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Interview: Nneka

By Christina Lee, eMusic Contributor

On January 1, 2012, the Nigerian government effectively doubled gasoline prices from $1.70 to $3.50 per gallon when it discontinued fuel subsidies. Weeks later, 10s of thousands - with most living on less than $2 a day - began a nationwide protest, now called Occupy Nigeria. Days before she left to promote her third international release, Nneka visited the protests in Lagos. Though she wrote Soul Is Heavy before the unrest began, the album still resonates;… more »

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Six Degrees of Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city

By Hua Hsu, eMusic Contributor

It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »

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Interview: A$AP Rocky

By Jayson Greene, Managing Editor

None of us knew it at the time, but when the Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky swung through the eMusic offices last spring, accompanied by a good portion of his entourage, his major-label debut Long.Live.A$AP was nowhere near seeing the light of day. That day, it was slated for a July 4 release, and "Goldie," Rocky's glossy gold-plated lead single produced by Hit Boy ("Niggas in Paris", "Clique"), had just hit radio. He was riding high… more »

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Talib Kweli, Prisoner of Conscious

2013 | Label: Javotti Media

In 1998, Talib Kweli said, “Every day someone ask me, ‘Where all the real MCs at?’/ They underground.” He was proudly pinpointing a shift in hip-hop’s values, how mainstream rappers wanted to be Hugh Hefner while those primarily concerned with artistry were netting only cult appeal. In subsequent releases however, Kweli endured criticism as he tried catchier hooks and wove pop culture references into his lyrics. He epitomized “conscious rap,” but he also struggled to stay within its confines.

So on his fifth LP, Prisoner of Conscious, Kweli raps to music… more »

Har Mar Superstar, Bye Bye 17

2013 | Label: Cult Records / The Orchard

More than a decade ago, indie rocker Sean Tillman was reborn as a campy R&B leg-humper keen on tickling your unmentionable zones with his freaky antics. Now Tillman has re-remade himself as a soulfully wronged but never spiteful lover, his vocals filtered for full retro effect, his effortless swoop drawing inspiration not just from Sam Cooke, but from white Cooke heirs like Rod Stewart.

“Please Don’t Make Me Hit You” accentuates that persona shift, as Har Mar resists a lover’s S&M demands (rhythmically indebted to Cooke’s “Cupid”) with a heartfelt “I’m… more »

Kid Cudi, Indicud

2013 | Label: GOOD Music/Dream On/Republic Records

“Niggas thinking I’m living life paranoid,” Kid Cudi says early on his third album, Indicud. He’s done a lot to cultivate this perception: The rapper’s persona — solitary stoner-turned-cocaine-addict-turned-bedroom philosopher — has been delivered to us as one long-form soliloquy to a shrink. But if his 2009 debut, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, and the following year’s equally soul-spilling effort together form one long-winded tale of woe, the singing/rapping emcee’s self-produced new effort, teeming with guests, feels a deliberate attempt to show he’s emerged from the deep… more »

Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge, Twelve Reasons to Die

2013 | Label: Soul Temple Entertainment

Though his persona draws from comics, true crime and 42nd Street double features, it can still be pretty easy to see Ghostface Killah as simply a skilled amplification of an actual person. An actual person with of the most unmistakably intense voices and storytelling instincts known to hip-hop, sure, sure, but as much the man who grew up picking roaches out of the cereal box as he is the Wally Champ with the massive eagle gauntlet and Marvel-via-Shaw Brothers mythos. That’s why Twelve Reasons to Die, his collaboration with soundtrack… more »

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Bass, Beats & Bars

By Nate Patrin, eMusic Contributor

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 »

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