The Super Empty Show

Crystal Taylor: The Triangle's "Queen" Curator (Ep. 21 — Season Finale)

Few people work harder in the Triangle hip-hop scene than curator, promoter and festival founder Crystal Taylor. Eight weeks away from her third annual Beats N Bars Festival, and four weeks away from having her first child, she came to the Runaway Store for our Season One finale episode. In an almost hour long interview, we covered hip-hop topics near and far: rapping vs. singing, the hardest part of starting a festival, why free activations are so important, getting inspired at Broccoli City in DC, dealing with problematic artists in hip-hop, and much more. Also on this episode: Holland, Ryan and Alex discuss the startling news of XXXTenatacion’s death, as well as the outrageous viral success of Duragfest in Charlotte, NC. Thank you to everyone who listened to these 21 episodes! We’re excited to come back in the early fall bigger and better. Peace. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://www.patreon.com/buddyruski]

Chlo The God: Sharing High School Textbooks With J. Cole, & More (Ep. 20!)

You may not have heard of singer-songwriter Chlo The God before, but if her recent output and its reception is any indication, that won’t last much longer. Still building up a digital footprint after a dispute with a former producer led to the deletion of her entire SoundCloud, the 21-year-old Fayetteville native is hardly showing signs of being held up. With her debut album from 2017, “The Story Behind,” Chlo established herself as a gifted singer with a knack for great production, and her single later in the year, “Focus,” eliminated any doubt. The day after performing at Chubbz’s “Chemical X” show in Raleigh with ZenSoFly, Hasina and K. Mojica, she joined us in the Runaway store in Durham to discuss a range of topics from the potential end of SZA’s singing career, to how her hometown’s relationship with J. Cole has soured in recent years. (We also cover her career — and some exclusive Chlo The God rap bars — in between.) Before the interview, Alex, Ryan and Holland discuss Holland’s experience at the TDE Championship tour, the new album from Black Thought & 9th Wonder, and of course, the 7-song sigh that is Kanye West’s new album, Ye. This is a fun one — thank you to everyone who has listened, it’s been a fun-filled 20 weeks, here’s to 20 more! If you still haven't checked out the Best Of The Carolinas playlist on Spotify, make sure to do that! What self-respecting NC hip-hop fan wouldn't? We've got Chlo herself, Angelo Mota, Nick Grant, a GREAT remix of Young Bull's "Chocolate," and much more. Spotify link: open.spotify.com/user/xmupw84s3yk…RLRPSPiJWT4WPjbA This week's soundtrack: "Elevate" - Spaceman Stuu www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cA7Ylh3Alc "Focus" - Chlo The God www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0iZYnZXgdo "See Me" - Chlo The God www.youtube.com/watch?v=17qD3UWx5vU "Knowledge" - Vinnie Dangerous Vinnie-d-1 – Knowledge-demo ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://www.patreon.com/buddyruski]

Alec Lomami’s Immaculate Sense Of Taste, Plus “More 9th” (Ep. 19)

Over the past five years, no NC hip-hop label not named Jamla Records has been more successful in reaching an audience than the Chapel Hill-via-Charlotte crew Immaculate Taste. Started out of necessity when brothers Alec Lomami and Mike Tambashe (along with cousin Leroy Shingu, now better known as the rapper Well$) wanted to pursue music and didn’t know any business-minded friends to help them run it, IT has gone on to earn its flagship artists Well$ and Angelo Mota major looks, from press coverage, to music festivals, to Spotify playlists. With Angelo’s new record, When All Is Said And Done, hot off the presses, label co-founder Alec joined us on the pod to talk about networking in New York, booking Well$’ first show (opening for G-Eazy) while he was in South Africa, the shift of tastemaking from blogs to playlists, and more. We also talk with Alec about the new 9th Wonder x Drake mashup album by DJ Critical Hype called More 9th that has been making the rounds on hip-hop Twitter over the past few days, and Justin gets more than a little excited for the upcoming 9th Wonder & Black Thought album. Soundtrack: Angelo Mota - “Sweet Tooth” DJ Critical Hype - “Over” Marley Pitch - “Plush” Listen to “Best Of The Carolinas,” Vol. 2, out now! https://open.spotify.com/user/xmupw84s3ykc32gzftrsflufv/playlist/5EUEJGmeB4AmozRgsUafPz?si=ixpY_-0RQLCyYsoII1wKew [https://open.spotify.com/user/xmupw84s3ykc32gzftrsflufv/playlist/5EUEJGmeB4AmozRgsUafPz?si=ixpY_-0RQLCyYsoII1wKew] And don’t forget to follow us on social, if you don’t already. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superemptync/ [https://www.instagram.com/superemptync/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/superemptync [https://twitter.com/superemptync] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://www.patreon.com/buddyruski]

The Carolina Music Awards, NC Hip-Hop Fest, & The Multi-Talented Iron Mic (Ep. 18)

DJ Iron Mic, known to some as Charles Morse, has touched just about every aspect of the hip-hop scene in the Raleigh/Durham area in the last few years. Morse, who grew up in the Bronx, was introduced to NC when he entered the military and was stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville. When he returned to civilian life, he chose to finish his undergraduate degree at NC State, where he quickly took advantage of campus resources, like the student radio station, WKNC. Having already been a DJ in New York, he settled comfortably into hosting a radio show every Sunday, eventually convincing the station to send him to cover South by Southwest. In recent years, his involvements have only deepened: Morse is the DJ and a resident member of the Krawz Bonze collective — most recently responsible for the Jooselord Magnus double album, S.K.U.L.L, that Alex Yllanes reviewed on Super Empty a couple weeks ago; he is a photographer at concerts and other events; and he covers music in the pages of Indy Week as a much-needed hip-hop writer. We did a lil’ interview about his past few years here, the Carolina Music Awards, and even made time for some gripes about KRS-One. Then Charles was kind enough to stick around and talk about the NC Hip-Hop Festival, a mysterious event just around the corner, as well as the new song and video, “Bubblin’,” by Anderson .Paak. On Super Empty this week! The Catch-Up: Old Duke vs. Young Dolph — http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/20/the-catch-up-may-20-old-duke-vs-young-dolph [http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/20/the-catch-up-may-20-old-duke-vs-young-dolph] Best Of The Carolinas, Vol. 1 — http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/20/best-of-the-carolinas-vol-1 [http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/20/best-of-the-carolinas-vol-1] And don’t forget to follow us on social, if you don’t already. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superemptync/ [https://www.instagram.com/superemptync/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/superemptync [https://twitter.com/superemptync] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://www.patreon.com/buddyruski]

The Journey Of Kid Ethnic, Plus "This Is America" (Ep. 17)

Saleem Reshamwala stops by The Runaway Store and we talk about the path that led him to some of his more recent career highlights: an 11-week stint at The New York Times, and a multi-million views music video in G Yamazawa's "North Cack," among them. A longtime contributor to the creative energy and scene of the Triangle, Saleem (aka Kid Ethnic)'s wisdom and learned experiences are always a pleasure to hear, and this episode is full of commentary that will be useful and interesting to budding creatives hoping to make artistic pursuits into a career. There's about 20 extra minutes of interview that didn't make it into our iTunes upload (we want to try to keep these around an hour), but if you want to hear it, head over to our SoundCloud account (http://soundcloud.com/superemptymusic [http://soundcloud.com/superemptymusic]) and give it a spin. Thanks to the artists/songs featured this week, Danny Blaze's "Down Right Punch," and Tab-One's "Man On The Moon Freestyle." And check out the newest piece on the Super Empty Site, rounding out some new pieces from around the state: http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/9/the-catch-up-may-9-the-best-year-ever-so-far [http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/5/9/the-catch-up-may-9-the-best-year-ever-so-far] If you haven't yet, leave us a review! We're trying to flex out here on these podcast haters. Let's keep this streak of 5-star reviews rolling. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ [https://www.patreon.com/buddyruski]