Tonight at 9PM, MPR debuts it's new program The Loop. Part This American Life, part Open Source, this pilot project brings Minnesota Public Radio (willingly, we hope) into the age of We Media. [See also: Public Insight Journalism]
I had the opportunity to get behind the scenes of the show this week. Show host Jeff Horwich invited Battleground Minnesota's Shakademic and Glenn to talk about their mix of politics and hip-hop. But no, that wasn't enough. They brought in the extremely good-natured MPR climatologist Mark Seeley to do an on-the-spot weather mashup with the boys over some fresh beats. I'm not sure if it'll make the final show, but that moment was just the sort of sparkle and spontaneity we desparately need on our airwaves.
Posted by Minnesota Stories on July 29, 2005 03:22 AM
Comments
I love this Shakademic guy! Just watched the "Media That Matters" online Film Fest yesterday and saw his "Battleground Minnesota" film (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/mtm05/) I see you have a link to his site on the right side of MNStories website. Yay!!!!
As you know, in "Battleground Minnesota" he brought a Lemon Pudding Cake to a house party in Edina for Bush/Cheney. Way to bring some humor and energy to an incredibly stale political system!!!!
Great work here. Both that MPR is embracing a more listener-centered and listener-driven format (we need more of that) and that these young people are using hip-hop to convey a message of social consciousness. So much rap nowadays is negative and promoting a thug lifestyle. It's refreshing to hear someone tell listeners to wake up and look at the political system.
