Good Convo Vinyl Me, Please & Michael Penn II

From Takoma Park, MD to the Bay to L.A, Yihenew Belay (known as Heno.) has lived his life infatuated by the potential of what life could be once acknowledging the known unknown as inevitable. He’s lived through the streets, addiction, depression, hypersurveillance and the trials of forging one’s path as an independent artist. Death was the only guarantee, and that granted him the freedom to be. A dark utterance on a train ride became his album’s namesake: Death Ain’t That Bad. And as Heno. speaks with Michael — our host, and an artist grappling with that question all his life — the Maryland comrades send a beacon out for nomads, for Black folks, for dreamers gazing into the void and taking steps nonetheless.

To witness the gifts of serpentwithfeet is to witness an immeasurable gratitude to the legacies before him, and an incomparable style emanating from himself. His voice commands the room, his melodies haunt and delight within seconds, and his star’s rising with every dazzling performance. He’s also an Old Bay advocate and a purveyor of the power of corniness. In this episode, Michael and serpent connect for the second time (first published — Michael lost their first interview to tech errors three years ago). Within, the duo discuss DEACON, the necessity of community, and how to balance love and rage.

The cheerleader: a symbol of power, femininity, even purity should she be coated in porcelain. She’s despised and desired, and according to Mia Berrin, this image colored her formative girlhood experiences as a pillar of something unattainable. Pom Pom Squad became her project: a reimagining of the figure and an ongoing examination of the vulnerability of otherness via race, gender, and queerness. On this episode, Mia checks in with Michael to discuss how her youth paved the road to this project and her upcoming full-length debut Death of a Cheerleader. The pair also discuss the whitewashing of Black music, the power and money behind modern indie aesthetics and how to walk in one’s pain to power something beautiful.

Kevin Rhomberg’s well-accustomed to the whirlwind of what a music career can be: He’s been on the broke hustle in L.A., been on the radio, and won a Grammy just to end up back in the dingy apartment where he got out his dreams. Knox Fortune’s already took us to Paradise with his otherworldly pop sensibilities, and when the world needed him… he faded to the background. Now, he’s in New York with his lover, fresh off the COVID album cycle of Stock Child Wonder. On this episode, Knox talks to Michael (for the second time) about what he’s done in the years between records, the perception of artist/producers, the shifting meaning of home, and how memory informs the warmth of his music.

‘Twas a simple recommendation (before recording our ARTHUR episode) that initiated our host into the otherworldly nature of 454. Almost a year later, and the artist born Willie Wilson is poised for a breakthrough by making hyperdriven rap influenced by everything from footwork to early Rvidxr Klvn. His 4 LIFE mixtape served as introduction for many fans and tastemakers, but Wilson’s shy and humble aura glows through the screen from his Bushwick bedroom. For every smile, there’s a shade of the darkness he endured that molded his purpose. In this episode, 454 and Michael detail how place informs his process, the transition from Orlando to NYC, and everything that fuels him in chasing the unknown for all to enjoy.

What’s life for the Lil Scammer That Could? Ask Oakland’s own Guapdad 4000, and it looks like a feature on a platinum record, a hefty Lyft budget, several durags, and L.A. weather. Gone are the days of his Dior Deposits, but not the pain that came from it; when one inherits a hustler’s bloodline, one’s never too far from chaos. That’s what makes the fabric of Guap and !llmind’s collab album 1176, and it’s the fabric of this episode as well. Within, Guap and Michael discuss the Bay’s impact on music and culture, the way Guap maneuvers between clout and creativity, and the choices Guap made throughout his life to stand on his own ten no matter where you place him.