Stylistically, rap has exploded, and the pieces fall everywhere from the mind-bogglingly complex to the unbelievably simple, from the brazenly dissident to the unapologetically mainstream. Rappers' influences seem to come from everywhere, but the stylistic differences between an Aesop Rock and a 2 C ... More >>
Romeo Santos brings bachata back to the Garden
The Maysles Institute's documentary film series "Country Rap 2: The Gulf States" and its accompanying program "Katrina: Five Years Later"--both opening this weekend--tie the rich spirit and deep history of Southern hip-hop to recent tragedies like Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. Films about M ... More >>
R.A. the Rugged Man: More dirty laundry than you can imagine. Photo by Calvin Godfrey.In this week's Village Voice, Ben Westhoff recounts the long, setback- and STD-ridden journey of Long Island's own R.A. the Rugged Man, Jed Lipinski talks to the players involved with the semi-embargoed Lil ... More >>
The Dwayne Carter documentary has arrived, to his dismay, or at least his lawyers'
Here is the free, full, sanctioned version of Lil Wayne's leftfield tour de force mixtape, No Ceilings. All sorts of bonkers gems on this one--typically wild similes ("I smoke mad weed/I'm on my high horse," ha), a lot of plain old joy and exultation, an "I Gotta Feeling" (!) cover, and some ... More >>
Some people were wondering if rapper Lil Wayne would attempt to block DNA evidence in his weapons possession trial. The point is moot now as Lil Wayne has pleaded out and is expected to be sent to prison for a year. He copped to the remaining charge, second-degree attempted weapon possession, ... More >>
Well, now I guess we know why Jay-Z didn't let Drake rap on "Off That." Big event rap records--this one, self-defeatingly, is destined for the soundtrack of the LeBron James doc More Than a Game--haven't really lived up to their billing in hip-hop's email era. It's too easy for rappers to literall ... More >>
--After proving they-still-got-it at Bonnaroo less than two weeks ago, the Beastie Boys announced details about their new disc, Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. The album is due September 15, and its seventeen tracks include the Nas collaboration "Too Many Rappers" (which they performed together at the f ... More >>
At least, not according to Pigeons and Planes, who let the song go in the first place. Still, the thought of this collaboration really brings out the creativity on the rap blogs, huh? New! Madonna Ft. Lil' Wayne - "Revolver" [Pigeons and Planes] Madonna - Revolver f. Lil Wayne [2DopeBoyz]
RJ Shaughnessy Tiny mini-trend #4351: Rappers getting all worked up and cold-eyed over menacing, tightly looped guitar riffs. See yesterday's Clipse/Kanye feature "Kinda Like a Big Deal," the spell of which isn't at all wearing off 24 hours later, and Lil Wayne's leak-of-the-day, "Facelift" "Spit," ... More >>
You may have thought, when you saw Fall Out Boy's Lil Wayne-featuring "American Suitehearts" remix floating around the internet, something like: Lil Wayne will be rapping. Maybe you thought: That rap-rock track from Timbaland's last solo record, also featuring Fall Out Boy, was totally abysmal. Bu ... More >>
Nice! SOTC poet buddy and undying Lil Wayne fan Michael Robbins stops by the Sound of Young America to read "Alien Vs. Predator." Listen as he leans in on the phrase That elk is such a dick--always how we heard it in our head, for the record. [Fluxtumblr]
Despite myriad concessions to modishness and a Twitter feed, it was a Steely Dan sort of year at the Grammys as Robert Plant and Alison Krause's Raising Sand won five awards including Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year ("Please Read the Letter"), and awards in the Country and Contemporary Folk ... More >>
"As for Wayne himself," wrote SOTC buddy Tom Breihan in a startling kicker to a startlingly empathic essay about Lil Wayne for this year's Pazz and Jop issue, "it is my great hope that he'll live to see the end of 2009." (Breihan put it slightly less delicately in an earlier L Magazine feature: "W ... More >>
If you want them to buy it, make it free
Celebrating Mr. Carter's best means tolerating his worst
With the caveat that probably any rapper on the planet would sound like an absolute genius over this Pharrell beat--half Hell Hath No Fury outtake, half mutant didgeridoo--Lil Wayne sounds like a beautiful angel here. (Take it from the guy who said this would be the year Wayne fell off harder than ... More >>
Two Carters: one young, one oldâââ‰â¬ï¿½both dominant
Praising outstanding new hip-hop records sadly subsumed by Weezymania
Rising out of the mud puddles to talk to the clouds, a weary New Orleans rapper uses hip-hop as his personal growth tool
