Dylan Brogan
Boss Lady hosts Universal Soul Explosion, which launched in the 1970s and was the first show to broadcast hip-hop in Madison.
It’s half past midnight at WORT 89.9 FM. The lights are low in the studio and a song by UW-Madison student Lucien Parker is on the air. It’s technically Sunday morning but Saturday night is just getting started on one of the longest-running shows on the community radio station: Universal Soul Explosion.
At the moment, the phone lines are blowing up. Brother Eugene is placing caller after caller in the queue. Boss Lady is at the control board preparing to come out of the show’s first music set.
“Eighty nine-nine, you’re live. Shout it out,” says Boss Lady, the DJ moniker of Rebecca Barber, who has been the main host of the show since 2011.
“This is for my man Birdie in CCI (Columbia Correctional Institution),” says the caller, a young woman. “I love and miss you. I can’t wait to see you. I love you to the moon and back. Hugs and kisses, baby.”
Launched in the 1970s, Universal Soul Explosion was the first show to broadcast hip-hop music in Madison and it continues to be a platform for underground MCs. But it’s more than just a radio show. For decades, it’s served as a lifeline between the incarcerated and their loved ones on the outside.
The show receives dozens, sometimes hundreds, of calls during its weekly, three-hour slot. Most callers want to request a song or send a message to someone behind bars. Universal Soul Explosion has loyal listeners at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution in Juneau County, the maximum security penitentiary in Waupun, the Fox Lake Correctional Institute in Dodge County, the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, and the Dane County jail in downtown Madison.
Inmates can’t call into the show when it’s live, but they can listen. Boss Lady receives piles of mail from these facilities and regularly reads shoutouts from inmates to their family, friends and significant others. The volume of song requests she receives each week can be overwhelming. But she keeps careful notes to make sure each dedication makes it on to the air.
Tonight calls are pouring in from Beloit, Milwaukee, Madison, Janesville, even Houston.
“Eight-nine nine, you’re live. Shout it out,” Boss Lady says into the mic.
“I’m calling to give a shoutout to all the brothers that remain locked up behind those bars. Especially to my big brother Wazire. I feel your pain,” says one caller. “To all the lifers, the Muslim brothers. Salam Alaikum. We haven’t forgotten about all of you.”
Hip-hop is the glue that holds Universal Soul Explosion together. Nearly every week, local hip-hop artists (and sometimes out-of-town acts) stop by the studio to play their tape and talk about their music. It’s a rare commodity on the radio dial. The show falls outside of the broadcast safe harbor hours so it’s one of the few terrestrial stations in the country to play uncensored music as well as emerging local talent. Occasionally, the show gets a complaint about offensive lyrics. Brother Eugene, who admits he leaves the music selection largely to Boss Lady, says it’s bigger than just words on a page.
“I don’t swear. I don’t rap. But I know one thing: expression is everything,” says Brother Eugene. “When you’re already going through oppression, expression is one of the only outlets you have. How can you take that away from someone? Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable.”
Even after seven years, Boss Lady says she’s awed by the gratitude and appreciation she receives for facilitating “one of the few things families and those locked up can look forward to each week.” She compares it to seeing the same star in the sky.
“Even if they are hundreds of miles away from each other, they are still doing the same thing at the same time. Imagine your mate is laying in their bunk listening to the radio in their cell and you’re at home, in your bed, listening to radio. It’s a way to spend time together even though you’re not together,” says Boss Lady. “It’s almost like you’re doing it together. Then when they connect on the phone, they also have something to talk about. Something to share even though society makes it’s so hard to stay connected.”
Local hip-hop artists recently featured on Universal Soul Explosion:
Tas Raww
Bang
JFK
Jasiri X
Sed the Jerk
Yolo
Kilo aka Skitlz
Jae Stone
Former DJs of Universal Soul Explosion:
Ann B
G-Man
Joe Jamm
Dr. Chill
Dimitri D.’Lirious
DJ Juice
