Rap songs with a featured artist who stole the show.
Blurring the line between collaboration and competition.
The originals: the 18 songs that made me a K-pop stan.
For any genre, a handful of songs and artists make you fall in love. These are the tracks that turned me onto K-pop.
Give your rom-com a soundtrack: love songs from the people I love.
I indulged my love of love by asking the closest people in my life for their favorite love songs. Here’s a collection for the hopeless romantic.
The best songs about Chicago.
This multi-genre list of songs just screams Chicago.
Ranking Kendrick Lamar’s top 100 tracks.
A definitive ranking of the greatest hip hop catalog of all time.
Juice WRLD’s albums ranked.
A dive into the late Chicago rapper’s fascinating discography.
When Ringo’s Starr shone brightest: ranking Beatles songs sung by Ringo.
Time to show some love to Ringo (well, sort of).
KAYTRANADA songs for a night on aux.
If you aren’t queuing Kaytra, then what exactly are you dancing to?
Firebird’s Top Albums of 2023: Staff Picks.
See our staff’s individual lists of their favorite albums of 2023 here!
Firebird’s Top 20 Albums of 2023.
The top 20 albums of 2023, as voted by Firebird’s staff.
12 releases from smaller artists in 2023 that you don’t want to miss.
From shoegaze to irish folk to underground rap, check out some of the most exciting albums and EPs from lesser-known artists this year.
The best songs that dominated 2023.
Billboard’s 2023 Year End Hot 100 chart, ranked.
Under your spell: diving into the catalog of Italians Do It Better.
A sampler of ten great albums from the legendary synth-pop label, Italians Do It Better.
Stevie’s wonderful album run: Stevie Wonder’s classic period.
Ranking five breathtaking records in one of the greatest discographies of all time, from Music of My Mind to Songs in the Key of Life.
“I’m in my third prime”: ranking the Nas & Hit-Boy hexalogy.
A comprehensive ranking of Nas and Hit-Boy’s once-thought-unlikely partnership.
Mafia, what else: ranking every Boldy James album.
A review of the Detroit rapper's impressive discography.
Songs for your summer road trips.
With summer vacation — and freedom from the UChicago grind — finally here, the time for road trips and warm drives is approaching. Here are ten songs to add to your summer road trip playlist!
The top ten trap albums of the modern era.
Now an inescapable subgenre of hip-hop, trap music originated in early 2000s Atlanta, its name derived from the prevalence of “traps” — places set up for illicit production and movement of drugs — and its lyrics full of hyper-realistic depictions of life in and around them.
Songs to help you romanticize the remaining weeks of winter.
From dream pop to folk: listen to these songs while you wait for the snow to melt.
Ten pop-rap crossovers that went horribly wrong.
Creatively bankrupt and hollow collaborations that leave you wanting so much more.