Music
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Made for Now? 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Include Janet Jackson and LL Cool J
Will this be the year Janet Jackson finally gets her due as one of the most important icons in music? After four prior nominations, will LL Cool J be formally recognized as one of hip-hop’s pioneers? And nearly 40 years after their last platinum-selling release, Masterjam, will Rufus and Chaka Khan finally take their rightful…
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10 Reasons Why Kanye West Going to Africa to Finish His Album Yandhi Might Work Out for Us All (It Also Might Not)
Kanye West—you may have heard of him—is on the move. On the heels of recent comments about the 13th Amendment and his apparent undying love for our current president and emergency alerter, Kanye has decided to venture to Somewhere In Africa to finish recording his second (you could argue third) album of 2018, Yandhi. The…
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André 3000 Said: 'The South Got Something to Say.' Aquemini, Which Turns 20 Today, Said It All
On September 29, 1998, Outkast dropped their third album, Aquemini, so named after the portmanteau of Big and Dre’s zodiac signs, Aquarius and Gemini, respectively. It was their level all the way up album. The Source, still relevant at the time, gave it the vaunted 5 Mic rating, making it a classic. The album is…
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A Ridiculous Story About Getting Petty Larcenied by a Crackhead 20 Years Ago to the Day on September 29, 1998
On September 29, 1998, I was a sophomore at Morehouse College. I didn’t live on-campus. I was living in the westside of Atlanta house on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd SW that my grandmother lived in for much of my youth. At some point, my cousin bought her a house in Adamsville—two miles west on…
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Fit for a Queen: Gladys Knight, Ledisi Among Singers Tapped to Honor Aretha Franklin at the American Music Awards
The Aretha Franklin tribute at this year’s American Music Awards will pay tribute to the Queen of Soul’s gospel roots. According to the AP, Dick clark productions will tap Gladys Knight and Ledisi to take on the iconic singer’s “Amazing Grace” album on Oct. 9, as will Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, and CeCe Winans. Rickey…
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In Honor of #NationalOneHitWonderDay, Here’s a List of Our Favorite One-Hit Wonders
Who knew there was an actual day set aside to celebrate those who came, dropped their one interesting hit on us and then faded back into obscurity—never to be heard from again. There are some one-hit wonders who have managed to rise back up again for an encore, but for the most part, they bless…
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Ja-Rule Called Himself the LeBron James of Rap. Let's Help Him Find Some More Appropriate Analogies
Well, we’ve come to that once-a-year-event where Ja-Rule manages to sneak himself into a headline. This time, it’s over a claim he made that he is the LeBron James of rap, raising questions that Ja may not actually know who LeBron James is and what he does. Ja-Rule (birth name: Jeffrey Atkins) gave himself the…
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Jay-Z Tops Forbes List of Highest-Paid Rappers; Soulja Boy Snubbed Again
Despite ignoring The Root’s calls to become our employer, the hip-hop artist responsible for killing the spiders and taking out the trash at the Knowles-Carter compound managed to make enough money last year to purchase the 64 box of Crayons with the sharpener included for Sir and Rumi and also managed to top the list…
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Cardi B and Drake Dominate BET's Hip Hop Awards Nominations
Continuing a trend that played out on the Billboard charts earlier this year, Drake and Cardi B are sitting happy atop the BET Hip Hop Awards heap this year, racking up 21 nominations collectively. Drake leads the entire field with 11 nominations, including nods for Album of the Year, for Scorpion, and Lyricist of the…
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Afropunk’s Owners Get Real About the Festival's Growth, Recent Controversies
For Matthew Morgan and Jocelyn Cooper, it has been a long, 15-year journey to get the Afropunk Festival from the small, local hangout for passionate message-board friends in the alt-punk space congregating in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, NY, to the internationally renowned entertainment juggernaut it is today. Borne out of a titular documentary exploring…