Romesh Ranganathan is to present a new series on Radio 2 looking at the history of hip hop.

In the four-parter For The Love Of Hip Hop the former battle rapper and host of the Hip Hop Saved My Life podcast, will look at the musical genre from its golden era in the 1990s, featuring the likes of De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliot, to modern-day acts like Lizzo and Kanye West.

Romesh Ranganatham will explore the music he loves, from its infancy in the 1970s, and with his humorous take on the unique music scene that is hip-hop, he’ll make you love it too. Across the series, Romesh will play tracks around subjects in the genre, including looking at the relationship between comedy and hip hop and showcasing the household names that have dabbled in the genre that you might not know about.

He’ll play big hitters such as Wee Rule by Wee Papa Girl Rappers, and mainstream crossover tracks such as The Message by Grandmaster Flash and Numb by Jay-Z, and he’ll have tunes from some of his all-time favourite artists such as Roots Manuva, LL Cool J, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Romesh Ranganathan says: “I’m incredibly excited about doing a hip hop show on BBC Radio 2. I feel like there’s a big group of people that feel like hip hop isn’t for them, but it absolutely is. It’s such an expansive genre, it has something for everyone. I genuinely believe there is a whole raft of Radio 2 listeners who don’t know how great hip hop is and I want to change that. I want to convert so many people that I start some sort of movement.”

Romesh Ranganathan's For The Love Of Hip Hop will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in August.

Picture: © Dessau