Interviewing is an Art. In talk radio it’s still somewhat sacred but on the higher range FM frequencies (urban markets) of the dial, this art has become a bad joke of satirical proportions. Listen to any urban station in America and you will realize it’s a forgotten art. Today’s urban radio interviews are usually pathetic and the "groupie" interview syndrome has become so pervasive that you don’t really learn much about an artist through interviews. Urban airwaves are continuously programming audiences to expect shallow, trivial blurbs from artist. In my opinion it’s primarily the fault of the corporate deals, urban radio host and Disc Jockey’s (DJ’s) make.

The majority of the time the radio host or DJ has too much of a groupie mentality to respect the type of relationship that others want to have with an artist through an interview. This pop culture adulation is prevalent within all areas of the communication industry. Host don’t consider that many listeners are seriously listening to learn relevant information about the personality who they worship or whose music they buy. These interviewers concentrate on the shallow subjects and would rather please the few people on the lowest rung of audience. Those adolescent mentalities that always prefer controversy over conversation are the minority audience but, majority-targeted, listener. This giggling posture may change, depending on the personality of the celebrity artist being interviewed. Take as example “DJ Coolie P” he would never ask Chuck D “how many girls he slayed while on tour in Brazil” but that very well may be the second question he ask an artist like Ludacris (I have personally heard this done on air). Technically it's not Luda’s fault if he is asked this question but it is, if he answers. This of course has a lot to do with how artists allow themselves to be perceived which is often a reflection of their music.

Traditionally if radio host wanted to post something outrageous or out of bounds, they would be too embarrassed to personally do it, so they might disguise it through a cleverly orchestrated stunt to reduce association. For example A listener/friend of the host would call in the show via another number to ensure they get through “on air” once they opened up the line to listeners. This person will then ask the crazy question. Nowadays it’s the callers asking the more mature questions and the host who are tainting the interviews with zany stunts. You've probably noticed that for, far too many people conducting interviews, it has become a rule of thumb. I could call names but we all know who they are and what they do, besides I am pressed for space here and the list is long, but the techniques employed by people in Philadelphia and New York are the same in Los Angeles, Detroit etc. 

The interview is a lost art due to the never-ending sales pitches to “buy my album” (a relatively new phenomena that is probably the most irritating), the never-ending commercials on corporate radio and the interviewer doing what he/she thinks will win them favor with the listening audience. Which is usually mindless drivel. Here is an example of a typical Urban radio interview that you might here today.

Host/ DJ: We have multi platinum rapper “xxxxxxxxx” in the studio today, his album is dropping tomorrow. He took an hour out of his schedule to be with us. So we want you to go cop that. It’s mad hot. Tell them the name of your album?

Artist: Yo my album is called ”It’s Real Out Here” go cop that, I just finished the album, I think it is my best work ever. Big up to “xxxxxxx” and I want to give a shout out to my thug ni@@a’s from Ward 5 in penitentiary 6 who held me down.  

(-Commercial break-)

Host: Yo I saw ya whips on MTV Cribs, what type of rims is that you had on ya Benz and ya Range?

Artist: Yo kid, I am sitting on some chrome 22’s right now but I am about to get some 25’s for the Range (Rover). I wanted those to match my ice. My album drops tomorrow. Go cop that.

Host: Nobody is doing it quite like you man. Damn let me see your chain, yo ya ice must weigh about a ton, look at this “xxxxx” (calls more people into the studio) where you got that at, yo that is crazy ....you just blinging?

Artist: Nah man, it’s a lil something I copped from Jacob (The Jeweler) you know what I'm saying. He was hitting me on the 2 way telling me, he had something hot for me and to come through and this was it. It cost me a grip too.

Host: I was watching BET and saw your video for “Hot Hoes in Houston”, who is the girl with the light blue thong? I think I saw her in Snoop’s Video, yo she’s bananas!

Artist: Ooooooooooooooh that girl got the ill body right. Yo, Yo, Yo Shortie got skills (jokingly). Nah chill, I know what you thinking (laughing) , but I don’t even know Shortie like that, I am single and I am just trying to chill right now. My manager picked her out. Big up, to my manager “XXXXX” I owe him a lot because he helped me meet my deadline for my album which drops tomorrow .Cop that. 

(-Commercial break-)

Host: Who else is on the album? What guest appearances do you have ?

Artist: I got my man “Coonin Calvin B”, courtesy of Dungeon records, um I got “Pimpin Cornell Q” courtesy of Nihilism productions and Killer Miller courtesy of his label Die4Coke recordings.

By the time the hour is up you have zero information but you have been listening intensely, for something, anything more than what you just heard. Never fear, the artist will be back in time for the next album drop, if they have a bit role in an upcoming movie or if they are the focus of a hot topic that everybody is buzzing about. Under those conditions the interviewer may ask something that all of the listening audience truly wants to hear. However the artist is so used to having soft ball questions that they may be thrown off and the interview may not go well. Take for instance Ainge Martinez’s interview with Ray Benzino of the Source on the subject of Eminem on NY Urban station Hot97.

Benzino: "Yo I'm from da hood! I'm reppin' for my people man!! I rep the block!! This is for hip hop!! Hip hop is da streets!!"

Angie: But why don't you have beef with any of the other artists who's selling like Nelly and Ja? Why Em?

Benzino: Cuz this cr@cka don't know nothing about the streets! I'm from the streets! I'm reppin' for all my ghetto ni@@az man! This cr@cka think he can come here and extort hip hop! Hip-hop is the streets!

Angie: Is this cuz he's white? Why did you just use the word cr@cka'?

Benzino: Yo, forget you Angie!! He called me a woman and a ***** in that interview with you, and you let him get away with it, so I have the right to call him a cr@cka! What's your problem?!

Angie: But you're using a racial slur here Ben.

Benzino: So what? You know that white boy wants to call us ni@@as, but he won't do it cuz that would be the end of his career! He's dying to call us all ni@@az, but he can’t do that. I thought you was with me on this, and I'm sad to see that you not. That white boy obviously brainwashed you!.

Angie: Brainwashed? I don't appreciate that at all Ben. You need to accept the fact that people don’t agree with you.

Luckily this male/female disagreement did not turn violent as a few have. Sometimes the conflict is indirect and involves members of the artist entourage. Sean Combs aka "P. Diddy" just escaped similar charges last week. He testified that he did not order his bodyguards to rough up radio show host Roger Mills in 1999. Mills said that while interviewing P. Diddy in 1999 for the Biggie dedication album “Forever” he asked Combs, to comment on allegations that he had contributed to the death of the Notorious B.I.G., in Los Angeles in 1997. Combs allegedly got angry and abruptly ended the interview. Combs' bodyguards then allegedly roughed up Mills and destroyed some equipment while forcibly taking the tape of the interview because he would not sell it to them. The judge decided Combs was innocent but there was violence. A charge often levied against his entourage. But its not just rappers, who go to extremes over some questions its R&B artist . In September 2003 former Hot97,co -host Jimmy Mara asked Jaheim “was he a homosexual” live on air. Jaheim became very upset and flipped out in the studio. His entourage flipped out also, repeating the mantra "Real Ni@@as, do real things “ while they vandalized the studio as Sway and his co-host tried to get out of the way". This shocking display probably caused them to re-evaluate the shock interview strategy. I don’t think the threat of violence is rampant but it is considerable depending on the artist. Incidents of violence travel the grapevine very fast, making the prospect seem more imminent and inevitable. Outside of Power 106 Fm in Los Angeles whose host is a former 300lb hip-hop bodyguard called Big Boy, any host could be challenged.

The unpredictable and sometimes violent nature of the shock question interview is another reason to return back to the basics in interviewing. Despite the possibility of violence the mission should be to convey genuine information that people want to know. Interviewers don’t have to kiss the ass of artist if they show integrity and are doing the job of being a conduit for musical information and genuine inquiry. Artist have to deal with radio it’s the easiest, most accessible and least expensive form for them to promote themselves. In 1989 Davey-D and Keith Moerer were able to interview NWA at the beginning of their popularity and asked NWA tough questions, which they didn’t want to deal with because it was authentic.

Nowadays the top burgeoning artists are only reminded how great their music is despite lyrical content. For example 50-Cent is hot but controversial. When he is interviewed the focus is usually on how many times he has been shot or how he sold crack after his mother died. The usual simple but tantalizing rhetoric without any grounded challenges.

The most authentic interviews happen in radio not television or in print, which is subject to a lot of fancy editing. The blueprint for television interviews is pretty much the same as radio but allows more editorial control and manipulation. People can often hear a radio interview and tell a number of things like if a person is sitting right there in studio, if it was done over the phone, if the interviewer or interviewee know each other, or if there is an agreement in place in whereby a certain questions cannot be asked. It’s obvious to the majority of listeners. There was once a time that the urban radio interview was simply about getting topical information out. The sensational aspects didn’t have to be encouraged by host they would come naturally.

This art of interviewing is dying on air and even print interviews are starting to suffer in futile attempts to be as sensationalized as radio. Print interviewers should work to their strengths not try to follow radio. In print there is a certain style and correctable comprehension to reading. Print has the ability to convey so much especially when you have informed host. If the interviewer knows the subject matter in which they discuss, they can really bring a lot out of a person during an interview - this sometimes forces them to talk a lot. Sometimes they are lucky and get somebody that loves to talk and share everything, but you can’t force them by stirring controversy. I repeat legitimate controversy will naturally happen on urban radio without coercion. Interviewers should be prepared to talk about more relevant topics. Admittedly there are sometimes preconditions to an interview, which both allow or eliminate certain questions in return for something. For example Eminem agrees to do an interview with XXL magazine and answer certain questions about his calling black women bitches and using the n-word and they will give him the cover of the magazine and even over-hype him, with undeserved accolades such as “the best rapper alive” as they did in the March 2004 issue.

There are still many exceptional interviewers like JR of San Francisco Bay View, the National Black Newspaper of the Year he interviews people in very different areas but always has legitimate questions that he can ask. He is prepared if the person he is interviewing answers something he was going to ask. This takes preparation and a lot of people interviewing don’t do that today. Their corporate access makes them under-appreciative and lazy about the craft. Periodicals like XXL & The Source have the luxury of easy access and that has very little to do with doing background work although the interviews are very brief. This is strictly an editorial decision because they have the access. Another Hip-hop tabloid magazine 4Korners offers lengthy interviews with many of the same artist that are in depth and much more informative of the artist. This too is an editorial decision. A print interview has a tougher sell than radio because it doesn’t take much to listen while doing other things but to read something requires focus. These outrageous interviewing antics are almost fully normalized for urban markets and if we interpret their popularity as a sign of success we might as well prepare the R.I.P. acronym for the tombstone symbolizing the craft we once knew as interviewing. - Nuff said

Released: March 1st, 2004

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.