Music Popcast

Gospel music insiders on the rapper’s turn to religious music and how his album relates to contemporary holy hip-hop. Guests: Root's Hasan James and The Journal of Gospel Music's Robert Marovich.

The year’s most consistent new hip-hop star combines intense rhymes with online savvy. Guest: Joe Coscarelli.

Nashville has long marginalized female performers, songwriters and producers. But a wave of artists is fighting back. Guests: Jada Watson and Natalie Weiner.

One of the year’s most unlikely breakthroughs is a duo that makes disorienting, genre-jumbling music. Guests: Eli Enis and The Fader's Larry Fitzmaurice.

Collaborations have flourished in the wake of “Despacito,” some sounding natural, some sounding forced. Guest: Remezcla's Eduardo Cepeda.

A conversation about his rapid rise and the questions — about genre and race — glossed over along the way. Guests: Pitchfork's Jayson Greene and The New York Times Magazine's Jonah Weiner.

One of the decade’s most copied rappers finally reached No. 1 on the album chart, years after his aesthetic rubbed off on hip-hop. Guest: Andrew Nosnitsky.

What was once a large canvas for grand statements is now a tiny digital mark. Guest: Chips's Teddy Blanks.

Breaking down the sounds, the themes, the obscure (and not-so-hidden) messages and more on her seventh album. Guests: Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.

Conversations about his songwriting, his struggles and his striking sweetness outside of music. Guests: Jeff Johnson; The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich; and Nick Weidenfeld.

The Hot 97 D.J. and the hip-hop disrupter shared the wildest interview of the year. Guests: Rolling Stone's Charles Holmes and Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre.

There’s more data about music consumption than ever before. That doesn’t mean we understand who’s the most popular. Guests: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli and Ben Sisario.

A look back at the Brazilian musician’s innovations as one of the genre’s primary architects. Guest: Ben Ratliff

Critics who were writing about the band at the peak of its fame look back at how the group became so bitterly divisive. Guests: Jim DeRogatis and Danyel Smith.

The superstar complained that the powerful manager acquired her master recordings, setting off a debate that divided the industry. Guest: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli

“Cracked Rear View” catapulted the band to superstardom. But the group made great music long before — and after — anyone paid attention. Guest: former A&R representative Tim Sommer

From “Rocketman” to “Her Smell,” “Blaze” to “Vox Lux,” the film industry seems to think all musicians have the same ups and downs. Guests: The New York Times's A.O. Scott; Vanity Fair's K. Austin Collins; Kristen Yoonsoo Kim.

A 2008 fire destroyed master recordings for a who’s who of popular music. A new investigation explores the damage done. Guest: The New York Times Magazine's Jody Rosen

The Rolling Thunder Revue was more than a tour: It was a chance for the songwriter to play with the truth. Guest: The New York Times's Jon Pareles

Hip-hop has historically been inhospitable to female performers. A new class is finding fresh paths to break through. Guests: The Atlantic's Hannah Giorgis and Vulture's Hunter Harris.