Photo by Gabriel C. Pérez/KUTX
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, and all of those worlds collide in his new book, Go Ahead In The Rain. Out now via UT Press, the book is a meditation on the outsize impact A Tribe Called Quest has had on Abdurraqib’s life and American culture at large. Abdurraqib weaves Tribe’s story into his own in poignant, lyrical snapshots: sitting on the school bus, anxiously pressing play on their new album; connecting their innovative jazz sampling to his parents’ generation; witnessing the painful death of the group and Tribe’s urgent resurrection in 2016 to speak to our troubled times once again. Abdurraqib reminds us that our favorite artists or groups aren’t static, earthbound. They’re made of the same stuff that courses through the veins of music: time, space, love, loss, harmony, dissonance.
This week on My KUTX, Abdurraqib is our guest DJ and tour guide through a set of songs that have profound emotional resonance for him, from the building catharsis of boygenius to the astonishing grace of Aretha Franklin. Hear My KUTX on Saturday, June 1 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime below.
–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX
Playlist:
1. boygenius – “Me & My Dog”
2. Jamila Woods – “Giovanni”
3. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Too Much”
4. A Tribe Called Quest – “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo”
5. Nipsey Hussle – “Loaded Bases” (feat. CeeLo Green)
6. Lizzo – “Tempo” (feat. Missy Elliott)
7. IDLES – “Samaritans”
8. Lorde – “The Louvre”
9. Sleater-Kinney – “What’s Mine Is Yours”
10. Aretha Franklin – “Never Grow Old” (Live)
11. Noname – “Ace” (feat. Smino & Saba)
12. Mitski – “I Bet On Losing Dogs”
