Music

Trina performs a Tiny Desk concert "I wanna introduce you guys to the baddest bitch," Trina told the audience of her Tiny Desk. "The original baddest bitch." It's a title no one but the hip-hop icon herself could been able to claim at the Tiny Desk — and for good reason. As a rapper, Trina has been pushing P since before her successors were even sitting up in Pampers and […]

Atlanta rapper Latto belongs to a lineage of women inspired by Miami icon Trina, whose sexually explicit bars have both challenged gendered double standards and shown their staying power. Breyona Holt/Courtesy of the artist This story was adapted from reporting for Episode 4 of Louder Than A Riot, Season 2. For more about sexual agency in hip-hop, including the pioneering raunch of Miami icon Trina and her complex journey with […]

Kassa Overall is no stranger to NPR. Back in 2020 he was a featured vocalist and percussionist on the Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science Tiny Desk concert and in the same year he scored the original music for the first season of NPR Music's Louder Than A Riot podcast. (His catchy theme song has been remixed by producer Suzi Analogue for the show's second season.) Now, Kassa's back again, […]

DreamDoll, Doechii and Baby Tate Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR In 2019, DreamDoll vlogged about her body being 100% plastic-free. In 2021, Baby Tate clapped back at body-shaming trolls on social media. And in 2022, Doechii appeared in the visual for her major label debut completely nude. What do these three moments in time, and these three unique artists, have in common? The subversion of the male gaze. The male […]

Samara Joy comes from a family of gospel singers and has been singing all her life. In her teens, she performed as a soloist in her church choir, but her career really launched in 2019, when, as a college student, she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. "I was definitely an imitator of Sarah Vaughan for a while," Joy says. "Every time I listened to a recording of […]

This story was adapted from Episode Three of Louder Than A Riot, Season Two. For more about body policing in hip-hop, including tales of cosmetic surgery, peer pressure and comment culture, stream the full episode or subscribe to the Louder Than A Riot podcast. Childish Gambino's "This Is America." Cardi B's "Press." Lil Nas X's "Industry Baby." Scroll through popular music videos and you'll see nudity and violence on the […]

Meet Me @ The Altar's debut album, Past // Present // Future, features a punchy rhythm section and a momentum that reaches out a hand to yank potential friends into the fun. Jonathan Weiner/Courtesy of the artist It can be a disorienting moment, when a broken shard of yourself kept cushioned to your chest reflects the light of thousands of others like it. For the last few years, closeted pop-punk […]