WEBBY AWARD WINNER 2025 – EXPERIMENTAL INNOVATION
WEBBY AWARD WINNER 2023 – BEST MUSIC PODCAST
On his 2x Webby Award-winning podcast The Almanac of Rap, Donwill encourages his guests to dig deep into their own histories and their nerdiest interests. For the latest episode, the Tanya Morgan rapper recruits one of his most fascinating guests to date, welcoming artist, producer, director, label founder, and polymath Flying Lotus to the show. Beginning with his crucial role in the Los Angeles beat scene in the 2000s, FlyLo has always been on the vanguard of music and culture, applying his boundlessly creative minds to multiple media and myriad genres.
In their 45 minute conversation, Donwill and FlyLo touch on everything, and dig up some surprising nuggets in the meantime. The two artists discuss FlyLo’s rich musical background, as the niece of spiritual jazz legend Alice Coltrane, who was an example for him growing up. FlyLo discusses the early days of the L.A. Beat Scene, during which Flying Lotus and his label Brainfeeder played a major role, touching on the influence of the Low End Theory club nights and explaining how his jazz peers initially looked down on him for making music on a DAW. Donwill dives into FlyLo’s hip-hop history, starting with his time in a West Coast rap group, through his anonymous reign as underground hero Captain Murphy. The L.A. native discusses his division of labor between running his Brainfeeder label and being an artist in his own right, and describes the process behind his new EP, Baby Mama. Later on, Donwill indulges FlyLo’s love of horror films, and his experience as director of films like KUSO and Ash, playing a game of FMK with his favorite genres (body horror, found-footage horror, and supernatural horror).
This week’s episode is the 17th episode of The Almanac of Rap’s Season 4, which 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.
In celebration of Black Music Month, and Donwill’s birthday alst week, The Almanac of Rap launched Donwill’s Black Music Month Podcast Mixtape, a first-of-its-kind creator partnership initiative designed to spotlight independent music, culture, and conversation podcasts from across the community. Curated by Donwill and the rest of the AOR team, and presented in partnership with Castbox.fm, the new initiative shines a spotlight on the next generation of audio talent, amplifying shows that bring a new and entertaining perspective to shape music discourse. Among the list of recommended podcasts is Black People Love Paramore, the pod hosted by Sequoia Holmes, who recently guested on an episode of The Almanac of Rap. Find a full list of podcasts highlighted by this initiative below.
The Season 4 Premiere, featuring an interview with Cupid, the Line Dance King, reached the Top 10 of Apple Music’s Top Shows (Music) chart. Recent guests include Mr. DJ, the Grammy-winning OutKast producer, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Bun B, Jharrel Jerome, 9th Wonder & Reuben Vincent, Masta Ace, and Seattle producer Jake One. As it continues, Season 4 promises an illustrious list of influential guests, including LaRussell, and more. Donwill recently discussed The Almanac of Rap in an interview with Newsweek.
Listen to the episode HERE, or wherever you get your podcasts
Watch the teaser for The Almanac of Rap Season 4 HERE
List of Podcasts Included on Donwill’s Black Music Month Podcast Mixtape:
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.
Listen to The Almanac Of Rap wherever you get your podcasts:
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.
Credit: Kaushik Kalidindi for Okayplayer
Links:
Donwill: official site | instagram | twitter | mixcloud
Connect with Donwill at Donwill.Me