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Good evening everybody or good morning if you're listening to this i'm actually recording this quite late it is about eleven thirty pm local time i wanted to record after the amazing college championship football game which we'll talk to in a second later on in this episode and i also went to a knicks game earlier today which we'll talk to in a second which i would have been recording earlier but these sporting events push my recording time back and i am not complaining because well the knicks game sucks but yeah so it's late here in new york and i'm sure where you're listening to it's you're probably getting your day started with which is great as am i by the time this comes out but i do want to start with the biggest news obviously in hip hop also welcome to episode fifty one of something wrong with the podcast it's julian sorry skip the minor intro there i went right into my current state but let's go right into germaine j cole's album the fall off which has finally been announced at two six twenty six and if you know j cole two six is a quite a theme of his throughout his career it refers to north carolina which is pretty awesome that he could stamp this monumental album with a date in itself that is also inherently significant to his career and his personal life and his story i love when artists are able to do that pick a certain date that symbolizes something very meaningful to them speaking of dates and artists this this day the recording was mac miller's birthday so a a happy posthumous mac miller to birthday to mac miller who would have turned only thirty four this year it's crazy he's been gone for eight years which is just almost eight years if you know what i mean but pretty crazy to to think all that he was able to accomplish at the ripe age of twenty six but back to jermaine j cole i did reach out to two friends i i was aware of this track i think that's fine of me to say i reached out to two friends one of which was a producer on the track shout out diesel and the other who was the video director doobie and i do have plans to speak with both of them i reached out to do a zoom little zoom interview chat with each of them diesel is traveling and out of town and doobie was is actually his birthday happy belated birthday pretty exciting week for him to have this j cole single come out gets raving reviews especially visually stunning which again not my story to tell i'll let him tell it when he's on this program but you can imagine the set builds and the camera tricks he was doing to accomplish this amazing pan out with the with the blocking and matching the narratives with the matching the the shots with the song itself it's beautiful doobie's an incredible director he's done a lot of awesome work and i'm super excited to have him on the show but it was his birthday weekend so he was gone traveling as well these guys travel a lot it's hard to get a hold of them but they both said yes i got verbal locks from them so expect some content from both of those gentlemen which i'm very happy that they're willing to do this because often these aren't the people that get to speak much about their art in the progress of working with such incredible artists diesel's been working with j cole for years and produced many of his you know successful records and doobie in his own right has been one of an incredible director has worked on amazing campaigns working on his own personal project as well just put out a really cool piece about basketball in paris i encourage you all to go check that out if you haven't but yeah let's let's focus on the music j cole i i mean i was aware of the track i've heard it saw the video all that stuff i i i am very happy that honestly from my perspective i'm just happy that this is finally happening because the bits that i know from the people that i love and respect over there at dreamville know how like arduous and long this process has become and for many reasons not just because the kendrick and drake beef but for a multitude of reasons and we're on a few versions of this album earlier versions i've heard some of the records on there and i would highly doubt that any of them maybe not highly doubt but i i would assume not many of them are on the the current version of this project but point is we're seeing the videos get shown of the vinyl being pressed we're seeing you know eve and the team share those videos and that content the album is done this isn't going to be a last minute situation where we we can't relate on the information we're seeing we hard physical copies of this album already existing in the wild and everything is done and turned in obviously bias aside i think the industry needs an album from j cole and i mean that in the sense that we're waiting on obviously kendrick and drake to speak i wouldn't even consider gen x kendrick speaking on the the beef per se i think that's still caught up wrapped in that moment and truly as great as gnx was i still do see it more as a mixtape than us than your standard kendrick studio album i think that was more a nod to la and more like you know another nail in the coffin of like here's my actual culture these are the sounds that my culture produces whereas his other albums are far more i don't know thought provoking is the right word because i'm not saying that gnx is dumb by any means but certainly more of a storyline and a narrative that follows a character obviously good kid mad city we saw a young kendrick navigating his early days in the streets and chasing his dreams into the music scene with more beautiful narrative structure on damn obviously to be butterfly more of a concept album but still strong narrative driven there as well so i expect the next from kendrick's album whenever that may be but in the meantime i think j cole obviously has been leading thematically with this album the fall off is not we're not new to this narrative this is something we've heard from cole for years and it's something that's been planned for years so certainly i think an artist of cole's caliber when you have a conceptually a plan of what you want your career to look like in closing you obviously that can change as certain events happen meaning the apology during the festival and and having a half of a toe dipped into a beef i think that did reroute his i don't think it did reroute his plans because we're seeing a different version of this album what was what was supposed to be but i'm i'm genuinely curious and again not my information to share i'm not gonna you know say anything but i'm genuinely curious to know how much thematically feature wise and creatively that moment is going to change the outcome the album that we're getting in a couple weeks time and i've been trying to to think on it and from from what i know try to see what pivot would make sense and how things would be altered but i guess i'll find out with the rest of everybody this album i think is really going to set the tone for hip hop for the year we're it's no surprise that hip hop has been i think it's a little grandiose and like people are kind of hitting it with a broad stroke of like hip hop's down is the demand for hip hop cooked why aren't there hip hop acts festivals and like yes some of those metrics and data points remain true and are trending in that somewhat of that direction but i don't think one could argue hip hop's relevancy culturally in the conversation at large and how much it shifts music in the sound of of of music stemming even into pop music but an artist of j cole's caliber releasing an album this early in the year is interesting for many reasons because of firstly like the grammy cycle it'll be nominated for will come significantly later than the moment this album is released which has usually for most artists not played in their favor generally speaking earlier albums are quite often overlooked in the grammy release cycle and i'm not saying j cole's missing an opportunity to sweep the grammys i don't think his focus is on an award show obviously the two six and this date means so much more to him than dropping it within the window of like grammy cycle and as it should i don't think you should i don't think you should alter your creative in the art that you want to put out to fit a a date that's determined by the industry for the prime window to drop an album completely agree with cole on that.
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But the other side of this is by releasing an album this early in february you're really jumping out as the first major release and also setting the tone for what hip hop will most likely look like throughout the course of the year you're putting yourself out there to have the hip hop community and the music criticism community music critiques judge you before they judge your peers and the others so you are theoretically setting the bar of what this year could look like none of these things i think cole should be running from and i'm glad that he's not i think it's it's awesome that he's willing to take this risks i think this is a really again biased aside i think it's very impressive for cole to cut through all of this noise and just put himself out there whereas most people that are critical of him currently see him as the person that retracts and runs away this move announcing your album a huge album in his discography again remember fall off this is it like this isn't just like oh cole's putting out another album he's adding additional weight to this moment this this is arguably the biggest moment of his career so to assume all of that responsibility to self inflict that level of pressure as well and to go out there and do it before the other two men mentioned in this in this whole battle i think is worth just paying attention to and i think it could speak to the quality of the music and what could lead up to a heavy year on the road for jcole and not just domestically globally and we're gonna see some some tour numbers and amazing figures that will hopefully lift hip hop back into the mainstream conversation that's my expectation for cole that's my hope for cole and i think there's no artist well there's two other artists but there's no other of the of this crew that i keep referring to there's no artist more capable of doing that than those three gentlemen so i'm really excited to see cole rise to this occasion and take a take a huge risk to be able to to not only take a risk but take one so late in your career and not run from it not play the safe route he's not warming up a radio single he's not waiting for a chart topping hit to just get back out there it's like yo here's the date you know when to expect the albums coming this day also the record that diesel produced and doobie worked on is called disc two track two low hanging fruit put the pieces together we're looking at conceptually a double album of sorts which makes me think back to okay maybe this was one album the first version of this or the second version of this and maybe we're getting those songs that may have been scrapped but maybe we're doing this in like side a side b and who knows what you know thematically those sides are what does this disc one represent versus disc two this single alone raises a lot of additional questions but exciting ones and from what i can assume you know if you say disc two track two i would assume it just means more music to me than i would have expected on just one disc so that's great i hope it's a lot of music and i think another thing that's interesting that everyone should keep an eye out on is the contract with the city of raleigh the dreamville fest as we know it was at least said publicly discontinued or not discontinued they just shifted from from doing a festival to doing more community based events and being involved with the community in what capacity we don't know but i think it's smart for people to the people on reddit the j cole bible accounts and the archive accounts that do a lot of extensive research look into those things try to figure out what is going to happen this year in raleigh and try to dissect the schedules the flights and all those things because j cole isn't the type of artist and i know his marketing team quite well and they are brilliant people they're not the type to just put an album out and just let the music do the music thing they're also going to have a million other things million other balls rolling at the same time again only going to say so much because it's not my art or process to get ahead of but do expect a couple really cool conversations with some of the people that are heavily involved on this project and i'm really happy to be in a position to have them on my program hopefully by next episode we'll see with their schedules and how long they're.
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Limited by state law yeah let's pivot to some brief sports news oh actually before we go into sports let's stay on music congrats kaz to becoming co host over at high ninety seven he's officially joining marrow i'm i'm so fucking happy about about that decision a brief story about my history with with kaz when i joined the doucet palooza team this is for those are chasing the history here this is where i first met rory well we met at a music festival and then they do say palooza had me join them on the tour that year twenty nineteen to tour this the country with them and do these shows and be the social media guy and just like document everything and like do some like local marketing which thankful super thankful for at the time obviously roy and i were good friends and of a crew that was so familiar with each other and i always joke like industry incestuous there were some members on that team that were not welcoming outsiders which whatever at the time i understood it's totally fine but kaz was not one of those people kaz was always extremely nice and just a warm and positive loving person even when i was you know these guys work so hard to you know put this whole event together and start this from a basement to what it ultimately became and here i am on the on the what ended up being unbeknownst to us at the time the last tour the last hurrah we're doing blue notes we have everybody's flying getting their own hotel rooms and meanwhile i'm on this tour hearing stories about how they all used to pile into a room and some people slept in the van and the van got stolen and the equipment got stolen in new orleans and i'm hearing all the horror stories of the early days as we're on tour and meanwhile here i am you know the new kid just getting my own hotel room taking videos having a blast so i can see how some animosity could build towards me because i wasn't there through the struggle portion of it but i was there to do work and i did great work and it was a hell of an experience and kaz was somebody that made that training transition super easy i'll never forget the first show i went to on tour with them was in chicago at the house of blues and it was a a shallow crew than most it was the same week that they were asked i think a couple of the the palooza guys were asked to host something for beyonce in la at the time was a point of like contention in the crew like who's gonna go to la who's gonna do the actual show that we have booked at the blue note in chicago or the house of blues pardon me in chicago obviously i'm on the chicago crew i'm beyonce thing in la so the chicago crew ended up being i think it was just four of us four i want to say two performers and then myself and then i forget who else was like more but he was behind the scenes and it was a tight crew a great show twista was the guest that came out a few other chicago local artists came out as well but i remember walking hanging out in the green room ahead of the show with kaz and we just talked for a while and he had just was great conversation just asked me questions and we just really got to know each other and i felt safe in an environment where you know it's entertainment people are territorial people are like you know they don't they're not too big on outsiders and i don't even think he wasn't i know he wasn't there rory wasn't even at that show so my my person my into this whole thing wasn't even at this show i was just there very nice of him to just he's just always been somebody that looks out for for people and he's just there's also just like no he's just a warm person to have represent the city of new york on a microphone and i think that dynamic of him and meryl will work really well together meryl can be a little more loose and wild like him on like his amer shit whereas kaz who kaz is a funny guy but he will also more play the anchor sort of things because he is a great podcaster host producer all of those things and i think he's the a great pick to that fits really well within the within the radio waves of new york city and beyond i just can't believe if you were to tell me at that time that cass would be in that position it wouldn't be like a surprise but it would just be like how they have the ebro like that show's not going anywhere it would just be like how would that even make sense when they have this program that's already you know well established at the station hey life is life is crazy but congrats to to kaz and marrow and yeah i'll be i'm gonna be checking out the program for sure i want to hear how they how these guys do together i'll probably be watching on youtube like most people i definitely do not have a radio nor listen to radio but the youtube for sure i will i will be on there this episode is.
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Yeah so let's let's go into sports a bit here the knicks let's start let's go in order i went to the knicks game today it was a five o' clock game a little lexus suite situation going on it was it was quite i love those those never get old the amenities of just having your own bathroom and like a little balcony food food service drinks anything you want just had water today by the way did not drink but does nick suck as fun as it was and as cool as like that experience is the knicks blow now the wanting the nba cup was the worst thing that ever happened to our program it's like it is a curse i mean we're overworked our rotation is trash i i was gonna call out just brunson but like it's everybody everybody's effort's low we're missing easy shots we lost to a really mid dallas mavericks team i will say it was cool to see cooper flag play i've caught now both standout rookies of i saw wemby play in brooklyn his rookie year and i've seen now cooper play in the garden which is pretty cool klay thompson was like four or five from three or three or five whatever he just he just shot us so butter it's so much prettier in person max christie went off i think he had like twenty six or twenty eight on the game but point is we suck we were down big early like in the game was i mean i think they got up to like thirty maybe four i don't even know we got blown out it was terrible terrible in the sense that we looked bad there's no bad afternoon at the garden obviously i had a great time but the yeah we just we look really really mid and i don't know what it's going to take to turn it around because we're not going to have gaps in our schedules and our and some of our players that were hurt were back like major shamet played today i thought like maybe having more help off the bench would make a difference it did not i don't know what it's going to take but mike brown this is when you need to coach and this is when your your dogs need to this isn't like stuff that i think can be resolved on the court this is up here the boys need to link up talk fucking figure it out in the locker room in lock in because we are heading into all star break and we're going to be like a fucking five hundred team by all star break it's a joke jalen brunson this was his first game he got announced as a starter an nba all star starter deservedly so even with how bad we've been playing lately which is great to see him represent the eastern conference as a starter but the team's got to figure it out and with that weight of being an nba all star starter on your back jalen you've got to play a big a big part in figuring it out so you guys still have my heart knicks fan forever were you i'm you know i'm used to the i'm used to sucking i mean by halftime the team was getting booed and whereas before like we were getting booed because we were suck and it was a laughing stock the new knicks fans or not the new knicks fans but like the new version of booing in the garden is because we expect success and we expect a show in dominance and we're booing a lack of effort for a team that can do and has done so much more did i partake in the booing no but did i understand where it was coming from and the it's it wasn't just disappointment from this particular game it's been disappointment honestly since the cup it's it's knicks fans don't boob just to boo we're not like these other cities you earn your booze and tonight they earn their booze they booted halftime they booed carl anthony towns when he came out for the last part of the game and they booed in the last few minutes i left with a few minutes on the clock they were booing as i was walking out could have been towards me that would i mean it probably was whatever but yeah point is the team's got to figure it out it's not a secret they know it and they got to get it done speaking of getting it done the undefeated indiana hoosiers took the college football championship game this is why again i'm recording so damn late tonight i really wanted to just watch and enjoy that game i thought about recording at halftime but i didn't want to rush myself so i'll just cut into my sleep schedule because that's smart that mendoza kid i mean talk about it for those that don't know he's the quarterback of the hoosiers he was a two star recruit didn't he's from miami did not get a sniff by miami ended up winning the national championship against miami in miami took a team indiana the whole program has never won a championship brought indiana university their first national championship ever in program history they did it with a new coach from like jmu john james madison university which is like again if you're not familiar with college football small program not known for sports at all they built this whole team around this core of guys from this small school and a few other schools some other big ten schools as well and they were the sleeping they were the underrated dominating team the entire season this team went undefeated but no one expected them to be as good as they were and handle things this game was really tough they were blowing out teams throughout this entire college football playoffs miami played a hell of a game and kept it tight and exciting it came down to the carson beck the miami quarterback having a potential game winning drive ended up throwing interception on that drive indiana took a couple of knees ran out the clock but this wasn't a blowout which is what indiana did do against alabama and against oregon so what more can you ask for a couple of fantastic games from the playoffs and congrats to the first time college football playoff winners the indiana hoosiers i always i was talking to some friends about this mendoza their quarterback is you know you hear this story you hear a guy that came from a shit program two star recruit found a home in indiana and then goes undefeated like give somebody a better foundation to be like a johnny manziel or like the most arrogant cocky fuck you i've been the underdog all y' all counting me out suck my dick i'm the man he has all the right in the world to have that story this guy is the most boring superstar you'll ever meet the guy's like there's nothing really wowy about him he doesn't do anything like he doesn't have the exceptional arm strength of like mike vick or the legs of also mike vick but also like cam newton and johnny manziel he's not snaking and doing all this crazy shit on the field he just runs the plays and gets the job done they ran the same play like ten times it works nine and it's always a big play they do these outs comebacks and he always puts the ball in the right spot it's not flashy but it works he had one really nice run tonight for twelve yards is a big big touchdown on fourth and five but other than that the kid is just like just fucking boring which is tough to sell a boring superstar and he's very very religious loves to thank god do all that shit which is like whatever i'm not knocking it's it's most likely going to be the number one overall pick in the nfl but it's crazy that like we're trying to build a story about a superstar that's just like boring but i am happy indiana one i did want them to win so it's cool to see the big ten as a conference get a ring and they said it was the first time a new let me see if i can word this correctly it was the first time since nineteen ninety six when the florida gators did this that a new program won the college championship game meaning since ninety six when florida got their first one it's just been the same teams cycling the ring cycling championships so if that tip your cap to the college football playoffs this stuff probably wouldn't happen if the playoffs didn't exist honestly and as controversial and as iffy as it is this probably wouldn't happen if the nil didn't exist indiana is terrible historically they've been a laughing stock of a program just look at their history even if you're not into football it is worth just like looking into how money this really is just like a case study on how money and looser rules can just kind of influence and change the whole scope of what seemed to be like a system that was just so it was just it was just what we knew and all we knew the sec is the football conference the sec is this neither of these teams in this game were sec teams the sec team the alabama the big bad alabama got their shit kicked in by indiana in the playoffs like it's weird we're living in this time of like when we're kind of we have to rewire our minds to see the things that we once believed to be true are no longer true and that's obviously stems far beyond college football game and more into politics and health but i'm really trying to stick away from those things obviously what's going on in minnesota and with these ice videos it's it's terrible i don't really need to get into that who what's one more person with a mic telling you that everything that's going on in this country is wrong like i'm not you know i'm not gonna say anything that you probably don't already feel or know maybe but i'm not gonna do that tonight your boys got gotta catch some z soon but yeah great great day for sports great week for music and keep an eye out for for all things coal and also keep an eye out for how other music musicians react daylight said this was one of the best albums you ever heard pretty cool to hear i think this the way other musicians react to this will say a lot about how people felt about the beef as well i do think like the music is obviously the gift that we're getting here from cole like the art itself but i think we need to really pay attention and lean into the fodder surrounding this outside of the dreamville camp and more so like what pockets of the industry within the not even just the hip hop space but what pockets of the industry as a whole are championing this supporting this turning their backs on this or what is the public perception from this from these people because that can also say a lot about how everything has shaken up yeah guys pretty heavy film episode i do want to get to bed sooner than later because your boy is back in the lab i've been working out early i changed my whole sleep schedule because again the new job so i've been waking up pretty early in the morning but it's been fulfilling i've been crushing it in the gym got a steam room now at my new gym you guys know how much i love to steam i haven't had a steam room since i lived in chicago so this is quite a treat every morning is to crush a hell of a workout and then just sit in the steam room for for a bit at the at the gym if you haven't steamed go steam it's great for your pores also thus far no ao pause shit going on in the steam room there's also barely any people in there because i also go i go pretty early but it's just like respectful there's it's a big room people sit oh far away from each other like six feet covid type shit and you just fucking sit and think i you know obviously i'm not bringing in my headphones and phone in there so it really is just like a quiet space i try to work on my posture in there which i've abandoned in this episode i'm fucking slouching the whole time but you work on your posture you know feel flush on the wall and just just take it's good for meditation taking getting control of your breath things of that nature i'm really trying to lean more into to those tactics as well just little things you learn throughout the course of your life that you tend to abandon and when those things come back in your life when you start thinking about them again it's time to revisit those things so i've just been revisiting some things that i've heard before which i think is super important i feel like a lot of times we hear something kind of file it away try it maybe it wasn't for us but maybe it wasn't for you at the time in which you initially tried it maybe it was something that you were five years early on and needed to come back when the time was right i feel that way about certain books i'll read a book or i'll read an article or see a movie i'm like yeah wasn't for me and then i'll revisit it at a different time in my life when i have more lived experience and maybe it aligns more with what i missed in the in the book or the film or the article the first time and then i'll be like okay yeah no i can see why this was you know why this was recommended to me or why this is like a something that people go seek and watch and read i think it's really important i don't think the way in which i think people are quick to abandon each other over social and political takes i think that's just that has trickled into all aspects of our lives where we're quick to if it doesn't serve me it's it's you push it away because of these damn things we're in a for you environment where that is not how life works not everything is built for you nor should it be built for you you are meant to adapt and try different things that's i'm pretty sure i mentioned this on the show but that's how evolution people always say i had i did say this before but like rigidity is a weakness the strongest window is one that's flexible not one that's stiff because a strong wind will just knock it out you need to have give give and take so when you apply that to people you need to be willing to adapt and try new things and i've said that before and i said it again and i will leave you all with that this is episode fifty one of something wrong with the podcast i love you all good night or good morning peace.
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Episode Title: SWWP #51 - J. Cole Album Announcement, Hot 97, College Football Championship
Host: Julian Delgado
Release Date: January 20, 2026
In this solo episode, Julian Delgado dives straight into the biggest topics shaping culture this week. He covers the much-anticipated announcement of J. Cole’s album The Fall Off, shares some behind-the-scenes hip-hop insights, celebrates Kaz joining Hot 97, and breaks down the aftermath of the NCAA College Football Championship. The episode blends sharp music commentary, entertaining sports rants, and moments of personal reflection—all with Julian’s trademark candid humor.
“I love when artists are able to do that; pick a certain date that symbolizes something very meaningful to them.”
— Julian Delgado, [02:22]
Notes the grueling process of making this album, with multiple versions and significant Dreamville team effort.
Considers how the Drake/Kendrick beef and Cole’s partial involvement might shape the album’s final form:
“I’m genuinely curious… how much thematically, feature-wise, and creatively that moment is going to change the outcome of the album that we’re getting in a couple weeks’ time.”
— [06:55]
Julian sees J. Cole’s album as a crucial, early event that may set the tone for hip hop this year, especially as conversations swirl about the genre’s mainstream status and industry relevance.
“By releasing an album this early in February, you’re really jumping out as the first major release and also setting the tone for what hip hop will most likely look like throughout the course of the year… you are theoretically setting the bar.”
— [11:20]
Notable Quote:
“He’s not warming up a radio single, he’s not waiting for a chart-topping hit to just get back out there. It’s like, yo—here’s the date, you know when to expect the album… This is arguably the biggest moment of his career.”
— Julian Delgado, [12:34]
“Kaz was not one of those people [who kept outsiders at arm’s length]… Just a warm and positive person—always been someone that looks out for people.”
— [17:56]
Attended the Knicks game in a luxury suite—enjoyed the amenities, but calls the team “mid” and worries about their trajectory post-NBA Cup:
“The Knicks blow. Winning the NBA Cup was the worst thing that ever happened to our program. It is a curse.”
— [22:59]
Calls for locker-room accountability, notes poor effort across the roster, and recounts fans booing both the team and opponents at MSG.
Quote:
“You hear a guy that came from a shit program, two-star recruit, found a home in Indiana, and then goes undefeated… All the right in the world to have that story. [But] this guy is the most boring superstar you’ll ever meet.”
— [28:14]
“If you haven’t steamed, go steam! It’s great for your pores.”
— [34:10]
“Rigidity is a weakness. The strongest window is one that’s flexible. Not everything is built for you, nor should it be built for you. You are meant to adapt and try different things.”
— [35:55]
| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------| | 00:41 | Opening / J. Cole album announcement | | 03:00 | Contacts with Diesel & Doobie; behind the scenes| | 06:50 | Album’s creative process and hip-hop climate | | 11:11 | Early album release & industry impact | | 13:30 | Dreamville Fest speculation | | 16:58 | Kaz joins Hot 97 / D’usse Palooza story | | 22:47 | Knicks game recap & NBA reflections | | 25:58 | Indiana’s college football championship | | 33:00 | Reflections: gym routine, meditation, adaptation|
Julian Delgado’s sharp, humorous tone makes this episode a memorable blend of cultural critique and personal authenticity. From J. Cole’s industry-defining album rollout, to shoutouts for industry friends and reflections on sports heartbreak and triumph, episode 51 is a rich snapshot of music, sports, and the inner life of “your hilarious unlicensed therapist.”