Rodney Carmichael
Rodney Carmichael is a storyteller, journalist and cultural critic, covering hip-hop at NPR Music since 2017. He often works at the intersection of race and inequality, telling stories across mediums that combine reporting and criticism to spotlight the sociopolitical significance of Black cultural production. As co-host/co-creator of NPR's first narrative music podcast, Louder Than A Riot, he and co-host Sidney Madden traced the collision of hip-hop and inequality across two seasons that respectively exposed how mass incarceration and misogynoir impact the culture. Louder's investigative reporting helped former No Limit rapper Mac Phipps gain clemency in 2021, after serving 21 years in prison for a murder he maintains he didn't commit. In 2024, Louder Than A Riot became the first podcast team to receive Journalist of the Year honors from the National Association of Black Journalists.
An alumnus of Poynter's News Writing and Reporting for College Graduates Fellowship, Carmichael's early journalism career featured staff-writing positions covering religion and public health at the Waco Tribune-Herald and Black pop culture at rolling out Urbanstyle Weekly. During his decade-long tenure at former Atlanta alt-weekly, Creative Loafing, he was an award-winning music editor, culture writer and senior writer. His most impactful stories use hip-hop as a lens to interrogate rhyme and punishment, gentrification and erasure, masculinity and Black identity.
He will be in residence at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute as the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow for the 2025-2026 academic year.
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We look at how "Sean Combs: The Reckoning," an explosive Netflix docuseries, is affecting the public's opinion of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, convicted last year after a highly publicized trial.
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NPR Music critics reflect on the lyrics that captured the year's mood, sparked emotions and stayed with them long after the music stopped.
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After six weeks of testimony, prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments in the federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Combs last week. While the jury deliberates his judicial fate, one verdict we don't have to wait for is the one coming from the court of public opinion. NPR Music's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Rodney Carmichael explain why discussion of the trial within an ecosystem of podcast and YouTube hosts have made it loud and clear that we're in a post-MeToo era.
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The Atlanta rapper, who was charged with participating in criminal gang activity in what has become the longest criminal trial in Georgia history, suddenly changed his plea on Thursday. -
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, founder and drummer of The Roots, has written a new book. "Hip-Hop Is History" is a very personal take on the influence of rap and how it's changed, for better or worse.
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Jazz bandleader Kamasi Washington has released Fearless Movement, a new album inspired by dance.
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Ayesha Rascoe talks with Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael of NPR's Louder Than A Riot about the RICO charges against Young Thug and the wider intersection of criminal justice and hip-hop. -
News of DMX's condition prompted an outpouring of prayer and support on social media from fans and celebrities, including rappers Missy Elliott, Rick Ross, Ja Rule, Ice T and Chance the Rapper.
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NPR's new podcast Louder Than A Riot looks at the interconnected rise of hip-hop and mass incarceration.
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Rikers Island jail in New York City is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak. Inmate Daryl Campbell is currently under quarantine and shares his experience.
