Breaking Genres (2015)

Genres have existed nearly as long as music itself. Labeling. Categorizing. These are deeply human activities, rooted in behavioral evolution and survival, so it is no surprise that people have been instinctually compelled to do it to what they hear. There have been benefits: Labeling music has made it easier to talk about, and to sell. But dividing music has also divided people. And while it may be human nature to categorize, it is also human nature to combine, to merge, to collaborate, and adulterate. The times are changing: We exist in a moment where it's no longer incumbent upon you to choose a genre, to pick a side, to belong to just one culture. You are free to be you and to traverse lines that are blurred and borders that are broken, thanks to some radical ideas, and actors, who have changed the game. The only gatekeeper to you enjoying a style of music, is you. And REVOLT TV exists to reflect that vision, and feed that appetite.

Since the launch of our network, we have spoken with artists of all walks about the past, present, and future of genres: Why they exist, who they have served, and where they're headed. And beginning this coming Monday, we are proud to bring this long-gestating project to you. On November 16th, REVOLT TV premieres a new series titled Breaking Genres. Over the course of five episodes this fall, we frame, foment, and stoke a conversation on the state of genre-based thinking in music, incorporating exclusive interviews with pioneers of the movements like Rick Rubin, Chuck D, Erykah Badu, Travis Barker, Nas, Common, The Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonen, super producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Diplo, Amber Coffman, Animal Collective's Avey Tare, and so many more, as we tackle the pivotal cultural moments, the social figures, and the technological and socio-political movements that have altered the course of what was once a stifled and strict space of aesthetic restriction, but is now a landscape where the old rules have been shattered, and new rules rule.