Category: Rap

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Hip-Hop Rap

The Godfather of the Hip-Hop Magazine

A one-on-one interview with Brian Nagata, the man behind RapZines

For us hip-hop superfans that came of age long before the internet and streaming era, we had to get our fix in other ways. Years before blogs and social media, we got our info from the scant TV programs that focused on the culture – Yo! MTV Raps; Urban Xpressions; Rap City – but most of our knowledge and insight came from publications.

The Source was the bible, but there were others. Only in these magazines could we get a regular diet of in-depth features, reviews, and previews of everything happening in and around the music.

No one appreciates that fact more than Brian Nagata, the founder, owner, and operator of Rapzines.

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Books Hip-Hop Music Rap Reviews

“The Motherlode” – A Beautiful, Undefinable History of Women in Hip-Hop

“Men write history, but women live it.”

Chloe Angyal

It’s true that history is written by the victors, but it’s also been predominately written by men. That is especially true in hip-hop. As the culture closes in on its fiftieth birthday, the contributions of women, whether behind the mic or behind the scenes, have been largely overlooked, marginalized, or outright ignored.

The Motherlode (Abrams, 2021) by Clover Hope could help begin to change that. A cogent and forceful entry in the ongoing need to give the ladies their due, it is a book that is undefinable, or at least not easily categorized, that also happens to be the definitive history of women in hip-hop.

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Hip-Hop Rap

Nas & Black Thought Finally On a Track Together…

They’re two of the greatest lyricists in hip-hop history.

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Hip-Hop Lists Rap

Hey, Look! I Found the Worst Rap List of All Time!

Lil Dicky, Quavo, and Ski Mask The Slump God over Rakim? I quit.

“Every time I stepped into madness of the crowds, I longed for the wisdom of the loneliness.“

— Mehmet Murat Ildan

“Why don’t you write about rap anymore?”

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Hip-Hop Rap Wu-Tang Clan

From the Vault: The Wu-Tang Paradox

This originally appeared on I Hate JJ Redick on February 3, 2012

“What RZA put together let no man tear asunder.”

I would argue the Wu-Tang Clan the most influential hip-hop collective outside of possibly Run-DMC. It’s more than just music, chess, and karate flicks. It’s a way of life and almost a religion. For proof, look no further than the fact that the makeup, philosophy and history of the Wu-Tang Clan has its own manual and even its own bible.

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Hip-Hop Rap Wu-Tang Clan

Still ‘Supreme’ After Two Decades

With his sophomore disc, Ghostface Killah threw the Clan on his back and reached his apotheosis

via wudisciples.blogspot.com/

“Walk with me like Dorothy”

It was over.

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Books Hip-Hop Rap Reviews

“On Writing” for the Hip-Hop Culture: Rakim’s “Sweat the Technique” Reviewed

In most cases, progress and evolution happen slowly, over a period of time marked by small, incremental changes. Occasionally, however, a seismic shift occurs and a culture transforms overnight.

That is what happened in 1986 when a young man with a voice that sounded like it was from outer space came in the door and changed the game forever with “Eric B. Is President,” the first single from Eric B. & Rakim. The latter half of that duo was still in high school when he introduced a “new era of rhyme style” with complex internal rhymes full of multisyllabic words and a relaxed, composed delivery that was more conversational than shouting.

It was a new day in hip-hop.

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Hip-Hop Rap Reviews

Gorilla Monsoon Rap – “Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint” Reviewed

Image result for griff scorcese dream team

There are times when being a musical artist creates a no-win situation. Fickle fans want you to grow, but keep making the same sort of music. They don’t want you to repeat yourself, but quickly become unhappy if the new stuff is too different from what they expected.

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Hip-Hop Music Nostalgia Rap Wu-Tang Clan

The Return of the Purple Tape: Raekwon’s Classic Sequel Turns Ten

“Got me behind the pot again”

The odds were stacked against him.

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Hip-Hop Music Rap

A Decade of Slaughterhouse

“Soon as I hold a pen I co-defend the sickest MCs”

August 11, 2009.

I walked into the FYE in the Gallery at Market East in Philly and headed straight for the new releases section. I had already gone digital with my iPod Classic but a new album dropped that day and I wanted an actual physical CD.

Continue reading “A Decade of Slaughterhouse”