We seek to identify things that we want to be a part of and things that we believe that we can add value to, and we step in and we come with these ideas. | | | | Lizzo at the Mo Pop Festival, Detroit, July 27, 2019.
(Scott Legato/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “We seek to identify things that we want to be a part of and things that we believe that we can add value to, and we step in and we come with these ideas.”
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| | rantnrave:// If I were JAY-Z (spoiler: I am not), there are a few things I'd want to see in the first year of my music and social-justice partnership with the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. I'd want to see COLIN KAEPERNICK in an NFL uniform. I'd want to see JANET JACKSON performing music at an NFL game. And I'd want to see a person of color headlining the SUPER BOWL halftime show. I'll leave the Colin K part of this discussion to the sports pundits, though I'll note that Jay-Z reportedly tried to get TRAVIS SCOTT to decline a guest spot at MAROON 5's Super Bowl halftime performance this year to protest the league's treatment of Kaepernick, who was blacklisted from the league shortly after he began kneeling during a song, "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." There are people who like to pretend that various forms of entertainment and public engagement—music, sports, TV punditry, politics—are completely different things and that participants in each should stay in their respective lanes. But they aren't. Those lanes intersect nearly every step of the way, and no amount of yelling at a musician to shut up and sing or at an athlete to shut up and play will change that. I'd like to think the NFL's Jay-Z/ROC NATION deal is an acknowledgment of that reality, and good for the league for pursuing it. Janet Jackson has been effectively blacklisted from the NFL, too, for 15 years, for an accidental slip that lasted less than one second. The man who shared that moment with her escaped official blame and was welcomed back as the Super Bowl halftime headliner in 2018. The NFL is under no obligation to give Jackson an entire halftime show, or any show. But it could go a long way toward making up for its slight by booking her as a Super Bowl special guest, or giving her a featured slot in any national broadcast—all of which appears to be part of Jay-Z's new job. As for the Super Bowl headliner, it's possible the league has had a hard time booking a nonwhite performer the past few years because the best ones haven't wanted to have anything to do with it. It was Jay-Z himself who rapped, just over a year ago, "I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don't need you." Respect to both him and the league for crossing the lines that stood between them. Jay-Z told the WASHINGTON POST, "You can either go home, you can pack your bag and sit in the house, or you can choose to take it head-on." NFL commissioner ROGER GOODELL told the NEW YORK TIMES, "We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better." If Jay-Z can get Goodell and his league to fully engage the rhythm nation in all its forms, on the field and off, behind center and behind a microphone, that would be a hell of a start... Speaking of Janet, in case you've somehow missed it, this is every kind of adorable... ASCAP and BMI consent decrees: "cornerstones of contemporary music licensing practices" or "an edifice whose foundation has eroded"?... The verdict in A$AP ROCKY's assault trial will be announced today in Sweden. He won't be there. If he's found guilty and sentenced to prison time, things could get complicated again... RIP ANNER BYLSMA, TOKO TASI and DJ ARAFAT. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| | | what have you done for me lately? |
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 | Tidal |
| Troy Carter can’t leave the game alone. After taking a hiatus from music, the Philly native spearheaded Prince’s posthumous album, "Originals." Outside of music, he's expanding his portfolio in the venture capital world. Here, Carter talks about work on the project, music, finances and more. | | |
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 | NME |
| From ongoing battles by Taylor Swift and De La Soul with former record labels, the need to own your master recordings has never been so clear. | | |
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 | The Associated Press |
| For decades, Placido Domingo, one of the most celebrated and powerful men in opera, has tried to pressure women into sexual relationships by dangling jobs and then sometimes punishing the women professionally when they refused his advances, numerous accusers told The Associated Press. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| The deal, which extends to other league entertainment events throughout the season, does not contain a provision for Jay-Z to perform at the Super Bowl. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Friend and author Thomas Beller recounts what made David Berman such a brilliant, beloved and ultimately fragile artist. | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| Strictly abiding by a “more-is-more” philosophy, the Brauch brothers shaped the visual aesthetic of Southern hip-hop’s flashiest era. | | |
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| Red Bull Music Academy |
| Def Jam, the Ramones, Wu-Tang Clan, DFA, and more: The story behind nearly two dozen of the most iconic logos in New York music history. | | |
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 | Vox |
| From Justin Timberlake to the Bee Gees, we charted the popularity of men singing high. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello had the help of Ali Tamposi, Andrew Watt, Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, Charli XCX, and Clean Bandit's Jack Patterson to bring "Señorita" to life. Their collaborators detail how the summer smash came together. | | |
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 | Wired |
| Speakers are everywhere, whether it's expensive, standalone sound systems, laptops, smart home devices, or cheap portables. And while you rely on them for music or conversation, researchers have long known that commercial speakers are also physically able to emit frequencies outside of audible range for humans. | | |
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 | Aquarium Drunkard |
| I was 16 when Jerry Garcia died, and I didn’t give a f***. In fact, being the heartless hesher brat that I was, I taunted my Deadhead cousins about their loss with crude jokes -- mostly obvious puns on the name Grateful Dead. I was into Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus, and Kreator. | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| Speaking to Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker of the pioneering feminist punk band, both before and after the departure of the group’s drummer Janet Weiss. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| Haim Saban, with a net worth in the region of $3bn, is making a major play in music. | | |
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| Los Angeles Times |
| Nipsey Hussle’s star power as a rapper and activist radiated from a single point -- the South L.A. strip mall where he centered his business ventures and where he once sold his CDs from his trunk. But long-brewing trouble there has become increasingly visible since his death. | | |
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 | NPR Music |
| One of the most indispensable guitarists of all time, Carter was a quiet revolutionary. Though she didn't concern herself with celebrity or need to be the star, she deserves our deepest admiration. | | |
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 | 5 Magazine |
| The incredible story of the insulation installer who developed the world's first commercial drum machine. | | |
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 | The Information |
| An issue that has long vexed many iPhone users--the inability to play music from Spotify using Siri, Apple's voice assistant--may soon be a thing of the past. | | |
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 | On An Overgrown Path |
| What matters most in a classical performance, whether in concert or recorded, is not the age of the audience, the hype surrounding the musicians, the gender of the conductor, the number of Facebook 'likes', the backstory of the composer, or the many other next big things manufactured by the marketeers. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The whimsical animated musical about the Beatles delights me in new ways thanks to daily viewings with my 4-year-old. | | |
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 | Refinery29 |
| Yola Día is a one-of-a-kind experiment in festival culture; rather than slowly integrating more women into a lineup, this festival is centering on them. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | "Some people have found the music video difficult to watch or offensive," frontman Daniel Armbruster has said. "It is absolutely hard to watch. It’s supposed to be." |
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