Frannie Kelley
Frannie Kelley is co-host of the Microphone Check podcast with Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Prior to hosting Microphone Check, Kelley was an editor at NPR Music. She was responsible for editing, producing and reporting NPR Music's coverage of hip-hop, R&B and the ways the music industry affects the music we hear, on the radio and online. She was also co-editor of NPR's music news blog, The Record.
Kelley worked at NPR from 2007 until 2016. Her projects included a series on hip-hop in 1993 and overseeing a feature on women musicians. She also ran another series on the end of the decade in music and web-produced the Arts Desk's series on vocalists, called 50 Great Voices. Most recently, her piece on Why You Should Listen to Odd Future was selected to be a part of the Best Music Writing 2012 Anthology.
Prior to joining NPR, Kelley worked in book publishing at Grove/Atlantic in a variety of positions from 2004 to 2007. She has a B.A. in Music Criticism from New York University.
-
The death of the highly respected hip-hop figure prompted an outpouring of tribute and personal stories from his community this weekend.
-
The singer and songwriter played a major role in creating a contemporary, conservative gospel sound.
-
A superstar cast made a real life love story — disguised as an action movie — just because.
-
If this is the first time you're hearing of somebody called Your Old Droog, don't even trip.
-
The hometown shows the duo played had a bittersweet quality because people thought it might be their last chance to see one of the most-respected and best-loved groups of all time together.
-
"The best way to represent the places where you from is be yourself, completely," says the musician and actor.
-
Issa Gold and AK move words and beats so deftly on their new album, it can be difficult to keep up. But they're saying it's OK if you don't catch every word; if, right now, you don't know everything.
-
The most philosophical member of Top Dawg Entertainment in a Microphone Check conversation about Ab's high expectations of his audience and what he's trying to make for them.
-
In almost every Hollywood depiction of the American military, at some point a bunch of guys will jog past the camera, singing and stepping in unison. That rhythm infiltrated the Army in 1944.
-
The rapper from Gary, Ind., moved to L.A. 10 years ago, where he met Madlib, a producer revered for his collaborations. The two of them have now made an album Gibbs thinks can't be touched.