When I first started writing rhymes, I wasn’t trying to write hit records. I was a shy Catholic school kid, just writing to express myself. As soon as a company said, 'Yo D, we need a hit record,' my thought pattern completely changed. I felt the only way I could get rid of the pressure was to drink. | | | | Celebrities Listening to Music on Headphones: French actress Maria Schneider, Nov. 30, 1970.
(Dove/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) | | | | | | “When I first started writing rhymes, I wasn’t trying to write hit records. I was a shy Catholic school kid, just writing to express myself. As soon as a company said, 'Yo D, we need a hit record,' my thought pattern completely changed. I felt the only way I could get rid of the pressure was to drink.”
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| | rantnrave:// Lots of talk about words this week. KENDRICK LAMAR invites a white fan to rap "M.A.A.D CITY" onstage with him, and then he (gently) and his audience (not so gently) and a good chunk of TWITTER (do you have to ask?) turn on her when she repeatedly raps a certain word that white people, as a rule, should not ever say, under any circumstance. Is it weird that a rapper can say a word and a fan can buy it, stream it, memorize it but not sing along with it? Yes, it's a little weird. But hello, America. What's a lot weird, and a lot ugly, is the history behind that word, the weight it carries, the hatred it conveys. The black rapper who uses it is drawing on that history and grappling with it. The white fan who hears it owes it to the culture to respect all of that and to not repeat the slur. Is that so hard to do? Is it asking too much? It's 2018. This isn't new information. And it isn't complicated. But a secondary question has been raised. Was it unfair of Lamar to invite a young white fan, who probably has never stood on a stage in front of an audience like that, to join him on that exact song and expect her to know exactly what to do in that moment, and to know how not to be awkward? Valid question. (And while we're here: Should we be talking about the fact that the next song Lamar played uses a five-letter slur for women in its title?) RITA ORA, meanwhile, was pressured into sort of apologizing for her own song because of a couple loaded words and phrases that turned her all-star update on "I KISSED A GIRL" into a cultural offense. She'll think twice before she tries singing about red wine or her open-mindedness again. Or before she tries telling the world that a party song about her own experience could be an anthem for a community of women of which she isn't a part. Because that's where she really went wrong. "GIRLS" is a kinda catchy pop song that could have been a harmless album track (if album tracks exist anymore; do they?). But as a single with a purported mission, it was a fast fail. Context matters... It can take a village to produce a great song. "THE MIDDLE" required one sample of a medieval axe, three waves of producers and 14 would-be singers. "DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'" drew on years of memories of the sights and smells of rock clubs up and down SUNSET BOULEVARD. I'll never get sick of first-hand accounts of the very real process behind the fairy-dust magic that is pop. MusicSet: "Behind the Song, Vol. 7"... Trumpet debt forgiven... RIP GLENN SNODDY. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| A pivotal moment came when Skepta made being “dressed like I just come from P.E.” the pinnacle of cool again. | | |
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| Sony Corp. had until the end of August to put together a deal to buy Mubadala's stake in EMI Music Publishing, but it jumped the gun and paid handsomely, this week announcing it would snap up 90 percent of EMI at a price that values the whole publishing unit at $4.75 billion, more than double its price in 2012. Why would Sony press fast-forward? There are several reasons. | | |
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| Refreshingly diverse all-male musical groups like PrettyMuch and Brockhampton are expanding what it means to be an American boy band. | | |
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| It can take a village to produce a great song. "The Middle" required one sample of a medieval axe, three waves of producers and 14 would-be singers. "Don't Stop Believin'" synthesized years of memories of the sights and smells of rock clubs up and down Sunset Boulevard. The stories of how these and other classics came together, straight from the source. | | |
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| Why is the relationship between Grimes and Elon Musk so fascinating? | | |
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| Introduced to the world as an inescapable meme, Danielle Bregoli was only supposed to have 15 minutes of fame. But reborn as Bhad Bhabie, the 15-year-old rapper is letting the world know that she's got more time on the clock. | | |
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| Amanda Petrusich traces the influence of performance art on contemporary pop music and its unexpected adoption by stars such as Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, and A$AP Rocky. | | |
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| For two decades, accusations of sexual impropriety have been leveled at the R&B superstar. And Jim DeRogatis has been covering the story. | | |
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| A 25-year veteran of the Recording Academy’s philanthropic arm also claims harassment and wrongful termination in a scathing letter to trustee board. | | |
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| The Ohio band has been quietly crafting one of the great rock catalogs of the decade. But their latest album, ‘What Heaven Is Like,’ is too good to be kept secret. | | |
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| There's a new wave of crooners bringing soft-pop to adoring adolescent fans. They may sound like Jamie Cullum, but scratch the surface and you'll discover a very mild-mannered teenage riot. | | |
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| Drugs, alcohol, and nightlife have a long and complicated relationship, but we need to be doing more to prevent substance abuse. | | |
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| The Run-D.M.C. rapper opens up about mental illness, addiction, and recovery. | | |
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| The 19-year-old bedroom pop singer and songwriter is getting an early taste of fame - and the hardships that come with it. | | |
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| Musician Tom Gray of British band Gomez - currently firing up crowds on the 20th anniversary tour celebrating their 'Bring It On' album - has an idea for major labels about how to follow up their windfalls from Spotify's public listing. | | |
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| Drake, the superstar rapper, wasn’t always a superstar. In this essay, one writer delves into how she and the Toronto MC have grown-both together and apart over the past decade. | | |
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| Swift’s team is undertaking an experiment that lists her tickets on Ticketmaster near prices they believe the market demands - much higher than what it usually costs to see a stadium concert. | | |
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| "This is such a difficult topic to attack as a songwriter without being corny or sentimental," Palmer says. | | |
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| In a lengthy Facebook post, virtuoso trumpet player, composer, and self-appointed gatekeeper of jazz music Wynton Marsalis has responded to criticism over the comments he made about rap music during an interview with The Washington Post. The most incendiary moment in the Post discussion was Marsalis arguing that hip-hop was "more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee." | | |
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| Songwriters, producers explain the process behind the million-selling group's latest. | | |
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| | | | | Amanda Palmer & Jasmine Power |
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