Diggin' In The Digits

The legacy of dead prez - for better or worse - has been condensed down to their classic track in "Hip Hop". Zoom out a little and you'll find a classic song on a classic album that is definitely not talked about enough. Zoom out even more and you find... Actually, let's just stay at that first zoom out... TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:00) Charlie: Syf of Talking Knots & Moe Town - 2 S...

After calling it a day being "The Fresh Prince", Will Smith went under his own name for his solo stint. The results are mixed; proving that Hip-Hop could go Pop, but even then managing to have frequent misfires within his music, creating a frustrating discography that gives more questions than answers... TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:10) Ben: Amine - 13 Months of Sunshine Xzibit - Kingmake...

The legendary duo of Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince have been somewhat locked into this singular thought ever since their run ended in '93: That their music is squeaky clean, completely devoid of edge. But when you actually listen to some of the lyrics and subject matter told in the litany of storytelling tracks, they broach some interesting ground. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:07) Ben...

The discography of Schoolly D is one of the most diverse and lengthy that we've ever covered on DITD. Where he begins providing the seeds of what eventually becomes known as "Gangsta Rap", he then goes through a more pro-Black phase in the 90s and nowadays operates as a relative experimentalist for somebody whose debut came out in 1985. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:15) Ben: Benny the Butc...

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 J...

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 si...

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 pr...

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 th...

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...

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...

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 Roun...

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...

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 Lea...

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 quest...

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 Ag...

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...

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 - $o...

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...

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...

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) Deu...

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 iconi...

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 Maj...

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 -...

With it being the last episode of the year, we do our customary look through the Metacritic Album Score Review, looking at the works that were highly acclaimed and the works that were roasted into oblivion. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:02) Charlie: Novine - Daydreaming Sophye Soliveau - INITIATION SOUFSIDE KATHLEEN - Everything Under My Sun Kneecap - Fine Art Liana Flores - Flower of the...

The story of Coolio is... a lot. But you know what isn't a lot? The variety in his discography once the 00s came around! Tracks appearing in more than one body of work and derivative tropes plaguing that weird decade would severely taint his first three albums that were bursting with personality and obviously "Gangster's Paradise". Lucky for him, it didn't. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (2:02...