Part 2 of Son Raw’s continuing look at London’s best radio station. Part 1 here. Dubstep: The cream of the crop Dubstep has seen better days on Rinse, as London’s sound of choice has found itself out of favor amongst listeners dissuaded by the anti-cool factor that comes with being America’s soundtrack to take drugs […]

Son Raw’s been wanting to write this for years Pre-recorded podcasts may have more polish and The Boiler Room might have the benefit of a live crowd, but tune for tune, there’s nowhere better to hear fresh urban electronic music than London institution Rinse.FM. Starting off as a Jungle pirate in the mid 90s, the […]

Douglas Martin wants all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas. I’ll save you the chore of reading another essay about how good a year for music 2012 was. As Nas once said, “Why shoot the breeze about it when you could be about it?” Since we’ve already given you the fifty best rap […]

The final part of The Top 50 Albums list arrives on Monday. In the interim, allow Douglas Martin to serenade you with the sweet sounds of Ty Segall. I. TY IS NOT A GAME Did you record not one, not even two, but three outstanding full-length LPs this year? Did you still have time to […]

Son Raw has no inner peace. Or outter peace for that matter. Quiet as kept, Deep Medi creeped up to become my label of the year singles-wise. That will probably make me an exception to the rule as their tempo of choice is out of fashion amongst the trend-spotters and their groove is too broken, […]

In one year, DJ Mustard went from practically anonymous to $20,000 a beat. That’s how it goes. All you need is one hit and Mustard’s “Rack City” became Las Vegas’ most significant cultural contribution since Fear and Loathing (or maybe “Leaving Las Vegas:” Sheryl Crow edition.) But at home in Los Angeles, Mustard had earned […]

Will this be remembered as the year everyone finally gave up on the idea of an Outkast reunion? Between Kendrick, K.R.I.T. and all halfway rap fusionists, their legacy remains the pink elephant in the room (to match Andre’s suspenders.) But the slow drip of articles touting “OUTKAST IN THE STUDIO” have gone ghost. Andre is […]

Pumpkin via Figueroa Newton, courtesy of this post from the indefatigable Shea Serrano Last Friday, I was invited to Dublab to do a two hour guest set. Since I’m only 13 (but my mind is old), I devoted the mix to hip hop songs inclined towards All Hallows Eve. Predictably, there was a lot of […]

It’s Kendrick Lamar week in the rap world, and you can bet that a lot of us want to weigh in on good kid, m.A.A.D. city, an album title which is very confusing to punctuate. We kicked it off last week with Deen and should be continuing all week. Feel free to chime in, hate, […]

Music listeners are essentially dopamine addicts. The chemicals are secreted every time we hear a song we love.  We all remember the CD that changed us from casual listeners into audio fiends. Maybe we enjoyed the smooth grooves of a boyband or decided Sisqo had some street cred, but there’s nothing quite like discovering that […]