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Books

Defector At The Movies

Music

Arts And Culture

Tom Ley

A side by side photo of Jorginho and Chappell Roan

Life's Rich Pageant

Chappell Roan And Jorginho Are No Longer Beefing

Israel Daramola

The Best Songs Of Q1 2026

Billy Haisley

Betty Boop is awakened by city noise in her bedroom.

Brazilian Funk Continues Innovating Methods For Getting Your Shit Rocked

Revisiting Dashboard Confessional, 25 Years Later

Mychal Denzel Smith is the author of Stakes Is High, winner of the Kirkus Prize for Non-Fiction.

Mychal Denzel Smith

I Demand That Jay-Z Perform All Of ‘Kingdom Come’ At His Yankee Stadium Concert

Luis Paez-Pumar

Barry Petchesky

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Mason Miller #22 of the San Diego Padres enters the game in the ninth inning during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park on March 28, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images)

Defector’s Resident Nu Metalheads Discuss Mason Miller’s Nu Entrance Music

Who Killed Rock And Roll?

Let’s Catch Up On The Hilarious Afroman Defamation Trial

R&B Wants To Make Pop Music Fun Again

Flatbush Local, Culture Writer, Former Mayor of New York City.

Abe Beame

Lost Recipes

What I Listened To In The Hospital

Bad Bunny Celebrated America

Max B Is New York Rap’s Best Hope

‘The Disintegration Loops’ Are Music’s Loveliest Death

Is Mainstream Rap Dead, Or Does It Need Another 2011?

Defector Staff

Early gramophone in photo on Norwegian postcard of young people listening to record on a gramophone, early thirties.

Year In Review

The Best Things We Heard In 2025

Becca Young

Maggie Nelson Sputters And Stalls In ‘The Slicks’

The Rap Music That Defined 2025

Dave McKenna

Don’t Watch ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ Unless You Want To Cry About Your Dad

The Zohran Mamdani Mayoral Rap Playlist

Kelsey McKinney

Lily Allen Takes The “Fuck It” Approach To A Breakup Album

Tyler, The Creator Doesn’t Want To Reap What He Has Sown

Singer D'Angelo (born Michael Eugene Archer) performs on stage at the Aire Crown Theater, Chicago, Illinois, April 4, 2000.

The Defector D’Angelo Mixtape

Waiting On D’Angelo

Albert Burneko

Country singer/songwriter Johnny Cash performs onstage with an acoustic guitar in Sun Records publicity shot in 1957.

Journalismism

Breaking: Some Guy Now Aware Of Most Revered Country Artist Who Ever Lived