Bobby Carter
Bobby Carter is a leader on the Tiny Desk Concerts team for NPR Music. He's brought an ever growing roster of big names and emerging artists through NPR's HQ to squeeze behind the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen and record standout performances, including Usher, Mac Miller, Noname, Anderson.Paak and H.E.R.
From 2020-2022, Carter and the music team adapted to the challenges of the pandemic to produce the innovative Tiny Desk [Home] Concerts series with artists like Kirk Franklin, Tame Impala, Tems, Jazmine Sullivan and C. Tangana.
Carter has created new initiatives and programs to grow and diversify the Tiny Desk audience. He helped usher the Tiny Desk audience into new spaces through partnerships with Complexcon, HBO's Insecure and the 2021 film Coming 2 America. He also conceptualized a Black History Month Tiny Desk showcase in 2021. With that programming serving as a catalyst, he's since led the development of additional packages for Black Music Month, LatinX Heritage Month, Asian American/Pacific Islander Month and Indigenous People Month. His work in recent years has led to multiple Webby Award wins, an Anthem Award and a BET Hip Hop Award nomination. He's also a music writer, a judge for the Tiny Desk Contest and a busy veteran DJ (DJ Cuzzin B).
Carter originally joined NPR as an intern with NPR's digital media team in 2000, and soon after landed work as a digital media engineer. Following the launch of NPR Music in 2007 — while still working as an engineer processing on-demand audio and video for breaking news, special coverage, and live streams to reach all of NPR's digital platforms — Carter began writing end of year music roundups and producing Tiny Desk Concerts. He left his engineer role to become a full-time producer for NPR Music in 2018.
Carter hails from St. Louis, and is a graduate of Jackson State University, where he also worked at Member station WJSU while a senior in college.
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NPR Music got 7,000 entries this year for its annual Tiny Desk Contest. Here are some favorite contest entries from up-and-coming rappers.
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NPR's Tiny Desk has a passion for discovering new artists, and today, NPR Music is launching the 10th edition of Tiny Desk Contest.
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Five years ago, the late musician and rapper Mac Miller played his iconic Tiny Desk Concert. NPR's Bobby Carter remembers what made that performance so special.
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For the 50th anniversary of hip-hop in August, NPR Music is pulling together all of its hip-hop Tiny Desk Concerts — the sleeper hits and the all-time favorites, plus some behind-the-scenes gossip. -
Unsigned artists can submit their original music to the Contest until March 13. -
One of the biggest songs of 2021 was technically released in 2020 — so it can't be included on lists of the year's best music. NPR's Bobby Carter shouts out the song "Essence" by Wizkid.
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The London rapper performs songs from her new album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert from a living room dropped inside a void.
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Ronald and Ernie Isley broadcast from their St. Louis, Mo. studio to share four classics from the Isley Brothers' legendary catalog.
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Vince Staples brings the sound of his new self-titled album to life for his Tiny Desk (home) concert.
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To celebrate 50 years of NPR, we asked beatmakers Carrtoons, Kaelin Ellis, Kiefer, and The Kount to recreate some of the iconic themes from our news programs.
