Ava Kerns

Professor DiDomenico

COM375

December 11th, 2023

Mini Discourse & Analysis Paper

Introduction
Have you ever watched something so enticing that you simply could not look away?

Unlike the mundaneness of everyday conversation, live broadcast interviews possess certain

qualities that actively keep their audiences engaged and wanting more. This is especially true in

terms of pop culture interviews with celebrities, politicians, musicians or anyone who has some

form of public notoriety. A prime example of this - a platform that actively relies on enticing

modes of communication to keep their audience absorbed in the content - is the broadcast radio

show The Breakfast Club. In these radio segments, which are hosted by “DJ Envy” and

“Charlemagne Tha God” interview a wide variety of celebrities and musicians on certain pop

culture related phenomenon’s that have become relevant in the artists life. For todays analysis,

we will be taking a close look at the shows informal interview with American singer and

songwriter, Azealia Banks and discussing the ways in which this interview exemplifies the

qualities of discourse and everyday communication. A close examination of this interaction

reveals the power of language in how people construct their social realities and social identities.

In this paper, I will analyze the in-depth details of this interaction in order to highlight the role of

turn taking systems, question design and answer evasiveness in live radio interview settings.

Analysis

To begin, the informality of this interview and the turn-taking system that appears

throughout it is both similar and different in comparison to the turn taking structure that is
expected during formal, live broadcast interviews. The presumed turn-taking structure of a

formal interview, according to Heritage & Clayman (2011), is based on a strict question and

answer model. This model grants the interviewer and interviewee a space to clear the air on

whatever topic may be at hand, while also allowing for specific information to be gathered by

both parties, and the public, in an efficient and timely manner. The interviewer must ensure that

their questions are relevant, insightful and can be asked in a variety of ways (i.e., yes/no, open-

ended, alternative choice & rising intonation) (Heritage & Clayman, p. 218). In the same breath,

interviewees must be prepared to answer a myriad of question at a moment’s notice, without any

prior planning. To examine this further, let’s take a look at some transcript examples from the

Azealia Banks interview in order to fully grasp the turn taking allocations within informal

interview settings.

Segment 1 – 13:04 –> 13:30

001 CHA: hhhh:: You have anxiety?
002 AZE: Of course[I do. ]
003 CHA: [>Yeah, Yeah, yeah< me too]
004 (1.3)
005 AZE: °Yeah.°
006 DJ: I think- I think because of that a::nd you’re >not
007 gonna like this< but I think because of that,
008 Pe::ople (.) don’t get it- actually a chance
009 to::(.)meet and understand Azealia=.
010 CHA: =How many times have I been [tellin told that?]
011 AZE: [Yeah. ]
012 DJ: Th::ey (.) they don’t-
013 CHA: HOW many times have I told you that?(.)
014 exact[ly.]
015 AZE: [well how many times have you been
016 tellin me:: you’re gonna set up my podcast.
017 and you [never(.)do it?]
018 CHA: [O::h hehehehe]
019 AZE: See:: he’s full of shit.
020 CHA: hhhh- Stop it!

From lines 001 to 004, it seems as though that the conversation is within the parameters

of a question/answer segment. After line 004, the point of conversation switches from Azealia

and Char and focuses on DJ. He says his piece and attempts to continue his thoughts on line 012,
however, Charlemagne (“How many times have I been telling you that?” In line 010) derives

from the assumed path of conversation and goes back to engaging with Azealia. This switch, in

turn, inhibits DJ’s full response as the conversation between Charlemagne and Azealia (lines 013

to 018) finishes the segment. The presence of two interviewers alters the structural integrity of a

formal interview seeing that it can lead to either party being cut off, misinterpreted, and so on

(Heritage & Clayman, p. 223).

The second element within this interview that reinforces the structure of communication

and discourse is the layout of the question design. Journalists, radio show hosts, broadcast news

interviewers, they all must find a happy medium between objectivity and adversariness when

crafting their questions (Heritage & Clayman p. 227). As quoted by Clayman “Interviewers serve

as watchdogs … their job is to question public figures on behalf of the public” (Clayman, 2002).

If the interviewer comes off too strong, they risk the accusation of being too bias – but failure to

ask the hard-hitting questions could also put them in an even worse position in the eyes of the

public (Heritage & Clayman p. 228). Within an informal setting, however, it is easier to balance

the double-edged sword of questions due to the lack of rigidity from those conducting the

interview. The structureless question design is recognizable throughout the interview with

Azealia Banks, particularly segment 3.

Segment 3 – 32:31 – 33:05

001 AZE: I was willing to take the chance=
002 DJ: =ri[ght. ]
003 AZE: [you know?]
004 DJ: a lot of people were::
005 CHA: and but- (.) you’re one of the people >that can say<
006 “I made a mistake.” (1.3) voting.=
007 DJ: =well she didn’t vote.
008 CHA: well you didn’t vote for him, did you vote for him?
009 DJ: (2.0) okay¿
010 CHA: DON’T look at me hhhhh (.) like that.
011 DJ: nnno- now you also:: said you like your racist.
012 racist¿ Right?=
013 AZE: =yeah I like my racist rac[ist.]
014 DJ: [what] hh-happened in
015 Tel Aviv?(.) because you said you’ll never go back
016 c[u::z::]
017 AZE: [oh.hhh] I can’t-
018 DJ: because °they were racist?°=
019 AZE: =I can’t go:: back to Tel Aviv.
020 (.)[Is:: Is-]
021 CHA: [you bann]ed from the country::?
022 AZE: ::no?
023 CHA: [oo::hhh¿]
024 AZE: [not bann]ed from the country.(.)
025 Tel Aviv was jus:: a bit (1.2) ::uhhhm (.) INTENSE::
026 it was re:::ally intense.

In this segment, we don’t see a real question until later in the conversation (Line 8) from

Charlemagne: “did you vote for him?”. Before this though, we can see the conversation leading

up this point (Lines 5, 6, 7). Charlemagne starts off the preliminary questioning with the

statement (Line 6): “and but- (.) you’re one of the people >that can say< “I made a mistake.”

(1.3) voting =”. To which DJ responds back (Line 7) with: “=well she didn’t vote.”. the

quickness of DJ’s response and the continuing intonation of his statement “well she didn’t vote”

tells us that a question of if she actually did vote, and who for, is coming up soon (Line 8).

The final element of this interview that is up for examination is the interviewees

evasiveness to the question at hand. Evasiveness, a fancier word for avoid, is essentially when

the interviewee intentionally refuses to answer the question or diverts the question in a different

direction (Heritage & Clayman p. 404). An example of this would be the Bentsen – Quayle

debate of 1988, in which vice president candidate, Dan Quayle, repeatedly evaded the questions

he was being asked and ultimately disrupted the course of the interview. In the breakfast club

interview, Azealia is seen participating in the same act of avoidance.

Segment 2 – 27:25 -> 28:00

001 AZE: I don’t carr::e- I really don’t care
002 about male music(.)hehe=
003 CHA: =didn’t you:: used to be in the studio with
004 Kanye back in the day?
005 AZE: Back:: in the day day ye[ah]
006 CHA: [ye]ah use to- would you
007 help him write?- u::hhh
008 (1.1)
009 AZE: oh¿ (.) I didn’t say all:: that.
009 CHA: Oh¿ what ya’ll jus:t used to work together?
010 (.) collab?=
011 AZE: =No we::: were just talking.
012 CHA: hhhh how were those conversations?
013 AZE: Scattered.
014 CHA: (1.2) hehehe[he]
015 AZE: [ve]r::y scattered.=
016 CHA: =hhhh do you understand what he’s goin through now?
017 AZE: (1.2) u::hhhh
015 CHA: you had your love for Trump moment¿
016 AZE: (.)hhhhh listen I wanted a tax break.
020 (.) okay::? like everybody kee:ps trying to pin::
021 this like (.) lo:::ve for Trump on me but that
022 >wasn’t the point<.

The first evasion appears between Azealia and Charlemagne (Lines 006 to 009). She

takes his assumption of her and Kanye working together and avoids it by stating “I didn’t say all

that” (Line 009), and later reaffirms this (Line 011) by clarifying “No we::: were just talking”.

One line down, Charlemagne asks (Line 012): “hhh how were those conversations?”, to which

Azealia responds with a one-word answer of “scattered” (Line 013). Although Azealia’s answers

are somewhat real answers, they don’t get into the real intention behind those questions, which

were asked with the intention of gauging her true relationship with Kanye West. This

evasiveness is also present in segment 4 as well.

Segment 4 – 43:23 – 43:53

001 DJ: I >don’t know why< people don’t like you Azealia::?
002 [°I don’t know°]
003 CHA: [I don’t ] know either- I like Azealia.
004 AZE: [hehehe]
005 CHA: [list- li]sten did you ever see him do::in coke?
006 AZE: (3.0) *touches Charlemagne’s arm*
007 CHA: heheheh DON’T do:: that I don’t know what’s
008 in that glo::ve=
009 AZE =we’re not gonna do:: that don’t
010 [get me:: in trouble.]
011 CHA: [okay, okay, okay.]

The first question evasiveness subtle (Line 001) when DJ jokes/questions “I >don’t know

why< people don’t like you Azealia?”. Azealia’s response to this is a simple laugh (Line 004),
however, the next question (Line 005) asked by Charlemagne “[list- li]sten did you ever see him

do::in coke?” to which Azealia uses her body language (Line 006) when she touches

Charlemagne’s arm and verbal ques (Lines 009, 010) “=we’re not gonna do:: that don’t [get me::

in trouble.]. Both of which communicate to Charlemagne that this is a question she will not be

answering.
 References

Heritage, J., & Clayman, S. (2011). Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions. John
Wiley & Sons.

Heritage, J., & Clayman, S. (2011). Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions. John
Wiley & Sons.

Clayman, S. E. (2001). Answers and evasions. Language in society, 30(3), 403-442.

Appendix

KEY
CHA: = Charlemagne (Host)
AZE: = Azealia Banks (Guest)
DJ: = DJ Envy (Co-host)

Segment 1 – 13:04 –> 13:30

001 CHA: hhhh:: You have anxiety?

002 AZE: Of course[I do. ]
003 CHA: [>Yeah, Yeah, yeah< me too]
004 (1.3)
005 AZE: °Yeah.°
006 DJ: I think- I think because of that a::nd you’re >not
007 gonna like this< but I think because of that,
008 Pe::ople (.) don’t get it- actually a chance
009 to::(.)meet and understand Azealia=.
010 CHA: =How many times have I been [tellin told that?]
011 AZE: [Yeah. ]
012 DJ: Th::ey (.) they don’t-
013 CHA: HOW many times have I told you that?(.)
014 exact[ly.]
015 AZE: [well how many times have you been
016 tellin me:: you’re gonna set up my podcast.
017 and you [never(.)do it?]
018 CHA: [O::h hehehehe]
019 AZE: See:: he’s full of shit.
020 CHA: hhhh- Stop it!

Segment 2 – 27:25 -> 28:00

001 AZE: I don’t carr::e- I really don’t care
002 about male music(.)hehe=
003 CHA: =didn’t you:: used to be in the studio with
004 Kanye back in the day?
005 AZE: Back:: in the day day ye[ah]
006 CHA: [ye]ah use to- would you
007 help him write?- u::hhh
008 (1.1)
009 AZE: oh¿ (.) I didn’t say all:: that.
009 CHA: Oh¿ what ya’ll jus:t used to work together?
010 (.) collab?=
011 AZE: =No we::: were just talking.
012 CHA: hhhh how were those conversations?
013 AZE: Scattered.
014 CHA: (1.2) hehehe[he]
015 AZE: [ve]r::y scattered.=
016 CHA: =hhhh do you understand what he’s goin through now?
017 AZE: (1.2) u::hhhh
015 CHA: you had your love for Trump moment¿
016 AZE: (.)hhhhh listen I wanted a tax break.
020 (.) okay::? like everybody kee:ps trying to pin:: 021
this like (.) lo:::ve for Trump on me but that 022
>wasn’t the point<.

Segment 3 – 32:31 – 33:05

001 AZE: I was willing to take the chance=

002 DJ: =ri[ght. ]
003 AZE: [you know?]
004 DJ: a lot of people were::
005 CHA: and but- (.) you’re one of the people >that can say<
006 “I made a mistake.” (1.3) voting.=
006 DJ: =well she didn’t vote.
007 CHA: well you didn’t vote for him, did you vote for him?
008 DJ: (2.0) okay¿
009 CHA: DON’T look at me hhhhh (.) like that.
010 DJ: nnno- now you also:: said you like your racist.
011 racist¿ Right?=
011 AZE: =yeah I like my racist rac[ist.]
012 DJ: [what] hh-happened in 013
Tel Aviv?(.) because you said you’ll never go back
014 c[u::z::]
013 AZE: [oh.hhh] I can’t-
014 DJ: because °they were racist?°=
015 AZE: =I can’t go:: back to Tel Aviv.
016 (.)[Is:: Is-]
017 CHA: [you bann]ed from the country::?
018 AZE: ::no?
018 CHA: [oo::hhh¿]
019 AZE: [not bann]ed from the country.(.)
020 Tel Aviv was jus:: a bit (1.2) ::uhhhm (.) INTENSE::
021 it was re:::ally intense.

Segment 4 – 43:23 – 43:53

001 DJ: I >don’t know why< people don’t like you Azealia::?
002 [°I don’t know°]
002 CHA: [I don’t ] know either- I like Azealia.
003 AZE: [hehehe]
004 CHA: [list- li]sten did you ever see him do::in coke?
005 AZE: (3.0) *touches Charlemagne’s arm*
006 CHA: heheheh DON’T do:: that I don’t know what’s
007 in that glo::ve=
007 AZE =we’re not gonna do:: that don’t
008 [get me:: in trouble.]
008 CHA: [okay, okay, okay.]
009 DJ: You:: don’t get her in trouble?
010 CHA: yeah me don’t ge[t her in trouble. ]
011 DJ: [me- >don’t get her<] Oh my goodness.
012 CHA: uuuhh: (.) [in April-]
013 DJ: [hhhhhh] oh boy.
014 CHA: you posted a- a message on IG sayin (.)
015 you was:: drugged and raped. (.)
016. which was concerning¿
015 AZE: [yes.]
016 DJ: [well was] that- was that true? Or?=
017 AZE: =yeah (.) I got GHB::’d.
018 CHA: °what° is that?
019 (1.3)
020 AZE: som::e white boy shit .hhhhh