Kathy Iandoli is a freelance writer with XXL. Visit the official XXL staff contact page here to see all current employees.
Kathy Iandoli
20 Of Hip-Hop’s Fastest Rappers
Years back, there was a commercial for toys called Micro Machines, and the announcer talked so fast that you couldn’t catch a single word that he said. Maybe that was his shtick, and he was actually telling everyone the cars were so small that you could choke on them if you accidentally ate one (Who would do that though?). Th...
The 15 Most Slept-On Rap Crew Members Of The Moment
The phrase “Slept-On” often sounds like a misnomer when you’re dealing with artists on the come up. Of course they’re “Slept-On,” when they haven’t even broken yet. However, hip-hop has a long history of the success of rap crews led by one very specific leader in each camp. The result is other acts tend to get ove...
The 15 Current Kings Of Ad-Libs
Imagine a hip-hop song without a single ad-lib, just straight rhyming for three minutes and 30 seconds without a single pause for a laugh or a cool catch phrase. Sounds pretty uneventful, right? Ad-libs are as much a fiber in the fabric of rap as the actual rapping itself...
50 Cent’s 25 Best Recent Guest Appearances
Throughout the tenure of 50 Cent’s career, he’s jumped on quite a few tracks. As the leader of G-Unit, there was always someone in the camp looking for a hot 16 from Fif. Add to that 50 Cent’s friends outside of his crew often needed some lyrical assistance on tracks, looking for a touch of his hit-making magic. Finally, 50 Cent...
25 Of The Best Closing Lines In Rap
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...
The 15 Best Eminem Guest Verses
There’s a reason why Eminem is credited as being one of hip-hop’s most prolific lyricists. It’s because he is. Marshall Mathers delivers on every track he approaches—whether it’s his or someone else’s. He has a knack for switching up hi...
Drake’s 25 Best Guest Appearances
Drake on his own can carry a song—hate it or love it, but it’s true. The Canadian singer-slash-rapper-slash-actor certainly knows his way around a hit. A guest verse from Drake either adds a certain something to a track or ends up taking over the song altogether. It’s a gif...
25 Of Juicy J’s Best Lines On ‘Stay Trippy’
Three 6 Mafia alum Juicy J delivers his third solo album (and major label debut) Stay Trippy this week. The project takes Juicy J’s traditional breed of club-thumping beats and sprinkles in some of Juicy’s most audacious bars (with the help of some guests of course). It’s a for...
25 Of Lauryn Hill’s Best Bars From ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’ And Beyond
On Sunday it will have been 15 years since Lauryn Hill dropped her solo debut album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. While the project displayed Hill's incredible musical ambition and an advanced level of lyrical dexterity on a number of tracks, it was not the first time we heard L-Boogie spit bars with finesse...
30 Best Biblical Bars About God On No Malice’s ‘Hear Ye Him’
As No Malice releases his solo debut album Hear Ye Him, it’s important to know that it’s a new day for the Clipse veteran. While his days as simply “Malice” were filled with bars about kilos and cooking coke, he always injected some mention to God in his words. An awakening changed h...
25 Artists DJ Khaled Should Work With
It seems as though DJ Khaled has worked with everybody. And we mean everybody. Check Khaled’s catalog, and you might even find your own name on a feature off one of his many compilations. He possesses the gift of being able to corral various rappers from different regions and genres, then get them all on one gigantic track. Ther...
25 Tracks Featuring American Rappers And English Women
The definition of an “anglophile” is one who has a strong fondness or admiration for England and/or English culture. Maybe it boils down to the sexy accents or the fact that British female artists are taking over our airwaves, but hip-hop has a strong fixation on the Brits. Whether it...