Kelefa Sanneh Interview Playlist

My conversation with Kelefa Sanneh covered so many artists and so many genres that we thought readers would enjoy a playlist. I’ve tried here to reflect the twists and turns of our discussion, which means there are artists and songs that not every listener will care for. But that’s part of what Kelefa describes as the pleasure of popular music: It offers us a window into aspects of our society that we are not part of. “Music is a relatively harmless way to think about political divisions or to engage with different cultures without having to join them,” he explains.

There are lyrics that may be offensive to listeners, and some of the artists on this playlist have said or done deplorable things — or been convicted of horrible crimes. Including them here is in no way an endorsement of their behavior, but it is meant to support one of the points Sanneh makes: “You’re probably always listening to somebody whose views you don’t entirely share, or you’re supporting a cultural ecosystem and an economy that you don’t feel 100 percent good about.”

I’ve arranged this for the most part to follow the path of the conversation, rather than group things together based on genre. My hope is that something here gets stuck in your head long enough to prompt some investigating of your own. That’s what happened to me in the course of editing this interview, and some of these songs have become new favorites.