A Word | Good to Go-Go

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Arts, Music, Tv & Film

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many of the American musical genres that began in the Black community get taken over—artistically, financially, or both—by white Americans. Go-go, which traces its roots to the African-American neighborhoods in and around Washington, DC, is an exception. Now a new museum aims to preserve and amplify the essence of go-go, and extend its legacy to the next generation of fans. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Natalie Hopkinson, chief curator of the Go-Go Museum and Cafe Washington, DC, and the author of “Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City.” They discuss the museum, the history go-go across the region, and its unique role in inspiring resistance to gentrification and erasure of the city’s Black heritage. Guest: Professor Natalie Hopkinson, writer and co-curator of the Go-Go Museum in Washington, DC. Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. Washington, D.C. is famous, and in some cases, infamous, for many things. Political players, lawyers, lobbyists. But for music fans, it's also appreciated for GoGo. And now, the signature sound of D.C. has a museum of its own.
0:23.6	One of the things I think that's really notable about GoGo, it's one of the few popular black music that has not been colonized.
0:29.6	It is still black owned. It is still black controlled, black directed.
0:33.6	The new museum of GoGo coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.
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1:39.7	Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host, Jason
1:43.9	Johnson.
1:45.1	For most Americans, Washington is first and foremost the nation's capital, the seat of the national government.
1:51.1	But there's a whole other side to the city.
1:54.1	It's steeped in black history with academics, artists, and everyday people making their home in D.C. across generations. And the city's heart
2:02.4	beats in time with that community. One place you can hear that is go-go music. It's the
	...

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