Top Stories
Stories in Beat that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
How a rap artist who died of Covid impacted my life.
After googling a particular track by rap artist 'Ty', I was shocked to discover he died of Covid last year, aged 47. I've never followed him that closely and the last time I listened to him was 18 months ago. But yesterday, I found myself wanting to submerge into the steady thumps and flicks of a track I couldn't even remember the name of. I found it - Let's Start - and with it the sad news.
The Hidden Innuendos Inside Beatles’ Songs
Highly creative, articulate and intelligent, The Beatles were also a tough down-to-earth working-class band from the port city of Liverpool. They spent many years before their fame playing in the clubs of Liverpool and the bars of Hamburg surrounded by prostitution, crime and drugs.
Alex MarkhamPublished 5 days ago in Beat
Whatever She Wants: A love letter to Phoebe Bridgers and Punisher
2019, sometime in summer, 5:15am, I woke up on a friend’s couch to the sun shining in my face and the sound of a woman playing an acoustic guitar. "Jesus Christ, I'm so blue all the time. And that's just how I feel, always have and I always will." The lyrics were striking but intriguing nonetheless, I realized I had fallen asleep listening to some album that had clearly long passed, and I was now listening to whatever Spotify had decided I needed to hear that night. I don’t know how much I believe in things like destiny and fate, but I do feel very lucky that my body had chosen to wake me up to that song specifically. I added it to my library and quickly fell back asleep, and for the next year or so I found myself returning to that song more and more. It’s excruciatingly sad, with the main focus of the song literally being a child’s funeral, but it’s a pain that I seemed to tempt myself with more often than was good for me. Even still, I didn’t visit the rest of Phoebe Bridger’s discography until months later. I’m not sure why considering how fond I was of Funeral, but it wasn’t until after her next release that I became the “Pharb” I am today.
Trevor MacDonaldPublished 10 days ago in Beat
Audius: Should Artists Care? 🤔
Audius is a new Crypto based streaming platform looking to shake up the industry. It shapes up as a Soundcloud killer but some also view it as a Spotify competitor as well. Let’s dive into the specifics and see what it’s all about.
PayusnomindPublished 14 days ago in Beat
Weightless
Most people, at least until recently I think, would look at me and ask "Who?" whenever I mentioned my favorite band. Even with their first Number 1 song on the Alternative Rock charts, a feat I feel was way too long of a time coming, I still receive this perplexed look when I talk about them to someone new.
Heather MillerPublished 18 days ago in Beat
Certified Lover Boy — Album Review
In the wake of the feud between two of the rap game’s biggest stars, Drake and Kanye have both released their long awaited albums. Two of the world’s biggest stars have dropped consecutively and will control airwaves for months to come. For now, let’s take a look into the long awaited Certified Lover Boy.
Josh HerringPublished 21 days ago in Beat
"If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power": A Perspective On Historical Motherhood
Warnings: Contains spoilers for both the "If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power" album and film. References to miscarriage, pregnancy, rape, domestic abuse, and related topics.
Alisan KeeseePublished 27 days ago in Beat
The Legacy of Queen of Tejano Music: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez
When a true Hispanic fan hears the name Selena, the first name that immediately springs to his mind is Selena Quintanilla, not Selena Gomez. (Fun Fact: Selena Gomez's mother named her after Selena Quintanilla.)
Roselyn VioletPublished 30 days ago in BeatDiscovering My Love For Piano
Music is the centerfold of my family. I definitely got my abilities from my mom, but my dad played the part of being the biggest supporter. He’s shown up to every halftime show, concert, performance- you name it. All three of us kids were involved in every single band activity possible, me and my two older sisters.
Grace LinnPublished about a month ago in Beat
Ultimate National Park Playlists
This year, much of my free time has been spent obsessively planning a month-long road trip for myself and my closest friend. Both of us are at the quintessential part of our 20’s where if we don’t take the time to drop everything and explore, we won’t ever commit to it again. With pressure to build our careers, and grad school looming over the horizon, we are taking the time to make the most of this beautifully, chaotic period of growth in our lives.
Meghan PatulakPublished 2 months ago in Beat
Aaliyah & Left Eye
Aaliyah Haughton and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, Two iconic music legends that left us far too soon in the 2000s. During the 90s, Aaliyah was destined to be R &B's next best thing. Though Lisa was in the girl group TLC, she was destined to make it as a solo rap artist. The two women were at the heights of the careers until the 2000s their lives were taken from unfortunate accidents.
Gladys W. MuturiPublished 2 months ago in Beat
Flower Boy Signaled A New Era for Tyler, The Creator
Flower Boy officially signaled the bloom of Tyler, The Creator as an artist. Being entirely produced by Tyler himself, the album feels deeply personal as we travel through the emotions of a lonely artist. Admittedly, I took me a while to warm up to this album. Upon my first listen on its release in 2017, I was shocked by how different this version of Tyler was, compared to the one I used to listen to on his infamous Goblin and Bastard albums. The once abrasive, and almost offensive, rapper had changed — and perhaps, for the better.
Josh HerringPublished 2 months ago in Beat
