The artist's star power is distinctive and grounded in a moment where the music industry, and its ability to break dependable new artists, is chaotic.
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The new album Bando Stone & the New World, billed as a soundtrack to a coming film, revives some of the anarchic spirit of Donald Glover's earliest work as Childish Gambino.
Pavielle Garcia/Courtesy of the artist
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South Korean comedian Yoon Seong-ho, known as NewJeansNim, wearing monk's robes and performing during an electronic dance music party event for the annual Lotus Lantern Festival to celebrate the Buddha's birthday in Seoul, on May 12.
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Zach Bryan's fifth album in five years, The Great American Bar Scene, features love songs, thorny anthems, autobiographical lore and even a mini-arc that directly invokes classic Bruce Springsteen songs.
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Megan Thee Stallion onstage in June at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, a stop on her Hot Girl Summer Tour.
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In 1984, Born in the U.S.A. made Bruce Springsteen the biggest rock star in the world. Along the way, one chapter of the album's legacy has nearly vanished from official history: club remixes of three of the album's biggest singles.
Illustration by Jackie Lay. Photos by Aaron Rapoport/Corbis and SGranitz/WireImage (Getty Images)
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Illustration by Jackie Lay. Photos by Aaron Rapoport/Corbis and SGranitz/WireImage (Getty Images)
"Do I truly feel like hip-hop is dead? No, I don't," Questlove tells NPR. "However, I do believe that the landscape and the rules have changed. And some of its participants don't know it."
Christian Germoso
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Fans cheer in the crowd at Michaël Brun's BAYO concert at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Saturday, June 15.
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Don Toliver, a Travis Scott signee who quickly defined his own lane, takes his half-sung raps to colorful new realms on HARDSTONE PSYCHO.
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Kendrick Lamar performs during "The Pop Out — Ken & Friends," his June 19 concert event at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
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Timothy Norris/Getty Images for pgLang, Amazon/Getty Images North America
Kendrick Lamar performs at a Spotify event in Cannes, France, during the Cannes Lions media festival in June 2022.
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For most of the film, hampton is a grinning, tomboy femme fly on the wall. She’s much more in documentarian mode than interviewer.
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After elevating Afropop's standing with a standout guest spot on Wizkid's "Essence" and becoming a secret weapon for Rihanna, Drake and Beyoncé, Tems is ready for center stage.
Adrienne Raquel
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Ayra Starr's second album, The Year I Turned 21, is a global-minded symphony of influences, and part of a recent wave of young women charting their own course for African pop.
Mikey Oshai/Courtesy of the artist
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