House Of The Dragon

King Viserys Targaryen. Lady Alicent Hightower. Lord Corlys Velaryon. Just seeing those names written down will have fans of fire, ice, dragons and lead characters being brutally offed at any given moment, saying a whispered ‘thank you’ to the old streaming gods and the new. The Game Of Thrones prequel has a cast to die for featuring Rhys Ifans, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Paddy Considine. This story may take place approximately 200 years before Ned Stark’s false confession led to a million jaws being dropped, but foreshadowing may well be one of the great pleasures in House Of The Dragon. (Brian Donaldson) n Starts on Sky Atlantic on Sunday 21 August.

STAYING IN

PODCASTS

RHYMES LIKE DIMES

Brimming with passion, knowledge and an appetite for healthy debate, the three hosts of a vital hip-hop podcast are a bundle of energy. Sean Greenhorn finds something that they can all agree on

‘Sometimes, one of us wants to go on an almighty rant and that is where the energy is,’ Yemi Abiade explains, as his brother Peter plus Mohammed Yusuf immediately jump in to decide which of the three hosts likes to spout off the most. This infectious camaraderie sets Rhymes Like Dimes apart from many other music podcasts; not only do they all know their stuff about the entire genre of hip hop, but there’s no apparent fear about tearing off on a tangent when the moment calls for it.

The podcast broadly selects two or three topics for its biweekly episodes, but the free-wheeling, vibrant nature of their conversations is where the magic lies. Their journey to put the podcast together was not a short one, and despite each episode’s laidback and fluid nature, a lot of preparation goes into deciding how it should look and sound.

When Yusuf and Yemi were training to become radio DJs, all three immediately connected over their love (and disagreements) about hip hop. However, it took several years of chat before they finally decided to record anything. Initially looking at a general podcast about music, the trio decided that narrowing it down to hip hop would not only

(From left) Peter Abiade, Yemi Abiade, Mohammed Yusuf

provide focus, but also form a perfect space where each of them could share equal knowledge and passion. They spent around nine months practising the format before releasing their first episode in 2019. All three cite Joe Budden’s podcast as a major influence, with a desire to create a voice for a new generation of hip hop heads, this time coming from the UK.

‘It can be about whatever we want,’ insists Yemi. ‘We can wake up one day and want to tell younger people about how great Nas was in ‘94 or Das EFX in ‘92. Or someday we want to show someone like Jordy some love and shine the light on young UK artists.’ Since the pandemic, Rhymes Like Dimes has grown and the team now include visuals at their YouTube link, along with album reviews and special guests (one thing they do agree on is that Little Simz would be their dream guest). Throughout the interview, the hosts continually state their aim to be inclusive, and to platform new ideas and perspectives. As Yemi puts it: ‘it’s all inclusive, as is rap, and we see ourselves as an extension of that.’

n Episodes available at linktr.ee/rhymesdimespod

BINGE FEST

Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches H

inding a T programme that e ually satisfies the tastes of a young and less-young audience is perhaps easier now than it was when H orrible H istories (BBCiPlayer) started grossing out the viewing public. Tales of warts and witchcraft, and boils and beheadings might not have seemed like ideal family watching, but with a lot of wit and hefty dollops of wisdom, the same crew who went on to make the excellent G hosts helped kickstart a different type of telly e perience.

H ouse O f C ards ( etfli was also ground-breaking in its own way, being the first major drama produced in-house by the streaming behemoth. robably a difficult watch now given the Kevin pacey scandal, but for several seasons it was unmissable, taking an almost uaint C original and twisting it to meta levels of murderous badinage and power-grabbing fun. ( rian onaldson O ther H binges: H ank Zipzer (BBC iPlayer), H ere And N ow (N O W TV), H eroes (BBC iPlayer).

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