“My two-steps-from-sexagenarian ass is old enough to know all the avant funk-jazz sources of [Kamasi] Washington and company’s aesthetic (Horace Tapscott, Sanders, Tyner, The Crusaders, Stanley Cowell, Strata East, Black Jazz) so The Epic couldn’t reach my ears as a spiritual, political and musical revelation. But it has been fascinating nonetheless to witness young friends […]
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Posted inCuration, Nonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Bittersweet Escape for Afghans From a Music School Gone Silent
“What will happen to Afghan programs like the Zohra Orchestra as the Taliban regains control of the country?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
“In My Mind I Was Already Gone”: The Endless End of Outkast
“Twenty years after the release of ‘Speakerboxxx’/’The Love Below,’ we chart how the creation of André 3000 and Big Boi’s fifth studio album became the start of Outkast’s ending.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Evolution of the Hip-Hop Hunk
“One fan’s journey through rap’s pursuit of the female gaze, from LL Cool J to Tupac to Drake.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
An Interview With Black Thought
“I think attention, or the lack thereof, during one’s career has the potential to make or break one’s journey. And during the times when there was less attention on me, it was just what I wanted and needed. But what happens when you have something that propels you from one level of celebrity to another […]
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Twin Cities resistance, psychedelic self-reinvention, guardians of the ranch, a file of fragments, and Pantone’s political white.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How “The Shadow of State Abandonment” Fostered Then Foiled Young Thug’s YSL
“Atlanta’s YSL (Young Stoner Life) project has been about place-making as much as it’s been about making music. But what happens when the state interferes?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Ukraine’s Death-Defying Art Rescuers
“When Putin invaded, a historian in Kyiv saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger. So he set out to save as much of it as he could.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Hellhounds on His Trail: Mack McCormick’s Long, Tortured Quest to Find the Real Robert Johnson
“For decades, the Houston folklorist labored over his biography of the legendary bluesman. Seven years after McCormick’s death, the book is finally out—and so are the secrets long kept by its troubled author.”
