Slow Burn: Biggie and Tupac

Season 3: Bonus Episode 4
Content Locked for Slate Plus members

Interviewing C. Delores Tucker

Journalist Kierna Mayo talks about being a woman covering the early days of hip-hop.

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Episode Notes

In this bonus episode, host Joel Anderson and producer Christopher Johnson discuss the definition of “gangsta rap” and how the genre infiltrated the mainstream. Then you’ll hear an extended interview with Kierna Mayo, one of the first staff writers at the Source. She talks about interviewing C. Delores Tucker and about being a woman covering the early days of hip-hop.

Production by Chau Tu.

About the Show

In its first two seasons, Slow Burn looked back at two of the biggest stories of the late 20th century—the Watergate scandal and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Season three tackles another: the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. The story takes place at a moment when hip-hop was taking over pop culture, and a former theater kid from the Bay Area and a one-time crack dealer from Brooklyn were changing the music forever. They went from friends to enemies. And they ended up victims of a deadly rivalry between two rap scenes.  

How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved?

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Hosts

  • Chau Tu is a former editor of Slate Plus.

  • Joel Anderson is a staff writer at Slate and the host of Seasons 3 and 6 of Slow Burn. Previously, he worked as a reporter on sports, culture, and politics for ESPN and BuzzFeed News.

  • Christopher Johnson is the producer of Slow Burn.