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 gua…

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 …

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 vulnerabi…

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 fade…

‘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…

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 th…

Fana Hues is a Black woman from Pasadena: known for the Rose Bowl, yet small enough for everybody to know one another. Whether shows with the family band or volunteering in her neighborhood, her entire life thus far has given her the foundation for an artist with a deep care for community. She contains many methods to speak, only strengthened by th…

What happens when the theatre kid/music nerd earns a life-changing role that marks him as the next All-American Boy Next Door? If you’re Joe Keery, that means your teenage stans call you Steve from Stranger Things, and a pizza company fashions you like Ferris Bueller. From a sleepy Massachusetts town to the Chicago indie rock scene to Hollywood, th…

There’s a common thread in being thoroughly accomplished, yet feeling like you still have plenty to prove. Enter the life of Ricky Reed: Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, Billboard veteran, reformed indie rocker, and EDM hybrid artist in a past life as well. Movie themes, #1 records, deep cuts… chances are, Ricky’s laid hands on something you lo…

Erick Arc Elliott (known as the Architect) has spent the past decade as one-third of the beloved NYC crew Flatbush Zombies, leaving a collective legacy as one of the most energized live acts in hip-hop. Solo, Elliott’s built a discography as one of the most versatile producer-rappers of all time. They’ve never signed the paperwork, so the books are…

The journey of Jacob Allen took him from demo versions at the BRIT to tours around the world as Puma Blue: a shape-shifting multi-instrumentalist delving into the depths of romance, heartbreak, and pain. It made him a lo-fi indie darling with millions of streams, but who is Puma Blue in his mid-20s? No longer an insomniac, much more in control of h…

Be it pure fate or by design, Michael always manages to talk with fellow Aquarians during Aquarius Season. This conversation with Love Mansuy is no different, chronicling Love’s journey-in-progress as a passionate overthinker with heavy attention to detail. He’s Canada-born Haitian from Jersey who grew up infatuated with music, and followed his int…

This uncut two-hour episode features an intimate portrait of VMP's 2021 Hip Hop ROTM “Killer” Mike Render: rapper, businessman, thinker and debater. Many know him as one-half of Run the Jewels, or from his days in the Dungeon Family, but this episode finds Mike (our guest) giving Michael (our host) a tour through the familial and musical histories …

Rapper, abolitionist, Soul Train line conductor: Ric Wilson’s kept busy as a Chicago rising star making funk-laced bops for the dance floor and the protest. (Sometimes, they’re the same place.) Still reeling from a Summer from Hell, Ric checks in with Michael for their second interview, a passionate exchange from the left side of the aisle. Ric det…

There’s a myriad of ways to describe SIR E.U, and a shortage of words that do the 27-year-old DC native any justice: idiosyncratic, innovative, relentless Aquarian leaning contrarian. As a multimedia artist, he’s spent over half his life designing sound, specializing in rap music and performance that shapeshifts on his whim and refuses to landlock …

At 22 years old, the Iowa-raised, Chicago-based Billy Lemos has weathered more waves from his computer than many artists a decade older. Lemos is a self-managed producer/A&R who survived early popularity from the advent of bedroom pop, and currently strives to push pop music to its strangest potential. He’s rarely seen, yet always on pulse, countin…

People Under the Stairs have rested their LA caps on the mantle, retiring with the legacy of two underdogs dedicated to hip-hop’s essence, prevailing no matter who hated on them. For Thes One, the chip of notoriety remains, but so does the fighting spirit; every pretty memory’s tied to a long montage of hard work. In this episode, Thes One taps in …

Three years after nearly breaking up, Madison-bred/Chicago-based rock band Slow Pulp have risen to become critically-revered Midwestern darlings, earning nods from major publications and touring with the likes of Alex G and Post Animal. But the road to their own solo debut, Moveys, was paved in hellish conditions: personal health struggles, a near-…

Gabriel Garzón-Montano lives to occupy whomever he must be as each moment requires: globetrotter, heartthrob, loner, lover. Now, he’s arming himself with the sounds and stories to become the popstar symbol of his dreams. Agüita, his second album, steeps him in such lineage by casting him as the leading man with a new burst of fire and ferocity. On …

Chicago-born artist/activist Tasha is in the business of making bed songs: music to rest to, stringed refuge for the excluded. (Make no mistake, she’s in the streets when she can be.) Her talents have brought her across the country, and granted her a devoted core who bask in their feelings as she does. What does it mean to make love an active polit…

Let the Charlotte-bred MC tell it... the South still got sum’n to say, but the sun’s not talking right now. The storm’s approaching, and Mavi’s been preparing himself. He’s had a whirlwind year full of wins and lessons, sparked by an outpour of support for his riveting debut album. But the world remains the world, and we are still all we need. Call…

As a maker, Sen Morimoto’s used his music as a canvas to pour his insides onto, sorting through the big questions and little pleasures of a vibrant life. Mere neighborhoods apart, Sen checks in with Michael for the third Sooper Records edition of Good Convo. As he assembles his belongings in a new crib, Sen dives into the details of his career traj…

From the gridiron to the Grammy race, Rexx Life Raj has built his career through the lens of flight. The Bay Area artist has become a deeply-affecting songwriter through the spoils of constant growth and ceaseless collaboration. He leans on his community, and will stop at nothing to foster support for where he came from. Calling in from Berkeley, R…

Live from the backyard of his family’s Pennsylvania home, ARTHUR checks into Good Convo livestream, fresh off the release of his sophomore album Hair of the Dog. This episode features Michael’s deep inquiries into the rewarding eccentricities of ARTHUR’s work, attempting to unravel the truths behind each little universe and character. But, much lik…

On this Good Convo Live, Michael checks in with the beloved rapper-speaker-postdoc Sammus for a freewheeling conversation of practice, ethics and aesthetics. In a lively hour, they work to untangle the politics behind engaging hip-hop from places of privilege, reconciling one’s love for music rooted in violent structures, and how technology works t…

In this episode of Good Convo, we tune our feeds to the West Coast to tap in with Naeem: the Baltimore-born rap legend formerly known as Spank Rock. After two decades of international touring and fighting the current, Naeem’s on the verge of a public rebirth, putting the past to rest and creating Startisha: the most engrossing album of his career. …

In this Good Convo Live episode on VMP's Lost Sounds Radio, Michael interviews the DMV duo April + VISTA in a feature-length spree of nostalgia and light. From two different homes, A+V delve into an oral history of their experiences in the DMV scene before finding each other and collaborating exclusively. They also disclose the realities of navigat…

In our first Good Convo Live, we have Michael’s second interview with Ivy Sole... powered by wine, water, and the Internet. In the year since their first VMP feature, Ivy’s relocated to Brooklyn, released an Overgrown live album, and faced the ever-shifting hellscape of independent artistry in a post-COVID world. But Ivy’s energy remains as the wor…

Welcome back to Good Convo, Vinyl Me, Please’s interview podcast that puts the content into context. This latest episode features Souper Record’s KAINA who put out Next to the Sun last year intricately warm pop songs to melt into and get lost in. Joined by the presence of her producer, Sen Morimoto, Michael and the Chicago artist talk everything fr…

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