Heat Rocks

Singer/songwriter Samm Henshaw  sits down with us remotely to discuss Kirk Franklin's gospel masterpiece, The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin. The blending of secular music and gospel, Kirk Franklin's role in the gospel music scene, and how his own work has been influenced by Kirk's work. More on Samm Henshaw Check out Samm's new single All Good Instagram | Website More on Kirk Franklin Kirk's Tiny Desk...

We wrap up another edition of Take Two and discuss Mary J Blige's debut album What's The 411? We get into Mary's role in hip-hop soul, the story of Uptown Records, and Mary's image at the time.  More on Naima Check out #MusicSermon Naima’s chat with the National Museum of African American Music Twitter | Instagram More on What's the 411? Mary J. Blige, 'What's The 411?' at 20: Classic Track-By-Tra...

Take Two is back again with another couple of iconic albums from an iconic artist. This time, Morgan is talking about Mary J Blige's album "Mary" with music industry vet Naima Cochrane. We get into Mary's shift in tone on this album, the production and talent behind the scenes, and what Mary means to New York. More on Naima Check out #MusicSermon Naima's chat with the National Museum of African Am...

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, we've put together a medley episode featuring our conversations on Donuts and Fantastic, Vol. 2 with Nate Patrin and Dan Charnas, respectively. Happy Birthday Jay Dee, we miss you. If you like these snippets, please check out our full episodes in the archives! Show Tracklisting J Dilla: Two Can Win Pharcyde: Drop Slum Village: Players Erykah Badu: Kiss Me On My Neck...

In January 1960, 22 year-old Etta James began recording her debut album, At Last!  It would go on to be her best selling record and the title track is undoubtedly one of the greatest songs ever to be put on wax.  Etta lived the blues and effortlessly moved through pop, R&B, and rock. She went on to release countless more records, but never reached the commercial success of At Last, partially due t...

There's a certain lo-fi feel to Jungle Brothers' debut effort, Straight Out The Jungle.   The group made the record at home using early sampling technology, but its influence is undeniable. It brought together house music, jazz, and hip-hop, and marked the beginning of the Native Tongues family. Groups like De La Soul and ATCQ would become the biggest members of the collective, but don't sleep on...

The Meters helped change the New Orleans sonic landscape with their funky records and signature "second line" rhythms and in 1974, they released the heater Rejuvenation . The biggest difference on this record: vocals. Most of the members got a chance to flex their vocal and instrumental talents. This change up proved to be successful, becoming one of the group's most influential records and was he...

By 2005, Mariah Carey had been through the wringer. Her debut film Glitter bombed at the box office and  the accompanying soundtrack  performed poorly, at least in comparison to Mariah's previous efforts. Her intended comeback album Charmbracelet received some praise but still failed to bring her back into the limelight. Mariah took a break from music for three years to focus on herself and came b...

Oliver and Morgan discuss their personal favorite records of 2020 and talk about their hopes for the new year. Thanks for sticking with us through this year, Heat Rockers!  We are selling custom 45 adapters with the proceeds going to the Downtown Women’s Center . You can find a link to preorder here Show Tracklisting SAULT: This Generation Jay Electronica: The Neverending Story Thundercat: Fair Ch...

We are re-airing one of our all-time favorite episodes. It's our discussion with Phonte about Intro's self-titled album from way back in 2017. This week rapper, producer, and songwriter Phonte (Foreign Exchange, Little Brother) joins Oliver and Morgan to talk about R&B group Intro’s 1993 self-titled debut album. The release was part of the changing tide of R&B music, when slow jams were giving way...

Oliver and Morgan sit down with music supervisor Jocelyn Brown to discuss their favorite holiday songs, Christmas trap music,  and the tightrope novelty songs must walk to become a great holiday classic. More on Jocelyn Jocelyn's interview with the Music and Sound Awards  Twitter | Instagram We are selling custom 45 adapters with the proceeds going to the Downtown Women’s Center . You can find a l...

In this installment of Take Two, we’re looking at two albums from the one and only Drake. Last week, we talked about Nothing Was The Same and this time around, we're chatting about the 2018 double album Scorpion. As mentioned in the show, we are selling custom 45 adapters with the proceeds going to the Downtown Women’s Center . You can find a link to preorder here Show Tracklisting (all songs from...

In this installment of Take Two, we're looking at  two albums from one of the biggest and most prolific rappers of the 2010s, Toronto's very own Drake. Next week, we'll be diving into his 2018 double album Scorpion, but for now, we're talking about Nothing Was The Same from 2013.  As mentioned in the show, we are selling custom 45 adapters with the proceeds going to the Downtown Women's Center . Y...

Oliver invites G Yamazawa back on the show to talk about three songs that shaped his life and rap style. Check out our full discussion with G Yamazawa and listen to his new album!    If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

This week, we're giving thanks and replaying our three episodes on albums produced by the Soulquarians, all of which turned 20 this year: Ill Camille on Common's "Like Water for Chocolate," Bosco on Erykah Badu's "Mama's Gun," and Tall Black Guy on D'Angelo's "Voodoo"   If you like these snippets, check out the full episodes in our archives!  If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple...

Oliver sits down with ethnomusicologist Dr. Joseph Schloss to discuss the origins of sampling in hip-hop and a few of their favorite music discoveries through samples. Pick up Joseph's books! If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

When Amy Winehouse released her debut studio album Frank back in 2003, it made waves in her native UK, but it didn't quite make it across the pond. Those who heard it, loved her contralto vocals, relatable lyrics, and blending of musical genres. A few years later, she would go on to release her second and final album, Back to Black, to both critical and commercial success, earning the Grammy for B...

Oliver sits down with musicologist Loren Kajikawa to discuss why instrumental breaks hit us in such a specific way, the different ways musicians have approached breaks, and their personal favorite moments in music.   If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi is perhaps Zimbabwe's most renowned and iconic musician. His thoughtful songwriting and exceptional guitar playing spoke truth to power and gave him a loyal fanbase. He went on to become a star in his home country and pioneered a whole new genre of music, Tuku music. His wisdom and messages of affirmation resonated with millions and his music continues to inspire to this day...

On this week's edition of Bonus Beats, Oliver takes a couple of questions from the mailbag about overlooked samples and Nas' best LP (besides Illmatic )   If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The disco funk group B.T. Express hit the ground running with their debut studio album Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) , which reached the top spot in the US R&B albums chart and went gold. The title track went on to become a staple in club playlists and the band started work on their next project. Just a year later, their sophomore album Non-Stop was released and it once again reached the top of th...

We finish our Jay-Z Take Two series with what was supposed to be Hova's swan song, The Black Album. We discuss the hype surrounding this album, the ridiculous amount of remixes we got out of this, and Just Blaze's extraordinary production.   More on The Black Album Ranking the Beats: Jay-Z's The Black Album (Vibe) Revisiting The Black Album (Albumism) The Making of The Black Album Show tracklistin...

We continue our Take Two miniseries and looking at two albums from an iconic artist. This time, it's Jay-Z and his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt . This marks the first time we're talking about a Hova album  in depth and we discuss why that may be, Jay's features before this album dropped, and what the future of New York rap and Jigga's career might have looked like if Biggie was still with u...

The Beach Boys  are often regarded as one of the most prolific and influential American bands of all time. However, the group has has its fair share of missteps and controversies over the years. They found early commercial success with songs like "Surfin' USA" and "I Get Around"  and critical success with the album Pet Sounds . As time went on and the musical landscape changed, the band struggled...

This week, we're wrapping up the third edition of The Art of Sampling and talking about Slum Village's album Fantastic, Vol. 2 with music exec and writer, Dan Charnas. We discuss J Dilla's sampling techniques, the great lengths the label went through to keep this project under wraps, and the influence of Dilla on future beatmaking. More on Dan Charnas Dan chatting about his book The Big Payback Ch...