Dissect

S9 co-writer Camden Ostrander joins Cole to discuss their approach to Swimming In Circles before dissecting Faces, Mac's 2014 mixtape that recently hit streaming services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We continue our season-long analysis of Mac Miller’s Swimming with its third track, “What’s The Use?” It’s here that Mac at once asks the fundamental existential question (“what’s the use?”) and dismisses the need to ask questions at all (“what’s the use?”). This season includes discussion of substance misuse and addiction. For resources on these topics, visit spotify.com/resources. Shop Season 9...

We continue our season-long analysis of Mac Miller’s Swimming with its second track, “Hurt Feelings.” Produced by J Cole, the song finds Mac establishing one of the central themes of the album: the multiplicity of emotions -- how we can feel one way one minute, and another way the next. This season includes discussion of substance misuse and addiction. For resources on these topics, visit spotify....

We begin our season-long analysis of Mac Miller’s conceptual double album Swimming In Circles. This season includes discussion of substance misuse and addiction. For resources on these topics, visit spotify.com/resources. Shop Season 9 merchandise here. Follow Dissect on Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad ch...

Yeezus brought Kanye to the church steps with his divine woman. But what happened after the vows were exchanged? That's the journey of The Life of Pablo. Follow Cole's new show KEY NOTES on Spotify. Premieres June 29th. Watch "How Kanye West Uses Samples to Tell Stories" Analysis Video. Shop Season 8 merch here. Follow Dissect on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...

In our Season 8 finale, we dissect the narrative and stage design of Kanye West's 2013 Yeezus Tour. In this five act show, Kanye uses songs from his entire catalog to mythologize his life Follow Cole's new show Key Notes on Spotify. Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with its final track “Bound 2,” a song that resolves the album both musically and narratively. Back in the club on a Thursday, Yeezus finally meets the one girl worth a thousand of the others he’s been sleeping with. But why is it the over-the-top player Jerome who gets the final word on the album? Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissec...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with its penultimate track “Send It Up.” After the emotional journey we’ve witnessed on the album, why is Yeezus back in the club indulging in all the things we know are problematic for him? The answer to this question is found in the song’s brilliant use of samples. Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpod...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with “Guilt Trip.” After the catharsis and breakthrough of “Blood on the Leaves, ” Yeezus seems ready to move on and leave the heartbreak behind him, a task that proves easier said than done. Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with the epic “Blood on the Leaves.” Here Yeezus reveals that a woman he once loved was stolen by the limelight, leaving an open wound that he’s been unable to heal. We break down the song’s many samples, references, and interpolations in what is undoubtedly one Kanye West’s greatest musical achievements. Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with “I’m In It.” After being rejected by an ex-girlfriend, Yeezus uses his celebrity status and escapes into a world of sex to mend his bruised ego. He conflates his political ambitions with sexual dominance before the song’s final verse reveals that Yeezus is reaching his breaking point. Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast....

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with “Hold My Liquor.” After failing to overthrow the powers that be, Yeezus retreats into a haze of alcohol and drugs, drunkenly visiting an ex-girlfriend who rejects him. How will his ego take this blow? Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choice...

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with “New Slaves.” Over menacing, pulsating dissonance, Kanye expresses his belief that our cultural addiction to material things makes us “new slaves” to the handful of white billionaires who control the majority of the country’s wealth. But the song takes a dramatic 180 near its end as a man singing in Hungarian provides one of the biggest keys to unlo...

Our serialized examination of Yeezus continues with “I Am A God.” Written after being rejected entry into a Paris fashion show, “I Am A God” finds Kanye supercharging his ego and recklessly demanding a threesome, a massage, and….croissants. But why isn’t anyone taking him seriously? Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagra...

We continue our track by track analysis of Yeezus with “Black Skinhead.” Produced by Daft Punk, “Black Skinhead” is our first indication that Yeezus has ambitions outside of his celebrity lifestyle of sex and money. He channels the spirit of Malcolm X to rally his troops to rebel against the systemic injustice he sees in society. But is anyone listening? Limited Season 8 merchandise is available a...

Our song by song analysis of Yeezus begins with its opening track “On Sight.” We meet the crude Yeezus character in his natural habitat at a nightclub, living an indulgent life fueled by drugs and women. But midway through the song there’s an unexpected sample of a gospel choir that foreshadows the fact that while Yeezus may be getting everything he wants, it’s not what he needs. Limited Season 8...

Our season-long dissection of Yeezus by Kanye West begins now! After revisiting the album’s polarizing impact in 2013, we set up our song by song analysis of Yeezus with a brief discussion of how Kanye uses his albums to tell larger stories about his life. We then document the real life events that inspired the creation of Yeezus, including Kanye’s struggles breaking into the fashion industry, his...

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING concludes with an examination of “BLACK PARADE.” Released on Juneteenth 2020, “BLACK PARADE” is Beyonce’s final call to action and a prideful celebration of the African motherland. Shop our limited merch for this series at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @dissectpodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING continues with an examination of “Otherside,” “My Power,” and “Spirit.” Simba returns to the river to be reborn, reclaims his royal identity, and reunites with his father in heaven. Assisted by powerful women, Simba defeats Scar and reclaims his throne. Simba then raises his own child into the air, just as his father before him, completing his jou...

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING continues with an examination of “Water,” “Brown Skin Girl,” and “Keys to the Kingdom.” This act of the film introduces the divine feminine, Nala, who heals Simba through her loving affirmation. Simba learns to give all of himself in marriage, symbolizing the ideal balance between divine masculine and feminine energy. Shop our limited merch for th...

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING continues with an examination of “MOOD 4 EVA,” “Ja Ara E,” and “Already.” After fleeing the Pride Lands, Simba is rudely awakened from his fantasy of the American Dream by the nightmare of his past. His ancestral guides encourage Simba to remember his true royal identity and reclaim his throne. Shop our limited merch for this series at shop.dissec...

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING continues with an examination of “Don’t Jealous Me,” “Scar,” and “Nile.” After Mufasa is murdered by Scar’s henchmen, Simba flees his home to live in denial of his true royal identity, setting off his journey outside the Pride Lands. Shop our limited merch for this series at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @dissectpodca...

Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING is a love letter to Africa, and we’re dissecting its story, music, and many visual symbols in a special seven part mini-series. We begin with the film’s opening two songs “Bigger” and “Find Your Way Back,” where we meet the film’s central protagonist, Simba, and his ancestral spirit guide played by Beyonce. Shop our limited merch for this series at shop.dissectpodcast.com....

We conclude our season long analysis of Because The Internet with a sweeping recap of the album and script’s central narrative. We then outline and analyze the world’s main themes and symbols before hearing from Dissect listeners directly. Shop limited Season 7 merch: https://bit.ly/36ClxIV Dive deeper into the world of Because The Internet with our episodic visual guides (https://bit.ly/30EKbF1),...

Cole and S7 co-writer Camden Ostrander have a conversation about Childish Gambino, Because The Internet, 3.15.20, Glover as an artist, and more. Then they answer a handful of questions submitted by Dissect listeners (yes, they address those mysterious alien videos). Shop limited Season 7 merch: https://bit.ly/36ClxIV Dive deeper into the world of Because The Internet with our episodic visual guide...