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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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.
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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.
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This year's AfroPunk Festival in Brooklyn features artists who are expanding the universe of punk and ideas about who belongs there.
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The Chicago rapper's new mixtape, Coloring Book, walks a line between the secular and the religious, bringing gospel sounds to listeners who may not have darkened the doors of a church in a while.
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The Brooklyn rapper-producer's latest instrumental album is evenly weighted from front to back. There's never an off moment — or even a precarious one.
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The R&B stalwart has long vibrated on a different wavelength than do his contemporaries; in a turbulent, bruising world, he's stayed rock-steady.
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Out of nowhere, Kendrick Lamar dropped a new record this week, called untitled unmastered. Reviewer Kiana Fitzgerald says that listening to these demos "feels like we're playing catch-up."
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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.
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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.