Review

Arguably his most experimental project to date, Compton is both a verbal and sonic narrative of Dre’s career thus far.

The infamous Gunplay, aka Don Logan, has finally released his long-awaited Def Jam debut, Living Legend.

DeJ Loaf is far from the woman she was a year ago. Last summer, budding fans were riding out to her slow but steady smash hit, "Try Me," and just discovering the corresponding catalog of this pint-sized Detroit MC. Flip a few pages on the calendar and the 24-year-old has definitely morphed into something greater, not just for her city, but for all emerging female MCs in the game... Read

You can fly from Oakland to Los Angeles in less than 90 minutes. The drive is an easy six hours. The Warriors play at the Staples Center four times every season. The Raiders flitted back and forth; so did 2Pac. But for the most part, the Bay and L...

Many rappers can come across like they’re bulletproof humans. With all the braggadocios raps, alluring videos and behind-the-scenes footage of tours mixed with everyday rap life, some of our favorite rappers can seem immune to regular problems, thoughts and ideas. Howe...

The intro to Trae Tha Truth’s latest album Tha Truth feels like a mission statement. Comedian Lil Duval says, “Ain’t no music out here for the struggle right now. That’s what the people need.” He continues to explain that he knows people love to dance and have a good time, but it’s hard to do that when life hits you hard. It’s an accurate take on the curre...

There is a song towards the business end of Future's third solo album, DS 2, called "The Percocet & Stripper Joint." Rarely has any artist so effectively and outwardly summed up their own level of hedonism and self-destruction in a single song title. And rig...

Let’s face it; breakups are hard, especially when it’s between two parties that have been inseparable for nearly two decades. When news broke that Lil Wayne wasn’t happy with his current situation over at Cash Money Records and wanted “nothing to do” with the very people he considered his closest family, it felt like the hip-hop world was out of balance. For as long as most can r...

At some point in the lifespan of the genuine hip-hop connoisseur, a fan is inevitably met with the reality of apathetic industry czars overlooking talented voices in exchange for lucrative clutter in the mainstream realm. A sweeping pandemic of shiny suits in the late 1990s essentially lobotomized a generation accustomed to high-level lyricism and ingenious producers, with its return coming only i

It seems like everywhere you go, casual listeners and hip-hop fans alike are always able to identify a traditional West Coast sound. The criterion for what a West Coast rap song should sound like has been ingrained in fans' brains for practically eternity...

When Meek Mill announced his long-awaited sophomore album would be titled Dreams Worth More Than Money around this time last year, it seemed to mark a transition in tone from the loud-mouthed MMG MC. For so long his narrative had revolved around the pursuit of money, the validation of fame, the escape from the nightmares of his upbringing in the rough streets of Philly. But...

Vince Staples has never fit a mold. The streetwise rapper from Long Beach and 2015 XXL Freshman has a long lineage of rappers whose model he could follow as he begins to assert himself on the hip-hop landscape, dating back to Nate Dogg, Snoop and Dre and their funkified, bouncy party jams, or more recently with the Compton-bred MCs YG and Kendrick Lamar, anchors of opposite sides of the current Ca