Johnel Builds Resonance From Chaos
Nigerian hip-hop artist Johnel creates what he calls “borderless music”, a synchronous vibration that resounds across nations and faith.
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Milo J Shows Off the Beauty of Argentine Folk
Milo J’s La Vida Era Más Corta is a display of youth inserting itself into an ancient landscape with more pride in its history than anxiety about modernizing it.
Jennifer Lopez’s Music Industry Fairytale ‘This Is Me…Now’
Jennifer Lopez tells the story of new-old love through languid R&B-style pop, her signature. However, she fails to achieve the electricity of early hits.
Kid Cudi Channels Travis Scott on ‘Insano’
Kid Cudi’s 21-track-long effort is disastrously dull, vague, and full of clichés from his media library of sounds and the genre in general.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop Albums of August 2021
The ten best hip-hop albums of August 2021 reveal truths about our strange, alarming but often exciting contemporary socio-cultural landscape.
K-Pop’s CRAVITY Goes Bossa Nova in “GO GO”
K-pop’s CRAVITY talk with PopMatters about trying bossa nova for the first time and how “GO GO” fits the message of their first full-length album.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best New Hip-Hop Albums of June 2021
Summer is the best time of year to listen to hip-hop. From the upbeat and bouncy to the weird and paranoid, hip-hop just sounds better in the sunshine. That makes now the perfect time for the first edition of “Hip-Hop Matters” – PopMatters’ new monthly hip-hop roundup.
Playboi Carti Creates a Whole Lotta Music on ’Whole Lotta Red’
Whole Lotta Red demonstrates Playboi Carti's commitment to dynamic growth and experimentation. However, it's painfully apparent that Carti needs more features.
Flo Milli Bottles Pure “Bad Bitch” Energy on ‘Ho, Why Is You Here?’
The idea that a female rap project is a failure for being one-note -- especially when that note is confident and sexy -- ruins what a project like Flo Milli's Ho, Why Is You Here? has to offer: fun in its purest form.
Swoll Reveals Subtle Power via “Shudder to Think” (premiere)
Electronic rockers Swoll craft a powerful song in "Shudder to Think" that moves beyond boundaries.
Young Thug Gets Forthright on ‘So Much Fun’
The world's most inscrutable rapper, Young Thug makes clear what he's saying and where he stands on his most forthright release yet.
‘Ascend’ Is Illenium’s Most Emo Album Yet
On his third album, Ascend, EDM's Illenium heads for the big time with his integrity pretty much intact.