NPR

J. Cole and Drake perform during the 2023 edition of Cole's Dreamville festival in Raleigh, N.C., last April. Their collaborative track "First Person Shooter" recently touched off a war of words with fellow MC Kendrick Lamar. Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage/Getty Images In 2016, then-President Barack Obama weighed in on an issue of utmost national importance: Who would win in a rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake? "Gotta go with Kendrick," he […]

Credit: Photo: Zayrha Rodriguez Throughout an emotional, soul-stirring set, the multitudes of Yaya Bey's music and artistry are on full display in her Tiny Desk concert. The New York-bred singer-songwriter opens the show by paying homage to her Barbados roots: reggae-tinged grooves of "meet me in brooklyn" from her powerful 2022 album, Remember Your North Star, that flow seamlessly into "on the pisces moon" from 2023's Exodus The North Star. […]

Beyoncé's voice is the real star of Cowboy Carter as she sets out to prove, once and for all, that she can hold it down in any genre she damn well pleases. Courtesy of the artist When Beyoncé made the surprise announcement back in February, during the Super Bowl, that her forthcoming album would be a country album, it was immediately met with praise and excitement, validating what had been […]

Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend the 66th Grammy Awards at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4, 2024. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy When Jay-Z took the stage at this year's Grammys to accept the second-ever Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, the rap titan and business mogul seized the opportunity to address the elephant in the room. After name-checking a few of the organizational fumbles that had led hip-hop […]