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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.
In the performance spaces and venues of Chicago's cultural renaissance, it becomes easy to tell who has the work ethic to keep growing, learning, performing, and moving forward. Couple that work ethic with undeniable talent and a warm soul, and you get Sam Trump. The soul singer and musician takes a break from creating very rare vibes across the city, and touring the country with band Sidewalk Chalk, to swing by AirGo. Recorded live 2/11/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show far away - @tomppabeats Love, Peace, and Happiness - @Samtrump Brother (feat. @add2music) - @Samtrump That Thing - @Samtrump People Make the World Go Round - The Stylistics Check Sam out at http://samtrumponline.com follow us @airgoradio, @airgodaniel, and @Damon_AF
After 28 episodes, we've started to hear some consistent threads and ideologies emerge. In a city with a broken education system and a massive amount of misinformation, these Strong Young Voices have to have learned these shared ideologies from somewhere. Mariame Kaba is one of the city's great mentors and community builders–she's the founder and director of Project NIA and co-founder of We Charge Genocide, and has worked to combat violence against women and girls for decades. Just a few weeks before she moves from Chicago, she joins AirGo for a conversation. Recorded live 2/4/2016 on WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Boathouse - em Nu no vox Follow Mariame on twitter @prisonculture
Ricardo Gamboa isn't here for hypocrisy. The Chicagoan artist, actor, director, and activist challenges the hypocrisies and half-truths of the city and nation's institutions through his work tirelessly, and his work has both exploraed and created space for others to explore diaspora in Mexican(-American) communities. His videos, productions, and performances have forcefully issued rallying calls and challenges with a fist behind his winking humor. Recorded live 1/28/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: french inhale - bds.u
When did you first hear a voice that cut through madness and helped the listener heal and grow? Perhaps more so than any other person in the city of Chicago, Jamila Woods brings meaningful empowerment to the spaces and people with whom and which she connects. She's the Associate Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, an award-winning poet who is member of the illustrious Dark Noise Collective, and a magnificent vocalist and songwriter, who listeners may know as the voice of the Social Experiment's hit song "Sunday Candy." The wonderfully talented and supportive Woods is a Chicago native. Recorded live 1/21/16 at WHPK 88.5FM Music from this week's show: Questions feat. Jamila Woods - Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment Blk Girl Soldier - @jamilawoods The Joy (live @kdicrecordings) - M&O Lovin' You - Minnie Riperton
Petty. Britteney Black Rose Kapri is a poet, educator, and the Pettiness Queen of Chicago. A recipient of the 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation's Writer's Award, she pushes every space she's passes through across the city toward less bullshit and more honesty. She teaches in classrooms across the city, including Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, and is a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors. Recorded live 1/14/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: The Strain - @blockheadnyc GPS - @Sabapivot Family Business - @KanyeWest Gypsy Woman - Crystal Waters
In the world of organizing, it can feel like victories are few and far between. Strong Young Voices participating in the work can sometimes find it hard to face these immense challenges with no guarantee of success. This makes moments of success, where objectives are met, very complicated. Veronica Morris Moore has organized around various injustices in Chicago, but her voice became heard clearest in the fight for a Level 1 Adult Trauma Center on the Southside, which the University of Chicago recently agreed to build. We discuss this win, other challenges, joys, and more.In the world of organizing, it can feel like victories are few and far between. Strong Young Voices participating in the work can sometimes find it hard to face these immense challenges with no guarantee of success. This makes moments of success, where objectives are met, very complicated. Veronica Morris Moore has organized around various injustices in Chicago, but her voice became heard clearest in the fight for a Level 1 Adult Trauma Center on the Southside, which the University of Chicago recently agreed to build. We discuss this win, other challenges, joys, and more. Recorded live 1/7/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Lips - @tomppabeats She - @lauramvula 47 - @chelsea-reject feat. @kirkknight Fire and Desire - Rick James & Teena Marie Pony - Ginuwine
There's a small door on 115th Street and Broadway in New York City. For nearly a decade, hip hop's royalty passed through the door and climbed a fluorescent-lit stairway to WKCR, Columbia University's community radio station, and dapped up kings of the underground Bobbito Garcia and Stretch Armstrong. The two New York natives introduced the world to an unsigned Nas, Jay Z, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, and so many more, while creating a meaningful, radical platform for the largest youth culture in the history of the world. On this very special New Year's episode, Stretch and Bob chop it up with Damon and Daniel in promotion of their transcendant new film Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives. The interview aired 12/31/15 on WHPK 88.5FM Music from this week's show: New Chapter - @MonteBooker Stretch and Bobbito Freestyle - Big L and Jay Z Stretch and Bobbito Freestyle - Black Thought, Common, Pharoahe Monch Time's Up - O.C.
Families tend to come together around the holidays. Comedian Damon Williams chats with Junior and Daniel on Christmas, breaking down the twists and turns of his comedy career, which includes stops on BET's Comic View, the Kings of Comedy tour, and stages across the country. Most importantly, he has a cachè of embarrassing Damon stories. Celebrate just another Thursday with AirGo. Recorded live 12/24/15 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music on this week's show: Audrey Hepburn - @Karavelo Home (Windy) - Kanye West feat. John Legend Live and Die in Chicago - @KingLMusic
Defcee has been raised in the renaissance. He is a rapper, educator, and mentor who has been a stalwart of the creative community in the city for years. He just released a tremendous new album called Damn Near Grown, his first in seven years–the project reflects both his own growth and the growth of the community. Cop Damn Near Grown on @Defcee's Bandcamp: defcee.bandcamp.com/album/damn-near-grown Recorded live 12/17/15 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Try it Out - DJ Burn One Noir - @Defcee All My Heroes Did Dope - @Defcee When Somebody Loves You Back - Teddy Pendergrass Homealone - @Montebooker Like Someone in Love - @tomppabeats
The Mind has lent his ear and voice to much of the best, most ambitious music to emerge from Chicago in the last few years. The vocalist is a core member of @THEMpeoplemusic, the collective of creators that Via Rosa discussed a few weeks back. Fresh off a world tour with Mick Jenkins, The Mind hops on AirGo for a conversation. Recorded live 12/10/15 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: @Karavelo - Floaties @MickJenkinsMusic - Shipwrecked (feat. @themindmusic) @StefanPonce & @Themindmusic - Lost in Translation Frankie Beverly and Maze - Before I Let Go
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