Angie Martinez is joining the iHeartRadio podcast space.
The renowned radio personality is bringing fans her deepest conversations yet with Angie Martinez IRL (In Real Life). The idea for the iHeartRadio podcast sprouted after Martinez suffered a nearly fatal car accident in 2019, leaving her with questions about the meaning of life and a new perspective.
Martinez, who created and will host IRL, will be sitting down with her famous friends for insightful conversations about the fragility of life and its complexities as well as finding our life’s purpose. This season, the conversation will explore legacy, philosophies, and the ways we choose to live, and the following seasons will answer different questions.
“So we’re framing it around life—it’s called the Angie Martinez IRL podcast—but it’s about life, legacy, mortality, and purpose. Everything that really matters,” Martinez tells Complex. “We get so caught up. We’re all so busy. We’re all chasing things. We’re all trying to get money, whatever you’re chasing. Whether you’re chasing to be the head of your business or run your own business, those are great. We should have goals and there are places to have those conversations about business or finances or hustling. There’s plenty of information about that.”
She continued: “But if our life was over, if all of our lives were over next month, would any of that matter? What would you really care about? What really are you here for? What really is the thing you want to do while you’re here? Let’s get to that. I’m curious about that. That’s the difference in the conversation.”
Season 1 is kicking off with a one-on-one interview with Lauren London, who has kept her interviews at a minimum since the passing of her partner Nipsey Hussle in 2019. The rest of the season will also feature conversations with Mary J. Blige, Joe Budden, and more. Martinez has made a name for herself as a radio personality, currently hosting The Angie Martinez Show on Power 105.1, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the game during her decades-long career. Her resumé includes conversations with J. Cole, Cardi B, Jay-Z, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., and more, and through her work, Martinez has become a trusted source in the media space for both fans and celebrities.
The first episode of Angie Martinez IRL debuts later this month, with a total of six episodes that will arrive weekly. Check out the IRL trailer and our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, with the radio host below.
Angie Martinez is joining the iHeartRadio podcast space.
The renowned radio personality is bringing fans her deepest conversations yet with Angie Martinez IRL (In Real Life). The idea for the iHeartRadio podcast sprouted after Martinez suffered a nearly fatal car accident in 2019, leaving her with questions about the meaning of life and a new perspective.
Martinez, who created and will host IRL, will be sitting down with her famous friends for insightful conversations about the fragility of life and its complexities as well as finding our life’s purpose. This season, the conversation will explore legacy, philosophies, and the ways we choose to live, and the following seasons will answer different questions.
“So we’re framing it around life—it’s called the Angie Martinez IRL podcast—but it’s about life, legacy, mortality, and purpose. Everything that really matters,” Martinez tells Complex. “We get so caught up. We’re all so busy. We’re all chasing things. We’re all trying to get money, whatever you’re chasing. Whether you’re chasing to be the head of your business or run your own business, those are great. We should have goals and there are places to have those conversations about business or finances or hustling. There’s plenty of information about that.”
She continued: “But if our life was over, if all of our lives were over next month, would any of that matter? What would you really care about? What really are you here for? What really is the thing you want to do while you’re here? Let’s get to that. I’m curious about that. That’s the difference in the conversation.”
Season 1 is kicking off with a one-on-one interview with Lauren London, who has kept her interviews at a minimum since the passing of her partner Nipsey Hussle in 2019. The rest of the season will also feature conversations with Mary J. Blige, Joe Budden, and more. Martinez has made a name for herself as a radio personality, currently hosting The Angie Martinez Show on Power 105.1, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the game during her decades-long career. Her resumé includes conversations with J. Cole, Cardi B, Jay-Z, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., and more, and through her work, Martinez has become a trusted source in the media space for both fans and celebrities.
The first episode of Angie Martinez IRL debuts later this month, with a total of six episodes that will arrive weekly. Check out the IRL trailer and our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, with the radio host below.
Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind IRL?
Angie Martinez: I’ve been through a lot in my life. I’ve experienced a lot. I still love what I do regularly. I love talking to artists. I love talking about music and all those things, but I just wanted to do more. There are conversations I want to have that I wasn’t necessarily having. I’ve had a challenging couple of years as the whole country has. Personally, I was in a bad car accident a few years ago, but then COVID, and just the way the world was, I was feeling all of these ideas about life and what’s important and all the weird things we do. Trying to navigate through that and wondering about having these deeper conversations with artists or people that have interesting stories. It’s not just artists, honestly.
The first batch is really about that: Life, mortality, what do we do while we’re here? What do we really care about? I think we get so caught up. Everybody has a podcast, everybody has a platform. Everybody’s trying to get numbers. Everybody’s trying to do something. I really wanted to create something that was safe for people to tell their stories, a safe place. A place where it’s not agenda-driven. It’s just an opportunity to share some experiences and share some stories in a way that’s an offering to folks.
For sure.
AM: Because we all go through shit, right? So where is the platform where people can feel comfortable sharing those things and feel safe? Their stories are not going to be exploited? But also be able to share, because people need it. How we all cope, it’s necessary to share that information because people are struggling out here in all types of different ways and it’s not always serious and heavy. It’s just about real life. It’s just about the things that we go through, all the challenges that we all have, and being able to share our stories with each other.
Like everybody else, I was in my own head for a while, while we were all locked down and thinking about what was important in life and what were we wasting time on? We all had to sit down. That shifts everybody. That’s a big shift. So a lot of the questions and a lot of things I was thinking about at that time are some of the conversations we’re going to hear on this podcast.
People did a lot of self-reflection and thinking about what they’re doing in their current life, what they want to fix, or what they want to do better. You had the car accident, and moments like those really make you shift how you view the world and how you view yourself and what you’re doing and what you’re not doing.
AM: Yeah. It’s not even so much like, “I’ve got it all figured out.” Definitely not. This is not that “I have figured it all out” podcast. Let us all talk about the shit that we really think about and how we feel and that we struggle with, or that we learned and we want to tell everybody, like, “Yo, I figured this out.”
It’s just a place to share ideas, thoughts, and experiences. In a way, hopefully, what I’m trying to create is a safe space and in a way that people could really be vulnerable and really offer real-life experiences and some real-life anecdotes.
Even when you are talking to artists about music or their movies, you have a way of getting people to really open up and trust you, like J. Cole. How have you been able to do that throughout your career?
AM: It really boils down to intentions. And listen, sometimes I might share something or somebody might share something and people take it the wrong way. Nobody is protected from that, unfortunately, in the world we live in. What I’m not going to do is intentionally try to get something out of people with disregard for their wellbeing. I think people trust me. I’m definitely not trying to just catch somebody, you know what I mean? To get that moment or get that thing. Honestly, that’s the beauty of having a podcast. I didn’t do this podcast with anybody that I owe anything to. I pay for it myself. I put the concept together and the questions together, it’s mine, it’s my vision.
I feel like I can protect people that way because sometimes when you’re on other platforms things get edited, clips get posted, things happen. Unfortunately, I’ve had that experience before, not on the radio, but just in other projects that I’ve done.
Right.
AM: It was important for me to have ownership of this project and it will be through the iHeart system and it’ll be on video and where all podcasts are found, but ultimately I can guarantee people who sit in that chair that I am not going to manipulate anything or hurt you in any way and in my intentions are good. Honestly, I’ve been doing this for a long time, [I’m] never here to hurt nobody. I’m just here to try to get to some interesting conversation and truth and that’s really it.
You’d be surprised, people want to tell their stories. A lot of times people are scared to because it’s scary to share. It’s scary to be vulnerable. It’s scary to put yourself out there and then everybody has a comment and an opinion and a perspective, but we have to do it anyway. Especially when we learn something. Especially when we go through something and we come out on the other side, it’s important to share that because how else do we make it easier for other people? I try to make it as safe as possible, and so I think people just trust me. I love Cole. He’s one of my favorites ever.
Yeah, and your interviews with him are always so great and so open.
AM: Because he’s mindful about sharing and offering ideas and thoughts. He shows up all the time like that being mindful of being truthful and thoughtful and all those things. I try to come to these interviews like that the same way. My first interview, my first guest is Lauren London. I didn’t just show up without putting thought into it. I care about Lauren, I pray for her, I’m fascinated by her.
It’s her first in-person interview in person since Nipsey Hussle’s passing. So this is a big deal.
AM: She trusted me to do that. I’m so grateful for that. Honestly, the conversation I had with her is for everybody because I want everybody to take something from it. But even I will take it forever. This conversation will stay with me for my whole life. She’s experienced something a lot of people haven’t. Everybody experiences death, right? Whether it’s someone close to them or just witnessing it or other people, but the way that she’s had to experience that and then still be taking care of her kids and still being able to have her real life and all those things. There’s something to learn from that.
She has handled it with so much grace.
AM: Yeah. She’s still Lauren. She’s a different version of herself and she’s experienced trauma and all of that, but we laugh, we’re cracking jokes, she’s so sassy and fly. I don’t want to speak too much for her, but she still has so much to offer. When we look at her like that, and then we just start with this story and this experience and where she is now, man, I learned a lot from her. Just talking to her about what she just went through and how she’s still moving and getting up in the morning and taking care of her kids and working. She’s surviving and smiling and laughing and taking care of kids. There’s just something to learn from that.
For sure.
AM: I was super honored that she trusted me with that story. Listen, the conversation around mortality and death, not just of ourselves, but everybody around us, people we love and having to deal with that. How do you deal with that? We talked about death etiquette and how people treated her and treat her. You don’t talk about that type of stuff.
Nobody tells you what to do at a funeral. Nobody teaches you those things. Death is something we can’t avoid and it’s something that should be taught. So I’m glad that you talked about that.
AM: We totally talked about that. She talks about just some of the things that you can do, if you are around somebody who’s experiencing that type of grief, ways to support them, there is death etiquette. There are words to use. She had to break the news to her children about what happened to Nip and she needed verbiage for that. It doesn’t just happen. She shares a lot that I think will help a lot of people. Also, she’s just funny and enjoyable. Like I said, fly, and so it’s the whole picture. It’s not just this one moment of this thing that happened. It’s like, who is she now?
Right. It’s good to be able to get that side of her in an environment where she could open up and be herself and not feel like she has to hold back. That’s special.
AM: Yeah. I don’t want to give too much, but I will say there’s another episode that I have with Mary J. Blige, who’s one of my best friends. I’ve interviewed her since her first album and so many times. But this is one of my favorite conversations with her. Because it’s just so real and it’s just so regular. When I say regular, I mean, in the best way, it’s the same as her and I having dinner together and chatting, that’s the podcast. It’s really like real life.
Having someone who has the radio experience and the career that you have had now in the podcast space, does it allow for podcasts to be seen as a place where you can learn, where you can get wisdom and you can get truthful and honest conversations?
AM: For sure. I think it’s all about communicating and connecting with people. Whether you do radio or you’re on news, podcasts or YouTube, or Facebook. Ultimately, it boils down to connecting with people and communicating with people. So this is just another kind of way for me to do that. The conversation is a little different and it’s different because it’s not about an album or a project kind of conversation, right. It’s really about the moments in real life that shape us and define us and that we are willing to share with the world. I just think it makes it special when you show up to have that kind of conversation.
The Angie Martinez IRL will be available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts later this month.