Season 2

Kicking off this season is Detroit legend Danny Brown. We learn about how Kenny and Danny’s paths crossed for the first time almost a decade ago. We learn about how the real life Pootie Tang saved Danny’s life with a belt. We learn the WiFi network. And by the end, we all learn something about ourselves.

This week on The Cave we welcome Atlanta’s 6lack. He’s here not to sing but to rap, bringing capital B Bars to our humble show. Kenny cooks up a New York style, getting money on the block in Brooklyn type beat, inspired by thumbing through all the fake hundreds that have accumulated in the studio. We learn about 6lack’s process, that he hasn’t physically written his music since 2010. We learn about his history with battle rap, and his transition to singing. We learn that with enough time and personal, private effort, anyone could become a vocalist. Just don’t let anyone hear your shit for a while. And finally, we hear one of the most effortless freestyles ever witnessed on this show. So effortless in fact, that after the first few bars, 6lack takes a seat and raps the rest of it on the DOTS couch. By the end, we are left with the overwhelming feeling of having been given more than enough bars.

Welcome back to The Cave, where today we are joined by our first guest from across the pond, U.K. legend slowthai. His vibe of choice: a combination of strippers, Scarface, and pasta. Kenny expertly constructs a Nando’s PERi-PERi sauce infused instrumental while slowthai initiates his transcendental, inner-truth-seeking creative process. After a series of advanced meditative techniques, including the ancient Taoist practice known in some rare traditional circles as the “outdoor cigarette and slow kick,” thai was ready to face the booth. His freestyle gives us entry to what English philosopher Aldous Huxley referred to as the doors of perception. Replete with the keys to enlightenment, slowthai’s bars begin to spill over like nectar of the Olympian gods overflowing their amphora vessels. Not long after rejecting the confines of the beat and continuing on into a cappella, our guest is asked to “get out the booth bruh, you’re done,” by which he graciously abides.

Yes, The Cave has historically featured the making of beats and the rappers that rap over those beats, but what is a show without evolution and expansion? Did The Wire not explore a different Baltimore institution with each season? Did Spongebob Squarepants shy away from innovation out of some misplaced sense of fear that in doing so it may alienate its core audience? The answer, as you may have already deduced, is “no.” And in our case, what this all means is that for the first time in our beloved program’s history are we bringing true instrumentation into the creative process. This week’s esteemed guest and former Guitar Center sales associate, Omar Apollo, turns the studio into a veritable jam session by busting out the bass guitar and rigging its output to Kenny’s Ableton grid. What results is something truly new and refreshing.

This week on The Cave, we are joined by Detroit native TeeJayx6. He’s been called many things. Forbes named him “The Frank Abagnale of the SoundCloud generation.” The New Yorker referred to him as “The John Nash of pin numbers.” WIRED crowned him “The Bitcoin Bully.” What he’s done for the scamming community cannot be overstated. His painstakingly thorough yet accessible instructional scamming walk-throughs have democratized the art of credit card fraud, allowing anyone with an internet connection to participate in what has historically been an elitist meritocracy. He’s also pioneered the effort of humanizing swipers worldwide through his music, bringing toward mainstream consciousness a group of people who have been consistently relegated to the fringes of society.

This week on The Cave we have special guest Boogie. As we wait for the magic to begin, we sit with him and Kenny discussing the ethical implications of the all too common Postmates deliver-and-dip practice, wherein a Postmate will come to your location and pretend to have dropped off your food—but by the time you open your door, they’ve disappeared with both your order and their fee. It seems they wanted to have your cake and eat it too. We then get to watch Boogie perform what may be the most unceremonious Futsal Shuffle known to man so far. And finally, once Kenny puts the final polishes on what Boogie requested to be a soulful instrumental, we see our guest give us one of the show’s more laid-back freestyles, concluding of course with a condemnation of runaway Postmates. Hopefully, this country’s judiciary system will eventually pass some consumer protection legislature to regulate these misdeeds more rigorously.

This week on The Cave we’re joined by Detroit icon and best rapper alive, Sada Baby. Unanimously beloved at DOTS, we couldn’t be more appreciative of his appearance on this humble YouTube show. His dance moves are unparalleled in music history, his father-son Nickelback cover duets are enchanting, but today we honor his ability to out-rap everyone else. Kenny cooks up “some heavy 808 type shit” as requested in a matter of minutes, and Sada casually enters the booth. No one knows why he decided to hang the microphone from the ceiling, but legend has it that it would have spontaneously combusted if he were holding it.

Today on The Cave we’re joined by Thundercat, legendary musician and cat lover. Upon entrance, he immediately downs three cans of Yerba, which according to the FDA, would incapacitate almost any medium-sized horse. In spite of heart palpitations, music magic is still made. Our guest brings out his legendary bass guitar and plays along to one of the most frenetic, psychotic instrumentals ever made, using his patent-pending gang sign finger techniques. It’s a wild ride, and Kenny does his best to keep things grounded. But by the time we get into the booth, all bets are off. We witness art in its truest form, a man unmoored from the tethers of any earthly nature, struck like lightning with the gift of an ancient, extraterrestrial broadcast. If you listen closely to his freestyle, you can hear the ocean, the meaning of life, and the nuclear codes.

Today on The Cave, we are joined by Joji. After cycling through some concepts, he delivers a heartfelt tribute to another cave dweller: Fred Flintstone. He takes us to Bedrock to discuss the ethical implications of two of the Stone Age’s most controversial topics. The child mortality rate, and dinosaurs were being used like disposable napkins. It makes you think about just how many anachronisms were being thrown at us in The Flintstones. Joji fleshes out his concept into a poignant ode to Wilma, bemoaning the fading relevance of The Flintstones family, as we are left with only the children’s multivitamin to uphold their illustrious legacy. He mentions the gummies, but real Fred-heads preferred the chalky kind. The song locks together with the essential element of the iconic Fred Flintstone scrambling sound effect, which Kenny transforms to a drum pattern. Then finally, we get Joji in the booth, who lays down the second most popular song about The Flintstones made in the 21st century.

Alright enough of the experimental shit. Enough of the funny art kid shit, we get it. Have you heard of real hip hop? We do that here. We value bars on The Cave. This week, we’re joined by Detroit artist Boldy James and producer legend Alchemist. Unfortunately, Alchemist forgot his flux capacitor at home and his particle accelerator is still undergoing repairs in Geneva. This is all to say that he could not participate in the beat-making process per se, but he was able to identify the presence of Ron Artest’s spirit in the acoustic panels of the studio walls. Meanwhile Boldy, feeling philanthropic, offers up what we thought would be a four-bar giveaway to one lucky raffle winner. Thankfully, when he does enter the booth, we get much more than we were promised, a surplus of bars in fact. The Price Of Tea In China is available to stream everywhere.

Welcome to the apocalypse. Some of us haven’t seen the sun or taken a breath of fresh air in days. Those of us fortunate enough to have purchased bulk pizza rolls are living like kings in a savage wasteland of frozen food aisle shortages and grocery store line brawls. I saw a family beat a grown man to a pulp over a box of Uncrustables. I saw a newborn baby selling sanitized automatic rifles at a pop-up shop on Fairfax. In these trying times, it is important to preserve what remains of our humanity and dignity. That’s why this week, The Cave does not stop. What better time than now, while we are all in our self-contained isolation chambers, to provide the people with what is most at stake, most scarce, most sacred: new vibes. We’re joined by Marc Rebillet, king of the stream, master of the live bedroom cook-up. He brought with him his signature taste for piano chords and bass lines, as well the voice of a 450-pound man. Enjoy and be safe everybody. May God have mercy on our souls.