Reed Jackson
Common Sheds More Light On Chicago With ‘Nobody’s Smiling’
“A black figure...in the middle with chaos and gunfire…the beast is runnin' rampant.”
Those are words Common rapped on “Chi-City,” a song off his 2005 album Be. That album, now considered by some to be one of the few hip-hop classics of the 2000s (XXL gave it its highest rating), was a detailed account of life on the city’s South Side, where Com grew up. When you listen to it, you can’t he...
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Cormega And Large Professor Want To Champion The Essence Of Hip-Hop
New York-born and bred MC Cormega is pacing around backstage of the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn anxiously staring at his phone. On Monday night (July 21), he’s here to perform his new album, Mega Philosophy, in its entirety, and he’s expecting a lot of longtime friends, family members and fellow MCs to show up in support.
“I got ...
Rating The Eight Hip-Hop Tracks On Jennifer Lopez’s ‘AKA’
After a three-year break, Jennifer Lopez has returned with a new album, A.K.A. Although her hiatus was relatively brief (she has released 10 albums in 15 years, after all), a fair amount has changed. For one, female pop music has lost some of its gloss thanks to Beyoncé’s recent self-titled album, which was lush and dark and avoided the cheesiness that often comes with the genre’s big-name releas
The Roots And Snoop Dogg Lifted The Crowd’s Spirits At 7th Annual Roots Picnic
Photography By: Lucas Alvarado / Far Fetched
“Please stop the earthquake!”
That’s what punk-y soul singer Janelle Monáe kept yelling during her set at the 7th annual Roots Picnic. Her plea, which of course was said with her trademark style and grace, could have been referring to either the event’s sound guy, who was having a rough day (more on that soon), or the crowd itself, which was growing inc
The Roots Impress With Their Most Ambitious Effort On ‘And Then You Shoot Your Cousin’
Earlier this year, while describing to XXL the logic behind The Roots’ newest concept album And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, bandleader Black Thought finished by bluntly saying, “I don’t know if that makes any sense.” The admission was a result of trying to sum up the significance of the album, which he described as being extremely “dense.” Anyone who attended the alb...
Styles P Breaks Down His Five Most Essential Albums
Previously: The LOX Reunite For Phantom And The Ghost Release Concert
Styles P Says Former D-Block Vs. G-Unit Beef Was A “Lyrical Spar”
Review: Styles P, Phantom And The Ghost
Styles P Hits The Block With Chris Rivers And Dyce Pain In “Same Scriptures” Video
Styles P Says Former D-Block Vs. G-Unit Beef Was A “Lyrical Spar”
Last week, 50 Cent released a grimy video for “Chase The Paper,” a track off his forthcoming Animal Ambition album. In the video, 50 raps alongside Kidd Kidd, Prodigy of Mobb Deep and—to some people’s surprise—Styles P, whom he had beef with years prior. The two’s issues began back ...
Kevin Gates Stakes His Claim As A Rising Talent On ‘By Any Means’ Mixtape
Baton Rouge rapper Kevin Gates likes to claim his life is like a movie. He says so all the time. He said it on his booming Stranger Than Fiction single “4:30 AM” and yells it all over the place on his newest tape, By Any Means, which actually features a song called “Movie.” He even told it...
Pharrell Continues His Hot Streak With ‘G I R L’
These days, Virginia Beach producer and vocalist Pharrell can do no wrong. Whether it’s producing Marvin Gaye-inspired pop hits, crooning over cheesy French disco or wearing a hat that looks like it was tailored for Smokey the Bear, the seemingly ageless falsetto manages to always come off cool. As a...
The Come Up: Joey Fatts
To meet the lofty expectations of his debut album, Harlem’s A$AP Rocky called upon some of the biggest names in hip-hop to help on the project, from megastar rapper Drake to pop hit-maker Jim Jonsin. He also called upon Joey Fatts, a homeless 21-year-old who had been only making beats for a year.
I...
UPDATE: French Montana & Coke Boys To Drop A New Mixtape New Year’s Day
French Montana and his crew are gearing up to release a new mixtape.
The Coke Boys, made up of French, Chinx, Flip, Cheeze and Lil Durk, will release the fourth installment of their self-titled mixtape series this December. French, who has been relatively quiet as of late, posted the project's cover art to his Instagram...
No Malice Wants To Wash The Blood Off His Hands
Let’s not beat around the bush: No Malice, formerly known as Malice, was really good at rapping about cocaine. Together as Clipse, he and his brother, Pusha T turned it into a fine art, using double entendres and witty wordplay to glorify their time in the trap. That’...