Is gossip the only thing people want from their media these days? Is your own taste to the contrary evidence of an audience for something different? What do you do when you want to create work that engages culture thoughtfully in a format longer than a single TikTok? The answer for Jeff Weiss is: double down on the publication you started as a rap blog in 2005, which has launched the careers of many excellent writers and influenced culture in mind-boggling ways, like helping to solve murders and free people from prison.
Upon launching a subscription model for POW MAG, Jeff wrote an essay that resonated with frequent This Is Your Afterlife concerns: transformation, physical media, and creating sustainably outside the boundaries of corporations. I had to talk to him. In this conversation, I related to Jeff's fullness of opinions while deeply resisting the take-based attention economy. It's not that we hate gossip. We just don't want it forced on us!
We talk about: manifestos, information DOESN'T want to be free, finally becoming the writer he wants to be in 200 years, boring ancestors, Drakeo the Ruler and a couple grisly details of his murder, searching for justice in the U.S. criminal legal system, the existence of evil, being an L.A. times bestseller.
Support the show and get the TIYA After Dark feed on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/thisisyourafterlife
Subscribe to POW MAG:
https://www.powmag.net/
Follow Jeff, POW, The Truth Hurts podcast & POW Recordings:
https://www.instagram.com/passionweiss/
https://www.instagram.com/pow.mag/
https://www.instagram.com/thetruthhurtspod/
https://www.instagram.com/powrecordings/
Jeff's "manifesto" for the new era of POW MAG:
https://www.powmag.net/p/pow-mag-enters-a-new-era
Jeff's book, Waiting for Britney Spears:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/waiting-for-britney-spears-a-true-story-allegedly-jeff-weiss/b171e91273f92b93
And as I promise in the episode, here are links to some key pieces Jeff wrote about Drakeo the Ruler.
Death:
https://lamag.com/theindustry/the-assassination-of-drakeo-the-ruler/
Legacy and family three years after his death:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-02-25/commentary-still-no-justice-for-rapper-drakeo-three-years-after-killing
Murder trial:
https://www.thefader.com/2019/07/11/drakeo-the-ruler-murder-trial-los-angeles-report
Follow/contact This Is Your Afterlife:
https://thisisyourafterlife.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thisisyourafterlife/
[email protected]
Music by TIYA house band Lake Mary:
https://lakemary.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/chaz.prymek/
Artwork by Matt Sage:
https://www.instagram.com/matthewjsage/