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Songs like “Imagine” by John Lennon, “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy, and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar have all become anthems that inspired people to stay in the fight for what they believed in. They were also a direct reflection of the cultures of their eras. Music continues to impact the world, and those behind the music are driving that change.
Adult ISH host Nyge Turner connects with music festival founders Modi O, of Trillectro and Carmena Woodward, also known as DJ Red Corvette, a DJ entrepreneur who co-founded Women Sound Off. We also catch up with YR Media alum and music producer Jason Valerio (Trackademicks). All three award-winning creators help us explore how music is a tool to build community & impact society.
Adult ISH is produced by YR Media and brought to you by PRX’s Radiotopia. Be sure to follow all our socials @YRAdultISH!
Please show your support for Adult ISH by making a donation at: YRMedia.org/Donate. THANK YOU!
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Adult ISH – produced by YR Media – and brought to you by Radiotopia from PRX.
I’m Nyge Turner.
And this week’s episode is all about MP3’s, DSP’s and BPM’s. In other words, we’re talking about music. Specifically, music’s power to bring people together and capture a culture.
Trackademicks: Well, I mean, I think music is probably plays one of the most important roles when it comes to any movement. You know? Whether it’s political movements. Whether it’s artistic movements. Different cultural movements. Because music gives you that visceral response. Right? Music inspires. Right? Music kind of cuts through all of those to inspire people’s hearts and minds when it comes to what’s going on and kind of like the ideas and philosophies of the music movement.
Nyge: That’s Trackademicks. We’ll hear more from him later on.
Music has been shown to inspire change in the world throughout history. Songs like “Imagine” by John Lennon, “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy, and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar have all become anthems that inspired people to stay in the fight for what they believed in. But they were also a direct reflection of the cultures of their eras. So, today, we’re speaking to three music industry experts who used their skills to build community and impact society:
Modi O, the founder of the award-winning music festival Trillectro who provided early platforms for musical acts like Travis Scott, SZA, Lil Uzi Vert, A$AP Rocky, Migos, Kid Cudi, and so many more.
Carmena Woodward, aka DJ Red Corvette, is the co-founder of the Women’s Sound Off Festival, a platform connecting femme creator-entrepreneurs across music, tech, and art.
Plus, Trackademicks, aka Jason Valerio, an award-winning music producer and early contributor to the Bay Area’s Hyphy movement, a musical genre that consumed teen dance floors and house parties consisting of synchronized choreo and head whipping, that rose to popularity in the early aughts.
We’ll kick it off with our conversation with Modi O.
[YR MUSIC]
Modi: My name is Modi. I’m a Nigerian-American from the Washington D.C. area, currently based in Los Angeles. I consider myself a community builder, creative executor, creative marketer, creative strategist.
Nyge: So I’d like to kick it off with one of my favorite lines in your bio, which is that you used to throw dorm room ragers. Can you talk about this in the college experience and how music was intertwined with that part of your life?
Modi: Yeah. For sure, I mean, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to take it further back to middle school.
Nyge: 100%.
Modi: Middle school is where I figured out how to marry my love of music and sort of like entrepreneurship. Because the CD burner came out and I became the hallway trapper. You know? I was selling mix CDs, bootleg mix CDs. And for those who weren’t around for that era, basically, a CD burner allows you to copy a CD. And CD burning was – honestly, it allowed me to connect with people. The next step to that was when Napster came out, which was a peer-to-peer file sharing software. Instead of just burning CDs, I could actually customize and make mixes for people. And at that time, like, people just wanted Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, whatever. I would be like, “Cool but you only added ten songs to the list of songs you wanted. I have [space for] about seven more songs I could sprinkle in some sauce and get you that new Nelly Furtado with Timbaland.” You know what I mean? Like…
Nyge: Yeah.
Modi: I could do that, and that’s when I learned that I love to curate and, like, build community around music. When I got to college, you know, I was the kid that was helping athletes program their iPods. You know? I just kind of took that name for myself as the music kid and brought it to college. And I had interned at record labels. I did two stints at Def Jam in the summer of my freshman and sophomore year. So I was sort of like, well versed in, like, the industry, or at least like, I knew a little bit about it. And then, when I became a junior, a friend of mine from my high school – Quinn, who ended up being my business partner and best friend. He joined, he came to Boston College, and he was also passionate about music. He wanted to start a radio show, and he wanted me to be his co-host. And I had no interest because I didn’t want to be consumer-facing. But after some convincing, he got me on, and I instantly loved it. And, it became a thing. The dorm room ragers – to get back to your actual question – came in because Quinn also deejayed, and we had on campus – we kind of had it on lock. Like people enjoyed our company. We had good music. And when you take the energy that we had on campus and kind of combine it with, like, someone like Quinn. His ability to kind of, he was learning how to deejay. He would carry… We would like, literally, bring his DJ equipment to every dorm party. And we would just run it. You know? So, we just became the people on campus that had the sauce when it came to throwing parties. You know? And, we would even sometimes leave campus because we went to school in Boston. You had Harvard, you had Boston University, you had Emerson, you got MIT, you had Tufts – you had so many colleges around. And we just quickly ran around campuses, throwing parties, hanging out with people – quickly made a name for ourselves. So we were just sort of like, known in the city. And then combine that with a radio show. The radio show eventually turned into a blog, and the blog hit everybody. So that means people in Paris could be reading our thoughts and listening to our show that we uploaded on said blog.
Nyge: Nah, that’s a great answer. I mean, you speaking to my heart. I was a former CD burner as well. Me and my older brother, my last name is Turner. And so, we used to call ourselves the “Turner Burners,” which is.
Modi: Oh, that’s. Nah, nah, nah. That’s hard.
Nyge: But I was like fourth grade. I was like fourth grade.
Modi: That’s hard.
Nyge: That’s what I was burning CDs for everybody.
Modi: Yeah.
Nyge: Like all my aunties and uncles
Modi: For sure.
Nyge: And just like, just random mixes and stuff. And they’d be like, “Yo! What is this?” I remember I put my mom on “Freakum Dress” back in the day. And, she was like, “Yo! What is this?” Like, and that became her favorite song.
Modi: Yeah it’s a very valuable place to be who shares music with people. You know?
Nyge: Yeah, a hundred percent. It’s a very cool connection. So, later on in your life, you would go on to attend Boston College, right? But originally, you’re from D.C. Can you talk to us a little bit about how music was making its way around the country at this time?
Modi: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know – I grew up on radio, which is pretty regional. Right? I remember when we would drive to New York, I was so excited for my Walkman to be able to listen to HOT97, because then you could get – What? – Funk Flex and [DJ] Whoo Kid. And like, you know, what was going on in their world. Because in DC, you didn’t get that. I mean, we had a genre called Go-Go – we have a genre called Go-Go, that never left the city borders for real. You know? So, I don’t know, I think, around when I was in college, you know, you had, maybe the beginning of people sort of like venturing outside of their, like, city or their area – especially with the advent of the internet and, you know, blogs.
Modi: I think when we first started our radio show, we didn’t understand that we had this platform. And when we started to promote the radio show, we would start to get emails from people from, like, Rhode Island, which is like an hour away, talking about, “Hey, I’ve got some music. I love your show. Like, here’s my music, just sharing it in case you want to play it.” And it was like, wow. Like we’ve created a platform where people know that we have an audience that’s listening intently that wants to understand what we’re sharing. And people are like, “Oh, this is a place that I can get my music out.” We listen to the music, and it was good. Played it on the air.
Nyge: Yeah.
Modi: Then you start getting all types of people, and you got people from DC who are listening to the show. You know? Back in Maryland, DC, and they’re sending us music, and then we’re in a place where we’re able to put people on and share stuff. Like Wale was on our show, early. Probably did one of his first interviews. Even when I interned at Def Jam. Right? And Myspace was an era. I need to make sure I give My Space its proper dues. Because that was the first time I think you could have a one-to-one connection with an artist. I was sending messages to Lupe Fiasco, and he was sending them back. You know?
Nyge: That’s dope.
Modi: I found Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘N’ Nite” when it had about 70 plays a day on MySpace, and I reached out because I had come across his page as an intern at Def Jam. And when I got out of that and got back to school and we started the radio show, I was like, I want to reach out to this kid, because I remember when he had this song on his Myspace page. [I] reached out to him. He responded. And then we had Kid Cudi’s first radio interview ever on our show, just because we were intrigued by his music. And I remember him getting off the phone being like, “Oh my God, how did I do? Like, did I sound okay?” You know? Now he’s one of the biggest artists in the world. And it’s like the connection we had with him began in 2007 or 8. You know, like music is that crazy powerful. You know? Something about his sound compelled me to reach out. And I believed in what he was putting out there. I felt like I could relate to it. You know? So, I don’t know, I’m kind of losing the plot, but I think what I’m really trying to say is that around the time we were kind of getting off the ground with our radio show, which was called DC to BC. That was when music started to kind of change. And you didn’t have to stay in these pockets of like, oh, well, you’re from New York, so you’re only going to listen to New York shit. You know? Like I kind of – I don’t know the term, but basically, the worlds were kind of melding. Someone like a Cudi from Cleveland could gain an audience of a bunch of people from all over the country because they could relate to what he’s talking about and because the internet made it accessible.
Nyge: You also are a co-founder of Trillectro, which was a music festival that ran between 2012 and 2018 in DC and you hosted megastars just as they were ascending in the ranks of pop culture. Like A$AP Rocky, SZA, [Kid] Cudi. Can you talk to us about what it was like being a young person managing something, that’s that culturally significant and also that physically massive, like a music festival?
Modi: Yeah, for sure. I think Trillectro came to be after my college roommate. Marcel, shout out to Marcel, and Quinn and I made a trip to Coachella. And we got a chance to go to our first major music festival and see, you know, what that looks like. We also went with a group of like 25 or 30 Black people. And we also camped. We did everything you do at a festival. Let’s just put it at that. But we also had a pretty unique experience because we had a large Black group with us. And you know, I think Trillectro is informed by Black culture. Because we are Black, but the music that we like is so eclectic. And I think for us, what we decided when we came back, I remember because we went to Quinn’s house afterwards and just kind of sat there in amazement like, “Damn, that was crazy.”
Nyge: (Laughs)
Modi: And we kind of came up with the concept then and there.
Modi: And for me, it was like, man, I feel like there’s an opportunity to build sort of a community around what we actually enjoy and to bridge the gap between the dance music and the hip-hop. Because we saw hip-hop artists were jumping on dance tracks, and a lot of these dance deejays were incorporating hip-hop artists. So it was like, we see this happening. Why not create a space for that to exist? And that’s kind of how Trillectro was birthed. I think when you’re young, I think I was 24 or 25. You don’t actually know what you’re doing. And that’s actually a really good place to be because there’s no fear, there’s no analysis paralysis.
Modi: In the first year, we had 5000 people come out, I think, with 30 days or so of promo. And that was a really, you know, gratifying experience. We didn’t make any money. In fact, we lost a little money. But it was one of those days where you’re like, this is something. You know? Let’s keep going and build it. And I’m glad that we did. You know?
Nyge: I’m curious what role you think music plays in energizing a movement and bringing people together.
Modi: I think there’s, it’s about having a resounding message that people can all kind of relate to. We talked about Kendrick [Lamar] and “All Right,” like the timing of that record. The people involved with that record, and the person behind it, it all kind of like, was – it’s perfect to me. I don’t know if amalgamation is the right word, but like, combination of just like, ingredients to make an anthem.
Nyge: Yeah
Modi: And I think it just has to be something that resonates with a large group of people and is positive. You know? Something that people can rally behind. That represents a larger struggle or issue or whatever.
Again, that’s Modi O and you can find Modi’s work on Instagram at SuperModi and at SuperModi.co – that’s SUPERMODI.co.
[BREAK]
Next up we’re in conversation with Carmena Woodward, co-founder of the Women Sound Off Festival – a platform connecting femme creator-entrepreneurs across music, tech, and art.
Carmena: So, I am Carmena. Better known as Red Corvette. I am a DJ and experiential producer. And, just a Black woman looking for the vibes…
Nyge: (laughter)
Carmena: …and new experiences.
Nyge: Perfect. Perfect. How did you end up curating playlists for DSPs? And first, also, before you get into it, can you explain what a DSP is? For folks who don’t know who are listening?
Carmena: [I] believe that DSP stands for a digital service provider. I believe I was first commissioned for Tidal when Tidal came out. [Tidal] would find deejays or curators to put together playlists just to like, add to the site. Because I don’t think they really had that method. I don’t think they had the playlist in the beginning. And I think I did like a Black History Month one, or like a Black Music Month one. And with the regional curator, I was just connected to DJ Damo, who was the cultural curator at Spotify that helped launch the frequency platform, which was to support all Black music in different regions, but also just in general across all genres. So I was one of the curators, one of the six curators. And all of this is through connections. And just like, you know, just constantly elevating the platform.The Red Corvette platform.
Nyge: Yeah.
Carmena: You know, staying in tune, staying connected. Other Black women wanting to work with other Black women, too.
Nyge: Well, to that point, being a woman. And not only that, but a Black woman in the music industry. What challenges did that present to you over the years?
Carmena: I think as a DJ, I’ve came off as being aggressive. There’s been situations where I’ve felt like I was the aggressor in a situation when I’ve just wanted to make sure that I’m getting the same amount. I’m getting paid the right amount that everybody else is getting paid. Like I’m being treated equally. When I pull up on the scene you guys are giving me the same kind of like, layout and lay to the land that you are to my male counterparts or my non-Black counterparts or whoever. Like, I want to be treated in the same way because I treat my craft the same way. And you’ve obviously got me for a reason to bring value. So if I’m bringing value, I still need to be compensated equally. So there’s been challenges there. I think that constant addiction to work. Like feeling like I gotta work ten times harder in order to achieve just the bare minimum. And like having a lot of long nights. Feeling like I need to do this, this, this, and that. Feeling like, being like, I have to be an experiential producer, as well as throw my own parties, as well as do my own workshops, as well as throw a festival while still managing a career. But, I’m not just deejay parties. I’m touring with somebody. I’m curating a playlist. I’m like, I’m doing all of these things. Like, I do all of this. All together, at once. And I don’t know what anybody else is doing, but like, sometimes I feel like I’m overworked and overwhelmed. I feel like I’m just overworking in order to achieve like, a little piece.
Nyge: I think that’s incredibly valid. Many people of color, or anybody who’s a part of any type of marginalized group, has to work twice as hard just to get the, you know, median result right? Like it’s things that are just structurally put into place that make that so much more difficult for people. And it really just shouldn’t be that way. And you’ve taken a ton of steps to address that as well. And that’s something I want to circle around to. How do you feel the Women Sound Off Festival aided your goal to make the music industry more equitable for women?
Carmena: I think that Women Sound Off, it was a safe space for me and many other women, that, you know, didn’t know what to do or how to do things or just was looking for some sort of guide to, like, break into music. I think being in the Bay area, the scene is just not like it’s not made for women… It just doesn’t feel like it’s made for women to thrive. I think seeing so many like, branches that kind of like, grew from just one thing. And like still hearing about women that, you know, took it to, on one – took it to Portland and went on one with being in music. I guess it made me feel like I could do anything in music, or I could just do anything just as a creative woman. And I think that a lot of people left Women Sound Off – all the people that were on our team and all the people that attended. I think that they all felt like they could just be this creative being and live a life of creativity.
Nyge: As someone with over ten years of experience, what advice do you have for young musicians navigating this industry?
Carmena: One thing I would say that has helped me is getting outside in the world. I wouldn’t have gotten this far if I wouldn’t have went outside in the world and touched people’s hands and met them. Invested in me traveling to these places. Seeing these people, getting in these spaces, going in these rooms, having conversations, sitting down, throwing my own festival. You have to get out in the world and see what’s out there, if that’s what you want. I think that I would say. Get started. Just go for it. Or get around people that you admire that might push you. I’m one of those people. And I think the last thing I would say is, and this is something that I’m learning is like, don’t be so hard on yourself. As long as you feel good about what you’re doing and how you putting it out. And knowing that you can get better as time goes. Or you could be like me. Like my life. I want my life to always be fulfilled by being creative. So I know that at this level, there’s another level that I can unlock that I’m going to get better at. Now I’m going to go to. So like, if at this level I wasn’t the greatest at social media, or wasn’t the greatest at whatever. Adapting to what is going on now. Like in the next one, I’ll get better.
That’s DJ Red Corvette, aka Carmena Woodward. You can find Carmena’s work on Instagram at DJRedCorvette or online at DJRedCorvette.com.
Finally, we’re going to bring this episode back to the Bay to talk about the Hyphy movement that started when y’all were born or living in diapers. And one of YR Media’s own young creators launched his career in 2006 as the Hyphy movement spread across the U.S. I’m talking about award-winning music producer Jason Valerio, who came back to YR’s studios to chop it up.
Jason: My name is Trackademicks and I’m an artist, producer, musician, DJ. All the things. Anything that’s to do with audio, I’ve done it. And yeah, representing Honor Roll Crew. Bay Area born and bred. All of that.
Nyge: Like a lot of places across the country, there is a lot of regional alliance [and] allegiance. In the Bay we know that we love to rep our city. Right? So where in the Bay are you actually from specifically? And then what musical contributions from that area really stand out to you?
Jason: So, I am from Alameda, California. I consider my home territory, turf, all that. Everywhere from, I mean, the whole Bay Area for sure. But, like, I feel really comfortable from Berkeley to San Leandro, everything around Oakland, you know?
Nyge: So the Hyphy movement was iconic and is iconic for a lot of reasons. One of them being that it brought a sense of unity to the Bay Area. How do you think that the Hyphy movement aided in that sense of Bay area pride?
Jason: It definitely did. So I mean, you know, the Hyphy movement is, it just builds on, you know, former Bay Area music, history and culture. And so, you know, we’re definitely in a super-inclusive region. We’ve come by it super honestly with the melting pot of people we have here. It’s like truly a melting pot where everything kind of molds together. You know? Different cultures eating other cultures’ food, like as a regular, you know, regular happenstance.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: And, you know, the Hyphy movement is no different. I think it’s just a reflection of the people. But then there’s also the fact that I mean, it’s party music. Right? So the music that is built up on, on top of is like Mob Music. Yeah. And that was very street oriented, very kind of dark. You know, some of my favorite music, actually, but it’s just like hard street rap. Whereas the Hyphy movement kind of took a bit of that. Had that play somewhat of a backseat and more focused on the party culture and everybody’s partying, you know, everywhere.
Nyge: Right.
Jason: And so, you know, the parties, whether you’re coming from, you know, North Bay and going to San Francisco to party or deep East Bay to come to San Francisco or back then, because that was pretty much where everything was.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: You know, you’re ending up in these clubs with all these people. You know? And then if you’re here in Oakland, you have familial ties with people in Antioch [and] everywhere. It just spread really, really big. And so, yeah, it was something that was really sticky for everybody.
Nyge: So you have a handful of notable productions, but I’d like to jump back to 2006 with your remix of “Tell Me When to Go.” How old were you and where were you in your career at that time?
Jason: How old was I? I was old already.
Both: (Laughter)
Jason: Nah, nah. I was, I think I was 25
Nyge: Okay.
Jason: Right. So yeah, in 2006. It’s funny I was working at Youth Radio.
Nyge: Ayye.
Jason: And so I like I said, we all knew that E-40 was dropping something. He was on a major label, and it was going to be a big album. I’ve been a [E-40] fan since I was, you know, since I could remember listening. So really sixth grade when it started?
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: And that’s when he did “Captain Save A […]“ and everything, right?
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: “In A Major Way” is probably one of my favorite albums ever, you know? And so, like, knowing that [E-]40 was coming with something and then the Hyphy movement was bubbling and I was starting, you know, and I had been introduced to the scene through Mistah F.A.B. already.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: I was fully participating. I left Youth Radio one day, left after work teaching core class and went to this record store in Berkeley called B-Side Records. Bought the vinyl of “Tell Me When To Go.” And then went up the block to Amoeba and bought the record that I would end up sampling. Not knowing, you know, that was what I was going to do. I was just doing one of my regular record-buying runs.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: Went back to my studio which was on the border of Alameda and Oakland. And put it together. I just started making beats. And when I made this one beat off the record I sampled, I was like, “Yo, this beat is crazy.” I didn’t originally set out to remix it, but I put the acapella on top of that beat, and I just started running around the room. You know? Going crazy because I was like, you know, you only get those feelings like, it’s funny. A lot of producers they’ll be so intent on making a beat because it’s like, I love what I’m doing right now. That’s like me, I love every beat I’m making until it hits a point where I’m like, “Okay, this is not it,” or “It’s really dope.” So that one, I just ran around the room going crazy. I burnt it onto CD’s, had a, you know, had to burn CDs back then. I burnt maybe 20 copies, because I always had spindles of CDs. And [I] started giving them out to the kids in Core class. I was like, “Listen to this.” You know? Because also at that point I was trying to “get on” still. I’d been working with Mistah F.A.B. and then doing some remixes. Work with my crew, The Honor Roll, which – pretty much all of us – the majority of us came from Youth Radio.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: And, you know, we were trying to get things started, but that was kind of like the spark that would allow us to get some traction. So I burned all the CDs. Kids were going crazy. I put it on my MySpace. And I almost let it go without putting my drop in the song.
Nyge: Yeah.
Jason: So the version on MySpace, the first version, it had no drop on it. But a day later, I was like, “No, take that one down,” [Add] “Trackademicks” in the song and then I just let it go. That’s my first experience of having anything be like a viral anything.
Nyge: So, also at this time you were working at YR, but at the time it was called Youth Radio. What were the students’ reaction when you played the track for them for the very first time?
Jason: So I remember it was in Core class. I always used to love Core class with the long Friday nights. Yeah. And just, you know, playing, because people knew I made music, but I hadn’t really, you know, got started to get a lot of traction yet. And so people were like, “Oh! This is crazy!” You know, that’s why the kids took the CDs, and they started playing it all the time. And, I just remember, you know, you know when it hits because first off youth move everything, they move all the culture. And so that was like a litmus test. I was like, let me see if the kids like it too. You know, even if they didn’t, I was like, I still was like this still “slap.” So I’m still, you know, ridin’ with it. But, their energy around it was just so infectious that people were like, throughout that whole Spring session, and throughout all of ‘06, you know, students would come after class or, you know, come to the Core class and the Bridge class and be playing my videos on, on their phones. Their flip phones, when they first started to be able to take video of like, [school] assemblies. Specifically Pinole Valley High School, very much so, grabbed on to the whole, like, it would be played all the time.
Nyge: Nah, you are a pivotal part of Bay music culture. I’m sure you already know.
Jason: Nah, I appreciate that.
Nyge: I wanna give you your props. What role do you think music plays in energizing a movement and bringing people together?
Jason: Well, I mean, I think music plays one of the most important roles when it comes to any movement. You know? Whether it’s, you know, political movements, artistic movements, different cultural movements. Because music gives you that visceral response. Right? Music inspires. Right? You may have you may have like the, you know, the writers and the scholars or even visual artists. You know? There are many parts to a culture and a movement. And all of the parts are very important. But music kind of cuts through all of those to inspire people’s hearts and minds when it comes to what’s going on in. And kind of like the ideas and philosophies of the music movement. You can see it through Hyphy because that while that is like the focal point, and when people think of Hyphy, your mind, your images in your mind are so flooded with what it looks like, but without what it actually sounded like, a lot of that would be out of context. You know? And so, yeah, I think that the music is super important. It also brings, it just brings people together and inspires.
Nyge: Within your tenure in the music industry. What would you say was one thing that you felt, and find yourself constantly fighting for and standing up for?
Jason: That I mean, I know personally, is the mixing of culture. That’s a personal thing. Because I am mixed, I’m Black and Filipino, and it’s the lens that I see the world through. But, I love when something happens. Right? And you have like the foundational aspects of that musical culture or whatever. But then I, what I personally love, are the iterations that are built on top of that. So if you have hip-hop, for instance. You know? You had the first iteration – you know, New York hip-hop. And we got all the building blocks, you got breakbeats, you got MCs and deejays and all that. It’s like, well, what is, you know, Miami’s version of that? Or what is LA’s version of that? Or like, what is the version of that that takes that and is like, “Ooh, I’m gonna put it to my template.” You know? I love that in music. And that’s one thing that I always fight for. Like, you know, being able to like take it, figure out the rules, so you could break all the rules.
Nyge: What kind of power would you love for more young people to tap into as it relates to music culture?
Jason: You know, it’s funny. In terms of power. When it comes to young people and music culture, the number one power that I think they’re fully in tune with and are using is their enthusiasm and curiosity. Right? You know, it’s always a young person that’s going to piss off an old person if the old person thinks it’s supposed to be a certain way. So that’s the number one power I think that youth does is the just the audacity to like, do it their way and also, figure out their way. I think, you know, there are folks who might need someone to tell them, like, don’t listen to what anybody’s saying. I think that’s really important. And then also as a young person. I mean, this is what me and my friends did. I think it’s very underrated. But knowing where you came from musically. Right? But then like my cultural experience, my regional experience, my city, you know, what’s been what’s come before you that can inform where you can take you.
Nyge: Dope. Dope. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate this interview. I love talking about music in general and even more about Bay Area music. And to sit down with a Bay legend, it is an honor. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Thanks for coming on the show and this was great.
Jason: I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.
Nyge: Of course.
Nyge: That’s award-winning music producer Trackademicks, aka Jason Valerio. You can find Jason’s work on Instagram at Trackademicks
Or at Trackademicks.store that’s TRACKADEMICKS.Store.
[YR MUSIC]
Nyge: Adult ISH is produced by YR Media, a national network of young artists and journalists creating content for this generation.
Our show is produced by Fredia Lucas and by me: your boy, Nyge Turner.
Our engineer is James Riley, and our audio engineering fellow is Christian Romo.
YR’s director of podcasting is Sam Choo.
YR’s senior director of podcasting and partnerships is Rebecca Martin.
Our interns are Menelik Ransom and Jalen Black.
Original music for this episode created by these young musicians at YR:
Christian Romo, Anders Knutstad, Jacob Armenta, Chaz Whitley, Michael Diaz, Sean Luciano Galarza, and David Lawrence.
Music direction by Oliver “Kuya” Rodriguez and Maya Drexler.
Creative Direction by Pedro Vega Jr. Designs by Jess Smolinski, Marjerrie Masicat, and Brigido Bautista. Project management by Eli Arbreton.
Special thanks to Kathy Chaney and Kyra Kyles.
Adult ISH is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent creator-owned, listener-supported podcasts. Discover audio with vision at Radiotopia.fm.
And if you haven’t reviewed our show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please be sure to do so. Five stars is much-appreciated.You can follow us on all the socials at @YRAdultish. And on that note…