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...
Listen to My Spotify Playlist: How Streaming Affects Music Consumption and Culture Ellie Nguyen August 9, 2023 Columns and Opinions, Cultural Commentary, Music Consumption, Opinion, Political 3 Comments The winter season has become synonymous with Spotify Wrapped season, wreaking havoc upon us trembling listeners, fearful of what our Wrapped will unearth. Maybe you listened to Your Best American Girl by Mitski...
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 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)...
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 4 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...
“Thank u, next” to racial identity: pop star Ariana Grande’s record of racebending Nadia Laswi November 9, 2022 Creative Writing, Opinion 1 Comment I asked 40 people: what race is Ariana Grande? The answers were inconclusive, with answers ranging from Latina, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern. The pop artist, known for her ponytail hairstyle and whistle t...
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...
Ladies, gentlemen, nonbinaries, and bottoms: Lil Nas X at the Bill Graham Lily Ramus October 26, 2022 Black Culture, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Photo by Jane Tyska/Bay Area News “Old Town Road” blew up during my last semester of high school. As the longest-running No. 1 in Billboard chart history it may as well have been the song my class walke...
Sex, drugs, and segregation: the influence of Black artists and the history of rock ‘n’ roll Nadia Laswi September 23, 2022 Black Culture, Creative Writing, Music History, Rock To an angsty teenager, nothing is more appealing than music that repulses adults, alludes to sex and drugs, and was at one point, banned in the city of Santa Cruz. Rock music, and what it represents, not only d...
Naegaz in Paris: How Black Culture Created K-pop Saida Dahir May 12, 2022 Black Culture, K-pop, Opinion In 2015, I stumbled across a YouTube video that would inadvertently alter my consumption of pop music for years to come. After randomly browsing videos for hours, the YouTube algorithm directed me to a new tren...
Rap Music and Rebellion: From Highschool Detention to the Grammys Saida Dahir April 27, 2022 Black Culture, Columns and Opinions, Opinion A rapper's biggest enemy is their K-12 teachers— or so many rap songs like to portray. From Biggie’s “to all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothin'” and Juice Wrld’s “I remember ...
