Oliver Wang

The fiery singer, whose work with The Dap-Kings helped inspire a soul revival, died Nov. 18 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The 1972 concerts at The Apollo were recorded but, inexplicably, never released — until now. They show a side of Brown content to turn the show over to his collaborators.

Maybe this is all part of some performance-art piece we've been unwittingly sucked into. But either way, it seems to be working.

Kendrick Lamar's long-awaited new album dropped late Sunday night, nine days early. On it, the rapper wades into our current moment of peril around race, inequality and brutality.

Steven Ellison has built an impressive reputation among critics and fans in the know for mixing hip hop, jazz and electronica into something original. But even for the aforementioned followers, the new album from Ellison — better-known as Flying Lotus — is a surprise. It's all about death, not as something to be mourned but as a journey to be anticipated.

On an unlikely tribute album, singer Dionne Farris and guitarist Charlie Hunter tackle Warwick classics with revealing subtlety — and nods to the musicians' own origins in early-'90s rap.

What began as little more than a glorified metronome has worked its way into bedroom studios and state-of-the-art recording facilities alike. A new book chronicles the history and influence of the drum machine in all its wood- and plastic-paneled glory.

De La's third album, Buhloone Mindstate, challenged the music industry — an industry then obsessed with hip-hop's crossover success — and went on to become a classic.

The musician born Marcos Garcia was known for years as a member of the Afrobeat ensemble Antibalas — but one day, he began tinkering with his daughter's Casio keyboard.

After months of speculation, West's latest album reveals itself as a trim, 10-song, 40-minute effort that's heavy on electronic and industrial influences. It's also another piece of the puzzle to one of pop music's most compelling — and frustrating — figures.