Kendrick Lamar played on the term “the Great American Game” with a polarizing, Samuel L. Jackson-narrated performance that felt like a Spike Lee Joint in music form. Like every Kendrick Lamar offering, the 13-minute set left observers with a lot of takeaways — but they aren’t all good things. Some …
Read More »The Led Zeppelin Documentary Attempts to Show the Rock Gods As People
From the start, director Bernard MacMahon and writer and producer Allison McGourty knew there would be obstacles involved in making a documentary about Led Zeppelin, especially one done with the band’s cooperation. This is a group that has famously and diligently guarded its legacy, always maintaining a sense of mystique …
Read More »Why Was Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime Show So Controversial?
Kendrick Lamar‘s halftime performance at Sunday’s Super Bowl was the most-watched in history, with more than 133 million people tuning in — and it also may have been the most uncompromising. In a slot that every previous artist has reserved mostly for greatest hits, Lamar only played bits of two …
Read More »The War and Treaty Refuse to be 'Kumbaya People'
In the past few years, the uplifting husband-and-wife vocal duo the War and Treaty started showing up everywhere. Since signing a major-label record deal in 2022, Michael and Tanya Trotter — known for their blend of rootsy R&B and country gospel — have become mainstays at awards shows, performed at …
Read More »'Becoming Led Zeppelin': What's in the Authorized Documentary?
The new documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin charts the origins and early days of the influential rock & roll band through new interviews with surviving members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, and a never-before-heard archival interview with late drummer John Bonham. The film opened in theaters this month, …
Read More »Janis Ian Is a Living, Breathing Trailblazer. Let's Listen to Her
It’s easy to get tongue-tied when you’re on the phone talking to Janis Ian. This is the woman whose introduction to the cultural zeitgeist as a guitar-toting child of liberal Jewish atheists was met with death threats; the prolific writer who gave voice to girls who yearn for a friend, …
Read More »The Late Irv Gotti Personified the Highs and Lows of Genius
The loss of Irv Gotti, who died last week at the age of 54, is immense. The Hollis, Queens native was a relic from an era when being a hip-hop multi-hyphenate wasn’t about diversifying your portfolio but a passion for hip-hop culture. In his time, he was a DJ, an …
Read More »Marianne Faithfull: 'I'm Not a Survivor, I'm<em> </em>So<em> </em>Much More Than That'
This story was originally published in the April 17, 1980, issue ofRolling Stone. “God, I was beautiful.” Blonde hair in her face, Marianne Faithfull is hanging halfway off the bed in her New York hotel room so she can reach a blazer thrown over a chair. She fingers a huge …
Read More »The Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed From Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Performance
Kendrick Lamar got the world talking with his attention-grabbing Super Bowl halftime on Sunday night. As the Pulitzer-winning hip-hop legend took centerstage in the New Orleans’ Caesar Superdome, everyone wondered what he might do — and the main question was whether he’d perform “Not Like Us,” the ubiquitous, chart-topping diss …
Read More »Kendrick Lamar Scores a Hip-Hop Touchdown at Super Bowl 2025
Kendrick Lamar struck a chord at the Super Bowl, and it was definitely a major. The hip-hop legend triumphed in his halftime show at the big game in the New Orleans’ Caesar Superdome, in the middle of a lopsided Super Bowl where the Philadelphia Eagles ethered the Kansas City Chiefs. …
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