Ep. 38: Pt. I | How Hip-Hop Made the World w/ Dr. Todd Boyd

Words Matter Pod w/ Akil Pinnock

Today’s guest is none other than The Notorious PhD, Dr. Todd Boyd. Outside of his informative cultural commentary on basically every documentary ever made, Dr. Boyd has been a tenured professor in The University of Southern California's Cinematic Arts department for over 30 years. He’s written various articles and essay’s, co-wrote and produced 1999’s cult-classic, The Wood, and is the author of eight books, including his most recent offering, Rappers Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World. In part one of this two part interview, Dr. Boyd revealed that his inspiration for wanting to earn his PhD didn’t come from other PhD’s, but ironically from being a fan of how sportscasters spoke with respect about basketball Hall of Famer, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, during a time when Black men were commonly demeaned in the media. Dr. Boyd couldn’t play like Dr. J, but that led to him eventually earning that respect years down the line, after earning a PhD. Dr. Boyd spoke about how he’s subconsciously been writing this book since he was 9 years old and how his lifelong love of sports, film, television, politics, music, magazines and overall culture laid the foundation of everything he’s done in his professional career. Later in college, Dr. Boyd realized that he could make a living intellectualizing all the media he consumed. He later spoke about how rhyming has always been apart of Black culture even before hip-hop, being a pioneer in collegiate hip-hop education, the performative nature of his teaching style, how hip-hop made the world, people critiquing materialism in hip-hop, and people falling victim to their own nostalgia. I know everyone will enjoy Dr. Boyd’s candor, humor and knowledge as I did but it doesn’t stop there. Look out for part two next week. Please LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE. Words Matter. SUBSCRIBE TO WORDS MATTER NETWORK ONLINE! https://www.wordsmatternetwork.com/ APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/words-matter-pod-w-akil-pinnock/id1617394062 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvGpb3HRumh4B6CDtKAom?si=f4272d0c0c644e1a CHECK US OUT ON SOCIALS! Host: https://www.instagram.com/akngozi/ Words Matter Pod: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatterpod/ Words Matter Network: https://www.instagram.com/wordsmatternetwork/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AkNgozi TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsmatterpod?lang=en VIDEO EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/magnet_vibez/ INSTRUMENTAL: https://www.instagram.com/hegot_flame/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsmatterpod/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsmatterpod/support