Ep 387 - Renzell, Foundation of Chicago's Hip Hop Renaissance & StudioShapes Founder

When we listen to the remarkable hip hop that emerged from Chicago over the last fifteen years, it may not always be clear just how many hands had central roles in shaping the vibrant sound and community that pushed the limits of artistry and industry and crafted some of the best music of the 21st century. Renzell has been at the keys, on the boards, and on the ground as a collaborator and visionary force for a lot of this music, and has now stepped into his role as a spacemaker and mentor at his wonderful recording spot StudioShapes. He breaks down the importance of an artistic home; his favorite collabs with artists like Mick Jenkins, Noname, Via Rosa, and theMIND; and the sacrifices artists and creators have to make to build strong bonds with each other.SHOW NOTESGet in tune with StudioShapes - https://www.studioshapeschicago.com/Follow Renzell on IG - https://www.instagram.com/renzell.wav/?hl=enFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys are in a new studio with an old friend and mentor, the legendary Bill Ayers! A lifelong force for collective liberation, Bill was a cofounder of militant leftist group the Weather Underground, which was formed in opposition to U.S. imperialism in Vietnam and racial injustice. After living underground for years to avoid FBI arrest, he has been an engaged scholar and a peace and social justice activist who has written extensively about social justice and freedom, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise. He's also the host of podcast Under the Tree: a Seminar on Freedom, which Dame and Kiss helped him build, and a loving mentor to Chicago's movement community. He comes through to talk about the heightened contradictions of this political moment, the ways the Weather Underground lives on in popular culture, the pride he feels for his children's achievements, and much more.SHOW NOTESSubscribe to Under the Tree - https://underthetreepod.com/Catch Bill in convo with Vijay Prashad on 2/15 at 3pm - https://pilsencommunitybooks.com/events/49500Listen to Mother Country Radicals - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mother-country-radicals/id1625882016Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

AirGo is joined by Sarah Oberholtzer, a filmmaker, educator, community organizer, and Respair collaborator who has just put some excellent art into the world. Sarah is the creator of We Call Each Other, a heartfelt short film about a community moving through drought and environmental racism. Weaving nonfiction recorded audio into a scripted story, it features characters who lean on one another to build safety and repair without relying on prisons or police. Built through a collaborative abolitionist writers room, the project is a great example of what it looks like to make new political realities legible. Sarah and the guys talk about the evolution of the project, how we need your support to make the second installment of the series come to fruition, and the relationship between faith and abolition.Watch this episode on our Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4faVtfSDtJwSHOW NOTESWatch We Call Each Other - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqZ6G7OcvE4Donate to make the next installment of the series a reality - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weneedeachother/we-need-each-other-episode-2?ref=cardFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Dame and Kiss hop back into the AirGo studio to kick off a new year of conversations. They break down how it feels to have Daniel's high school BFF and AirGo alum Zohran Mamdani ascend to the NYC mayoral seat, the remarkable organizing that took place across Chicago in the face of ICE and CBP kidnappings this fall, and the athletic exploits of two thirty-something rec leaguers (on the basketball court and the softball diamond, respectively). Lock in for another year of interviews reshaping culture for the liberatory and creative!Watch this episode on our Youtube! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Skz4hd7GQFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhn1KILcisNurtured in the lineage of visionary organizers Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, Dame and Kiss connect with today’s reimaginers who are building possibilities and keeping the Boggs’ memory alive.You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaOne Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3rwqOQlRsIn Seattle we cover the remarkable story of a duo, bound by deadly violence, who chose healing through transformative justice. You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaOne Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://youtu.be/0uDzr1_II5Q?si=dPc_QkfadDjYL42EFrom the back room of Noname’s Book Club HQ to the soil of an urban farm, the guys learn about the importance of failure as a necessary step in growing abolition. You can listen to the audio version of our extended interview with Ali Anderson of Feed Black Futures here, and check out the video version on Youtube.One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gB2PJ9Nq68On the second episode we head to Kiss's childhood stomping grounds in the Bronx to explore how, when organizing for freedom, small sometimes equals strong.You can hear our extended interview with the Friendly Fridge founders Selma and Sara as well as Black Trans Travel Fund founder Devin Lowe here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf9-hUSYLNI),One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuKv7ozCYrAOn the first episode we head to Minneapolis, the center of the 2020 uprising, to explore what has grown from the ashes of righteous anger. In the episode we talk with poet Danez Smith and organizer Kandace Montgomery–you can hear the extended interview here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvfBbG8ix4).One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Congratulations to friend of the pod Zohran Mamdani for winning the NYC mayoral election! In honor of this historic win, we're re-running our 2020 episode with him. You can also check out episode 92 for another Mamdani interview. Original caption:This episode heads to the East Coast to chop it up with Zohran Kwame Mamdani. Zohran is currently running for a NY State Assembly seat representing Astoria, Queens. He's been endorsed by DSA, and a wide swath of other progressive and to the root coalitions. He's also one of Kiss' oldest friends. Zohran talks about how he's shifted his campaign into a mutual aid project, the lessons he learned as a foreclosure prevention counselor, the shortcomings of representative politics, and his high school vice presidential campaign.Recorded 5/21/20 in ChicagoMusic from this week's episode:Park - Isaiah RashadFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles