What role can hip-hop play in reforming — or entirely dismantling — mass incarceration? Rapper Noname and activist Mariame Kaba joined Louder Than A Riot to discuss making revolution irresistible.
Growing up in a progressive city, Ludwig van Beethoven embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that shook Europe and helped shape the composer's music.
Is it possible to hear the music of 2020 without getting lost in the noise? NPR Music's critic Ann Powers studies a year during which nearly everything about loving music was turned upside down.
Charley Pride was a symbol, ancestor and influence. But the country singer was also a master interpreter of song, his warm baritone attuned to deep emotion.
When rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed in 2019, he was known as an advocate for the people in the neighborhood where he grew up and made his name. But the LAPD couldn't let his gang affiliation go.
The great songs of 2020 were as abundant as the rest of the year was a drag. Think of these 100 jams as a silver linings playlist for the worst year of our collective lives.
2020 was so stuffed with urgent voices it could be hard to discern the melody from the noise. Here's our guide to the greatest albums that emerged from a year of cacophony.
In 2014, Bobby Shmurda aimed for a rap career and landed in prison. As the end of his sentence approaches, so do new questions about what happened, and who else paid a price.
Formerly a producer and songwriter for K-pop's nascent idols, Si-hyuk's own label, Big Hit Entertainment, recently became larger than the other top labels in Seoul combined.
What started as YouTube drum covers and three girls scattered across the East Coast with a love for music turned into Meet Me @ the Altar, a pop-punk band led by three women of color who signed to a major record label Fueled By Ramen in October.
Facing a pandemic lockdown, huge political upheavals and ongoing uncertainty about the future, musicians including Oumou Sangare and Songhoy Blues offer lessons in creativity and optimism.