Tennis shoes and hip-hop have been indelibly linked over the past 25 years. There isn’t a single rap album that doesn’t reference at least one pair of kicks as a sign of how fly the MC can be on any given day. As years pass and shoe collecting has become more intense, rappers have begun [...]
The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards had its highest rating in network history when it aired on August 28. That means more people than ever watched Beyonce’s baby bump. More people than ever saw Lady Gaga pretend to be a guy. More people than ever also saw Lil Wayne headline the show by doing—well, nobody [...]
New Orleans’ booming underground hip-hop scene lives in the shadow of hitmakers such as the Hot Boys and Master P. To shine a spotlight on this scene, Lawrence Parker is bringing back the New Orleans Underground Hip-Hop Awards for its second year. “There are a ton of local artists doing their thing here,” Parker says. [...]
Curren$y understands the formula to creating a cult following: consistent, high quality music delivered frequently. That’s why Spitta has released three albums and a few mixtapes in the last two years, feeding his fans that are starving for new music like it’s a bag of Cheetos after 12 bong rips. Weekend at Burnie’s is standard [...]
Lil Wayne’s 2011 was supposed to be historic. He got released from jail at the end of last year and was primed to make a Tupac-like, post-jail return that put all of hip-hop on notice. The promise of a more sober, more focused Weezy would make his Carter IV project an instant classic, especially after [...]
The New Orleans hip-hop scene has enjoyed an interesting dichotomy over the last few years: you’re either rapping about partying and booze over pseudo-bounce tunes, or you’re crafting politically charged bars about the Crescent City’s post-Katrina plight. Rarely do these two local paths converge; you’re either Curren$y or Jay Electronica. Ninth Ward native Koan is [...]
A lot has changed in the year since Dee-1 released his last mixtape I Hope They Hear Me Vol. 1. He’s become one of the hottest underground acts and his track “Jay, 50 and Weezy” has gone viral, becoming one of the most talked-about songs in hip-hop. Thanks to the strength of that album, I [...]
Jay-Z had Memphis Bleek. Nas had QB Finest. Busta Rhymes had Spliff Star. They’re called “weed carriers”—“rappers” that were friends of the actual stars whose loyalty was repaid with undeserving features and, sometimes, full- length albums. When people hear that Trademark Da Skydiver, one of Curren$y’s friends and members of the JETS movement, is dropping [...]
Jay-Z had Memphis Bleek. Nas had QB Finest. Busta Rhymes had Spliff Star. They’re called “weed carriers”—“rappers” that were friends of the actual stars whose loyalty was repaid with undeserving features and, sometimes, full- length albums. When people hear that Trademark Da Skydiver, one of Curren$y’s friends and members of the JETS movement, is dropping [...]
If you’ve listened to Fiend from his No Limit Days, then this latest mixtape will come as a surprise. Gone are his youthfully high-energy verses from his guest spots alongside Master P. Instead, we get International Jones, a gravelly-voiced veteran of the game that just wants to be dope and wear his kicks. His mixtape, [...]
