"The world looks at this album as very personal," a tired-sounding Kendrick Lamar explains over the phone en route to a concert in West Virginia. "But I don't think they would understand how personal it is unless you grew up around the cats that's on the actual skits. Those are my real homeboys on those skits, those are my real parents on those skits." It's been a few days since the release of good kid, m.A.A.d… more »
It's never easy to walk the precarious line between art and activism, but Boots Riley, frontman and lead conceptualist for The Coup, has kept his balance with a mixture of swagger, charisma, wit – and just a touch of wry humor. His home base of Oakland and the Bay Area's radical history provide a wealth of inspiration; from Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party to Sly and the Family Stone, Riley channels a bygone… more »
Over three decades in music, British soul singer Omar has seen as many lows as he has career-defining highs. He made his name with the 1990s breakthrough single "There's Nothing Like This," which blew up in London's underground acid jazz scene before being picked up by Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label. Although he never matched its commercial success, he went on to release a series of mature albums that secured his place as a soul… more »
When ordinary hip-hoppers get famous, they usually bring along their new-money friends and strike while the iron’s hot. For Dan the Automator, producer of Dr. Octagon, Cornershop, Gorillaz, and other unconventional acts, success means waiting 13 years to issue a follow-up and recruiting Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Deltron 3030: Event II, the long-delayed sequel to Dan Nakamura, turntablist Kid Koala and emcee Del tha Funkee Homosapien’s 2000 debut, opens with a spoken monologue by the star, and features cameos by fellow actors David Cross, Amber Tamblyn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and the Lonely… more »
The Game, the self-proclaimed guide to “penetrating the secret society of pickup artists,” tells the story of Style, a nerdy kid with a bad clothes and worse hair who studies all the great seducers before ending up under the tutelage of an eccentric genius who would be the best in the world, if only he could reign himself in. As it turns out, Drake, the child star-turned-rapper Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, has followed nearly the same path, and while his new Nothing Was the Same doesn’t hide who else… more »
With his debut album as Ghostpoet, London MC and producer Obaro Ejimiwe declared his love of not only hip-hop, electronica and trip-hop, but also of blues, jazz, electro and straight-up indie pop. Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam heralded the arrival of a fresh, young voice that chimed well with then current enthusiasm for Jamie Woon and James Blake, but spread itself rather too thinly, its rampant diversity signaling a fuzziness of intent as much as broadmindedness. Nonetheless, it bagged a Mercury nomination. Now, the follow-up.
Some Say I So I… more »
Having broken through on 2006′s Moonlighting and reinforced their name on 2009′s Brooklynati, Tanya Morgan have hit that point in their still-evolving career where their biggest task is to simply maintain, especially now that they’re down to two MCs after a four-year lull. Even though it’d be easy for a group of their stay-posi caliber to coast off the easy goodwill they gained from emulating the brighter moments of circa ’93 Native Tongues rap, on Rubber Souls Tanya Morgan merge that spirit with a neo-soul vibe a decade ahead of… more »
Hip-hop's spectrum is broader than ever, with a scene in every city and a thousand ways to control a mic. Bass, Beats & Bars ties it all together — the hustler opulence of Rick Ross, the street-level grind of Freddie Gibbs and G-Side, underground scholars like Shabazz Palaces, and iconic veterans from DJ Quik to Pharoahe Monch. more »
