on Radio One’s other Booms, and there is a heavy regional influence. I doubt you’ll hear as much of The D.O.C. Hot 93.3 gave up on the format by December.īoom 94.5 uses the same format (and name) that its parent Radio One first rolled out in Houston, then brought to Philadelphia and Atlanta at the end of last year. But Boom was clearly the better iteration Jeff “Skin” Wade said it best when he tweeted that Hot 93.3 was what urban radio used to sound like, and Boom 94.5 was what people wanted urban radio to sound like. I remember at one point switching back and forth between the two as they played the same Tupac song. Strangely, Boom 94.5 popped up within hours of another station playing classic hip-hop, Hot 93.3. Sometimes it’s an undisputed classic, like LL Cool J’s “Around the Way Girl” or the Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me.” Sometimes it’s a borderline novelty song, like Candyman’s “Knockin’ Boots.” Sometimes it’s somewhere in between, like the West Coast Rap All-Stars’ “We’re All in the Same Gang.” It plays the majority of the songs I really love-hip-hop recorded between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s.
People still crave the primal reaction that happens when they unexpectedly hear a song they love.īoom 94.5 has been my go-to source of that feeling since it debuted in November. That’s why, though many things have tried to kill terrestrial radio, nothing has succeeded or even come that close. It’s this: left to your own devices, would you have re-created that playlist on your own? To quote the great Ed Lover: C’mon, son.
Even “Ice Ice Baby.” It may be a cheesy bit of cultural appropriation that is full of more fiction than a Barnes & Noble-but you know every single word, and don’t try to pretend like you don’t.īut the real question isn’t whether you can or should hear those songs.
Do it as soon as you finish reading this. On the drive home from work not long ago, this is what I heard on Boom 94.5: Craig Mack’s “Flava in Ya Ear” (unfortunately not the remix with Notorious B.I.G.), Ludacris’ “Southern Hospitality,” J-Kwon’s “Tipsy,” House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” Heavy D’s “Big Daddy,” finally the Biggie Smalls I was craving via “Sky’s the Limit,” Jay Z’s “Encore,” Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” UGK’s “Tell Me Something Good,” and-sort of incongruously-Newcleus’ “Jam On It,” a single from 1984 that barely qualifies as hip-hop as most people know it today.Ĭan you hear all of those songs on Spotify or YouTube? Absolutely.