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Music

20 Classic Female-Fronted Hip Hop Tracks

By Tom Hawking on

Oh, Rolling Stone. Sometimes you make it so easy. We try not to spend too much of our time nitpicking the amusingly out-of-touch pontifications of Jann Wenner’s empire, but occasionally something comes along that annoys us so much that it’s hard not to react. So it was recently, when the magazine’s editors came back from the mountain with stone tablets purporting to contain “The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.” In fairness, reading RS for hip hop recommendations is like reading Trucking Monthly for advice on bicycles, but even so, if you’re going to claim to make a definitive list, you don’t relegate Nas’s “NY State of Mind” to #31 (11 places behind 50 Cent’s risible “In Da Club”) — and, more annoyingly, you don’t make the mistake of including only three songs featuring female vocalists. … Read More

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Music

The Most Gloriously Absurd Lyrics in Hip Hop History

By Tom Hawking on

Juggalos rejoice! The new Insane Clown Posse album is finally out this week — it was due earlier this year, but record company wrangling resulted in its release date being pushed until the end of summer. Of course, beyond their selective appeal to Faygo devotees, ICP are largely known to the general public because of the immortal couplets from their 2009 single “Miracles,” which will go down in history as one of the most ridiculous and somehow awesome songs ever made. In celebration of their new record, then, here’s a selection of the most gloriously awesome lyrics that hip hop has given the world. Your suggestions are of course welcome. (And just to pre-empt any of the accusations that have a magical way of appearing in our comments section every time we say anything remotely negative about hip hop: we’ve done this before for ’80s pop songs and we’ll most likely do it for other genres in due course. So there.) … Read More

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Music

Awesome Infographic: NYC Rapper Map

By Caroline Stanley on

Did you realize that Puff Daddy and Biz Markie grew up just blocks apart in Manhattan? Or that Foxy Brown and Talib Kweli were practically neighbors? We had no idea before Boing Boing tipped us off to this fantastic new infographic mapping New York City rappers’ origins from Very Small Array. Click … Read More

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Music

Nicki Minaj vs. Lil Kim vs. Foxy Brown: Whose Diss Track Wins?

By Judy Berman on

For a while there, all of our great female rappers had dropped off the map. But ever since Nicki Minaj came on the scene, it seems like they’re finally coming out of the woodwork. Lauryn Hill has been performing again, and this week, Missy Elliott “re-introduced” herself on a new Timbaland track, “Take Ur Clothes Off.” And Lil Kim is back, too, picking fights with Minaj. Now that those two ladies have exchanged disses, it’s time for Foxy Brown to show up again, to tell her old rival to lay off of Nicki. So, whose diss track hits the hardest? Let’s listen to all three and decide for ourselves. … Read More

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Music

A History of Child Rappers, 1980-Present

By Margaret Eby on

Last week, Willow Smith — the 9-year-old daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith — dropped the video for her first single, the infectious jam “Whip My Hair.” Precocious as Willow is, she’s far from the first prepubescent rapper. In fact, there’s a fairly long history of up-and-comers who aren’t old enough to drink, vote, or drive. From the 1980s on, rappers, like gymnasts, start really early; they’re usually making beats before they are out of diapers. We present to you a brief, incomplete history of hip-hop artists under 18, after the jump. … Read More

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Web

Celebrities’ Best Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Cards

By Casey Acierno on

It wasn’t bullet wounds, drug arrests, or trying to single-handedly revive rap-metal — no, an ornery cracked tooth has taken Weezy temporarily out of the game, pushing back his sentencing in attempted weapons possession charges to the beginning of next month. Emergency oral surgery isn’t the only questionable excuse celebs have used to put off or get out of prison; check out some of the best (or worst) after the jump. … Read More

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