\n\t\tor the past month, The Kid Mero<\/a> \u2014 comedian, podcast host, and writer known for his irreverent humor and distinctly New York<\/a> sensibility \u2014 has hosted the morning show on Hot 97<\/a>, his hometown\u2019s most influential and longstanding hip-hop<\/a> radio<\/a> station. Hot 97 has played an outsize role for decades in debuting new hits, anointing superstars, and wading into major cultural debates; Mero\u2019s most recent predecessor in the morning-show role is Ebro<\/a> Darden, who announced the end of his 20-plus-year tenure at the station in December. Those are big shoes to fill, but Mero has stepped into them with his customary smoothness, quickly injecting a millennial POV into the airwaves alongside co-hosts Shani Kulture, Miabelle, Kazeem Famuyide, and DJ Kast One. For anyone who\u2019s watched his career grow from mid-aughts rap blogs to podcasting, late-night television, and now radio, it\u2019s a move that makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn a recent morning, Mayor Zohran Mamdani calls in to Mornings With Mero \u2014 by now New York\u2019s 34-year-old mayor is something of a recurring character on the show \u2014 and Mero jokingly takes him to task about the piles of snow still lingering in the streets. In their discussion of the Grammys last week, callers expressed disbelief that any rapper not from New York could be crowned the greatest.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn a short time, Mero has managed to make the radio relevant to audiences that had spent years moving away from it. A hallmark of the show is the well-coordinated clips posted to social media each morning. It\u2019s an easy enough move, since the videos on today\u2019s short-form video behemoths \u2014 typically someone in front of a microphone offering their take on something they\u2019d heard about \u2014 are basically just old-school radio, updated for a newer medium. Mero\u2019s POV is decidedly informed by the internet era, having cut his teeth blogging about rap in the 2000s and co-hosting the Vice and Showtime series Desus & Mero<\/a>, where he and co-host Desus Nice brought their long-running online series Bodega Boys into the mainstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \n\tNow, as Hot 97\u2019s newest host, he\u2019s at the forefront of a changing rap culture and in a position to calibrate the city\u2019s hip-hop scene. A long-running criticism of the station\u2019s rap coverage in recent years has been that it ignored the voices of younger artists; for Mero\u2019s part, that seems to be where he finds the most energy. As a father of four, he\u2019s keenly aware of what the next generation is paying attention to. He credits his son for putting him on to Playboi Carti<\/a>\u2019s music, and he shouts out Xaviersobased<\/a> during our interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMero is also speaking every morning to a city in a period of transformation, as its new mayor hopes to bring a more egalitarian version of politics to the country\u2019s largest metropolis. Both figures, Mamdani and Mero, grew their influence up from the ground level and make for an optimistic vision for the future. The Kid Mero talked to Rolling Stone about living up to the task of being the voice of the city, fatherhood, and why he sees terrestrial radio as a natural next step for him to \u201ccreate moments\u201d for New York, bridge digital and legacy culture, and do it all for \u201cthe Mero of 10, 15 years ago,\u201d while keeping four kids, a mortgage, and his Bronx<\/a>-born sensibility firmly in mind.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tKid Mero at Hot 97 on Jan. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGRIFFIN LOTZ for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n \n\tThis is your third week on the air. What\u2019s the vibes there? \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n \n\tBecause you\u2019re up early. \n\tWhat was the process of getting this job like? When did you know that you were in the running for this gig? \n\tWas there an onboarding process to working in radio after those other mediums? \n\tThat must be hard. \n\tOne of my favorite parts of the show is the live call-ins \u2014 like when you had the graffiti writer Mister call in. How do you think about bringing those kinds of culturally specific New York voices onto Hot 97? \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMiabelle, Mero, Kazeem, Shani Kulture.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n \n\tAnd do you feel like you\u2019ve had a responsibility to highlight New York artists? \n\tAre you on TikTok? I\u2019ve heard you saying \u201cunc.\u201d You know the phrases. \n\tYou\u2019re from the Bronx. Take me back to the beginning of your comedy career. \n\tHow did Victory Light start? \n\tSo I just kept going with Victory Light, just pumping, pumping, pumping. It was cathartic, you know what I\u2019m saying? It wasn\u2019t even like, \u201cYo, I\u2019m trying to make something with this.\u201d It was just like, \u201cYo, let me get my shit off.\u201d So I would end [each post] with like, \u201cYo, fuck all of y\u2019all. If you\u2019re reading this, fuck all of y\u2019all. I\u2019m still broke. You ain\u2019t helping me. Reading this? Thank you, I guess, whatever.\u201d But then it ended up being that the right people were reading it.<\/p>\n \n\tHow did Twitter factor in early on? \n\tThey used to have like a GPS feature where you could see people around you, so like Bronx Twitter, Brooklyn Twitter, that was like a thing. So you would hashtag Bronx Twitter, and talk to people in the Bronx about what\u2019s going on. So I was just cutting ass up there, just joking, doing my thing.<\/p>\n \n\tSo you were at Complex first. Then, how did the VICE show start? Reading the prompter, ad libbing, and then going back to that script is hard as hell, man. So I learned all of that stuff, then took all of that and went to VICE, and I was just like, \u201cYo, I\u2019m ready to cook.\u201d Started around 2016, right around the time of the presidential election. Talk about getting thrown into the fire. It was like, \u201cYo, listen, your first mission at Viceland is a live election broadcast.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhat was that first VICE election night like? \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n \n\tYou had Cardi B and Jim Jones on the air that night. What happens when Trump gets announced as the winner? \n\tFor you and Desus, what was that like, just being able to just do whatever and experiment on TV? \n\tYou and Desus split<\/a> a few years after that. What was it like to end such a big creative partnership? \n\tI\u2019m not a single guy. I got four kids, I had a mortgage and shit. I had just moved to Jersey because I was like, \u201cFour kids don\u2019t fit in the two-bedroom.\u201d You know what I mean? So I was like, \u201cOK.\u201d I was like, \u201cEvery time I open my closet, a Pyrex falls on my head.\u201d So I was like, \u201cAll right, we got to bust a move.\u201d I was very committed to the idea of longevity in entertainment, and not just being like a flash in a pan, like some weird crypto meme coin. I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m trying to be out here like a gold bar, bro, just forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSo how does it work \u2014 going from internet to TV to podcast to radio? \n\tMaybe it\u2019s a New York thing. Now I feel like every new, funny streamer is a kid from the Bronx. \n\tWhat is it like now, with Mamdani as mayor? How are you feeling about the city? \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n \n\tIf you got a regular job\u2026 My parents bought a house in the Bronx. My mom\u2019s a public school teacher, my pa\u2019s a HVAC technician. None of them come from money. There was no windfall of cash, you know what I\u2019m saying? They\u2019re nothing like that. So I\u2019m like, \u201cWe need that to be a reality for New Yorkers.\u201d If you teach at P.S. 86 and you want to live around the corner from your job, you should be able to. You know?<\/p>\n \n\tDo you feel politically activated on the air? Do you want to start speaking out about this stuff? \n\tHow do you balance \u201cpost-woke culture\u201d? \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\tDon\u2019t get me on my soapbox. But shit like the Riley Gaines shit \u2026 I\u2019m like, \u201cBro, this is a grift, shorty. You suck. You came in fifth<\/a>. You know what I mean? You didn\u2019t lose because there was a transgender athlete in this swim meet. You lost because you were ass. So fight against being ass. Get back in the lab, fix your shit up, and stop blaming this shit on another people, a marginalized community that got nothing to do with you.\u201d That\u2019s my thing. And I learned from my pops. From my parents being like, \u201cYo, treat people how you want to be treated. Don\u2019t be a piece of shit.\u201d Like, wow. What a concept. Don\u2019t be a piece of garbage human being and things will be OK.<\/p>\n \n\tSo thinking about Hot 97 in 2026, what are the big themes that you\u2019re looking at?![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
Great. You know what I mean? Great vibes. Everybody\u2019s calling in like, \u201cYo, you\u2019re doing your thing. We so happy for you. Yo, we proud of you, bro. You son of the Bronx.\u201d You used to be sitting in the back of the car smoking blunts to this. Now I\u2019m the host of it. You know? It\u2019s just crazy. But the vibes are good, man. The energy\u2019s good. Everybody\u2019s positive. Even the people that left [the station] were like, \u201cYo, go do your thing.\u201d Shout-out to Ebro and them. But man, my circadian rhythm is fucked up.<\/p>\n
But other than that, we\u2019re good. I haven\u2019t slept regularly in 15 years, man. So I\u2019m not tripping off of that.<\/p>\n
Yo, honestly, as far as I know, there wasn\u2019t even a running\u2026 I got offstage, and I was approached by [someone]. He was like, \u201cYo, I work at Hot 97, can we find some time to sit down?\u201d So I go over there, and [another person] writes a number on a piece of paper, folds it and slides it across the table. This is some Mad Men shit. And I opened it up. I was like, \u201cI got four kids and two mortgages. You have to come up.\u201d We started negotiating and stuff, going back and forth on terms and things like that. And the whole time they were like, \u201cYo, you\u2019re the guy. There\u2019s no plan B. Let\u2019s get you what you need and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honestly, just timing and cadence. With radio, there\u2019s a structure. It\u2019s like, \u201cYo, we got to get to these ads, we got to get to this music, we got to get to this.\u201d So to me, that was really the only adjustment \u2014 keeping an eye on that clock in the corner of the studio. And then also not cursing and catching SEC violations.<\/p>\n
It was hard, but it wasn\u2019t hard. I got four kids, bro. You know what I mean? I be in situations all the time where I\u2019m like, \u201cYo, you can\u2019t be up here being like, \u2018Fuck, this motherfucker looked crazy.’\u201d Like, \u201cBro, this is a kindergarten graduation. What are you doing? You sound insane.\u201d So I\u2019m like, \u201cAll right, I know how to go from G, to PG, to NC-17 when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yo, not to sound corny, but Hot 97 is hip-hop. It\u2019s New York hip-hop. If you think about basketball in New York, it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, the New York Knicks.\u201d If you think about baseball in New York, you think, \u201cOh, it\u2019s New York Yankees.\u201d If you think about hip-hop in New York, it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, Hot 97.\u201d So bringing all aspects of it,\u00a0like graffiti and all that other stuff \u2014 because people might not necessarily know about it. But for me, this is what hip-hop is. It\u2019s like, \u201cYo, we out bombing, drinking 40s, listening to Funkmaster Flex on the radio in the car.\u201d So to me, that aspect of the culture of hip-hop was important. So having [Mister] calling \u2014 and that went crazy on digital, bro, that did numbers. Because people weren\u2019t expecting like, \u201cYo, Mero\u2019s going to come up here and really, like, blow, splash Mero sauce all over this place.\u201d Don\u2019t get it on you!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Yes and no. Listen, Max B and Fetty Wap both came out of jail [within a] year \u2026 \u201cWe\u2019re back.\u201d So I think, yes, there is a responsibility for me. People like Xaviersobased, who are not necessarily on everybody\u2019s radar, but they\u2019re hip-hop and they\u2019re New York City kids. So evolving with hip-hop, right? The genre\u2019s got 16 million different flavors. Let\u2019s highlight all of them, man. Why not?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m on it as an observer, you know what I\u2019m saying? I\u2019m not posting a ton of stuff on there. My kids be helping me with that a lot. I ain\u2019t going to lie. I got a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 10-year-old, and an eight-year-old. I\u2019m in the trenches, bro. I was saying \u201c6-7\u201d<\/a> before anybody. Check the stats. I was hitting the 41 before anybody, bro. I was doing all of that before it was burnt. Now it\u2019s burnt. You know what I mean? We onto other things. But yeah, nah, man. It\u2019s goofy, but they keep me in tune with everything that they\u2019re into because I\u2019m Dad, you know? They keep me abreast of what\u2019s going on. My love for Playboi Carti comes from my oldest son.<\/p>\n
The beginning of it unofficially was at seven or eight years old because I would be in a room like this \u2014 not this fancy, you know what I\u2019m saying? The furniture was covered in plastic, and it was a lot more Dominicans around. But family gatherings and things like that, my pops would call me out and be like, \u201cYo, papi, hey, tell him how Uncle Diego acted when he\u2019s drunk.\u201d So then I\u2019d do impression of my uncle drunk. And bro, it\u2019s grown-ass men in the room, dying laughing, like, \u201cA, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah. This little motherfucker. Oh, that boy good.\u201d You know what I\u2019m saying? That type of energy. So I was like, \u201cOh yeah.\u201d I was like, \u201cY\u2019all don\u2019t listen to me any other time. But right now I got command of this room.\u201d You know what I\u2019m saying? I was like, \u201cIf you make people laugh, man, if you make people smile, be happy, enjoy themselves, that\u2019s powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
I started writing Victory Light, the blog, back in the day on Blogspot. I was working first as a teacher\u2019s assistant in the Bronx, in the junior high school that I went to. So I was making like $23,000 a year. I wasn\u2019t making shit. I was broke. My girl was making three times what I was making. So my masculinity was being challenged. You know what I\u2019m saying? I\u2019m like, \u201cYo.\u201d We at the supermarket and she\u2019s telling me to put shit down, like I\u2019m a kid. \u201cPut the Cocoa Pebbles down. We getting the Dyno-Bites.\u201d<\/p>\n
So this is like 2007, so then \u201908, \u201909, Twitter comes along. And my homegirl Crystal was like, \u201cYo, this is like tailor made for you, bro. I know that you don\u2019t know what ADHD is, but you definitely got it. And yo, you just firing off one-liners, and jokes, and like non-sequiturs, this shit is made for you.\u201d So I was like, \u201cAll right, cool.\u201d So I get on it, I\u2019m on my flip phone texting 40404. So I was doing that, and I used it mostly to just be like, \u201cYo, new Victory Light post is up.\u201d And then just like observational shit.<\/p>\n
Right. 2015, \u201916, I get my sea legs. I was at MTV before. And to me, that was like community college for TV. Like, \u201cLearn how to do TV, learn how to open up to camera, learn how to pace yourself, read from a prompter without sounding like \u2026 Make it sound natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled up that day. I had to drive my \u201905 Honda Accord, you know what I mean? Parked that myself and then get up there. And then I was like, \u201cGoddamn.\u201d I was like, \u201cThey got mad trailers outside. Oh, this is live TV shit.\u201d Mad wires and everything. I was like, \u201cOK, bet.\u201d I went on and did that. After that, I was like, \u201cYo, y\u2019all be complaining a lot, bro. That shit was light work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Everybody, yo, Cardi B\u2019s like, \u201cYo, I don\u2019t know what we going to do, because the strippers\u2026 I don\u2019t know. The drug dealers be paying the strippers. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on.\u201d She was like, \u201cI\u2019m concerned.\u201d There was an air of like, \u201cYo, hold on, son, what is going on?\u201d This is not supposed to happen. This is supposed to be a lay-up for the lady whose last name is the same as the former president. And then they had some dude downstairs that was like the Steve Kornacki of VICE, I guess, and was just coloring in a map with a crayon, like red and blue. And when he held up that map and that shit was like red, red, red, red, red, red, I was like, \u201cAll right, we about to see.\u201d You know what I mean? Because I\u2019m Dominican, bro. I\u2019ve seen civil unrest. So I was like, \u201cYo, whoo. America, y\u2019all about to get a little taste.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bro, it was so fire because\u2026 there was a moment where Ted Cruz got caught favoriting porno shit [on Twitter]. And we were like, \u201cYo, what kind of pino is Ted Cruz watching?\u201d So we literally were like, \u201cYo\u2026 we watching the Ted Cruz pino. And we\u2019re going to watch porn on TV and critique it in real time.\u201d I was like, \u201cAin\u2019t no way\u2026\u201d Coming from Viacom? \u201cAin\u2019t no way we would\u2019ve did this at MTV.\u201d It was phenomenal, bro.<\/p>\n
2022 was the split-split. But yeah, no, I was very focused on a certain area, you know what I\u2019m saying, where you see an opportunity to really cook. I wanted to attack that. And I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is where I\u2019m going. You going? You coming? If you\u2019re not coming, I\u2019m going. You know what I\u2019m saying? Because this is what needs to be done for sustained success.\u201d Because I\u2019m like, \u201cYo, I\u2019m thinking different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bro, shit is cyclical, you know what I\u2019m saying? When I was doing podcasting, the first go around, it was like, \u201cAll right, this is new\u2026 you can only get this on an iPhone.\u201d And now it\u2019s like, \u201cBro, everybody and they mother got a podcast.\u201d So it\u2019s just like, \u201cAll right, what do motherfuckers not\u2026?\u201d That\u2019s me, like Max B: \u201cYo, y\u2019all go this way, I go up.\u201d And what are people not doing? Terrestrial radio. Boom. Let me get in there and shake shit up.<\/p>\n
Dog, we got the sauce. I\u2019ve been trying to tell people for the longest time, bro. It\u2019s like the forgotten borough. There\u2019s 30 Meros up there. You know what I\u2019m saying? I just got out early. You know what I mean? I got out early. I was like, \u201cI could write.\u201d You know what I mean? That was my main thing.<\/p>\n
I love it because he came in and in eight days he had UPK [Universal Pre-Kindergarten] on and popping\u2026 I\u2019m doing it for the Mero of 10, 15 years ago. If [former mayor Bill] de Blasio didn\u2019t have UPK, I would\u2019ve been fried. I moved to Jersey because that shit ended. I couldn\u2019t afford it!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Speaking out sometimes will cost you money, but I don\u2019t give a fuck. My pops \u2014 shout out to my pops, Tito, Big T \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s very pro-socialism. He used to be like, \u201cPapi, be careful what you saying\u2026 I come here to the United States so that you can have a good future for yourself and for my grandchildren. Don\u2019t fuck that shit up by saying that we have a painting of Ayatollah Khomeini in the living room.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOK.\u201d<\/p>\n
My thing is just like, I wouldn\u2019t even consider myself woke, or not woke, or label myself as anything. I\u2019m like, \u201cBro, I\u2019m just the guy that exists in the world, and I want you to have the same shit that I got\u2026 I don\u2019t [care] what you are. You could be trans, you could be gay, you could be Black, Asian, whatever the fuck you are, bro. Be you. I\u2019m going to be me. Let\u2019s just make sure that we all get the same shit\u2026 Also, I don\u2019t [care] about what you got going on. I\u2019m a New Yorker. I mind my business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything that people are doing now digitally is stuff that comes from older media .. [It\u2019s about] bringing back some of that in a fresh, modern way. You know that Jadakiss freestyle that you love, back in the day? This is where he spit it first. Or \u201cput your hand in the register\u201d<\/a>? I\u2019m trying to have multiple moments like that in my tenure at Hot 97. It\u2019s about creating New York radio moments that resonate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F or the past month, The Kid Mero \u2014 comedian, podcast host, and writer known for his irreverent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[128,55522,55523,1123,7603,9,11,10,7178,55524,55525],"class_list":{"0":"post-128777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-desus-and-mero","10":"tag-ebro","11":"tag-hip-hop","12":"tag-hot-97","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-radio","17":"tag-the-kid-mero","18":"tag-the-rolling-stone-interview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}