My existence is political: I was married before it was legal in the States. I don't know how to not write that into my music. | | | | Kanye West performing "Jesus Walks" at the Grammy Awards, Los Angeles, Feb. 13, 2005.
(Frank Micelotta/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | "My existence is political: I was married before it was legal in the States. I don't know how to not write that into my music."
| | | | | | rantnrave:// HULU's scripted WU-TANG CLAN origin series drops today and you should definitely, maybe watch (wait, "bursts of animation that are part FRITZ THE CAT, part Saturday morning cartoons" in one episode and "weathered, grindhouse cinematography" in another? Yeah, you should probably watch). But I'm here this morning to tell you to skip breakfast and everything else and watch the pilot episode of AMC's HIP-HOP: THE SONGS THAT SHOOK AMERICA, which the network has quietly dropped on YOUTUBE. It's about KANYE WEST's "JESUS WALKS" and it's as good a documentary about a single pop song as I've seen. Thrilling, soulful, emotional, deeply researched and beautifully woven into a story that arcs from the DIXIE CHICKS to drug rehab to the eternal question of whether a producer should be allowed to rap. I'm not sure I noticed till it was almost over that it was produced without a new Kanye interview (but with lots of vintage footage). The series, which premieres Oct. 13, is executive produced by a team that includes the ROOTS' QUESTLOVE and BLACK THOUGHT and documentarian ALEX GIBNEY and is partly based on SHEA SERRANO's THE RAP YEARBOOK. I'd already be renewing it for a second season if I had the power. Good quote about Kanye from DAME DASH: "He doesn't fail, he learns"... JUSTIN BIEBER's INSTAGRAM confession is genuinely moving and self-reflective and suggests he, too, is seeking the right side of the learn/fail matrix. It also raises some questions about what it means when pop stars open up in public about their mental health struggles. As a culture, we've encouraged it. POPDUST's EDEN ARIELLE GORDON wonders if we've encouraged it a bit too hard, and asks what happens when we get too much of this presumably good thing... Staff reductions at NATIVE INSTRUMENTS... Functionality reductions at ITUNES... Is anyone skeptical about pop music anymore? I'm not sure I agree with the premise of this tweet by SPEEDY ORTIZ's SADIE DUPUIS, but I'm here for the discussion... New York songs and stories, from "TAKE THE 'A' TRAIN" to "CONEY ISLAND BABY" to—it's a big city—"TRUCKIN'"... My boss has coined a new word. After seeing CLEVELAND.COM's list of the "200 Most Important Songs in Rock and Roll History," which is culled from the 660 songs that the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME credits with shaping rock, and noticing that HOWLIN' WOLF's "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN'" is slotted at #198, he's calling for a REDEFerendum. I'm not so sure about ELVIS PRESLEY's "HOUND DOG" at #1 myself. REDEFerendum granted. What say you?... RIP HALEY SMITH. | | | - Matty Karas, curator | | | |  | amc.com | | In an era of excess, a Christian rap song challenges the church and changes its own ideals about religion and rap music. | | | |  | The New Yorker | | In this era of post-post-everything, the twenty-three-year-old recording artist's sincere devotion to the pop project makes her a gutsy, somewhat daring figure. | | | |  | NPR Music | | In the 1970s, Ella Fitzgerald became the face (and glass-shattering voice) of Memorex tapes. It fueled a career revival that extended her relevance and positioned her to pass the torch to a new generation. | | | |  | The Paris Review | | An untrained listener's guide. | | | |  | The New York Times | | A new supergroup -- Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby -- is making music with a mission. | | | |  | The Verge | | The Future of Music season 2, episode 3. | | | |  | The Baffler | | The world of classical music is neither noble nor fair, though its reputation says otherwise. Winners and losers are chosen long before a child first picks up an instrument. | | | |  | Okayplayer | | Despite spotty performances, 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' is a worthwhile watch for anyone seeking the backstory of one of music's most iconic groups. | | | |  | MusicAlly | | In Music Ally's latest analysis report, we take a look at the three major labels' strategies around music/tech startups and investment. | | | |  | The Outline | | Jeremy Renner, Kiefer Sutherland, and Russell Crowe, to name a few, have pivoted to making barely listenable music steeped in the milieu of personal turmoil. | | | |  | i-D Magazine | | "I knew that my life was about to fall apart. Everything that I knew, all my stability and everything I was attached to... was about to f***ing go." Read FKA twigs's first interview in nearly three years as she discusses her new album. | | | |  | DJ Tech Tools | | What's happening at Native Instruments? Over the last week, a number of sources have shared news of significant layoffs at Native Instruments. Specifically, according to sources close to the company, around 100 people were let go last Thursday (Sep. 29) -- many of whom seemed to have been focused on hardware development. | | | |  | Resident Advisor | | Moodymann's Soul Skate party embodies a long tradition where rollerskating and club music intertwine. We spoke with Kenny Dixon Jr., Traci Washington, Louie Vega, Danny Krivit and more on one of America's richest subcultures. | | | |  | Highsnobiety | | Drake's apparent besmirching of The Beatles' legacy is just the latest incident in the checkered relationship between hip-hop and the Fab Four. | | | |  | Tidal | | Your favorite rapper's favorite young rapper, YBN Cordae, takes Elliott Wilson for a drive through California in a Nissan Altima diving into the stories behind the tracks on his debut album "The Lost Boy." | | | |  | The Daily Beast | | Bubba Green was a hard-luck junkie who treated county jail like a second home. So when a mysterious stranger offered him a fortune to steal the King's coffin, he went for it. | | | |  | Music Business Worldwide | | Bill Curbishley might be one of the greatest artist managers of all time, sure. But he's also one of the greatest storytellers, with an endless supply of anecdotes from a life in -- and love of -- music from when he was a mod in 1960s East London up until the present day. | | | |  | Afropunk | | The spring of 1988 was a crazy year that saw Black America going through hell stemming from two terms of Ronald Reagan's destructive policies as president, record-high unemployment, and the snowfall of Nicaraguan Contra-trafficked cocaine that was steadily destroying our communities with crack, gangbanging, and gun violence. | | | |  | Fast Company | | Rebecca Sugar's intergalactic saga is finally getting its TV movie--and she explains how it's her "hugest endeavor ever." | | | |  | Kotaku | | Beyoncé? Radiohead? Taylor Swift? Daft Punk? All great musicians, yes, but not quite the single greatest musician of our generation. That honor is reserved for someone so great he verges on fictitious: K.K. Slider. In a way, it feels blasphemous to claim that the greatest musician of our generation is someone who doesn't even hail from a music-focused game. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | From "Mirrorland," out Friday on Dreamville/Interscope. | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group | | |
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