Desk Feed
History
Throwbacks and Lessons — looking back at the records, artists, and eras that moved the culture.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Pharrell Williams - In My Mind
Revisiting Pharrell's 2006 solo debut, a fascinating look at a super-producer finding his frontman voice.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Outkast - Idlewild
OutKast’s sixth and final studio album is a sprawling, jazz-soaked curtain call that deserves its flowers.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Main Source - Breaking Atoms
Revisiting Main Source's 1991 masterpiece, an album that laid the foundation for modern sample-based hip-hop.
- Lessons
Lessons: UGK - Ridin' Dirty
How two kids from Port Arthur, Texas, sold 850,000 copies of a masterpiece without a single music video or radio push.
- Lessons
Lessons: DJ Screw
Robert Earl Davis Jr. didn't just slow down records—he fractured the tempo of hip-hop and built a Houston empire out of the space between the kicks.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Adina Howard - 'Freak Like Me'
In 1995, Adina Howard dropped a G-funk-laced debut that shifted the entire temperature of hip-hop soul.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Gucci Mane - Everybody Looking
Revisiting Gucci Mane's 2016 post-prison rebirth, a 15-track victory lap that proved the Atlanta pioneer was sharper than ever.
- Lessons
Lessons: Organized Noize
How Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown dug into the red clay of Atlanta to build a live-funk hip-hop empire that forced the world to listen to the South.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Rocko - Rocko Dinero
How Rocko's late-2010 mixtape bridged the gap between classic trap grit and the cinematic, Lex Luger-fueled future of Atlanta hip-hop.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Aaliyah - One in a Million
In 1996, Aaliyah linked up with Timbaland and Missy Elliott to rewire the DNA of R&B forever.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Mac Mall - My Ghetto Report Card
Revisiting Mac Mall's 1993 Vallejo classic 'Ghetto Theme,' featuring a legendary music video directed by Tupac Shakur.
- Lessons
Lessons: The Soulquarians Era
Inside the late-nineties Electric Lady Studios sessions where D’Angelo, J Dilla, Questlove, Erykah Badu, and a collective of visionaries rewired the rhythm of Black music.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Partners-N-Crime - 'Pump the Party'
Revisiting the raw, unfiltered momentum of Partners-N-Crime's 1995 centerpiece.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Gucci Mane - Lawnmower Man
A look back at the raw, trunk-rattling minimalism of 'Lawnmower Man' from Gucci Mane's landmark 2005 debut, Trap House.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Rocko Gift of Gab
With his December 2011 mixtape 'Gift of Gab,' Atlanta's Rocko delivered a masterclass in relaxed, conversational street rap.