Shawn Setaro is a GRAMMY.com contributor.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III is a man of many names. But no matter what you call him — Marshall, Slim Shady, or the name by which he's best-known, Eminem — he's undoubtedly a household name. In fact, he's the top-selling hip-hop artist of all time, and in turn, one of the most popular artists of all time, in any genre.…
The passing of Roberta Flack is the end of an era, one marked by her pioneering experimentation with the boundaries of genre in popular song. The four-time GRAMMY winner and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient died on Feb. 24 at age 88. "The world has lost a musical great with the passing of the timeless Roberta Flack. A visionary…
Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com. The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast has been reimagined to raise funds for MusiCares Fire Relief, a dedicated campaign to support the people affected by the recent wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Donate now. Kendrick Lamar has had no shortage of praise over the years. He’s had multiple albums end up on…
In February 2015, Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif launched the first-ever Rolling Loud festival. But while the inaugural Miami event was a success, it was also quite the learning experience for Zingler, who had to take matters into his own hands — literally. "I booked companies to drop off bike racks [and tents]. They just dropped them off in the…
MF DOOM has been gone for more than four years now, but the mysterious masked rapper’s legacy lives on. Since his passing in 2020 at age 49, podcasts and books have traced his life, while innumerable tributes in song and memorial sets at major festivals have highlighted the rapper's legacy. Now, there’s a revamped look at one of his most…
Tyler, The Creator is an artist who doesn’t just release albums — he has eras. Who could forget the dreamy, lush Flower Boy with the forest-style stage set during the accompanying tour? Or the love triangle and fright wig that accompanied Igor? Or the return-to-raw-rapping feeling of Call Me If You Get Lost, with its DJ Drama ad libs? After…
André 3000 is taking his show on the road, again. The rapper-turned-flutist is beginning another tour this week in support of his debut solo recording, last year’s New Blue Sun. The two-month North American jaunt will feature André and his band — Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, and Deantoni Parks — performing the kind of collective group improvisation that…
The Notorious B.I.G.’s groundbreaking debut album Ready to Die was released 30 years ago this month — an anniversary that will certainly invite much celebration and consideration. Since 1994, the album has been reviewed, discussed, and remembered from almost every possible angle. We’ve seen the definitive oral history of its creation; its making has also been chronicled in book form.…
Post Malone is getting ready to make perhaps the biggest pivot in a career full of them: a country album. Titled F-1 Trillion, it might seem like a strange move for a man who first came to fans' attention rap-singing over trap beats. His breakout track, after all, was co-produced by a guy best known for working with Tyga, Travis…
Every album comes with a backstory, but not many come with two. Rakim's new project G.O.D's Network (REB7RTH), out July 26, came together in a few quick months, from signing a deal in February 2024 to completion in June. The process was spurred by one dedicated A&R person frantically combing through his network of rappers to get guest verses over…
We’re fortunate enough to be living in the middle of a Missy Elliott resurgence — not that she ever went away. Three decades into her groundbreaking career, Missy is readying her very first headlining tour, which begins July 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Out of This World Tour runs through August and features her longtime collaborators Timbaland, Busta Rhymes,…
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Def Jam Recordings, the New York label that made history in hip-hop, R&B, pop, and even thrash metal since its founding, and continues to do so today. A label that began out of an NYU dorm room in 1984 quickly became an artistic (and business) powerhouse. Early acts like LL Cool J, the…
Chief Keef fans have been awaiting a sequel to his influential mixtape Almighty So since he released it in 2013. The project came out in the midst of a magnificent and experimental run for Keef, when he was changing his style seemingly at will from Almighty's almost avant-garde soundscapes to woozy, autotuned melodies (Bang Pt. 2) to stoic street tales…
A new album from Gunna is bound to be notable and controversial. Many in the rap world had strong feelings about how the racketeering case against many members and affiliates of his label YSL Records — including, most notably, him and Young Thug — worked out for the Atlanta star. After Gunna took a plea deal in December 2022, the…
"You don't know that people are going to 40 years later call you up and say, ‘Can you talk about this record from 40 years ago?’" That was Cory Robbins, former president of Profile Records, reaction to speaking to Grammy.com about one of the first albums his then-fledgling label released. Run-DMC’s self-titled debut made its way into the world four…
A quarter century has passed since the mainstream music world was first introduced to a bottle-blonde enfant terrible virtuoso who grabbed everyone’s attention and wouldn’t let go But enough about Christina Aguilera. Just kidding. Another artist also exploded into stardom in 1999 — one who would become a big enough pop star, despite not singing a note, that he would…
While significant attention was devoted to the celebration of hip-hop in 2023 — an acknowledgement of what is widely acknowledged as its 50th anniversary — another important anniversary in hip-hop is happening this year as well. Specifically, it’s been 30 years since 1994, when a new generation entered the music industry and set the genre on a course that in…
When Drake attended his first GRAMMY Awards in 2010, he was 23 and hadn’t yet released a debut album. By the time he received his nominations for the 2024 GRAMMYs — Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Melodic Rap Performance for his collaborations with 21 Savage — he was Spotify’s most-streamed artist of all time, and the holder…
Stephen Sondheim had three rules when speaking about his own writing: Less is more, God is in the details, and content dictates form. While the first two are rather self-explanatory, when it comes to a career as storied as Sondheim's, the third begs the question, how can you possibly describe this content? Over his lifetime, Sondheim — who lived to…
There were plenty of rapper/DJ duos before DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Most notably, T La Rock & Jazzy Jay released the influential 1984 single "It's Yours," Def Jam's first release as a rap label run by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. There was Mantronix, consisting of MC Tee and producer Kurtis Mantronik, who had their first hit…
