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 RapsCategory: Scenes Lists & Things
Sunshine Rap
Revisit a time when West Coast rap musicians embraced chunky funk and soul loops while rejecting the corporatist “bling” era.
View More Sunshine RapSisters With Voices: R&B Girl Groups in the 90s
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…
View More Sisters With Voices: R&B Girl Groups in the 90sRemembering Hip-Hop’s Response to 9/11
This 2011 post for Rhapsody attempted to cover the hip-hop community’s response to the 9/11 attacks.
View More Remembering Hip-Hop’s Response to 9/11A note on Tyler, The Creator’s Scum Fuck Flower Boy
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…
View More A note on Tyler, The Creator’s Scum Fuck Flower BoyWhere is the new turntablism?
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…
View More Where is the new turntablism?The Funky Soul Dance Craze
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…
View More The Funky Soul Dance CrazeThe World of LA BTS
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…
View More The World of LA BTSR&B’s Doo-Wop Revival
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…
View More R&B’s Doo-Wop RevivalR&B Nostalgia
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…
View More R&B Nostalgia