What is a movie without a great soundtrack? The music can make a terrible movie tolerable, it can take a scene to a whole new level and when the soundtrack eats just as hard as the movie??? MAGIC. This week, we're discussing the best Black movie soundtracks of all time with writer and former music journalist, Marisa Mendez. Read her full bio below. WARNING: this episode features Whitney attempting to sing.

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ABOUT MARISA:

Marisa Mendez is a journalist, personality and author who has built her reputation around all things digital, working for some of the biggest names in entertainment and hip-hop. Following a college internship answering phones for Funk Flex at iconic radio station Hot 97 in 2009, a chance run- in with Flex a year later granted her the opportunity to help launch and write for his new blog, InFlexWeTrust.com. As she helped grow IFWT to one of the most successful hip-hop sites of its time over the course of seven years, Marisa was also tapped to help launch and write for Angie Martinez’s blog and later, Ebro Darden’s blog.

With a passion to give talent a platform and a knack to call an artist’s career early (which Darden has often publicly noted), Marisa began interviewing artists for the various sites, which eventually granted her the opportunity to join Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning show as a personality in 2015. Simultaneously, she was commissioned by longtime friend Joe Budden to be the co-host of his new podcast, then-named I’ll Name This Podcast Later (now The Joe Budden Podcast.) After a year and a half of success with Joe, the pair publicly fell out, leading Marisa to launch her own podcast, Marisa Explains It All. The show hit number one on iTunes' Music Podcasts chart after just two episodes, and in its four year tenure, MEIA guests have included Amber Rose, Grammy-nominated rapper Guapdad 4000, model India Love and many more.

In early 2017, Marisa boldly decided to leave Hot 97 and venture to Los Angeles to see what career opportunities were out west. Almost immediately, she found success as a host on Diddy’s television channel, REVOLT. That same year, she became a published author for the first time, co-authoring chef duo Trap Kitchen’s cookbook, Trap Kitchen: Bangin’ Recipes from Compton. The book was named as one of TimeOut Magazine’s “Best of Los Angeles Cookbooks” for their 2018 year-end list. In 2020, Marisa penned actor Columbus Short’s autobiography, Short Stories. Since helping contribute to award-winning music website AllHipHop.com in her college days to present time, Marisa has interviewed the likes of Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, French Montana, Ty Dolla $ign, Machine Gun Kelly and many more in both print and on-camera. Now in 2023, Marisa has made the transition to film where she is shadowing director and writer, Thembi Banks. Together they worked on the 2023 Sundance film Young.Wild.Free, and are now in production on a Hulu pilot, 1266.

For more info:

Twitter: @MarisaMendez

Instagram: @MarisaMendez