Charlie Taylor
Director of The 5th Element
Appears in 298 Episodes
Ep.295 - WC
We finish our Westside Connection miniseries with WC who is definitely the more humorous of the three and is an underrated influence on where the West Coast went in th...
Ep.294 - WC and the Maad Circle
Before WC went solo and became one third of the Westside Connection, he was head of WC and the Maad Circle which featured a pre-solo Coolio, Big Gee and DJ/Producer Cr...
Ep.293 - Mack 10
After covering Westside Connection last week, it was only right to get into the two artists not named Ice Cube. This week: Mack 10 whose easy style was good enough to ...
Ep.292 - Westside Connection
The trio of Ice Cube, WC & Mack 10 comprised the group Westside Connection that dropped two albums filled with aggressiveness, anyone-can-get-it dissing and mentioned ...
Ep.291 - Contemporary Cool Vol. 14
It's time for another Contemporary Cool in which Ben makes a YouTube video with his pick of Ab-Soul's "HERBERT" and Charlie gives love to Garage with DJ Spoony-led "Ga...
Ep.290 - Young Thug: The Trial, Sentencing & Beyond
With the Young Thug/YSL RICO trial done & dusted, we invited Music Journalist & 5EPN Alum Brandon Hill to come through to talk about the trial, sentencing; the wider r...
Ep.289 - #UKBHM 2024: Neneh Cherry
For the final UKBHM retrospective of this year, we look at the career and solo discography of sonic nomad Neneh Cherry who has traversed the UK music landscape from th...
Ep.288 - #UKBHM 2024: Rebel MC
Before he was Congo Natty, he was Rebel MC and it is genuinely tough to decide which alter ego of dual threat Michael West is the most influential. As a Hip-Hop Pod, w...
Ep.287 - #UKBHM 2024: Demon Boyz
When UK Hip-Hop zigged, Demon Boyz zagged. Whilst they managed to get two albums out before their split, boy did they make effort to do it differently and incidentally...
Ep.286 - #UKBHM 2024: Hardnoise / Son Of Noise
In our 2nd UKBHM retrospective for the '24 crop, we get into the group Hardnoise, (Now known as Son Of Noise) who - along with temporary label mates Hijack - brought a...
An Interview W/ The Allergies
For a bonus episode, an interview for you to step to! Charlie talks to UK DJ/Production duo The Allergies, talking their beginnings, how they gained/cultivated their t...
Ep.285 - #UKBHM 2024: MC Duke
We begin our 2024 edition of our UK Black History Month series with one of UK Hip-Hop's earliest success stories in MC Duke who was the guy in the late 80s, culminatin...
Ep.284 - Method Man & Redman
The duo of Method Man & Redman seemed like an unofficial duo. They did a lot together in the late 90s/early 00s including "How High", two TV shows that got prematurely...
Ep.283 - Naughty By Nature
The trio of Naughty By Nature walked the tightrope better than anybody... Mainstream appeal but still Hip-Hop to the core; everybody and their grandmother has swayed t...
Ep.282 - Contemporary Cool, Vol. 13
It's time for another edition of Contemporary Cool! For this one, we get into the Griselda project that arguably put them on the map in Benny The Butcher's "Tana Talk ...
Ep.281 - Guru
For the solo career of Guru, it is one that is - compared to Gang Starr - everything but consistent; mix it in with debates about how his relationship with Solar was i...
Ep.280 - Gang Starr
The phrase "One of the Best Yet" has never been so apt. Maybe THE quintessential Golden Age Hip-Hop duo, Gang Starr started off with multiple iterations but once it wa...
Ep.279 - Jeru The Damaja
Brooklynite Jeru The Damaja is a rapper that practiced what he preached. Whilst dropping two iconic "All Killer, No Filler" albums of the 90s, he watched Hip-Hop go co...
Ep.278 - Twista
Twista is a fascinating case study. With his first four albums that drastically aim in different directions - only to settle on riding the wave of the 00s Hip-Hop soun...
Ep.277 - Chino XL
Chino XL passed away at the age of 50 last week. So we pushed back the others to celebrate the career and artistry of one of the most respected names in the New York u...
Ep.276 - Ja Rule
The story of Ja Rule is one that can only be described as a contextual nightmare. Whilst we can boil it down to "He had hits then 50 took his soul" and call it a day, ...
Ep.275 - King Tee
King Tee's legacy is an underrated one. A West Coast darling, respected by his peers that put on a fair share of artists; you'd think his music would be more known? Es...
Ep.274 - Tha Alkaholiks
We head to the West Coast to cover the story of Tha Alkaholiks, a fun, don't-take-too-serious group that produced some of the most underrated gems of the 90s and manag...
Ep.273 - Mid-Year Report '24
Albeit a bit late, we take stock of 2024 in Hip-Hop so far, trying not to talk about the whale in the room for as long as we possibly can and instead talk about litera...
Ep.272 - Hip-Hop Neighbours, Vol 12
We kick back with another edition of Hip-Hop Neighbours, getting into the album that sent Jamiroquai into the stratosphere and a 90s UK Big Beat album from The Wiseguy...
Ep.271 - 2 Live Crew
The story of 2 Live Crew is one of response. Response to reactionary pearl-clutching over their work which dared to talk out *checks notes* eating ass, among other thi...
Ep.270 - 9th Wonder, Part 2
We finish our five-part miniseries on the Little Brother universe with Part 2 of our 9th Wonder retrospective, looking at a Blog Era Mixtape, a solo album bursting wit...
Ep.269 - 9th Wonder, Part 1
With Little Brother now explored, we can now get into the work of the distant 3rd member: Producer 9th Wonder who has spent a couple decades now letting his music do t...
Ep.268 - Rapper Big Pooh
We continue our LB miniseries with an exploration into the solo work of Rapper Big Pooh who - unlike Phonte - has dropped a lot of solo work in the past 20 years.TIMES...
Ep.267 - Phonte
After exploring the music & story of Little Brother, it's time to get into the breakaway works. We begin with Phonte who spends the 2010s sporadically dropping works w...