Latifah established herself as a rap star with her 1989 debut album, All Hail the Queen. In this 1999 interview, she talked about giving herself her name, and why she decided to pursue acting.
LL Cool J made his recording debut in 1984 when he was 16. He's then, since won two Grammys, had several platinum recordings and starred in NCIS: Los Angeles. Originally broadcast in 1997.
Rodgers' "Good Times" guitar groove was later sampled in the Sugar Hill Gang's 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight," widely considered the first crossover hip-hop song. Originally broadcast in 1996.
McDaniels co-founded Run-D.M.C., the first rap group to have their videos played on MTV, to earn a platinum record and to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Originally broadcast in 1997.
Melle Mel was the rapper on the 1982 hit "The Message." He spoke to Fresh Air in 1998 about the early days of rap, music with a social message and how the genre and his life had changed.
DJ Kool Herc is considered the first DJ to isolate the breaks —the most danceable beats in a record — and repeat them, to keep the dancers going. Originally broadcast in 2005.
Grandmaster Flash was one of the first DJs to make successful records. In 2002, he spoke to Fresh Air about how he discovered that he could use turntables as instruments.
Two queer best friends start a self-defense class for girls as a ruse to hook up with cheerleaders in a film that's both a disarmingly sweet love story and a merciless comic pummeling.
Verdi imagined each of his operas painted with a different tincture. Conductor Riccardo Chailly puts together an exciting new album of Verdi's choruses, from his best known to his most obscure.
It's been 50 years since Bowie performed as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The film, Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, has recently been reissued. Originally broadcast in 2002.
The New Yorker writer says Musk's Starlink satellites are key to providing internet to Ukraine in its war with Russia, giving Musk an influence that's "more like a nation state than an individual."
Joining us today to talk about the life and legacy of the Notorious B.I.G. is journalist Justin Tinsley. He's the author of the book "It Was All A Dream: Biggie And The World That Made Him." In the book, Tinsley explores Biggie's life in the context of not only rap, but the wider cultural and political forces that shaped him, including immigration, Reagan-era politics, the war on drugs and mass incarceration.
Midnight Diner" is a Japanese TV series about a diner located on a quiet side street in one of Tokyo's busiest districts. Although the show has been running on Netflix for several years, our critic-at-large, John Powers, keeps rewatching old episodes. He says the show creates a mood that keeps calling the viewer back.
Drew Gilpin Faust, is best known as the first woman to be president of Harvard, a position she held from 2007 to 2018, and for her books about the Civil War. Her memoir is called "Necessary Trouble: Growing Up At Midcentury."
Bush Tetras formed in NYC in 1979, at the height of the punk era. Decades later, the band brings a sustained energy to a new album, an urgency to get things said and to make some different sounds.
The first season of Louder Than A Riot investigated the connection between hip-hop and mass incarceration. In its second and final season, the podcast examines the misogynoir that has long plagued the genre — and highlights artists that are pushing back.
Friedkin, who died Aug. 7, won an Oscar 1972 for The French Connection. "Some of the most interesting, fascinating people that I've ever known are on the other side of the law," he said in 1988
Sterlin Harjo says society has a tendency to be "very precious with Native people." The third and final season of the irreverent series dropped recently. Originally broadcast Sept. 19, 2022.
In the new indie comedy "The Adults," Michael Cera plays a guy who returns home to see his two sisters after three years apart. It was written and directed by Dustin Guy Defa, who also cast Cera in his 2017 ensemble film "Person To Person." "The Adult" is in theaters this week.
Journalist Maurice Chammah says art and music programs help us understand "there's more to say about [a prisoner] than their crime." Chammah is the author of Let the Lord Sort Them.
