Arts, Entertainment, and Media

He's Old, Missing Teeth, and Has a Funny Haircut: He's Danny Brown, Rap's Biggest Deal

Apart from the overcrowding and cost of living, subway ads are one of the most depressing things about New York City. But now, next to the usual ads offering escape in vacation destinations and self-realization in a pair of shoes, you'll find a glimmer of hope in a Uniqlo ad featuring 32-year-old De ... More >>

Nas, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, Miguel More - Capitale - 4/30/13

Better Than: Farmville "Why am I here?" That's the refrain that kept running through my head as I walked into Capitale on the Bowery last night, where Nas, 2 Chainz, Miguel, Elle Varner and a whole host of hip-hop and R&B artists emerged to celebrate the launch of Gig-IT, a new performance-based Fa ... More >>

Will There Be Face-Recognition Surveillance at the Statue of Liberty?

The National Park Service describes the Statue of Liberty as "a universal symbol of freedom and democracy." What better place to implement powerful new surveillance systems complete with next-generation facial-recognition technology? Late last year, Police Product Insight, a trade journal for polic ... More >>

Escape - Saint Vitus - 4/29/13

Better Than: A Cuban cigar. On Saturday night, Cuban metal band Escape played their first NYC gig at Tobacco Road in Manhattan; last night, they played Saint Vitus in Brooklyn. In so doing, they made history. They are the first metal band from Cuba to perform in the United States. And it took the h ... More >>

The Complete Guide to Understanding Lil B

How does one explain God? How does one explain faith? How does one explain Limp Bizkit's cover of George Michael's "Faith?" The answer, of course, is you cannot explain that which is ineffable, and also Fred Durst is playing at a club in Long Island tonight. Either way, the equally ineffable Lil B i ... More >>

The Many, Many Weird Guest Appearances of Sir Elton John

Elton John may be one of the most silently pervasive artists ever. At award shows, tribute concerts, and even on random albums, including his most recent stint on Fall Out Boy's currently #1 Save Rock and Roll, the "Candle in the Wind" crooner knows how to steal the spotlight from whichever star is ... More >>

Emo is Dead, Long Live Emo: 30 Bands Making it Safe to Hurt Again

It's a confusing time to be an emo fan. My Chemical Romance recently called it quits, while Fall Out Boy, surprisingly, have the #1 album in the country. That album, however, is a far cry from the sound old heads remember from the Take This to Your Grave era. Bro, are you even emo anymore? See also ... More >>

R.A. the Rugged Man: The Music Industry is "Crooked Fake Phonies Marketing hemselves to the world

R.A. The Rugged Man releases his Legends Never Die album this week. It's a project the thuggish ruggish rap chap promises will showcase his ability to "annihilate any rapper on this Earth." We don't doubt the Rugged man. In other, chirpier news, here's R.A. explaining away his Twitter timeline chatt ... More >>

Death-Metal Band The Faceless Draw Criticism for Becoming Less Death-Metal

By Jason Roche When music from Los Angeles metal group The Faceless' newest album, Autotheism, began to leak out into the blogosphere last summer, fans were divided, and so were critics. "A botched experiment of sorts," opined SputnikMusic.com; "razor sharp," countered ThePRP.com. The group's prev ... More >>

"The Hippest Street Artist Since Banksy" Installs Himself in Times Square

Times Square was wickedly crowded today, nothing out of the ordinary. But there were more faces in the crowd that usual. Hundreds of black and white posters of peoples faces were pasted all over the corner of 47th Street and 7th Avenue. It looked pretty damn extraordinary. The spectacle was the bra ... More >>

Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge Produce an Album That's a Movie

Twelve reasons to buy

Young Guru Ushers in the Era of the Engineer, Prefers De La to Tribe

You know Young Guru as the super-engineer knob-twiddler behind hits from Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Drake, but last week he steeped out from behind the boards to deliver a lecture at N.Y.U.'s Clive Davis School of Recorded Music as part of his Era of the Engineer tour. In tandem with Grammy U, the session ... More >>

The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Week, 4/22/13

Here are the top 10 concerts around the city this week, in no particular order.

Rabbi Darkside on Bringing Prospect Avenue Around the World

Few underground hip-hop artists in New York have had the staying power of Rabbi Darkside. From an era where everyone had a vinyl single, through rap battling at the start of the mid-2000s rising next wave of battle leagues, to being a coach on "MTV's Made" and one of the centerpieces of the Hip-Hop ... More >>

Talking Louis C.K., South Park and Popcorn With Talib Kweli

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Talib Kweli is gearing up to release his fifth solo album, Prisoner of Consciousness, on May 7th. The project features collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Curren ... More >>

Motown and The Rascals: Jukebox Mausoleum

Boomers Turn Broadway into a Pop-Music Scrapbook

SHATTERED LENS

Sebastian Junger honors a friend

MAD WORLD

Chat with Don Draper and co.

REO Speedwagon+Styx

From Hesher to Hardcore: Lewis Dimmick on His New Book This Music

In the early 80's, the phenomenon known as Hardcore Punk whipped through the U.S. like the pissed off, privileged child that it was. By the mid '80s though, most of the bands who coined the sound and term were either donning black and weeping or doing bad AC/DC impressions. There were also those who ... More >>

H.R. of Bad Brains is Not Crazy, Insists Jamie Saft

With a monstrously flowing godlike beard, multi-instrumental guru Jamie Saft resembles a Hasidic mountain man who should be jamming on meaty blues licks with his beloved ZZ Top instead of the downtown avant-gardist and John Zorn ensemble vet for which he's known. The catch is, dude actually makes hi ... More >>

Diana Ross Went To See Motown: The Musical?

Luscious legend Diana Ross went to the Broadway opening of Motown The Musical last night, and I have to say when I heard that, I had to stop in the name of love for a second and think about it. I'm surprised Di's gotten aboard this soul train! After all, Diana can be prickly about anything involvin ... More >>

Motown The Musical Opens: My Review

An air-tight revue with classic songs presented as theatrical set pieces, with a minimum of superficial chatter in between them. That's not what Motown The Musical is. Instead, the story of how Berry Gordy Jr. created a dazzling black sound that managed to be upbeat, despairing, and socially relevan ... More >>

My 10 Favorite Motown Songs

With Motown The Musical jazzing up Broadway with "the sound of young America," let me look back and pick my 10 fave Motown singles of all time. Come on, let's get it on! (10) What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted," sung by Jimmy Ruffin Careful in its pace, soulful in its tone, this one is a heart wr ... More >>

Five Other Failed Rap/Country Experiments

The hubbub this week regarding Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's controversial duet "Accidental Racist" has, among other things, given a sign that the world might still not be ready yet for a full blown country and hip-hop crossover. While rap has been above an attempted crossover, no matter how poorly c ... More >>

The Making of Mykki Blanco

Michael Quattlebaum Jr. takes rap beyond pronouns

Kinky Boots Kicks Up Some Familiar High Heels; Buyer and Cellar Prowls Barbra's Mall

Shop talk

The Loud New Musical Matilda Turns Dahl Into Dull

Let Them Eat Cake

You are cordially invited to the week’s best birthday party

Dissecting the Politically-Charged Subtext of Nicki Minaj's "High School" Video

Last week, Nicki Minaj released the highly-anticipated music video for "High School" from her album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up . The video is completely over-the-top. It's also factually inaccurate, since Nicki Minaj went to LaGuardia High School and LaGuardia High School is not the spr ... More >>

BOYCOTT! Like Rick Ross, These Product-Endorsing Artists Have Said Vile Things

Yesterday activists protested Reebok's flagship store to put pressure on the company to cut its ties with rapper Rick Ross, who recently ... well you already know this story. Whether or not the more than 71,000 signatures collected to get Ross fired will work remains to be seen, but Big Corporations ... More >>

Props to Hip-Hop's iLLspokinn on NYC's Fastest-Growing Rap Tribute

Friday night, the Props to Hip-Hop classic rap tribute showcase plays its biggest show yet at B.B. King. For the past two years, TruStatement Entertainment's Props to Hip-Hop concert series has created an audience for a live hip-hop homage. With a full band playing the beats and some of the city' ... More >>

Golden Grrrls

Joan Soriano

25 Actors Who Turned Down Amazing Roles

Julia Roberts could have done Blind Side, but opted for Valentine's Day instead. Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Michael Corleone, but felt it was an offer he could refuse. Michelle Pfeiffer didn't want to be Clarice Starling, and Jeremy Irons pooh poohed the part of Hannibal Lecter, both t ... More >>

The Best Jazz Shows in NYC This Month (Jazz Appreciation Month Edition)

These are the 10 best jazz shows in New York this month. (Here for more on Jazz Appreciation Month.)

The Best Metal Shows in NYC This Month (A/K/A Extended Saint Vitus Listings)

These are the best metal shows in NYC in April.\m/

The Five Best NYC Rap Albums That Never Happened

This week, while we've taken a loving look back at the finest album-length offerings that the home of hip-hop has contributed to the genre, we're also reminded of the empty spaces in our record collections where masterpieces should sit. It's heartbreaking enough that rap in an album form didn't catc ... More >>

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: The Complete List

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

Lil Wayne: Human After All

Friends. Romans. Martians. I stand before you not to bury Lil Wayne and I Am Not A Human Being II, nor do I intend to praise it. Instead, I implore you to marvel at this album's sheer existence, because yet again, Lil Wayne has managed to accomplish something only great artists can: he's made someth ... More >>

Spring Arts Guide: The Once and Future Ratking

The trio have been hailed as the saviors of New York rap, but they've set their sights higher

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: 10 - 1

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

The Return of John Sayles and Other Observations from SXSW

THE FUTURE

Join Mykki Blanco's militia

VIDEO KILLED 
THE RADIO STAR

A historical look at 
the art of music videos

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: 20 - 11

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

Michael Pollan Launches $10K Food Journalism Fellowships at UC Berkeley

Excellent news for food journalism: UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism is now offering five $10,000 fellowships a year, for early and mid-career journalists to travel and report longform stories on a range of food subjects, from nutritional policy and food science, to technology, culture, a ... More >>

Count All the Hilarious Ways Bernard Goldberg Contradicts Himself in Just One O'Reilly Factor Segment

Yesterday, rather than discuss the Supreme Court hearing that demonstrates just how out of touch conservatives are from the rest of America, the gang at Bill O'Reilly's Retirement-Home Fist-Shaking Hour took up the news that mattered most to their audience: the hurt feelings of denim enthusiast and ... More >>

The Best Dipset Songs Ever

Time flies especially when one of your aliases is "The Fly Boys." It's been 10 years since the Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and the rest of that "hooligan gang" the Diplomats (a collective of Harlem hustlers and goons) released their double disc effort, Diplomatic Immunity. Since then they've g ... More >>

The 20 Best Arena Rock Songs of All Time

Ex-Foreigner singer Lou Gramm has survived a lot -- a rare brain tumor, all the usual rock 'n' roll excesses, a feud with ex-bandmate Mick Jones, his old band continuing to tour with a karaoke singer that's replaced him -- and lives to play another day. And that day is today, when the 62-year-old dr ... More >>