“As I say at the end of the show, every single person that you hear, from the guests to the monumental moments - from Flow 93.5 to Kardi smashing his guitar, to k-Os or Mindbender - all of these are deserving of their own podcast,” Harper says. Harper admits that each episode marks just the tip of the iceberg of its respective subject, and that’s kind of the point. Though voiced from a different perspective, the ultimate deduction - that this kind of discourse is essential to a more holistic understanding of icons at large - remains entirely in-line with the rest of the podcast. “Even if the ‘nice guy’ represents more of the same, it’s the conversations around him… that’s what’s super vital,” Mistry concludes. And episode four expands on the amalgamation of rap and R&B, from distinct genres into the hybrid that Drake has utilized throughout his discography, by examining the root of that shift on Black radio in New York in the eighties - specifically focusing on the work of Queens MC Kwame - through conversations with artists such as Phonte and Dwele.Įlsewhere in the series, Harper passes the mic to Mistry to unpack the gender performance of a “Nice Guy” through the work of hip-hop feminist scholars such as Treva Lindsey and Joan Morgan. Episode two contends that the mixtape culture that spawned So Far Gone is indebted to the hustle of Philadelphia legend DJ Drama. That community extends well beyond “the 6ix,” but south of the Canadian border as well. But the point of the podcast is that Drake’s greatness comes from this community.” “I think Drake himself would acknowledge that Kardi was one of the first to wear a strong Black Toronto identity on his sleeve, and he’s obviously paid it forward since. “Kardi had been carrying the torch for Toronto hip-hop and identity long before Drake,” Harper says. With a ratio that Harper quantifies as roughly 5% Drake and 95% everyone else, the podcast substantiates the idea that an icon serves as a Trojan Horse for ground-level cultural shifts.Įach installment gives voice to many tiers of storytellers, from grassroots movers and shakers such as HustleGRL, the creator of Drake’s first fansite, to fellow Canadian rap pioneers such as Kardinal Offishall. Their solution, as exhibited across each episode, was to utilize certain facets of Drake’s career as launching pads for broader conversations on Black Toronto identity, gender disparity in hip-hop, the digitalization of mixtape culture, and the fusion of R&B and hip-hop.
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