Asking music writers to agree on one thing is an impossible task. Some think Young Thug’s otherworldly yelps ruled the summer while others would prefer he return to his home planet. One thing you can depend on is most of these tunes will inspire unrestrained dancing all the way into autumn. See below for our […]

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 […]

Harold Stallworth has flats in other continents. Mobb Deep’s brief tenure with hip-hop’s evil empire G-Unit Records had few salvageable moments. But such moments certainly did occur. I’d like to think of “Shark” as the belated fruit of 50 Cent’s puppeteering, a remnant from that steep trough in the duo’s corrugated career arc. The Alchemist-produced […]

Harold Stallworth wears his leather in the winter Bobby Shmurda wedging his stage surname into the hip-hop lexicon will ultimately have more impact, but Boldy James gets my vote for this year’s most valuable slang editorialist. The greatest slang is functional. It rolls off your tongue like a folk song and tastes good in your […]

Harold Stallworth fell to the third round of the draft. Shallah Raekwon is more observant than the secret service. He whips the Call of Duty Wrangler, frequents warehouses furnished with strippers, punches holes through his lady’s drywall partitions, and occasionally serenades bitches. These are just a few of the devilish details from “Stop Tripping,” the […]

Harold Stallworth held you down for six summers. Last week, after many months of grueling deliberation, I finally trudged down to my leasing office and served the property manager with a notice to vacate. In the very near future, I’ll bid a fond farewell to the quaint streets of Montgomery County, to the farmers markets […]