Introduction to Jheri Curl June
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new form of predominantly African American popular music began to take shape. Rooted in soul and funk music, but largely stripped of...
Somethin ‘Bout the Things U Do: We on 1 by DJ Rashad, 1979-2014
It's a sad but unavoidable fact that any discussion of We on 1, the new EP by Chicago DJ Rashad Harden, will inevitably be overshadowed by his tragic death last...
From the Vault: Prince’s “Black Sweat”
Editor's Note: I have been writing about music off and on (mostly off) for almost ten years now. A lot of the stuff I've written has been lost because I...
Prince: “The Breakdown” and the Problem of Expectations
The problem with being an artist like Prince--an artist who built his career on a body of work that was epochal, genre-shattering, indeed genre-defining--is that it's impossible to simply grow...
4 His Royal Badness’s Consideration: 14 Rarities That Need to Be on the 30th Anniversary Purple Rain Reissue
Let me begin by doing away with any pretense of critical distance or objectivity. I am an unapologetic, frothing-at-the-mouth, dyed-in-the-pink-cashmere Prince fan. My little two-bedroom apartment has no fewer than...