{"podcast":{"title":"Living for the City","slug":"living-for-the-city-7841880","podcast_index_feed_id":7841880,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/IMP4672743019","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/6b7515e8-427d-11f1-b52d-13d6ecf715d9/image/f530e40772799dd2009def36c97a5891.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Side Stage","episode_count":22,"summary":"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.…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-30T18:17:41.745766+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/living-for-the-city-7841880"},"episode":{"title":"Guilty Simpson on J Dilla and Detroit's Open Mic Scene | Living for the City Full Interview","slug":"guilty-simpson-on-j-dilla-and-detroit-s-open-mic-scene-living-for-the-city-full-interview","published_at":"2026-09-23T14:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/living-for-the-city-7841880/guilty-simpson-on-j-dilla-and-detroit-s-open-mic-scene-living-for-the-city-full-interview","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/living-for-the-city-7841880","url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1468/tracking.swap.fm/track/GShUDppPATUMmMhYllkv/traffic.megaphone.fm/IMP6698195178.mp3","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1468/tracking.swap.fm/track/GShUDppPATUMmMhYllkv/traffic.megaphone.fm/IMP6698195178.mp3","summary":"Guilty Simpson is a Detroit MC and one of the few artists J Dilla chose to build an entire album around, a rapper whose commitment to craft and storytelling represents the city's hip hop underground at its most rigorous. This conversation was recorded in Detroit on what would have been J Dilla's birthday. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib. Simpson talks about being in the studio with Dilla, who made beats in headphones while casually holding a conversation, cycling through three or four sequences at once. He explains how he was the last artist Dilla worked with before he passed, how Stones Throw later found lost songs like Take Notice and Stress on his hard drives, and how meeting Dilla at an open mic at Lush Lounge in Hamtramck, through DJ Tony Tone, changed the course of his life within days. He also breaks down the fierce open mic scene that shaped him, where you couldn't rap like anybody else and keep the mic the next week, and how House Shoes' Wednesday nights at St. Andrew's Hall worked like a history class. He talks about building a Detroit sound out of Scarface and G Rap influences, why he stayed in the city through his mother's cancer diagnosis even as friends like House Shoes and Black Milk moved away, and pays tribute to Nasaan, the son of his late friend Proof. CHAPTERS 00:19 - Meeting on Dilla's Birthday: An Introduction 00:45 - In the Studio With Dilla: Multitasking, Headphones, and Beats in Sequence 02:24 - The Last Artist Dilla Worked With, and the Songs Stones Throw Found After He Passed 05:04 - Dilla the Ghost: House Shoes, St. Andrew's Hall, and Learning Detroit's History 09:47 - The Open Mic Scene: Fierce Competition and Finding Your Own Style 11:56 - Meeting Dilla at Lush Lounge and the Phone Call That Changed Everything 15:1…","meta_description":"Guilty Simpson is a Detroit MC and one of the few artists J Dilla chose to build an entire album around, a rapper whose commitment to craft and storytelli…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2138,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/living-for-the-city-7841880/episodes/guilty-simpson-on-j-dilla-and-detroit-s-open-mic-scene-living-for-the-city-full-interview/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/living-for-the-city-7841880/guilty-simpson-on-j-dilla-and-detroit-s-open-mic-scene-living-for-the-city-full-interview.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}