The Super Empty Show

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.

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

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 And don’t forget to follow us on social, if you don’t already. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superemptync/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/superemptync

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 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/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/superemptync

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) 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 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.

In the past few years, some artists have come out of nowhere to become pillars of the Raleigh/Durham hip-hop scene, while others, once seemingly on the cusp of a breakthrough, have fallen off the map. Only a few have maintained and steadily grown their presence over that time, and NANCE is one of them. Despite growing up in a home where hip-hop wasn’t the soundtrack, his older brother turned him onto Dipset and Kanye early, and the rest was history. What began as freestyling at parties eventually turned into actual recorded rap songs with the likes of Raleigh mainstay Drique London and Kooley High’s Tab-One, and his new album, “No Excuses,” is the biggest landmark on that journey to date. Last week it debuted in the Top 30 U.S. hip-hop albums in the iTunes store (!!!), marking a major milestone in his career. We had him on the show to talk about the message he wants to send with his music, the great care he takes with branding and merch, and the role of white people in hip-hop, among other things. The SE gang, along with NANCE, also kicks around the topic of Kanye’s newfound MAGA affinity, and Chubbz comes on the show to discuss what Dreamville Fest (September 15 in Raleigh!) means for Raleigh, and North Carolina at large. As usual, please leave a review or a rating if you enjoy the show, it helps us prove to our friends that people really listen to this. And maybe, one day, get a sponsor. If you want to receive the erratic but rewarding Super Empty newsletter, you can sign up using this link: http://eepurl.com/ccIuPL Peace!

With a lot of shine coming to the NC hip-hop scene and a number of new (and old) artists starting to get major buzz, it’s easy to forget about some of the long-time acts that have consistently made the area what it is through thoughtful, high-quality music. One of those artists in the Triangle is Durham rapper Kourviosier, who was making and distributing his own tapes by middle school, and got his first taste of the big leagues by regularly dipping out after school at Hillside High to visit 9th Wonder across the road at NC Central. We talked to him about those early days, why he collaborates almost entirely with one producer (Dre Rubio) for all of his albums, the moment when he thought he wanted to quit rapping altogether, and much more. Also, there’s a new album out from a guy named J. Cole out of Fayetteville, so Ryan, Alex, Mandy, Justin and Holland drop everything to discuss the content of the project and the controversies surrounding it. If you didn’t have time for last week’s episode with G Yamazawa, make some time for that this week — that’s one you won’t want to miss. As always, if you enjoy the show, please rate and review us! It all helps us place higher in the charts and get this NC hip-hoperation in front of more smart, cool, attractive people just like you.

G Yamazawa has long represented Durham, North Carolina on the national and international stage as a spoken word poet. Now, he’s putting on for the Bull City as a rapper as well. Following the surprise breakout of “North Cack” and the album Shouts To Durham in 2017, G has continued to release freestyles and music videos and play shows, most recently as a supporting act on select West Coast dates of Dumbfoundead’s Yikes! tour. Due to a coincidental scheduling quirk, G happened to be playing UNC the day before the tour hit Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, and was added to the bill. We caught up with him the day after show, and despite slight hangovers all around, persevered for one of our best interviews to date. If you enjoyed the show, PLEASE rate us on iTunes and leave a review, tell a friend, or even just shoot us a tweet @superemptync about what you liked! We’d love to get your feedback. Episode 14’s All-NC soundtrack: 3amsound - “Denied” Chulo - “On My Mind” Zensofly - “Introvert” ft. Dream Rayne

On the surface, Kooley High and G Yamazawa are simply two of the best hip-hop acts to emerge from the Raleigh-Durham area. But look closer, and they represent two distinct elements of the NC hip-hop scene — G embodying the area's constant winds of change, Kooley High representing the enduring spirit of the Little Brother area. In less than two weeks, they play Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh together, but not before G hits the stage at Cat's Cradle on Dumbfoundead's Yikes! Tour, which he has been a part of for a number of west coast dates already this year. Ahead of his appearance on the pod next week, we talk about his whirlwind last 12 months starting with the "North Cack" video, then interview The Sinopsis about all things Kooley High — the new album's title, 9th Wonder's involvement, and which NBA team Kooley High most resembles. It's a fun one. Enjoy! Music: J.K. The Reaper - "City Boy" (from his new album, Digital Tears) Cameron Butler - "Woah" Sinopsis - "Middle East Coastin.Rx" King Mez - "King's Khrysis" ft. Phonte

With Chapel Hill’s third annual hip-hop festival Hillmatic fast approaching this Friday and Saturday, we took to the Runaway Pod Network airwaves with a special BONUS POD featuring festival organizers Kevin Thomas and Shaw Hargett, also known as Kaze and Bumrush. Both long-time curators and collaborators in the Chapel Hill scene, Thomas and Hargett are passionate about making sure that Chapel Hill’s pivotal place in the history of North Carolina hip-hop — including epic beat battles and MC showcases that featured the likes of 9th Wonder, Khrysis, Phonte and J Cole — is not forgotten. As the sole “college town” in the Chapel Hill-Raleigh-Durham trifecta, they’ve got an uphill climb. But as our interview shows, they’re more than well-equipped for the grind. To round out the show, Holland, Ryan and Alex cover other North Carolina festival news that came out over the past week, including an expanded lineup for Moogfest, a new date, headliners and major venue for Art Of Cool (Nas!), and how those moves affect the young but growing Beats N Bars hip-hop festival that runs every September in Durham. Get tickets to Hillmatic here: https://www.etix.com/ticket/c/5DC4925C79D60FBB105C9DB9971D74F5/2-day-pass

WE’RE BACK! Coming off our brief hiatus, we jump into the insane number of things that happened since Episode 10, including Rapsody and NC hip-hop in general on NETFLIX(!!) and the arrival of the new Kooley High album, “Never Come Down.” We’re also talking to mixing engineer Brian Kidd, who is a living testament to the power of music. Not only did an early 2000’s Consequence mixtape, and the song “I See Now,” featuring Kanye West and Little Brother, strengthen his resolve to one day work in music, it literally inspired him to move to North Carolina to see what 9th Wonder and the rest of the Justus League was getting up to. In our interview with Brian, he talks about working for free when you’re starting out, shooting his shot on Twitter when he first arrived in NC, his thoughts on the new Kooley High album, and much more. ———— NEW ON THE SITE THIS WEEK! Contributors Jimmy Branley and Alex Yllanes reported back after seeing Big K.R.I.T., Ty Dolla $ign and others at The Ritz in Raleigh: http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/4/2/a-night-at-the-ritz-with-big-krit-friends Ace Henderson — rapper, friend of Super Empty, and thoughtful human being — shares his unique perspective on the eternal question of quantity versus quality: http://www.superempty.com/news/2018/4/4/stop-and-listen-to-the-flowers And don’t forget, tomorrow (4/5) we have a BONUS POD dropping, with Kaze and Shaw Hargett of Hillmatic, the two-day hip-hop festival celebrating its third year in Chapel Hill this weekend. We had an awesome time recording with them. As always, leave a review, rate us, or at the very least, get on Twitter and debate us. See you next week!

Whether its Drake giving away a cool million in Miami or your local MC rapping to the camera in his neighborhood, how important are music videos in 2018? And what hurdles keep rappers from doing them? Joined by our videographer friend Mandy from The Rundown, as well as special guest and renowned hip-hop artist Jason Clary, we delve into the topic of rap music videos, from Drake’s “God’s Plan” to G Yamazawa’s “North Cack.” Then, it’s a trip down NC hip-hop memory lane as we talk to Jason about his artwork for Kooley High, how he first met Rapsody through basketball, if the visual imagery around hip-hop has gotten more creative in recent years, and much more. Last but not least, we’re blessed with a hot take from SE Show regular Jimmy Branley about Chance, Childish, and giving your fans false hope.

The NCAA tournament is here, and with it has come a new Twitter poll tournament called Kanye Madness, which seeds 64 of Kanye’s best songs and pits them against one another for the title. Justin, Ryan and Alex highlight the best and worst seedings, prognosticate about exciting first round matchups, and pick their teams to win it all. The squad then discusses the newest signee to G.O.O.D. Music, the trap-centric, Chicago-based Valee, whose signing marks a major sonic turning point in the lifetime of a label that came up on Kanye, Cudi, Common and Big Sean. Last but not least, Young Bull frontman Tahmique Cameron joins us in the store to tell us stories from home and on the road, from burning and labeling CD’s backstage at their debut show to maybe performing for Malia Obama at Harvard.

On Episode 8 of The Super Empty Show, Justin honors the legacy of Canadian battle rap champion Bender, who passed away at the age of 37 last week; the guys discuss the surprise release of a new rap album from some guy named Phonte Coleman; and Raleigh hip-hop creatives and social media ICONS Headgraphix and Chubbz join us to cover going viral and the Paul brothers (25:05), the Bruh phenomenon of 2014 (27:45), Chubbz' interview show On The Radar (30:00), exciting up-and-coming NC acts like Cloudy Nueve (34:20), the disconnect between old and new NC hip-hop (37:30), what it'll take for NC to pop (43:00), and the creative endeavors that Chubbz and Headgraphix have on the way, including short films and new music (48:30).

With last week’s guest and local rap critic Eric Tullis lingering somewhere in the background, and surrounded by piles of clothing from a warehouse sale event in the RUNAWAY store earlier that day, Ryan, Justin and Alex talk about the buzz (started by Eric) that Art of Cool may be for sale, and explain why the festival is so great and why it needs to stay in Durham. Then Ryan and Justin talk to up-and-coming Triangle rapper Crosby, who just dropped an impressive new album last week. Topics include: focusing on recording more than shows, getting creative with his voice, how he met regular production collaborator Lentra, and his early mixtape that he wisely called Thrill City.