Big KRIT

Big K.R.I.T. Enlists Future and 9th Wonder For New Project

It's the return of forever... again. K.R.I.T. is fresh out of the studio and gearing up for yet another mixtape release entitled K.R.I.T. Despite virtually no radio support and a small budget at his disposal Young Krizzle has managed to keep from being swallowed up by Def Jam's extensive roster of t ... More >>

Critics Need to Lay Off Macklemore

The recently-crowned number one song in the country, as you probably know, is a Seattle-based white independent hip-hop artist's ode to shopping at thrift stores. I'm not sure exactly how the stars aligned and/or what Illuminati clerical error caused it to happen, but "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and ... More >>

Will Long.Live.A$AP Be the Biggest Houston Rap Album of 2013?

[Ed. Note: The following post ran on the music blog of the Voice's sister publication Houston Press on Jan. 23. We rerun it here re: relevant to our interests.] By Nathan Smith There are a few things you should know about A$AP Rocky. He's a pretty motherfucker. His new album, Long.Live.A$AP, is a ... More >>

Defend Your Ballot: Dan Weiss, Pazz and Jop 2012 Contributor

You can't really know where you're headed unless you know where you've been. For that reason, we're taking a look back at Pazz & Jop 2012 to drill down into the ballots of contributors and voters who participated. Maybe amongst the rubble we'll find clues about what lies ahead for music lovers in 20 ... More >>

A$AP Rocky Lights Up The City

Harlem's crack-slinging bad boy cleans up, puts New York rap back on the map

The Ten Best Concerts In New York This Week

These are the 10 best concerts in NYC this week.

Curren$y

The Best Albums Pitchfork Hated This Year

Since Purity Ring, Death Grips and Tame Impala didn't exactly take off this year like Arcade Fire or Animal Collective, Pitchfork's cultural influence might be cooling off, which is bittersweet since their writer stable is probably better now than it ever was (some of us don't miss those novelty rev ... More >>

11 "Minor League Rappers" We Want To Hear on Hot 97

Last week Hot 97 Program Director Ebro Darden offered a weak explanation about his stations narrow playlist and why they don't play up-and-coming locals, saying--in so many words--that artists not getting spins on the station simply aren't ready for them. They're too underground. They haven't worked ... More >>

Smoke DZA on Old School Harlem Dust Smokers, The Canadian Border Patrol, And Whether 2Pac Is Alive In Cuba

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar will ask local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Smoke DZA is the Kushed God. Calling Harlem home, the weed connoisseur rapper has cultivated a fine crop of fans and can boast an army of 65k faithful Twitte ... More >>

MISSISSIPPI MAN

Get a taste of the 
South with Big K.R.I.T.

Let's Imagine What DJ Khaled's Kiss The Ring Will Sound Like

Despite every living rapper seemingly being just a phone call away, Miami radio personality/record executive/professional shouter DJ Khaled has never once put out a good album. He's been 0-for-5 (yes, DJ Khaled has released five albums), and Kiss the Ring, his sixth record, is on the horizon. Khal ... More >>

Seven Must-Dos For The Modern Young Weed Rapper

Wiz Khalifa is in love with weed. The Pittsburgh-raised rapper has established himself as a hip-hop superstar by making songs that are largely hooked around getting high. While it's not all that a unique pastime—the likes of Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill ushered in the first great rush of weed r ... 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: Dom Kennedy On The Yellow Album, Maybach Music Group Rumors, And Funkmaster Flex's Tupac Comments

Over the last few years, hip-hop artists who grew up in the hood but wanted to go beyond clichéd gangsterisms have been on the rise—Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, A$AP Rocky, Big K.R.I.T. Hailing from Los Angeles's Leimert Park neighborhood is Dom Kennedy, another subscriber to the school of thoug ... More >>

Six Very Important Takeaways From Big K.R.I.T.'s Album Listening Party

Hotly hyped Mississippi rapper Big K.R.I.T. had a listening party for his much-delayed album Live From The Underground (Def Jam) last night! It went down at Fight Klub Studios in Manhattan, and SOTC pried out six pieces of information (both pertinent and willfully trivial) about the project, which w ... More >>

Q&A: Joey Bada$$ On Singing Biggie At Two, Tumblr Stalkers, And Finishing High School

Joey Bada$$ is perched over a Pac-Man tabletop arcade machine at a neighborhood bar in Flatbush. With a glass of Sprite resting on the video game's screen, he confesses that he's never played Pac-Man before, gives a laugh, and says, "I probably suck at this." Bada$$'s lack of experience at early-'8 ... More >>

The Worst Moments From SXSW 2012

Over the last few days, Village Voice Media's music editors have been regaling you with stories of the best from Austin's South By Southwest Festival. But with the best must come the worst, and our critics unfortunately came across the following borefests, technical problems, and insults to their in ... More >>

Q&A: Big K.R.I.T. On His Rise, Dedicating Songs To His Grandma, And Being Inspired By Friday Night Lights

His rap moniker is an acronym for King Remembered In Time, but the way he's going about crafting timeless soulful music, Big K.R.I.T. is being remembered as a king right now. Just ask those who sold out his recent show at the Highline, where just two years ago he was booed while opening for Jay Elec ... More >>

Coming This Week: SXSW Coverage

by Chris Gray "What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." —Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of ... More >>

HOMETOWN HERO

Class is in session 
at Brooklyn’s Southpaw

Live: Swizz Beatz Brings Out T.I., DMX's Brother And Some Other Guys At The IAC Building

Swizz Beatz IAC Building Wednesday, November 30 Better than: Ja Rule's acting in The Fast and the Furious. It seems cruel that as the recession continues to hit the "snooze" button, Swizz Beatz has picked up yet another job, another paycheck. He is the luxe James Franco, collecting 1099s like pass ... More >>

Live: Method Man, Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., And Others Smoke Out The Best Buy Theater

Method Man w/ Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Fiend & Cornerboy, Marcus Manchild, and more Best Buy Theater Friday, October 14 Better than: Hanging out in my own living room (barely). Last time Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. rolled through Manhattan on the Smoker's Club tour (sans Method Man), both ... More >>

Wild Flag, Method Man, Cyndi Lauper And More: Your Guide To The Weekend's Biggest Shows

Those Darlins, hangin' out in those giant pipes.​The mouse-headed DJ Deadmau5 finally finished his six-night stand at the Roseland Ballroom earlier this week (in one of the week's strangest press releases, I learned that the event was commemorated by a fancy cake that placed his signature head ... More >>

THE CHRONIC

Smoker's Club blazes through New York

'93 TIL INFINITY

Back to (old) school

Q&A: Big K.R.I.T. On Making People React To His Lyrics, Crate-Digging And Crafting Playstation Beats

​ It's been a big year or so for Big K.R.I.T. Shortly after signing with Def Jam last June, he was booed off the stage at the Highline Ballroom; later in 2010 the Mississipi-bred MC hit the road on the Smoker's Club Tour (with Curren$y and Mac Miller) and the Wake And Bake Tour (with Wiz Khali ... More >>

Rock The Bells NYC Lineup Updated; Erykah Badu To Perform Baduizm

Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. for the New York City stop of the Rock The Bells Festival, which will take place on September 3 at Governors Island. The lineup for the all-star hip-hop concert, during which a slew of heavyweights (Nas, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Raekwon & Ghostface) will revisit album ... More >>

Live: Rick Ross Lives Out His Dreams At Summer Jam

​Hot 97 Summer Jam New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday, June 5 Better than: Sitting at home and moping like 50 Cent. Rick Ross closed out Summer Jam. Just so there's no revisionist history here, let's remember how incredible that statement is. Three years ago, Ross was the punching bag of hip-h ... More >>

Live: Bun B Gets His Kicks At Good Units

via Freshnessmag​Bun B Good Units (Complex Foot Locker's Sneakerpedia Launch Party) Tuesday, May 17 Better than: Waiting outside in the rain (at least for the shoes' sake). Last night at Good Units, there were more cameras aimed at the floor than at the stage--which might have been fittin ... More >>

Live: Bamboozle Stimulates Every Sense (And Then Some)

So much to see, everywhere. ​The Bamboozle Meadowlands April 29-May 1, 2011 Better than: Watching scene reports scroll by on Twitter. In a lot of ways, the Bamboozle is a festival tailor-made for the current moment of constant distraction. The festival's running time over three days totals ... More >>