-
![]()
Richard Shotwell / AP Hip-Hop's 'Rockstar' Moment Gets Its No. 1 Hit
Post Malone’s smash marks the biggest charts year for rap in a decade—and shows rap’s obsession with the genre it dethroned.
-
![]()
Matador Rock and Roll to Break Your Writer's Block To
Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett's Lotta Sea Lice charmingly riffs on the question of where inspiration comes from.
-
![]()
Reuters / Mario Anzuoni What Makes Eminem's Trump Diss Special (and What Doesn't)
The rapper’s unique in speaking to the president's supporters—but his freestyle is otherwise typical of 2017’s hip-hop politics.
-
![]()
Disney The Last Jedi: Who Will Turn Dark?
The mysterious new Star Wars trailer hints at a new take on the saga’s eternal theme.
-
![]()
Charles Sykes / AP Harvey Weinstein, Jay-Z, and the Misuse of Art
The film producer explained away his alleged misconduct by making up the words to a very personal song.
-
![]()
John Cuneo Toby Keith in Trump’s America
Talking politics with country music's bawdy, boozy star
-
![]()
Chip East / Reuters Nina Simone Nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—Finally
This year’s list spans gospel and synth-pop, as well as overdue inclusions and new shoo-ins.
-
![]()
Geffen Records / Vevo Tom Petty's Psychedelic Curveball Triumph
“Don't Come Around Here No More” is an outlier in the late rocker’s catalogue—and all the more glorious for it.
-
![]()
Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP For Women Seeking Pop Hits in 2017, It's a Climb
Miley Cyrus, Shania Twain, and Demi Lovato’s new albums enter a newly indifferent charts landscape.
-
![]()
Amy Harris / Invision / AP The Humble Hugeness of Tom Petty
The rocker, who always let his songs be the star, is dead at 66.
-
![]()
Bill Hughes / Las Vegas News Bureau / ... Another Concert Made Into a Target
A country-music festival in Las Vegas joins the list of pop-cultural gatherings—usually places of community and escape—to become sites of mass killing.
-
![]()
NBC The Kaepernick Protest Comes to SNL
In the show’s season premiere, Jay-Z supported kneeling athletes, Alec Baldwin’s Trump dissed Puerto Rico, and bad typography got called out.
-
![]()
Scott Kowalchyk / CBS Chance the Rapper's Radical Humility on Colbert
His delicate new song makes the problems of fame shockingly relatable.
-
![]()
Greg Allen / AP When Stevie Wonder
Took a KneeHigh-profile members of the music world are showing solidarity with Colin Kaepernick—as well as the various ways protest translates across cultural spheres.
-
![]()
Jennifer Clasen / Amazon Transparent Tackles
Israel-Palestine, and Other Boundary IssuesThe dramedy’s unusually joyful fourth season says that division is agony—and reconciliation is a process.
-
![]()
Netflix Lady Gaga's Illness Is Not a Metaphor
A new film details the reason the star postponed her recent tour—and will test cultural attitudes about gender, pain, and pop.
-
![]()
Chris Pizzello / AP Sean Spicer and the Self-Contradicting Politics of the Emmys
The cameo by the former press secretary put a confusing spin on the many anti-Trump jokes of the night.
-
![]()
Owen Sweeney / AP The False Prophets of Protest Music
Members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill team up for political rock that seems immediately obsolete.
-
![]()
Kevin Mazur / Hand in Hand / Getty The Apolitical Politics of the Celebrity Hurricane Telethon
Amid raising $44 million, Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé blew past the question of whether it’d be divisive to talk about climate change.
-
![]()
Cara Howe / Comedy Central Darkness on the Edge of Broad City
The manic-pixie yas kweens squirm under Trump in Season 4.
