The What Podcast
Rap & Hip Hop
Season 2, Episode 6
Published March 31, 2019
https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/rap-and-hip-hop

A podcast for Bonnarooians by Bonnarooians

I'm Brad, that's Barry

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press

I'm Brad from Hits 96 W Doody Radio in Chattanooga

I don't know if you can notice today, Barry

But I'm wearing someone else's clothes

I'm wearing a completely different outfit

I feel uncomfortable

I feel like I've put on an outfit that I don't necessarily fit in

It's funny you say that

I had the same thought

Is it because you're sitting in that broken chair?

Absolutely

I purposely tried to be as uncomfortable today all day as I could

For the same reason I think you're going to

Alright, so we decided to do something a little differently this week

First off, we appreciate you spending some time with us

The what podcast at thewhatpodcast.com or at the what underscore podcast on Twitter

By the way, just as a little housekeeping

We're going to do the Bonnaroo ticket drawing here

I believe we've got two weeks

So in a second we're going to give you details on how you can win those

This week we decided to dip a toe into a pool that we thought about doing last year

We just ran out of time with it

And I felt like it was apropos to do this year because it is just full

The lineup is full of nothing but hip hop and rap music and rap artists

And this is where we become uncomfortable

Because it's not necessarily our wheelhouse

We just don't swim in this ocean very often

No, absolutely not

And it's kind of funny because that was the reason we started this podcast

Was to go find the acts that were on last year's schedule that we didn't know anything about

That's a good point

I totally forgot that

That was the whole point of the show

That was the whole point of the show

Because there were so many that we had never heard of

But you're right, we never did venture into this

I was thinking about this earlier

Is this going to sound like dad?

Is this dad going to talk here and say

I remember when

I was working at a record shop locally when Sugarhill Rapper's Delight came out

So I was kind of obsessed with rap as it was known

And it didn't have the overarching hip hop for a long, long time

It kind of lost me when it got into gangster rap

Or as the kids would call it trap music

Trap, I guess

I didn't know that

And here's where it really I'm going to sound like dad

I don't care for the misogyny and some of the name calling type

I don't, you know, if it's N-word and the misogyny stuff, I'm out

There was a time when I introduced Barry to Anderson Paak

This was three years ago, four years ago when Malibu came out

And the first song you heard, you're like, I'm out

Yep, no

Because he cursed in a way that you just did not like

Those two words, man, I'm just not into it

I get it, I get it

I just I think it's I mean, we could do a whole don't want to be too too old guy

I don't want to turn this into Fox News

Right, I just think it's I just think it's more hurtful for all of us than it is helpful

Maybe I mean, that's a good point

And I'm not going to get lost in the point because I know what you're trying to say

But there is a and what I told you then about the Anderson Paak thing is

It is a completely different culture

And we have to understand that that is is just regular lexicon in a certain culture

And it's not ours and it's not ours to take

But I can appreciate it just like you could probably appreciate it when it was different

Completely different sounds, languages, et cetera

When it was happening in the 60s

When soul music blew up and white people were uncomfortable about what black people were doing inside the black clubs

Or when Elvis started dancing and people were old people were freaking out about it

It's just a different culture

It's a different time and I'm not going to behoove it

I'm just not going to take it and do it myself

I've heard that argument

In fact, I got it into an email argument sort of for a minute with Russell Simmons of all things of Def Jam

Is that right?

Yeah, he sent out this this email. I've never done this in my career

He sent out this email basically saying what you said

Remember it was when it was a big, big deal

I think it was even then going before radio

They were banning this and that and I just I disagree

I understand what you're saying, but I think those two those two words in particular, especially the bitch

Yeah

It's just it's just hurtful. It's just harmful

I don't think it does anybody any good

But again, it is just words

They are just words and words

That part I get

And to me, words weight changes over decades in time

There's like, I mean, for instance, my favorite football team are the Redskins

You know, if you wanted to say 150 years ago that that term was offensive

May have a point

But now the only time that people refer to that word is by a football team

You know, so I mean, I get what you're saying

But words definitions and the weight of what they carry do change over time because certain people in certain groups take ownership of them

They won't let them hurt them anymore

So the words part doesn't necessarily get to me

It's I do think, though, that there is a cultural difference between what trap music is and what normal hip hop and R&B and rap is

Whereas it is celebration of something that I just don't necessarily think that I'm into

Well, the other side of it and I have made this argument for many, many years

And I mean it sincerely to me rap, hip hop, trap, whatever you want to call it

Is not that different that far afield from folk music or country music

The words are different certainly the sounds are different certainly

But it is basically the story of a people of a community

It is a way to communicate

That is true

But like I think that we all got off on the wrong foot

I mean, I'm going to be very, you know, race driven for a second

But white people got off on the wrong foot a lot of times when it came to hip hop back in the 80s

Because, you know, Ice Cube and NWA were doing stuff that really scared people

Like there was a very tumultuous time

Nobody really understood what was going on out there in Oakland

They didn't understand the cultural fight that they were having with police officers

That still lasted today

So they were writing music about their experience in that system

And if it wasn't for that, I don't, I mean, would some of us even know?

Would some of us even know what that struggle was about?

So to me, like, that's why some of this stuff has to be listened to and thought of differently

Because they're trying to say something in their language, in their words

Whether it's Post Malone's words, whether it's Childish Gambino's words, whoever's

Their lifestyle is being told to us if we're just willing to listen to it

Absolutely

And I mean, they generally not based on race, by the way

And I lived through all of that

I remember when all that was happening and I liked that music

I respected that music

I did not understand it

You know, I didn't live it again where it lost, where it really started to lose me

And if we had a lot of artists that were talking about things that they didn't live either

You had a lot of ghost writers, you had a lot of, and you get that in all kinds of music

But with that being said, and I hate to interrupt you, but with that being said

And I think that's why we have missed the boat a lot as far as the generic Bonnaroo attendee

Maybe not so much as the younger generation that comes into music festivals

But I think that we have missed it a little bit because Bonnaroo doesn't really book any of that

They don't really go there, whereas I've been to a lot of music festivals

And there's a lot of that garbage

There's a lot of just garbage hip hop that they put on stage

And I just don't think Bonnaroo does that

I think they're very specific about the hip hop that they put on

Now I would love to talk to somebody inside AC or even Live Nation when they were doing it

I mean we could probably talk to C3 about it as well

But there have got to be some hip hop artists that they put on stage that they said,

Pfft, well that didn't work

Because I've watched them

I've watched so many bad hip hop shows at Bonnaroo

But I don't think that they book them in the same spirit that other festivals have booked them

The other festivals book hip hop and rap music and rap artists so that they can jump onto some zeitgeist

Like for instance, there is not a chance, not a chance, I think Bonnaroo would ever book a Lil Yachty

He is terrible

He's legit terrible

I mean I saw him on Hangout and it was 45 minutes of him screaming, Lil Bo! Lil Bo!

With 45 second clips

I just don't think they would do that

I might be wrong

But I think that they are very specific and they try to find the ones that matter

And you can go back all the way to like 2006 when they put Cypress Hill on in Common

I mean they had cultural relevance right?

I mean if I look back at the very first hip hop artists that they put on

Or rap or R&B

I mean I can't really find the right definition for them but it's probably Jurassic 5

Jurassic 5 in 2002

The Roots in 2003

You know they took a few years off and they brought Common and Cypress Hill in 2006

And then it really all started and changed with Kanye in 2008

And I don't think that they are putting people on stage that are anything but at least artistic and true to some sort of artistic value

Well and that's the difference

Again, old guy, me, I mean I watched that whole thing, that whole genre develop from start

I can remember covering as a reporter, reviewing Run DMC, Ice Tea

I mean all of the big names and they were my favorites, I love Public Enemy

But I watched a show where Flava Flav did nothing but cuss and scream turn the lights up for 30 minutes

They were brutal, brutal shows to sit there

There would be 8 acts, 20 minutes between each

And all you're doing is setting up a microphone, it's just not a very visually attractive show

Run DMC would have been the difference

They worked hard at creating a visual show in addition to the music

So you do have that, but it's developed as we've seen

I'm not at all here to say I don't like it

I like it, I like some of it, I like when it's sincere and artistic like you said

I like when the message is

I mean it's just good songwriting, you know, I mean that doesn't matter the venue

I mean the medium, you know, whether it's country or whatever, like Anderson Paak

I did say no to that right away, but then last year if you remember, I came right around, I like what he does

He's amazing, and to me, the one that stands out

First off, I'd like to dive into what the term means, right

And try and differentiate what we mean by hip hop, R&B, rap, etc

Now we started out saying let's do a hip hop and rap episode

Because it's just so prevalent on this year's festival lineup and last year's lineup and some years before

But I think that we get lost into who exactly fits that mold

I mean you can, I got a lot of flack a while back because I said Mac Miller was a hip hop artist

And I didn't necessarily say that, but in the moment it was a lazy way for me to say

He's in that culture because so many hip hop artists look to him, work with him, and love him

So I don't know where the line is, I don't know where you draw

I know exactly that Childish Gambino probably doesn't fit any mold

And I sure as hell know that Post Malone, if you told somebody one person that he's a rap artist

They would probably curse at you and tell him no he's not, he's a pop artist

So I don't know, I don't know where the line is anymore, somebody wrote us on Twitter and said Solange

I don't know if Solange, I know Solange is not a rap artist

But is she an R&B artist? I don't know man, these lines have become so blurred

And that's so interesting to hear coming from you because of your job

I mean you're a program director at this radio station

And you said to me the other day that you guys are programming some country, some new country stuff

I read an article

And where is that line anymore, who knows?

Well you and I were talking about it, that pop music is now, used to be a genre now

And I forgot where, but it basically said the whole line is blurred because country music has elements of hip hop

Pop music has elements of hip hop

Alternative music, I mean you try and tell me the difference between Walk the Moon

Who is an AJR who were number one on the alternative charts and Insert Pop Band Here

I can't tell

Yeah and you know it was a good, bad, that's not what I'm saying at all

It's just the lines have been blurred and I think it's because there was an article that said

Listeners listen to everything, like we do, like you and I do

My playlist in the same list, 20 minute listening session, I can go from run DMC to country to Murrell Hager or newer acts

I just pulled those two out of the air

And I have no problem with that, it doesn't feel weird to me at all

Well as far as radio is concerned, and I'll take a sidetrack here for a second

But as far as radio is concerned, I don't think that this is a new thing

I think that we temporarily were not what we always were

Temporarily we got fit into a bubble, Top 40 at least

Top 40 for a while got stuck in Britney Spears, Nsync, Backstreet Boys and on probably a decade before that

But before it, I mean Top 40 radio were The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and it was all over the place

The Mamas and the Papas, you could go Top 40 radio was literally just number one through 40

Now we don't know what it is anymore

It's very confusing and it's almost station by station, city by city, format by format

And it's really, as much as I dislike Top 40 music, I program it for a living, I dislike it

I'm an indie alternative guy, I like 60s soul music

But it's a very good spotlight and way to understand how exactly things get programmed at music festivals

Well, it's guys like you and me that want those things to fit into a box

Right, that's right

It's not the listener

That's true

It's, you know, I need it for a label

Yeah

You know, I need it, so and so's coming to town

They are a XYZ band

Right

And I'm done

Is that because we don't trust the people that we are communicating to to understand the differences or is it just us being lazy?

It's us being lazy and it's us being, well, it's us trying to be succinct

It's us trying to say, you know, if you said, Barry, what is so and so, what is Solange like?

It's easier if I can give you a one or two word description

Is it easier for you or is it easier for the listener?

Both, if it works, if it, you know, if they fit into that category, which they used to because we made them

Yeah

That's what I mean

Which is why we get stuck with it sounds like

Exactly

Yeah, exactly

Your worst thing in the world, you hate so much

I hate doing that and but it's the quickest route

It is the quickest route

And with that being said, you know, we are not good, I mean, if you can't figure out by now, we are not rap and hip hop experts

We are not

But I want to go through the lineup this year and find the hip hop and rap artists, at least some of them

And go through it and just see what we think about it

First off, I mean, there's no doubting Childish Gambino

And there's no doubting his cultural impact and what he has meant to Bonnaroo and what he's meant to music in general

And if I had to guess, not being a hip hop or rap expert, but what he means to that genre

I think, son, we're not the one

But in the bowels of your mind, we have done the right

Yeah, I mean, I just don't know how you classify anything

Anything that Childish Gambino does except for I mean, brilliant

That latest album, Awaken My Love, was so, so good

But I've always had a problem a little bit, not with Childish Gambino specifically

But he came, it happened so fast

And I know he was there in 2012 and Bonnaroo has really supported him throughout

But I always wondered how this happened so fast and how I missed it so much

It was almost like the show lost in that by the time I realized it was a thing, it was already over

And I'm like, I don't feel like I'm even, how could I go back and start this show that you guys have already done?

It's like Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones is about to start

I've not watched one episode, how in the world do I start now?

Yeah, I'm that way with a lot of the Netflix series

I fall in love with them and then find out they came out eight years ago

Yeah, how am I supposed to now start talking about Childish Gambino when I'm so far behind

And I'm just now coming to terms, like, oh, this Childish Gambino is a thing and it's really good

And boy, if there is not a artist that people talk about more

And maybe it's because he's on the lineup this year and he's just so much in the conversation in the past year and a half, two years

But boy, people rave, rave over that 2012 and then the subsequent shows he's had after that at Bonnaroo

Rave about it and I couldn't tell you if I even walked past it

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, there's so many of those

And you know, the reality is we can't know everything

I don't try to know everything, I try to at least have a sense of because it's my job and also because I like it

So it's not, yeah, that's not something that I, you know, somebody says, oh, he's a hip hop artist

No, I'm not going to listen, that's not how it works for me at all, but no, I'm with you

Are you going to go see the Childish Gambino show? Are you going to invest your time in that?

Yeah

Are you?

Yeah, there's several of those and there's several, you know, been making a list as we're doing this

Because it might be his final show ever

Right

And so that's the other thing too that I get confused about the Childish Gambino thing with Donald Glover

I know it's good, I know it's very, very good and This Is America is damn near genius, right?

But did he get what he got because of who he is? We talk to these baby bands all the time, right?

They have to go on the road and earn it and earn it and earn it and it seems like he just popped up out of nowhere

And all of a sudden it's huge

I think he's just good

Is it because he's good or is it because he had a leg up on everybody else?

I think he's good

Okay

I don't think the leg up thing, I think it gets you in the door, it doesn't keep you there

Because there's an artist that I feel as though has the same sort of thing happening right now at Bonnaroo

But also slaved away at clubs for a little while, Post Malone

This time last year I was talking to a buddy of mine who maybe a year and a half ago he said

I got to go to this Post Malone show and I'm like where is it? It's at the, you know, some club in Atlanta

I'm like really? We were battling whether or not we should play it on our radio station

Because at the time it felt too, too urban

Like it felt so in your face and so disjointed and weird

We're like I don't know if we should take a risk on this

And so I got him tickets to the show and then he's like oh my god it was unbelievable, it was absolutely unbelievable

And then he comes back to Atlanta like six months later and now he's playing like the Fox Theater or Tabernacle, right?

And I get him tickets to that and the show just gets bigger

And the next time I, six months later he's at like the Pavilion something

He just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and now Post Malone, the biggest artist on the planet

Probably outside of Ariana Grande and Cardi B

I think the key there is you keep saying it, the show

I think that's the key

Is there a show or is it just tracks that sound really good on your stereo or whatever?

I think the artists that can have a show as part of their act do better

I got a lot of toys

720S, pump it, fall out boy

You was talking shit in the beginning

Back when I was feeling unforgiving

I know I piss you off to see me winning

See the Hickloo in my mouth and I be grinning

Honey, the bands in my pocket is on me

Honey, deep when I roll like the army

Get my bottles, these bottles are lonely

It's the moment when I show up, got them saying wow

Honey, the bands in my pocket is on me

Your grandma will probably know me

Get my bottles, these bottles are lonely

It's the moment when I show up, got them saying wow

Get me where I belong

Get me in the block like I'm a chumbo

I love that line so much

It's so poppy

I mean it is so pop music at this point

and it's gotten into me

I'm like I know all the Post Malone songs

I know every word to every song

How is that possible?

Yeah, no it's good stuff

I mean and it'll be a good show right?

I hope so and that's what I hear

but that's my fear

My fear is a lot of this happens like Khalid did last year

and I'm really excited about it

and then I watch it and it's legit the worst show I've ever seen of Bonnaroo

because the stage doesn't work

the performance doesn't work

his vocals don't work

he's too down tempo for a stage show

they try to make a big stage show behind him

that was just totally disjointed

the crowd's gonna be nuts for Post Malone

they're gonna lose their minds on Post Malone

Two things, one going back two shows ago

when I was talking about Little Dicky

and I told you I ran across a YouTube video

of one of his live performances

and it wasn't nearly as interesting as the videos

and again I hope it's great

I'm not trying to be negative

but the other thing is sort of going back to our conversation with Jeff Cuellar

how do they build lanes for the shows?

Do you feel like hip hop fans or Post Malone fans

do they have other things on the farm for them to watch?

Does it cross or is it so specific?

I think that's exactly the point

like you go back to 2008 in the Kanye year

there was nobody else for a hip hop fan

maybe in 2009 with Beastie, Snoop and Erykah Badu

you could probably find a nice lane there

2010 there's nobody, there's Jay-Z and that's it

but it wasn't until like 2011

when they started figuring out

a J Cole fan's gonna go see Wiz Khalifa

it's gonna go see Lil Wayne

it's gonna go see Eminem

and then 2012 Ludacris

Childish Gambino

Yellow Wolf

Danny Brown

2013

R Kelly

Wu Tang

Kendrick

A$AP Rocky

I think they've filled the line up out more with hip hop artists

again they don't find ones that are garbage

like Future last year

a lot of people hated that show

but you can't deny Future was a major hip hop star

the problem is that no matter who they put on there

when it comes to hip hop and rap shows

it's a 50-50 proposition whether it sounds good

it's an interesting thing right

I mean we talked about this with the whole EDM thing

it feels like and I'm sure they're tweaking it with the other stage

and doing away with some of the other things that they've done

it seems so genre specific

you remember was it last year or two years ago

where they would have the EDM stuff at the other

and then they had that other

excuse me

Caliope

whatever you want to call it

the one that's right next to our camp

right next to our camp that went till sunrise

it just seemed a little strange to have both

so I think they're tweaking that sort of thing right

I mean but the lineups have always been

I mean I've always felt like the lineups had something that I could go and at least check out

no matter who it was

I like EDM a little more than you do

I don't think you've ever been over to the other stage have you

even out of curiosity

no I have never done that

yeah but you see my point

that's not your

you're just going to avoid that

whereas my sort of thinking is

I'm going to go at least listen

it's maybe not my thing but I'm going to go listen

yeah

and you're not going to

but I feel the same way about hip hop and rap shows

I'll go and check out

who was it last year that was such a disaster

T-Pain

T-Pain last year

I mean when I said earlier that

there's got to be some where they said oh that was just not

that didn't work

T-Pain's one of them

you know T-Pain did not work

I'll go even further a few years ago

the Big Boy show to me didn't work

frankly I thought Ludacris sounded terrible

the problem with the hip hop shows is not because I don't love it

and when Ice Cube came

we were the first ones under the tent for Ice Cube

because we are massive Ice Cube fans

it just sounded terrible

the mics were terrible

the sound was just

I mean

I can't even explain how bad the sound was

I was there three hours earlier

and the sound wasn't that bad

what happens to that farm and hip hop shows

it's like it's the graveyard for shows that just go to die

I can't imagine that show

that T-Pain show

well maybe T-Pain because he's

oh god he's just terrible

but I can't imagine the Big Boy show in the land of the tabernacle

is as bad as it sounded at Bonnaroo

maybe, maybe

yeah I don't know

I haven't been to enough to even pretend to

but when you go to like

and we all know

we've said it in the threads

we've said it on the show

the WITCH stage has had its sound issues

I feel like they finally figured out the problems

and solved a lot of the issues when it comes to the WITCH sound

but boy you put a hip hop artist on the WITCH stage

like Lil Wayne

it was dreadful

but yet you put R. Kelly on it and it sounded great

I can't make sense of that

Earth, Wind & Fire I thought sounded

it just sucked the life out of it on there for some reason

and that was another

I mean not a hip hop show

but that was one I was excited about

and it just kind of laid there

and you're excited

and then you get excited about Little Dicky

and you don't get what you want out of a YouTube video

is that going to keep you from going to see Little Dicky?

no, absolutely not

it better not

because I love Little Dicky

I really really do

I think Pillow Talk is as fun of a song as I have heard

and I think he's totally interesting

but he goes back to the conversation we were having a bit ago

who is Little Dicky?

where is he?

is he Lonely Island or is he a rapper?

and I've got a friend of mine who is obsessed with Little Dicky

and we'll tell you

he is straight up a rapper

yeah he's funny

and yeah he's clever

but he is as good of a rapper as you got

yeah

hello, how can I help you?

hi, my name is Dave Bird

I have an appointment today

it's probably under Little Dicky actually

I'm a rapper so

okay

and who are you here to see?

Snoop Dogg

says here Snoop D of Gigi

oh yeah

he's right down the hall

first door to your right

give him a knock and he should be right with you

thanks

it's this door right here right?

mm-hmm

thank you

so the reason I think Little Dicky is so important

I love him so much

I don't know what to expect with the show

I really don't care

because he's just so much fun

but I think that the reason why he works so well

is because he combines everything that the culture

and the generation is right now

is make it funny

make it a YouTube video

make it a viral moment

and make it really really good

and he knows exactly who he is

yeah that's exactly right

I think it's hilarious

yeah you turned me on to it

and I was obsessed for about three weeks

and kept sharing with another guy

just three weeks?

I'm still into it

but I mean for three weeks

it's all I you know I was trying to find new stuff

yeah and boy and if you walk outside

you walk outside the hall

you ask anybody who Little Dicky is

they're like I don't know

I have no idea

yeah then you show them

and you're like is that real?

yeah is this real?

I'm like yeah this guy for real yeah

so when we asked you the other day on Twitter

at the what underscore podcast

your hip-hop recommendations

who you liked who you are excited about

because we're not the experts

we don't know

who else did they say we should check out?

Little Dicky, Gambino, Gucci Mane

yeah Gucci Mane

so Gucci Mane again to me is a lot like

let's just put it this way

I think he fits the mold of that lane

as good as anybody else on the line

Gucci Mane is straight up hip-hop and rap artist

more so than probably any

I mean you could probably find Juice WRLD

Juice WRLD maybe

but not to the extent that Gucci Mane is

Juice WRLD is recommended

Evie recommended

Jack Harlow, Tyler Yahweh

I want to talk about Tyler here in a second

Hierophant

Alright, so Tyler Yahweh, if there is no Post Malone, there's no Tyler Yahweh.

So he started because Post Malone found him, and I have a feeling because he went on tour

with Post Malone that that was a buy one get one free deal.

You put Post Malone on line up, we're going to bring our buddy Tyler, who by the way is

going to more likely not join him on stage because I think he does some supporting stuff

with him.

So the kid was a drug dealer and he worked at a Dunkin Donuts, so he masked his entire

thing as a Dunkin Donuts donut guy, sold drugs, wrote music in the spare time, and just said

screw it.

He packed up and moved across the country.

No he didn't, his mom kicked him out.

Oh did she?

Yeah she found out he was selling drugs and kicked him out of the house.

So then he packed up and went to LA and became a rapper.

This is not necessarily the path that I would suggest for the kids I old and tell you exactly

to do the exact same thing.

It's a tough way to do it.

It worked out for him and then he caught Posty's ear.

What I hear is the same thing I heard with Anderson Tocque and I just like, and I think

I used this word last year, the musicality of it.

The production is pretty high there.

I just like it.

It's going to be one of these shows that I will want to give a second to and I want you

to blow me away and I want you to reel me in, but you've got to.

You've got to do it.

And I hope that, I know some of the alternative artists and I know some of the indie artists

know the ramifications of what this means, but because Bonnaroo has not necessarily been

the best hip hop showcase for a lot of these artists, I wonder if they get the same sort

of hit that a regular band would get.

I wonder if they get the same kind of look.

Or if the hip hop community treats Bonnaroo a little bit like, a little dismissive.

Yeah, I don't know.

It's a good question.

One of the things that for a long time, in our paper anyway, and in my job, one of the

things that was a big sort of determining factor, whether we thought it was legit or

not was whether it was tracks or live music.

And I think we quit, we let go of that several years ago.

But for a long time, if it was tracks, we didn't consider it real.

Well I mean, that's the case when you're throwing out Drake half the time.

I know.

I'm just offering, you know, whatever.

I got you.

Part of that goes back to the whole show thing.

You know what I mean?

If it's just tracks and somebody's coming out with a microphone and walking back and

forth on stage, it's hard to watch for 90 minutes.

It's true.

And it does help to know them.

It does help to know the songs.

I mean, I know that everything R. Kelly right now is toxic.

And talking about R. Kelly is terrible.

And even going to that show a few years ago, I felt a little, this feels a little, but

when he released, you know, A Thousand Doves into the air, that was pretty cool, man.

I mean, it was a really good show.

He didn't, he spent about 50 seconds on every hit and just went hit to hit to hit hit.

So you know, in some ways it can work that way.

I, you know, my patience for, I wonder how well we do when we don't know any of the songs,

especially when it's not your genre.

If it's not your genre, how long are you willing to stay?

Absolutely.

I agree with that.

That's true of any music.

I totally get that.

Like for instance, there's an artist that I'm intrigued by, Saba.

Oh yes, I made it alive.

In a short drive, hit it to paradise.

In this moment of mine, I can't recognize.

To see that the glow is bright.

And when you compromise, I almost die.

I doubt the water is red as mine.

Hey, how you lonely in a room with God?

Never slow up, not even a bit stopped.

Praying my niggas will never get caught.

Overcame it all, I come to make sure.

We start to be a man now to the response.

To the college shirt, ptsst, with the front bar.

Get out of adolescence when it go dark.

Some when you start to line up, hopeless, no comment so far.

Oh yes, I made it alive.

Run up a site, still in my mama house.

The kids on my conscience now, cause they dying.

It's just more coming out, coming round.

Still do it all like we common, all coming down.

I over-life, all right, 100 and else.

I'm in the pain of when I'm in doubt.

I smooth my head in the clouds like I learned about.

Oh yes, I made it alive.

Yeah, go listen to Care for Me.

It's a really, really good album.

And if Chance the Rapper is the mayor of Bonnaroo, like we all say he is,

Chance the Rapper is going to be at that show.

I mean, they're best friends.

I think they grew up in somewhat of the same neighborhood.

Chance the Rapper is going to be at that show and popping in and out doing something with Saba.

Because if it doesn't just make sense, to me, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon,

I would love, love, love to listen to that album front to back because it's really, really good.

See, everything that you have played that we listened to today has what I think we talked about at the very beginning was it crosses genres.

And you're right, what is hip-hop? What is rap? What is, you know, I think it's like every other kind of music today.

It's a lot of different things. Everything I've heard today is good. I like it.

Before we wrap things up here quickly, we need to talk about the giveaway.

If you want to get in for Bonnaroo tickets and camping passes, we're going to give away a pair of tickets.

Thanks again to the Bonnaroo people and AC Entertainment for giving us these tickets.

But if you want to pair tickets with camping, all you got to do is drop us a line at the whatpodcast.com or at the what underscore podcast on Twitter.

We're going to basically take everybody's name that's ever interacted with us in any form or fashion and throw them into a big pot and then pick a name out.

And we have to do that here in a couple of weeks to give you proper, you know, time to get off work, plan, etc.

But if you're listening to this podcast, you're more likely going to be going to Bonnaroo anyway.

And if you're not, please buy a ticket. And if you haven't bought a ticket or if you're going to buy a ticket, let them know that you bought a ticket because of us.

That would really help out. You can rate review the podcast on your Apple Store or Google Play.

We got a lot of suggestions and I appreciate all of them.

The one that stood out for me was Brock Hampton, mainly because Brock Hampton was there last year.

Why? I mean, they do this every now and then and bring artists back, do back to back years like Dua Lipa last year and the year before.

But what specifically about Brock Hampton did they want back at Bonnaroo?

And I have to go back and look, but I don't remember where Brock Hampton played.

Did they cancel or something? I just because I know so little about Brock Hampton.

All I know is is they're like five guys and they're relatively young and it sort of started out as a boy band and they would they self describe themselves as a boy band.

It's not a guy named Brock, last name Hampton, which is honestly, if I'm being by hand to God, I thought that's what it was.

First years ago when I heard Brock Hampton's like, sounds like a country artist.

Well, we've laughed about that before. The names probably what about six, seven, eight years ago.

You couldn't tell if it was one guy, a band, a DJ, you know, all of that.

But my guess is and it kind of goes back to you were saying just a second ago about how much different it is if you know the act and know their material or not.

Really, though, that comes down to whether they connect.

Right. I mean, I don't I didn't know a single war and treaty song last year.

And, you know, we've said many, many times those guys reached right out and just grabbed us by the throat.

Right. Right. I mean, so and there are those acts that you don't have to know the words to sing along to them to to be affected by it.

I forgot that Brock Hampton canceled last year. That's what that's right.

Yeah. And this is their this is their main.

I can't go because I don't know.

I don't want it on the jacket like Magic Johnson got a couple of chains off Slauson silhouette looking like Charlie's angels.

I lose her, but it's a white desperate.

I think that serious love and a double burned up like Leah.

Maybe when I check my blood pressure, am I being too obvious?

I got a crush on a podcast for Bonnarooians by Bonnarooians again to what podcast dot com for Bonnaroo tickets.

I feel I feel a little like I've shook some stuff out.

I feel like I've I've done laundry, you know, and I feel like I've ironed the clothes and I feel better now.

I feel I feel more comfortable in this outfit that I've worn today.

Well, let me ask you this. OK. Any chance you're going to go see any of these acts now?

I'm going to see Saba. Yeah, I really like that Saba album that came out last year.

And I'm going to see Childish, even though I'm so late to the party and I feel like I've missed a giant moment of culture.

And I missed it mainly because it's my own fault when something big happens and when something is so in the zeitgeist,

I usually tend to turn it off and I ignore it because I don't want to be a part of it.

I mean, that's my own my own thing. My own problem. I mean, I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but I just do.

And it's I struggle with it at times. The Childish Gambino is a big one.

It's a big one for me and it's a big miss. So I'm going to definitely do that.

And look, there's one artist that we didn't talk about today. I'm excited about really, really excited about two shows underground.

I mean, I'm going to be keep my excitement level away from you guys at camp.

I'm going to make sure that you guys don't know how excited I am about Post Malone, which I can't wait.

I'm just worried about the crowd. I'm worried it's going to be.

I remember Macklemore, the first year Macklemore and Lewis showed up.

That was the scariest moment of my entire life because it was I just got stuck in like the main drag and I didn't get my normal like I can't believe I'm about to say this.

My normal like walk through the backstage area to the front of the stage.

And so I got caught in the in the mass getting to the pit and it was so packed and people were cramming in because that Macklemore was massive when they booked him.

And the mass getting in there, I was literally lifted off of my feet. There were so many people pushing into the right side of the pit.

There was a girl that fell to the ground and like people were like, I mean, they didn't have a choice. They didn't know they were running over her.

I thought she was going to get trampled. Yeah, that's a nightmare. I feel like that's going to be Post Malone.

I'm really worried about that. And the second show, I'm underground, really excited about that we didn't talk about today because I want to do another episode for maybe just her Cardi B.

Yeah, I wonder about Cardi B. I can't sit straight. That Macklemore when I guess maybe you knew it was going to be big.

I had no idea that that crowd was going to be that big. What a three o'clock Saturday afternoon.

And I mean, I just knew the, you know, the novelty, the hit thrift shop, thrift shop.

But see, again, back to what we were saying about Little Dickie. He combined Little Dickie combines what exactly culture is right now.

Right. Make it viral video, make it something that that our eyes and ears can all get the exposed nerves can all get hit at the same time.

And that's what thrift shop was. Absolutely. But he had 82 minutes of other great stuff. Yeah.

I didn't know that. Yeah. I mean, and it was powerful stuff.

You know, the song about the the gay young man. What's the same love? Same love. Same love as the hit that they did at the Grammys.

Well, they were they were marrying people on the stage. Absolutely. Powerful, powerful.

Ten minutes. Yeah. And by the way, I just didn't I didn't expect that. By the way, this I can't imagine this has not been talked about at your camp, probably, too, upon Rue.

But has there been a bigger fall from Grace to Macklemore? Macklemore that first year was so massive and then they booked him again and nobody cared.

Nobody cared. No, no, because we we kind of talked about that. That was the really down year for them.

He had a new record that didn't go anywhere that didn't go anywhere. It's terrible. And I think that's why they brought him back.

They were counting on it going somewhere and it didn't. Yeah. But even now, even now, Macklemore is like treated as if like

by most of the community. I know. And it's so weird. It is strange.

In the strictly novelty song sense, it makes perfect sense. But like I'm saying, he has other material that is that is really good.

So I don't disagree with what you're saying. He's he's turned into somebody that that people roll their eyes at, much like another artist that we didn't talk about today that I wanted to.

We just didn't get around to it. Man, there's just so much hatred outside of like Kanye. I know I know the problems with Kanye and I get like there are certain artists that people just absolutely do not like that that pop up on the lineup every now and then.

But boy, if you go through Reddit and you go through some of the message boards and stuff, there is not more hatred of anybody at the festival this year than Hobo Johnson.

Hello. I love a girl. I'm a man and I love a girl and I like her so much. And this song would be for you, babe, but it's sad. So it's not going to be. But I like it a lot.

So much. This isn't for you, but I have other ones for you.

I'm glad it does. I'm glad I can give you the satisfactory that is needed or whatever. I like you a lot.

I'm too emotional. Good luck to my future wives and the future lives without me. You guys will do great.

I'm sure that I've prepared you for every guy you'll date and every guy you'll marry and every guy you'll hate. It's the little vise I sang out of tune.

That's probably what did it. My twin size mattress that I had since I was seven that we have to sleep on whenever she spends the night.

And if she falls off again, she'll find another guy to like, which is Romeo and Juliet.

Getting drunk and eating Percocets just to ease the stress. But soft with light through yonder window breaks.

It is the East which Juliet just fuked off the balcony. How romantic. Nothing like getting drunk and getting manic on it.

Now, I get it. I know he's a polarizing figure, but man, people really, really dislike him.

And he's a novelty kid, too. He's a novelty kid that's just trying to be fun and unique and different and trying to find his lane.

I don't really get the hatred of him, just like I don't get the way that Macklemore sort of fell off the planet.

It doesn't really ring for me. I don't really get it. Somebody's going to have to explain it to me.

Yeah, I can't. But I mean, it goes to that he knows who he is like with little Dickie.

I mean, it's strictly novelty, but he knows exactly who it is and he's good at it.

Yeah, well, he is. And I think that maybe some people would argue that Hobo Johnson is not. I don't know. I don't know much about him.

All I know is I read so much negativity about it.

Are we going to do the same thing for EDM? Am I going to be able to get you to do?

Oh, I wish people could see his face.

I feel like I'm giving birth to Hitler's baby right now. I don't know, man. That hurts so much.

If we do look, if we do an EDM episode, I'm not opposed to it.

Somebody's going to have to drive this ship other than me because I have no idea. I don't know where to start.

I don't know where it begins and ends. I really don't.

They never do. Remember, that's what we talked about. There's no beginning, middle and end.

The What Podcast, thewhatpodcast.com. We'll talk to you next week.

Thank you.