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A radio show, podcast, and radical media hub showcasing culture workers reshaping Chicago for the more equitable and creative. Listen to longform humanizing conversations with artists, organizers, performers, comedians, scholars, and more who are reimagining Chicago and beyond toward liberation. Hosted by Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger.
L.A. VanGogh is a multitalented rapper, vocalist, producer, and musician whose fantastic new collaborative project with producer and DJ Ambi Lyrics is entitled safensound presents L.A. VanGogh. The project's sound, birthed from both artists' hands, ears, and minds, is grounded in this sonic moment more completely than most, and is in self reflection that dodges Drake-like corniness in favor of honest thoughts and declarations. Recorded live 5/5/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: I Wonder - @ambil Changed My Number - @youarenowSafensound (@LaVanGogh & @ambil) 9 ta 5 Bluez - @youarenowSafensound (@LaVanGogh & @ambil) Untitled 108 - @bruceleekix All Falls Down - @kanyewest
As a moment continues to transition to a movement, one of the most pivotal questions is how a generation of people fighting for liberation can maintain their spirits, bodies, souls, and presence while still actively doing some of the most difficult work one can do. Black Girl in Om is an organization that creates "spaces for women of color to breathe easy" through their online publication and pop-up wellness experiences across the country. Founder/Creative Director Lauren Ash and Art Director Zakkiyyah Najeebah join Damon and Daniel to wellness, art, and more. Photo by Erica Jones Record live 4/14/2016 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Blk Girl Soldier - @jamilawoods Oxygen (prod. @montebooker) - @sminoworld Everybody Loves the Sunshine - Roy Ayers Live At The Barbecuue - Main Source feat. @Nas
Summer Fields is a student at the University of Chicago, where she has seemingly been making cool stuff since she first showed up. She is the founder of The Quad, a podcast telling the stories and sharing the voices that are often unheard at UChicago. She also works as an intern at Hearken, "an audience-driven framework and platform enabling journalists to partner with the public throughout the reporting process." A former ABC News Politics Fellow, she's currently writing her thesis on race and public media. Plus she's as much of a Larry David fan as Damon and Daniel are. Recorded live 4/7/16 at WHPK 88.5 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Bus Ride - @kaytranada Freedom Interlude - @noname I Think It's Going to Rain Today - Nina Simone
Highness is a band and collective whose unique sound, which they call omnisoul, lights up stages and eardrums across the city. With each show, their appeal and energy becomes even more undeniable. Daniel and Damon go offsite to interview the band at the rehearsal studio as they prep for the release show of their new The Highness Collective EP. Recorded 3/31/16 on WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music on this week's show: Israel (Sparring) Instrumental - @chancetherapper feat. @noname Straight Loneliness - @kaytranada Pearl - @highnessmusic Radio Play - @highnessmusic Because 789 - @highnessmusic
Poets are expected to be in touch with their emotions. A stoic poet is viewed as holding back or guarded. As a result, some folks tend to manufacture the markings of emotion–a crack in their voice, a tear down their face, shoulders shaking with emotion. When real passion is performed, however, the result is far more impactful. Emon Lauren Black doesn't hold back, on stage or off, and is becoming a forceful and important voice in the city's poetry community. Recorded live Thursday 3/24/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Reactions - @louielastic Family Matters - @chancetherapper feat. @Jamilawoods Drive In - @stefanponce feat. @themindmusic Window Shopper - 50 Cent
This week's guest has been mentioned on AirGo more than anyone else, for good reason. Kevin Coval is a poet, educator, and community builder who is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors and the co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb, the world's largest youth poetry festival. He has worked to center the stories of strong young voices from Chicago and beyond for decades, and the legacy of art and community that trails him is unmatched in this moment and city. Recorded live 3/17/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Where They At - Molemen Shut 'Em Down (Pete Rock Remix) - Public Enemy Burnout (feat. @Erynallenkane) - @SabaPivot
Fatimah Asghar is a poet, photographer, and writer whose forceful presence and fierce work from stages, on pages, and behind lenses have made her one of the city's strongest young poetic voices. She is a member of the Dark Noise Collective, a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors, and is the creator of Let Me Love Me, a "a nude photo project for people of color to talk about [their] bodies and [their] journeys with self love." Her chapbook After dropped last November through YesYes Books. Recorded live 3/10/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Tha' Coop - @karavelo Patriot Act - Heems Always on Time (feat. Ja Rule) - Ashanti
Akenya is a singular talent in the Chicago music community. She commands the stage like a combination of James Brown, Billie Holiday, and a hungry MC conquering a cypher. She has collaborated both with Chicago hip hop stalwarts including Chance the Rapper, Noname Gyspy, Mick Jenkins, Eryn Allen Kane, Donnie Trumpet, and the O'My’s, as well as performed alongside contemporary luminaries like Esperanza Spalding, Fred Hersch, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Luciana Souza, and Dave Holland. She is preparing to drop her first LP, titled Moon in the 4th, this year. Recorded live 3/3/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: It Might Work - Alicks Absentmindedness - @akenya Disappear - @akenya Back to Life - Soul II Soul Tangos del Cerro - Estrella Morente
Chante Linwood fills rooms across the city like Chance the Rapper's Open Mike, Louder than a Bomb, and nightlife hotspots East Room and Mad River with good music, and perhaps equally importantly, a wonderful, hilarious spirit and smile. The DJ, filmmaker, and mother is one of the cofounders of We Are Cliché, a self-described "collective by women for women." Recorded live 2/25/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Scientist Friends - @steeltippeddove Supplier - @Karifaux Lullaby (feat. Softglas) - @chargaux Thanks to Ben Niespodziany for curating the instrumentals every week!
Many of the organizations and groups mentioned on AirGo have developed in response to ways that existing institutions have failed to successfully serve the purpose they claim to serve, from the classroom to the corner to the studio. News media has also largely failed its purpose of honestly, fairly, and accurately telling the stories of Chicago. This week's guests, Andrea Hart and Darryl Holliday, are editors of City Bureau, an organization "aiming to restore civic media coverage of the South and West Sides of Chicago by training a new generation of young reporters in the practice of urban journalism." In this meeting of the media minds between City Bureau and AirGo live some ideas for how to continue extending the Chicago Renaissance onto the newsprint and airwaves that are tasked with telling the truth. Recorded live 2/18/16 at WHPK in Chicago Music from this week's show: Into the Trees - Kodyak Mercury Rising - @themindmusic BLK PR (feat. @ali-of-new-kingz, sydshawmusic, & Chapo)- @kingronthepoet
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