“What about the Black woman who does not care to save you?” asks Adia Victoria. “How about the Black woman who is trying to look after her own skin, because you're not looking out for her?” Adia’s forthcoming album, A Southern Gothic, is rich with these questions and the characters who ask them, moving between romanticizing the South and interrogating it, all while embracing the complexity of Adia’s Southern identity. On this week’s episode, Adia and Hanif dig into the widespread influence of Black Southern culture, and the legacy of the blues as an artistic gesture towards freedom—one that is still alive to this day, and remains as vital to American music as ever before. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/southern-identity.

/ Music In This Week’s Episode: /

Adia Victoria, Magnolia Blues

Big Mama Thornton, Your Love Is Where It Ought To Be

Memphis Minnie, New Dirty Dozen

Shirley Brown, Woman to Woman

Shemekia Copeland, Salt In My Wounds

Ida Cox, Wild Women Don’t Have The Blues

Alberta Hunter, My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More

Bessie Smith, Devil’s Gonna Git You

DJ Screw changed hip hop forever. You’ve heard his signature sound, even if you don’t know his name. On this episode, co-hosted by Mogul’s Brandon ‘Jinx’ Jenkins, we sit down with Lil Keke to talk about the warbly, slowed-down style of mixing called Chopped and Screwed born out of Houston in the ‘90s, and how this sound spilled out from car stereos and into the culture at large. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/screwed-up-sound.

/ Music In This Week’s Episode: /

DJ Screw, Lil Keke - Pimp Tha Pen

DJ Screw, UGK - Tell Me Something Good

DJ Screw, Screwed Up Click - Shine and Recline

DJ Screw, Botany Boyz - Smokin And Leanin

Trae Tha Truth, DJ Screw - Screw Tha World (feat. DJ Screw)

DJ Screw - Elbows Swangin

DJ Screw, Al-D - Why You Hatin Me

“The way I look at music is it's all mine” says Bartees Strange. “I can do whatever I want with whatever I hear, period.” When Bartees approaches a song—whether he’s reimagining or remixing another artist, or writing for himself—he doesn’t hold back. In this episode, Hanif and Bartees talk about making their art into their career, and the journey they each took to get there. Plus, Hanif and Bartees explain how living well and fully engaged with the world and people around them is an essential part of their creative processes. Plus Hanif curates a playlist of his favorite remixes. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/oos-bartees-strange.

/ Music in this week's episode: /

Phoebe Bridgers and Bartees Strange, Kyoto (Bartees Strange Remix)

Le Tigre, Deceptacon (DFA Remix)

Florence and the Machine, You’ve Got The Love (Jamie xx rework)

Robyn, Baby Forgive Me (Floorplan Remix)?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Aaliyah, Hot Like Fire (Timbaland’ Groove Mix feat. Missy Elliott & Timbaland)

SWV, Anything

“All I need to be inspired is to be alive,” says Joan Armatrading. Throughout a career spanning over 50 years, Joan credits her singular songwriting to a relentless fascination with other people: how they love and live. This week on Object of Sound, listen in as Joan and Hanif talk about the process of bringing to life everyday observations, and transforming them into evocative, vivid stories through song. Plus, Joan reveals what it takes to be constantly evolving as an artist, while staying true to your own rhythm. This week’s show comes with a playlist curated by Hanif of songs from Joan Armatrading's expansive career. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, visit https://bit.ly/ode-to-joan

/ Music In This Week’s Episode: /

Joan Armatrading, Glorious Madness

Joan Armatrading, The Weakness In Me

Joan Armatrading, Peace In Mind

Joan Armatrading, Cover My Eyes

Joan Armatrading, Sometimes I Don’t Wanna Go Home

Joan Armatrading, You Rope You Tie Me

Joan Armatrading, The Shouting Stage

Joan Armatrading, Love and Affection

We’re breaking format to create something completely new: a collaborative performance of music, poetry and ideas between Hanif, artist Thao Nguyen (Thao & The Get Down Stay Down) and scholar Josh Kun. Named after the tool that mixes tracks on a DJ controller, Josh has been organizing an event series called ‘Crossfade Lab’ where he brings artists together to ‘mix without erasing, combine without destroying’ and find new places of connection between their work. In this episode, Hanif and Thao share poems and songs as they commune over how they use their respective practices as a way to expel and transform grief. Let’s crossfade!

Hanif and Grammy award winning artist H.E.R. sit down to talk all about the guitar: H.E.R.’s relationship to the instrument, her many inspirations and the long lineage of Black women who’ve defined popular music and culture before her. They discuss how H.E.R. intuitively found her voice on her latest album Back Of Mind, and they explore what it means to redefine R&B music in the present moment. This week’s show comes with a playlist curated by Hanif of songs by Black women guitar players, and an ode to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, visit https://bit.ly/oos-guitarsheroes

/Music In This Week's Episode/

H.E.R., Hard To Love

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Strange Things Happening Every Day

Etta Baker, I Get The Blues When It Rains

Brittany Howard, 13th Century Metal

Carline Ray, Lazarus

Elizabeth Cotten, I’m Going Away

Barbara Lynn, Maybe We Can Slip Away

Klymaxx, Fab Attack

“His fingerprints are all over the culture.” On this week’s episode, we pay tribute to the great Biz Markie, the legendary rapper, deejay, sampler, and emcee who passed away earlier this month. Hanif invites hip hop experts, Dart Adams and DJ Lynnée Denise onto the show, to celebrate the fullness of Markie’s legacy-- someone who masterfully used humor to create a persona that could always get a crowd roaring. We explore how Biz Markie was so much more than the clown prince or his hit song “Just A Friend,” but rather, a musician whose legacy continues to touch all of hip hop. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, head over to https://bit.ly/oos-biz-markie.

/ Music In This Week's Episode /

Biz Markie, Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz

Biz Markie, Pickin' Boogers

Biz Markie, Biz In Harmony

Biz Markie, Spring Again

Biz Markie, Groovin

Biz Markie, Bad By Myself

Biz Markie, Nobody Beats The Biz

Love it or hate it, every summer has a song you just can’t escape from. It’s playing out of every car window, at every bodega, in every club and in your head on repeat. “We are all unknowingly entering into a contract to declare one song as a song of the summer” says Hanif. But in a time when there’s less communal listening than ever before, will there be just one song that defines these months of 2021? This week on the show, we’re analyzing the song of the summer from all angles with writer Wesley Morris and the Switched on Pop co-hosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, https://bit.ly/oos-contract

/Music In This Week's Episode/

Right Back, Khalid

Warm Blood, Carly Rae Jepsen

Brat Pack, The Rocket Summer

Heart Skipped a Beat, The xx

How Will I know, Whitney Houston

Get In The Sun, Joan Armatrading

1 Thing, Amerie

“I care about words more than music,” says musician Lucy Dacus. Lucy recently released her third album, Home Video--a compilation of stories and vignettes pulled directly from her journals, dating back to her childhood. For Lucy, deep honesty in the form of song lyrics is almost compulsive. On this week’s show, Lucy and Hanif each unpack what it means to be a confessional writer, and together explore what honesty can offer an artist, or how it can hurt them. Plus, a reading list from Lucy on the books that offer her inspiration.

/Music In This Week's Episode/

Thumbs, Lucy Dacus

I Love You, Mary J. Blige

All That You Have Is Your Soul, Tracy Chapman

Bad Religion, Frank Ocean

You Must Love Me, JAY-Z

It Hurts Me Too, Karen Dalton

Give My Love To Rose, Johnny Cash

It Hurts Me So Much, Etta James

For 50 years, footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival – a summer-long fête featuring the likes of Nina Simone, Sly and The Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder – was buried in the archives. And the story of the Harlem Cultural Festival was buried along with it. Finally, the footage is being brought to light by Questlove in the new film ‘Summer of Soul’ a powerful testament to the artists of that era, and an energetic ride into the styles, sounds and politics of 1969. In this episode, our exclusive interview with Questlove on what it takes to correct the historical record, and why we need this film now in 2021. For this episode's custom playlist curated by Hanif, visit https://bit.ly/oos-questlove

/Music In This Week's Episode/

You Caught Me (Smilin’), Sly and the Family Stone

Black Woman, Sonny Sharrock

The Weight, The Staple Singers

My Bed of Thorns, Gladys Knight and The Pips

To Love Somebody, Nina Simone

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Mahalia Jackson

Almost Seedless, Hugh Masakela

Love’s In Need Of Love Today, Stevie Wonder