MUSIC

He rapped the first verse on the 1984 song “Roxanne, Roxanne,” one of hip-hop’s earliest viral hits.

The slain Los Angeles rapper’s music felt inventive, stylish and impossibly intimate.

His music embodied the hopes of many ordinary Sudanese in their struggle for progress and national identity.

Black Eyed Peas and the Jonas Brothers shared the stage with a new generation of social media sensations

The Virginia-raised singer performs at Byrdland Records on Friday.

The singer released a new album in February and will perform at City Winery this weekend.

Playboi Carti, Walker & Royce and Hotline TNT perform.

He sang rural anthems about ranchers, lovers’ quarrels, cockfighting and tequila, becoming one of Mexico’s most popular singers.

Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Shorter’s new take on Greek myth compels and confounds at the Kennedy Center.

The wool-capped musician also helped pioneer the modern music video.

The Detroit-born pianist worked with jazz giants from the 1940s to the present day and was a revered teacher.

Relentlessly repetitive and totally thrilling, “Whole Lotta Red” felt unknowable and infinite.

At 76, Young is following his instincts. They led him to record in a building with no doors, no bathroom and no headphones.

As a Village Voice critic, he became one of the leading chroniclers of the emergence of hip-hop and had a powerful influence on later critics.

The District mainstay spins a “techno-adjacent” set at DC9 on Friday.

The return of live music was the sweetest sound of the year, but it wasn’t the only high note.

Some of the year’s best albums helped push time forward. Others made it blur.

A bristling alienation can still be heard, but opening band Bed Maker delivered a stronger example.