From Howard to Total Praise; Richard Smallwood’s music carried the soul of a people and the precision of a maestro. This is a tribute to the sound, the standard, and the spiritual weight he gave the world.

In our first year, Cue the Record became more than a series of listening sessions — it became a place where people found each other through music. And woven into that story is the steady presence of artist and longtime supporter Nate Collier. His illustrations have become a way of holding memory, capturing not just the albums we’ve celebrated but the feeling of being in the room together. For our first-ever physical drop, we sat down with Nate to talk about his art, his connection to CTR, and what it meant to translate a year of listening into a single piece.

In a rare rehearsal clip from the Voodoo era, D’Angelo joins Femi Kuti and his band to run through Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy.” It’s more than a practice session — it’s a moment where Black musical lineages fold into each other, collapsing borders, eras, and traditions into one collective track.