What is Throwback Throwdown?
Throwback Throwdown is a BBC Sounds podcast featuring Poet and Mimi the Music Blogger in a competitive sound clash. The podcast is hosted by Babatunde Aléshé and is released in weekly instalments on BBC Sounds.
The platform launched in October 2022.
Throwback Throwdown Host
Throwback Throwdown is hosted by Babatunde Aléshé, a comedian from north London who grew up on the same estate as Poet in Tottenham. Babatunde has performed as a stand-up comedian around the UK and has appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox alongside Mo Gilligan.
Babatunde has also hosted the award-winning Puffin Podcast: Mission Imagination. The month after the Throwback Throwdown series launched Babatunde appeared in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Throwback Throwdown Cast
Poet
Poet is credited for creating a number of significant as platforms within the Black British music industry in the 2010s including Dat’s a Wrap Show, HC Pod, as well co-hosting GASWORKS and Yo! MTV Raps UK. Poet is also a rapper and has released music as part of the Vibbar collective.
Beyond music he has presented content for Copa90 and co-created the Filthy Fellas football-based YouTube channel.
Mimi the Music Blogger
Mimi came to prominence as a music critic and cultural commentator and has featured on platforms including Champions League of Everything and The Listening Party. From January 2022 Mimi appeared regularly on the BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Rap Show.
Throwback Throwdown Format
Throwback Throwdown episodes are recorded in a boxing gym and feature Poet and Mimi facing off with their music choices. Each episode is focused on a central topic and feature a series of six rounds based around a particular theme.
Each song is played in full. At the end of each round Poet and Mimi hype up their songs before Babatunde decides which song is the most suitable based on the brief.
Music genres covered on the show include:
- R&B
- Dancehall
- US Rap
- UK Rap
- Afrobeats
- Grime
- House
As the overall theme of the podcast is ‘throwback’ music, most of the tracks featured are from the 1990, 2000s and 2010s.
At the end of the show, the winner (who won at least four out of the six rounds) gets to play a final song.
Throwback Throwdown Episodes
Read the complete list of Throwback Throwdown episodes below:
- DJing at Your Ex’s Wedding
- Road Trip with the Squad
- Group Holiday
- Castaway
- Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s Personal DJ
- Entrance Music
- Christmas Clash
Strong entrance music is a must have! 😂
📻 Catch @mdaixo, @poetscorneruk and @BabatundeComedy going head-to-head to entrance tunes on this week’s Throwback Throwdown
🎶 Listen on @bbcsounds pic.twitter.com/pkjzOohfO4— BBC Radio 1Xtra (@1Xtra) December 3, 2022
