Tom Barnes

Bio

Tom Barnes was a senior staff writer at Mic focused on music, activism and the intersection between the two.
R Kelly’s playing an Atlanta show later this month — but not if these activists can help it
By Tom Barnes
Atlanta activists Oronike Odeleye and Kenyette Barnes want R. Kelly “out of our heads.” That’s how Odeleye put it in a recent phone conversation; she said their goal is to make the controversial singer a “nonentity,” to do away with the idea that…
After years of urging, Spotify is stepping up efforts to remove racist bands from its platform
By Tom Barnes
In November 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center put together a list of 54 racist bands that had made a home for themselves on iTunes. The organization’s article described the ways Apple’s billion-dollar platform was incidentally propping up an…
Georgia official on R Kelly: “The public deserves an investigation”
By Tom Barnes
On Friday morning, Chairman John Eaves of Georgia’s Fulton County Board of Commissioners announced he’s asked the county’s District Attorney Paul Howard to launch a criminal investigation against controversial R&B singer R. Kelly ahead of his Aug.…
Meet Towkio, a onetime hustler who’s keeping Chicago hip-hop weird
By Tom Barnes
No one attribute or story defines Chicago. To many residents, it’s a sanctuary; to sports fans, it’s a recently redeemed powerhouse; to the current presidential administration, it’s a “war zone.” To fans of hip-hop, it’s a nursery for some of the…
Downtown Boys aren’t here for your “white tears”
By Tom Barnes
Over the past six years, Downtown Boys of Providence, Rhode Island, have criss-crossed America in their tour van, sharing snarling, bilingual punk with the country’s far-flung pockets of DIY counterculture. Over barbed guitars and warm saxophones,…
“Innocent until proven guilty”: R Kelly’s fans chime in on “cult” allegations at recent show
By Tom Barnes
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The woman wouldn’t tell me her name, but she said I’d see her again. We were sitting outside the Westchester County Center, a mid-sized arena in White Plains, New York, where R. Kelly would soon play one of the last northeast…
Frank Ocean’s Panorama set was a stunning studio session played in front of thousands
By Tom Barnes
NEW YORK — Frank Ocean was on his Lauryn Hill tip Friday night at Panorama Music Festival. “How many of you guys have ever been in love before?” the 29-year-old singer asked the crowd, quoting one of the classroom skits from Hill’s transcendent solo…
R Kelly fans face conflicted feelings as his tour continues after “cult” allegations
By Tom Barnes
Almost every day on his way to work, Matteo passes by an electronic billboard featuring R. Kelly. It hangs outside a venue where the controversial singer — the self-proclaimed “Pied Piper of R&B” — will soon perform one of the last remaining dates…
MTV VMA Nominations 2017: A complete list of nominees for the 34th annual Video Music Awards
By Tom Barnes
MTV has announced the nominees for their 34th annual Video Music Awards, airing live on Aug. 27, and they’re going for woke. Following the lead of its sister award show, the MTV Movie and TV awards, this year’s VMAs have dispensed with their…
‘Game of Thrones’: So Samwell Tarly is basically George R.R. Martin, right?
By Tom Barnes
Samwell Tarly has long felt like more of a stage prop than an actual character with agency in the Game of Thrones universe. Played by John Bradley, he’s the lovable buffoon, the Nick Frost to Jon Snow’s Simon Pegg, the George Costanza to Snow’s…