We teamed up with the fellas from the Serious Rap Sh*t Podcast to discuss our favorite albums of the year. We were each tasked with picking three albums and found surprisingly little overlap, which led to a diverse convo about these great bodies of work. 2020 sucked. But this music didn’t. Instead, it sustained us, gave words to our feeling, and made our feelings into sound. And sometimes it just banged hard as sh*t.

DJ/producer/label head Chong Wizard shares the story of his progression from hip hop journalist to executive producer and gives us a look behind his new project with emcee Zilla Rocca, including the story of how that guest verse from the late great Malik B. ended up on the album. And then a thoughtful discussion about the far out sounds of Dr. Octagon.

Michelle Willems is an art director/designer who generously shared some of her experiences working at Sony Music, Tommy Boy, and the MTV Networks. Highlights include the photo shoot for Big L’s debut album, that one time she was asked to meet Kool G Rap in a secret location, and the story behind the Stakes is High cover image. All that and a discussion with Michelle about her relationship with De La Soul and 3 Feet High And Rising.

While literally walking the streets of Baltimore, ILL Conscious talks about his latest work, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and his upcoming project with producer Mute Won called Acres of Diamonds (the lyrics to which were actually lost earlier this year!). Hear that story and more, including ILL’s love for Little Brother and their second album. And make sure you listen until the end for a special cameo from another Baltimore spitta!

As the purveyor of “weaponized media” at PTP (Purple Tape Pedigree) and thru a history with storied NYC underground crews like Atoms Family, Geng has contributed to and been a witness of the full spectrum of sound in hip-hop. We explore some of those experiences with discussions on being a teacher, using art to build and better community, his excellent album An Unknown Inifite with fellow New Yorker Amani, and the enormous influence of Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus.

Extensive sit down with Detroit legend House Shoes who provides his customary no bullshit perspective on beer, politics, beat flips, ownership, Street Corner Music, Danny Brown, 8 Mile, and much much more including thoughts on his favorite album of any genre - Mobb Deep’s classic sophomore effort.

L.A. based producer Kenny Segal has contributed to some of the most unique and creative projects in the “art rap” scene, including recent albums Purple Moonlight Pages with R.A.P. Ferreira, Ajai with Serengeti, and Hiding Places with billy woods. Kenny tells us about his intro to Project Blowed, his work with Team Supreme, honing the craft of building intricate soundscapes for dense lyricism, and much more. And we ask Kenny to educate us about his album of choice - the omid produced Project Blowed comp Beneath the Surface. If you’re into L.A.’s underground scene at all then this is the episode for you.

Filmmaker Darby Wheeler is best known stateside for his directing on the most excellent Netflix series Hip-Hop Evolution. He drops some jewels about his experience creating the show, gives us a preview of the in-progress D&D Studios documentary, and chats a bit about Scenario Media and their upcoming projects. And, of course, we all swap stories about Darby’s album of choice - Outkast’s ATLiens.

The second installment in a two-part collab with Nate and Demone from Dad Bod Rap Pod. The first part of the discussion takes place on their pod, where we talked about the soundtrack to the film Juice. Here the four of us discuss music from the motion picture Boyz N The Hood. Does Compton’s Most Wanted have the best cut? Has Tony Toni Tone’s “Me and You” aged better than Nate wants to admit? Is this the last lap for Ice Cube’s militant gangster persona? Listen for our thoughts and more. And be sure to check out both episodes!!

By 1999 Mos Def had already made a name for himself as a freestyle wizard in New York, a gifted MC that held crowds captive with Lyricist Lounge, and as one half of Black Star. Still he crafted a solo debut that seemed to ignore the hype yet managed to blow us away with its genre bending optimism at a time when hip hop was losing its golden luster. Black On Both Sides delivered a love letter to Blackness that is just as excellent and relevant 20 years later.