Rap
Jimmy Iovine on Selling Music for 40 years
Music industry guru Jimmy Iovine walks us through how he’s sold us music for the past 40 years, from Patti Smith to Dr. Dre to Apple Music.
Brazilian rap lovers want to create Rio’s first ‘Hip-Hop Plaza’
They Slay: Five Queer Rappers You Should Know
Listen to the Egyptian song that has Jay Z in court
2015 Will Be Hip-Hop's Best Year
There's so much good hip-hop in 2015 that you could forget about a bunch of it and it would still be one of the best years ever — and it's not even April.
Five Things You Had to See Online This Week
Kendrick Lamar drops an album, pimps a butterfly, wins the internet this week.
For this hip-hop artist, black lives do matter — and it's time to take a stand
On Saturday in Austin, there was a Black Lives Matter protest on the campus of the University of Texas, down the street from near the annual SXSW conference. At the protest was Texas hip-hop artist D.Hawk, who says it's time to take a stand against violence against African Americans.
Five Things You Had to See Online This Week
The dinosaurs from the TV show Dinosaurs dancing to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" wins the internet this week.
Yung Jake: The Rapper Behind Those Celebrity Emoji Portraits
A mostly unknown rapper constructs elaborate celebrity portraits out of emojis.
Issa Rae built an empire of awkward, but she's still not satisfied
With a hit web series and a potential show coming on HBO, comedian Issa Rae is making her akwardness pay off. The Senegalese immigrant to the US says she "didn't know how to be black," and never quite fit in with any group of kids around her. But that's proved to be a gold mine for comedy.
Awkwafina is changing hip-hop one vulgar, hilarious lyric at a time
She's a rapper. She's a provocateur. She's Asian. But Awkwafina, a Queens-born rapper, says none of that should be out of place, either in the hip-hop world or the United States.
Hip Deep Ghana 2: 21st Century Accra from Gospel to Hiplife
Hiplife–a fusion of hip-hop and highlife–has come of age, spawning subgenres tilting to roots culture, international rap, and boldly humorous satire, not to mention azonto, a dance craze that has rocketed to global renown in just over a year. But ...<a class="meta-nav" href="http://www.afropop.org/wp/12281/hip-deep-ghana-2-21st-century-accra-from-gospel-to-hiplife/"> Read more »</a>
Tanzanian Hip-Hop: A Primer
Those beats! One of the biggest musical change that occurs during the period of Tanzanian music covered by “Live From Bongoland” is the introduction of hip-hop. Starting from a small-scale, DIY underground, hip-hop style and music localized, transitioning from English ...<a class="meta-nav" href="http://www.afropop.org/wp/18705/tanzanian-hip-hop-a-primer/"> Read more »</a>
Explosion! Big Freedia Drops New Single
The best-known name in bounce, the New Orleans-based hip-hop varietal that’s received national attention for its gender-bending dance-floor frenzy, is getting ready for her musical closeup. And we can’t wait. Fresh from the first season of her (happily renewed) reality ...<a class="meta-nav" href="http://www.afropop.org/wp/18346/explosion-big-freedia-drops-new-single/"> Read more »</a>