Gen Z continues the music convo this week around their need for community with everyone being on solo pages. Our millennial puts on his Dad cap to lead a conversation around the high school girl who appears to be ungrateful for the free car her parents gave her.

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ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola®, is the preeminent experience of all things Black and this year will be one to remember as we pay homage to one of the biggest creations of Black Culture, Hip-Hop! For the first time in ESSENCE’s history we have a lineup of all Hip-Hop headliners for our evening concert series, who will show up and show out for our fans, the ESSENCE way.


This year will be special!

The 2023 NBA Draft went pretty much as expected with a few exceptions. After the first pick we got a shocker that made a lot of fans angry. This is a look at why so many people did not like the Draft.

This is AmeriKKKa is a daily news show for the Black collective, chronicling daily news, centering Black stories and summarizing politics. Live from the Unmuted Newsroom studios in New York and Atlanta and hosted by Alex Haynes and Tiffanie Lanelle.

Aug. 15, 2018 | Felix Contreras -- Some folks around the NPR Music office said they felt an almost spiritual connection to Erykah Badu during her visit to the Tiny Desk. And that was before she and her band even played a single note. It came from the waft of earthly scents that followed in her wake, to the flowing dreads and clothes that hung on her like robes.

After her self-introduction, which included a rundown of her spiritual and creative aliases, Badu rolled into one of her earliest musical calling cards, "Rimshot." It's an ode to the sound the percussionist makes when a drumstick is struck against the metal edge of the snare drum. On this performance, as on her 1997 album Baduizm, it becomes a device to play with time — stretching it, stopping it, suspending it. Propelled by jazz chords on the piano and the steady pulse of the acoustic bass, the playful performance unfolded in the tradition of the best bebop.

But the panoramic song "Green Eyes" is the centerpiece of Badu's Tiny Desk performance. It's wide-ranging in scope and musical arrangement and brilliantly executed by the jazz and hip-hop musicians in her backing band. The story of heartbreak is striking enough, but her interpretation showcases her formidable vocal skills. By the time it was over, we were all just as emotionally and spiritually spent as she was from the experience.

Erykah Badu is an artist for the ages. To old-school jazz fans like myself, names like Nina Simone, Betty Carter and Shirley Horn come to mind as much as Billie Holiday because of Badu's singular approach to a lyric. They all cut their own creative path and left behind a legacy that you can identify with just one note. Erykah Badu is on that same path, and one day her name will be mentioned along with the other Elders who share her spirit of musical adventure.

Set List
"Rimshot"
"Green Eyes"

Musicians
Erykah Badu (lead vocals), RC Williams (Keys), Braylon Lacy (bass), Cleon Edwards (Drums), Frank Moka (Percussion), Kenneth Whalum (Sax), Keyon Harrold (Trumpet), Dwayne Kerr (Flute)

Credits
Producers: Abby O'Neill, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Khun Minn Ohn, CJ Riculan; Production Assistants: Catherine Zhang, Téa Mottolese; Photo: Morgan Noelle Smith/NPR.

NPR Music's Tiny Desk series will celebrate Black History Month with Tiny Desk (home) concerts featuring legends in the world of R&B, jazz, gospel, and hip hop. Each artist in this legacy lineup has helped to define Black music as we know it and will be performing a Tiny Desk concert for the first time.

Bobby Carter | February 4, 2022
Around this time last year, singer-songwriter and R&B royalty El DeBarge took to Instagram to take some requests and play a few hits. "I'd never done anything like that before, and the nerves were showing," he told me. That 23-minute live performance ignited a comeback of sorts, and the greats of today, many of whom he's influenced, wanted to be near him. That video reminded us of his greatness, and stars like Alicia Keys, Fat Joe, and Questlove helped make 2021 a busy year for the torchbearer of the DeBarge moniker. For his Tiny Desk (home) concert, he didn't want to veer far away from what he did on IG, and I quickly concurred. He got together with guitarist, Bennett Walker to play this intimate set of DeBarge classics.

In terms of sheer talent alone, the DeBarge family was arguably on par with the Jacksons at one point. That talent propelled them to the stars in the 1970s and '80s, cranking out hit records and cookout classics. Switch, featuring siblings Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, came first. A couple of years later, the group DeBarge arrived, consisting of siblings James, Bunny, Mark, Randy, and El. Their five albums and El's solo work were a massive part of Motown's success and helped sustain the label in the '80s.

Despite the well-documented odds he's faced over the years, this set feels like a triumph. His voice has aged with grace, and that signature falsetto we've all attempted while singing these songs is perfection here. From his cozy home studio, the Michigan native breezes through a few of his R&B standards, including "All This Love," "Time Will Reveal," "Love Me In A Special Way," and in honor of Black History Month, he reworks "A Dream" as a dedication to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

SET LIST
All This Love
Time Will Reveal
A Dream (Dedication to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
Love Me In A Special Way

MUSICIANS
El DeBarge: vocals, keys
Bennett Walker: guitar

CREDITS
Video: Stephen Clay and Declan Osborne
Audio: Bennett Walker

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Video Producer: Joshua Bryant
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#eldebarge #nprmusic #tinydesk #bhmxnprmusic

With the continuation of the Hear Me series, Unmuted Nation is keeping it raw and uncut by unpacking stigma, bias and heartfelt truths with our Transwoman & Transman Hear Me episodes. In True #UnmutedNation fashion, We go where NO ONE has gone before. TONIGHT: Black Transman: Hear Me with Alex Haynes (@AlexUnmuted) and very special guest Sydney Baloue!

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Catch the latest Black Headlines, breaking news, updates on entertainment, politics and current events.

Tonight:

- FEMA workers in North Carolina threatened

- Kamala Harris policy proposal for Black men

- Sean 'Diddy' Combs lawsuits

- Zelig Williams missing case

- Protesters at NYSE over Gaza attacks

more!

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⁣- TI and Tiny win $71 million
- Marcellus Khalifah Williams set to be executed by state of Missouri
- California Sues ExxonMobil
- Samuel L. Jackson talks 44 years of Marriage


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