Nelly (Rapper)

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 >>

Lionel Knows Best: 10 Black Pop Stars Who Should Go Country

By Mike Seely [Editor's note: Country Time is a new biweekly column for our sister music blog in Seattle.] With the nation's major-party political conventions drawing to a close recently with a rousing reelection appeal from the nation's first black president, it seems fitting to cast a spotlight ... More >>

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, And The Era Of The Snowball Smash

If you're a pop fan, I'm going to guess you like at least one of the last three No. 1 songs in America. In many ways, 2012 has been an entertaining year for discriminating chart-watchers, as a slew of left-field singles have made strides on Billboard's Hot 100. I've met people who love fun.'s "We A ... More >>

Does Nas's New Album Prove That Life Is Good For Older Rappers?

Something weird is going on in rap music; older rappers are as lost as Mitt Romney in a Dollar Tree. In a game dominated by the young, there doesn't seem to be much place for men of a certain age talking about clubs, bottles of alcohol and selling drugs, and the resulting soul-searching has yielded ... More >>

Oddsmaker: Do Beyoncé And André 3000 Have Enough Swagu To Beat Kanye And His Dozens Of Friends At The Grammys?

​The Grammys created the awkwardly named Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category ten years ago, around the time Ja Rule's various "thug love" duets were dominating the airwaves. The award recognized a growing sector of popular music that didn't quite fit into the preexisting rap, R&B or pop song ... More >>

Jenny Owen Youngs

Radio Hits One: Hot 100 Peaks Only Tell Half The Story For Cee Lo, Britney Spears, And Other Year-End Winners

One of the most frustrating things about discussing the Billboard singles charts is how a song's peak position—the highest spot it occupied on a chart during its run—is almost universally regarded as the permanent measurement of its success or popularity. Any song that reaches No. 1 is e ... More >>

Q&A: Drake On Battle Rappers, A$AP Rocky, And His Five-Figure Bet With Nelly

Courtesy Young Money Entertainment​When I spoke with Drake last Friday, it turned out I was just missing the chance to fully discuss his album Take Care, which leaked over the weekend. But this left lots of time to dig into other topics, from his Canadian perspective on racial identity to his ... More >>

Radio Hits One: T-Pain Escapes Lead Single Purgatory

The Revolver cover.​On Thursday Jive Records announced that T-Pain's fourth album rEVOLVEr would be out on December 6. That same day, the rappa ternt sanga's single "5 O'Clock" reached a new Hot 100 peak of No. 25 . The timing wasn't exactly coincidental. The track, on which T-Pain is supporte ... More >>

Radio Hits One: VH1 Takes On The '00s Pop Canon

VH1 spent last week counting down what the channel, and its panel of celebrities and "experts," consider The 100 Greatest Songs of The '00s. They certainly haven't been the first to assemble such a list—Rolling Stone and Pitchfork and every blog under the sun had their say about two years ago, ... More >>

100 & Single: How Digital Changed The Charts, From Gwen To GoonRock

Spotify's top tracks (left) and albums on Friday, July 15.​The headline-grabbing music story of the week isn't on the Billboard charts—it's the U.S. debut of Spotify. With the streaming-music service less than 48 hours old here, it's a bit too soon to analyze what songs are getting the m ... More >>

Radio Hits One: The Elusive Superstar Duet (Or Three-Way)

​ In last week's breakdown of Lil Wayne's chart ubiquity, I noted that while Lady Gaga's Born This Way and its singles seemed to be everywhere, she hasn't staked out much additional Billboard territory with collaborations. Her only charting collab of late is "3-Way (The Golden Rule)," a little ... More >>

Will An Army Of Beyoncés Save "Run The World (Girls)" From Chart Oblivion?

​Last night's Billboard Music Awards handed out popularity-contest trophies to the likes of Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry, all of whom were rewarded for the copious amounts of radio play and sales they racked up in recent months. But the evening's real winner was probably Beyoncé, who ... More >>

A Broadway Leading Lady With Real Balls

At age 76, the theater vet is a real doll in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

Top 5 Worst Super Bowl Halftime Shows

Black Eyed Peas, about to be on this list.​The Super Bowl is a wonderful day in the sports calendar, full of drama, excitement, and also some great commercials. However, the dark cloud that hangs over most Super Bowls is that of the halftime show. The history of these halftime shows is as dive ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Death To Chris Brown

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! America's preeminent lady-beater weeps. Photo via Word Up!& ... More >>

Hip-Hop's Top Ten Greatest Sneaker Songs

Kid Cudi, going all out for Converse.​Sneakers have long been hip-hop's footwear of choice. The links between the artists making the music and the companies behind the kicks are now totally intermingled, from top-end exclusive lines like Jay-Z's limited-to-five-pairs all-black Air Force 1s (de ... More >>

Glee's Ten Most Cringe-Worthy Rap Moments

​The phenomenally successful Glee kicked off its second season earlier this week, with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' home-town anthem "Empire State Of Mind" showcased in the opening song spot. But while entire episodes of the show have been effectively hooked around the music of pop icons Madonna, La ... More >>

How Justin Bieber's #1 Album Factors Into the Teen-Idol Solo-Artist Pantheon

Canadian teenpopper Justin Bieber bows at the top of this week's Billboard 200 with My World 2.0, which sold 283,000 copies in its first week at stores. The persistent Twitter trend and walking advertisement for blowdryers is the latest sheepishly grinning guy to hoist the teen-idol mantle, althou ... More >>

Interview: Ashanti On Her Starring Role in The Wiz and R&B Kids These Days

"I mean the biggest artists and biggest acts haven't been selling nearly as much as they used to, too, so everyone is suffering from this recession--it's hitting everyone." One day after we interviewed r&b singer Ashanti about her latest gig as Dorothy in NY City Center Encores! production of The ... More >>

The Worst Karaoke Songs of All Time!

"Womanizer" by Britney Spears. Anyone who tries singing it can never keep up with the quick vocal spurts and rapid repetitions. There's a reason Britney lipsynchs.

Nelly Battles the Recession, Also The Recession

More Articulate, Politically Charged Flame-Throwing from Immortal Technique

Gene Simmons and the Whores He Admires

Kiss-and-makeup with Simmons; trophy-boy update; chats in the middle of the Maddin crowd

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

Ali & Gipp's Kinfolk

Mall-stomping trash talk, right on time

Singles Going Steady

Pet sounds and animal magnetisms

Get Away From Him

Pop tart sauces up a bit too luridly, Timbaland jams aside

Origins of Totalitarianism

You Do You

Love scholar looks past butt-or-not floss, toward crunk

The Cotton Club

Black-conscious hip-hop deals with an overwhelmingly white live audience

Do These Jeans Make My Butt Look Big?

Butt mania sweeps the nation

Hip-Hop Doppelgängers

Iced-out thug and boho griot keep it surreal on complementary CDs ready for iTunes

Do-Gooders Do Good

The most commendable political compilation of a watershed year for official liberalism

A Critic's Job at Work

Body of work an extreme-makeover St. Lunatic wonderland

Bird of Many Feathers

The candy paint changes every time she switches lanes

Beneath the Arch, Thurr's No Business Like Ho Business

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Et Tu, Brute?

A Great Lost Age of Alcoholic Hip-Hop

The March Of Ides

Music

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Missouri Loves Company

Fearless Game

Pop by the Numbers

One-Hitter

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Sex Workers and Alcoholics Dominate Popular Music Once Again

Grace Under Pressure

Hot S**t for Teacher

Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop All the Way Home