★★★☆☆
When the British virtual band Gorillaz began recording its fifth studio album, “Humanz,” in 2016, its creators, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, invited collaborators to join...
★★★★★
At the end of “Ab-Soul’s Outro,” the penultimate track on Kendrick Lamar’s 2011 debut album “Section.80,” the Compton, Calif. rapper emphatically declared, “I’m not...
Art, as a form of public speech, is inherently political and engages with existing thoughts and ideologies. After a remarkably eventful year in the political and social spheres, art and culture have naturally...
“Migos is bigger than the Beatles.” What started as a satirical comparison has become a near serious debate. Sparked by the inescapable single “Bad and Boujee,” which topped the Billboard charts...
Nat King Cole. Ella Fitzgerald. Chuck Berry. Aretha Franklin. Kendrick Lamar.
When it comes to understanding the power of black artists in the American musical landscape, there is certainly no shortage...
★★★☆☆
Lupe Fiasco’s career has been tumultuous in recent months; after a series of tweets in response to his ostensibly anti-Semitic lyrics and talks of an early retirement in 2016, the...
Detroit rapper Big Sean has consistently produced music that reflects on both the demanding nature of the rap industry and his own hard work and struggle toward success. In this sense, “I Decided.,”...
Self-imposed exile seems to do something special for musicians.
In the wake of his infamous encounter with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West retreated to Hawaii and crafted...
★★☆☆☆
Best known for producing the “Mad Men” intro, Columbus, Ohio, native Ramble Jon Krohn — also known as RJD2 — recently released his sixth solo album, “Dame Fortune,” on...
One was a 13-year-old Canadian YouTube star with pop stardom in his future. Another was a teen heartthrob in U.K. band One Direction, touring the world with hit love songs like "That’s What Makes You...
This week, Atlanta rapper Future, born Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, became the fastest hip-hop artist in history to have three No. 1 albums after his latest offering, "EVOL," debuted at the top of Billboard’s...
"I specifically ordered Persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple Persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh."
Posted July 29, 2010, this absurd remark is exactly what most...
