AllHipHop.com: To walk around New York City on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 was a bizarre feeling. In my head all day, I had “When the Angels Sing.” Three years after you wrote it, how do you approach that song? Freddie Foxxx: When I made “When the Angels Sing”, I was trying to paint a […]

In 1986, Eric B. (Eric Barrier) arrived in Long Island from Queens, looking for the standout MC that the peninsula had to offer. As legend has it, Rakim and the legendary DJ made the historic link even though Barrier had his eyes on another young rapper named Freddie Foxxx. With the end of the decade, […]

As Def Jam was a building empire in the mid ‘80s, Russell Simmons would have been working the phones, handling important business for LL, EPMD, and Slick Rick. Perhaps along the way, Simmons heard of Too Short, a slow-talking rapper with pimpish lyrics, that was selling boxes of records from the trunk in East Oakland, […]

Let’s face it. The South is running Hip-Hop. Everybody should just say it out loud because it’s real. The East Coast has been dry for a long minute. The West Coast is limping along, and looking a bit unfocused. The South though, stays dirty. When Chamillionaire won the MTV Video Music Award for “Best Rap […]

Ed O.G. has made “Boston n***as don’t play” a catch-phrase for Beantown streets. While Bobby Brown continues to make magazine covers in his third decade, Hip-Hop in New England has never broken through the glass ceiling of sales and recognition. However, with a changing sound in the mainstream, many believe that Dre Robinson has what […]

When Oh No says, “Life in the Ox is like life out of the Ox,” on the “I’m Here” intro off The Disrupt album, he’s lying. There aren’t too many places the size of Oxnard, California that can claim to be the home of such forward-thinking talent as Oh No and brother Madlib, in addition […]

After being kicked off The Source’s board of directors earlier this year, magazine founders Dave Mays and Ray “Benzino” Scott seemingly disappeared from public view. When their bid to regain stake in The Source was rejected by the courts, the two were perceived as Hip-Hop journalism’s most notorious pariahs. The two may have been down, […]

A lasting career in the music business is not promised, even if you are lucky enough to be chosen out of 40,000 people to star in your own MTV reality show. E Ness learned this lesson, but luckily, he knew the rules of engagement. Having already experienced regional success before his MTV stint, Ness wasn’t […]

The Game is more familiar with beef than A.1. Steak Sauce. The rapper has had tense situations with 50 Cent, Joe Budden, Memphis Bleek, JT Tha Bigga Figga and others but suddenly he’s got a new, unlikely adversary in Ras Kass, one of the West Coast’s lyrical legends. The conflict stemmed from an apparent, albeit […]

G Funk crowned Dr. Dre. Crunk made a household name out of Lil’ Jon. The hardcore Hip-Hop movement resurrected DJ Premier. Whenever a subgenre blows up, there’s usually one producer that gets pointed to the most. While Rick Rock and Lil’ Jon are responsible in helping the Hyphy sound get recognized, the Bay Area native […]

Since 1992, DJ Shadow has been active in several facets of Hip-Hop. The Davis, California native has taught legions of turntable owners how to dig in the crates for rare grooves. Shadow also worked as a producer, spearheading the Solesides/Quannum movement, before collaborating with everybody from U.N.K.L.E. to Cage to Paris. Most notably, the Schoolhouse […]

Without question, Hip-Hop has let a lot of its stars pass as studio gangsters. Though many would argue that lyricism is in a drought, creativity tends to prevail over reality when it comes a successful rapper. For those getting skeptical about the line between fact and fiction, there are select rappers who undoubtedly seem to […]

AllHipHop.com: You put a lot of Hip-Hop fans on to Nina Simone, how did you react to her passing? Talib Kweli: I mean, Nina Simone’s passing was tragic, of course, but you celebrate somebody’s life. I was just blessed to have had a chance to meet her; an opportunity to meet her family—she’s been really […]

Ever since Talib Kweli quietly stepped on to the scene in the late 1990s, his bars penetrated the ears of its listeners with stinging truth. His early classic, “The Manifesto” plowed the minds of the youth with lines like, “We pickin’ 100% designer name brand cotton, they still plottin’” and “Back in the day they […]

Tupac Shakur once said that his big mouth had the tendency to get him into a lot of trouble. The man responsible for violent songs like “Hit ‘Em Up” and “Bomb First” made his detractors confirm their beliefs when he got into trouble. And he sure did get in trouble a lot. He allegedly shot […]

The mid-to-late 90s can be best described as the gift and the curse for Hip-Hop Journalism. In one respect, the urban written word was in its heyday, where heads anxiously awaited how many mics an album received from The Source. The power of the pen echoed through publications laden with everything from beef to the […]

IIt’s been ten long years since Tupac Shakur’s untimely death, but his group, the Outlawz, continue to tear through the rap game at a same grueling pace. They started off as seven members but after Tupac’s death fate would downsize them, and now three remain: E.D.I., Kastro and Young Noble. They’ve consistently released solid albums […]

To his supporters, activist Dr. Mutulu Shakur is a political prisoner forced into an Atlanta-based penitentiary for crimes he didn’t commit. Since his capture and arrest on February 12, 1986, he’s been vehemently fighting for his freedom – nearly 20 years. In 1987, he was sentenced to 60 years in jail for an alleged conspiracy […]

After Tupac Shakur’s untimely death ten years ago today, his family fought for the control of his unreleased work and presented it to the world – in the process, selling millions of records, creating a successful clothing line, and producing an Oscar-nominated film. While Afeni Shakur was the engine that powered the franchise and is […]

In 1996, Rick Ross’ role in Hip-Hop was simply a fan. Living in Miami, no doubt pushing to the limit, Ross felt understood when listening to the struggles of Tupac Shakur on All Eyez on Me and Makaveli. “The Boss,” as Ross calls himself, was emotionally affected upon the loss of rap’s most colorful character. […]