Mike D of the Beastie Boys is joining Apple’s Beats 1 robust radio team to produce his own show called The Echo Chamber.
The veteran MC/producer/activist adds to a team that already includes Zane Lowe, Q-Tip, Pharrell, DJ Khaled and Dr. Dre. Expect his show to reflect everything that you’ve heard in the Beastie Boys music over the last 30 years and all that he has experienced in his decades of traveling.
What you should not expect is a strictly old-school Hip-Hop show however. Mike D insists that his musical tastes is “all over the place” and he will be playing tracks from younger and current artists, not just ones from his era.
Per Rolling Stone:
So then what music will you be playing?
It will evolve over time. It’s heartbreaking sometimes, but I’m still fascinated with and stay rooted in current music. I vacillate between what’s current and things that I think have influenced me a lot. The show also depends on records that I’m working on at this moment as a producer. So if I have an artist that I’m working with, then we’ll play records that inspired us or that we were listening to in the studio and make it more about that.
I know you’ll be playing some Chance, some Lil Yachty and Arthur Russell.
I guess that’s a little bit all over the place.
Later in the interview, he explains the “format.”
You recorded the first episode in your pool house. Can you set the scene for me?
It’s big and open, and it used to be a garage that I converted to be a pool house and theater and DJ room. The inspiration came when Zane Lowe called me and asked me to do the show. At the time, I was working on a record with an artist in my studio, and we’d take breaks to listen to music and play Ping-Pong, which is right outside my pool house. So when he called me, I thought, “Hmm, I should keep it like that, format-wise.” Anyone can go on and play “I Got the Keys,” a new DJ Khaled song, so why would anyone listen to my show? So I thought, “What if we took that and made that the radio show? That might be more interesting, to have a couple of people doing what they do and talking about music and why it’s inspiring to them or cool.”
If this intrigues you, The Echo Chamber debuts today [July 15] at 3 p.m. on Beats 1.
Photo: Screenshot
