The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers

They say all good things must come to an end, and for the golden era of hip hop, there is no exception. Tastes change and styles are rewritten, remixed and repurposed. But no one can deny that for a brief moment in time, The Fugees captured lightning in a bottle through the equal parts true-to-life storytelling, vicious wordplay and heart wrenching musicality in their second and, ultimately, final studio album: 1996’s The Score. Few appreciate that more than comedian, actor and podcaster Andrew Santino. His love of the supergroup’s creativity and uncompromising vision has helped him blaze his own path, leading to appearances on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here and the film The Disaster Artist, as well as the creation of his widely successful podcast Whiskey Ginger. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Fugees: The Internet "Girl" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russell Peters has been many things in his life. Breakdancer, DJ, very nearly a chef, and groundbreaking comedian beloved by people all over the world; he's done it all. But no matter where his many interests and achievements have taken him, he's never forgotten his roots as a lonely Anglo-Indian kid growing up in the Toronto suburbs, just catching wind of the strange new music called hip hop that emanated from across the border in New York in the early 80's. Essential to the era was LL Cool J, whose debut album Radio smashed onto the scene in 1985, showing eager young minds like Russell's the possibilities of a new genre and the success that could come from not just belief in your own greatness but also taking risks on things no one else had ever done. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by L.L. Cool J: Lute "Still Slummin'" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hope can be hard to come by, faith sometimes falters, and love might be fleeting. But as the tender guitar tones and soulful harmonies found in the brighter tracks of Richard and Linda Thompson's 1974 folk rock masterpiece I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight suggest, all three of those qualities are an essential balance to the heartbreaking pain that life has to offer. Comedian, actor and musical savant Avery Pearson is no stranger to both joy and sadness. And it is his ability to accept both the good and the bad with an unceasing zest for living that makes him perhaps the most qualified of all to pick apart an album that, while having little success in its day, is nearly unmatched in its equal share of exuberant musicality and woeful lyricism. After all, it's Avery's boundless positivity that has drawn audiences to his performances in Showtime’s Masters of Sex, USA’s Suits, and on stage in his own monthly comedy showcase at the Hollywood Improv, 'The 88 Show with Avery Pearson.'The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Richard and Linda Thompson: David Ramirez "Watching From A Distance" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bursting through the English pop scene with WHAM!, 24 year-old George Michael went solo in 1987 with the release of the Grammy award-winning album Faith producing seven singles including I Want Your Sex, Father Figure, and the title track finding its inspiration from Elvis and porn, it is decided. When actor Nia Renee Hill first heard Faith in the late '80's she couldn't help but be inspired by the rebellious truth inherent in breaking free from conventional norms. Hearing the call to pursue a full-time career in film, she moved to New York working in casting for MTV and on TV shows including Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn where she met her husband Bill Burr. With a ton of hard work and a renewed self-belief, she rediscovered her love of acting recently making appearances on Santa Clarita Diet, Crashing on HBO, and F is for Family on Netflix.Hear her regularly on The MM Podcast.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by George Michael: January Jane "Take The Lions On" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world of sickening brightness, the best way to stick out is to go dark. That’s why when Christina Pazsitzky was growing up in the San Fernando valley, she sought out the eerily romantic weirdness of the 80’s blossoming goth culture. It’s been many years since Christina donned all black and danced the reckless dance of the lonely to the morose crooning of androgynous new wave. Now she’s a wife, mother of two and a wildly successful stand-up comedian, with two Netflix specials to her credit: Mother Inferior and The Degenerates, and her own podcast: Your Mom’s House. But no matter what, there’ll always be a part of her that’s still that twelve-year-old girl smoking cigarettes, listening to The Smiths’ 1984 debut alt rock classic self-titled debut, knowing full well how alone we all really are.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by The Smiths: Flora Cash "They Own This Town" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When life is bleak and times are tough, there's often no choice but to look for an escape through whatever means are available. For Felipe Esparza, who immigrated from Mexico as a child and grew up poor in a crime-ridden neighborhood of east LA, that escape came in the form of watching the likes of Richard Pryor and George Carlin tell jokes and fantasizing of one day following in their footsteps. After many years and no small number of barriers to overcome, that fantasy became reality: Esparza eventually won NBC's Last Comic Standing competition and has gone on to appear in television shows such as Superstore and The Eric Andre Show, as well as launch his own podcast What's Up Fool. All the while, he has managed to stay positive by keeping in mind how far he's come and drowning out the darkness of the world with a soundtrack to his life that includes the beautifully eclectic, multilingual Latin stylings of Manu Chao's 2001international hit record Proxima Estacion: Esperanza.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Manu Chao: Victizzle "Oshé Gan Gan" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Words have power, and if you know how to wield that power in just the right way, you can take the world by storm. That’s why comedians and musicians both can have such lasting impacts, more so than many other forms of creative expression. For a founding member of the new-wave movement like Elvis Costello, the ability to emit dark, brutal honesty through otherwise bright and cheerful wordplay is what made albums like his 1979 post-punk release Armed Forces such a sensation. It proved so powerful that even though comedian Dana Gould didn’t discover it until a few years later, its clever lyricism shaped his notion of how important it is to assemble your ideas in just the right way. After all, a way with words is what launched Dana into a career that has led to four comedy albums, roles on The Ben Stiller Show and Stan Against Evil, and a seven-year term as a writer on The Simpsons.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Elvis Costello: All Day Sucker "Quality Problems" (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every so often the universe sees fit to gift a person with the ability to keep others desperately clinging to their every word, so enthralled with the details of even the simplest anecdote that all sense of time and purpose are lost, and all that matters to the eager audience is what happens next. It's even less common that two talented orators cross baths in such a brief and spectacular way as comedian and storyteller Bert Kreischer and rapper Notorious B.I.G. For one brief second in 1997, the two shared the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Notorious B.I.G. had been murdered just weeks after the release of Life After Death, a double-album rife with tales of the opulence and violence of the New York City drug trade. Bert was being named America's top partier, and would go onto release two comedy special, host two television shows, produce his own podcast Bertcast. Now, nearly 25 years later, Bert reveals just how important that shared moment and Biggie's music was to him. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, links to new music inspired by this week's album, go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Notorious B.I.G.:Benny the Butcher - "97 Hov"  Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Producer, director and actor Peter Billingsley puts the nearly 40 years of boozing, brawling and broken spirits of outlaw country legend Merle Haggard's career-spanning retrospective collection Down Every Road into perspective for the modern era.Much like with the story of America, a look back on the life of outlaw country legend Merle Haggard reveals as much pain and hardship as it does hope and inspiration. But without the harsh realities of growing up poor and spending time in prison to shape him, the world might find itself sorely lacking the hard-bitten truths and forlorn beauty of that classic Bakersfield Sound he spent nearly forty years shaping with his music, to which the 1994 release of roughly 100 songs from every period of his career Down Every Road is an eternal testament. The same might be said of one of Merle's biggest fans: director, producer and actor Peter Billingsley, whose humble beginnings in yogurt commercials and after school specials led him to not only star in one of the most beloved holiday films of all time, A Christmas Story, but also helped bring to life hit movies and televisions series such as The Break Up, Sullivan & Son, and F is for Family. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Merle Haggard:Mick Fury "Front Porch of America"(YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two veritable rebels sustain us in this supremely honest conversation about love and relationships. While stand-up comic Jenny Zigrino bares all on her appearances on Conan and Comedy Central, Loretta Lynn lambasts her long-time husband for every wrongdoing in the book in this, her Greatest Hits album, a classic in the eyes of pioneers looking for historical footholds.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com.New Music influenced by Loretta Lynn:“A Dream Without Pain” by Nicole Atkins (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. #FleeceArmy #KingofFleece #The500PodcastThe 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices