by Tiger Biskup

Episode 307: Leon Thomas

“Mutt”

LISTEN: APPLE · SPOTIFY · AMAZON · OTHER APPS

Leon Thomas is a singer, songwriter, producer, and actor. He’s nominated for six Grammys at this year’s Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, and Album of the Year for Mutt. Mutt is his second album, and I talked to Leon about the title track, which was a breakout hit. He’d already won a Grammy for his work with SZA, but he reached a new level in his own career with this song and this album. I also spoke to David Phelps and Rob Gueringer, AKA D. Phelps and Freaky Rob, who produced the song.

You can buy or stream “Mutt” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Bizzy Crook – co-writer
“Silly Love Song by Enchantment
“Snooze” by SZA
Electric Dusk – Leon Thomas
Led Zeppelin, Kendrick Lamar, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, and
Parliament-Funkadelic
Art Tatum and John Coltrane
Bootsy Collins

· · ·
by Tiger Biskup

Key Change: John Green

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Gerry and The Pacemakers

LISTEN: APPLE · SPOTIFY · AMAZON · OTHER APPS

My guest today is John Green. John is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of books including Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, The Anthropocene Reviewed, and Everything is Tuberculosis. John and his brother Hank Green have co-created a lot of projects together, including their massive YouTube channel, ‘Vlogbrothers,’ and their podcast, Dear Hank and John. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for global health nonprofit Partners in Health. And when I asked John if there was a piece of music that changed his life, he knew the answer right away: “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Gerry and the Pacemakers.

footnotes:
The musical Carousel
The Mountain Goats, Will Oldham, and Loretta Lynn

· · ·
by Tiger Biskup

Episode 306: Hit-Boy and Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle – “Racks In the Middle” (feat. Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy)

LISTEN: APPLE · SPOTIFY · AMAZON · OTHER APPS

Hit-Boy is an award-winning producer and rapper from LA. He’s one of my all-time favorite producers, from “Backseat Freestyle” by Kendrick Lamar, to “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott, to tracks he’s made for Beyonce, Nas, and the Jay-Z & Kanye album Watch the Throne. So I was really excited to talk to him, and when I asked him which song from his incredible catalog he wanted to talk about, I was really moved by his choice. He picked “Racks in the Middle” by Nipsey Hussle, featuring Roddy Ricch. Nipsey Hussle was a rapper and community activist from LA whose career was cut short, tragically, when he was murdered in 2019. He’d released just one album, Victory Lap. “Racks in the Middle” was the last song released in Nipsey’s lifetime. It went platinum, and a year after his death, it won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance, in 2020. This episode features a few short clips from a video that Nipsey Hussle made for the website Genius, back in 2019. But here in the studio, to tell the story, I spoke to Hit-Boy about how “Racks in the Middle” came together.

You can buy or stream “Racks In the Middle” (feat. Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy) here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Dustin James Corbett – co-writer
Greg Allen Davis – co-writer
“Die Young” – Roddy Ricch
Knowledge Smith, Future, and Chalice Recording Studio
Mailbox Money – mixtape by Nipsey Hussle
“A Hunnit a Show” (feat. Rick Ross) – Nipsey Hussle
“Alert” (feat. Hit-Boy & Nipsey Hussle) – HS87
“Thuggin” (feat. Lil Boosie & Lil Cali) – Nipsey Hussle

· · ·