Museums n'That
Museums n'That
Hip hop doesn't ask for permission
Did someone say series 4?
*beat drop*
To kick off the new series, Meg and Sara talk to actual real life best friends Lee Arnold aka. King Monk and Marek Romaniszyn. Lee is a Hip Hop aficionado - he runs King Monk studios and is the brains behind the Hip Hop Historian Society. Marek is the Assistant Community Curator at Leeds Museums & Galleries and really likes Ninja Turtles.
We find out (lots) about Leeds' hip hop roots, and ask how we go about collecting that kind of history. Marek and Lee chat about the exhibition they have planned in 2023, and, as always, their favourite takeaways.
Listen, subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all the usual podcast suspects.
*twinkling noise* Brilliant.
Sara:It's good way to start, isn't it?
Meg:Did you like that?
Sara:Yeah.
Meg:Hello, it's us. And welcome to the museums and that Podcast where each episode we have a chinwag and serve you the steaming hot tea on the things that museum people love the most. We're your hosts Meg and Sara from Leeds museums and galleries. And we get to know the people behind the objects by asking them the questions that you really want to know. A fair few months, it's been Smez.
Sara:It has been a fair few months. I don't even want to know how many months but it's nice because now we're back in the same room.
Meg:So most important thing does feel like this. *twinkling star noise*
Sara:Really does. Makes you all tingley, doesn't it.
Meg:Guys we got a new toy. And it does sounds like that. And this one look listen. Really good. And that means that we're not recording on Zoom anymore.
Sara:Yes. Which is just an absolute blessing.
Meg:God you poor sods having to listen to that. Tell me what's happened in the last few months.
Sara:Right. So I started a list in my head. Actually, it boils down to I've not done a lot. I think I spend an awful lot of time with friends. Oh that's pathetic isn't it.
Meg:I'm Sara, and I spend time with friends.
Sara:Yeah, I think it's just like over over the summer period and stuff just like tried to be outside as much as possible because of being inside and not really enjoying it that much. So did that you know, went out on my bicycle up to Bolton Abbey, which is in like the top three abbeys, it's not the best one.
Meg:It's got stepping stones.
Sara:I've also been making the use of my little library pass and getting myself some books.
Meg:Shoutout to libraries.
Sara:Yeah, so you know, not a w ole great deal. That's that's about it. What about you?
Meg:Well, I have exciting news. I got a dog.
Sara:Yes. Yes, she did.
Meg:I literally got a dog guys. And he is the best. He's a little golden retriever. And he's called Wilbur. And I literally looked at my phone this morning, and I just got loads of photos that I took last night of his toes. And my camera is just full of like, just various parts of his body. And that's my main thing. I also got robbed which is sad. Yeah, really bad. Got robbed, but I also got a dog. So it was just like, evened itself out.
Sara:No, it's good. We've been actually we've been dog sitting some of our friends dogs over the past few months on and off, like random weekend.
Meg:I've got an itchy eye.
Sara:Sorry, this is so boring for you.
Meg:Sorry, the feeling of rubbing your eye is just like, it's like the bodily equivalent of going into a museum and reading an object label and understanding it the first time around.
Sara:The satisfaction.
Meg:Amazing.
Sara:I also need some lip balm.
Meg:Oh, God. Have you got your Burts Bees? By the way, if Burt's Bees wants to sponsor this podcast, that'd be really helpful because I'm running low.
Sara:I just I lose them. They just go walkies places. I don't know where where they go to.
Meg:Also speaking of sponsors, and people supporting the podcast in different ways. We normally leave this little bit to the end because we get embarrassed about asking people to do things for us, but it's really important cuz we need some more. So we're going to do at the beginning. Yeah, please, if you're listening, and you want to leave us like a little cheeky review and subscribe. That'd be really helpful. Also do what you want. Yeah. Series four what have we got lined up?
Sara:Oh, do you know what, this time around. We've really pushed the boat out. No pun intended.
Meg:Guys we're doing a shipwreck episode.
Sara:But we have quite exciting guests for this episode.
Meg:Including, but not limited to Marek. And Lee off of hip hop.
Sara:Yeah, I mean, that's broad. So Marek is one of our assistant community curators. He primarily works with Leeds City Museum, and he works with someone called Lee Arnold who runs a studio in Leeds called King monk studios. And he's kind of like, well, Marek described him as the supermario of talking about hip hop history in Leeds. So
Meg:Yeah, and they've been working on an exhibition that they're going to do at the museum and collecting some Hip Hop related objects for the collection, so just wanna find out a little bit more about that really? And have a great time. I'm also kind of freaking out because I feel like Lee's really cool. The only other time that I've met Lee was in a meeting as well on Zoom, where I was wearing a t shirt that had John Travolta on it.
Sara:So he knows all about you then.
Meg:I kept sinking down in my chair, because he's talking about like, cool people.
Sara:Here he is. No you're fine. You're fine.
Meg:Marek you just ruined the whole thing, get out. Anyway, let's get to it then mate. Well, here's Marek and Lee's episode of Museums n'That everyone. Enjoy. Wait, enjoy. *Twinkling noise* *sci fi noise*
Sara:It sounds like a sci fi.
Meg:Welcome Marek and Lee to Museums n'That. Thank you for coming on. Please, could you each tell us who you are and what it is that you do?
King Monk:Hi, my name is well, I'm known as King monk actually. And I am a part of the hip hop historian society, in Leeds, and we put on events each year. And we work alongside with Marek and the museum.
Marek:Hi everybody my name is Marek, I work at City Museum, also at the Discovery Centre, where we are today, and I work in community engagement.
Meg:And how did you guys meet each other? Like how did you guys get to work together?
King Monk:Yeah, we met each other through another colleague of mine, friend of mine, Marcia Brown, who's an artist in the city of Leeds, and she was doing various projects with the museum. And she included me into a project,
Marek:You got in contact with me and said, 'do you think the museum would be interested in hosting a large scale Hip Hop event to celebrate 40 years, since its inception, as a culture?' And I said, Yeah, absolutely. No problem. And you, you seemed sort of surprised that we would be like, I'd say, I remember you saying will we be allowed to do it. And I said, Yeah, like, why not? Let's do it. Let's do it.
King Monk:The reason for that is because like hip hop's not usually socially accepted so well. So if you usually speak to people about the culture of hip hop, they tend to think it's all like gangster, this and the other, the perception has been given by the mainstream, which is not truth. And it's not the origins of the culture, which was to uplift and change things, social dilemmas in the communities out in the Bronx, and etc. In in New York. That's where it originated. And yeah, so it's like coming to you and asking if we can, because I've always dreamed big in a sense that we could do it in the local community centre. But why aren't we taking over the buildings that they don't want us in? Because our voice needs to be heard, and the community need to be respected for that, you know, like so. And that's, that's why that's why I was surprised.
Sara:Yeah, it's definitely like a meeting of different cultural stereotypes, isn't it? And like, I mean, part of why we do this is because we want to get away from the idea that museums are, you know, Stuffy, old fashioned places, for middle class to upper class white people. And I love hip hop, when I first started working here and started working with Marek and stuff. And I was like, that is so cool. Like, we should definitely be doing more of this. But for it to come into the museum and be like, smack bang in the middle of the city centre is super important. So I think it's brilliant. And when we when Marek said like, we're going to go and do an exhibition in 2023, I think I was the first person that was just like yes, this is amazing. So yeah, it's really exciting.
Meg:I remember I was in that the programming group because I think I've met you before Lee but only in programming group on Zoom. And I think you beat boxed. And I was like, this is literally the first time that like programming group has...
Sara:Been cool.
Meg:That's the coolest meeting I've ever been in. Yeah, it was amazing.
King Monk:Oh, thank you.
Marek:I mean, honestly, the first event we had in 2014, whatever experience I had of hip hop, I didn't know the event would be as big and as colourful as it was in that that first one we did. It was yeah, like, whatever 3000 people through the doors, it was it was more than I could manage.
Meg:And what are those events? What do you do at them?
King Monk:We have a series of workshops in all the elements of
Marek:Yeah and the q&a panels that you've you've put together hip hop. So that would be like breakdancing or emceeing beatbox DJing. And graffiti, and also be making like production. Then we have what we call the baby Bloc Party. The parents come with their toddlers and their babies, and they just interact throughout the music. And we also have q&a panels, where we talk about whether it be mental health or certain aspects of hip hop and the culture and what the culture is rather than what the media and the mainstream media give you. Lee I think over the years have been really engaging. You know, when we had Akala there, I don't think I in 2015 I didn't really
King Monk:I think he's blown up more since then, as well as I know enough about Akala. I sort of knew the name. And then now you know when I think about it, I mean like he's huge. He's absolutely huge. mean, he was already quite I mean, he's out there. He's a very articulate young man, you know, very intelligent man very, very well read. And we've mixed those q&a panels up with celebrities with local youth workers, you know, young people try to mix it up. So it's male and female. Although the female aspect in hip hop is kind of scarce in comparison to the male aspect, just naturally, that is the way it is, unfortunately, not that it doesn't exist there. Because Hip Hop started with a female by the name of Cindy Campbell, her jam, it was a back to school jam. And they was raising funds for their school uniforms and their stationery, etc, etc. And she invited her brother Kool Herc, who's known as the father of hip hop to play at that party to raise money. And so that block party happened in the Bronx.
Meg:When was that?
King Monk:That was the 11th of August 1973. To be precise, so that's the back to school jam.
Meg:That was so precise.
King Monk:But yeah, so it was born from a female, you know, so we honour the female contribution in hip hop so much, you know, the Queens of hip hop, we call them.
Sara:I was fascinated as well, with it having such a big presence in Leeds, because that is not what Leeds is really known for. But how, you know, in terms of like, artists, and acts in Leeds, how did that come about, and who. Who should we listen to?
King Monk:Where Hip Hop starts, we, we have our father of hip hop in Leeds would be MC daddy Speedo. And he had a very American accent because all they had was a reference to America. So they would chat in an American accent or rap in an American accent. And then later on down the line, it started to develop there was people getting signed or making their own record label. So you had nightmares on wax, that would have been like the back end of the 80s, early 90s. And then you had their rivals were BTi, breaking the illusion, which was Thomas Stewart and Paul Edmead. And these guys, they they ended up winning a competition, and they got onto a record. So I've got that vinyl actually that that record from back then, after that, they set up their own record label with a group called Brain tax and it was called low life. So that was our first Leeds, hip hop record label, and then it just blew up, probably became one of the most predominant labels in the country. And there was lots of other Leeds groups that came from so we had skinny man, there's jest and Tommy Evans. So Leeds has had a massive influence on the country as it as it stands, you know, but these are our foundation pioneers. And there's so many others that I haven't mentioned, obviously, but later on down the line, we set up invisible circle, which was like an amalgamation of artists from right across the city. So as a city wide movement, there was like 30 Odd members, we all put 20 pounds on the table every month. And if you didn't you was out, you can't have your money back. And we'd so we invested into studio equipment, we invested into releasing records, vinyl and stuff like that. We did that. And that was that was early 2000s. But the other stuff was from the early 90s, late 80s.
Sara:I think it's fascinating because I read, I saw a tweet from an independent food place called Manjits kitchen. Excellent. And she tweeted and said, she loves Leeds, because it feels like it's big enough that you can do something, and yet small enough that you're still part of a community. And that's certainly why I love being here. And I think the fact that Leeds has such is such a catalyst for all of these things, they Yeah, they go down to London, and, you know, or Manchester or, you know, slightly bigger places, but it stems from here, and the fact that the legacy has carried on as well. And it's so exciting that were a part of it. But in terms of museums and and hip hop, how does that, how do they fit together? Like, you know, you're going to start looking at archiving. I know we've we've done contemporary collecting and things but where do you even begin like with, with archiving, something like that? Because it is a culture, it's not like, alright, well, we'll just get we'll get some trainers and we'll get a couple of vinyls there. Boom done. It's it's much bigger than that. So it's collecting all of those stories. Like, where do you begin? That's probably a really big question, I'm sorry.
King Monk:Well it is about collecting people's individual stories? I believe there's so many within the city of Leeds, but I think how we go about is to let people tell their stories. Obviously, we have all the archives within like or things that we can archives, archive, sorry, that like the flyers, the pictures, the the vinyls, the sneakers, the you know, the clothing, the fashion, all of those kinds of things can be put together, the production equipment, that kind of thing. So we can get artefacts. And also, I think the main important story is the people's story for them to actually tell their story and how they saw it and how it moved in. And also like the club nights, the radio stations, all those things need to be talked about and because these are still in the making, but it's like to give people the torch to carry on now the people that are doing it now, which is very different to what we was doing back then even though it's still it's hip hop it's evolved, you know, change, whether we see it as good or bad or whatever. That's the difference. But the thing is, we need to set that stage for educating people about the culture and what it actually is and what it actually isn't.
Meg:I was going to ask like about about the overlap with our collection, Marek?
Marek:Well, I think like we had to start somewhere I hope I'm not doing anybody an injustice, but I don't think we had anything hip hop related before conversations with Lee. We've already definitely collected some important objects with stories like, what have we got... we've got some Jordans, Lee's Jordans which are very very cool sneakers. I would have absolutely...
Sara:I can't believe you gave them up to the collection.
Marek:...killed for them.
Meg:Sara loves trainers and she came round to my house this morning and I've got a puppy and he did a wee on Sara's trainers.
Sara:Luke's gonna kill you. Absolute nightmare, there's like a little wee stain on Sara's toes.
King Monk:Oh, that's a total no-no on Jordans.
Sara:Yeah. Awful awful. Can't even talk about it. Don't want to talk about it.
Marek:I mean, you know, there's thing's like a series of funky newell flyers, nights, Lee did the artwork for them. We do have a fair bit of a fair bit of vinyls have come in Lee mentioned invisible circle. You know, we've got a couple of those LPS nightmares on wax. I mean, yeah, you know, for me anyway, I was well chuffed when we acquired some nightmares on wax. Probably Mr. scruff and nightmares on wax is probably how I got interested in in hip hop.
Meg:I remember when we collected that and you told me about it. And I had not heard of nightmares on wax. I listened to that vinyl. And I was like, this is literally the best like, background soothing music to work to. I was like, I literally just want to listen to this song on repeat all the time. It was amazing.
Marek:Yeah, yeah. 100% I mean, what's weird is I hear in a way echoes of my past when one of my mates saying to me oh, you know, I've just got this nightmares on wax album. I think it was car boot soul. So I think I'm gonna say 1999 And yeah, and it's weird. And I remember listening to it, and then maybe kind of like, left it for a little bit. And then when Lee started talking about George, and being part of Leeds and stuff, and I, there's no way that when I was listening to that nightmares on wax album, I ever thought, oh, that's from Leeds. And that's like, important or anything. I was just like, oh, you know, I like this nice tunes. So yeah, I think what's great is the, with support of these museums, is that with the hip hop historian, society, Lee and everybody else who are part of that are they have the creative input of what's gonna come in. They have the knowledge, they have the links, Lee's name comes up all the time in Leeds. I don't know if there's anybody you don't know. Honestly. I was chatting to two artists last week, and I was talking about hip hop. And I don't know if you know, you might know. Oh, lately, Arnold. Yeah, no, Lee. Yeah. Who doesn't know Lee? But yeah, but the really important thing is, is that the you've got the trust built up with people who have those links, to gain that trust in terms of why we're doing it, you know, our ethics, what why we're interested in collecting and why it's important. That takes time, I think to that footwork obviously me and Lee have been working together for a long time. So hopefully, he just about trusts me. And I think that..
Sara:Even if you're not from, Yorkshire. Never get rid of that
Marek:I'm a dirty Manc. But, yeah. And I think I think it's a Manc accent.
Meg:Marek's just trying to sneak a bit of Oasis into the archive. really important step for us as a service. And I think, in terms of the the ethics of community engagement is is that it puts the power with Lee and everybody that you work with, and who hav those life experiences. wouldn't be sat here pretendin that, you know, like, I shoul be sat in Lee's chair in term of curating what comes i because I don't have that lif experience. You know. So, i terms of community engagement it's always part of your remi that, you know, we're looking a diversifying audiences. I alway say hip hop, it speaks fo itself. It's just it's just winner. It's an absolute winne in terms of the different peopl that have been involved in it And I think, as a culture, i can, you know, it could save yo r life, it could get you on the ight track and get you back on the track that you need to be. nd I think that's the thing. usic is medicine anyway, I think you know, so.
King Monk:I remember you saying to me, are you doing this on your own? I remember he's in the museum walking around. And obviously, at that time, I didn't have Emma Walker on board. I was doing this. And I was pulling this together. Thankfully, Emma stepped in, I'm quite I'm dyslexic. I'm gonna say I'm quite dyslexic. I am actually dyslexic. And, I mean, not that I can't read or write and things like that. I mean, Dyslexia has got a whole heap of different superpowers and downfalls. But, um, yeah, I just found that she really uplifted it on the level of like, taking like the admin side of things that I didn't have locked down the way that she could lock it down. And she really, really helped me out that year, but it was just so funny because I remember you saying to me, are you doing this on your own? Only I don't, you must have just picked it up from me when I was talking. And I probably wasn't talking about anybody else doing this. And it was just, it was actually just that first year was actually myself and then of course Emma jumped in and really, you know, did the Superwoman thing.
Unknown:The thing you hear most is have you seen Lee. Seen Lee? Lee, we need Lee, we need Lee. I'll go and try and find him. And I'm running around the museum. I've seen Lee, have you seen Lee? You seen him somebody needs him somebody needs Lee.
King Monk:We might pass each other once or twice in the day, on the stairs, up and down. Because I never really actually got to enjoy... the only time I got to enjoy the moment of these events was usually the q&a and one of them I got roped into being on the q&a this first year. I can't remember what the reason was. But there was a spare seat and people were scared to get up on the stage - do you remember everybody sat down at the sides? But then there was a raised stage with the, with the tabletop on there. And nobody wanted to sit up there. So I just got up and dragged a couple of guys and said, come on, sit down. You know, like, we're all right to be up here. And I ended up getting involved in the q&a. But that was like my only time that I had a rest at all because I was on the q&a panel and I was talking but it's normal for me because that dyslexia type of mind you like multitasking all over the place and it doesn't. It doesn't faze me. Marek's running around...
Sara:Oh, there's always something going wrong in the bloody Museum. Something's broken.
Marek:I am just essentially a runner, but I'm happy doing it. You know, because that's, that is basically what the job is for me.
Meg:Speaking about museum though. I wanted to chat a little bit about the exhibition, you guys have got planned 2023, how's it going? What's the deal, what are we gonna, what are we gonna see?
King Monk:Okay, so, for that six months, we're going to be doing some installations, I guess a pop up classroom in there, which the plans are to recreate a subway train like half a subway train car, in the middle of the space, and we're going to decorate up so there's gonna be Alice Kay and DJ countdown have got the skills that are gonna help to put these things together the installations, we're gonna create a record shop, maybe kind of based on how Crash Records was back in the day when you went downstairs and how it kind of looked in there. So we're going to do that, a little live stage for live acts. So throughout the six months, there will be workshops, there will be live performances and all that to be interactive. And then obviously telling the story of Leeds as you go round and looking at the different various elements and how that has affected Leeds.
Sara:I mean, it sounds sounds ambitious, I'm gonna say it. Marek's face is like, ahh. But that's so exciting. It's so exciting to use that space dynamically.
Meg:I love it when I go into an exhibition and it's like someone's created a different setting within it so the idea of a record shop is so cool.
Sara:We love a train.
Meg:I actually hate trains but I'm sure I'll like this one.
King Monk:It's gonna double up as a classroom so be like fold up tables and stuff down if they do graffiti workshop in there or a lyric writing workshop, that kind of thing inside the train.
Sara:Can you imagine in a museum where you can like actually graffiti? We're encouraging it.
Meg:Also, just speaking of graffiti, I saw some graffiti at Morrison's in Kirkstall the other day and it made me laugh. It just said lasagne. Yeah, amazing. Well, that's a great idea.
King Monk:We're gonna have cinema as well in there. We're gonna create a little cinema in there. So it's gonna have a lot of the elements and then display cases with artefacts, and there's talks of maybe creating recreating a hairdressers type thing maybe an ode to Romano, the barber from Leeds who was the first person to be for over 50 years he's been cutting Afro hair. He was an Italian man. And he was the first person to actually cut Afro hair. People wouldn't cut Afro hair and probably didn't have the knowledge to do so. But then there could have been the other elements of racism and etc, etc. But he, he used to work. He started off on Chapeltown Road, eventually ended up in the Corn Exchange when the Corn Exchange was completely closed down. He had one way you could access from the side of it. And his shop was in there when I was a kid when I first came to Leeds in the 80s. And he was doing all the haircuts like this, you know, the the, you know, high tops, yeah the things in the side of the head, he could do all of that. And everybody would wait for him was a massive thing. On a Saturday, you'd go in there and everybody was sitting, waiting. There's other barbers in there, but everyone would be waiting for him. Yeah, you know. So yeah, and we actually, we gave him a wisdom award, and we had Barber B who's another, I guess, he cuts, celebrities, hairs and things like that. But he has Pirhana hairdressers in needs. And he was inspired by you know, Romano. So it was a massive thing for him to award Romano, it was a very emotional moment, wasn't it? People thought that Romano was the Lord Mayor didn't know when he came is somebody came up to me said, I think the Mayor is here. And I looked up and I said, Oh, no, that's Romano. His wife and he's all dressed up.
Meg:Gives off mayor energy.
Unknown:And he got a beautiful award didn't he, with the scissors and a comb. And it was into a piece of like, I don't know if it was 10, 15,000 year old, wood, like from the roots type thing it's black. And it's naturally black. Because it's been so old. You know, it's beautiful, what we made for him really, and it made him so happy. And but I'd love to capture his story. And I was really upset to see that his story hasn't been celebrated. I mean, 50 years of doing that, that should have been a massive celebration there. We've gone past that 50 year point now. But I still personally feel we need to celebrate that man more because of what he did what he contributed to the city of Leeds in in his profession as a hairdresser.
Marek:I was gonna say Lee I mean, that's the opportunity, you know, it's two, two years off. No, it's less than two years now.
King Monk:I do want to look into interviewing him if we can, if we can get a little interview of him and talk to him? Because at least then he can be...
Marek:Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I certainly won't name any exhibitions I've been to, but I've been to many music exhibitions that have been sterile. And I'm
Sara:Sorry, Spice Girls, please at Leeds City Museum?
Marek:I mean, well, I mean, when you know, I've been to like say, I remember going to a punk exhibition. And for me, I didn't feel that vibe at all, you know, music in a museum is a difficult thing to master. Given the fabric of what it is, you know, it's it's Yeah, I don't think it's...
Sara:It's emotive, isn't it?
Marek:Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, yeah, for me, whenever I'm working on it, I always think it's an opportunity to, to like set the standard set that bar high. And I think with what is coming up is that opportunity to like, all the stuff you've just said, Lee, about representing the elements so that when you when you walk into that space, you you feel immersed in it. And it's like an installation of culture, more than an exhibition of culture. That, yeah, that whole thing that, you know, you can write on the walls, you know, that you you're part of it, you get to, like, live it and experience it as much as you can in in what is an artificial setting. But yeah, I think I think there's this opportunity to set, you know, set that bar high. And I think, you know, if Lee's on board, I think I think we can do it.
Meg:Really important question about the exhibition. Is Akala going to be at the preview?
King Monk:I'm not sure about that. But we can look into that. You know, that's something I mean, obviously, the funds are going to be there. So we should be able to get somebody like that, you know, in in to do certain things. So, and that's what we're looking at, we need to look at funding. Funding is a massive thing, obviously, because each year we do this with it's only the first two years like 2014 2015 that we had a bit of funding. Other than that the museums always helped us out and it's not been very much in terms of like to pay everybody to work. Yeah, we're just paying for the workshops to happen and the DJs that hold it down, but there's so many other people that put in so much work every year, and they never get paid. I feel really bad. I don't mind doing it for free. It's been it's been one of those it's my passion. You know, I love it. But the thing is, it gets to that point where it needs that funding to actually make the drive to make it be more diverse, in a sense that by bringing people like Akala in or other celebrities in it attracts more people to it to open up and show something else, especially a local culture, you know? So yeah, that's where at the moment so if there are any bid writers out there that want to help us out, we still pull it off.
Marek:I was just going to say I think it'd be it'd be great to do some work with with yourselves you know, as this rolls out looking at like collecting sound bites and stuff like that. The exhibition you know, obviously it's it's within its within what people power you've got, but I I'd really like this to be a, like a real benchmark, I think.
Sara:If we had to, like go to hip hop events and gigs fine. Fine, whatever.
Meg:I feel like you've just been seduced by these pretty colours here Marek. You're like yeah, I want to play with that.
Marek:That is the best piece of kit.
Sara:Yeah, we basically bought it for the colours.
King Monk:What is it, a rodecaster Pro?
Meg:Yeah, yeah. Also, I feel like we've not talked about the snacks we've got on the table. But really important thing because me and Sara are right, we went to Tesco Express, and we were like, let's get some snacks but let's get like what's like the most Hip Hop snacks that we can think of? And we were like, but we need them to be wrapped because COVID. Now we were looking at them just before you came in we were like God, tunnocks. Why have you we gone for caramel wafers? They're like circus snacks, it's not it's like folk music.
Sara:Yeah, we decided caramel like wafers are like yeah, banjo of...
Marek:Oh, no. Open your lunchbox tunnocks inside.
Meg:What do you think is the most Hip Hop snack though? It doesn't have to be sweet.
Sara:It can be savoury.
Meg:I thought to be fair, we were like we could buy loads of knickknacks. Because NikNaks. Like the packet.
King Monk:I was going to say pizza.
Meg:Yeah, yeah.
King Monk:Pizza's a hip hop snack. That's the studio food. Staple diet in the studio. Noodles. Noodles and pizzas. That's in the studio when people are recording.
Meg:Okay, next time, pizza or noodles. So at the end of every episode, we ask our guests the same questions. We've got three more questions for you. And we normally ask people what your favourite day works been. But for you guys, I feel like it should be like, what your favourite kind of moment together is.
King Monk:Oh, I thought you were going to ask what my favourite food is I was gonna say cheesecake.
Meg:Oh, that's coming.
King Monk:Our favourite moment together. It's got a be meeting on the stairs. Yeah. No, we've had plenty of moments because we've, we've built over the years, haven't we? You know, like, I actually have enjoyed, like, when we've had meetings. And obviously, I can go off topic quite a bit. But you know, and we talk about other things like the music and hip hop and record releases and things like that. There are points that we get, you know, snuck in there. But yeah, that's I don't know if that's what comes to mind. Yeah, what comes to mind?
Marek:Oh, absolutely. I think definitely meeting on the stairs is, is hilarious. Because it's, it's...
Meg:The start of a rom com.
Marek:It's not far off. There's normally a point where we it's like we're relaying, but there's no baton. And we both just look at each other. And it's like, we're at this point, again, we've done it. We're not far off the end of the event. We're nearly there. We've done it. Let's keep going. I mean, I'm in this line of work, because I get to meet people, you know, I would never have got to meet Lee if it wasn't for. I don't think so. Marcia. But you know, we've Yeah, and, you know, with over what is it now seven, seven years, we've got to know each other a lot. And, you know, and, and there's that, you know, there's that trust, you know, which I think is it's important in work, but it's it's not just about the work, you know, it's obviously about, you know, being my mate, you know.
King Monk:No, we have become really good friends over this.
Meg:That's so nice.
Marek:So and that and it's all and it's all like positive, which I think is you know...
Unknown:I mean, I could never thank him enough. I know, I've thanked you. And he always tells me, no, no, what are you talking about and I'm just like the fact that you let us through the door. And there aren't many places that are going to let you through the door. And it's funny because that's what Akala said that he said hip hop doesn't ask for permission, it kicks down the door and takes it you know, makes it happen. So, but yeah, Marek really did make that happen for us. Because what I found was, there are other venues, and I'm not going to mention names in of these venues. But there are other event venues in Leeds are very pretentious. And they're not, they're not catering for the local community. And I really want them to, yeah, and I've approached them a few times. And it just seems like there's no love. There's no getting in there even when they know the museum's involved and the library's been involved and you know, we've you know, they still don't want us in their house.
Sara:They're just not as cool as us. No, that's that is beautiful. I think that's one of the best answers we've had. So then for the final part of this, it's a two fold question. The first bit is, what's the biggest sort of takeaway from this about everything that we've talked about? What what sort of message do you want to leave listeners with? And by natural extension, what is your actual favourite takeaway?
King Monk:I said pizza didn't I, so. My favourite pizza is Papa John's, I think is awesome. And I love that garlic dip. Garlic. Garlic is amazing. But in America, it's so much better because it's got the, the pepper that comes with it. They used to do them here, but we had to ask for them. But now they said they're not doing them anymore. So a couple of years ago, I was still getting those peppers that they have in America, they come standardly with the American one. You get it on the side, in your box, but over here, you had to ask them for it...
Meg:But hip hop doesn't ask!
King Monk:Now there's none left. I probably ate them all.
Meg:I knew a guy at uni he used to get that dip and he'd pour all over his pizza. I was like, that's literally insane.
King Monk:Yeah, always. Always save some of it for the cheesy crust. Cheese filled crust isthe bomb. But there's some absolutely amazing places out there. There's I don't know if you know, it's called Kuala lumpar. And it's absolutely amazing.
Meg:The second shout out for Kuala lumpar Cafe on this podcast. Our friend Milo said that.
King Monk:Yeah, they really do. go above and beyond and the food is absolutely delicious. But I love the noodles. And they have their tofu noodles. So I have those. I'm just thinking what the dish is called... And they only do it on a weekend. So they don't do it all the way through the week. But they promising me they will eventually. Yeah, but just say tofu noodles.
Sara:Lee says. Ah yeah Lee, I know Lee.
King Monk:If you say Monk they'll know me even more.
Sara:Yeah, yeah. Fair enough.
Meg:Marek what's yours?
Marek:Well, you know, I can kind of link it to hiphop. It's well, my favourite place was a place called godfathers. I know, there's loads of different like independent places that they call themselves godfathers. But they used to do like the meanest absolutely meanest pizza. And I think because I can tie this to hip hop is when I was growing up, like, probably the last big thing I was into, I think as a kid was Ninja Turtles. I was like, I was obsessed. Like literally obsessed.
Sara:Which one?
Marek:I think I had a bit of an obsession with swords. So Leonardo was my favourite. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think that's very healthy. But yeah, he was he was always the cool one for me. And as a kid in the car, too, when they picked up the pizza, they'd always be like a little bit of cheese and something falling off. Godfathers gets that down to an absolute tee. So when you pick the slice, there's enough flop on the bread, that it just kinda and every time I like, I don't live near that one anymore. So I've got to go there. But when I would pick it up, I'd be like, Yeah, that's the dealbreaker.
Sara:So you're like, now you go into a takeaway and you lift the box and you take the first slice out and you're like no what is this trash..
King Monk:But you guys out in Manchester, you've got Hip Hop chip shop. Yeah. We wanted to get Hip Hop chip shop to come and set up outside one year. And I think there was an issue. Why? Because you guys gave permission for them to come. But they didn't. And they couldn't. There was something happened and they weren't able to come but it would have been absolutely awesome. It's like a chip shop mobile chip shop type thing. I think it looks like a boombox or something.
Meg:Can we get them to come for the exhibition?
Marek:I mean, I mean, unlike Lee I don't know everybody that lives near me.
Sara:Apparently Lee knows everyone that lives near you as well.
Marek:I was gonna say was even not necessarily a fan myself. But when I was a kid, like vanilla ice all over the show, like,
Sara:Oh my god, can we just get pun foods?
Marek:Yeah, honestly. Well, that was that was the thing for me. So when, like, whenever I had a pizza as a kid, it was never it never had the texture that I wanted it to. So now sometimes when well at least..
Sara:Because you were basing it on a cartoon Marek.
Marek:Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so pick up the piece. It's flying off and all I can hear is Vanilla Ice.
King Monk:Slice slice baby.
Meg:Well, thank you so much Lee for coming in. And thank you both of you for coming on and talking to us. I feel like that was like maybe our coolest episode ever.
King Monk:I'm gonna eat this caramel.
Meg:Are we putting a tunnocks in the exhibition guys? Is that what's going on? Yeah.
Marek:We're going to accession Lee's empty packet.
Meg:Right we didn't record what just happened then basically, we just spent how long was that? 25 minutes just talking about food. Yeah, and like swordfish and Lee being on come dine with me.
Sara:Or a version of we can't we don't know what it is because it was on video.
Meg:And he ordered something in a restaurant. We'll find out.
Sara:We're going to find it.
Meg:Gutted that I wasn't recording that.
Sara:Yeah. And vegan places to go in Leeds.
Meg:JJ's Vish and Chips. Kirkstall Road You heard it here first. Well you didn't hear it here, that's the whole point. Also, go on sorry. What was your best learn?
Sara:Oh, I was really excited for this episode because I don't know anything about hip hop and and now I think I do but I also...
Meg:Akala! Knows Akala.
Sara:Yeah cool very cool I actually like my best learn is probably yet to come because I'm just really looking forward to how this exhibition and yeah so I think my my my biggest learn is not yet. But there's just so many so many fascinating things I mean like he's just got such a wealth of knowledge it's incredible how about you what's your best learn?
Meg:I liked when he was talking about Romano.
Sara:Yeah that was wicked.
Meg:I didn't know about that story that's a really cool story and I hope they really do get him and and like get his story out there somehow. I also am not sure if I was recording at the time that he said this. But did you hear him when he was like wow, those are cool carhartt dungarees.
King Monk:*twinkly music* Loving the Carhartt dungarees by the way. Cool where did you get those from?
Meg:Depop.
Sara:I love that you've brought this back around to you though. And what you were wearing today.
Meg:Course I have, I'm Meg. I think that was a good kickstart to series 4 though to be fair.
Sara:Yeah. Excellent. Well done.
Meg:Okay, so thanks. For listening firstly.
Sara:Yep. Thanks to you.
Meg:Thanks to Timmy Bentley for doing our theme tune. Banger
Sara:And a big thanks to Al Finney for doing our delicious cover artwork. We didn't give him a badge.
Meg:Oh, *beep*.
Sara:I'll sort it out. I'm kind of embarrassed.
Meg:Also, I'm going to Al Finney's house tonight. For a wee dram. He's actually not Scottish. And we said this at the beginning. But if you're listening, and you're a listener, and you like what we do, please, will you be really lovely and leave us a review? Or just a rating on on Apple? That'd be really helpful and helps us keep kind of proving that this has a point to it? Yeah, that'd be wonderful. And if you do leave a review, then Sara has got lots of badges. And we'll give you we'll send you a badge free of charge. In her majesty's post.
Sara:On the back of that. Oh, yeah what else do we do. Transcripts. We'll chuck them all on the website. And any relevant links or shout outs? There's a lot in that episode. So I might not we might not capture..
Meg:I'm gonna have to work out what all those names were. Also they didn't do an actual takeaway then. But I thought the whole thing was a good takeaway.
Sara:Yeah, they did have a lovely bit where they chatted about how best pals they are, though. And that was that was really good.
Meg:That was my takeaway. Friendship.
Sara:Friendship and kindness.
Meg:Follow us on social media, if you want to, I'm @MuseumMeg, you're @SaraLMerritt and we're@LeedsMuseums. Who's coming up next time?
Sara:We have Catherine Robbins, who is one of our project curators, and she's going to be chatting all about the fact that we as Leeds museums, galleries are 200 years old, and there's a little exhibition on about it.
Meg:Literally 200 literal years.
Sara:So yeah, tune in for ep two. We'll see you there.
Meg:Have a good time. Bye.
