When you’re ballin’ out of control, both literally and figuratively, it’s probably pretty easy to lose your focus. Although most of us may never know what it’s like to be in the highest tax brackets, we have done everything within Hip-Hop culture to swagger ourselves into that image. Minnesota Timberwolves’ point guard Troy Hudson, a.k.a. […]

Five years ago, every artist carrying a Shady Records contract was a star. After the Anger Management Tour, 50 Cent, Obie Trice, and D12 all achieved platinum status, not to mention their invincible leader Eminem. After 2004 however, despite adding acclaimed producer Alchemist to the mix, neither critics nor consumers have gravitated towards the upstart […]

Four years ago, I spoke to Rosco P. Coldchain on a rushed Arista Records press day. Advance copies of the album were mailed, The Clipse/N.E.R.D. buzz was still white-hot, and the North Philadelphia MC appeared that he was a walk-on starter with Star Trak, having only a few short months barring him from stardom. Those […]

Though it’s been several years since his untimely passing, Hip-Hop has yet to find another Ol’ Dirty Bastard. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the odds of ever finding him again are slim-to-none. Name another rapper who bumrushed The Grammys, allegedly got held up by Diddy’s goons, then saved a little girl […]

“Dear Mama” by 2Pac (1995, Out Da Gutta/Interscope) If “Keep Ya Head Up” made 2Pac an ally to women, “Dear Mama” delivered him lovingly to the ears and hearts of mothers, daughters and sons. This brutally honest effort puts the iconic artist very close to Marvin Gaye, for his intimate introspective verses. “Mama Said Knock […]

In Hip-Hop, reinvention can be harder than getting recognized in the first place. While Zev Love X was able to later mask himself as underground superstar MF Doom and the Genius scratched the surface of what would become GZA, both examples are well over a decade old. DJ Quik arguably needs no reintroduction. Few could […]

Lately it seems like music is getting less and less relatable, unless you’re driving fancy cars or slangin’ drugs. Many folks are just listening to music from a purely “outside looking in” perspective. Bronx-born Chaundon is trying to bring a point of view into music that more people will be able to relate to. His […]

Much of the Hip-Hop community feels like the recent wave of condemnation are aggressive maneuvers to starve a younger generation out of creative existence. Rev. Al Sharpton doesn’t want to dictate expression, but he does want to obliterate certain terms from our collective. Some agree, and many sharply disagree. A small group of rappers like […]

  What do you do if you’re in the middle of the ocean on a boat and your friends tease you about how they think you can’t swim? Well, Akon’s tour DJ and producer Benny Demus a.k.a. Benny D found himself in that very predicament when he decided to jump off the boat to prove […]