Airgo

Sol Patches is an actor, rapper, poet, organizer, and gender abolitionist from Chicago. Under the guidance of AirGo alum Ricardo Gamboa and Coya Paz at the Free Street Theater, Patches has tackled roles on stage and screen, including Louder Than a Bomb as a member of the Goodman Theater team and in Pronouns, a new film that has been accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival. They are also an activist and organizer, working with the Let Us Breathe Collective and other organizations across the city. Recorded live 6/26/16 at WHPK 88.5FM Music from this week's show: TWOsDay II - Two Fresh What White People Invented - @SolPatches

Shani Crowe is an interdisciplinary artist from the South Side of Chicago. Her newest exhibition, Braids, is a series of portraits of Black women whose hair has been braided and styled into "a variety of original looks and wearable works of art." She joins Damon and Daniel to talk about the project, her lineage as a visual artist, and more. Recorded live 5/19/16 at WHPK88.5FM in Chicago Music on this week's show: Breakdance Lesson N.1 - @kaytranada Braid My Hair - Mario BLK Girl in the Auditorium - @JBambi All Falls Down - Kanye West

Felonious Monk is a comedian and commentator who has built some of the city's most vibrant, subversive comedic rooms. His work with Dave Helem on the Blipster Life comedy series, produced in venues across the city, has brought comedy into the movement, and has created in-between spaces for one of America's most segregated art forms. He is a regular contributor to The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Recorded live 5/12/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Say You Won't - @Brasstracks Heavn - @JamilaWoods Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross

L.A. VanGogh is a multitalented rapper, vocalist, producer, and musician whose fantastic new collaborative project with producer and DJ Ambi Lyrics is entitled safensound presents L.A. VanGogh. The project's sound, birthed from both artists' hands, ears, and minds, is grounded in this sonic moment more completely than most, and is in self reflection that dodges Drake-like corniness in favor of honest thoughts and declarations. Recorded live 5/5/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: I Wonder - @ambil Changed My Number - @youarenowSafensound (@LaVanGogh & @ambil) 9 ta 5 Bluez - @youarenowSafensound (@LaVanGogh & @ambil) Untitled 108 - @bruceleekix All Falls Down - @kanyewest

As a moment continues to transition to a movement, one of the most pivotal questions is how a generation of people fighting for liberation can maintain their spirits, bodies, souls, and presence while still actively doing some of the most difficult work one can do. Black Girl in Om is an organization that creates "spaces for women of color to breathe easy" through their online publication and pop-up wellness experiences across the country. Founder/Creative Director Lauren Ash and Art Director Zakkiyyah Najeebah join Damon and Daniel to wellness, art, and more. Photo by Erica Jones Record live 4/14/2016 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Blk Girl Soldier - @jamilawoods Oxygen (prod. @montebooker) - @sminoworld Everybody Loves the Sunshine - Roy Ayers Live At The Barbecuue - Main Source feat. @Nas

Summer Fields is a student at the University of Chicago, where she has seemingly been making cool stuff since she first showed up. She is the founder of The Quad, a podcast telling the stories and sharing the voices that are often unheard at UChicago. She also works as an intern at Hearken, "an audience-driven framework and platform enabling journalists to partner with the public throughout the reporting process." A former ABC News Politics Fellow, she's currently writing her thesis on race and public media. Plus she's as much of a Larry David fan as Damon and Daniel are. Recorded live 4/7/16 at WHPK 88.5 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Bus Ride - @kaytranada Freedom Interlude - @noname I Think It's Going to Rain Today - Nina Simone

Highness is a band and collective whose unique sound, which they call omnisoul, lights up stages and eardrums across the city. With each show, their appeal and energy becomes even more undeniable. Daniel and Damon go offsite to interview the band at the rehearsal studio as they prep for the release show of their new The Highness Collective EP. Recorded 3/31/16 on WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music on this week's show: Israel (Sparring) Instrumental - @chancetherapper feat. @noname Straight Loneliness - @kaytranada Pearl - @highnessmusic Radio Play - @highnessmusic Because 789 - @highnessmusic

Poets are expected to be in touch with their emotions. A stoic poet is viewed as holding back or guarded. As a result, some folks tend to manufacture the markings of emotion–a crack in their voice, a tear down their face, shoulders shaking with emotion. When real passion is performed, however, the result is far more impactful. Emon Lauren Black doesn't hold back, on stage or off, and is becoming a forceful and important voice in the city's poetry community. Recorded live Thursday 3/24/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Reactions - @louielastic Family Matters - @chancetherapper feat. @Jamilawoods Drive In - @stefanponce feat. @themindmusic Window Shopper - 50 Cent

This week's guest has been mentioned on AirGo more than anyone else, for good reason. Kevin Coval is a poet, educator, and community builder who is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors and the co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb, the world's largest youth poetry festival. He has worked to center the stories of strong young voices from Chicago and beyond for decades, and the legacy of art and community that trails him is unmatched in this moment and city. Recorded live 3/17/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Where They At - Molemen Shut 'Em Down (Pete Rock Remix) - Public Enemy Burnout (feat. @Erynallenkane) - @SabaPivot

Fatimah Asghar is a poet, photographer, and writer whose forceful presence and fierce work from stages, on pages, and behind lenses have made her one of the city's strongest young poetic voices. She is a member of the Dark Noise Collective, a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors, and is the creator of Let Me Love Me, a "a nude photo project for people of color to talk about [their] bodies and [their] journeys with self love." Her chapbook After dropped last November through YesYes Books. Recorded live 3/10/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Tha' Coop - @karavelo Patriot Act - Heems Always on Time (feat. Ja Rule) - Ashanti

Akenya is a singular talent in the Chicago music community. She commands the stage like a combination of James Brown, Billie Holiday, and a hungry MC conquering a cypher. She has collaborated both with Chicago hip hop stalwarts including Chance the Rapper, Noname Gyspy, Mick Jenkins, Eryn Allen Kane, Donnie Trumpet, and the O'My’s, as well as performed alongside contemporary luminaries like Esperanza Spalding, Fred Hersch, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Luciana Souza, and Dave Holland. She is preparing to drop her first LP, titled Moon in the 4th, this year. Recorded live 3/3/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: It Might Work - Alicks Absentmindedness - @akenya Disappear - @akenya Back to Life - Soul II Soul Tangos del Cerro - Estrella Morente

Chante Linwood fills rooms across the city like Chance the Rapper's Open Mike, Louder than a Bomb, and nightlife hotspots East Room and Mad River with good music, and perhaps equally importantly, a wonderful, hilarious spirit and smile. The DJ, filmmaker, and mother is one of the cofounders of We Are Cliché, a self-described "collective by women for women." Recorded live 2/25/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Scientist Friends - @steeltippeddove Supplier - @Karifaux Lullaby (feat. Softglas) - @chargaux Thanks to Ben Niespodziany for curating the instrumentals every week!

Many of the organizations and groups mentioned on AirGo have developed in response to ways that existing institutions have failed to successfully serve the purpose they claim to serve, from the classroom to the corner to the studio. News media has also largely failed its purpose of honestly, fairly, and accurately telling the stories of Chicago. This week's guests, Andrea Hart and Darryl Holliday, are editors of City Bureau, an organization "aiming to restore civic media coverage of the South and West Sides of Chicago by training a new generation of young reporters in the practice of urban journalism." In this meeting of the media minds between City Bureau and AirGo live some ideas for how to continue extending the Chicago Renaissance onto the newsprint and airwaves that are tasked with telling the truth. Recorded live 2/18/16 at WHPK in Chicago Music from this week's show: Into the Trees - Kodyak Mercury Rising - @themindmusic BLK PR (feat. @ali-of-new-kingz, sydshawmusic, & Chapo)- @kingronthepoet

In the performance spaces and venues of Chicago's cultural renaissance, it becomes easy to tell who has the work ethic to keep growing, learning, performing, and moving forward. Couple that work ethic with undeniable talent and a warm soul, and you get Sam Trump. The soul singer and musician takes a break from creating very rare vibes across the city, and touring the country with band Sidewalk Chalk, to swing by AirGo. Recorded live 2/11/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show far away - @tomppabeats Love, Peace, and Happiness - @Samtrump Brother (feat. @add2music) - @Samtrump That Thing - @Samtrump People Make the World Go Round - The Stylistics Check Sam out at http://samtrumponline.com follow us @airgoradio, @airgodaniel, and @Damon_AF

After 28 episodes, we've started to hear some consistent threads and ideologies emerge. In a city with a broken education system and a massive amount of misinformation, these Strong Young Voices have to have learned these shared ideologies from somewhere. Mariame Kaba is one of the city's great mentors and community builders–she's the founder and director of Project NIA and co-founder of We Charge Genocide, and has worked to combat violence against women and girls for decades. Just a few weeks before she moves from Chicago, she joins AirGo for a conversation. Recorded live 2/4/2016 on WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: Boathouse - em Nu no vox Follow Mariame on twitter @prisonculture

Ricardo Gamboa isn't here for hypocrisy. The Chicagoan artist, actor, director, and activist challenges the hypocrisies and half-truths of the city and nation's institutions through his work tirelessly, and his work has both exploraed and created space for others to explore diaspora in Mexican(-American) communities. His videos, productions, and performances have forcefully issued rallying calls and challenges with a fist behind his winking humor. Recorded live 1/28/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: french inhale - bds.u

When did you first hear a voice that cut through madness and helped the listener heal and grow? Perhaps more so than any other person in the city of Chicago, Jamila Woods brings meaningful empowerment to the spaces and people with whom and which she connects. She's the Associate Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, an award-winning poet who is member of the illustrious Dark Noise Collective, and a magnificent vocalist and songwriter, who listeners may know as the voice of the Social Experiment's hit song "Sunday Candy." The wonderfully talented and supportive Woods is a Chicago native. Recorded live 1/21/16 at WHPK 88.5FM Music from this week's show: Questions feat. Jamila Woods - Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment Blk Girl Soldier - @jamilawoods The Joy (live @kdicrecordings) - M&O Lovin' You - Minnie Riperton

Petty. Britteney Black Rose Kapri is a poet, educator, and the Pettiness Queen of Chicago. A recipient of the 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation's Writer's Award, she pushes every space she's passes through across the city toward less bullshit and more honesty. She teaches in classrooms across the city, including Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, and is a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors. Recorded live 1/14/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: The Strain - @blockheadnyc GPS - @Sabapivot Family Business - @KanyeWest Gypsy Woman - Crystal Waters

In the world of organizing, it can feel like victories are few and far between. Strong Young Voices participating in the work can sometimes find it hard to face these immense challenges with no guarantee of success. This makes moments of success, where objectives are met, very complicated. Veronica Morris Moore has organized around various injustices in Chicago, but her voice became heard clearest in the fight for a Level 1 Adult Trauma Center on the Southside, which the University of Chicago recently agreed to build. We discuss this win, other challenges, joys, and more.In the world of organizing, it can feel like victories are few and far between. Strong Young Voices participating in the work can sometimes find it hard to face these immense challenges with no guarantee of success. This makes moments of success, where objectives are met, very complicated. Veronica Morris Moore has organized around various injustices in Chicago, but her voice became heard clearest in the fight for a Level 1 Adult Trauma Cente

There's a small door on 115th Street and Broadway in New York City. For nearly a decade, hip hop's royalty passed through the door and climbed a fluorescent-lit stairway to WKCR, Columbia University's community radio station, and dapped up kings of the underground Bobbito Garcia and Stretch Armstrong. The two New York natives introduced the world to an unsigned Nas, Jay Z, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, and so many more, while creating a meaningful, radical platform for the largest youth culture in the history of the world. On this very special New Year's episode, Stretch and Bob chop it up with Damon and Daniel in promotion of their transcendant new film Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives. The interview aired 12/31/15 on WHPK 88.5FM Music from this week's show: New Chapter - @MonteBooker Stretch and Bobbito Freestyle - Big L and Jay Z Stretch and Bobbito Freestyle - Black Thought, Common, Pharoahe Monch Time's Up - O.C.