This past Monday, Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In the annals of American culture, Kendrick Lamar’s unprecedented Pulitzer win in music for DAMN. will stand alongside a recent influx of hip-hop firsts: Jay-Z’s 2017 induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, LL Cool J’s 2017 Kennedy Center Honors…
Category: Music
Tyler, the Creator Would Like To Reintroduce Himself
His colorful Coachella was the ultimate distillation of ‘Flower Boy”s mood and aesthetic, finding Tyler in a new era, all alone in a fantasy world of his own creation. The Tyler, the Creator of 2018 is not the boy we once knew. Before say, last year, when I thought of Tyler, one video in particular…
How The Beatles Tried To Set Up a Communist Empire in Savile Row
Philip Norman had a ringside seat as their Apple HQ collapsed in a blur of sex, drugs and Hell’s Angels. Number 3 Savile Row is a Georgian house in the heart of Mayfair’s bespoke tailoring district. Nowadays, it’s a trendy children’s clothing store, but 50 years ago it became one of London’s most famous buildings…
Donald Glover Can’t Save You
Donald Glover sat behind the wheel of the Nissan Sentra, his door ajar, and lit a joint. In the scene he’d just finished, for the show “Atlanta,” he’d jammed on the brakes to avoid a wild boar in the road, an apparition that made him wonder just how high he was. On this crisp October…
Young Thug Has Plans Of Going Deaf, Temporarily
He has reportedly changed his name, as well. Jeffery Williams, the surrealist rapper often referred to as Young Thug and most recently self-proclaimed as SEX, has made it clear that he intends to not release music for the remainder of the year. In a recent, but brief interview with Hypebeast at New York Fashion Week,…
“Late Registration” Producer Says “Every Filmmaker Has A Bit Of Kanye In Them”
The name Jon Brion may not ring a bell to you right away but he’s contributed to a lot of good music that you’ve for sure heard of. Such tapes as Beyonce‘s Lemonade, Kanye West‘s Late Registration, and he’s even worked on the soundtrack to classic films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabees, Trainwreck and this year’s nominated flick Lady Bird. …
SPIN’s April 2004 Cover Story: ‘The Ghost Of Saint Kurk’
Romanticized, ripped off, and never quite forgotten, Kurt Cobain still haunts us like no other rock star. But ten years after his controversial suicide, as a new generation begins to experience his music in its own way, what do Cobain, Nirvana, and “grunge” really mean to anyone anymore? According to Japan’s Shinto faith, when a…
Ed Sheeran’s new record will not be a pop album
By, Helen Thomas Ed Sheeran has revealed some new details about his as-yet untitled follow-up to 2017’s ‘Divide’. Speaking to George Ezra on the musician’s new podcast, Sheeran admitted that the new record will move away from the pop sound that has been his recipe for success thus far. The ‘Galway Girl’ singer intends to…
Octavian Is Shaping the Sound of Rap in 2018—Just Ask Drake
by Jazz Monroe Associate Staff Writer On the morning of January 8, as construction clatter leaked through the window of his London flat, Octavian rolled over and glanced at his phone. It had plenty to say. Overnight, Drake had posted Instagram photos captioned by lyrics from “Party Here,” the 21-year-old singer-rapper’s breakout song, recorded last year…
In Conversation: Quincy Jones The music legend on the secret Michael Jackson, his relationship with the Trumps, and the problem with modern pop.
In both music and manner, Quincy Jones has always registered — from afar, anyway — as smooth, sophisticated, and impeccably well-connected. (That’s what earning 28 Grammy awards and co-producing Michael Jackson’s biggest-selling albums will do.) But in person, the 84-year-old music-industry macher is far spikier and more complicated. “All I’ve ever done is tell the truth,” says Jones, seated on…
