This bonus episode of the podcast is our most exciting to date. In the first half of this three hour conversation with DJ Booth Senior Staff Writer Yoh Phillips, we learned about the culture of individualism nurtured in Atlanta, Yoh's journey from Olive Garden to respected music journalist, and how reading only dead authors created the building blocks of his writing voice. Find the podcast at the links below. Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review and let us know what you think on Twitter!
In Search of Sauce is dedicated to combating the idea that music journalism is dead or dying. We sift through the click bait to bring you the writing, reporting and thoughts of some of the brightest minds in music and journalism with a side dish of our own ideas and opinions. We tell you what makes each piece exceptional and drive conversations centered on their thought provoking content.
This podcast is a collaboration between CentralSauce and The 5th Element podcast network. If you're a writer and would like the chance to be featured on the podcast use the option to contact me from this site's homepage and send us your recent writing.
On This Episode:
The recording of this episode almost felt a bit unreal to me. In lockdown this summer I decided to use a slice of my expanded free time to look deeper into some of my favorite music journalists and study how they execute the craft. Among this demographic, Yoh Phillips has always stood out to me for his incredible eloquence and powerful voice. After picking up his published anthology, Best Damn Hip Hop Writing: The Book of Yoh, I was greeted with the expansive, thought provoking, journey through music old and young, familiar and undiscovered that is his cumulative work.
We've had a bit of back-and-forth with Yoh over the course of the podcast thanks to Ryan's excellent outreach with the journalists that we cover. After we discussed Yoh's essay, "Every Rapper is Going to Die & So Will I," on episode 13, we hit him about coming on the show to talk about how he does it. Not only did he agree and set a date for barely over a week later, but he stayed on mic with us for three hours out of his day. With my rich history of failed relationships, I've never felt so appreciated. It's easy to tell that Yoh enjoyed the conversation as much as we did (the same can't be said for aforementioned relationships). It was truly a blessing at the best time.
My favorite section of part one is Yoh describing his ascent from the trenches of Olive Garden to success as a writer through a collapsed lung and literal victory fireworks. As someone who has spent the last five years as a server and bartender, my spine involuntarily shuddered when he recounted the tale of a late-night family drifting through the twilight of closing hours to request a table on his very last night of employment with America's most notorious pasta pushers. The inhuman restraint it took that man not to walk out the building and into his new life posthaste paid off. Upon locking the gates to that temple of westernized Italian cuisine for the last time, actual explosions in the sky marked the beginning of one man's turn to pen his way into history.
Check out the episode to hear from Yoh himself. Easily one of the most valuable conversations of my career so far and I'm still elated at the opportunity to hear it all over again.
Thanks
Thanks for reading, listening, clicking and washing your hands! Got feedback on the episode? Have your own thoughts on the content? Want to share some of your writing? Hit me up! Find me on Twitter for memes and music discussion and Instagram for photos and breakdowns of my growing vinyl collection. Please use the "Contact Me" option on my homepage to reach out to me!
