Michael A. Gonzales
Michael A. Gonzales has written features for Wax Poetics, One More Robot, Vibe, The Source, XXL, Spin, The Village Voice, Complex and others. His music writing has been reprinted in Best African-American Essays 2009 and cited by the Best Music Writing series three times. The co-author of Bring the Noise: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture (1991).
Pic: Martha Cooper
Michael in conversation with Todd L. Burns
101 articles
List of articles in the library
DMX: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (Def Jam)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Spin, August 1990
FROM THE jailhouse strut perfected by mush-mouthed Edward G. Robinson in the noir classic Little Caesar to the outlaw personae cultivated by dead hiphop heroes, ...
Digital Underground: The Body-Hat Syndrome (Tommy Boy)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1993
OVER THE roar of the multicolored cosmic Mothership crashing onto Planet Hip Hop, Digital Underground continue to pray in the wild sound factory of George ...
New Kids On The Block: Face The Music (Columbia)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, March 1994
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK have always viewed themselves as a white act making black music, but the young brothers and sisters blasting radios on ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 1994
LaFace's latest rap group is climbing the charts and having a 'Player's Ball' ...
Method Man, Redman: Method Man: The Tical (Def Jam); Redman: Dare Is a Darkside (Def Jam)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1994
WHAT IS reality in hip hop? Flicking a 50-cent lighter during an old-school concert while the ancient-as-angel-dust Sugarhill Gang chant that "Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn" ...
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth: Smooth Like A Rock
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1994
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth are blowing up in the biz, but they still got each other's back. ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1995
VIBE: You write a lot about — Barry White: Love. VIBE: Love — BW: Always. ...
Profile by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1995
JUICE? YOU want juice? Bust this: Long before Arsenio or BET, Don Cornelius single-handedly brought black music into living rooms nationwide. And he's kept it ...
PM Dawn: P.M. Dawn: Diff'rent Strokes
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1995
Lost in space? No. P.M. Dawn return with a pretty (yet slammin') third album — and a rebel whisper that says there's nothing wrong with ...
The Pharcyde: Pharcyde: Labcabincalifornia (Delicious Vinyl)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, December 1995
WHEN THE Pharcyde dropped 1992's Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, it was obvious these hip hop cats had spent many evenings with the stereo and ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: Mighty Mighty
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, April 1996
From the Impressions to Superfly, he's left an indelible mark on American music. Now, six years after a paralyzing accident, Curtis Mayfield is down but not out. ...
The Isley Brothers: Mission to Please (T-Neck/Island)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1996
MY MAMA HAS informed me that when I was six and shaking my booty in front of the stereo, whenever the radio DJ played the ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1996
First they were just Biggie's background singers. Now with their slammin' debut album, Total prove they are definitely more than the sum of their parts. ...
Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, TLC: Clive Davis: Big Poppa
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1996
The VIBE Q: CLIVE DAVIS, ARISTA RECORDS' LEGENDARY PRESIDENT AND CEO, IS TRULY RUNNING THINGS. THINK NOT? ASK WHITNEY HOUSTON, PUFFY COMBS, TLC, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., OR L.A. AND ...
Jermaine Dupri: Song Of The South
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1996
Whether shooting pool or making hit records, hotshot producer Jermaine Dupri has one goal: to be the best. By Michael A. Gonzales ...
Eric Benét: True To Myself (Warner Bros.)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 1996
SOMEWHERE IN Hitsville, U.S.A., aging music critics wearing faded dashikis and bad attitudes gulp endless glasses of chilled white wine, reminiscing about the days of ...
Blackstreet: Another Level (Interscope)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1996
IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to remember the way R&B sounded before producer Teddy Riley created the urban-jungle grooves that became known as new jack swing. ...
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1996
THE FUNKY FOUR FROM ILLADELPHIA GET ECLECTIC. ...
Tony! Toni! Toné!: House of Music (Mercury)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, December 1996
BEFORE D'ANGELO spawned the current '70s soul revival, the groovy trio Tony Toni Tone — drummer Timothy Christian Riley, guitarist Dwayne Wiggins, and singer/bassist/keyboardist Raphael ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1997
The trio who helped resurrect the true soul sound say their stunning new album might be their last. Are the brothers going to work it ...
The Notorious B.I.G.: Black Metropolis: Notorious R.I.P.
Obituary by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Press, 19 March 1997
THE CONCEPT of tragic irony is becoming all too popular in the hip hop nation; it has started to affect me on a personal level. ...
Toni Braxton: Toni's Secret: Miss Braxton Lets It All Hang Out
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1997
"YOU'RE KILLING me," says Toni Braxton breathily when I tell her I want to talk about sex. A heartbeat later, though, the shyness falls away ...
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 1997
AFTER THE riots, bullets, and civil rights battles of '60s America, the national spirit desperately needed uplifting. Tragic visionaries like Marvin Gaye and Sly Stone ...
Puff Daddy & The Family: No Way Out (Bad Boy Records)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 1997
That nigga that you see in the videos/That nigga with the jewels and the jiggy hoes/That nigga that'll die for his main man/That nigga with ...
Goldie: Saturnz Return (Ffrr Records)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1998
AFTER YEARS of failing to cultivate any homegrown hip hop talents comparable to the likes of Rakim or the Notorious B.I.G., the infamous noise scientists ...
The Fugees, Lauryn Hill: Lauryn Hill: Black Magic Woman
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, The Source, September 1998
LAURYN MAY BE BEAUTIFUL. LAURYN MAY BE BRILLIANT. BUT WE LOVE HER. ...
Timbaland: Wired for Sound: Timbaland
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Request, February 1999
CREDITS: MISSY ELLIOTT'S SUPA DUPA FLY, AALIYAH'S ONE IN A MILLION, HIS OWN TIM'S BIO; LIFE FROM DA BASSMENT ...
20 Classic Love Songs: Nuthin' But Love
Guide by Michael A. Gonzales, Amy Linden, Vibe, February 2000
Turn the lights down low, put the champagne on ice, and load your CD player with these modern romance classics ...
Charli Baltimore: No more drama
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, XXL, April 2002
Refocused and full of determination, Charli says she's got what it takes to rock the mic right. B.I.G.'s former mistress, Ms. B-More, has returned to ...
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Ludacris: Hip hop’s new home
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Daily News, 28 September 2003
Southern stars challenge domination of rap by East and West Coast acts ...
Jermaine Dupri, Janet Jackson: Jermaine Dupri: In Control
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 2004
JERMAINE DUPRI maps out the path to Ms. Nipplegate's heart, fights for P. Diddy-style props, and reveals his secret for crafting hits. Michael A. Gonzales ...
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, XXL Hip Hop Soul, Spring 2004
She bodied the sophomore jinx in one week, proving that ALICIA KEYS ain't goin' nowhere no time soon. Walk with the New York songbird through ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 2005
IT'S SPRING BREAK in the concrete jungle of Manhattan, and the rowdy bowling alley at Chelsea Piers has become a teenage refuge in the heart ...
DeBarge, El DeBarge: The Rise and Fall of The DeBarge Family
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 2007
The DeBarge family – El, Marty, Randy, Bunny and James, not to mention Thomas, Bobby, and baby brother Chico – were supposed to be Motown's ...
A Love From Outer Space: Why Greg Tate Matters
Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Blackadelic Pop, 25 October 2007
THIS MORNING, I couldn't write. Though I'm on deadline to finish a Village Voice critique about my favorite band Apollo Heights (whose disc White Music ...
Quincy Jones: Cinematic Soul: The Soundtracks of Quincy Jones
Overview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, November 2007
THE MUSICAL legacy of 74-year-old Quincy Delight Jones Jr. looms large over the landscape of popular culture. While our grandparents might remember him as the ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, Winter 2007
FROM CINEMATIC outlaws Vito Corleone (The Godfather) and Priest (Super Fly) to real life dons like John Gotti and Nicky Barnes, the mythology of gangsterism ...
DJ Kool Herc: D.J. Kool Herc: The Holy House of Hip-hop
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, 28 September 2008
On August 11, 1973, D.J. Kool Herc didn't know he was revolutionizing pop music – he was just trying to keep people dancing. The rec ...
Living Colour: 93 Minutes With Corey Glover and Vernon Reid
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York, 4 October 2009
Twenty-one years after 'Cult of Personality', Living Colour has a new album, a few regrets, and no intention of ever wearing neon spandex again. ...
Curtis Mayfield: Gangster Boogie
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, December 2009
Curtis Mayfield injected his own cultural commentary into the Super Fly legacy ...
Mary J. Blige, Steak-Loving Soul Diva, Really "Vomited" That Precious Song
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, 10 January 2010
WHILE POP DIVAS ARE often fashionably late, Mary J. Blige has already ordered her steak when I arrive for our noon lunch at Del Frisco's ...
Curtis Mayfield and the Black Rock Connection
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Bold As Love, 14 January 2010
With only a few days to go before the BRC Orchestra spends two nights performing the Civil Rights songbook of Curtis Mayfield, Michael Gonzales reflects ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, July 2010
Barry White's unlimited passion took him to the heights of music ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, July 2010
D'Angelo's organic sweet soul shook up modern R&B ...
Faith Evans, Soul-Singing Widow of Biggie Smalls, Misses Kum Kau Kitchen
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, 17 October 2010
FAITH EVANS, the soul singer once married to rapper Biggie Smalls (who was shot in 1997; she has since remarried), recently launched her sixth studio ...
Janet Jackson: 'I Eat To Fill The Void'
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Daily Telegraph, 22 November 2010
With an Oscar-tipped role in Tyler Perry's new film and a handsome young billionaire in her life, Janet Jackson is, finally, 'in a good place'. ...
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, September 2011
"White people had Judy Garland. We had Nina." — Richard Pryor ...
Heavy D. & the Boyz: Why Heavy D. Matters
Obituary by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 10 November 2011
Though many remember him as "the overweight lover," Heavy D was much more than one of hip-hop's first pop stars. He made some of his ...
D'Angelo: On D'Angelo and the Birth of Neo-Soul
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 14 January 2012
SOULCHILD, LEGEND, BADU, EVEN SCOTT (AS IN JILL) SHOULD THANK THEIR LUCKY STARS FOR THIS CAT ...
TLC's Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Juicy, February 2012
Before they were a crazy, sexy, cool multi-platinum-selling girl group, TLC was three young women from Atlanta out to prove that their debut album, Ooooooohhh...On ...
Don Cornelius: Love, Peace, and Hair Grease: Remembering Soul Train's Don Cornelius
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 2 February 2012
Artists from Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys to Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band reminisce about the life and legacy of the late Don Cornelius, whose show ...
The Notorious B.I.G.: Notorious B.I.G.: Forever
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, XXL, March 2012
It's been 15 years since the greatest rapper of all time, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., was taken from hip-hop, but his legacy continues to loom large. ...
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 20 April 2012
"Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, jazz musicians, and entertainers, Their satanic music is driven by marijuana."— Harry J. Anslinger, America's First Drug Czar ...
Nina Simone: Happy Birthday, Wild Child: Celebrating Nina Simone's 80th
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Philadelphia Weekly, 20 February 2013
A FEW YEARS before Nina Simone decided to become a singer, she was just another black girl from North Carolina living in Philadelphia with her ...
The Isley Brothers, Ronald Isley: At 72, Ron Isley Remains Contagious
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 15 July 2013
With one more solo album, This Song Is for You, dropping tomorrow, the Isley Brothers legend stays true to his soulful roots ...
James Brown, Funkadelic, The Ohio Players: Who Killed the Funk?
Comment by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 24 July 2013
MICHAEL A. GONZALES REFLECTS ON P-FUNK, THE OHIO PLAYERS, EARTH WIND & FIRE, ETC. AND WONDERS WHERE THE FUNK HAVE ALL THE FUNK GROUPS GONE? ...
Glenn Lewis Cooks Up Grown-Up Soul
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 29 July 2013
Refusing to become a footnote to modern R&B, the Canadian soulman makes a matured return with his long-awaited sophomore disc, Moment of Truth. ...
Earth, Wind & Fire 'Promise' to Keep Rocking
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 5 August 2013
WHEN EARTH, Wind and Fire's bass player extraordinaire Verdine White speaks affectionately about his influential group playing shows in the mid-1970s, one is instantly transported ...
Overview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 12 August 2013
BEGINNING IN THE early 1970s, a small army of female funk-rock performers that included Chaka Khan, Betty Davis, Labelle, Mother's Finest, Brides of Funkenstein, Parlet, ...
Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel turns 25
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 15 August 2013
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE it's been 25 years since the release of Bobby Brown's groundbreaking Don't Be Cruel. New-jacking the title from an old Elvis ...
Robin Thicke: The Blurred Lines of Blue-Eyed Soul
Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 21 August 2013
ROBIN THICKE JOINS JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, GEORGE MICHAEL AND ELVIS ON THE SOULFUL WHITEBOY TIMELINE. BUT IS IT CULTURAL APPRECIATION OR APPROPRIATION? ...
Nas: The Golden G's: On Nas and Aging in Hip-Hop
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 10 September 2013
How Nas has been able to stay relevant through 20 years in hip-hop. ...
Vintage Vision: Enter Wild Style, 30 Years Later
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 September 2013
THIRTY YEARS have passed since the cinematic rap classic Wild Style opened in a grimy Times Square theatre in 1983, and much has changed in ...
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, O'Jays: The Sound of Philadelphia
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 18 October 2013
Sweet Philly soul has influenced the likes of Erykah Badu, the Roots, David Bowie and more. Michael A. Gonzales delves into the1970s sound. ...
Herbie Hancock: The Futureshock of Herbie Hancock
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 8 November 2013
As Sony Music prepares a 34-disc box set for next week, Michael A. Gonzales takes a look back at the pianist's storied career. ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Enter Wu-Tang's 20th Birthday
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 15 November 2013
Reminiscing on the 20th anniversary of the Wu-Tang Clan's debut, Michael A. Gonzales wonders if it was all so simple then. ...
Ice Cube, N.W.A, Public Enemy: When Ice Cube Was Hardcore
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 6 December 2013
ON THE HEELS OF RECENT ICE CUBE AND PUBLIC ENEMY ALBUM RE-RELEASES, MICHAEL A. GONZALES RECALLS WHEN ICE CUBE WAS HARD ...
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 11 April 2014
WHEN 20-YEAR-OLD MC Nas released his stellar debut Illmatic two decades ago this month, I must've been on the only person on Planet Hip-Hop who ...
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 18 April 2014
WHEN IT COMES to the Minneapolis sound, most folks might believe the entire history begins and ends with the musical genius known as Prince. ...
Luther Vandross: Make Me Over: On Luther Vandross
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 29 April 2014
THE GREAT SOUL SINGER, producer and interpreter of classic material Luther Vandross would've been sixty-three years old this month. ...
Jay Z, Public Enemy: Still Smokin': 30 Years of Crack's Influence on Pop Culture
Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 2 May 2014
With Showtime announcing John Singleton's upcoming Snowfall series, crack cocaine's sway on pop culture continues to grow ...
Aaliyah's Age Ain't Nothing but a Number Ages 20 Years
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 May 2014
THE LATE SONGSTRESS'S DEBUT ALBUM DROPPED IN MAY 1994, LAUNCHING A TOO-BRIEF CAREER THAT'LL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 6 June 2014
WITH BLACK MUSIC Month here, it's a perfect time to reflect on the aural architects who helped shaped the noir soundtracks to our lives. ...
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass: Teddy Pendergrass, the Heart of Philly Soul
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 20 June 2014
CELEBRATING BLACK MUSIC MONTH WITH SOME OF THE STANDOUTS OF R&B, SOUL AND HIP-HOP, MICHAEL A. GONZALES REMEMBERS THE LATE, GREAT TEDDY PENDERGRASS ...
Aaliyah, R. Kelly: Aaliyah: Eternal Soul
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, August 2014
On the heels of her best-selling debut, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, fifteen-year-old Aaliyah was rocked by a sex scandal that would have crushed ...
Freda Payne Talks All That Jazz
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 11 August 2014
Vintage visionary Michael A. Gonzales checks in with the former EBONY/JET cover star's return to the singing stage. ...
Bad Brains, Fishbone, Living Colour: Afropunk Before Afropunk
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 29 August 2014
LAST WEEK, for the first time in years, I missed the Afropunk festival. The musical movement began as an extension of a 2003 documentary of ...
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Cuepoint, 19 September 2014
Diana Ross was the woman she wanted to be and I wanted to have ...
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Cuepoint, 8 October 2014
I lost my disco virginity at the hottest club in town, the same night a wild crowd tried to burn the genre down. ...
Faith Evans Resurrects '90s Swag on Incomparable
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 13 October 2014
In this 20th anniversary of Bad Boy Entertainment, its former First Lady collabs with Missy Elliott for sixth studio album. ...
TLC Marks 20 Years of CrazySexyCool
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 18 November 2014
Vintage visionary Michael A. Gonzales speaks with producer Dallas Austin, director Lionel Martin and more about the landmark album ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Shut 'em Down: Reflections on Ferguson and Gil Scott-Heron
Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 2 December 2014
AFTER THE Michael Brown decision in Ferguson, Missouri last week, amid the expected disgust about the so-called fairness of a legal system that allowed murderous ...
Billie Holiday: Blood on the Leaves: Eric Garner and 'Strange Fruit'
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 5 December 2014
"I CAN'T BREATHE," Eric Garner moaned moments before dying on a Staten Island street on July 17 of this summer. As one of millions who ...
Common: Center of Chaos: Common's Electric Circus
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 24 March 2015
In the wake of the wide-ranging To Pimp a Butterfly, Michael A. Gonzales looks back to Common's most ambitious full-length. ...
Umar Bin Hassan: Last Poet Umar Bin Hassan Returns for Revolution
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 7 April 2015
Are We Trapped, the latest from the voice of the Last Poets, flaunts the original Black revolutionary spirit that still inspires the likes of Kendrick ...
Prince's Around the World in a Day at 30
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 22 April 2015
IN THE SPRING of 1985, there were two types of Prince fans – those who boarded the violet-hued bandwagon years before Purple Rain (both the ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 20 July 2015
Michael A. Gonzales reaches into his archives for an interview with the singer from 1992 ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Still All the Way Live
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 29 July 2015
BACK IN 1967, when funky trumpeter Cynthia Robinson joined forces with musical visionary Sly Stone, most "girls" in band units wore pretty dresses and harmonized ...
Teddy Pendergrass Turns Out the Lights… with Help
Report by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 18 September 2015
Duets – Love & Soul pairs the late soul singer with the likes of Angie Stone, Jody Watley and Rose Royce. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 23 October 2015
Twenty years ago, singer Amel Larrieux and producer Bryce Wilson unleashed one of the unsung classics of the neo-soul era. ...
Natalie Cole: A Remembrance (1950-2015)
Obituary by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, December 2015
STELLAR SINGER and showbiz royalty Natalie Cole has passed away at the age of 65. ...
SWV: Still Sisters With Voices
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 22 January 2016
With their fifth studio album, Still, on the horizon, Taj, Lelee and Coko remain sisters after nearly 25 years in the music biz. ...
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 25 January 2016
At the height of their careers, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, George Clinton and Prince all formed their own imprints. Michael Gonzales tells the ...
Michael Jackson: How Off the Wall Launched Michael Jackson into Orbit
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 January 2016
As Spike Lee's new Sundance-debuting documentary celebrates Off the Wall, vintage visionary Michael A. Gonzales pieces together the making of MJ's blackest album. ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 22 February 2016
Refocusing on her God-given gifts, Charlene 'Tweet' Keys returns with a new studio album ...
De La Soul Is (Not) Dead: Inside the Anonymous Nobody
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 7 September 2016
30 years after the release of its groundbreaking first album, 3 Feet High and Rising, we catch up with this legendary crew. ...
A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (Epic)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, The Wire, January 2017
With their secretly recorded sixth and final album, A Tribe Called Quest address the state of their nation with fury, humour and love. ...
Common: Black America Again (Def Jam/ARTium CD/DL)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, The Wire, January 2017
HARKING BACK to the late 1960s/early 70s protest pop when The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron led the rhythmic revolution with powerful poetics soaked in ...
Marvin Gaye: Inner Sleeve: Marvin Gaye's I Want You (Tamla)
Comment by Michael A. Gonzales, The Wire, August 2018
This month's artwork chosen by Michael A Gonzales. Cover painting by Ernie Barnes ...
Cypress Hill, Tricky, Barry White: It's Like That: The Makings of a Hip-Hop Writer
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Longreads, June 2019
Hip-hop was a different kind of music that needed a different kind of writer to cover it. This is how Michael A. Gonzales came of ...
Sananda Maitreya: Pandora's PlayHouse (TreeHouse)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, The Wire, April 2021
YEARS BEFORE Terence Trent D'Arby renamed himself Sananda Maitreya, he was a mid-1980s sensation embraced by the UK pop media, the US alternative press, Black ...
back to LIBRARY
