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Jon Caramanica
Posts
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Disgraced but Embraced: Pop Culture Pariahs Are Making Big Comebacks
Shane Gillis hosted “S.N.L.,” the show that rebuffed him. Ye topped the Billboard chart after making antisemitic remarks. Has the mainstream given up on banishing...
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Olivia Rodrigo Guts World Tour: Testing Out Life After Girlhood
The opening night of the pop star’s Guts World Tour had sparkle and abandon, but making her songs feel big didn’t require much besides the...
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‘Vultures 1’: Where the New Ye Meets the Old Kanye
“Vultures 1,” the rapper’s album with Ty Dolla Sign, arrived on the 20th anniversary of his debut, “The College Dropout.”
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Toby Keith’s Music and Politics Were More Complicated Than You Might Think
His choice to become a post-9/11 culture-war champion overshadowed the work of a musician who was funnier, subtler and more politically slippery than his most...
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The Grammys Aim for a Big Tent, but Not Everyone Feels at Home
The most awarded artists were diverse on Sunday night. How those winners received their honors, however, differed mightily.
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André 3000 Brings His Solo Album ‘New Blue Sun’ to the Stage
Performing live for the first time with musicians from his solo LP, the onetime Outkast rapper played various flutes, said little and tried to change...
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Is TikTok Over?
The app once offered seemingly endless chances to be charmed by music, dances, personalities and products. But in only a few short years, its promise...
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Is ‘J Christ’ Lil Nas X’s Final Troll?
The rapper and singer has always been a master of the internet, not of music. But with his latest release, “J Christ,” he’s lost his...
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Mixtapes, T-Shirts and Even a Typeface Measure the Rise of Hip-Hop
New books collecting objects central to rap’s physical history demonstrate the importance of celebrating these relics before they vanish.
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Tales of the Black Underworld Fuel Rap. ValTown Recounts Them.
ValTown, an account on X and other social media platforms, spotlights gangs and drug kingpins of the 1980s and 1990s — and how crime and...