Billboard rejects “Old Town Road,” igniting genre controversy
BY EMILY ROLES FOTSO ’21
20-year-old Montero Lamar Hill, better known by his stage name, Lil Nas X, has had an eventful few months. It all started with the release of his nowfamous single, “Old Town Road,” in early December. The song was released during the rise of what many call the “Yeehaw Agenda,” a meme that blends cowboy aesthetics with mainstream humor, and bends genres to create what Hill himself calls “country trap.”
Civil Rights love story “Beale Street” is a call for justice
BY EMILY ROLES FOTSO ’21
Based on James Baldwin’s classic novel of the same name, Barry Jenkins’ (“Moonlight”) “If Beale Street Could Talk” tells the story of a young Black couple, Tish (Kiki Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James). After Fonny is falsely accused of rape and sent to jail, Tish discovers she is pregnant with his child, and she and her family set out to do whatever it takes to prove his innocence
“GIRLS” is just the beginning for rising star Yung Baby Tate
BY EMILY ROLES FOTSO ’21
Tate Farris, better known by her stage name Yung Baby Tate, released her debut studio album “GIRLS” this February, a 39-minute homage to womanhood and self-love. Since her beginnings as a producer in 2009, the Atlanta singer and rapper has combined pop, hip-hop and R&B elements to create a fun, unique and catchy sound. Long-awaited after the release of her first EP “ROYGBIV” in 2015, “GIRLS” does not disappoint, combining her youthful sound and rap and production skills to create a promising first work full of potential.
Visionary Joan Jonas ’58 stages “Mirror” performance
“Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries exposes two decades of singer’s sexual misconduct
Keith Hamilton Cobb visiting campus
BY EMILY ROLES-FOTSO ’21
Actor and playwright Keith Hamilton Cobb sat down with artist Curlee Raven Holton last Friday, Nov. 3 to talk about Shakespeare’s “Othello” and their experiences as Black male artists. The event, moderated by English Professor Amy Rodgers, is part of Cobb’s nine-day residence at Mount Holyoke College which began on Nov. 3 and will last until Nov. 11.
