Music
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Hey Mona, Stop Trying to Make Hazel-E a Thing. Please?
Dearest Rachet Proliferation Bae, Hey, girl! How you doing? No…no…how YOU doing? Okay! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas! Yeah, girl. Girl talk like a boss! Now that we got the pleasantries out of the way, can we kick actual factuals for a minute? Please? Mona, you know I love me some ratchets. I watch them a lot. I balance the…
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Unsung: Before There Was DeBarge, There Was Switch
The story of Switch, the group that paved the way for the group DeBarge with sibling harmonizers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, is a story as much about the journey for self-love as it is about their ability to seduce audiences with falsettos, rich love songs and lush harmonies. On Sunday, TV One’s Unsung tells the…
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Say What? In Defense of Mumble Rap
With the release of 4:44, Jay-Z seems to have single-handedly grown rap up. Despite the fact that hip-hop is damn near 40 years old, Jigga’s newest release has many arguing that hip-hop has finally reached its nonironic-dad-hat phase. I would argue that Jigga did this years before with his 2006 release, Kingdom Come, which was…
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Is Wyclef Jean Really Unsung? There’s More to His Story Than You Know
For ’90s hip-hop heads, Wyclef Jean will always be known as one-third of the legendary group the Fugees. And anyone paying attention over the last few decades probably thinks he or she knows everything about Jean: how he became a sought-after producer, his near-presidential run in his home country and his starring role in a…
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Jagged Edge May Be Unsung, but They Haven’t Stopped Singing Yet
Twins Brian and Brandon Casey, along with their friends Richard Wingo and Kyle Norman, made up the 1990s R&B group Jagged Edge. Unlike boy groups like New Edition or Jodeci, the individual members didn’t become household names or branch out into solo careers, but their sound was so unusual that even traditional R&B balladeers like…
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Watch: Soul and Funk Icons Who Stood Tall for Black Empowerment
You could say that music usually reflects where we are as a society. The height of soul and funk music ran roughly parallel to the civil rights movement in America, from the 1950s to the ’70s, a period that was highly charged with political and social commentary. In today’s climate, it seems fitting to remember…
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Young Thug to Donate Proceeds From NYC Show to Planned Parenthood
On Thursday, rapper Young Thug announced that he would be donating all the proceeds from his concert at Terminal 5 in New York City to Planned Parenthood. The rapper also brought on a few surprise guests, including Ugly God and labelmates Lil Yachty and Dae Dae, W Magazine reports. After the show, he posted on…
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Jay-Z’s 4:44 Is the 1st Grown-Ass Hip-Hop Album
I’m a grown-ass, 40-year-old dad, so there are certain things I cannot do. I will never again eat at Chuck E. Cheese unless I want to end up on an episode of To Catch a Predator, but I’m also not old enough to eat at the Golden Corral. I can’t spend $200 on Jordans or wear…