{"id":3561507,"uri":"https://api.kexp.org/v2/plays/3561507/?format=json","airdate":"2025-10-05T03:59:34-07:00","show":64750,"show_uri":"https://api.kexp.org/v2/shows/64750/?format=json","image_uri":"https://coverartarchive.org/release/c53be6c2-1a17-4a4a-97e3-d40f61630236/22927827729-500.jpg","thumbnail_uri":"https://coverartarchive.org/release/c53be6c2-1a17-4a4a-97e3-d40f61630236/22927827729-250.jpg","song":"Mathematics","track_id":null,"recording_id":"0107886a-bca8-4c21-9b25-44cb19ca416f","artist":"Mos Def","artist_ids":["f5c4c27e-5902-4fc0-adfb-7775da3d5363"],"album":"Black on Both Sides","release_id":null,"release_group_id":"d6658b47-463a-390e-9417-99c818aea004","labels":["Rawkus Records"],"label_ids":["21a9343c-4a03-4768-8186-569dc03f850c"],"release_date":"1999-10-12","rotation_status":null,"is_local":false,"is_request":false,"is_live":false,"comment":"This incredible song is produced by DJ Premier whose famous scratch samples make up the song's bridge. Premier has called it one of his favorite beats.\n--\n The lyrics of the samples that Premier used are::\n\n\"The Mighty Mos Def...\" (from Mos Def's \"Body Rock\"),\n\"It's simple mathematics\" (from Fat Joe's \"John Blaze\"),\n\"Check it out\" (The Lady of Rage's vocals from Snoop Dogg's \"For All My Niggaz & Bitches\"),\n\"I revolve around science...\" (Ghostface Killah's vocals from Raekwon's \"Criminology\"),\n\"What are we talking about here?\" (Art Seigner of Flying Dutchman Records interviewing Angela Davis),\n\"Do your math..\" (from Erykah Badu's \"On & On\"), and\n\"One, two, three, four\" (from James Brown's \"Funky Drummer\")\n--\nMuch of the \"mathematics\" here are insidious numbers and proportions that describe the effects of poverty, drugs and racism on urban Black communities (\"the white unemployment rate is nearly more than triple for Black\"). : https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/music/mos-def-mathematics/meaning","location":1,"location_name":"Default","play_type":"trackplay"}