American Gangster

Today marks the 48th birthday of one of Brooklyn's Finest, Jay-Z, the hustler-turned-rapper from the Marcy Projects who grew out of the shadows of Jaz-O, Big Daddy Kane and The Notorious B.I.G. to stake a credible claim to being the best rapper alive for more than a decade...

On November 14, 2003, Jay Z dropped The Black Album, his eighth and, at the time, final album. Less than two weeks later, during a show at Madison Square Garden, Jay officially "retired," ending the career of one of the greatest to ever do it...

Today marks the 5th anniversary since Jay-Z dropped Kingdom Come, officially coming out of his brief retirement, and XXL looks back at his best verses in that span...

Idris Elba sits down with The Life Files to discuss the process of how he got on the intro to the American Gangster album...

A call to step up lyrical references to Judaism...

XXL waxes nostalgic in Pt. 3 of our decade in rap recap...

Death to all. Jay-Z included.

I tried to warn him where this was headed.

The RZA maintains that the Clan’s iron flag will stand tall forever...

You can T.I.P. the police from the comfort of home!

The Rapper is set to star in three new films, including a crime drama with Edris Elba and Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon...

In a new interview with New York Magazine, former Jay-Z associate DeHaven tells some revealing stories about coming up with Jay-Z. While Dehaven alluded to having dirt on Jay in his series of "Jay-Z Exposed" YouTube clips, he failed to go into much detail...