John Randolph (born 1972), better known as Jay Smooth, is an American cultural commentator best known for his ''Ill Doctrine'' video blog. He is also the founder of New York City's longest-running

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

radio program,

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic musi ...

's ''Underground Railroad''. Smooth left WBAI in July 2018 after the station hired

Leonard Lopate Leonard Lopate (born September 23, 1940) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the radio talk show ''Leonard Lopate at Large'', broadcast on WBAI, and the former host of the public radio talk show ''The Leonard Lopate Show'', broad ...

, who was fired from

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

for allegations of sexual harassment.

Early life

Smooth, the son of a Jewish mother and a

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

father, grew up in New York City, and attended

Ethical Culture Fieldston School The Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also known more simply as Fieldston or Ethical Culture, is a private pre-K through twelfth grade coeducational school in New York City with two campuses, in Manhattan and in the Bronx. The school is ...

. He chose the pseudonym "Jay Smooth" as a teenager when he started his radio program.

Career

Smooth began his career in media at 18 years old, when he founded a show called ''The Underground Railroad'' at New York's WBAI. He interviewed hip hop luminaries at a time when popular hip hop radio stations did not exist. He interviewed early hip hop stars such as

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

and

The Fugees ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

on the show. He also founded one of the world's first hip-hop websites, hiphopmusic.com. He video blogs on a personal website called ''Ill Doctrine'' which features Smooth's commentary on hip hop, politics, and social justice, such as in "

Soulja Boy DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence with his self-released 2007 debut single, "Crank That ...

Presidential Debate Remix". Smooth also occasionally provides music commentary on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, He rose to prominence to mainstream audiences in 2008 when he released a YouTube video on his channel called "How to Tell Somebody they Sound Racist." The video currently has over one million views. In 2018, he hosted a series on

media literacy Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze Media (communication), media messages, as well as create, reflect and take action—using the power of information and communication—to ma ...

on the YouTube '' Crash Course'' channel. Smooth chose to leave his radio show, ''The Underground Railroad'', in July 2018 just short of his 30th anniversary at WBAI. He stated that he quit because the station hired

for a paid position shortly after Lopate was fired from WNYC for sexual misconduct.

References

External links

illdoctrine.com
Smooth's video blog
hiphopmusic.com
Hiphopmusic.com, which Smooth founded
WBAI archives
1972 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers African-American Jews African-American non-fiction writers African-American radio personalities American male bloggers American bloggers American male non-fiction writers American radio DJs Jewish American entertainers Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish bloggers Writers from New York City {{US-radio-bio-stub