Stones Throw Records After bumrushing hip-hop with his contributions to Dr. Dre’s Compton album in 2015, then wowing the naysayers with the progressive soul session that was his own album, Malibu, earlier this year, Anderson .Paak has positioned himself as the centerpiece of a modern-day renaissance in Black music. This time, the 2016 XXL Freshman looks to […]
Blood Money / eOne For a moment, forget The Game’s tendency to ignite beef with any rapper that might have the slightest thought of stepping to him, his desire to name-drop everyone from Betty White to Barry White and those Instagram selfies that cater to the ladies. Now focus on the music. While The Game’s […]
Warp Records After Danny Brown dropped his avant-garde album, Old, in 2013, it was clear Detroit’s very own was on a different wave in comparison to his rap counterparts. Three years after its release, his new studio LP, Atrocity Exhibition, is another off the wall offering not for the hip-hop faint of heart. The rapper has always been known to push the sonic […]
Mass Appeal The state and sound of New York City hip-hop has been bemoaned and scrutinized for much of the past decade, with fans local and abroad yearning for the rugged, sample-based vignettes that dominated the late 1990s and early aughts. Despite churning out A-list talent like Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky and French Montana, and Big […]
G-Unit It’s unfortunate that the memory most firmly etched into people’s minds when thinking of Lloyd Banks is his 2010 track “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” or even more likely 2004’s “On Fire.” Both are solid songs but in terms of representing Banks’ ability on the mic, the tracks don’t come close to giving the Queens MC the props he […]
Atlantic After Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s nauseating presidential debate this past week, there are probably some Americans that wish Ty Dolla $ign’s Campaign wasn’t just the name of his new project, but instead a legitimate shot at the presidency. Sadly, Dolla $ign is nowhere near being placed in the Oval Office but by the looks […]
HXLY Whether the masses know it or not, Jay IDK is one of the best kept secrets in hip-hop right now. The poignant DMV spitter’s innate ability to deliver hard-hitting messages surrounding the turmoil of middle America and beyond is why the IDK in his name, which stands for “ignorantly delivering knowledge,” is so incredibly fitting. Between […]
Warner Bros. Mac Miller has worn a few different hats throughout his many years in the game. When the Pittsburgh native first introduced himself to fans around 2007, he was a friendly pot-smoking rhymer. From there, he’s shown he’s a mellowed-out producer, an experimenter in psychedelics, a spiritual rhymeslinger, a sober optimist and now the hat he chooses to […]
eOne Not only is it incredibly upsetting that Chinx passed away at such a young and productive age but the fact that he never got to see the release of his own debut studio album is even worse. The Queens rapper was on an absolute tear of highly celebrated mixtapes dating back to 2009, and […]
Top Dawg Ent. For most rap fans, Isaiah Rashad was introduced to the world on Cilvia Demo. Outside of some free music the Chattanooga, Tenn. rapper released on sites like SoundCloud, this was the first real official release from the young MC. The project was a critical hit and earned Rashad quite a bit of hype, but it was very much a preview […]
