Music Archives – Scalawag

To Whom This May Concern: Jill Scott's Sonic Geography of Black Life

by Da'Shaun Harrison February 19, 2026February 19, 2026

Everywhere we have ever made music, which is to say everywhere we have ever hoped to survive, lives inside this record.

D'Angelo

A New Theory of Nowhere: Remembering D'Angelo

by Justin A. Davis October 29, 2025October 29, 2025

Who is The “Us” in “Not Like Us”?

MEDIA, CULTURE, & MEANING

Who is the "Us" in "Not Like Us"?

by Justin A. Davis May 15, 2025May 15, 2025

Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter, and a Rodeo at the End of the World

MEDIA, CULTURE, & MEANING

Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter, and the Rodeo at the End of the World

by Eva Dickerson May 15, 2025May 15, 2025

Sinners, the South, and the Price of Playing the Blues

by Aallyah Wright April 25, 2025April 25, 2025

My Hometown of Pensacola was Part of the Chitlin’ Circuit, and I Didn’t Even Know It

When Pensacola was a haven for Black music on the Chitlin' Circuit

by Sierra Lyons April 18, 2025

Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’État

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Antidote to Soft Power: Johan Grimonprez's Soundtrack to a Coup d'État

by Gerald Horne and Anthony Ballas February 28, 2025February 28, 2025

grief

Grief is in the kitchen

by Scalawag Editors December 26, 2024

grief

Grief doesn't celebrate the holidays

by Scalawag Editors December 23, 2024December 23, 2024

Carolina Daze Stage

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Janelle Monáe, Tierra Whack, and Lute help promote voting at Carolina Daze

by Caitlin Leggett October 30, 2024October 31, 2024

Holiday Season—Episode 4 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 2: Seasons of Change. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript. When Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanza and family gatherings of all kinds—the musical, cultural, food traditions—collide against a backdrop of losses, challenges, and major life shifts, the holidays can be a confusing time to welcome grief back home.

Holiday Season

by Nnenna Freelon December 14, 2023

In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon pleads with the moon, the sun, and the leaves about how to get in touch with her beloved Phil again. If grief isn’t linear, then maybe sorrow is more than a season—perhaps it’s a portal to the unknown.

The World Since You Left

by Nnenna Freelon December 12, 2023December 14, 2023

The World Since You Left—Episode 3 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 2: Seasons of Change. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript.

Ashes, Ashes

by Nnenna Freelon December 7, 2023December 14, 2023

The changing seasons are an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. Nnenna Freelon takes us on a walk through the woods to contemplate autumn and the possibility of renewal.

Falling

by Nnenna Freelon November 28, 2023December 14, 2023

A wife for nearly 40 years, Nnenna Freelon now wonders what to make of the term widow when she still feels the significance of her marriage well after her husband's death in Black Widow, the final installment in the season of Great Grief, Wailing Women.

Black Widow

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023

Hair holds our history, personality, identity—and our grief. In episode 3 of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon visits her mother’s beauty salon, where generations of Black women have gathered to discuss their hairstory—the grief over it, and the grief under it.

Hairstory

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023

No woman makes it through life without a sister. Through faith, family, and struggle, we inhabit a deep solidarity that allows us to hold one another close, even at the very end. In episode 2 of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon walks us through her journey of losing her sister, Debbie. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript.

Sister Sister

by Nnenna Freelon September 27, 2023November 13, 2023

When Grief Speaks—Episode 1 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 1: Wailing Women. Grief is a woman with plenty to say. In the first episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon asks us to consider what happens if we stop running from our grief, sit down, and listen to her for a change. Listen, subscribe, and read along with the podcast transcript.

When Grief Speaks

by Nnenna Freelon September 13, 2023September 29, 2023

A Grief of Our Own

by Alysia Nicole Harris August 4, 2023September 29, 2023

"Pull up your pants or go to jail!"

by Justin A. Davis June 30, 2023

A lifelong musician on the unbearable silence of prison.

Out of my hands: A musician in prison pines for his bass

by David Annarelli June 22, 2023September 27, 2023

Rapper Alim Braxton, aka Rrome Alone, released his music video 'Prisoner of War' from Death Row.

Prisoner of War

by Alim Braxton June 22, 2023September 27, 2023

Another kind of Memphis Blues

by Justin A. Davis June 15, 2023June 15, 2023

Producing music from prison.

Young Tali is making music by any means necessary

by Zeb Larson June 13, 2023

How prisons shaped the South's music history

The Blues Behind Bars: How Southern prisons shaped American music

by Zeb Larson June 8, 2023

The headquarters of New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Musicians' Clinic. Every month, the Foundation pays Bethany Bultman and her husband Johann $4,094 in rent for its use of the building for its offices. Photo by Trenity Thomas for Scalawag.

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Plantation Politics: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic's crisis of credibility

by Drew Hawkins June 1, 2023September 27, 2023

Forever New Orleans tourism campaign advertisements. Illustrations by Keysha Rivera.

Disaster capitalism, climate change, and the campaign to sell Black New Orleans

by Nicole Young May 31, 2023September 27, 2023

Tina Turner performs onstage at the United Center, October 1, 2000. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) How Tina Turner's abuse and trauma remains a hip-hop trope.

How Tina Turner's trauma remains a hip-hop trope—and why we need to abolish it

by Justin A. Davis May 25, 2023November 13, 2023

Contradictions and Convictions: Megan Thee Stallion and why abolition can't wait

by Da'Shaun Harrison February 14, 2023December 1, 2023

Grief and Love, Outside the Changes

by Julian Reid February 10, 2023December 1, 2023