Listen Up

Hip-hop, acid jazz, retro soul, R&B and more in music this week

MF DOOM: Rhymes Like Dimes Elusive, enigmatic and immensely talented, MF DOOM (born Daniel Dumile, aka Zev Love X, King Geedorah and Metal Face) has passed away aged 49. A cult favorite known for his intricate rhymes, off-kilter topics and clever wordplay, Dumile began rapping in the late ’80s as Zev Love X in KMD, a group he formed with his brother Dingilizwe Dumile. The …

Navy Blue: Moment Hung

Navy Blue (aka skateboarder, artist and model Sage Elsesser) balances light and darkness on his newest track, “Moment Hung.” The Jacob Rochester-produced song relies on a slow-burning, laidback beat, while Elsesser addresses heavy subjects without dimming the song’s energy. “I’m moving graciously through all the nonsense,” his first verse begins. This line embodies the track, which was released alongside a Ryosuke Tanzawa-directed visual treatment via …

Best of CH 2020: Listen Up

Genre-defying music that shaped our year

Every day in our Listen Up section, we share our favorite new tunes and, while our collective taste in music is varied and vast, every song we share makes us feel something—whether it’s joyful, heartbreaking, provocative or revolutionary. The artists we highlighted this year (like years previous) are of all ages, genders, races, nationalities and backgrounds—and their diverse music styles are often beyond categorization. But …