Before Detroit gave the world Motown, techno, and hip-hop, it gave the world something harder to name: a feeling that music made in basements and backrooms and borrowed spaces could become the soundtrack to an entire generation's life. That is the story Living for the City is here to tell, and nobody alive is better equipped to tell it than Hanif Abdurraqib.
MacArthur Fellow. New York Times bestselling author. The most gifted writer working at the intersection of music, memory, and American identity today. Hanif brings his singular voice to a new video podcast series that goes inside the streets, venues, and neighborhoods where iconic sounds are born, talking with the artists, DJs, producers, and community architects who built these movements from the ground up.
Season One is Detroit. Eight episodes. The full arc of how one city became the unlikely origin point for some of the most influential music ever made, told by the people who were actually there, and the writer who understands better than anyone what it meant.
This is not a music history lesson. This is a front-row seat to the moments that mattered.
Living for the City premieres May 13th, with new episodes dropping weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
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📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
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Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 19
mercredi 16 septembre 2026 • Durée 35:40
Bill Blackwell has been Bob Seger's tour manager for 50 years, a career that puts him at the center of Detroit's rock and roll story from the sock hops of the late 1960s through stadium tours decades later. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Blackwell traces Seger's regional grind, driving through the night to play shows in Florida for a broken record. He recounts the electric night Live Bullet was recorded at Cobo Hall, and the Pontiac Silverdome show that turned 80 people in Chicago into 80,000 fans almost overnight. He talks about the vanished Detroit venues that shaped the city's live music scene, and his own start as a college entertainment director booking Ted Nugent and the Pretty Things. And he explains why Seger always closed the show, even when Peter Frampton's team pushed for top billing weeks before Frampton Comes Alive turned Frampton into a superstar.
He also tells the story of the Canadian customs officer who pulled him and Seger off a routine border crossing just to get his Live Bullet album autographed. He remembers caddying for Seger's celebrity golf round with Tiger Woods at the Buick Open. And he explains how a 90-minute soundcheck before every single show became the standard, one that never changed no matter how big the tours got.
CHAPTERS
00:25 - First Time Seeing Bob Seger: The 1969 Sock Hop and the Regional Grind
03:33 - Recording Live Bullet at Cobo Hall and the Night That Changed Everything
06:41 - The Work Ethic: 90-Minute Soundchecks and "Making It Right for the Fans"
10:09 - Detroit's Lost Venues and the College Booking Days
13:56 - Staying Rooted in Detroit: Auto Worker Paydays and "The Fans Own 80 to 85% of the Setlist"
18:31 - Golfing With Tiger Woods at the Buick Open
23:11 - The Frampton Negotiation and a Drummer's Emergency Flight
25:33 - December 1975: The Month Everything Changed
28:00 - Punch, Coral Gables, and 50 Years on the Road With Bob
30:06 - Crossing the Canadian Border and Night Moves Blowing Up
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Bill Blackwell, Bob Seger, Bob Seger tour manager, Live Bullet, Detroit rock history, Cobo Hall, Pontiac Silverdome, Bob Seger Tiger Woods, Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive, Detroit music history, Night Moves, Stranger in Town, Ramblin Gamblin Man, Detroit venues, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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Isiah Thomas on the Bad Boys and Why Detroit Never Got Credit | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 18
mercredi 9 septembre 2026 • Durée 45:14
Isiah Thomas is a Basketball Hall of Famer and the captain of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys," the back-to-back champions who played the game their own way and never apologized for it. This conversation goes far beyond basketball. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Thomas walks through the sound of the Bad Boys locker room, the shift from funk to hip hop, "Freaks Come Out at Night" as the team's entrance music, and the season MTV and Downtown Julie Brown followed the team around Detroit. He talks about the crowd erupting to Hava Nagila one quarter and Prince the next, the third jersey that started as pure Detroit innovation, and why the team's national reputation as villains never matched how the city actually saw them. He gets specific about Kid Rock and Eminem sharing the arena, MC Hammer bringing TLC to the Palace, and the Dietrich furs that became part of a swagger the team built by actually being in the neighborhoods.
He also opens up about his decades-long friendship with Aretha Franklin, from the day her family reached out to a young player who didn't know how to pay his bills, to the night he escorted her to her final performance at the Kennedy Center, and the eulogy he gave from the heart at her funeral. He talks about the vets who raised him, Phil Hubbard and Greg Kelser, what he thinks sports mentorship has lost, and why Detroit felt like home from day one.
CHAPTERS
00:15 - The Bad Boys Locker Room: From Funk to Hip Hop
01:13 - MTV, Downtown Julie Brown, and Breaking Mariah Carey
03:07 - Villains Nationally, Motown at Home: The Real Detroit Story
06:04 - "Freaks Come Out at Night" and the Sound of the Bad Boys
10:10 - The Third Jersey and the Birth of Bad Boys Marketing
13:20 - Kid Rock, Eminem, MC Hammer, and a City That Never Got Credit
16:57 - Dietrich Furs and Building Real Swagger
19:30 - Aretha Franklin: Friendship, Community, and a Eulogy From the Heart
26:09 - Phil Hubbard, Greg Kelser, and the Lost Art of Veteran Mentorship
31:44 - Home From Day One: Diversity, the Current Pistons, and What It Means to Win in Detroit
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Isiah Thomas, Isiah Thomas interview, Detroit Pistons Bad Boys, Isiah Thomas Aretha Franklin, Bad Boys Pistons, Detroit basketball history, Isiah Thomas Hall of Fame, Aretha Franklin friendship, Detroit sports culture, Detroit music history, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit Pistons history, MC Hammer Detroit, Kid Rock Eminem Detroit, Detroit culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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Nasaan on Proof's Legacy, Detroit Rap, and Kicking Down the Door | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 17
mercredi 2 septembre 2026 • Durée 32:38
Nasaan is a Detroit rapper, director, editor, and world-builder who signed to Atlantic Records off the first video he ever made, and whose ERA 404 project — part album, part short film, part visual universe — is one of the most ambitious pieces of work to come out of Detroit hip hop in years. He is also the son of Proof, D12's beloved rapper and Eminem's closest collaborator, who was shot and killed in 2006. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, Nasaan talks about growing up between Detroit and Atlanta, how two cities shaped a sound that doesn't belong entirely to either, and why he spent years running from his father's legacy before he finally decided to embrace it. He breaks down ERA 404 — the Severance-inspired concept, the cardigan-wearing intern character, the 404 as both Atlanta's area code and an internet error — and talks about his next project, Method Acting, and what it means to get so deep inside a world you become the character. He talks about Big Sean as a mentor and older brother, what Royce da 5'9" has meant to him, and why he thinks it just takes one artist to kick the door down for a new era of Detroit rap.
This one is about carrying something forward without letting it define you.
CHAPTERS
00:24 - The Renaissance Man: Rapping, Directing, Editing, Producing
01:44 - Necessity as the Mother of Invention: Learning to Do It Himself
02:51 - Born in Detroit, Raised in Atlanta: Two Cultures, One Sound
05:35 - The Pressure of Legacy and Learning to Stop Running from It
09:42 - Royce da 5'9", Big Sean, and the Mentors Who Held Him Down
12:10 - Goated, Severance, and the World of ERA 404
15:52 - Big Sean and What Detroit Owes Him
18:40 - Where Detroit Rap Is Going and Who's Going to Kick the Door Down
22:14 - Atlanta vs Detroit: Infrastructure, Cliques, and What's Missing Here
26:30 - Method Acting and What Comes Next
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Nasaan, Nasaan interview, Nasaan Detroit rapper, ERA 404, Method Acting album, Proof D12 son, Detroit hip hop, Big Sean, Royce da 5'9", Atlantic Records Detroit, Detroit rap next generation, world building rap, Detroit music future, Eminem D12, Proof rapper, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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House Shoes on Detroit Radio, J Dilla, and DJ Integrity | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 16
mercredi 26 août 2026 • Durée 48:56
House Shoes is a Detroit DJ and producer who spent a decade as the resident DJ at St. Andrew's Hall, ran Street Corner Music as a label for over a decade, and came up alongside J Dilla and Proof before relocating to Los Angeles. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
House Shoes talks about coming up on Detroit radio with Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard, breaking into the St. Andrew's Hall scene as a teenager, forming his crew 31 Flavors, and learning to make beats in J Dilla's basement. He gets into what it took to hold onto his integrity as a DJ once Detroit's hip hop scene started chasing hits after 1996.
He also gets into the year he lost both Dilla and Proof and left Detroit for Los Angeles, building Street Corner Music into a label that gave dozens of artists their first record, and the lesson Dilla taught him about finishing a beat before he ever played it for anyone.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Growing Up on Detroit Radio and Discovering the Scene
10:11 - Forming 31 Flavors and a Decade Behind the Decks at St. Andrew's Hall
12:20 - Meeting J Dilla and Learning the Discipline of Curation
19:53 - Losing Dilla and Proof and Leaving Detroit
25:53 - Rebuilding Life and Community in Los Angeles
32:24 - The Future of Detroit Rap and Mentorship Across Generations
37:49 - Street Corner Music and Giving Artists Their First Record
42:10 - Dilla's Mentorship and Staying True to the Work
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, House Shoes, Detroit hip hop, Detroit DJ, St. Andrew's Hall, Street Corner Music, J Dilla, Proof, Detroit rap history, 31 Flavors, Detroit music history, Detroit hip hop history, Detroit culture, hip hop podcast, music history podcast, Danny Brown, Denmark Vesey
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Brenda Franklin Corbett on Growing Up With Aretha Franklin | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 15
mercredi 19 août 2026 • Durée 40:46
Brenda Franklin Corbett is Aretha Franklin's cousin, raised in the Franklin family home in Detroit alongside Aretha, Carolyn, Erma, and Cecil, and one of Aretha's longtime background singers as part of the trio Aretha named the Prima Donnas. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Brenda talks about singing with the grown folks in the choir at New Bethel Baptist Church by age six, in her own robe and her own chair, and the parade of legends who passed through the Franklin house on Oakland and East Grand Boulevard, from B.B. King and Cab Calloway to Mahalia Jackson. She gets into what it took to hold a note behind an artist who wanted the sound, the routines, and the look all perfect.
She also gets into the move to Los Angeles to help raise Aretha's children, her role advising the film Respect, and the day of Aretha's funeral, when she turned off the broadcast to catch a flight and landed three hours later to find it was still going.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Born Into the Franklin House
06:41 - Learning Her Voice
09:27 - Chasing the Dream to New York
12:17 - Singing Behind Aretha
17:49 - Los Angeles and Raising the Kids
22:33 - The Future of Gospel
25:15 - Guarding the Legacy
30:06 - What She's Most Proud Of
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Brenda Franklin Corbett, Aretha Franklin, Detroit gospel, Detroit music history, New Bethel Baptist Church, C.L. Franklin, Prima Donnas, background singers, Respect movie, Detroit soul music, gospel music Detroit, Detroit church music, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast
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Mary Cobra on the Detroit Cobras and the Art of the Cover Song | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 14
mercredi 19 août 2026 • Durée 46:31
Mary Cobra is the founding guitarist of The Detroit Cobras, the band she started with singer Rachel Nagy that became one of the defining sounds of Detroit garage rock in the late '90s and early 2000s. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Mary talks about growing up on bad Detroit radio, and how the silence pushed a generation of musicians to make the music nobody else would play for them. She traces the Cobras' sound back to crate digging through dollar bin soul 45s, and explains why the goal was never to imitate a singer's voice but to find the feeling underneath it. She breaks down her advice for young bands on why every act should cover a song at least once, and what it means if that cover ends up better than anything else in the set.
She also gets into the cheap rent and cheap bars that made Detroit's scene possible, the night Jack White told her at a bar that she should see what was happening and get on the road, and why the Cobras never set out to get signed but got picked up almost immediately once they did.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Meeting Mary Cobra: Founding Guitarist of the Detroit Cobras
00:54 - Detroit's Bad Radio and Growing Up on Motown, MC5, and The Stooges
03:22 - Digging Through Record Stores in a City With Nothing Else to Do
04:38 - Playing for Friends, Not for a Record Deal
07:16 - Cheap Rent, No Fear, and the Freedom to Tour
10:19 - Crate Digging Soul Records and Why a Cover Isn't About the Notes
22:13 - From Playing for Fun to Getting Signed
25:54 - What Success Changed and Why Every Young Band Should Play a Cover
33:17 - The Gold Dollar, Cutting 45s, and Becoming a Band's Band
40:01 - Bars as Detroit's Ecosystem and Where the Grit Came From
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Mary Cobra, Mary Cobra interview, The Detroit Cobras, Rachel Nagy, Detroit garage rock, Detroit rock history, Detroit music history, garage rock revival, Gold Dollar Detroit, Cass Corridor Detroit, Fortune Records Detroit, Detroit 45s, Detroit vinyl culture, Jack White, The White Stripes, Detroit crate digging, soul music covers, Detroit bars, Detroit DIY music scene, Detroit rock and roll, MC5, The Stooges, Motown, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast
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LADYMONIX on Why She Left LA and Made Detroit Home | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 13
mercredi 5 août 2026 • Durée 31:28
LADYMONIX is a Detroit DJ who drove across the country from LA in 2016, spent her first year just going out and dancing, and has held a Sunday night residency at Motor City Wine for nine years. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, LADYMONIX talks about why she left LA — the cliques, the cutthroat energy, the $3,500 overhead that made creativity feel impossible — and why Detroit gave her something she didn't even know she was looking for. She talks about how she got the Motor City Wine gig, why she plays five-hour sets every week, and what it means to build a room where people feel free enough to actually dance. She opens up about DJing as healing work rather than power, why she dislikes the word "fans" and prefers "supporters," and how Detroit's crowd changed the music she makes because they already know exactly what they like.
She also talks about why 90% of her guest bookings are women, why that never needs to be announced, and the lineage of women who came before her in this city — DJ Minx, K-Hand, Stacey Hale — and what it means to keep that door open.
This one is about finding the place where your work finally makes sense.
CHAPTERS
00:29 - Landing in Detroit: Why She Left LA and What She Found Here
03:45 - The Scene in LA vs the Scene in Detroit
07:08 - Affordability, Anxiety, and What Financial Breathing Room Does for Creativity
09:18 - Nine Years at Motor City Wine: How the Residency Started and How It Held
12:02 - DJing as Healing Work, Not Power
14:20 - Reading a Room on the Fly and What Detroit Crowds Demand
17:19 - Digging Every Day and How Detroit Changed Her Taste
19:22 - The Future of Detroit Techno and Who Is Making It Now
23:40 - Generations on the Dance Floor and What That Means
25:52 - Sharing the Stage and Why 90% of Her Bookings Are Women
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Lady Monix, Lady Monix interview, Motor City Wine Detroit, Detroit DJ, Detroit house music, Detroit techno, women DJs Detroit, DJ Minx, K-Hand Detroit, crate digging, Detroit music scene, DJ residency Detroit, healing through music, Detroit community, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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Carl Craig on Detroit Techno, the Art of the Alias, and the Future of Electronic Music | Living for the City Full Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 12
mercredi 29 juillet 2026 • Durée 40:22
Carl Craig is one of Detroit techno's most important architects, the producer behind Bug in the Bassbin, Landcruising, More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art, and a body of work released under so many aliases — Paperclip People, 69, Innerzone Orchestra — that the full scope of his influence is almost impossible to map. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, Carl traces his origin story from playing Axel F on his cousin's Sequential Circuits synthesizer to carrying 12-inches to a family reunion in Georgia where Egypt Egypt cleared the room. He talks about Electrifying Mojo, Alan Oldham's Fast Forward, and the radio that raised him, and why the homogenization of radio in the '90s was a loss the culture still hasn't recovered from. He breaks down the art of the alias, why making music under different identities freed him from genre constraints, and how Sun Ra and George Clinton got there first.
Carl also reflects on why Detroit's architecture and its ruins both fed his sonic world-building, why he came back after living in London and Spain, and what it would take for electronic music — and hip hop — to find their way back underground.
This one is about defiance, imagination, and the career you build when you refuse to play it safe.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - A Career Built on Defiance
00:22 - First Synth, First Record, First Crowd
05:34 - Detroit Radio, Electrifying Mojo, and the Adventure of FM
09:18 - Watching the First Wave Leave for Europe
12:01 - Musical Influences: Trevor Horn, Art of Noise, the UK
14:44 - More Songs About Food and the Synths Behind It
19:44 - The Art of the Alias: Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Paperclip People
25:02 - Detroit's Architecture and the Music It Inspired
27:47 - Why He Came Back: Big Fish, Small Pond, and Honest City
30:56 - The Future of Electronic Music and What Hip Hop Needs to Remember
37:16 - Detroit Public Schools and the Legacy of What Was Possible
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Carl Craig, Carl Craig interview, Detroit techno, Paperclip People, 69 Carl Craig, Innerzone Orchestra, Bug in the Bassbin, Landcruising, More Songs About Food, Detroit music history, Electrifying Mojo, Detroit radio, Belleville Three, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, J Dilla, Afrofuturism techno, Detroit electronic music, alias in music, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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Kevin Saunderson on Pioneering Detroit Techno and Its Legacy | Living for the City FULL Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 11
mercredi 22 juillet 2026 • Durée 49:12
Kevin Saunderson is one of the Belleville Three, the teenagers from suburban Michigan who invented Detroit techno, the architect behind Inner City, and one of the most influential catalogs in electronic music history. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, Kevin traces his path from New York to Inkster to Belleville, where he met Derrick May and eventually Juan Atkins, and where there was nothing to do but make music. He talks about the early days at the Music Institute, driving records to Chicago to get them played alongside house music, and the night at Heaven in London when he first heard Big Fun played for a crowd that rushed the dance floor. He breaks down the origin of the word techno, why his sound went toward melody and vocals when the others went abstract, and how the Reese Bass ended up shaping not just techno but hip hop without most people knowing it.
Kevin also reflects on the racism he encountered in Belleville, the segregation that made it harder to break in America than in Europe, and what it meant to watch the city of Detroit finally embrace what he helped build decades after he built it.
This one is about invention, patience, and what it means to go full circle.
CHAPTERS
00:19 - From New York to Belleville: How Kevin Found the Music
02:50 - Meeting Derrick May and Juan Atkins
04:16 - The Light Switch: Giving Up Football for Music
07:31 - The Belleville Three and the Mythology Growing Around Them
09:44 - Driving to Chicago and Finding the First Audiences
10:57 - Big Fun in London: The First Time He Heard His Music Move a Crowd
14:32 - The Music Institute in Its Prime
17:35 - Why America Was Different: Segregation, Radio, and the Industry
20:31 - The Reese Bass, Collaboration, and Techno Boulevard
36:39 - Staying in Detroit and What Keeps Him Here
40:07 - The Future of Techno and What Full Circle Looks Like
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson interview, Belleville Three, Detroit techno history, Inner City Detroit, Reese Bass, Detroit techno origin, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Music Institute Detroit, techno history, Big Fun Inner City, Detroit electronic music, Movement Festival Detroit, DJ Minx, Carl Craig, Techno Boulevard Detroit, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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Waajeed on Dilla, Slum Village and Detroit's Music Future | Living for the City FULL Interview
Saison 1 · Épisode 10
mercredi 15 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:03:48
Waajeed is a Detroit producer and DJ who came up with J Dilla and Slum Village, co-founded the Underground Music Academy in the old NAACP building on the north end of Detroit, and hosts a weekly show on WDET. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
In this interview, Waajeed traces his origin story from rolling dice in Pershing High School's parking lot to landing in Amp Fiddler's basement, where a generation of Detroit artists learned how to make music and how to move through the world. He talks about his years with Slum Village, keeping the trains on the tracks, designing the album covers, filming the footage and why he eventually walked away from hip hop entirely.
He breaks down the Platinum Pied Pipers record, his collaboration with Dwele, and the genre-defying freedom behind Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz.
Waajeed also opens up about why he came back to Detroit after nine years in New York, what it means to own the things you pour yourself into, and how the Underground Music Academy became a space where every skillset he has — design, music, building, mentorship — finally came together in one place.
This one is about legacy, lineage, and what it means to be a conduit.
CHAPTERS
00:28 - The Underground Music Academy and the NAACP Building
03:08 - What Mentorship Actually Means: Lessons from Amp Fiddler
08:13 - Growing Up Next to a Prison: Urgency, Survival, and Detroit
12:29 - Funky Drummer, Dilla's Basement, and the Birth of a Sound
14:41 - Slum Village: Keeping the Trains on the Tracks
19:22 - Platinum Pied Pipers and Breaking Away from Hip Hop
29:07 - The Shelter, Genre Freedom, and Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz
36:35 - Nine Years in New York and Why He Came Back
40:48 - Gentrification, Culture Drain, and What Detroit Owes Itself
48:46 - The Future of the Underground Music Academy
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Waajeed, Waajeed interview, Underground Music Academy Detroit, Slum Village, J Dilla, Platinum Pied Pipers, Amp Fiddler, Dwele Detroit, Detroit hip hop history, Detroit music producer, Detroit techno, Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz, Detroit gentrification, WDET radio Detroit, Detroit mentorship, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, Detroit music history, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast
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