This can’t be said of many things in hip-hop, but it was Ed O.G. who started it all. Well, he…
Certain things are meant to be bought on the street. It’s clear, for example, that the trade in certain mind-altering…
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1895) We wear the mask that grins and lies It hides our…
What’s a soon-to-be-forgotten don to do as his star fades and his gold teeth lose their luster? If you’re Master…
Armand Van Helden just wants to be loved, though it’s a personal pathology he may well not be in touch…
This week I continue my quest to sift through the white noise and bring you the gems you so richly…
Last month, MTV bestowed the latest in a series of increasingly bombastic tributes upon one of its leading lights, Miss…
Though it wasn’t in the televised part of the show last Wednesday, Eminem’s winning two rap Grammy awards certainly qualifies…
Aceyalone was just a scant 15 years old when he composed the following rhyme, which would soon appear as the…
Can Marshall come out and play? On his new album, Em just wants to be unremarkable.
For a moment—nothing. Earlier this spring, just after “Back That Azz Up” had finally waned from radio playlists, we had…
ALICIA KEYS Songs in A Minor (J Records) On “Girlfriend,” Alicia Keys’ debut single, Ol’ Dirty Bastard is growling in…
Anerae Brown is one of hip-hop’s least-known, most unlikely prolific MCs. Since 1992, Brown—whose nom de rap is X-Raided (or,…
The kids nowadays, they’ve got no sense of history. If it didn’t happen in their lifetime, well then, it didn’t…
It was strangely dark last night—black-gray, thick, billowy. The kind of weather that heralds a redemptive rainstorm, a fresh summer…
The gift of some singers has very little to do with songwriting, vocal tone, or ability to perform glottal histrionics…
Blame rappers’ alter egos for all those one-dimensional records.
REVOLUTION IS A COMMODITY these days—the capitalist system works at such an accelerated pace that voices of dissent find themselves…
P. DIDDY & THE BAD BOY FAMILY The Saga Continues . . . (Bad Boy) Hey, Sean Combs! Less than…
Fallen icons Bob Marley and Notorious B.I.G. get worked over.
Since the mid-’80s, Divine Styler’s been on a wild ride that epitomizes, perhaps more than the experiences of any artist,…
No one truly knew Aaliyah Dana Houghton. Just 22 years old, she’d already lived a life most veteran entertainers would…
Before the Cash Money Millionaires even enter Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum, host T.K. Kirkland, raunchy comedian about town, is setting…
