Reel Notes w/ CineMasai

Reel Notes is a space for conversations about the relationship between rap and film with rappers, producers, journalists, directors, and more. Intro track via JWords (follow her @_jwords on Instagram & Twitter) Logo & art direction via Big Flowers (Instagram/Twitter: @bigflowersguy)

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Episodes

Thursday Jan 01, 2026

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest for the season five finale is D.C. rapper and model El Cousteau. We spoke about The Godfather series, The Sopranos, The Wood, The Best Man, putting on for Black cinema, coming up in the D.C. rap scene, his modeling career, his connections to A$AP Rocky and MIKE and his 10k Global label, solidifying his sound, and the creative process behind his last two projects—Merci, Non Merci and this past summer’s Dirty Harry 2. Thank y’all so much for a fantastic season 5, now for the last time this year, come fuck with us.Dirty Harry 2 is available now wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Follow Cousteau on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @elcousteau Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system. My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all social platforms.   Support the show

Tuesday Dec 30, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guests this week are Baltimore rapper, producer, and podcaster Height Keech and New York rapper-producer Nosaj of New Kingdom, who together are known as Wave Generators. We spoke about One Battle After Another, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, various observations about the surveillance state, the mechanics and economics of indie rap, a brief retrospective on their early careers, how Wave Generators has introduced them to new audiences, and the creative process behind their latest album Run Away With A Wild And A Rare One. Come fuck with us.Run Away With A Wild And A Rare One is available now wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from their Bandcamp page. Follow Wave Generators on Instagram and Twitter: @wavegenerators. Follow Height on Instagram (@height_keech) and Twitter (@HeightKeech). Follow Nosaj on Instagram: @jasonfurlow23   My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all social platforms.   Support the show

Wednesday Dec 24, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is New York journalist and author, Thomas Golianopoulos. We spoke about watching movies on cable, the virtues of the movie theater experience, a handful of moments from his career as a journalist for outlets like Complex, Pitchfork, and Grantland, all things John Singleton—from his films to his personal life and as much as we could fit into this conversation—and the creative process behind Golianopoulos’s debut book, The Life of Singleton: From Boyz N The Hood to Snowfall, out now via AndScape Books and Penguin House Publishing. Come fuck with us.My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.    Support the show

Merkeba | S5 Episode 45

Wednesday Dec 17, 2025

Wednesday Dec 17, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is Brooklyn-via-Jersey City rapper-producer Merkeba. We spoke about Hard Boiled and the works of John Woo, the art of making food, Elmo in Grouchland, growing up between JC and Atlanta, how his love for spoken word poetry and film led him to rap, performing pain in music, and the creative process behind his debut EP Mandolin and his debut album a Metal Snake. Come fuck with us. Mandolin and a Metal Snake are available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping both off of Merkeba's Bandcamp. Follow Merkeba on Instagram (@merkeba_) and Twitter (@merkeba201)  My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.    Support the show

Salimata | S5 Episode 44

Wednesday Dec 10, 2025

Wednesday Dec 10, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is New York rapper Salimata. We spoke about Frankenstein, the Puppet Master movies, The Departed, why she prefers movies that have bad or sad endings to happy endings, how she’s come to appreciate French film since she’s moved to France, starting rapping in the Tumblr era, linking with MIKE and 10k, refining her style, and the creative process behind her latest album The Happening, out now on 10k Global. Come fuck with us.The Happening is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from Salimata's Bandcamp. Follow Salimata on Instagram (@eet_it_off_me) and Twitter (@eat_it_offme).My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.    Support the show

Heno. | S5 Episode 43

Wednesday Nov 26, 2025

Wednesday Nov 26, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is Maryland rapper Heno. We spoke about Monk, Bored to Death, and several other detective shows, Sinners, the MCU, growing up in an Ethiopian-Eritrean household in the DMV, rap keeping him out of trouble, being a nomad, touring Europe this past spring with Oddisee, building his connection with Oddisee and producer Mad Keys, and the creative process behind his latest projects Healing Out Loud, produced entirely by Mad Keys, and the upcoming Now That’s What I Call Heno!, Vol. 1. Come fuck with us.Healing Out Loud is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from Mad Keys's Bandcamp page. Now That's What I Call Heno! Vol. 1 will be available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen soon. Follow Heno. on Instagram and Twitter (@mynameisheno) and TikTok (@henoismyname). Follow Mad Keys on Twitter (@madkeys__), Instagram and TikTok (@madkeys_).My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.   Support the show

Rap Man Gavin | S5 Episode 42

Wednesday Nov 19, 2025

Wednesday Nov 19, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is South African rapper Rap Man Gavin. We spoke about Perfect Blue, The French Dispatch, Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, The Blair Witch Project, how Lil Wayne and Wiz Khalifa helped him fall in love with rap, finding his voice in South Africa, making a mark in the American indie rap scene, and the creative process behind his latest album Scrolling Through The Doom, produced entirely by LU! Come fuck with us.Scrolling Through The Doom is available now wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from Gavin's Bandcamp page. Follow Gavin on Instagram and Twitter: @gaaavie My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.Support the show

Shad | S5 Episode 41

Wednesday Nov 12, 2025

Wednesday Nov 12, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guest this week is Canadian rapper and host of Hip-Hop Evolution, Shad. We spoke about Highest 2 Lowest and the works of Spike Lee, An American Tale, Welcome to The Dollhouse and the works of Todd Solondz, his work on Hip-Hop Evolution, the 20th anniversary of his debut album When This Is Over, balancing having a message with having fun, the overarching narrative of his last three albums, A Short Story About a War, TAO, and the creative process behind the third, and his latest, album, Start Anew. Come fuck with us.Start Anew is available now wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping it directly from Shad's Bandcamp. Follow Shad on Instagram and Twitter: @shadkmusicMy first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms.Support the show

Wednesday Nov 05, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guests this week are New York-via-DC rapper billy woods and Queens rapper-producer E L U C I D, otherwise known as Armand Hammer. In their Take Two episode, we spoke about One Battle After Another, the relationship between Hollywood and the state, the Zambian dark comedy On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, the Anthony Hopkins-starring Magic, their recent LA release show, and the creative process behind their latest album Mercy. Come fuck with us. Mercy will be available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen on Friday, November 7. Pre-order the album via Bandcamp or the Backwoodz Studioz website now. Follow Armand Hammer on Instagram and Twitter: @ArmandHammerNYC. Follow E L U C I D on Instagram (@cobratoof) and Twitter (@elucidwho). Follow woods on Instagram (@backwoodzstudioz) and Twitter (@BackwoodzHipHop).Read my profile of Backwoodz, How billy woods's Backwoodz Studioz Became New York's Best Underground Rap Label, via Pitchfork.My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Support the show

Wednesday Oct 29, 2025

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. Each episode is also available to buy individually for $5 (BUY IT THROUGH A WEB BROWSER OR THE PATREON ANDROID APP, NOT VIA THE PATREON iOS APP. YOU'LL GET CHARGED EXTRA MONEY AND IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO PROCESS.) You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk movie night archives, and more!My guests this week are New Orelans-via-Philadelphia producer Wino Willy and Philadelphia rapper FOHDH Matthew. We spoke about One Battle After Another, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Power Rangers, Bad Boys, Belly, their respective paths through hip-hop and Philly, mixing the fly with the thoughtful and Black liberation theology, working with Backwoodz, and the creative process behind their collaborative album Matthew Gets Sick Of Cheap Wine and Prefers Gruaud-Larose 1945. Come fuck with us.Matthew Gets Sick Of Cheap Wine and Prefers Gruaud-Larose 1945 is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping it directly via the Grilchy Party Bandcamp. Follow Wino Willy on Instagram (@winowilly), Twitter (@winowilly_), and TikTok (@winovision). Follow Matthew on Instagram: @fohdhmatthew. My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.Reel Notes stands in solidarity with American immigrants against ICE and the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund,  The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Protest, fight back, and fuck the system.Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped in to all things Dylan Green.  Follow Hearing Things at hearingthings.co or @hearingthingsco on all platforms. Support the show

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