Luke Tedaldi

As one of Houston's most prominent MCs, Kirko Bangz feels that it's his duty to give back. The rapper recently took over NYC's Terminal 23 to surprise a few young fans and show his appreciation. XXL caught up with the rapper shooting hoops with the kiddies and caught up on all things Kirko...

Where should you go for up to date Rap and Hip-hop videos? None other than the XXL youtube page of course. We've got everything from an archive of Freshman Class videos that will blow you away, to rare clips of rappers before they blew up (be sure to check out our video of Kendrick Lamar singing karaoke)...

Go behind the scenes of MF Doom and Bishop Nehru's upcoming EP, Nehruvian Doom. We got an exclusive studio time interview with the mysterious rapper overseas in London, England, to discuss the new EP, being a mentor to Bishop and what we can expect from the release...

DMX hasn’t put out an album since Undisputed which came out in 2012, but you can hear him freestyle at the XXL office mere hours after he was released from jail. So, turn back the clocks to the year 2011, as we look back at a series of videos we did with DMX in the summer of yesteryear. ...

  The 2014 BET Awards was nothing short of amazing, not only was it phenomenally constructed but the surprises just kept rolling in, making things that much better. As if the unexpected performances from Chris Brown and Missy Elliot were not enough, the announced performers also put on a show to remember, making it seem as though the show was absolute perfection, going off without a hitch. Chris R

XXL held our Freshmen 2014 Live show at the Best Buy Theater in New York City on Monday, and we've got your front row pass right here. Nine of our 12 Freshmen performed at the show, and special guests such as Fabolous, Busta Rhymes and Kid Ink swung through to help celebrate performances by Jon Connor, Jarren Benton, Lil Bibby, August Alsina, Kevin Gates, Vic Mensa, Rich Homie Quan, Troy Ave and T

XXL held our Freshmen 2014 Live show at the Best Buy Theater in New York City on Monday, and we've got your front row pass right here. Nine of our 12 Freshmen performed at the show, and special guests such as Fabolous, Busta Rhymes and Kid Ink swung through to help celebrate performances by Jon Connor, Jarren Benton, Lil Bibby, August Alsina, Kevin Gates, Vic Mensa, Rich Homie Quan, Troy Ave and

When the new Starz Original Series, Power, debuts on June 7, hip-hop heads everywhere will be glued to their screens. Executive produced by the hip-hop superstar 50 Cent, the show tells the story of James “Ghost” St. Patrick, a big-...

My computer exploded and I wasn't even mad. Years of work were lost, a macbook pro was sent to its grave, and an entire block in Brooklyn almost caught fire, all because the Rihanna and Shakira music video for 'Can't Remember To Forget You', randomly popped up on MTV and the effects of its heat were devastating...

Nicki Minaj caused thousands of jaws to drop to the floor last night (June 1) at Hot 97's Summer Jam 2014. No seriously, Nicki looked perfect. She may have the best body in history and she knows how to flaunt it. There were some parts in her performance where you didn't know if you could contain herself...

Next week marks the moment everyone has been waiting for, when XXL will start rolling out our 2014 Freshmen Cyphers. It's one of the most anticipated parts of the Freshmen cover—outside of the list itself—and has made for some intriguing chemistry and fascinating collaborations over the years. But while you wait f...

This past month, we've rolled out the profiles, interviews, behind the scenes photos and freestyles from this year's XXL 2014 Freshmen Class, and yesterday we compiled all those freestyles into one place and ask you to vote on which Freshman came through with the best verse. The...