I never went to June Records to buy a record. I went to June to go to June. To experience a humanizing moment, through commerce. To enter that space, interact with its goods and its personalities and walk out with something far greater than a copy of Bill Withers’s '+Justments.' | | | | I got 88 keys but... Jay-Z backstage at the Apollo, New York, Nov. 23, 2001.
(Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I never went to June Records to buy a record. I went to June to go to June. To experience a humanizing moment, through commerce. To enter that space, interact with its goods and its personalities and walk out with something far greater than a copy of Bill Withers’s '+Justments.'”
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| | rantnrave:// Do you remember anything MAROON 5 did at the SUPER BOWL six months ago? Or JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 18 months ago? The Super Bowl halftime show, 12 or 13 minutes in front of TV audiences that routinely surpass 100 million, is an endless source of fascination for many of us, capable of carrying significant social and cultural weight. Or not, as the case sometimes may be. Does the typical halftime have any more impact, when all is said and done, than a random Tuesday night gig in Houston or, I don’t know, an NBA all-star game? If BEYONCÉ or PRINCE didn't show up, did it happen? If there isn't a wardrobe malfunction, how long can we expect the news cycle to last? The middle layer of the annual football-and-music sandwich is in the news right now because of JAY-Z and ROC NATION's controversial partnership with the NFL, which among other things makes Jay a co-producer (whatever that means) of the halftime show. There's little doubt the show could use a makeover, from booking (especially) to performance. There's little doubt Jay-Z could make it better even if he doesn't perform, which, by most current signs, he isn't planning on. There's little doubt that me and people like me will be publicly lobbying him for a MEGAN THEE STALLION or TIERRA WHACK booking in the months ahead. But this can't really be what Jay-Z and the NFL's interest in each other is about, can it? Is the football league trying to bury some recent (and justified) bad press and/or curry favor with a demographic that's been boycotting or simply not watching/engaging for the past few years? Is the rapper trying to give that demographic a voice it currently doesn't have and/or is he trying to (warning: thin sourcing) get himself a team? Is this a step toward true social justice, or a step away? Have we really moved past kneeling? Who is this we we're talking about? Has anyone asked COLIN KAEPERNICK? Are we going to give Jay-Z points for trying to engage, or are we going to deduct points for trying to engage? Who again are we, and what's our goal? What are our tactics? We're still cheering at the end of the day for the rapper from MARCY PROJECTS who's broken into yet another previously off-limits corridor of power, right? And, seriously, how about Megan Thee Stallion next February in Miami Gardens? MusicSET: "The NFL Drafts Jay-Z"... "The greatest of the corporate rappers": The NEW YORKER's KELEFA SANNEH on Jay-Z, 18 years ago this week... U.S. government sides with LED ZEPPELIN in long-running copyright case against SPIRIT (and, legally speaking, a 51-year-old sound recording)... It rained in Bethel, N.Y. How else would you expect a Woodstock anniversary weekend to go?... Musicians pick their favorite films about music, from URGH! A MUSIC WAR to WHIPLASH to HOMECOMING... RIP KATREESE BARNES. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Woodstock 50 had nearly every resource a festival could ask for: storied brand name, massive financial backing and industry goodwill. Where did it all go wrong? | | |
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| Kacey Musgraves got blasted for bringing up gun control at Lollapalooza after the El Paso and Datyon shootings. Can musicans talk about politics to fans? | | |
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| Reports of sexual harassment against one of opera’s most revered stars have brought opposing reactions from singers, and continents. | | |
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| With voting guides and streaming parties, stateside K-pop fans go to great lengths to help their faves break out globally. | | |
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| With the last pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the league itself makes a surprise choice: an activist rapper. Can Jay-Z move the football league forward, or will he simply provide cover for controversies that lay behind? And what will the league do for him? | | |
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| We're entering a new phase of the market: new services are launching with new features for niche markets, and most of them cost more than $10 per month. | | |
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| Hot Girl Summer has women subverting a feminine archetype, but only if they can embody it first. | | |
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| Coltrane recorded the album in New Jersey, at the admiring behest of a Québécois filmmaker named Gilles Groulx, who used it to score his docufictional film "Le chat dans le sac." | | |
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| At a moment of upheaval in both political and musical hierarchy, the nu metal band’s grinding, genre-blending, class-conscious rage has never seemed more potent. | | |
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| Chris Molanphy and guest Tom Breihan discuss three unusual No. 1 hits. | | |
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| The door is cracking open to music use in podcasts and that could open up new on-demand opportunities for radio stations. This is according to executives behind PodcastMusic.com, the just-announced licensing clearinghouse that will begin allowing podcasters to legally put songs in their shows starting next year. | | |
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| Had fate worked out just a bit differently, Peter Fonda might be remembered as one of the great figures of 1960s pop music rather than one of the standout actors of his generation. | | |
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| "Omae Wa Mou," an instrumental built around an obscure sample of Japanese bossa nova, was pulled from Spotify as soon as it hit Number One on the platform's viral chart. The teen who made it doesn’t know what to do next. | | |
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| Saying goodbye to a beloved brick and mortar business hurts. | | |
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| YouTube is making a change to its copyright enforcement policies around music used in videos, which may result in an increased number of blocked videos in the shorter term -- but overall, a healthier ecosystem in the long term. Going forward, copyright owners will no longer be able to monetize creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music via YouTube’s “Manual Claiming” tool. | | |
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| Rap and reality TV haven’t always meshed - but Krept and Konan’s new series could change that. | | |
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| A.I. speech synthesis may threaten the unique status of the human voice. But it could also help us to find new ways of expressing our humanity. | | |
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| On the eve of his own U.S. tour, Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward provides five pro tips that every band who is booking their own tour should practice. | | |
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| “I think Bruce was touched that we approached his music from a unique cultural point-of-view.” | | |
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| The meticulous yet goofy group has gained loyal fans -- and new band members -- during its decades-long run. | | |
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| | | | | Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars |
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