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Soundcheck

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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  • 50 Cent's new album "Curtis"
    50 Cent's new album "Curtis"

    Mission Impossible for Rap's Aces

    Hip-hop superstars Kanye West and 50 Cent recently launched a war of words to pump up sales of their new albums. Today on Soundcheck: We ask two critics if Graduation and Curtis live up to their carefully crafted hype. Plus: The string quartet Brooklyn Rider features four young rising stars from New York’s classical music scene. They perform live in our studio.

Tough Talk, Tougher Challenge

50 Cent says he'll retire if his latest album, Curtis, doesn't outsell Kanye West's Graduation. But if neither album does well, hip hop might face something even more daunting than the loss of a star. We talk with Sasha Frere-Jones, pop music critic at The New Yorker magazine, and Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune pop music critic and co-host of public radio's "Sound Opinions."

Greg Kot blogs about Kanye West and 50 Cent at "Turn It Up"
Video: Jay Smooth of "Ill Doctrine" on boycotting new albums

Brooklyn Rider

The string quartet Brooklyn Rider joins us to preview its latest piece, "Brooklesca" ("in the Brooklyn style"), written by violinist Colin Jacobsen and built on Gypsy themes. They perform Wednesday and Friday with the pipa player Wu Man at Bargemusic.

Brooklyn Rider at Bargemusic
Musicians for Harmony concert details

Irma Thomas

Irma Thomas

Soundcheck

August 22, 2008
New Orleans singer Irma Thomas has survived 50 years in the music business - and at least two hurricanes. She joins us to talk about her record, Simply Grand.

Bon Iver

Soundcheck

July 30, 2008
Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon spent a winter holed up in his father's hunting cabin in remote Wisconsin, recording songs about solitude that would be released under the name Bon Iver. He joins us to play some of them live.

Billboard Chart

Who's On Top and Who Should Be?

Soundcheck

August 14, 2008
Soundcheck looks at the artists who are reigning atop the Billboard albums chart -- and what their rankings tell us about the state of pop music.

Janelle Monae

The Next Big Things

Soundcheck

Paste magazine editor-in-chief Josh Jackson joins us to talk about Johnny Flynn, Janelle Monae, Bon Iver, Amy MacDonald and other must-hear artists who made Paste’s list of "The Best of What’s Next: 26 Emerging Artists You Should Know."

  1. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Republican National Convention: Day 5 (09/05/2008)
  2. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Republican National Convention: Day 4 (09/04/2008)
  3. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Republican National Convention: Day 2 (09/02/2008)
  4. The Leonard Lopate Show: Young'Uns (09/03/2008)
  5. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Republican National Convention: Day 3 (09/03/2008)
  6. The Leonard Lopate Show: Big Storm (09/04/2008)
  7. The Leonard Lopate Show: Jazz Can Change Your Life (09/02/2008)