It’s always a case of finding your voice. Instead of just rapping, what are you rapping? What do you have to say? | | | | The plaid truth: J Balvin at Calibash in Los Angeles, Jan. 20, 2018.
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “It’s always a case of finding your voice. Instead of just rapping, what are you rapping? What do you have to say?”
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| | rantnrave:// They've been giving out a GRAMMY AWARD for Best Rap Album for 23 years, and only five women have ever been nominated, including RAPSODY, who's up against KENDRICK LAMAR, JAY-Z, MIGOS and TYLER THE CREATOR this Sunday. That amounts to less than one nomination per presidential term, which should embarrass someone though no one seems to know who exactly. (And we're talking nominations, not wins; the only female winner was LAURYN HILL, for her role as one-third of the FUGEES). But that's nothing next to the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category, where in 43 years only one woman has been nominated for producing someone other than herself. This year's noms: CALVIN HARRIS, GREG KURSTIN, BLAKE MILLS, NO I.D.and the STEREOTYPES. In the Classical category, JUDITH SHERMAN is up against four men for what could be her sixth producing GRAMMY, so pop people, maybe step across the aisle and talk to classical people, and see if they have any tips on how to make music while a woman is sitting near the recording console. I will let you draw—or not draw—your own conclusion on how we get from this continuing lack of representation for women to the music industry's reluctance to distance itself from abusive men, which my friend COURTNEY E. SMITH chronicles with eye-popping clarity for REFINERY29. Is there *anyone* who the music business is prepared to punish in the same way HOLLYWOOD has punished, say, LOUIS C.K.? Is there anyone who *should* be punished like that? And if so, where do you draw the line: R. KELLY? CHRIS BROWN? What about (classic-rock trigger warning) DAVID BOWIE, who Smith spends several paragraphs contemplating? You may or may not agree all the way through, but these are fair, important and necessary questions to ask... TOM PETTY was taking fentanyl and opioids in apparently heavy doses a year and a half after PRINCE died, which is heartbreaking in a million and a half ways. Writing about the opioid crisis in the wake of these celebrity deaths, POLITICO's DAN DIAMOND notes that KELLYANNE CONWAY retweeted a plea from Petty's relatives wishing for "further discussion on the opioid crisis." He also notes that Conway's boss, PRESIDENT TRUMP, "despite making repeated proclamations about the need to solve the opioid epidemic, hasn’t steered new funding to the problem and has even sought to cut resources"... One of the last major streaming holdouts has ended its holdout. No f-f-foolin'. DEF LEPPARD singer JOE ELLIOTT says the band has been ready to stream for several years but was waiting for the right deal and the right timing. A regime change at UNIVERSAL MUSIC made things easier, he adds... RIP FREDO SANTANA and JIM RODFORD. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Refinery29 |
| Hollywood is leading the way when it comes to punishing men accused of sexual harassment. So why are predatory male artists still making music, unscathed? | | |
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 | The Verge |
| Debop is a boutique service offering 10-song custom playlists for $125 a pop. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| As far back as 1967 with Jimmy Webb, L.A. musicians have found inspiration on Rosecrans Avenue. The Times' Randall Roberts reports on the hip-hop artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Tupac and DJ Quik, who have written lyrics about the street that runs through the heart of Compton. | | |
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 | POLITICO Magazine |
| The country’s addiction problems are too entrenched to be shaken by a few high-profile victims. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Why no woman has ever been awarded the Grammy for producer of the year, non-classical -- and what female producers face behind the boards. | | |
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 | Nash Country Daily |
| Jim Casey talks with Montgomery Gentry's Eddie Montgomery about: the death of his longtime friend and duo partner Troy Gentry the little things that remind him of Troy the good times he and Troy shared during their early days onstage the first time he met Troy putting the Montgomery | | |
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 | Digital Music News |
| My law firm currently represents multiple songwriters and publishers in copyright litigation against Spotify that, in total, involve approximately 2,500 musical compositions. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| A joking “shred” video is made of the renowned violinist Daniel Hope, who fights back - raising serious questions of free speech, satire and taste. | | |
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 | NPR Music |
| "I couldn't not speak about whiteness in my work," Garbus says of her new record as Tune-Yards. She breaks down the themes and self-examinations behind “I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life.” | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| Times change and sounds change. Genres and cultures change. But the constant sniping between old heads and younger hip-hop fans is only selling the music short. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| The Man of the Woods’ new album is almost here. And this won’t be the first time he’s confused us with an album title. | | |
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 | NPR |
| Ana Belaval's reaction to meeting singer Ricky Martin went viral not only for her reaction but what Martin means to Puerto Ricans recovering from the hurricane. She talks with Lulu Garcia-Navarro. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Chief Keef was the drill movement’s brightest star, but his cousin Fredo Santana was drill incarnate. | | |
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| The New York Times |
| “Trumpet,” its score lost for decades, has been reconstructed for the three-week festival “Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental.” | | |
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 | Tom Scott |
| Solresol is a language, invented out of whole cloth by Jean-François Sudre in the 19th century, that used seven musical notes to create all the words that he thought you'd ever need. It did work: so why aren't we all speaking in notes right now? | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The great songwriter talks about politics, Toy Story and the Smiths - and why he’s never enjoyed the writing process. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| See photos from 'Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,' featuring Outkast, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and more. | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| From the DJ History archives: The force behind "Planet Rock" and more on helping to create New York's revolutionary electro sound. | | |
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 | The Fashion Law |
| If you read this past week in any publication that Lana Del Rey was being sued by Radiohead, then you were duped. You were duped because the mainstream media fell for a musician’s inaccurate and unverified tweet. | | |
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 | The Globe and Mail |
| Guitarist and charter member of the legendary Canadian prog-rock trio says he’s actually been ‘busier lately than I have been in a while’ since the band stopped touring and recording. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | I'll be spotlighting Grammy nominees here all week. This is up for Best Rap Song and appears on "Laila's Wisdom," nominated for Best Rap Album. |
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