Reviews

Tyler, The Creator’s career has firm roots in shock value. His third studio album Cherry Bomb fell right in step this month, with a surprise early release on April 12. His Coachella performance the same weekend served to hype the project, which was already tangibly buzzing thanks in part to the Kanye West, Lil Wayne, ScHoolboy Q and Pharrell features. The ...

iLoveMakonnen has had quite a year so far. After first catching the ears of Mike Will Made It, Metro Boomin and 808 Mafia, the 25-year-old MC shot to meteoric success last summer after Drake remixed "Tuesday" for optimal turn up results. Since then, the rapper/singer has signed to OVO Sound, toured internationally and has been the man of the hour on the festival circuit...

Since his 2000 major label debut, Back For The First Time, Ludacris has consistently proven that he could flow alongside great MCs like T.I., Nas and Jay Z. With a motion flick, Furious 7, breaking records at the box office, the newly wed MC is back to prove that he can wax poetically with hip-hop’s new breed on his new studio album, Ludaversal. Ever since 2003's Chicken-...

Wedged between news stories surrounding his soon-to-be ex-wife Amber Rose and his recent appearance on WWE’s Raw at the beginning of March, Wiz Khalifa announced a new collaborative EP with Ty Dolla $ign titled Talk About It In The Morning. With an already und...

Wale's Album About Nothing is presumably the most substantial rap/Seinfeld collaboration the hip-hop community will ever witness. The effort was derived around concepts and show titles from the nine season-long NBC series, which ran from 1989 to 1998. With his four...

Earl Sweatshirt’s young career has been largely enigmatic. After bursting onto the scene in 2010 as the most lyrically gifted of the cartoonish Odd Future crew, he dropped his odiously raw Earl mixtape and then disappeared, with only “Free Earl” chants left in his wake at OF shows. Shortly after hi...

Formerly one third of Durham, NC rap group Little Brother, Southern MC Rapper Big Pooh has honed his skills since his days alongside Phonte and 9th Wonder. Debuting his first solo album, Sleepers, in 2005, Pooh has cultivated a fan base all his own thanks to witty, pun-filled lyrics and smart production choices...

Mr. Wonderful is the title of an obscure 1968 Fleetwood Mac album featuring a shirtless, lanky individual on the cover. Nearly 50 years later, Action Bronson appears on the scene as the well-over 300 pound antithesis. The origins of the former chef-turned-rap-phenomenon are well-documented in the canals of viral myth via unintentionally hilarious interviews and painfully truthful autobiographical

Though touted as a Migos mixtape, Migo Lingo acts more as a platform for the Atlanta crew’s YRN imprint, as well as the Quality Control label at large. The tape is hosted by DJ Durel and YRN Lingo and showcases 14 rappers in total, with the Migos trio taking the lead on just two of the 18 tracks (though they’re featured on several more). Despite th...

Z-Ro doesn’t leave much to interpretation. His songs are almost always tragically or hilariously to the point, and often both. On his latest album Melting The Crown, the Houston underdog balances the ups and down with the help of a new instrument-forward production team. The new r...

Ghostface Killah has been on a prolific run with his albums recently and with his latest collaborative offering alongside Canadian trio BadBadNotGood, Sour Soul, the Wally Champ meshes his golden era raps with jazz elements to provide a refreshing, but brief, 12-track LP. ...

Fashawn has been around for more than decade now. The Frenso, Calif. MC caught the attention of hip-hop heads with his 2009 debut album, Boy Meets World, an album that’s packed with real world commentary from the perspective of a Black child coming of age in urban America. On songs ...