Words Matter Pod w/ Akil Pinnock

Akil Pinnock
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Semiweekly

After years of entertaining the idea of starting an interview based Hip-Hop podcast, but realizing how the saturated the genre was becoming, independent journalist Akil Pinnock decided to pivot. This spawned the Words Matter Pod w/ Akil Pinnock, a podcast dedicated to storytellers. Using his love for long-form interviewing, derived from listening to hours of interview Hip-Hop podcasts like Juan Epstein, Combat Jack, and Rap Radar. Akil Pinnock decided that he would take what he learned from those platforms, and apply it interviewing storytellers of varying fields and not just Hip-Hop.

  1. 07/01/2025

    EP. 42: PT. II | HIP-HOP NOT CARING FOR FLATTERY, THE ERASURE OF THE DJ IN RAP GROUPS, SENDING RECORDS TO SPACE, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUBLIC RELATIONS & JOURNALISM,

    We’re back. In the second and final part of episode 42, Mr. Allen and I speak about Hip-Hop being the most honest genre of music, the difference between public relations and journalism, why he made the subject of the project turtablism instead of any of the other three elements of Hip-Hop. He spoke about creating a DJ septet as a Hip-Hop re-imagining of a big band, the erasure of the DJ in rap groups, and sending records to space. Please LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE. Words Matter.  CHECK OUT HARRY'S HARBANGER COLLOQUIUM!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnbDwvCj4vk&t=5413s SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS! Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en

    1h 4m

  2. 06/24/2025

    Ep. 42: Pt. I | NAS, CROSSING OVER, ART MUSIC VS. COMMERCE MUSIC & PUBLIC ENEMY W/ THE HARRY "THE MEDIA ASSASSIN" ALLEN

    We got another two parter y’all! We have Harry Allen, one of three of the 2024-2025 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellows from the Harvard Hip Hop Archive. Mr. Allen is a longtime Hip-Hop journalist, media personality, educator, and member of the legendary Public Enemy. Today, we’re here to speak about his fellowship project harbanger. In his own words, harbanger is a turntablist septet, and an experimental hip-hop research project created at MIT in 2020 designed to investigate turntable polyphony, polyrhythm, and polysemantics. This may sound like a foreign language to most so we get into that during this interview. In part one of this week’s episode, Mr. Allen explains how harbanger represents an alternate reality of hip-hop being taken seriously when it was formed instead of initially being written off as a silly fad like most things that Black people create. He spoke about the difference between “art music” and “commerce music,” commercialization of Hip-Hop, what “crossing over” means, his relationship with Chuck D and Public Enemy, what being the “Media Assassin” meant, hip-hop being “reasonable,” and so much more. Stay tuned for part two coming next week. Please LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE! Words Matter. CHECK OUT HARRY'S HARBANGER COLLOQUIUM!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnbDwvCj4vk&t=5413s SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS! Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en

    1h 5m

  3. 04/22/2025

    Ep. 41 | The War on Recidivism w/ James Pitt, host of American Felon TV

    This week’s guest is James Pitt, founder of American Felon TV. American Felon TV is a social media and YouTube platform that documents crimes and landmark events in his life and Rockland County, NY. While I understand many in the comments may interpret the existence of American Felon TV as a platform that’s stuck in the past and glorifies crime, to Pitt, he’s telling these stories as a method to deter youth from a life of crime and incarceration, as well as highlighting and interviewing felons who have turned their life around. Pitt talks about how growing up being poor and the ridicule that comes with that, led to him eventually fighting back which led to a life of crime and violence. We spoke about handling his newfound fame and dealing with online trolls, re-adjusting to the free world, fighting recidivism, the difference between glorification and documentation, what he had to unlearn from prison, and much more. I say this all the time but this was a really great episode and when the American Felon TV Instagram page was brought to my attention, I instantly knew that this was someone that we needed to interview. Relative to the world of crime, these stories aren’t the most unique, but within the context of our hometown of Spring Valley, NY, these are the stories of our community that need to be told. The suburbs experience some of the same hardships that people from the cities experience such as, the school-to-prison pipeline, crime, homelessness, underfunded public school districts, and gentrification. Hopefully this channel and interview can be informative to listeners like you and contribute to everyone understanding each other just a little better so that we can co-exist without judgement. Please LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE! Words Matter.  SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS!Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/jelaniaswad/INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 22m

  4. 03/11/2025

    Ep. 40: Pt. II | Crunk as a Resistance w/ Dr. Kevin C. Holt

    Welcome back. As promised, we’re back with part two of Crunk as a Resistance w/ Dr. Kevin C. Holt. In part two, Dr. Holt speaks about the Memphis sound of Three 6 Mafia and Miami Bass being the forefathers of Crunk, Atlanta’s local Bass artists becoming local celebrities, how Atlanta’s version of Bass turned into Crunk, Lil Jon being the face of Crunk, Atlanta’s wealth gap, Kendrick Lamar’s last verse on “Not Like Us,” and so much more. Please LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE! Words Matter  SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS!Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 3m

  5. 03/04/2025

    Ep. 40: Pt. I | Crunk As a Resistance w/ Dr. Kevin C. Holt

    We got another two parter and it’s very nerdy! Today’s guest is Dr. Kevin C. Holt, Assistant Professor of Critical Music Studies at SUNY Stony Brook University,  one of three of Harvard Universities 2024-2025 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellows, and author of I Bet You Won’t Get Crunk! The Performative Resistance of Atlanta Hip-Hop Party Music. In part one of this interview, Dr. Holt and I speak about the enormity of a Harvard fellowship being named after Nas, the elitist nature of Hip-Hop analysis in academia, Crunk as a resistance to the status quo, it's connection to Freaknik, and Hip-Hop helping change the perception of the south. After listening to this podcast you can see why Dr. Holt is who he is. Not many can make the connections he makes to understand the things you may consume passively on a daily basis. He’s a wealth of knowledge and I hope that whoever listened or watched part one of the interview can leave with a different perspective on what we’ve discussed, specifically Crunk music, it’s origins and what it represented. If you enjoyed part one of this interview, then you’ll enjoy part two next week. Please LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE! Words Matter  SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS!Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 1m

  6. 02/11/2025

    Ep. 39 | "Democratizing Music" w/ Brian 'Z' Zisook

    Today’s guest is Brian ‘Z’ Zisook. Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Global Operations and head of Artist and Label Services at Audiomack, an artist first music streaming platform that allows artists to upload music and fans to stream and download songs. He is also one of the founders of DJ Booth, a mixtape hosting streaming service and later, an industry leader in music journalism that entered into a content partnership with Audiomack in 2020. Z and I discussed the platform he’s created for himself on X (formerly known as Twitter) as a beacon of music business education, being a true advocate for artists and attributing that to why he’s never wanted to start a label, what his intentions were when creating Audiomack, carrying yourself with integrity as a white person in Hip-Hop, fans focusing heavily on sales and accolades, and more. Please LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE! SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE!https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS!Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 30m

  7. 03/05/2024

    Ep. 38: Pt. II | How Hip-Hop Made the World w/ Dr. Todd Boyd

    In part two, Dr. Boyd and I discuss the complicated legacy of Sylvia Robinson, founder of Sugarhill Records and if The Sugarhill Gang are “industry plants,” the kinship between hip-hop and jazz and why ultimately, hip-hop will be heard in the same prestigious cultural venues as jazz music. He also spoke on why MCing and DJing are the only elements of Hip-Hop that can be commodified, lyrics being used to incriminate rappers, hip-hop being aspirational, why people should read Rappers Deluxe, and much more. Please LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE. Words Matter  SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE! https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS! Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/ INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 11m

  8. 02/27/2024

    Ep. 38: Pt. I | How Hip-Hop Made the World w/ Dr. Todd Boyd

    Today’s guest is none other than The Notorious PhD, Dr. Todd Boyd. Outside of his informative cultural commentary on basically every documentary ever made, Dr. Boyd has been a tenured professor in The University of Southern California's Cinematic Arts department for over 30 years. He’s written various articles and essay’s, co-wrote and produced 1999’s cult-classic, The Wood, and is the author of eight books, including his most recent offering, Rappers Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World. In part one of this two part interview, Dr. Boyd revealed that his inspiration for wanting to earn his PhD didn’t come from other PhD’s, but ironically from being a fan of how sportscasters spoke with respect about basketball Hall of Famer, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, during a time when Black men were commonly demeaned in the media. Dr. Boyd couldn’t play like Dr. J, but that led to him eventually earning that respect years down the line, after earning a PhD. Dr. Boyd spoke about how he’s subconsciously been writing this book since he was 9 years old and how his lifelong love of sports, film, television, politics, music, magazines and overall culture laid the foundation of everything he’s done in his professional career. Later in college, Dr. Boyd realized that he could make a living intellectualizing all the media he consumed. He later spoke about how rhyming has always been apart of Black culture even before hip-hop, being a pioneer in collegiate hip-hop education, the performative nature of his teaching style, how hip-hop made the world, people critiquing materialism in hip-hop, and people falling victim to their own nostalgia. I know everyone will enjoy Dr. Boyd’s candor, humor and knowledge as I did but it doesn’t stop there. Look out for part two next week. Please LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE. Words Matter.  SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE! https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS! Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/ INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/

    1h 13m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

After years of entertaining the idea of starting an interview based Hip-Hop podcast, but realizing how the saturated the genre was becoming, independent journalist Akil Pinnock decided to pivot. This spawned the Words Matter Pod w/ Akil Pinnock, a podcast dedicated to storytellers. Using his love for long-form interviewing, derived from listening to hours of interview Hip-Hop podcasts like Juan Epstein, Combat Jack, and Rap Radar. Akil Pinnock decided that he would take what he learned from those platforms, and apply it interviewing storytellers of varying fields and not just Hip-Hop.

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