Subscribe
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE

Hot 97 radio personality Peter Rosenberg has brought a certain amount of credibility to the popular New York station, making no secret that he remains a champion of underground Hip-Hop. In a profile from The New Yorker magazine, the publication takes a deeper look at Rosbenberg’s rise to fame and what makes him tick.

Rosenberg, raised in the Washington Metro area suburb of Chevy Chase, Md., first found notoriety as a DJ while attending the University of Maryland at College Park. Each weekday between 6 and 10 a.m., Rosenberg joins Ebro Darden and Cipha Sounds for Hot 97’s The Morning Show and also hosts his late night program Real Late With Peter Rosenberg early Monday morning.

Rosenberg has rubbed elbows with Hip-Hop’s elite, and often touts his vast knowledge of Hip-Hop during the programs he appears on. Rosenberg does so in the New Yorker profile, but adds a knowing wink as he’s seemingly aware enough to know he’s overstating his position.

From Rosenberg’s The New Yorker profile:

One of the most influential hosts on hip-hop radio is a man named Peter Rosenberg. He is thirty-four years old and stocky, with a few days of stubble and a you-can’t-fire-me-I-quit approach to baldness. Hip-hop is an industry of calibrated personas, and Rosenberg, who was reared in an upper-middle-class Maryland suburb, tries to project confidence without too much self-seriousness. “I will go toe to toe with almost anyone in terms of knowledge, trivia, and love of this music,” he told me. “That said, I don’t try to front like I’m cooler than I am.” He performs d.j. sets under the name Peter Rosenberg. He has called himself “the Jewish Johnny Carson,” and in particularly nebbishy moments—while ordering a salad with dressing on the side, or calling his wife to inquire after the health of their dog, a Corgi mix—he interrupts himself to say, “I am so hip-hop.”

Rosenberg’s friendships and alliances with stars such as Macklemore and Drake are discussed. His connections to underground rap darlings Joey BadA$$ and Action Bronson are also highlighted in the piece.

The latest of edition of The New Yorker hits stands this week.

Photo: The New Yorker