Rick Ross

POP THAT

French Montana hits S.O.B.’s

Five Rappers Fans Love That Critics Can't Stand

By Marcus Arman Not all rappers need critical adoration to achieve commercial success. Some use negative reviews as motivation, others dismiss them as hate, and a few of them probably don't know what constitutes a review. But it's commendable anytime an artist reaches some level of success. In fact ... More >>

We Plugged Ten Rappers' Names Into Juicy J's Stripper Name Generator

Earlier today, Juicy J encouraged his Twitter followers to embrace the full spectrum of the American dream by going out to vote and then discovering their official stripper name on his website. This seemed like a fine excuse to run the full and proper real names of ten notable rappers through the Ju ... More >>

Meek Mill - 40/40 Club - 9/26/2012

Meek Mill 40/40 Club Wednesday, September 26 Better Than: Schlepping up to Inwood for a random Jay-Z sighting. Jay-Z is hip-hop's reigning master of synergy. Just days before he christens the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with a string of sold-out concerts, the rapper hosted the release of basketbal ... More >>

The Fall Of Curtis: How September 11, 2007 Changed Everything For 50 Cent

Let me indulge in a little bit of Jay-Z/Kanye fan fiction in the least 50 Shades of Grey way possible: Def Jam President and retired rapper Jay-Z was fed up. 50 Cent had been sending subliminal barbs Jay's way for eight years, starting with a shot Mr. Carter's way on "How To Rob" when they were b ... More >>

2 Chainz Brings His T.R.U. Story To The 40/40 Club

Last night at the 40/40 Club, during the listening session for 2 Chainz's debut Based On A T.R.U. Story (Def Jam), it became apparent that the Atlanta MC grew up watching What's Happening?—he kept insisting that he could feel someone recording his album in the crowd a la Rerun's run-in with th ... More >>

Live: Nicki Minaj Takes Off From Summer Jam, Nas And Lauryn Hill Climb Aboard

Hot 97 Summer Jam: Nicki Minaj, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, J. Cole, Wale, Meek Mill, DJ Khaled, Waka Flocka, Trey Songz, Maino, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, French Montana, Mavado, Tyga, Slaughterhouse (and Nas and Lauryn Hill) MetLife Stadium Sunday, June 3 Better than: Seeing a Nicki Minaj concert. In an er ... 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 >>

Radio Hits One: Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, And The Era Of The Hit Bonus Track

Superstar pals and Young Money labelmates Lil Wayne and Drake released two of the biggest albums of 2011—Tha Carter IV and Take Care—and both are still spinning off hits well into 2012. But a look at the singles charts reveals something odd: the biggest current hits off both albums aren' ... More >>

LONDON GIRL

Estelle returns stateside 
with a new album in tow

The Four Dumbest Attempts To Explain Why Beyoncé And Jay-Z Named Their Baby "Blue Ivy"

Late Saturday Beyoncé, having taken over an entire floor at Lenox Hill Hospital, gave birth to her first child with Jay-Z—a daughter named Blue Ivy. No sooner did the name surface (well, at first the Internet got it wrong, referring to the baby as "Ivy Blue") than did the super-stupid conspir ... More >>

53 More Great Songs From 2011

Earlier today, Maura offered a list of the 47 songs on her "2011 Awesomeness" Spotify playlist; to complement that, here are the 53 songs from my less cleverly named playlist, "2011." As is the usually the case with these mega-lists, I compiled mine a bit haphazardly, throwing together a substantial ... More >>

Q&A: Asher Roth On Drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, Playing Beer Pong, And His Celebrity Fantasy Beer Pong League

​As far as beer-based mixtape titles go, Asher Roth's new Pabst And Jazz is 2011's front-runner. According to Asher, who's just signed to Def Jam, the music was "created over a beer and kicking it" during a three day period earlier in the year. So with Asher hitting the Brooklyn Bowl on Decemb ... More >>

BE FREE

Chrisette Michele plays 
a holiday concert

Wale+Meek Mill

Live: Gang Gang Dance And Lunice Work Up A Sweat At P.S. 1

​ Gang Gang Dance (DJ Set) w/ Lunice, Miracles Club, Laurel Halo P.S. 1 Saturday, July 23 Better than: Your average art-museum function. Most show reviews you've been reading over the last week have probably begun with, or at least nodded towards, the extreme heat we've been working through ... More >>

The Top Ten Failed First Singles Off The Game's The R.E.D. Album

​This list began as a joke, but the longer I contemplated it, the more depressing its basic concept became. Consider: not only could I easily string together ten of Game's fruitless attempts to force label executives to release The R.E.D. Album, his followup to 2008's LAX; I had to make decisi ... More >>

Lil Wayne's Tour To Get A Silky Smooth Assist From Lloyd

​What with Nicki Minaj having gone and signed herself away to Britney Spears' tour this summer, Lil Wayne needed some new opening acts for the next leg of his I Am Still Music Tour. Enter--along with Keri Hilson, Rick Ross, and, uh, the Far East Movement--Lloyd, the sweet-voiced Atlanta croone ... More >>

Live: Araabmuzik Harasses His MPC at Brooklyn Bowl

Araabmuzik Brooklyn Bowl Tuesday, April 5 Better than: Bowling. In the past few months, I've read a handful of articles and reviews suggesting that watching a DJ is boring. In one sense this is true, as watching the moves a DJ is making is almost always secondary to dancing to the records that D ... More >>

Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, And Nicki Minaj Are Invading Long Island In March

​If ever you wanted an excuse to truck out to Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, home to perennial NHL doormats the New York Islanders, this'd be it: Lil Wayne's I Am Music II tour, costarring Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Mixmaster Mike, and indomitable rapper accessory Travis Barker, is coming to town ... More >>

Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and the Great Gay-Pander-Off of 2010

Nicki, P!nk, Gaga, and those two other ones taste the rainbow

Arcade Fire Sell Nearly Half A Million Records in 2010, Will Perform at the Grammys

​"The whole chart thing is kind of like sports," said an unimpressed Merge label chief Laura Ballance, back when Arcade Fire hit #1 on the Billboard charts. That may well be true. But if selling records is like sports, Arcade Fire are weirdly good at it, considering they're a bunch of spindly ... More >>

Top 10 Lex Luger Tracks You Probably Haven't Heard (But Probably Should)

​ In 2010, a new generation of rap producers, from AraabMuzik to Droop-E, made huge strides both artistically and commercially. But none distinguished themselves more than Lex Luger, the 19-year-old Virginia native behind both Rick Ross's "B.M.F (Blowin' Money Fast)" and a good deal of Waka F ... More >>

Here's Das Racist's "All Tan Everything," Earnestly Explained, Line By Line

​Perhaps you are familiar with Rap Genius, a useful interactive site that aims to "discover the meaning of rap lyrics" by painstakingly explaining every single line of various popular tunes -- at press time Lil Wayne's "Hoes & Ladies" is exactly 13 percent explained, with Rick Ross' "Made Men" ... More >>

Zach Baron's Top 10 Albums of 2010

Guess who? Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​Alright, let's do this, before I change my mind. With apologies to The-Dream, Sleigh Bells, Ted Leo, Kylesa, Swans, Zola Jesus, Marnie Stern, and all other vestiges of my punk rock past, and especially you Nicki Minaj, who missed both of my lists this year. ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Five SOTC Critics Discuss.

Great song, at least​Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: myself, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. Let us acknowledge at the onset that we are ripping this off fr ... More >>

10 Halloween Costume Ideas For Music Nerds

​Halloween is nearly upon us. You don't have a costume yet, because you're a music nerd. We are here to help. Abandon your half-assed Lady Gaga concept and try these practical suggestions instead.

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 >>

Waka Flocka Flame Is Yelling at You for a Reason

Why Flockaveli is hard to listen to and even harder to not listen to

Week in Review: You Rejected the Youth

Goodbye to all that. Photo by Sam Horine.​In the week one of our team successfully transitioned into the "expert" phase of her juggalo fascination, the rest of us just kind of got silly. Hence: the top ten songs named "Fuck You" or the immediate equivalent; Jay-Z's ten most shameful rock and r ... More >>

In Honor Of Weezer's New Hurley, Here Are Suggestions For More Lost-Themed Albums

​So Weezer's next album is named Hurley, and that's the cover: an unadorned photo of Hurley's face. Even if you consider this a terrible idea, you must admit it doesn't crack the Weezer's top 25 worst ideas of the past five years; in fact, the idea of records inspired by Lost characters has po ... More >>

Week in Review: Bootcut Shorts

May we all look this relaxed in this situation. Photo by Sam Horine.​In the week the words "Kanye West" became synonymous with social media, the rapper performed at Facebook while dissing Twitter, performed at Twitter while dissing his mother's old boyfriends, then joined Twitter, a thing he t ... More >>

Week in Review: Female Guitar Players Are the New Black

The beach is in Bed-Stuy, suckers. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In the week we asked a Georgia-certified divorce attorney whether The-Dream had left his wife while she was eight and a half months pregnant because he would have had to pay more child support had he waited the full nine (or was it ju ... More >>

A People's History of Summer Jam 2010

Drake debuts, Trey Songz gyrates, and DJ Khaled wins at the hip-hop event of the year

Live from Shepard Fairey's "May Day" Opening at Deitch Projects: Fab 5 Freddy, Rick Ross, and a Topless Breastfeeding Lady

all photos by Sam HorineShepard Fairey has a motorcycle posse and it includes Rick Ross. Shepard Fairey's "May Day" show opened this past Saturday. The promotional noise from Deitch Projects' send-off has been near-deafening, amplified by the hubbub around Fairey's rabidly targeted, heavily guarded ... More >>

Jay-Z's 'Empire' Strikes Back at Last

His first #1 song is his first Pazz & Jop chart-topper as well. Go Yankees.

Def Jam at 25

The Yankees of hip-hop labels, reconsidered

Week in Review: There's Only One Viable Avant-Garde Art Form Nowadays, And It's Called Indie Rock

Sam Horine​In the week a Brooklyn indie-rock band either did or didn't kick a puppy in Prospect Park (sweat-soaked August news cycle, we see you), we amused ourselves making Rick Ross "Yo Mamma" jokes and watching rap panic take New York as 50 Cent did, and then didn't, shoot your grandmother. ... More >>

Interview: Southerngold DJ Terry Urban Responds to Downtown Records' Santigold Cease and Desist

"I'm not trying to burn bridges. I did the mixtape because I absolutely adore Santi." Southerngold, the ace Santigold/Southern rap remix record that sprang loose on the internet last week, has caused its creator, Brooklyn DJ Terry Urban, no end of trouble. Last Monday, as Urban was on the verge o ... More >>

Week in Review: Penetration!

Hey, it was porn week! Zach live-blogged the Dim Mak porn video. Jadakiss vowed to wake up beside you naked. Peter Saville's Erotic House of Pop streamed online. Asher Roth debuted his sweet new Bukkake-inspired video. (Speaking of which, Asher Roth should probably lose that hypeman.) The police ... More >>

On Jadakiss's Kiss My Ass Mixtape, "Turn My Swag On" Remix, Etc.

There's something reassuring about Jadakiss's promo run up to The Last Kiss. 50 Cent has an album to promote now, too: at the moment, he's surveilling DJ Khaled's family, bragging about having congress with Rick Ross's baby mother, and generally doing everything but killing another human being by ... More >>

Week in Review: Type "Motorhead" into an iPhone and it Auto-Adds the Umlaut

photo of the Fucked Up Inauguration Day crowd by Santiago Felipe In the week we said goodbye to John Updike, twice, and Missbehave Magazine once, we said hello to American Idol judge Kara's cleavage, the U2 song "Get on Your Boots," and welcomed Hanoi Jane back. Cold and poor, we also watched a ... More >>

Ludacris Raids His Rolodex

A veteran plays up his Hollywood success, defends his goofy-rapper legacy

Country-Rap: A Secret History

Status Ain't Hood Does Summer Jam, Again

The Singles Column: Coldplay, DJ Khaled, Ting Tings

Xenu Goes Uptown

Scientology makes a major move into Harlem. But why?

Live: Cranky New York Rap Nostalgia Soldiers On

The BET Hip-Hop Awards: A Running Diary

Pitbull: Better Than Nas