F

Flavorwire

Hip-Hop

Music

“Accidental Racist” Was a Missed Opportunity: The Depressing Similarities Between Hip Hop and Country

By Tom Hawking on

By now we’ve all marveled at Brad Paisley and LL Cool J’s “Accidental Racist.” But as we were considering the song yesterday, we got to thinking about the fact that pretty much every report about it has described Paisley and LL as an “unlikely duo,” an “odd couple,” or something along those lines. At first glance, of course, they are — a white southern country star and a black MC from New York. But then again, maybe not, because their respective genres have lot more in common than perhaps either realizes. Both sounds started off as the voice of a social class without a voice in mainstream culture, and have been subsequently commercialized, glitizfied, and sold back to that same demographic as an aspirational consumerist ideal. Happy days. … Read More

Music

The Funniest Comments on Rolling Stone’s 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs List

By Tom Hawking on

Here’s something lighthearted for the afternoon: It appears we weren’t the only ones who were largely underwhelmed by Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time, because the comments section on the magazine’s website makes for pretty hilarious reading. We’re not exactly surprised that the RS readership isn’t hugely into this feature, but even so, some of the objections raised are spectacularly good — so, from protestations about the lack of Polish hip hop to one very annoyed country music fan, we’ve shared some of the more amusing comments after the jump. Click on through if you need something to amuse you on a dreary Monday afternoon. … Read More

Photography

Powerful Portraits of Hip Hop Pioneers

By Alison Nastasi on

Photographer Janette Beckman shoots for clients like Esquire and Sony, and has been exhibited internationally (we also took a look at some of her other work over here), but we’re happily fixated on her powerful portraits of pioneering hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, A Tribe Called Quest, and many more. The award-winning artist hails from London and currently works in New York — where she moved in 1982 and was instantly drawn to the underground hip hop scene. Her work has been integral in documenting the roots of the genre from its earliest days, perfectly capturing the attitude and style of the times. Please visit her blog to keep up to date with her current work — which is equally impressive — and visit our gallery past the break for a closer look. … Read More

Pop Culture

A Field Guide to Recognizing 21st-Century Subcultural Tribes

By Judy Berman on

You know you’re not a teenager anymore when you can walk down a city street and be entirely baffled by the costumes of the subcultural tribes you pass. What, for example, do you call a woman with bright green and purple dreadlocks who wears eight-inch platform boots and a gas mask as an accessory? Or a mustachioed fellow in Victorian garb who can’t decide between a monocle and a pair of goggles? When we spot a guy in black-and-white face paint and leather armor carrying a fancily embellished axe, should we ask him for some music recommendations or run the other way? Thankfully, Rob Dobi has all the answers at a website called Your Scene Sucks, which features annotated portraits of groups ranging from Juggalos to the “Apple Store Indie” crowd. Click through for some of our favorites from the site, then be sure to visit Your Scene Sucks to see the rest. If you’re especially amused, you can own the pictures in book form. … Read More

Design

Awesome Infographic: The Magnificent Map of Rap

By Judy Berman on

Are you a hip-hop fan who keeps mixing up Blaq Poet and Blaqthoven? Do you, perhaps, keep forgetting to take the “o” out of “Yung Joc,” and have you been surprised to discover that Young Jeezy and Young Beezy really are two separate people? Have you ever taken the time to analyze why so many… Read More

Design

Impressive Redesigns of Classic Hip Hop Album Covers

By Alison Nastasi on

We’ve seen a ton of indie/rock album covers get the redesign treatment, but it feels like the hip hop world hasn’t been made over quite as much. We first spotted Jeff Rochester’s collection of iconic hip hop album covers reimagined over at Voices of East Anglia. The designer has given several classic groups a new face, including De La Soul’s Three Feet and Rising, albums by Madlib and LL Cool J. MF Doom’s redesign is impressive — and works, because he literally dropped bombs on that album — but we prefer the original. It’s hard to beat the hilarity of a B-boy Dr. Doom holding a mic and wearing a hoodie with fat gold chains as the drawstrings. The new artwork for Jeru’s The Sun Rises in the East is far better than the original, making it less obvious and a great compliment to the MC’s smart rhyme style. The Wu-Tang redo evokes the old kung fu film aesthetic that colored that album much more effectively than the original cover. Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid in Full has us torn. When the album dropped, most had no idea what the duo looked like so it was cool for people to finally see their faces — particularly with Rakim’s unique voice. See all the albums and decide for yourself in our gallery after the jump. … Read More

Music

This Kreayshawn-Azealia Banks Feud Is No Good for Anyone

By Judy Berman on

The thing to giggle about on the Internet today is a brand-new Twitter feud between two people who, at first glance, have a lot in common: Kreayshawn and Azealia Banks. Both owe their fame to a single song that’s blown up on YouTube, and neither has put out a full-length album yet. And, of course, they’re both women who have found some early success in a hip-hop world so male-dominated that The New York Times can publish an article that equates black masculinity with genre authenticity and likens white female rappers to “a cat walking on its hind legs” without anyone batting a false eyelash.

Anyway, the details of this fight are pretty inconsequential: It all started when the XXX site Pornhub’s Twitter feed took a break from promoting “MILFY” videos and asking followers about the grossest food they’ve used in “sex play” to endorse Banks’ hit “212″ (and, in particular, an especially explicit lyric). Kreayshawn retweeted the link, and Banks took offense, writing: “@KREAYSHAWN You’re a dumb bitch. And you can’t rap. I’ll sit on your face. … Fall back slut.” Apparently, Kreayshawn didn’t mean to offend Banks, replying, “I’ve been listening to your music all month” and lamenting that she “got smashed on twitter because I was supporting another female.” Both sides eventually cooled off, but we’re left with the impression that, while Kreayshawn has lots of respect for Banks, the esteem isn’t mutual. … Read More

Celebrity

Hip Hop Icon Heavy D Passes Away at 44

By Alison Nastasi on

Hip hop legend Heavy D (Dwight Arrington Myers) was one of the genre’s most iconic MCs, a man who helped introduce hip hop to the mainstream by collaborating with popular R&B artists like Al B. Sure on many of his albums. Now, TMZ reports that the 44-year-old musician is dead after being found unconscious… Read More

Music

10 Specialist Blogs Music Nerds Need to Bookmark

By Tom Hawking on

With the arrival of Spotify in the US, there’s been plenty of commentary over the past couple of months about online music consumption, with endless profiles of competing services, all focused on working out which one is going to rule the online musical roost. This is all very well, but the subject has been done to death, and anyway, none of these pieces seem to focus on our favorite way to find new tunes: specialist music blogs. The oldest MP3 blogs have been around for nearly a decade now, and this means that some of them have had time to accumulate some pretty remarkable libraries of sounds. Visiting these is like going to some crazy eclectic record shop full of esoteric stuff you’ve never heard of, and spending all day on the record player there. (Savvy artists, incidentally, have also cottoned onto these blogs as a way of getting heard by music lovers — many of them accept demos these days). Ten of our favorites are after the jump. … Read More

Music

Eminem vs. Jay-Z: Who’s the Real King of Hip-Hop?

By Judy Berman on

Last week, Forbes published their annual “Cash Kings of 2011″ list, counting down hip-hop’s top 20 earners. The winner was Jay-Z, who has raked in $37 million over the past year. But now, Rolling Stone has come up with their own “Kings of Hip-Hop” list, another top 20 that includes most of the same names but places Eminem at #1. The difference between the rankings is that, while Forbes only takes into account rappers’ earnings, RS has a more holistic (and music-focused) view, incorporating all of the following criteria: “album sales, rankings on the R&B/hip-hop and rap charts, YouTube views, social media, concert grosses, industry awards and critics’ ratings.”

So, which list gives us a better idea of who’s most influential in hip-hop? It depends whether we’re taking a short of long view. Rolling Stone definitely does a better job of picking out rappers who have released popular and acclaimed albums recently — that is, 2011′s biggest hip-hop stars. What Forbes gives us is a ranking of musicians-turned-moguls (or moguls-turned-musicians) who have proven their staying power by becoming a personal brand. In other words, Eminem is having a very good year, but Jay-Z will be around forever. Check out both lists after the jump and weigh in Eminem vs. Jay-Z in the comments. … Read More