Dissect

We live in a world creating and consuming more content than ever before. Every minute of every day, the world generates nearly three million Facebook posts, tweets and Instagram photos, and over two hundred million e-mails. There’s a 24-hour news cycle, infinite blog posts, and an entire history of music that you can now stream instantly from your phone. We’ve quickly become a scrolling culture, hurriedly swiping through an infinite swath of content that seems to replenish without end. Dissect was created to counter this cultural shift. After too often feeling exhausted and unfulfilled from binging my daily digital diet, I wanted to create a platform that forced me to think critically, not passively. I wanted to spend hours with one thing, not a few minutes with a zillion things. And I wanted to reward artists who, in the face of our new consumption habits, continue to craft their work with care, complexity and depth.

We’re about halfway through Season 1 of Dissect, and I’m taking some time to catch up on research, and to spend a little time with my family, so there’s no new episode today. But I do want to take this opportunity to quickly address a few things. First and foremost, I want to thank all of you who’ve been listening to Dissect. I honestly didn’t expect much of an audience for this little podcast, and I wholeheartedly appreciate all the support, the outreach on social media, and the kind reviews left on iTunes. Seriously, thank you.

Kendrick, I’ma let you finish, but I just saw one of the strangest concerts of all time. We’re interrupting our regularly scheduled episode of Dissect for a special piece about my experience at the now infamous Kanye West show in my hometown Sacramento, California. This episode was adapted from a print piece I wrote called “What We Missed at the Kanye West Sacramento Exper… It’s a piece about empathy, disguised as a piece about Kanye West. I hope you enjoy. We’ll be back next week to continue our season long examination of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly.

We’re nearing the end of Dissect Season 1, and I need your help for the final episode of the season. Through e-mail, I’ve had the pleasure of conversing with some of you about To Pimp a Butterfly, music, or the podcast itself. I love hearing different points of view, and since you’ve heard my perspective for so long throughout this season, for the finale episode, I’d love to include yours. If you’d like to be featured on the final episode, use the voice memo app on your iPhone or Voice Recorder on Android, and record around 30 seconds or so explaining your biggest takeaway from To Pimp a Butterfly and Season 1. How it’s influenced you, or what you love about it thematically or musically. Tap the share icon and e-mail your clip to dissectpodcast@gmail.com.

We’re very excited to announce that Dissect Season 2 will premiere on Tuesday, August 1st! You’re probably thinking, “Ok, great, August 1st. But what’s the subject of Season 2?” Well, after much deliberation, I decided that the subject of Season 2 is…. Yeah, sorry, you’re gonna have to wait for the premiere for that. But if you’re the type of person that doesn’t like surprises, there’s a way you can find out the subject of Season 2 right now. More on that in Announcement #3.

Today, I have two exciting announcements about the future of Dissect. First, I’m extremely excited to announce that Dissect has joined the Spotify family and will now be produced as a Spotify Original Podcast. Second, Season 3 of Dissect will be premiering Tuesday, May 15th on Spotify.

In celebration of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’s 20th year anniversary, Dissect will be honoring this historic album with a special mini-series coming this Fall to Spotify.

Today, we dissect another serialized podcast we love: Mogul, a show about the stories behind hip hop's most iconic moments. Mogul's host, Brandon Jenkins, joins Cole to discuss the show's highlights and walks us through Mogul's production process. Stream Mogul now on Spotify, or wherever you listen.

In this special BONUS episode, Cole talks to Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop) about Tyler, The Creator's IGOR and where the album fits into Tyler's legacy. Then co-host of Watching The Throne Chris Lambert joins Cole for a song by song dissection of IGOR's narrative and the meaning behind the album's title.

Cole and Femi discuss Kanye West's new album Jesus Is King, including a song-by-song thematic analysis.

8 minutes and 46 seconds. The amount of time Officer Derek Chauvin's knee was pressed into George Floyd's neck. We encourage our listeners to use this time of silence to remember the Black lives lost to police brutality, reflect on the Black lives affected every day by systemic injustice and discrimination, and how we can individually and collectively fill this silence with sustained action. Visit blacklivesmatters.carrd.co to get started.

Cole sits down with Femi Olutade and Chris Lambert to share first impressions to Kanye West's Donda. They talk about the album's prolonged rollout, its many features, some early themes and symbols, share their favorite tracks, and more. Recorded live from Spotify Greenroom.

Cole is joined by co-writer Camden Ostrander to discuss their favorite music of 2021. Then Charles Holmes from the The Ringer Music Show joins to do the same.

After Cole reveals the subject of the upcoming mini-series of Dissect, comedian Hasan Minhaj joins the show to talk about the arts of music and comedy, tells us why his favorite album of all time is Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and dissects his new special The King's Jester.

Cole sits down with Femi Olutade (Dissect S5 co-writer) and Charles Holmes (The Ringer Music Show) to discuss their first impressions of Kendrick Lamar's new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Premiering this Thursday on the Dissect feed, LAST SONG STANDING is a new show from Cole Cuchna (Dissect) & Charles Holmes (The Ringer) where they attempt to determine your favorite artist's greatest song of all time. First up: KENDRICK LAMAR. Over 7 episodes, Cole and Charles will debate their way through Kendrick's ENTIRE catalog in order to crown the last song standing: Kendrick's best song of all time.

Dissect returns with a new season on Tuesday, October 18th, right here on Spotify. Then comedian Hasan Minhaj returns to the show to dissect his new special The King's Jester, available now on Netflix. Cole and Hasan talk meaningfully about its themes of family, fame, and freedom of speech. Hasan also reveals his process converting the live show to a taped special, discusses the theme music by Ludwig Göransson, and the inspiration behind the set, lighting, and even his outfit, designed by Fear of God's Jerry Lorenzo.