G Slim's Revenge, a certain rap archetype that has faded since its '90s ubiquity appears to be alive and well.'/>
A familiar rap character, the Cali hustler cruising in a low-rider, has faded in the 21st century. On new albums by G Perico, Mozzy and Gangrene, that figure is alive and well, living in the margins.
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Though Swift performs a range of experience and emotions, the music on her 11th album feels thin and is often in service of lyrics that could have used a red pencil.
Taylor Swift dropped an epic new album that spans two hours — and two high-profile breakups. The Tortured Poets Department delves deeply into two of the singer's recent relationships — one with the English actor Joe Alwyn and the other with Matty Healy, who's the lead singer of The 1975. And while Taylor Swift indulges in a few beefs on this record, the target she returns to most often is herself.
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(Image credit: Beth Garrabrant)
After a decade ruled by their influence, the buzzy reunion of two hip-hop giants finds one imbued with a startling new power.
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The Tortured Poets Department, her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album.'/>
With The Tortured Poets Department, the defining pop star of her era has made an album as messy and confrontational as any good girl's work can get.
(Image credit: Beth Garrabrant)
Cowboy Carter has ignited discourse about the place of Black musicians in country music. But it's also evidence of its creator's desire to break genre walls by following her most eccentric impulses.'/>
Cowboy Carter has spurred plenty of discussion for being a groundbreaking country album. But for one critic, it calls to mind is a cult favorite '70s psych-rock concept album.
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Grab your cowboy hat, and saddle up that horse, because Beyoncé's highly anticipated album, Cowboy Carter is here. So far, the album has spurred praise, criticism, and questions about what the actual goal of this project is and how it fits into the Renaissance trilogy. To get into all of that, Brittany joined NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour to discuss whether this foray into country is an exercise in experimentation or industry validation.
In C, which helped launch the style of music called minimalism.'/>
Armed with just her cello, a looping machine and a pair of percussionists, Beiser crafts a rendition of Terry Riley's pioneering In C that is equally mesmerizing and graceful.
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Embedded in genre : sadboy, a collaborative release by rappers MGK and Trippie Redd, is an accidental lesson in what once made the collision of rap and pop-punk so electrifying.
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While Beyoncé's new album suggests the country-music industry's problematic history of excluding Black artists, the collection as a whole is as much a celebration as it is a critique.
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