MIC/LINE (formerly named Sound Check) is HYPEBEAST Radio‘s music-centric show that looks to deliver in-depth conversations with your favorite artists, digging into their origin stories and asking the questions you want answered. On our 10th and final episode of season one, we sat down with Tidal’s Elliott Wilson.

Wilson is one of music journalism’s most accomplished editors. The 20-year plus veteran has penned for some of the best magazines — both pass (Ego Trip, Beat Down) and present (GQ, Vibe, Rolling Stone) — and was EIC for XXL Mag and Respect Mag. He now has the title of Director of Culture & Content at Tidal as well as the lead for creating the streaming platform’s flagship playlist, “Thoro Hip-Hop.” When discussing about the new generation of music journalists today, Willson points out the one issue he finds with them.

“To paraphrase, and correct me if I’m wrong, Oprah was being interviewed for something and she said, the biggest thing she gets frustrated with the younger generation…this idea that you get out of college and all of a sudden you’re a brand or you’re going to be able to be a brand,” he says.

For episode 10, Elliott Wilson walks us through the process of making Tidal’s Thoro Hip-Hop playlist, the state of music and music journalism, his career path from Ego Trip to Tidal, interviewing JAY-Z, and so much more.

You can check out Tidal’s Thoro Hip-Hop playlist right now on the streaming platform.

Keep up with everything HYPEBEAST Radio and subscribe to MIC/LINE on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast or wherever else you enjoy your podcasts. Feel free to reach out to our host, Manny, on Twitter at @ECM_LP and follow HYPEBEAST Music for more original content and music news.