Amplifier Podcast
This has been a historic year for women in rap and hip-hop, all the way to the 2021 Grammy Awards when Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé broke records as the first pair of women to win in the best rap performance category. As NPR Music put it, “To know what tomorrow sounds like, one need only listen to the women in rap today.” And to know what the future of Charlotte hip-hop is, one need only turn to rhythmic lyricist ReeCee Raps.
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The Carters have it all — wealth, influence, critical cred — but they've never stopped chasing the approval of exclusive institutions like the Grammys. At this point, who are they fighting for?
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The new pressing is to celebrate the album's 50th anniversary and the Swedish quartet's 1974 Eurovision win. It will even include the album's title track in four different languages.
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NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Francesca Royster, author of Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions, about how Black artists have contributed to country music and the barriers they've faced.
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The South African singer brought a homegrown genre, amapiano, to new ears with a viral hit and a Grammy. With her debut album, she wants to prove the world is ready for a full-blown African pop star.
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The thoughtful pianist from Iceland plays a set of gentle pieces — from Bach to Bartók — evoking nostalgic memories of his childhood.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with musician and composer Ameen Mokdad, about his album The Curve, which he composed while living under ISIS occupation in Mosul, Iraq.
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Born in 1924 in Newark, N.J., Vaughan came up in the '40s, alongside bebop, a new jazz style she instantly took to. In the following decades, she proved to be one of the best singers of any genre.
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The Nashville-based musician talks about her new record and performs in front of a live studio audience at World Cafe.
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One of the most performed living composers unpacks the power of melody in her music, her unconventional path to success and how visual art guides her process.
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What do New Jazz Underground, Black Sabbath and Remi Wolf have in common? According to NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich, they put out the best tracks of the week.