Hip-Hop Archives

So Kendrick came through and melted everybody’s face off when he dropped this track a couple of days ago. “The Blacker The Berry” is a reminder of several things: He is an absolute BEAST in the booth. His politics are a bit…unsettling. Evoking the myth of black-on-black crime while regarding the death of black men Read More

Yasiin Gaye: The Departure (Side One) Instrumentals by Amerigo Gazaway Amerigo Gazaway’s gimmick, and it’s a brilliant one, is crafting collabos between musicians that never actually happened. He’s the dude behind the excellent Tribe Called Quest/Pharcyde mashup,  Bizarre Tribe To the Pharcyde and the dope De La Soul and Fela Kuti blend, Fela Soul. His latest Read More

Here’s Ta-Nehisi on Jordan Davis’ shooting, and his killer escaping punishment — for now at least: I wish I had something more to say about the fact that Michael Dunn was not convicted for killing a black boy. Except I said it after George Zimmerman was not convicted of killing a black boy. Except the parents of black boys Read More

Open Mike Eagle & Alwayz Prolific I The Show Up from Beats,Frames & Life on Vimeo. This jawn from Open Mike Eagle — who I’m ashamed to say I’ve never heard of before this — is full of clever, for-the-fuck-of-it flourishes. I’m far too young to lead/and way too old to die I ain’t play Read More

Since 2009, what’s soured many onlookers to Kanye’s music and persona is that his self-love, so-called, is increasingly contingent on contempt for women, derision of inferiors, obsession with his own influence, hapless strafing, and clamoring for attention that he then claims to resent.

TNC mulls Kendrick Lamar‘s latest over at the NYT: I must confess my bias. I grew up in Baltimore during a time when the city was in the thrall of crack and Saturday night specials. I’ve spent most of my life in neighborhoods suffering their disproportionate share of gun violence. In each of these places Read More

I know I have my own hypocrisy to deal with, from my previous romantic entanglements to my music choices.

But at the least, I got a headstart on confronting that hypocrisy. It started in earnest when I was 17, the summer before my senior year of high school, at a leadership camp just outside of Houston.

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