March 30, 2012 – No one in music is more culturally important than the dance-pop diva right now — Rihanna, Katy Perry, Gaga, Minaj, even Madonna's back — so naturally we've seen a parallel underground emerge, a weird mirror reflection where freak flags come in the form of subdued aesthetics, DIY production values, and literary lyrics (see Niki and the Dove, Charli XCX, et al). That's where Mr. Little Jeans comes in: the spritely, smart project of Norway's Monica Birkeness, she's got hooks from here to the Aurora Borealis but swathes them in dark-hearted mystery, bright synths lurking beneath her breathy, indelible voice.

March 9, 2012 – Waka Flocka Flame's new single, "I Don't Really Care," featuring Trey Songz (produced by upstart Skyy Stylez and R&B vet Troy Taylor) — from Flocka's forthcoming second album, Triple F Life: Friends, Fans and Family, due in mid-April — is a brick-hard, singalong banger with sinister, rippling synths that blurs the line between tough-mug heartthrob and sex-symbol street rapper. After Songz opens the proceedings with his lithe croon, Waka bursts through the curtain like an IMAX superhero, barking that he's got "bad bitches" yelling his name and "Versace on my ass." Songz deftly counters that he's "swaggin on the sofa," before Waka returns, boasting a more composed demeanor, mean-muggin' haters and noting that he's got "ten thousand worth of ones on the way." A case study in doing it big while not sweating it.

March 2, 2012 – Odd Future members Jasper Dolphin, Taco Bennett, and Lionel Boyce made auspicious steps towards stardom by appearing in their BFF Tyler, the Creator's video for "Bitch Suck Dick" — Jasper had a plus-size workout, Lionel ripped open his shirt, and Taco sat bare-assed on a filet of Waygu beef (we're assuming it's Waygu — only the best). And though Boyce just wrapped up a stint writing a deeply enjoyable column for the LA Weekly (and performed 2011's funniest rap skit, "L-Boy Interlude" from Domo Genesis' Under the Influence), these guys are decidedly lower-profile than Tyler and the prodigal Earl Sweatshirt. All that's about to change. On March 25, Loiter Squad will debut on Adult Swim, and along with Tyler, these three will co-produce and star.

November 29, 2011 – Odd Future, hip-hop troublemakers and stars of our December issue, are expanding their musical nebula into realms far beyond foul-mouthed tantrums and nostalgic R&B smoothies. Enter the Internet, the crew's new kaleidoscopic pop outfit consisting of Matt Martians (of beatmakers Jet Age of Tomorrow) and trusty DJ and engineer Syd the Kyd, two best friends and roommates who just released a hallucinogenic video for first single "Cocaine". The space-aspiring pair will digitally release their debut album, Purple Naked Ladies, on December 20. For the occasion, SPIN sat with the duo in the basement of the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon, and discussed the Syd's role as hip-hop's first out-and-proud superstar and how you're never too famous to live off Eggo waffles. When did you start making music? Matt Martians: Sophomore year of college. I just turned 23 a few weeks ago.

November 21, 2011 – In early October, while touring across the Pacific Northwest with Odd Future for our new feature, mouthpiece Tyler, the Creator held court for some formal interview sessions. These life-on-the-road conversations generally translated to jokes, dirty language, and copious clowning on everyone on the bus; but in between, the most scrutinized man in hip-hop broke down everything from what it's like to wake up with thousands of dollars in your bank account to learning to skate from video games. As a bonus, get a glimpse of life on the road, Odd Future style, in our video ride-along:brightcove.createExperiences();So, there are a couple thousand kids out there, already lined up to see you. What do you think about all this?It's cool. I can't complain. It happened quicker than I thought, so it's not that easy to get used to.

November 15, 2011 – "They are them. We are us. Fuck them all." So goes the motto of obscenely groundbreaking hellions Odd Future. The white-hot epicenter of hip-hop's New Underground take their stage-diving family affair on the road, and we join the caravan. And for more from OF's always-quotable leader, read our bonus Q&A: Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator on Race, Broken Homes, and Waking Up Rich. More From SPIN's December 2011 Issue:• Live from the New Underground: SPIN Celebrates Hip-Hop's DIY Moment• Photos: A Close-Up Look at Rap's New Underground• G-Side Launch a Hardscrabble, Regular-Dude Revolution• An Insanely Obsessive Infographic Tries (in Vain) to Diagram the Hip-Hop Galaxy It's freezing in Vancouver, British Columbia, but these two tow-headed white kids have been waiting for hours.

November 8, 2011 – Last month, the Internet's Syd the Kyd told SPIN, "I'm not trying to showcase my vocals, let's just get that clear. I don't see myself as a singer, I won't perform my music. I'm just a producer who sings on her own songs because I can't find anybody else who sounds like me." We had to disagree: Sure Syd's no Mariah Carey, but the vulnerable harmonies of "They Say" or "Love Song -1" show a woman with a distinct, outre alto that floats like a dream on her group's sensual space jams.

October 31, 2011 – Carnivals are the consummate date spot — and the absolute worst place to imbibe hallucinogenics, as the first video from Odd Future's the Internet cautions. "Cocaine," co-written by hirsute LA rapper SPEAK!, also portends what's to come on the Internet's debut album, coming by next year on Odd Future Records: super-glossy pop threads, heart-rending vocals, synths dipped in caramel to ease the trip. The key changes in "Cocaine" evoke a thread of the Neptunes — essentially the patron saints of Odd Future's beatmakers — but Syd the Kyd's voice, a unique wisp, right-turns the whole project, giving emotional depth to its airy triads.

October 12, 2011 – Before performing "Bitch Suck Dick" to a rabid crowd in the stereotypically progressive city of Seattle last week, Tyler, the Creator felt it necessary to make a point. "I don't actually punch girls," he said, countering his best friend Jasper Dolphin's petulant disclaimer in the recorded version of the song. "If there's a rap song more ignorant than this one..." Then they launched into it. Teen girls in the front pumped their fists and screamed the chorus. As an absurdist blueprint for willfully ignorant rap, "Bitch Suck Dick" has swept the game: Tyler, the Creator's brag about pulling up to the mall on a "mothafuckin' unicorn" humiliates Lambo-pushing ballers across the world, and it's hard to think of a dumber lyric than the chorus (what does "my bitch suck dick like she suck dick" even mean?).

October 8, 2004 – Le Tigre This Island Strummer/Le Tigre/Universal Radio 4Stealing of a Nation Astralwerks While indie-rap clothing and feminist sex-toy boutiques alike hawkanti-Bush T-shirts in their windows, protest-minded dance-punkbands-this administration's answer to 1980s hardcore-should be aiminglyrical flamethrowers at every target in their crosshairs. And giventhe wealth of election-year subject matter, from attacks on civilrights to the Iraq disaster, you'd expect said bands' anger to be morepassionate and scalpel-sharp than ever. But that's not always the casewith the latest releases by New York's Le Tigre and Radio 4-two ofdance-punk's strongest torchbearers, now armed with major-labelmegaphones. Le Tigre shout with the gumption of radical cheerleaders, and ontheir third full-length, leader Kathleen Hanna's voice shreds through apopping landscape of synths and Italo-disco beats.