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One of the culture’s greatest commentators is going be immortalized in his hometown.Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse is getting a street named after him in Brooklyn.

As spotted on HipHopDX the late podcaster is going to live forever in New York City. On Friday, June 16, A-King, the co-host to The Combat Jack Show, took to social media to announce the forthcoming commemoration. According to the post, Bergen Street between New York Avenue and Brooklyn Avenue will soon be named after Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse.

“Family, Friends and Community at large, please join us to a momentous occasion as we come together to celebrate the passing of a City Council resolution that will forever honor the legendary Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse,” his caption read. “His immeasurable contributions to our community and the world of hip-hop deserve to be recognized and celebrated in a special way.”

A-King went on to detail why Jack is deserving of the honor. “Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse was not only an influential figure in music and media but also a passionate advocate for justice, culture, and the power of storytelling. With his pioneering work as an iconic podcast host and attorney, he touched the lives of countless individuals and brought marginalized voices to the forefront.”
Osse is largely considered a pioneer of the Hip-Hop podcast genre but got his start in the industry as an entertainment lawyer. During his legal eagle days he worked with several prominent talents including Loon, Jay-Z, and Usher. His stellar run in the podcast game came to an abrupt end when he announced he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. “In 7 years of podcasting, I’ve never missed an episode,” he wrote. “I got hit with some real life sh*t. I was recently diagnosed with Colon Cancer. I was rushed to the hospital, had some pretty severe surgery.” He continued. “I’m on the mend right now. I’m about to jump on this journey to health with chemo and alternative medicine. “Take care of your health. Your boy aint going nowhere though. We’re going to keep doing this. Keep rocking’ with us.”

Combat Jack passed on December 20, 2017. The street naming ceremony will take place Thursday, June 22 at City Hall at 1PM.

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As Trevor Noah builds out his post–Daily Show career, the comedian is adding a new job to his resume: Spotify podcaster.
Debuting later this year, the currently unnamed podcast will release weekly and feature Noah’s commentary on timely topics and in-depth conversations with influential figures from around the world, the company said on Tuesday at Cannes Lions.

The series will be a Spotify Original podcast, produced under the recently combined Spotify Studios umbrella that now includes podcast shops Gimlet and Parcast. But unlike Spotify’s major exclusive talent deals of the past, Noah’s podcast will be available on all major platforms.

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“It’s really exciting to be joining Spotify on a fun new adventure where we’ll engage in interesting and meaningful conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating people,” Noah said.

The comedian previously hosted The Daily Show podcast up until he exited the late-night talk show late last year to pursue other projects. “Maybe this comes with not being raised in America, but I believe that everything should end,” Noah told The Hollywood Reporter last November of his decision to leave the show. “A lot of American business and American media is just like, ‘Keep it going as long as possible,’ but I think it’s healthy for things to end when they’re still in a good place. I want to leave before I’m burnt out, because there are many other things I’d like to do.”

Since his exit, Noah has landed a book deal, hosted the Grammys and gone on tour. He will join Spotify’s roster of podcasting talent — which includes Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper, Anything Goes’ Emma Chamberlain and The Joe Rogan Experience’s Joe Rogan, among others — at a time when Spotify is adjusting its podcasting strategy, rethinking expensive star deals and laying off employees amid pressure from Wall Street to turn a profit on podcasting. The audio giant has also shed or otherwise ended many of the exclusive deals it brokered to help get its podcast business started, notably with the Obamas’ Higher Ground, Brené Brown, Esther Perel, and, as of June 15, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell.

Instead, the audio company has been pursuing a wider distribution model, releasing shows like Chamberlain’s once-exclusive Anything Goes on all major platforms and focusing on its advertising capabilities.

“Spotify is the ultimate audio destination, and partnering with Trevor Noah, one of the world’s most brilliant and distinctive voices, will make for captivating storytelling that will delight our more than 100 million podcast listeners around the world,” Julie McNamara, Spotify vp and head of global podcast studios, said. “We are excited to collaborate with Trevor to create an original podcast that seamlessly combines his unique humor, insightful commentary and consummate interview skills on a global scale.”

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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Little Brother remains one of the best groups in Hip-Hop history and their impact and influence is still flourishing some two decades later. Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh recently shared in an excellent podcast interview plenty about their background, including saying that had a heavy influence on Kanye West when the Chicago superstar was early on the rise.
Little Brother sat down with the Dear Culture podcast, hosted by Panama Jackson. The three gentlemen discussed the early days of Little Brother, the impact of their 2003 album The Listening, and the nature of their relationship with their former bandmate, 9th Wonder.

Fans of the group are well aware of the track “I See Now” which features a strong verse from Kanye West and it would probably figure that the producer and rapper, a member at the time of the sprawling Roc-A-Fella camp, served as an inspiration but Little Brother says it was the other way around.
From theGrio:
Panama Jackson: There are a lot of groups in hip hop who will never be remembered. Y’all will never be forgotten. Like do y’all ever sit back, reflect on that part of it? Like y’all literally cemented a spot in a genre of music in hip-hop that will never be forgotten.
Phonte: Um yeah, I mean Pooh I’ll let you take it but I’ll just say. I think it was more so you know, Kanye didn’t influence us, we influenced him.
Panama: Yeah.
Phonte: So you know I just want to put that out there and make sure that’s clear. Pooh you can take it from here.
Panama: Make it clear right, I’m with you.
Big Pooh: Every now and again you have the moments where you like, damn, you know, look what we did. Or look at the impact, you know, that that we’ve had. But, you know, like, even when we when I saw they have put our name up at the Grammys when they was doing the fifth year of hip hop, and they had our name and it was front and center like that was that was one of the moments I was like, oh, censor word like, it was definitely one of the moments, it was just like, I expect us to always have quality. I expect excellence. But it’s still unexpected when people or when you step back and start seeing the high regard were held in. Not that we don’t deserve it. It’s just I’ve been so busy doing the work I don’t take a lot of time to. You know, sit back and acknowledge the work.
Check out the conversation between Little Brother and Dear Culture’s Panama Jackson below.


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In her new podcast, the revealing En Boca Cerrada: Lo Que Nunca Se Nunca Se Dicho Sobre El Caso Trevi-Andrade, María Raquenel Portillo (formerly known as Mary Boquitas) tells her story for the first time about the teenage sex cult that shocked the world in the ’90s.
For those who do not remember the case and its protagonists, Portillo — who eventually had a brief career as a singer and actress — was married to Sergio Andrade, the manager, producer and artist promoter who “discovered” Gloria Trevi in the late ’80s and was instrumental in her stardom. But Andrade was later indicted and jailed on sordid charges of corruption of minors, as were Trevi and Portillo, who were later exonerated of all charges against them.

Portillo, however, continued to be singled out by many as an accomplice in the case. Now, for the first time, she details her life with the disgraced Mexican hitmaker, and the changing relationship they had over the years: teacher and student, husband and wife, divorced couple, boss and employee, manager and artist, and master and maid.

Portillo would share with Trevi her husband, the world stage and, later, a prison cell. Billboard Español contacted Trevi’s representatives for comment on the podcast, but received no response. Trevi was acquitted of all charges against her in 2004 and has repeatedly said that she too was a victim of abuse. For his part, Andrade has not commented on the case. He received a sentence of 7 years and 10 months in prison, and was released in 2007.

Produced by Uforia and Pitaya Entertainment, the first season of En Boca Cerrada reveals heartbreaking details about the disturbing case, reminiscent of the Jeffrey Epstein and R. Kelly scandals. The presenter alleges that she was brainwashed into marrying Andrade in the mid-’80s when she was only 15 years old; he was twice her age. She also claims to be the first victim of the Trevi-Andrade clan. 

“There is no definite time to tell a story. However before I did it was vital to heal my wounds, get my life back and have the strength to make it happen,” she tells Billboard Español 19 years after being acquitted of charges of corruption of minors. “God’s timing so perfectly aligned with mine and the opportunity came so clearly and precisely.” The presenter invites journalist María García, psychologist Francia Piña, Rubén Aviña, author of the book Aline: La Gloria por el Infierno, her mother, her sister and more people who bring their own knowledge and experiences about the case.

“In the first recordings I swear I almost regretted it — because they say that to remember is to live again,” she continues. “Through my emotions at the time, I discovered how I really went through this and was able to tolerate it.”

According to a press release, in its first week En Boca Cerrada was the most listened to Spanish-language podcast in the U.S., reaching No. 52 on Spotify’s Top Podcasts list, while in Mexico it reached No. 1 on both Spotify and Apple.

While stunningly entertaining, the uncensored podcast ultimately serves as a cautionary tale, a deep dive into the lurid world of a serial child molester and those unfortunate enough to cross his path, in the voice of one of the survivors. Here are five revelations from En Boca Cerrada.

The Tactics of a Child Molester

Over the course of ten chapters, the host reveals increasingly atrocious scenarios. Portillo does not hold back when talking about the warning signs that were present from the beginning, but that neither she nor her family saw. From their first meeting, she describes how Andrade made her wait hours for his appointments, when the then-respected producer had scheduled her for a casting at 4:00 p.m. and was not seen until midnight. According to Portillo, it was a tactic Andrade used to detect his prey and see how far a potential victim and her family were willing to go for the mere possibility of having a better life. 

When he formed the all-girl teen group Boquitas Pintadas, Portillo says the girls were not allowed to talk or “gossip” with each other. He reinforced manipulation with extreme jealousy, tender words, long rehearsal days and tons of gaslighting. The gang of five later grew into dozens of aspiring artists who adored and idolized Gloria Trevi’s star power (who was considered the Mexican Madonna and the biggest pop star in Mexico and beyond) and Andrade’s star-making gift. He made the girls believe were all his family, according to Portillo, but instead they “were all one in his eyes,” she says in the podcast.

With the help of his guests, Portillo reveals the profile of an antisocial narcissist, who exercised absolute power over weak victims. He did not foresee consequences or take responsibility, and constantly blamed the girls for the slightest thing, even for eating a can of tuna without permission. “Please sir,” “thank you sir,” and “I’m sorry sir” were a must at the end of every sentence, the narrator says. 

“If I Can’t Marry Her, I Will Steal Her”

Portillo says that when she was 14 years old, Andrade began to ask her to marry him. When her parents discovered that their daughter was in love with the producer, he assured them that it was something platonic and fleeting. When the relationship became more serious, Andrade responded to her parents by saying that they also married young. “Yes, but Pepe (Raquenel’s father) was also a child and not a grown man,” exclaimed her mother. “If I can’t marry her, I will steal her. You choose,” Andrade threatened her, something that was not uncommon in rural Mexico at the time. Portillo was about to turn fifteen. Her parents threw her a quinceañera — without chambelanes, at Andrade’s request — in hopes that their daughter would change her mind. It didn’t happen.

Portillo explains that in her time almost all women aspired to marry and raise a family. And rather than to marry a person of lower economic status, Andrade convinced her parents that the only way for their daughter to succeed was to marry a well-positioned man like himself. That, coupled with religion to enforce obedience, became a dangerous mix — because “this man felt he was God,” Portillo says in the podcast.

Normal or Normalized?

“Everything Sergio said sounded logical… that was his power,” Portillo says in the podcast. Andrade had absolute control over his victims because he made sure it was so. The day of their marriage ended their romantic phase and the violence began, according to Portillo. The narrator says she was violently, physically and sexually assaulted on her wedding night. After punching her, he allegedly fondled her and raped her. “I’m doing it for your sake so you’ll be perfect,” he often told her, she recounts. Wired beatings accompanied by sex became the norm for her and other victims, she says.

When she was still a teenager, Portillo became pregnant and he arranged her abortion without her knowledge, she says, a procedure she believes left her sterile for life. “One is taught that love can do anything and that for love everything is endured,” she tells Billboard Español. “In any type of love relationship where you don’t immediately identify a red flag… that’s where the dangerous thing happens, when we love for love, out of affection or compassion and we put up with [abuse] over and over again. And suddenly these types of relationships become addictive. Addiction is co-dependence on something that even though you know it’s wrong, you’re there.”

Andrade was untouchable, Portillo says, noting that people who knew of his misconduct remained silent, including famed television host Raul Velazco, who died in 2006. Velazco was never accused of misconduct or linked to Andrade. Somehow, says the narrator, the disgraced producer — who years later was convicted — managed to normalize the most atrocious behavior.

Gloria Trevi’s Feminist Rebellion

Gloria Trevi was Sergio Andrade’s golden goose, says Portillo in episode 8, “El fenómeno Trevi, un anzuelo perfecto” (or “The Trevi Phenomenon, a Perfect Hook”). She says that the “Pelo Suelto” singer’s success was rewarded with privileges such as eating at fancy restaurants (with the help of the superstar’s hard earned money) that the other girls didn’t have access to, even though many were part of Trevi’s team — Portillo was her backup singer. She also alleges that Trevi’s gigantic hair was not her idea but Andrade’s — allegedly, she liked to keep her hair very neat — as well as her famous ripped pantyhose and sensationalist statements to the press, like how she would run for the presidency. Her feminist artistic rebellion, shockingly, was masterminded by her abuser, according to the podcaster. 

The Hierarchy of “The Favorites”

Being among the producer’s “favorites” was something the girls in the clan aspired to — they all wanted to be at the top of the chain, and the younger they were, the more likely they were to get it, according to Portillo. Under Andrade’s control, the 12- and 13-year-olds were “easier” to mold for “maximum results,” while the older ones (18 and up) had a shorter lifespan within the clan, which kept them away from him and the possibility of stardom. Being a favorite, however, did not exclude the girls from physical punishment, Portillo says, but guaranteed them a better standing before the master and occasional small luxuries: a better meal and a couple of compliments. 

For most of her two decades with the clan, Mary Boquitas stayed lower on the list of favorites because of her growing age, she says. She was, however, the most loyal, and while that didn’t earn her special treatment, it did earn her Andrade’s trust, a relationship she says she’s not proud of.

Gloria Trevi, however, “was never just one more, she wasn’t like the rest, like them or like me. Without denying that Gloria was not 100 percent free, we all knew that when the time came she would sit down to propose punishments with the teacher, or make decisions that would make it clear that she was not just one more,” narrates Portillo in episode 10. Andrade knew how to manipulate each of the girls to provoke distrust among them, the narrator continues, comparing the dynamics to a reality show, to awaken that pressing need to please him and be able to climb a place in his ranking.

Portillo mentions the National Human Trafficking Hotline at the end of each episode. If you are at risk or know someone who may be, call 1-888-373-7888, or visit https://humantraffickinghotline.org.

The first season of En Boca Cerrada consists of 10 episodes that are available on Uforia. The first nine episodes can be heard on all other podcast platforms. The second season of En Boca Cerrada is currently in production.

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Charlamagne Tha God revealed to Kevin Hart that renowned author Judy Blume was his “ultimate dream interview” recently while on a podcast.
The media personality was a recent guest on the newest episode of the Gold Minds with Kevin Hart podcast series, which is a joint collaboration between SiriusXM and Hart’s media company, Hartbeat. As they spoke, The Breakfast Club host spoke highly of the well-regarded young adult author,

“I just did one [interview] that will be coming out real soon and it was with somebody who absolutely, positively has shaped my life from afar, just being a fan of their work and I cannot wait for that conversation comes out,” Charlamagne began. “I might as well tell you who it is…It’s with Judy Blume!” He explained: “I love Judy Blume because my mom was an English teacher and she would always tell me to read things that don’t pertain to me.  So when I would go to the library, I’d see these books with these little white boys and white girls on the front and I’m like, well that’s nothing like my life so I would read all of her work and I fell in love with her.”
Both men also spoke about Charlamagne’s own personal evolution, with Hart and the media personality joking about his time with Wendy Williams beforehand. “How do you personally feel about your progression to this point? Is it surreal to you, or is it expected?” Hart asked. “It’s still surreal. My mother gave me a piece of advice nine, ten years ago that I still hold onto – ‘just be happy you’re making a living.”, Charlamagne responded.
The two also discussed the growth of The Breakfast Club to becoming a significant platform for the culture in recent years, with Hart noting how he would make it a point with his team to ensure that any time he went to New York City, he would be booked on the show. “I can say that I really started to look at you guys like “wow” when I saw how you went into the political stuff,” the comedian said.
The Gold Minds with Kevin Hart podcast is available now on all podcast platforms.

For such an enduring anthem that continues to define wild, wild youth to this day, Nirvana‘s breakthrough 1991 hit “Smell Like Teen Spirit” is inscrutable at best. “A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido?” Not exactly

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According to late Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain‘s widow, former Hole front woman Courtney Love, the lyrics Cobain didn’t use were somehow more byzantine. Love broke down some of the song’s scrapped lines during an appearance on Rob Harvilla’s The Ringer podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s, an excellent series that has gone way beyond its title’s promise to tackle the tales behind such classics as the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” Los Del Rio’s “Macarena” and many, many more.

Love noted that some of the cutting room floor lines ended up in Cobain’s published journals, while others have never seen the light of day. When Harvilla asked if she would mind singing a few of them a cappella, Love obliged, first asking the host if he had a guitar while explaining that some were sketches in which Cobain was trying to work out the rhyme scheme for the song.

Love then sang the lines, “Come out and play/ Make up the rules/ I know I hope to buy the truth/ Who will be the king and queen of all the outcasted teens?” While those lyrics don’t resemble anything in the final, another couplet she sang was somewhat closer to the final chorus: “We’re so lazy and so stupid/ Blame our parents and the cupids/ A deposit for a bottle/ Stick it inside, no role model.”

She then went into another verse that went, “Come out and play/ Make up the rules/ Have lots of fun, we know we’ll lose/ Out little group has always been and always will until the end.” In a fascinating peek into at the subtle lyrical tweaks that can take a good song into all-time-classic, Love sang another couplet that was close, but not quite final. “Something I bought and don’t deserve/ To know, oh no, a dirty word/ Load up on guns and bring your friends/ I know, I know it’s wrong to offend/ Take off your clothes/ I’ll see you in court.”

She then ran through a verse that, again, provided a window into the germ that became an anthem of several generations. “We merge ahead, this special day/ This day giving amnesty to sacrilege/ A denial, and from strangers/ A revival, and from favors/ Here we are now, we’re so famous/ Here we are now, entertain us.”

Believe it or not, there was even more. “Come out and play and make up the rules/ I know I hope to buy the truth/ Who will be the king and queen of all the outcasted teens… We’re so lazy, and so stupid/ And from Vegas, here we are now, entertain us.” The final bit of lyrical leftovers included the lines, “I’ll take a slide, I’ll be over here/ Sustain a pride from a boring stare/ Just humor them, a relaxing dose/ To have a child is a selfish roast.”

Love said the unused lyrics reveal a alternate universe, what with the lines about the outcasted teens and the one about being famous at a time when the world hardly knew the group, not to mention the bit about Las Vegas, a city she said Cobain had never been to at that point. “The only consistencies it retains are ‘load up on guns’ and ‘our little group has always been until the end,’” she said. “There is no more. There is no other lyrics from ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’” she added, admitting she tends not to listen to Nirvana’s music.

The lengthy chat also included digressions into her buying Cobain a Leonard Cohen lyric book, the beginnings of Cobain’s private feud with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, which allegedly included Kurt saying Love “wasn’t allowed” to listen to PJ’s “Jeremy” while pregnant with the couple’s daughter, as well as talk about their heroin use and Kurt’s favorite band, The Melvins.

Listen to the episode below (“Teen Spirit” talk begins around the two-hour mark).

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While Charlamagne is now focused on spreading positivity, his former self was on a different type of time. He recently confirmed that he and Busta Rhymes almost got into it years ago.

As spotted on Complex, DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God paid a visit to the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast. The duo discussed a variety of topics regarding their rise to fame as one of the premier Hip-Hop morning shows in the country. Gillie and Wallo eventually asked about some of their past run-ins with rappers, and Charlamagne confirmed the long standing rumors that he and Busta Rhymes almost got into it.

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“Who ran down on me? Busta. Yeah, Busta ran down on me,” he opened. “I was being disrespectful. But you know what it was, though, I’ll say this. I wanted to win so bad when we got The Breakfast Club, anybody could get it.” He went on to admit that he was in the wrong and purposely was calling out the rap legend over his freestyle with DMX over “Otis,” which was originally recorded by The Throne.
“It was that freezer sh*t, man. I used to put rappers in a freezer back in the day. I put Busta in the freezer ’cause Busta had did a freestyle over the ‘Otis’ beat,” he explained. “And the crazy sh*t is, the sh*t is actually hard, but I was just being an a**hole. So it was Busta Rhymes and DMX — God bless the dead — on the ‘Otis’ beat, but I gave him ‘Donkey of the Day’ for no reason. It really was for no reason.”
The Moncks Corner, South Carolina native went on to detail their exchange, which almost went left. “Busta said, ‘You know me?! I said, ‘Yeah, I know you. You a dude who used to be hot but your sh*t wack now.’ Busta said, ‘You better stop this tough guy sh*t before I f*** you up in here!’ I’m drunk as sh*t, I’m like, ‘I’m a f*** you up.’ I said, ‘We gonna fight in this muthaf***er or something.’ Then Busta’s people came, my people came, and they just broke us up.”
You can view the interview with DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God below.
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Matthew Schonfeld and RaShaad Strong used to play a simple game to pass the time while working at Manhattan’s Only NY boutique.
“We started going on SoundCloud to find the artist with the least followers [who had] the song that was more fire than the next one,” Schonfeld says. The pair would alternate playing “SoundCloud rabbit hole” finds from now-established acts. While Strong usually had the best picks, Schonfeld unwillingly admits, both music lovers emerged as winners.

In 2016, the duo began their music discovery podcast Not97 — its name, of course, a “tongue-in-cheek” reference to renowned New York hip-hop FM station Hot97. “We love Hot97,” Schonfeld says. “It does its thing for [big] artists, and we’re going to do what we do for [emerging] artists.”

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Five years later, Not97 was picked up by Human Re Sources and The Orchard after seven seasons, and recently landed at No. 2 on the Apple Music Podcasts Chart. Along with their newest co-host Athena Yasaman, the trio of music lovers — who double as professional managers, curators and fashion industry creators — search the depths of the internet to find the best under-underground artists and pass the aux back and forth, highlighting their favorite finds across genres.

“What I liked most about Not97 is how it felt similar to our mission as a company of being disruptive,” says Human Re Sources CEO and EVP of creative development at Sony Music, Jay Erving. “They have a very high taste level and batting average in terms of picking artists that are ultimately going to have success.”

Each episode also features guests who bring two of their own music picks — including fashion designers, curators, DJs, A&Rs, music journalists, artists, music executives and directors. This season’s guests will include artists Jordan Ward, Fana Hues and Alex Vaughn.

“[Not97] has given artists an outlet that’s less abrasive,” explains co-founder Strong. “We’re one of the few platforms that if you come on to the show, we’re not even going to ask you many questions about your actual artistry. It’s a safe space.”

Instead, the artists spend their time uplifting other artists smaller than them that they admire, leaning into a community-based approach that is uncommon in the world of music interviews.

Founded in 2016, Not97 carved out its own uncharted space amidst an influx of music podcast start-ups, including Drink Champs and The Joe Budden Podcast (formerly known as I’ll Name This Podcast Later), among others. While wildly popular podcasts from known veteran music personalities like N.O.R.E., Joe Budden and Angie Martinez have thrived with superstar guests, co-founders Schonfeld and Strong made a name for themselves by leaning into the exact opposite.

“I got bored of blogs — I didn’t feel like I was finding new music there,” Schonfeld explains. “I was trying to figure out how I could effect some sort of change within music discovery for young artists. The podcast is kind of built as a means to an end for that.”

Schonfeld’s strategy has remained the same over the years: going down those SoundCloud rabbit holes in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough. And his strategy has worked: Not97 featured Baby Keem, King Princess, Giveon, Kenny Mason, Arlo Parks, Tierra Whack, Fousheé and plenty of other now-notable acts before their breakout moments.

“You can read 500 words about an artist and still not press play on the song,” he says. “So [we thought], ‘Let’s streamline it and create a way to listen to a podcast and to eight songs.’”

Not only does Not97 expose small artists to an audience of thousands, but the platform has also become a strong networking tool for small acts to secure otherwise inaccessible opportunities. Schonfeld says he and his collaborators spent the first year of Not97 building relationships with artists, reaching out to ask permission before playing their songs. Featuring recorded tracks soon turned to holding full performances, when the team began their Not a Showcase series in Los Angeles and New York, setting the stage for a few acts to perform live for a ticketed audience and creating opportunities for those acts to profit from their art.

Beyond opportunities directly tied to Not97, the podcast allows for the show’s guests to be exposed to music from acts with small audiences. Over the course of nine seasons, Not97 has had music industry guests including artists, sync licensing coordinators, label executives and music journalists, with some artists whose music was featured going on to secure booking agents and performances thanks to their inclusion on episodes.

“When we started this, we didn’t set out to be the biggest podcast — we were using the podcast medium as a means of sharing music,” Schonfeld says. “We were like, ‘This is the easiest way for us to play this music, have these conversations and get it out there.’ In the last, like, four or five years, everybody started a podcast — it’s just gone crazy. That being said, I do think that the music podcast world is still fairly untapped.”

But despite the boom of podcast listenership, some companies are cutting back. In March, NPR announced that it would be canceling four podcasts — Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot, Everyone & Their Mom and Rough Translation — to close a $30 million budget gap. In an article from NPR announcing the cancellation and a layoff of 10 percent of their staff, the platform attributed the slashing of those podcasts to “advertisers’ growing reluctance to spend money, particularly on podcasting, in an uncertain economy.”

“The problem is a lot of these companies don’t necessarily know what they’re doing with this content,” Schonfeld says. “I don’t think NPR realizes how important what they have is. They’re going to be producing Louder Than a Riot for this whole season and I hope by the end of it, NPR rethinks their [decision].”

When asked if he worries for Not97, Schonfeld is confident. “Not97’s tagline is, ‘Not a podcast, not a radio show.’ That has put us in a space that’s one foot in, one foot out,” he says. “A lot of our success up until now has been on the music side of things. I think of Not97 as an overarching brand and the podcast being the nucleus of that.”

Schonfeld says that the collaboration with Human Re Sources and The Orchard will allow them to provide resources to artists that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. “Having a global distribution platform behind us where I can pitch artists to internal teams that [handle] music distribution, marketing, digital marketing services,” he lists. “The Orchard really builds itself out to be a full support system for artists.”

“Both Spotify, Apple and others are really leaning into podcasts,” says Erving. “I think we’re gonna start to see them behind the paywall, which will lend itself to a lot more revenue in the space.”

When it comes to the future of Not97, co-founder Strong has big plans for expansion. “[We’re thinking about] potentially going to a larger platform to amplify what we already do in terms of video,” he says. “Matt has always wanted to do a label from when I met him, before we even did the podcast. So a label would be the next thing. That was the ultimate goal.”

Michael Fitzpatrick, singer for rock band Fitz & the Tantrums, doesn’t envy the younger generation of artists trying to catch a break in the music business.
“I’m so grateful my career happened and flourished before TikTok came,” Fitzpatrick tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “I feel for these new artists. They’re not even making music. They’re just content creators. They’ll work a whole year on an album and [if] their label doesn’t see enough viral s–t, they’ll literally shelf their album.”

Fitzpatrick is hardly alone in his criticism of TikTok. Last year, Halsey blasted her record label for holding the release of a new track “unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” Lizzy McAlpine, who debuted on the Hot 100 chart in February thanks to the success of the track “Ceilings” on TikTok, told Billboard she has “a love/hate relationship” with the app. “I feel like I can see the benefits of it, which is why I post,” said McAlpine. “But if I didn’t have to post, I would not be posting on TikTok.”

Not that Fitz & the Tantrums hasn’t had a bit of TikTok success; the band’s song “Out of My League,” which reached No. 13 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart back in 2013, has been given added longevity by being used in nearly 165,000 TikTok videos. But artists and labels can’t summon a viral hit on command, and Fitzpatrick isn’t sure lightning will strike twice. “I would say in the law of averages, we already had our viral moment on TikTok. So what’s the chance I’m going to get two? I’m not so sure.”

The trick is coming up with what Fitzpatrick calls “quotable” moments in music. He cites Meghan Trainor’s “Made You Look” as a good example of a song that wasn’t necessarily written with social media in mind but is perfectly built for viral potential. Trainor and her co-writers Sean Douglas and Federico Vender wrote “vibrant, neon-colored lyrics” with brand names — Gucci and Louis Vuitton — to go with “a cool dance,” he says. “I think if you can find a lyric that really feels makes a statement or says something profound in a clever way and is succinct enough, that’s not a bad idea to consider in your songwriting because it gives your song a quotable moment.”

If there’s a song from the latest Fitz & the Tantrums album, Let Yourself Free from 2022, with TikTok potential, it could be a track called “Ahhhh.” The lyrics — Fitzpatrick songs “I could be someone when I grow up” in the pre-chorus — have already attracted some TikTok users. “What I realized is we weren’t trying to create that moment, but it might be the most quotable part of the whole record,” says Fitzpatrick. “People went out, they felt that lyric, felt that message and they’re creating.”

But will “Ahhhh” resonate with a larger swath of TikTok users? “We’ll see,” Fitzpatrick says cautiously. “It’s such a tricky thing.”

Listen to the entire Behind the Setlist interview with Fitzpatrick at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Stitcher or Amazon Music. 

Forget Ozempic, or the Hollywood 48-hour miracle diet. If you really want to get superstar fit, Coldplay singer Chris Martin suggests you do what he does: listen to The Boss. In his case that’s 73-year-old miracle of biology Bruce Springsteen, from whom Martin has learned a very important diet tip.

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“I actually don’t have dinner anymore,” Martin told Conan O’Brien on this week’s episode of the former late night host’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend when O’Brien asked what important lessons the singer has learned from meeting, and breaking bread, with so many of his rock idols. “I stop eating at 4 [p.m.] and I learned that from having lunch with Bruce Springsteen.”

O’Brien, in his best Springsteen grunt, joked, “what happened? You were having lunch with him and he said, ‘after this NO MORE! That’s it!’”

Martin explained that he got to share a mid-day meal at home with Bruce and wife/bandmate Patti Scialfa the day after Coldplay performed in Philadelphia earlier this year, which is where the rock icon known for his age-defying stamina during sometimes three-plus-hour concerts dropped a few pearls of diet wisdom on his young charge.

“I was on a really strict diet anyway,” Martin continued. “But I was like, ‘Bruce looks even more in shape than me’ and Patti said he’s only eating one meal a day. I was like, ‘Well, there we go. That’s my next challenge.’” They both had jokes about what that one meal is, with O’Brien suggesting it was an 8-foot-long sub sandwich and Martin matching his punchline by revealing that it’s an entire buffalo.

“And then you see it’s this giant vat of beef chili,” O’Brien chuckled. “The chef came out and said, ‘today we have flank of buffalo with a steroid sauce,’” Martin quipped.

Martin will keep burning those calories on Coldplay’s massive Music of the Spheres world tour, wrapping up the current South American leg with a run of shows at Estadio Nilton Santos Engenhao in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on March 25, 26 and 28 before moving on to another European swing that will run from May 17 through July 19. A final North American string of dates in September wraps with an Oct. 1 gig at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

Watch Martin’s interview with O’Brien below.