Soundscapes of Chester, PA Pt. 2: 'My City Need Something'

In Part 2 of Soundscapes of Chester, Jay Ray stays with Christopher R. Rogers, Ph.D., to talk about My City Need Something: Portraits and Prose for Black Existence , the book he made with photographer Karim brown.

Rogers explains how a letter to PnB Rock, written the week the Philadelphia rapper was killed in 2022, grew into a "shadow project" beside his University of Pennsylvania dissertation, and how he "sampled" brown's photographs the way a producer samples a record. The two talk about hip hop's place in the academy, the Southern roots that still shape Black life in Chester, and why a DJ's real test is keeping people moving.

Listen to Part 1: The Breakdown A Letter to PnB Rock and Writing Home Sampling Karim brown: A Book Built Like an LP Chester, Philadelphia and the Southern Cousin Who Didn't Change Sound Systems, Book Lists and a Black Studies Syllabus Chapters 00:00 Intro Theme, Welcome, and A Love Letter to Chester & Philadelphia 00:58 Genesis: Writing Home Beyond the Academy 05:23 Fear, Permission & Honoring PnB Rock 10:05 Bringing Hip Hop & Contemporary Artists into the Academy 13:38 Karim brown's Photography & Sampling Images 17:42 Quotes as Interludes & Album Culture 19:36 Chester & Philadelphia: Two Connected Cities 21:43 Southern Roots & Black Culture in Chester 26:56 Unlimited Blackness & Seeing Home Anew 29:14 Sound Systems, Vibration & the DJ's Test 32:16 A Black Studies Syllabus & Book Lists 36:43 What Chester Can Discover About Itself 39:59 Closing Thanks & Where to Find Chris 42:15 Outro Theme Get My City Need Something (Common Notions): Listen to Engineered Grace Vol. 1: Follow Christopher R. Rogers, Ph.D.: #QueuePoints #ChesterPA #MyCityNeedSomething #PnBRock #BlackMusicHistory