DETROIT — The historic section of Detroit where Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. built his music empire six decades ago is now looking better than ever.

Motown legend — and Gordy's best friend — Smokey Robinson was among those who visited the newly improved Motown Museum site on Monday night for an event celebrating the completion of the first two phases of the museum's expansion.

Robinson was joined by Otis Williams, Martha Reeves and other Motown luminaries in celebrating the grand opening of Hitsville NEXT, an educational programming and creative hub, and the newly established Rocket Plaza.

"Kids who aren't even born yet will be aware of Motown," Robinson told The Associated Press during an interview ahead of the event held near the entrance to the museum. "Some of their parents weren't even born when we started this. But it's a wonderful thing."

The festivities included comments from Robinson and Williams, an original founding member of The Temptations who gifted microphones to the museum from his personal collection.

And they concluded with a performance of the Temptations classic, "My Girl," performed by the cast of the musical "Ain't Too Proud," and introduced by Marcus Paul James, who portrays Williams in the show.

"I am very happy to be part of something — this here, Motown — (that will) outlast us all," Williams said.

The museum will continue to be housed in the famed "Hitsville, U.S.A" building at 2648 West Grand Boulevard.

But three nearby Motown-era buildings have been transformed into Hitsville NEXT, which will be home to camps, workshops, master classes and community events. It represents the first phase of the museum's expansion.

Phase two is Rocket Plaza, an outdoor plaza that will serve as a community gathering place and a welcome destination for museum visitors.

"This plaza is the new front porch to Motown," said Robin Terry, Motown Museum chairwoman and CEO.

Gordy launched Motown in 1959. His late sister, Esther Gordy Edwards, founded the museum in the former Hitsville headquarters in 1985. In addition to Robinson and The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye and many others recorded hits there before Motown moved to California in 1972.

The museum is inviting the community to its Founder's Day celebration on Saturday in honor of Gordy Edwards, the reopening and the completed expansion phases.


And the museum on Sunday will welcome back visitors for tours of Hitsville, U.S.A. following pandemic- and construction-related closures.


{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]}]}

The Associated Press

Motown-era buildings near the museum have been transformed into Hitsville NEXT, which will be home to camps, workshops, master classes and community events.


Smokey Robinson and Otis Williams pose together

Daniel Mears

Daniel Mears/AP

Motown stars celebrate a museum expansion that honors Hitsville

Each week, we add new music, older tracks, which are known as “Gold adds”, and tracks that might not fit our general format, but still deserve a place in rotation because they serve our mission of showing the depth, breadth, and influence of Black musical expression - These are known as “Variety adds.”

We’re sharing this to get you excited to listen and to open up the floor for feedback and suggestions. If you want to request a song, 

. If you make music and want it considered for rotation, 

 If you want to give feedback directly, reach out to me at jgreen@mpr.org.

If you want to know what the track sounds like, scroll down to find Spotify playlists for the new, Gold, and Variety adds. Don’t forget to 

This week on The Message on Carbon Sound, Sanni will be exploring the different regions of the US - east coast, west coast, midwest coast (let's get this term started), south coast (this one, too), etc. etc.. Tune in to hear her every Mon-Thurs from 10a-1p!

Special shoutout to Derrick Stevens for helping make clean edits for some of our Gold adds this week! 

DOMi & JD Beck - “TAKE A CHANCE” feat. Anderson .Paak

Kaash Paige - “24 Hrs” feat. Lil Tjay

Nia Sultana - “Proven” feat. Rick Ross

Mark Ronson - “Too Much” feat. Lucky Daye

Chrisette Michele - “Epiphany (I'm Leaving)”

Floetry - “Butterflies (Demo Version)”

Geto Boys - “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”

Missy Elliott - “WTF (Where They From)” feat. Pharrell Williams

Rick Ross - “Aston Martin Music” feat. Drake & Chrisette Michele

ScHoolboy Q - “Studio” feat. BJ the Chicago Kid

Total - “Can't You See” feat. The Notorious B.I.G.

Julian Green built and manages the music library for Carbon Sound and oversees content creation.  


Julian Green

All of the tracks added to rotation on Carbon Sound the week of August 8, 2022.


Designed by Cornel Beard

Carbon Sound Gold Adds Week of August 8, 2022

New Music on Carbon Sound - Week of August 8, 2022

Skinflint. Vulvodyinia. Metal Orizon. Wrust. Demorogoth Satanum.

You probably haven't heard of these names, but they're just some of the many African heavy metal bands featured in Edward Banchs' new book, 

Scream for Me, Africa! Heavy Metal Identities in Post-Colonial Africa

. The book examines the hard rock and metal scenes in Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Togo to understand why artists and fans flock to this extreme subculture — and how bands have turned this predominantly white, Western musical genre into something uniquely African.

Africans have been fans of popular metal bands like Metallica, Motörhead and Iron Maiden since the 1970s, says Banchs, 43, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based researcher and freelance writer who calls himself a "lifelong metalhead since I was in grade school." 

What draws them to this music, known for its screeching vocals, distorted guitars and nasty drum and bass rhythms, he adds, is that "metal bands are quick to hold a mirror right back to society — and [listeners] are responsive to the raw, human emotion."

While many African metal bands are heavily influenced by these early pioneers — they put their own spin on the music, writing lyrics that call for social justice and celebrate African heritage and traditions.

, for example, speaks of fighting the incessant poverty ravaging Ghanaians in slums," says Banchs. "And 

 from Togo uses their music to identify pre-colonial traditions they grew up being taught in their Ewe culture, like [preserving and caring for the] environment. They perform in the Ewe language as well."

Despite a growing fanbase, few African metal bands have been able to cross into the Western metal scene and gain international recognition. "The reality is the economics of Africa. Playing in a band is expensive. The ability to access good instruments is not easy," says Banchs. "Furthermore, electricity [required to power electric guitars, microphones and amps] remains inconsistent in certain places."

 from Botswana is one African act that's overcome barriers. In 2016, the band played at 

 in Germany, the world's biggest heavy metal festival. Banch interviews lead singer Tshomarelo "Vulture" Mosaka — and we reached out to him to hear his story and vision. He lives in the village of Letlhakane in central Botswana, where he lives with his girlfriend and two young children, and works as a private security officer when he's not 

 with his band. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get your nickname? Sounds hardcore. 

One day when I was around 13 or 14, my parents were expecting visitors. They had food inside the kitchen. When my parents were chatting outside with other people, I went to eat the meat — all of it. I sat down next to the visitors like nothing happened. Then my uncle said to me: "Go get the food for the visitors." I went to the kitchen and got the food, which was covered with a lid. My heart was beating so hard. When the guests took off the lid, there was no meat. I was frozen. And my uncle [pointed at me and] said: "It's this guy! This guy is a vulture! He stole the meat!"

And ever since then, that's what people called me: Vulture. 

And that's your stage name, too. You've been a fixture in Botswana's metal scene for decades. How did you get into heavy metal? 

I think I was around 10 years old. In my home village of Rakops in Botswana, one of my uncles was always playing heavy metal music. He had cassette tapes by Motörhead, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Sepultura, and I fell in love with it. When he found out I liked metal too, he was like: "Are you sure you want to be a metalhead? It's more than just the music. It's a lifestyle." And I said: "I'm ready!"

And from that early fandom, you started getting into Botswana's metal scene. 

 [which formed in the early 1990s and is regarded as the country's first heavy metal band] and 

, another group, followed. We were all part of one scene, and we were like a family. There were no limits between the artists and the fans.

And you say this scene supported your own musical journey. You're the frontman of 

, the four-piece heavy metal band you started in 2008. What are some of the themes you sing about?

Our intention is to spread messages [about issues]

that people don't usually talk about, like false prophets. For example, we know of some pastors [in Botswana] who will preach in one way, but behind people's backs they'll do something different. And so with our music we actually criticize them.

Can you share some lyrics from a song about that?

The name of one song is "Bogus Vicars." These are [some of] the lyrics:

[Gnash] their spirits with your phony parables

Haha, you're telling me these lyrics while you're smiling and laughing — but yeah, that's pretty metal all right!

We always have this conflict between us and religious people.

Most of the stereotypes we faced as a band in Botswana were from religious people. They fail to understand that nobody knows the truth and we are all the same.

When we first started our band Overthrust in our small township, they were against our music, especially because we were very extreme. So they started labeling us locally as the devil. And I remember around 2014, there were a lot of accidents in the township and they were blaming us, saying we were casting evil spirits in the town.

But luckily the leadership in the town was open-minded. They said: This is just music, let people do their thing. They're not doing anything wrong.

Apart from loving metal music, what does it mean to be a metalhead in Botswana? 

We have our own unique style going on here. 

: spikes, chains, leather pants, cowboy boots and hats.

We have a huge cattle culture in Botswana.

Does the heavy metal scene help boost the economy in Botswana? According to the World Bank, 

 lives under $5.50 a day — the poverty line for upper-middle income countries.

Overthrust Winter Metal Mania Charity Festival

, every year. It's been going on for 14 years. People pay a fee to get in and part of those proceeds go to charity. We try to identify beneficiaries who are disadvantaged. That includes orphans, people or children with a disability or who are affected by HIV/AIDS. And then some of the proceeds of the festival are given to those people for their needs — basic things like food baskets, clothing or funds for education or to start a small business. In 2021, for example, we donated $400 to a maternity ward in central Botswana.

When we do these festivals, people who work around the festival also benefit: hotels (people do travel from other countries), people selling foodstuffs, even local game reserves and national parks [where artists and festival-goers from out of town go and sightsee before and after the festival].

It's hard to imagine religious groups calling you evil when you're helping the community.


The little I got I will share with those in need.



Malaka Gharib

Africa's metalheads have a bold vision. We talk to Edward Banchs, author of a new book about Africa's metal scene, and to a heavy metal singer in Botswana known as "Vulture."


YouTube

Courtesy of Tshomarelo Mosaka

Youtube

Courtesy of Edward Banchs

ARKA'N-Tears of the Dead Official Video

VICTIMS OF CURSE LIVE IN LETLHAKANE

Overthrust - Desecrated Deeds To Decease (2015)

'Scream for Me, Africa!': How the continent is reinventing heavy metal music

MINEOLA, N.Y. — The driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed the father of rapper Nicki Minaj last year was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail, in keeping with a promise the judge made when the man pleaded guilty in May.

Charles Polevich, who pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and tampering with evidence in the crash on New York's Long Island that killed Robert Maraj, was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and had his driver's license suspended for six months.

Polevich's lawyer, Marc Gann, suggested his client may have had a medical issue at the time of the crash and that he wasn't fully aware of what had happened when he fled.

Polevich, 72, said in court that he's "been heartsick since realizing the extent of the tragedy" and that there was "no excuse" for his behavior.

Maraj's widow, Carol Maraj, said in court that Polevich had left her husband "like a dog on the street" and that sparing him a longer jail sentence was a "slap in the face for the family," Newsday reported.

Polevich struck Maraj, 64, while Maraj was walking along Roslyn Road in Mineola in February 2021. Polevich stopped briefly to ask Maraj if he was OK, but didn't call for help, prosecutors said.

Instead, Polevich went home, parked the car — a white, 1992 Volvo station wagon — in his garage and covered it with a tarp, prosecutors said. Maraj was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead the next day.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of one to three years behind bars, but Nassau County Judge Howard Sturim said in May, when Polevich pleaded guilty, that he would get "no more than one year in jail."

Brendan Brosh, a spokesperson for the Nassau County district attorney's office, said that "given the severity of the defendant's conduct," prosecutors felt a stiffer sentence was warranted.

"We continue to express our condolences to the family of Robert Maraj," Brosh said.

Gann asked for a 90-day jail sentence, arguing that other factors outside of Polevich's control were partially to blame for the crash, including road construction, street lights that weren't working and Maraj's physical condition.

Maraj's widow, Carol Maraj, is suing Polevich over the crash.

Polevich, who had been splitting time between Long Island and Guam, where he runs a drilling and water purification business, surrendered to police a few days after the crash.

Detectives said they used pieces of surveillance video to track the Volvo involved in the crash to Polevich's Mineola home.

Nicki Minaj, the platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated rapper of "Anaconda," "Super Bass" and other hits, was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and was raised in Queens.


In a post on her website, Minaj, 39, called her father's death "the most devastating loss of my life."


Charles Polevich pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and tampering with evidence in the crash on New York's Long Island that killed Robert Maraj.


An elderly man with a face mask walks out of court 2

Howard Schnapp

Howard Schnapp/AP

The driver in a hit-and-run that killed Nicki Minaj's father is sentence to one year

Early in his set at the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday afternoon, 

 left his station at the piano, stepping over to a microphone. "I've been thinking about what it means for people to gather and listen again, together," he said, waving an arm toward the sunbaked crowd at Fort Adams State Park. His words carried layers of connotation, rooted in the shared understanding of something precious lost and found. 

That feeling ran throughout the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, back in full after a pandemic disruption. (There was no in-person event in 2020, and a reduced capacity in 2021.) But this was also its first edition since 

, who co-founded the fest in 1954, setting a standard for outdoor music presentation that he continued to refine and realign well into his 90s. So there were bittersweet notes even in the weekend's bounding exuberance, as festival veterans like bassist 

 made their mark alongside newcomers like trumpeter Giveton Gelin and singer Samara Joy, who each made glowing, auspicious debuts. 

Another first-timer to the Newport Jazz Festival this year: 

, a brilliant photojournalist who's been on staff at the 

for the last 30 years. A lifelong jazz fan, Muhammad was in perpetual motion at Fort Adams, capturing artists both onstage and behind the scenes. This assortment of images represents the merest fraction of what he shot, but it conveys the spirit of the fest — up to and including its finale, an all-star tribute to Wein.

, Wein's handpicked successor as artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival (who also serves as host of 

), this was a celebration both poignant and euphoric. Its heavyweight crew included some of the artists nearest and dearest to Wein's heart — like 

, trumpeters Jon Faddis and Randy Brecker, clarinetist 

. They all converged onstage for the closing number, a rollick through Duke Ellington's "Cotton Tail" that summoned the sound and spirit of Newport Jazz Festivals past, while gleefully barreling ahead.

Alanté Serene edited the photos for this piece.

Nate Chinen

The festival's first full edition in two years — and its first since the death of co-founder George Wein — saw dynamic performances from Newport veterans alongside glowing debuts from newcomers.


EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images

Ozier Muhammad for NPR

After a pandemic disruption, Newport Jazz Festival makes a poignant, euphoric return

Photos from Friday’s show at the Skyway Theatre


Isaiah Stillwell

Photos: Benny The Butcher, Juice Lord, and J. Plaza at the Skyway Theatre

While it seems like we're in a world-is-over-let's-party revival (see: 

), there's been a hip-hop and house crossover building for decades that deserves recognition. And what better to serve at an apocalypse party than a variety platter of authentic bars and beats that delight? Enter "Drugs Du Jour," the latest single from queer hip-hop innovator Cakes da Killa. At the forefront of New York's house-rap scene since 2011, the introspective Cakes toes the line between bounce and thought. And as for the growing visibility of a sound he helped craft? He questions listeners and artists alike, asking: "Do you really speak the language? Do you know what you're here for? Can you see the things that they ignore?"   

Gabby Bulgarelli

At the forefront of New York's house-rap scene since 2011, the introspective Cakes toes the line between bounce and thought.


Courtesy of the artist

Drugs Du Jour

Cakes Da Killa, 'Drugs Du Jour'

This week on The Message on Carbon Sound, Sanni will be covering deep cuts - songs that cut you deep and really evoke a specific feeling. Deep in love, deep in thought, etc. Tune in to hear her every Mon-Thurs from 10a-1p.

Special shoutout to Derrick Stevens for helping make clean edits for some of our Gold adds this week! Never thought a clean edit of "Itty Bitty Piggy" was possible, but here we are.

Kennebec – “Tall Tales” feat. Hemlock Ernst & Sudan Archives

Lava La Rue – “Hi-Fidelity” feat. Biig Piig

Montell Fish - “Fall In Love With You.”

L.T.D. - “Love Ballad” feat. Jeffrey Osbourne

SahBabii - “Marsupial Superstars” feat. T3

Some classic house and jazz for our late-night listeners! 

Ron Trent - “Cool Water” feat. Ivan Conti (Azymuth) & Lars Bartkuhn

“Flos Potentia (Sugar, Cotton, Tobacco)” feat. Khruangbin

All of the tracks added to rotation on Carbon Sound the week of August 1, 2022.


New Music on Carbon Sound - Week of August 1, 2022

Marcus Jade recorded his Tiny Desk Contest entry with a camera nestled among houseplants in his bedroom in New York City — a space that he hasn't always had. When submitting to this year's Contest, Jade told NPR Music he's "been houseless and homeless numerous times" and that recording his entry was "the first time [he's] been stable enough to make a video like that in a long time." His Contest entry, "Legs and Bones," a remarkable soulful blues song, is one of a handful of entries we're featuring this month on 

"[There] was a space and time where sometimes it just felt like I didn't know where I was going to go," Jade tells 

s Scott Simon. "There were people that did look out and offered me a couch or extra room when it was there. But a lot of that time, there was just wandering ... and I really held onto my music to help me always have a place to be. And so that kind of really made the difference."

Jade's music and support system eventually got him off the streets, but he still holds on to all the journals he wrote in during those hard times. "That's [what] I feel makes my story a little bit more valid," he explains. He says he also held onto his guitars and used them as "a vehicle to kind of keep me afloat when I couldn't have a job or didn't have a steady income." 

Jade's old journals include "pieces of poems, pieces of just real time, moments of resolution and moments of absolute uncertainty." He says those journals reflect how consistently he's been writing music over time, and how passionate he's been about wanting to tell his own story. "The more that I just try to write my own story, the more that I really feel free," shares Jade.

Reflecting on his journey now, he would like people to know that "even in the worst of my times, I was still trying to make the most of what was going on." He says, "That sense of resilience, even when I don't know where I'm going, is always something that my parents and my family really instilled in me."

He adds: "I am happy with just the way that things have been going. I really feel like my life has turned in some ways a complete 360, and I really feel like there was a lot of grace that has been given to me and I should be happy about that. ... The music really makes me happy."

 to read, listen and watch more from the 2022 Tiny Desk Contest.

Scott Simon

Hiba Ahmad

The New York City-based artist Marcus Jade talks about his remarkable Tiny Desk Concert entry, the blues song "Legs and Bones."


Listen to the Story

Legs and Bones ( NPR Tiny Desk Contest Entry)

Marcus Jade's Tiny Desk Contest entry 'Legs and Bones' speaks to his resilience

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Danyel Smith, author of the book 

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women In Pop

All summer long, we've been hearing about how she's fallen in love and quit her job and needs new motivation and is building up her new foundation.

BEYONCE: (Singing) Oh, baby, baby, you won't break my soul. You won't break my soul. You won't break my soul. You won't break my soul.

SUMMERS: And today, we get to hear what Beyonce was talking about in that ubiquitous single. She has just released her new album, "Renaissance." And music journalist Danyel Smith joins us. She is the author of the book "Shine Bright: A Very Personal History Of Black Women In Pop." Thanks for being here, Danyel.

DANYEL SMITH: Thank you for having me, Juana. It's so great to talk to you.

SUMMERS: You, too. All right. So that single, "Break My Soul," and its samples and production - it had us all predicting that this new album would be dominated by dance music sounds, which it is, right?

SMITH: It really is. And it's so actually just very wonderful. I think we're living in a time of so much uncertainty right now. So many things can seem so scary. And I think Beyonce is giving us permission to say, but I can still sort of shake my groove thing; I can still claim my joy.

BEYONCE: (Singing) Everybody, everybody, everybody.

SUMMERS: This dance music from disco to house and all kinds of techno was often pioneered by Black, queer artists.

BIG FREEDIA: (Rapping) Release the love. Forget the rest.

SUMMERS: Beyonce is so clearly shouting out to that history. I mean, it's not even just the beats. If you look at the liner notes, there is Big Freedia. There is T.S. Madison. There is Honey Dijon. It is expansive.

SMITH: It's expansive. And I think she's just really making such a point of acknowledging people's contributions. She's saying to the Black, queer community, I see you. I feel you. I want to dance with you. I want to party with you. But most of all, I want the world to know more about you.

SUMMERS: This seems like something that for her is also quite personal. In the liner notes, she shouts out her godmother, Uncle Jonny, as well as her queer fanbase.

BEYONCE: (Rapping) Uncle Jonny made my dress. That cheap spandex - she looks a mess.

SMITH: One of the reasons that we love her so much is because she does give us this authentic part of herself. People can say, oh, that's just Beyonce being Beyonce. And the thing is that is Beyonce sharing herself with us in a way that we can all relate to. I love to see it. I love to feel it.

SUMMERS: Yeah. You know, this album is also a little physically explicit. It certainly - it's a little uninhibited about bodies. She talks about her bodies, flaunting bodies, sex. It's all in the first person. She's saying, like, I want this.

BEYONCE: (Singing) Nobody can judge me but me.

SUMMERS: From my first listen, one of my favorite songs is the song "Church Girl." Where does all of this come from? Let's talk about it.

SMITH: First of all, "Church Girl" is, like, my second favorite song on the album. I love it so much. The energy is just very like, yes, we all have to dress up and play nice a lot of the time, but hey; come Saturday night, come Thursday night, let's shake it. Let's talk about our bodies. When she talks about, like, the fullness of breasts and thighs and just, hey - just letting loose, yes, it is explicit. But let's be honest. She was explicit in "Drunk In Love." So Beyonce...

BEYONCE: (Singing) She gone shake them thighs and them pretty tig ol' bitties (ph). So get your racks up. Word. Get your math up. I'ma (ph) back it up, back it, back it up.

SUMMERS: All right. So I want to talk about a song I know you and I both love. And it's the last song. It is "Summer Renaissance," and in it, Beyonce samples and interpolating Donna Summer's "I Feel Love." And it is this incredible, electric moment. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMER RENAISSANCE")

BEYONCE: (Singing) Oh, it's so good. It's so good. It's so good. It's so good. It's so good.

SUMMERS: I can hear you snapping over there. This moment blew my mind. What did you make of it?

SMITH: I'm seriously going between snapping my fingers and wiping away tears. It is - like, I'm serious when I say that the erasure of Donna Summer's legacy is culturally criminal when you think about how she put an entire genre of music on her back. And we don't talk about Donna Summer enough. We don't listen to her music enough. So to hear Beyonce singing like her, sampling her - and I feel like this is a song on the album, too, where - we all look for that one or two songs on a Beyonce album where you want to say, oh, that's the song that she's really singing on.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Danyel Smith, author of the book Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women In Pop and host of the podcast Black Girl Songbook, about the new Beyoncé album.


Stories

Motown stars celebrate a museum expansion that honors Hitsville

New Music on Carbon Sound - Week of August 8, 2022

'Scream for Me, Africa!': How the continent is reinventing heavy metal music

Get the Carbon Sound app

The driver in a hit-and-run that killed Nicki Minaj's father is sentence to one year

After a pandemic disruption, Newport Jazz Festival makes a poignant, euphoric return

Photos: Benny The Butcher, Juice Lord, and J. Plaza at the Skyway Theatre

Cakes Da Killa, 'Drugs Du Jour'

Connect with Carbon Sound

New Music on Carbon Sound - Week of August 1, 2022

Marcus Jade's Tiny Desk Contest entry 'Legs and Bones' speaks to his resilience

Beyoncé's new album 'Renaissance' pays homage to Black queer music history

See more stories →