Making WBEZ Chicago

Part 1: Touch the sky.
Before becoming a cultural lightning rod, Kanye West was a self-confident teenager, handing out mixtapes on the South and West sides of Chicago. In the first episode of our two-part podcast series, we track Kanye’s meteoric rise from uncredited producer to headlining star.
Making tells the story of a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe and don’t miss an episode.

Part 2: It all falls down.
Ye becomes a mouthpiece for the more sinister parts of American society. In the second episode of our two-part podcast series, hear from friends, journalists, activists, fans (and former fans) on Ye’s second act, from superstar status to cultural pariah.
Making tells the story of a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe and don’t miss an episode.

Jordan Peele is responsible for modern classics in the horror genre, including the films Us, Nope and the Oscar-winning Get Out. Before all that, he was a self-described nerd. He majored in puppetry in college before dropping out with his friend Rebecca Drysdale to pursue a career in comedy. Hear from Drysdale, Peele’s early collaborator Brendan Hunt and cultural critic Aisha Harris about Jordan Peele’s rise to comedic and horror genius.

Serena Williams is a household name. The recently retired tennis legend has won 23 Grand Slam titles – more than any player in the Open era. But before becoming one of the most dominant athletes of all-time, Serena was a girl from Compton with a dream.
In the Season 4 premiere of WBEZ’s Making podcast, host Brandon Pope revisits the years before anyone knew Serena’s name. Hear from the people in the room and on the court during her evolution to tennis prodigy, including her sister Isha Price, former tennis pro Chanda Rubin, and childhood coach Rick Macci.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was just 16 when she signed a record deal with Jay-Z. She was 19 when her smash hit “Umbrella” took the world by storm. Now at 34, she is not only known as a popstar but also a fashion mogul and billionaire.
But how did she get here? On this week’s episode of Making, host Brandon Pope explores Rihanna’s origin story with music journalist Bill Werde, Vogue.com editor Chioma Nnadi and record producer Evan Rogers, who discovered Rihanna in Barbados in 2003.
“I warned her it's a roller coaster, you're gonna get kicked in the gut. Are you sure?” Rogers recalls asking the then-15-year old. “And I'll never forget, with no hesitation it was like, ‘It's all I've ever wanted.’”
Featuring exclusive archival tape of Rihanna’s early rehearsals, learn how Rihanna became a global icon.

Before there was Barack Obama on the ballot, there was Jesse Jackson. Preacher, civil rights soldier and activist, Jackson ran two memorable campaigns for the American presidency.
“Our time has come,” Jackson declared during his famous ‘David and Goliath’ speech while he was running for the Democratic nomination in 1984. “Red, yellow, black and white, we’re all precious in God’s sight! Our time has come.”
But what ingredients create a civil rights legend? Join biographer Barbara Ann Reynolds, long-time friend and collaborator Frank Watkins and Jackson’s son, Jonathan Jackson, in conversation with host Brandon Pope. They dissect Jackson’s decades-long career – as a mentee of Martin Luther King Jr., as the leader of Rainbow PUSH and as a renowned orator – on the latest episode of Making.