99%Listening
On air · Hip hop at the core · eclectic by design

99%

Listening

The takes are earned.

Four seats, one rule: listen all the way through before you talk. The other 1% is where we argue about it.

PEAK 991% reserved
Meet the four seats See the plan
01 / The rule

Most music podcasts are 99% talking. We flipped it.

99% listening
1% talking

Every opinion on the show is earned. Nobody weighs in on a record they haven't sat with front to back. The 99% is the work: the full listen, the second listen, the context. The 1% is the verdict, and that's the part that gets loud. Hot takes are cheap. We're charging full price.

Home base is hip hop. The taste travels from there: soul, jazz, R&B, house, afrobeats, and whatever just dropped. Rooted in the culture, open to all of it.

02 / The board

Four seats. Four different jobs.

Four opinionists is just noise. Each chair on this board runs a different channel, so the room stays sharp instead of shouting over itself.

Ch 01
Zay
@greeezay
Host · The Anchor
Runs the board and keeps the room. Founder of the Church on Sunday world Dre and Zay come from.
Ch 02
Dre
@dresoulhigh
The Opinionist
The take machine. Avid fan, sharp ear, will happily die on the hill he picked in the cold open.
Ch 03
Jeri
@natdigga · Canapé
The Connect
Known as NatDigga. Owner of Canapé and plugged into the scene, the room, and the after-party. Knows who's next before the algorithm does.
Ch 04
Rotating Seat
a new guest each week
The Everyman
A rotating fourth chair. A different guest every episode: a casual fan, an artist, a friend of the show, whoever keeps the other three honest that week.
Guest chair
03 / The rundown

One episode, start to finish.

Same skeleton every week. That's what makes it a show and not a group chat.

01
In Rotation
Each seat opens with the one thing they've had on repeat this week. No explanation allowed yet.
~8 min
02
First Listen
A new release, reacted to in real time. First impressions before anyone reads a review.
~15 min
03
The 1%
One contested question on the table, settled loud. This is the part people clip and send to the group chat.
~18 min
04
The Connect
A deep cut, a scene story, or a who-you-should-know. Jeri's segment, but everyone brings one.
~10 min
05
Out of 99
The verdict. Every record scored out of 99. Disagreement encouraged, ties broken on air.
~6 min
04 / The scale
/99never 100

Nothing's a 100.

Every record gets a number out of 99. The last point stays reserved for the one that changes your life, and we haven't heard it yet. It's the signature of the show: a ceiling nobody's allowed to touch, so the argument never really ends.

05 / The plan

Four chairs to a live show.

A working roadmap for Zay, Dre, and Jeri. The owners and timing below are a starting point, built to be argued over on the first call.

Phase 0Lock the room
This week
  • Sign off on the name, the format, and the out-of-99 scaleAll
  • Set how the rotating fourth seat works and line up the first guestsAll
  • Agree the cadence (weekly) and target run timeAll
  • Approve this page and share it aroundAll
Phase 1Pilot at Canapé
Weeks 1 to 3
  • Set the recording setup at Canapé: audio, mics, and cameras for clipsJeri
  • Lock the Episode 01 "House Rules" run-of-showZay
  • Each seat brings their personal highest out-of-99 recordAll
  • Record the pilot live in the roomAll
  • Cut the first three "The 1%" clips from the tapeDre
Phase 2Launch
Weeks 4 to 6
  • Stand up the feeds: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTubeZay
  • Drop Episode 01, then Episode 02 "First Listen"All
  • Push clips across @church.onsunday and each host's pageDre
  • Announce to the Church on Sunday room firstZay
Phase 3Build the room
Ongoing
  • Weekly episode plus 2 to 3 short clipsAll
  • Book guests through the Canapé pipelineJeri
  • Run listening parties and live tapings at CanapéJeri
  • Keep the running out-of-99 leaderboardDre
Zay · @greeezay

The room

Run-of-show, format, and the Church on Sunday audience.

Dre · @dresoulhigh

The takes

Topics, the debate, and the clip slate.

Jeri · @natdigga

The venue

Canapé taping, guests, and live events.

Seat 04 · rotating

The guest chair

A different fourth voice each episode: the everyman, an artist, a friend of the show.

Open decisions for the first call
  • How the rotating fourth seat works, and who the first guests are
  • Final call on the name (and whether to lean into or away from the "99% Invisible" echo)
  • Cadence and episode length
  • Canapé setup: audio only or full video, and whether to record with a live audience
  • The show's own handle, and which platform leads at launch
06 / Follow

Follow the room.

Everything lives on Instagram for now. The show's own handle and the podcast feeds come online at launch.

At launch @99listening · TBD Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube