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

'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 the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

for allegations of sexual assault.

Early life

Smooth, the son of a Jewish mother and a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

father, grew up in New York City, and attended

Ethical Culture Fieldston School Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 facult ...

. 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 persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

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 and record producer. He rose to prominence, after his self published debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" peake ...

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

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, 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 messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the w ...

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 Leonard Lopate 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
Living people American bloggers Jewish bloggers African-American radio personalities Jewish American entertainers Jewish American writers American radio DJs Writers from New York City 1972 births 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American Jews 20th-century African-American people {{US-radio-bio-stub