NPR Music culture critic and reporter Rodney Carmichael ruminates on the latest in rap culture. This week: a hip-hop divorce, an OutKast lawsuit and the state of rap music on the charts.

Move over, beach reads. With the fall equinox behind us, we can now curl up with cozy autumn books. There are new titles coming from Barbara Kingsolver, Chad Harbach, Jasmine Guillory and more.

It's been 50 years since Pat Metheny released his first album in 1976.

In "The Radiance," a writer who's also named Ayad Akhtar has an almost fatal bicycle accident that leaves him with a mysterious state of altered perception.

After selling tens of millions of records worldwide, the singer-songwriter says she's finally aged out of pop music — and she's OK with that. Crow's latest album is Pick You Up.

For over three decades, Panteón Rococó has been at the forefront of Mexican ska. The band's skankin' grooves slide easily between cumbia and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

As a Syrian glassmaker created his wares in Damascus, watching his craft reminded this reporter to slow down and enjoy the moment.

An increasing number of people say they don't; that conversing with, confiding in, and sometimes falling in love with an artificial intelligence bot that "performs" empathy, but has none, is not only acceptable, but sometimes preferable.

Part horror, part adventure, part suspense, it's also the story of a father-daughter relationship gone terribly wrong.

Jordan Neely, a homeless Black man, was killed on a subway train when 24-year-old white Marine Daniel Penny put him in a fatal chokehold.