Hip-hop producer J Dilla reimagined musical time

The sound of hip-hop's 'Golden Era' is thanks to a shared lexicon

The music’s “Golden Era,” between 1987 and 1994, saw producers and DJs developing more sophisticated approaches to sampling, or repurposing existing sound, by crafting elaborate collages. Many of them used the same references, thanks to a popular bootleg compilation called “Ultimate Break Beats.”

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Grandmaster Flash’s DJing masterclass

For some people, DJing is nothing more than pressing play on a few songs, but for hip-hop DJs, it’s a precise art form that requires real skill. Need proof? Watch this 1983 tutorial from Grandmaster Flash, one of the genre’s pioneering DJs, as he walks you through beatmatching and mixing on his spartan set-up of two turntables and a basic mixer.

Music was a profound inspiration for Basquiat

The prolific artist loved music, obsessing over David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, and numerous jazz figures. Many of his favorites appeared in his paintings, creating a body of work that also acts as a glossary of influences. Below is a 1984 portrait of Max Roach, the jazz drummer. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The history of the 808, the drum machine that changed pop music

Roland's TR-808 is one of the most consequential pieces of gear in the history of popular music, providing the framework for innovative hip-hop, dance, and pop records in the early 1980s.

Hear Lin-Manuel Miranda explain the origins of his musical 'Hamilton'

In this interview, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes how discovering Alexander Hamilton's biography led him to the project—and how hip-hop's rhythm, rivalry, and storytelling power felt uniquely suited to the nation's founding era.

How Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees New Order forged a new sound

Formed in the ashes of post-punk outfit Joy Division, the British group incorporated synthesizers and pulsating, disco beats for "Blue Monday," their early single that would come to define the 1980s sonic landscape.

How British youth resurrected overlooked American soul music

Motown released some of the 1960s' biggest soul records and changed the sound of pop music. The label also inspired countless smaller, regional labels that released songs by lesser-known artists that received limited attention. That changed with the rise of British Northern Soul, an underground scene that repurposed these obscure records (including several overlooked Motown releases) for all-night dance parties and, in the process, minted some unexpected American superstars.

A lot of jazz relies on syncopation

The style is when a musician plays a rhythm on the opposite side of the beat. That means notes are played on the "upbeats," or the spaces between the main beats of a musical bar. The effect is music that can sound unpredictable, even if it's been carefully constructed.

Duke Ellington's 'Harlem' takes listeners on a stroll through the neighborhood

"Sir Duke" was one of the Harlem Renaissance's major musicians, recording several songs that would become jazz standards. 1950's "Harlem" is an ode to the neighborhood, alternating styles (including a Latin groove and a New Orleans funeral dirge) to pay homage to the diverse cultures that populate it.

Jelly Roll Morton claimed he invented jazz, though experts disagree

The pianist and arranger was one of the genre's biggest names in the early 20th century, though very few believed him when he claimed he had invented the music in 1902. One of his biggest contributions to the genre was a 1938 session with ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who recorded nearly 8 hours of music and stories that have become an essential part of the music's history.

Bob Dylan often reworks his vocal melodies, even for his classic songs

Bob Dylan is an unpredictable live artist willing to reinvent his classics as they age. This analysis by Steven Rings, a music professor, breaks down the evolution of the singing style in "A Hard Rain’s A‐Gonna Fall," which transformed in one 1994 performance and then continued growing.

Koji Kondo composed the game’s iconic soundtrack with a limited palette of sounds

The game’s soundtrack and effects were limited by the Nintendo Entertainment System’s 8-bit hardware, which had significantly fewer sounds than a typical synthesizer. That didn’t stop Kondo from writing some of the most recognizable video game music in history.

A Harvard radio station once dedicated 24 hours to Jandek

The enigmatic singer-songwriter plays atonal dirges that are haunting or horrible, depending on your taste. He has self-released over 120 albums but rarely performs live, preferring to conceal his true identity. In 2003, a Harvard radio station aired the "Jandek Orgy," which included his fans debating his identity, lyrics, and philosophy.

How Hans Zimmer wrote the music for 'Dune'

Legendary composer Hans Zimmer—who scored "Lion King," "Gladiator," "Inception," and more—was tasked with writing the music for the science-fiction hit "Dune." In this entertaining and brilliant video, the German musician explains how he developed the otherworldly strangeness of the film's music, including the use of ultrarare instruments, guttural singing, and more.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

After taking a break for over a decade, Liza Minnelli released a new track using AI arrangements

In the 2026 song "Kids, Wait Til You Hear This," the singer proudly claims that the vocals are all her own, though AI generates the background music. The dance track shows Minnelli venturing into the deep house genre, straying from her traditional pop and show tunes background. The song is part of an ElevenLabs album featuring other AI-generated tunes, and shares a title with her 2026 memoir.

Miles Davis' landmark 'Kind of Blue' was recorded in just 9 hours

The album is one of jazz's best-known recordings and is often listed among the greatest albums of all time, of any genre. Despite its monumental impact, it was recorded in two sessions for just a few thousand dollars.

'The Wiz' reimagined Baum's story for Black America

The 1978 film, produced in part by Motown Productions, starred several popular stars: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell and Lena Horne. The music—composed by Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross, and overseen by Quincy Jones—mirrored songs from the 1939 film.

The best female rappers of all time

Hip-hop has too many incredible female MCs to name, but this list does an admirable job of ranking the 25 greatest. Along the way, it breaks down how ‘80s artists like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah paved the way for ‘90s innovators like Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill and more contemporary names like Doechii and Micki Minaj.

Inside the rise of focus music

Any casual YouTube or Spotify user has likely stumbled upon a playlist called "lo-fi beats to study and relax to" while searching for new music. Those "lo-fi beats" actually represent a growing genre of music called "focus music." Spotify, for instance. saw a 50% increase in listening time for focus playlists in its 2023 Wrapped report. This article explains why productivity tunes are on an upswing right now. Read it here.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

How musical guests disappeared from late night TV

The late-night landscape has changed dramatically in the past five years, with the most visible difference being a severe lack of music. This writer set out to learn why that is—and what it means for audiences and artists alike.

A dissenting take on the Lamar's Pulitzer win

Not everyone thought that Kendrick Lamar’s historic Pulitzer win was a good thing—even his own fans. Writer and hip-hop aficionado Ismail Muhammad lays out the case for why "DAMN" deserved the award, but the Pulitzers don’t deserve praise for giving it. Was the decision more about the organization’s image than the work itself? See if Muhammad’s argument convinces you.

Prince removed the bass from 'When Doves Cry,' creating the song's unique sound

It was an unorthodox choice, especially for someone associated with funk music, a genre that relies on prominent bass lines, but Prince wanted the song—written in the 11th hour for "Purple Rain"—to have more space. It worked: The song wound up as the lead single for the album and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tom Petty used bankruptcy to change the music industry

In order to resolve a dispute over how a label was treating him as an artist, he self-produced an album and racked up $500K in debt. The resulting bankruptcy filing allowed him to start a new contract with the label on more favorable terms.

Eighty-four different pieces were composed for the Windows 95 startup sound

Brian Eno, the ambient music artist, was tasked with creating a 3.25-second jingle that was inspiring, universal, optimistic, and futuristic in tone. As with all of his compositions, Eno created the sound, which was double the requested length, on a Mac.

Tone Transfer recreates any piece of audio into instrumental recreations

Using machine learning models and Differentiable Digital Signal Processing, this tool can transform any 15-second sound clip into a flute, saxophone, trumpet, or violin reproduction. Researchers behind the open-source experiment hope the technology will enable musical creation through creative sound combinations.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.