The shooting of a security guard near the Toronto home of Drake is the latest chapter in the ongoing beef between the Canadian rapper and Pulitizer Prize-winning rival Kendrick Lamar. Rap battles…
Tag: Hip-hop
Ja Morant shows how a ‘good guy with a gun’ can never be Black
“Man enough to pull a gun, be man enough to squeeze it,” rapped NBA superstar Allen Iverson on his song “40 Bars.” This was two weeks prior to the 2000-01 NBA season,…
After ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ hip-hop went global – its impact has been massive; so too efforts to keep it real
Soon after the fall 1979 release of “Rapper’s Delight,” versions of the first commercially successful rap recording began cropping up around the world. Two Portuguese-language versions, “Bons Tempos” and “Melô Do Tagarela,”…
How hip-hop learned to call out homophobia – or at least apologize for it
In the 2018 song “Boss Life,” the rapper Offset, part of the multiplatinum-selling rap group Migos, rhymed: “I do not vibe with queers.” Such casual use of a perceived anti-gay slur is…
The beats, rhymes and spirituality of Latin hip-hop
As a first-generation college graduate and a Latino from a family that constantly scrambled to make ends meet, there was very little in my upbringing that foreshadowed my current life as a…
How the sounds of ‘Succession’ shred the grandeur and respect the characters so desperately try to project
HBO’s “Succession” delivered its grand finale on May 28, 2023 – the climax of four award-packed seasons of searing put-downs, nihilistic humor and desperate power plays. The show tells the story of…
As the global musical phenomenon turns 50, a hip-hop professor explains what the word ‘dope’ means to him
After I finished my Ph.D. in 2017, several newspaper reporters wrote about the job I’d accepted at the University of Virginia as an assistant professor of hip-hop. “A.D. Carson just scored, arguably,…
Deaf rappers who lay down rhymes in sign languages are changing what it means for music to be heard
In April 2023, DJ Supalee hosted Supafest Reunion 2023 to celebrate entertainers and promoters within the U.S. Deaf community. The event included performances by R&B artist and rapper Sho’Roc, female rapper Beautiful…
How hip-hop uses Afrofuturism to take listeners on journeys of empowerment
It is perhaps only natural, as hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, that people look to the genre’s future. But for some rappers, the future has always been part of the story. Ever…
7 essential listens to celebrate rap’s widespread influence
On the evening of Aug. 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc attended a block party in the South Bronx. Armed with two record players and a mixer, he created an extended percussive break…