Every week Linda Holmes, NPR’s lead pop-culture junkie and editor of the site’s entertainment blog Monkey See, gathers a panel of her public-radio friends to dissect the week in TV, music, movies, and more on Pop Culture Happy Hour. Episodes cover everything from romantic comedies to graphic novels to the Super Bowl with a much more conversational style than many of NPR’s other podcasts. And things get even looser when the show goes on the road.
Stephen Thompson: What a loss that would be.
What are the characteristics of the work you see coming out of Chicago that set it apart from what is being made in other cities? SS: I think if you look at the zeitgeist of rap at the moment, it’s kind of centered in and around Chicago artists. That’s really exciting especially after having to live all of my college and graduate school time with crunk and its many iterations. But that’s over, and Chicago is a bit of a smarter kind of rap.
SS: I want to know how he made the choice to go from “Walter” to “W.,” and if I can do it myself.
ST: You can feel when you think you’re saying something funny, and you realize it’s not, because the room is dead.
