The Staple Singers: I’ll Take You There

Yvonne Staples of soul trio The Staple Singers has died at 80 years old. Yvonne replaced her brother in the band after he was drafted into the army, making the group three sisters with their father on guitar. The song “I’ll Take You There” was a Billboard top 100 in 1972 (when it was released) and spent some 15 weeks on the chart. Later it …

NPR Readers Select the 150 Best Albums by Women

A list that’s just as fun as it is purposeful: NPR readers have selected the 150 best albums made by women. Roughly 4,500 people participated and ultimately 8,000 received a vote. The poll was done as a counter to NPR’s self-assembled list, voted on by 50 NPR-affiliated women. Many of the top 10 don’t surprise: iconic works by Lauryn Hill, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and …

Drake: Nice For What

Drake’s new track (featuring Big Freedia and Letitia Wright on the bridge) “Nice For What” is a sheer celebration of women—specifically independent women—despite heavily sampling Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor” which is about distrust of a lover. (Hill’s song samples Wu-Tang’s “Can It Be All So Simple,” which itself samples Gladys Knight + the Pips’ cover of Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were”—just for some serious song …