Oliver Wang
Oliver Wang is an culture writer, scholar, and DJ based in Los Angeles. He's the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area and a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach. He's the creator of the audioblog soul-sides.com and co-host of the album appreciation podcast, Heat Rocks.
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Raucous, outspoken and empowered, Davis, who died last week at 77, always knew what she wanted her music to be — raw — and she took control of her career in an era when few Black women could. -
In 1968, the British singer flew to the U.S. after signing with Atlantic Records. Her acclaimed recordings from this period are collected in Dusty Springfield: The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971. -
These songs take on some of the ugliest stories in our history and reflect the commitment of Black musicians to telling the truth of how Black people have been wronged, and survived, and fought back. -
Already a veteran by the time she was out of her teens, the early career of Betty Wright, who died Sunday, produced many R&B hits, including a pair of songs that would become career signatures. -
Rampart Records documented L.A.'s Eastside Sound during a fertile period of interracial collaboration from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Now, some of that music has been reissued.
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Hip hop duo Gang Starr broke up in the mid-2000s and in 2010, MC Guru died. So fans were surprised by the announcement of a new, posthumous album called One Of The Best Yet.
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There are moments of inspired magic on West's gospel-flavored ninth album, and moments that sound ill-considered and slapped together. Those extremes feel like the story of his recent career. -
Patrice Rushen's years singing for Elektra Records in the 1970s and '80s helped define late-era disco and R&B. Now, a collection of her classic R&B and dance tunes is being released. -
In 1972, Gaye began work on a follow-up to his classic album, What's Going On. He laid down over a dozen new tracks, but the project stalled and most of the songs were not released until now. -
If To Pimp a Butterfly, Lamar's ornate jazz-funk experiment, played like billiard balls scattering after the break, then DAMN. wraps its focus inward: tight and layered, like a bundle of rubber bands.
