John Kennedy

2 weeks ago | okayplayer.com | John Kennedy

J. Cole’s music catalog is officially old enough to vote, and if you let him tell it, it’s about to have its last growth spurt. The 40-year-old rapper/producer/executive has been soft-pitching his retirement for years, claiming his long-gestating The Fall-Off album will be his last. But this weekend’s shuttering of Dreamville Festival — his record label’s celebration of music and culture held annually in Raleigh, N.C. — supports the idea that Cole might be preparing to fade to black after all.

Nov 29, 2024 | ajc.com | John Kennedy |Capital B Atlanta

Clarenton “Nicky” Crawford has devoted his golden years to serving unhoused people in Atlanta — but he’s quick to deflect any praise or recognition for his work. “It’s an incredible feeling to just know that, wow, their lives are being touched and changed by something that we did,” said the retired Stone Mountain resident.

Aug 15, 2024 | complex.com | Dimas Sanfiorenzo |John Kennedy |Eric Skelton |Jon Barlas

Before there was Young Thug or Gucci Mane or T.I. or even OutKast, there was Mojo, popularly known as Atlanta’s first rapper. By 1984, he had two rap records being played on local radio: “Battmann, Let Mojo Handle It” and “Jump, Stomp and Twist.” Mojo was making waves in the city but never achieved more than local stardom. The birthplace of hip-hop didn’t know what to do with these records.“The people from New York did not like it at all.

Aug 9, 2024 | complex.com | John Kennedy

If you’re reading this, it’s too late to salvage Vultures 2. But that doesn’t mean Ye won’t try. The second collaborative album of the year from Ty Dolla $ign and Kanye West (known collectively as ¥$) dropped last week with a disclaimer via the YZY homepage: “Updated songs will be published in real time.” Thus far, those adjustments have ranged from song title changes to engineering rejiggers to truncated tracks.

Aug 7, 2024 | levelman.com | Peter Berry |LG Ware |Jermaine Hall |John Kennedy

It took generations for Jazz, one of America’s classic art forms, to be taken seriously in music schools and conservatories. Hip-Hop, shared many of the challenges that Jazz faced in its early days, namely that it was thought to not hold any value culturally or socially. That both genres emerged from the lives and experiences of the Black working class, only heightened the academic disdain directed to them.