1. Mogul
This six-episode one-time series from Gimlet tells the story of legendary hip-hop manager and executive, Chris Lighty. He was manager to stars like Fat Joe, Missy Elliot, and Foxy Brown. Tragically, he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2012. Don’t worry, the podcast isn’t just about that. The series is a beautiful, lush story about Lighty’s rise to fame and his lasting influence on the world of hip-hop. In the vast universe of podcasts, this one stands out as a deep illustration of the African-American experience and a documentation of hip-hop history as a whole.
2. Historical Figures
This Parcast series tells the stories of people you’ve almost certainly heard of (Albert Einstein, Queen Victora, Nikola Tesla, etc.) but in surprising and refreshing ways. Through a detailed account of their lives, Historical Figures document their achievements and delve into who they are as personalities – their quirks and flaws, interesting journal entries, favorite foods. Stories that will totally change how you think of these people and their legacies.
1. Seeing White
In this 14-part series on John Biewen’s podcast Scene on Radio, Biewen asks questions like, “Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?”
Frequently joined by African-American scholar Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, Biewen takes a deep dive into the past and brings us to the present to understand how today’s ideas of identity have been shaped. Taking identity politics off the shoulders of people of color – “It turns the lens around” – to see how the construction of blackness created whiteness.
