July 2018 - Chris Molanphy

Drake. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images.

“In My Feelings” is an accidental smash. It could become Drake’s biggest hit. Sixteen years ago, in July 2002, singsongy rapper Nelly commanded the Hot 100 with his salacious sultry-weather hit “Hot in Herre,” the leadoff single from his monster Nellyville album. The only question was how he would follow it up. “Hot” was about halfway [...] Read more

Cardi B and Bruno Mars perform onstage during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28 in New York City.Theo Wargo/WireImage

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: The Feat. Don’t Fail Me Now Edition

27 July 20182 February 2019

How did guest rappers change the way supporting performers are credited across popular music? Cardi B and Bruno Mars perform onstage during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28 in New York City. Theo Wargo/WireImage Listen to Hit Parade via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Slate Plus [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: The Deadbeat Club Edition, Part 2

13 July 20182 February 2019

Listen to Hit Parade via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play In the second part of our two-part episode about the B-52’s and R.E.M.—the bands that put Athens, Georgia, on the map and helped define new wave rock in the early ’80s—we trace how they transformed themselves from hipsters to hit-makers. One band waited [...] Read more

Bad Bunny, Cardi B, and J Balvin. Photo illustration by Slate.

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Cardi B’s “I Like It” Is the Latest Version of a Song that Took 50 Years to Get to No. 1

5 July 20182 February 2019

Last year’s undisputed Song of Summer, “Despacito,” was a lilting, thumping, Latin-Anglo hybrid by a pair of Puerto Ricans, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, sung mostly in Spanish with a brief English-language assist from Justin Bieber. This year, the race for Song of Summer has, to date, mostly been a faceoff between streaming gods Drake [...] Read more