The Rumpus Interview with Rion Amilcar Scott
Rion Amilcar Scott discusses his story collection Insurrections, father relationships, hip-hop, knowing when to abandon a project, and choosing not to workshop certain stories.
...morePosts Tagged: hip-hop
Song of the Day: “Have Some Love”
The diversely talented Donald Glover has gained a following in almost every artistic arena, from stand-up comedy, to sitcoms, to film and music. First making a name for himself as a writer for the smart and funny NBC program 30 Rock, Glover went on to star in Community and the FX series Atlanta. Meanwhile, quietly and then not-so-quietly, he […]
...moreSong of the Day: “Louder Than A Bomb”
“Rhythm is the rebel,” Chuck D raps on “Louder Than A Bomb,” one of many outstanding tracks from Public Enemy’s touchstone 1988 record, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Of all the controversial and heartfelt statements made on this widely acclaimed and influential album, this is perhaps the most telling, as DJ […]
...moreAlbum of the Week: Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love!
Amidst writing, producing, and starring in the FX series Atlanta and being cast to portray a young Lando Calrissian in an upcoming Star Wars installment, Donald Glover took some time to return to his Childish Gambino persona and has released one of the most interesting album of 2016. Awaken, My Love!, out on Glassnote Records, is Childish Gambino’s […]
...moreSong of the Day: “We the People”
If A Tribe Called Quest had to make one final statement, a boisterous, politically conscious, and funky record would be the most fitting way to do so. We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service was released on November 11, 2016, eighteen years after Tribe’s last album and only a few months after the death of founding […]
...moreFKA twigs at Pitchfork Music Festival
Although the performance was over a month ago, a gorgeous video of FKA twigs’s set at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago was recently released online. The artist has not performed much beyond the festival circuit this summer, meaning if you, like us, tend to avoid large crowds, this video is worth a watch. Check it out after […]
...moreA Music Drama (Actually) about Music
Netflix’s The Get Down is receiving quite a bit of attention for being the unicorn of music drama: for once, a show about a moment in musical history is actually about the music! Directed by Baz Luhrmann, the show is receiving accolades for following hip-hop’s rise in the Bronx with respect and care: A coming-of-age drama anchored in the […]
...moreLooking Back to New Jack City
The 1991 cult film New Jack City is once again examined and celebrated this week, with okayplayer. publishing one piece celebrating its soundtrack, and another with a behind-the-scenes reflection from the film’s star Ice T. The artist talks about playing a cop for his first role in the days when he was best known for rapping “Cop Killer.” New Jack […]
...moreDinosaurs, Aliens, and Rappers
In its infinite wisdom, VICE has produced a show for the company’s TV channel, VICELAND, where Action Bronson and his friends smoke themselves into oblivion while they try to grapple with the immensity of history and the cosmos as communicated by cheeseball history documentaries. In the first episode of Traveling The Stars: Action Bronson & Friends, Schoolboy Q, Earl Sweatshirt, Alchemist, […]
...moreLiving Performance Art
The Internet’s been freaking out about Kanye West’s latest bid to be the center of all things surreal about our culture: his video for the track “Famous” features breathing sculptures of celebrities who may or may not have given permission for their likenesses to be represented naked, as if asleep, and in bed together. West supposedly […]
...moreCosmically Illegal
At the Kenyon Review blog, Brian Michael Murphy celebrates the sheer density of reference and intricate structuring of rap lyrics revealed by a computer program, The Raplyzer, and its Rhyme Factor Scale. Murphy dissects the lyric genius of Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck and others: I remember the feeling from when I was 16, the sense that […]
...moreDrake’s Working with Everybody
Drake came out with a collaboration with Gucci Mane and Justin Bieber took part in a remix of “One Dance” off of Drake’s album VIEWS. Listen to and read more about the Gucci Mane collaboration here and Bieber’s part in the remix here.
...moreA Language Only We Can Hear
Kendrick Lamar’s debut album “Good Kid, M.A.D.D. City” contains the basic, essential elements of a novel: a protagonist faced with an antagonistic outer world, plot and its arc—from opening scene to crisis to climax on down to denouement, a narrative connected through scenes, and character development and expression through dialogue. It follows the structure of […]
...moreZane Lowe Interviews Chance the Rapper
Following the release of his latest mixtape Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper spoke with Zane Lowe in a lengthy interview about the work, the recording process, and the artist’s growing collaborative relationship with Kanye West. Listen to the full conversation via okayplayer and stream the mixtape here.
...moreDrake Returns to SNL
The artist delivered a plea that he is “more than a meme” during his host’s monologue on SNL this week before performing “Once Dance” and “Hype.” Catch all of the videos via okayplayer.
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The Recipe to Decolonized Love is in Beyoncé’s Lemonade
“There is a curse that will be broken,” she promises.
...moreThe Future of Hip-Hop
The rap golden age of the ’90s may be over, but rappers today are achieving a kind of mainstream cultural influence that would’ve been hard to imagine twenty years ago. Over at The Walrus, Simon Lewsen writes about Canadian rapper Drake, the state of modern-day hip-hop music, and how the genre has changed over the last […]
...moreThe Literary Value of Hip-Hop
At Electric Literature, Mensah Demary argues that there should be greater appreciation of hip-hop as a powerful storytelling medium, positing Nas as a master of literary narrative: If presented with a choice, I’d rather discuss classic hip-hop albums than short story collections: the former evokes warmth, my need to consecrate my life to a certain […]
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The Conversation: Angel Nafis, Safia Elhillo, and Elizabeth Acevedo
I don’t think it ever fully sunk in for me that I even live in America.
...moreSong of the Day: “Devil In A New Dress”
We can accuse Kanye West of a lot of things—arrogance, insensitivity, paranoia, ingratitude… the list goes on. But one thing he is not guilty of is dishonesty. The longer he spends in the international media spotlight (and he’s going on thirteen years now), the more the confessional side of his music seems to be emphasized. What makes the 2010 song […]
...moreThis Week in Posivibes: untitled unmastered
Kendrick Lamar has released a new album, untitled unmastered. The album was a surprise, although the artist performed some of its songs last year on The Colbert Report and this past January on The Tonight Show. The album is available via iTunes (along with just about every other online music retailer). The full album is also available to stream from Spotify.
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The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Angela Flournoy
My ambition is personal. I don’t think I need to succeed so that the race can succeed.
...moreRivers Cuomo Does Fetty Wap
Apparently, the Weezer frontman has been really digging hip-hop’s Top 40 lately. His recent covers testify to the fact: he’s posted a version of Rae Sremmurd’s “Come Get Her,” and, most recently, Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen.” A new Weezer album is due out this spring; any bets on some covers making it in? Watch the videos […]
...moreHip-Hop’s Response to the Flint Water Crisis
Artists across the musical spectrum have rallied to help raise awareness and funds for the Flint, Michigan water crisis, which, thanks to governmental inaction, has been allowed to develop since 2014. Okayplayer. chronicled the work that hip-hop artists, in particular, have done to bring attention to the issue, and the responses of Flint’s own hip-hop […]
...moreBeyoncé’s “Formation”
This Saturday, Beyoncé dropped “Formation,” her first single since 2014. The song came one day before the Queen’s Superbowl 50 appearance and was accompanied by a free download via Tidal, Pitchfork reports. Like most of the artist’s videos, the video for “Formation” is incredibly visually compelling, moving from an Antebellum House to images protesting police brutality to […]
...moreObama Answers the Big Question
Kendrick or Drake? YouTube vlogger Adande Thorne asked President Obama the big question, and Obama went with Kendrick Lamar. “Got to go with Kendrick,” President Obama responded, as reported Consequence of Sound. The President continued to say, “I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer, but Kendrick—his lyrics, his last album was outstanding. Best album of […]
...moreWhat Hip-Hop Owes David Bowie
The Internet has been (rightfully) full of David Bowie tributes in the last week, including a series of pieces about the icon’s influence on hip-hop music. Noisey traced Bowie’s public admiration for hip-hop, beginning with the 1993 clip of Bowie asking MTV why the network wasn’t featuring black artists that went viral following his death, […]
...moreVince Staples on ESPN
Why the segment was on ESPN, whose idea it was to have Vince Staples on a sports network to talk about his past, and why Staples agreed to the spot—these are all questions we may never answer. But what we do know is that the resulting interview is great, and we’re glad it happened. In […]
...moreFurthering Alexander Hamilton’s Hip-Hop Legacy
For The Muse at Jezebel, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd dives deep into Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton to find even more connections between the words of “the ten-dollar Founding Father without a father” and the literature of hip-hop.
...moreHip-Hop to Watch in 2016
Dazed Digital compiled a list of emerging hip-hop artists to watch, including Jay Boogie (think Mykki Blanco and the early 2000s), Tommy Genesis (on Awful Records, she describes her sound as “fetish rap”), Blaze Kidd (a London-based Ecuadorian rapper who plays with reggaeton and grime), IshDARR (who made the Old Soul, Young Spirit mixtape earlier this year), […]
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