The original Stretch & Bobbito show broke some of rap’s more iconic groups including: Nas, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang Clan to name a few. For a full history, the Radio That Changed Lives [2015] documentary is still available on Netflix. Watch it if you haven’t already.
The show will also be forever connected with skateboarding through the soundtrack and b-roll footage in Zoo York’s Mixtape [1998], which we touched on in RB Umali’s Mission Statement episode.
Stretch Armstrong is the guest on the latest episode of the Premium Pete podcast. He talks about the golden era in the ‘90s, his NPR podcast with Bobbito, and everything in between.
At the 44:52 mark, Stretch breaks down the formula that made the original Stretch & Bob show so iconic.
We hit the ground running. We had great guests from day one. But that was largely because Bob [Bobbito Garcia] was in the industry, and I was in nightclubs. Early on we would do interviews with people. Within a few weeks we realized interviewing rappers is just so boring. Back then, the best thing a rapper would do is rap. [They would] not give great interviews. Nowadays, people are smarter, and more media savvy… So we quickly threw away the whole interview blueprint.
We were also trying to differentiate our show from other shows. If someone was going to give us their time, and stay up from 1:00 to 5:00 in the morning; we needed to give them a unique experience. And interviewing a rapper was just not going to cut it.
It was getting them to give a performance that was unique, exciting, and [would] keep the listeners awake. And let them walk to school or go to work the next day with a recording of something that didn’t happen anywhere else.
Watch the full interview above. And for a sonic trip down memory lane, revisit the Mixtape soundtrack sans skate sounds below.