Diggin' In The Digits

In what is probably our shortest retrospective in DITD history, we cover another Treacherous Three member in Spoonie Gee who is apparently a precursor to Gangsta Rap but when listening to his work, it seems to paint a different picture...

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:49)
Ben:

• Wu-Tang - Black Samson
• Vinnie Paz - God Sent Vengeance

Charlie: 

• Bishop Nehru - Trapbap
• Uwade - Florilegium
• Coco Jones - Why Not...

Hello DITD listeners! Charlie here. As a bonus for this week, I have an interview for you to step to! I - along with "In Search Of Sauce" alum, Music Journalist Miki Hellerbach - talk to Ryder who broke out a few years back with his now iconic #Skeptacore series. Now, he's dropping a new series of EPs named "RYDERHOOD", the first edition dropping this Friday. In this interview which is dropping simultaneously over on the "...

After covering Kool Moe Dee last week, it seemed right to go back and look at the pioneering group that he was a member of: The Treacherous Three. With two albums 10 years apart, they serve as great markers in how much evolution happened from '84 to '94.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (1:10)
Charlie:

• namesbliss - Signature Sound
• Boog Brown - Super Useful Tools
• Adrian Younge - Adrian Younge presents Something Abou...

If you were to name a rapper that embodies the word 'confidence', you could probably name at least 10 rappers that fit the word. Is one of them Kool Moe Dee? A case could be made that he's the most confident sounding rapper on wax, all the way from his first album in 1986 to his last in '94.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:57)
Ben:

• Ken Carson - More chaos
• RJ Payne - Leatherface 4
• Lords of the Underground & ...

Another year, another DITD Anniversary! For our 6th anniversary, we look back at some of our favourite moments, with clips for you newer listeners. Episodes covered will be below if you want to get into them proper. And as always, whether you've been listening since Ep. 1 or since last week, we appreciate you listening. Here's to six years!

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (1:39)
Charlie:

• Rachel Chinouriri - Litt...

Jersey-centred trio Lords of the Underground represented a lot of what we now consider the hallmarks of the Golden Age of Hip-Hop: Youthful energy, fast flows and great sample-based production. This led to two great back-to-back projects and two other albums of varying quality.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:41)
Ben:

• Boldy James x Antt Beatz - Hommage
• Will Smith - Based on a True Story
• NAV - OMW2 Rexdale

C...

We finish our WHM celebrations with an artist that is never talked about. Maybe it's due to her not getting traction off her one studio album? Maybe the message fell on deaf ears? We get to the answer of course but regardless of reason, Queen Mother Rage is Hip-Hop history and we take this opportunity - to finish WHM - covering a small piece of the 90s Hip-Hop puzzle.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (1:05)
Ben:

• ...

With the recent passing of R&B legend Angie Stone, we thought it was a good time as any - in the midst of our WHM celebrations - to celebrate her pre-solo career with Cheryl "The Pearl" Cook and Gwendolyn "Blondie" Chisholm as the early 80s all-female Hip-Hop trailblazers The Sequence.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:44)
Ben:

• Playboi Carti - MUSIC
• Currensy x Harry Fraud - Never Catch Us
• Dave East x Ransom -...

Continuing our WHM celebrations, we get into MC Trouble who tragically died aged 21, leaving us with her 1990 debut studio album that featured her name on the production credits - a rarity for female rappers at the time - and provided a great thematic mixture of womanhood and Black solidarity.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:50)
Ben:

• Black Soprano Family - The Outcome
• YoungBoy NBA - More Leaks

Charlie:

• ...

Hello DITD listeners! I have a bonus episode for you, coming via my Podcast "What's Good?". I talk to Dallas born & raised EB Rebel now sharpening their craft in New York City. We get into their beginnings, talented & gifted programs; their queerness, being 'genre-less' and of course their Top 5.

Thank you for listening! If you want to contribute to the show, whether it be sending me questions or voicing your opinio...

The story of Boss is one of subversion, devastatingly low levels of luck and an astronomical talent. How we only have one album and some hard-to-find mixtapes from such a skilled MC?

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (1:19)
Ben:

• KiLLOWEN - six missed calls 

Charlie:

• 1,000 UK Artists - Is This What We Want?
• KiLLOWEN - six missed calls
• The Doppelgangaz - Dumpster Dive, Vol. 2
• REASON - I Love You Again
• Andrew Mbar...

For the 16th Contemporary Cool, we get into what many consider to be Lupe Fiasco's best album and a J.PERIOD remix of Kendrick's "GNX".

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:48)
Charlie:

• NAO - Jupiter
• Smif-N-Wessun - Infinity 
• Kelela - In The Blue Light
• Amindi - Luvr-but it's on guitar (live)

Tetsuo & Youth - (8:00)
"J.PERIOD Presents - REINCARNATED" - (39:34)
Lighter Note - (52:36)

Thanks for listening...

Boogie Down Productions - led by KRS-One - was an inventive group of the time, taking KRS' superior lyrical ability and combining it with production that was initially highly dynamic at first. With five albums, the death of Scott La Rock marring the history and plenty of lore, it makes for an iconic story in Hip-Hop history.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:57)
Ben:

• Drake x PARTYNEXTDOOR - $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
• W...

The story of Poor Righteous Teachers isn't a well documented one, but the music speaks volumes with great production throughout, thought and dexterous lyrics soaked in 5% teachings and an embracing of Toasting that really sets them apart from their more popular peers.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:54)
Ben:

• Larry June x 2 Chainz x The Alchemist - Life is Beautiful
• JPEGMAFIA - I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

Ch...

For this Hip-Hop Neighbours we get into two 00s debut albums. One from Linkin Park, the band that successfully balanced the Hip-Hop infused Rock of the time and Amp Fiddler who quietly took all his experience (experience that made J Dilla into J Dilla) to make a solo debut decades after he started his music career.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:48)
Ben:

• Madlib x MF DOOM - Madvillainy Demos
• The Weeknd - Hurry...

You ever wondered what Kurtis Blow's music - that is not named "The Breaks" - is like? Well, it can be done by looking at Hip-Hop through the lens of Disco and not R&B or Soul. Music aside, the story of Hip-Hop cannot be told without naming Kurtis Blow.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (0:43)
Ben:

• Boldy James - Permanent Ink

Topic Intro/Ben's Research House - (3:02)

Kurtis Blow - (14:36)

Deuce - (27:04)

Toug...

For our 300th episode, we wanted to do a retrospective that was fitting for our 300th. So we landed on one of the most significant groups in Hip-Hop history. Possibly THE most significant. RUN-DMC - in no uncertain terms - brought Hip-Hop to a new stratosphere in popularity and dedication to creating full bodies of work. Combine that with their unmistakable style and you have one of the most iconic trios in music history.

T...

Allegedly - for our 21st edition of DITD Bites - we get into a reckoning that is long overdue for the music industry, off the back of Charlie's State of The Hip-Hop Union article: (Allegedly) Acknowledging that Sean Combs (allegedly) did some bad shit and we should endeavour to not prop up people like him. We also go on tangents (Allegedly) related to other people, Streaming, Social Media and Major Labels.

(Allegedly)

Our B...

Happy New Year! We kick-off 2025 as we like to do, by talking about our favourite albums from the year that passed. Our Top 2 Albums of 2024.

TIMESTAMPS:
Weekly Music Roundup - (1:17)
Ben:

• Lil Baby - WHAM
• Consequence - Movies on Demand

Charlie:

• Hermanos Gutiérrez - Sonido Cósmico
• Konkolo Orchestra - Future Pasts

Charlie's No. 2 - (5:26)
Ben's No. 2 - (28:03)
Charlie's No. 1 - (51:58)
Ben's No. 1 -...