FluxDash

Kendrick Lamar at Coachella in 2017. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesPrior to his new album, Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, his first since the Pulitzer-winning Damn in 2017, we rate the best of an MC who has a claim to be hip-hop’s greatest by Alexis Petridis20. Wesley’s Theory (2015)A crash course in To Pimp a Butterfly’s expansive sound – Thundercat’s bass ricochets around, George Clinton is on hand to bolster the P-funk-like chorus – and its lyrical viewpoint.

ChechnyaObituaryShamil BasayevChechen politician seeking independence through terrorismShamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord reported to have died in an explosion yesterday aged 41, was a one-time guerrilla commander who turned into a mastermind of spectacular and brutal terrorist actions. His passage from national liberation hero to pitiless extremist with fundamentalist Islamic overtones reflected the collapse of values on both sides of Russia's struggle to contain Chechen demands for independence in the post-Soviet period.

Crime This article is more than 13 years oldShirley Bassey: new inquiry into daughter's deathThis article is more than 13 years old Open verdict after body of 21-year-old found in river Mother of murder victim links killer to 1985 caseDetectives are making new inquiries into the death of Dame Shirley Bassey's daughter 25 years ago after it was claimed that a convicted killer was connected with her death. Samantha Novak, 21, was found face down in the river Avon near the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol in 1985.

TheatreReviewUstinov, Bath Florian Zeller’s Molière award-winning play, starring Lia Williams and Kenneth Cranham, takes us into the confused world of an elderly man and his carer daughterThere is usually a moment in the theatre, often after the first few minutes or the first few scenes, when you start to relax into a play. You are confident that you have a grip on it; all anxiety about making sense of the action disappears.

OpinionGermanyThe Guardian view on strikes and protests in Germany: this is no time for austerityEditorialOlaf Scholz needs a new economic approach to heal divisions in a country renowned for its consensual politics For several decades, German politics and society have been shaped by two fundamental features – both of which have contributed to an enviable aura of stability. An electoral system embracing proportional representation has reflected and fostered a wider culture of social compromise and pragmatism, including “grand coalition” governments of left and right that would be unthinkable elsewhere.

Jennifer Harris Dault and her family fled Missouri to find a safer area to raise their trans daughter. Photograph: Libby March/The GuardianJennifer Harris Dault and her family fled Missouri to find a safer area to raise their trans daughter. Photograph: Libby March/The GuardianNew YorkRochester, Albany and other cities offer refuge from anti-trans laws in other states and ballooning costs in big cities When Travis Covitz arrived in Rochester, in upstate New York, in 2022, he moved into an apartment owned by gay landlords on a major thoroughfare where shop windows displayed LGBTQ+ safe-space stickers.

Italy This article is more than 4 years oldThis article is more than 4 years oldA new generation are replacing the old mobsters in Naples and abandoning the traditional code of silence The first time Emanuele Sibillo was arrested he was 15: the police raided his house in the Forcella district in Naples while he was trying to get rid of two guns. Sibillo was in and out of prison throughout the following few years.

OpinionBody image This article is more than 6 years oldCleopatra had a big, beautiful nose. So let’s see it onscreenThis article is more than 6 years oldRadhika SanghaniThe latest retelling of the Egyptian queen’s life must reject Hollywood convention – and show her in her full aquiline gloryCleopatra is having a remake. The Egyptian queen, so memorably immortalised by Liz Taylor in Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 film, is coming back to our screens.

Sky FerreiraInterview‘I got robbed of my 20s’: Sky Ferreira on fighting her record label – and refusing to compromiseLaura SnapesSince the release of her only album nine years ago, Ferreira has become pop’s greatest enigma. As she attempts her second, she talks about being set up to fail – and how she missed out on playing Madonna It is 9pm in Barcelona and Sky Ferreira is due onstage at Primavera. As the minutes tick by and nobody appears, the festival crowd grit their teeth.