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Over the past few years The NPR Tiny Desk concerts have become a fan favorite event for music lovers across the board and while not many Hip-Hoppers are up on the intimate affairs, quite a few rappers have participated in the series.
The latest rapper to get down at the NPR headquarters in Washington D.C. is none other than Jeezy (formerly known as Young Jeezy) who took his trap style to the nation’s capital and gave everyone in attendance a lesson in thug motivation. Churning out hits like “Go Crazy,” “Air Forces” and “Standing Ovation” amongst other songs, Jeezy gave the crowd what they wanted and maybe more during his 23-minute performance and continues to prove that rappers can indeed give dope performances with a live band in tow.
Check out Jeezy’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert and let us know which one of those concerts are your favorite in the comments section below.
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Ruth Seymour, the hard-driving broadcast pioneer who transformed KCRW into a public radio powerhouse during her 32-year run at what was a sleepy Santa Monica-based station, died Friday. She was 88.
Seymour died after a long illness at her home in Santa Monica, former KCRW producer/publicity director Sarah Spitz announced.
The Bronx-born Seymour joined the FM station in 1977 as a consultant and became general manager a few months later. Her mission statement for KCRW was “to matter,” and she built it to be “singular, idiosyncratic, daring, independent, smart and compelling” — six words she employed over and over in her fundraising letters and on-air subscription drives.
During her tenure, KCRW became the West Coast flagship station for National Public Radio and launched a mix of news, talk, music, current affairs and cultural programming that included the signature music show Morning Becomes Eclectic; Which Way L.A.?, hosted by Warren Olney in the wake of the 1992 L.A. riots; Le Show, hosted by Harry Shearer; the political roundtable Left, Right and Center; To the Point; and The Politics of Culture.
“I believe we catch a lot of listeners by surprise,” she told the Los Angeles Times in a 1982 interview. “They tune in for one thing, just leave the radio on, and then find themselves wrapped up in something they didn’t expect.”
Through the internet and popular podcasts like The Business, hosted since 2009 by The Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters, KCRW gained a strong national profile and reputation before she retired in February 2010 and was succeeded by her onetime assistant, Jennifer Ferro, now station president.
“Ruth was singular in every way. She had a powerful vision that never wavered. There was a spirit in Ruth that no one else has,” Ferro said in a statement. “She didn’t just save NPR or create a new format — Ruth took chances and made decisions because she knew they were right. She trusted her gut. She broke rules and pursued excellence in ways that can’t easily be explained. She was a force of nature.
“Ruth’s legacy lives on at KCRW. She inspires us to be original, to host the smartest people, the most creative artists and to talk to our audience with the utmost respect for their intellect.”
The older of two sisters, Ruth Epstein grew up across the street from the Bronx Zoo. Her father was a furrier and her mother a garment worker, and the family didn’t have a telephone until she was 15.
She attended Sholem Aleichem Folk School in addition to public school and then City College of New York, where she studied one-on-one with the renowned Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich.
Seymour came to Los Angeles in 1961 to accompany her husband, the poet Jack Hirschman, who had landed a teaching job at UCLA after a stint at Dartmouth University, and she was hired as the drama and literary critic at the FM station KPFK. There, she interviewed the likes of Andy Warhol and Anne Sexton.
After freelancing in Europe for station parent Pacifica Radio, she returned to KPFK to serve as program director in 1971, and she produced a celebrity cast reading of selected scenes from the Watergate tapes with Shearer, Rob Reiner and, as President Nixon, Christopher Guest.
However, she was fired in 1976, a couple of years after the FBI had raided the station looking for a cassette from Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army that KPFK had put on the air.
When Seymour arrived at KCRW, it was owned by the Santa Monica School District, had just five employees and was operating out of two converted classrooms on a playground at John Adams Junior High School.
Seymour replaced the oldest transmitter west of the Mississippi with a new one in 1979. Also that year, she ran NPR’s new two-hour Morning Edition program three times each weekday starting at 3 a.m. in a bid to outmaneuver L.A.’s then-leading public station, KUSC. “That way nobody was going to have [the programs] when I didn’t have them,” she said.
She let Shearer do pretty much anything he wanted on his weekly one-hour program.
“Ruth was a towering figure in public radio, embracing a breadth of subject matter and styles that, frankly, does not seem possible anymore,” he said in a statement. “She imagined a listener who was endlessly curious, open to a wide range of opinions and music, and worked tirelessly to satisfy that listener. There will not be one like her again.”
Said Seymour in 1987: “Our audience always understood what we were trying to do. From the very beginning, we were regarded as slightly demented. Not exactly irresponsible but adventurous, interesting. And idealistic.”
She would get the station a new home in the basement of the student activities building at Santa Monica College, which licenses KCRW, in 1984. She also advocated for passage of a 2008 municipal bond that built the station’s first stand-alone building, now located on the campus of SMC’s Center for Media and Design.
In 1996, Seymour made KCRW the first station to carry Ira Glass’ This American Life outside of its home base, Chicago’s WBEZ. She also did interviews, including one with poet Allen Ginsberg in 1985.
“My favorite mental image of Ruth was during the first war in Iraq,” NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg recalled. “She put on a radiothon to raise money to send NPR correspondents to cover it (the great Anne Garrels and others). And to make her on-air pitches, she wore camouflage and combat boots! She knew it would be war to raise the funds, and she dressed for the challenge. I loved and admired her enormously and found her to be a great teacher and inspirer.”
The Times wrote in 1995 that Seymour ruled “with an iron fist … she is renowned for attracting and nurturing brilliant on-air talent and for swiftly cutting them loose if they step out of line or their Arbitron ratings slump.” In 2004, she would fire radio personality Sandra Tsing Loh after she said “fuck” on the air.
“Well, you’re not allowed to do that, especially if you use it as a verb, which she did, and especially if you use it as a verb on Sunday morning in the middle of Weekend Edition,” she recalled a few years later. (The engineer on duty, however, is supposed to replace an expletive with a bleep).
Seymour replaced Claude Brodesser-Akner as host of The Business with Masters, who heard from the exec minutes after she had been laid off by NPR during the 2008 recession. “She called me before I had even gotten into my car,” Masters recalled. “I didn’t know her. She said, ‘Sweetheart, are they meshuga? Their loss will be my gain.’”
During every Hanukkah from 1979-2007, Seymour hosted the three-hour live show Philosophers, Fiddlers and Fools, which featured Yiddish folk music, songs and stories and a memorial to the Holocaust. “I always broadcast the program on Friday evenings so I could bid my listeners a gut yontif,” she said in 2010.
Years after she divorced Hirschman, she changed her surname in 1993 to honor her paternal Polish-born great-grandfather, a rabbi.
Survivors include her daughter, Celia; her sister, Ann, and brother-in-law, Richard; her niece, Jessica; her nephew, Daniel; and cousins Anita and Greg. Her son, David, died at age 25 from lymphoma.
A public memorial service is being planned.
This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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Scarface sat down for an incredible Tiny Desk Concert, and it’s getting all the praise. But it should be expected considering the legendary Houston rapper is a legit musical icon with a catalog to match.
You knew things were going to be special when Facemob commented that Backyard, a just as legendary Go-Go band from Washington, DC, would be backing his performance. Face went through some of his catalog’s greatest hits starting with “My Block” and including songs like “Smile,” “I Seen A Man Die,” and, of course, the Geto Boys classic “Minds Playing Tricks On Me.”
NPR also reports that it was during rehearsals Face brought in producer Mike Dean (who performed on the original tracks) to handle the work on the keys. The performance, which also included Face picking up a guitar, was full of passion as he kicked his classic bars while conducting his talented musical accompaniment.
Check out the performance below and some of the more excited reactions in the gallery.
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Bob Boilen is leaving NPR.
On Wednesday (Sept. 13), Boilen announced his departure from the media organization after a 35-year tenure. Boilen is the co-creator of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, the creator and host of All Songs Considered and has directed All Things Considered for the last 18 years.
On social media, Boilen wrote, “After 35 years, I am leaving NPR. I’ve had the thrill of creating Tiny Desk Concerts, All Songs Considered, directing All Things Considered for 18 years and so much more. I love the people I’ve worked with, but it’s time to find new challenges. thank you for listening/watching.”
Boilen’s last day on the job is Oct. 2.
An internal memo obtained by Billboard also announced Boilen’s departure to staff.
“For over 35 years Bob has been a fixture here, whether as a long-time producer and director on All Things Considered or as a digital pioneer with NPR Music, Bob’s impact has achieved what few can; he has, through his work, changed NPR and changed the world around us,” reads the memo, written by NPR vp of visuals & music strategy Keith Jenkins and outgoing senior vp of programming and audience development Anya Grundmann.
In the memo, Jenkins and Grundmann add that the Tiny Desk series, which Boilen co-created in 2008, “has set the music industry agenda for the last 15 years” and succeeded in “bringing new audiences to NPR.”
The memo includes a note from Boilen, who states, “I leave at a time when new creative folks will hopefully envision exciting new futures for NPR Music.”
In addition to his work at NPR, Boilen is an accomplished musician and writer. His debut book, Your Song Changed My Life, was published in 2016.
The news of Boilen’s exit follows two other high-level departures at the public radio broadcaster as of late. In August, Grundmann — who worked with Boilen on Tiny Desk in her role overseeing music, podcasts, entertainment and talk shows at the broadcaster — also announced that she’s leaving the public radio giant at the end of the year following nearly 30 years at the organization.
That was followed earlier this month by an announcement from NPR president/CEO John Lansing that he’ll retire at the end of the year following a four-year tenure. Lansing’s time at NPR involved navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent budget crunch. He’ll remain in place until NPR’s board of directors identifies his replacement.
Read the full staff memo on Boilen’s departure below.
All;Today, we’re sharing the news that one of our longest tenured colleagues, Bob Boilen, is retiring from NPR. For over 35 years Bob has been a fixture here, whether as a long-time producer and director on All Things Considered or as a digital pioneer with NPR Music. Bob’s impact has achieved what few can; he has, through his work, changed NPR and changed the world around us.Bob’s work on the broadcast side of NPR was extensive, and he later was instrumental in pushing NPR into the digital world at a critical moment of change in media. All Songs Considered, which began as a multimedia online show in 2000 and became one of NPR’s first podcasts in 2005, was a foundational element of NPR Music which Bob helped create in 2007. Bob has continued to produce the podcast weekly, and it’s also heard on more than a hundred NPR Member stations.While web video was still in its infancy, Bob created Project Song which placed a musician in a Big Brother type environment at NPR for 24 hours, allowing us to observe the song writing process, unfiltered. While its run was short, its impact was great; Project Song’s influence can be found in podcasts like Song Exploder. Project Song also has the honor of earning NPR its first Emmy in 2012.Finally, there is little left to say that hasn’t already been shared about the Tiny Desk series, which Bob co-founded in 2008. The series has set the music industry agenda for the last 15 years, and it continues to break new ground with its concerts and the Tiny Desk Contest; bringing new audiences to NPR. It is very difficult indeed to go anywhere in the world — whether it’s a battlefield in Ukraine, an embassy in Washington, a farm in the Midwest or a restaurant in Asia — where people haven’t heard about and watched Tiny Desk Concerts. This is the very definition of a global phenomenon.Bob is leaving NPR with a legacy of creativity and innovation. Knowing of his love for photography and the Eastern Shore, we hope his days continue to be filled with beautiful birds and sunsets — that is, when he can tear himself away from continuing to discover new music in clubs across America. We wish you all the best.Keith and AnyaA few words from Bob:I’m retiring from NPR after 35 incredible years. It’s time to find new challenges in life, and I’m excited about some of the possibilities. I leave at a time when new creative folks will hopefully envision exciting new futures for NPR Music. My last day is October 2.I lived the dream when I came to NPR’s All Things Considered without a day of journalism or radio in my background. I was a musician and a video producer in 1988, but the folks at NPR saw something in me and gave me opportunities to take chances and grow. Within a year, I was directing All Things Considered. I did that for 18 years. I produced hundreds of music stories, brought in music writers, and edited and produced their reviews.In 1999, I imagined a music show for the internet, and in 2000 All Songs Considered was born. Back then, it was a multimedia show with music. In the summer of 2005 All Songs Considered became what I believe was the first original content podcast for NPR.With the launch of NPR music in 2007, NPR covered music festivals, including Newport Folk, and, of course, SXSW, where Stephen Thompson’s comment to Laura Gibson became the spark that started the Tiny Desk series. The staff includes such great talent and now the videos look and sound better than ever.All the while, I got to be in an office with some truly amazing, talented, and fun people. Most of all I just want to thank all of you for making magic happen.
Longtime National Public Radio (NPR) programming executive Anya Grundmann will leave the network after nearly 30 years, the media organization announced Monday (Aug. 21). Grundmann will step down from her post as senior vp of programming and audience development at the end of the year. “It’s been the best kind of roller coaster ride,” Grundmann […]
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In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s a solid argument can be made that Juvenile was the hottest artist on Cash Money Records, a label loaded with stars like B.G. and Lil Wayne, and producer Manny Fresh. The New Orleans rapper’s highly anticipated Tiny Desk Concert finally hit the Internet on Friday (June 30) and it has been nothing but praise for the Hot Boy on your timeline.
With Manny Fresh along for the ride and whole band in tuck (including the legendary Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste), Juvie ran through a set list that featured some of his greatest hits included “400 Degreez,” “Bling Bling” “Slow Motion,” “I Need A Hot Girl,” and “Project Bitch.” Of course, as if there was any doubt, the final song of the set was classic, dancefloor destroyer “Back That Azz Up.”
As you can see by the reactions in the gallery, Twitter was all in on Juvie’s performance, reminiscing about when Cash Money set it off for 99 and 2000. There may have never been this much cursing during a Tiny Desk Concert, but we’ll abide by it.
What a way to close out Black Music Month—especially considering Juvie had no idea what a “Tiny Desk” was a few months ago.
Watch below.
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4. Where is the lie?
National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR’s main account with labels the news organization says are meant to undermine its credibility.
“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” NPR said in a statement Wednesday.
Last week, Twitter labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a label also used to identify media outlets that are controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media” and gave it to at least one other public news organization, the BBC.
“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR’s statement said.
The Public Broadcasting Service said Wednesday it has also stopped tweeting from its main account because of its new label and has no plans to resume. PBS said: “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
NPR’s main account had not tweeted since April 4. On Wednesday, it sent a series of tweets listing other places to find its journalism.
The company said NPR journalists, employees and member stations can decide on their own if they want to keep using the platform.
NPR’s chief communications officer, Isabel Lara, said in an email that “NPR journalists and employees will decide on their own if they wish to remain on the platform, same for NPR member stations as they’re independently owned and operated.”
NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget.
Twitter’s new labels have often appeared arbitrarily assigned. It tagged NPR with the “state-affiliated” label after Musk participated in a public conversation about NPR on Twitter, and then deleted mention of NPR, but left up BBC, on a web page where it described why they should not get that label.
Since then, it has given NPR, BBC and some other groups a “government-funded” label but hasn’t done the same for many other public media outlets, such as their counterparts in Canada and Australia.
In an interview Tuesday with a BBC technology reporter at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, Musk acknowledged that the British news organization “is not thrilled” about the state-affiliated labels and asked the reporter for feedback.
“Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible,” Musk said. “So I think we’re adjusting the label to be ‘publicly funded,’ which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We’re trying to be accurate.”
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Trina probably wasn’t the first person people thought of when it comes to a Tiny Desk Concert (that in itself is a problem), but she delivered anyway. The Miami rapper kicked a medley of her hits over funky instrumentation and her performance has been getting praise ever since.
Things started on a somber note with Trina performing “Mama,” which is a dedication to her mother who unfortunately passed away from cancer in 2019. From there, the vibes picked up as Da Baddest B*tch performed her hits like “Da Baddes B*tch,” her smash collab with Trick Daddy “Nann N*gga” and “Single Again,” among more.
Of course, there are some haters on social media questioning why Trina was tapped—and they are quickly getting packed up for their tomfoolery. For the record, anyone with an issue with Trina is the Op. Those are the rules.
Twitter has been celebrating Trina’s turn on Tiny Desk Concert noting how she’s a blueprint for a lot of today’s female rappers like Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and yes, even Nicki Minaj. Peep some the more passionate praise in the gallery.
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6. Peep that ratio…
13. Trina NPR Tiny Desk
Source:NPR
Trina NPR Tiny Desk trina npr tiny desk
Legendary lawyer Don Passman has likened the music biz and its transformation in the digital era to a Rubik’s Cube. It shifts so much that there have now been 10 editions of his industry bible, “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.”
The industry’s challenges, however, did not deter the lay economists at NPR’s Planet Money podcast after they heard an old song called “Inflation.” The funky, moody track with lyrics like “Inflation is in our nation… I can see a depression coming on” was written in 1975 when inflation was at levels slightly higher than today. A cassette tape of the song by Earnest Jackson‘s Sugar Daddy and the Gumbo Roux showed up in Planet Money hosts Sarah Gonzalez and Erika Beras‘ mailbox one day, and they “got a little obsessed” — so obsessed they embarked on an 8-month effort to start a record label and publish the song.
Gonzales and Beras discuss the challenges of creating a label, striking deals with different stakeholders and promoting the never-before-published song over two episodes of the podcast, this week.
Describing their reporting to Billboard, Gonzalez and Beras say that in the course of creating a contract that split revenue between the label and musicians, they came up with what Passman describes as “possibly the worst record deal I’ve ever seen, from a record company point of view.” (Passman was interviewed for the podcast.)
“We are not doing this to make money. We are really doing this because we want to explain the music industry,” Gonzalez says. “It’s just really difficult to make money in this industry, which we all knew. But it’s not until you get into it that you really understand it.”
If a typical deal gives 80% of revenues generated by a song to the record label and 20% to the musicians, Planet Money proposed giving 80% to the musician, namely singer and songwriter Earnest Jackson, and keeping 20% for their label. The hosts felt that was a fair deal given that even if the song was streamed 1 million times, they could only expect to collect around $4,000 total.
After much back-and-forth with Jackson’s old bandmates, which included Journey bassist and American Idol host Randy Jackson and others who went on to successful music careers, they landed on a deal that gives about 67% to Earnest Jackson, 15% to the bandmates and the remainder to the label and others.
Any revenue generated from the song that goes to NPR will go back into producing more shows, Gonzalez and Beras say. They say they do not plan to recoup expenses from publishing and promoting the song, which included at least $10,000 in legal fees.
Once they uploaded the track to TuneCore and started promoting their first, possibly only hit, they learned that “Inflation” had to be streamed 5,000 times in the first week for the label to be able to pay for promotion. Fortunately, the song crested 65,000 plays in its first few days, but it still has some way to go to reach 1 million plays.
“No one ever makes money on streaming,” Beras says, when asked what she learned from her reporting. “I feel like I’ve repeated that a thousand times and never understood what I said.”
“We put all of our effort behind this song and behind Earnest Jackson and are going all in,” Beras says.
Next, they plan to make it a ringtone — which earns a bit more than streams — and they are trying to land it in a Netflix documentary.
Since launching their label last week, Planet Money has received two more submissions from musicians, according to Beras. For now, they are focused on “Inflation” and have no aspirations to “become music moguls,” Beras jokes.
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