In 2017, rapper Kidd Creole was living a quiet life. The artist, who achieved fame in the early 1980s as an original member of watershed hip-hop collective Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, worked at a copy shop in Manhattan. He no longer received attention — let alone the adulation …
Read More »Residente's Latest Fight: Challenging the Meaning of 'America'
When the Puerto Rican rapper Residente hears people from the United States refer to themselves as “Americans,” the word often grates him, snagging his ear like fabric caught on a nail. In much of the country, it’s a word that bounces around freely, rolling off tongues without a second thought …
Read More »Lars Ulrich, Stevie Nicks, Axl Rose and More Pay Tribute to Taylor Hawkins
Lars Ulrich, Axl Rose, Stevie Nicks, Ringo Starr, Queen’s Roger Taylor and more paid tribute to Taylor Hawkins as the music world turned to social media to remember the Foo Fighters drummer following his shocking and sudden death Friday at the age of 50. “Thank you Taylor.. Thank you for …
Read More »Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Remember Taylor Hawkins: 'A True Artist to His Very Core'
Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson remembered Taylor Hawkins in a pair of poignant social media posts Saturday, hours after the Foo Fighters drummer’s death at the age of 50. Hawkins and Dave Grohl together delivered the induction speech when the prog-rock legends were welcomed into the Rock and Roll …
Read More »Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead at 50
Taylor Hawkins, the jovial, ferocious drummer for Foo Fighters for more than two decades, died Friday at the age of 50. The band announced the musician’s death in a statement but did not reveal a cause. “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our …
Read More »From Cuba to Russia, Rappers Are Being Targeted in Record Numbers
Denis Solís moved to Novi Sad, Serbia, in November 2021 — quietly, wearily, without a job lined up. Of his large and tightknit extended family, only two cousins joined him. And now, every day, when he leaves his apartment to wander unfamiliar streets in search of work — as a …
Read More »The Future of Música Mexicana is a Family Band Led by a 15-Year-Old TikTok Sensation
Growing up in Washington’s Yakima Valley, a fruit-growing agricultural region dotted with small towns and apple orchards, Yahritza Martínez and her four siblings were surrounded by Mexican music. Latinos make up more than half of Yakima County’s population, and many of them are migrants from Mexico‘s western state of Michoacán, …
Read More »Ed Sheeran, J Balvin Hit Studio and Party in Mansion for Surprise Collaborations
Here’s an unlikely pairing with an even more unlikely origin story: Sometime last year, J Balvin and Ed Sheeran were working out at a gym in New York when they suddenly crossed paths. “It was just me and him very early in the morning. I recognised his voice when he …
Read More »Chance the Rapper's 'Child of God' Is a Single, an Art Exhibit, and a Reawakening
At the top of the year, Chance the Rapper seemed to be having the time of his life in Accra, Ghana. On Instagram, he posted his treks around the city and the woods, posed in front of incredible architecture, and even sat down with the country’s president. “I have so …
Read More »Cardi B Joins Summer Walker, SZA for Sizzling 'No Love' Remix
Summer Walker has dropped a remix of her sultry single “No Love” with an assist from Cardi B. The original single, which also features SZA, appears on Walker’s Still Over It, released in November. On the remix, Cardi B — who provided narration on Still Over It‘s opening track, “Bitter,” …
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