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A battle between two major artists has been dominating the world of music. It's a fight over one song — a song that may get its biggest stage ever at this weekend's Super Bowl.Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, explains the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, how Lamar's “Not Like Us” ripped the music world apart, and why so many fell in love with a song about hate.Guest: Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, who focuses on popular music and co-hosts the podcast “Popcast (Deluxe).”Background reading: “Not Like Us” reinvented Kendrick Lamar. Is the Super Bowl ready for it?Listen to “Popcast (Deluxe)” breaking down the feud.For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy; zz, via GOTPAP, via STAR MAX, via IPx, via Associated Press Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Somehow, we're halfway through the 2020s, which makes it the perfect time to stock: what have been the best pop albums of this decade so far and what do they tell us about the state of both the album and music more broadly in 2025? The New York Times' Joe Coscarelli, NPR's Aisha Harris and YouTuber Mic The Snare join DJ Louie to discuss all of that, before each sharing their top 5 albums of the 2020s so far. Come to our dance party Main Pop Girls on 2/1 at Parkside Lounge in NYC!Join Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreFollow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram
Are a majority of today's topics serendipitously eighties related? Yes. Are we inadvertently excited about that? Indeed. Pizza Hut updates! Tomato-basil Pizza Wine and American Girl's Book It! Set. Someone barefoot 24/7: Buffalo Bills wide receiver Mack Hollins. And spotted! Cutie eyes on Kacey Musgraves merch. We are loving Rivals, which is based on a novel by Dame Jilly Cooper. See also: her takes in this Financial Times interview and “It's Family ‘Sex Scenes' Night” by Anya Kamenetz for The Cut. If you're in NYC soon, check out Luna Luna at The Shed, and read Joe Coscarelli's piece on it in the New York Times for more backstory. Share your follow-ups and/or recommendations at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments! Count on Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. Learn from the best with MasterClass and get up to 50% off when you use our link. Download the free Zocdoc app and book that doctor's appointment now. YAY.
A discussion of the accusations the music mogul faces, the court of public opinion and how the entertainment press covers morally complicated figures. Guests: Ben Sisario, Julia Jacobs and Joe Coscarelli. Soon, you'll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don't miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.
The trial will go on, but the show's over. In King Slime's final episode, New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli helps recap the proceedings and break down the cultural impact of Hip Hop's longest and wildest court case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As a racketeering trial begins in Atlanta, much of the focus is on the high-profile defendant, the best-selling rapper Young Thug.Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, explains why, in a sense, hip-hop itself is on trial.Guest: Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: A judge ruled in November that at least 17 specific sets of lines from the Atlanta artist and his collaborators could be used by prosecutors in the racketeering trial of YSL, a chart-topping hip-hop label and collective.Here's what to know about the trial.For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
On our new weekly lightning round mini ep with with Jon Caramanica, we're fucking around with never seeing live music again, fruits and veggies, dressing like Bloody Osiris, waking up at 7am, airplane headphones, Larry's hairline, Jesus is King, Laffy Taffy, Amiri jeans, Papoose style fitteds, Drake's IG caption prose, firing Joe Coscarelli, Kanye West, shrinking a foot and much more. For more Throwing Fits, check us out on Patreon: www.patreon.com/throwingfits.
This week's interview with Jon Caramanica is a marathon we're sprinting all the way through. Jon, our old pal and The New York Times pop music critic, finally made his highly-anticipated TF debut to go deep on sober drink champs, voice activated plausible deniability, Virgil LV grails, vamp hours, screen time, new music discovery on TikTok, vintage shopping across this great nation, big soda talk, misunderstanding the critical mind, what's up with his Kanye book and some recent necessary rethinking and pivoting, Ye drip check 2K23, an off the cuff and unprepared peek into his best music of the year, getting vertigo in the Las Vegas Sphere, where music is headed next year, how Popcast Deluxe is going, numbies going dumbski at Fanelli, advice from Throwing Fits Creative Agency LLC, snack recon, the best and worst things about podding with his bestie and friend of the show Joe Coscarelli, when will the Critical Shopper return plus some shopping memories, is NYC retail so back, spending 2 years imbedded in the ALD trenches, menswear thought leaders, ethics preventing becoming boys with your subjects and even just getting a free meal, his new One Step Ahead column and its inaugural subject Been Slackin, personal style going deeper not wider, an impromptu rundown of his shopping list, how hoarding and taking risks changes with age, the jawnz he'll never part with Throwing Fits Friends & Family Bazaar be damned, 100 T-shirt rotations, his wild ‘90s grooming or lack thereof phase, an extremely sincere conversation on dating and making friends as an adult, why he's not abusing his privilege of commenting on Drake's IG, making less money than us and much more on this instant classic episode of The Only Podcast That Matters™. For more Throwing Fits, check us out on Patreon: www.patreon.com/throwingfits.
On the latest episode of Ebro In The Morning, Jon Carmanica and Joe Coscarelli from the New York Times sat down to discuss their latest news story on hip-hop's 50th anniversary. Both Jon and Joe have interviewed 50 rappers for this story to honor the genre. As the interview begins, the two delve into the artist interviews that stood out the most and describe how extraordinary the conversations were. Read the full article at the New York Times now! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
TIMESTAMPS00:01:05 Da Doctor Monologues "A Boy & His Cow" by C.O.D. DecaturboyMusic00:03:10 Spike P. Joint Intro00:06:45 Flight Deck: Tosh.Bro00:24:15 Gimme Some Headlines "Rap Roller Coaster"00:34:00 Gimme Some Headlines "Pause & Effect"00:44:00 "This Pod Is Way Too Cold, You Need A Jacket"00:45:10 "World Cupdate Offsides"00:46:20 Gimme Some Headlines "Why're You Throwing Bacardi B?00:54:50 Gimme Some Headlines "World Cupdate"01:03:50 Bullsh*t Bookclub "Rap Capital Returns"01:10:50 Tell Me Something GOOD "P & The Piano Prodigy" EPISODE SOUNDTRACKIntro: Best of Me Remix by C.O.D. DecaturboyMusic& Additional Production by C.O.D. DecaturboyMusic CONTACT INFOEmail | gimmesomequestions@gmail.com SOCIAL MEDIAIG - https://www.instagram.com/gimmesomeheadlines/Twitter - https://twitter.com/GimmeSomeHead_sTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@gimmesomeheadlines?lang=enPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/GimmeSomeHeadLines
TIMESTAMPS00:02:40 Flight Deck: Bread In the Clouds, Feet Getting Clowned00:09:00 GSH: Avengers Friendgame (NYPD Black & Blue)00:19:30 GSH: ORCAstrating Disaster (Free Killy, Shamwhoo? Bashoota Whales!)00:34:15 Gimme Some TV: Music Videos, What Happened to That Boy? 00:48:47 Tell Me Something Good: Success Clusters & @TheMarcusHarvey EPISODE SOUNDTRACKMusic by C.O.D. DecaturboyMusicIntro is an Excerpt from “All of The” by C.O.D. DecaturboyMusic ft. P. Henry Trotter IV CONTACT INFOEmail | gimmesomequestions@gmail.com SOCIAL MEDIAIG - https://www.instagram.com/gimmesomeheadlines/Twitter - https://twitter.com/GimmeSomeHead_sTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@gimmesomeheadlines?lang=enPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/GimmeSomeHeadLines
On this week's episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Detavio Samuels, the Chief Executive Officer of Revolt Media, a digital cable network founded by artist and producer Sean Combs that focuses on Black storytelling. We talk about Detavio's journey to Revolt by way of marketing and content giants GlobalHue and One Solution, the branded content division of Urban One. Detavio shares how having the right people in your corner, “ladder jumping” and constant innovation helped him go on to lead Revolt into being named the fastest Black-owned media company in America. We talk about the history of Revolt, what's next for the “unapologetically” Black media channel, and how it will continue to disrupt the traditional media landscape by amplifying new Black voices. Learn more about Detavio here, and learn more about REVOLT here. Check out Detavio's Best Idea of the week, OpenAI's ChatGPT function, here. You can check out Colbert's Best Idea for this week, Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story by New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli here.
You asked, we answered your questions about the weight of following a smash single and the persistence of genre. Guests: Jon Pareles, Joe Coscarelli, Lindsay Zoladz and Caryn Ganz.
This month, an anonymous producer jolted the music industry by using artificial intelligence to impersonate the singers Drake and the Weeknd, creating a fake track, “Heart on My Sleeve,” that quickly went viral.Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The Times, talks about how the song's rise and fall could presage widespread changes in the way music is made.Guest: Joe Coscarelli, a culture correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: A track like “Heart on My Sleeve” may be a novelty for now. But the legal and creative questions it raises are here to stay.Who owns a song created by A.I.?For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
This week on The Treatment, Elvis sits down with Kasi Lemmons, director of the new biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” Next, Sandy King Carpenter, co-founder of Storm King Comics, talks about the horror comics publishing powerhouse. And for The Treat, “Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story” author and New York Times culture reporter Joe Coscarelli digs into a 2004 documentary that helped inspire his career path.
This week on The Treatment, Elvis sits down with writer Joe Coscarelli to talk about his new book “Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story.” Next, director Sacha Jenkins reveals a different side of jazz icon Louis Armstrong in his AppleTV+ documentary “Louis Armstrong's Black and Blues.” And for The Treat, Broadway actress Sharon D Clarke talks about how a song written for someone going through a hard time inspires her every time she listens to it.
Kara and Scott discuss the latest belt-tightening measures at Amazon and Disney and the latest round of the Apple v. Epic Games antitrust fight. Also, Twitter's shrinking workforce, Musk v. Markey, and the mysterious hack that's just one of FTX's mounting problems. New York Times Culture Reporter Joe Coscarelli is our Friend of Pivot. He stops by to chat about his new book, Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story. You can follow Joe Coscarelli here. In Wins and Fails, Kara and Scott discuss. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Be sure to check out this episode of Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders, which explores the Marvel Cinematic Universe. AND...the latest episode of On with Kara Swisher is about Kara's decades-long relationship with Elon Musk, why she had high hopes for him in the past, and why she's disappointed now. Check it out here. Send us your questions! Call 855-51-PIVOT or go to nymag.com/pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joe Coscarelli talks about getting access to the QC empire, and tells a very interesting story about the label and their artists. His book “Rap Capital : An Atlanta Story”is out now. ---- 00:00 Intro 0:53 - How he got the idea to cover Atlanta hip hop artist surrounding QC label 6:48 - How Atlanta continues to churn out rap stars that are originally street legends, Lil Baby, Jeezy, BMF 9:02 - Migos regenerating so many different times, surviving the “Drake hype wave” after “Versace” 10:30 - Migos being like legendary group “The Ramones” staying to their sound, putting out so much good music in the last 10 yrs 12:55 - QC being overlooked for how stable they've been, putting out Migos, Yatchy, Lil Baby, City Girls 14:16 - Working for The NY Times, Doing stories on Yatchy, Migos, Offset etc before doing book on Lil Baby 19:03 - Being like a fly on the wall around Artist like Marlo, Migos, Lil Baby etc. showing he's interested and engaged in the culture 23:33 - Marlo confiding in his father about k*lling a man, Marlo being k*lled, his father not being ashamed of his son 26:32 - The stories of these artist being like Greek tragedies and mafia stories that people love like The Godfather 27:46 - Letting the facts speak for themselves, not being interested in wether rap music is good or bad for the world, letting people speak for themselves 29:08 - Lil Baby's mom being a huge reason the focus was on him for book, Baby being very smart 30:08 - Seeing P pull out a big stack of cash out of Lil Baby's pocket and telling Joe the money Baby can make in the streets was why he was so reluctant to believe in music 32:08 - Drake telling DJ Drama that Migos is going to be big before Drake even met them 48:43 - “On to the next one” culture, their being so much choice right now, not seeing superstars like we used to 50:48 - Most people stop absorbing new music by the time their 25 or have a kid, people listening to older music more than new music 53:54 - Adam on not seeing Ice Spice blowing up his first time seeing her 59:20 - Not chasing a hit but building a sustainable loyal fanbase, Curren$y being one of the most impressive at it in our life time, The world still being ready for Lil B 1:03:57 - Wanting to write crime stories, 1090 Jake being great at what he does, being like Americas Most Wanted of this generation 1:08:22 - Guys like Trap Lore Ross & 1090 Jake doing more work than actual journalist 1:09:22 - “Rap Capital : An Atlanta Story” out now anywhere books are sold --- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Joe Coscarelli talks about getting access to the QC empire, and tells a very interesting story about the label and their artists. His book “Rap Capital : An Atlanta Story”is out now. ---- 00:00 Intro 0:53 - How he got the idea to cover Atlanta hip hop artist surrounding QC label 6:48 - How Atlanta continues to churn out rap stars that are originally street legends, Lil Baby, Jeezy, BMF 9:02 - Migos regenerating so many different times, surviving the “Drake hype wave” after “Versace” 10:30 - Migos being like legendary group “The Ramones” staying to their sound, putting out so much good music in the last 10 yrs 12:55 - QC being overlooked for how stable they've been, putting out Migos, Yatchy, Lil Baby, City Girls 14:16 - Working for The NY Times, Doing stories on Yatchy, Migos, Offset etc before doing book on Lil Baby 19:03 - Being like a fly on the wall around Artist like Marlo, Migos, Lil Baby etc. showing he's interested and engaged in the culture 23:33 - Marlo confiding in his father about k*lling a man, Marlo being k*lled, his father not being ashamed of his son 26:32 - The stories of these artist being like Greek tragedies and mafia stories that people love like The Godfather 27:46 - Letting the facts speak for themselves, not being interested in wether rap music is good or bad for the world, letting people speak for themselves 29:08 - Lil Baby's mom being a huge reason the focus was on him for book, Baby being very smart 30:08 - Seeing P pull out a big stack of cash out of Lil Baby's pocket and telling Joe the money Baby can make in the streets was why he was so reluctant to believe in music 32:08 - Drake telling DJ Drama that Migos is going to be big before Drake even met them 48:43 - “On to the next one” culture, their being so much choice right now, not seeing superstars like we used to 50:48 - Most people stop absorbing new music by the time their 25 or have a kid, people listening to older music more than new music 53:54 - Adam on not seeing Ice Spice blowing up his first time seeing her 59:20 - Not chasing a hit but building a sustainable loyal fanbase, Curren$y being one of the most impressive at it in our life time, The world still being ready for Lil B 1:03:57 - Wanting to write crime stories, 1090 Jake being great at what he does, being like Americas Most Wanted of this generation 1:08:22 - Guys like Trap Lore Ross & 1090 Jake doing more work than actual journalist 1:09:22 - “Rap Capital : An Atlanta Story” out now anywhere books are sold --- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week on Unorthodox, we're debuting a new look and some brand new merch! We've got three great guests. First, we're bringing you an interview we recorded live at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly this past week in Chicago. We talked to Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut about the most important issues facing American Jews, what he loves most about his job, and how we build a stronger Jewish community. Our Gentile of the Week is Joe Coscarelli, New York Times culture reporter and author of Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story. He explains how Atlanta rap became the most consequential musical ecosystem, tells us about #billiondollarlawyer Drew Findling, and breaks down the long and complicated relationship between Jewish music executives and hip hop artists. We're also bringing you a conversation between Tablet executive editor Wayne Hoffman and author Roslyn Bernstein, whose new book, The Girl Who Counted Numbers, is a historical novel set in Jerusalem during the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial. We're excited to announce Across the JEW.S.A. — a new project that will take us to 12 cities or towns in 2023 to showcase the most inspiring Jewish stories across the country. Nominate your hometown at tabletm.ag/acrossthejewsa. Across the JEW.S.A. was created with support from the Jewish Federations of North America. We're heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive. We love to hear from you! Send us emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Remember to tell us who you are and where you're calling from. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel. Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: Soom tahini is the perfect ingredient for your fall meals. Use discount code UNORTHODOX22 for 10% off your next order at soomfoods.com. The Other Israel Film Festival returns with eye-opening films and in-depth conversations exploring the relationship between history, culture, and identity in Israeli and Palestinian societies. The festival takes place Nov. 3–10 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, with films also streaming online. For more information and tickets, visit otherisrael.org. Institute for Jewish Spirituality: Sign up today for Shema: The Practice of Sacred Listening at JewishSpirituality.org. Registration closes on November 11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pop Music Reporter for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli, returns to the podcast to dig into the origins, agony and ecstasy of internet stan culture. DJ Louie and Joe discuss how classic fandoms morphed into internet stan armies, the difference between being a "fan" in the old sense of the word and a modern "stan", who often wraps their entire identity around a pop star, how these armies are weaponized by the star they worship and serve as powerful promotional arms and also, more worryingly, attack dogs against anyone who they perceive as slighting them. Louie and Joe also discuss the connection between pop star stan armies and the broader pervasive of grievance culture in politics and other areas, the positive aspects of these armies, which help like-minded, often queer individuals find community and sometimes organize for good, what gets lost artistically and developmentally in the blind devotion practiced many of these groups, and so much more. Join Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our New Patreon Channel for Exclusive Content and More!!Read Joe's Piece, "How Pop Music Fandom Became Sports, Politics, Religion and All-Out War" in The New York TimesBuy Joe's New Book, Rap Capital: An Atlanta StoryBuy Pop Pantheon's New "Niche Legend" Dad Hat!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Joe Coscarelli on Twitter
This week Nick is back in the PNW aka the anarchic upper alt-right (AUAR) and Alex gives the download about a busy weekend in the Big Apple. We also talk pods - Chapo Trap House x How Long Gone, Throwing Fits in Chicago and their guest ep with Joe Coscarelli and his hilarious Lil Baby stories from his book Rap Capital, and one of the creators of early streetwear brand FUCT (OG Slick) going on fellow graffiti writer and streetwear designer Alex/2TONE's podcast Powerful Truth Angels. With Alex on a bit of a "pod diet" aka peppering a small serving a music in with the pods, we also discuss the new T-Swift album (mid)nights. https://instagram.com/onlyoneairpod?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://instagram.com/fakealexhysel?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://instagram.com/npadesky?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
On our new weekly lightning round mini ep with Joe Coscarelli, we're fucking around with blowing your book advance at Ice Box or Magic City, rapper's sleep schedules vs. rapper's wardrobes, weed carriers, Amiri jeans salesmen, Gucci Mane, dry snitching, getting pap'd with Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift weaponizing social media, never listening to rap again, Lil Baby, Britt Barbie and much more. For more Throwing Fits, check us out on Patreon: www.patreon.com/throwingfits.
Welcome to the rap capital where they rap for capital. This week, the boys are linking up with New York Times culture reporter and the author of the new book Rap Capital, which is out right now, Joe Coscarelli. Joe came through to spit bars on his principles of menswear, Orlando Magic fandom, his upcoming wedding fit, airport merch inflation, elevator pitching his fantastic book, whether or not Migos invented dabbing on Fashion Bros, texting with Lil Baby, why hanging out with rappers is actually mad boring, speeding through Atlanta in the middle of the night, violence in the hip-hop streets, which rapper smokes the most weed, making it rain is so 2000 and late, why you should always treat the strip club like a reporter, being the awkward white boy in the room, money denominations so small you get scoffed at, scuffing Takeoff's sneakers, culture vulture imposter syndrome, how the YSL arrests reverberated, is there really even a rap capital in 2022, his definitive ATL Mount Rushmore, why no music is embarrassing, dream Diary of a Song subjects, book sales showdowns, which rapper gets the most ass, picking up John Mayer's tab, selling your IP for real money and much more on this dirty and southern episode of The Only Podcast That Matters™. For more Throwing Fits, check us out on Patreon: www.patreon.com/throwingfits. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
"New York Times" reporter Joe Coscarelli's "Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story" is the definitive book on today's rap scene. Whether you're a fan of rap or not, you need to read "Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story" to understand the culture, not only where the rappers come from, but how they make their impact and cash. This is the story of what is happening now!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The dominance of Atlanta's hip-hop scene has been discussed often, but not in the way Joe Coscarelli covered it in his new book, Rap Capital. Joe, a New York Times music reporter since 2015, spent four years and interviewed over 100 sources to get the contemporary story about Atlanta's culture-defining music scene.Characters are what move the story forward in Joe's book, not discography, record sales, or cultural relevance. Lil Baby is featured prominently, as is his mom. Joe's relationship with the hit rapper dates back to 2017 when Lil Baby was still a mixtape artist. Another recurring character is Quality Control Music's Kevin “Coach K” Lee, who has deep-rooted ties with the city's most well-known artists across eras.Joe came onto the show to take us through the book's journey — both for him to write it and the characters themselves. Here's what we covered:[2:40] How the book came together and finally clicked[6:42] Role of Quality Control's Coach K in Atlanta story[10:11] Lasting effects of pandemic on music industry[12:38] Which era of Atlanta hip-hop to focus on? [14:09] How streaming helped launch Atlanta rap into the mainstream[16:10] Building trust with his sources despite racial differences[18:10] Did Joe receive any pushback while reporting?[20:19] Evolution key to Atlanta rap's longevity [25:05] Adapting Rap Capital into a movie[29:45] The crumbling of mainstream culture Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSSHost: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.coGuests: Joe Coscarelli, @joecoscarelli Sponsors: MoonPay is the leader in web3 infrastructure. They have partnered with Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, and many more. To learn more, visit moonpay.com/trapital Enjoy this podcast? Rate and review the podcast here! ratethispodcast.com/trapital Trapital is home for the business of hip-hop. Gain the latest insights from hip-hop's biggest players by reading Trapital's free weekly memo. TRANSCRIPTION[00:00:00] Joe Coscarelli: I wanted to tell the story through characters, through people, not just, you know, you can run down the discography of all the amazing Atlanta musicians, right? You can go through the label history, read the reviews. But I always want to sort of pull back like, who's behind these people? Who's behind that person? So that's why I think, you know, mothers were huge, fathers, you know, friends, people who are around these artists growing up, I wanted them to be human characters, and I wanted the side characters to be as big of a part as the famous people 'cause I think they're as crucial to the equation. [00:00:30] Dan Runcie: Hey, welcome to the Trapital podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Trapital, Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from executives in music, media, entertainment, and more, who are taking hip hop culture to the next level. [00:00:58] Dan Runcie: Today's guest is Joe Coscarelli. He's the author of Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story, and he's a culture reporter at The New York Times. And this book that he wrote, Rap Capital, I cannot recommend it enough. If you listen to this podcast, if you read the newsletter, if you watch any of the clips from our conversations or any of the posts on social media, this book is made for you. It's a street-level epic about the most consequential music culture today, Atlanta Rap. Joe put so much thought and care into how the book came together and tying everything from the Atlanta murders that happened decades ago and how that shaped the rap culture and the broader culture for black folks in Atlanta that we see today, and how that led to someone like Lil Baby, how that led to someone like Coach K having such an influence over hip hop music and the culture for decades now. This book was a great opportunity as well to have a trip down memory lane. A lot of us understand how influential Atlanta's been, but it was great to have it be told from a unique way. We also talked about broader trends happening in the streaming era right now in music, what a movie or film or TV show adaptation could look like for Rap Capital, and more. Here's our conversation. Hope you enjoy it. All right. Today we had Joe Coscarelli, the author of Rap Capital: An Atlanta story and read the book, really enjoyed it, and I got to ask because I was going through the synopsis and you said this was four years in the making, and I got to imagine with a book like this, there was some point when things started to click in that four-year process. When did you feel like things were coming together for you? [00:02:40] Joe Coscarelli: So I knew that there was a book in this stuff because I had done a handful of stories through my day job at The New York Times about Atlanta. I started this beat in late 2014. So., You know, my first couple years on the job, streaming was really taking over and specifically rap music and streaming. So I just found myself over and over again talking to the same group of people, right? I did a Migos Story, did a QC story that featured Lil Baby, one of his first interviews. I wrote about Drew Findling who's a lawyer in the book that's all over the news these days in various capacities. So I knew from those stories that there was something here. But I didn't know what it was going to be. I knew I wanted to not just tell a history, but follow characters in real-time as they tried to make it. That's something I always want to do in my work. You know, so my favorite art ever is like Hoop Dreams or a music documentary like Dig!, which follows two bands across a long period of time. One of them makes it, one of them doesn't make it. That's always what I want to bring to my reporting is this idea of a journey, right? And it doesn't even matter what the destination is, but following, specifically artists and musicians as they're trying to make something out of their lives, that to me, is just a timeless tale, right, of ambition and dreams, and so I knew I had a handful of characters that I wanted to go on this trip with, but I didn't really know how it tied into the broader story of Atlanta until a real marathon brunch interview with Lil Baby's mother, Lashawn. He was, you know, he and I had a rapport at that point. I'd interviewed him a few times. I did talk to a lot of people around him, and he was kind enough to set me up directly with his mom. And, you know, we sat down at a brunch place outside of Atlanta. And, you know, she said, I asked him, I asked Dominique, her son, we're like, what do I tell him? And he told her tell him everything. And she really did, her whole life story became part of the book, especially the foundation of the book, in the first part. And she had such an incredible life on her own. You know, I hope she writes a memoir someday. But when I learned really that she had been friends in school with an early victim of the Atlanta child murders, which were happening on the west side of Atlanta in the late seventies, early eighties, that she had a firsthand relationship to that historical event that I feel like really left its mark on the city. And she was open. She said it sort of affected the kind of mother that she became, and I think ultimately helped set Dominique, Lil Baby, on his path. And all of that could be traced to, like, something she went through as a kid that also spoke more broadly to Atlanta and the way it has developed socially, politically, culturally, especially Black Atlanta over the last 40, 50 years. So that was a real breakthrough moment for me, and I knew that I could start with her story, which in many ways was also the story of Atlanta in the last, you know, half a century. [00:05:30] Dan Runcie: And in reading that first piece, too, I could see how much care and thought was put into it from your perspective of going through what happened with those murders and then how that traces directly to someone like Lil Baby because it's hard to tell the story of Atlanta hip hop without doing all of that. And that's something that I think is often missing with so much of the discussion about Atlanta's run, which is why I feel like your book does stand as its own and is able to have a unique voice and perspective on this.[00:05:58] Joe Coscarelli: I appreciate that. Yeah, I wanted to tell the story through characters, right, through people, not just, you know, you can run down the discography of all the amazing Atlanta musicians, right? You can go through the label history, read the reviews. But I always want to sort of pull back like, who's behind these people? Who's behind that person, you know? So that's why I think, you know, mothers were huge, fathers, you know, friends, people who are around these artists growing up, I wanted them to be human characters, and I wanted the side characters to be as big of a part as the famous people 'cause I think they're as crucial to the equation. [00:06:31] Dan Runcie: And of course, Lil Baby is one of the central characters. Another one is Coach K, who's one of the folks leading up Quality Control Music. Why was it important for him to be a central character in this too? [00:06:42] Joe Coscarelli: So Coach K is amazing because you can tell basically the last 30 years of rap music only through his career, right? When I said I wanted to be able to trace characters back through the years to artists and eras, like, Coach has seen it all, right? This is a man who was passing out Church fans to promote Pastor Troy and the congregation in the mid-nineties. Then he goes from that to representing all these producers who were, you know, crucial to founding the trap sound, someone like Drama Boy. And then he's working with Young Jeezy, right, as the Snowman mythology takes over and, you know, Def Jam South and the explosion of trap music on a national scale. Coach is behind that, right? You know, there's a moment I talk about in the book where they put the commercial on the radio right, in Atlanta, when the Jeezy's mixtapes, Trap or Die are coming out, right, and it's All Traps Closed today, like National Holiday, you know, like these are the things that Coach was cooking up behind the scenes. Then he works with Gucci Mane, right, who was blood rivals with Jeezy. And then that brings you up to the present day, and in 2013, he and P, his partner Pierre Thomas, they founded Quality Control, and then they have Migos, right, and then they have a Lil Yachty, and then they have Lil Baby. And through Coach K, you could talk about every single one of those careers and so many more that he was on the periphery of, even if he wasn't the main executive or manager involved. So I just think, you know, there's nobody more crucial to that ecosystem at this moment and through the last couple of decades than Kevin Lee, Coach K. [00:08:14] Dan Runcie: Yeah, and I think one of the things that stands out about their run, too, is that it wasn't just one artist and they faded and rose with that artist. And I think that's what we've seen a lot in the streaming era, frankly, from a lot of the record labels that have rose up. They had the runs, and even when one star started to fade from a group that was the hottest group in the moment, they had others that came through, and you're seeing that infrastructure. I feel like that's one thing that sets them apart from a lot of the others at this moment. [00:08:42] Joe Coscarelli: Totally. For them, it's all about artist development, right? Like, I remember being around them in the office, you know, in late 2017 and they were talking about whether they should have gone after Bhad Bhabie, you know, the Cash Me Outside girl. And like they would see little things pop up and think like, oh, should we get in on that viral moment? And then they would be like, No, that's not what we do. We build artists, we build careers, we build brands. And something that's so special about Quality Control and why they were able to, you know, be the backbone of this book is because they are invested in that sort of old school Motown-esque record business thing of I'm going to pluck someone who might not even think they're a musician, and we're going to believe in them, and we're going to back them, and we're going to build it from the ground up, right, and we're going to build it Atlanta first. Whereas so much in the viral marketing, streaming world of today is going top-down, right? It's a TikTok hit, then it's a major label deal, and this person's probably never even played a show before. They're still very invested in the grassroots bottom-up approach, and I think that's worked for them so many times now that the playbook is, you know, you can't deny it.[00:09:48] Dan Runcie: Yeah, and I think that also that goes with something that I've seen you talk about even outside of the book as well, just some of the challenges that a lot of the artists and labels have right now in terms of now that the pandemic has, at least in this stage that we're in right now, there's still some lasting effects in terms of how that's shaping the charts, how that's shaping how music's released. What have you been seeing there from that perspective? [00:10:11] Joe Coscarelli: I mean, you know, a lot of people have been writing this year, yourself included, about the sort of stagnancy of the charts, how, you know, there aren't a lot of new breakout hits, especially in rap music, which had been so dominant for the last decade, essentially, as things started to move online and towards streaming. And I think you're right that a lot of that is pandemic hangover, right? Like, people were not outside like they used to be. Artists were not sort of feeling that energy, that creative energy. They were creating often, like, in a little bubble. I'm sure you get projects like a Beyoncé's RENAISSANCE that comes out of that pandemic moment and maybe speaks to some people's hopes and dreams for what the next few years will be, a little freer. But you don't have any chance for that sort of grassroots development, right? So we saw a lot of things come off of TikTok, but as I was getting at, like, those people, they haven't had the opportunity to touch their fans, right, to speak to the sort of ground swell of support. So you get a lot of things that feel fleeting and then you have something massive, right? Bad Bunny or like Morgan Wallen that's just like lodged up there at the top of the charts 'cause I think those guys had a fully formed thing going into the pandemic and were able to ride it through. You know, when you think about a lot of rap, especially regionally, that's bubbling now, there's a lot of drill, right? Like, you think of the stuff coming out of Brooklyn and the Bronx and that sound traveling all over the country. And I think, you know, since Pop Smoke, we haven't really had a sort of mainstream emissary for that sound. And it is such a local, such a hyper-local, such an underground phenomenon that you haven't really had someone translate it for the mainstream, you know, maybe that's going to be Ice Spice, maybe that's going to be Fivio Foreign, and like, you know, maybe it's going to be someone younger. But I think we're still waiting, right, for what that next wave, especially in rap, is going to be. You see the sort of sun may be setting on the trap era that's described in the book in the rise of drill as the default of what a rap song sounds like, but again, that hasn't really crossed over quite yet. [00:12:11] Dan Runcie: Yeah, it's been fascinating just to see how the streaming era has shaped things, specifically with how much you focused on it in the book. And with a topic like Atlanta hip hop, there are likely so many sectors that you could have dove in on, and of course, Lil Baby being a central figure did lend itself to the streaming era. But how did you decide which era to focus on? Because there's so many time spans that you probably could have done and equally deep dive on.[00:12:38] Joe Coscarelli: I always knew I wanted to tell a contemporary story, right? Like, I'm more of a reporter than I am a historian. So I'm not a musicologist, I'm not a music critic. You know, I've never really written criticism in terms of album reviews or show reviews, things like that. So I knew I wanted to be able to witness as much as I could firsthand and write about that because that's what I love to do in my work, getting back to this idea of, you know, being a fly on the wall for someone's journey, for someone's rise, for someone's fall even. So it was always going to be contemporary, right? And I feel like you have to tell a little bit of the history, right? You have to talk about Freaknik, you have to talk about OutKast, and the Dungeon Family, and LaFace Records, and So So Def to be able to get to this moment. But I think for me, like, I'm not someone who writes about music nostalgically. Sure, I love the stuff I grew up on, but I'd rather look forwards than backwards. And I think, character-wise, I just want to stay with the cutting edge, right? I want to see what's next. I want to see who's changing things, who's, you know, who's moving things forward. And that's just what I seek out in my life and in my job. So I think it was always going to be as contemporary as possible. [00:13:46] Dan Runcie: Yeah, that makes sense. I think that streaming also allowed us to see more growth from the areas that I think, in a lot of ways, were a bit held back from gatekeepers controlling everything. And I think Atlanta's a perfect example of that, even though they had the massive rise, you know, nineties, early 2000s, it went to another level this past decade. [00:14:09] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah. And I think you know that sort of in-between time, right, when you think about post-Napster and file sharing, post-CD crash in the early 2000s. But pre-streaming, like, a lot of what became the go-to playbook for streaming was happening in the underground mixtape scene, especially in Atlanta and in the South. And you think of things like DatPiff or you know, sites like that where free mix tapes were coming out and it was all about quantity, right, in a way that really set these artists for the streaming era, right? You think of Lil Wayne's mixtape run, Gucci's mixtape run, and then Future's mixtape run. It was just about music, music, music, music. And so Migos sort of got in at the tail end of that and they released, you know, whatever it is, 5, 7, 10 mixtapes before they put out a proper debut album. And then when they finally hit with something like Culture, their second proper full length, the world had finally caught up to them and the rest of the Atlanta artists. And yet there's this whole group in between that gets left behind, right? Like, I'd love to read a book about Travis Porter and Rich Kidz and you know, these Atlanta rappers who are really, like, laying the groundwork for a lot of this, even like Rocko or you know, early career Future. Like these guys, I think if they would've come out once Spotify was as big as it is now, they would've been huge national and international stars. And instead, they sort of get caught in this in-between zone. So, you know, I think, I love to see when art lines up with the technology of the moment, and I think these Atlanta rappers were in the perfect place at the perfect time to take advantage of that explosion. [00:15:39] Dan Runcie: Yeah, I agree. And then even reading it too, and thinking about this conversation we're having, so much of you framing this as you're a reporter, you're capturing what's happening contemporary, and given the insights and the things that people are sharing with you, the amount of trust that you were needed to develop with them, and we talked a lot about the aspect of race and how that plays in. How did you navigate that yourself as a white man and trying to tell this black story and making sure that you're capturing it in the best way possible? [00:16:10] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah. You know, obviously, I thought about this a lot in the reporting, in the conception of the book, and certainly in the writing and the editing. I think the job of any journalist, right, is to be like a respectful, humble, open-minded guest in other people's worlds, right, and to be well aware of what you know and what you don't know. Like, that goes for when I'm interviewing a female artist, a trans songwriter, reggaeton star. I think, like, to navigate spaces where you're not an insider, like, it's best to come prepared and engaged and curious. Like, I did my research, I knew what I was talking about to the extent that I could, but I also was eager to, like, defer to people who are the experts, right? I made sure that everyone from artists to managers, family members, like, they knew that I wanted to take whatever platform I had with the book and with my work at The New York Times, and sort of take their work seriously to shine a light on it, and recognize it as important as it is, right, this cultural product that has this immense influence and impact. So I wanted to really preserve these moments to the best of my ability for the history books. And I think that my subjects got that right away. You know, I don't think it took a lot of time for them to spend with me to see that I was really dedicated in that mission, that I was going to be respectful of their time and space, interested in the work that they were doing and the lives they were living. And then, like, your credibility travels, right? One person can vouch for you with another, you know, with a collaborator, with a family member. And I just wanted to just defer to them and their experiences. And I think I took that with me in the writing of the book. You know, of course, there's analysis, there's observation, but I really wanted people to speak for themselves. The book is very quote-heavy. I really wanted to capture people as they are, do an accurate portrayal of what it is they've been through. Hopefully, I think the quality speaks for itself. But I wanted to, you know, give these people whatever, spotlight, whatever platform I can offer. And then tell the truest version of how they relate it to me. [00:18:03] Dan Runcie: Yeah, I think that's the best and the most fair way to do it. Along the way though, did you receive any pushback or any type of challenge as you were doing this?[00:18:10] Joe Coscarelli: There's very little. I think I'm fortunate enough to, you know, have an institution like The New York Times behind me. I think, you know, people take that name seriously. It opens a lot of doors, whether or not I was a good reporter. And I think when you can open the door and then when you show up, and you're thorough, and you're accurate, you know, I'd written a lot about these people before the book, I think that the trust just grows and grows. And I was also finding people really at the beginning, right, of their careers in a lot of cases, like Lil Baby, like, you know, he may not be able to spell my last name, but he knows that I was that guy with him listening to his mixtape tracks as they were deciding what was going to be on, you know, his second, his third mixtape. And he's seen me for years along the way, supporting that journey, you know, engaging with the work, like I said. And, you know, meeting people at the beginnings of things, they remember, right, who was there with them and who was supportive and who got it. And I think that that went a long way for me with my subjects. I think the other thing is like, you know, in the music industry, whether it's rap, you know, southern rap, regional street rap, like, there's always a white guy around, you know. I talk about this in the book, whether it's a dj, a producer, a manager, you know, this is a trope, this is a tradition. And I think, you know, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes poorly. But I try to always be above board and respectful in my dealings. But I think, you know, when you're riding around in Atlanta, with a rapper and you look like I do, you know, someone's just going to assume that I'm either from the label or I'm from The FADER, you know, something like that.[00:19:41] Dan Runcie: Exactly. Exactly. But no, I think that, given this, as you mentioned, yeah, there's plenty of precedent for people having done this before. And yeah, I think the care that you bring into it with the book is clearly shown. And thinking about that, as you mentioned, just you driving around Atlanta, getting a feel for the vibe of the city and everything else, spending so much time there, how do you feel about the run that Atlanta's currently having and how this will continue? Because I think that like anything, people are always thinking of what is the next thing. How long does this last? We, of course, saw the east and west coast rise and fall. What do you feel, like, the next decade or so it looks like for Atlanta in hip hop? [00:20:19] Joe Coscarelli: I mean, the thing that's been so amazing about Atlanta, the reason it can be the subject of a book like this is because every time you would think it was over, they would just come up with a new thing, right? So like, you know, you think back to OutKast, you think back to So So Def, you know, you have the run of Ludacris, who becomes, you know, this crazy mainstream success story, you have Gucci, and Jeezy, and the rise of trap, and T.I., you know, becomes this huge crossover star. And then you think that that's over. And then you have crunk, and you have Lil Jon, and you think that's over. And then here's comes Waka Flocka Flame coming up from under Gucci, you know. Even someone like Gucci, he's helped birth three, four micro-generations of Atlanta rappers. And, you know, someone like Young Thug comes out and you're like, oh, like, this is too eccentric. This is never going to happen, right? Like, this is only for the real heads, only for people listening underground, and then all of a sudden he's on SNL, right? And he's in Vogue. And just over and over again, you have these guys sort of breakthrough with something that seems like it's too outre. It's too avant-garde. You know, even Migos and their sort of like punk repetition, you know, people heard Bando and said like, oh, this is annoying. Like, this is going nowhere, and then all of a sudden the whole radio sounds like that. So there's a part of me that does feel like, you know, this book is sort of capturing a contained era, right? The first 7, 8, 9, 10 years of streaming and the intensity and the tragedy of the YSL indictment. Like, maybe that's a hard stop to this era. But I think you can never count Atlanta out, right? So like, you might not know exactly what's coming next, but there's always more kids like this, like coming up with something new, taking what came before them, putting like a twist on it, and then all of a sudden it's on the radio, right? So like, even me, like, I see like a real post-Playboy Cardi, you know, sort of experimental streak in a lot of these rappers. I think there's some drill influence coming into Atlanta. And I don't think the next generation has really revealed itself yet, but I'm very confident that based on the infrastructure that's there, based on the amount of talent, the artists who call it home, both from there and not, like, I really think there'll be another wave, and there's just always another wave, in a way that even New York, you know, has struggled to bring the championship belt back that many times, you know? But I think, you know, Atlanta's regeneration has always been sort of its calling card. [00:22:41] Dan Runcie: Yeah, and I think one of the things that stands out about Atlanta too, and this is a bit of a sad way to frame it, but they've been able to withstand the jail time or the charges that happen for a lot of the rappers that are in their prime. Of course, we saw that happened with the West Coast in the nineties, Death Row, and you know, everything with Suge Knight and Tupac. I think we saw that a bit with the East Coast as well. But Atlanta, unfortunately, whether it's T.I., Gucci, like, a lot of them have served time, but the city still has been able to still thrive in hip hop because there was always someone else coming through. And I think even more recently now with Gunna and Thug, dealing with the RICO case and everything, who knows how that'll end up. But I think the difference for them and the city now as opposed to other areas is that even if you know, let's say that they may not be able to make music or this hinders their rise, there are other folks that can continue to have the city continue to rise up in the music around it.[00:23:38] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah, and I think so much of this music, right, the music that's come out of Atlanta in the last 30 years, like, it comes from struggle, right? It comes from necessity. And the things you're describing, whether it's, you know, violence, death, you know, the criminal justice, the weight of the state on these young black men, mostly. And they do tend to be men, especially in this scene, though that's changing too. You know, I think when people feel backed into a corner, like, art can come from that, right? So whether it's YSL directly or it's the people, they influence, the people from their neighborhood who are going to fill that void. I think, you know, the people hear the urgency in this music, right? They hear the, whether it's the joy or the pain, you know, there's a lot of feeling here. And I think, yeah, the tough times, people bounce back out of that. And trap is so much about that in general that I think it'll just continue to happen.[00:24:29] Dan Runcie: Definitely. And in the beginning of this conversation, you talked a little bit about how Hoop Dreams and that type of story was definitely an inspiration, and of course, that was nearly a three-hour long movie, if I remember correctly, the timeframe there. In terms of this book, already reading it, maybe through the first few chapters, I was like, oh, this is going to get turned into some type of TV or series or a movie or something like that. I could already see that happening. Was that in the back of your mind as you were thinking about what this could look like? Obviously, I'm sure you're so focused on the book, but were you, as you're thinking about the inspiration, were you thinking about multimedia adaptations? [00:25:05] Joe Coscarelli: You know, I wasn't as much as I should have been, right? Otherwise, I would've been recording my audio better to turn it into a podcast, to then turn it into a doc series or whatever it is. I'm very much like a print writer, right? Like, I'm a newspaper reporter. I don't even think about images really as much as I think about words. And yet, like, so much of my influence, like, you know, Hoop Dreams was always the sort of the north star of this, but, like, I'm a huge consumer of television and film and stories of all kinds. So I knew I wanted the scope of the story to at least have that potential, right, to feel grand, to feel cinematic, to feel like it was about a time and a place and characters, which I think, you know, is often easier to do in a visual medium. So I had it in mind. But I was really too focused on just getting the words down on the page and getting the material I needed. I hope you're right and that now that this thing exists, right, this big book, like you said, Hoop Dreams is a three-hour movie, and this is like the book equivalent of a three-hour movie. It's almost 400 pages, so it has that sort of epic quality. And I think there is, you know, hopefully, more to mine there, not necessarily in recreating the stories that I've already captured, but in that essence, in that spirit and the way that Atlanta sort of goes in waves and goes in cycles. I hope there's a way to be able to capture that visually as well. [00:26:23] Dan Runcie: If you could handpick any director you would want to lead a project on Rap Capital who'd you pick?[00:26:29] Joe Coscarelli: Oh, man. All time. I mean, that's a tough one. Look, I mean, what Donald Glover and Hiro Murai have done with their Atlanta series, you know, it's much more surreal than this. It's fictionalized, but the parts of it that are based, you know, more on earth and more in the music industry, like, are just captured so well. I think, Hiro, as a director specifically, was able to, you know, all the aerial shots, like the highways, the roads, the woods, like that version of Atlanta is really seared in my mind. And, you know, I know they've done their version, but I think there's more to do. But then there's like the younger generation, right, of video directors and stuff that I'm just waiting to be able to see their worlds on a larger scale, you know, someone like Spike Jordan or someone like Daps who have their hand in, or, you know, Keemotion, like people who have their hand in a lot of the visual representation of this music on YouTube. And I think I would love to see what they would do, right? I would love to see the present-day music video directors' version of Belly, right, in Atlanta. Like, Belly, one of my favorite, you know, top five favorite movies ever, and has that sort of that music video quality to it in a lot of ways, but then blown up for the big screen. Like, I want some of those guys to have a canvas like that to paint on. [00:27:42] Dan Runcie: Yeah, that's a good answer because I think that, especially the Hiro one, because I think that Atlanta, as a TV show, does capture so much of it. And you're right, the episodes that are set in earth and not the surreal, you know, messages. But yeah, the ones that are set in earth do capture a lot of the intricacies about the music industry and I think the reality, which is I think something you do in the book as well. I also think that some of the newer music video directors, too, just given the world that they're capturing, do so much of that well, too, and I think having that is key because, of course, some of the more established names have a picture of Atlanta, but it may be more relevant to that, you know, LaFace era of Atlanta, which, while very impactful, isn't what your book is about.[00:28:27] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah, I think there's a new wave, right, and the people who are responsible for the iconography of this wave. You know, even the crazy run of Young Thug videos, I think the director Be EL Be, is that his name? You know, just super, super surreal sort of dream world stuff. But I want to see what those guys can do with the present day, given the budgets, you know, if they were given a Hollywood-size budget instead of a rap video-size budget.[00:28:53] Dan Runcie: Well, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for that because I feel like it's one of these inevitable things and it'll be fun to watch for sure. [00:28:59] Joe Coscarelli: Fingers crossed. Yeah. [00:29:00] Dan Runcie: Yeah. All right. Well, before we wrap things up, I do want to go back to one thing about the music industry because you had tweeted something out, I forget how long ago it was, but Punch from TDE had, shoutout to Punch, he had asked a question about when did the personalities become bigger than the music, and you had responded and said, well, there's some nuance here. Look at someone like Rod Wave who is, you know, selling multiple times more than someone like Megan Thee Stallion. And I think Rod Wave is someone that, unless you know the music, you're not necessarily tapping in, versus Megan who's someone that's performing at all the big award shows and has a lot of the big features, how do you make sense of that dichotomy between those examples and maybe what it says about where we are in the industry and how to make sense of it?[00:29:45] Joe Coscarelli: I think there's just been a real crumbling of the monoculture, right? Like, before. You would expect, if somebody had a number one hit, if somebody had a number one album, everyone would know who they were, right? I would know, you would know, your mom would know, my grandma would know. They would at least have some vague idea, right, of who Shania Twain was, or you know, Katy Perry, whoever it may be, even Ed Sheeran, to name one of the last, I think, monoculture stars. Whereas today everything is so fragmented, right? You write about this in your newsletter, whether it's streaming TV or movies or music, like, everything finds its own little audience, and it's sometimes it's not even that little, you know. Jon Caramanica, the pop music critic here at the Times, and I collaborated on a piece, you know, I think probably almost four years ago at this point, saying like, your old idea of a pop star is dead. Your new idea of a pop star is, you know, it's Bad Bunny. It's BTS. It's Rosalía who's not selling a ton of albums, but can pack out two shows at Radio City Music Hall without saying a word of English, basically, you know. And people are finding these artists on their own, right? You think of NBA YoungBoy, another one who's like, basically, the biggest rap artist we've had over the last five years, and he gets no radio play. He's never been on television, he's never played SNL. He has, you know, maybe one magazine cover, national magazine cover in his past, that happened when he was, you know, 16, 17 years old. And yet, like the numbers on YouTube are bigger than Ariana Grande's, for instance, you know. So I think these audiences have just splintered. And there are a few people who permeate, right, personality-wise, you know, Megan Thee Stallion or whatever. But often the music is somehow divorced from that, right? Like, I think there's far more people who know these next-generation stars from being in commercials or, you know, Bad Bunny in a Corona commercial or whatever it is, then can sing one of their songs word for word. And I think that's fine. You know, I think that a lot of artists have found freedom in that, right? I keep coming back to artists who sing in Spanish primarily. Like, before I would be that to cross over, you had to change, right? You had to start singing in English, at least somewhat, like a Shakira or whatever it is. But now, that's no longer a prerequisite because your audience is going to find you on Spotify, they're going to come to your shows, they're going to buy merch. And even if you're not getting played on Z100 or, you know, Top 40 radio, you can still have as much of a footprint. It's just not in that same everybody knows the same 10 people way, you know? [00:32:10] Dan Runcie: Yeah. I think that the fact that someone like Bad Bunny has an album that's not in English, that has been on the top of the US charts for, what, 30%, 40% of the weeks of the year is incredible. [00:32:24] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think that he is a celebrity, right, he is in films, he's in Bullet Train, he's in commercials, whatever. But I still think if you, you know, maybe it's different in New York, but if you went on the street and you asked, you know, your average 42-year-old white woman who Bad Bunny was, or to name a Bad Bunny song, it might not happen. But he's still selling out Yankee Stadium, you know, so it's this weird give and take of, like, what makes a hit these days, what makes a superstar. I think, you know, to bring it back, like, Lil Baby is in this boat too. Like, he's as close to, we have, I think, in the new school as a mainstream superstar, right, headlining festivals, you know, he's performing at the World Cup. He is sponsored, you know, Budweiser sponsors him. He's in, you know, all sorts of commercials, and he is really moved into that upper echelon. But he is still not a celebrity, right, in the way that a 50 Cent or a Jay-Z is to everyone. But he is to a certain generation. So it'll be interesting to see if he can sort of push past that last barrier and become a household name. But he doesn't need it, right? He doesn't have to be a household name to be the biggest rapper in the country. [00:33:28] Dan Runcie: Right. I think the part that I'm really fascinated by, too, is how this separation of, yes, you can be someone that is more known for personality than music, how that will translate to the labels they're assigned to, which of course are in the business of people actually streaming and listening to your music, and they're not necessarily in the business of selling personality or selling brand deals, right? Like, they're not getting the Pepsi deals or they're not, like, that's Pepsi doing that, you know what I mean? So it'll be interesting to see what that looks like 'cause obviously I know that there are legal challenges and transgressions with maybe why someone like a Rod Wave or like an NBA YoungBoy may not be getting asked to perform at the Grammy's, right? Like, I think that's pretty easy to understand. Or even someone like a Summer Walker who I think that does very well from a streaming perspective, but I think, you know, personally, just isn't the personality type to want to be all out there, right? [00:34:21] Joe Coscarelli: Yeah, has no interest in being a celebrity, but I think it's almost healthier, right, for some of these artists to be able to say, like, I've seen what happens on the fame side, and I don't want that part. I just want to make my music and play for my fans. Like, I think that's becoming maybe more and more of a possibility, where you can speak directly to your fans and not have to play the game, right, with the gatekeepers that might not actually be turning into anything at this point other than mind share. So, yeah, there's a lot of different kinds of stardom right now, and I think, like, the cult star, the, like, mass cult star, Tyler, the Creator, you know, the way he built up his career. You've written about this over so many years. Like, he doesn't have a smash hit, he doesn't have an Old Town Road, you know, or a Call Me Maybe, or whatever it is. He doesn't have that defining record or pop cultural moment. He just has years and years and years of solid growth, and people respond to that, and that you can pack arenas on that just as easily as you, and maybe even more effectively than you can on the back of one or two massive hits.[00:35:25] Dan Runcie: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely now, for sure. It'll be fascinating to watch and I'll be looking out for your continued reporting and thoughts on this, yeah, such a fascinating time in the industry. But Joe, it's been a pleasure, man. Hey, if anyone listening, if you are a fan of this podcast, believe me, this is a book. I can't recommend it enough. You'll enjoy it. But Joe, for the folks listening, where can they get Rap Capital? [00:35:47] Joe Coscarelli: Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story, out October 18th, available wherever books are sold, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Get an audiobook, should be out soon at your local bookstore. Yeah, hopefully, you'll be able to find it. Rap Capital. Thanks so much for having me. [00:36:00] Dan Runcie: Awesome. Thanks for coming on and great work again. [00:36:02] Joe Coscarelli: It was really fun. Thanks. [00:36:03] Dan Runcie: Really good.[00:36:04] Dan Runcie: If you enjoyed this podcast, go ahead and share it with a friend. Copy the link, text it to a friend, post it in your group chat, post it in your Slack groups, wherever you and your people talk, spread the word. That's how Trapital continues to grow and continues to reach the right people. And while you're at it, if you use Apple podcast, go ahead, rate the podcast. Give it a high rating and leave a review. Tell people why you liked the podcast. That helps more people discover the show. Thank you in advance. Talk to you next week.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
On the premiere episode of 2022, DJ Louie first wraps up last year's cliffhanger by finally placing Rihanna in the official Pop Pantheon. Then, Pop Music Reporter for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli, joins Louie to talk Disney-Princess-turned-peculiar-pop-figure, Selena Gomez. First, Louie and Joe dig into just who Selena Gomez's fans are, how Disney stars have transitioned into pop stars over the last two decades, and Selena's rise to fame on her Disney show, Wizards of Waverly Place. They then break down the neutered “pop punk” aesthetic of Selena, Miley, and Demi's music in the late aughts, Selena's… um…. “band”, Selena Gomez and the Scene, and how their eventual turn towards synthetic dance pop led to her first crossover hit, 2011's “Love You Like a Love Song”, and both Selena's canny pivot towards adult stardom with her role in Harmony Korine's controversial film, Spring Breakers, and her less successful one with her 2013 solo debut, Stars Dance. They then track how she eventually found a musical aesthetic following the one-two punch of the Lorde-and-Lana-fication of pop in the mid aughts along with her link up with songwriting duo Michaels and Tranter, the artistic revelation of her 2015 sophomore album, Revival, how she functions as a featured artist on late ‘10s hits like “It Ain't Me” and “Taki Taki”, and each give their takes on her most recent record, 2019's Rare. Finally, Louie and Joe debate Selena's position in the official Pop Pantheon. Ready Joe's Profile of Selena in The New York Times Join the Pop Pantheon Discord Tonight (1/6) at 8PM ET / 5PM PT! Check Out Louie's Selena Gomez Essentials Playlist Follow DJ Louie XIV on Instagram Follow DJ Louie XIV on Twitter Follow Pop Pantheon on Instagram Follow Pop Pantheon on Twitter Follow Joe Coscarelli on Twitter
The show navigated a year of crisis, minted a new generation of stars and didn’t fixate on boomers. Guests: Jon Pareles, Joe Coscarelli, Ben Sisario, Lindsay Zoladz and Caryn Ganz.
Is reading the Bible a struggle for you? You want to do it, but it's hard to actually put into practice? Get more motivated with some practical tips from https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Pastors Keith Simon) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/patrick-miller/ (Patrick Miller). Interested in more content like this? Scroll down for more resources and related episodes, including https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/12-ways-to-kill-your-bible-reading-resolution-in-2021/ (12 Ways to Kill Your Bible Reading Resolutions in 2021) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/can-modern-people-get-anything-out-of-leviticus-questions-youre-asking/ (Can Modern People Get Anything Out of Leviticus?) Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Outline 0:15 - Our Mark series and how to read your Bible 4:25 - What will drive you to read your Bible?: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:19&version=NIV (John 5.19) and https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A30&version=NIV (John 5.30) 5:50 - How are you looking for God? 6:30 - https://genius.com/Eminem-stan-lyrics (Stan): "https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/arts/music/pop-music-superfans-stans.html (How Pop Music Became Sports, Politics, Religion and All-Out War)" 9:30 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19.7-8&version=ESV (Psalm 19.7-8) 10:20 - Practical steps 12:00 - How to read your Bible 14:30 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra+7.10&version=NIV (Ezra 7.10): The reason for reading the Bible 15:15 - https://time.com/5189413/7-days-in-entebbe-movie-true-story/ (The Raid on Entebbe) 17:00 - Meditation: https://abiggerlifepodcast.captivate.fm/ (A Bigger Life Podcast) 18:05 - Hearing the voice of God 19:35 - Subscribe. Rate. Share. Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo) Passages John 5.19: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:19&version=NIV (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:19&version=NIV) John 5.30: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A30&version=NIV (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A30&version=NIV) Psalm 19.7-8: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19.7-8&version=ESV (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19.7-8&version=ESV) Ezra 7.10: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra+7.10&version=NIV (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra+7.10&version=NIV) References "How Pop Music Became Sports, Politics, Religion and All-Out War" by Joe Coscarelli from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/arts/music/pop-music-superfans-stans.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/arts/music/pop-music-superfans-stans.html) "Stan" by Eminem: https://genius.com/Eminem-stan-lyrics (https://genius.com/Eminem-stan-lyrics) The Raid on Entebbe: "The True Story Behind the Movie 7 Days in Entebbe" by Kate Samuelson from Time: https://time.com/5189413/7-days-in-entebbe-movie-true-story/ (https://time.com/5189413/7-days-in-entebbe-movie-true-story/) Resources A Bigger Life Podcast: https://abiggerlifepodcast.captivate.fm/ (https://abiggerlifepodcast.captivate.fm/) Related 12 Ways to Kill Your Bible Reading Resolutions in 2021:... Support this podcast
In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss this year’s “Covid Thanksgiving.” Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: For many families, Thanksgiving will look very different this year. Niki wrote about the myth that the “Greatest Generation” was naturally self-sacrificing. Neil referred to this Takeout article about Sarah Josepha Hale’s role in establishing Thanksgiving. Natalia referenced Depression-era Thanksgiving hacks like “mock duck” and conservative Charlie Kirk’s rant about the left-wing war on Thanksgiving. In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History: Natalia shared Jackie Salo’s New York Post article, “Star SoulCycle Instructors Accused of Sex with Clients, Fat-Shaming, Racism, and More.” Neil discussed New Zealand’s recent election results. Niki recommended Joe Coscarelli’s New York Times article, “How Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Finally Hit No. 1.”
A conversation about her memoir, her range of contributions to pop music and her secret alt-rock album. Guests: New York's Allison P. Davis; Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz.
On an album made entirely in quarantine, the singer and songwriter embarks in a fresh direction. Guests: Jon Pareles, Caryn Ganz and Joe Coscarelli.
Joe Coscarelli is the pop music reporter for The New York Times, and regularly appears on HLG fav web series “Diary Of A Song.” We chat about him writing a book. what’s happening right now in Atlanta, removing social media from your phone, pop music, cancellations, hate listening, Ryan Adams, The Breakfast Club, and new music to listen to. twitter.com/joecoscarelli twitter.com/donetodeath twitter.com/themjeans --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/howlonggone/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/howlonggone/support
Joe Coscarelli is the host of NYTimes’, Diary of a Song, a video series that breaks down how pop songs get made. The series relies entirely on FaceTime interviews, cellphone footage, and in-house production, giving it a unique, pared-down feel. The show has featured artists like Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish.https://www.roughcutpodcast.com/Find Joe Coscarelli on InstagramFind Rough Cut on InstagramFind Host Jennie Butler on InstagramFind Producer Sky Dylan-Robbins on Instagram
The Popcast opens its mailbag in the second of two episodes devoted to our listeners. Guests: The New York Times’s Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.
A revealing (and hilarious) look back at our year-end lists from the past decade. Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles and Joe Coscarelli.
How do you measure a year in pop? Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles, Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz.
How "Old Town Road" gave us hope without making us cringe, and became our song of the year.Discussed this week: Joe Coscarelli, Alexandra Eaton, Will Lloyd, Eden Weingart, Antonio de Luca and Alicia DeSantis. "Diary of a Song — ‘Old Town Road’: See How Memes and Controversy Took Lil Nas X to the Top of the Charts" (The New York Times, May 10, 2019)Jon Caramanica. "The Short Rise and Long Tail of Lil Nas X" (The New York Times, Jun. 26, 2019)Jade Jolie"Shut Up & Sing" (directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, 2006)BriMalandro.tumblr.com
You'll never be so happy to be out of the dating scene after Crabb and Sales serve up a review of Dirty John accompanied by a Ted Bundy documentary chaser. And has the team found a spy show to rival "The Americans"?Dirty John (2018) starring Connie Britton and Eric BanaDirty John LA Times podcastConversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019) Documentary based around 100 hours of interviews with Bundy by journalist Stephen G MichaudThe Stranger Beside Me: The Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy by Ann RuleThe Deliberate Stranger (1986) starring Mark Harmon as Ted BundyFact Check: Debbie Harry’s claim that she was picked up by Ted Bundy is unlikely. See here.The Claremont Serial Killings 3 women (Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon) disappear attending night spots in Claremont 1996 -1997 Perth WA.Louise Bell 10-year-old girl abducted from her suburban home south of Adelaide in January 1983.Sian Kingi 12-year-old girl who was abducted, raped and killed in Noosa, Queensland, in 1987.Ryan Adams Dangled Success. Women Say They Paid a Price by Joe Coscarelli and Melena Ryzik (New York Times, Feb. 13 2019)A mockery of #MeToo: the rush to rehabilitate Louis CK is indecent by Nosheen Iqbal (Guardian, 02 Sep 2018)The Front Runner (2018) starring Hugh JackmanVice (2018) starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve CarellStranger than Fiction, in conversation with Annabel Crabb (Christopher Pyne & Penny Wong)Yabarra - Gathering of Light - along the Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens) as part of the Adelaide Fringe FestivalArt Gallery of South Australia North Terrace Adelaide. (New hang takes a fresh look at Australian art (via InDaily, 05 December 2018)Chiharu Shiota: Absence Embodied “mad red wool spider” Art Gallery SA.The Bureau (2015 - 2018) a French TV series which revolves around the lives of agents of the DGSE (General Directorate of External Security)Say Hello by Carly Findlay
The 1975’s millennial anthem, “Shallow” and a lot of Bad Bunny: Why did these tracks define the year in pop? Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles, Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz
Music's big awards show is trying to make big changes. So what do these nominations tell us? Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles. Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz
Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, aka Daniel Hernandez, Tekashi 69 and just 6ix9ine, is what The New York Times' Joe Coscarelli and Ali Watkins call a "human meme." This week, we talk about his journey from a nice kid in a bodega to a wildly successful rapper now facing RICO charges. Will his bid for authenticity land him in prison? It could. Read their definitive account of 6ix9ine's life here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/tekashi6ix9ine-jail-treyway.html See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Drake, Mitski, Ariana Grande — whose albums defined the year? (And will albums matter next year?) Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles, Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz
Ben Ratliff and Joe Coscarelli discuss how the Latin music superstar is rewriting the rules.
After a fatal shooting at a T.I. concert, Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli discuss rap, race and security with Minya Oh, a.k.a. Miss Info, and Joie Manda of Interscope Records.
Ben Ratliff and Joe Coscarelli discuss the New Jersey punk band and their new album.
Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica discuss records from country dissenters and what, if anything, country’s borders mean anymore.
Ben Ratliff and Joe Coscarelli discuss Ms. Trainor as surprise, as a formula, as contrivance and as a product of Nantucket, hip-hop and Nashville.