Diggin' In The Digits

To finish our Women's History Month celebrations, we stay in the West Coast to talk about a duo that oozed chemistry and confidence, only to be washed out by the industry changing direction. We talk The Conscious Daughters. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:48) Ben: Future x Metro Boomin - WE DON'T TRUST YOU SiR - HEAVY Elbow - Audio Vertigo Joyner Lucas - Not Now I'm Busy Charlie: Summers Son...

We continue our WHM celebrations with a trip to the West Coast, but not Oakland or Los Angeles. For the first time, we head to Sacramento for the story of Marvaless and the litany of Sac Town representers that come with her through her discography. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:56) Ben: yeat - 2093 Kembe x Hippie Sabotage - Sleep Paralysis Tierra Whack - WORLD WIDE WHACK Four Tet - Three K...

Continuing our WHM celebrations during the month of March, we get into another artist with one solo album, no longer with us after her passing in 2022: Hurricane G TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup: (1:17) Ben: MIKE - Pinball ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips Cookin Soul x Raz Fresco - Bakin' Soul Kaiser Chiefs - Easy Eighth Album MGMT - Loss of Life KYLE - Smyle Again Skyzoo & The Other Guys - Mind of a...

Happy March one & all! You know what that means... Women's History Month on DITD is back and to kick off this year's set, we begin with the one & done Sister Souljah who took the political climate of her time to produce one of the most honest & politically scathing records in Hip-Hop history. No timestamps for this episode as we don't have a WMR or a substantial Lighter Note, reason be...

LIVE FROM LONDON, we get into one special work from a true "If you know, you know" group: Cymande. We also get the low down on Ben's 1st week in London. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:39) Charlie: Jordan Mackampa - WELCOME HOME, KID! dreamcastmoe - MOLLY'S SON The Silhouettes Project - The Silhouettes Project, Vol. 2 Joel Ross - nublues Kelela - RAVE:N, The Remixes John Glacier - Like A Rib...

We finish our Public Enemy three-parter with their most recent output with more friction from the inside and the outside but somehow, Public Enemy still continue to drop and tour the world; never dead, never deterred. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:00) Ben: Yeat - 2093 Conway x Big Ghost - Speshal Machinery the Chronic Edition 2nd Generation Wu x Dom Archey - This May Sting! Charlie: Fatima...

In our 2nd part of the Public Enemy retrospective, we see how PE should have imploded and become one of the many groups in the 90s to break up; but not only did they not break up, they kept dropping (to mixed results) and predicting the future of the music industry still to come to fruition. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:09) Ben: Little Simz - Drop 7 Fivio Foreign - Pain & Love 2 Dizze...

In part one of three, we get into the beginnings of Public Enemy and their first three albums, two of which considered to be consensus classics and some of the most authentically Hip-Hop albums ever made. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:39) Ben: Skelbeats - What goes on in the Dark Lee "Scratch" Perry - King Perry Icewear Vezzo - Live from the 6 Hit-Boy x Alchemist - THEODORE & ANDRE The...

TW: Lyrics/talk referencing Sexual Assault. After last episode's foray into the solo career of Kool G Rap, we now look into the work that he did before with DJ Polo: Three albums of ground-breaking work for KGR and his peers. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:31) Ben: Zaddytc - A LOT Fredo Bang - Yes, I'm Sad Elcamino - Here You Go Eldorado Red - 48 Hours in San Francisco Hus KingPin x 9th Won...

Kool G Rap: The ultimate "If you know KGR, you know ball". Whilst KGR never got the commercial success, his legacy as a lyrical pioneer is rooted deeply in your favourites and your favourites' favourite. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:07) Ben: Kid Cudi - INSANO C-Scripture - Penalty of Leadership Teezo Touchdown - How Do You Sleep At Night Deluxe Unknown T - Blood Diamond DJ Booker x NLE Ch...

The King Asiatic Nobody's Equal. Brooklynite Big Daddy Kane came through the 80s as one of the best freestylers in the Five Boroughs and once he got with Cold Chillin' and the Juice Crew, Kane would prove that he is one of the most complete rappers of all time. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:56) Ben: Westside Gunn, Conway, Alchemist - Hall & Nash 2 The Game x Big Hit - Paisley Dreams Uf...

Happy New Year one and all! We hope that your year is full of progression, growth and 52 episodes of DITD! But before we go forward, we look back one more time to 2023, talking about our Top 2 albums of 2023. Ben's No.2 - (3:25) Charlie's No. 2 - (26:20) Ben's No. 1 - (39:08) Charlie's No. 1 - (1:00:11) Lighter Note - (1:11:27) Charlie's Top 10 Albums of 2023 Thanks for listening. Below are the So...

Happy holidays one & all! To celebrate, we keep it simple and review the Metacritic Hip-Hop album scores for the year of 2023. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:47) Ben: Conway x Wun Two - Palermo Wizkid - S2 Layzie Bone - Hypnotic Rhythms Charlie: Ruinz Ason - Airplane Mode (Deluxe) Morena Santi - Santi Sounds List Review - (4:55) Last minute recommendations of the year - (1:15:47) Lighte...

The first two albums by J-Live are some of the most consistent works in Hip-Hop history. What's even more impressive is that they're both over 70 minutes. But what about the rest of his work as he walked through the desert that was the 00s Hip-Hop scene. Weekly Music Roundup - (0:57) Ben: Bas - We Only Talk About... Curren$y x Trauma Tone - Highway 600 ASAP Twelvvy - Kids Gotta Eat Da Deluxe BigWa...

With the genocide/ethnic cleansing of Gaza/Palestinians ongoing, we have a conversation that we previously had in the heat of the protests in 2020 (You can listen here) and felt that we needed to have again: What is the place of our favourite entertainers/celebrities when it comes to issues as large as the ones happening in 2023? The answer ironically involves all of us. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music R...

Large Professor is an interesting solo case in Hip-Hop history; an artist with a solid solo discography but his legacy is instead tied into being of service to a litany of legends. Where do you place someone like that in the annals of Hip-Hop history? ( Check our Main Source episode for more LargePro ) TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:00) Ben Conway x Conductor - Conductor Machine Sexyy Red -...

It's time to take a trip into the future - to the year 3030 - through the sonic landscape painted by a trio that combine to make Deltron 3030: Del The Funky Homosapien, Dan The Automator & DJ Kid Koala. Weekly Music Roundup - (0:58) Charlie: FloFilz & Bokoya - Soft Encounter Gianni Brezzo & Bokoya - Minari Backwood Sweetie & K!NG jvmes - Syzygy Layfullstop - RUGGED Karl Benjamin -...

For the 11th Contemporary Cool, we get into Bey & Jay's "EVERYTHING IS LOVE" & Hempress Sativa's debut album "Unconquerebels. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (2:20) (Ben = Bold / Charlie = Italics) J57 - If I Should Wake Before I Die André 3000 - New Blue Sun Drake - Scary Hours 3 Protoje & Zion I Kings - In Search Of Zion Skipp - Summer Of Love: An Audio Experience Of A Hip-Hop Sor...

The legacy of Nujabes is one of how music should feel. That essence of when you listen to it, it instantly feeds your soul; whilst dubbing Nujabes as "The Godfather of Lo-Fi" is fine, he should be recognised as something, higher. A person that linked Hip-Hop and Jazz as good as anyone, providing the perfect example of why knowing the roots always produces better work. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roun...

On the 9th edition of Neighbours, we get into two works wildly different in sound but share the fact of their sounds being reminiscent of their time, for better or worse... Post Malone's "Stoney" and Groove Theory's self-titled "one & done" gem. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:52) (Ben = Bold / Charlie = Italics) Suni MF - Hollywood The Alchemist - Flying High, Part 2 All Day Breakfast C...

For our final UKBHM retrospective of the month of October, we cover late 80s UK group Hijack who were - like many of our subjects for this edition of UKBHM retrospectives - were ready to hit the US and make something of themselves but were stymied by the powers that be. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (1:08) (Ben = Bold / Charlie = Italics) Chlothegod - Nearly Straight Lilblackkids (Georgia Ann...

As Hip-Hop in the US was booming in the 90s, Hip-Hop in the UK were searching for a new voice after a good class in the late 80s/early 90s. Enter Blak Twang who was not just winning awards before his 1st album dropped, but his 1st album took nearly 20 years to actually drop! In the time between, Blak Twang crafter a solid solo discography that shows personal growth the deeper it goes. TIMESTAMPS:...

Lisa Maffia - The First Lady of So Solid Crew - made a genuine attempt to go it solo. Her one and only album was clearly meant to provide a runway for more but media perception of her and chiefly her affiliation with So Solid, kept her career consistently in a state of friction. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:41) (Ben = Bold / Charlie = Italics) BIGBABYGUCCI - When You Wake Up Westside Gunn...

UK Garage had a special moment from 99-02, it seemed that every notable Garage track was hitting the charts. But only one track hit no.1 and that was "21 Seconds" by So Solid Crew. They could've easily been a one-hit wonder but with their sheer numbers as a group, two albums and a whole lot of retrospective influence, So Solid will forever be noted in the history of Black British Music. TIMESTAMPS...

In our first UK Black History Month retrospective of 2023, we get into the artist that attempted to put UK Hip-Hop on his back and carry it into the mainstream. Whilst in many ways he succeeded both personally and for the genre, it was short-lived. TIMESTAMPS: Weekly Music Roundup - (0:57) (Ben = Bold / Charlie = Italics) Lil Wayne - Before Tha Fix Tyga x YG - Hit Me When U Leave the Klub SANITY -...