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Most rap artists heralded as "mature" are simply miming growth.
'Grown Man' Rappers Like Jay-Z or Common Are Mature Only in the Absence of Immaturity -
Other than that, the VH1 Honors tributes were a confusing mess.
The Roots & Eminem Honor LL Cool J With 'Rock The Bells' -
Every time ex-kids who reinvented rap get a little older, the new kids behind them turn it into something else.
Hip-Hop's Mini-Generation Gap, Jeff Chang Explores the Divide -
"We were tired of the drugs, the gangs, the burning buildings. This was our way to say: We're going to do what we want."
Has Hip-Hop Come "of Age," Asks Joe Conzo? -
Beat biter, dope-style taker, Ivy-League Ph.D Psychology-Faker
Roxanne Shante' Told A Fib -
Is Jay-Z George Bush? Mark Lynch of SLATE sister site FOREIGN POLICY recently compared hip hop to geostrategy. He parses the recent back-and-forth between rapper Jay-Z and less successful (though still famous) MCs like The Game, Nas, and 50 Cent, using Jay-Z's diss tracks, and his responses to those of others, to form a crudish theory of American global authority.
Hillary Clinton, Jay-Z, The Game and Global Theories of Power -
Someone had to be around to document hip-hop’s journey to the center of the pop-cultural universe. Enter Vibe. But now it’s gone. Where does that leave hip-hop?
R.I.P., Vibe, 1993-2009 -
Can you not go out of your way to fall into every stereotype possible?
T-Pain: American Coon -
Twenty years later, does anyone know what De la Soul was even rappin' about?
De La Soul, 20 Years On -
The video of hipster rapper Charles Hamilton getting popped in the jaw by his ex-girlfriend has been floating around the Internets for a minute now. The Charles Hamilton Question is, why is violence on the table, and how do you reasonably expect a man to repond?
The Charles Hamilton Question and Domestic Violence
