Talib Kweli

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 >>

Elvis Costello, D'Angelo, Chris Rock Pay Tribute to Prince - Carnegie Hall - 3/7/13

Better Than: Sobbing silently while watching the club performance scene in Purple Rain on your couch for the 25th time this week... not that there's anything wrong with that. The stage was bigger, the venue more prestigious, and the atmosphere gave off a more purple hue. But then this was a Prince ... 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 >>

BACK TO SCHOOL

Take a class (sort of) 
with Fred Armisen

Harlem Rapper Vinny Cha$e Does Not Have $10,000 To Loan Strangers From the Internet

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Vinny Cha$e represents the new generation of rappers hailing from Harlem. Building on the buzz of his Golden Army mixtape, Vinny will be strutting the stage at S ... 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 >>

Skyzoo On Bed-Stuy's Breakfast Options And Supermarkets, Spike Lee, And Not Getting Signed By Jay-Z

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar will ask local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline. Skyzoo is a Bed-Stuy-raised rapper whose new album, A Dream Deferred, will be released at the start of October via the Brooklyn institution Duck Down. He ha ... More >>

Watch: George Martinez, Occupy Wall Street's Congressional Candidate, Raps

As the Voice describes in this week's cover story, George Martinez is running for congress in New York's 7th District, and he's doing so as an Occupy Wall Street-affiliated candidate. But before he was running for office, and before he first set foot in Zuccotti Park, Martinez was a rapper. As a ... More >>

Live: Imani Uzuri Brings The Gypsy Life To Joe's Pub

Imani Uzuri Joe's Pub Friday, June 1 Better Than: Being sad that Alice Coltrane and Cesaria Evora are dead and that Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill don't make albums together. The Gypsy Diaries is North Carolina homegirl Imani Uzuri's second self-produced release, and it proves that major-label suppor ... More >>

Russell Brand at Occupy Wall Street

Russell Brand at Occupy Wall Street​Last night, as a driving rain fell on Lower Manhattan and the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street debated whether to authorize a statement condemning the Democratic Party as a bought-and-paid for agent of corrupt Wall Street interests, Russell Brand visit ... More >>

Jack White And Stephen Colbert Will Turn The High Line Into A Record Store Later This Morning

​This week the late-night yuk/yakfest The Colbert Report has had all musically inclined guests, with performances by Bon Iver, Florence The Machine, and Talib Kweli; last night the host took his turn when he handled vocal duties on "Charlene II: I'm Over You," a collaboration with the Jack W ... More >>

Download: XXL Freshmen Class Member Fred the Godson's "Headbanger"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Bronx rhymebeast Fred The Godson is the only rapper representing the five boroughs on the cover of the XXL "Freshmen Of The Year" issue--and he's a hell of an ambassador. His rhyme style, a silky update ... More >>

Q&A: "White People Rapping Poorly" Mastermind Connor Toole On What Makes Terrible White Rappers So Amusing

Asher Roth, one of the good guys​Today, the Internet is filled with more depravity and embarrassing footage than anyone could have ever thought possible. Fortunately for us, people like Connor Toole are seeking out the best of the best (or worst of the worst), and posting these .gifs or YouTub ... More >>

SOTC Nightlife Awards: The Best One-Offs, the Best Party To Take Anyone To, and More

Farewell, Fat Beats​​Before we sink into holiday hibernation, we thought we'd take a moment to reflect on our exploits, and present to you our very own 2010 SOTC Nightlife Awards. Below, our fifth and final installment examines the rest of the best.

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

Live: Rating Rock the Bells Sets From Slick Rick, Wu-Tang Clan, Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg, and More

Oh, hey Q-Tip. All photos by Rebecca Smeyne.​On a sweltering Saturday, the seventh annual hip-hop nerd convention Rock The Bells took over Governor's Island. It's a place where people know to "throw a one in the air" for Guru before DJ Premier even asked, a place where you can overhear a convo ... More >>

Q&A: Brother Ali on Rock the Bells and The Importance of Getting Touched By Ghostface

Cover of Ali's The Truth is Here EP Of the many details that differentiate Brother Ali from your average rapper, it is important to note that after delving deep into the painful dissolution of his emotionally abusive marriage on his 2007 album The Undisputed Truth, Ali wraps things up by telling h ... More >>

The Top Ten Rap Supergroups That Never Happened

Over the weekend, the rapper Sean Price took to Twitter to propose a collaboration album between his own Brooklyn-based Boot Camp Clik hip-hop crew and Staten Island's mighty Wu-Tang Clan. The idea has been received rapturously. But then again, theoretical hip-hop supergroups usually are. Rap's hi ... More >>

Live: The Roots Regale The Teeming Prospect Park Masses With -- And Why Not -- "Sweet Child O' Mine"

​Black Thought greets his (overflowing) public. Photos by Nicole Ankowski, more below.​The Roots and friends Prospect Park Bandshell Sunday, July 11 Welcome to another preposterously well-attended Celebrate Brooklyn! fete, David Byrne-ian in its excess of humanity, thousands upon thousa ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Que Bajo, Joakim, Reggaeholics, DJ Shark, And DJ Maseo

​Start your weekend off with a tropically infused dance party. The Que Bajo crew take on Turntables of the Hudson (though they'll be at the Water Taxi Beach) as an ending to the Latin Alternative Music Conference and the second round of WTB's World Cup Fever events. Catch the guys as they play ... More >>

Of Montreal and Ghostface Killah Played Columbia's $100k Spring Bacchanal

All photos by Rebecca Smeyne If there's any metaphor for the price tag on elite higher education, just look to its student-run concerts. For Columbia's 250th anniversary a few years back, this alum remembers a blowout that included a no-show by Erykah Badu and one recently-hospitalized Wyclef Jean ... More >>

The Roots Reunited with the Dirty Projectors to Back Mos Def and Talib Kweli on Jimmy Fallon's Show Last Week

Well, two Dirty Projectors, anyway. The Roots and Jimmy Fallon conscripted Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle last Wednesday to back Mos Def and Talib Kweli on "History," from Mos' most recent album. Always happy to see this show try something different. (And to reunite such potent creative partners.) ... More >>

This Weekend! Devo, Sonic Youth, Talib Kweli, and Devendra Banhart

​So even Devo now is into this play-a-classic-album-in-its-entirety thing: They're at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza Friday (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!) and Saturday (Freedom of Choice). Have the courtesy to let that part of the setlist run out at least before you start hootin' and holle ... More >>

News Roundup: Ryan Adams, Raekwon, The-Dream

​--The onetime musician Ryan Adams, whose next new book of poetry, Hello Sunshine, just landed on top of his last one, Infinity Blues, at SOTC HQ, is taking his act to the Awl, where he'll be reviewing video games. Ahem: "Playing Gorf is like getting wasted, or what I remember about getting wa ... More >>

HIP-HOP HEADS

Brooklyn music fest turns five

SXSW Tip Sheet 2009

For fans of the Beatles, Willie Nelson, non-cloying indie pop, and presidential pardons

Letters 11.05.08

I Wish You All Got More Excited About Women

Rap's 2008, Beyond Lil Wayne

Praising outstanding new hip-hop records sadly subsumed by Weezymania

Preview: Bun B's New Album II Trill

Windsurfing Nation

Talib Kweli: No Longer That Much Like John Kerry

Jam-Bands Should Hire Rappers More Often

When Streetwear Goes. . . Legit: Weeklydrop On Satellite Radio?

Def in a Jam

On the endlessly inventive and increasingly mishandled career of Mos Def

An Act of Momentary Utopia

Shooting His Mouth Off

Comic Communist spins Saddam theories and tells us where he got his shoes

Dear Mr. President

Baby let's have a ficus leaf and a cranberry Snapple before Bush do something crazy

Chappelle's Show

Comedian's Bed-Stuy bash serves up local flavor and a homestyle, utopian vibe

Bed Mates

Hanging with Ego Trip, the Wiggle Tour, and minimal pasta

Sonic Refuges

Rock and roll could never hip hop like this and vice-versa et cetera, part 400something

Edges of the Groove

Arguments against education, reclaimed punk rants, electropop with staying power

Pro-Life Hip-Hop

Western positivists bring tablets down from the mountain

Listings

Escape Claus

Spreading the Net

Jam On It

Hippies, Jazzbos, and Beat Junkies Build One Nation Under a Mutant Groove

Easy-Chair Rap

Respect Due

Consumer Guide