Living for the City

Liz Warner is an award-winning journalist and the host of Alternate Take on WDET, Detroit's NPR affiliate, where she explores music and culture in the city's most freewheeling register. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib. Warner traces Detroit radio's role as a source of comfort and community, from Martha Jean The Queen calming the city during the 1967 riots to her own philosophy that the airwaves are a state of mind. She talks about building an audience during her midnight-to-5am show by thinking about who was actually listening, auto workers on the overnight shift, night owls, musicians, and why discovery, not just rotation, is what keeps a radio audience coming back. She also breaks down Electrifying Mojo's outsized role in breaking Detroit techno to a wider audience, his relationship with Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May, and how his willingness to get fired for following his instincts set him apart from safer public radio programming. She talks about why she eventually left Detroit, her return to WDET, and what she thinks is most important to preserve about Detroit radio's sense of collective discovery. CHAPTERS 00:24 - Mixtapes, Radio Dreams, and Finding the Station 02:37 - Martha Jean The Queen: Radio as Comfort During the 1967 Riots 06:43 - "The Airwaves Are a State of Mind" 09:32 - Late Night Radio: Building an Audience of Night Owls and Shift Workers 13:17 - Detroit as a Car City and the Power of the Commute 16:04 - Breaking Detroit Techno: From Drexciya to Electrifying Mojo 24:09 - The Responsibility of the Airwaves: Ed Love and 70 Years in Radio 27:34 - Staying Curious Over Five Hours a Night, Five Nights a Week 35:56 - The Mothership, World-Building, and Mojo's Fearless Programming 44:21 - Leaving Detroit, Coming Home, and Keeping WDET Adventurous LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Liz Warner, Liz Warner interview, Alternate Take WDET, WDET Detroit radio, Electrifying Mojo, Martha Jean The Queen, Detroit techno history, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, Detroit radio history, Ed Love radio, Drexciya, Detroit music culture, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit radio culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 15:14 - Building a Detroit Sound: Scarface, G Rap, and World-Building Through Rap 19:04 - Mentorship, Risk, and Staying Protective of the Craft 28:42 - Why Hip Hop's Storytelling Outlasts Trends 30:31 - Staying in Detroit, His Mother's Cancer, and a Tribute to Nasaan LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Guilty Simpson, Guilty Simpson interview, J Dilla, Dilla, Ode to the Ghetto, Stones Throw Records, Detroit hip hop, St. Andrews Hall, House Shoes, Lush Lounge Hamtramck, Detroit rap history, Detroit hip hop underground, Proof D12, Nasaan, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Detroit has never been a city that lives in its past. Its greatest tradition has always been inventing the future. In the season finale of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib looks beyond Detroit's musical legacy to the people who will define its next chapter. At the Detroit School of Arts, teacher Maritza turned a hallway conversation with Waajeed and Cornelius Harris into a techno program where students are learning not just the history of Detroit music, but how to shape its future. Some had never heard of Detroit techno before. Now they're creating original tracks on Roland machines and preparing to perform during Movement weekend. Kevin Saunderson reflects on what it means to watch a new generation inherit the sound he helped create and why every generation has a responsibility to leave the door open for the next one. StanWill, one of Detroit's rising voices, shares how he's building a career on his own terms, making music relentlessly, cultivating community online, and refusing to wait for permission. Throughout the season, Hanif has asked what makes a music city. Here, he arrives at his answer. It's not just the records, the venues, or even the artists. It's a culture that believes knowledge should be shared, opportunities should be created, and every generation deserves the chance to surprise the one before it. What moved Hanif most wasn't simply the music these students were making. It was the faith their teachers and mentors had placed in them – the belief that the future isn't something to protect from young people, but something to build with them. This one is about hope. About handing over the tools. And about believing the next great Detroit sound hasn't been heard yet. CHAPTERS 00:00 - The Future Detroit Is Already Making 02:00 - Detroit School of Arts: Where Techno Gets Passed Down 06:48 - The Lineage: Gospel, Motown, Techno, and What Comes Next 09:43 - Brian McCollum on Independent Artists in the Digital Age 11:01 - Stanwill: Building Worlds and Kicking Down Doors 21:00 - Kevin Saunderson: One of the Original Architects Looks Ahead 25:00 - Complete Faith in the Process LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit School of Arts, Detroit techno future, Kevin Saunderson, Belleville Three, Stanwill Detroit, Nasan Detroit, Brian McCollum, Waajeed, Detroit techno education, Detroit hip hop future, Movement Festival Detroit, Roland Detroit, Detroit young artists, Detroit music next generation, techno education, Detroit independent artists, TikTok music, Detroit music 2026, Detroit music culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2026 podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every artist Detroit has ever made has had to decide at some point whether to stay or go. The ones who left never fully left. In Episode 6 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib follows the migration patterns of Detroit's musicians — where they went, why they left, and what brought some of them back. Berry Gordy IV, son of the Motown founder, speaks from Los Angeles about what it meant when Motown moved west and what that departure did to the city it left behind. House Shoes, the DJ who spent a decade as the keeper of Detroit hip hop culture, opens up about leaving after losing Dilla and Proof in the same year and why Detroit felt like a coffin he had to grieve somewhere else. Waajeed spent nine years in New York trying to make an ambitious plan come to life before coming back to a Detroit that had changed, but still needed him. And Ben Blackwell, who moved to Nashville to help build Third Man Records with Jack White, talks about the karmic weight of leaving a city that shaped everything he became. Not everyone left. Some stayed because they couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Some came back because the stamp Detroit left on them was stronger than the distance. Hanif traces all of this through the lens of the Great Migration — what it costs to leave a place, and what it costs to stay. This one is about the pull of home, and everyone who has ever felt it. CHAPTERS 00:30 - The Episode Detroit Couldn't Contain 01:37 - The Great Migration and What It Costs to Leave 02:00 - Berry Gordy IV: Growing Up at Motown and the Move to LA 09:16 - House Shoes: Detroit Felt Like a Coffin 10:36 - Waajeed: Nine Years Away and Why He Came Back 16:47 - Ben Blackwell, Jack White, and the Nashville Decision 21:44 - Detroit's Stamp Never Fades LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit musicians, leaving Detroit, Berry Gordy, Motown history, Motown Los Angeles, House Shoes, Waajeed, Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records, Jack White, Nashville, J Dilla, Proof D12, Nasan, Detroit hip hop, Detroit Great Migration, Detroit migration, Detroit vs everybody, Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, Eminem, Detroit music scene, Detroit culture, Detroit identity, music and place, artists and home, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every era of Detroit music has been shaped by women, even when history tried to leave them out of the story. In Episode 4 of Living for the City, host Hanif Abdurraqib explores the women who pushed past barriers, challenged expectations, and transformed Detroit's music scene in the process. DJ Minx reflects on three decades of demanding respect in spaces that weren't designed for her, and how that struggle led to Women on Wax, a collective dedicated to opening doors for the next generation. Brenda Franklin Corbett traces her journey from the choir at New Bethel Baptist Church to the stage alongside Aretha Franklin, sharing stories of the Queen of Soul that rarely make it into the history books. Don Was revisits Nick of Time, the Bonnie Raitt album that defied industry assumptions about who could succeed, while Waajeed explains why real inclusion requires more than good intentions—it requires building institutions that last. DJ LADYMONIX reflects on the dancefloor as a place of healing, belonging, and radical possibility. Together, their stories reveal that progress doesn't happen on its own. It happens because people fight for it. The episode closes with a tribute to techno pioneer K-Hand, Kelly Marie Hand, who spent her final night doing what she loved most: behind the decks. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Finding Your Way Into a Room That Wasn't Designed For You 02:07 - DJ Minx and the Making of Women on Wax 05:43 - Brenda Franklin Corbett: From New Bethel to Aretha's Stage 13:05 - Don Was, Bonnie Raitt, and What the Industry Got Wrong About Women 19:56 - The Dance Floor as Sacred Space: Lady Monx, K-Hand, and the Next Generation LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, women in music, women DJs Detroit, DJ Minx, Women on Wax, Brenda Franklin Corbett, Aretha Franklin, Don Was, Bonnie Raitt, Nick of Time, Waajeed, Underground Music Academy, Lady Monx, K-Hand, Kelly Marie Hand, Detroit Cobras, New Bethel Baptist, Detroit techno, Detroit dance music, women in electronic music, women in Detroit, Motor City Wine, Movement Festival, Detroit hip hop, Black women in music, inclusion in music, Detroit music scenes, DJ culture, dance floor culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, Detroit musicians, 2025 podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The city’s sound was shaped by places never built to last – until the music changed everything. In Episode 2 of Living for the City, Hanif Abdurraqib asks what happens to the spaces that shaped the music once the city around them begins to change. Waajeed, DJ and producer and one of Detroit's living encyclopedias, walks through what was lost when the lofts at The Griswold got converted into luxury apartments. DJ Minx reflects on the Music Institute as something close to a religion, and what it felt like when it was gone. Don Was goes back to being 16 at the Grande Ballroom, a place that offered what he calls a utopian vision of teenage freedom. And at Underground Resistance, still standing, the conversation turns to what it actually takes to preserve not just a building but the community that gave it meaning. Hanif argues that the innovations that allow people to gather are just as important as the innovations of the music itself. You need the sound. But you also need the basement, the warehouse, the bar on a bad block that somehow sold out on a Sunday. Detroit has always found those places. The question is what happens when those spaces no longer exist. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - The Griswold: What Was Lost When the Lofts Became Luxury 01:56 - Cheap Space and Creative Community: Why Affordability Builds Scenes 05:25 - The Music Institute: A Religion That Ended Without Warning 06:05 - St. Andrews, The Shelter, and the Art Versus Commerce Shift 10:00 - Underground Resistance: Community Project and Music Factory 12:28 - The Gold Dollar and Grande Ballroom: Freedom on a Bad Block 16:17 - Motor City Wine: How Detroit Keeps Building New Architecture New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! 📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS/KEYWORDS: Living for the City, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit music history, Detroit venues, Detroit gentrification, Music Institute Detroit, The Griswold Detroit, St. Andrews Hall Detroit, The Shelter Detroit, Grande Ballroom Detroit, Gold Dollar Detroit, Underground Resistance Detroit, Motor City Wine Detroit, Cobo Arena, Waajeed, DJ Minx, Don Was, Detroit techno, Detroit DJ culture, Detroit creative community, Detroit music venues, Detroit dance music, Black dance culture, Detroit rock, MC5, The Stooges, Detroit Cobras, house music Detroit, techno history, creative displacement, affordability and art, Detroit neighborhoods, Detroit nightlife, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast, music podcast, Detroit culture, music history podcast, 2025 podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Subscribe now on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices