Music Features

The Clipse, Missy Elliott, Rico Nasty & Wale. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How the DMV and Virginia Beach made rap safe (and profitable!) for eccentrics

1:30pm July 17, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

From one little resort town came some of weirdest, boldest changes to hip-hop's sound. A few hours away, flowery backpack raps and a splash of mambo sauce helped the nation's capital break through.

MC Lyte, Young M.A, Jay-Z & A$AP Rocky. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How New York defined rap's attitude

1:20pm July 17, 2023

by Judnick Mayard

Beneath the 8 million stories in the culture's birthplace lies a bigger one: the story of American Blackness, which crystallized in a music that can't and won't stop growing.

Gang Starr, Cousin Stizz, BIA, Mr. Lif. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR.

Music & Culture

How Boston quietly triumphed as a seminal rap city

1:19pm July 17, 2023

by Dart Adams

From beginnings so humble that local labels left their addresses off the liner notes, New York's northeast neighbor grew into a sister city, guiding taste and incubating talent.

Music & Culture

All Rap Is Local

1:09pm July 17, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

As it celebrates its 50th birthday, hip-hop is a global phenomenon. But to map the music's true impact, you have to look closer. Here's a guide to rap history, charted across more than a dozen cities.

Visual artist Paul Lewin created this work for Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon's musical setting of Parable of the Sower.

Octavia Butler wrote a 'Parable' that became a prophecy — now it's also an opera

3:31pm July 14, 2023

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

Octavia Butler's novel Parable of the Sower — depicting a dystopian U.S. in 2024 — was published 30 years ago. Toshi Reagon's new musical retelling explores the web of past, present and future.

Queue Listen Now

Finalists of the American Pianists Awards

Music & Culture

Relive the 2023 American Pianists Awards from Indianapolis

5:07pm July 13, 2023

Five young pianists compete for the American Pianists Association Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz.

Queue Listen Now

Elisa de Hoyas is part of a new generation of acordeonistas who are keeping conjunto thriving through teaching and performance in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

National

Conjunto music enjoys a resurgence, bridging a divide between old and new musicians

4:06pm July 10, 2023

by John Burnett

Known for its thumping backbeat, vocals and shimmering accordion riffs, Conjunto has been around for more than a century. Now more young musicians are picking up the beat

Rapping in a deceptively versatile mutter-croak, Veeze ekes out dense, snake-like verses that are as captionable and clever as they are transparent about his vices.

Music & Culture

Veeze is just like us — except he's one of the best rappers alive

3:47pm July 10, 2023

by Mano Sundaresan

For years, the relatable Michigan rapper's lore was missing a crucial component: an album. In the lead up to its release, he talked leak culture, becoming a talk-show host and his idea of taste.

Kim Petras, the 30-year-old German-born pop singer, is currently in the process of figuring out where she wants to be in the pop music echelon.

Music & Culture

The misplaced promise of Kim Petras

4:59pm July 08, 2023

by Reanna Cruz

With her debut album 'Feed the Beast,' the rising pop star is still in the process of figuring out where she wants to be in the pop music echelon.

Marcus Strickland TWI-LIFE at Blue Note Jazz Club, New. York

Music & Culture

Marcus Strickland's wildest dream? Save planet Earth

1:40pm July 07, 2023

by Nikki Birch

Marcus Strickland wants us consider the miracle of life on Earth. At the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC, watch the saxophonist uplift existence with his band Twi-Life.