Tuesday, March 8 2011
Is There a DJ in the House?
If video killed the radio star, some might argue that technology crippled the hip-hop mix masters. Crippled, maybe, but the deejay is not obsolete.
Monday, September 27 2010
Keeping It Real: Dreams, Mind-Alteration, & Misperception in Hip-Hop
Hip-hop has been engaged in an ongoing tension between fantasy and reality, art and artifice but rappers, like all good artists, sometimes have to lie in order to tell the truth.
Thursday, August 19 2010
Hip-Hop Storytellers: The Heist Motif
Bluster and bravado are considered par for the course in hip-hop, but rappers adopt cunning personas to tell stories of money, power, and respect.
Monday, May 17 2010
Survivors: An Interview with KRS-One and Buckshot
In their first collaboration, KRS-One and Buckshot educate the next generation of hip-hop artists and fans alike by bringing the heart back to hip-hop.
Friday, December 4 2009
KRS-One & Buckshot: Survival Skills
Hip-hop luminaries deliver a tag team album with solid results, but could have reached deeper for something more valuable.
Tuesday, February 10 2009
Live at the Shrine
Save your money for an actual Talib Kweli concert. You'll be glad that you did.
Monday, January 5 2009
We Don’t Die, We Multiply: Posse Tracks
Having more than one rapper on the scene enhances and galvanizes a song, as the central theme is strengthened with each successive verse. As the saying goes, there's strength in numbers.
Wednesday, September 17 2008
KRS-One: Maximum Strength 2008
Maybe surprises are overrated. You can probably guess KRS-One's subject matter before he delivers it, but his overall consistency is enviable.
Thursday, June 21 2007
KRS-One & Marley Marl: Hip Hop Lives
Whether he's still "number one" is immaterial. What matters is that, after over two decades in hip-hop, KRS-One is here to say the culture is still alive. And that sound in his voice? That's pure joy.
Wednesday, December 6 2006
Who Owns What?: Engaging the Fog of Hip-Hop
How do the "artist" and "critic" reconcile each other's presence? How literally must one walk this way in order to talk that way?
