After decades in the entertainment industry, Angie Martinez says she wants “to do things that I’m truly passionate about … things that I want to leave on the table.” One of those projects is Iconic Records, a visual podcast series highlighting some of pop’s culture most iconic music albums.
The podcast’s debut season dives into Life After Death, The Notorious B.I.G.’s final studio album, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Martinez tells Billboard the process was exciting because “some of the people we talked to weren’t the traditional people we see or hear from and who had different types of viewpoints on him.”
She interviewed 25 people over five days, with the interviews overlapping.
“Somebody would be walking out, somebody would be walking in and it would create this storytelling energy, even off camera,” Martinez says. “It was this community of people reminiscing about B.I.G. and the album, personal stories that I’d never heard before.”
Among the people she talked to were DJ Clark Kent, Lil Cease, Fat Joe, Pusha T, Rick Ross and Too $hort.
Iconic Records marks another podcast for Martinez, who also hosts In Real Life. She says she started IRL because she’s “had a lot of real-life lessons: success, trauma, heartbreak, disappointment” and just “felt compelled that this was something that I had to offer.”
IRL celebrates its first anniversary in August. It’s featured Lauren London, Mary. J Blige, Teyana Taylor and more.
Iconic Records will premiere April 29 on the WMX Hip-Hop channel on The Roku Channel at 8 p.m. ET.
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