Hip Hop Redemption

Odd One In debuts with host Kristin Leong sharing her own misfit journey through single motherhood, a Korean American musician’s bargain with God during a night in jail, and a rap battle tale of poetic justice triumphing over racism from Seattle’s original hip hop professor.

Balancing full-time work as an ecosystem services analyst with Stanford University and the University of Washington, Jess Silver is raising food, a family, and new questions about sustainability, community, and what it means to truly embrace hands-on values on a punk rock farm built by queers.This episode follows Jess’s lesbian separatist journey through DIY baby-making, climate change research, and queer farming, tracing her muddy path (flapping socks and all) to the off-the-grid community she and her misfit comrades built by hand, one YouTube video at a time.Spread across 34 acres in Olympia, Washington, the cooperative is home to a small constellation of queers and children, pigs and sheep, yurts, and trees tapped for Bigleaf maple syrup.

In 2017, Simon Tam walked away from a $4 million settlement and chose instead to take his band’s name — and a much larger question about free speech — all the way to the United States Supreme Court.As the frontman of The Slants, the first all-Asian American rock band to reclaim a racial slur as a badge of defiance, Simon and his bandmates found themselves sidelined on the very day their case was argued. Barred from speaking and seated in the back pews, they were the only Asian people in the courtroom during a precedent-setting debate over who gets to decide what is anti-Asian.Odd One In’s third episode follows Simon from a bullied childhood in California to the steps of the Supreme Court, tracing a years-long legal battle that reshaped America’s understanding of free speech and cultural ownership. The episode then widens its lens with Portland-based violinist, composer, and Tiger Tiger founder Joe Kye, as the two reflect on loneliness, leadership, and the uncrushable hope that fuels artists and misfits who dare to make good trouble.

In 2016, Fatoumata “Fifi” Doumbouya lost her husband to cancer and suddenly found herself a single mother with three young children and a small West African grocery store to keep alive.What followed was an unexpected transformation. With resilience and remarkable business savvy, Fifi stepped into her role as an entrepreneur and community anchor, becoming “Mama Fifi,” the heart and center of the working class neighborhood of Hillman City. This episode takes listeners inside the West African International Market, a hidden gem in South Seattle where jars of palm oil, familiar greetings, and shared history bind a community together.Through intimate storytelling, this episode traces Fifi’s journey from grief to leadership, illuminating a tender, hard-earned version of the American Dream — one built on survival, service, and the quiet power of showing up for others.

On April 26, 1950, 23-year-old Sylvia Jones was given ten more years to live after she was permanently paralyzed when the boiler in her and her husband's Seattle apartment building exploded. After 75 years of depending on a wheelchair while raising a family and building a life abundant with humor, joy, and pragmatism; Sylvia passed peacefully at 98-years-old. With archival tape from their pandemic interview, host and producer Kristin Leong unravels her grandmother's extraordinary story and traces the lines of unlikely optimism between the two of them.

Lesbians’ hair game is unmatched, of course, and Jess Silver’s mullet is one of the best of the best. In this Odd One In teaser, Jess gives us a glimpse into what it’s like being the most stunningly coiffed scientist on campus. Jess is the co-founder of Silverwell Farm and a 34-acre Queer Land Project just outside of Olympia, Washington. The Project is home to about a dozen hardworking queers and a handful of children. Jess and her landmates are raising pigs, building yurts, and tapping trees for Bigleaf maple syrup. But that’s just her homelife. At her day job, Jess is an Ecosystem Services Analyst with Stanford University and the University of Washington. And while her hands-on life on a communal farm might be a stark contrast to the domestic lives of her academic colleagues, it’s Jess’ hair that’s the most obvious marker that she’s an outsider making her own way as a scientist and scholar.Odd One In’s second episode sharing Jess’ journey in DIY baby-making, climate change researching, and anarchist queer farming is coming soon. Subscribe to our ROCK PAPER RADIO newsletter to join our curious crew and to be the first to know when new episodes drop.The song you heard in this podcast teaser is Little Green (Alt Take) by Wax Lyricist. ODD ONE IN is a podcast that shares stories of misfits making their own way. The show is hosted and produced by 2021 AIR New Voices Scholar Kristin Leong. This podcast is a production of ROCK PAPER RADIO. Listen, subscribe, and learn more at RockPaperRadio.com.You can find ROCK PAPER RADIO on Instagram and Twitter @RockPaperRadio. You can find Kristin on Instagram @leongstagram and on Twitter @kristinleong. You can find our ODD ONE IN podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your audio storytelling. Get full access to ROCK PAPER RADIO at rockpaperradio.substack.com/subscribe

Second generation Korean American Phillip Lee thought he only had two options in life: work for his family’s food truck, or keep using drugs until he died. At 24-years-old, he found out there was a third option: music. In Odd One In’s debut podcast episode, follow Lee’s unexpected reinvention into Old Chingu as his life is saved through hip hop and faith. In this episode you’ll also meet author and professor Dr. Daudi Abe, Seattle first hip hop scholar, who will flip your understanding of what hip hop is and who it’s for. Craving more Odd One In teasers? Listen on Spotify here. Our pilot episode of Odd One In is dropping this August 2022. Subscribe to our newsletter to join our curious crew and to be the first to know when our launch is live and about upcoming special events. Odd One In is hosted, written, and produced by Kristin Leong. The song you heard in this podcast trailer is Memories by Old Chingu and Tyler Parker. This trailer was produced and sound designed by Matt Martin. Odd One In’s pilot episode was made possible with generous support from The Slants Foundation. The Slants Foundation works at the intersection of arts and activism to amplify underrepresented voices, especially those within our Asian American communities. Odd One In is a podcast that shares stories of misfits making their own way. The show is hosted, written, and produced by 2021 AIR New Voices Scholar Kristin Leong. Odd One In is a production of ROCK PAPER RADIO. Listen, subscribe, and learn more at RockPaperRadio.com.You can find ROCK PAPER RADIO on Instagram and Twitter @RockPaperRadio. You can find Kristin on Instagram @leongstagram and on Twitter @kristinleong. You can subscribe to Odd One In on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your audio storytelling. Get full access to ROCK PAPER RADIO at rockpaperradio.substack.com/subscribe

ODD ONE IN is a podcast that shares stories of misfits making their own way. The show is hosted and produced by 2021 AIR New Voices Scholar Kristin Leong. This podcast is a production of ROCK PAPER RADIO. Listen and subscribe here.Today Kristin Leong is ODD ONE IN’s host and producer, but not too long ago she was in a much different place. In this teaser, hear how becoming a single mom when she still a nightclub bartender with a Sarah Lawrence degree and no clue what was next helped pave the way for her to grow into the misfit multimedia producer she is now. Also, learn more about the our big nerdy dreams for the show and for turning our ROCK PAPER RADIO world into a community for misfits and unlikely optimists. The song you heard in this podcast teaser is Numb by Yung Kartz.ODD ONE IN is on Instagram and Twitter @OddOneInPod. You can find ROCK PAPER RADIO on Instagram and Twitter @RockPaperRadio. Kristin is on Instagram @leongstagram and on Twitter @kristinleong. If this post showed up in your inbox (subscribers, I see you) and you’d like to share it or any of our archives (so many high fives to you, amplifiers), you can find everything ROCK PAPER RADIO and ODD ONE IN has ever published with all of the shareable links here.  Get full access to ROCK PAPER RADIO at rockpaperradio.substack.com/subscribe