January 2021 - Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy talks to hip-hop journalist Mosi Reeves about Chic, the Sugarhill Gang, and disco and rap’s parallel histories. Get More Hit Parade! Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcasts—and much more. • Exclusive episodes of Slow Burn, Hang Up and Listen, and Trumpcast. • Members-only series like Dana Stevens’ Flashback and [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” Had the Biggest Debut Since “WAP”

22 January 202124 January 2021

The singer’s overnight success is about more than the Sabrina Carpenter–Joshua Bassett drama. If, as the actor, comedian, and belletrist “Judge” John Hodgman has declared, “Specificity is the soul of narrative,” actress–singer Olivia Rodrigo just won the Soulful Specificity prize for 2021, before the year was even a month old. It’s rare that a debut [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: These Are the Good Times Edition

19 January 202126 February 2021

How the sleek disco group Chic spawned hip-hop and new wave and shaped acts from Diana Ross to Duran Duran. <iframe title="These Are the Good Times Edition" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SLT7951580838&light=true" class="slate-megaphone__megaphone-player" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%" ></iframe> View Transcript <iframe title="These Are the Good Times Edition" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SLT3492624205&light=true" class="slate-megaphone__megaphone-player" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%" ></iframe> View Transcript How can you [...] Read more