Show Host Profile: Slangston Hughes and Thelonius Kryptonite

--Written by Melissa Milton

It’s easy to think that WWOZ’s mission - to be a worldwide voice, archive and flag-bearer of New Orleans culture and musical heritage - means a focus on the distant past. Listeners of Draw Fo’ Radio know better. Show hosts Slangston Hughes and Thelonius Kryptonite dedicate two hours, starting at midnight each Thursday on 90.7FM, to the burgeoning New Orleans hip hop scene.

“When we first started,” Thelonius explains, “we were like, let’s make sure that we are really locking in on New Orleans artists and what’s going on with the venue side of it, the show aspect, making sure the audience knows these people, you know where they’re performing, and of course you know what they sound like, what’s the conversation like. We may have introduced a lot of people to artists who are in their backyard.”

Draw Fo’ first took root in conversations in the mid-2010s between Slangston and Truth Universal, the New Orleans-based hip hop MC and event curator who has had a longstanding association with WWOZ. In 2018, Scott Borne, then the station’s Director of Music, called Slangston with an interest in the program and an opening in the schedule. Slangston jumped at the chance to finally bring Draw Fo’ to the air.

Being on the air seems like a natural extension for these two multi-hyphenates. When they’re not on the air, Slangston and Thelonius might be found performing at a local club or even French Quarter Fest, recording new beats, organizing hip hop showcases, or teaching, in many ways providing a nexus for the local hip hop community.

And the name? According to Slangston, “We were really trying to think of something that was catchy, and something that was New Orleans as well. So, knowing of Take Fo’ Records, you know, the local New Orleans bounce label, and then from there the Draw Fo’ comes in because of the four pillars of hip hop culture - breakdancing, graffiti, DJing and MCing. I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg, I don’t know if it was Take Fo’ for the Draw Fo’, or the four pillars, but either way, I was like, this will work, let’s do that.”

Thelonius adds, “Where we are now, we’re diving into more soul, go-go, bounce, all types of vibes, even instrumental beats. The first three or four years, we were just hip hop. We have changed the colors of Draw Fo’ over the seven years.”

Draw Fo’ may be changing colors, but the focus remains on New Orleans hip hop artists. “When Slangston and I linked up, and we talked about what Draw Fo could be, we really made sure that we’re paying attention to what’s here, so that community aspect really helped me understand New Orleans even more,” says the St. Louis-born and raised Thelonius. “It’s like a due diligence you gotta pay to the city. That’s been a beautiful thing even just for me - there’s so much going on, and I’m excited about sharing that on air. That part is my main focus once I’m going on air: am I doing New Orleans a good service, am I doing the hip hop community in New Orleans the service that I’m supposed to be doing.”

WWOZ, with its multi-media approach to community radio, coupled with the freedom available in non-commercial radio, offers Slangston and Thelonius a unique opportunity to widen the reach of Draw Fo’.

“We want to be progressive and experimental,” says Slangston. “OZ presents the extension of that kind of performance platform, because now I have the opportunity to provide another platform for hip hop artists and bounce artists, spoken word artists and just about any other artist in the city to have their music played, to come in and do an interview, and the opportunity to perform on air.”

He continues, “I think that it’s important that, even though as cliched as it sounds, we’re the first and only show on OZ that does hip hop and bounce, but certainly we don’t want to be the only one or the last. It’s important for us to provide platforms, not just for artists to be on our show, but for other artists to have their own shows, too. There’s so much music out there, and there’s only two of us for two hours once a week.”

Draw Fo’ found itself on a new platform this year at Jazz Fest, when Slangston interviewed New Orleans rapper, HaSizzle, the King of Bounce, on the Allison Miner Heritage Stage. As Slangston explains, “Seeing hip hop take place for as long as I can remember at Jazz Fest, I believed it was important to be able to have interviewers that were reflective of the culture. Regardless of whether it was HaSizzle or Juvenile or Mannie Fresh, whoever it was, in the last year or two, I was like, we gotta be able to figure out how to bridge that gap and bring what we do here, there, and to make sure that what was happening on that Allison Miner stage is truly authentic and part of the culture.”

“It’s important for us, we being of the culture, to be able to provide info for folks that may not necessarily believe that New Orleans hip hop is New Orleans music and culture. We’re definitely pushing back on that idea. That’s something I will always be a torchbearer of, just making sure that when we’re also thinking about our Kermit Ruffins, about our Irma Thomases, when we’re thinking about our Meters, we should also be thinking about our Truth Universals, about our Big Freedias, we should also be thinking about our Cash Moneys, our LGs, our Alfred Banks, our Juveniles - making room for what is continuously an ever-growing and burgeoning art form that is wildly accepted not only in this city but worldwide.”