Hip Hop

(PG-13: Language) “They criticizing the lyrics, guess everybody’s a critic, look: I push the limit while rappers is pushing gimmicks. I use it to push my pen and then add it to the premise hook.” Wu-Tang. New album. ‘Nuff said.

(PG-13: Language) Lo Life was an ’80s New York City gang obsessed with Polo clothing. Pop culture caught on and spread the craze worldwide. This retrospective from Lo Lifes’ Thirstin Howl and photographer Tom Gould is a teaser for their eponymous book.

(PG-13: Language) From Migos to Chance the Rapper, the triplet flow has defined 2010’s rap. Vox looked at the flow’s origins and how it works. We think they missed Snoop’s point though. It’s overuse combined with mumbling that makes for a homogenous sound.

(PG-13: Language) An appearance on Netflix’s Luke Cage is propelling Jidenna to the mainstream. Good thing the rapper and singer has more than enough charm and wit to sustain his success. Watch him perform songs from his album The Chief on NPR Music.

(PG-13: Language) NPR Tiny Desk Concert chose the perfect guest for its first DJ set. DJ Premiere and his live musicians The Badder Band performed some of the producer’s best hits, including tracks from KRS-One, his buddy Royce Da 5’9″ and of course Gang Starr.

(PG-13: Language) Oo-oooo! A$AP Ferg dropped by Hot Ones to talk about Nando’s, trading A$AP Rocky to Top Dawg or OVO, do-rags and more while contending with numb lips and a burning throat. Ten hot wings like I’m Sea-Sean Evans.

(PG-13: Language) If you gotta spin DAMN. you should make it look sexy. Previously an Interscope Records exclusive, HHV got their hands on 2,000 copies of Kendrick Lamar’s instant classic album pressed on a pair of translucent red vinyl records.

What the devil? Socks on another level! The unbeatable MF Doom let Stance use his trademark mask and his logo on a mini collection of socks. Latverians and the rest of EU can get the socks from Overkill.

(PG-13: Language) Chance the Rapper finally got around to visiting NPR Music’s office. He performed Juke Jam from his latest album, recited a poem that he wrote just for this set, and finished with a cover of Stevie Wonder’s They Won’t Go When I Go.

(PG-13: Language) Hov is back. The stereotypes in the video for Jay-Z’s single complements the song’s message about how even successful African-Americans can’t escape, and should not, turn their backs on racial issues. From his sick new album 4:44.

(PG-13: Language) Mass Appeal Records compiled 14 tracks used throughout the four seasons of Silicon Valley, including the title track Stretch Your Face, Nas and DJ Shadow’s recently released Systematic, and Wu-Tang’s new track Don’t Stop.

(PG-13: Language) “And we be saucin’, I love her so you know I got to floss, and I’m not a dentist but a man flossin’, I’m fresh to death, they say I should be coffin.” Young Thug grows up with this mainstream summer banger. He’s still trollin’ Weezy though.

(PG-13: Language) “How y’all let a conscious man go commercial while only makin’ conscious albums?” Kung Fu Kenny invades Metro Boomin’s chill beat for Future’s mega hit song and quickly makes it his own. Damn. Just skip to 1:54.

(PG-13: Language) From Biggie to Beasties, and KRS to Kanye, The Hood Internet presents a fantastic, but far too short tribute to the first four decades of hip hop music in just under four minutes. Stream/download available on Soundcloud here.

DJ and Producer Chris Read of the awesome website WhoSampled dropped by London’s Point Blank Music School to provide an in-depth workshop on the origins of sampling in hip-hop music, modern sound layering, and how music has been derivative for hundreds of years.

(Flashing images) “JVC is nice; I’ve been around Japan; It’s electronic, calls me Viktor; High on the scales, off the Richter.” Director Kris Merc’s dope visual feast is the perfect complement to hip hop legends Kool Keith and MF Doom’s track about a rapper with super powers.

(PG-13: Language) The rumored collaboration between T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne actually happened. We don’t know when exactly Teddy and Tunechi recorded this mixtape, but it certainly sounds like a late 2000’s throwback. Nothing more, nothing less.

(PG-13: Language) Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike managed to score a one-on-one interview with legendary funk musician and producer George Clinton, and hung out in one of his barbershops to chew the fat about hip-hop, doo-wop, haircuts, counterfeit cash, and more.

(PG-13: Language) Many musicians create alter egos that are hyperbolic versions of themselves. But Channel Criswell argues that Kendrick Lamar’s characters are not necessarily based on himself. Instead, they’re artful investigations of the things that define us.

(PG-13: Language) Killer Mike and El-P have been murdering ears their whole careers, but they became something more when they teamed up as Run The Jewels. Scott Green looked at the hip hop duo’s interviews and lyrics to see why they’ve become so relevant.

(PG-13) “Bitch that phrase don’t make no sense why can’t fruit be compared?!” With the help of Giant Propeller, Lil Dicky finally released a music video for one of the best tracks on 2015’s Professional Rapper. It’s about LD and his brain being dumbfounded by his date’s beliefs.

(PG-13: Language) “I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA. I got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA” Kendrick Lamar is about to f your s up. He dropped jazz and funk for more conventional beats, but his tongue is as sharp as ever.

“I was that kid that wanted the Jordans.” The latest episode of Complex’s Sneaker Shopping was with none other than The Answer. Iverson talked about his first pair of sneakers, the NBA’s silly “dress code” back in his day, and more.

(PG-13: Language) Go Fozzie. It’s your birthday! America’s favorite stand-up comic bear parties his ass off in Mylo the Cat’s latest Muppet remix video. The clip got us wondering just how does a Muppet ingest liquor and weed, since they have no esophagus or windpipe.

(PG-13) “I blew cool from AC, ayy, Obama just paged me, ayy, I don’t fabricate it, ayy, most of y’all be fakin’, ayy, I stay modest ’bout it, ayy, she elaborate it, ayy” Kendrick Lamar advises listeners and competitors to know their place, sit down and be humble.