Why Bushwick Bill Matters w/ Charles Hughes
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2024
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You might know Bushwick Bill as a member of the iconic Houston rap group The Geto Boys, but his contributions to rap music, his role in the debates over free speech in the 1990s, and his overall influence are far more substantial than you probably realize. In this episode, we welcome Charles Hughes back to the show to discuss his new book Why Bushwick Bill Matters (Univ. of Texas Press) and to get a better understanding of the challenges and triumphs that shaped one of rap history's most influential artists.
Dr. Charles Hughes is the Director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College. His previous books include Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South which Rolling Stone named one of the Best Music Books of 2015. You can hear our previous conversation with Charles in episode #25 The History of Country and Soul Music in the American South w/ Charles Hughes. You can follow Charles on twitter at @CharlesLHughes2.
This episode is a rebroadcast of RTN #242, which originally aired on July 25, 2022. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the Road to Now. |
| 0:08.9 | Today we are sharing an episode from a couple years back, our interview with Charles Hughes, |
| 0:14.3 | the director of the Lynn and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College, and you might know him as a multi-time guest on the show. |
| 0:22.2 | He most recently came on to discuss his book Why Bushwick Bill Matters. |
| 0:26.4 | It was fascinating. |
| 0:27.8 | It gets into music history, cultural history, and that's why we are sharing it again today. |
| 0:33.7 | If you listen to this and enjoy it, I suggest you go back and listen to his previous appearance on the show where he discusses his book, Country Soul, Making Music and Making Race in the American South, which Rolling Stone named one of the best music books of 2015? |
| 0:48.9 | Next week, we're going to be back with a new episode. |
| 0:52.3 | We just recorded a conversation with John Grinspan. You may know him from |
| 0:56.1 | the Smithsonian. He has a new book out that's going to blow your mind. It's called Wide Awake, |
| 1:01.3 | the Forgotten Force that elected Lincoln and spurred the Civil War. It's about the |
| 1:05.7 | wide awake movement, this social and political force that came about in 1860. |
| 1:11.5 | That'll be here next week. |
| 1:13.0 | We're going to air it along with the book launch. |
| 1:15.2 | So we hope you enjoy this. |
| 1:17.1 | And you've got something to look forward to for next week, too. |
| 1:20.7 | In the meantime, one thing that never changes on the show is that we are always grateful to our patrons. |
| 1:27.2 | You guys keep the show going. |
| 1:28.7 | If you like the show, please go check us out. |
| 1:31.2 | Patreon.com slash the road to now. |
| 1:33.6 | We actually have several new extended episodes posted there. |
| 1:37.6 | Our conversation with Jonah Goldberg, for example, last week, it went like another 20-something |
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