Frannie Kelley
Frannie Kelley is co-host of the Microphone Check podcast with Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Prior to hosting Microphone Check, Kelley was an editor at NPR Music. She was responsible for editing, producing and reporting NPR Music's coverage of hip-hop, R&B and the ways the music industry affects the music we hear, on the radio and online. She was also co-editor of NPR's music news blog, The Record.
Kelley worked at NPR from 2007 until 2016. Her projects included a series on hip-hop in 1993 and overseeing a feature on women musicians. She also ran another series on the end of the decade in music and web-produced the Arts Desk's series on vocalists, called 50 Great Voices. Most recently, her piece on Why You Should Listen to Odd Future was selected to be a part of the Best Music Writing 2012 Anthology.
Prior to joining NPR, Kelley worked in book publishing at Grove/Atlantic in a variety of positions from 2004 to 2007. She has a B.A. in Music Criticism from New York University.
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The rapper Drakeo the Ruler titled his latest album after the prison phone service provider GTL, whose lines he used to record it, leaving a trail to follow the money through a controversial industry. -
El-P and Killer Mike have always had their fingers on the pulse, and their fourth album once again captures the mood of a country on edge after George Floyd's death sparked national protests. -
Once part of Digable Planets, Butler continues to be a hip-hop innovator. He stays connected to new music through his son Jazz, who records as Lil Tracy. -
With his four-song EP, Rafiq Bhatia is putting a new spin on jazz standards and, in a way, posing the question, "What is a standard?" -
The Buffalo, N.Y. trio sounds more like '90s street rap than modern hitmakers, but has found its way to success anyway: business co-signs from Jay-Z and Eminem and, this month, its major label debut. -
Terius Nash, better known as The-Dream, has written some of the most memorable recent pop hits. But when he writes songs for himself, he makes R&B. -
The 20-year-old started making viral videos; now, he has released his debut album. He owes his success, in part, to a social media-fueled youth culture revolution that prizes teen perspectives. -
The rapper has spent the year on an extended victory tour. Here are the spoils, recorded in a stripped-down set with a minimal backing track and longtime producer Zaytoven on keys.
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The death of the highly respected hip-hop figure prompted an outpouring of tribute and personal stories from his community this weekend. -
The singer and songwriter played a major role in creating a contemporary, conservative gospel sound.
