Kathy Iandoli

Kathy Iandoli

Kathy Iandoli is a critically acclaimed journalist, author, and longtime contributor to the GRAMMY's site. Her work has appeared in outlets like Billboard, The Guardian, Pitchfork, PAPER, Playboy, and many others. In 2019, she released the book God Save The Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop (Dey Street Books / HarperCollins), the first of its kind. In 2021, she will be releasing a biography on the life of Aaliyah through Atria Books / Simon & Schuster. Follow her @kath3000.

Kathy's Articles

For The Record: How The Fugees Settled ‘The Score’ 25 Years Ago

For The Record: How The Fugees Settled ‘The Score’ 25 Years Ago

When The Fugees released their second album, The Score, the timing felt eerily perfect. As hip-hop's East and West Coasts continued their tussle, their lighter-hearted approach to socially conscious rap curtailed any overarching assumptions that hip-hop was going down a "bad road." Plus, they had Lauryn Hill, who doubled as a songbird and lyrical spitfire. Together, by juxtaposing life instrumentation, soulful melodies and abstract…

For The Record: A Tribe Called Quest’s Groundbreaking ‘The Low End Theory’ At 30

For The Record: A Tribe Called Quest’s Groundbreaking ‘The Low End Theory’ At 30

In 1991, hip-hop was in a state of flux, and A Tribe Called Quest were searching for balance. Their 1990 debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, propelled the Queens, New York, group to new heights. Tribe tempered the growing gangster rap movement with their own breed of hip-hop, one full of humor, life, positivity and a…

How Pop Smoke Shaped New York’s Drill Rap Scene Well Into The Afterlife

How Pop Smoke Shaped New York’s Drill Rap Scene Well Into The Afterlife

The New York City street rap infrastructure was arguably locked in place for decades, but when the rapper known as Pop Smoke arrived, he shook the pavement. The artist born Bashar Barakah Jackson was raised in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, New York, and cultivated the next iteration of city-wide street rap until his untimely death on February 19, 2020 at…

How Nipsey Hussle Transcended Hip-Hop, Starting In The Los Angeles Streets

How Nipsey Hussle Transcended Hip-Hop, Starting In The Los Angeles Streets

On March 31, 2019 Ermias Asghedom—better known to the world as Nipsey Hussle—was assassinated at 33 years old. He was standing in front of The Marathon Clothing, one of his many business endeavors, located on the corner of West Slauson and Crenshaw Boulevard in the heart of South Los Angeles. To hip-hop, he was a celebrated rapper, but to Los…

Dissecting the Chambers: Wu-Tang Clan’s Debut Opus Turns 25

Dissecting the Chambers: Wu-Tang Clan’s Debut Opus Turns 25

"From the slums of Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan strikes again. The RZA, the GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon the Chef, U-God, Ghostface Killah, and the Method Man…" Depending on which hip-hop purist you consult, the year 1989 is often regarded by most as the year that the Golden Age of hip-hop truly kicked off. By 1993, every corner of…

The Curious Career Of The Legendary Sister Rosetta Tharpe

The Curious Career Of The Legendary Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Grainy black-and-white footage shows a middle-aged black woman of strong stature standing on stage before an audience of predominantly white men. She’s donning a modified church dress, floral and floor-length, with her shoes barely visible. Cradling a Gibson electric guitar, she fervently glares at the crowd. Beads of sweat trickle from her perfectly coifed hairline down to her chin. When…

“Lollipop” To “A Milli”: Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter III’ 10 Years After

“Lollipop” To “A Milli”: Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter III’ 10 Years After

Few hip-hop albums are referred to as an "event" rather than a "release." However, on June 10, 2008, Lil Wayne created an event with the third installment of his Carter album series, the aptly titled Tha Carter III. Before delving into this project, it's important to reflect upon two years prior. At the close of 2005, Wayne dropped Tha Carter…

WondaGurl, Ann Mincieli, Erika Ender: 9 Women Architects Of Sound In Music

WondaGurl, Ann Mincieli, Erika Ender: 9 Women Architects Of Sound In Music

The word "architect" has multiple definitions that transcend its origins of simply meaning a person that builds something tangible. Architecture can live in the abstract, yet the product is still a masterpiece for the senses. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J91ti_MpdHA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> The women on this list have respectively built their own legacies assisting in creating music that stands…

Janelle Monáe, MILCK, Amara La Negra: 9 Women Change Agents In Music

Janelle Monáe, MILCK, Amara La Negra: 9 Women Change Agents In Music

They say a woman's job is never done, especially when she's always busy reinventing the wheel. No matter the facet of business, women have pioneered a number of significant changes in the world that continue to echo into today's society. Music is no exception. From journalism to television, conducting, composing and sound engineering, there are a number of women who…

How Hip-Hop And R&B Crushed Their Competition: Can Rock Bounce Back?

How Hip-Hop And R&B Crushed Their Competition: Can Rock Bounce Back?

There was a time in the not so distant past when hip-hop was likened to disco. A flash in the pan genre defined by its hyperbolic expression of sound and style, disco fizzled out in the early '80s once the fashion and sonic trends attached to it expired. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mcCK99wHrk0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Hip-hop was presumably following…

Bruno Mars, Alessia Cara, Time’s Up: 12 Big Moments At The 2018 GRAMMYs

Bruno Mars, Alessia Cara, Time’s Up: 12 Big Moments At The 2018 GRAMMYs

For any music lover, GRAMMY Sunday is very much like the Super Bowl or World Series to a sports fanatic. The only difference being, while sports teams typically find out who will be the final competition within a week or two of the showdown, GRAMMY nominations arrive months prior to the big show. The ceremony is arguably a culmination of…

JAŸ-Z, No I.D. & More On Making ‘4:44’ | Album Of The Year

JAŸ-Z, No I.D. & More On Making ‘4:44’ | Album Of The Year

The legend of JAŸ-Z's 13th solo studio album preceded the actual work. Following 2014's "Elevator Gate" and Beyoncé's candid GRAMMY-winning project Lemonade, rumors swirled that Hova would release his own album in response. Once the New York City buses with 4:44 emblazoned on the sides started rolling around in late spring 2017, speculation ran rampant about the title being informed…

The Life And Times Of Jay-Z: From Rapper To Music Mogul

The Life And Times Of Jay-Z: From Rapper To Music Mogul

"I'm not a businessman. I'm a business, man." — Jay-Z Jay-Z would utter that line on the remix to Kanye West's "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" in 2005. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/92FCRmggNqQ" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> That lyric predated Jay-Z's forming his entertainment company, Roc Nation, in 2008 — before buying and selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets in 2013…

Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’: 25 Years Later

Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’: 25 Years Later

In 2010 Kanye West heaped some high praise on Dr. Dre's The Chronic: He called the album the hip-hop equivalent of Stevie Wonder's 1976 Album Of The Year GRAMMY winner, Songs In The Key Of Life. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0F0CAEoF4XM" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> "It's the benchmark you measure your album against if you're serious," West wrote for Rolling Stone's 100…

Kanye West’s ‘Graduation’ At 10 Years Old

Kanye West’s ‘Graduation’ At 10 Years Old

On Kanye West's seventh studio album, 2016's The Life Of Pablo, he ruminates over the bygone era of his entry-level persona on the track "I Love Kanye": I miss the old Kanye/Straight from the go Kanye/Chop up the soul Kanye/Set on his goals Kanye. It's a cheeky adieu to our first iteration of West: producer turned rapper turned demigod, whose…

How The 50 Cent, Kanye West “Beef” Of 2007 Was A Hard Reset For Hip-Hop

How The 50 Cent, Kanye West “Beef” Of 2007 Was A Hard Reset For Hip-Hop

Since 2001, the date Sept. 11 has been solely reflective of one pivotal moment in American history, though a decade ago music fans' attention was temporarily redirected. It was all thanks to hip-hop, as 50 Cent and Kanye West willfully entangled themselves in September 2007 in a playful beef that attracted major headlines. Both were at turning points in their…

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