Music Features

A new children's album on Smithsonian Folkways includes a song about gay activist and politician Harvey Milk. The album was co-written by Cass McCombs and San Francisco preschool teacher Greg Gardner. Greg Gardner hide caption

Wayne Shorter performs during the Marciac Jazz festival in southern France in 2005. Two recent tribute projects each aim to capture the wandering spirit of the late saxophonist. Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Jon Batiste performs at the Newport Folk Festival on Aug. 5. Batiste, a riveting live performer who has led the band at The Late Show and won an album of the year Grammy, just released a studio album, World Music Radio, that feels like an attempt to consolidate his billowing talent into a stable unit, like squeezing a genie back into the bottle. Vincent Alban/The Boston Globe via Getty Images hide caption

Be Your Own Pet has reunited and recorded Mommy, out Aug. 25, a nervy new album that's funkier, keener and more muscular than any of BYOP's previous work. Kirsten Barnett hide caption

Hip-hop's first 50 years have yielded expansion across the globe and domination of digital spaces. As the internet has collapsed physical gaps, major artists from outside the United States, like (clockwise from top left) Little Simz, Drake, Bad Bunny, Blackpink and Rema, have been able to communicate with American rap culture in real time. Paul Bergen / Amy Sussman / Frazer Harrison / Emma McIntyre / Torben Christensen/Getty Images hide caption

Drakeo the Ruler, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Quik and N.W.A. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR. Walik Goshorn / Bennett Raglin / Michael Loccisano / Theo Wargo/Getty Images / AP hide caption

E-40, Lil B, Too $hort and Kamaiyah. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR. Bennett Raglin / Randy Shropshire / Taylor Hill / Gaelle Beri/Getty Images hide caption

Sir Mix-a-Lot, Macklemore, Lil Mosey & Ishmael Butler. Collage by Jackie Lay / NPR. Sipa USA via AP / Kevork Djansezian / Bennett Raglin / Theo Wargo/Getty Images / AP hide caption