“Queens Get the Money”: The Story of Mobb Deep’s ‘The Infamous’ at 25
Paul Thompson, a deft and versatile writer, delivers an engrossing and utterly entertaining profile of Mobb Deep’s The Infamous, the 25-year old album that would vault rappers Prodigy and Havoc — one a Queensbridge native, the other a NYC nomad — into the stratosphere of rap amid the Big Apple’s glory days holding the mic.
“Everyone Is So Afraid”: COVID-19’s Impact on the American Restaurant Industry
“For Café Rakka in Tennessee and its fellow restaurants nationwide, the Coronavirus pandemic has become a crisis unlike any in living memory. With tolls both human and financial, there’s no guidebook for how to move forward.”
Pure Magic: The Oral History of Prince’s Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show
“As the heavens opened up and rain poured down, the Purple One ran through a handful of covers and some of his own songs, delivering an iconic set on the biggest stage possible and only expanding his legend.”
“You Can’t Recover If You’re Dead”
Overdose-prevention spaces save lives, but are curiously excluded from the American approach to addiction recovery. An investigation into why.
How “Summer Girls” Explains a Bunch of Hits—and the Music of 1999
LFO’s breakout song is remembered today primarily as an ode to Abercrombie & Fitch and the girls who wore it. But there’s a deeper story behind the light-hearted song—one that includes tragedy and paints a picture of what music was like at the turn of the century.
A Sprawling Birthday Celebration for R.E.M.’s ‘Reckoning’
Breaking down the band’s 1984 masterpiece track-by-track, and talking about its magic with some of the band’s collaborators.
Don’t Let It ‘Go’ Away: The Frantic, Furious Making of a Cult Movie Classic
Twenty years after its release, director Doug Liman, screenwriter John August, and others recall the production of their 1999 indie film Go.
The Ethical Dilemma Facing Silicon Valley’s Next Generation
At Stanford University, a farm system for tech giants, “students are reconsidering whether working at Google or Facebook is landing a dream job or selling out to craven corporate interests.”
The Cities That Amazon HQ2 Left Behind
Was Amazon’s HQ2 search a real contest, or a foregone decision rooted in a polarized economic system that funnels wealth toward a few major cities?
Three Feet From God: An Oral History of Nirvana ‘Unplugged’
Twenty-five years ago, Nirvana turned down their amps and played the most memorable, original, and tender performance of their career. Here’s how history was made.