most important producers in the world. And Bob Seger's longtime tour manager Bill Blackwell explains what Detroit pride actually looks like when autoworkers show up at a golf tournament holding Live Bullet albums.
Detroit, Hanif argues, is a stamp of authenticity. You had to go through something to get here. And what came out the other side became techno, rock, Motown, hip hop. Something the whole world is still listening to.
This one starts at the source.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Engine of the City: How Detroit Built Its Sound
04:18 - Techno Boulevard: Three Teenagers Who Invented a Genre0
8:20 - The Motown Blueprint: How Berry Gordy Built Stars Like Cars
11:00 - The Grind: Don Was, Bob Seger, and Earning Detroit's Respect
15:00 - Day Job Artists: Working the Plant and Making Records
19:04 - The Democratization of Genius: Dilla, Aretha, and Detroit's Spirit
22:05 - Next Time: The Buildings That Built Detroit's Music
New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/

TAGS/KEYWORDS: Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit music documentary, techno history, Motown history, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Berry Gordy, Don Was, Bob Seger, Bill Blackwell, J Dilla, DJ Minx, Detroit techno, Detroit labor, assembly line music, working class Detroit, Detroit hip hop, Detroit rock, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, Detroit musicians, Belleville Three, techno origin story, Motown assembly line, Dennis Coffey, Detroit pride, music and work, artists and day jobs, Detroit creative community, 2025 podcast

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24min
May 10, 2026 Living for the City (Official Trailer): Premieres May 13th!
Before Detroit gave the world Motown, techno, and hip-hop, it gave the world something harder to name: a feeling that music made in basements and backrooms and borrowed spaces could become the soundtrack to an entire generation's life. That is the story Living for the City is here to tell, and nobody alive is better equipped to tell it than Hanif Abdurraqib.
MacArthur Fellow. New York Times bestselling author. The most gifted writer working at the intersection of music, memory, and American identity today. Hanif brings his singular voice to a new video podcast series that goes inside the streets, venues, and neighborhoods where iconic sounds are born, talking with the artists, DJs, producers, and community architects who built these movements from the ground up.
Season One is Detroit. Eight episodes. The full arc of how one city became the unlikely origin point for some of the most influential music ever made, told by the people who were actually there, and the writer who understands better than anyone what it meant.
This is not a music history lesson. This is a front-row seat to the moments that mattered.
Living for the City premieres May 13th, with new episodes dropping weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

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2min

FAQs about Living for the City:

How many episodes does Living for the City have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.