| Rap is in its adolescence and it's been stuck here since Soulja Boy. Before, everybody looked 35 and up. When Lil Wayne and Jay-Z and T.I. and Jeezy and Ross was on, rappers looked old... That all changed with the internet and self-releasing. Now, rap is stuck in this braggadocious, adolescent space. It's not as mature. |
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 | | Kamasi Washington at the Apollo Theater's Spring Benefit, Harlem, June 13, 2022. | | (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images) | | |
| quote of the day |
| "Rap is in its adolescence and it's been stuck here since Soulja Boy. Before, everybody looked 35 and up. When Lil Wayne and Jay-Z and T.I. and Jeezy and Ross was on, rappers looked old... That all changed with the internet and self-releasing. Now, rap is stuck in this braggadocious, adolescent space. It's not as mature." | | - A$AP Rocky | |
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| rantnrave:// |
Top Pop Singular Dude
JOEL WHITBURN died. Age 82, from Menomonee, Wis. World's foremost authority on the BILLBOARD charts. Author of more than 100 books based on those charts. Owner of a copy of every album and single that ever charted in the magazine except this one, which reached #106 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart in 1979 without having been released or even pressed; for years, Whitburn believed neither the artist nor the song had ever existed. Never worked at Billboard. At the time of his death, his signature work, TOP POP SINGLES, was in its 17th edition, with only the first of two volumes, covering 1955–1989, in print. "Vol 2: 1990–2021" is due this year.
That seems the most fitting way to memorialize the author of my favorite book about music, the aforementioned "Top Pop Singles," an exhaustively researched, nonjudgmental collection of data about every record that's made it onto the US pop chart since the mid-20th century, from A.A.B.B. (JAMES BROWN's J.B.'s working incognito for one barely-charting single in 1975) and ABBA to ZWAN (two SMASHING PUMPKINS and a ragtag group of indie-rock all-stars who bubbled under the Hot 100 with one song for 10 weeks in 2002-03) and ZZ TOP, and all manner of all things in between, including every song from every one of those DRAKE albums that littered the pop chart like Biblical locusts. Just the basic facts, laid out in exhaustive order. There's no better history of pop music in the United States. There's no better written record of what we've collectively been listening to for the better part of the past century. There's no truer, or fairer, accounting. If a record made, or bubbled under, the chart, it's in here. If it didn't, it isn't.
The breadth of styles and cultures represented within Whitburn's pages is breathtaking. The boundaries crossed, re-crossed and zigzagged as the book moves back and forth from #1 hits in 1955 to #100 wannabes in 1985 to #50 hopefuls in 2015, proceeding alphabetically by artist and chronologically within each artist, are staggering. Every entry on every page is a history of roots and branches for anyone curious enough to listen in and climb up or down. It's a bible.
And in an era of chart confusion and doubt (How did KATE BUSH take over the charts in 2022? Are the charts lying about Kate Bush? Has the very idea of the pop chart lost its meaning?), Whitburn's books, published by his own company, RECORD RESEARCH, with a license from Billboard, serve as a reminder that music charts are an ever-changing record of ever-changing times, imposing a kind of arbitrary but useful order on a world of inevitable confusion. The charts aren't right or wrong. They just are. They aren't quite a deal with God. More like a deal with your closest jukebox. RIP to the dude who insisted on listening in and taking notes.
Etc Etc Etc
"We've lost our direction, and I just want to take some time to think," BTS' RM told the group's fans in the middle of an hourlong video in which BTS announced it will be going on what RM's bandmate SUGA said is a "hiatus" and a band spokesperson says is definitely "not a hiatus." All parties agree it will involve several members of the group releasing solo projects, beginning with J-HOPE, who will also headline the final night of LOLLAPALOOZA on July 31. And all swear, hiatus or no hiatus, it won't be permanent. "I think we should spend some time apart to learn how to be one again," J-Hope said. "I think BTS will become stronger that way"... XXL's 2022 Freshman Class includes SAUCY SANTANA, KAYCYY, KALI and others the magazine believes best represent hip-hop's next generation... SPOTIFY and NETFLIX for primates... Congrats to my friend DAN EFRAM on the publication of THE STEVE KEENE ART BOOK, the first retrospective of the work of the superhumanly prolific (300,000-plus works sold) painter best known for his indie-rock album covers and his enormous series of tributes to other artists' iconic album covers... SPOTIFY has appointed an 18-member Safety Advisory Council to advise it on hate speech, disinformation and other knotty free-speech issues that have vexed the streaming giant in recent years... Is this the first TV commercial to result from BOB DYLAN's sale of publishing and his masters in the year and a half? (It should be noted that even when he owned them, Dylan's songs—and Dylan himself—were no strangers to TV spots.)
Rest in Peace
DJ 50 GRAND, the Brooklyn DJ/producer who helped launch the Notorious B.I.G.'s career... Swedish hip-hop producer FREDRIK LAGER, who recorded under the names RED ASTAIRE and FREDDIE CRUGER.
| | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | |
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 | | Tedium |
| | Gaming the Charts | | By Ernie Smith | | Pondering the way that gaps in Billboard's music charts have, for decades, created opportunities for bands and artists to maximize their exposure. | | |
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 | | The New Yorker |
| | Yoko Ono's Art of Defiance | | By Louis Menand | | Before she met John Lennon, she was a significant figure in avant-garde circles and had created a masterpiece of conceptual art. Did celebrity deprive her of her due as an artist? | | |
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 | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | The Great Rock N(FT) Roll Swindle | | By Eamonn Forde | | Eamonn Forde raises some concerns over a potential music biz bubble - in which the non-fungible get filthy and furious. | | |
 | | Pollstar |
| | Live In The Name Of Pride: Is 2022 The Summer Of Queer? | | By Deborah Sprague | | After two years of virtual events and streamed celebrations, participants seem particularly eager to make this Pride Month the loudest and proudest in years. The most visible, most important exponent of this new reality may be Lil Nas X. | | |
 | | Reuters |
| | Spotify forms council to deal with harmful content | | By Dawn Chmielewski | | Spotify Technology SA on Monday announced it has formed a Safety Advisory Council to provide third-party input on issues such as hate speech, disinformation, extremism and online abuse. | | |
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 | | The Nation Nigeria |
| | All that jazz about fuji music | | By Godson Ukaegbu | | Music of African origin is sunshine and heartbeat. One can recognize African music for its quiet frenzy, the promise of vitality, color, and pep. However, music of African origin bears little or no research as an intellectual exercise. The shape, form, and science of African music have yet to receive onward appreciation and recognition. | | |
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| | The New Yorker |
| | The Maestro of Madison Square Garden | | By Millie von Platen | | From a perch atop the arena, Ray Castoldi, the organist for the Rangers, improvises the soundtrack for playoff-hockey agony and ecstasy. | | |
| what we're into |
 | | Music of the day | | "Kwaku the Traveller" | | Black Sherif | | Ghanaian rap. "Of course I f***ed up / Who never f***ed up? Hands in the air / No hands." | | |
|  | | Video of the day | | "Halftime" | | Amanda Micheli | | Amanda Micheli's Jennifer Lopez documentary, streaming on Netflix. | | |
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| Music | Media | | | | | | 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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