Rhythm and Rhymes

Modern radio for global Black sounds

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AJ and Antonio dig into why the "Shake It to the Max" remix — a billion streams, the first Ghanaian video past 200M on YouTube — was ruled ineligible for a 2026 Grammy, and what Gamma CEO Larry Jackson's fight to overturn it says about whether the stamp still matters. Plus The Spook Who Sat by the Door, BellyGang Cushington, and new J Hus.

0:00 – Cold open

0:30 – SIE certified

1:00 – Detroit recap, Jalen's JuCo decision

2:15 – "Shake It to the Max" gets Grammy-snubbed

3:45 – Why the remix wasn't eligible

6:00 – Larry Jackson, Gamma, and the billion-dollar raise

7:30 – Do Grammys still matter?

9:45 – Making art for awards

11:15 – Betting on Africa

12:30 – The Spook Who Sat by the Door

15:00 – Steve Stoute as the in-between

16:30 – Is BellyGang Cushington a CIA operative?

18:45 – Album review: The Streets Is Yours (Re-Up)

22:45 – New music: J Hus, Nipsey x Blxst

25:00 – Trap soul as a lane

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR

AJ and Antonio run their ten favorite albums of the year — Tierra Whack, Drake, Vince Staples, Jules, Uncle Waffles, Alex Isley — then get into why the year felt dead: no anticipation, no mega-artists, and hip-hop becoming one crayon in a much bigger box.

0:00 – One word for the year: smooth vs. sporadic

0:30 – Antonio's 10

7:45 – AJ's 10 (and a deluxe, unfortunately)

9:45 – Wax Museum is the album of the year

10:30 – Honorable mentions

10:45 – Was this year dead?

12:00 – Why there are no mega-artists anymore

14:00 – Hip-hop is a crayon in the crayon box

16:45 – Russ: nobody makes music for the iPod anymore

17:45 – Competing with Scorsese, not with other music

18:15 – What drops off the list by December

20:00 – Playlist adds

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If the State Department once used jazz musicians to sell American values abroad, who's doing that work today? AJ and Antonio play a game of "who's a plant" — Live Nation, the Saudi comedy shows, artists who go big in regions where America wants cultural reach — and get into how modern influence might run through sponsorships and shell companies that the artists themselves don't even know about.

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

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AJ and Antonio break down Suno's new "Spark" grant program for

unsigned artists — including the "good vibes only" gag clause and

the name/image/likeness language buried in the fine print. Then

they get into ghost DJs and prerecorded sets, Jay-Z's marathon

album rollout, and standout projects from Tierra Whack and K1.

0:00 – Suno, Spark & the AI music incubator

1:00 – Breaking down the grant: writing camps, "good vibes only" & NIL

2:30 – Are we training AI to replace us?

4:30 – Ghost DJs and the prerecorded set debate

6:00 – "Do you really hoop?" — live vs. rehearsed

9:00 – Jay-Z's insane rollout: where's the music?

11:00 – 4:44, Blueprint 3 & meeting an artist late in their career

13:00 – Tierra Whack's "Whack Museum" — favorite rap project of the year?

17:00 – K1's "& All Pride Aside" and the Leon Thomas comparison

18:45 – Sign-off

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

📩 Join the R&R newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/rhythmandrhymes

🎧 Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR

AJ and Antonio get into Christian rap — and the line one of them draws between a "Christian rapper" and a "Christian who raps." Chance, Malice, Lecrae, Andy Mineo: who's boxing themselves in, who's giving you the full human experience through a Christian lens, and why one of us says the genre mix never works. Plus: getting "robbed" with an Andy Mineo concert before discovering Kendrick.

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

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🎧 Listen everywhere: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR

AJ and Antonio break down Asake's new album "Money" and use it to ask a bigger question: is Afrobeats getting monotonous, or is that just an outsider's ear? One of us thinks Asake made the same album twice and his catalog peaked at "Mr. Money"; the other says you can't be mad at a great artist for running his best play. Somewhere in there, Asake gets called the African DaBaby.

0:00 – Asake "Money": first impressions

1:00 – Is Afrobeats getting monotonous?

4:30 – Producer choices, repetition & the "hunger" question

7:00 – Ranking every Asake project

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandR

AJ and Antonio dig into Harborview Private Equity quietly amassing 41,000+ songs and $3.8B in catalogs — from Quincy Jones and T-Pain to Stefflon Don and Shenseea — and what it means when funders, not labels, start writing the checks. The conversation widens into ownership, Black wealth, and whether artists are becoming tech-startup founders who keep creative control while someone else funds the upside.

0:00 – Intro

0:30 – Harborview & the private equity land grab

2:30 – $20.4B into music rights since 2019

3:30 – Artists as startup founders: funding without creative control

4:45 – Ownership, Black wealth & why it matters

6:00 – Housing, assets & building wealth in the 21st century

8:30 – Spurs detour: Harper, Castle & De'Aaron Fox

12:00 – G Herbo deluxe: cutting the fat & curating an album

16:00 – Blxst "Labor of Love" review & ranking the catalog

20:00 – Playlist picks: Stefflon Don & Nelly

R&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandRAJ and Antonio pull up the 1972 Harvard Report — the study that taught major labels to see Black music as supply chains — and trace its logic from Black Music Month to the World Cup stage to Vince Staples going independent.0:00 – Cold open0:45 – Black Music Month & the 1972 Harvard Report5:00 – Ownership vs. reach: was the major label system worth it?11:15 – World Cup lineup: the global sound gets marketed13:30 – "Can we enjoy it if we don't own it?"18:00 – Vince Staples' Crybaby & what the label wouldn't let him make20:30 – Independence is the only way to talkR&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/RealRandRAJ and Antonio trace the CIA's Cold War Jazz Ambassador Program — where Black artists were sent abroad as freedom symbols while denied rights at home — and follow that thread straight into today, asking who the government might be using now. They also break down the M.I.A. vs. Kid Cudi lawsuit, make the case for G Herbo as Chicago's best MC, and react to the Spurs taking down OKC.00:00 Bad Bunny Conspiracy Opener00:19 CIA Uses Jazz01:27 Jazz Ambassadors Irony02:52 CCF Exposed Fallout03:45 Modern Music Diplomacy04:34 Burna Boy Speculation05:47 Who Is A Plant07:48 Claude Names The Weeknd10:06 Hidden Sponsor Networks11:12 MIA Vs Kid Cudi14:41 Free Speech Contract Debate16:06 G Herbo Thug Review19:31 Will Herbo Get Respect26:33 NBA Thunder Spurs Talk31:22 Playlist Pick And WrapR&R is Modern Radio for global black sounds.