What a band, what a night! Last night Prophets of Rage celebrated the release of their debut album at the Apollo Theater. The self-titled disc will be unleashed on Friday. The video above is the band’s official video for Radical Eyes directed & edited by D.J. Sing. Before the pictures […]
Hip Hop
52 posts
The News: Chuck D and DJ Lord of PE will perform at the Apollo on Tuesday, September 12th as members of Prophets of Rage with support from Living Colour. There’s no one who is more important from what’s come to be known as the golden age of hip hop than […]
The News: Rakim has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of Paid In Full by performing the album in its entirety. The enduring power of the album was remarked upon with some love in the New York Times recently. So I collect my cash then slide, I got my back, my gun’s on […]
The News: Talib Kweli unleashed a new single on his site She’s My Hero this week and will play a DJ set at Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday, October 26th. As anyone vaguely aware of Talib Kweli knows, the man can spit with the best of ’em and arguably offers more […]
As anyone vaguely aware of Talib Kweli knows, the man can spit with the best of ’em and arguably offers more thought-provoking words per song than anyone in the game. The lyrics of Palookas from 2011’s Gutter Rainbows – “You ain’t gotta verse better than my worse one” – would […]
Return Of The Lox – New Album Filthy America…It’s Beautiful Out Now 12-28-16 Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Jadakiss have been flirting with the possibility of a full-on reformation of The Lox for a few years and the release of Filthy America…It’s Beautiful this month closes the deal. The tracks deliver tough street reporting […]
Gorgeous Gift Boxes For 2016 Holidays – December 6, 2016 Another year almost in the books and a fine crop of holiday box sets has emerged. These creatively and lovingly packaged collections are anchored by knob turning prowess that has this timeless music sounding better than ever. The Bad […]
Masta Killa Talks Future Of Wu Tang Clan It was this month in 1993 that the Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) album was released catapulting the Staten Island based collective to the forefront of the hip hop world. This month, November 2016, sees a reissue of the disc on […]
I stumbled upon Black Violin at SXSW last year and have been a fan ever since. The mad instrumentation of two fiddles, a drummer, and a turntablist creates a unique template on which to build songs. Hip hop and classical music are the genres most easily identified when sampling BV […]
First Ever Roots Picnic NYC Is Happening 10-1 & 10-2 This upcoming weekend’s festivities also involve many stars but will not allow non-musicians on stage. The Roots were in wicked form in July at one of my fave annual events – the Lowdown Hudson Music Festival. ROOTS PICNIC: NYC AT […]
Kangol Kid Honored By New York & Smithsonian – September 10th, 2016 Roxanne Roxanne by UTFO is one of those songs that got tattooed onto popular consciousness. The year was 1984 and the group was out of Brooklyn. It’s difficult to overstate how BIG a song it was. It spawned […]
Living Colour Covers Biggie In Stand Against Gun Violence – Who Shot Ya Mixtape Coming Next Month Living Colour have offered a sneak peek at their new video that will accompany their song Who Shot Ya to be released on September 9th as part of an Andre Betts produced mixtape […]
So I collect my cash then slide, I got my back, my gun’s on my side… It shouldn’t have to be like that, I guess it ain’t where you’re from it’s where you’re at – Eric B & Rakim from In The Ghetto off Paid In Full Rakim’s Paid In […]
The Roots Got Lowdown Last Night; Free Festival Continues Tonight July 13, 2016 A genius double bill last night at The Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival with Antibalas and The Roots. Tonight, the free fest continues with Rayland Baxter, Valerie June, and Drive-By Truckers!
Public Enemy Does Brownsville Freebie 6-21-16 There’s no one who is more important from what’s come to be known as the golden age of hip hop than Public Enemy. Last Tuesday evening Betsy Head Park in Brownsville was the place to be as Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and Professor Grif […]
CeeLo Parties Aboard Circle Line In New York Harbor; June 7, 2016 A hootenanny with CeeLo on a boat was a brilliant way to usher in the summer of ’16! It was a beautiful night to take in the skyline views and shake bones to the sounds of the Atlanta […]
Bad Boy Concerts Celebrate The Notorious B.I.G. May 20th & 21st at Barclays Center About as big a hip hop hootenanny as could possibly occur happened on Friday and Saturday nights at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was the start of the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour that sees […]
Naughty By Nature with Smif N Wessun and Black Moon at Stage 48 on April 29, 2016 If you were around New York City in the mid 90’s and had any kind of interest in hip hop, the lineup at Stage 48 last Friday no doubt has some appeal. Naughty […]
2 Kinds of Bronx Tales: Dion & Pusha T Dion and Pusha T don’t have a hell of a lot in common but they were both born in The Bronx. Dion was born in 1939 and grew up around Arthur Avenue. Dion and his group The Belmonts, named for the […]
SXSW 2016: Iggy Pop To Loretta Lynn To ASAP Ferg To Infinity And Beyond 3-15 through 3-20-2016 I’ve never seen a more exciting performer on stage than Iggy Pop. Therefore, my top priority in Austin was connecting with Ig along with his recently minted group spearheaded by his new mainman […]
Not a lot of hip hop goes on at The Blue Note but Talib Kweli moved in for four shows over two nights last week following a similar run in February. The Brooklyn-raised MC known for his thoughtful, politically-charged rhymes, entered the game in 98 with the potent Mos Def & Talib […]
In the words of Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, and Zooey Deschanel among many others – what are you doing New Year’s Eve? And while we’re at it, how about tomorrow night (the video will show on TV tomorrow so ‘tonight’ refers to the 30th) straight through to Saturday, January 2nd. […]
Jadakiss Talks New Album Top 5 Dead Or Alive Jadakiss gave his fans a present this season with the release of his first album in 6 years: Top 5 Dead Or Alive. The title begs the question – who are the top 5 MCs of Hip Hop and is ‘kiss […]
It was a real pleasure to get to know Black Violin in Austin at SXSW. The hip Florida based outfit just released a tasty new album called Stereo Types and tomorrow night November 14, 2015 they’ll do their thing at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts. I’ve never checked the classical, hip […]
Cypress Hill released their enduring third album Temples of Boom 20 years ago and they’re celebrating that anniversary with a short tour that rolled through Times Square on Friday night, October 30, 2015. The album, beginning with its cover and continuing into the grooves, is the spookiest record in their […]