Andre Benjamin

The 10 Best Concerts in New York This Weekend, 6/14/13

For more shows throughout the weekend, check out our New York Concert Calendar, which is updated daily.

Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper

The 25 Best OutKast Songs of All Time

Here's a hard truth that needs to be told and heard and understood: OutKast aren't getting back together. They just aren't. Stankonia, their last proper release as a bonafide duo, was 13 years ago. Andre is going to be Jimi Hendrix. Big Boi is making music with Phantogram and Wavves. They've moved o ... More >>

Our 20 Most Popular Posts of 2012

We covered a lot of music ground in 2012. You loved all of it. But some stories were more read than others. Here now, our 20 most popular posts of the year. Thanks for reading. The Ten Best Reissues of 2012 The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012 The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012 The Ten Best Country Alb ... More >>

Our 20 Most Popular Stories of 2012, 20 - 11

We've covered a lot of music ground in 2012. And you loved all of it. But you read some stories more than others. Here now, our 20 most popular posts of the year, from 20 - 11. The Ten Best Reissues of 2012 The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012 The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012 The Ten Best Country Al ... More >>

Seven Important Takeaways From The Listening Session For Big Boi's Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors

Andre 3000 might be spending his summer dressing up as Jimi Hendrix, but his Outkast pal Big Boi has been busy putting together a new album. Titled Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, the project will be released on November 13; yesterday, Big Boi holed up in a Manhattan recording studio to host a li ... More >>

Q&A: Tech N9ne On Lil Wayne, The Doors, And Getting Drunk On Hip-Hop Squares

Midwestern rap weirdo Tech N9ne had an unexpected guest spot on Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV last year ("Interlude" with Andre 3000), but the 40-year-old Kansas City motormouth's most memorable track has to be "Areola," his 2009 not-at-all-joking breast anthem that comes with its own anatomy lesson ("D ... More >>

Laurie Anderson (7) Takes On Norah Jones (10) As The First Round Of SOTC's March Madness Begins To Wrap Up

​The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—finishes up this week, with the Round of 32 scheduled to kick off Monday. (The schedule and results so far are he ... More >>

Paul Simon (2) Takes On Slick Rick (15) As Round One Of Our Quintessential New York Musician Tournament Continues

The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—is under way, and you get to help choose who makes it to Round Two. Today we pit Garfunkel's better half Paul Simon ... More >>

Here Is The 13-Minute Version Of (And Lyrics For) "DoYaThing," The Gorillaz/James Murphy/André 3000 Song

Apparently the release of the Converse-sponsored collaboration between Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, and the fleet-tongued André 3000 wasn't the end of that song's release cycle; last night a 13-minute version of the track, with Three Stacks going bonkers about being the shit (no, reall ... More >>

Hear The Gorillaz/James Murphy/André 3000 Collaboration "DoYaThing"

The Converse-funded collaboration between the Damon Albarn/Jamie Hewlett futurepop collab Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, and 2011 Best Supporting Player André 3000, "DoYaThing," has leaked, and it's a goodie, a wobbly bit of futureshock pop that has Albarn laying down a verse in his blas ... More >>

Oddsmaker: Do Beyoncé And André 3000 Have Enough Swagu To Beat Kanye And His Dozens Of Friends At The Grammys?

​The Grammys created the awkwardly named Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category ten years ago, around the time Ja Rule's various "thug love" duets were dominating the airwaves. The award recognized a growing sector of popular music that didn't quite fit into the preexisting rap, R&B or pop song ... More >>

André 3000, Most Valuable Supporting Player

The erstwhile OutKast member has a great year without a single starring role

The 39th Pazz And Jop Poll Is Live

Hooray and huzzah, the Pazz & Jop poll, calculated from the ballots of 700 critics around the globe, is up and running and ready for your perusal. Congratulations to Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, whose w h o k i l l walked away with the albums poll; and Adele, whose inescapable yet compelling even o ... More >>

Ke$ha Works Both Sides Of The Pop Aisle

​This morning brought the release of "Sleazy 2.0 (Get Sleazier)," the all-star remix of Ke$ha's Dr. Luke/Bangladesh banger about men who are a bit too impressed with their wealth "Sleazy"; the new version contains the quietly gut-punching verse that Andre 3000 added to the original remix, as w ... More >>

Hey, Bono, Here Are Five Songs You Might Want To Consider For This "Song Lyrics Of Literary Excellence" Contest You're Judging

​The New England branch of the literary society PEN has announced that it's bestowing its inaugural award for outstanding achievement in song lyrics in February (hat tip: Dave Bry/Maud Newton). Lyrics from all stripes of popular music can, of course, be utterly banal, but they can also employ ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Playing Armchair A&R With The Singles From 2011's Biggest And Best Albums

​The two big formats that have long ruled over popular music are the single and the album. They have a great duality between them: the song and the collection; the sliver and the whole; the appetizer and the main course. Albums are the full-length format long considered pop music's ultimate a ... More >>

Lloyd's "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" Video Might Be Cleaned Up, But There's Still A Pussy In There

​Lloyd's "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" originally landed earlier this summer, and in its initial form it was a thrillingly ribald breakup anthem, with Lloyd wailing about how his lover's "pussy done changed" once things started to sour between the two of them. Of course, such profligate us ... More >>

Lloyd: Expletives Embraced

He works blue, yet retains his loverman status on King of Hearts

Five Questions To Ask At Ben Westhoff's Dirty South Reading

​Tonight, Voice contributor and hip-hop sommelier Ben Westhoff will read from Dirty South, his look at the populist rise of rap music from the southern states, at Williamsburg's Book Thug Nation. The book focuses on the bigger names to have emerged from the south, with chapters based around Bi ... More >>

Beyoncé's "Party" Is Cool, Collected, And Andre 3000-Assisted

​Beyoncé's 4 has been slowly revealing itself to the world in advance of its June 28 release date, and the latest track to leak is "Party," a sumptuous Kanye West and Consequence production with a wistful, syllable-bending assist from André 3000. "Party" flips the expectations put forth by ... More >>

Lil Wayne's Tour To Get A Silky Smooth Assist From Lloyd

​What with Nicki Minaj having gone and signed herself away to Britney Spears' tour this summer, Lil Wayne needed some new opening acts for the next leg of his I Am Still Music Tour. Enter--along with Keri Hilson, Rick Ross, and, uh, the Far East Movement--Lloyd, the sweet-voiced Atlanta croone ... More >>

Zach Baron's Top 10 Singles of 2010

Rich aliens, rich alienation. Still via connect.in.com​With sincere apologies to Chuck Eddy, my two favorite records of the year also produced my two favorite singles: funny how that happens. And though ten songs increasingly feels like about forty too few, especially when Dr. Luke is working, ... More >>

The Top Ten Best Worst Singing Rappers

​These days, there's nothing attention grabbing about rappers who sing, whether it's Andre 3000's amped squawk, an Auto-Tune-enabled Kanye West, or Lil Wayne's upcoming Riker's Island shower room spirituals. This week the canon sees new album additions from one-time Goodie Mob member Cee-Lo Gr ... More >>

The 10 Best Posse Cuts of 2010 (So Far)

​Posse cuts are like friendlier versions of the WWE's Royal Rumble -- a platform designed to showcase all of the stars in the game, both up-and-coming and certified. Think back to the Main Source's 1991 "Live At The Barbecue," featuring Akinyele, Joe Fatal, and the debut of a rapper named Nas, ... More >>

Live: Of Montreal, Janelle Monae, and a Pair of Manpigs Take Over Terminal 5

all photos by Rebecca SmeyneThe new King and Queen of the misfit teens. Of Montreal, Janelle Monae Terminal 5 Saturday, September 18 Better than: Any music currently being made by actual teenage girls. In a characteristically intellectual/saucy dis on his new album False Priest, Of Montreal fron ... More >>

Big Boi Is Guest-Starring On East Village Radio Right Now

Here's your proof. CREDIT​Fresh off his triumphant show at Brooklyn Bowl last night and set to play NYU's mystery concert (with, uh, Dr. Dog) tonight, Big Boi is spending the afternoon at First and First on East Village Radio.

The Escalade Is the Most-Stolen Car, But Whose Would You Jack?

​In the choice between going big or going home, if you're stealing a car, you've already opted to go pretty big. With that in mind, it's not surprising that car thieves don't chintz -- they go straight for the Cadillac Escalade SUV, the most likely vehicle to be stolen, according to an insuran ... More >>

Big Boi Is Not Too Artsy

After endless clashes and delays, the OutKast rapper's triumphant solo album emerges at last

Law & Order's Five Most Ridiculous Rapper Cameos

​Law & Order ends its 20-year run tonight. Throughout the show's long reign, phalanxes of honorable detectives have cleaned the New York streets of crime and debris while throwing out witty one-liners and re-enacting plotlines ripped from real-life headlines. Grabbing a cameo on the show has a ... More >>

B.o.B Fulfills His Destiny, Goes #1

​Not to brag or anything, but Sean Fennessey pretty much called this exact turn of events a full month ago. The success of The Adventures of Bobby Ray, which sold 84,000 copies out of the gate, was a phenomenon long in the making--follow, if you care to, his team's careful set of decisions, fr ... More >>

Go Ham or Die Trying: Pill's Calm Path to Mixtape Stardom

Revolver

Fergie Is a Man

And other shocking revelations from this year's Video Music Awards

About a Boi

OutKast's Depression-era hip-hop musical has a loving respect for the old South

Fraternity Rank: Simpatico Siblings, Shoddy Script

Quite Sporting, Eh?

The wild, untamed, rock-star style of . . . golfers

Guantanamo on the Hudson

Judge orders immediate release of 470 protesters

Nashville Catches Up

A pair of country goofballs boogaloo down Broadway with their rappin' buttload of friends

Rap, Rage, REDvolution

As hip-hop emerges as an empowering voice for indigenous youth, mainstream rappers still objectify Indian country

On Da Corner Worldwide

Hip-Hop, R&B, Dancehall, Crunk, Grime, er, Music by Black People

Rousing Constituencies

Old dogs singin' slow songs and fairygodmotherfuckers for discerning dilettantes

Love and Crunk

Rowdy Big Boi and fly Andre 3000 divide and conquer the Dirty South book of hiphop rules

Bhangra Over Bombs Over Baghdad

Rhythmic Dialogue Where Duplicity Exists

No Jagged Edges

Neo-Soul Men Take the Emery Board to Their Heroes

So Stank, So Clean

Top 10 Plus

City Kids and Voodoo Stank You Can’t Leave Behind

Erykah in Stanklove

Fathership Connection

Common's and OutKast's New Vidclips Have Decent Stuff in Common