"HIP-HOP'S LAUGHING STOCK" // BBC RADIO 4

Hip-Hop’s Laughing Stock on BBC Radio 4, Monday September 21st, 4PM

Exciting news, my first documentary for the BBC will have its premier on BBC Radio 4, Monday 21st September. Listen here or I’ll be live streaming it on Facebook here

How it all started:

Last year I was lucky enough to be accepted onto a fellowship that’s aim getting more diverse voices into the audio industry. The Multitrack Fellowship. If you’re searching for a way into to an industry that can often feel quite closed off, I would 100% advise applying to the fellowship.

That led to months of training and the opportunity to pitch for a BBC Arts documentary. That’s how “Hip-Hop’s Laughing Stock” came to be.

Laughing Stock:

Presented by Joe Jacobs aka Jester Jacobs of The Moose Funk Squad, his help was invaluable with the making of the doc starting just before the virus hit, end of December. This led to there being mixture of face to face interviews, some on location and later talks recorded online. This allowed for much more varied selection of voices, such as:

Lunar C, Jaz Kahina, Dan Bull and Open Mike Eagle

So much of the interviews didn’t make it into the final piece and I hope in the future to be able to release more of what has been left out. But saying that, I’m incredibly proud of the doc as a whole and I hope you’ll give it a listen.

“Hip-Hop’s Laughing Stock” is broadcast 21st September, 4PM on BBC Radio 4

Spotify playlist below features all the songs from the documentary

“Joe Jacobs is a failing rapper trying to make a career as a stand-up comedian.

Straight out of Finchley, Joe spent a decade attempting to build a recording career as a hip-hop MC. But by his own admission he was never taken too seriously. Now he’s trying to turn the tables - instead of being the butt of other people’s jokes he is hoping to direct the laughs himself. His ambition is to succeed in stand-up, where he failed in rap - and get a gig on television.

Can he go from being a comedic rapper, to a stand-up comedian who raps?

In this documentary he meets other artists who bridge the worlds of rap and comedy. He hears about hip hop's humorous roots from Open Mic Eagle, understands the world of rap battles with Lunar C and Jaz Kahina and meets one of the least likely success stories in viral rap videos, Dan Bull.

Mix Engineer: Steve Urquhart
Producer: James Trice
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman

Commissioned as part of the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship

A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4”