Teddy Pendergrass’ voice was astounding, muscular enough to lift cars and crack granite. When paired with the elite writers, arrangers and instrumentalists at Philadelphia International Records in the Seventies, the resulting music was often magnificent. Popular, too: Pendergrass released a platinum-certified LP every year between 1977 and 1980. But thanks …
Read More »A Storm Is Coming to the Global Music Industry — and More than $100 Billion Is at Stake
The music business doesn’t do certainties. This capriciousness, of course, is one of the things that makes it so beguiling. Three minutes of songwriting inspiration; an influential new fan; an out-of-the-blue pop-culture hook-up — they can all instantly rocket a song, or a star, into the consciousness of millions. Yet …
Read More »Jay-Z, Meek Mill Launch 'The Avengers' of Criminal Justice Reform Organizations
Michael Rubin, a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, used to have a recurring argument with the rapper and hardcore 76ers fan Meek Mill. “Meek would say, ‘Michael, there are two Americas,’” Rubin recalled during a press conference at John Jay College in Manhattan on Wednesday. “I’d be like, ‘Bro, what …
Read More »Davido's 'Fall' Is Finally Catching On in the U.S., But It Should Be Bigger
The Nigerian style of music known as Afrobeats has quietly entranced a large swathe of the world’s population. “Pretty much every song on pop radio [in the U.K. now] is sort of a Mr. Eazi-style, chill, afrobeats [track],” the producer Riton told Rolling Stone last year. But Nigerian singers have …
Read More »L.A. Punks Cherry Glazerr Find Power in Vulnerability
“No men, just sugar.” Clementine Creevy is reading the ingredients of a candy bar she keeps on a shelf in her living room. “Crush men, eat candy,” she continues with a grin as she turns it over to read the other side. The treat is a merch item for the …
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