On today’s show, we’ll talk to the host of The Lonely Palette, a podcast that aims to put art appreciation back in the hands of the masses, one painting at a time.
Plus, the Grammy-award winning group OutKast has had an undeniable impact on hip-hop, and put southern hip-hop on the map. Now that musical legacy is being deconstructed for college credit. We’ll talk to the professor behind a new upper level English class that puts OutKast on the syllabus.
And we get ready to kick off the 12th year of the Portsmouth-based RPM challenge, when artists around the world try to write and record an album in just 28 days.
Listen to the full show:
Professor OutKast
Andre 3000 and Big Boi, are the duo behind the revolutionary hip-hop group, OutKast. Their brand of word play, funk, and fashion, redefined the sounds of the south in the mid-90s and beyond. While their impact on hip-hop is undeniable, there are some who believe that's just the starting point for the duo's relevance. Regina Bradley is a writer, researcher, and assistant professor of African American literature at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia. Her new class is called: "Teaching OutKast and the Rise of The Hip-Hop South," which is an upper-class English course at Armstrong State.
Related: OutKasted Conversations
Why is That Man Dancing on That Overpass Above Highway 101?
For JaVonne Hatfield, overpasses are the only dance floor he needs. Every Thursday and Friday afternoon, he shimmies, shakes, and smiles from the Highway 101 overpass in San Francisco, all while holding up a giant cardboard heart to the commuters below. Producer Holly McDede went to find out what music the "101 Heart Man" dances to and why he does it.
Listen to this story again at PRX.org
RPM Challenge
Deadlines can be stressful, but for many artistic types, tinkerers, and perfectionists, they can also be motivational. As in, “if you don't have a deadline, you'll never know something is finished.” That is partially the idea behind a number of creative community-based challenges that have grown popular over the years. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month in November. The 48-hour Film Project, which is exactly what it sounds like. And one such event, created right here in New Hampshire is "RPM”, or the Record Production Month Challenge, which officially begins on February 1st. Producer Taylor Quimby is going to be following one of the musicians who will be taking up the RPM challenge, and today he tells us a little bit about the challenge itself.
The Lonely Palette Podcast
Most of us loved painting and drawing and making as kids, but art became distant as we were paraded in front of paintings we were told were "important" on field trips to the museum, when we really wanted to be over at the Egyptian wing looking at mummies. We readily talk about movies and music and sports, even politics, but when was the last time you got into a passionate conversation about a painting or a sculpture? Tamar Avishai is a former art historian who wants to make art less scary. Her "Lonely Palette" podcast focuses on one work of art across the historic spectrum per episode.
