We’re back. In the second and final part of episode 42, Mr. Allen and I speak about Hip-Hop being the most honest genre of music, the difference between public relations and journalism, why he made the subject of the project turtablism instead of any of the other three elements of Hip-Hop. He spoke about creating a DJ septet as a Hip-Hop re-imagining of a big band, the erasure of the DJ in rap groups, and sending records to space. Please LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE. Words Matter. CHECK OUT HA...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 42
We got another two parter y’all! We have Harry Allen, one of three of the 2024-2025 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellows from the Harvard Hip Hop Archive. Mr. Allen is a longtime Hip-Hop journalist, media personality, educator, and member of the legendary Public Enemy. Today, we’re here to speak about his fellowship project harbanger. In his own words, harbanger is a turntablist septet, and an experimental hip-hop research project created at MIT in 2020 designed to investigate turntable polyphony, polyrh...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 42
This week’s guest is James Pitt, founder of American Felon TV. American Felon TV is a social media and YouTube platform that documents crimes and landmark events in his life and Rockland County, NY. While I understand many in the comments may interpret the existence of American Felon TV as a platform that’s stuck in the past and glorifies crime, to Pitt, he’s telling these stories as a method to deter youth from a life of crime and incarceration, as well as highlighting and interviewing felons w...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 41
Welcome back. As promised, we’re back with part two of Crunk as a Resistance w/ Dr. Kevin C. Holt. In part two, Dr. Holt speaks about the Memphis sound of Three 6 Mafia and Miami Bass being the forefathers of Crunk, Atlanta’s local Bass artists becoming local celebrities, how Atlanta’s version of Bass turned into Crunk, Lil Jon being the face of Crunk, Atlanta’s wealth gap, Kendrick Lamar’s last verse on “Not Like Us,” and so much more. Please LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE! Words Matter SUBSCRIBE...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 40
We got another two parter and it’s very nerdy! Today’s guest is Dr. Kevin C. Holt, Assistant Professor of Critical Music Studies at SUNY Stony Brook University, one of three of Harvard Universities 2024-2025 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellows, and author of I Bet You Won’t Get Crunk! The Performative Resistance of Atlanta Hip-Hop Party Music . In part one of this interview, Dr. Holt and I speak about the enormity of a Harvard fellowship being named after Nas, the elitist nature of Hip-Hop analysis in a...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 40
Today’s guest is Brian ‘Z’ Zisook. Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Global Operations and head of Artist and Label Services at Audiomack, an artist first music streaming platform that allows artists to upload music and fans to stream and download songs. He is also one of the founders of DJ Booth, a mixtape hosting streaming service and later, an industry leader in music journalism that entered into a content partnership with Audiomack in 2020. Z and I discussed the platform he’s created f...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 39
In part two, Dr. Boyd and I discuss the complicated legacy of Sylvia Robinson, founder of Sugarhill Records and if The Sugarhill Gang are “industry plants,” the kinship between hip-hop and jazz and why ultimately, hip-hop will be heard in the same prestigious cultural venues as jazz music. He also spoke on why MCing and DJing are the only elements of Hip-Hop that can be commodified, lyrics being used to incriminate rappers, hip-hop being aspirational, why people should read Rappers Deluxe, and m...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 38
Today’s guest is none other than The Notorious PhD, Dr. Todd Boyd. Outside of his informative cultural commentary on basically every documentary ever made, Dr. Boyd has been a tenured professor in The University of Southern California's Cinematic Arts department for over 30 years. He’s written various articles and essay’s, co-wrote and produced 1999’s cult-classic, The Wood, and is the author of eight books, including his most recent offering, Rappers Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World. In part ...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 38
For the second time, we have Blvk H3ro. By the time this episode is released, H3ro will be on tour for his debut album, On A Mission, so I was happy he was able to sit down with Words Matter Pod before he got super busy on the road. In this week’s episode, we spoke about what it feels like to release your debut album, his music reflecting his personal growth, bridging the gap between the younger and older generation of reggae artists, the significance of the Grammy’s to Jamaicans and so much mor...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 37
It’s good to be back! This week we have licensed psychotherapist, public speaker, podcaster, stand-up comic and author of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma, The Solution Focused Marriage: 5 Simple Habits That Will Bring Out the Best in Your Relationship, Solution Building in Couples Therapy, The Art of Solution Focused Therapy and the Solution Focused Brief Therapy Diamond, Elliott Connie. Connie spoke about his tough upbringing, being s*icidal as a child, normalizing p...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 36
And we're back for part two. In the second and my favorite part of "The only thing constant is change," w/ film and tv editor Kristin Valentine. Valentine spoke about the intricacies of editing process as well as her favorite part of the process. She had a long list of editors she admires, she brought up a common but accurate cliché regarding editing being the final re-write of the script, and we spoke about arguably the biggest topic in Hollywood today, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike and MUCH MOR...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 35
Sorry for the hiatus y'all, but today's episode is worth the wait. We had the pleasure of interviewing film and television editor, Kristin Valentine. Hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, Valentine spoke about being a mathematician by trade as a data analyst for the Department of Defense before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood. In part one of this interview, we spent some time speaking on Valentine developing her love for film and TV from her parents, how it's possible for som...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 30
We’re back at CREATIVE SOUNDZ RECORDING STUDIOS, this time with owner, overall renaissance man, Grammy Award winner, Pusha Rod. Rod spoke about growing up on the East Side of South Central Los Angeles, but never allowing the negative stereotypes about his community define him, while also taking accountability for the roles he's played in his life. After spending so much of his youth involved in crime as a means of survival, Rod finally begun to embrace his artistic abilities when his friend and ...
Jun 06, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 34
Carl LeGrett is Senior Director of A&R/Publishing at Create Music Group, an independent data-driven media and technology company, that focuses on transparency with its creators. Aside from his work of finding talent, LeGrett has uncovered millions of dollars in unclaimed royalties for Create's artists, a practice not often synonymous with traditional record label structure. Last week, I sat down with LeGrett at Create's offices in Hollywood, where we spoke about him falling in love with Hip-...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 33
As promised, we’re back with Part. II of Rebel with a Cause w/ Grammy Award nominated reggae artist, Blvk H3ro. In the second and final part of this episode, H3ro speaks about what it means to be an independent reggae artist in this digital age, the Jamaican music business, non-Black artists making Black music, what it takes to be a professional musician, smoking a spliff with Sir Paul McCartney and so much more. I had a great time interviewing Blvk H3ro. It’s definitely one of my favorite inter...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 32
It's only right that the longest Words Matter Pod episode thus far is a reflection of host, Akil Pinnock's Jamaican roots. Today's episode features reggae artist Blvk H3ro, who at the 65th Grammy Awards, was nominated for Best Global Music Performance for his feature on Ghanaian artist Rocky Dawuni's "Neva Bow Down." In part 1 of the almost 2 and a half hour interview, Blvk H3ro speaks about his musical beginnings in church, leaving music as a teen to then come back to it in through an unlikely ...
Apr 18, 2023•59 min•Ep. 32
Last week we took a trip to Creative Soundz Recording studios in the heart of L.A. to speak to Brandon Brown, Vice President of A&R at Interscope Records. Brown, a native of Compton, CA, a city with a rich Hip-Hop history recalls seeing Eazy-E drive down the street, growing up a half a mile away from where Straight Outta Compton was recorded, and learning what an A&R was through the popular Hip-Hop magazines of the time. Later, Brown went into detail about what exactly an A&R is, the...
Apr 10, 2023•43 min•Ep. 31
A few weeks back we took a trip to East LA College where I interviewed John Mosley Jr., Head Coach of their Men's Basketball team. For two seasons, Mosley and crew have been the subject of Last Chance U: Basketball, a Netflix original series that covered the lives of these student athletes, the coaching staff and all the moving parts of the team. Fresh off an unfortunate State Final Four Loss, Coach Mosley sat down with host Akil Pinnock, where he spoke about avoiding negative influences while g...
Apr 03, 2023•57 min•Ep. 30
We're back for part 2 of "The Visual Language of Photography," with longtime New York City street Photographer, Jamel Shabazz. In the second part of our two hour interview, Mr. Shabazz spoke on the intent in which he traveled with as he walked the streets taking photographs, giving visibility to a community that was often invisible, a time in New York before and after The War on Drugs and the Crack and AIDS epidemic, what's next in his story, as well as much more. Please, LIKE, COMMENT, & SU...
Mar 27, 2023•58 min•Ep. 29
After months of communication, this past November we finally had the honor of interviewing Jamel Shabazz. Shabazz, a Brooklyn, NY native, is a renowned fashion, fine art, documentary and street style photographer as well as the author of Back in the Days, The Last Sunday in June, Seconds of my Life, Sights in the City: New York Street Photographs, Back in the Days: Remix, and most recently, A Time Before Crack: Photographs from the 1980s. Mr. Shabazz is a wealth of knowledge. In part 1 of this e...
Mar 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 29
Quaz Degraft is an actor, director, writer and entrepreneur from Yonkers and West Haverstraw New York. Degraft explained how his career started by tagging along with his girlfriend at the time who joined an acting workshop, then going on to studying at various acting schools in New York after growing a love for the art form; all while working as an accountant at Ernst & Young. We later spoke about the steps it takes to become an actor, the difference between independent productions and bigge...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 28
On today's episode we had the pleasure of interviewing Vikki Tobak, culture journalist, curator and author of Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, and most recently, Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History . We spent the first half of this interview speaking about Tobak's upbringing as an immigrant child from Kazakhstan in 1980s Detroit, falling in love with Black music prior to Hip-Hop, moving to New York in the early 1990s and working for early indie Hip-Hop labels; then later making the tra...
Mar 06, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Words Matter Pod w/ Akil Pinnock is back and better! Last month we interviewed then, Senior Reporter for Law & Crime News Meghann Cuniff. In a time where anything uploaded online can be perceived labeled as news, Cuniff's fair and unbiased coverage of the The People of the State of California vs. Daystar Peterson, a.k.a. Tory Lanez made her a viral star, affectionately earning the moniker, "Meghann thee Reporter." In this episode, we discussed the importance of minimizing harm when putting o...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 26
Back in July we interviewed photographer Claudio Abreu, creator of the popular YouTube Hip-Hop archival channel, HipHopVCR. Abreu speaks about how his appreciation for life led to him archiving every possible moment from his earliest memories, such as 1990s Chicago Bulls games, up until adulthood. Abreu also goes into how he started archiving footage for selfish reasons, and that developing into something selfless as he began to document his family and archive footage for Blacks and Latinos. We ...
Sep 05, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 25
We're doing something a little different this week. Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending the ENVY of NY 4th Anniversary Brunch hosted by Lips Cafe in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY. There, we interviewed key members of the brand's growth like Jodi, partner and all hands on deck member of ENVY, Mango, one of the brands go-to models, and Manuel, videographer for ENVY. And of course, what's a brand without its supporters? We also had the pleasure of interviewing ENVY supporters Marcus and Jay Kimb...
Aug 29, 2022•28 min
In the second and final part of "Art Reflecting the Times" w/ Sports, Portrait, and Documentary Photographer Anthony Geathers, Geathers, tells us why he shoots in black and white, the importance of best representing a person in his body of work, the difference between just being a photographer and being a photo-journalist, and what makes New York special. Geathers also speaks about his love of street-basketball and it's unique nuances, his love of the game, and shooting Lloyd Banks for his last ...
Aug 22, 2022•55 min•Ep. 23
In Part I, Sports, Portrait, and Documentary Photographer Anthony Geathers speaks about falling in love with photography in a seventh grade photo competition, the difference between photographers who are formally trained and the self-taught, how an artsy kid ended up fighting in Afghanistan, but how growing up in New York City prepared him for warfare, and how it's an artists duty to reflect the times. PLEASE LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE!!! Subscribe to Words Matter Network online!!! https://w...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 23
On this weeks episode we have Education Reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit Ethan Bakuli. Bakuli speaks about figuring out what kind of journalist he wanted to be in college with the help of our former professor Nicholas McBride, how that tied into wanting to tell a more complete story of his hometown, Amherst, Mass; building community in unfamiliar environments, and the importance of local news. PLEASE LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! Subscribe to Words Matter Network online!!! https://www.wordsmatter...
Aug 08, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 22
On this weeks episode we have Hewton Fider. Creator of WHYzers, a decentralized learning environment created for learning, educating, and employing. Fider shared how WHYzers developed after being diagnosed with learning disabilities and wanting to de-stigmatize them, finding ways to navigate life with these diagnoses, immersive education, how WHYzers will be implemented in the traditional school environment, and MUCH MORE!!! PLEASE, LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE!!! Subscribe to Words Matter Net...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 21
This week we have music industry professional and host of the successful Music Your Missing Podcast, Brendan Jeannetti. Although not a musician himself, Jeannetti remembers falling in love with music during the days of Limewire, working for different music street teams, learning how to podcast on the fly, and originally wanting to be famous from being on the mic, later learning that fame wasn't for him. Jeannetti also spoke about signing with Big Night Media, a Boston based podcast network, how ...
Jul 25, 2022•53 min•Ep. 20
