What Comedian Ziwe Fumudoh Is Listening to Right Now
It’s the year 2000, and a young Ziwe Fumudoh is pointing the microphone of her Fisher-Price tape recorder at the TV screen, capturing Britney Spears’ voice into the device. She would go on to play that tape over and over, studying it with the intensity of a microbiologist, until it gave out.
Fast forward a couple of decades and Ziwe—who, much like a pop star, often goes by just her first name—released Generation Ziwe, an album that combines her lifelong love of music with her talents as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer for shows like Desus & Mero. In a recent animated music video, Ziwe channels the deadpan genius of MTV’s Daria while skewering America’s corrupt healthcare system. “What the fuck is a deductible?!” she screams in the clip, before a gang of girls in a pink convertible vandalize the home of an insurance company CEO.
In addition to her other gigs, the 28-year-old has recently gained prominence as an incisive interviewer. On her Instagram Live show, she probes squirming guests about their racial politics. While Ziwe has hosted iterations of the show on YouTube since 2017, the Instagram version has captured attention alongside the wider culture’s latest reckoning with anti-Black racism.
In the show’s most stunning moments, white women with discomforting pasts—like popular food writer Alison Roman, who sharply criticized two peers of color before acknowledging the racist implications of her quips—take the virtual hot seat. “How many Black friends do you have?” Ziwe asks them. “How have you decolonized your mind in the last week?”
During these interviews, Ziwe is confrontational but not abrasive, warm but stern, and her guests have an idea of the difficult conversation they’re walking into with her. On a recent episode, when asked, “Have you ever worn blackface?” reality TV star Alexis Haines answered with a decisive “yes,” before offering a remorseful explanation. Ziwe’s goal here is to make all kinds of people—not just white women, but the array of guests and viewers she attracts—confront racism in their own lives as they cringe along to her show.
At this point, Ziwe is no longer recording bootleg Britney tapes, but her obsession with music remains intact. She still loves fizzy pop stars, along with performers like Solange and Janelle Monáe, who have used their avant-garde art and large platforms to embrace Black people. Here, she describes the songs that are currently soundtracking her life.
Tinashe: Songs for You (2019)
Ziwe Fumudoh: I love a pop star that can dance. That’s why I gravitate towards Britney Spears and Beyoncé. Tinashe really goes hard, too. Songs for You was the first album that she dropped independently. I respect that. Goals. Shout out to you! She raps on it, she’s just fresh. On “Hopscotch,” I like when she goes, “These hoes want to be like me!” It makes you feel like you’re really important. It reminds me of being a kid, pop-and-locking it in front of my mirror. That’s how Tinashe makes me feel, like I’m 12 years old and krumping.
Jidenna: “Classic Man (DJ Molasses Screwed & Chopped Remix)”
I’ve been listening to chopped-and-screwed versions of things forever, so when the chopped-and-screwed version of “Classic Man” dropped in Moonlight, my mind was absolutely blown. I just thought it was the illest thing I’ve ever heard. It was so slow, and the beat really hit.
In the movie, it comes on during this really pivotal moment where Chiron—who has always been gay, but is finally coming into this identity and his manhood—is reconciling the fact that he’s driving in a car with the love of his life. The song really flips norms in a really beautiful way. It challenges authority and the idea of what manhood is. It’s so powerful and moving. I am someone who’s deeply influenced by soundtracks, so if a song is in any film, I’m way more likely to love it.
Nicholas Britell: Succession Soundtrack
I’m a professional writer, but I can’t listen to music with words when I’m writing. I find it distracting. So I will just put on my Nicholas Britell and get click-clacking on my keyboard. It really helps me get into the zone. I find it very cinematic. It just makes me feel like I’m brooding out the window of my high-rise apartment—even though that’s not where I’m at. A dream of mine would be for him to score one of my future shows.
My favorite track is “Andante in C Minor.” I love a minor chord, honey. Truly, it’s going to be my wedding music. It’s going to be me Austrian waltzing to Nicholas Britell’s Succession score.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
