Hopping on the Culture with Ethiopia Habtemariam

Stop Fighting Over the Aux

You can't control if someone doesn't get "the culture." Since hip-hop is art, every listener won't have the same interpretation or takeaways from Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole. But these artists are talking about the hardships they went through, so you better listen up. Thanks to streaming, Nielsen Music declared hip-hop the No. 1 genre in America as of 2017, but its accessibility comes from artists talking about their rundown neighborhoods and real issues people from around the country, and the world, can relate to. I spoke to Ethiopia Habtemariam, president of Motown Records, who has signed some of the biggest names in the genre like Migos and Lil Yachty. We talked about hip-hop's storytelling power that anyone can use. "I believe in having a diverse group of people working on a project, because the reality is you want to start somewhere, but you want to grow it out and you want people along the ride with you that understand what the purpose is," she said. Listen to the rest of our conversation here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/heran-mamo/support