Tag: Hip Hop
📷: Eric B & Rakim, NYC (1987) ©Janette Beckman In 1982, British photographer Janette Beckman landed in New York with plans to spend Christmas with a friend but was quickly entranced by the city’s singular mix of creativity, rebellion, and decadence. After a decade of “benign neglect” promulgated by the Nixon White House, New York […]
NY1 and Baruch College conducted a poll of Bronx residents to determine, among other things, what nickname for their borough they prefer. By a large margin, survey respondents answered “the Boogie Down Bronx,” a reference to the borough’s status as the birthplace of hip-hop. The nickname dates back to the 1970s dance parties where DJs […]
In March of 2013, urban artist Jay Shells launched his “Rap Quotes” project in New York, whereby he installed street signs emblazoned with rap lyrics in the specific locations that said lyrics called out. The series was so well received by the public (and the rappers he quoted) that, he went for another spin around […]
We all know about the Golden Age of Hip-Hop, but did you realize there was a simultaneous golden age in New York City dance and hip-hop radio? Red Bull Music and director Joey Garfield brought together just about every notable living figure from that time, including DJs Marley Marl and Tony Humphries and producer Strafe, […]
Harlem rapper Azealia Banks has released a new music video for “Ice Princess” off her debut album Broke With Expensive Taste. The video is not as technologically immersive as “Wallace,” the interactive Google Chrome-powered single that Banks put out a few weeks ago, but it nonetheless tech-heavy; reliant upon CGI and trippy, psychedelic animations. As […]
On Tuesday, ex-Das Racist member Himanshu Suri will release his debut solo album, Eat Pray Thug. Forging his own path, Heems departs from his former hip-hop group’s serious-not-serious style, digging into darker social and political commentary in raps titled “Patriot Act” and “Suicide by Cop”. But devout fans will recognize, all jokes aside, that Heems […]
To hype their new compilation album, Heartburn: A Collection of Hip-Hop Love Songs (Sort of), Duck Down records sent their mascot around NYC to ask everyday people to recite the lyrics from the LP’s namesake track by Brownsville rapper Sean Price. But before you press play and watch New Yorkers spit some bars from this […]
Ever since author Dan Brown brought freemasonry into the mainstream with his bestselling book The Da Vinci Code — which is really just a fictional rehashing of research done by the likes of Robert Bauval, Michael Baigent, and Richard Leigh — the idea of a shadowy cabal of powerful people running the world known as […]
Recurring rapper Skillz is back and presents his annual “Rap Up,” a rehashing of this past year’s most notable moments. And he does not disappoint. Listen to the Virginia native do a lyrical rundown of what happened in hip hop, politics, sports and everything else in-between as 2014 comes to an end. Compare the “2014 […]
Even if you’re not familiar with the Shirt Kings, chances are that you’ve heard of them before in a rap lyric, or seen their work in outfits donned by the likes of LL Cool J, Jay Z, RZA and Jam Master Jay (RIP). The legendary graffiti-inspired art crew from New York pioneered early hip hop […]
