Rick Ross

Nas, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, Miguel More - Capitale - 4/30/13

Better Than: Farmville "Why am I here?" That's the refrain that kept running through my head as I walked into Capitale on the Bowery last night, where Nas, 2 Chainz, Miguel, Elle Varner and a whole host of hip-hop and R&B artists emerged to celebrate the launch of Gig-IT, a new performance-based Fa ... More >>

Young Guru Ushers in the Era of the Engineer, Prefers De La to Tribe

You know Young Guru as the super-engineer knob-twiddler behind hits from Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Drake, but last week he steeped out from behind the boards to deliver a lecture at N.Y.U.'s Clive Davis School of Recorded Music as part of his Era of the Engineer tour. In tandem with Grammy U, the session ... More >>

The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Weekend, 4/5/13

These concerts are all certified "Best of Weekend" by the mayor's office. We bring them to you by court order.

Pazz & Jop: Riff Raff Is Keeping It Surreal

He's believable as a hip-hop star because nothing he says is true

Harry Fraud's Top Five Procers This Year: "Alchemist, Alchemist, Alchemist, Alchemist, and Alchemist"

Harry Fraud has quickly risen as New York rap's go-to producer since helming French Montana's anthemic "New York Minute" featuring Jadakiss (and later, Nicki Minaj and ostensibly every rapper in the Tri-State Area) and "Shot Caller." He's also produced tracks for everyone from Action Bronson and Ric ... More >>

The Best Albums Pitchfork Hated This Year

Since Purity Ring, Death Grips and Tame Impala didn't exactly take off this year like Arcade Fire or Animal Collective, Pitchfork's cultural influence might be cooling off, which is bittersweet since their writer stable is probably better now than it ever was (some of us don't miss those novelty rev ... 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 >>

Will Half Naked And Almost Famous Turn Machine Gun Kelly Into Bad Boy's New Biggie?

Diddy's new Bad Boy movement is beginning to resemble a hall of mirrors. The label's rejuvenation has been spear-headed by fresh faces—Cleveland's Machine Gun Kelly, Bronx-based French Montana, and Baltimore's Los—but there are striking parallels and warped similarities with Bad Boy's gl ... 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 >>

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 >>

The 11 Most Infuriating Songs Of 2011, No. 11: Kreayshawn, "Gucci Gucci"

​If 2011 had one takeaway, it was this: It's really, really easy to write a song that's by-the-numbers lousy. Rebecca Black's "Friday," the mushmouthed ode to getting down on the weekends, is a prime example; made on a budget, it nonetheless had enough brain-sticking properties to get inside t ... More >>

Live: Pill Arrives In New York, Only To Wonder Where New York Is

Pill w/Jon Connor, AP, Nina B, Kasanova S.O.B.'s Thursday, November 17 Better than: Subway delays. Like, who enjoys that? Two years ago, on the strength of the bubble-cooking anthem "Trap Goin' Ham," Pill was inescapable during CMJ week, a pop-up at every show. XXL picked him as one of its top 10 ... More >>

Q&A: araabMUZIK On His Influences, His Name, And Filling His Records With Crazy Beats

​Innovation keeps culture moving forward. Some hungry kid will always figure out how to put a new spin on things his predecessors have already done. Just ask araabMUZIK. He's still young, but his production track record is strong—he's worked on tracks by Tragedy Khadafi, 50 Cent and Vad ... More >>

Live: Fool's Gold Day Off Party Turns into a Relay Rave

Fools Gold Day Off City Winery Monday, September 5 Better than: Catching bullets at a parade. New York City empties out on Labor Day weekend, but for the past two years those who've stuck around have been able to see behind the curtain on what's next, on what's nexter-than-next, and the emerging ... 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 10 Best Post-Prison Lil Wayne Songs (Plus the Other 16!)

​It's been almost 5 months, or 141 days, or 3384 hours, or 203,040 minutes since Lil Wayne got out of jail. And in that time, by our count, he's made 26 new musical appearances. A few of these might have been recorded before he went to jail (pre-probation-Wayne's maniacally hoarse voice genera ... More >>

Pazz & Jop Stats: On Kanye West's Dominance, And What The Poll Would've Looked Like Without Him

​"If there was any way you could confirm Kanye's inevitable victory early, that'd be a big help art-department-wise." So began Pazz & Jop editor Rob Harvilla's first note to me after voting closed in late December. Inevitability is not a statistical quality, but the magnitude of My Beautiful D ... More >>

Rob Harvilla's Top 10 Singles of 2010

​Not every great song this year was released by Katy Perry. From a snarling avant-electro NPR lecture to a haunted-house posse cut to a ludicrously profane viral sensation, here are 10 examples. "Teenage Dream" might still be better than all of these, though. Better get this started before I c ... More >>

R&B Serenity Now: R. Kelly, Ne-Yo, and Others Keep the Quiet-Storm Flame Alive

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Throw Taylor Swift In A Well

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! Pay Rich Juzwiak what you owe him, Jay Leno. Twitpic by Dav ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? House Music vs. Hashtag Rap

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! The most important artist of 2010.​Hi everybody! To ... More >>

The 10 Biggest Music Stories of 2010

Ah M.I.A., it just wasn't your year, was it? Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In 2010, Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire both had #1 records. LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, MGMT, the National, M.I.A, and Sufjan Stevens all had albums debut in the top ten. Kanye West joined Twitter. Drake started a riot in New ... 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 >>

Kanye West, Finally Unraveled

Plumbing the gorgeous nightmares of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

So Just How Homophobic Is Rap In 2010?

​The familiar conceit of this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine article "Sissy Bounce: New Orleans's Gender-Bending Rap," goes something like this: There are some gay rappers in New Orleans. Rap's usually really homophobic. That's crazy, huh? Contrasting the apparently enlightened attitude ... More >>

Download These Are Powers' Game-Changing New Club Banger (!), "Anything Above Nothing"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing new and emerging MP3s from local talent. ​It's been generally impossible to keep up with the ever-changing moods of tireless, futurist dance trio These Are Powers. In roughly six releases over four years, they've dabbled in don't-call-us-No ... More >>

At Long Last, the Drake Jay-Z Reunion: "Light Up"

Less of a banger than we would've predicted, but still real fierce in spots, and miles better than "Off That," the song Drake guested on for Jay-Z's Blueprint 3. On "Light Up," Drake starts out sounding a bit like Jay--polysyllabic, clever, quick--and Jay returns the homage. Like he did way back w ... More >>

American Idol Season 9: Top 10 Results

Diddy, please never let that white suit go. Photo by Michael Becker / FOX. ​Are the results shows always this bad? This padded out with product placements and movie tie-ins and Seacrest/Cowell banter that seems one barb away from a loogie to the face? Just kidding--I know they're always this b ... More >>

Gucci Mane Is Eating Really Well In Prison, If The Cover Of His Upcoming Burrrprint 2 Mixtape Is Any Indication

​From Rap Radar comes news of the next Gucci missive, out April 13, which promises to be anot--man look at that spread! Three bottles! Such tastefully arranged carrots! And I hear Fulton County Jail's lobster is excellent! Tough TV-viewing angles though. Some PR info on this eagerly awaited se ... More >>

"You're All So Hammered You Don't Give A Fuck What I Say": Live From The Woodies

Girls not having much fun. Pic by Connar Walik, more below.​Once a year, mtvU hosts the Woodies, an event that's a lot like the Teen Choice Awards, except that it caters to college kids and music-industry people who can say stuff like, "I started listening to that band, like, two years ago." T ... More >>

R. Kelly, Meet The-Dream: On Kells' New "#1 Fan"

Always loved that moment when pop music snake bites its own tail, and Gwen Stefani rips off Fergie-ripping-off-Gwen Stefani, or Jay-Z bites Rick Ross-biting-Jay-Z, or whatever--the moment when some foundational artist gets lapped by their own legacy and suddenly has to play catch-up. So one nascen ... More >>

Letters: April 23 Edition

Live, Briefly: J. Holiday at J&R

Morrissey looks on with disdain. J. Holiday Downtown J&R In-Store Tuesday, March 10 If J. Holiday doesn't play "Bed," I'm throwing a Roy Orbison box-set at his head. The lithe boudoir-jam r&b singer was blessed in 2007 with the best song The-Dream will ever be associated with, and the rest is, u ... More >>

Dirty Blonde: Book Eaters, CMJ, and Studio B's Demise

That infamous festival is back, though chicks may happily dominate this year

Nelly Battles the Recession, Also The Recession

Rap's 2008, Beyond Lil Wayne

Praising outstanding new hip-hop records sadly subsumed by Weezymania

Status Ain't Hood Podcast 38

Flo Rida: Miami Sound Machine

Ringtone-rap titan unleashes a blaring but robotic debut

Fat Joe vs. the Volcano

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

How to Rob, by M.I.A.

M.I.A. triumphantly knocks the hustle that's driving hip-hop's materialist malaise

The Quarterly Report: Winter's Best Singles

Status Ain't Hood's Quarterly Report: The Summer's Best Singles

The Motormouth of the South

DJ Khaled is taking over, 200 words a minute and one guest-star at a time

Live: Girl Talk Gets Hit With More Ass Than A Toilet Seat

Trick Daddy Keeps It Ugly

Mind Games

50 Cent and Jay-Z are Friends Now

Shrink Rapped

TV Gotti's alleged cult doc

NY Mirror