Back in 1994, Long Beach, California charged onto the rap scene along with a few other West Coast hot spots. While most of the major artists from the area (Pac, Dre, Snoop) stuck with the West by signing to labels like Death Row, one rapper in particular went East — Warren G. Read More »

A mere man can raise political awareness, call attention to the continued plight of African Americans, and take music back for the people, but but it takes a Soulja Boy to make hip-hop that matters to the mainstream.

But, fight as he might, one soldier is not enough to win the war on intelligent hip-hop. Today, July 2, 2009 may be remembered as the day that radio rap lost one of its warriors: Soulja Boy has conceded victory to the “other” hip-hop artists. According to an early morning tweet: “This rap shit is lame now.” He’s done, he’s out, “gonna go blow kush and live my 2nd dream.” If Soulja Boy does disappear, who will lead us? Ewe’ve ocmpiled a list of biz tips from Soulja Boy himself, assuming anyone wants to take slip into his slot.

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On Monday, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic withdrew from the race for Wahkiakum County Clerk. The non-Foo fighter was running a “protest candidacy” for the made-up Grange Party in an attempt to draw attention to the top-two primary system in Washington State that the bassist feels is too easily exploitable.

Since Novoselic never actually intended to go all the way, we’re going to cut him some slack here and chalk it up to creative political activism — but it got us thinking about some other musicians who have tried their hands in the world’s dirtiest job. After the jump, we break these upwardly mobile musicians into a list of real rebels and poser politicians.

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We asked you yesterday if sex sells in fashion. Inspired by the concept (and our general lack of maturity), we decided to change genres and pump out this list of the most sexual-invigorated band names ever. Creativity and wordplay took the top positions in this shakedown; subtlety did well, but humor and sheer vulgarity got us going a bit, too. Add any glaring omissions in the comments. Read More »

His rhymes were addictive, his beats were catchy, and his dance moves were the envy of every bar mitzvah attendee. He was MC Hammer, and from his parachute pants to his “mind to rhyme and two fresh feet” one thing was certain: you couldn’t touch him. If you suddenly find yourself feeling nostalgic, don’t fear: Mixtape king Mick Boogie (ThePressPlayShow) presents Hammertime, a reported “ride through the past, present, and future, using the original samples to intro some of Hammers biggest hits,” as well as remixes by nVme and Good Life Mike featuring some of the best new faces in the game (6th Sense, Mistah FAB). Read More »