In this candid retrospective, hip-hop pioneers Afrika Baby Bam and Mike Gee of the Jungle Brothers reflect on their organic beginnings crafting pause tapes in high school, shaping the foundational ethos of the Native Tongues movement, and continually evolving their boundary-pushing sound across decades.

Bobby Lyle traces his journey through jazz and funk—from early Minneapolis jam sessions and touring with Sly and the Family Stone to pioneering West Coast fusion—anchored by his 1977 cult classic debut, “The Genie,” and a commitment to creative control across generations.

In an expansive interview, Arrested Development frontman Speech reflects on growing up around his mother’s newspaper, the origins and principles behind his group’s groundbreaking agrarian hip-hop aesthetic, and the hard-won creative lessons learned from navigating rapid commercial success and industry evolution over a decades-long career.

Guided by a lifelong spiritual search, radical technical curiosity, and a reverence for the substance inside every note, veteran bassist David Friesen continues to follow the music wherever it leads.

“Liner Notes” is a Sounds Visual Media spinoff series where musicians, composers, DJs, beatmakers, and collectors dig into their crates to share favorite records. In this installment, musician/ composer/ producer Dan Ubick talks about his newest record, “Gris-Gris Bag,” which features a heavy dose of New Orleans-inspired psychedelic Funk and Hip Hop.

Saturated in his father’s vast jazz record collection before he could even walk, Mike Clark translated an innate listening instinct into a trailblazing career that forever redefined the boundaries of funk and jazz drumming.

By chasing James Jamerson’s rumble through Motown’s basement windows and learning Stevie Wonder’s songbook purely by ear, Nate Watts turned deep listening and raw melodic instinct into a five-decade masterclass on bass.

Grounded in decades of pioneering blues, funk, and storytelling, 92 year-old Bobby Rush remains dedicated to preserving his history and passing his hard-earned wisdom on to the next generation.

Motown and Los Angeles session bassist Eddie Watkins, Jr. recounts his prolific career playing on iconic records for Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Herbie Hancock, and Gloria Gaynor, and shares his decades-long journey toward sobriety and spiritual music.

Grounded in a DIY ethic, cassette-loop experiments, and a slow climb through Bristol’s studio scene, Geoff Barrow traces a restless career built on instinct over expertise — from teenage sampler experiments through Portishead’s breakthrough and a late-career rebirth as a film composer and band member several times over.