This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa unpack the whirlwind week of transition between the 45th and 46th presidencies, detailing the nature and history of the presidential powers to pardon and enact executive orders as well as their most recent uses: pardoning Kodak Black, Lil Wayne and others, on the DJT side of things, and rejoining the Paris climate accord and doing immigrants a solid, on the Joe Biden end of the spectrum. LF goes off for a minute about $2k checks from her perspective ...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 5 min
It's been a heavy couple weeks-- months?-- and as such, Hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take this episode to indulge in some nerdy escapism, detailing the relationship between nerd culture, from comic books to video games to science fiction, and Hip Hop, touching upon the roots of all this in afrofuturist aesthetics and philosophy. Along the way, they speak with nerdcore rap icon MegaRan about his unique niche, and the importance of Black representation, within video game subculture. And they...
Jan 21, 2021•43 min
Hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa are joined once again by powerhouse organizer Paul Glaze to discuss last week's attempted coup at the Capitol and what's next for our country in the fight against fascism, dipping their ears into the insurrectionist musical fair of Ice Cube, DJ Green Lantern and Geto Boys. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 11 min
In the wake of the stunning and historic elections of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the United States Senate in their home state, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take a deep dive into the community organizing that brought Georgia to this moment, what these wins mean for the Democratic Party, and what's next for their newly Blue state, joined by Paul Glaze, long-time Northeast Georgia organizer and former Deputy Campaign Manager for the Daniel Blackman campaign for Public Service Commissio...
Jan 07, 2021•47 min
This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa draw 2020 to a close with a recap on the biggest stories in politics and hip hop, from the assassination of Qasem Soleimani and the portents of war that kickstarted January to the spring's presidential primary ups-and-downs, to the summer's twin detonations of Covid and Black Lives Matter to where we are now: still in lockdown, still fighting for Black Life, still spittin' mad bars. Along the way, they revisit some of the year's tragic losses, buzzie...
Dec 31, 2020•1 hr 18 min
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage underresources indigenous communities across the United States, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa consider the ways our country's Eurocentric obsession with quantification and categorization have fed the marginalization of Native peoples and African Americans alike, and how the historical undercounting of Native populations has led to the COVID crisis our indigenous brothers and sisters are experiencing today. They speak with activist, hip hop artist...
Dec 24, 2020•53 min
The WOR crew is off this week, however Dope KNife sets the table for Next weeks episode and spits an exclusive freestyle Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 17, 2020•3 min
Baby, it's cold outside... And keeping it warm INSIDE is expensive as hell! This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa discuss the impacts and perceptions of climate change in the Black community and the link between climate and economic justice when it comes to renewable energy. They speak with Daniel Blackman, Democratic candidate for Public Service Commissioner in Georgia, the lesser-known of Georgia's January runoffs, about the implications of the Public Service Commission on climate just...
Dec 10, 2020•58 min
This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa discuss the true winner of the 2020 general election: weed. Now legalized in four more states and with one-third of the US population now living in a legal weed state, DK and LF discuss the history of cannabis prohibition and legalization, racially equitable policies around legal weed in various states and municipalities, as well as the roots of Hip Hop's sacred bond to sweet Cheeba, exploring under appreciated weed-wordsmthing from Ludacris, Cyprus ...
Dec 03, 2020•51 min
This week Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa are having a discussion of the problematic aspects of the mainstream hip hop we can’t help but love and where, if at all, a line exists that we can’t cross. Myke C-Town of "Deadend Hip Hop" joins the convo to talk about problematic music that you can’t help but dance to nonetheless, about music too fye to turn off, even if the lyrics themselves are a turnoff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listene...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr
This week, Dope Knife and Linqua Franqa discuss the topic of Socialism. It's roll in American politics, black people's involement in socialist movements and they chat with Communist rapper and producer, Space Baby, about where hip hop fits in with these philosophies Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 19, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Hosts Dope Knife and Linqua Franqa unpack the week's current events and newest music, from Georgia's stunning blue flip and their perceptions of this miracle from the ground, scored by Jim Jones' new track "Election"; to updates from the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria and the soulful tribute to those lost at the Lekki Toll Gate offered up by Burna Boy; to Drakeo the Ruler's release from jail, what it tells us about the prison industrial complex, and the feverish post-release studio time that gave ...
Nov 12, 2020•1 hr 5 min
In the wake of a meteorically high number of gun sales since the pandemic and civil unrest hit, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa are joined by rapper and activist Squalle to discuss Hip Hop gun culture, the linkages between Black gun ownership and gun control policy, and rewind classic gun-slinging rhymes from Tupac, G-Unit, Gangstarr and Ludacris. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 05, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Well it's here folks. With the election just days away, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa discuss their motivations for voting, chiefly their defiance in the face of the long and hairy history of voter suppression that unfurls still in the GOP's latest tactics in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Texas. Along the way, they relay electoral takes from P Diddy to Blueface to Snoop Dogg as well as how electoralism has featured in the music of Eminem, YelloPain, and Dres from Black Sheep. Learn more abo...
Oct 29, 2020•50 min
This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take a casual spin around the week's controversies surrounding Ice Cube and 50 Cent's support for the current president and evaluate the hypercapitalist tendencies of lyricists Jay-Z, Drake and Mace. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 22, 2020•40 min
In part two of their series of interviews with rappers running for office, Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa sit down with hip hop artist and former Congressional candidate Paperboy Prince, who earlier this year challenged a 14-term New York incumbent with a platform of universal basic income, spreading love, and Paperboy Care (a version of Medicare for All). The emcees discuss Paperboy's early development as an activist, their music career, their policy positions and what's next for them in the elec...
Oct 15, 2020•54 min
Hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa got bills, y'all. We all do. Medical bills, student loans, car payments, carceral debts-- most of us know the dread of a letter from Navient or a phone call from Sallie Mae. So do rappers from indie heavy hitters Sammus and Blue Scholars to mainstream giants like J Cole. But what do we do with all this debt? Author, documentarian, and organizer Astra Taylor joins DK and LF to discuss a radical new organizing strategy to not only abolish debt but establish a new...
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa finally get around to what they've been waiting on: reparations. This go-round, they focus on the case for reparations as rooted in the history of land and housing policy in the United States. From the murder of the Walker family in Hickman, Kentucky to the use of eminent domain to seize the Espy fruit groves in Vero Beach, Florida to the recent struggle for justice for the descendants of Linnentown in their home base of Athens, GA, the hosts somberly recount t...
Oct 01, 2020•59 min
In light of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa detail the history of Roe v. Wade and the implications of the nomination of a conservative judge to the Supreme Court for millions of women across America. Abortion, however, is a complex topic within the world of Hip Hop, as reflected in the lyrical stylings of emcess from Doug E Fresh to Butterfly of Digable Planets to Common, Noname, and Illogic, representations which the hosts explore in this week's episode...
Sep 24, 2020•38 min
Hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa are taking the week off, but not without leaving our esteemed guests a teaser for episodes to come and a few bars about self care and upcoming topics. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 17, 2020•1 min
This week, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take a break from their historical deep dives to bring you the latest Hip Hop milestones, singles and music videos from this week and discuss their connections to current events and policy, from the late Eazy-E's birthday, early death from AIDS-induced pneumonia and its significance in the current conversation around an expedited coronavirus vaccine to the impact of Nigeria's response to the pandemic on Nigerian-Canadian rapper TOBi's latest visuals ...
Sep 10, 2020•40 min
Yes, THAT word. This week hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa discuss the etymology, usage, and controversy around the N-word, from the word's early advent in the Mountain Man Lexicon in the 1800s to its appearance in newspapers across the country in response to Booker T. Washington's White House visit at the turn of the 20th century to the battle between Nas and the NAACP over the title of Nas's 2008 album. The hosts allow the rap canon to weigh in as well, surveying discussion of the word on tr...
Sep 03, 2020•41 min
Portland held the national consciousness rapt earlier this summer as nightly protestors faced off with jackbooted federal troops. But even as tensions there have somewhat calmed, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa are left with lingering questions: How does the Portland Hip Hop community feel about the Portland Uprising, and how has it taken part? The hosts give account of the Portland City Council's budget deliberations, which culminated in cuts to the Portland Police Bureau and a windfall for ...
Aug 27, 2020•52 min
Hot on the heels of the controversy swirling around Cardi B and Meg thee Stallion's raunchy club banger "WAP", hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa examine the origins and history of obscenity law in the United States and apply these lenses to sexually explicit Hip Hop throughout the decades, from Blowfly's Rap Dirty in the 1970's to Oakland rapper Too Short's 1983 album Don't Stop Rappin' to 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be from 1990 and Lil Kim's groundbreaking 1996 album Hardcore. This o...
Aug 20, 2020•55 min
The word of the day is J-O-B. From the Wagner Act of 1935 to the Amazon workers' walk-out in April, hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa take a trip through the history of the labor movement in America during the twentieth century, what it has meant for Black folks, and what it could mean for Hip Hop. LF speaks with philosopher and host of the Black Athenians Irami Osei-Frimpong about the potential for labor organizing and a federal jobs guarantee and the hosts revisit tales of hustle -- both 9-to...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 29 min
The idea that 'The police are the biggest gang in America' is almost a cliche at this point, and yet, it has never been more obvious than it is at this moment in history. In this episode, Linqua and KNife explore the formation of Americas police force, it's roots and it's original purpose. They are joined by the host of the "Hood Politics" and "Behind the Police" podcast, rap artist Propaganda to discuss how accurate that cliche really is. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpo...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 8 min
What do we mean when we say hip hop is political? This week, hosts Dope Knife and Linqua Franqa take a step back to frame the myriad ways that hip hop and politics collide. They journey through the transition from the Civil Rights and Black Power eras to the era of Hip Hop, the social forces that shaped early Hip Hop during the Reagan regime, and concrete illustrations of public policy's impact on the genre. They pick apart popular conceptions of "political hip hop" as a subgenre and take a look...
Jul 30, 2020•50 min
This week, hosts Dope Knife and Linqua Franqa discuss Donald Trump's decades of scoundrelism and his recent rise to power and dissect how and why Hip Hop has, by turns, embraced and rejected the oligarch, from the fawning reception to his appearance on an episode of the Fresh Prince in 1994 to YG and Nipsey Hussle's scathing "FDT" in 2016. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jul 23, 2020•48 min
Beginning of a series on hip hop activists. This week we talk to Shahid Buttar, Democratic Socialist Congressional candidate taking on Nancy Pelosi in California's 12th Congressional district and long-time spoken word poet, MC and DJ. The gang discusses his early music career, his views on the War on Drugs, his goal of defunding the Pentagon, his plans to defeat Nancy Pelosi in November. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Who are you, anyway? This week hosts Dope KNife and Linqua Franqa (finally) introduce themselves, discussing the story of how they met, a bit of background on their political views, and other lived experience. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 09, 2020•28 min
