The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Rapsody, Kamaiyah, Saweetie, and more.

After the last few weeks, I think it’s fair to say that we all agree hip-hop needed to settle down a bit. The energy was getting too negative, and honestly, a lot of really great releases were being overshadowed. Fortunately, white flags were waved, so we have plenty of room to take in and appreciate new releases this week, including:

Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge’s latest foray as NxWorries, “FromHere,” which features a fascinating monologue from the one and only Snoop Dogg.

Chance The Rapper’s impassioned plea for housing justice, “Together,” which finds DJ Premier sampling one of his own classics with another Chicago star.

Lupe Fiasco’s new comeback single “Samurai,” which turned out to be alarmingly timely thanks to some video game news this week.

And Saweetie’s new single “Nani,” whose release sees the Bay Area baddie overcome a lot of label reluctance to bring her dream to fruition.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending May 17, 2024.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie — Better Off Alone

The Bronx native returns after two years with a 21-song collection of hood harmonies and emotional, melodic rap. A strong guest list including fellow New York breakout Cash Cobain, Atlanta trap luminaries Future and Young Thug, and Chicago drill pioneer Lil Durk bolsters A Boogie’s latest, but he remains the star on what turns out to be a breezy listen despite the hefty tracklist.

Courtney Bell — Microdose

Courtney Bell has been rolling out his latest project for some weeks, and the full project lives up to the hype. Teaming up with fellow Detroit native Royce Da 5’9, who contributes a handful of verses in addition to executive producing, the underground firecracker displays his credentials and heady concepts across 14 tracks with contributions from Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, LaRussell, Symba, and more.

Kamaiyah — Figuring Out My Emotions

The Bay is on this week. Kamaiyah, who we last heard from on her 2023 release Another Summer Night, gets in her vulnerability bag (another common strain in this week’s releases). Over bass-heavy, slow funk instrumentals, Kamaiyah explores themes of romance and loss — not an entirely unknown concept in her music — while delivering on the same party-ready grooves.

Rapsody — Please Don’t Cry

Over the years, Rapsody has kind of become an emblem of the anti-“pussy” rap, “real hip-hop” proponents who tut-tut Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion in favor of Rap’s no-frills, all-bars approach to the form. However, on her latest, Rap takes more time to introduce us to Marlanna Evans, the person behind the persona, revealing all the human complexities such critiques usually miss. The result is not only her best album, but perhaps the best rap album of the year so far.

ShooterGang Kony — Opps Can’t Have Fun

The Sacramento rapper fuses spacious, introspective samples with thumping, West Coast beats to remind listeners that for some, the street rhymes stem from a real lifestyle, not just commercial viability. He’s also got some of the wittiest bars from a street rapper I’ve heard all year including a WILD Anne Frank reference that almost made me spit out my coffee.

Singles/Videos

Chow Lee — “Swag It!” Feat. Flo Milli

Sexy drill is a thing now, and the world has both Cash Cobain and Chow Lee to thank. Lee is an amusing presence, but Flo Milli continues her run of show-stealing performances here, which warrants a listen.

DJ Quik & JasonMartin — “Two Hi (Waves)” Feat. Channel Tres, Free Nationals & George Clinton

If you saw the two names involved and thought you knew exactly how this song would sound, have I got some news for you. It’s certainly a Quik groove, but it’s also a mellow, jazzy vibe, courtesy of its guests. The song will appear on Quik and Problem’s second joint project, Chupacabra, which is coming soon via Empire.

Dreamville & Red Bull — “Spiral Freestyle”

If there was any rap crew that deserved to hit Red Bull’s long-running performance series, I can’t think of too many who would make as much of the opportunity as J. Cole’s posse. Cozz, Earthgang, and Lute have been beyond solid for the label, even if much of the attention is reserved for Bas, JID, and the founder, and this freestyle gives them the chance to shine on their own terms.

Mutant Academy — “Make A Wish”

The Virginia rap collective’s new EP, Talk Soon, is out now, and in finding a representative starting point for listeners, I decided the best place is the beginning. The EP’s intro is also a solid introduction to the group’s respective members and their freewheeling, cipher-esque sound.

No one likes doing the dishes, but the tedious chore is made much easier when using a dishwasher. However, an alarming amount of people have reported that their dishwashers can actually make the job harder because they don’t properly fit their dishes.

And that’s where Twitter user Mike McLoughlin (@zuroph) comes in.

Back in January, McLoughlin made an observation about his dishwasher that would change the way he does dishes forever. For a decade, the Irishman thought that the bottom rack of his washer simply was too small for his large dinner plates. Then he made an amazing discovery:

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The tweet went totally viral, and was shared over 14,000 times. He even tweeted a picture to show just how much he could fit in the dishwasher now that he knows the racks are adjustable:

I moved into this house in 2008. It always annoyed me that the lower level of the dishwasher wasn’t tall enough to fit my biggest dinner plates. Been handwashing them all this time. This week I discovered you can raise the upper shelf and all my plates fit fine. TEN FUCKING YEARS

— Mike McLoughlin (@zuroph) January 26, 2018

The “hack” (is it still called a hack if the appliance is doing what it is supposed to be doing?) blew people’s minds:

Haha, brilliant. My car key central locking is dodgy so I’ve been getting in on passenger side for ages, hauling myself across the handbrake. I paid mechanic €100 to show me that the problem is solved by putting the key in driver door and turning it. Click!

— Sharon Diviney (@SharDivi) February 1, 2018

err, not only you mate. I’ve been in this house 4 years and didn’t realise… pic.twitter.com/rGm3EnbTTd

— [email protected] (@dusted1969) January 27, 2018

But other people were basically like, “Seriously, dude?”

— (@)

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While a group of others tried to one-up McLoughlin with stories of their own:

18 YEARS! I’ve had mine 18 years and only just realised! I used to lie the plates down so they would wash! I’m raging and ecstatic all at the same time. Do you have any other helpful hints about how to live life efficiently?!

— Toby 🏳️‍🌈 (@balhamyte) January 28, 2018

The magic of twitter. 5 years of confusion about why my dishwasher was the only one on the planet that didn’t fit normal dinner plates. A year of measuring every dinner plate that crossed my path for one that might. Fixed in 30 seconds. @zuroph you are my hero. https://t.co/dYIuXD5Itq

— Lisa Power (@lpowertweets) January 27, 2018

O. M. G.
I hate that my dishwasher is too short for my plates. Every time I load it, I shout “who designed this stupid thing?”

Thank you 1000 times, Mike.

— Sidney Merritt (@sidmerritt) July 29, 2018

Omg. This is breaking news to me. I avoid my dinner plates all the time. You’re my kind of genius.

— Edel Walsh 🐞 (@ullamuddle) January 27, 2018

Woke up this morning. Saw your tweet. Leapt out of bed and feverishly emptied top rack of dishwasher. Voila! Rack moved up a notch and my dinner plates now fit perfectly! Thank you..it’s been five years of frustration..life changing:)

— Tina Kulski (@KulskiTina) January 28, 2018

Thats neat but hold my beer😎….my friend just found out in 2017 that her kitchen HAD a dishwasher. She thought it was a false cabinet as it was so hard to open. Her niece forced it open and voila instant dishwasher! She owns the property and lived there for 8yrs by then..😂

— Ay Fabulous (@ayusfagbo) January 28, 2018

Try this one on for size. I grew up in anAsian house hold and thought it was only a drying rack until sophmore year of college when my roomate @eddieschneider1 was wondering why I was hand washing dishes. TWENTY FUCKING YEARS https://t.co/dAyEsmF7Ik

— Jeremy Le (@JeremyLe1992) July 30, 2018

Okay, go on and check your own dishwasher. You know you want to.

This article first appeared on 8.16.18.

Marcos Alberti’s “3 Glasses” project began with a joke and a few drinks with his friends.

The photo project originally depicted Alberti’s friends drinking, first immediately after work and then after one, two, and three glasses of wine.

But after Imgur user minabear circulated the story, “3 Glasses” became more than just a joke. In fact, it went viral, garnering more than 1 million views and nearly 1,800 comments in its first week. So Alberti started taking more pictures and not just of his friends.

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“The first picture was taken right away when our guests (had) just arrived at the studio in order to capture the stress and the fatigue after a full day after working all day long and from also facing rush hour traffic to get here,” Alberti explained on his website. “Only then fun time and my project could begin. At the end of every glass of wine, a snapshot, nothing fancy, a face and a wall, 3 times.”

Why was the series so popular? Anyone who has ever had a long day at work and needed to “wine” down will quickly see why.

Take a look:

This article originally appeared on 11.19.16

When ‘EA Sports College Football 25’ comes out on July 19, there will be plenty of college football fans wanting to go up against their friends online. However, not everyone plays the game on the same system, and with the game releasing on the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S, many folks will wonder if they can play their friends on another console.

The answer is yes, but only for certain game modes. EA Sports says cross-platform play will be available in three modes, but one major one is missing from the list.

In College Football 25, you can play cross-platform in Road to the College Football Playoff, College Football Ultimate Team, and Play a Friend.

This would appear to mean you will not be able to set up a cross-platform online Dynasty, as one would expect them to list that with these options if it were going to be available. That is a bit of a bummer, but for those looking to set up an Online Dynasty with friends on the same platform, it will support up to 32 different players in one Dynasty, which could be truly wild.

Eventually we might get crossplay dynasties, but for now you’ll be able to set up individual games, play Ultimate Team, and the new Road to the College Football Playoff with folks on another console.

We first shined a light on Milwaukee rapper Myaap (pronounced mia-p) back in December following a successful 2023 year that elevated her stock and expanded her fan base. Her rise continued just a month in 2024 as she was enlisted as an opening act for Veeze on the second leg of the Ganger Tour. Myaap smartly used the five-week run of shows to debut live performances from her Big Myaap, Not The Lil One project, released just a week before she hit the road. It’s been smart move after smart move for the Milwaukee native, and when you combine good music with that, it’s a surefire recipe for success.

To take things even further, Myaap also incorporates her love for dance into her artistry, making music that leans into it and uses it promote her music as her social media pages are riddled with videos showing off her dance moves. Myaap’s first viral moment came as a result of her 2023 track “Getting To It” which produced a TikTok dance craze that stars like Reneé Rapp, Coco Jones and Meghan Trainor joined in on. You’ll soon learn that dance has always been a foundational aspect of Myaap’s life, just like her hometown of Milwaukee. Her sound is very much tied to the city that has produced notable names like Lakeyah, DC The Don, Certified Trapper, and more. She’s proud to be a part of Milwaukee’s rap scene, and it’s reflected in her music, and the love is reciprocated in a fan base that continuously pushes her to new heights.

With more in store for 2024, we caught up with Myaap to learn a bit more about her as a part of our Uproxx Music 20 series. Scroll down to find out abut her inspirations, influences, and aspirations.

• TOBi Utilizes The Soul And Clever Raps To Shine As A Vivid Storyteller
• Lay Bankz Wants Your Attention, And She Knows Just How To Get It
• RIMON Moves With Grace And Sings To Soothe The Worrying Mind
• Honey Bxby Crumbles Up Her Soft Girl Era With ‘3 Words, 8 Letters’
• LOKRE Dives Into A Liberating New Era With The Sizzling ‘Body’

What is your earliest memory of music?

My earliest memory of music is dancing, just taking lessons in Milwaukee. I’ve used that early memory and my passion for dancing to incorporate into my music now.

Who inspired you to take music seriously?

TikTok! I was uploading music on there when I first started, and that really motivated me to keep going ‘cause they were dancing and supporting the music I was putting out. That motivated me to make even more music. I was just playing at first, but that made me take it more seriously when I saw that they were really liking it, and making dance routines to it that were getting views on TikTok.

Do you know how to play an instrument? If so, which one? If not, which instrument do you want to learn how to play?

I used to play the piano when I was in school, but I don’t really know how to play it like that anymore [laughs]. I wanna learn how to play the electric guitar or violin, and start incorporating them into some of my beats.

What was your first job?

My first job was working at McDonalds, then I started working at Gap, then Walmart. After that, I stopped working because I got fired from Walmart when I took a drink out of the machine, and they considered that to be theft. I used to make my TikToks at Walmart while I was working there too. I got fired last year in February – ever since, I just started taking my music more seriously and going to the studio more. I was still going when I was working but not as much.

What is your most prized possession?

There’s a lot of stuff I can’t live without. I can’t live without my AirPods and my phone, ‘cause that’s how I write my music. I need that at all times – especially when I’m on the road, to write my music. It helps to have ideas and lyrics written down already.

What is your biggest fear?

Bugs! All bugs. One time I was asleep at home and I felt a spider crawling on me while I was asleep, and that scared me. I didn’t even wanna go back to sleep after that!

Who is on your rap Mt. Rushmore?

Chief Keef, GloRilla, Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim!

You get 24 hours to yourself to do anything you want, with unlimited resources: What are you doing? And spare no details!

I’d just still be in the studio and keep working! That’s what I like to do. If I had 24 hours, I’d love to see how many songs I could get done in those 24 hours. I would guess I could get about 20 songs done, or probably even more if I had some ideas written down already.

What are your three most used emojis?

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What’s a feature you need to secure before you die?

Veeze, Sexy Redd, and Rio Da Yung Og. Rio actually already just added me on Instagram yesterday – that would be so crazy if we could do a song together!

If you could appear in a future season of a current TV show, which one would it be and why?

I feel like BMF, ‘cause Meech is from Detroit and I feel like there should be some Milwaukee in there too. In real life, BMF was actually in Milwaukee too, so I feel ike it would be fire if we got representation in that series.

Which celebrity do you admire or respect for their personality and why?

Veeze! He has a nice personality, and he’s very humble. Being on tour with him, I learned that he likes different genres of music – we were listening to the Shrek song (“All Star” by Smash Mouth), and we were just dancing to it together. I didn’t even know he listened to that kind of stuff!

Share your opinion on something no one could ever change your mind about.

I love dancing and can’t nobody change that. People always tell me to change up my dance moves, but I’ma forever do the same dance moves. If you get tired of seeing it, I don’t care!

What is the best song you’ve ever heard in your life and what do you love about it?

“Everybody” by Nicki Minaj and Uzi. I like it ‘cause it’s bounce music and I’ve never heard Nicki make a song like that – it’s different. I feel like Nicki and Uzi work really good together.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform, and what’s a city you’re excited to perform in for the first time?

I liked Buffalo, New York a lot. Performing there with Veeze on the Ganger Tour was the first time I’d been there, and they’re super lit. They knew my songs and were dancing along with me during my set. I’m excited to perform in San Diego, I’m about to perform there!

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location where it would be held.

I would say Certified Trapper, Chicken P, J.P., AyooLii. I would have it in Milwaukee or New York, and use it to show off all of the talent we have coming out of Milwaukee.

What would you be doing now if it weren’t for music?

If it wasn’t for music, I’d probably be somewhere working right now, or somewhere dancing and making TikToks. I always wanted to be a back-up dancer ‘cause I was dancing when I was younger, but I guess I grew out of that. I never knew I was gonna be a rapper, that’s what’s crazy. I saw myself as either being a back-up dancer or working a regular job.

If you could see five years into the future or go five years into the past, which one would you pick and why?

I would choose to see five years in the future to see how far I would be compared to where I am now. I predict I’ll have a big house, somewhere outside of Milwaukee. I see myself having a lot of plaques hanging on my wall. I see myself winning a Grammy in five years, and performing at the BET Awards, and all that.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Just to stay focused and not give up. I used to wanna give up when I was young ‘cause I wasn’t really motivated. My supporters, my team and my family all support me now, plus watching other artists and their success all motivate me now. I would tell myself not to ever give up.

It’s 2050. The world hasn’t ended, and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered for doing my dance, and just encourage people to keep listening to me and my music!

Big Myaap, Not The Lil One is out now. Find out more information here.

It’s almost time to see what those crazy kids of Hawkins, Indiana have been up to since we last saw them battling a squishy demon. That was several years ago at this point, so who knows what these former kids/current adults are doing now.

Production of season five of Stranger Things began back in January, and Ross Duffer has been doing a good job chronicling the fifth and final season by dropping some fun and cryptic photos on Instagram every few weeks. Now that they are on week 19, things are starting to look real. Not including the special effects.

Duffer posted another set of behind the scenes images this week, showing off some new potential plot points for the story. The latest look features Nancy and Jonathan (Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton) looking alarmed while in the backseat of a car, while another shot features Robin (Maya Hawke) parading around set. One shot reveals a blue van labeled “WSQK 94.5 FM The Squawk,” which might be a hint at a potential plot point. Or it’s just a cool van.

There is also a glimpse of a G.I. Joe lunchbox and a Transformers shirt, in case you forgot the series is now set in the ’80s. Check out the full set here:

While filming has been going for nearly 20 weeks, we probably won’t get season five until next year. You can relive the magic by watching seasons 1-4 on Netflix or visiting your local demonic feeding ground.

Friday morning brought a sight for sore eyes, as college football fans were able to watch the first official gameplay trailer for EA Sports College Football 25. After over a decade without a college football game — back when players were just “QB #15” — it is honestly incredible that it’s really back, and even more incredible that it has the actual college players, names and everything, in the game.

That’s probably an absurd sentence to read for anyone under the age of 22, but for those of us that grew up on the NCAA Football franchise, it’s all very remarkable and very exciting. Fans of the old franchise were incredibly loyal — I remember showing up to GameStop for the midnight release and seeing the same guys lined up waiting for their copies every year — and if you are a college football fan in your 30s or 40s, you’re probably extremely excited for the new edition to come out.

LeBron James falls squarely into that category, and on Friday he joined the masses in excitedly tweeting about the new trailer, as he’s ready to fire up the game and lead his Buckeyes to some national titles.

I always enjoy moments when athletes and fans are aligned on something. LeBron is someone fans are usually trying to play as in NBA 2K, but when the new college football game comes out on July 19, he’ll be right alongside us on the virtual gridiron, trying to build a dynasty at Ohio State.

Russ’ latest Friday single release is “Working On Me,” a laid-back rumination on a failing relationship set to a downtempo, grungy guitar loop. After crooning and rapping the first half of the track, Russ cedes the mic to his It Was You All Along Tour mate, 6lack. The Atlanta rapper-singer takes over to deliver an apologetic double-time verse admitting his wrongdoings and promising to step it up in the future.

The It Was You All Along Tour kicks off in two weeks on May 31 in Seattle, then runs through the month of June, ending in Brooklyn, New York, on June 28. You can see the tour dates below.

Between dates on Russ’ tour, 6lack has scheduled his own No More Lonely Nights Tour dates, announcing a string of shows running concurrently beginning tomorrow, May 18, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and hitting a few extra cities throughout June, including Albuquerque, San Antonio, St. Louis, and more. You can see those tour dates below as well.

You can listen to “Working On Me” above.

Russ’It Was You All Along Tour Dates

05/31 –- Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
06/02 –- Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
06/06 –- Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
06/08 –- Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
06/13 –- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
06/15 –- Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
06/21 –- St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
06/23 –- Chicago, IL @ United Center
06/25 –- Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
06/28 –- Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center

6lack’s No More Lonely Nights Tour Dates

05/18 — Honolulu, HI @ The Republik
06/09 — Albuquerque, NM @ Revel Entertainment Center
06/11 — San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theater
06/18 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
06/19 — Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
06/22 — Waukee, IA @ Vibrant Music Hall
06/27 — McKees Rocks, PA @ Roxian Theatre

Tatiana von Furstenberg laid out more than 4,000 works of art on the floor of her apartment and was immediately struck by what she saw.

The pieces of artwork were submitted from various prisons across the country in hopes of being featured in “On the Inside,” an exhibition of artwork by currently incarcerated LGBTQ inmates, curated by von Furstenberg and Black and Pink, a nonprofit organization that supports the LGBTQ community behind bars. The exhibit was held at the Abrons Arts Center in Manhattan toward the end of 2016.

“I put all the submissions on the floor and I saw that there were all these loving ones, these signs of affection, all of these two-spirit expressions of gender identity, and fairies and mermaids,” von Furstenberg said.

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She noticed the recurring topics throughout the works of different artists — eye contact, desire, fighting back, alienation, and longing — and these shared struggles became the themes of the art exhibition.

“These artists feel really forgotten. They really did not think that anybody cared for them. And so for them to have a show in New York and to hear what the responses have been is huge, it’s very uplifting,” she said.

Plenty of people turn to art as a means of escape. But for the artists involved in On the Inside, the act of making art also put them at risk.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are incarcerated at twice the rate of heterosexuals, and trans people are three times as likely to end up behind bars than cisgender people. During incarceration, they’re also much more vulnerable than non-LGBTQ inmates to violence, sexual assault, and unusual punishments such as solitary confinement.

Not every prison makes art supplies readily available, either, which means that some of the artists who submitted to “On the Inside” had to find ways to make their work from contraband materials, such as envelopes and ink tubes. And of course, by drawing provocative images about their identities, they also risked being outed and threatened by other inmates around them.

But sometimes, the act of self-expression is worth that risk. Here are some of the remarkable examples of that from the exhibition.

(Content warning: some of the images include nudity.)

1.”A Self Portrait” by B. Tony.

2. “Rihanna” by Gabriel S.

“Rihanna is who I got the most pictures of,” von Furstenburg said. “I think it’s because she is relatable in both her strength and her vulnerability. She’s real.”

3. “Acceptance” by Stevie S.

“This series is sexy and loving and domestic,” von Furstenberg said about these two portraits by Stevie S. “A different look at family values/family portrait.”

4. “Michael Jackson” by Jeremy M.

This was another one of von Furstenberg’s favorites, because of the way it depicts a struggle with identity. “[MJ] was different, he was such a unique being that struggled so much with his identity and his body image the way a lot of our artists, especially our trans artists, are struggling behind bars,” she said.

5. “Unknown” by Tiffany W.

6. “Genotype” and “Life Study,” by J.S.

“This is the Michelangelo of the group,” von Furstenberg said. “To be able to draw this with pencil and basic prison lighting is astounding. One of the best drawings I’ve ever seen in my life.”

When the exhibition opened to the public on Nov. 4, 2016, visitors even had the chance to share their thoughts with the artists.

The exhibit included an interactive feature that allowed people to text their comments and responses to the artist, which von Furstenberg then converted to physical paper and mailed to inmates.

Some of the messages included:

“I have had many long looks in the mirror like in your piece the beauty within us. I’m glad you can see your beautiful self smiling out. I see her too. Thank you.”

“I am so wowed by your talent. You used paper, kool aid and an inhaler to draw a masterpiece. I feel lucky to have been able to see your work, and I know that other New Yorkers will feel the same. Keep creating.”

“I’ve dreamed the same dreams. The barriers in your way are wrong. We will tear them down some day. Stay strong Dear.”

Many people were also surprised at how good the artwork was — but they shouldn’t have been.

Just because someone’s spent time in prison doesn’t mean they can’t be a good person — or a talented artist. They’re also being compensated for their artwork. While business transactions with incarcerated people are technically illegal, $50 donations have been made to each artist’s commissary accounts to help them purchase food and other supplies.

“We’re led to believe that people behind bars are dangerous, that we’re safer without them, but it’s not true,” von Furstenberg said. “The fact that anybody would assume that [the art] would be anything less than phenomenal shows that there’s this hierarchy: The artist is up on this pedestal, and other people marginalized people are looked down upon.”

Art has always been about connecting people. And for these incarcerated LGBTQ artists, that human connection is more important than ever.

Perhaps the only thing harder than being in prison is trying to integrate back into society — something that most LGBTQ people struggle with anyway. These are people who have already had difficulty expressing who they are on the inside and who are now hidden away from the world behind walls.

On the Inside’s art show provided them a unique opportunity to have their voices heard — and hopefully, their individual messages are loud enough to resonate when they’re on the outside too.

This article originally appeared on 11.14.16

From 1940 to 1945, an estimated 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz, the largest complex of Nazi concentration camps. More than four out of five of those people—at least 1.1 million people—were murdered there.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the final prisoners from these camps—7,000 people, most of whom were sick or dying. Those of us with a decent public education are familiar with at least a few names of Nazi extermination facilities—Auschwitz, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen—but these are merely a few of the thousands (yes, thousands) of concentration camps, sub camps, and ghettos spread across Europe where Jews and other targets of Hitler’s regime were persecuted, tortured, and killed by the millions.

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The scale of the atrocity is unfathomable. Like slavery, the Holocaust is a piece of history where the more you learn the more horrifying it becomes. The inhumane depravity of the perpetrators and the gut-wrenching suffering of the victims defies description. It almost becomes too much for the mind and heart to take in, but it’s vital that we push through that resistance.

The liberation of the Nazi camps marked the end of Hitler’s attempt at ethnic cleansing, and the beginning of humanity’s awareness about how such a heinous chapter in human history took place. The farther we get from that chapter, the more important it is to focus on the lessons it taught us, lest we ignore the signs of history repeating itself.

Lesson 1: Unspeakable evil can be institutionalized on a massive scale

Perhaps the most jarring thing about the Holocaust is how systematized it was. We’re not talking about humans slaying other humans in a fit of rage or a small number of twisted individuals torturing people in a basement someplace—this was a structured, calculated, disciplined, and meticulously planned and carried out effort to exterminate masses of people. The Nazi regime built a well-oiled killing machine the size of half a continent, and it worked exactly as intended. We often cite the number of people killed, but the number of people who partook in the systematic torture and destruction of millions of people is just as harrowing.

It has now come out that Allied forces knew about the mass killing of Jews as early as 1942—three years before the end of the war. And obviously, there were reports from individuals of what was happening from the very beginning. People often ask why more wasn’t done earlier on if people knew, and there are undoubtedly political reasons for that. But we also have the benefit of hindsight in asking that question. I can imagine most people simply disbelieving what was actually taking place because it sounds so utterly unbelievable.

The lesson here is that we have to question our tendency to disbelieve things that sound too horrible to be true. We have evidence that the worst things imaginable on a scale that seems unfathomable are totally plausible.

Lesson 2: Atrocity can happen right under our noses as we go about our daily lives

One thing that struck me as I was reading about the liberation of Auschwitz is that it was a mere 37 miles from Krakow, one of the largest cities in Poland. This camp where an average of 500 people a day were killed, where bodies were piled up like corded wood, where men, women, and children were herded into gas chambers—and it was not that far from a major population center.

And that was just one set of camps. We now know that there were thousands of locations where the Nazis carried out their “final solution,” and it’s not like they always did it way out in the middle of nowhere. A New York Times report on how many more camps there were than scholars originally thought describes what was happening to Jews and marginalized people as the average person went about their daily lives:

“The documented camps include not only ‘killing centers’ but also thousands of forced labor camps, where prisoners manufactured war supplies; prisoner-of-war camps; sites euphemistically named ‘care’ centers, where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or their babies were killed after birth; and brothels, where women were coerced into having sex with German military personnel.”

Whether or not the average person knew the full extent of what was happening is unclear. But surely there were reports. And we know how the average person responds to reports, even today in our own country.

How many news stories have we seen of abuses and inhumane conditions inside U.S. immigrant detention camps? What is our reaction when the United Nations human rights chief visits our detention facilities and comes away “appalled”? It’s a natural tendency to assume things simply can’t be that bad—that’s undoubtedly what millions of Germans thought as well when stories leaked through the propaganda.

Lesson 3: Propaganda works incredibly well

Propaganda has always been a part of governance, as leaders try to sway the general populace to support whatever they are doing. But the Nazis perfected the art and science of propaganda, shamelessly playing on people’s prejudices and fears and flooding the public with mountains of it.

Hermann Goering, one of Hitler’s top political and military figures, explained in an interview late in his life that such manipulation of the masses isn’t even that hard.

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders,” he said. “That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

Terrifyingly true, isn’t it? This is why we have to stay vigilant in the face of fear-mongering rhetoric coming from our leaders. When an entire religion or nationality or ethnic group is painted as “dangerous” or “criminal” or “terrorists,” we have to recognize that we are being exposed to the same propaganda used to convince Germans that the Nazis were just trying to protect them. Safety and security are powerful human desires that make it easy to justify horrible acts.

Hitler was also great at playing the victim. While marching through Europe, conquering countries and rounding up millions of innocent people to exterminate, he claimed that Germany was the one under attack. Blatant anti-Semitic rhetoric surely fired up Hitler’s core supporters, but the message to the average German was that this was all being done in the name of protecting the homeland, rather than a quest for a world-dominating master race.

Lesson 4: Most of us are in greater danger of committing a holocaust than being a victim of one

I had to pause when this realization hit me one day. As fairly average white American, I am in the majority in my country. And as strange as it is to say, that means I have more in common with the Germans who either committed heinous acts or capitulated to the Nazis than I do with the Jews and other targets of the Nazi party. That isn’t to say that I would easily go along with mass genocide, but who’s to say that I could fully resist the combination of systematic dehumanization, propaganda, and terrorism that led to the Holocaust? We all like to think we’d be the brave heroes hiding the Anne Franks of the world in our secret cupboards, but the truth is we don’t really know what we would have done.

Check out what this Army Captain who helped liberate a Nazi camp said about his bafflement at what the Germans, “a cultured people” allowed to happen:

“I had studied German literature while an undergraduate at Harvard College. I knew about the culture of the German people and I could not, could not really believe that this was happening in this day and age; that in the twentieth century a cultured people like the Germans would undertake something like this. It was just beyond our imagination… – Captain (Dr.) Philip Leif – 3rd Auxiliary Surgical Group, First Army

Some say that we can gauge what we would have done by examining what we’re doing right now, and perhaps they are right. Are we speaking out against our government’s cruel family separations that traumatize innocent children? Do we justify travel bans from entire countries because we trust that it’s simply our leadership trying to keep us safe? Do we buy into the “Muslims are terrorists” and “undocumented immigrants are criminals” rhetoric?

While it’s wise to be wary of comparing current events to the Holocaust, it’s also wise to recognize that the Holocaust didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with “othering,” scapegoating, and fear-mongering. We have to be watchful not only for signs of atrocity, but for the signs leading up to it.

Lesson 5: Teaching full and accurate history matters

There are people who deny that the Holocaust even happened, which is mind-boggling. But there are far more people who are ignorant to the true horrors of it. Reading first-hand accounts of both the people who survived the camps and those who liberated them is perhaps the best way to begin to grasp the scope of what happened.

One small example is Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower’s attempt to describe what he saw when he visited Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald:

“The things I saw beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.'”

And of course, the most important narratives to read and try to digest are the accounts of those who survived the camps. Today, 200 survivors of Auschwitz gathered to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation. They warned about the rise in anti-Semitism in the world and how we must not let prejudice and hatred fester. Imagine having to make such a warning seven decades after watching family and friends being slaughtered in front of you.

Let’s use this anniversary as an opportunity to dive deeper into what circumstances and environment enabled millions of people to be killed by one country’s leadership. Let’s learn the lessons the Holocaust has to teach us about human nature and our place in the creation of history. And let’s make darn sure we do everything in our power to fend off the forces that threaten to lead us down a similarly perilous path.

This article originally appeared on 01.27.20