Pop the Trunk

In Loving Memory of Kristine Barlam aka “Krissy”.

Before diving into the main event, Billy has some explaining to do after coming back from a three-day meditation retreat. Then, the guys jump into Jay-Z's record-breaking Yankee Stadium residency, the surprise guests, an old beef finally squashed, and what it means for hip-hop's legacy artists getting their touring moment. Plus: Michael Bay movies, crying at Armageddon, and whether Wu-Tang can still sell out anywhere.

Pop the Trunk with Vinnie Paz streaming on all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod

Episode 22 is a summer heat wave of hip-hop history. The crew runs down the classic albums that dropped between May and September across the decades — the records that defined car windows down, block parties, and the last day of school. Expect deep cuts on why summer releases hit different, some contested "greatest ever" arguments.

Pop the Trunk with Vinnie Paz streaming on all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod

The boys are back and the crew opens up talking hoops, the World Cup, and why American sports broadcasts hit different. From there it's straight into a milestone: Vinnie's debut solo album, Season of the Assassin, just passed its 16th anniversary, and the guys sit down to break down how it actually came together.

Vinnie gets into why he waited as long as he did to go solo, the uncertainty of stepping out from Stoupe and the JMT sound , and the real story of the album's original title before it became Season of the Assassin. He walks through building the record from scratch, tracking down producers he grew up idolizing, and a session at a legendary New York studio that made the whole thing feel real. They dive into how the features and production actually got picked and, sixteen years later, we get Vinnie's take on what it means to him today.

Pop the Trunk with Vinnie Paz streaming on all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod

Vinnie flies solo this week to break down Jaron "Boots" Ennis's dominant, multi-knockdown stoppage of Xander Zayas that unified the 154-pound titles at the DAZN’s Barclays Center PPV.

He also covers the rest of that card (Jahi Tucker's win, a controversial Ben Whitaker stoppage loss), runs through news and notes — Usyk vacating his heavyweight belts, Floyd Mayweather's exhibition falling through amid his financial troubles, the WBC's questionable 154-pound rankings — and previews the July 4th weekend card topped by Abdullah Mason vs. Albert Bell.

Pop the Trunk presents Knock ‘Em Out the Box streaming on all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod

Vinnie and Billy hold things down two-man-band style with Brendan out this week, and crack open the mailbag for a round of listener mail and recommendations — including no shortage of opinions on the top 50 list they've got cooking. They also bring back a beloved segment from Broad Street Breakdown and things get weird from there: a debate over psychics and mediums, an unexpected detour into a heavier real-world topic, and the usual cast of internet oddballs that keep this show interesting.

Pop the Trunk with Vinnie Paz streaming on all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod

Boots Ennis and Xander Zayas finally collide for two junior middleweight titles, and the boys can't wait any longer to break it all down. From the questionable promotion (thanks, Knicks playoff run and World Cup chaos) to the undercard sleepers worth watching, no angle gets left on the table — including a few overdue predictions on exactly how this one ends.

Plus: news on Joshua-Fury's bizarre venue problem, Tank Davis' next move, Floyd Mayweather's legal troubles, and a friendly wager that might leave somebody's hair a very different color by the weekend.

Hip-hop runs on competition and nothing fuels it like a good beef. In this episode, the fellas do a deep dive into the genre's most legendary rivalries, tracing the lineage from the earliest battles through the records, subliminals, and feuds that shaped rap history. Some squashed it, some didn't get the chance to. We break down who we think really won.

The boys are back, and this week there's an elephant in the room the size of Madison Square Garden. Vinnie and Billy are doing their best to ignore it, but Brendan isn't making it easy. The Knicks just won the championship and someone in the studio is way too happy about it — and it isn't the Philly guys. The debate over whether Wu-Tang's halftime performance had anything to do with the outcome is very real, and very heated.

From there the conversation shifts to something that's been brewing for a while — the guys announce plans to put together their own Greatest 50 Rappers of All Time list, a direct response to the clickbait list culture dominating hip hop media. Names get floated and opinions get spicy. Don’t miss this one!

The crew weighs in on the NBA Finals and what it really costs to be a New York Knicks fan these days. From there, the conversation shifts into hip hop beef culture and where the line is between sport and disrespect.

Then Vinnie tells the story of a journalist interview that spiraled into something far more serious — and why federal agents ended up at his show because of it. That leads to a discussion on cancel culture and why nobody is actually getting canceled in 2026.

The crew kicks things off with a tale of restaurant frustration that snowballs into a broader conversation about bad service, false promises, and the unwritten code between businesses and their customers. From there, the episode digs into Complex's viral Top 50 New York Rappers of All Time list — and the crew has plenty to say.

They debate whether the list is a legitimate ranking, deliberate rage bait, or a mix of both, unpacking the criteria, questioning some of the inclusions, and making the case for the names that got left off entirely. From legends who should be higher to modern acts that have no business being on a "best ever" list, it's a deep, opinionated ride through New York rap history.