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Throwbacks and Lessons — looking back at the records, artists, and eras that moved the culture.
- Lessons
Lessons: Babyface
How Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds built the sonic architecture of 1990s R&B, one perfect chord progression at a time.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Lil Boosie - Mind of a Maniac
Revisiting Lil Boosie's 2009 descent into paranoia on the standout track from 'SuperBad'.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Juvenile - Ha
Revisiting the 1998 Mannie Fresh-produced anthem that dragged Cash Money Records out of the Magnolia Projects and into the mainstream.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Yung L.A. - Ain't I
Revisiting Yung L.A.'s 2008 Grand Hustle anthem that had the radio in a chokehold.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Travis Scott - Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
Revisiting Travis Scott's 2016 sophomore album, a 53-minute nocturnal trip of warm synths and heavy street anthems.
- Lessons
Lessons: The Quiet Storm Era
How a Howard University intern and a Smokey Robinson record accidentally rewired the nocturnal habits of Black America.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: The Roots - Game Theory
In 2006, The Roots booted up GarageBand and delivered the darkest, grittiest album of their career.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Mary J. Blige - No More Drama
Revisiting Mary J. Blige's 2001 masterpiece, an album that turned her healing process into a platinum hip-hop soul exorcism.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Trillville - Neva Eva
Revisiting Trillville's 2003 crunk anthem that laid the blueprint for the modern rap mosh pit.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Mac Dre - Feelin' Myself
Revisiting Mac Dre's 2004 Thizz Entertainment anthem, a masterclass in pocket presence and unfiltered charisma.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: OutKast - ATLiens
In 1996, OutKast bridged Atlanta and New York studios to craft an outer space-inspired masterpiece that changed southern hip-hop forever.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: T-Pain - I'm Sprung
Revisiting T-Pain's 2005 debut single that accidentally handed the music industry the blueprint for the next two decades.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Young Thug - Jeffery
Revisiting Young Thug's 2016 left-field rap masterpiece, an album where his vocal agility and pure anguish permanently reshaped the genre.
- Lessons
Lessons: The Hyphy Movement
How an Oakland slang term birthed a high-energy subgenre that shook the Bay Area and rewired the DNA of modern hip-hop.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Naughty by Nature - O.P.P.
In August 1991, Naughty by Nature smuggled a brazen anthem about infidelity right past the FCC and onto the pop charts.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Kilo Ali - Baby Baby
Before Atlanta trap took over the globe, Kilo Ali was shaking trunks with his 1997 bass-heavy anthem "Baby, Baby."
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: DJ Jubilee - Get Ready, Ready
Revisiting DJ Jubilee's 1997 bounce anthem that laid the blueprint for modern club rap.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Frank Ocean - Blonde
Revisiting the 2016 masterpiece where Frank Ocean stripped R&B down to its studs and changed the genre forever.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Suga Free - Why U Bullshittin'?
Revisiting Suga Free's 1997 G-Funk masterclass from his landmark album Street Gospel.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: The Weeknd - Thursday
Revisiting the claustrophobic, paranoid masterpiece that cemented Toronto's dark R&B reign in 2011.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Maxwell - Now
After the conceptual maze of Embrya, Maxwell stripped away the mythology and delivered the sharpest R&B album of 2001.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: E-40 - Captain Save a Hoe
Before it became a permanent fixture in the global hip-hop lexicon, E-40's 1993 breakthrough hit forced the country to learn Bay Area slang.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
DJ Muggs, B-Real, and Sen Dog delivered a debut in 1991 that wrapped West Coast hip-hop in a dusty, blunted haze.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Darkest Light
A look back at the heavy, foundational funk of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's legendary break.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: DJ Unk - Walk It Out
Before it took over the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 2006, DJ Unk's snap-era anthem spent six months tearing up Atlanta radio.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
Revisiting the flawless 1981 debut solo album where Luther Vandross laid down the ultimate blueprint for R&B.
- Lessons
Lessons: Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
In 1998, Lauryn Hill stepped away from the Fugees to deliver a self-produced masterclass that permanently connected the dots between Motown soul, Jamaican reggae, and East Coast hip-hop.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Rick Ross - Port of Miami
Revisiting the towering 2006 debut that turned a husky-voiced Florida MC into a cinematic kingpin.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Field Mob - Sick of Being Lonely
In the summer of 2002, Field Mob and Torica crafted a Southern rap anthem that proved vulnerability and heavy basslines belong together.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: G-Dep - Special Delivery
Revisiting G. Dep's 2001 Bad Boy street anthem, a track that dominated the block despite entirely missing the Hot 100.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Fiend - 'Talk It Like I Bring It'
Revisiting Fiend's self-produced 1999 No Limit standout from the 'Street Life' album.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: The Ronettes - Be My Baby
How a four-beat drum intro and Ronnie Spector’s yearning vocals at Gold Star Studios in 1963 redefined the scale of the American pop single.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Total - 'Can't You See'
Revisit Total's 1995 debut single, a flawless hip-hop soul collaboration featuring an iconic intro from The Notorious B.I.G.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes and Life
Revisiting A Tribe Called Quest's moody 1996 pivot, an album that traded youthful exuberance for heavy, unquantized slump.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Playa - 'Cheers 2 U'
Revisiting Playa's 1998 vocal masterpiece 'Cheers 2 U,' a Def Jam ballad that set the gold standard for R&B harmony.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Blackstreet - No Diggity
In 1996, Blackstreet flipped a Bill Withers sample into an inescapable global anthem.
- Throwbacks
Throwbacks: Janet Jackson - "When I Think of You"
Revisiting the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced groove that gave Janet Jackson her very first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single.
- 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.