The Albums: 

• Alé Kumá: Cantaoras (Alé Kumá, 2002)
• Mary J. Blige: What's the 411? (Uptown, 1992)
• The Smiths: Louder Than Bombs (Rough Trade, 1987)
• Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly (TDE, 2015)

We wanted to dedicate an episode to talking about the music of summer, easily the one season that people have the deepest sonic associations with. To that aim, we invited the two founding members of L.A.'s Quetzal, Martha Gonzalvez and Quetzal Flores. Since 1992, the group has melded the son jarocho tradition into all manners of other genres, resulting in seven albums (and counting), including last year's The Eternal Getdown. 
Together, each of our quartet got to pick an album that we associate with the summer and as you see above, we covered a whirlwind of styles and eras that bring up all manners of thoughts and feelings for us. Summer love may be fleeting but it lingers, always. 
More on Quetzal

• Tiny Desk Concert (NPR's All Songs Considered)
• "The Fiery Music of Quetzal" (KCET's Artbound)
• Website | Facebook

Show Tracklisting:

• Quetzal: Fig Pulp 
• Alé Kumá: Vola Pajarito 
• Alé Kumá: Por Que Me Pega 
• Alé Kumá: Oiaymelo 
• Mary J Blige: Love No Limit 
• Mary J Blige: Reminisce 
• Mary J Blige: Sweet Thing 
• Mary J Blige: What's the 411 
• Mary J Blige: I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By 
• The Smiths: Sheila Take a Bow 
• The Smiths: Shoplifters of the World Unite 
• The Smiths: Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 
• Kendrick Lamar: Hood Politics 
• Kendrick Lamar: Alright 
• Kendrick Lamar: King Kunta 
• Kendrick Lamar: These Walls 
• Kendrick Lamar: i 

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many of the songs above as we can find on there.

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The Album: De La Soul: Three Feet High and Rising (Tommy Boy, 1989)
I (OW) mention this on the episode but this album changed my life. It wasn't my introduction to hip-hop but it was the album through which I fell in love with hip-hop and that set me down a path that shaped the rest of my professional (and even personal!) life: as a writer, scholar, DJ and of course, humble podcast host. 
It clearly had an impact on Thomas Golubic too. Our guest for this episode is one of the top music supervisors in the game (as Morgan jokes, he's not just a member, he's the president, literally). He worked on Six Feet Under Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and right now, Better Call Saul; those in L.A. may also remember him from his KCRW days. 
Thomas and us dug deep into everything that makes this album so special, not the least of which is how it shifted the perception of what hip-hop could sound and look like. It's may be hard to remember now, nearly 30 years later, but in 1989, hip-hop was dominated by larger-than-life, superhero MCs such as KRS-One, Chuck D, Rakim, etc. But here were these four guys from Long Island, with a wholly creative irreverence, embracing their inner nerdiness (and soul ya'll) and mining a treasure trove of samples beyond the James Brown catalog (the latter would get them in trouble, which we talk about as well). The album, and group, changed the proverbial game. No more no less.  
More on Thomas Golubic

• Interview with Variety
• Thomas on the "Crew Call" podcast.
• Website | Twitter

More on Three Feet High and Rising

• "How we made 3 Feet High and Rising" (Guardian)
• "Classic Track-by-Track Review" (Billboard)
• "Three Feet High and Missing: Why De La Soul's albums aren't available online" (BBC)

Show Tracklisting (all songs fromThree Feet High and Rising unless indicated otherwise):

• Say No Go 
• Sia: Breathe Me 
• Nat King Cole: Pick Yourself Up 
• Little Richard: Hurry Sundown 
• The Magic Number 
• The Turtles - You Showed Me 
• Transmitting Live From Mars 
• Steely Dan: Black Cow 
• Peter Gunz: Deja Vu (Uptown Baby) 
• Say No Go 
• The Invitations: Written on the Wall
• Plug Tunin 
• Bob Dorough: Three is a Magic Number 
• The Magic Number 
• Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)
• Kool G Rap and DJ Polo: Road to the Riches 
• Say No Go 
• Intro 
• Eye Know 
• Me Myself and I 
• Tread Water 
• D.A.I.S.Y. Age 
• Double Huey Skit
• Cool Breeze on the Rocks
• I Can Do Anything

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The Album: The Coup: Steal This Album (1998)

Jesse Thorn, host of Bullseye and the MaximumFun podfather, has long been one of our biggest fans and we were delighted to have him come in to talk about one of his favorite albums: The Coup's stellar 1998 Steal This Album. 

The Coup, by then made up of Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funkstress, had already established a reputation as one of hip-hop's most outspoken and unapologetically radical groups out there. Their 1993 debut, Kill My Landlord was a revelation. 1994's Genocide and Juice catapulted them onto the national stage. But by 1998, hip-hop's political era seemed distant in light of the era of jiggy rap yet in strode The Coup, resplendent in socialist ideas and that Oaktown funk, to mint a masterpiece devoted to defending the underdog and shedding light on the struggles of working class peoples.

More on Jesse Thorn

• More from Jesse about The Coup
• Bullseye on MaximumFun/NPR
• Website | Twitter

More on Steal This Album 

• Steal This Album title not what it seems." (MTV.com)
• Album review on Dusted.com
• One of Oliver's *cough cough* five reviews of the album (Amazon)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Steal This Album  unless indicated otherwise):

• Swervin
• 20,000 Gun Salute
• Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada
• Digable Planets: 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
• Canibus: Second Round KO
• Lauryn Hill: Doo-Wop (That Thing)
• Jay-Z: Hard Knock Life
• DMX: Ruff Ryders Anthem
• A Tribe Called Quest: Da Booty
• The Luniz: I Got Five on it (Remix)
• The Repo Man Sings for You
• Breathing Apparatus
• Underdogs
• Cars and Shoes
• Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada
• Busterismology
• The Coup: Pork and Beef
• Los Prisoneros: Tren al Sur
• Prince: For You
• Prince: I Would Die 4 U
• Earl Sweatshirt: Balance
• Foo Fighters: Darling Nikki
• serpentwithfeet: fragrant
• Pusha T: If You Know You Know
• Teyana Taylor: Issues/ Hold On
• Junglepussy: Trader Joe

Here's the Spotify playlist of as many of the songs above as we can find on there.

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The Album: Mos Def's Black on Both Sides (1999)

Writer Marcus Moore, currently a senior editor at Bandcamp, happened to be coming through to Los Angeles for his first time ever and we took advantage by inviting him to join us to talk about Mos Def's debut album, Black on Both Sides. Coming out just a year after Mos and Talib Kweli created a new generation of conscious hip-hop fans with their Black Star collaboration, Black on Both Sides was also the culmination of a coming-out party for the Brooklyn rapper/actor that began earlier in the decade as he began racking up all manners of outstanding cameo spots.

During our convo with Marcus, we got into Mos' portrait of Brooklyn, how his singing took everyone for a (pleasant) surprise, why "Ms. Fat Booty" wasn't necessarily representative of the album as a whole and whether or not Mos ever was able to exceed the excellence of his debut.

More on Mos Def and Black on Both Sides: 

• "If Mos Def’s “Black On Both Sides” Came Out Today, It Might Be Considered The Blackest Album of All Time" (Very Smart Brothas)
• Original 1999 review for The AV Club

More on Marcus Moore:

• Marcus' upcoming book on Kendrick Lamar
• His review of Yasiin Bey's December 99th (Pitchfork)
• Bandcamp | Twitter

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Black on Both Sides unless indicated otherwise):

• Know That
• Umi Says
• Nas: NY State of Mind
• Biggie: Live Freestyle 1995
• Mos Def: BET's The Cypher
• Mos Def, Q-Tip, Tash: Body Rock
• UTD: My Kung Fu
• De La Soul: Big Brother Beat
• Ms. Fat Booty
• Jay-Z: Jigga What, Jigga Who
• The Roots: You Got Me
• Techn9ne: Questions
• Reflection Eternal: Fortified Live
• Love
• dialogue from 16 Blocks
• Rock N Roll
• Public Enemy: Fight the Power
• Rock N Roll
• Love
• New World Water
• Boogie Down Productions: Beef
• Fela Kuti: Water No Get Enemy
• Climb
• Umi Says
• Aretha Franklin: One Step Ahead
• Ms. Fat Booty
• Roy Ayers: We Live In Brooklyn
• Brooklyn
• Ms. Fat Booty
• Mathematics
• May-December

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The Album: Jeru the Damaja's The Sun Rises In the East (1994)

Since he started putting numbers on the board with the soundtrack to Black Dynamite, artist/composer Adrian Younge has become the hip-hop maestro for creative collaborations. Through the years, he's worked with Souls of Mischief, Ghostface Killah and DJ Premier/Royce the 5'9" as well as continuing to release his own solo work. For our episode, Younge reached back to the golden era of hip-hop for us to talk about one of the most "impervious" MCs around: Brooklyn's Jeru the Damaja and his 1994 debut album, The Sun Rises in the East. We tackled everything from the contradictions of rappers talking about both consciousness and doing dirt to the brilliance of DJ Premier's production to the intricacies of Jeru's freaky freaky freaky flow.

More on Jeru and The Sun Rises in the East: 

• "What Went Right With… The Sun Rises In The East"
• You Must Learn episode on the album

More on Adrian Younge:

• "Adrian Younge in Timeless" (Noisey)
• "Five Things You Need to Know" (Red Bull Music Academy)
• Website | Twitter | Facebook

Show Tracklisting (all songs fromThe Sun Rises in the East unless indicated otherwise):

• Gang Starr: I'm the Man
• Can't Stop the Prophet
• Adrian Younge/Delfonics: Lost Without You
• Adrian Younge/Ghostface: Beware of the Stars
• D. Original
• Come Clean
• Souls of Mischief: '93 Til Infinity
• Smif N Wessun: Let's Get It On
• Black Moon: Who Got the Props?
• Group Home: Livin Proof
• Rap City Interview w/ Jeru
• Perverted Monks In the House (Theme)
• Jeru and Lauryn Hill Interview
• Da Bitchez
• Mental Stamina
• Ain't the Devil Happy
• Lee Oskar: Our Road
• Adrian Younge: Midnight Blue
• Jungle Music
• Statik
• Brooklyn Took It

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The album: Kanye West: Yeezus (2013)

Comprehensive analysis. Two words that describe Cole Cuchna's extraordinary podcast, DISSECT, which dedicates a season to unpacking one album, one song (per episode) at a time. His subterranean exploration of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of the reasons we were thrilled to have him join us to discuss Kanye West's 6th album, Yeezus.
We covered Yeezy the persona vs. Kanye the person, problematic lyrics, ego reckoning, and the 2009 VMA's - a turning point in his career and a moment that will forever be a part of pop culture history. We also spent some time delving into the mindset of Yeezy, but full disclaimer: we taped this episode before Kanye's infamous twitter torrent and TMZ brouhaha.

About Cole Kuchna:

• Cole Cuchna, Prince of the podcast

Cole's socials: IG: turangalila_ TW: @dissectpodcast

About Dissect:

• This Podcast Host Is Spending Hundreds of Hours to Dissect the Genius of Kanye West

More on Yeezus

• Pitchfork review of Yeezus by Ryan Dombal

Yeezy on Yeezus:

• Behind Kanye’s Mask by Jon Caramonica

Show Tracklist (all songs from Yeezus unless indicated otherwise):

• “On Sight”
• “Hold My Liquor”
• “Guilt Trip”
• “Blood on the Leaves”
• “Bound 2”
• “New Slaves”
• “I Am A God”
• Nina Simone: Pastel Blues “Strange Fruit”
• “Black Skinhead”
• “I’m In It”
• Daniel Caesar: Pilgrim’s Paradise “Streetcar”

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The album: Digable Planets: Reachin' (1993)

More on Reachin'

• Sheldon Pearce's 25th anniversary revisit/review for Pitchfork.
• Oliver and Joseph Schloss' "After Further Review" revisit of the album from 2013.
• Chris Read's 25th anniversary mixtape.

More on Jack Davey and J*Davey

• Hope Tea's interview with Jack Davey.
• Jacqueline Whatley's profile of the group for LA Weekly.
• J*Davey Wiki | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Reachin' unless indicated otherwise):

• “Rebirth of Slick”
• Georgia Anne Muldrow: Olesi: Fragments of an Earth “Wrong Way”
• Sy Smith: The Syberspace Social “Aquarius Rising”
• Sa-Ra: The Hollywood Recordings “Glorious”
• Flying Lotus: Los Angeles “Roberta Flack (Feat Dolly)”
• Dam-Funk: Toeachizown “Searching 4 Funk’s Future”
• J*Davey: The Beauty in Distortion / The Land of the Lost “No More”
• “La Femme Fetal”
• Guru: Jazzmatazz “Loungin’”
• Young Deciples: Road To Freedom “As We Come (To Be)”
• “Jimmi Diggin Cats”
• Digable Planets: Blowout Comb “Graffiti”
• “Where I’m From”
• Fugees: The Score “Fu-Gee-La”
• UTD: Manifest Destiny “Manifest Destiny”
• “What Cool Breezes Do”
• “Last of the Spiddyocks”
• “Swoon Units”
• “Escapism (Getting Free)”
• “Nickel Bags”
• E-40: My Ghetto Report Card “Yay Area”

The album: A Tribe Called Quest: Low End Theory (1991)

Producer/MC Denaun Porter aka Mr. Porter has been in the hip-hop scene for over two decades. He has some impressive credits under his belt, producing songs that combined have sold almost 100 million records. He has worked with some of the industries top-talent including Eminem, 50 Cent, SnoopDog, Shakira, Bad Meets Evil, and many more. He is also one of the founding members of the chart-topping Detroit hip-hop group D12. It was none other than ATCQ's "Bonita Applebaum" that inspired Mr. Porter to get into hip-hop and not surprisingly, when we invited him to the show, he wanted to talk about one of the all-time great hip-hop albums: ATCQ's sophomore effort, Low End Theory. 

During our convo, we discussed the production techniques and sample choices, how good the album's sequencing was, and why Q-Tip and the late Phife Dawg went together like peanut butter and jelly. We also got into the fight-provoking question of: Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders?

More on A Tribe Called Quest and Low End Theory

• Vibe's "20 Facts about Low End Theory"
• Angus Batey looks back on the album for its 25th anniversary for The Quietus.
• The Source's original 5 mic review from 1991.

More on Denaun Porter

• Adam Graham's profile of Denaun in Detroit News.
• "Producer's Corner" profile for HipHopDX
• Mr. Porter on his "classic records" for Complex.
• Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Low End Theory unless indicated otherwise):

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The album: Freestyle Fellowship: To Whom It May Concern (1991)

Brian Cross, better known to most as B+, is one of the most important photographers of the hip-hop generation to ever emerge out of the West Coast. A transplant from Ireland to California, Cross began documenting the L.A. rap community throughout the late '80s and early '90s, producing one of the great books about the region's hip-hop scene, It's Not About a Salary. He's also a founding partner of the music/events organization Mochilla. Just this year, Cross finally published his first book reflecting on his career in photography, Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed. For his episode with Heat Rocks, Cross took us back to 1991 and the release of To Whom It May Concern, one of the greatest West Coast hip-hop albums of all time...and one that most people never got to hear back in the day because of its limited distribution at the time. Better late than never; don't keep sleeping.

More on Freestyle Fellowship and To Whom It May Concern

• Kevin Beacham's review of the album for Fifth Element.
• Patrick Taylor's review of the album for Rap Reviews.

More on Brian "B+" Cross

• Oliver's interview with Cross from 2011.
• Max Bell's interview with Cross for Noisey in 2018.
• Mochilla's Website | Twitter | Ghost Notes website

Show Tracklisting (all songs from To Whom It May Concern unless indicated otherwise):

• ”Here I Am”
• Cypress Hill: Cypress Hill “How I could Just Kill A Man”
• AMG: Bitch Betta Have My Money “Bitch Betta Have My Money”
• ”Good Life”
• ”7th Seal”
• ”120 Seconds”
• ”Jupiter’s Journey”
• ”For No Reason”
• ”We Are The Freestyle Fellowship”
• ”Sunshine Men”
• ”Dedications”
• Ornette Coleman: This Is Our Music “Humpty Dumpty”
• ”5 o’Clock Follies”
• Gang Starr: No More Mr. Nice Guy ”Manifest”
• Jon Hendricks: Freddie Freeloader “Freddie Freeloader”
• ”Convolutions”
• ”7th Seal”
• ”Legal Alien”
• ”We Will Not Tolerate”

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The album: Main Source: Breaking Atoms (1991)

MC extraordinaire Pharoahe Monch was no stranger to the trio known as Main Source (Large Professor + DJs K-Cut and Sir Scratch) back in the early '90s: Monch and Large Professor came up under the tutelage of the same mentor: producer Paul C. Though C was tragically murdered in 1989, both his proteges would go onto have banner years in '91 as Large Professor saw Main Source's Breaking Atoms released to critical fanfare while Monch enjoyed the same just a couple of months later when he and Prince Po released their debut, self-titled LP as Organized Konfusion.

Monch sat down with us to talk about the experience of buying Breaking Atoms on tape from Hot Waxx in Queens and having it blow his mind on that first listen as well as what he's learned from the album in the 25+ years since. Listen to this episode live at your BBQ...

More on Main Source and Breaking Atoms

• Stephanie Smith-Strickland's interview with the group on the occasion of the LP's 25th anniversary, for HighSnobiety.
• Andrew Winistorfer's breakdown of the album's samples for VinylMePlease.
• The original 4.5 mic review of the album in The Source. 

More on Pharoahe Monch

• An interview with Monch in The Believer. 
• Monch discussing his PTSD album with Red Bull Music Academy
• Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |Bandcamp

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Breaking Atoms unless indicated otherwise):

• “Large Professor”
• Pharoahe Monch: Internal Affairs “Simon Says”
• “Vamos A Rapiar”
• “Looking At The Front Door”
• “Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball”
• Lou Donaldson: Pretty Things Pot Belly”
• “Just Hanging Out”
• The Honeydrippers: "Impeach The President"
• Sister Nancy: One, Two “Bam Bam”
• Jesse Anderson: Thomas “Mighty Mighty”
• “Peace Is Not The Word To Play”
• “He Got So Much Soul”
• Bob James: One “Nautilus”

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