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    • Why I hate pop punk

      Jessica Balderas
      September 4, 2024
      Opinion, british post-punk, music, Music History, Print Edition, prog-rock, Punk
      1 Comment
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    • Eternalizing Electronica for Emotional 20-Somethings

      Jojo Pak
      May 4, 2025
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    • When Worlds Collide: Music Sampling as a Contact Zone

      Jessica Balderas
      April 30, 2025
    • Kind of copied: Jazz as conceptual art

      Mary Luce
      April 9, 2025
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Black Culture

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Black Culture

When Worlds Collide: Music Sampling as a Contact Zone

Jessica Balderas
April 30, 2025
Black Culture, Creative Writing, Cultural Commentary, dj, indie, indie scene, indie-pop, music, Music History, Political, Uncategorized
The intersectionality of two genres is much more than meshing two separate sounds because subcultures, histories, and aesthetics are ingrained within those sounds. When conjoined, opposing genres can communicat...

Kind of copied: Jazz as conceptual art

Mary Luce
April 9, 2025
Black Culture, Cultural Commentary, From The Archives, Jazz, Jazz pop, Music Composition, Music Consumption, Music History, Musicology
Jazz is a strangely unique kind of music. Although to some it might sound like a lullaby, boring or calming, jazz has endless complexities. Because of these complexities jazz complicates the rules of art and mu...

When the music plays twice

Mary Luce
April 8, 2025
Black Culture, Contemporary Folk, Cultural Commentary, folk, indie, indie-pop, International, music, Music History, Musicology, Opinion, Print Edition, R&B, Rock, women's music
Never, without exception, is there a reason someone should cover The Beach Boys. Of course, I love me a Fiona Apple cover of Across the Universe, but The Beach Boys is a whole different ball game. One weekend a...

RACE SELLS RECORDS: An observational study of jazz album art in the mid-1950s

Gianna Caudillo
September 4, 2024
Music History, Black Culture, Jazz, Musicology, Print Edition
The jazz section in a used record store. Haphazardly sorted bins. Thin cardboard smooth against your fingers as you shuffle the albums like playing cards. Smell of dust, faint crackling in the background. Brigh...

Arlo Parks’ Performance at the Fox Theater Was “Too Good”

Eliza Scheer
March 16, 2024
Berkeley, Black Culture, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, indie-pop, Oakland, Photos, Womens History Month
On March 5, Arlo Parks performed at Oakland’s Fox Theater. To kick off the show, Chloe George opened. Her 30 minute set was filled with gratitude and fun. Her joy performing on stage radiated throughout th...

Uncovering the origins of Lovers Rock

Sofia Biagio
February 15, 2024
Black Culture, Cultural Commentary, Music History
One day on my routine walk to class, “Lovers Rock” by TV Girl came on through shuffle. Call it overstated or cliché, but for some reason, this song always pulls on my heart strings. The sweet swells of vio...

P-Funk’s Guide to the Mothership

Lex Andersen
December 3, 2023
Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Black Culture, Funk, Oakland, Photos
On November 25th, Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton stopped by the Fox Theater on their “Just for the Funk of It” tour, celebrating over 50 years of intergenerational, genre-bending music. Ecle...

Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees in San Francisco

Dorothy Eck
November 21, 2023
Black Culture, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, R&B, Rap, San Francisco
Friday night at the Chase Center mounted a glorious celebration of Ms. Lauryn Hill’s seminal debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), commemorating its 25th anniversary with the reunion of Lauryn ...

Crossing Continents: How Afrobeats Is Taking Over the World

Saida Dahir
May 6, 2023
Afrobeats, Black Culture, Music History
1 Comment
As a young student, I vividly remember the daily ritual of walking to my middle school. It was the perfect opportunity to plug in my headphones, let the music take over, and shut out the rest of the world. In t...

The Excellence of Jackie Shane

Cole Haddock
April 8, 2023
Black Culture, LGBTQ+
1 Comment
Note: To read this article properly, listen to the correct music while reading. This could include Jackie Shane, Little Richard, Billy Wright, Esquerita, or  Big Mama Thorton. For a Spotify playlist, click he...

“The Other Woman” has always been Black: Lana Del Rey’s viral cover of Jessie Mae Robinson’s masterpiece

Gianna Caudillo
February 24, 2023
Black Culture, Columns and Opinions
1 Comment
“2023 is the year of female rage,” says the caption on a TikTok showing a conventionally attractive white woman, eyeliner done like Priscilla Presley’s, dress straight out of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)...

Listener’s delight: the sensory feast of rap music

Anna Linn
February 20, 2023
Black Culture, Columns and Opinions, Opinion, Rap
1 Comment
When asked how rap music makes you feel, a few things probably come to mind. You might remember your heart rate rising or your mind speeding up against the rapid beat. Whether it’s at a concert among the wild...

Racist Grrrl: the politics of race and anger in punk feminist movements

Emmanuelle Mphuthi
December 28, 2022
Black Culture, Columns and Opinions, Music History, Opinion, Political, Punk, Rock
5 Comments
Gunk zine issue 4 by Bikceem Ramdasha Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that originated in the 1990s in the Pacific Northweast of the United States, although some argue the genre truly sta...
CYBERKISS* - Album Artwork

High school hallways to sold-out venues, BLACKSTARKIDS discuss the Black coming-of-age experience

Zara Koroma
November 19, 2022
Black Culture, Interview
A few years ago, Ty, Deiondre, and The Babe Gabe were only teenagers, vibing in a basement-turned-bedroom, watching their favorite childhood shows, and making music in Kansas City, Missouri. Now they are the in...

Genre-defying, rising artist BAYLI talks Telfar bags, empowerment, and ‘bringing the underground to the mainstream’

Zara Koroma
October 28, 2022
Black Culture, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, Interview, Previews
When listening to Brooklyn-based artist BAYLI, you cannot help but be transported to a universe that embraces creativity, authenticity, and community. One look at the cover for her newest EP, stories 2, and you...
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