Saul Williams Discusses Teaching the Next Generation of Activists
Multi-hyphenate Saul Williams’ current project Leap Life is a years-in-the-making journey designed to move your body and mind.
hip-hop
Matt B Goes Home and Lets the Ocean Do the Talking
Matt B’s ALKEBULAN III opens at a door in Ghana and ends with the Atlantic given a speaking voice. In between is the sound of a man learning a language his family had taken from them.
Victony Finally Makes a Record That’s Fun, Not About Surviving
Two albums called Stubborn later, the Nigerian Afrobeats singer Victony stops explaining himself and starts enjoying the view on STARLIFE.
Shaboozey Is Still Pop’s Most Undefinable Outlaw
Shaboozey’s fourth album The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales is an ambitious concept, combining storytelling with a country/hip-hop blend.
The Ballad of Hip-Hop Icon Foxy Brown
Foxy Brown’s music is often overshadowed by the controversies that curtailed her career, but her rise to fame reveals a complex story.
Tekno Returns to What He Knows Best on ‘Where Did Love Go?’
The most striking thing about Tekno’s Where Did Love Go? isn’t that he sounds unaware of the changes in Afrobeats, but that he seems comfortable ignoring them.
Steven Bernstein Releases Brilliant Twin Albums
For all the amazing horn playing that we finally hear from Steven Bernstein these two records remind us that he remains daring and highly conceptual.
Vince Staples Adopts a Rock-Leaning and Polemical Stance
Vince Staples comments on the injustices and genocidal tendencies baked into the US’s DNA, striking a balance between satire, rant, and attunement to the tragic.
The ‘World Cup 2026 Album’ Puts Afrobeats at the Center
Football is the world’s game because everyone can play it. The best moments on the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Album understand that pop is, finally, the same.
Asake’s ‘M$NEY’ Is a Victory Parade and Quiet Prayer
Four years in, Asake is no longer arguing. He is content, and content, on a record this carefully made, turns out to sound like something close to grace.
Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar Kill Battle Rap?
The biggest rap battle in history between Drake and Kendrick Lamar blurred the line between victory and cultural collapse. Has hip-hop killed itself?
Kneecap’s Remarkable Sound of Righteous Fury
That Kneecap can move between righteous fury and profound tenderness without losing coherence is a measure of how much they have grown.