A week after Kendrick Lamar's new album, GNX, was surprise released, it proved to be a chart phenomenon, debuting at No. 1 on the album chart and claiming the Top 5 spots on the singles chart.
You can't always know that it's a great year for new music while it's happening, but there was a sense from the very start of 2024 that we were in for a ride.
Drake claims Universal Music Group charged Spotify significantly less to license "Not Like Us," in exchange to feature the song prominently on the app.
The Compton, Calif. rapper has been in the spotlight all year, first for his beef with Drake, which led to a pop hit and Grammy nominations, all without releasing an album ... until today.
With 11 nominations for Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé now has more than any artist in Grammy history. Her competition this year includes Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Post Malone.
The Grammy-winning rapper, who spent this summer topping the charts, previously performed at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. But this will be his first Super Bowl as the headliner.
Swift's The Tortured Poets Department has been the biggest album in the country for 12 consecutive weeks, the longest run atop that chart of her career.
Lamar's blowout Juneteenth concert, held at the Forum in Los Angeles and live-streamed on Amazon Music, planted flags for the future of LA rap, while uniting in hate for a certain Toronto titan.
Canon-making is a core part of rap fandom, the subject of endless barbershop parleys and message-board battles. But something curdles when the companies that control the music business enter the chat.
AI can conjure the voice or likeness of a dead celebrity with just a few clicks. This opens a host of legal questions about the rights of the deceased and their heirs to control their digital replicas
Drake and Kendrick have been trading diss tracks for weeks, and it's gotten darker and darker with each track. Drake accuses Kendrick of beating women, and Kendrick accuses Drake of abusing minors. It's a spectacle, but who are the pawns? Brittany chats with NPR Music's Sidney Madden and writer Tirhakah Love about the collateral damage in this rap beef.
Then, Brittany turns to Holding It Together a new book that describes how America has avoided building a social safety net and instead relies on women to provide the services that could be universal to all. Author Jessica Calarco joins the show to dive into the book and take a look at the cultural forces that keep women holding it all together.
2024 seems destined to go down as the Year of Pop Culture Grievances. Megan vs. Nicki. Beyoncé vs. Nashville. But above all: Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake, who are currently engaged in the nastiest lyrical warfare rap fans have seen in a minute. Today, we're talking about all the pettiness: Why so much beef, and what makes a good battle? And is there ever a clear "winner" in these battles?
As the jolt of adrenaline lit by the clash between the two biggest rappers of a generation fades, it's worth holding onto the possibility — however slim — that something new can grow from the chaos.
