There are 23 results

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  Track by Track: 'Watch the Throne' Pt. 2

  August 23, 2011 – The second half of Watch The Throne is where the album really starts to come together, and where Jay and Kanye's rapper-rich provincial worldview begins to fall apart. …
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  SPIN's Track-by-Track Take on 'Watch the Throne'

  August 13, 2011 – Jay-Z and Kanye West's collaborative album Watch The Throne is finally in stores. August 12 also marks the day that the painter Jean Michael Basquiat died, 23 years ago. It's an oddly appropriate time for a money-grubbing, deeply considered, pop-art rap album full of shiny, expensive message-music to drop. …
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  Kreayshawn's White Girl Mob & The N-Word

  August 5, 2011 – Rule number one for white rappers, and shit, man, white people in general: Don't say the n-word! Just don't. Not exactly sure where this white-rapper compulsion to utter "nigga" comes from, but the latest violator of what should be a pretty obvious rule is V-Nasty. …
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  Inside the Mind of the Dirty South

  June 24, 2011 – Ben Westhoff's Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop is the kind of patient, considered music book that rap fans are rarely blessed with. …
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  In Defense Of Kanye West's "Monster"

  June 18, 2011 – In the video for Kanye West's "Monster," Kanye, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj (no Justin Vernon to be found, unfortunately) are holed up in a fancy chateau Salo-style, surrounded by murdered and murderous models. At one point, Kanye casually rhymes while holding a woman's severed head. When the video first leaked in January, it understandably generated controversy. …
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  The Death and Resurrection of Conscious Rap, Pt. 3

  June 9, 2011 – If Kanye West's binary-breaking rise to superstardom didn't kill off what was left of conscious rap, then the cratering of record sales, which led to a mass rapper exodus to the Internet (and the creation of a new "underground") most certainly did. …
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  The Death and Resurrection Of Conscious Rap, Pt. 2

  June 3, 2011 – "[1998] was a beautiful time all the way around in hip-hop. The album I released that year, Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, was the biggest record of my life. The opening week was unreal for me -- we did more than 300,000 units, by far the biggest opening number of my career at that point. The album moved Lauryn Hill down to No. 4, but OutKast's Aquemini was right behind me, and [A Tribe Called Quest's] The Love Movement was number three. …
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  The Death and Resurrection of Conscious Rap Pt.1

  May 27, 2011 – "I mean, he is -- within the genre of hip-hop and rap, he is what's known as a 'conscience rapper,' or a 'conscious rapper,' rather. And I would quote a report just six months ago from Fox News where he was described as a rap legend and quote, 'Your music is very positive and you're known as the conscious rapper. …
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  What Makes Nicki Minaj's Music Fun and Smart

  May 20, 2011 – Listen to "Super Bass", the Pink Friday bonus track turned victory-lap single, and for a few minutes, try not to think about about Nicki Minaj's breathless rapping ability, weirdo vocal tics, funny faces, and visionary fashion sense (yes to long-sleeve spandex dresses, yes yes yes to late-'90s Aaliyah swag). …
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  'Goblin Redux': Touching Up Tyler's New Album

  May 12, 2011 – "They don't get it, 'cause it's not made for them," declares Tyler, the Creator on the title track from his long-awaited, real record-label debut Goblin. …
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