Mark Chappelle – Medium

Mark Chappelle

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Oct 3, 2025

8 Reasons to Nominate Nicki Richards for a Grammy

The singer-songwriter and her team of unusually gifted musicians have a solid contender on their hands.

8 Reasons to Nominate Nicki Richards for a Grammy

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Jul 21, 2023

Chaka Khan’s Lost Prince Album ‘Come 2 My House’ To Make Digital Debut for 25th Anniversary

Khan recorded her most cohesive and personal disc ever with Prince in 1998, and there’s a good chance you had no idea it even existed.

Chaka Khan’s Lost Prince Album ‘Come 2 My House’ To Make Digital Debut for 25th Anniversary

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Jun 29, 2023

Reexamining the Genius of N’Dea Davenport’s 1998 Solo Step-Out

The former Brand New Heavies singer scored a win for women, Black artists, and R&B lovers on an impressive, but underappreciated debut.

Reexamining the Genius of N’Dea Davenport’s 1998 Solo Step-Out

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Jun 10, 2022

In Defense of En Vogue’s “Whatever”

The legendary girl group’s underappreciated 1997 single too often escapes mention, but it and its hidden message deserve a second look.

Maxine Jones, Cindy Herron-Bragg, and Terry Ellis sport their outlandish, voluminous, black-and-brown hairstyles from the “Whatever” music video while wearing flesh-toned undergarments. Where the music video stylizes them under sickly green light, this image depicts them as fashionistas in more flattering warm incandescent tones. The image was used as the cover of their follow-up single “Too Gone, Too Long.”

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Jan 18, 2022

How Physical Media Brought Prince Back To Life For Me

Finding a copy of Prince’s The Hits/The B-Sides unlocks memories of how the compilation made one writer a Prince fan for life.

My copy of Prince’s The Hits/The B-Sides (with its $9.99 price tag visible) sits on top of its folded out booklet. A couple images of Prince standing up and holding a cane can be seen from beneath the CD package on top. My handwriting-scribbled notebooks, laptop, and mouse peek into the frame towards the edges.

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Sep 29, 2021

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: Patti LaBelle’s ‘Burnin’’ Turns 30

On the GRAMMY-winning Burnin’, Patti LaBelle seamlessly melds gospel, R&B, soul, and pop on the most cohesive album in her discography.

Patti LaBelle’s ‘Burnin’’ album cover: she sits on a chaise lounge with a backing made of thin, curved metal railing. She wears a red skirt suit, with a black top, gold bangles on her right wrist, a gold geometric necklace, and a shiny, gold belt.

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Mar 26, 2020

Why Chaka Khan’s “Naughty” Still Matters 40 Years Later

Released in 1980 during disco’s last heartbeats, this too-often-overlooked record captured the changing landscape of American soul music.

This wide-framed image of Chaka Khan depicts her in a living room (poshly decorated for the 1980s). She gazes at herself in a compact mirror while wearing a spaghetti-strapped pink camisol top with her waist cinched by a black belt with a dark gray buckle around hip-hugging black pants. Of to her left in shadow is a swarthy gentleman gazing at Chaka. Over Chaka’s right shoulder, we see her daughter Milini in pink pajamas looking at her mom getting ready for a night out on the town.

Mark Chappelle

Mark Chappelle

Ethnomusicologist. Writer. Musician. Professional introvert. Recovering overthinker. Defector from the petty wars that shell-shock love away.

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