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Living for the CityAuthor: Side Stage
Before Detroit gave the world Motown, techno, and hip-hop, it gave the world something harder to name: a feeling that music made in basements and backrooms and borrowed spaces could become the soundtrack to an entire generation's life. That is the story Living for the City is here to tell, and nobody alive is better equipped to tell it than Hanif Abdurraqib. MacArthur Fellow. New York Times bestselling author. The most gifted writer working at the intersection of music, memory, and American identity today. Hanif brings his singular voice to a new video podcast series that goes inside the streets, venues, and neighborhoods where iconic sounds are born, talking with the artists, DJs, producers, and community architects who built these movements from the ground up. Season One is Detroit. Eight episodes. The full arc of how one city became the unlikely origin point for some of the most influential music ever made, told by the people who were actually there, and the writer who understands better than anyone what it meant. This is not a music history lesson. This is a front-row seat to the moments that mattered. Living for the City premieres May 13th, with new episodes dropping weekly. Subscribe now on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?sic184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ Language: en Genres: Music, Music Commentary, Music History Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Isiah Thomas on the Bad Boys and Why Detroit Never Got Credit | Living for the City Full Interview
Episode 18
Wednesday, 9 September, 2026
Isiah Thomas is a Basketball Hall of Famer and the captain of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys," the back-to-back champions who played the game their own way and never apologized for it. This conversation goes far beyond basketball. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib. Thomas walks through the sound of the Bad Boys locker room, the shift from funk to hip hop, "Freaks Come Out at Night" as the team's entrance music, and the season MTV and Downtown Julie Brown followed the team around Detroit. He talks about the crowd erupting to Hava Nagila one quarter and Prince the next, the third jersey that started as pure Detroit innovation, and why the team's national reputation as villains never matched how the city actually saw them. He gets specific about Kid Rock and Eminem sharing the arena, MC Hammer bringing TLC to the Palace, and the Dietrich furs that became part of a swagger the team built by actually being in the neighborhoods. He also opens up about his decades-long friendship with Aretha Franklin, from the day her family reached out to a young player who didn't know how to pay his bills, to the night he escorted her to her final performance at the Kennedy Center, and the eulogy he gave from the heart at her funeral. He talks about the vets who raised him, Phil Hubbard and Greg Kelser, what he thinks sports mentorship has lost, and why Detroit felt like home from day one. CHAPTERS 00:15 - The Bad Boys Locker Room: From Funk to Hip Hop 01:13 - MTV, Downtown Julie Brown, and Breaking Mariah Carey 03:07 - Villains Nationally, Motown at Home: The Real Detroit Story 06:04 - "Freaks Come Out at Night" and the Sound of the Bad Boys 10:10 - The Third Jersey and the Birth of Bad Boys Marketing 13:20 - Kid Rock, Eminem, MC Hammer, and a City That Never Got Credit 16:57 - Dietrich Furs and Building Real Swagger 19:30 - Aretha Franklin: Friendship, Community, and a Eulogy From the Heart 26:09 - Phil Hubbard, Greg Kelser, and the Lost Art of Veteran Mentorship 31:44 - Home From Day One: Diversity, the Current Pistons, and What It Means to Win in Detroit LINKS YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267 Stay connected! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/ TAGS / KEYWORDS Isiah Thomas, Isiah Thomas interview, Detroit Pistons Bad Boys, Isiah Thomas Aretha Franklin, Bad Boys Pistons, Detroit basketball history, Isiah Thomas Hall of Fame, Aretha Franklin friendship, Detroit sports culture, Detroit music history, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Detroit Pistons history, MC Hammer Detroit, Kid Rock Eminem Detroit, Detroit culture, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
