Rodney Carmichael
Rodney Carmichael is a storyteller, journalist and cultural critic, covering hip-hop at NPR Music since 2017. He often works at the intersection of race and inequality, telling stories across mediums that combine reporting and criticism to spotlight the sociopolitical significance of Black cultural production. As co-host/co-creator of NPR's first narrative music podcast, Louder Than A Riot, he and co-host Sidney Madden traced the collision of hip-hop and inequality across two seasons that respectively exposed how mass incarceration and misogynoir impact the culture. Louder's investigative reporting helped former No Limit rapper Mac Phipps gain clemency in 2021, after serving 21 years in prison for a murder he maintains he didn't commit. In 2024, Louder Than A Riot became the first podcast team to receive Journalist of the Year honors from the National Association of Black Journalists.
An alumnus of Poynter's News Writing and Reporting for College Graduates Fellowship, Carmichael's early journalism career featured staff-writing positions covering religion and public health at the Waco Tribune-Herald and Black pop culture at rolling out Urbanstyle Weekly. During his decade-long tenure at former Atlanta alt-weekly, Creative Loafing, he was an award-winning music editor, culture writer and senior writer. His most impactful stories use hip-hop as a lens to interrogate rhyme and punishment, gentrification and erasure, masculinity and Black identity.
He will be in residence at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute as the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow for the 2025-2026 academic year.
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A sanded-down biopic about the King of pop and propaganda has resurfaced his music on the charts — along with questions about how his enduring magic became make-believe -
With his first major solo output since his battle with Kendrick Lamar in 2024 ended, Drake does what Drake has always done: puts out more music than most people could reasonably consume.
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In the five years since his last album, the Chattanooga rapper retreated from the public eye after a very private betrayal. He emerges with raw new music in pursuit of a warts-and-all self-acceptance. -
!["I'm not really preaching to the musicians and the other artists," Martin says. "I do music for the person that's nine months late on their rent [and] ain't got no job but got two kids."](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/946c5d4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2500x1393+0+7/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpr.brightspotcdn.com%2Fdims3%2Fdefault%2Fstrip%2Ffalse%2Fcrop%2F2500x1407%200%20130%2Fresize%2F2500x1407%21%2F%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F47%2F09%2F349024994d6a85f30f8fbee2bd25%2Fdscf0788-2.JPG)
After years spent as the go-to guy for a cross-pollinating L.A. music scene, the multi-hyphenate follows his spiritual mission inward for the sprawling series Love Is Louder Than Algorithms. -
On the heels of a new memoir sharing the recipes of a rich cultural life, rap's first tour guide talks aging with the culture, seeing its influence all over, Basquiat's lasting legacy and gatekeeping. -
The singer-songwriter and producer has had one of the more distinguished and multifaceted careers in modern music. He talks about following an unconventional path from Tony! Toni! Toné! to Sinners. -
After dropping out of modern rap's defining conflict, the Fayetteville MC contemplates the making and breaking of a legacy. -
NPR Music critics reflect on the lyrics that captured the year's mood, sparked emotions and stayed with them long after the music stopped.
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In a year when hip-hop was frequently absent from the pop charts, NPR's music critic found that looking in darker corners revealed a genre that was flourishing.
!["I'm not really preaching to the musicians and the other artists," Martin says. "I do music for the person that's nine months late on their rent [and] ain't got no job but got two kids."](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1cf95a8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2500x1393+0+7/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpr.brightspotcdn.com%2Fdims3%2Fdefault%2Fstrip%2Ffalse%2Fcrop%2F2500x1407%200%20130%2Fresize%2F2500x1407%21%2F%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F47%2F09%2F349024994d6a85f30f8fbee2bd25%2Fdscf0788-2.JPG)
