The Outline
Jeff Ihaza
Active Listening: An ode to October’s Very Own
Whatever your opinions on the Canadian rapper Drake, he’s a master of autumnal vibes.
Active Listening: Songs for politics
Wash away the taste of that Eminem freestyle with these actually good political tracks.
This is what the world will look like after the pivot to video
Richard Kelly’s incoherent 2007 film ‘Southland Tales’ feels like watching many new media companies’ video channels.
Active Listening: Songs for sad times
Things are bad. Listen to these songs.
The real star of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
The series might be about Larry David, but it’s J.B. Smoove’s character Leon Black who steals the show.
Active Listening: Songs for flexing
Tracks for when you’re feeling yourself.
Neo Yokio’s rich universe
The Netflix anime has built an intricate, wild world. Hopefully, it’s just getting started.
Active Listening: Music to move your body to
Songs to remind you that you exist.
Jake Paul and the awful power of social metrics
The assumption that likes, retweets, or views indicate value reinforces old power structures in the industry.
Shamir’s ‘90’s Kids’ is the ultimate internet artifact
And it’s a tune!
Active Listening: Songs for when you connect
Things feel more isolated than ever, but music can bring us together.
South Park is not subversive
The raunchy animated series enters its 21st season, and it’s unclear why.
Active Listening: A pair of songs for the end of days
Two things to watch and hear.
The story of SongMeanings, the best lyrics site on the internet
The scrappy site has always been about discovering what music means to you.
A conversation with Brooklyn's most controversial restaurant owner
Summerhill, a “boozy sandwich shop” in Crown Heights, has ignited protests about gentrification.
Houston’s biblical flood
Climate change is real, and my hometown is on the front lines.
Season of lust
A photo essay and playlist inspired by the things we crave.
How Jay-Z eats the press
Artists are controlling the music media through their power over streaming services.
The Knockdown Center is making space for everyone
The former door factory in Queens is a blueprint for arts spaces of the future.
A compendium of racism in the Republican Party
From Nixon's Southern Strategy to gerrymandering, the GOP has long relied on dogwhistle politics to speak to its base. Swipe or scroll to explore.
Racism is part of the Republican identity
With some Republicans denouncing racism, it's important to remember the party was built on it.
The Instagram watchdog that calls out fashion counterfeits
Accounts like @yeezybusta are playing a key role in the online resale market.
Arcade Fire gamed the album charts because charts don’t matter
What’s the point of getting a number one album if it’s not actually number one?
People are actually buying copies of Arcade Fire’s new album
A rare album to chart because of sales, not streams.
Stop pretending to be poor to make a point
There's nothing revelatory about journalists and public figures cosplaying as poor people.
Donald Trump’s Instagram is pretty pathetic
The president is prolific on Twitter, but his Instagram presence is truly sad.
Kanye West is suing his insurer over canceled tour dates
West claims to be owed $10 million after cutting his tour short for medical reasons.
The State Department has gone quiet
The department is having fewer press briefings than ever.
Celebs are going viral for mundane acts of kindness
As stars have become more visible on social media, so have their charitable efforts.
The nipple still isn’t free
The movement to loosen Instagram’s nudity policy highlights the difficulty of enacting social media change when the target is the platform.
Anthony Scaramucci says Reince Priebus “cock-blocked” him for six months
The new White House communications director had some choice words for his new co-workers.
When the victim of a police shooting is white
Justine Damond's death shows how white victims are treated differently from black ones.
People are applying to trademark the n-word
A Supreme Court ruling last month made it legal to trademark offensive words. Some people are already taking advantage.
‘Game of Thrones’ creators defend their upcoming slavery series
The show re-imagines a world in which the South won the Civil War.
More bad news for Spotify
The streaming giant was hit with two new lawsuits this week.
“Despacito” just broke Justin Bieber’s streaming record
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s reggaeton hit has been streamed 4.6 billion times.
SoundCloud was great, until it wasn’t
The streaming service is reportedly in its final days. Perhaps it’s for the best.
Spotify has been accused of a weird scam involving “fake artists”
Multiple reports suggest the streaming platform uses a complex scheme to avoid paying royalties.
People are smoking way more cigarettes in movies
A new report from the CDC points to a rise in depictions of tobacco use in film.
Another fashion label abandons gender
The first collection from Givenchy’s new creative director Clare Waight Keller will feature both men's and women's looks.
Fighting for the right to dance
A 1926 law originally aimed at jazz clubs continues to haunt New York City nightlife.
Kanye and Jay-Z need to be friends again
Hip-hop’s best duo has hit a rough patch. Here’s to hoping they work it out.
QVC and Home Shopping Network’s big plan for the future
The shopping networks are merging in a $2.1 billion deal.
SoundCloud’s future is grim
The streaming company announced layoffs as it continues to struggle financially.
Jay-Z’s blueprint for mental health
The rapper’s 13th studio album, ‘4:44’, is his most sincere.
A white man dreams of sushi
David Bouhadana, the owner of the hip New York restaurant Sushi By Bou, has been accused of faking a Japanese accent.
Kendall and Kylie Jenner should be ashamed
With their new line of vintage T-shirts, the Jenner sisters are the latest people to cash in on Tupac’s legacy.
Minions have made some people very, very rich
‘Despicable Me 3’ will have the widest domestic release in history this weekend.
Give Azealia Banks a chance
Her music is good, and her antics aren’t worse than those of some of her male peers.
Minnesota city reaches settlement with Philando Castile’s family
The agreement avoids a federal wrongful-death trial.
Everyone is stage diving
Raucous live shows are taking over rap, making fans expect more extreme performances.
CoverGirl is very mad at Young Thug
The makeup brand didn’t appreciate the rapper’s play on its marketing language.
Major labels want to make money off Latin music
“Despacito” flew to the top of the charts and confirmed that there is an audience for Spanish-language releases.
Billboard’s new chart rules mean labels can’t game the system
The equalizing effect will change the power of weekly playlists featuring various artists.
Amazon will acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion
The company's quest for domination continues.
NBC pulled an episode of ‘The Carmichael Show’ about a shooting
The show’s creator disagrees with the move.
Do not co-sign XXXTentacion
SoundCloud has brought rap fans together in remarkable ways, but it’s also incubated some of the worst tendencies of mob mentality.
Upgrades to appease rich neighbors may have made the London fire worse
Rainscreen cladding, which was added last year, appears to have carried flames up the building.
Dolce & Gabbana just made a horrible decision about Melania Trump
The Italian brand’s latest attempt at generating buzz was an ill-advised dud.
Something not terrible came out of Katy Perry’s live stream
The pop star broadcast 72 hours of content, including conversations about racism, gender, and cultural appropriation.
Don’t buy these $200 Vans ripoffs
Why is Ian Connor still allowed?
Frank Ocean may actually show up for a live show
The singer is set to perform tonight in Denmark. He’s even got new merch.
We don’t need Childish Gambino anymore
It took a long time for the world to understand Donald Glover, and that was the point all along.
Two people were arrested in connection with last year’s Ghost Ship fire
The building's landlord could be facing jail time.
Everything is Snapchat
The five-year-old app managed to change the face of social media.
Apps that look like Snapchat
Everything has a story feature now.
Absurdist dating memes are the best thing online
Rare respite from the social media news cycle.
Here’s what happened when Iran introduced a basic income
The results surprised skeptics.
The idea of ‘looking presidential’ is useless
Trump doesn’t really look like a president, but then again that assumes there is a way a president should look.
What it’s like to run a skate shop in Lagos
Wafflesncream, a lifestyle and streetwear brand from Africa’s most populous city, is on a mission to inspire and represent.
The National Endowment for the Humanities prepares for the end
Trump's merciless budget calls for the elimination of the 51-year-old organization.
Why Instagram Stories are better than Snapchat
By perfecting Snapchat's platform, Facebook has created a monster.
What ‘Master of None’ is missing
The show’s second season takes a gentrified New York for granted.
The best resistance money can buy
Protests are nice, but if liberals want to make an impact, they need to cough up some cash.
Everyone is wearing Ikea bags because fashion is weird
Just go with it.
The man who made ‘Rob & Big’ worth watching
Christopher Boykin, the reality TV star known as “Big Black,” died this week.
Fyre Festival won't be the last music festival disaster
More festivals means messier festivals.
Facebook will make more people watch violent videos so you don't have to
Mark Zuckerberg says that adding more moderators will curb illicit content on Facebook. Is he right?
The rise of the very short song
The radio used to determine how artists made music. Streaming is changing everything.
Ja Rule’s Fyre Festival was a real disaster
Canceled performances, shoddy tents, and lettuce sandwiches.
Album releases don't need branded apps
The Gorillaz's latest app is yet another music industry tech experiment that's frustrating for fans.
Shamir’s radical independence
After being dropped from his label, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter turned anguish into a liberating new album.
Facebook Live will always have a dark side
Even with strict regulations, little can be done to prevent broadcasts of violent crimes.
Amazon is taking over everything
The e-commerce site is on a path towards world domination.
How Amazon will rule the world
The e-commerce giant is on a mission
Everyone is suddenly obsessed with roses
From fashion to politics, the flower has re-emerged as an inescapable visual symbol.
It’s hard to laugh at Louis C.K.
The comedian’s signature dark humor has its limits.
Crying on the dance floor
A photo essay inspired by Kingdom's ‘Tears in the Club.’
Maté soda: a clubgoer’s secret weapon
Carbonated yerba maté fuels many late nights in Berlin and beyond. One American brand hopes to get in on the fun.
There is no such thing as a “Muslim baby”
Demographers use precise language for a reason.
The CEO of Taco Bell and KFC says, yes, robots are coming for your job
By the 2020s, we’ll all be slurping on bot-prepped ’za and AI burritos.
YouTube’s blissful dance music
“Lo-fi house,” a fuzzy, highly danceable subgenre of house, owes its rise to machine learning.
The moral clarity of ‘Animals’
HBO’s dark animated series poses questions as old as time.
Espresso shortbread for the conspiratorial mind
A good snack for finding The Truth.
Rick Perry is mad about a student election
The United States energy secretary has a lot on his mind.
The Trump administration is going to make the student loan crisis worse
The White House is creating perfect conditions for an economic disaster.
American Mirror: a crash course in trash TV
The country’s soul is exposed in our daytime talk shows. No wonder they’re so hard to watch.
Counterpoint: Rebooting The Matrix is good
Everyone needs to get over themselves.
Trade layers of lies for layers of pumpkin cheesecake
The government cannot spy on you through this dessert... yet.
Trump’s budget is going to be very painful for African-Americans
As usual, the billionaire’s actions take aim at minorities.
Why should we believe the police?
There is no reason to trust the official record when it comes to police misconduct.
The playlist is the new album
Thanks to new listening habits, artists are assuming the roles of creator and curator.
A new crop of documentaries sheds light on systemic racism
The problem can be explained, but can it be fixed?
Butter mochi for the soul
The reality of Trump’s America is setting in. Make some cake to ease the pain.
What is all of this for?
The Republican Party fought to regain control of government. Now it’s becoming clear that they have no real vision.
Obamacare costs a third less than what Congress expected
So much for costs being “out of control.”
Sour tart for sour times
Everything is rotten. But lemons are in season.
Kevin on earth
Musician and filmmaker Kevin Abstract was a teenage outsider — now he’s making art that’s essential for all of us.
Instagram is great for selfies, catching shoplifters
Small businesses are finding very new ways to combat theft.
No, we’re not living in a simulation
Strange things keep happening because strange things are bound to happen.
Trump hints at a fight over recreational marijuana
The president might be starting a battle he can’t win.
Does Trump like baklava?
Maybe he should try it.
Gold Standard: The Gap
An ode to the greatest American clothier ever.
The teenager who brought us “on fleek” needs our help
Kayla Newman wants to start a cosmetics line.
Could HBO be the new Netflix?
With limited-run series and a catalog of classics, HBO might slowly become a formidable player in the streaming business.
AI and automation are about to implode blue collar jobs
And Trump doesn’t even have the beginnings of a plan.
Why do we like watching people in pain?
#hurtbae took relationship trauma viral. And we can't look away.
Pound cake in the age of Trump
My president is crazy, but my pound cake is sweet.
Workwear: clothing of the future and the past
It will always be stylish to be functional
Everything is going wrong in the Trump White House
Trump’s brazen style doesn't appear to be helping him lead the country.
Stress baking in Trump’s America
The world is burning. So let’s make some treats.
Hackers are hijacking radio broadcasts with YG’s ‘Fuck Donald Trump’
The Max Headroom-style attacks are leaving station managers furious.
Police in Chicago’s public schools aren’t trained to work with young people
And there’s little oversight for when things go wrong.
A T-shirt is not a protest
Solidarity has to be more than a brand in order to be effective.
Steve Bannon wants to scrub the record
The new head of the National Security Council maintains no notes of any of the topics discussed in meetings.
Federal courts just slammed the brakes on Republican gerrymandering
The end might be coming for the right’s favorite strategy.
Donald Trump is going to cost New York a fortune
Protecting Trump Tower is not cheap.
How resilient are the arts?
With Trump, the National Endowment for the Arts might finally meet its end.
Where will all of the videos go?
They won’t be going 90 anymore.
Pittsburgh Mills Mall sold for $100
Seems fair.
Teenage feelings never die
The Instagram page Internet Powerlifting Federation is a meditation on emotion.
The website FamilyTreeNow is very creepy
Oh boy.
Why doesn’t Trump just take a lie-detector test?
Think of the ratings!
“Reverse racism” and other lies white people tell themselves
Bo Bice’s tantrum is what’s wrong with dialogues about race in America
The BBC’s ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’ skit didn’t go over too well
Shockingly.
The future of television looks a lot like the past
Streaming services were supposed to usher in a new era of TV, so why is there still so much filler?
This song was the perfect soundtrack to 2016
If the year was a bad movie, “Final Credits” is the closing theme.
Run-DMC is suing Wal-Mart and Amazon over fake merch
Will other groups follow suit?
Germany struggles to acknowledge genocide in Namibia
Scholars believe that the Germany's actions in Namibia were a precursor to the Holocaust.
Are colleges actually creating safe spaces for racists?
The right chides liberals for wanting protection, but they are the ones who demand it most.
The NYPD raided the wrong family's house, then posted it on Snapchat
If this is the stuff we see, imagine the stuff we don’t
Black Lives Matter hired a marketing firm
As part of the launch of an app to support black owned businesses.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame needs to change its name
As the museum adds more non-rock artists, it may be time to rebrand.
People are losing Social Security benefits because of old student loans
The federal government has the power to dip into your paycheck.
College dorms are becoming luxury playpens
Thanks to a wave of private development, the college experience has taken on a familiar high-brow aesthetic.
The tech industry is profiting off indigenous lands
The “White Gold” rush is benefitting the billionaires in Silicon Valley, while harming native communities.
Gifts for a bookish partier
A smattering of gifts for a complicated person.
Gifts for a bookish partier
A smattering of items for a complicated person.
“Faithless electors” hold out hope for a Trump defeat
The last ditch effort to beat Trump.
Apple is appealing the European Commission's tax ruling
Tim Cook is not pleased.
The global radio station the world needs
Radio Garden brings the world's broadcasts to a single destination.
There are more religious billboards on highways than ever before
Thank the lord
Military spending is still out of control
It could probably use some financial planning advice.
Trump’s America is Texas
Bad news for the environment
Uber employees reportedly spied on exes and celebrities
Not good.
Almost as many Kennedys have been elected to the Senate as black people
Surprise!
Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead is expanding
2.8 million and counting.
Michigan passes comprehensive self-driving car legislation
The robots are coming.
Russia is building a $30 million “acrobatic rock n' roll” complex
Fun!
Houston's booming development is making floods worse
Economic development comes with its downsides.
Someone really should ask Trump about automated jobs
How has no one directed this question at him yet?
Russian applications for US asylum are on the rise
Some believe it's due to anti-LGBT policies in the country.
Trump's advisers want to privatize native land
“We should take tribal land away from public treatment.”
Angela Merkel backs full-veil ban in Germany
“We show our faces,” Merkel said in an 80-minute speech.
The US Army Corps of Engineers delayed the Dakota Access Pipeline
A win for the protesters
One juror refused to convict the officer who shot Walter Scott
Walter Scott was shot and killed by a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina.
What happened to all of the drugs the media panicked about?
A look back at the trending drugs of yesteryear.
Anderson Cooper doesn't think Stephen Bannon is a white supremacist
But he is.
Martin Shkreli's AIDS drug was recreated for $1.50
Of course, it can't be sold in the US.
Kanye West is a human being
Social media is a cultural marketplace that no celebrity has any real handle on.
Donald Trump had quite the week
Is this the new normal?
Kanye would’ve voted for Trump
He told a crowd in California that there are no solutions to racism.
Music torrent site what.cd has shut down
French cybercrime authorities reportedly raided the invite-only site.
Working for Donald Trump is a nightmare
This is fine.
A neo-Nazi website wants people to buy New Balance sneakers
“The official shoes of white people.”
Democrats are wasting their time undermining Keith Ellison
Why are they bringing up his old college papers to discredit him?
Donald Trump’s Muslim registry isn’t anything new
We’ve been here before.
A few questions about Nike’s new self-lacing sneaker
What happens if they run out of power?
Twitter introduces new tools to curb online harassment
But don’t get too excited.
