Paris Texas: Mid Air review – a blast of fresh air
LA duo Louie Pastel and Felix combine rap with left-field sounds and a punk-adjacent attitude on their full-length debut
JID review – swagger and soul from an emotive rap storyteller
The versatile US rapper directs the ebb and flow of the crowd in this energetic show of verbal dexterity and intimate narratives
‘This is our moment together’: Lizzo kicks off Australian tour with spectacular, celebratory joy
In Perth for the first time, the pop star pulled out all the stops – and the flute – for her Special tour that’s all about power, inclusivity and love
J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard review – still Britain’s most adaptable, charismatic MC
Back after three years away, the east Londoner is polarised between feelgood summer tracks and bleak reportage – but he makes it all cohere, despite some terrible sex puns
‘I don’t believe in the idea of a future’: the Ukrainian producer who invented dungeon rap
Musician Alex Yatsun’s house was shelled by Russian forces, but he has focused the trauma and apocalyptic feeling into atmospheric tracks that help him get ‘out of reality’
‘I can’t lie. I attract people’: Ice Spice on becoming 2023’s biggest pop star – with help from Taylor Swift
She’s collaborated with the world’s biggest stars, her slang is adored by the internet – and she’s only 23. Ice Spice talks about creating mass hysteria and being mentored by Nicki Minaj
Leeds hospital trust apologises after rapper MF Doom died in its care
London-born musician Dumile Daniel Thompson, 49, had a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a blood pressure drug
Julia Jacklin, Chela and Skeleten: Australia’s best new music for July
Each month our critics pick 20 new songs for our Spotify playlist. Read about 10 of our favourites here – and subscribe on Spotify, which updates with the full list at the start of each month
‘Our government sees it as cute but unimportant’: the musicians keeping France’s Occitan language alive
Post-revolutionary France tried to stamp it out, but working class communities kept speaking it. Now Occitan powers a vivacious and political European music scene
Shabu review – vivid, magical celebration of an irrepressible teen hustler
This magical documentary channels its titular character’s jubilant vitality as we watch him spend a summer raising the cash to pay back his grandmother after he pranged her car
‘I want to tell people that prison life is super dead’: Digga D on rap stardom amid police restrictions
A criminal behaviour order allows the Met police to vet the lyrics of this chart-topping star. It’s unfair and manipulative, he says – but he’s also understanding the scale of his influence
Big Freedia: Central City review – a mighty endorphin rush
After a feature on Beyoncé’s Break My Soul, the best-known name in bounce is back with an album of bass-laden beasts, star guests and surprisingly musical moments
Behind bars: how rap lyrics are being used to convict Black British men
Exclusive: Crown Prosecution Service claims no one is convicted solely via lyrics, but shocking new research finds juries being shown music and dance as evidence of guilt
Ragga-metal, Y2K R&B and folk legends: 30 acts to see at Glastonbury
From big names including Arctic Monkeys and Kelis to must-see cult acts such as Yaya Bey and Vigro Deep, our music editors pick out the essential sets
‘We are seen as weak, but we are strong’: women take their place in Senegalese hip-hop
Female artists are breaking into the male-dominated scene – confronting once-taboo subjects and fighting to improve the place of women in society