A true-chain smoker will light one cigarette off of another, it prevents from having to use matches or a lighter. Perhaps that’s what Atlantic/Grand Hustle Records considered when they piggybacked Young Dro’s Best Thang Smokin’ off of TI’s highly successful album, King. After three years of making powerful appearances on albums from T.I., P$C, and […]

For more than 14 years, Daz Dillinger has known survival. Daz watched a Death Row dynasty being built from his early days as an MC while living off of Popeye’s Chicken. Five years later, he saw it all unravel even though he left with a Dogg Pound Gold solo album, Revenge, Retaliation, and Get Back. […]

“I’m the hottest thing out of Harlem,” says Cardan. The artist who has never released an album may be confusing some with that statement. After all, Cardan’s biggest buzz came from Harlem World in 1998, despite not being on the singles or in the videos. Still, the Uptown rapper has survived not only from feature […]

Alot of rappers and producer-types in the industry can be hard to talk to. You often have to pry their jaws open sometimes to get them to spill the beans for a hot exclusive. Normally, the higher up on the Hip-Hop food chain the artist is, the more difficult it is to get them to […]

W hen you feel like nobody can do it like you and your competition is minimal it’s only natural that you step up and claim a title. “Queen of South” is what she’s chosen to call herself and it doesn’t seem like anyone has objected…well at least not yet. Written off as a one-hit wonder […]

The “Game Theory” is defined as “An agent or person who is faced with a set of moves he can play and will form a strategy, to best respond to his environment.” Nobel Peace Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, the subject of the film A Beautiful Mind, developed this theory to calculate an actual formula to […]

T oday’s A&R not only eats off of the artists he signs, he can become a star in his own right. Jay-Z can shout out “Lenny S” as TI brings in DJ Drama to be the ears of Grand Hustle/Atlantic. However, in the formation of Hip-Hop as we know it, one of the most unmentioned […]

E arl Simmons is many men. In one respect he is a loving husband and father of four. On another plane, he is DMX, a talented and world renown emcee that has moved millions and millions of albums. Then there is X, the volatile, Yonker’s native who unpredictable nature is legendary. When AllHipHop.com interviewed The […]

“We went from fighting for freedom to goin’ dumb for free.” That’s how Ise Lyfe begins one of the songs, “Enigma,” from his debut album, Spread the Word. The East Oakland representative is not against Hyphy culture by any means, but instead the 23 year old is out to challenge the youth to be more […]

AllHipHop.com: Many consider A Gangster and a Gentleman a classic. Would you agree? Styles: If the streets say it, I’m riding with it. That album was a challenge for me. They were like “He’s good with the Lox, he’s hot on mixtapes, but can he make an album?” I know they didn’t expect me to […]

D avid Styles is a self-proclaimed problem. He’s adamant about you knowing it, absorbing it, and passing the declaration on to the next man. More often than not, listeners are overrun with gangster tales and tough talk that varies from phony album rhetoric, fabricated industry imagery, and true-to-life hood legends and trap stars that fall […]

GM Grimm, perhaps better known as MF Grimm, has lived the life that many rappers can only write fictional rhymes about. Emerging in the early ‘90s, Grimm collaborated with Hip-Hop greats Kool G Rap, Akinyele, and KMD, to name a few. The rugged rapper even penned undisclosed parts of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic for West […]

S temming back to Eric B & Rakim classics like “In the Ghetto,” the Nation of Gods and Earths, otherwise known as Five Percenters, have been some of the most successful MCs and producers to date. From Busta to Raekwon to J-Live, this powerful belief system changed the Hip-Hop vernacular from using words like “God,” […]

B one Crusher had the world on his side just three years ago. His hit, “Never Scared” was a major muscle in moving Crunk from the clubs to the country club dance-floors. However, as his peers caked up on bigger deals, stronger marketing, and endorsements, Bone Crusher was lost in the Arista merger with Jive. […]

W ith over 40 credits to his name, including roles as a producer and director, let it be known that Sticky Fingaz stands to soon be a household name. As “Slam” continues to get burn on greatest hits compilations, Sticky’s most recognizable feat may come as he takes over for Wesley Snipes as Blade: The […]

C lassic albums come along few and far between in the music world. The hunt for the perfect combination of lyricist and production chemistry can sometimes resemble a well-developed scientific experiment. The aim is to get a cohesive effort that gels and soothes listening ears, and at best, you get a mix that combusts to […]

B ack in 2002, Troy “Smack” Mitchell probably never thought that his DVD magazine would become a phenomenon in Hip-Hop culture. But some element of belief kept him tapping rappers on the shoulders, and begging them for a voyeuristic look at the lives of the lyricist. Everything about the S.M.A.C.K. DVDs captures that “fly on […]

T wenty-three and with a flow scratched out of sandpaper rawness, Chaz “G.A.G.E.” Scott is Aftermath’s newest and youngest signee. And while his sometimes-nickname — “Shottie” — implies the kind of double-barreled sawed-off that left Cuba Gooding Jr. screaming “Ricky!” in an alley, G.A.G.E.’s rap handle has little to do with guns. Born, raised and […]

T he gods over at Google must invest in irony, because upon searching for the Georgian group Field Mob, the description lists them as artists from New York. Surely anyone with even an earlobe to the street knows of the current situation regarding the Albany, Georgia natives and their take on the New York Hip-Hop […]

T he American Airlines Arena is usually jumping when the Miami Heat are playing, but it’s not always Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade causing the excitement. The person electrifying fans is often DJ Irie, the official DJ of the Miami Heat. During the pre-game warm-up, timeouts, and intermissions, Irie transforms the AAA into “one big […]