Great Listens About Great Music – OZY

The best songs take you on a journey beyond yourself, and the best podcasts on these songs help you understand why. This week on a musical edition of Wherever you get your podcasts, we dive into hip-hop history, experience a king’s fateful haircut, experience the lost music of Tanzania, and explore the multi-faceted glory that is the Dollyverse.

pod of the week

Iconic moments in hip-hop history

Magnate tells the story of the rise of hip-hop through the voices of those who lived it. The first season explores the life and untimely death of legendary music director Chris Lighty, while the second season looks at the famous career of rapper Uncle Luke as he fought against censorship. Both artists were founding members of the hip-hop scene in their respective cities – Lighty in New York and Luke in Miami – and their journeys trace the rise of the genre in America. Host Brandon Jenkins takes you on a rich, well-researched and captivating journey through musical history.

conversations about the music you love

An explosion of knowledge

In each episode of Song exploder from Radiotopia, host Hrishikesh Hirway sits down with an artist to break down every aspect of one of their songs, from inspiration to lyrics and production. Every chorus and verse, every guitar hit and bassline, is reviewed and explained by the artists themselves, and stars from Dua Lipa to Meek Mill invite the listener into the studio and into their creative process before playing a song. song in its entirety.

A fly on the studio wall

Scrached disk, from Pushkin Industries, features a star rotation of interviewers sitting down with your favorite musical artists to talk about, well, everything. You can hear Rick Rubin interview Brian Eno on the future of music, or listen to Malcolm Gladwell sit down with Bruce Springsteen. Each episode represents roughly an hour of stimulating discussion with the musical artists who brought the industry to where it is today – and those who will get it where it goes tomorrow.

The power of music

In Louder than a riot, hosts Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden explore how the rise of mass incarceration and the popularity of hip-hop are interconnected today and have been throughout history. This NPR podcast is an examination of how American power and culture intersect and features today’s most influential hip-hop artists, including Bobby Shmurda and legends like the late Nipsey Hussle. The stories of these artists, their music, and their struggles against the forces of institutional racism illustrate how essential hip-hop is to holding the powerful accountable.

tales from the music industry

How a haircut changed the history of music

“Well, hair today, gone tomorrow,” Elvis Presley joked as his hair fell to the floor on that spring day of March 24, 1958. The media dubbed this day – when the king of rock ‘n’ roll was inducted into the military – “Black Monday”, and it marked the start of a two-year military hiatus for the most famous person on the planet. This fateful haircut, as OZY explores in a special bonus episode of Go back, would not only change the course of the king’s life and career, but also change the course of American music and pop culture.

A deep dive into the Dollyverse

America by Dolly Parton, a nine-part journey of WNYC studios, delves into the life and times of perhaps the most universally beloved living recording artist. You’ll hear all about Parton’s remarkable career, from her early days writing “sad songs” to her emergence as a feminist icon (who despises the word “feminism”), as well as the surprising story behind the ballad. hit “I Will Always Love You” – and who’s really about the song.

How Jody Watley reinvented himself

“Don’t be afraid to live the life that’s meant for you,” says Jody Watley of her decision to leave Shalamar and go it alone. Today, the Grammy Award-winning music, video, fashion and style pioneer is the first-ever Member Ambassador of the National Museum of African American Music. At Carlos Watson’s show, she looks back on some of the key decisions she’s made in her life and career, and shares a preview of her soon-to-be-released signature candle line.

oral history

Recover the (almost) lost music from Tanzania

Between 1961 and 1986, Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam was the only professional radio station and recording studio in Tanzania. Today, a group of archivists from the Tanzania Heritage Project are working to digitize as many Radio Tanzania archives as possible before the physical recordings are lost in time. True to their belief that music “belongs to the people”, these archivists hope their work will preserve Tanzania’s heritage and history for generations to come. Here you can listen to “Barua Toka Kwa Mama” by the Mlimani Park Orchestra.

in audio news

The Podcasting Hype House From Hell

What do you get when you stick a bunch of podcasters into a house in Beverly Hills? Chaos, apparently. This report from The Verge details how things fell apart at a Hollywood mansion meant to serve as the hype house for podcasting. Comprising two studios and a professional team, this production house – funded with funds from the Chinese audio platform Ximalaya – quickly grew from an artistic collaboration to “a confusing world of cocaine, dog poop and unpaid bills.” “.

E3 Radio launches The Qube

Production company E3 Radio is launching The Qube, a podcast and music streaming app created by black, brown, and QTPOC (queer and trans colored people of color) creatives. The E3 team, led by founder Anna DeShawn, is running a crowdfunding campaign for the app to raise $ 75,000 during Pride Month. With The Qube, E3 – which stands for Educate, Empower, and Entertain – aims to address inequalities in ownership, visibility and financial support in the world of podcasting.

Apple launches podcast reset

After the initial May release date was postponed, Apple finally launched its Apple podcast subscription platform. The company said it has pushed back its launch date to “make sure we provide the best experience for creators and listeners.” This new app will hopefully solve many of the issues reported by listeners and creators about the tech giant’s existing podcast platform, including issues and long download delays.

friend of the pod

Do you have a favorite music podcast that you love? Tell us about it by sending an email to yourvoice@ozy.com, and we might feature it in a future newsletter.