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The founder of Motown Records was born in the city he helped make synonymous with soulfulness, Detroit, on 28 November 1929.
Hip-hop has always been politically charged, but with racial and social divisions becoming ever more fractured, conscious hip-hop is making a return.
With his third mixtape, ‘So Far Gone’, Drake edged ever closer to world domination, teaming up with Lil Wayne and Young Money Entertainment.
Mixing hip-hop with R&B, New Jack Swing dominated the US charts between 1989 and 1993, and its innovations have left an indelible influence on modern music.
A seismic career shift and a bold new artistic direction brought an indelible classic.
A dazzling album that defined black America both musically and lyrically, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ is a visionary album that will resonate for decades to come.
The classically trained jazz pianist has always straddled the two worlds of jazz and hip-hop, most audibly on pathfinding albums the likes of ‘Black Radio’.
The Chess label more than held its own against the likes of Motown and Stax – as this run-down of the 10 best Chess soul records of all time shows.
From a tiny $800 loan, Berry Gordy turned Motown into the biggest African-American business of its era, paving the way for black-owned labels that followed.
The collection celebrates influential musical figures including disco icon Sylvester and rock’n’roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
For the ravenous Northern soul collector, one label consistently brought the goods: Chess Northern soul classics continue to epitomise the sound today.
Start your journey into one of the most influential labels in music with our list of the best Chess albums to own on vinyl.
Boasting Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, Chess Records is synonymous with rock’n’roll – as this list of the 10 best Chess rock’n’roll records proves.
In the way its music was presented and the universal themes its artists sang of, Motown broke racial barriers to move everyone, no matter their skin colour.
The history of recorded jazz is hard to pin down. So many conflicting stories make up a rich patchwork that guides us towards the truth of how jazz began.
