Music Features

A section of Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y. was renamed Hip Hop Boulevard in 2016, in recognition of the apartment building where the music is said to have been born.

50 years ago, teenagers partied in the Bronx — and gave rise to hip-hop

4:40pm August 07, 2023

In August 1973, an 18-year-old DJ Kool Herc played his sister's back-to-school fundraiser in the rec room of their apartment building. But he and his friends sparked something much bigger.

Sir Mix-a-Lot, Macklemore, Lil Mosey & Ishmael Butler. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How Seattle rap crashed the mainstream by swimming against the current

4:38pm August 07, 2023

by Daudi Abe

United more by strategy than sound, the city's stars are fans-first nonconformists, who have often succeeded by doing the opposite of what the industry deems bankable.

50 years of hip-hop: A genre born from a backyard party

6:14pm August 05, 2023

by Juana Summers

Fifty years ago this month, some teenagers threw a back-to-school party in the Bronx. Today that party is considered by many "the birth of hip-hop."

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Denzel Curry, City Girls, 2 Live Crew and Trina. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How Miami rap made overindulgence the new baseline

1:59pm August 05, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

The 305's hedonistic reputation is not unearned, but there is artistry in its debauchery, and a young generation reinvesting the rewards of their predecessors' battles against censorship.

Master P, Curren$y, Lil Wayne and Big Freedia. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How New Orleans soldiered through struggle and gave rap its bounce

4:21pm August 04, 2023

by Stephen Kearse

Even before a pair of hometown labels pushed past gatekeepers, NOLA mastered a reliable alchemy: no sound so straight you couldn't swing it, no hurdle so high you couldn't dance over it.

Eric B. & Rakim change the flow of rap with 'Paid in Full'

11:39am August 04, 2023

by Phil Harrell

With their 1987 debut album Paid in Full, Eric B. & Rakim introduced internal rhyme schemes to rap, and changed the flow of hip-hop forever.

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JD Samson, Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman recently reformed as Le Tigre for a European and North American tour.

Music & Culture

Le Tigre's feminist rage has always been fun

9:02am August 04, 2023

The synth-pop band just finished its first tour in nearly 20 years. After a recent show in Brooklyn, two longtime fans reflect on why this music still hasn't lost its power.

Post Malone chases happiness, chicken nuggets and love in new album 'Austin'

8:25am August 03, 2023

Hip-hop superstar Post Malone shares stories of fatherhood, self-doubt and why he named his latest album after his real name.

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Going back to her earliest days as a performer, Sinéad O'Connor has always rode an uneasy tension between suffering and liberation.

Music & Culture

Sinéad O'Connor was our freedom singer, our keener and our feminist killjoy

3:33pm August 02, 2023

by Jason King

O'Connor committed to a lifetime program of dissent, discontent and refusal against establishment evils. She carried all that swirling vehemence in her body and exorcised it through her howling music.

Travis Scott, UGK, Megan Thee Stallion and Geto Boys. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How Houston became the self-sustaining heart of Texas rap

2:46pm August 01, 2023

by Kiana Fitzgerald

Isolated at the bottom of the map, the Bayou City had to build its scene from scratch, and its influence inched ever outward. Today you can hear its pulse everywhere, beating slow and low.