Profiles

Pink Siifu’s ‘NEGRO’ is a Riotous Mix of Jazz, Rap and Punk

The parallels between rap and punk are numerous: Politically charged rage, antagonism toward authority, zero tolerance for censorship, the assertion of autonomy at all costs. Both genres are rooted in the adversity-born ethos of the oppressed. Not every song advocates for change (or needs to), but countless in each genre ask you to tune in while you turn up.

God’s In The Mirror: South Memphis’s Lukah Uses Gritty Street Rap to Confront Generational Trauma

Trauma can be inherited, generationally compounded by relatives who pass on their pain through destructive action or the self-destructive coping mechanisms they impart.

Lukah has made music for two-thirds of his life, but when the 30-year-old rapper/producer finally found his sound, he honed in on the accretive effects of trauma. 

After the Gold Rush: Leon Bridges

Leon Bridges leans back on a gold velvet couch at Gold-Diggers, a compound in east Hollywood that includes a hotel, nine recording studios, a bar and a live music venue. Here in Studio 2, sunlight streams down from a skylight, bathing Bridges’ sky-blue madras shirt and buttery-brown leather loafers in a soft glow. His sartorial combination places him somewhere between a soul singer and country star circa 1970.