Worthy

After releasing a new track, “Worthy,” David reflects on his career as Traum Diggs and the changes he’s seen in how music gets recorded and distributed. He takes us from booking studios for $75 an hour and laying down tracks to tape in 1993 to recording at home and uploading to Bandcamp during the 2020 quarantine. He then shares his thoughts about what hip-hop has gained and lost over the years with these technological developments. The guys wrap up with Mickey’s 20-year-old memory of Royce da 5’9 playing a show in Louisville having forgotten his DAT tape in Detroit, and Dave’s 25-year-old memory of saving the day when Kenny Parker couldn’t find his vinyl copy of “Dwyck.”

Show Notes

Featured audio clip courtesy of Traum Diggs:
"Worthy" by Traum Diggs

Show music Courtesy of Traum Diggs:
"Trauma Da Block Pro" by Traum Diggs

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David Shanks, aka Traum Diggs, is an MC/writer/journalist from Brooklyn, NY. He began writing articles in 2005, contributing correspondent features for print and online publications and has participated in conferences and panels at several colleges and universities including Rider University and SUNY- Rockland. He has also contributed chapters in Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide; Expressive Writing: Classroom and Community; and St. James Encyclopedia of Hip-Hop Culture. His independent album releases include Jazz Hop, Major Journalism, and Jazz Hop II.   A more complete discography is available at traumdiggs.com .

Social:

traumdiggs.com 

IG:  @traumdiggs

Twitter:  @traumdiggs 

Dr. Mickey Hess is Professor of English at Rider University and the author of A Guest in the House of Hip-Hop: How Rap Music Taught a Kid from Kentucky What a White Ally Should Be. With rapper and producer Buddha Monk, Mickey co-authored The Dirty Version: On Stage, in the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol' Dirty Bastard. His other books include Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory; Is Hip-Hop Dead? The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Most Wanted Music; and the edited collections Icons of Hip-Hop and Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide.

Social:

mickeyhess

Twitter:  @mickeyhess

What is A Guest in the House?

A Guest in the House, a podcast hosted by rapper and journalist David Shanks (aka Traum Diggs) and professor and author Mickey Hess, celebrates the best of what hip-hop has to offer and the lessons it can teach us about the ways we relate to each other across cultural, racial and social divides.