When Will Hip-Hop Have Its #MeToo Reckoning? By Danielle Jackson Commentary It has already, time and time again.
Why Beyoncé Placed HBCU’s at the Center of American Life By Danielle Jackson Commentary The singer’s latest performance helps expand the possibilities of what it looks like to be a black thinking person.
The Escapism of Bruce Springsteen By Matt Giles Commentary The appeal of Springsteen’s “Baby, we were born to run!”
A Kendrick Lamar Syllabus By Danielle Jackson Reading List The Pulitzer Prize-winner’s work always feels honest, as writers have found when they dive deep into his literary influences.
Bob Dorough and the Magic Number By Tom Maxwell Commentary How the songwriter’s “Schoolhouse Rock!” taught an entire generation.
Finding the Soundtrack to My Desert Life By Aaron Gilbreath Feature In the ’90s, discovering the music of Friends of Dean Martinez helped Aaron Gilbreath stop running and appreciate life in his native Arizona.
Everyone’s Gotta Make a Living By Michelle Weber Highlight Composer Philip Glass was a plumber, a mover, a taxi driver — and as a child, a clerk in his father’s record store, where he learned a key lesson.
Miles and Coltrane’s Milwaukee Gigs That Never Happened By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight They were scheduled to play Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1959. So why did the gigs never happen?
Tearing the Heart from the Music Industry By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Digitization has removed the humanity from the music business, from collaboration to mutual respect.
Longreads Best of 2017: Arts & Culture Writing By Longreads Reading List We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in arts and culture writing.
Jay-Z Opens Up About Race in America, Therapy, and ‘4:44’ By Danielle Jackson Commentary The hip-hop artist sits down for a wide-ranging interview with NYT executive editor Dean Baquet.
On the Contentious Borders of the American South By Danielle Jackson Highlight Zandria F. Robinson narrates her coming of age Memphis while examining contemporary southernness.
Destroying Music, One Playlist at a Time By Aaron Gilbreath Commentary Spotify’s corporate-branded playlists are not the solution to the music industry’s problems. They’re a new problem.
Bronx Rapper Cardi B Became a Pop Sensation, But Will She Make it Last? By Danielle Jackson Highlight Understanding what the rapper means to her audience, beyond the flash of celebrity.
Bootlegging Jane’s Addiction By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Aaron Gilbreath considers the impact a live Jane’s Addiction recording has had on him, and the effect heroin had on the band’s — and his own — creativity.
In the Wake of Weinstein and #MeToo, Why Does R. Kelly Still Have an Audience? By Danielle Jackson Highlight Women of color who have been singled out by sexual predators deserve our collective fury too.
When Life Imitates Country Music By Michelle Weber Highlight “The trills in his notes sputter and lift. He sounds like an animal in trouble. Like a lounge singer who’s lost his mind.”
The Athletes Who Felt Seen by Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” By Danielle Jackson Commentary The modern hip-hop classic reflects growing up in Compton “one thousand percent.”
Sade’s Eternal Cool By Danielle Jackson Highlight How the soul singer Sade Adu has maintained her pop cultural relevance for more than 30 years.
The Opera Lover Who Composed “Bat Out of Hell” By Ben Huberman Highlight On the origins of the quintessential rock aria, and the powerhouse singer that served as its muse.
Can Detroit’s Legendary Techno Scene Survive Gentrification? By Ben Huberman Highlight On the growing tension between techno’s gritty origins and its current velvet-rope tendencies.
Reflections of a Lifelong Metalhead By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight One aging Sabbath fan assesses the power and necessity of loud, dark music.
Elvis Has Left the Makeup Trailer By Michelle Weber Highlight What set Tom Petty on the path to music stardom? A childhood encounter with Elvis.
A History of American Protest Music: This Is the Hammer That Killed John Henry By Tom Maxwell Feature How a folk hero inspired one of the most covered songs in American history.
A History of American Protest Music: ‘We Have Got Tools and We Are Going to Succeed’ By Tom Maxwell Feature Lead Belly, Lee Hays, and the hammer songs that powered the folk movement.
The Ubiquity and Brilliance of Tom Petty By Matt Giles Commentary The musician always seemed to be more of a friend to his fans than a distant celebrity.
On Why Joni Mitchell Deserves Her Due By Krista Stevens Highlight Carl Wilson argues that her genius has been overlooked for far too long, because of her gender.
The Brief Career and Self-Imposed Exile of Jutta Hipp, Jazz Pianist By Longreads Feature Europe’s “First Lady of Jazz” moved to New York in 1955, played for five more years, then disappeared — while royalty checks piled up with her record label.
Billy Bragg: Skiffle Songs Are Railroad Songs By Pam Mandel Commentary “The British kids were trying to escape the past as quickly as they could and the guitar offered them the best means to do that.”
Nina Simone’s Three Years of Freedom By Danielle Jackson Highlight At Guernica, Katherina Grace Thomas turns a lens on the years Nina Simone spent in Liberia in the mid-1970s.
