Nas

It's that time of year again when kids are headed back to school. Here are 15 hip-hop songs to help ease the transition.

Rap music has a way of celebrating the opening line. It’s always the hard entry that has heads nodding and wanting to listen to the rest of the song. However, some songs start off strong and fade out into nothingness by the end. It’s a rapper’s duty to remain thorough throughout the track or enlist the help of others to enhance the cut right up to the closing. We like to ca...

When Arsenio Hall makes his return to late night television after a 19-year hiatus on September 9, he'll be doing it with a star-studded, hip-hop-heavy lineup with some impressive guests. The first week alone will feature Ice Cube, Mac Miller and Nas as guests, while Kendrick Lamar, Russell Simmons, Big Sean, 2 Chainz and Nick Cannon are all on the bill throughout the rest of the month... Read Mor

On this day, September 4, in hip-hop history... 1996:  Only a few short days before he was fatally gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip, Tupac Shakur made his last public appearance on television at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 4, 1996. Att...

With today marking the one year anniversary of Chris Lighty's untimely death, XXL decided to put together a gallery in honor of the legendary music industry executive. Helping cultivate top acts like Diddy, Nas, Ja Rule, Mobb Deep, Missy Elliott, L...

In an interview with Vibe his week, J. Cole offered some surprising news that would have led to a very different alternate reality in rap music. Prior to his signing with Roc Nation in 2009, former G-Unit Records president Sha Money XL had wanted to sign Cole to G-Unit before 50 Cent balked at the proposition. App...

Back in late July, Timbaland leaked the existence of a new song he was working on with Nas, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake entitled "Sinatra In The Sands." The mere mention of the track was enough to put hip-hop fans abuzz with anticipation at the potential existence of this super collaboration amongst hip-hop's elite...

Top 150 People, Places And Things In Hip-Hop

Artist: Lauryn Hill Reviewer: Nas Rating: XXL Anniversary: 15-year Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the September 2013 issue of XXL Magazine. I kept hearing about the album; there was a hype there, and when “Doo Wop” dropped, it was more than I expected. There’s alway...

Despite the fervor that Kendrick Lamar has stirred up this week, he is not the first rapper to place claim that he's "the King of New York." It has been a title that rappers across the spectrum have fought for since the days that The Notorious B...

New, New Friends. Old, Old Friends. No, No New Friends. The theme in hip-hop this week was about people coming together. Kanye joined Lil Wayne on stage setting hip-hop abuzz with thoughts of potential collaborations and the end to their great Cold War ...

Moved to action after hearing about a family in Washington, D.C. lose their home, Nas raised over $27,000 dollars for them today. The legendary rapper heard about the tragic story of Stanley Young, an unemployed construction worker and father of seven, who recently lost his apartment in a fire, rendering his family homeless in the inferno's wake...