Special edition of the podcast this week, I'm a 32-year-old man about to smoke medical marijuana for the first time. Help?

I finally bit the bullet and listed my personal Top 5 emcees of all-time. I'm never doing this again, but I had to do it at least once. And a special shout out to our sponsor, Best Beard Cream!

This week, I bring on Freeway to talk about his status as an OG in the beard game, his love for the cartoon Duck Tales, the time he was considering signing to Cash Money, his upcoming album, Beanie Sigel's status and much more.

This week, I devote the entire episode to my recent conversation with Tech N9ne, the audio was just too good to let it go unheard. We talk about how his new "Special Effects" album took a dark turn, how the metal community has embraced him more openly than hip-hop, his bond with Krizz Kaliko, his need to break barriers and much more.

This week, I'm recovered from my mid-life crisis and back at it. I talk about Young Thug's Barter 6 album flopping, Tidal flopping, soccer players flopping and flip-flops. Plus, I bring in Rich Quick to talk about what life's like for an (actually) indie artist and what people love about his music so much.

This week, if you'd like to hear a man have a mid-life crisis brought on by filing his taxes and realizing he's going to leave his children with absolutely no inheritance besides a rap podcast, youre in luck! Oh, and I also talk to Bodega Bamz about his new album, NYC rap, why there aren't more superstar Latino rappers, his relationship to A$AP Yams and more.

This week, I do a quick review of both Wale and Ludacris' new albums, break open the Illuminati vault again to explain why the days of free music may be ending soon and bring on DJ Hoppa to talk about Funk Volume, the art of DJing and his new album.

This week, I had a rant building up inside me that I just had to get out. Ever since Kendrick dropped his To Pimp a Butterfly album there's been seemingly endlessly debate around the album, but very little talk about the album itself. WHO FUCKING CARES IF IT'S A CLASSIC?!?

This week, I figure out how to test whether you're really friends with a rapper and then devote the episode to my talk with Wrekonize, who's just straight up one of the most interesting and talented people in hip-hop. I've been trying to get Wrekonize on the podcast for a minute and I finally made it happen. This week the entire episode is dedicated to learning about the man's battle rap beginnings, the lessons he learned when his first album was never releases, how he became a part of Mayday, the blessings and curses of being in a band and much more.

On a special Monday edition of the podcast, I talk to Big Sean about the dark skies that have clouded his paradise over the last year, his place in the top ten rappers alive conversation and much more.

Can you believe it? How could you be so lucky? What could you have possibly done to deserve another "This Week in Hype" podcast? Blessings on blessings on blessings. This week, I try to convince a whiskey company to send me free booze, get excited for the return of Kanye West making good music (pun intended), talk to Fashawn about how Nas inspired him to keep rapping and much more.

This week, I attempt to figure out if Drake really should be considered a hip-hop legend, plus I bring on Houston's Club God BeatKing to talk the birth of his ratchet comedy rap movement. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. You should follow Tino and hear Tino’s story in full on the podcast. * If Drake dies, is he actually a legend. Lucas asked the question in one of the most talked about articles we've done in a minute, and I dive even deeper into that question. [Spoiler alert, he's not.] * Lately I've been obsessed with Houston hip-hop, so I had to bring on one of the H-Town's leading new artists, BeatKing. We talk about the role of comedy in his music, how he found his home in the club and much more. * This week's closing song, BeatKing and Gangsta Boo's "Mashing."

This week, I devote the episode to bringing in Yoh and talking about his huge article about hip-hop elitism (aka "I Don't Like Illmatic"). It's a topic that eventually gets to the core of nearly every issue in hip-hop. The lesson, as always? Just don't be a dick.

This week on the podcast I talk about the pending Lil Wanye and Birdman divorce - is this the biggest split in hip-hop history? What happens to Cash Money now? Will Drake still be able to put out an album this year? The implications are insane. Plus, I bring on internet rap expert Mike Trampe to talk about his early days and drop some dos and don'ts when it comes to online music marketing. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. * Thanks to this week's (pretend) podcast sponsor, Doc Elliott's beard grooming serum! #Beardgang * It didn't really sink how how big this Lil Wayne vs. Birdman conflict is until I read the lawsuit. We're talking the biggest hip-hop breakup since the collapse of Roc-A-Fella, in fact, it's probably bigger. DO YOU GET WHAT A BIG DEAL THIS IS??? * The homie Mike Trampe comes on to talk about his early days rapping, how he became the head of marketing for HipHopDX for years, and why rappers posting pics of them with narcotics and weapons is definitely a bad idea. * The podcast is also on iTunes, SoundCloud, Podomatic, Audiomack and now, Stitcher! So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

I kick things off my doing some serious reminiscing - shout out to Andy Bonfilio for putting me onto Tribe Called Quest in high school - and then bring on Tim Larew to talk about his work managing Michael Christmas and others, his experience with major labels, and what it means to be a "manager" in 2015. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. * Yoh's piece on the best music year of his life got me thinking - what's the best music year of my life? It'd have to be...junior/senior year of high school when I really had my mind blown by Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, the Roots and more. What was the best music year of your life? * I bring on Tim Larew to talk about how he got his start in Boston, his involvement in Cam Meekins mindie deal, how he ended up managing Michael Christmas and others, and what it means to be a young "manager" in 2015.

Strap in (pause?) because this week you're just getting a whole lot of me telling stories about the times I've crossed over from my keyboard to the actual music industry and along the way worked with everyone from Earth, Wind & Fire to Tech N9ne. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. You should follow Tino and hear Tino’s story in full on the podcast. * That time I ended up in the studio with Earth, Wind & Fire and thought my life was going to change but yeah, that shit didn't really work out, so instead I just learned some valuable lessons about the music industry the hard way. * Witnessing all the bullshit power moves major labels use to try to intimidate and manipulate artists. * The .0001% role I played in the creation of Tech N9ne's "So Dope" single, which is also, of course, this week's closing track. Damn Nathan, stunt on them haters.

Fresh for 2015 you suckers!!! The "This Week in Hype" podcast is officially back for yet another year filled with me talking about rap, we talking about rap with other people, rap and rap talk. In the wise words of Yung Joc, it's going down. Everyone always does mega year-end podcasts, including me, but why not do a mega year-start podcast? Wouldn't that be even more important? So I brought on the #Squad (aka Lucas & Yoh) to talk about our hopes for hip-hop in 2015.

Holy...sweet...baby...jesus. I just spent ANOTHER year doing the "This Week in Hype" podcast. When I started this I didn't know if I'd make it to week two, and here we are, racking up entire years of awesome. How fucking cool is that? Seriously. For the last podcast of 2014, I had to bring in regular guest Justin Hunte, the HipHopDX editor-in-chief, to go over the year that was in hip-hop and beyond. Along the way we talk Iggy, Kanye and why we're so excited for 2015. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. * This will be the last podcast of 2014 people. Sorry, but I need some time over the holidays to, you know, be with this child I appear to have because she keeps living in my house and calling me dad. Never fear though, I'll be back in January. * I bring on HipHopDX head honcho Justin Hunte (aka @thecompanyman) to do some end of the year ramblings. Along the way we talk about Iggy, the 2013 albums that ended up not mattering, why we think 2014 was actually a great year for hip-hop and much more. * This week's year's closing track, Mayday's "Here."

I won't lie, it's been a crazy week in Berkeley. The first half of the week armored trucks were arresting protesters outside my house, the second half we got hit with a storm and I lost power. But I STILL DELIVERED THE "This Week in Hype" PODCAST BECAUSE I LOVE YOU. With the storm bearing down on el case de Slavik, I bring on the homie DJ T-GUT to talk about my favorite subject, me, and tell some crazy interview stories. Plus, we end with some good ol' fashioned J. Cole vs. Kendrick Lamar debating. Discussed This Week: * As always, shouts to Tino for that dope theme song. * I use the last ten minutes of my computer battery to record an emergency intro to this podcast because I love y'all. * We flip the usual script and Taylor (aka DJ T-GUT) interviews me about interviewing, and along the way I talk about that time 2 Pistols wanted to kill me and crashing and burning during a Pusha T interview. * And then, because it's kind of what I do, I hijack the interview and mostly end up talking to T-GUT about why Kendrick Lamar is still better than J. Cole, despite the brilliance of Cole's new Forest Hills Drive album. * This week's closing track, J. Cole's new "Tale of Two Citiez."

Heartbreakingly, we've been here before. On one hand I'm not sure it's my place as a white man who mostly writes Rick Ross fat jokes to speak about the justice system's absolute disregard for black life. I'd much rather use whatever meager influence I have to direct people towards those who are writing more powerfully than I ever could. At the same time, I also believe that silence is consent, and it just doesn't feel right to remain silent about an issue that's been the only thing I've been talking about off the internet for the past two days. So as much as there's a part of me that wants to hide and just talk about Lil Wayne potentially leaving Cash Money, I'm devoting the bulk of this week's podcast to talking about Eric Garner, Ferguson and what can only be described as America's systematic war on black lives. I can't pretend it's even remotely enough to matter, but I just can't stay silent. That also means that I considered pulling this week's interview with Danez Smith, an amazing poet and performer I recently came across. I spoke to him two weeks ago, before either the Mike Brown or Eric Garner of the non-indictments, and I was hesitant to place our conversation in this context. But listening back to our conversation, I realized that since so much of his work is about remaining human despite overwhelming odds, this might actually be a compelling week to bring him into the podcast.