Before arriving at GPB, Sonia Murray was also Digital Content Manager a few blocks down 14th Street at CBS Radio. A professional journey that began as a general assignment writer, business reporter and pop music critic for the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). And to end this with one more acronym, she's also a proud HU (Howard University) graduate!
"Rico was our leader. We were the orchestra and he was the conductor," said Kawan "K.P. The Great" Prather, one-third of the early hip-hop group Parental Advisory, now a Grammy Award-winning songwriter in The Dungeon Family.
It's been nearly 10 years since Andre and his partner in Atlanta rap act OutKast, Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, headlined a sold-out, three-night stand at Centennial Olympic Park — and two decades since the duo released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, now the best-selling rap album of all time.
R&B superstar Usher compressed 30 years of hits into a mere 12 minutes in last night's Super Bowl halftime show. And in doing so, he brought a little bit of Atlanta to an enormous audience. GPB’s Sonia Murray has been covering Usher for years, and she joins All Things Considered host, Peter Biello, to break down last night's performance.
Hip-hop may have originated in New York, but the genre now finds many of its current hitmakers in Georgia. And there are at least 50 important moments in hip-hop involving the state's artists, record labels or just events that happened here.
" 'I Made A Vow' was the first song I sang by myself, and I still remember the reaction I got. And how I felt. It is a magical testament to me. Taps back into the spirit. Church was and still is a foundation."
The Jazz Music Awards is the first global, full-scale, music award show dedicated to jazz and the artists who create it. Dee Dee Bridgewater and Delroy Lindo host the inaugural event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
"I remember these grape vine things that would hang, and we would swing over the creek on them. My mom would have died if she'd seen that. I inherited that [adventurousness] from dad. I get it honest."