Hip-Hop and Rap

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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

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 >>

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 FUTURE

Join Mykki Blanco's militia

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 >>

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 >>

Rakim's Most Random and Confounding Appearances

This Thursday night, the man who set the standard for greatness in rap, Rakim, takes the stage for a show with Wu-Tang member Raekwon at Stage 48. It's a rare event that fans get to see Rakim as, even in this era of 24/7 social media, he's remained one of the few artists in hip-hop to maintain an au ... More >>

DJ Whoo Kid Thinks Snoop Dogg Should Have Been the New Pope

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Last week DJ Whoo Kid helped launch the video for A$AP Ferg's new track "40 Below," which also appears on his SXSW Social mixtape. When not granting assists to t ... More >>

Papoose Turned Down Kanye West Beats To Release The Nacirema Dream

Just under a decade ago, Papoose was going to save New York City hip-hop. Or at least that's how rap folklore likes to parse it, with Bed-Stuy's mixtape phenomenon Pap and upstate NY rapper Saigon being the hometown figures who were going to stop the Southern ascent and bring back virtuous street-co ... More >>

Don't Compare 16-Year-Old Bishop Nehru To Joey Bada$$

Hailing from upstate New York, 16-year-old rap tyke Bishop Nehru released his impressive Nehruvia mixtape last week (which you can stream below). Over 12 tracks, the project features Bishop (who named himself after 'Pac's character in Juice) dropping his buttery flow over instrumentals by MF Doom, M ... More >>

Big Daddy Kane Returns With a Full Band at the Blue Note Tonight

For almost three decades, Brooklyn MC Big Daddy Kane has remained a fixture of "Greatest Rapper of All Time" conversations. From his iconic singles like "Raw" and "Ain't No Half Steppin'" to a live show that ranks -- even today -- among the most revered in the genre, his influence can be heard in t ... More >>

Jeremih's Late Nights: Like The Weeknd Without the Druggy and Pretentious Horseshit

There's no way I should tell you to be on the lookout for Jeremih. Dude made "Birthday Sex." His last hit had 50 Cent on it, and that dude has eardrums made out of tin. Again, he made "Birthday Sex." That's one way of looking at it, at least. See also: Live: Jeremih Headlines Ladies Night At Webste ... More >>

Talib Kweli

On Lil Wayne and Future and Hip-hop Authenticity

Rap game ouroboros

Why Hip-Hop Purists Should Learn To Stop Worrying and Love Waka Flocka

Tonight, Queens-born / Georgia-raised MC Waka Flocka takes the stage at B.B. Kings as part of the Waka Flocka and Friends concert. Unfortunately, a vocal sect of hip-hop purists here in the culture's birthplace have been anywhere from hesitant to downright dismissive of Flocka's brand of raucous rap ... More >>

Sorry, But Kanye Is the GOAT

Kanye West is the greatest hip-hop artist of all time. He's made the best albums and changed the game the most, and his music is the most likely to endure. One thing before we get going: This isn't one of those arguments meant to piss people off or "start a conversation." We really mean it. And, c ... More >>

Lil Wayne, Future, and the Ouroboros of Defensive Trendhumpery

If you pay attention to the Rap Internet, you are probably up to your elbows in people slinging the term "Appropriation" around, mostly in the context of the Harlem Shake meme. Even more loosely, people have been talking about what the idea of "ownership" in hip-hop actually, like, means these days. ... More >>

Bronx Rapper Tim Dog, RIP

Yesterday, famously antagonistic Bronx-born rap artist Timothy "Tim Dog" Blair died of a diabetic seizure at the age of 46. One of the most boisterously brash voices ever heard on a rap record, Tim Dog was the epitome of the hulking hip-hop bully archetype. Debuting in 1987 as the featured guest op ... More >>

Maybe You Should Give British Rap A Chance?

About fifteen million years ago on the Internet (a/k/a at the beginning of January of this year), my friend Skinny Friedman issued an errant tweet claiming something to the effect of, "Grime is going to be big in 2013." Though he was joking (I think?), that got me thinking. I can see where he's comi ... More >>

Ten Rappers We'd Like To See on Reality TV

So many reality shows, and so many of them are terrible. But people watch this stuff, despite feigning revulsion. "Trash culture" is on the rise, and with everyone from Consequence to The Game are landing "roles" in a reality show, we wanted to get in on the action and list some potentially quality ... 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 >>

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 >>

Om'Mas Keith, The Chosen One

The Queens-born hip-hop producer walks in to the Grammys a double-nominee

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 >>

The A$AP Rocky Drinking Game

This month buzzier-than-thou rapper A$AP Rocky released his major label debut, Long.Live.A$AP. You may have heard. We've thought long and hard about the album, and want you to have the optimal Rocky listening experience. Among its tracks you'll find several tropes and repetitive aspects. A$AP Rocky ... More >>

A$AP Rocky Lights Up The City

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

Pusha T on the Grammy Committee: "They Can't Deny Good Hip-Hop Anymore"

Clipse's Pusha T raps a lot about drug dealing and the spoils that go with it. (His name is Pusha, after all.) You no doubt know that by now. It's why Pusha Ton is naming his upcoming album My Name Is My Name. But before that shipment arrives he's doling out samples in the form of his mixtape Wrath ... More >>

Maybach Music Group's Rockie Fresh on Why He Chose Rick Ross Over Diddy and the Violence In His Hometown of Chicago

Even though he wasn't born until the decade after Back to the Future came out, Rockie Fresh still rocks a DeLorean in his videos and even sports a pair of Nike Air Mags AKA the Marty McFlys. Fitting considering he acts much more maturely than his 21 years of age would have you believe. His rhymes a ... More >>

Pazz & Jop: Riff Raff Is Keeping It Surreal

He's believable as a hip-hop star because nothing he says is true

Pazz & Jop: Kendrick Lamar, Finally Compton's Most Wanted

It took quite some time for the rapper to become an overnight success

The Legend Of Snaggapuss: The Cult Bronx MC Who Rapped In A Cartoon Voice And Was Courted By Dr. Dre

Snaggapuss ingratiated himself to the early-'90s New York City rap scene through a series of guest verses recited in a tone resembling Hanna-Barbera's pink cartoon lion Snagglepuss. As part of mixtape master Doo-Wop's Bounce Squad, Snagga was prepped to emerge as the break-out solo artist of the bun ... More >>

The Kanye You Once Loved Is Dead and Gone

Well, thanks for getting Kim Kardashian knocked up, Kanye? Ever since the rapper announced from the stage that the world's most famous (and least talented) Armenian is now carrying his seed, everyone's on Kimye baby alert. To tell the truth, I'm starting to think that all the attention being paid t ... More >>

Rap Songs That Sample Shuggie Otis

Cult funkateer Shuggie Otis plays the Highline tonight. Despite his talent as a multi-instrumentalist and savvy singer-songwriter, Otis's career never quite went mainstream back in the '70s, but his legacy has been well served thanks to a judiciously reissued back catalogue and a series of rap types ... More >>

Five Great Nas Songs You May Have Missed

Tonight, hip-hop legend Nas will be sitting down with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony Decurtis at the 92Y for a discussion on his lengthy, important and influential career. For over 20 years, Nas, with his innovative writing style and signature delivery, has contributed some of the most ce ... More >>

Juelz Santana on His New Album: "It's Time To Follow the Leader Again"

A decade ago, Juelz Santana burst onto a rap scene that didn't know it needed him, rapping about trapping out of Harlem crack spots and moving weight for the goon demographic (and delusional, escapist hipsters too) but he also made pop friendly, sing-along raps for the MTV and the now defunct 106th ... More >>