6. Boys Don't Cry But Your Playlist Sucks: Masculinity

Explicit content warning

09/30/20 • 67 min

Episode 6, AKA the episode when Mark and Enbani finally tear into each other and go for the jugular. The time for puff pieces and complimenting each other has passed. In this episode, our hosts investigate how masculinity is depicted in popular culture and what it means to be a man through their 10-song music playlists available on Spotify here.

Enbani discusses the importance of self-determination and gives credit to businessman Jay-Z for making it out of Marcy Houses in Brooklyn (I Did It My Way by Jay-Z), while Mark gives a sharp critique of "shiny suit" rap. You'll also learn about the curious but disturbing social phenomenon of My Way karaoke killings. Our hosts consider the subtle ways in which boys are taught how to express (or not express) their emotions (Boys Don't Cry by The Cure), and the musical figures that have shed light on issues of gender identity and expression, consequently pushing their listeners and all of us toward a more just and inclusive society (Androgenous by the Replacements).

Not to worry, Enbani and Mark eventually come together over their shared love of Kid Cudi (Heart of a Lion), as they discuss his struggles with mental health and his immense impact on the genre of rap.

Previous Episode

5.5. Snakehold: R&B Artist Sebastian Gaskin on the Healing Role of Artists During the Pandemic

Hosts Enbani and Mark catch up with multi-instrumentalist and fellow Winnipegger Sebastian Gaskin to discuss his leap of faith into a career as a professional musician, his feelings towards the marketing of indigenous artists in Canada and his identity as a member of the Tataskweyak Cree Nation (more commonly known as Split Lake). Despite growing up in a musical family, Sebastian discusses the moment when he decided to leave behind expectations of an academic life to pursue the path of creativity and healing. In this episode, you'll hear Sebastian's new single Snakehold, learn about his decision to delay its release in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests and his views on the role of the artist in protest movements. Mark and Enbani dig into the impact of the pandemic on musicians, the disappointment of cancelled festivals, and the unique opportunity to write in different genres and to explore collaborations with artists.

Next Episode

6.5 Your Brain On Music: Interview with Professor Olivia Podolak Lewandowska

Hosts Enbani and Mark interview Olivia Podolak Lewandowska, PhD, Assistant Professor with the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough, delving into the interdisciplinary field of music cognition, which combines music, psychology, neuroscience, music theory, musicology, music therapy, computer science and linguistics. Olivia discusses her life-long passion for music as a pianist, how it led her to study the science of music more intensely, and her research, which investigates how the structural elements of music can guide performance and listening. She also compares musical processing between musicians versus non-musicians, both at the behavioural level and the neural level using EEG. Olivia lets Mark and Enbani pick her brain on topics such as the relationship between music and performance, how popular music has changed over time, what the research says about what sounds good to our ears and the role of music in a society. You'll learn about atonal music (check out Olivia's YPS Atonal Bangers playlist here), how people with perfect pitch process music differently, and get her recommendations about the best soundtrack to listen to when you're writing a thesis (Interstellar by Hans Zimmer). Olivia received her B.Sc. in Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, with a specialization in Music Cognition at McMaster University in 2012. She recently completed her doctorate at the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2019, where she works as an Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream), primarily teaching statistics, but also music cognition when the opportunity arises.