Stephen Kearse

1 week ago | pitchfork.com | Stephen Kearse

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock should have fueled at most two days of discourse. It was not as weird and unhinged as Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs. It was not as racy or trolling as the Britney-Madonna-Christina kiss. It lacked the intrigue of the Carter-Knowles elevator fight footage. Really, the situation was incredibly straightforward. Chris Rock told a wack joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will overreacted, and the Academy awarded Smith his first Oscar.

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Stephen Kearse

It tracks that Saba and No ID would take a photography class together. Both of the Chicago-raised, Los Angeles-based artists pay close attention to the ephemeral, building songs from snatches of memory and rhythm. For Saba, focusing on the small things helps to settle racing thoughts and preserve everyday joys. “Life I be taking for granted, capture the moment, the Canon,” he rapped on 2018’s “SMILE,” chiding himself to be mindful. For No ID, observation is the bedrock of producing.

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Stephen Kearse

In 2018, Nao found a fun metaphor for reinvention in Saturn’s return, the astrological notion that every three decades, people undergo radical personal transformation. The London singer, then 30, had made her name as a prophetess of synth funk, teaming up with electronic producers like Disclosure, A.K. Paul, and Mura Masa for retrofuturist cuts full of liquid basslines and deep grooves. On Saturn, she traded the dense funk for ventilated R&B that spanned Afropop, neo-soul, and quiet storm.

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Stephen Kearse

Mereba makes torch music about freedom. The Los Angeles-based singer, guitarist, and rapper is constantly on the lam in her yearning, restless songs, braving storms and wars in her matte black truck as she guns for liberation. She rarely finds it. Even her more idyllic tracks, like the hopeful ballad “Glock Peaceful,” present sanctuary as elusive. “Then I opened up my eyes/Wasn't what I thought it would be,” she mourns after dreaming her block was free of cops and tension.

2 months ago | vulture.com | Stephen Kearse

Kendrick Lamar is rap’s resident theater kid, an observer who can wrest drama from any situation Kendrick Lamar tends to preach peace over conflict, but a shadow lurks in even his cheeriest songs. Many artists are unpredictable, but for the 37-year-old rapper spontaneity is a worldview as much a style. His narratives constantly fork and waver, swinging from pole to pole. He prizes his contradictions and builds songs around the contrasts. The results are head-spinning.