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Nicki Minaj and the autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley.

It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop

We cannot understand the last fifty years of U.S. history—certainly not the first thing about Black history—without studying the emergence and evolution of rap.
by Austin McCoy via The Baffler on January 9, 2024
Sly Stone with daughter Nove, ca. 1980.

On the Sly

A memoir of the Family Stone.
by Carl Wilson via Bookforum on December 4, 2023
Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D.
partner

Hip-Hop's Black Caribbean Roots

The relationship between the DJ and his MC derived from a Jamaican “toasting” tradition and its related “sound clash” culture.
by Alex La Rotta via Made By History on November 6, 2023
George C. Wolfe.

George C. Wolfe Would Not Be Dismissed

A conversation with the longtime director about “Rustin,” growing up in Kentucky, and putting on a show.
by Vinson Cunningham, George C. Wolfe via The New Yorker on November 5, 2023
Members of the Wu-Tang Clan.

'Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)' Turns 30

How the album pays homage to hip-hop's mythical and martial arts origins.
by Marcus Evans via The Conversation on October 31, 2023
Collage of Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet, waving, and smoking, and a picture of his home in Queens.

Louis Armstrong Gets the Last Word on Louis Armstrong

For decades, Americans have argued over the icon’s legacy. But his archives show that he had his own plans.
by Ethan Iverson via The Nation on October 30, 2023
Tupac shirtless in the shower, wearing gold chain and covered in soap suds

Why Tupac Never Died

It’s because the rapper’s life and work were a cascade of contradictions that we’re still trying to figure him out today.
by Hua Hsu via The New Yorker on October 23, 2023
Chuck Berry performing with a guitar.

The Transgressor

RJ Smith’s biography of Chuck Berry examines his subject’s instinct for crossing the line musically, racially, and morally.
by RJ Smith via New York Review of Books on September 28, 2023
A photograph of Pharaoh Sanders.

Feel-Ins, Know-Ins, Be-Ins

The most hypnotic piece of music released so far in 2023 was recorded forty-seven years ago in a barely adequate studio in Rockland County, New York.
by Adam Shatz via New York Review of Books on September 19, 2023
Sly Stone performing at a concert.

The Undoing of a Great American Band

Sly and the Family Stone suggested new possibilities in music and life—until it all fell apart.
by James Parker via The Atlantic on September 16, 2023
At the microphone: Louis Armstrong, surrounded by his orchestra, 1931

De-Satch-uration

Louis Armstrong’s complicated relationship with New Orleans.
by Ricky Riccardi via 64 Parishes on August 31, 2023
August Wilson

The Man Who Transformed American Theater

How August Wilson became one of the country’s most influential playwrights.
by Imani Perry via The Atlantic on August 15, 2023
The Sugarhill Gang's Wonder Mike, Master Gee and Hen Dogg in November 2019.

The Unlikely Origins of ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ Hip-Hop’s First Mainstream Hit

The Sugarhill Gang song remains one of rap's most beloved. But it took serendipity, a book of rhymes, and an agreement to settle a lawsuit for it to survive.
by Kim Bellware via Retropolis on August 8, 2023
Cover of "Playing for the Man at the Door" album.

Smithsonian Releases an Unheard Treasure Trove of Blues Music

A Smithsonian curator John Troutman and a blues musician discuss a new folk album, "Playing for the Man at the Door," from late chronicler Mack McCormick's collection.
by Dom Flemons, John Troutman, Scott Detrow via NPR on August 5, 2023
The cover of a book, titled "Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey", written by Robert "Mack" McCormick.

Delta Force

A look at "Biography Of A Phantom", Robert McCormick's book about blues legend Robert Johnson.
by Dominic Green via The Washington Free Beacon on July 30, 2023
Sonny Rollins playing saxophone.

The Monumental Improvisations of Sonny Rollins

Rollins never wavered in his determination to get things right, and often that meant reinventing himself and, along the way, jazz as well.
by Gene Seymour via The Nation on July 24, 2023
A lithograph of Phillis Wheatley and the first page of her book, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral."

Phillis Wheatley’s “Mrs. W—”: Identifying the Woman Who Inspired “Ode to Neptune”

Who was that traveler? And what did she signify to the poet?
by J. L. Bell via Commonplace on May 16, 2023
Sister Rosetta Tharpe holding a guitar

Amazing Base: A Singer Wed in a D.C. Ballpark, and 19,000 Paid to Attend

Attendees packed D.C.’s Griffith Stadium in 1951 for the wedding spectacular of gospel singer Rosetta Tharpe, who’s now the subject of a show at Ford's Theatre.
by Terence McArdle via Retropolis on May 7, 2023
Little Richard holding his arms out at a performance.

What Little Richard Deserved

The new documentary “I Am Everything” explores the gulf between what Richard accomplished and what he got for it.
by Hanif Abdurraqib via The New Yorker on April 26, 2023
Cover of sheet music for “Euphonic Sounds: A Syncopated Novelty” by Scott Joplin (1909).

Scott Joplin

The ragtime composer's life, career, and resurrection.
by Alan Jacobs via Comment on April 24, 2023
Albert Ayler (right) and his brother Donald Ayler, Harlem, 1966.

Escaping from Notes to Sounds

The saxophonist Albert Ayler revolutionized the avant-garde jazz scene, drastically altering notions of what noises qualified as music.
by Andrew Katzenstein via New York Review of Books on April 20, 2023
Collage of poets and words.

Spoken Like a True Poet

In Joshua Bennett’s history of spoken word, poetry is alive and well thanks to a movement that began in living rooms and bars.
by Stephen Kearse via Poetry Foundation on March 27, 2023

A Lost Operatic Masterpiece Written By White Men For An All-Black Cast Was Found And Restored

Can it be produced without controversy?
by Fredric Dannen via Billboard on March 27, 2023
Rap group Public Enemy: (Clockwise from bottom left) Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Terminator X, S1W, and Chuck D

How Rap Taught (Some of) the Hip Hop Generation Black History

For members of the Hip Hop generation who came of age during the Black Power era, “reality rap” was an entry into the political power of Black history.
by Julia Métraux, Daniella Ann Cook, Pero Gaglo Dagbovie via JSTOR Daily on February 26, 2023
From left to right, Langston Hughes with Charles S. Johnson; E. Franklin Frazier; Rudolph Fisher and Hubert T. Delaney.

Why Harlem? Considering the Site of “Civil Rights by Copyright,” 100 Years Later

The confluence of Black modernity, self-determinism, and belongingness of Harlem's housing.
by Bo McMillan via Literary Hub on February 13, 2023
Illustration of Guitar, a Gun and Roses by Eric Hanson

The Bully in the Ballad

Was Mississippi John Hurt really the first person to sing the tragic tale of Louis Collins?
by Eric McHenry via The American Scholar on December 15, 2022
A hand hovers over a projection of a map of Texas counties sewn on to fabric.

‘Underground Railroad’ Quilt Weaves Black Liberation History

African American fiber artists in San Antonio are challenging revisionist histories through artful storytelling.
by Briana Blueitt via The Texas Observer on December 7, 2022
Photograph of an African American family buying ice cream at a segregated ice cream shop

Gordon Parks' View of America Across Three Decades

Two new books and one expanded edition of Gordon Parks' photographs look at the work of the photographer from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
by Robert E. Gerhardt via Blind on October 28, 2022
Black and white photo of Mavis Staples, looking upward, hands raised.

The Gospel According to Mavis Staples

A legendary singer on faith, loss, and a family legacy.
by David Remnick via The New Yorker on June 24, 2022
Alberta Hunter Performing at U.S.O show

Tricksters, Biographies, and Two-Faced Archives

In 2015, precisely 31 years to the day of her death, blues and cabaret singer Alberta Hunter was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
by K. T. Ewing via Black Perspectives on June 2, 2022
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