Ol' Dirty Bastard

Om'Mas Keith, The Chosen One

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

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 >>

Jay-Z Coldplay = Play-Z: A Rundown of Other Oddball Mashups

On New Year's Eve Brooklyn's Barclays Center will be alive with the monster double-bill of Coldplay and Jay-Z. Two titanic musical entities that have spent the past decade being the epicenter of their genres, their alignment for one night is sure to be a colossal way to bring in the new year. But de ... More >>

The RZA You Didn't Know Existed

Tonight, Wu Tang founder and hip-hop mastermind RZA takes the stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. One of the most respected names in the music business, he masterminded the transformation of a Staten Island supergroup into a brand whose logo is as recognizable as any in the past 20 years. Not c ... More >>

Nine Culinary Ventures By Hip-Hop Artists

Today, excitable Long Island-raised rap firebrand Flavor Flav will open his House Of Flavor restaurant in Las Vegas. The restaurant—which will have fried chicken and something called a "red velvet waffle" on the menu—is Flav's second attempt to break into the food world, following the di ... More >>

Holler! The Ten Loudest, Shoutiest Rappers

Waka Flocka Flame is the sort of of hip-hop artist who doesn't so much rap or flow as he shouts his ass off. It's a formula that imbues the Atlanta-based rapper's songs with a boisterous, visceral appeal—and one that he's looking to continue with the release of his second studio album, Triple ... More >>

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire Gets Down With His Duality

​"You got to ask my mother that. You wanna call her? Come on, let's call her." It's a rain-sodden Thanksgiving's eve and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire's goddaughter has just turned up at his Crown Heights apartment. Her appearance prompts the question of what the rapper himself was like as a kid� ... More >>

The Five Best Moments On Yo! MTV Raps

MTV turns 30 on Monday. To celebrate, we're running a bunch of pieces on the channel, its legacy, and its future. ​ Debuting during the golden year of '88, Yo! MTV Raps revolutionized TV coverage of hip-hop music. Of course, hip-hop videos existed long before Yo! launched—Grandmaster Fl ... More >>

Ten Reasons Why The Wu Tang Clan Are The Greatest Rap Group Of All Time

​Raekwon, the Wu-Tang Clan's resident slang scholar, released his new solo album, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, last week; it's the latest installment in a magnificent saga that's now nearly two decades strong and leaves Staten Island's finest rap representers firmly in the conversation for hip-hop's g ... More >>

Top 10 Rap-Related Reality-TV Moments

​"Reality rap" was once a phrase invoked by gangsta rappers to defend their music against moral outcry from the mainstream media and pesky suburban dwellers. These days, the term largely refers to the slew of emcees lining up to star in their own TV shows. While Boogie Down Productions associa ... More >>

Can A Professional Music Critic Name All Nine Members of the Wu-Tang Clan?

​If there's one common complaint we hear as rock critics, it's "I could totally do your job." First off--shhh, don't tell anyone! Secondly, "jobs" traditionally pay better than this, so we'll gladly go Parent Trap with you in a heartbeat. Either way, we decided to get some measurable data o ... More >>

The Top Ten Best Worst Singing Rappers

​These days, there's nothing attention grabbing about rappers who sing, whether it's Andre 3000's amped squawk, an Auto-Tune-enabled Kanye West, or Lil Wayne's upcoming Riker's Island shower room spirituals. This week the canon sees new album additions from one-time Goodie Mob member Cee-Lo Gr ... More >>

Q&A: Rapper 9th Prince On His Older Brother RZA And The Early Days Of The Wu-Tang Clan

​The Wu-Tang Clan is hip-hop's most enduring family. Thanks to seemingly unbreakable bonds both artistic and familial, the now eight-strong crew of rappers is still together, despite frequent -- and usually shoddily sourced -- media claims that they're about to implode due to rampant bickering ... More >>

Rock The Bells, New Orleans Bounce, And Michael Jackson Headline Your Weekend In Nightlife

​We're going to recommend you avoid Manhattan this weekend. Thanks to NYU and Columbia, every 20-year-old within a ten-mile radius will either be moving back into their dorms or celebrating the end of summer with one last cityside hurrah. Instead, take Friday night off and keep yourself in the ... More >>

Jim Jarmusch's Showtunes

On ATP 2010, musicians as actors, Tom Waits's threats, and what planet ODB was on

The Ten Most Exploitative Posthumous Rap Projects

​Being a dead rap artist isn't much fun. Whether The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, or J Dilla, death has never seemed to do much to alleviate the constant pressure on artists to muster up new recordings to satisfy the bulging posthumous rap retail market. (In the hip-hop world, possessing a heart t ... More >>

Please Welcome the Best Website Ever, "Questlove's Celebrity Stories," Starring a Hilarious Canibus Dis and the Time He Met Will Smith

​Well, this was entirely unexpected. Behold: a massive compendium of every celebrity ubiquitous Roots drummer and all around hero Questlove has ever met, complete with the story of how it happened and what they were like. Highlights include his summary dismissal of the '90s mixtape rap star Ca ... More >>

What's Beef? Ol' Dirty Bastard Manager Responds to Village Voice

Interview: Jaime Lowe, Author of Digging For Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB

Lil' Hipsters Cover "Shimmy Shimmy Ya," Teach Children How to DJ

Sex and Guilt and Britney Spears

Live: The Wu-Tang Clan Comes Home

Ghostface on Wu Tang Situation: "It's Serious"

The Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams: A Preview

Cred Sheet

Stuff You Need to Know to Avoid Cultural Ostracism

Things I Learned Watching Rock the Bells

Bring Da Ruckus

Still don't nothing move but the money in thrilling Wu-Tang reunion-show doc

Death Metal is Boring

Return of the Ruckus

Still unhinged after more than an ol' dirty dozen years, the Wu-Tang Clan stage a Shaolin family reunion

Digging in the Dirt

Just another urban legend: The final interview with Ol' Dirty Bastard

Ol' Dirty Bastard, 1968–2004

One of pop culture's great eccentrics bids goodbye to the gawking public eye

'Ho-Obsessed Staten Island Potty Mouth Not Always a Hoot

Her Cheesecake Is Punker Than Yours, Whatever It Means

A Very Good Year

Music

Music

Wu-Tang Clan is Sumthing ta Fuck Wit

The World-Famous Staten Island Hip-Hop Collective Has a Government Informer Working Within Its Ranks; at the Same Time, the Group Is Being Investigated by the Feds for Gunrunning. Coincidence?

The 1999 Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll

Wuclear Fission

A Nutcase and a Point Guard Rise Above Wu-Tang’s Solo Overkill

Rev That Azz Up

Nervous Rhythms, Chopped-Up Language, Thumping Slapstick Pop

You Go, Grrrl!

Humans, Posthumans, and a Detergent Ad

How Doo Doo Doo Doo Heartbreaker

headline

Naked, Famous, Increasingly Fond of Murder Songs

Two Realists

Letters

A Bullet For Big Baby Jesus

Ol' Dirty Bastard Claims the FBI and CIA are Trying to Kill Him. Is He Crazy?

Video God Madness