Lupe Fiasco

Sorry, Haters: Kitty Pryde Is Staying a While

"It's a huge accident." That's how Kitty Beckwith characterizes the fact we're even talking, over chocolate tea at Tarallucci E Vino, about her unlikely success as a rapper. The alleged teenager made waves last year as Kitty Pryde, a Claire's employee from Daytona Beach who appeared, like all viral ... 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 >>

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 >>

Skyzoo On Bed-Stuy's Breakfast Options And Supermarkets, Spike Lee, And Not Getting Signed By Jay-Z

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar will ask local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Skyzoo is a Bed-Stuy-raised rapper whose new album, A Dream Deferred, will be released at the start of October via the Brooklyn institution Duck Down. He ha ... More >>

The Top 5.33 Hip-Hop Songs Of The Week

The "b word" has been a staple of hip-hop for decades, although there's some linguistic shading as far as its use: women that aren't particularly awesome are called "bitches"; really awesome women are "bad bitches"; respected dignitaries like moms are "ladies" and "females"—unless they're the ... More >>

Eight Revolution-Inciting Takeaways From Lupe Fiasco's Album Listening Session

Last night, Lupe Fiasco took a break from attempting to set the record for uses of the word "bitch" on an MTV station to preview tracks from his upcoming album to a small bunch of journalist types. That album, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Part One, is due out on September 25; SOTC w ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, And Young Money Bring Crew Love Back To Rap Radio

If you've listened to much urban radio lately, or even a little, you may have noticed that Lil Wayne and his Young Money Entertainment labelmates, particularly Drake and Nicki MInaj, are quite popular. You may have also noticed the same thing in 2011. And in 2010. And 2009. But perhaps nothing under ... More >>

Live: Robert Glasper Brings His Glow To The Highline Ballroom

Robert Glasper Experiment Highline Ballroom Tuesday, February 28 Better than: Sitting at home with the radio. "About what time does ?uestlove finish up at the Fallon show? It couldn't have been that long ago, right?" That query, overheard amid the big beats pumping from the Highline Ballroom's s ... More >>

Five Reasons Why XXL's Freshman Class Issue Is Going To Be A Yearly Ritual For A While

As traditions go, XXL's annual "Freshman Class" issue is neither all that time-honored or worthwhile. The magazine's been putting rappers it calls freshmen on its cover since 2008, but hasn't exactly been kingmaking or future forecasting in doing so: 2008's list featured Crooked I and Joell Ortiz, h ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Flo Rida's Accidental Posthumous Tribute To Etta James

The late Etta James remained an active recording artist right up to the end, releasing her final album, The Dreamer, just two months before her death on January 20. But she hadn't been on a Billboard singles chart since the '70s, when a cover of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" from her 1978 come ... More >>

Live: Skylar Grey Peeks Out From Behind The Curtain

by Steven J. Horowitz ​Skylar Grey Dominion Tuesday, December 6 Better than: Remembering how much you listened to Evanescence back in the day. Skylar Grey has hustled the last couple of years, writing hits for everyone but herself along the way. The 25-year-old helped pen 2010's "Love the W ... 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 >>

We Interrupt Our CMJ Recommendations To Tell You That Patrick Stump's Soul Punk Is Out And Very Good

​Today marks the release of Patrick Stump's debut solo album Soul Punk, and I'm going to put my cards on the table: It's my favorite album of 2011, and has been since I first heard it. (You can stream it here.) Hooky and witty and jam-packed with instantly hummable tunes, it is a fantastic pop ... More >>

Nike Finally Releases Marty McFly's Back To The Future II Sneakers

Those were (will be) the daysTonight's Fashion's Night Out, which means more extravagantly stupid shit than usual is going on in our City! There's Pauly D and Miss Piggy and Nicki Minaj, and oh just read these damn lists for yourself, will you. Not one to be outdone, Nike today unveiled the Holy Gra ... More >>

Why Is Bill O'Reilly Not Calling Out Mike Huckabee's Gangster Glorification?

​"You may remember a couple years ago that Pepsi hired gansta (sic) rapper Ludacris as a commercial pitchman. [I] objected, saying major American corporations have an obligation not to reward people who harmed society...Unlike Ozzy Osbourne, who curses, or Britney Spears, who's an immature ex ... More >>

The Game Crams An Entire Mixtape's Worth Of Disses And References Into Four Minutes

​It doesn't twist the "Try A Little Tenderness" sample used by the song its title's piggybacking off, but the Game's "Uncle Otis" is full of peevish references to recent happenings in hip-hop and pop—Tyler, The Creator (who he claims to have "created," because he's clearly looking for a ... More >>

The Video Music Awards' Nominations Play To The Internet (Again)

​Last night MTV announced the nominees for this year's installment of their annual pseudo-event extravaganza, the 2011 Video Music Awards, and once again, the nominees for Video Of The Year have three pop picks ("Rolling In The Deep," "Firework," "Grenade"), one sop to the olds in the crowd wh ... More >>

Ice-T's Newest Role: The Voice Of Reason On Ice Loves Coco

​ Who knew Ice-T was a role model? Ice Loves Coco, E!'s new reality show about the rapper/actor and his model/fashion designer wife, makes them look like such a perfect couple that you almost expect them to turn into anime characters and see little cartoon hearts popping above their heads as t ... More >>

Fabolous Loosens Up On The S.O.U.L. Tape

​At this point, Fabolous's spot in hip-hop is carved in stone. He's the Welterweight Champion of Punchlines, the master jabber who has fruitlessly chased the knockout blow for so long the pursuit defines him. His chronic, career-long inability to say "no" to A&R men has resulted in some of the ... More >>

The Curious 21st-Century Decline Of Hype Williams

On Friday, a link to three-minute making-of video for a scrapped, Hype Williams-helmed clip of "XXXO" appeared on M.I.A.'s twitter. The footage shows M.I.A and a small group of dancers (including Beyoncé choreographer Jonté) painted head-to-toe and gyrating to the song's hissing, whirling beat. Th ... More >>

Long Live The Funk? Big Boi Drops By Modest Mouse's Studio

​ Today in "parties you weren't invited to" news: It appears that Outkast's Big Boi has been hanging out with Modest Mouse, who are working on their upcoming album, this week. In a series of tweets, Daddy Fat Sax announced that he-- and Grammy-winning producer Chris "Mouche" Carmouche--had be ... More >>

Live: Lupe Fiasco And The Robert Glasper Experiment Trade Genres And "Yo Momma" Jokes At The Blue Note

Lupe on the far left, Glasper on the far right, yo momma in the middle. Pic by Jozen.​Robert Glasper Experiment featuring Lupe Fiasco Blue Note Friday, February 25 Better Than: A re-run of Wilmer Valderrama's Yo Momma So I picked the wrong night to see the Robert Glasper Experiment at the Bl ... 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 >>

The 10 Best Verses From Kanye West's Good Friday Project, So Far

​As sustained, goodwill-generating rap publicity stunts go, Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Fridays series is almost entirely without precedent. Other rappers, guys like Freeway and Crooked I, have given away free music in regular installments, but those guys are B-listers and supporting players, and th ... More >>

Week in Review: Apollo Kids

​In the week one of this blog's authors inspired a short play about juggalo zombies and Lady Gaga, we celebrated by announcing the 2010 Village Voice/Redeye Distribution Day Party, featuring the great Marnie Stern, Hooray For Earth, and a bunch of others, including a wonderful special secret g ... More >>

GOOD Friday: Kanye West Reaches Back For Child Rebel Soldier's "Dont Stop!"

​In May of 2007, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and Lupe Fiasco released the Thom Yorke-sampling "Us Placers" as the super-group Child Rebel Soldier (CRS) on West's Graduation-teasing Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape. Seven months later the trio put out a video for the song. Then for three years, ... More >>

Behold The Musical Spoils Of The Brooklyn Book Festival

​Ah, the Brooklyn Book Festival, a five-year-old, free, all-day blowout of panels, readings, and extraordinary quasi-literary happenings, where you might see, say, Ian MacKaye complaining about people who say "just type it in" when they mean "Google it." (On a panel with Thurston Moore and Lup ... More >>

A Comprehensive Guide to B.o.B, the Rapping Coldplay Acolyte Who Is About to Be Enormously Famous

​In two weeks the first rap album of 2010 that matters will be released. How much rap will appear on The Adventures of Bobby Ray is still a mystery. But the recent hip-hop trend of paradigm-shifting MCs--e.g., rappers who don't always seem interested in rap--continues with the big top arrival ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Kid Sister, Mark Farina, And The Mutek Festival

​Tonight a mix of electro and hip-hop pervades Webster Hall's "Girls & Boys," a party with more teenagers and neon than... not. The pairing of U.K.-born dubstep darling Rusko and Chicago hip-hop queen Kid Sister might seem strange at first, but just go with it. (Or, take a listen to Rusko's of ... More >>

New Ninjasonik MP3: The Matt-and-Kim-Sampling, Dan-Deacon-Namechecking Premiere of "All Our Friends"

Nate "Igor" SmithTelli Gramz of Ninjasonik Why isn't there universal shorthand for tracks in which rappers individually single out their loved ones, from God to Mom to the local corner slinger? Lupe Fiasco's "Outro" is a bloated example that comes to mind, with 12-plus Food & Liquor minutes of Corn ... More >>

Your Big, Honking Guide to Haiti Benefits and Valiantly Intentioned Fundraising Efforts, Non-Wyclef Musical Edition

If this doesn't say it all, don't know what does Wyclef's Yele charity has recently drawn a firestorm of criticism, but he's not the only musical figure trying to mobilize folks and funds on behalf of Haiti. There's also an impressive number of benefit concerts and music events happening in the cit ... More >>

Lit Seen: A Report From the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival

Gaitskill, Auster, Gessen—and Lupe Fiasco.

VHI and Slick Rick, Together at Last at Hip-Hop Honors

The channel's cheerfully confounding tribute to rap's golden oldies

Bonnaroo Day 2: Jose Gonzalez, Fiery Furnaces, Swell Season, Raconteurs, Rilo Kiley, M.I.A., Metallica

Status Ain't Hood Podcast 38

T.I.'s Inspiring Return

T.I.'s Lawyers are No Joke

Fat Joe vs. the Volcano

He's joined forces with the South, whether you like it or not

Preview: Bun B's New Album II Trill

Flo Rida, Lil Boosie, and the New Mechanics of Rap Stardom

Jay-Z vs. Jay-Z

Suddenly vulnerable hip-hop superstars go to war with themselves

The Black-Rock Revolution, and How We Rebooted It

Using YouTube to beat back critical malaise and bullshit race-baiting arguments

Lupe Fiasco's Frustrating Gift

Track 18 Wins Again

Major-label hip-hop records in burying-best-tracks shocker!

Why Do Rappers Keep Quitting?

Lupe Fiasco's Self-Defeating Tendencies

Lil Wayne: Still Ridiculously Great

Clipse: Critical Love Doesn't Mean Pop Success

The Quarterly Report: Best New Albums

YouTube Flirts with Legitimacy