Reviews

The birth of Childish Gambino happened back in 2008 when Donald Glover plugged his name into a Wu-Tang rap name generator, thus his name was born and out comes his first tape, Sick Boi. For the early part of the 30-year-old's rap career, hip-hop purists assumed the once writer for NBC’s 30 Rock and cast member of NBC’s Community was trolling in his spare time, slinging goofy raps and calling himse

Let’s get this out of the way: The Abstract & The Dragon, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes’ new collaborative mixtape, is mostly a way for Busta to hype his upcoming album Extinction Level Event 2. Of the 28 tracks on The Abstract & The Dragon, eight are skits and 13 older cuts, leaving seven that are actually fresh—and of these, there’s new Q-Tip on just three. Even “Thank You,” both one of ... Re

The artist most popularly known as Snoop Dogg has reinvented himself once again. His last album, Reincarnated, found the West Coast veteran embracing Rastafarian culture and singing reggae, under the moniker Snoop Lion. This time around, hip-hop's favorite Uncle (no disrespect to Luke) has dropped the dreadlocks and whipped out his infamous perm, along with his candy blue '78 Cadillac Coup-Deville

Co-signs carry a lot of weight for an underdog. Lil Bibby received the honor of a Drake shout-out for his music, which helped bolster his career and thrust him into the spotlight. In April, Drake and Project Pat were rumored to appear on a remix to Bibby and Lil Herb’s “My Hood,” building even more momentum for the duo without a major label deal. Bibby would go o...

Everybody’s waiting for Rich Homie Quan’s next huge single. “Type Of Way” dominated the summer, with stuttering rhythms and Quan’s choppy sermon of a hook. Fans are waiting with baited breath for his big move, the one that will take him farther than Atlanta and the Internet. For now, Quan continues to d...

To summarize, Trae Tha Truth is not a people’s person. Hailing from Houston, the 15-year vet and pathological pessimist has turned shyness into a cottage industry. He is the rare MC in a predominantly extroverted genre to bespeak the merits of solitude—perhaps his most visible track to date is the untrusting loner’s anthem “No Help.” Misery, it turns out,...

What truly lurks inside the ill mind of Hopsin? That is something the lyricist’s annual video series of the same name could never really answer, not with any real depth at least; those records are small pieces of a much grander, more vivid sonic puzzle. Ther...

After some delays, Lloyd Banks released his F.N.O (Failure’s No Option) mixtape,the first of three planned mixtapes from his A.O.N (All Or Nothing) series. F.N.O. arrives over three years after the 31-year-old rapper's last studio album, H.F.M. ...

“I grew up in a rough town,” warns Roc Marciano, referencing Hempstead, Long Island, as his new mixtape comes to a close. It’s rare that the muck-mouthed rapper is so vague. As a rule, Marciano loves incisive turns of phrase and ominous imagery, and his words arrive in even, pulsing bunches. Consider: Hempst...

Memphis rapper Yo Gotti has a lane and, for the most part, he’s stuck to it. His brand of southern-fried street hop has remained relatively unchanged over the past decade, with the only exceptions coming when the 32-year-old rapper has tried—and usually failed—to fit in with the rap du jour. “LeBron James,” ...

It's often said that hip-hop is no country for old men. It's a statement that's been put to the test this year as more and more of rap's biggest stars have started to grow old with grace, releasing albums that touch on the importance of legacy while still trying to forge new ground...

"It was Big, Jay Z, now Troy Ave here after/But Kendrick Lamar's just a weirdo rapper," says Troy Ave on "New York City," his hometown celebrating single which features prototypical New York rappers Prodigy, N.O.R.E., and Raekwon. In a post-“Control” world, this would normally come off as the typical obligatory jab from a New York rapper, but that isn’t the case here. New York