'The Big Boss' took a genre from working-class neighborhoods and turned it into a commercial powerhouse. But as the trailblazer retires, reggaeton meets a new moment for rebellion and experimentation.
A Mexican cumbia-punk band called Son Rompe Pera, a traditional singer from West Bengal named Rina Das Baul and a group from near Timbuktu called Al Bilali Soudan: three global acts on the rise.
In times of crisis, we're grateful for music that speaks to the current moment. So we asked a handful of visionary artists: Who taught you that music could be a vehicle for political expression?
Rose's early records mixed country, pop and indie rock — a rare approach at the time. Now, she's released her lustrous new record, CAZIMI, into the musical landscape that she helped shape.
On the startlingly direct Spirituals, and in headline-grabbing rebukes of music's trickle-down economy, Santi White is what she's always been: a forward-thinking alternative to pop's here and now.