jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 12/28/2021 - Special Edition: In Memoriam 2021

It is hard to explain what it was like the first time you heard DMX. It was a mushroom cloud bellowing up after a hydrogen bomb dropped by Funkmaster Flex. No one ever possessed such terrifying levels of voltage. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Open in browser Tuesday - December 28, 2021 DMX at the Forum, Inglewood, Calif., Oct. 4, 2016. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images) quote of the day "It is hard to explain what it was like the first time you heard DMX. It was a mushroom cloud bellowing up after a hydrogen bomb dropped by Funkmaster Flex. No one ever possessed such terrifying levels of voltage." — Jeff Weiss, GQ rantnrave:// Coda Giants of dub, hip-hop, jazz, pop, salsa, rock and roll, ranchera, Broadway and so much more. A label founder. An inventor. A critic. At the end of another year of incalculable loss, we pause to mourn but also to celebrate men and women who deeply enriched our musical lives—and who continue to live through the music they made or helped make possible. The 30-ish links below allow us to share, well, 30-ish stories, which tell a small but essential part of what we lost this year. For a more complete accounting, here's our full, alphabetical list of more than 600 music deaths in 2021. Three special memorial dedications: To the journalists, chroniclers and critics we lost in 2021: GREG TATE, a volcano of vocabulary who influenced, or simply changed, how so many of us wrote about, thought about or even made hip-hop, jazz, rock and so much more (you'll find more on Greg in the links below). ED WARD of Rolling Stone, Creem and the Austin Chronicle (among many others). JIM BESSMAN of Billboard. Pioneering female rock critic/editor PATRICIA KENNEALY-MORRISON. Metal maven MALCOLM DOME, who coined the term "thrash." ALAN LEWIS of Sounds, NME and Kerrang! Early Beatles confidant MAUREEN CLEAVE. New York magazine's longtime classical and opera critic, PETER G. DAVIS. EVE BABITZ, who essayed and novelized Los Angeles from the inside. Local heroes who devoted their lives to chronicling the musicians next door: JONATHAN VALANIA in Philadelphia. MIC SHANE in Chicago. PAMELA ESPELAND in Minneapolis. DEAN MINDERMAN in St. Louis. RICK NELSON in Tacoma. To the 10 music fans killed in the crowd crush at ASTROWORLD. And to my father, LEO KARAS, who sometimes asked me to turn the stereo down but never asked me to turn it off. — Matty Karas, curator return to forever Rolling Stone How Lee 'Scratch' Perry 'Forever Changed the Sound of Music Everywhere' by Vivien Goldman Four decades ago, musician, journalist and Bob Marley's former publicist Vivien Goldman was with Marley and Scratch in London. Today, she looks back at the producer's monumental legacy. Vulture Charlie Watts Held the Rolling Stones Together for Half a Century by Bill Wyman Remembering the legendary drummer, without whom the greatest rock and roll band in history might've crumbled. GQ DMX Turned Agony and Atomic Energy Into One of Rap's Most Titanic Legacies by Jeff Weiss He was both the last great, raw '90s rapper, and a harbinger of the harmonic pop sensibilities that would dominate the next generation. Do the M@th Connector in Chief: Chick Corea, 1941-2021 by Mark Stryker Like pretty much everyone else within the jazz community, I never contemplated living in a world without Chick Corea. Los Angeles Times Vicente Fernández, a Mexican musical icon for generations, dies at 81 by Jesse Katz The last of Mexico's crooning matinee idols, the self-taught troubadour recorded more than 50 albums, all in Spanish, and sold tens of millions of copies. Pitchfork Remembering SOPHIE's Radical Futurism by Philip Sherburne The revolutionary artist helped change the landscape of pop music as we know it. NPR Music Being A Teenager In The 1950s Was Hard. The Everly Brothers Understood by Ann Powers From the opening of their first hit, "Bye Bye Love," the Everly Brothers spoke directly to the deepest longings and anxieties of the generation that would come to define the rock and soul era. Los Angeles Times How Mary Wilson and the Supremes changed the way white America viewed Black music by Mikael Wood Supremes co-founder Mary Wilson was the group's linchpin and actively promoted their legacy long after their breakup. Complex Drakeo the Ruler, People's Champion by Steven Louis The loss of Drakeo the Ruler, South Central's prodigal mudwalker and the undisputed People's Champion of Los Angeles, is incalculable and cosmically cruel. Tidal Music's Expanding: A Robbie Shakespeare Listening Guide by Reshma B Locked in alongside drummer Sly Dunbar, the bassist revolutionized reggae — and much more. the wailing wailers Vulture No One Was Safe from Phil Spector by Bill Wyman The producer made countless contributions to music, but his ego overshadowed them all. Billboard Walter Yetnikoff Was a Wolf Among 'Hit Men,' But That Was His Undoing by Fredric Dannen Some people thought "Hit Men" - Fred Dannen's expose of the music business - helped end the career of the CBS Records chief. The truth is, he didn't need any help. Tidal Johnny Pacheco: Tumbao Everlasting by Eddie Palmieri and Shaun Brady Latin-music legend Eddie Palmieri remembers his dear friend and colleague, the salsa and pachanga bandleader and producer who co-founded Fania Records. The New York Times Duke Bootee, Whose 'Message' Educated Hip-Hop, Dies at 69 by Alex Traub His 1982 hit about the "jungle" of urban poverty charted a new, grittier path for rap music in its early days. The Motto why me—and everybody—loves the Biz by Elliott Wilson It's way deeper than "Just A Friend." Vulture Jim Steinman, Master of Excess by Bill Wyman At his best, humor and his natural talents came together -- most often in the work of Meat Loaf -- to create ineffable moments of pop and rock grandeur. The New Yorker Farewell to Stephen Sondheim by Adam Gopnik His legacy is one that will be debated and argued over as long as people care about musical theatre. Rolling Stone A Loose Salute to Michael Nesmith, the Coolest Monkee of Them All by Rob Sheffield He was a musical visionary who fought for the group to write its own songs, and helped to invent country-rock on a series of cult-classic solo LPs. The Washington Post Lou Ottens, who invented the cassette tape and pioneered the CD, dies at 94 by Harrison Smith His compact, plastic-encased sound machine helped democratize music, making it easier for millions of people to hear, record and share songs. The Guardian The Debt I Owe to Jon Hassell by Brian Eno Hassell's Vernal Equinox fascinated me. It was a dreamy, strange, meditative music that was inflected by Indian, African and South American music, but also seemed located in the lineage of tonal minimalism. It was a music I felt I'd been waiting for. Texas Monthly Nanci Griffith Was More Loved Than She Knew by Jason Cohen Fans of the Seguin-born singer-songwriter are as uncategorizable as the artist they adored. Los Angeles Times Today, hip-hop and R&B are seamlessly intwined. You can thank Chucky Thompson for that by Julian Kimble Chucky Thompson, who died Aug. 9 from COVID-19 complications, produced classic records by the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige for Bad Boy Records. David Hinckley Remembering Lloyd Price, and the Strange Wild Tale of 'Stagger Lee' by David Hinckley If he had done nothing else, Lloyd Price's 1958 version of the folk ballad "Stagger Lee" would stand today as maybe the most hard-core record ever to hit №1 on the rock 'n' roll charts. NPR Music Stonecoldboldness: A many-sided memorial to the writing of Greg Tate by Ann Powers, Hanif Abdurraqib, Marcus J. Moore... A critic whose writing was nearly music itself, Greg Tate - who died this week at 64 - influenced generations of writers. His colleagues, peers and followers offer a guide to his essential works. The Guardian Slipknot's Joey Jordison corralled chaos with his explosive talent by Chris Lord In combining both pummelling impact and nimble speed, Jordison defied his short stature to become a hulking master of rhythm - and the finest metal drummer of his era. The New Yorker The Vibrant Life and Quiet Passing of Dottie Dodgion by Megan Mayhew Bergman The pioneering female jazz drummer played with Charles Mingus, Benny Goodman, and many others—and still had a regular gig, at the age of ninety, until the pandemic struck. Rolling Stone How Milford Graves Reawakened the Spirit of the Drum by Hank Shteamer Late percussionist's radical approach galvanized everyone from Lou Reed to Albert Ayler, and built a bridge between music and the healing arts. The FADER Young Dolph was Memphis rap's defiant heart by Jayson Buford He was as human as it got, and he was a real Memphis legend. Dazed Digital Remembering K-Hand, the Detroit trailblazer who did it her way by Annabel Ross Kelli Hand, the artist dubbed the 'First Lady of Detroit', deserves to be remembered as one of the best and most important producers in the history of electronic music. The Guardian The brilliant Bunny Wailer pushed reggae forward on his own terms by Lloyd Bradley The Jamaican star returned to his roots after global fame with Bob Marley to deepen and diversify reggae with a powerful sense of creative freedom. The Washington Post Phil Schaap, jazz scholar, historian and broadcaster, dies at 70 by Tim Page He seemed to want to share every possible fact that he could find, in a sort of ecstatic data transport: where the record was made, which take from the session was played, what might have been going on in the lives of the players and in the world on that long-ago day. what we're into Music of the day "It's Okay to Cry" Sophie YouTube Video of the day "Lee 'Scratch' Perry: The Last Visit With the Legend" Rolling Stone YouTube Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech SUBSCRIBE Suggest a link "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" 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