Author Brian Coleman has spent countless hours talking to Hip Hop’s architects over the course of his decades-long career. After penning books like Rakim Told Me and Check The Technique Volumes 1 & 2, now the Boston native is back with a new podcast called Do The Knowledge.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Eric B. & Rakim’s seminal 1987 album, Paid In Full, Coleman and New York City’s DJ Eclipse have shared the podcast’s inaugural 21-minute episode.
The innovative series brings with it a new concept – an “InterroMix” podcast approach — which uses original interview tapes blended with music, including the tracks discussed in the interviews (including album and single tracks, as well as the original music sampled to make those tracks).
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“I have wanted to do a mix like this for several years now – taking a deep, but sonically ho-hum interview with a Hip Hop legend and really make it come alive,” Coleman tells HipHopDX. “I personally lack any and all top-level DJ skills to make this kind of thing happen, but I knew DJ Eclipse was the perfect guy for the job. He has been a big supporter of my books going way back, and beyond that I have always considered him to be one of the most important people in the country when it comes to representing and celebrating ‘true school’ Hip Hop culture.”
Throughout the first episode, snippets of Coleman’s 2003 interview with Rakim are interspersed with the music the iconic MC is discussing. In addition to talking about his influences (like James Brown), he also details the making of songs like “I Ain’t No Joke,” “Paid In Full” and “Eric B. For President,” and dives into samples like Bobby Byrd’s “I Know You Got Soul” and The J.B.’s’ “Pass The Peas.”
With Rakim’s voice set to classic Hip Hop, funk and soul tracks, the show is a unique marriage of insider knowledge and the vibrant music that set the tone for an entire culture.
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“As soon as I threw the concept at [DJ Eclipse], he was down with it and got to work right away,” he says. “The results are even doper than I expected. I just hope that people realize how difficult it is to pull something like this off, with all the layers involved, and how much time it took to do. Eclipse crushed it, plain and simple.”
Listen to the full episode above.
