Podcasts: once an iTunes afterthought, the downloadable radio convention has since blossomed into a media craze right before every content consumer’s eyes. Storytelling shows like Serial and This American Life have achieved viral success, helping to make podcasts a household sensation and an in-demand medium for all sorts of personalities seeking to remain in the public eye.
Don’t let the popularity of talk and narrative shows fool you, there’s still a ripe world of podcasts that hip hop fans can sink their teeth into. Spearheaded by stars like Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Charlamagne Tha God, discussion and guest interviews relevant to hip hop are not hard to come by in the podcasting world.
So if you’re like me and are in between your umpteenth rotation of DAMN., consider listening to one of our Top 10 podcasts for the hip-hop lover, as an alternative way to express and celebrate their fandom of the genre.
Let us know what your favorite podcast is in the comment section.
The Champs
The Champs
White comedians Moshe Kasher (writer of Zoolander 2, Comedy Central’s Problematic) and Neil Brennan (co-creator, writer of Chappelle’s Show) invite a different black guest each episode to discuss the topic of race. Even though this podcast is defunct, it’s got a large archive filled with episodes featuring a large spectrum of guests, from Blake Griffin to Wanda Sykes. While The Champs focus on provocative discussion regarding racial issues, the freewheeling personalities of the show’s hosts let the conversation go wherever feels natural often resulting in laughs.
Gateway Episode: NBA All-Star Baron Davis
Remember when the then-recently-retired Baron Davis reemerged into the public consciousness by claiming he was abducted by aliens? That happened on The Champs. It was just Davis’ bold claim that caught headlines, but Neil Brennan’s initial skepticism of Davis during the interview is hilarious and the wacky story is a pretty good indication of how hilariously off-topic the show can get from trying to achieve full woke-ness
Snoop Dogg's GNN Podcast
Snoop Dogg's GNN Podcast
The Doggfather’s popular video webseries is also available as a podcast, making it a must-have for any Snoop Dogg fan on the go (or running out of data). GNN - an obvious play on the CNN channel - does little to uphold the guise of a news presentation beyond the title, and, predictably, it's mostly Snoop getting high with his various celebrity friends. But, hey, sometimes a dose of predictability is nice in this crazy mixed up world - making Snoop Dogg’s GNN Podcast something like audio kush, you can just kick back and chill to it.
Gateway Episode: Seth Rogen
Snoop and Seth Rogen have never shied away from expressing their friendship in various forms of media (most recently on Martha & Snoop's Pot Luck Dinner Party), but Rogen’s episode of Snoop Dogg’s GNN Podcast is your only chance to experience them sharing a cross-joint.
Tax Season
Tax Season
Despite Taxstone being locked up at the moment, battling weapon’s charges, the Twitter-turned-podcast personality’s Tax Season still remains as a batch of must-listen interviews with personalities that are not always strictly hip-hop, but either way, touch on related subject matter. Known for his obsession for raw hot takes and for his use of the word 'beloved,' Taxstone is the kind of enigmatic person that is perfect to entertain guests and drive conversation. The currently imprisoned host’s unpredictable energy seeps into the show itself, putting his guests in the hotseat, freeing them up to be just as uncut and honest as he is.
Gateway Episode: Meek Mill
Taxstone’s interview with Meek Mill provided an insight into the Philadelphia emcee’s thought process during the whirlwind Drake beef. I won’t spoil all of it for you, but he does go as far to admit that he thought "Back 2 Back" was "hot." The interview is far more intimate than most Mill pieces, and it’s taking place during a joyride is a perfect example of the show achieving greatness without the requirement of super production value.
Bodega Boys
Bodega Boys
After launching to talk show stardom with their Desus vs. Mero webseries, and now, their Desus & Mero TV show on the Viceland network, the titular two Bronx born comedians produce even more memorable moments in their podcast. Hosted by lifelong friends Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, Bodega Boys posses the ability to make any slew of racy topics fair game for gut-busting hijinx because of their incomparable rapport. The brand is strong with these two, making their high energy approach to the talk radio format is unrelenting.
Gateway Episode: Ep. 53 “Pinot Cycle”
In their first episode following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Bodega Boys make light of the circus administration through irreverent conversation. The episode even opens up with a Sean Spicer skit that includes the Spicer character impeccably delivering the line, “I got some alternative facts for you, shoutout to my nigga Kelly Ann-Conway.”
Combat Jack
The Combat Jack Show
The Loud Speakers Podcast Network is home for most of the podcasts on this list, so we had to make room for The Combat Jack Show, a show that provides weekly insight from a former hip hop legal executive and co-founder of The Loud Speakers Podcast Network himself. Host Combat Jack uses his unique experiences, from being a lawyer to the hip hop stars and the managing editor of The Source, to create a safe space for his guests, while creating must-listen interviews with his own production.
Boss move.
Gateway Episode: David Banner
This episode is a great appetizer for how personal the interviews on TCJS can truly get. Having waited five years to get in the same room for an interview, Combat Jack and David Banner dive right into the deep-end, discussing his role in combatting the suppression of black people before eventually getting into Banner’s battles with depression and addiction. On the heels of the release of The God Box, Banner gives an impassioned interview fueled by righteous frustration in the system and his own religious onus.
Final Level
Final Level
Final Level provides Ice-T fans an opportunity to enjoy the vulgarity-ridden, smack-talking style that made the emcee turned Law & Order mainstay famous. Freed from his usual network television limitations, T teams up with his friend and manager Mick Benzo to muse on the goings ons in the world today as well as careers in hip hop with guests. Above all, it’s a fun way for Ice-T to interact with his fans in ways more similar to his “I’m Your Pusher” days, than his SVU days.
Gateway Episode: Episode 51 Flatbush Zombies Talking Real Shit
This is a great episode because it features the legend Ice T shooting the breeze with a younger generation of emcees. It’s an unmissable chance to hear the old and new school tackle subjects like drugs, Trump, video games, among others.
Microphone Check
Microphone Check
Formerly NPR’s resident hip hop podcast, Microphone Check allows guests to come and discuss their music in critical detail, with small track samples providing a backdrop to the interview. Despite being independently relaunched following shakeups at NPR last year, Microphone Check still retains all the qualities that helped evolve NPR Music’s sterile, mom-friendly image into the future.
Hosts Frannie Kelly and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s diverse approaches to hip hop - one as a journalist who helped ease hip hop into the NPR lexicon, the other as part of the legendary A Tribe Called Quest - lends to interviews that successfully cover every facet of their subjects.
Gateway Episode: J. Cole 'It Ain't Enough of Us Trying'
Do I really need to sell you on Ali Shaheed Muhammad and J. Cole decoding 2014 Forest Hills Drive track-by-track? If just that alone isn’t enough, then maybe the fact that it’s J. Cole’s first interview after putting out the record will help. If it doesn’t, then maybe podcasts aren’t for you. Or maybe you’re just a hater.
Juan Epstein
Juan Epstein
Any hip hop fan who grew up listening to Hot 97 should smash the subscribe button on Juan Epstein, a podcast carrying the clout of being hosted by both Cipha Sounds and Pete Rosenberg. Because of the respect both hosts hold in the rap community as DJs, the show is regularly a hotbed for stories and surprises sure to delight hip hop die-hards. Whether it’s mid-episode email responses from Jay-Z or sudden Busta Rhymes cameos, Juan Epstein has nearly a decade of archives to keep you on your toes.
Gateway Episode: Snoop Dogg
While it may seem counterintuitive to include an aforementioned podcast host as a guest for a gateway episode, this episode features Uncle Snoop's telling of a previously unheard of confrontation between Nas and 2Pac in Central Park, NY.
Brilliant Idiots
Brilliant Idiots
Beloved radio DJ Charlamagne Tha God teams up with fellow MTV Guy Code alum and stand-up comedian Andrew Schulz for this weekly podcast that can satiate the appetite of any hip hop fan. Born out of the hosts’ frustration in having their opinions tamed on Guy Code by Viacom, Brilliant Idiots provides the hosts a platform to express their comedic opinions on current events and pop culture without a filter or censor. The diverse duo of hosts attack politics and race head on, while also lending the floor to a vast array of guest subjects.
Gateway Episode: Are You Dumb? With Malcolm Gladwell
‘Are You Dumb?’ is a great episode for dipping your toe in the proverbial Brilliant Idiots waters as it features both an extensive recounting of Schulz’s and Charlamagne’s polarizing experiences at Kanye West’s "Saint Pablo" tour stop, as well as a thoughtful interview with fellow podcast behemoth Revisionist History host and acclaimed journalism Malcolm Gladwell. The episode allows you to get some good insight on how Charlemagne and Schulz’s tastes can deviate despite their friendship, while also giving you a sense of their ability to embrace guests and conversations that aren’t normally associated with them.
Drink Champs
Drink Champs
Leading the rap talk show race is East Coast emcee N.O.R.E. and co-host DJ EFN’s booze addled Drink Champs. Not only does N.O.R.E.’s cred on the mic give him the plug with high profile guests, but his own experiences provide a cavalcade of stories that would’ve otherwise gone to the grave without being shared had it not been for Drink Champs. Having previously worked together on an XM radio show from 2009-2011, EFN and N.O.R.E.’s Drink Champs perfects their chemistry and show format - the flow of liquor making way for recklessly honest conversations. N.O.R.E.’s own success doesn’t prevent him from having humility towards his guests, never letting his own brand or ego get in the way of letting his guests be the star of the show.
Gateway Episode: Ice Cube
Ice Cube’s appearance on Drink Champs is a recent example of N.O.R.E.’s humble role as a host. Admitting idol worship towards Cube, N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN listen on as the NWA and Friday franchise star corrects inaccuracies in Straight Outta Compton and shares stories about Mike Epps and Chris Tucker.