Aug
11

The Danger Zone

The rumblings of a New York revival have been reverberating for a minute from the Cam’ron & Vado-fronted U.N., young old heads like Action Bronson, Mayhem Lauren, Maffew Ragazino, and old hard heads like Roc Marc. ASAP Rocky is the latest rated rookie, Harlem’s own and managed by the artist formerly known as Eastside Stevie.… Continue reading »

Aug
10

Dam-Funk: “Scat’in”

Some days writing about music leaves you feeling like the episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes to hell and is forced into an eternity of eating donuts. There are only so many adjectives and abstruse synonyms you can use, and sometimes it is simply exhausting wondering whether you are being needlessly pretentious for using… Continue reading »

Aug
10

El-P: “Drones over BKLYN”

El-P stays on his one hot rap album every half decade average, but stops recording Cancer 4 Cure to collect an Adult Swim check. Or maybe this is on Cancer 4 Cure. No one knows right now, and I suspect that includes El-P. But rather than offer an odds and sods throwaway like too many… Continue reading »

Aug
10

Not A Blogger Redux: Hey! Remember The Cool Kids?!

Doc Zeus is 184 in blog years. In the Internet age, our fickle and cruel digital rulers have gotten us addicted to the ceaseless ooze of information. The maw must be fed, context is irrelevant and nothing matters beyond the fleeting moments of the Now. All is forgotten. Everything is disposable. Nihilism is our one… Continue reading »

Aug
09

“Look At Me”: An Oral History of Watch the Throne

Abe Beame hacked the email of a culture writer from GQ to bring you this from September’s issue. Sean “Jay-Z” Carter: I remember it was like four o’clock in the morning. I was in Hawaii like a year ago and I get this wild text from Kanye, I still have it in my phone, hold… Continue reading »

Aug
09

Beat Trap: The Bad Vibes of Shlohmo

Chris Daly prefers this to “Good Vibrations.” I was conflicted when I first received a copy of Shlohmo’s Bad Vibes. Earlier this year saw the release of his Places EP, which had spawned the eponymous track that remains one of my favorite jams of the year. Was the kid going to come through with a… Continue reading »

Aug
08

Strange Whips, BEeFFs, and Leafs

Serengeti – “The Whip” from anticon. on Vimeo. Sixty-Five years ago, famed California chronicler Carey McWilliams described Angeleno existence as a “ringside seat at the circus.” So it’s little surprise that its music is typically branded weird by those outside the area, and perfectly fitting for those with zip codes that start with a “90.”… Continue reading »

Aug
08

An Art Wrap Party: A Walk Through MOCA’s Art in the Streets Exhibit

Street art and hip-hop have been intertwined since Lee copped his first case of Krylon. If that sentence makes no sense, watch Wild Style, then Style Wars, then Bomb the System. We can meet back here when you’re done. The interplay between hip-hop and the high art world has been there since Freddy Braithwaite became… Continue reading »

Aug
08

Kritics Choice: Big K.R.I.T. Gets Prolific

Evan Nabavian is old school when he rides. July 31, 2011. Children and maladroit college grads like me were blindsided by the arrival of summer’s halfway point. Working men and women trudged home through the unbearable heat while I sat in my room, where I had been sitting all day, all month, all summer, and… Continue reading »

Aug
05

Video: Dumbfoundead – “Green’

I’ve mentioned Dumb a few times around here. I mentioned him a lot more here. I will inevitably be mentioning him a lot more in print sometime soon. A Swim Teamer along with Open Mike Eagle, Verbs and Alpha, he is arguably the most popular unsigned rapper in LA, and certainly the most well known… Continue reading »

Older posts «

» Newer posts