rap
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Rapper Lil B Calls for a ‘Black Panther Moment’ in Video Game Culture
Lil B is a lot of things: rapper, Based God, goth-girl lover and outspoken gaming nerd. In an interview with English electronic-music publication Fact magazine from February (it just landed on my radar! Sorry!), B (real name Brandon McCartney) discusses a lack of diversity in gaming culture, suggesting that video games need their own “Black…
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Watch: Roxanne Shanté Explains How She Created Hip-Hop Diss Records
Lolita Shanté Gooden, aka Roxanne Shanté, is a hip-hip icon, a living legend, if you will. Netflix has released Roxanne Roxanne, a biopic that chronicles Shanté’s humble beginnings in Queens, N.Y., in the ’80s. Shanté was a solidified rap staple from the Queensbridge Houses. She could rap circles around anybody and quickly became the go-to…
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The Smithsonian Is Creating a Dope Hip-Hop Anthology
When MC Lyte broke into the hip-hop world as a pioneering solo female rapper, she wasn’t thinking about making history. Like most aspiring artists, she wanted to be on the radio. “I was a lover of hip-hop. I went to the hip-hop clubs. I started rapping in elementary school … at 12, I started keeping…
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Ice-T on Why He’s Hip-Hop’s Unsung O.G.
Most Law & Order junkies and millennials probably only know Ice-T affectionately as the gruff, no-nonsense NYPD Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But the rapper Ice-T came well before his nearly 20-year run on the television show. The story of Ice-T the rapper, including his crime-ridden days and his…
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Audio: LeBron James and Kevin Durant Rap Leaked, and It Doesn’t Sound Horrible
In 2011, Kevin Durant and LeBron James weren’t bitter rivals—in fact, I doubt they are now, but they are currently competing against each other for world domination in the NBA Finals—and they secretly collaborated on a rap that doesn’t appear to be half bad. They’re both huge rap fans; in fact, King James is rumored…
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10 Thoughts on Drake and His ‘Playlist,’ More Life
Disclaimer: I’m not sure I’m a Drake fan, but I’m not NOT a Drake fan, either. I listen to all the albums and have listened to Drake songs when washing dishes, changing diapers and eating brussels sprouts. I’m an informed listener, so I’m speaking on More Life as a music enthusiast and avid consumer who…
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Is Rick Ross A Good Rapper?
There are two ways to answer the question asked in the title. 1. He is a professional rapper, having been one for over a decade, and his professional rappings are quite proficient and popular. Compared to the average person — or, even better, compared to me when I attempt to rap (which often occurs when…
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What Conservatives Really Mean When They Talk About Rap
What you say about somebody else reveals you. What I think of you as being is dictated by my own necessities, my own psychology, my own fears and desires. I’m not describing you when I talk about you; I’m describing me. —James Baldwin Donald Trump supporters have continually found new, improbable ways to rationalize the…
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How Trump Turned the 2nd Debate Into a Rap Battle
Sunday’s debate showed one thing about Donald Trump that I’d never noticed: He is thoroughly versed in the Loaded Lux playbook of battle rap. Just 90 minutes prior to Sunday’s town hall showdown versus Hillary “Supa Predatah” Clinton, Trump hosted a Facebook Live press conference with several women who’d accused the former president and current…
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Empire Is Getting That Pepsi Money. Smart. Very Smart.
For all of its faults – sometimes I feel like the writers behind Empire don’t actually realize that the people watching are old enough to know non-sense when we see it – I do happen to think that Empire is one of the “smartest” shows on television for what they are doing for a few…