Collection: Music

Before they became household names, Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone needed a place to practice and perform. That place...

The Hammond organ has long distinguished the Black church. Masters of the instrument, often Blackqueer men, invented and advanced gospel music, pioneered new modes of...

The official volume dedicated to the Royal Family of Pop, The Jacksons: Legacy offers unparalleled access to the legend that is the Jacksons. Four specially commissioned chapters...

Birth of a Culture tells the chronological and comprehensive origin of hip hop. Over fifty years ago Joseph Saddler, a cool, nerdy, self-proclaimed kid scientist from...

A showstopping portrait of Whitney Houston as we’ve never seen her before—a woman in her full power, a musician who knew the impact of her...

Explore how jazz legends and literary icons united art and activism, shaping the civil rights movement and transforming American culture during the pivotal period between...

In Black Aliens, Joanna Davis-McElligatt examines extraterrestrial and interdimensional aliens in Black speculative media and culture, reading them as figural representations of a cosmic diasporic experience and...

Intimate photographs and interviews with Miles Davis are revived with new material to celebrate his centenary. On May 26, 2026, Miles Davis (1926-91), an icon...

For more than half a century, the Village Voice served as America's most influential alternative newspaper--a fearless chronicler of politics, culture, and everyday life in New York...

From the New York Times’s former chief classical music critic, a tribute to one of the great singers of modern times and a national treasure who...

Titled after a Zora Neale Hurston short story, E. Jane's musical multimedia installation celebrates the Black diva Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist E. Jane (born 1990), author...

A posthumous book from hip-hop legend DMX that brings readers into the heart of his faith—a raw, redemptive collection of prayers and never-before-seen spiritual writings...

  Leave it for the Children: A Visual History of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra blends new and archival images and ephemera to highlight the ongoing...

A treasure trove from the golden era of hip-hop journalism, featuring groundbreaking articles, oral histories, and never-before-seen photos and artifacts—expertly curated by a renowned archivistIn...

The first full-length biography of Alice Coltrane, the jazz musician and spiritual leader whose forward-thinking music was overshadowed by her more famous husband, even as...

Michael Jackson’s closest sister pulls back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of the Jackson family, Michael’s tortured soul, and her own love for...

By contextualizing the lyrics, reevaluating Ocean's post-album release festival run, and presenting new information about the songs' production, the book decodes the enigma that is Blonde....

Embrace over fifty years of Earth, Wind & Fire through percussionist and vocalist Ralph Johnson’s profound memoir. Ralph has seen it all and, for the...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down comes a powerful print adaptation of the acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding...

Do you feel like you live life looking in from the outside? From the way you speak, to the color of your skin, to the...

uWhen nineteen-year-old Prince took the stage to perform "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on American Bandstand, those who watched couldn't reconcile how Prince's funky disco-pop...