Jay-Z
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Song of the Day: “Harlem River”
Of the countless homages to New York City, a multitude of styles and approaches could be cited, from Billy Joel to Lou Reed to Jay-Z. A 2013 album by guitarist Kevin Morby, known for his work with Woods and The Babies, adds an…
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The Recipe to Decolonized Love is in Beyoncé’s Lemonade
“There is a curse that will be broken,” she promises.
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Song of the Day: “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”
In the furor surrounding the unexpected release over the weekend of Beyonce’s “visual album” Lemonade, the general attitude toward Queen Bey’s newest creation is surprise, exuberance, and unadulterated glee. Much of the groundbreaking project, which the mega-artist somehow recorded and…
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What Hip-Hop Owes David Bowie
The Internet has been (rightfully) full of David Bowie tributes in the last week, including a series of pieces about the icon’s influence on hip-hop music. Noisey traced Bowie’s public admiration for hip-hop, beginning with the 1993 clip of Bowie…
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The Rumpus Interview with Tyler Gartzman
Rapper Tyler Gartzman talks about getting high, hypothetically making out with George Bush, not getting laid since high school, and how a white, Jewish kid in Atlanta became a talented hip-hop wordsmith.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #60: On Mentorship
In an empirically-preoccupied world, mentorship appears to be unscientific, impossible to quantify, and perhaps even sentimental.
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Putting Tracks on the Map
Jay Shells, an artist currently working in New York, is taking favorite rap lyrics and putting the tracks on the map … all over the Big Apple. This project, which Shells calls “Rap Quotes,” consists of homemade but very official-looking street signs…
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Maureen Miller Takes On Jay-Z
Have you heard Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”? It’s a damn good track (though some take issue with Jay for swinging at certain artists while leaving other auto-tuners, read his friends, pretty much unscathed). Fair or not, all you really…
