Most Friday nights, two married guys head to a rented office space in Vernon, stretch out on couches and talk about guy stuff — music, pop culture, sports, women, politics, cars, weed, movies, and so on — for about two hours, before returning to their families and corporate jobs.
We know this because they record and edit those conversations into episodes of “Bakery the Show,” a podcast that’s fast approaching its 100th episode. It’s not just rambling conversation either; in three years, Bakery has become (arguably) the best place to hear long-form interviews with Connecticut hip-hop artists and producers.
Back in 2011, co-host John Meadows, 35, who goes by JBlac on the show, was laid up for several weeks with an injury, stumbled onto Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and got hooked. “I thought it was really good, right up my alley,” Meadows said. “It was about men stuff, what men do, psychedelic’s, fighting and so on. I could relate to it.” He texted friend Alan Deronsle — ADiggz on the show — and suggested they do a hip-hop version of the concept in Meadows’ Farmington basement.
After two years, they rented 800 square feet in Vernon and assembled a small, comfortable studio. Covering the Connecticut hip-hop scene, Meadows said, was an afterthought. “It was just more that we wanted to do something on Friday nights and just talk. Me and Alan: whenever we’d go out, we’d be in my car at 2 in the morning, and we’d just have these crazy conversations.”
Early episodes are like eavesdropping on a conversation; soon, they began interviewing rappers and musicians and landed a local sponsor. They’ve had actors, poets, local activists and comedians on the show. “We’re trying to give everyone an outlet,” Meadows said, “but the majority is hip-hop.”
Podcasts are back in a big way, if they ever disappeared at all. “Serial,” a non-fiction podcast that spun off from “This American Life,” is, by all metrics, a runaway success, although that can be hard to measure on a small scale. Bakery isn’t on iTunes, but it’s regularly among the top five hip-hop podcasts on Stitcher Radio. Episodes last between one and two hours, though most listeners only stick around for 20 minutes, which pleases Meadows. “It’s not radio,” he said. “This is going to last forever. When I got into Joe Rogan, I went back and listened to shows from previous years. These are going to live on. If some kid in Wisconsin discovers it now, he’s got 94 episodes to go through.”
Attracting Listeners And Artists
Recent Bakery guests include Tone Eyeful, Kayla & Skool, Jahan Nostra and Falonyouz — all artists on the rise. Most times, Meadows and Deronsle are meeting the artists for the first time when they arrive at the studio. “We’ll build these Twitter relationships, where if I saw you, I feel like I know you somewhat, but not really,” Meadows said. “So when they leave, they leave with a sense of, ‘Hey, we’re connected in a weird way.’ It speeds up the relationship.” Marijuana isn’t allowed in the studio, but weed culture permeates the show. “I like to think I’m involved in the weed culture somewhat, but it’s a weird situation because we both have good corporate jobs. We treat [weed] like the shark in the movie ‘Jaws’: you hardly ever see the shark, but you feel it. It’s always there, but you never see it.”
At first, Meadows’ cousin, a Bridgeport rapper, hooked them up with guests, but “once the word got out, people reached out to us,” Meadows said. At first, he found himself having to explain the concept to his friends. “Half of them were saying, ‘Why are you doing this?’ I wouldn’t have an answer, because there was no reason. I just wanted to be involved in hip-hop, and I’m too old to be a rapper. I didn’t want to do a clothing line. It seems like those are the only two ways you can stay involved in hip-hop: either you rap or you have a clothing line. I wanted to stay involved in the culture, but to do it differently, and this is the way. Nobody does what we do.”
Bakery allows Meadows and Deronsle to cover Connecticut hip-hop with a depth that’s not reached by many other media outlets. “Hip-hop in Connecticut in really strong,” Meadows said. “There are artists like Dom McLennon, who’s a great artist, Klokwize, who’s been nominated for a ton of awards, Joey Batts. These guys are great artists, but nobody hears them. My platform is not big enough to help them out, but it at least gives them a place to talk and speak their minds.”
Videographer Chris Hosein, who goes by Supa D, is a third partner in the BWE Entertainment Network — the show’s host — along with Meadows and Deronsle; two other individuals assist behind the scenes. Bakery is one of two shows on BWE (the other is a sports show), which Meadows insists isn’t meant to be a money-making operation.
“I always tell everyone on the team, ‘This is not about the money,'” Meadows said. “The type of people we’re dealing with: $25 can ruin a relationship. If you tell everyone from the beginning that this is about the love of doing it, about really wanting to be here… If we start bringing money into the situation, it’s going to be funny. The rent we pay for this office: we pay out of pocket. We’re really doing this for the true love of what we do and the artists.”
“You ever hear the old rock bands in New York City who went to CBGB’s, and they always talk about it now?” Meadows continued. “I want it to be, like, we’re CBGB’s. Maybe one of these kids blows up a few years from now, and they’re like, ‘You remember that one radio station where we all got our start?’ That type of thing. I wanted it to be a cornerstone. I’m not in it for the money. That’s definitely not my drive.”
Hear episodes of Bakery the Show at bwenetwork.net and Stitcher Radio (stitcher.com).
