Music

A battle-scarred Drake tries making love, not war

Sheldon Pearce

On the rebound from a public defeat, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U reverts to the sound of Drake's early years, charting a tentative course back toward the rap throne.
Receive $100,000, no questions asked. Just be a jazz legend.

Phil Harrell

This week, a new fellowship was announced that granted 20 jazz musicians of retirement age a gift of $100,000 each.
Arts & Culture

San Diego weekend arts events: South Bay Zine Fest, 'The Drawing Show' and origami

Julia Dixon Evans

This weekend in the arts: A new zine fest in Chula Vista; the power of drawing; installation art in Escondido; chamber music inspired by visual art; "3 Summers of Lincoln"; plus live music picks and more.
Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance echoes across the charts

Stephen Thompson

Kendrick Lamar's performance at the Super Bowl is paying dividends, as three of his albums find themselves in this week's top 10.
National

Rapper A$AP Rocky found not guilty of felony assault with a firearm

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

Jurors found Rocky, a rapper and the longtime partner of Rihanna, not guilty of firing a gun at a former friend on a Hollywood street in 2021. He could have faced up to 24 years in prison.
Paul McCartney, live from New York: The easy genius of the cute Beatle

Ann Powers

Last week, the hottest ticket in NYC wasn't the SNL 50th anniversary concert. It was the three nights Paul McCartney played at a tiny downtown venue that usually hosts up-and-coming indie rock bands.
How 'losing' the Tiny Desk Contest launched Yasmin Williams' music career

Yasmin Williams

Northern Virginia guitarist Yasmin Williams shares how the Tiny Desk Contest changed her life — despite entering it twice and never winning.
Horsegirl finds power in keeping things playful

Hazel Cills

Horsegirl's sophomore album, Phonetics On and On, is a compulsively replayable record full of arrestingly catchy, bare-bones songwriting and twee treasures.
How Paramore's Hayley Williams helped her grandfather release his debut album

Milton Guevara

Paramore singer Hayley Williams' earliest memories of music are of hearing her grandfather's songs. She helped him, now 78, achieve a dream: releasing his debut album.
Paquita la del Barrio, a giant voice of Mexican heartbreak and rage, dies at 77

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

The ranchera and bolero singer took aim at machismo as if it were a piñata. For decades, she wrote and sang feminist anthems full of pain, rage and empowerment.