Shawn Setaro is a writer, reporter and podcaster who has conducted interviews with and covered stories about some of the most notable figures in music and specifically hip hop. His work includes writing and reporting for Complex Media podcast series about pivotal hip hop artists such as Complex Subject: Pop Smoke, Infamous: The Story of YNW Melly and Infamous: The Tekashi 6ix9ine Story.

Shawn’s reporting and writing over the years is the work of someone who has spent significant time following the evolution of music and simultaneously, by proxy, internet culture and how it has helped drive the careers of new music artists, genres and sounds.

But before working in the writing and podcasting space, Shawn was a musician who found a gateway into reporting while pursuing his interest in music culture.

In this episode Shawn discusses his approach to pivoting into the writing, reporting and podcasting space. We also discuss his approach to podcasting and music journalism, interviewing subjects and finding the story when creating longform podcasts.

He then explains the tools that he has picked up over the years in music journalism, as Editor-in-Chief of Rap Genius (now Genius), and while creating and hosting the pivotal podcast, The Cipher, that enable him to write for and produce podcasts. We also delve into the collaboration process when working on narrative podcast series.

Twitter: @SameOldShawn