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You're listening to Sound Opinions in this week, we're talking about great songwriting, including a conversation with the legendary duo, Barry Man and Cynthia Wilde.

I'm Jim D. Regatus, and I'm Greg Kott, we'll also talk with Ryan Tetter of One Republic, who has also written songs for Beyonce, Adele, and more.

But first, some new music from Killer Mike.

I remember you called us at Michael, I am pregnant, I responded, baby girl, a baby girl might be a blessing, and I ain't usher baby, but this here is my confession.

I must own it, I didn't want it, even now I know I'm flexing, because all that raw dog essence, I knew I would get you pregnant, and all this teenage love is really just about possessing.

They called it adolescence, because we learned an adult lessons, and I ain't grown because I wrote some stones and carry weapons.

I was rubbing on your time and when your mommy asked for money, told me your procedures Monday, and she gon' need like 400, and had I know your mother wasn't gonna never let you keep it.

I wouldn't have told my partners would have kept that news a secret.

That is slumber from the new Killer Mike album, Michael, it is named after Michael Render, and you have to a Killer Mike.

You have to love that cute little picture of him as a kid.

Very nice, he looks so innocent in that album cover, right? That's the 6th solo album for Killer Mike, but his first since 2012, he was a little busy between then and now.

A little one-off project with his producing partner LP, who produced his last previous solo record, called Run the Jewels, and it was supposed to be a one-off and nothing, just a little side project that turned into this gigantic thing.

They became a huge hip-hop duo, headlining arenas, that they went through four albums that got increasingly greater critical acclaim as well as commercial success.

And still they had time to appear on our show for a live performance in a wonderful chat.

They did, what a couple of great guys that we've known for a long time.

Killer Mike started his career as a regular on outcast records, and they loved him too early on. He had a verse on the 2000 record for Outcast, and next thing you know people are paying attention to him.

His first solo record, Monster in 2003, was pretty successful.

I went to Top 10 on the Billboard 200, and featured that single Adidas, which still to this day is his biggest commercial success as a single release.

But a subsequent records that didn't do as well, he was viewed as sort of an underground hip-hop artist.

The collaboration with LP in 2012, at the time it was sort of viewed as like, man, how are these two guys working together?

You know, we got this Brooklyn guy LP, who was very underground.

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