Soul and gospel singer Candi Staton let no hardship stand in the way of her voice, one that helped define the music of her generation.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
Working Black Friday in the Rich Part of Town
“To be a service worker is to be in constant deference to Karens, but in retail, a Karen can be anyone.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Coach’s Kid
“On defense Dad put me at linebacker, a position that allowed me to unleash some of the harmful energy I had previously aimed at myself.”
Posted inTop 5
Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Human ingenuity in the face of crumbling infrastructure. One man’s quest to save a bird that might already be extinct. The cultural schism dividing a major musical genre. A personal essay braiding space and family. And a jungle trek gone horribly, horribly awry. These are our editors’ favorite reads of the week. 1. The Balkans’ […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill,” and the End of Music Charts As We Knew Them
Thanks to season four of Stranger Things, Kate Bush’s song, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” has topped the charts, 37 years after its release. Nate Rogers takes a look at how this happened, and what it means for the music industry, and especially older, legacy acts. Drenched in gated reverb and woozy […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
After the Miracle Drug
“Cystic fibrosis once guaranteed an early death—but a medical breakthrough has given many patients a chance to live decades longer than expected. What do they do now?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Confessions of a Conscious Rap Fan
Mychal Denzel Smith’s musical upbringing sounds a lot like mine: copious amounts of hip-hop that was deemed “underground,” “backpack,” or (perhaps most conspicuously brandished) “conscious.” Elitism disguised as authenticity. Yet, with the recent returns of Black Star and Kendrick Lamar, Smith found himself unmoved — and in this crystalline essay, he unpacks exactly why. The […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Old World, Young Africa
“Part one of a series on how the youth boom is changing the continent, and beyond.”
