The album: Kendrick Lamar: Section.80 (Top Dawg, 2011)

To talk about Kendrick Lamar's studio LP debut, we wanted to find someone of K-Dot's generation, another L.A. young gun, and who better than pianist and composer, Kris Bowers? Like Kendrick, Kris grew up in L.A. and just as Kendrick has ascended the hip-hop ladder, so has Kris in jazz, as he won the prestigious Theolonious . But more than that, the web of Los Angeles musical ties was bound to bring the two into orbit in different ways - something we discuss in the episode - not the least of which is the fact that Kris covered one of the biggest tracks in Kendrick's early career: "Rigamortis."

In our conversation with Kris, we got deep into how he put together both the song and video for his version of "Rigamortis," whether or not Kendrick has a jazz sensibility in his style, and what it's like to see a hometown kid become the Greatest Rapper Alive.

More on Kendrick Lamar's Section.80

• Kendrick talking about Section.80 in an interview with Complex.com.
• Ditto but in an interview with Billboard.
• Ogden Payne's revisit of the album in 2016 for Forbes.

More on Kris Bowers

• Kris on NPR's "Piano Jazz: Rising Stars."
• NY Times on Kris winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Prize.
• Website | Soundcloud | Twitter | Facebook

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Section.80 unless indicated otherwise):

• "A.D.H.D."
• Kris Bowers: "Rigamortis (Kendrick Lamar Cover)"
• Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid M.A.A.D. City "m.A.A.D. city"
• MURS: Captain California "GBKW"
• Dr. Dre: The Chronic “Dre Day”
• A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory “Jazz (We’ve Got This)”
• "High Power"
• "Rigamortis"
• "Keisha’s Song"
• Kendrick Lamar: “Sing About Me”
• "Ab-Souls Outro"
• "Kush & Corinthians"
• Willie Jones III: The Next Phase “The Thorn”
• Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly “If These Walls Could Talk”
• Chapter Six

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The album: Run DMC: Raising Hell (Profile, 1986)

Jay Smooth was always on our list of "people who we gotta get for Heat Rocks." His cultural and political commentary, much of which he does through his pioneering Ill Doctrine videos, have positioned him as one of the hip-hop generation's leading pundits and he's also hosted one of the longest running rap shows in the world: The Underground Railroad on WBAI.

For this show, Jay wanted to revisit Raising Hell a paradigm-shifting rap album that, as we discuss, has seemingly become underrated through the passage of time though it is unquestionably one of the most important hip-hop releases, ever. We get into the moment in which Run DMC first arrived, how they changed the game for rap artists (for better and for worse) and of course, all our fire track and sleeper jam picks off this LP.

More on Run DMC's Raising Hell

• Mark Coleman's original review in Rolling Stone from 1986.
• John Freeman's revisit review on the album's 30th anniversary in Quietus.
• Chaz Kangas' celebration of Raising Hell's album cuts.

More on Jay Smooth

• The Ill Doctrine video series.
• His interview on The Cipher podcast.
• Twitter | Youtube

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Raising Hell unless indicated otherwise):

• Walk This Way
• Run DMC: Sucker MCs
• Run DMC: It's Like That
• Raising Hell
• Eric B. and Rakim: I Ain't No Joke
• It's Tricky
• Peter Piper
• Bob James: Mardi Gras
• Dumb Girl
• Is It Live?
• My Adidas
• Proud to Be Black
• You Be Illin'
• NWA: Straight Outta Compton
• Run DMC: Tougher Than Leather
• Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man
• Jay-Z: Jockin' Jay-Z

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The album: Dr. Dre: The Chronic (Interscope, 1992)

This is a special "prequel" episode, originally taped in December of 2016. Back then, Heat Rocks was just a mere glint in the eye Morgan and Oliver. All we had was a basic concept: how about a podcast devoted to doing deep dives into an album? We invited Univ. of Oregon musicologist Loren Kajikawa, author of Sounding Race In Rap Songs, to help us tackle one of the most important albums of the last 25 years: Dr. Dre's The Chronic, which just so happens to celebrate its 25th release anniversary today (hence why we timed to put it out now).

For our listeners, you'll notice that while this episode shares some familiar aspects with our regular Heat Rocks shows, there are some differences. For one, we hadn't come up with our format yet, especially in having our guests pick a hot track, sleeper jam, etc. We had also toyed with a little "Context" section - complete with its own jingle! - that we eventually abandoned because it was superfluous (Oliver did have fun making the jingle though). But overall, we think you can easily see the seed of Heat Rocks even in this very early attempt. Hope you all enjoy it and we're so happy to finally share this, one year later.

More on Dr. Dre's The Chronic:

• The Chronic "Track By Track" review in Billboard.
• "How The Chronic Changed Hip Hop Forever" in NME.
• "Dre Ain't Shit: 25 Years On and The Chronic Still Stinks" in Quietus

More on Loren Kajikawa

• His book, Sounding Race In Rap Songs
• "The Hip Hop Prof" article on him in the Oregon Quarterly
• Faculty Profile |  Twitter

Show Tracklisting (all songs from The Chronic unless indicated otherwise):

• Fuck Wit Dre Day
• Nuthin' But a G Thang
• Leon Haywood: I Want To Do Something Freaky To You
• Public Enemy: Bring Da Noise
• Above the Law: Livin' Like Hustlers
• Let Me Ride
• The Roach
• NWA: Niggaz 4 Life (From Efil4zaggin)
• Lyrical Gangbang (feat. Lady of Rage and Kurupt)
• Stranded On Death Row (feat. Kurupt and Snoop Dogg)
• Rat-A-Tat-Tat
• Dr. Dre: Deep Cover (feat. Snoop Dogg, from Deep Cover OST)
• Tupac and Snoop Dogg: Amerikaz Most Wanted
• The Day the Niggaz Took Over
• Bitches Ain't Shit

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The album: Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation 1814 (A&M, 1989)

This episode is the edited version of our special live launch party we held on Nov. 11 in Los Angeles, as part of the Voyager Institute. We were joined by Grammy-nominated soul artist B.Slade, a self-described "Rhythm Nation-pedia" who, indeed, brought incredible insight and knowledge to our discussion of this seminal Jackson LP. How many people can name every single dancer in Janet's "Miss You Much" video? Exactly.

It was a delightful conversation and having the live audience was great. It was our first time taping in front of an audience but hopefully won't be our last. Thanks to all those who came out and to those who couldn't, we're happy you finally get to listen to this.

More on Janet Jackson and Rhythm Nation 1814:

• Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' track-by-track breakdown of the album in Billboard.
• Jimmy Jam on the "making of" Rhythm Nation 1814 in Billboard.
• Joseph Vogel's "The Nation That Janet Built" for The Atlantic

More on B.Slade:

• B.Slade's video for his cover of "Alright."
• An interview with him by UrbanBridgez.com.
• Website | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Rhythm Nation unless indicated otherwise):

• Intro from "Rhythm Nation"
• "Interlude: T.V."
• B.Slade: Alright 2016
• "Knowledge"
• "Interlude: Livin'...In Complete Darkness"
• "You Need Me" (b-side of the "Miss You Much" single)
• "Miss You Much"
• "Alright"
• Beyonce: "Freedom"
• "Rhythm Nation"
• "Miss You Much"
• "Love Will Never Do"
• "Someday Is Tonight"
• "Living In a World They Didn't Make"
• DeBarge: "Love Me In a Special Way"
• The Carpenters: "Close To You"

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