15: Tricia Rose

Explicit content warning

09/13/12 • 50 min

This week, we talk to one of the foremost thinkers in hip-hop, Professor Tricia Rose. Rose, who teaches at Brown University, is the author of two seminal books about rap. The first, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, was published in 1994 and was the first book-length scholarly work about hip-hop. Its extremely influential ideas helped create a framework for writing and thinking about this still-new music.

Professor Rose’s 2008 book The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — and Why It Matters was a critique of the music she loved, which she argued had been warped by corporate influence.

Rose continues to write and speak about hip hop and other topics, in addition to her teaching duties.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/15/ for full show notes and comments.

Rose continues to write and speak about hip hop and other topics, in addition to her teaching duties.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/15/ for full show notes and comments.

Previous Episode

14: New Artist Special

This week, we talk to two new and exciting artists. In the first half of the show, we sit down with Kid Static, an exciting rapper who mixes hip-hop with electronic sounds to create a blend all his own. Then, we talk to Harlem’s Ghetto Millionaires. Ahk 2Gs, Baby Thad, and Cita Monroe came out to the RG office to discuss their extensive industry histories, their music, and that time ODB ate food right out of the garbage.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/14/ for full show notes and comments.

Next Episode

16: Brother Ali and Miss Haze

This week, we sit down with Brother Ali. Ali, whose new album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color comes out this week, has long been one of our favorite artists. His fantastic rhyming skills are matched by lyrics that are both intensely engaged with the larger world, as well as by a sense of humanity and empathy that is all too rare amongst artists of any kind.

Then, after our talk with Ali, we have a short but revealing chat with Miss Haze of the Bay Area group 40 Love. The innovative group meshes dreamy, electronic production with smart, positive lyrics to create an ode to dreams and their possibilities. We talk to Miss Haze about chanting for world peace, alchemy, and why she loves the Bay.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/16/ for full show notes and comments.