3.12.2026

Donwill Sits Down with Legendary Producer 9th Wonder and His Signee Reuben Vincent As The Almanac of Rap‘s Season 4 Continues

The New Episode of Okayplayer’s 2x Webby Award-Winning Podcast Discusses the Legacy of North Carolina Hip-Hop, 9th’s Illustrious Career, and Reuben’s Status as a Child Prodigy Made Good

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This Week, Host Donwill Hosts A Wide-Ranging Conversation With Two NC Hip-Hop Standouts of Different Generations, Exploring the Process of Choosing a Rap Name, Studying History and Implementing Knowledge Into Hip-Hop, and Much More

Critical Praise:

WEBBY AWARD WINNER 2025 – EXPERIMENTAL INNOVATION

WEBBY AWARD WINNER 2023 – BEST MUSIC PODCAST

The Announcement:

Donwill’s innate curiosity, deep knowledge of music, and engaging personality have helped him make The Almanac Of Rap a 2x Webby Award-winning podcast. This week, as The Almanac of Rap continues its fourth season, Donwill finds two guests that match his passion in North Carolina’s 9th Wonder and Reuben Vincent, the legendary producer and his protégé. The 80-minute episode features a wide-ranging discussion with the three artists, as 9th and Reuben discuss their paths through the industry.

In 2025, 9th Wonder and Reuben Vincent connected for the album Welcome Home, pairing Reuben’s insightful bars with 9th Wonder’s cinematic sample-based beats. Guided by Donwill’s thoughtful questions, 9th and Reuben take listeners deep into their states of mind, describing Reuben’s rise from preteen prodigy (9th Wonder discovered him when he was just 13) to respected artist, touching on the importance of parental support and education to making it in rap and becoming a well-rounded person. After running through their personal histories, Donwill asks the two artists what they’ve learned from each other, speaks to 9th about his sampling process, and plays the two artists a series of “Type Beats” inspired by their sound. Reuben, 9th, and Donwill end the episode with “The Big Playback,” shining a spotlight on underrated albums and artists that have inspired their artistry.

The third episode of Season 4 continues what Donwill calls “The Almanac of Rap’s most ambitious undertaking ever.” The podcast plans to drop a new episode every week for a whole year, alternating between audio/video and audio-only podcasts. A master of engaging conversation, Donwill uses his experience as a rapper (he is part of the group Tanya Morgan), and lifelong love of music to dig into under-explored nooks and crannies, revealing a different side of his illustrious guests. The veteran rapper keeps things fresh each week with recurring segments, including hot take-centric “The Ballistics” and “The Big Playback,” in which Donwill and his guest give flowers to an under-heralded or underrated gem. The latest episode with 9th Wonder and Reuben Vincent follows episodes featuring Cupid, the Line Dance King, and Platinum-selling Seattle producer Jake One.

The Season 4 Premiere, featuring Donwill’s interview with Cupid, reached the Top 10 of Apple Music’s Top Shows (Music) chart. As it continues, Season 4 promises an illustrious list of influential guests, including Bun B, Raekwon, Havoc, Jharrel Jerome, LaRussell, Mr. DJ, and more.

Credit: Creator Trigger for Okayplayer

The Almanac of Rap wouldn’t exist but for the passion and curiosity of host Donwill. Born in Cincinnati before re-locating to Brooklyn, Donwill entered the music industry as one-third of hip-hop group Tanya Morgan, with his creative partners Von Pea and Ilyas. The group is best known for the 2009 album Brooklynati, now hailed as an underground classic, but performing music is only part of Donwill’s story. He is a prolific DJ, holding court at many of Brooklyn’s hottest nightlife establishments and touring as the DJ for comedian Michelle Buteau. His music production work has earned him credits on Emmy-winning programs like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and produced theme music for award-winning podcasts like Slow Burn (Slate), Another Round (Buzzfeed), and #Adulting (WNYC).

Donwill brings that unique experience, curiosity, and dedication to his craft to each episode of The Almanac Of Rap. Don’t miss the rest of Season 4, which promises to be one of the most wide-ranging and entertaining seasons of the award-winning podcast to date.

Credit: Kaushik Kalidindi for Okayplayer

Please contact Michelle or Kevin for more info.

The Background:

About the Almanac of Rap:

The Almanac of Rap is a weekly show hosted by Donwill that examines the origins of specific trends in hip hop and their impact over time and it’s way more fun than that description makes it sound. Each week, Donwill asks a question, presents a theory, and finds a guest to come to some sort of consensus about it. Simply put, it’s a show about rap by a rapper who loves rap music.

About Donwill:
Pulling from the crates of the blog era and the extremely online, Donwill is a certified rap encyclopedia — err, rather, a rap almanac. So then, it’s only right he’s the host of Almanac of Rap, a Webby Award-winning Okayplayer-produced series that combines the smartest, If You Know You Know™ rap conversations with deep-in-the-weeds fandom and sharp satirical humor. It’s all curated by Donwill, a former blogger who’s traded book recommendations with Lupe Fiasco and rapped with Drake as a member of the duo Tanya Morgan. If he’s not the most interesting rapper alive, he could do a hell of an interview with them. In an age of less-than-ethical streamers and scandal-chasing “interviewers,” Donwill employs a workmanlike approach to the art of journalism, taking at least a week to research each episode of his show. It’s appreciation as much as attention to craft. It’s also why his podcast stands as a show by and for the culture. And that’s probably because it is the culture. More specifically speaking, Donwill is the culture. Having written for The Village Voice as a reporter, traded bars with Drake, and interviewed rap titans like Lupe Fiasco, Donwill is the coach, the player, and the opponent — the journalist and the source. In other words, he’s the rapper-turned-podcaster we deserve.

Links:

official site | instagram | twitter | mixcloud

Connect with Donwill at Donwill.Me

Credit: Kaushik Kalidindi for Okayplayer