B.I.G. news in the hip-hop world: 50 Cent has a beef with someone. So, he took to Twitter to protest the latest, gravest event hurting the hip-hop community with a petition. Diddy’s exploitation of the Notorious B.I.G. [via Rap Radar/The Daily Swarm]: Enough is enough, Biggie’s name should never have become Diddy’s Black Card. Just … [Read more…]
Free the Music is a guide to new albums, EPs and songs that are available for free online. Today’s drop is: Childish Gambino – Culdesac. Donald Glover lives a charmed life. At 26, he’s been a YouTube sensation with Derrick Comedy, wrote for the critically-acclaimed comedy “30 Rock,” and stars in another hit NBC comedy, “Community.” Then … [Read more…]
A riot broke out at New York’s South Street Seaport during a free concert Tuesday. And what nefarious musician inspired such a disastrous public event? The newest shock rocker to hit the scene? Some “evil” death metal band? An anarchist cult yelling at the crowds to fight the government conspiracy? Nope. It was Drake, hip-hop and … [Read more…]
OMG! On Sunday, M.I.A. posted da “truff” about that New York Times profile on the blinged-out N.E.E.T. blog. So what is the real truth behind Lynn Hirschberg’s article? Well, it’s not all that different than what Hirschberg wrote – just tossed up on a tacky, borderline-annoying site and made to look profound. Which is exactly … [Read more…]
It’s not easy being a rapper from Wisconsin. Just ask 23-year-old hip-hop lifer Juiceboxxx. Music journalists and bloggers have spent years trying to pin down the Milwaukee wordsmith’s ecstatic dance rap with one pigeonholing term after another. Nerdcore. Hipster rap. Back in 2007, the Phoenix’s own blog dubbed Juiceboxxx (who will drop by Good Life for a … [Read more…]
Billboard is reporting that Gang Starr’s Guru has died: Rapper Guru has died aged 43 after a long battle with cancer, according to statements published online. The New York MC – whose real name was Keith Elam – suffered cardiac arrest on March 2 and had been in a coma. Guru’s passing is a major blow … [Read more…]
The past few years, one word has come up constantly in conversation about today’s pop music: Balkanization. Be it another teeny-indie scene given the tag “glo-fi,” or another subset of Brooklyn bands revisiting the aural atmosphere of ’60s garage pop, the message remains loud and clear: As micro-scenes develop within pockets of our society, our … [Read more…]
Who knew that our country’s forefathers were such good rhymeslayers? Apparently, this guy [via New York Magazine]: [vimeovid id=”10969400″] Yep. The Tea Party has hit its tipping point for parody, and this time their critics really didn’t have to do anything. Political rap is all well and good, but this just isn’t good. Just hearing … [Read more…]
Free the Music is a guide to new albums, EPs and songs that are available for free online. Today’s drop is: Das Racist – Shut Up, Dude. In today’s everyones-a-blogger, link economy online community, many an Internet scribe would be content with where Brooklyn’s Das Racist was at the end of 2009. A “year as … [Read more…]
Maybe you’ve seen the new Insane Clown Posse music video. Maybe you haven’t. It’s entirely plausible that you’ve missed the sheer insanity of the “Miracles” music video, considering it’s netted a little more than 400,000 views in close to a week. That’s chump change in viral video terms. Yet the sheer amount of text devoted to … [Read more…]