Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Kwame Harrison, Alumni Distinguished Professor and Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech. Harrison records and performs under the moniker “Mad Squirrel” and has co-founded two groups—the San-Francisco-based Forest Fires Collective and Washington DC’s The Acorns—as well as releasing various solo projects.

Harrison is the author of Hip Hop Underground: The Integrity and Ethics of Racial Identification (Temple UP, 2009).

Song credits from this episode:

Murs/ F'Real/ Say Anything/ 1997
Zagu Brown/Dont Believe It/ Projects/1996
Top Ramen/ Hardly Celebrity: Pimp Shit/Freestyle/2000
FundaMentals/The Pattern Fall Wars/Falling Down/1996
Jun Dax/ Spills/2000AD—Two Zero/2000
Mad Squirrel/ Pinko/Triple A/2002
Salty Brown/ Salty Brown Is A Seasoned Vet/Salty Brown/2012
Salty Brown/ Salty Brown Is A Seasoned Vet/O.W.M./2012
Mad Squirrel/Last Days of Squirrel/Initiative—Intro/2021

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Anthony Kwame Harrison on Cassette Tapes and Hip Hop Culture