black music
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'To Be Young, Queer, and Black': Janelle Monae Gets Revealing with Lizzo for Them.
Coachella kicked off again on Friday with one of our favorite shapeshifters, Janelle Monae, in a headlining spot. In the past decade, the multitalented artist has been, at turns, the ArchAndroid, an Electric Lady, a no longer-Hidden Figure, and, most recently, a brilliant and Dirty Computer. “The beauty of art is that it reveals itself…
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India.Arie's Acoustic Soul Was Successful in Its Time. I Think It Would Be Even More Successful in Today's Pro-Black Climate
Recently in black America, I hosted a meeting for the VSB x Mahogany Books (a black bookstore in Washington, D.C.) Monthly Book Club where we discussed the book, She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Joan Morgan, author of the famed book When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost. The book…
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Singer Andre Williams, the 'Godfather of Rap', Dead at 82
R&B singer-producer Andre Williams, whose indelible musical journey included collaborative efforts with Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Ray Charles, has died at the age of 82. On Wednesday, Williams’ record label, Pravda Records, announced his passing on Facebook, paying tribute to their fallen star. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of…
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’80s, Baby: Check Out the Totally Rad Retro Makeovers One Artist Gave a Few of Our Faves
No, it’s not #ThrowbackThursday—but we’re willing to call it #WayBackWednesday, because we’re knee-deep in nostalgia after seeing a series of artworks immortalizing some of our faves as 1980s icons (h/t Hot New Hip Hop). To some, these may just be cute reimaginings, but for those of us *cough* who were there the first time, the…
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Icon, Unfiltered: Stephanie Mills Talks Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, and Why the Music Industry Doesn't Honor Black Artists
Stephanie Mills has got opinions. Lots of ‘em. The Grammy-award winning singer and actress best known for playing Dorothy in the original Broadway production of The Wiz is not one for holding her tongue. She’s now a woman of a certain age—read: She has no time for the BS. “I’m not apologizing about anything I…
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10 Thoughts About Solange’s New Album, When I Get Home, Because Enough Time Has Passed to Talk About It For Real, For Real
At the intersection of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, at midnight on March 1, 2019, Solange Knowles, aka Solange, aka Solo, aka The Knowles We All Love to Love, dropped her fourth album—the one right after the expectations-creating A Seat at the Table, so we all care—When I Get Home (WIGH). I had…
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20 Years of Twerking: A Retrospective of ‘Back That Azz Up’
One thing’s for sure: The words “Cash Money Records taking over for the ‘99 into the 2000″ will always yield a visceral reaction, a sense of urgency. Move or be moved, because it’s about to go down. But ahead of (what has now become) an iconic phrase, there’s a trigger warning, if you will. Let’s…
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Black Myself: Rhiannon Giddens Forms Supergroup ‘Our Native Daughters’ and Reclaims the Soul of Country Music
Four women. In 1966, Nina Simone famously sang the strikingly diverse yet intersecting narratives of four fictional-but-unforgettable black women. Now, four women who could be considered Simone’s spiritual daughters—award-winning musician and composer Rhiannon Giddens, acclaimed neo-folk singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah, classical and folk artist Leyla McCalla (formerly of Giddens’ Grammy-winning band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops), and…
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Unreleased Music From Beyoncé Leaked and Somebody's Probably Getting Fired
It’s no secret that Beyoncé has no respect for our edges, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she’d release music at some ungodly-ass hour. We learned that when the Beyoncé digital album dropped in 2013, and ever since that faithful night, we’ve all been on the edge of our seats in anticipation for…