After a quick back-and-forth about musician work ethic versus entitlement here in Austin, Confucius and Fresh honor Raekwon’s 54th birthday by ranking the first run of solo albums from Wu-Tang clan members. Hear that, Hip-Hop Facts, Fresh’s Unpopular Opinion on the state of integrity in hip-hop journalism, and the first installment of Confucius Reads the News for 2024.
RZA
Rap Republicans
Fresh and Confucius interview Austin comedian Victor Martinez Jr. who’s performing at the comedy show “Tabernacle: starring Confucius Jones and Friends” Sunday, April 16th at Antone’s.
Then the hosts discuss DJ Akedemiks recent deal with Rumble, and how it’s a sign of hip-hop’s tendency towards conservatism.
You’ll learn Hip-Hop Facts about RZA’s original lyrics on Kanye’s “Dark Fantasy,” Biz Markie’s original lyrics for “Just a Friend,” that time when Curren$ey, Jay Electronica and Mos Def formed a group, and more!
Fresh states the Unpopular Opinion that Jah Rule has a better catalog than 50 Cent.
Confucius talk about the arrest of the man who murdered Cash App founder Bob Lee, the fight over the legality of the mifeprestone, the reinstatement of expelled Tennesee legislators Justin Pearson and Justin Jones and more on Confucius Reads the News.
Stop It Melle Mel!
Confucius and Fresh discuss Melle Mel’s comments about Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. Then they debate whether or not best-of lists are an attempt to keep New York hip-hop relevant.
You’ll hear a special “What If?” version of Hip-Hop Facts where they ask what would have happened to Method Man’s debut album if RZA’s basement hadn’t flooded, what if Pimp C hadn’t gone to jail, and more.
Fresh states the Unpopular Opinion that Melle Mel was right that Kendrick Lamar being named as one of the greatest rappers of all time is a bit premature.
Confucius talks about how US music retail revenue is up, the House’s investigation of Twitter, Tucker Carlson’s real feelings about Donald Trump, and more in Confucius Reads the News.
The Breaks: The Weekend vs Usher + Tory Lanez
This week on The Breaks, Confucius and Fresh:
- talk about the Weeknd’s comments about his influence on Usher’s track “Climax.”
- discuss the difference between artists who came into their own during the era of physical album sales versus artists who came of age in the streaming era.
- explore why Tory Lanez had so much popularity with “Quarantine Radio” but yet hasn’t comparable numbers with his new record “The New Toronto 3.”
- break down the recent Beat Battle between RZA and Premiere, and explain why they are excited for the upcoming Beat Battle between Babyface and Teddy Riley on April 18th.
- Fresh puts forth his Unpopular Opinion that “All American” is not a great TV show.
- Confucius encourages people to be open to the lessons they are learning about themselves in quarantine.
- This week’s Local Song of the Week is “ICU” by Kydd Jones.
Listen to this episode of The Breaks
Listen on The Apple Podcasts App, Spotify or Stitcher
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This Song: Banks and Steelz // Lizzo
Welcome to the first episode of This Song’s 2016 Fall Season
As we of Team This Song are recovering from the presidential election and the death’s of both Leon Russell and Leonard Cohen, we have decided to celebrate the life of Mr. Cohen with this season’s first interview. Recorded at the 2016 Austin City Limits Festival in October this conversation features Paul Banks and RZA of the collaboration known as Banks And Steelz. Both these music biz vets are huge fans of not only Cohen’s lyrics (Banks says there are none better) but also his guitar playing (RZA has sampled the late Canadian’s finger-picking) and they have both obviously bonded over the late artist’s works. We then move to rapper/singer/flutist Lizzo (also interviewed at the 2016 ACL Festival) who takes us through a myriad of influences, talks about her love of outer space and ends up describing how her adopted city has acted as a catalyst for her creation.
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Watch Lizzo perform Good as Hell backstage at ACLfest
Listen to the songs featured in Episode 57 of This Song