How 2 Live Crew Fought for Hip Hop’s Freedom
2 Live Crew’s story is bigger than shock value. From Miami bass and teen clubs to a landmark First Amendment fight, this episode looks at ho...
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Donwill on Staying in Your Life Bag: Rap, The Interview Game, and the Art of the Just-Outside-the-Frame Question
Donwill shares his interview philosophy—asking what’s just outside the frame and foregrounding curiosity over trending topics—to keep hip ho...
The Quiet Storm, The Telecom Act, and R&B’s Slow Jams with Amani Roberts
This piece examines how the intimate, local flavor of the Quiet Storm era gave way to corporate playlists after the Telecommunications Act o...
From Schoolly D to N.W.A.: Queue Points' Notes on the N-Word in Rap
Queue Points traces the n-word’s journey from its underground origins in the late 1970s through Schoolly D and N.W.A. to its mainstream prom...
When the Music Is the Door: Dr. York, NatureBoy, and the Through Line Between Charisma and Harm
Queue Points traces how charismatic figures like Dr. Malachi York and the NatureBoy persona influenced Black music culture from 1970s Brookl...
Seth Neblett on the Women Who Built Parliament-Funkadelic: A Legacy Hiding in Plain Sight
In this Queue Points episode, Seth Neblett discusses his book Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic, uncovering how women...
“She Never Had To Scream To Be Heard”: Nick Bambach on Why Sade Belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Nick Bambach argues that Sade’s enduring impact across quiet storm, R&B, smooth jazz, and pop defies easy classification, making their case ...
How Hip Hop Turned Trump into a Symbol of Wealth
Queue Points traces how Donald Trump transformed from a New York businessperson into a pervasive symbol of wealth in Black music and culture...
Neneh Cherry, 'Buffalo Stance' and the Blueprint of Forever-Cool
Queue Points’ Neneh Cherry episode shows how Buffalo Stance fused hip hop, pop, and punk into a new, forever-cool blueprint, turning a burst...