Articles written by the author
Rolling Loud Brings Melting Rap Songs and Moshing Crowds to New York
(Critic’s Notebook)
How Rap's Class of 2019 Lives and Dies by the Meme
(Critic’s Notebook)
Utkarsh Ambudkar Finally Gets His Broadway Shot in 'Freestyle Love Supreme'
LOS ANGELES — In 2004, Utkarsh Ambudkar completed the acting program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts feeling disillusioned. He’d spent his days in class but his nights at clubs in the East Village, freestyling and battle rapping — in his mind, he was much more of a rapper than an actor. A life chasing down parts in an industry where talent mattered less than “the amount of roles for people that look like you” seemed grim, he said recently, over a gargantuan bowl of chili at ...
Sturgill Simpson Leaves His Old Sound (and the Spotlight) in the Rear View
JACKSON, Ky. — Earlier this month, Sturgill Simpson headed eastward from Lexington until he hit Highway 15, which he drove until it dead-ended into Highway 30. This was the way into Jackson, the sparse, hilly town of around 2,000 people he grew up in. Just before the intersection, a small sign announced that he was in the right place: “Hometown of Grammy Award Winning Artist Sturgill Simpson.”
Can Virgil Abloh Fit in a Museum?
(Exhibition Review)
Review: A Wu-Tang Clan Documentary Captures the Group's Wild Self-Invention
There was no precedent for the Wu-Tang Clan insurgency in the early and mid-1990s, and, if we’re being honest, there’s been nothing quite like it since.The World (of Pop Music) Comes to New York
(Critic’s Notebook)A Godfather of Country-Rap on His 2000s Hits and Lil Nas X
Perhaps more than any other figure, producer and executive Shannon Houchins has had the most significant impact on the development of country-rap. He produced the first Bubba Sparxxx album, and his label Average Joes Entertainment — a partnership with country-rapper Colt Ford — has promoted several other artists who blend the two genres, including the Lacs, Lenny Cooper and Sarah Ross.
Lil Nas X's Smash Makes Country Wonder if Rap Is Friend or Foe. Again.
Over the last few weeks, “Old Town Road” — a strutting and lightheartedly comedic country-rap tune by the previously unknown 20-year-old rapper Lil Nas X — has lived an improbable number of lives.Meet Blueface, the Self-Aware Rapper Who Knows He's More Than a Meme
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — For Blueface, everything is still new, and a little surprising. A couple of weeks ago, he was paid $20,000 to perform two songs at the opening of a boutique. When he asks women in the crowd at concerts to lift up their shirts, they oblige. Recently, seated in first class on a flight, he ran his phone camera over the sea of other people in cushioned seats, smiled and implored his viewers to “say hello to all my Caucasian friends.”
21 Savage's Still-Bumpy Path to Freedom
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — At the beginning of the year, 21 Savage was at his commercial apex. His second album, “I Am > I Was,” spent two weeks atop the Billboard album chart. “Rockstar,” his collaboration with Post Malone, was nominated for two Grammys, and he was set to perform at the ceremony.Ariana Grande Is Living a Public Life. The Real Reveals Are in Her Music.
No current pop star is more adept at stoking and channeling swells of online fan curiosity than Ariana Grande. In the past year, she navigated a tumultuous relationship with comedian Pete Davidson; the death of an ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller; a public row with the Grammys; and more. In the process, she has become a master of the Easter egg, the clapback, the strategic tweet-and-delete. In the middle of a storm, Grande is cool and collected, hands firmly on the wheel.Want to Be Heard During the Grammys? Maybe Stay Home
(Critic's Notebook)Want to Be Heard During the Grammys? Maybe Stay Home
(Critic's Notebook)Want to Be Heard During the Grammys? Maybe Stay Home
(Critic's Notebook)James Ingram, a Hitmaking Voice of '80s R&B, Is Dead at 66
James Ingram, whose voice — technically precise, crisp and reserved, yet full of audacious feeling — made him one of the defining singers of R&B; in the 1980s, has died. He was 66.Kodak Black Grapples With Tough Questions in His Music, but Nowhere Else
(Critic’s Notebook)Tales of Slackerdom With a '90s Polish
CHELMSFORD, England — On a farm 15 minutes north of downtown Chelmsford, a smallish Essex commuter city 30 minutes by train from London, Jordan Cardy has begun turning his 1990s dreams into reality.
Bad Bunny Broke Boundaries in 2018. His Debut, 'X 100PRE,' Demolishes More.
“La Romana,” one of the standout songs from Bad Bunny’s invigorating debut album, “X 100PRE,” begins with bachata guitar — nimble, quick, leaning toward the traditional. Before long, it’s bolstered by a booming, viscous Latin trap beat, and the 24-year-old Puerto Rican rapper begins his trademark exultations.The Old Pop Music Is Over. Introducing a Playbook for Pop 2.0.
What pop means changes depending on what angle you’re looking from. It can be a descriptor of audience size, indicating something that’s popular, or it can be a genre tag, specifying a sound. But for much of the past three decades, these two definitions have effectively been one and the same.
