Reflections: My First Episode on the Delvin Cox Experience

My first episode of the Delvin Cox Experience podcast released on Apple Podcasts (and other streaming services) and it was surreal for me to hear myself as the "Artist". Listen to hear exclusive stories about my life in the Music and Entertainment industry. We have deep conversation about Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole and our overall love of Hip-Hop music.

Listening back to this episode gave me the nostalgia of ripping the packaging off of a CD. It brought me back to the time of waiting for albums until midnight anticipating some of my favorite albums to release (Kanye graduation, Lupe Fiasco’s the cool). This anticipation for something of mine to release was a new experience for me. I had to take an excruciating amount of time to hear this project I worked on months ago (just poking fun at my bro 🤣). I kept loading Delvin’s page every week looking for my episode; I kept wondering “When is he going to release it!” 

“Those are my thoughts who said you could tell everyone?!”

Knowing as an artist there are protocols for releasing content I wasn’t upset, but I was desperate to have it. And once I received the text from our mutual friend, the episode had uploaded - for some reason I walked away feeling empty; or emptied. This artist, who is so eager to talk, so curious of the world around him and I still didn’t know enough. I was listening to myself for the very first time, listening to who Lance Markeith was. It was confusing at moments; where I’m like “I said that?”, “Those are my thoughts who said you could tell everyone?!” Then later in the conversation, I needed to ask Delvin questions about the culture.

“What was it like during the Mixtape era (for someone in Florida)?” - Lance Markeith

Delvin and I grew up in two distinct time periods of Hip-Hop - him in the 80’s and me in the late 90’s, early 00’s. But we both meet at the mixtape Era one of the Golden Era’s of Hip-Hop - when mixtapes rivalled the mainstream in sales and engagement. In the time, if you wanted to know what was new in Hip-Hop you went to the Mixtape DJ’s. 

So hearing Delvin say he picked up the “Red Clue” tape at the Flea Market was monumental! He goes on to say if you’re from Florida (or the South for that matter) you were expected to listen to a certain style of rap music and artists. 

For me to know that lyricism still made it’s way to our regions, the culture of having to collect the newest sound that made such an impression because it often felt like I was an alien listening to Lupe Fiasco, Eminem and Kanye West. 

These nuggets are so important because they inspire how I serve my audience today. It inspires songs like affirmation and candy that encourage me to be honest and treat my recording space like a diary. Trusting the audience to understand the purest rawest form of my art.

The mixtape Era is defined as the moment when the average consumer got tired of the Industry Gate keepers and created our own Black market between the music lover and the artists (or mixtape DJ’s and bootleggers). Artists could possibly find themselves with a top placement on a DJ’s tape and become catapulted into superstardom. Some labels had relationships with DJ's who would often serve as an A&R to the record label by finding talent. The Clue tape broke notable songs like Hot in Here by Nelly, Gettin' Money by the Lox, and Queen Bitch by Lil' Kim.

This tradition of putting together the hottest underground music evolved from Hip-Hop's long tradition of recording live sets and battles to cassettes, and selling it to the masses at the marketplace. It has always been the underbelly and the independent movements that have decided the trends of modern music; it fuels me to learn more about the culture and get firsthand experience of the culture that bred me.

But the thing that stands out to me is that this culture never dies; we are still hungry for the newest sound or trend to dance to, to imitate and enjoy. This culture, this energy transmutes itself into a new form/conduit. The fact that Delvin had a similar experience with mixtape culture in a completely different time, the fact that those times now converge on themselves with Nas’ releasing two new trilogies, Kendrick Lamar v. Drake and so much more. This was everything that my inner backpacker needed to be inspired.

I gained so much insight from my big Brother who is at the forefront of the culture, keeping the world informed about some of the greatest moments of our culture.