Conventional hip hop logic holds that the DJ is enduring a long slow slide towards California Condor status. You could theoretically argue that things have gone downhill since Kool Herc essentially invented the genre. Serato has brought every amateur out of the Pioneer Speakers. Rappers can and do play live shows from CDs. Computer production […]

Son Raw just punched an old lady while listening to this. In which my favorite active rapper spits bars over my favorite style of production. After months of casually referencing his love of Grime, Danny Brown finally delivers his outstanding collaboration with UK producer Darq E. Freaker, splitting the difference between Crunk-style ignorance and London […]

I’ve never been to Detroit but I grew up in Toronto, with Michigan just across the lake. Between Chicago and Detroit, the Midwest is having a moment right now. The cities are exploding with promising young rappers and overlooked local legends, Bandcamp, Twitter and YouTube providing the crucial arteries to broker homegrown talent to the […]

“I just don’t want to be in no one’s shadow.” Ab-Soul, the rare rapper open to admitting that he’s the dismissed member of a crew. Rather than aimlessly complain, he’s dedicated himself to rapping his way out of being unsung. Between this and the previously leaked “Black Lip Bastard,” he’s on the verge of getting […]

From here on out, I will blame Juicy J for all of my bad decisions. In hindsight, I should have been doing this from the start. “Sippin on Some Syrup” got me to try lean in college and that led to me falling asleep into a slice of pizza at the Tiger Cooler. Shout out […]

The system is imperfect, but Danny Brown is proof that it can work. Granted, I remain skpetical that the Silverlakeberg Park axis would have adopted The Hybrid as one of their own had he not pulled a full Skrillex. However, I am happy that they have. Last week at SXSW, anecdotal evidence had Danny as […]

Son Raw is swag wake-boarding. I’ve said all I have to say about the Hybrid in our hottest rapper list so I’ll spare you the repetition and just say that this is the best video by anyone that skinny since Snoop crushed the buildings. Danny Brown may look like the world’s coolest crack-head but he’s […]

Sometimes your mission finds you. For Daniel Sewell, a Black-Filipino kid from Linwood, Detroit, his career was never a choice. Danny never learned how to rap, words came together in his head even at elementary school age. Borrowing the name of his favorite Reservoir Dogs character, Danny Brown found joy ripping into the twisted corners […]

Rappers, hire Jeff Weiss to direct your next video. For the right price, he’ll make your shit lighter. 10.Purchased scented candles at a Labor Day sale at the Soho Bed, Bath & Beyond. 9. Handled all wardrobe for Danny Brown, including but not limited to, the procurement of a special-designed Raf Simons Tigger costume. Taken […]

Aaron Matthews is so tasteful that he refrained from making a single Frito-Lays reference. Quick history lesson: C.H.I.P.$ used to go by Chips D’nero as 1/3rd of Danny Brown’s old group Reservoir Dogs. Coming off a scene-stealing verse on The Hybrid’s “Detroit 187”, his new tape Couch Potato should rightly serve as the D-Town emcee’s […]