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Curated playlist

African-American songwriters

  • Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
  • Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
  • Aretha FranklinOtis Redding said Aretha Franklin took his song "Respect" away from him. Her version hit number one in 1967.
  • Little RichardLittle Richard walked away from rock and roll to study theology. A fireball over Sydney in 1957 shook him.
  • James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
  • Miles DavisMiles Davis called jazz dead near the end of his life. He had spent five decades helping define it.
  • Ralph EllisonA 1967 fire destroyed more than 300 pages of Ralph Ellison's second novel. He never finished it.
  • Dallas AustinAfter his brother threw his keyboard, Dallas Austin left Columbus, Georgia. He rode a bus to Atlanta around 1986.
  • NasNas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, and every piece of that name carries a meaning. Nasir is an Arabic name for a helper and protector, and bin means son of. The American rapper, entrepreneur and record producer first recorded in 1989…
  • LL Cool JLL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
  • Tom MorelloTom Morello, the American guitarist behind Rage Against the Machine, once made an entire festival crowd listen to nothing but noise. At Lollapalooza in 1993, his band walked onstage naked. Their mouths were covered with duct tape, and…
  • Donald GloverDonald Glover was voted most likely to write for The Simpsons. At 23 he landed a writing job on 30 Rock instead.
  • Ice CubeIce Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, started writing raps in ninth grade because a friend challenged him in typewriting class. The friend, nicknamed Kiddo, lost the contest. The class was at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los…
  • Ice-TIce-T got his stage name when friends heard him recite novels by Iceberg Slim.
  • Sylvia RobinsonSylvia Robinson pushed Grandmaster Flash's group to record "The Message" in 1982.
  • Quincy JonesQuincy Jones taped a sign to the entrance of a recording studio in 1985, and it read "Check Your Ego at the Door." Behind that door waited most of the major American recording artists of the day. Jones needed every one of them to work as…
  • DJ Jazzy JeffDJ Jazzy Jeff went home in tears after winning a Grammy. He had just $500 in his bank account.

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