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Tshepo Mokoena

Tshepo Mokoena is a freelance journalist

January 2024

  • Portrait of Lashana Lynch against green background wearing black hat and tailored jacket

    ‘It was buy eggs or put money on my travel card’: actor Lashana Lynch on Bond, Bob Marley and being broke

  • Tyla performs during New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York City.

    Today in Focus
    Culture 2024: what to watch and listen to this year

December 2023

  • Composite for little heard tracsk 20023: Katsy Pline, Osees, Ashden

    2023 in Culture
    The best songs of 2023 … you may not have heard

    Guardian writers pick their favourite underheard songs of the year, from hip-hop to pop to country
  • Defies genre … Lankum (L-R) Ian Lynch, Daragh Lynch, Radie Peat and Cormac Dermody.

    Best music of 2023
    The 50 best albums of 2023, No 1 – Lankum: False Lankum

    Wrangling Irish folk into expansive new territory, the group’s stunning harmonies lead us through delicate beauty and nightmarish cacophony
  • Portrait of Ramla Ali with her fists up as if she is boxing

    ‘When I’m losing I’m a “war refugee”, when I’m winning I’m “British boxer”’: Ramla Ali on labels, sparring and speaking out

    Ramla Ali was just a toddler when her family fled Somalia for the UK. Now 34, she’s had enough of being defined by her past. She talks about life in the ring, Gaza, and how an upcoming biopic will let her drive her own narrative

October 2023

  • Caster Semenya shot in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2023. Portraits by Alice Mann

    Weekend
    Olympian Caster Semenya speaks out, Marina Hyde on GB News, plus the ghost hunter turned skeptic – podcast

  • Caster Semenya shot in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2023. Portraits by Alice Mann, Styling by Thomas Van Dyk, Hair & Make up: Alex Botha, Styling Assistant: Jade Ayla. Overcoat, shirt and trousers by Thebe Magugu; Sandals by Europa Art; Jewellery Caster's own.

    Caster Semenya: ‘How would I label myself? I’m an African. I’m a woman. I’m a different woman’

September 2023

  • ‘Listening practice’ … one of the performers in Chorus in Rememory of Flight.

    ‘Whatever you offer, I’ll take’: the poet who crossed Europe filming Black experience

    Poet and artist Julianknxx took his camera around the continent, filming people sing, dance, recite poetry – or refuse to do anything but sleep. As the lyrical results go on show, he explains his odyssey

July 2023

  • Jorja Smith

    ‘I don’t even know how to be me quite yet’: Jorja Smith on self-doubt, body positivity and her stunning second album

    Living in her childhood town, the two-time Brit award winner is finally content. But, she says, insecurity still creeps in – especially after ferocious scrutiny of her appearance

May 2023

  • Netflix series MerPeople

    ‘We can’t breathe! We can’t see! We can’t hear!’ – meet the real-life MerPeople

    It is the most uncomfortable activity imaginable – yet mermaiding is booming. Say ‘shello!’ to the magical merfolk whose lives have been transformed by the addition of a shimmering tail

February 2023

  • Jada Pinkett Smith

    ‘Sometimes it is racism’: Jada Pinkett Smith on prejudice, typecasting and the fallout from that slap

    She’s been picked apart by gossip columnists, stereotyped and had her alopecia become part of a global scandal. But now, as her new series hits our screens, the star is being zen about it all …

December 2022

  • Sorry musicians in an amusement arcade

    Albums we missed in 2022
    Sorry: Anywhere But Here review – bleary-eyed guitar afterparty with a dash of sweetness

  • ‘The worry is always balanced by something lighthearted’ … (L-R) Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers of Wet Leg.

    Best music 2022
    The 50 best albums of 2022: No 8 – Wet Leg: Wet Leg

November 2022

  • ‘I’m not seeking to be a bridge’ … Kelela.

    ‘Why did I feel rusty? White supremacy’: Kelela on writer’s block, outsiderdom and her long-awaited second album

  • Christeene, press, publicity image

    ‘It’s a shopping mall of madness and you need a spiritual guide’: drag terrorist Christeene’s guide to life

October 2022

  • ‘I got my own lane’ … Gibbs playing Paris in March.

    Rap powerhouse Freddie Gibbs: ‘I was always the weird kid – a lot of people don’t like that’

    He is one of the world’s most dextrous rappers, a verbal colossus bound for the big time. Over margaritas, he reveals how he managed to escape life as a drug-dealer and take rap to new heights

August 2022

  • Revolve Festival in La Quinta, California, United States - 16 Apr 2022<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Action Press/Shutterstock (12899323jq) American actress Keke Palmer Revolve Festival in La Quinta, California, United States - 16 Apr 2022

    Nope’s Keke Palmer: ‘Being a child star is really exploitative’

    The actor’s role in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror is her biggest billing to date, after a lifetime in the industry. She talks about the harm done to young actors, her response to colorism – and why she doesn’t mind being a meme

July 2022

  • Sky Ferreira, Beyonce and Bad Bunny.

    Song of the summer 2022: our writers pick their favourite tracks

    From Beyoncé to Bad Bunny to Jungle, Guardian critics recommend their most played songs of the season

June 2022

  • ‘At the end of every performance, I just get spat out’ … Lennox at Playhouse theatre, where she is starring in Cabaret.

    ‘I feel like I’ve got the best job in the world!’ – Amy Lennox, the knockout star of Cabaret

    As a kid growing up in Aberdeen, she rebelled against singing. Now she’s proving sensational in the classic Weimar musical – but finds its present-day parallels chilling

October 2021

  • R. Kelly in Concert<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by John D Shearer/BEI/REX/Shutterstock (5125118k) R. Kelly R. Kelly in Concert April 23, 2006 - Indianapolis, IN R. Kelly R. Kelly in Concert Murat Theater Photo ® John D. Shearer/BEImages

    Can the R Kelly verdict lead to a shift in the music industry?

    After years of sexual abuse allegations, the R&B singer has finally had to face punishment for his crimes but will a wider reckoning follow?
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