Mos Def

Legendary Cash Money producer Mannie Fresh is going through a renaissance period right now, with a slew of new projects in the works and the potential return of the Hot Boys on the horizon. "It's the rebirth of Mannie Fresh," he said. "It's been busy for me, that's all I can say is thank the fans, thank God, the people who believe in me...

Award shows aren't generally designed for hip-hop fans. The biggest award shows like the Oscar's and the Emmy's seem to barely acknowledge the impact of the culture.  For hip-hop heads, the most consistently thrilling moment  in any award show around remains the BET Cyphers shown during the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards. The cyph...

Mos Def's underground masterpiece.

Talib Kweli took a break from writing songs and speaking out for social justice yesterday, taking some time to answer questions from fans during a Reddit Ask Me Anything Session. Like similar questioning sessions featuring artists like Big Boi, the Weeknd and Mac Miller, the AMA was a combination of thoughtful inquiries and silly requests...

Rappers get animated.

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Endorsement deals are just the tip of the iceberg in hip-hop these days—from Mac Miller to T.I., nearly every rapper has been snagging his or her own TV show. And with Rick Ross joining the cast of Starz's upcoming series Magic City, it looks like more and more of hip-hop's finest plan on taking their talents to the small screen. Now, X...

Rappers have a strange relationship with the cinematic arts. While a few truly talented MCs have parlayed their musical fame into successful and rewarding cinematic careers, a greater number of others have dived head-first into the world of film and royally bombed...

There's a lot of things fans are accustomed to seeing their favorite MCs featuring in their pictures and videos - fancy cars, gold chains, beautiful women - the list goes on ad infinitum. However, there is one thing that most wouldn't expect to see in a flick with a successful rapper: a puppet...

Today, super-producer/fashion icon/sometimes-hologram will.i.am put out a new record, #willpower, a dance-pop supernova of an album that features Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, k-pop stars 2NE1, and a long list of other huge acts. The album is pretty much what you'd expect - a lot of rave beats and huge anthemic hooks and simple one-liners sprinkled throughout...

As we roll out our annual Top Ten Freshman List for 2013, XXL decided to take a look back 15 years to weigh in on who would have been the members of the Freshman Class in the year 1998. All decisions were based on our current Freshman guidelines, meaning entire groups and artists who had released their debut albums prior to the list date were excluded...