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Music Features

Monday

'All Wigged Out' is about fighting cancer with humor and humanity

Grammy Award-winning musicians Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink sing about the unexpected humor they encountered during Marxer's seven-year fight with breast cancer in the concert film, All Wigged Out. Todd Rosenberg/Community Music Inc. hide caption

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Todd Rosenberg/Community Music Inc.

'All Wigged Out' is about fighting cancer with humor and humanity

The movie follows partners in music and life as they battle through breast cancer — while holding onto their sense of the comically absurd

'All Wigged Out' is about fighting cancer with humor and humanity

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Thursday

Thursday

'I'm an outlier too'

"I'm making music for the people who don't know if they should say no. For the people that do too much," Rico Nasty says. "For the people who get too loud, get too rough. The girls that are too tough, the girls that are just not soft enough for society." Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR hide caption

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Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR

Louder Than A Riot: Season 2

'I'm an outlier too'

Rico Nasty and her fans know what it's like to be judged for being themselves. For anyone who feels like an outsider, Nasty Mob is a space to forget that alienation.

Monday

Structural integrity: Anna Thorvaldsdottir's rigorous, regenerative music

Anna Thorvaldsdottir begins her composing process by drawing shapes and writing words to help store musical information. Her scores themselves are finely detailed. Hrafn Asgeirsson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Hrafn Asgeirsson/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Structural integrity: Anna Thorvaldsdottir's rigorous, regenerative music

The Icelandic composer talks about the creative forces behind her distinctive music, her presence in the movie Tár and the "dome of energy" that fuels her country's artistic productivity.

Sunday

The story behind a lesser known track from hip-hop history: 'Stroke Ain't No Joke'

They're hip-hop artists who weave public-health messages into their rhymes: From left: Sister Fa, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Ali A.K.A. Mind perform at the Skoll World Forum 2023. During this rap, McDaniels called out: "I'm not afraid of the dark anymore/because I am the light./I'll be there at the start of the war/Because I am the fight." Skoll Foundation hide caption

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Skoll Foundation

Goats and Soda

The story behind a lesser known track from hip-hop history: 'Stroke Ain't No Joke'

For decades, the genre has had a stealth mission: promoting public health. It started with Doug E. Fresh's "Stroke Ain't No Joke."

Thursday

'You're supposed to be somewhere doing hair and makeup'

Miami rapper and social media icon Saucy Santana is redefining presentation standards for femme gay men in hip-hop, but the industry would rather keep his energy confined to TikTok. Dia Dipasupil hide caption

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Dia Dipasupil

Louder Than A Riot: Season 2

'You're supposed to be somewhere doing hair and makeup'

Since 2019, Saucy Santana has been a regular presence on the social web, producing several streaming hits. But the very qualities that set him apart threatened to hold him back.

Monday

Rooting for a Eurovision singer of the same name

Voyager's Daniel Estrin rehearses "Promise" for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. Chloe Hashemi/EBU hide caption

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Chloe Hashemi/EBU

Music Interviews

Rooting for a Eurovision singer of the same name

NPR's Daniel Estrin speaks with Daniel Estrin, lead singer of the band representing Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest, and Daniel Estrin, lead guitarist of the Grammy-nominated band Hoobastank.

Rooting for a Eurovision singer of the same name

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In a Baltimore basement, a jazz detective strikes gold

Record producer Zev Feldman (left) and John Fowler, a charter member of the Left Bank Jazz Society, meet outside the Charles Theater in downtown Baltimore. The building once hosted some of the best jazz musicians in the country. Michael Zamora/NPR hide caption

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Michael Zamora/NPR

Music

In a Baltimore basement, a jazz detective strikes gold

New recordings of old jazz performances at Baltimore's now-closed Famous Ballroom are being released for the first time.

In a Baltimore basement, a jazz detective strikes gold

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Saturday

Durand Jones pens a love letter to being Black, queer and from the rural South

"The rural South is deeply beautiful and complex and contradictory," says Jones. "I really want [people] to know the rural South has something to say." Rahim Fortune/Dead Oceans hide caption

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Rahim Fortune/Dead Oceans

Music

Durand Jones pens a love letter to being Black, queer and from the rural South

'Wait Til I Get Over,' an homage to Jones' hometown of Hillaryville, Louisiana, paints a deeply nuanced portrait of Jones and of the Southern customs that raised him.

Durand Jones pens a love letter to being Black, queer and from the rural South

Listen · 4:58
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Friday

Padma Lakshmi's Trojan Horse; Plus, is Michael Jackson un-cancellable?
Phil Walter / Getty Images; Frazer Harrison / Getty Images; Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

It's Been a Minute

Padma Lakshmi's Trojan Horse; Plus, is Michael Jackson un-cancellable?

Brittany Luse talks to Padma Lakshmi about the second season of her series Taste The Nation. They get into what is "American food" from apple pies (spoiler: nothing in an apple pie is from here) to daal and pancakes. Then Brittany sits down with the hosts of the new investigative podcast Think Twice. Jay Smooth and Leon Neyfakh dive into the history of Michael Jackson to show how he controlled his narrative and to answer the question: is Michael Jackson too famous to cancel?

Padma Lakshmi's Trojan Horse; Plus, is Michael Jackson un-cancellable?

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From Slayer to Tito Puente, drummer Dave Lombardo changes tempo

Drummer Dave Lombardo shows off just a few of the instruments he played on his debut solo album Rites of Percussion. Ekaterina Gorbacheva/Ipecac Records hide caption

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Ekaterina Gorbacheva/Ipecac Records

Music

From Slayer to Tito Puente, drummer Dave Lombardo changes tempo

Dave Lombardo of Slayer breaks out gongs, timbales, djembes, congas and cajóns (plus anything else he can bang on) for the album Rites of Percussion.

From Slayer to Tito Puente, drummer Dave Lombardo changes tempo

Listen · 7:11
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The unstoppable appeal of Peso Pluma and the Regional Mexican music scene

Peso Pluma and Becky G performed their hit single, Chanel, during the 2023 Latin American Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 20, in Las Vegas. Mindy Small/Getty Images hide caption

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Mindy Small/Getty Images

Music

The unstoppable appeal of Peso Pluma and the Regional Mexican music scene

Peso Pluma seems to be dominating these days. He delighted audiences at Coachella, made history on The Tonight Show, and he's got hit after hit after hit on multiple music charts.

Thursday

iLoveMakonnen and Drake tested rap's norms of masculinity, but only one passed

Drake and Makonnen celebrate during the former's 2014 birthday party at Dave & Buster's in Times Square, New York. Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption

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Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images

Louder Than A Riot: Season 2

iLoveMakonnen and Drake tested rap's norms of masculinity, but only one passed

In 2016, a rift between hitmakers showed the limits of rap's tolerance for rule-breakers. As Mark Anthony Neal explains, "authentic" Black masculinity has always been a moving target in hip-hop.

Wednesday

A forgotten opera premieres 280 years late

Belgian soprano Gwendoline Blondeel performs as la Folie (madness) in the Opera Lafayette production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's recently completed 18th century opera Io. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

Review

Music

A forgotten opera premieres 280 years late

A Jean-Philippe Rameau opera, left unfinished at time of his death and recently completed by a musicologist, gets its premiere 280 years later, with extravagant costumes.

A forgotten opera premieres 280 years late

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Tuesday

Set sail for Caroline Polachek's island

Caroline Polachek Aidan Zamiri/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Aidan Zamiri/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Set sail for Caroline Polachek's island

WXPN

The pop star talks about the myriad sonic and visual influences behind her new record, Desire, I Want To Turn Into You.

Caroline Polachek on World Cafe

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