Harold Stallworth doesn’t know how to spell Basquiat. The bad news is that the latest leak from Cormega’s long-awaited sixth album, Mega Philosophy, bears the unfortunate title of “Rap Basquiat.” The good news is that said record, produced by the incomparable Large Professor, is the furthest thing from shallow art gallery bluster. Drake would be […]

Harold Stallworth is but one of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s many pen names. With the release of his self-titled debut EP, an elusive Coney Island-based rapper by the name of Your Old Droog has leapfrogged the likes of Ali Vegas, Mic Geronimo, The Game, and Biggie’s mock baby picture to become the most convincing Nas impersonator […]

Harold Stallworth nicknames everything. For the those keeping tabs, “Goose Egg,” a cut originally featured on DJ Frank White’s Bout That Life mixtape, is the first real Boldy James record to surface since his Alchemist-helmed LP dropped last fall. The modest buzz from My 1st Chemistry Set earned a cosign from Nas, a vague partnership […]

Harold Stallworth always bets on blue and cream. There’s plenty of reasons to thumb your nose at “Industry,” the latest leak from Cormega’s long-delayed fifth album, Mega Philosophy: Large Professor’s smooth, polished production, while impressive in itself, simply doesn’t mesh well with Mega’s abrasive style; there’s an absolutely tragic mention of “swag” chased by a […]

Harold Stallworth will always roots for the villain. This year’s spring has been absurdly slow in arriving to Washington D.C., but better late than polar vortex. Bidding farewell to old man winter is a bittersweet occasion, seeing as how my dearest strains of music and fashion were born out of blistering winds and torrential snowfall. […]

Harold Stallworth carries switchblades on the reg’, duke. Revenge is the sweetest joy next to drinking D’usse. It took precisely a decade, but it would seem that Cormega finally redeemed himself for the thrashing he took at the hands of Ghostface Killah on “Tony Montana,” a standout cut from the first—and, unfortunately, last—installment of his […]

Harold Stallworth is trapped in the ’90s You know what was way better back in the 90s? Grocery baggers. Today’s youth have absolutely no appreciation for geometry or material properties. If I had a dime for every time a teenager tried to stack beer atop my avocados, I’d be the wealthiest man this side of […]

Harold Stallworth is infatuated with Donald Goines’ novels. “The creative geography has collapsed over the last few years in Los Angeles.” This is a sentence I wish I could take credit for, but it’s an observation that only a California native, such as this publication’s editor, who lived through an era where Xzibit’s At The […]

Harold Stallworth is a villain of sorts. The year was 1995. Bobbito Garcia and DJ Stretch Armstrong took the airwaves just hours after the infamous Source Awards snafu. They interviewed several artists that witnessed the show first hand, including broken linguist Smoothe Da Hustler, and the missing link between park jams and dunn language, Tragedy […]

Harold Stallworth and his crew roll tight like The Firm. By the time you read this blog, I’ll be rummaging through a TJ Maxx clearance rack, searching for an irregular Chaps sweater to wear to Nas’ Kennedy Center concert. This weekend, barring any unforeseen hiccups, the honorable Kid Wave will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Illmatic at Washington […]