Music
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Jay-Z Tops Forbes List of Highest-Paid Rappers; Soulja Boy Snubbed Again
Despite ignoring The Root’s calls to become our employer, the hip-hop artist responsible for killing the spiders and taking out the trash at the Knowles-Carter compound managed to make enough money last year to purchase the 64 box of Crayons with the sharpener included for Sir and Rumi and also managed to top the list…
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Cardi B and Drake Dominate BET's Hip Hop Awards Nominations
Continuing a trend that played out on the Billboard charts earlier this year, Drake and Cardi B are sitting happy atop the BET Hip Hop Awards heap this year, racking up 21 nominations collectively. Drake leads the entire field with 11 nominations, including nods for Album of the Year, for Scorpion, and Lyricist of the…
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Afropunk’s Owners Get Real About the Festival's Growth, Recent Controversies
For Matthew Morgan and Jocelyn Cooper, it has been a long, 15-year journey to get the Afropunk Festival from the small, local hangout for passionate message-board friends in the alt-punk space congregating in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, NY, to the internationally renowned entertainment juggernaut it is today. Borne out of a titular documentary exploring…
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So Black Thought, Phonte and Rhymefest Are Forming a SuperGroup. I Really Hope This Ends Up Dope
The rap world was enraptured for various reasons with the out-of-the-blue release of Eminem’s latest coaster, Kamikaze, for most of this past week. I gave it a few listens and deleted it from my phone library. Eminem is one of those rappers who on technical merits alone is one of the best, if not the…
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Kanye West’s Explanation Tour Makes a Stop to Apologize to Drake
Kanye West wants Drake to know that he harbors no hard feelings against him. The two rappers have had an ongoing beef for some time now, and during an appearance on Chicago’s WGCI radio station, West attributed the beef to a misunderstanding over a beat. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, West sent off…
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What We Not Gon' Do Is Act Like Janet Jackson Wouldn't Be With Bobby Brown, Who Was the Absolute Man in the '80s
On the heels of the surprisingly successful The New Edition Story last fall, BET decided to ride the gravy train one more time with the Tuesday release of episode one of The Bobby Brown Story, to be followed by episode 2 on Wednesday night. Much like with New Edition, we followed along on social media with…
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Childish Gambino Drops Animated Video for 'Feels Like Summer,' Featuring Our Hip-Hop Faves Hanging Out in the Coolest Neighborhood Ever
As we head towards Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and cookout season, Childish Gambino has dropped an animated video for “Feels Like Summer,” featuring cameos from some of our hip-hop and R&B favorites. As Gambino casually strolls down the street in what has to be the coolest neighborhood ever, we catch a glimpse…
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Michael Jackson’s 60th Birthday Celebration Was an Incredible Tribute to the King of Pop and His Fans
Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a huge Michael Jackson fan. I would go so far as to say I stan harder for Michael Jackson than I do for Cardi B. I have never offered to give anyone the hands over Cardi B, but I am absolutely intolerant of Michael Jackson…
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The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace Pays Its Respect to Queen Aretha
For whatever issues they have (and there are many: colonialism, imperialism, Brexit, etc.) one thing that I will always love about the Brits is their love, esteem and admiration for black—specifically African-American—music. From the Rolling Stones paying homage to the blues men of Chess Records (and going to Chicago to sit at the feet of…
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Livestream: Aretha Franklin’s Funeral in Detroit
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, is being laid to rest today in Detroit in what will be a star-studded celebration of her life, music and legacy. Shirley Caesar, Chaka Khan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former President Bill Clinton and Stevie Wonder are just a few of the luminaries who will pay their R-E-S-P-E-C-Ts to…