Harold Stallworth insists that life is like a dice game. Willie The Kid’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is best known for being a world leader in office furniture manufacturing, but you would never know it from the plush tone of his music. Willie’s studio persona is anything but functional. He raps wealthy, even when […]

Harold Stallworth is still spending bitcoins from ‘88. What kind of music can you imagine being played at your very own funeral? It’s a morbid question, to be sure, but one that Chicagoan bedroom producer SlumLord88 aims to answer with his latest beat tape, Funeral Music. Presumably, the title is indebted to a 50 Cent […]

Harold Stallworth called all across town to borrow a four-pound. Hus Kingpin is a poor man’s Roc Marciano. But in a year where Roc has managed to keep an uncharacteristically low profile, poverty is relative. Hus’s latest project, Nahright Hype, is just that: a whopping 27-track mixtape sanctioned by the time-honored hip-hop blog of the […]

Harold Stallworth is a world champion spades player. Autumn, the season of meaningful baseball, has finally reared its temperate head over the nation’s capitol. This mix was originally inspired by what was thought to be a balls-deep playoff run for the Washington Nationals, tailor-made for long, uncomfortable train rides to the ballpark. Green Line jams, […]

Harold Stallworth went to see Papi and all he got was this lousy t-shirt. In the mid-to-late-90s, an elusive figure by the name of Papi played the foil to some of the most talented rappers that New York City had to offer. Papi was a shrewd businessman, sinister in his dealings with hip-hop’s elite—a habitual […]

Harold Stallworth love to hear the stories, again and again. Circa 1986, Queensbridge park jam legend DJ Hot Day was tapped to remix New Edition’s “Once In a Lifetime Groove.” The original record was featured on the soundtrack for Running Scared, a ditzy buddy cop flick starring Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. Dubbed the “Master […]

Harold Stallworth will crush you like a jellybean. Two of rap’s most endearing underdogs, Gunplay and Cormega, have finally joined forces over a flat mafioso beat, courtesy of the invariably generic Hazardis Soundz. The pairing isn’t as unconventional as you might think. Gunplay’s 2009 rendition of “Memory Lane” was among the sharpest barbs thrown during […]

Harold Stallworth takes care to never say the year. Few rappers live to enjoy a level of acclaim so universal that praise and applause, no matter how deserving, runs the risk of coming across as cliché. “In The Scrolls,” slated to appear on Large Professor’s forthcoming solo album, Living Legend, finds the good professor saluting […]

Harold Stallworth wants to give you the world. For the better half of a decade, Brooklyn rapper AZ has been threatening to retire after the release of Doe or Die 2. The only caveat? The oft-delayed sequel to his cult classic debut is probably never going to see the light of day. Doe or Doe […]

Harold Stallworth is a national treasure. Last Wednesday, on the mid-Atlantic leg of Curren$y’s “Drive-In Theatre” tour, a few things were immediately apparent. First, the only great entrée to be had at Howard Theatre, the cajun shrimp and grits, had been temporarily stricken from their balcony menu. Second, the production featured on Drive-In Theatre, while […]