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Reckoning with the South

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Nicholas Vila Byers

Nicholas Vila Byers is a freelance writer who interrogates the nexus of power between rap music, popular culture, and anti-Blackness. Nick is an incoming doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Rhetoric program, where he will continue work on a research project concerning suffering and decadence in trap music.

Posted inARTS & SOUL

Killer Mike's radical lyrics are masking reformist politics

by Nicholas Vila Byers June 8, 2021June 28, 2021

Killer Mike is the media's go-to for thoughts on police reform. At best, his music can be a springboard into liberationist hip-hop. But an issue arises when the press ignores calls for abolition while praising his lyrics like a radical manifesto.

Posted inARTS & SOUL

Why drill and trap are the soundtrack of this generation's protests

by Nicholas Vila Byers November 13, 2020November 13, 2020
Posted inARTS & SOUL

'I hate that thug music.' How 'progressive' music outlets fuel false arrests in the trap scene

by Nicholas Vila Byers August 10, 2020September 27, 2023

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