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Everyone has heard the concept of the “blockbuster movie.” It’s a film that delivers on epic proportions. Well, Washington D.C.-born rapper Wale (aka Olubowale Victor Akintimehin) delivers to his fans blockbuster albums.

On tracks that rise like skyscrapers, the lyricist rides overtop. It’s a talent that few boast and none better than he. When considering the number of fans, size of reach, and all that go into a movie like Jaws, Wale delivers similarly sonically, and he does so with keen bravado.

Even when his music is “about nothing,” like the two albums the artist did with comedian Jerry Seinfeld—The Album About Nothing and mixtape More About Nothing—there is still momentousness afoot (see: the 2015 song, “Matrimony” featuring Usher). And on Wale’s forthcoming new record, Folarin II, which is out Friday (October 22), the emcee has arrived in a similar victorious fashion. Each song feels like a win, a big score. But, for Wale, that victorious nature first came from his introduction to the game of football.

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There was a time when the name, “John Forté,” was said on the radio at least once every hour, for probably three or four years. From the mid-‘90s until 2000, Forté was on tracks or getting shouted out on them with The Fugees, which, of course, includes Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras. On songs like Wyclef’s “We Trying To Stay Alive,” or working behind the scenes on production on The Fugees’ album The Score, Forté was a major player in hip hop by the end of the 20th century. But then, as he says, his life took some major right and left turns. Forté was arrested for drug possession and spent a number of years incarcerated, and sentenced to the mandatory 14 years. Songwriter Carly Simon and Senator Orin Hatch fought for Forté, who was later released, commuted by then-President George W. Bush in 2008.

Ever since then, Forté has lived a life of renewal. He’s focused time and energies on reformation, on rehabilitation. His music has talked about the search for knowledge, no longer focused on more capitalistic and hedonistic gains. Forté is, in many ways, a new person. Yet, his path is also a return to who he was as a younger person, thirsty for knowledge and experience before the road wended wrongly.

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North Carolina-born rapper and producer Phonte (born Phonte Lyshod Coleman) has a lot on his plate. He co-fronts the popular chart-topping hip hop group Little Brother; he co-fronts the Grammy-nominated group The Foreign Exchange; he co-founded the record label FE Music; he’s got his eye out for talent to put on that label; he scores television shows, and co-hosts a podcast with none other than Questlove. But, Phonte knows how precarious life can be too. For as rich as the years are today, there have been lean ones in the past. And while new opportunities are grand, what counts in the long run is growth and character. These are the ideas Phonte brings to his work and his many collaborations, these are the tools with which he makes new music today.

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The Washington-based, genre-defining band, Melvins, wants you to listen up. Whether that means paying close attention to the soul-shaking sounds of groups like Led Zeppelin or The Jimi Hendrix Experience, or divine individual artists like Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin, Melvins’ frontman, Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo), wants you to hear what’s in the music: the depth of the songs, the intricacy of the artistic choices, the magic, even the proximity to God. In a way, that’s why he and Melvins’ co-founder, drummer Dale Crover, went through much of the band’s back catalog and decided ultimately to transpose 36 songs to to four acoustic albums, the collection of which, Five Legged Dog, is slated for release on Friday (October 15).

While at first, Osborne and Crover had no set intention in releasing the four-album collection, the band’s ambition soon grew. The members took on the challenge, especially when recording the vocals with the acoustic guitars. In so doing, Osborne says, perhaps their listeners will now hear the seminal band’s music differently, maybe even more impactfully.

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Austin, Texas-based blues guitarist, Carolyn Wonderland (born Carolyn Bradford), just wants to play music. Hers is a simple-yet-noble ambition. For the frontwoman, who is a whirling dervish on the six-string and who offers a formidable growl on the mic, to participate in song is not about ego or shine. Instead, it’s about the glory of the artform, the chance at harmony, the opportunity to participate in unison with other talented folks who have similarly devoted decades to the craft and journey.

Wonderland, who has released her new LP, Tempting Fate (Oct. 8), is just happy to be on the gig. And it’s been this way since she began in front of audiences at 15 years old, and later when she traded the guitar back-and-forth on stage with now-late songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. Since then, Wonderland has earned praise from Bob Dylan, of all folks. Now, just as always, it’s about the work.

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DeSean Jackson says he did it for his friends. The star NFL wide receiver, who made a name for himself in the league with the Philadelphia Eagles, first as a rookie in 2008 and then as a Pro Bowler in 2009, 2010, and 2013, created his personal record label, Jacc Pot Records, as a means to helps his friends who were, and are, aspiring musicians.

Jackson, who is a musician and lyricist, himself, knew that his success in professional football, earning upwards of millions of dollars per year, could be a window for others to find success. He knew that talent is not always given its proper support. So, Jackson decided to be that support system, and create a new label for those who might not receive the types of chances he’s gotten over the years.

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There’s a term for something that, these days, feels new. For something that’s perhaps numinous, but has never actually truly been felt before. That term, as many under 25-year-olds will tell you, is “hits different.” It indicates something that is both effective and fresh. The term also fits the Redding, Pennsylvania-born rapper Beanz perfectly. The sharp-tongued artist spits in the traditional hip-hop sense: she doesn’t hold back, she isn’t afraid to muscle or body someone in her way and she’s the type of artist to get your ears to perk once you first overhear her flow. But Beanz succeeds in this because she tells the truth “slant,” as in the Emily Dickinson sense. Beanz is unique and will bring all this talent to the proverbial table when she releases her newest album, Tables Turn, on November 5.

And the artist just released her latest single, “Pink Drink,” on October 6, providing a sneak peek into the forthcoming LP.

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Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, JoJo (born Joanna Levesque), needs to write. The act is part of her self-care, part of a crucial regular practice. If she doesn’t put pen to paper, her mind can become more of a minefield. It can be dangerous up there, she says. The writing could be journaling or jotting; it does not need to be public or poetic. But it needs to happen. And at one point recently, the writing wasn’t coming for Jojo. She felt stifled.

At the time, the last thing she’d composed was a holiday album in July. It had been six months since she’d written and it was becoming painful. Coupled with the creative inertia, JoJo was experiencing severe bouts of depression and anxiety. She reached out to her record label and told them she needed to write about what was going on in her brain. And she began to do just that. This is the origin story of JoJo’s sleek, stellar new record, trying not to think about it, which is out now.

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At first, Florence LaRue didn’t want to be in the famous R&B group from the ‘60s and ’70s, The 5th Dimension—a band that was also recently reintroduced to audiences thanks to the recent documentary, Summer of Soul, from The Roots’ famed drummer Questlove. She’d just won a beauty pageant—the Miss Bronze California contest—and one of the group’s founders, Lamonte McLemore, had approached her but she declined, thinking McLemore would have asked anyone who’d won the contest. So, she sloughed him off.

At the time, LaRue was in school, in the final year of getting her bachelor’s degree. She was also working full-time. So, she told McLemore that she wouldn’t even be able to make many rehearsals. But he persisted and eventually, LaRue acquiesced. The rest is music history. But none of this would have happened, LaRue says, if it hadn’t have been for the actress (and former Catwoman) Eartha Kitt.

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Sebastián Yatra is a heartthrob superstar. He’s also a darn fine songwriter. Yatra, who was born in Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida, now has legions of fans numbering in the tens of millions. He’s collaborated with the Jonas Brothers, covered Elvis Costello, with the singer’s blessing, and he’s currently on tour with Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, idols who Yatra looked up to as a kid.

Now, though, he’s sharing their same air. This is what comes when you’re a Latin Grammy Award-nominated artist, what follows you when you garner millions of song streams in a matter of days. Yatra, who released his most recent hit, “Tarde,” two weeks ago, even more recently earned a Latin Grammy nomination for his earlier 2021 single, “Adios.” That song, which has its own unique backstory, came to the artist in a matter of moments.

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Portland, Oregon-born, Grammy-winning musician, Esperanza Spalding, remembers walking the dog with her mother. In fact, it’s her first memory. During the excursion, Spalding remembers asking her mother to harmonize with her, trying to turn multiple tones into something more. It made sense for the young child who begged her parents to play Harry Belafonte’s and Stevie Wonder’s Christmas albums year-round. She says another turning point in her early life was hearing a Bach cello suite on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. It gave her the chills, even then. Some few decades later, Spalding is a towering figure in music, with both street cred and Harvard University props, multiple Grammy Awards, and now a new LP, Songwrights Apothecary Lab, out today (September 24).

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New Orleans-based, booming-voiced artist, Big Freedia, knows life in all its glory, terror and variety is, in the end, about balance. So, to keep her own mind balanced during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Freedia took to two main outlets: cooking and recording music. For the former, Freedia took to social media and YouTube to produce modest-though-beloved cooking videos, showing viewers how she makes various favorites, like biscuits. For the former, Freedia wrote and recorded in the studio and has since recently made that work public, releasing her latest EP, Big Diva Energy, earlier in September. The album, which comes on the heels of her 2020 EP, Louder, is itself a triumphant exercise in balance. On the EP, Freedia discusses both personal boundaries and fun, food-based gluttony.

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Radiant Tennessee-born singer-songwriter, Valerie June, is resourceful, especially energetically. Speaking with the conscientious musician, it’s quick to see she’s as caring about ideas as she is talented, as aware of tone and feeling as she is technicality or intellect. It’s this mood that she brings to collaborations and cooking sessions with stars like Norah Jones—the two hung out and made music and meals together recently—and the mood June brings to playing stages like the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival, which she will perform at on September 25, now her third time at the fest. But, for June, it’s often about making the most of these moments—whether they’re in person or at home in hibernation—and learning how they can better inform the present and future days that’s significant.

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For the dynamic sonic force LP, who is known for her hits like “Lost On You” and “When We’re High,” it’s all about serving the song. There are many people who can sing, she says. Many people with talent. But the special thing in music is most often the complete composition, the song that compels one to dance, think, or even change perspectives on an idea. The song is the torch, no matter if it’s about sex and drugs or the essential deep love one human being can have for another, romantically or platonically. This is how LP approached writing and producing her new, forthcoming album, Churches, which is set for release on December 3.

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