Freemusicempire

• Discuss the build from Mourning Travels to timetokill. 

• Discuss timetokill in depth. 

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• Discuss the movement from Enfant Terrible to Zero Grace. 

• Discuss Zero Grace in detail. 

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• Discuss the legacy and format changes of Dad Bod Rap Pod and what podcasting is really like. 

• Discuss how to keep up with prolific artist releases and aggressive schedules. 

  DANS RULES

• Don’t feel obligated-Release yourself from the idea that you NEED to catch every release. Check in when you have the time or interest and catch up. You are not late. 

• Use social media-One of the few things made better by social media is the ability to follow your favorite artists and be up to date on their release schedules. Any artist who is prolific is going to make a schedule and keep their fans informed about the timing of the next project and any additional goodies for the last one. All you have to do is check your feed. 

• Engage in a community-find likeminded folks who enjoy the music you enjoy. Forget the kinship of community, this is extra eyes and ears to listen to the music you haven’t yet. If a reliable friend says the new album from artist X is not good bump it down your list. If they suggest someone you’ve never heard and you trust their ears, put that artist on your list. 

• Cut out all your hate listening-Nothing good comes of listening to an album as research to argue against it. Anyone you would go and argue with is going to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth anyway. Running to hate listen the new Kanye will aggravate you and make him money. I haven’t listened to new Kanye or Eminem or many others in years. I use that time giving my ears new voices.

• Enforce listening standards-Drake put out some bad albums in a row. He fell down my list. Now I only listen to new Drake if my people tell me I need to. That’s not a Drake standard that goes for anyone. If you are on a great run of projects I will preorder happily. If you haven’t been good in a while I’m gonna let the reviews roll in before I engage. 

• Always follow your instincts-If you listen to UGK on a whim and it makes you listen to a bunch of Willie Hutch don’t force yourself out of that groove to catch up on new releases. Add those new releases to your library and come to them later. Hutch yourself silly. It is important to press play on an album when your ready for it. The right music for the right time. Schoolboy Q might be better in the afternoon than the morning. The experience of music has a lot of Feng Shui in it. 

  ACTION ITEMS

1. How much is too much music? Can you think of examples of artists who became prolific and did it well or became prolific and slipped out of your interest?  

• Discuss the growth from The High Life through A Vicious Cycle to The Triumphant.

• Discuss The Triumphant in detail. 

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• Discuss the career arc of Hell Razah and the necessity of keeping the legacy alive. 

• Discuss Heavenly Cartel 3: The Hell Razah Remixes in detail. 

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• Discuss It’s A Fine Line Between Planted and Buried and the difference between making a group project and a solo album. 

• Discuss The Triumphant, Not Fade Away, and El Leon in terms of progression. 

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• Discuss the evolution from Betrayal and Liberation 2 to Digital Audio to Black Rabbit.  

• Discuss Black Rabbit in depth. 

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• Discuss the progression from 2022’s I Think I’ve Lost It to 2023’s Life Is A Masterpiece. 

• Discuss Life Is A Masterpiece in detail as well as future career plans. 

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• Discuss the Mixtape Monday run on Okayplayer and what lessons were learned from showcasing new music week after week for a major publication. 

  Discuss Burning Desire by MIKE, Peace of Mind LP by QThree, Tales of Gotham by Kueen in detail.

• Discuss Defcee’s 2023 offerings DefPrez-It’s Always A Time Like This  & Golem of Brooklyn Original Soundtrack and if Defcee got out of 2023 what was desired. 

• Discuss whether 2023 marks the end (or the beginning of the end) for definitive year end lists.

  
  

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• Discuss Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and the energy around the 2012 release which sent ripples through rap and pop. 

• Through discussion of each of the 19 tracks cut the album down and possibly resequence it into a more cohesive experience. 

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• Discuss how difficult it was to establish yourself to new audiences in 2023. What strategy worked? 

• Discuss Lonestar Luchador, Hand Painted Model Trains, and Al Chimera as examples of artists I got to know in 2023. 

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• Discuss the Planet series: 1, 2, 3, 4. 

• Discuss Planet X in detail. 

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• Discuss the rich diversity of music in 2023 and how it compares to previous years, trends we’ve noticed.  

• Discuss Black Bayou by Robert Finley , Sorry I Haven’t Called by Vagabon, and Take It Easy by Collie Buddz in detail. 

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• Discuss what AJ Suede hoped to achieve going into 2023.

• Discuss the output from Indica Music to Parthian Shots to Ark Flashington to Reoccuring Characters. 

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• Discuss The Fall Collection with Height Keech. 

• Discuss 2023 production trends in music. 

• Discusss the growth in craft and content from 2020’s Homme to this years 66689 BLVD. 
• Discuss last years Room 109 and 66689 BLVD in depth.

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• Discuss the growth from Neutral Milc Motel to The Fish That Saved Portland. 

• Discuss The Fish That Saved Portland in detail.

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• Discuss We Buy Diabetic Test Strips in depth.




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• Discuss the depth and importance of Taydex and Tony’s relationship going back to my favorite song. 

• Discuss the growth from Wake Up to I Will Make A Baby in This Damn Economy.  

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• Discuss the year Sankofa has had releasing BLKTCHP3, Iron Kofa Sharp, as well as Multitudes v.1.  

• Discuss the origins of TFK and the mission. 

• Discuss the album 11:59 in depth. 

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• Discuss the decisions and timeframe it took to produce Detachment, Homie, and Only Detachment.

• Discuss Detachment, Homie, and Only Detachment in detail.

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• Discuss the outstanding run from 2020’s Don’t Feed The Monster all the way through 2022’s Still Champion.

• Discuss 2023’s Rich in detail. 

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• Discuss Sundial in depth. 

• Discuss Telefone to Room 25 to Sundial and the artistic place Noname holds in hip hop.

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• Talk about the phases of Fiends career from No Limit to Jet Life. 

• Discuss the place of the Cool is in Session series in Fiends discography from 1 to 2 to 3. 

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• Discuss the concept of The Policy Kings as well as the album in depth. 

• Discuss the evolution from Life is More Than White Bricks to Compendium of Arcanum to The Policy Kings. 

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• Discuss Incorruptible Saints in depth. 

• Discuss Ritual in depth. 

• Discuss the career arcs of Stik Figa and Sleep Sinatra and how they relate. 

• Discuss the sonic character of both albums. 

Intro and outro by andrew

• Discuss the role of mastering and what separates it from the role of production or mixing (using sonically unique projects like BLUu Edwards as an example). 
• Declare and discuss top ⁠25 POTY⁠.

• Discuss ArticulatedTexTiles in depth.

• Discuss the growth from Hella Personal Film Festival 2 to ArticulatedTexTiles. 

• Discuss the sonic vision Controller 7 had for ArticulatedTexTiles.  

• Talk about Janelle Monae’s new album The Age of Pleasure and leaning into a more erotic vision of her work. 

• Talk about the history of artists becoming their full erotic selves when they hadn’t previously.

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• Discuss Jade Gomez time at Paper as editor and where the closing of it leaves the world of music coverage. 

• Discuss the art of the artist feature/interview and what it does for a career as well as the dangers of messing it up.

• Discuss the state of music media coverage and 2023 music. 

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• Discuss Joshua Virtue’s immaculate last album RAMA.

• Discuss the place intensity has in hip hop w/ Nacksaw Jim Duggan by Estee Nack, Midnight Oil by Sunmundi & Āthmaan, and REAL B*TCHES DON’T DIE! By Kari Faux as examples. 

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• Discuss the classic Richter album covers and what went into them. Misconceptions about photography as a medium and the power of photographic covers.

• Discuss our favorite album covers of 2023 so far.

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• Discuss Alaska Atoms monster 2023 collaborative albums w/ Steel Tipped Dove and Jason Griff. 

• Discuss the influence of Del on a craft and stylistic level. 

• Discuss the characteristics of Del that make his music so unique and vibrant. 

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• Discuss the coming together of these albums and artistic origin stories for Nonazz, Klwn Cat, and No God. 

• Discuss Don’t Go Outside and NODUO in depth. 

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• Talk with SonRaw about any trends in 2023 music. 

• Discuss Raven by Kelela, Glorious Game by Black Thought x El Michels Affair, and Shadow Moses by Mike Shabb x Nicholas Craven.

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• Discuss Tokyo Cigar’s relationship to Raekwon & specifically the Immobilarity album, why he chose to do a full remix project. 

• Break down the skills, tendencies, and influence of Raekwon. 

  
  

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• Discuss going from Double Down to Mourning Due and what the goals were going into the new project and whether those came out as intended or entirely different.

• Discuss Mourning Due in depth. 

  
  

  Intro and outro by andrew

• Talk to Rhys Langston and Child Actor about the momentous releases they’ve been involved w/ and how they viewed the lyricism executed and how it was received.

• Talk about the role of lyricism and how the press, audience, artists, and producers should approach it. 

  
  

  Intro and outro song by andrew

• Discuss how the relationship between Mopes x BlackLiq has evolved from Time Is The Price to Choice is A Chance.

• Discuss Choice is A Chance in depth. 

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• Talk to Marcus Pinn about the art of dropping scratches on momentous records.  

• Discuss our favorite soundtracks of all time.

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