This chapter from a 2014-2015 series on early rap music focuses on how artists responded to the crack plague of the mid-to-late 1980s. It’s an example of how the culture has always illustrated current events throughout its history.
View More Anti-Crack Raps
The start of June brought a new groundswell of songs generated by widespread protest against police brutality and racist violence. It fulfills a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of recorded rap: when a crisis hits the black community, the musicians shift to address it.
View More 2020 Protest Raps: Music for the American Spring
As the coronavirus epidemic continues to roil the globe, home has taken on a new urgency. This playlist assembled around a word is fraught with meaning.
View More Rap Songs for Home
Born in the 1980s, hip-house was a shotgun marriage between two hot springs of black innovation. Its reputation lies somewhere between unalloyed club bliss and pop kitsch.
View More First Wave Hip-House: 1988-1990
George Lucas’ Star Wars hit America like a pop culture meteor in the summer of 1977. The R&B scene wasn’t immune from the impact.
View More Star Wars Funk