Music

Clarence Avant and his wife, Jacqueline, attending a Grammy Awards event in 2020. Avant died Sunday at age 92. Jacqueline Avant was killed in 2021. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images One of the great connectors in the music and entertainment industries has died. The executive and businessman Clarence Avant boosted the careers of generations of musicians, entertainers, sports stars and politicians. A family statement sent to NPR said that he had […]

Illustration by Jackie Lay/NPR When DJ Kool Herc spun records at a small party in the Bronx in August of 1973, no one would have predicted his unique style would give birth to the most influential and dominant music in the world: hip-hop. In this special episode, we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the genre. NPR Music editors Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Sheldon Pearce are joined by contributor Christina Lee to […]

Islen Milien for NPR The legend goes that on a sweaty August night in 1973, there was a block party in the South Bronx where DJs had to hack a streetlight to power their equipment. Someone picked up a mic and spontaneously started rhyming over the the breakbeat, and that's how hip-hop was born. In the five decades since that eureka — or, rather, that "yoooo" — moment, hip-hop music […]

Rakim (left) and Eric B., 1987 David Corio / Contributor/Getty Images When hip-hop got its start 50 years ago, it was a DJ cutting between two record albums and an MC rhyming over the beats. The the rhymes had predictable patterns; they almost always fell at the ends of the lines. But in 1987, there was a seismic shift in the complexity of rap activated by Eric B. & Rakim […]

When I got downstairs to greet Obongjayar and his bandmates at NPR headquarters, they had already found their way over to some stationary bikes near the lobby to get the adrenaline pumping. OB and crew seemed shy but ready for this moment. During the show, I witnessed my colleagues go from wiping away tears to bouncing and clapping within a matter of minutes. That emotional balance is Obongjayar's Tiny Desk […]

Noname, Chief Keef, Kanye West, and Dreezy. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR. Daniel DeSlover / Frazer Harrison / Dimitrios Kambouris / Xavier Collin/Getty Images / AP Images As it celebrates its 50th birthday, we are mapping hip-hop's story on a local level, with more than a dozen city-specific histories of the music and culture. Click here to see the entire list. A city for poets, brawlers and hustlers — […]

photo credit: Maya Fuhr Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Transcript : AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Being the only Black professional in an office can be draining. Electronic music artist Aluna has similar feelings about her workplace - studios and stages. And in the arena of dance music, where it feels like there is little minority representation, she is raising her voice. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KILLING ME") ALUNA: (Singing) […]