Kiana Fitzgerald
Kiana Fitzgerald is a freelance music journalist, cultural critic, and DJ. She writes for the world from deep in the heart of Texas.
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Hip-hop is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and we're looking back at albums that changed the game. Today, it's the group that took a shoestring DIY approach to creating horrorcore: Three 6 Mafia.
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With their 1987 debut album Paid in Full, Eric B. & Rakim introduced internal rhyme schemes to rap, and changed the flow of hip-hop forever. -
The rapper known as Gangsta Boo died this week at age 43. Born Lola Mitchell, she was known as one of the South's premier crunk emcees and she got her start in the group Three 6 Mafia.
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When the words in a song hit you in just the right way, they can stay with you. We're asking the folks at NPR Music: What lyrics did you hear in 2022 that you just couldn't shake? -
"Black Parade," a call to action and a salve for a wounded nation, is the latest example of Beyoncé using her pop domination to put Black pride front and center.
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Andre Harrell, a record executive who shepherded the careers of Mary J. Blige and Sean "Diddy" Combs and combined the sounds of R&B and hip-hop with his label, Uptown Records, has died. -
Through her career, Bey has shown that there are more levels to her artistry than we could have imagined. And she's using those levels to delve further into her personalized elevation of black women. -
The singer-songwriter has been resisting the R&B label, but on her new song — ostensibly about a breakup — she sounds like she might be wavering. -
For a couple years now BJ The Chicago Kid has been the answer when rappers need a little help baring their souls. Watch him step into the spotlight at NPR Music's show during CMJ.
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Surrounded by unfinished and leftover Mardi Gras floats, Boykins pulls back the layers of his song "4 U 2 B Free," matching his performance to the exposed, vulnerable characters surrounding him.
