Are You Thinking of the Audience or the Usage?

Santigold, Black Thought and theOGM of Ho99o9 discuss how best to balance information and imagery, how being an artist is about dancing between spaces, the importance of not overthinking your art, and how to write an arena banger.

Santigold is a singer and producer whose music is influenced by everything from hip-hop and punk, to gospel and reggae. Born in Philadelphia, she began her musical career writing for other artists, and performing in a punk band, before releasing her self-title debut album in 2008 to huge critical acclaim. Bringing things up-to-date, 2022 saw Santi put out her fifth studio album Spirituals, the first release on her own label Little Jerk Records.

Tarik Trotter, AKA Black Thought, is an American rapper and actor who is regarded as one of the most important MC’s of his time. He was the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip-hop group The Roots, and has recently released a new album in collaboration with Danger Mouse called Cheat Codes.

theOGM, from the band Ho99o9, is an American musician whose fusion of hip-hop and industrial metal simply hasn’t been done before. They’re known for visceral live shows and have worked with some of the greats across metal and punk, including Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and The Prodigy.