Happy new year!

Is it too late to say that? We’re over 2 weeks in. Oh well, it’s the first time y’all are hearing from me this year. Long time huh? I gotta get better at this.

Fortunately I get to drop a meaty interview on this thing. This one was a doozy. The first ever guest on the show, _THESMOOTHCAT. He’s a super talented artist from New Orleans. He has a clothing line, a vast catalog of music, and even slings coloring books when he’s not working one of his 6 different gigs around the city. I caught him on my birthday last month (if you caught the last episode you heard me running out at the end) on my way to brunch and told him I needed him on the show. We locked down a date and got it done.

_THESMOOTHCAT had one of my favorite albums of 2025, LIKE MAGIC. I thought it was hella creative and eclectic. The album was full of hard beats, slick raps, soft melodies, and dusty interludes for a very chill vibe. All of the production was handled by Baton Rouge based producer Custodian. There’s some blurred genre vibes that go from R&B to jazz, and right back to hip hop. I was very happy to get the change to cop it on vinyl directly from him. It came on a transparent vinyl record which made me think of one of my favorite tracks, “CLEAR SHIT”. This album needs ears and eyes on it. That’s why I’m here today. To put the homies on! If this is your first time hearing about him, you’re welcome, but also you’re in for a great time. THESMOOTHCAT has worked with a bunch of artists based in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge area, from his band The 9th Life to underground sleeper producer Wino Willy, and a regular collaborator JUU who is a recurring guest star on LIKE MAGIC.

_THESMOOTHCAT is sort of a local celebrity in Baton Rouge where he spent his college days from the critical acclaim of his 2018 album Breathe. He has since expanded that album into The Breathe Art Project to push his artwork in drawings and a clothing line. The dude does it all. He produces his own music, shoots his own videos (and for others), and books his own tours.

Recently he did a show in Japan, yes Japan. We get into that in the interview as well as other stories about his background and passion for music and art. He shared about his experience walking into a record store in Osaka where they were playing deep cuts from Cash Money Records legend B.G. _Thesmoothcat was feeling the love overseas, but he also got to see how hip hop is appreciated and sometimes appropriated by East Asian cultures. At the end of the day, it was about the love of the music of our forefathers.

We also got to chatting about the pressures of competing in the Tiktok age and staying consistent. There’s a lot more in the interview that I edited down for time, but if you want to get the entire unedited chat with some spicy talk about AI, then go ahead and drop me a Lincoln ($5) to support the show and you’ll get to tune in as well as lock in your name for some stickers I’ll be sending out to all paid subscribers (yes even the ones that canceled on me) very very soon.

This was such a hard episode to edit as there was so many good conversations and a free flowing conversation. In between I slid some music from his album to break up the talk, but you should definitely check out the album in full.

Also if you’re in the New Orleans area, _THESMOOTHCAT has a show coming up on Saturday, January 24th at Full Court New Orleans in the French Quarter. This show will be really special as his band The 9th Life will be reuniting for the first time in almost 2 years. Regular collaborators JUU and Wino Willy will also be performing. It’s for sure going to be a special evening. I will be in attendance to catch some live hip hop and art.

Until then, the full interview will drop on here in a couple of days. I’ll be working on getting another episode rocking very soon to play some music I didn’t get to this go round. We got a lot to catch up on! You can follow _THESMOOTHCAT on instagram at @shredsum

Thanks again for tuning in to Noire World Radio. I’ve got some big big plans this year including some live shows and more interviews. Big shout out to _THESMOOTHCAT for sitting down with me and hand delivering the vinyl record. You will be hearing from us on a track very soon!

Peace,

Nigel Noire aka Tito the Griot

Noire World Radio

@noireworldradio

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe

Hey family,

It’s been a minute!

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving and spent time with your people or just yourself. Ain’t no shame in being alone around the holidays. This time around I am bringing some interesting vibes to the show.

I went to Earl Sweatshirt’s “3L World Tour” supporting his latest album Live, Laugh, Love which is one of my favorites of the year. The lineup featured Cletus Strap, Mavi, Zelooperz, Liv.e and of course Earl Sweatshirt himself. I decided to bring my camera to grab some footage but thought the audio would be dope to splice into the show. So that’s what y’all are getting this episode!

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t copy all my notes over and I gotta go attend to some festivities as I’m writing this on the anniversary of my birth. I gotta make some moves today, but if you would like to give me any gift this birthday, share this show with at least one person.

I promise the new year will be very much more fruitful on this platform. There will be more album reviews, interviews, and more as I wanna keep this project fun and interesting.

Also trust and believe a xmas episode is coming!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe

Spooky season is here.

I’m sure y’all were scared you’d never see me again, but I’m back like Jason Voorhees. This episode is a lot more trim. I kept it to 1 hour so you ain’t gotta slog through too much.

A lot of the hold up on this was truly on some imposter syndrome shit. I realized fully after the last episode that my audio was cooked and I was stressing out over how to get it right. The goal is to get my recording setup a little cleaner. I really need a proper mixing board. Nothing too crazy, just need to get my levels right. But in the meantime between time, I got more intentional with my playlist and theme.

Throughout the episode, you’ll hear a lot of the soundscapes from the HIM original movie score. HIM was a super hyped film this fall. They slapped that Jordan Peele name all over it. Aaaand it was cool. I thought it was a really well shot film. It didn’t seem like a big production, but there was really a lot of intention behind it.

One thing that really stuck with me from the beginning was the music. Bobby Krlic aka The Haxan Cloak, was responsible for the score, and man did he kill it. He talks about tapping into childhood sounds like lullabies and toy soundboxes. It really built up the tension and suspense. The protagonist Cameron Cade, is a young athlete trying to navigate this unknown situation to move on in his professional life. I thought the soundtrack did a good job of putting you in a place of wonder, curiosity, and exploration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNRyI7yADoE

Movie soundtracks are forgotten art these days. I remember when the music did half, if not more, of the marketing for films. Wild Wild West, Men In Black, Bad Boys II. And these are just Will Smith movies haha. But we used to get full rollouts and music videos with original music specifically made for or inspired by the film. Sinners was practically a musical with a lovely soundtrack that still gets spins on a regular from me. HIM continues that trend, especially in the horror/suspense genre. I think that's where Jordan Peele's Monkey Paw Productions keeps their name strong. I fondly remember the Us trailer with a haunting version of Luniz's "I Got 5 On It" or 2021's Candyman creepy version of Destiny Child's "Say My Name". HIM follows right along in that trend. All of the original songs from the soundtrack sample parts Bobby Krlic's score and it fits perfectly.

I thought HIM itself as a movie was alright. If I was a ratings guy I'd probably give it a 3/5. Fun right until the ending. I ended up checking out the deleted scenes and I think they would've been good for extra context. Now a days these movies have a minimum runtime of like 2 hours, so for HIM to land at only 96 mins, it probably would've been a fuller picture with the scrapped scenes and maybe that alternate ending which i thought was better. Also the whole time in the movie I'm like, you know there's other teams in the league, why you going through all this just to replace your idol? But that's what you get when your brain is mush before you turn 25.

Anyways, that's my time. Thanks for checking in for another episode. Hope this reaches you well and wishing everyone a happy spooky season.

Also important update, I am pushing this radio show out as a podcast so you can now listen on Apple Podcasts. If there are any other platforms (not Spotify) I should add it to, let me know!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe

This is episode 3 of Noire World Radio

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe

This is episode 2 of Noire World Radio

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe

Here it is. I decided to finally take a crack at recording a radio show.

This is something I’ve fantasized about since I was a preteen. I remember listening to Cosmic Kev late night and hear his mixtapes where he would play a bunch of underground hip hop from Philly artists and beyond. I can recall the time he had a young Chris Brown from just down I-95 (Virginia) in the Power 99 studio to push his debut single (“Yo” and “Run It”. Then came The Come Up Show which Cosmic Kev and Q Deezy (shout out Germantown!) developed where hungry rappers or even some singers could showcase their raw talent on the microphone.

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I knew music was my jam and journalism could be my gateway. I watched hours upon hours of Rap City, TRL, 106 & Park, MTV News, all in hopes that I could one day add some perspective to the world as I experienced it. Like every other black kid in Philly, I started rapping. I decided to start writing my own raps for the love of the art but also as a journalist. I eventually got into writing prose and took some journalism and media classes in high school which led to entering college with a broadcast journalism major. I dropped out after my first year because I was more focused on partying than my education.

That was 15 years ago. Since then I’ve found my way into broadcasting through working in sports media with a friend that started his own media brand. (Shout out Next Level Rugby). Since then I’ve been still writing songs and experimenting by producing my own songs and what have you. But the longing for working in media as a journalist, not specifically as an artist, still reaches out me. Maybe it’s the inner critic in me that makes me think my music isn’t good enough, but I don’t ever really desire to be a “star” or the center of the conversation. I want to facilitate the conversation.

Without getting into all of the background shit, I have thoughts. I consume A LOT of media. And journalism in this age is struggling from lack of investment, hyperbole, and misinformation. I’ll stay in hip hop for this tidbit, but we have gotten so wrapped up in reality tv and main character syndrome, that the music is hardly even secondary when it comes to what makes something popular. This Clipse press run is a great example of how spectacle draws more eyes than the music itself. Don’t get me wrong, the Clipse album is great. I just wish the media rollout didn’t have to ride on supposed disses and jabs at Pusha T’s former colleagues. It’s cheap and further feeds into this tabloid style journalism. Push even namedrops TMZ TWICE in his “So Be It” song that added nothing to the quality of the song. It just disappointing.

Alright anyways, you’re here to listen to the radio show. This is a really rough draft, we’re gonna work out some kinks and build something but like the subtitle says, Gotta start somewhere.

I hope y’all enjoy. Most of the music you will hear is from my personal vinyl collection, which I hope to keep a constant feature in the show. So if you decide to support financially, know that it’s probably gonna go to my record collecting budget haha.

Thank you for checking, talk soon!

Nigel aka Nigel Noire aka Tito McCloud

Noire World Radio.

WNWR Episode 1 Tracklist

DOWNLOAD

Daft Punk (ft. Todd Edwards) - Fragments of Time

Brent Faiyaz - Stay Down

General Degree - More Money

HEEMS - So NY

Fabolous - Keepin It Gangsta

Jaubi - Nafs At Peace

serpentwithfeet (ft. NAO) - Heartstorm

The Beach Boys - Cool, Cool, Water

The Alchemist (ft. Big Body Bes) - Uptown Aquarium

Frank Ocean - Higgs

Clipse - M.T.B.T.T.F.

Luis Santi y su Conjunto - La Norguesera

Ivan Ave - All Season

Slick Rick - Angelic

Open Mike Eagle (ft. Hannibal Buress) - Doug Stamper (Advice Raps)

thesmoothcat - CLEAR SHIT

Coworkers - Legwork

Nigel Noire - HawkinWatchinScopin (unreleased)

Common - Speak My Piece

Nigel Noire - Unreleased beat

The Doobie Brothers - No Stoppin Us Now

Minnie Riperton - Here We Go

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit noireworld.substack.com/subscribe