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Category: Scenes Lists & Things

Scenes Lists & Things

Anti-Crack Raps

mreeves June 7, 2020 No Comments Hip-Hop 1980s

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.

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Scenes Lists & Things

Sunshine Rap

mreeves February 17, 2019 No Comments Hip-Hop 1990sHip-Hop 2000s

Revisit a time when West Coast rap musicians embraced chunky funk and soul loops while rejecting the corporatist “bling” era.

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Scenes Lists & Things Spotlight

Sisters With Voices: R&B Girl Groups in the 90s

mreeves March 5, 2018 No Comments R&B

Sisters With Voices. Total. Destiny’s Child. You didn’t need a lyric sheet to understand the legion of R&B girl groups who dominated urban pop music…

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Scenes Lists & Things

Remembering Hip-Hop’s Response to 9/11

mreeves September 11, 2017 No Comments Hip-Hop 2000s

This 2011 post for Rhapsody attempted to cover the hip-hop community’s response to the 9/11 attacks.

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Scenes Lists & Things

A note on Tyler, The Creator’s Scum Fuck Flower Boy

mreeves July 22, 2017 1 Comment Hip-Hop 2017Tyler the Creator

Tyler, The Creator’s Scum Fuck Flower Boy is a good album — and that’s coming from someone who has criticized Tyler quite a bit over the…

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Scenes Lists & Things

Where is the new turntablism?

mreeves May 30, 2017 1 Comment Skratch Bastid

Last weekend, I went to Skratch Bastid’s BBQ afternoon party at the Phoenix Hotel. It was fun, if not as decadent and raunchy (or “messy,” as…

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Scenes Lists & Things

The Funky Soul Dance Craze

mreeves March 6, 2017 No Comments PlaylistsSoul

  Herein lies the “Land of the 1000 Dances,” a Shangri-la of popcorn grooves and sock-hop fun. Everybody knows how to “Twist & Shout,” but…

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Scenes Lists & Things

The World of LA BTS

mreeves February 26, 2017 No Comments Electronic MusicHip-Hop 2000sHip-Hop 2010sPlaylists

The Los Angeles electronic music scene is unlike any other in the world. For one thing, it is closely-knit – its main participants have usually…

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Scenes Lists & Things

R&B’s Doo-Wop Revival

mreeves January 28, 2017 No Comments PlaylistsR&B

During the second installment of The New Edition Story mini-series, one of the characters makes a derisive comment about the group’s doo-wop misadventure, Under the Blue Moon. The album…

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Scenes Lists & Things

R&B Nostalgia

mreeves November 30, 2016 No Comments R&B

Surf the nooks and crannies of YouTube and SoundCloud, and you’ll find plenty of homage to vintage contemporary R&B – that golden period in the…

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