My guest this week is Baltimore rapper John Wells. We spoke about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the Bel-Air spinoff, The Lion King, the pros and cons of drive-in movie theaters, the Wayans family, putting on for Baltimore, the video for his single “No Drugs In Heaven,” making his late father proud, and the creative process behind his upcoming project whole world burnin’ down. Come fuck with us.

whole world burnin' down will be available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen on Friday, September 20. If you're in the Baltimore area that night, celebrate the album release by pulling up to Live 4Ever 2 at the Metro Baltimore--doors at 7PM, show starts at 8. Tickets are $17.51 and you can cop tickets here. Follow John Wells on Instagram (@lorluck), Twitter (@johnwells__), and TikTok (@johnwells__)

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

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My guest this week is New Jersey rapper and co-host of Strangers Live, ‘89 The Brainchild. We spoke about Deadpool & Wolverine, Elektra, 2000s-era Marvel movies, Purple Rain, why people don’t love musicals anymore, mixtape culture, the similarities between the New York and New Jersey indie music scenes, and the creative process behind his latest project Night Lives, out now via Fused Arrow Records. Come fuck with us.

Night Lives is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from '89's Bandcamp. Follow '89 on Instagram (@89aintonthegram) and Twitter (@89thebrainchild) and listen to Strangers Live! every other Saturday from 12-2PM EST on Newtown Radio.

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

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My guest this week is New York producer, engineer, and one-ninth of Mutant Academy, ewonee. We spoke about The Wayans Bros, King of The Hill, Ray, The Pianist, our respective G-Unit and Dipset phases, having hip-hop parents, the creative process behind beat tapes like his Aux Tapes series and ‘73, and some words about the upcoming Mutant Academy album Keep Holly Alive. Come fuck with us.

ewonee's latest solo project, Aux Tapes Vol. 6, is available now wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@ewonee_) and check out his personal website for tapes, vinyl, drumkits, and all other things ewonee. Keep Holly Alive will be available everywhere sometime in late September.

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

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My guests this week are rapper Alaska and producer-engineer steel tipped dove. We spoke about Longlegs, Kinds of Kindness, Halloween, several of our favorite horror movies, growing up as music encyclopedias, how he and dove met and gel’d as a duo, growing old in hip-hop, and the creative process behind their two projects—2023’s The Structural Dynamics of Flow and this year’s Reverberations of A Dead Man’s Ego. Come fuck with us.

Reverberations of A Dead Man’s Ego is available exclusively on Bandcamp...for now. Follow Alaska on Twitter (@Alaska_Atoms). Follow steel tipped dove on Instagram and Twitter: @steeltippeddove. Follow Fused Arrow Records on Instagram, Twitter, and Bandcamp.

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

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My guest this week is Illinois-born singer, rapper, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Phoelix. We spoke about Supacell, Deadpool & Wolverine, the pros and cons of 4DX, Blazing Saddles, singing and playing instruments in church, how working on Noname’s “Shadow Man” boosted his self-confidence, working with partner Kari Faux, music as a tool for centering yourself, and the creative process behind his EPs Calibrate and Traffic, the latter of which drops on Wednesday, September 4. Come fuck with us.

Traffic will be available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen on Wednesday, September 4. Follow Phoelix on Instagram (@phoelix), Twitter (@phoelix_), and TikTok (@phoelix630)

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

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My guest this time is North Carolina MAVI. We spoke about the themes, pros, and cons of the 1992 horror classic Candyman, the importance of love, the creative process behind his great new album shadowbox, and a few tour stories from special guest Ovrkast. Come fuck with us.

shadowbox is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Follow MAVI on Instagram and Twitter (@mavi4mayor) and TikTok (@maviiformayor)

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

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My guest this week is Rhode Island producer, composer, and MPC expert, araabMUZIK. We spoke about the scores for Jaws, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and Scarface, pioneering finger-drumming on the MPC, transitioning from producing for rap icons like Cam’ron, Styles P, and Jay Electronica to embracing trance and dance music, the pros and cons of scoring a film for the first time, and the creative process behind composing the music for Harmony Korine’s surrealist action movie AGGRO DR1FT. Come fuck with us.

The AGGRO DR1FT score is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Follow araabMUZIK on Instagram and Twitter (@araabMUZIK)

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

Support the show

If you're in the Brooklyn area, I'll be hosting the fourth Reel Talk movie night at LoudmouthBK tomorrow, Thursday, August 8 (sorry for the short notice). Our guest this time is North Carolina rapper MAVI, and we'll be watching the 1992 horror classic Candyman, followed by a short interview and Q&A. Doors at 6, film starts at 7:15-ish. Advance tickets are $5 online via Partiful, $10 at the door. RSVP/purchase here. Hope to see y'all there!

My guest this week is Queens rapper, producer, engineer, and founder of Proper Spiritual Growth, Cise Greeny. We spoke about The Blacklist, the MCU, X-Men ‘97, Prison Song, Blue Hill Avenue, the legacies of Sean Price and Roc Marciano, how he went from doing graffiti to rapping to producing/engineering, how mixing and mastering for others helps makes his work better, and the creative process behind his excellent project Master Sword. Come fuck with us.

Master Sword is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from Greeny's Bandcamp page. Keep an eye out for its sequel, 'A Link To The Past', dropping later this month. Follow Cise Greeny on Instagram (@cise.greeny) and keep up with all things PSG on Instagram (@properspiritualgrowth) and Bandcamp.

Join the Reel Notes Patreon today starting at $5/month to get early access to episodes, our Discord server, exclusive bonus interviews and reviews, and more!

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), and Letterboxd (@CineMasai)

Support the show