Mobb Deep

Havoc of Mobb Deep: "Donald Trump is Like a Biggie to Me!"

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Havoc dropped his new 13 album earlier this week, a project he calls "an ode to hip-hop." He'll soon be hitting the tour circuit in the name of promotional dut ... 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 >>

Venues Can't Serve Alcohol To Women With No Underwear on and Other Things You Learn Talking To R.A. the Rugged Man

Tonight, one of underground rap's most notorious legends, R.A. the Rugged Man, throws his own birthday bash at Drom. Joining him for tonight's shindig are critically acclaimed West Coast MC Blu and politically charged syllable killer Diabolic. We spoke to R.A. about completing another Rugged year, r ... More >>

The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Weekend, 12/28/12

We're gettin' an early jump on the weekend because you've probably already checked out anyway. So here are the 10 best concerts around the city this weekend, in no particular order. The Ten Best Reissues of 2012 The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012 The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012 The Ten Best Countr ... More >>

Prodigy

Live: The Cops Shut Down Fool's Gold Day Off; DJ A-Trak Throws Out More T-Shirts

Check out our slideshow from the party. Fool's Gold Day Off: French Montana, Danny Brown, Brothers Macklovitch, Just Blaze, Flosstradamus, Flatbush Zombies, Nick Catchdubs, Ricky Blaze, Party Supplies, #BEEN #TRILL, Telephoned, and more City Winery Monday, September 3 Better than: Rain. Last yea ... More >>

The Top 3.66 Hip-Hop Songs Of The Week

Hip-hop is at its best when artists collaborate, challenging one another to create their best work, and this week's best hip-hop tracks are highlighted by a collection of odd couples. DJ Khaled, of incessant yelling and inexplicably giving Ace Hood work, managed to put Nas, Scarface and DJ Premier o ... More >>

The Top Five Queens Rap Anthems (As Chosen By Hip-Hop Artists)

Talk of patriotism might be all up in the BBQ-scented air at this time of year, but rap artists are equally as proud of their local roots, not least when it comes to the great masses who hail from Queens. With the Q-Boro having provided perhaps more great rappers than any other section of New York C ... More >>

RAPPER'S DELIGHT

No sleep till Queens 
(by way of Manhattan)

Six Great '90s NYC Rap Demos

"Please listen to my demo!" That particular plea may no longer be heard coming from plucky upcoming rappers, what with the Internet age and all, but there's an undeniable pull about getting to hear the industry-ears-only dusty tapes that begat some of hip-hop's finest album moments. This week sees t ... More >>

A Tribe Called Quest (8) Take On The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (9) As SOTC's March Madness Keeps It Rollin'

​The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—continues, and you get to vote on who makes it to Round Two. This time out, we return to the Brooklyn division wi ... More >>

Mobb Deep

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 >>

Ms. Lauryn Hill And Nas To Headline Rock The Bells Festival, Which Hits NYC In September

​The Rock The Bells festival returns to the New York area with a Sept. 2 date at Governor's Island. This year's installment is headed up by a slew of full-album sets that includes run-throughs of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Illmatic (which Nas will perform with AZ, Pete Rock and DJ Premie ... More >>

Ten Hip-Hop Covers Of Rap Songs

​Last week, the Detroit-based rapper and one-time J Dilla collaborator Elzhi released Elmatic. It's the second time a rapper has re-written and re-made Nas's hallowed Illmatic, with Fashawn attempting a similar feat last year. As a listening experience, Elmatic is less than convincing, leaving ... More >>

Rock-Critic Pop Quiz: How Deep Is Your Mobb Deep Knowledge?

​Queens rap legend Prodigy of Mobb Deep is officially out of jail after three long years, and we have a pretty authoritative feature about his last days in the bing. Our own Laura Checkoway (who co-wrote his autobiography My Infamous Life, due this month via Touchstone Books) gets closer than ... More >>

Prodigy Speaks Freely

The Mobb Deep MC is out of jail and ready to look back on his life

This Week in the Voice: The Talented Mr. Glover

​This week in the Voice, Bill Jensen profiles Donald Glover, the rapper/comedian/writer/actor who happens to succeed at everything he does. Whether you know him as Donald Glover, Troy or Childish Gambino, he is a new kind of entertainer, "a regular black guy who likes the same stuff white peop ... More >>

This Week In The Voice: Prodigy's Return, Slaughterhouse's Dilemma

​In this week's Voice music section: Laura Checkoway speaks to Mobb Deep's Prodigy, who's looking back on his long, storied life after a three-year stint in the Mid-State Correctional Facility; and Phillip Mlynar tackles the dilemma faced by Slaughterhouse as they try to balance their undergro ... More >>

Q&A: Lil B Producer Clams Casino On His Beautifully Bizarre Sound, His New Mixtape, And The Name He's Now Stuck With

"I see people online saying those are all their favorite Lil B songs, and they had no idea I did them all. I go around everywhere and type my name in the comments to say that I produced them. I do that all the time." ​Clams Casino is the producer behind some of Lil B's trippiest and, therefor ... More >>

Top 10 Prodigy Prison Rants, Starring Obama, Jay-Z, Napoleon, Corny Backpack Rappers, And Demonic Owls

Pic by Chad Griffith​Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy was released from prison yesterday after serving three and a half years on a gun-possession charge. During that time, the voluble emcee used his Internet access and old-school pen-and-paper interview privileges to hip the world to his theories on s ... More >>

Top 10 New Hardcore-Rap Classics Brought To You By Siccness.net

​I first noticed Siccness.net in 2009, when they released Beanie Sigel's street album, The Broad Street Bully. The label name struck me as profoundly dubious, like one of those shell companies that distribute illegal mixtapes to online retail stores only to magically dissolve the minute rights ... More >>

Top Ten Greatest Rap-Acronym Anthems

​Kanye West and Jay-Z's Lex Luger-produced "H.A.M." is a creative union of the two biggest currently recording rap stars in the world -- as the lead single to the duo's upcoming Watch the Throne project, it's a feisty statement of intent. But more importantly, it's a fresh edition to the canon ... More >>

R.A. the Rugged Man Abides

An uncouth Long Island rapper battles labels, homelessness, and (maybe) STDs

Bun B and Prodigy, On Their Own

Emotionally fraught solo nods get paranoid, triumphant

Prodigy’s 25th Hour

A Queens rap icon scrambles to prepare for life on the inside

Music

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

Seen Acting in Concert

The Hip-Hop Cops materialize in the West Village

Status Ain't Hood Interviews Prodigy and Alchemist

Mobb Deep: Not Dead Yet

Status Ain't Hood Does Summer Jam

Live: M.O.P. Does Whatever M.O.P. Wants

All Money, No Blood

Mobb Deep cashes in and craps out

The Car-Wreck Appeal of Mobb Deep's Blood Money

50 Cent and Jay-Z are Friends Now

Boxing Day

The Quarterly Report: Status Ain't Hood's Favorite New Albums

War Stories

50 and Eminem drip sweat and hit blood

Bands on the Cusp

Brooklyn metal act and L.A. byg band explore edges of genre

Stic.man and M1 Bypass the Purist Hip-Hop Border Police

Comps Illustrate Both Halves of Reggae's Dancehall Coin

When I Reminisce

Hip-hop Movies Mythologize the Age of Innocence

Kings of New York

Hip-Hop Don’t Stop

Fronting for the Enemy

Gay Men Who Make Homophobic Rappers Look Good

Pazz & Jop Preview

Turkey Shoot

Respect Due