What happens when you put four 30-something hip-hop heads in a room and give them free range to talk about anything for an hour? You get a podcast full of thoughtful and provocative discussions about the things that matter most. Previous topics include the Keaton Jones bullying controversy, Joyner Lucas’ “I’m Not Racist” video and the various high profile sexual misconduct allegations emerging. The New Old Heads Podcast is the brainchild of local producer Lonegevity (Sean Stuart) — who is also the founder of No Cosign Records — produced alongside DJ Spoolz (Brad Spoolstra), Maja 7th (Michael Chamberlain) and DJ Jay Diff (Terry Colemen).
We spoke with Stuart to learn more about the popular podcast:
Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper: How did this podcast get its start?
Stuart: I founded Bringing Down The Band in 2009. It started as a collective, but it turned into a blog that showcases Indiana’s hip-hop to the world, and the world to Indiana. What we historically have done is (post articles) and music that would go on social media. In the modern era, the way people consume music has changed; everything is (on) playlists and Spotify. An old friend from college plays video games and streams them online, and I watched his fan base grow. That sparked the idea for the podcast. The name came from the fact that we are older, but we are not the old “old heads,” and we have an appreciation for newer music, as well.
Your focus is the local hip-hop scene, but you don’t shy away from topics that combine politics and current events with pop culture. Why do you feel it’s important to talk about those things when discussing music and art?
I think it’s important for us to branch off of music into more current events due to the climate of the United States and world right now. I think it’s important for people to realize that although we love hip-hop music, and talking about it, that hip-hop is more than just the music we listen to. The topics, music, political stances, lingo, pain and joy come from a place where voices are demanding to be heard by any means, and to us, hip-hop embodies all of that and more. It’s important for us to discuss things that affect the cultural well-being and community we’re a part of. We realized early it was necessary for us to branch out and have conversations about how we as hip-hop artists, fans and pushers of the culture feel about how our lives are affected by different things happening in the world. Because … we are hip-hop.
What do you hope people take away from listening to the podcast?
When we talk about certain issues happening in the country, I really like our dynamic of two Black gentlemen and two white gentlemen and how we approach certain topics that affect different parts of our country. I like that we can go into it and have these conversations while sitting in the same room. These are conversations that I feel a lot of people are afraid to have. But with us, it’s just us having a conversation, and I think that’s important.
Follow New Old Heads
facebook.com/newoldheads
twitter.com/newoldheads
bringingdowntheband.com/newoldheads
soundcloud.com/bdtb
