Hip Hop, Rap, Garage and Grime
Last Poets, The, Merger: The Last Poets/Merger: Acklam Hall, Notting Hill, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, NME, January 1978
CHANCES OF seeing The Last Poets I would have thought were only marginally better than those of seeing The Beatles. ...
Sugarhill Gang, The: The Sugarhill Gang: Beat The Rap
Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, January 1980
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: and the Parliafunk crowd are watching three ex-DJs performing 15 minutes of the hippest tongue twisting in town. "Said a hip-hop, the hibbitt. ...
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1980
ASK KURTIS BLOW about 'Another One Bites the Dust' and his reply is quick and to the point. "That's my 'Christmas Rappin''." ...
Kurtis Blow Raps His Way To The Top
Report and Interview by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, March 1981
The sound of the streets hits the heartland ...
Funky Four + One, The, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The Funky Four + One: Rap, Rap, Rap
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, NME, May 1981
Young South Bronx unwraps the rapping revolution ...
Kurtis Blow: Rap, Rap, Rapping At Top 10’s Door: Kurtis Blow and Company
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, June 1981
Twas the night before Christmas and allthrough the house...Hold it, hold it. That’s PLAYED OUT.Don’t give me all that jiveAbout things you wrote before I ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash: Flash is Fast, Flash is Cool
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, NME, September 1981
THE SOUTH BRONX lies just across a thin stretch of the Harlem River from Manhattan, but it could be worlds away. ...
Sugarhill Gang, The, Pete Wingfield: The Sugarhill Gang: Sweet Talking
Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, August 1982
Rap? No, actually the Sugar hill Gang are pretty good, says Paul Sexton ...
Rockers Revenge, Arthur Baker: Rockers Revenge: The Big Bang Theory
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, NME, September 1982
Or... how a crate of records fell onto producer Arthur Baker's head and created a new jazz music and the beginning of Rockers Revenge ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: Live in Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, November 1982
FLASH – AAAAH! Saviour of the Universe. Saviour of my sanity, anyway. "The Message" shines out from amongst the New Musik murk they play out ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, December 1982
Various: Rapped Uptight (Sugarhill) ...
Guide by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, April 1983
IN 1979 A record called 'Rapper's Delight' by the Sugarhill Gang introduced us to rapping. Similar stuff soon followed — Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and ...
Kurtis Blow: A B-Boy's Progress
Profile by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, September 1983
WHEN RAP WAS first struggling out of the youth-center playgrounds and into big-time notoriety, Kurtis Blow was there. ...
Interview by Simon Witter, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1984
The hip-hop and Electro Funk pioneer talks about the Zulu Nation, Shango, Soulsonic Force and more.
File format: mp3; file size: 28.2mb, interview length: 33' 50" sound quality: ***
Rap It Up! Street-corner jive that brought discos alive
Retrospective by David Toop, History of Rock, The, 1984
Unless you were a streetwise native New Yorker, the source of the new underground black music that was appearing on disc in 1979 seemed unfathomable. ...
Interview by Simon Witter, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 1984
The Brooklyn rappers Ecstasy and Jalil on working with Thomas Dolby, touring Europe, and their loathing of the UK music press!
File format: mp3; file size: 37.6mb, interview length: 41' 05" sound quality: ***
Afrika Bambaataa: Bambaataa Of The Bronx
Interview by Mark Cooper, No.1, March 1984
The Grandmaster of hip hop lectures Mark Cooper on the meaning of the Funk ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Venue, London
Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, April 1984
THE MOST simple consideration of live performance throws up two basic types; those shows that define musical experience, are the quintessential medium for the music ...
Electro: The Beatbox Bites Back
Essay by David Toop, Face, The, May 1984
1984: Two a.m. at The Funhouse and the giant video screen fills with the image of the Master O.C.'s hands scratching an Enjoy 12 inch. ...
Last Poets, The: The Last Poets: Young Master
Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, October 1984
Kidnapped heiress Patti Hearst is said to have listened to him incessantly during her captivity and the hip-hop crowd regard him as a guru. His ...
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force: Pink Elephant, Luton
Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, October 1984
THE CABBIE, waiting in the foyer, hadn't been too impressed. Now it was different when Demis Roussos and Johnny Mathis played here. Sounded just like ...
Last Poets, The: Last Poets: The First And Lost Poets Of Rap
Retrospective by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, October 1984
Group: The Last Poets. Record: The Last Poets (Celluloid 6101). Personnel: Abiodun Oyewole, Alafia Pudim, Omar Ben Hassen, vocals. Nilaja, percussion. ...
Afrika Bambaataa: Play It Again Bam
Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, October 1984
Leader of the Zulu Nation. Godfather of hip-hop. Overlord of funk. Black youth guru. Creator of the most influential record of the Eighties. All this ...
Double Dee & Steinski: Masters Of Mixed Fortunes
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, NME, June 1985
2009 NOTE: hip hop, humour and catholic taste collided in a cloud of mad skills on Double Dee & Steinski's mastermixes. ...
Fat Boys, The: The Fat Boys: Lean On Me
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, June 1985
Chris Roberts gets sandwiched by the Fat Boys, and discovers fat is a faminist issue ...
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew: Show Stoppers
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, NME, November 1985
A show? Well, DOUG E. FRESH and The Get Fresh Crew ain't got the energy to do much more than nod off in the company ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, NME, 1986
WE WENT to Heaven, and it looked like the Bronx. Wall-to-wall black B-boys, hoods, whistles, and two unprettified lads doing their thing against a tinsel-rain ...
Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, January 1986
That's LL Cool J, possibly the best rapper ever and main thrust of Def Jam Recordings, possibly the coolest label this decade. They're both here ...
LL Cool J: Def Jam: The Rap Brat Pack
Report and Interview by David Toop, Face, The, March 1986
THE GREATEST CREATIVE CONVERGENCE IN 20th Century music has been the American Jewish/Black independent record company. Reel 'em off: Herman Lubinsky and Savoy Records, Hy ...
Lovebug Starski: Nightmare On Beat St.
Interview by Simon Witter, NME, June 1986
SIMON WITTER goes to the house on the hill to see what's bugging LOVEBUG STARSKI but he can't get a fix on the man from ...
LL Cool J: Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Beat Box
Interview by Roy Trakin, Creem, August 1986
LL COOL J COMES on like a rap version of Muhammad Ali, taking delight in clever wordplay with a showman's sense of timing and a ...
Schoolly D: Schoolly D (Schoolly D Records)
Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, August 1986
SCHOOLLY D is from Philadelphia and appears to be some kind of hoodlum, with an unhealthy interest in the status trinkets of high life, drugs ...
Report and Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, September 1986
With their Raising Hell tour putting the frighteners on many a major American town and their Rapping Metal single, 'Walk This Way' scaring the pants ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, September 1986
As the RUN DMC tidal wave breaks over the British coastline and the country reels to its knees, it's maybe time to ponder the principles ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages Audio, October 1986
Rock and rap, hip hop live and hip hop movies, and the struggle to get hip hop into the mainstream – the Queens Kings of Rap'n'Roll speak.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.9mb, interview length: 34' 51" sound quality: **
Mantronix: Will Hip Hop Eat Itself?
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, NME, November 1986
Where is it? New York city. How is it? Bloody hot in here. Why is it? Because MATRONIX, pure-steel technologists of studio and vox, have ...
LA Dream Team: California Dreamin'
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, NME, December 1986
WHEN AN unknown band like The LA Dream Team put a single out on their own label, and 250,000 people buy it, they've got to ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Rap Around The Cock
Interview by Steven Wells, NME, January 1987
THE BEASTIE BOYS take a long, slow ride into the sewers of their minds, accompanied by a fascinated hack, one STEVEN WELLS. They do it ...
Salt 'N' Pepa: Salt 'n' Pepa: Cool, Hot & Vicious (Next Plateau)
Review by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, January 1987
I DON'T KNOW about you but I've been waiting quite a while for a girl rap group to duplicate the success of platinum playboys like ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1987
THE MOST EXCITING white rock album since Never Mind the Bollocks has lousy politics. ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Lay it Down, Clowns!
Profile and Interview by Chuck Eddy, Creem, May 1987
"They took the doors off their hinges and moved them around. They flooded two floors with the fire hoses. They plugged up the toilets and ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Burden of the Beasties
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, Guardian, The, May 1987
WHEN THE Beastie Boys step on stage in Brixton tonight at the start of their British tour everyone – the media, authorities, and fans alike ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The Tabloids
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, Sounds, May 1987
Must they keep flinging this filth at our pop kids? No, not the brilliant BEASTIE BOYS but the British national press attempting to stir up ...
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, NME, May 1987
Woah, boy. This is LL COOL J, sitting behind the wheel of an automobile, sensing disrespect! Our man in the wraparounds and the probe-stick: DELE ...
Schoolly D: University Of Essex, Colchester
Live Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, May 1987
ANOTHER SATURDAY night. The Cookie Crew have already pushed sensuality into the cause of women MCs, Three Wise Men have re-freshed us with the politics ...
Schoolly D: Schoolly-D: Slap Happy
Interview by Mat Snow, Sounds, May 1987
Reformed gangster and self-made record tycoon, SCHOOLLY-D is in town to promote his new album Saturday Night. MAT SNOW admires his jewellery ...
Slayer, Run DMC, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, The: Def Jam: Don't Knock The Rock – Rap It
Report by Mark Cooper, Guardian, The, June 1987
Mark Cooper on how Def Jam crossed over punk with rap, white with black, and stayed cool with both sides ...
Beastie Boys, The, Run DMC: Run DMC/The Beastie Boys: Brixton Academy, London/Brighton Centre
Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, June 1987
PHALLUS & FALLACY ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, July 1987
More than merely another hip hop outfit, Manhattan's MANTRONIX are breaking new ground with their brand of hardcore confusion. JACK BARRON meets CURTIS "MANTRONIK" KAHLEEL ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Various Artists: Genius Of Rap — The Sugar Hill Story
Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, August 1987
"I SAID A HIP, HOP..." starts the rap by The Sugar Hill Gang's Wonder Mike over a riff faithfully copied from (though only much later ...
Review by Richard Grabel, NME, August 1987
THE BOY Rakim has a helluva style on the mike. ...
LL Cool J Takes The Rap, Beats The Rap, Raps It Up, Raps Around The Clock, Encourages Bad Puns
Interview by Jon Young, Creem, October 1987
"YOU AIN'T gettin' no scoop, lookin' at me with your beady eyes!" ...
Public Enemy: Strength to Strength
Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, October 1987
PUBLIC ENEMY PLAY BRITAIN IN NOVEMBER AND SIMON REYNOLDS TAKES A LONG HARD LOOK AT THE SURVIVALIST PHILOSOPHY BEHIND SOME OF THE TOUGHEST NOISE OF ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, NME, November 1987
SONGS HAVE become fragile. The things that held them together – the value of the individual voice, the neat edges of recorded product – are ...
Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim: Public Enemy/Eric B And Rakim: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, December 1987
PUBLIC NUISANCE ...
Kid'n Play : Kid'n Play: Rap Without The Crap!
Interview by Simon Witter, NME, 1988
Lean, mean and squeaky clean, the bullshit-free beats of Kid'n Play have earned them plenty of dubious accolades, from "the yuppies of rap" to "Salt'n'Pepa ...
LL Cool J: Rap – A Storm In A Teacup
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, January 1988
WITH WORLDWIDE sales of his second album, Bigger And Deffer, approaching the three million mark (50,000 in Britain) three times more than the last David ...
Salt 'N' Pepa: Salt 'n' Pepa: Look Ma Top Of The World
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, March 1988
SALT 'N' PEPA WILL DO ANYTHING TO HAVE EVERYTHING. WITH THEIR NEW SINGLE, 'PUSH IT', ACCELERATING UP THE AMERICAN CHARTS IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THEIR ...
Mantronix: In Full Effect (10 Records) ****1/2
Review by Richard Cook, Sounds, March 1988
THE WAY Mantronix put their music together, you'd think this sort of thing was easy. It just falls into place, fluent, fresh, each lick set ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Ultramagnetic MC's
Interview by Simon Witter, NME, April 1988
THE EXPLANATORY enthusiasm of New York's most impressive, left-field rap newcomers cuts the crisp late-winter air like a drum solo in a public library. ...
Eric B & Rakim: The Motormouths Speed On!
Interview by Simon Witter, NME, July 1988
With the American music biz finally embracing hip hop, Eric B & Rakim – contract expired – have been able to cash in their uncompromised ...
Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam) ****1/2
Review by Mat Snow, Sounds, July 1988
RICK RUBIN is white, Jewish and, on Public Enemy's second album here under scrutiny, steel-reinforces his reputation as today's greatest producer of rebel rock. ...
Public Enemy: Rockin' The Joint
Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, September 1988
The incendiary rappers preach black self-sufficiency at New York's Riker's Island. But are they prisoners of their own racist doctrine? By Michael Azerrad ...
Live Review by Jack Barron, NME, October 1988
LONDON BRIDGE is falling down, Big Ben has struck one minute to midnight and had his hand's burned. And all is not well in this ...
Pop Will Eat Itself, Public Enemy: Pop Will Eat Itself (and Public Enemy): Scrapping With Rap
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, NME, October 1988
AS DEF JAM'S happy rap panto rolls through Europe, Pop Will Eat Itself and Public Enemy are getting on fine. Unfortunately the hordes of Belgian ...
Run DMC, Stetsasonic, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Rap: Rock Is Dead
Special Feature by Mark Dery, Keyboard, November 1988
THE RAW POWER OF CHEAP TECH CRASHES HEAD-ON INTO INNER-CITY DEFIANCE AND DESPAIR ...
Run DMC: Concert Violence: Who's to Blame?
Report by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, November 1988
Action needed in the wake of recent deaths at rap and metal shows ...
Salt 'N' Pepa: Sat 'N' Pepa: The Showstoppers
Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, November 1988
'To Know Us Is To Love Us' claim Salt 'n' Pepa, one of rap's most unlikely success stories, whose A Salt With A Deadly Pepa ...
Tone Loc, Young MC: Lip-Smacking LA: Delicious Vinyl
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, NME, February 1989
New Yorkers, the creators of hip hop, have never been receptive to outside beats, and in the past only the Philly scene has given them ...
Profile and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, NME, March 1989
Here PAOLO HEWITT gets on the Voice Beat with SMITH & MIGHTY and SOUL II SOUL. ...
Beastie Boys, The, Slayer, LL Cool J: Rick Rubin: Mental Metal Master
Interview by Paul Elliott, Sounds, March 1989
From rap to metal, LL Cool J to Slayer, producer Rick Rubin has shaped the definitive street beats of the decade. Paul Elliott hears the ...
De La Soul: 3 Feet High And Rising (Tommy Boy/Big Life)
Review by Push, Melody Maker, March 1989
THE DAISY AGE ...
De La Soul: Three Feet High And Rising (Big Life LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, NME, March 1989
ARE YOU ready for Martian hip-hop? Can you handle the new nutty boys of rap, the maddest, baddest bunch on the block? Can you imagine ...
De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising (Tommy Boy)
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, March 1989
DE LA SOUL HAS already mastered the three Js of postmodernism: juxtapose, juxtapose, juxtapose. Welcome to the first psychedelic hip-hop record. ...
Interview by Push, Melody Maker, April 1989
PUSH TALKS TO THE BIGGEST RAP SENSATION SINCE PUBLIC ENEMY AND DISCOVERS WHAT LIFE'S LIKE ON PLANET SCREWBALL ...
De La Soul's Hippie-hop: Psychedelic Rappers Introduce the DA.I.S.Y. Age
Profile and Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, May 1989
"HELLO, YOU'VE reached Mars. What can I do for you?" Trugoy the Dove is on the telephone in the tidy basement of his parents' house ...
Big Daddy Kane: Raw Like Sushi
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, NME, May 1989
Christened The Grasshopper Of Rap for his black belt lyrics, Big Daddy Kane is a hero to rap's hard core followers. With hits for Roxanne ...
Interview by Jack Barron, NME, June 1989
NENEH CHERRY is a different style of woman, a popstar determined to be real, not plastic, positive and above all herself. With her single 'Manchild' ...
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (Priority/Ruthless)
Review by Push, Melody Maker, July 1989
THE SLEEVE of Straight Outta Compton, the debut LP from N.W.A., depicts one of the members of this Los Angeles rap group pointing a pistol ...
Interview by Jack Barron, NME, July 1989
Metaphysics... conspiracy theories...the harmony of the Universe...and YOU thought KRS-1 was just a hot rapper! JACK BARRON gets philosophical with the boss of Boogie Down. ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, August 1989
PRANKSTERS TO THE last, The Beastie Boys slide into their comeback album so quietly and casually that you double check the volume knob on your ...
N.W.A.: Niggers With Attitude: Straight Outta Compton (4th And Broadway LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Steven Wells, NME, September 1989
PAINT IT BLACK ...
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (Fourth & Broadway) *****
Review by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, September 1989
Guns and girls and rap 'n' roll ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent Magazine, October 1989
"Takin' a life or two/That's what the hell I do." The rap band NWA – Niggers with Attitude – compares Los Angeles street life to ...
Roxanne Shanté: 'I Have Never Seen A Man Talk To An Ugly Woman. Never.'
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, NME, October 1989
There is nothing that ROXANNE SHANTE won't rap about and no limit to who she disses. Here she talks to PAOLO HEWITT about men, music ...
Interview by Simon Witter, NME, October 1989
Within three weeks of it's release, EPMD's first album had reached the No. 1 spot on America's black chart. With its follow up Unfinished Business ...
De La Soul: Brothers From Another Planet
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, NME, October 1989
HIPPIES!?! Never! No sirree! Ignore the paisley, the peace signs, the flowers, the speccy Lennonisms, DE LA SOUL are truly brothers from another planet, extra ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, October 1989
Crazed noise guerillas Tackhead are going for mainstream success with their new LP, Friendly As A Hand Grenade. John Robb grabs at the pieces of ...
Interview by Push, Melody Maker, November 1989
IN THEIR SHORT CAREER THE RAPPERS HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI, CONDEMNED BY THE CONGRESS FOR RACIAL EOUALITY, BANNED BY TV AND RADIO AND ...
Interview by Julian Henry, Music Week, December 1989
"IT TOOK me about 35 minutes to write the words to 'Wild Thing' and about an hour to write 'Funky Cold Medina'. It was easy." ...
Public Enemy: Fear of A Black Planet
Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 1990
OVER THE past three years, Public Enemy have made the single most concerted attempt to take rap's inchoate fury and sonic insurgency, and commandeer it ...
Report and Interview by David Toop, Face, The, January 1990
A LITTLE suburban parking spot in Carson, Los Angeles, and balmy tranquility hangs in the air like Valium fallout. There are harsh alien sounds, though: ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1990
RAIN IS STREAMING down in sheets on the Long Island suburb of Hempstead but, inside Public Enemy's headquarters, the group's leader Chuck D is just ...
Coldcut, Fall, The: Coldcut: Ring The Noise
Interview by Stephen Dalton, NME, January 1990
• And they said it wouldn't last! In the pop marriage of the'80s, COLDCUT producers Jonathan Moore and Matt Black invited Mark E Smith to ...
Ice-T, Donald D, Everlast, Spinmasters: Top Rank, Brighton
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, NME, February 1990
IS CHIPPING Sodbury in the house? How about Hastings? Is the Crawley posse chilling out tonight? Everybody make some goddam N-O-l-S-E... ER, please? ...
Roxanne Shanté: Bad Sister ****
Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, February 1990
RECORDED BETWEEN laundry loads in 1985 when she was fourteen years old, Roxanne Shanté's first single, 'Roxanne's Revenge', was a spontaneous storm of sassy rap ...
Jungle Brothers, The: Jungle Brothers: Done by the Forces of Nature (Warner Bros.) ***1/2
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, February 1990
THE JUNGLE Brothers are part of the Native Tongues, a triumvirate of innovative rap groups (including De la Soul and A Tribe Called Quest) united ...
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: The Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: To Live And Die In L.A.
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, NME, March 1990
The Devoux brothers have learned the rules of survival the hard way. In LA there are now 92,000 gang members, and mercy is not in ...
Professor Griff: 100 Per Cent Prof.
Interview by Steven Wells, NME, March 1990
Accused of anti-Semitism, dissing the President, condoning Idi Amin and generally being a bit of a foam-flecked Rottweiler, Public Enemy's Minister Of Information PROFESSOR GRIFF ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Request, April 1990
IN THE 1960s, youthful poets, inspired by radical politics and Woody Guthrie, took up acoustic guitars to deliver topical commentary in a folk music setting. ...
A Tribe Called Quest: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm ***
Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, April 1990
INASMUCH AS THE arch and arty New York hip-hop foursome A Tribe Called Quest exudes any enthusiasm at all on its debut album, that enthusiasm ...
Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia)
Review by Tim Riley, Boston Phoenix, April 1990
Their Own Worst Enemy? Fear of a Black Planet; seductive music, muddled message ...
Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet
Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, May 1990
PUBLIC ENEMY ARE one of the last, relevantly active crews from the second wave of hip hop that included Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Mantronix and ...
Comment by Tim Riley, Boston Phoenix, July 1990
2 Live Crew: Just what they wanna be ...
Report and Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, September 1990
"Elvis was a hero to most But he never meant shit to me you seeStraight up racist that sucker wasSimple and plain ...
Interview by Robert Gordon, Creem, 1991
Robert Gordon takes on Ice Cube over racism, sexism, homophobia and society ...
Public Enemy: Fightin' The Hype
Interview by Nick Hasted, Deadline, 1991
A WEEK AGO the Brixton Academy, jammed to its shadowy rafters, waited to listen to Public Enemy. ...
N.W.A.: Poison The Hood: Niggaz with Attitude
Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, unpublished, for Playboy, 1991
ON A SPRING EVENING in 1991, the late Eazy-E accepted the invitation of Dr. Dre, his fellow member of the notorious "gangsta" rap group NWA, ...
Coldcut, De La Soul, Digital Underground: Digital Underground, Coldcut and De La Soul Jam The Beat
Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, March 1991
DIGITAL UNDERGROUND, De La Soul, and Coldcut make musique concrete for boomboxes. These three bands, all on the Tommy Boy label, have achieved, perhaps unwittingly, ...
Mantronix: The Incredible Sound Machine
Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, April 1991
FIVE YEARS AGO, hip hop duo Mantronix were among the best there was: techno-boff Mantronik's search for that perfect beat involved the unlikeliest noises fed ...
Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, May 1991
His voluminous trews tell only part of the story. MC HAMMER may well be as huge as the cut of his keks saleswise, but at ...
Ice-T: O.G. Original Gangster (Sire)
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, May 1991
FOR ALL the descriptions of graphic violence, sexism and general anti-establishment stances, Ice-T is a committed moralist at heart. Not for nothing did he portray ...
De La Soul: Malice In Wonderland
Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, May 1991
With their new album, De La Soul Is Dead, the founders of the hippy hop movement have turned their back on peace, love and positivity. ...
Anthrax, Public Enemy: Anthrax and Chuck D: Noise From The Black Stuff
Interview by Steven Wells, NME, June 1991
Five years after Run DMC's groundbreaking rap reworking of Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way', rock is finally repaying the compliment with ANTHRAX'S astonishing take on Public ...
Massive Attack Prepare To Storm The US!
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Rockpool, August 1991
The following feature appeared in New York industry magazine-tipsheet Rockpool on the eve of Massive Attack's introduction to the US market, their Blue Lines debut, ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, September 1991
IN WHAT MUST HAVE been a classic, once-in-a-lifetime meeting of the Ts, Ice-T once taught Mr T to rap. You remember Mr T: burly black ...
De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, PM Dawn: Wembley Hall, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, NME, October 1991
DIRE STRAITS fans are huddled in masses in the near vicinity, oblivious to the fact that the real revolution is being televised in this makeshift ...
Beats International: Play That Funky Music, White Boy
Report by Mat Snow, Q, November 1991
SOME POP MUSICIANS know stardom has arrived when the crowds at the in-store signing have to be kept back by a police cordon. For others, ...
Walking With Panthers: Hip Hop and the Legacy of Black Power
Essay by Simon Witter, Sky, 1992
Rap chic, radical chic, Hollywood chic. In 1992 everyone wants a belated piece of the Black Panther Party’s guerilla chic. Simon Witter cuts through the ...
Beastie Boys, The: AUDIO: The Beastie Boys (1992)
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1992
The boys talk about their new album Check Your Head, their love of hardcore and metal, living in Los Angeles and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 26.3mb, interview length: 28' 43" sound quality: **
New Kids On The Block: A Secret History of New Kids On The Block
Special Feature by Chuck Eddy, Throat Culture, 1992
"Rap is a toilet, not a design for a toilet, or a better toilet...It is the first toilet. It is a toilet for sitting on, ...
Public Enemy, Sun Ra: Loving The Alien In Advance Of The Landing
Essay by Mark Sinker, Wire, The, February 1992
"IN THE MEANTIME," he said, speaking relentlessly but mesmerically softly, as gurus will, "I finally went to Chicago. I determined not to be a musician ...
Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, February 1992
They've been nominated for a Brits award as Best International Newcomers, and their new single, 'Reality Used To Be A friend Of Mine', is a ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, NME, February 1992
When MASSIVE ATTACK released their debut LP last year, it was hailed as a masterful collage of rap, soul and reggae with a cinematic feel. ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, May 1992
Salt is a member of New York rap act Salt 'N' Pepa, makers of hits such as 'Push It' and 'Let's Talk About Sex'. Of ...
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, May 1992
GREATEST AMERICAN HEROES – In-Disposable! Rono and Michael take their message to the streets ...
House Of Pain: House of Pain: House of Pain (Tommy Boy)
Review by Carol Cooper, Village Voice, July 1992
SPUN OFF from the inspired lunacy of Cypress Hill rapper B-Real's 'Gee, Officer Krupke' whine, the semi-Celtic cartoon called House of Pain is a concept ...
Comment by Mark Kemp, Option, July 1992
"We have been more unified in the last four days than we have been in the last 30 years...To the brothers and sisters out there: ...
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, The: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Axe of Faith
Interview by Everett True, Melody Maker, September 1992
THE DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY don't piss about like most groups who claim to be 'political'. The Disposables just get on down and do something ...
U2, Public Enemy: Public Enemy and U2: The Chuck and Bono Show
Interview by Max Bell, Vox, December 1992
When U2's tour brought Public Enemy to the Deep South, where segregation is still an issue, Chuck D did his best to pour napalm on ...
Check Yo’self At The Door: Cryptoheterosexuality And The Black Music Underground
Essay by Carol Cooper, Vibe, 1993
I) Time Considered as a Helix of Semilegal Nightclubs ...
Beastie Boys, The, Henry Rollins: The Beastie Boys, Rollins Band: Roseland Ballroom New York NY
Live Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, January 1993
THIS PAIRING wasn't as odd as it seemed, because the Beastie Boys have created ― or at least mobilized ― a new kind of fan. ...
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, Creem, March 1993
THE STEREO MC's are all settled into their surprisingly comfy touring vehicle, headed up the highways (or whatever the British term is). On the road ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1993
Yikes! Ice Cube is America's most controversial (dead heat with Ice-T) and successful rapper, recently blasting good ole Garth Brooks off the top of the ...
Ice-T: 'Bring Me The Head of Charlton Heston'
Interview by Angus Batey, NME, March 1993
America's most wanted... public enemy one... ICE-T's reputation is just about as real as he wants it to get right now. Ever since the 'Cop ...
Profile and Interview by Amy Linden, Creem, April 1993
BEFORE SHE had even secured a record deal, Simone Johnson, aka Monie Love, was already one of the most in-demand rappers on the burgeoning Afrocentric ...
Ice-T: Home Invasion (Virgin/Rhyme Syndicate)
Review by Andy Gill, Q, May 1993
ICE-T'S FIFTH album – his first post-riot record and, more importantly, his first following the 'Cop Killer' brouhaha and his subsequent departure from Sire – ...
Ice-T and Andrew Dice Clay: Ice and Dice
Interview by Mark Petracca, Creem, June 1993
No, not just another Friday the 13th film. Just a state of mind. ...
Pharcyde, The: The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (East West)
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, August 1993
"DADDY, WHAT does 'crossover' mean?" ...
KRS-One: Return Of The Boom Bap (Jive)
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, September 1993
HIP-HOP pioneers have always found it difficult to get respect in any true sense years down the line. ...
Stereo MCs: If Bob Marley Came To Nottingham
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1993
"ARE YOU there, Milwaukee?" enquires a ghostly but undoubtedly English voice. It is around seven o'clock in the evening at the Marcus Amphitheatre in Milwaukee ...
Run DMC, Onyx: Run DMC/Onyx/Boss: Palladium, NYC
Live Review by Ian Christe, Your Flesh, Summer 1993
PASS TWO METAL detectors and a sixteen-point patdown, then descend three stories of padded stairs into a vast ancient theatre outfitted with video gear. ...
Puff Daddy: Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Interview by Frank Broughton, i-D, 1994
"IT'S ALL GOOD."Puffy’s conversation is peppered with this little nugget of current street-talk. ...
Ice Cube: Lethal Injection (Island)
Review by Andy Gill, Q, January 1994
CUBE'S LATEST missive from the front line of black resentment opens with a homicidal racist gag, Dr Ice Cube getting his patient Mr White to ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Ruff Justice
Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, February 1994
SNOOP DOGGY DOGG is America's most controversial performer, taking the street-tuff credentials of previous gangsta rappers to new extremes of 4 Realness. His album, Doggystyle, ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: The Equinox, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, February 1994
SNOOP IS in the house, and so are we, finally. The pre-match build-up is a work of art, a triumph of modern mythology and marketing. ...
Cypress Hill: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, April 1994
THERE'S A KID slumped at the top of the Brixton academy stairs, his head poised vomitatiously over a large plastic bin. All you can see ...
Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, April 1994
Who's a busy homeboy then? His CV already bulges with a prison sentence, a US Number 1 LP and a still-fresh murder charge. Now, gangster ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, NME, April 1994
"E'S, COKE, anything you want..." Yeah, you gotta admit it: Brixton knows how to party. No sooner have you navigated your way around the slurring ...
Goldie, A Guy Called Gerald: Jungle!: The Last Dance Underground
Report by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, May 1994
Jungle is a fierce and frenzied soundtrack to inner city Britain in '94. Based around raw, ragga-influenced white labels, raves and pirate radio stations, it's ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Now Is Not The Time To Talk To Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Interview by Angus Batey, unpublished, May 1994
Originally written for the NME, this article was not published ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre: Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr Dre
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, NME, May 1994
"We don't call women bitches, we call bitches bitches. There are some women out there that are real women. If a woman takes offence to ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, NME, May 1994
SHIRT UP AND DANCE ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, September 1994
THURSDAY 1st September, Backstage stairwell, The Forum, Kentish Town, London. ...
Ice Cube / Gravediggaz: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, September 1994
TRY AND tie down hip-hop with yer baggage and it always finds a way to bust loose. Never mind asking "Has Rap Gone Too Far", ...
Ice Cube, Public Enemy: Ice Cube & Public Enemy: Patinoire De Malley, Lausanne
Live Review by Dele Fadele, NME, September 1994
Yodel, Bum Rush The Show ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Cooper, Rolling Stone, September 1994
COOLIO gets a phat return on his dues with 'FANTASTIC VOYAGE' ...
Arrested Development: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, October 1994
IT TAKES A while, but I finally work out what it is they remind me of. ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (Capitol)
Review by Paul Moody, NME, November 1994
JUST CHILLIN', like Bob Dylan. Paul's Boutique, five years on from its release way back in August '89, is still an electrifying blast of cool. ...
Review by Carol Cooper, Newsday, 1995
IN THE early to mid ‘80s, two of the most successful rap records concerned vigilantism. The Rake’s 'Street Justice' and Kool Moe Dee’s 'Wild Wild ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, March 1995
Ice-T, Ice Cube, LL Cool J... The West Coast of America is famous for its frozen rappers. Now cometh the latest million-selling iceman: Coolio ...
A Guy Called Gerald: Wicked Guy!
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, March 1995
A GUY CALLED GERALD is at the forefront of junglist innovation and future-shock technological experimentation. A guy called SIMON REYNOLDS joins him in virtual space. ...
Method Man: Method in the Madness
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, NME, April 1995
Welcome to Florida, land of Disney, Dayton Beach and glorious Orlando. And paranoia, machine-gun toting security guards and camcorders shoved up strangers' crutches. METHOD MAN, ...
Russell Simmons: The Emperor Of Rap
Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, July 1995
SO WHY DO THEY CALL RUSSELL Simmons 'Rush'? The Def Jam emperor loses little time in answering this question. ...
Report by Steven Wells, NME, July 1995
The last time FUN-DA-MENTAL took a journalist to Pakistan, the writer came home a jibbering wreck and the band split. A return trip anyone? Bribes/blackmail/strict ...
Review by David Toop, MOJO, September 1995
WITH A FEW notable exceptions, Jungle has thus far been a music for singles and endless drum 'n' bass compilations. As the genre's first high ...
Cypress Hill, Ice Cube: Cypress Hill: Do Believe The Hype
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, September 1995
CYPRESS HILL's self-titled debut album changed the face of hip hop. Their second, Black Sunday, was the rap crossover LP of the early Nineties. But ...
KRS-One: KRS–1: 1 From The Heart
Interview by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, November 1995
KRS-1 the grand daddy of hip hop takes to the soap box for a speech on record labels, street cred and 'The Goddess Theory'. Listen ...
Cypress Hill: III – Temple Of Boom
Review by David Toop, MOJO, December 1995
HIP HOP innovations are so swiftly assimilated and processed into cliché that their initial impact can become lost in foggy video memories of oversized hats, ...
Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, Vox, 1996
WITH INDIEDOM firmly in the grip of the inane and the insipid, the doleful delinquents of 1986 were in dire and desperate need of a ...
Geto Boys: Southern Discomfort
Interview by Dele Fadele, NME, May 1996
Deep in the heart of the redneck Bible Belt, squillion-selling rap supergroup GETO BOYS are living up to their paranoid bad-boy reputation. Bushwick Bill has ...
Fugees, The: The Fugees: Forum, Kentish Town, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, NME, June 1996
THE 'GEE-FUNK ERA ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Sunday Times, July 1996
IN 1989, DE LA Soul's debut album Three Feet High And Rising was hailed by New York's Village Voice as "the Sergeant Pepper of hip ...
Outkast: OutKast In The Promised Land
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Source, The, August 1996
FINAL EXAMS AT Morehouse College were a bitch. Nearly four in the morning on a starry autumn night years ago, I found myself making a ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Face, The, September 1996
WHEN NENEH CHERRY was a toddler, she met Miles Davis. She remembers his gravelly growl of a voice, and recalls him opening his trumpet case ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Tupac Shakur: War Of The Words
Report by Angus Batey, NME, September 1996
TUPAC SHAKUR's death has once again highlighted the feud between the East Coast and West Coast rap communities. ANGUS BATEY takes a look at hip-hop's ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Coolio, Junior M.A.F.I.A.: Notorious B.I.G.: B.I.G. Trouble
Report by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, October 1996
When the US hip hop elite hits the road, you expect sparks, right? When you put together names from the East and West Coast on ...
Lauryn Hill, Fugees, The: Fugees: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, October 1996
COOL ALWAYS HAS CONTEXT. Tonight that context is the growing awareness that hip hop and black American music in general have embraced a new set ...
Obituary by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, November 1996
At the age of 25, TUPAC SHAKUR was gunned down and died six days later in a Las Vegas hospital. His death was inevitable, but ...
Obituary by R.J. Smith, Spin, December 1996
Tupac Shakur was more then just another million-selling gangsta rapper. He polarized the races like few pop stars, in death as in life. ...
Interview by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, December 1996
The death of Tupac has left the hip hop bad boy vacancy wide open. MOBB DEEP'S Havoc and Prodigy have already more than filled his ...
Puff Daddy: Sean 'Puffy' Combs: Multi-Million Dollar Man
Profile and Interview by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, January 1997
At 26, SEAN 'PUFFY' COMBS is reputed to be worth some $170 million. But that's not all the East Coast hip hop mogul has a ...
Fugees, The: The Fugees: Runaway Success
Report and Interview by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, January 1997
From healthy US hip hop act to global superstars in under twelve months, you could say 1996 has been a remarkable year for the FUGEES. ...
Erykah Badu: Baduizm (Kedar Entertainment/Universal)
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Rolling Stone, February 1997
PERHAPS THE first thing you notice about Erykah Badu is her uncanny vocal similarity to Billie Holiday – from the very beginning of Baduizm, Badu's ...
The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97)
Obituary by Angus Batey, NME, March 1997
NOTORIOUS BIG, born Christopher Wallace, had risen from poverty to become one of the most influential figures in the hip-hop world in an incredibly short ...
The Notorious B.I.G.: Life After Death (Arista)
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, April 1997
THE UNFORTUNATE and tragic death of Christopher Wallace in the early hours of March 9, 1997 will leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of ...
Grand Wizard Theodore, DJ Kool Herc: DJ Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore
Interview by Angus Batey, NME, May 1997
DJS KOOL HERC and Grand Wizard Theodore, who recently played in London as support to the Chemical Brothers, may not be up there with yer ...
Method Man, RZA, Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Tang Clan: Martial Lore
Special Feature by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, May 1997
Public Enemy's fall from grace left hip hop without a heroic focus. Enter WU-TANG CLAN, a crew from Staten Island whose ever-changing line-up has produced ...
Live Review by Tom Cox, Uncut, June 1997
THE END of the millennium is nigh! Most men will perish and the rest will get extremely stressed out and have to take lots of ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, NME, June 1997
ALL TOO FAMILIAL ...
Tupac Shakur: Hour Of The Gun: The Wasted Life And Brutal Death Of Tupac Shakur
Profile by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, July 1997
EVEN BY THE BRUTAL STANDARDS OF thug life, his was a particularly merciless encounter. It took less than two minutes for Mike Tyson to pummel ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, July 1997
THEY LIVE in a house, a very big house, in the country. But considering that much of their energy, vision and ground-breaking ferocity derives from ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Critical Beatdown (Roadrunner/Next Plateau)
Review by Angus Batey, NME, September 1997
KOOL KEITH is Liam Howlett's favourite rapper. And this relic from an age before 'Diesel Power' and Dr. Octagon shows why. ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Pet Projects Win Prizes
Interview by Stephen Dalton, NME, October 1997
RONI SIZE and REPRAZENT's Mercury Prize-winning brand of soulful drum'n'bass has made them the most successful junglist crossover act yet... NME finds out why. Breakbeats ...
Jay-Z: In My Lifetime Volume 1 (Northwestside)
Review by Dele Fadele, NME, October 1997
THE FIRST WORDS you hear are spoken by Jay-Z himself, assuming a parodic Italian-American accent, imagining himself as a dying Al Pacino in Carlito's Way, ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, NME, November 1997
THERE'S A shadow across Rakim's face, but his brown eyes are shining. The man who is for many the greatest rapper ever to have picked ...
Busta Rhymes: Bump'N'Grundies!
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, NME, December 1997
Pants! Lewdness! Spinal Tap-esque shenanigans! Yes indeedy, it's rap megastar BUSTA RHYMES giving it his inimitable 'Woo hah!' on a Stateside hip-hop extravaganza. On the ...
Jay-Z: Vol.2…Hard Knock Life (Roc- A-Fella/Def Jam)
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, 1998
ALTHOUGH RAPPER Jay-Z may be new to mainstream America, he has been a rising star in the hip hop community for years. ...
Gang Starr: The Greatness of Gang Starr
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, unpublished, 1998
IN 1997 EMI Records was in the process of folding, and among the groups who were up for grabs was Gang Starr, a veteran NYC ...
De La Soul: Bar Cuba, Macclesfield
Live Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, 1998
As part of a British mini-tour ahead of an album set for September, America’s most innovative hip hop outfit came to a small, friendly club ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Collective Consciousness
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, Vox, January 1998
Dust off your bus pass and get down with RONI SIZE and REPRAZENT. There's Bristol beats aplenty, Genghis Khan gets a look in, and skipping ...
Essay by James Maycock, Guardian, The, January 1998
How & Why Black Rappers Exploit Racial Stereotypes (With references to historical precedents through 20th century) ...
KRS-One Launches 'Hip-Hop Appreciation Week'
Report by Frank Tortorici, Addicted To Noise, February 1998
Rapper brings rap and music community together to raise awareness. ...
Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, June 1998
HEROES DON'T last long these days. Partly because the scene is shallow and restless; partly because cynicism is always muttering, "Why do we need heroes ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Slam funkers: sixth release from rap collective once called "the greatest rock'n'roll band on the planet". ...
UNKLE: Psyence Fiction (Mo'Wax)
Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1998
Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, one of Metallica, a Beastie Boy: all on the same record. Whoo! ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, NME, September 1998
SO, JUST WHAT do you do when love breaks down? When the fabric that holds the fundamentals of your life together finally unravels? You probably ...
Interview by Angus Batey, NME, September 1998
SO, JUST WHAT do you do when love breaks down? When the fabric that holds the fundamentals of your life together finally unravels? You probably ...
A Tribe Called Quest: After The Love Is Gone: A Tribe Called Quest
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Source, The, October 1998
DRESSED IN A black T-shirt with THE LOVE MOVEMENT emblazoned in silver on the back, baggy jeans, and a blue denim fisherman's cap pulled down ...
RZA, Wu-Tang Clan: RZA: The Digital Revolution
Interview by Stevie Chick, Melody Maker, November 1998
One minute RZA's producing the Wu-Tang Clan, the next he's writing as his alter ego Bobby Digital, then he's off to star in the movies. ...
Beastie Boys, The: There's Something about the Beastie Boys
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Request, December 1998
I CAN STILL REMEMBER the morning, way back in the sweaty London summer of 1983, when three skinny New York wiseasses burst into the New ...
Jay-Z: The Life And Times Of Jay-Z: An Interview
Interview by Dan Gennoe, Flipside (UK), 1999
REMIND SHAWN CARTER, aka Jay-Z, that his last long player, Vol.2...Hard Knock Life, which spawned the Annie-sampling single of the same name, sold 5 million ...
DJ Kool Herc: Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: DJ Kool Herc and the Birth of Hip Hop
Book Excerpt by Frank Broughton, Bill Brewster, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, 1999
Take a BreakFace your partner, holding hands. Tap one foot behind the other and bring your feet together again. Repeat with your other foot. (Your ...
Eric B & Rakim, Marley Marl: Marley Marl
Interview by Alex Ogg, unpublished, 1999
Marley Marl talks about his inadvertent "invention" of the drum sample and his involvement in the first Eric B and Rakim record. This was originally ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, 1999
Coolio stands centre-stage holding a rubber johnny aloft. "How many o’you been fuckin’?" he hollers. "Huh?" Two thousand of what one can only describe as ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1999
Yo! Apocalypse: It's a mad, bad, Wu-Tang world ...
DMX: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (Def Jam )
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, January 1999
It's like, we all got two sides to us, and it depends on what side of the bed you wake up on. That will depend ...
Roots, The: The Roots: Things Fall Apart
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, March 1999
USED TO BE, a hiphop love song was something like Rakim's 'Mahogany' or Shallah Raekwon's 'Ice Cream'- tunes celebrating shorties from around the way; hardrocks ...
Roots, The: Apocalypse Now: The Roots
Report and Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Spin, March 1999
THE ROOTS' new album, Things Fall Apart, bears all the signs of the Big Statement. There are five separate covers, each featuring a disturbing historical ...
Lauryn Hill: Soulless Diva: Lauryn Hill
Comment by Everett True, Stranger, The, April 1999
I'M NOT DENYING she has looks, and talent, and a silky-smooth voice which can seduce even the most cynical listener. ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Ol' Dirty Bastard: America's Most Wanted
Report by Stephen Dalton, NME, April 1999
Ol' Dirty Bastard's rap sheet pisses on Mark Morrison's. But are the cops really out to get him? Are gangstas gunning for him? Or is ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, April 1999
20 Minute Party People ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Sugarhill Gang, The: Good Boys Of Rap
Review by Tom Cox, Guardian, The, April 1999
Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five And Melle Mel: 'Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel' (Sequel)The Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delights (Sequel)Various Artists: Sugarhill Club Classics ...
Missy Elliott: Missy In Action: The Divine Ms. Elliott
Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, May 1999
MISSY "MISDEMEANOR" Elliott is an infamously snappy dresser, so when she emerges from a discreet recess in her LA hotel room wearing nothing more elaborate ...
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, September 1999
The first thing I asked him to do was get me a tape from the studio. He came back with it in five minutes. The ...
Kid Rock: At Last! Could Kid Rock Be The Saviour Of Rock? Oops. Sorry.
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, NME, October 1999
"HEY, SCATLAND! R U ready for some medal!? How many of you guyz are gonna getta 'shag' tonite!?" ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard: Nigga Please (Elektra)
Review by R.J. Smith, Spin, November 1999
THE TRUE opener of this dazzling, daffy album gets buried near the end. Nigga Please should have begun with his mocking yet eerily touching cover ...
A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip: Q-Tip: Amplified (Arista)/A Tribe Called Quest: The Anthology (Jive)
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, December 1999
THE GREATEST AESTHETIC lesson to learn from past masters like David Bowie and Madonna is the value of reinvention. ...
Outkast: OutKast: Stankonia (Arista)
Review by Amy Linden, XXL, 2000
ECLECTICISM IS NOT usually associated with hip hop. Most artists, especially those who sell, want to maintain their base, yet in an effort to keep ...
Lil' Kim: The Notorious K.I.M.
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 2000
MS. KIMBERLY "Lil' Kim" Jones, here's your most telling lyric: "You can never be me. You can only resemble." ...
Interview by Dan Gennoe, Front, 2000
With The Artful Dodger and a cry of "Re-e-wind, the crowd say bo selecta!" Craig David boinked his way up the Christmas charts. Only God, ...
Wyclef Jean, Canibus, LL Cool J: LL Cool J, Canibus and Wyclef Jean: The '4,3,2,1' Beef
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2000
WHEN CANIBUS recorded a verse for LL Cool J's '4,3,2,1' in 1997, he can hardly have realised what was about to unfold. ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2000
"I ALWAYS like the idea of people getting together, like The Power Station, the Travelling Wilburys, groups like that," says Raphael Saadiq in all earnestness. ...
Beastie Boys, The: Beastie Boys: The Sounds Of Science
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
Extensive compilation of their greatest hits, finest moments and rarities ...
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, January 2000
THIS ISN'T A generation-gap piece, really. I ain't even 30. But a lot of folks ain't authentically feeling Rakim Allah; they just takin' the "experts' ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Wuclear Fission: A Nutcase and a Point Guard Rise Above Wu-Tang’s Solo Overkill
Overview by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, February 2000
THE STUPIDEST, greatest, lovingest, most problematic-yet-simple moment in pop last year was a guy not content to be called Ol' Dirty Bastard letting it all ...
Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G.: 2Pac & Outlawz: Still I Rise; Notorious B.I.G.: Born Again
Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, March 2000
NO REST for the wicked – more posthumous releases from the slain linchpins of East and West Coast gangsta rap. ...
Cypress Hill: Astoria, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, Guardian, The, March 2000
THE ONGOING debate about the decriminalisation of cannabis seems redundant when a substantial proportion of the 1,800 people shoehorned into the Astoria have voted with ...
Kelis: The 'I Hate You So Much Right Now' Woman: Kelis
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, April 2000
STRIDING PURPOSEFULLY down one of the seamiest streets in Soho, 20-year-old Kelis (pronounced kuh-leece) Rogers is a day-glo Amazon. ...
Kelis: The Harlem Hurricane Blows Up A Storm
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2000
IT'S SCARILY early on a Monday morning and she says she's as out of it as I am ("I love the night, it just seems ...
Asian Dub Foundation: Community Music
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2000
Storming new set of eclectic agit-pop from best live band in Britain ...
Jay-Z, DMX, Lox, The, Juvenile: Jay-Z, DMX, Juvenile and The Lox Albums
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, May 2000
Huge over there, ignored over here – the state of the rap art, US-style: Jay-Z: Volume 3...Life And Times Of S Carter; ...
Mos Def, Macy Gray: Macy Gray/Mos Def: Roseland Ballroom, New York City
Live Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Spin, May 2000
IF THERE WAS ever any doubt, the huge plaque onstage honoring the gold status of Mos Def's Black on Both Sides made it clear: The ...
Cypress Hill: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, June 2000
CYPRESS HILL'S 1993 breakthrough Black Sunday straddled every hip-hop fault line. Racially, Italian-American rapper B-Real joined Latinos DJ Muggs and Sen-Dog in a traditionally black-American ...
Tupac Shakur: Jailhouse Rap: An Exclusive Conversation With Suge Knight
Interview by Roy Trakin, Hits, July 2000
MULE CREEK State Prison is the fourth jail rap entrepreneur Marion "Suge" Knight has been locked up in since he was given a nine-year sentence ...
Jurassic 5: Quality Control (Interscope)
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, July 2000
"IN THE sixties we believed in a myth – that music had the power to change people's lives," Stanley Booth writes in the afterword to ...
Retrospective by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, August 2000
TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR seemed to consider himself immortal, and there are certainly many who still refuse to believe the 25-year-old rapper died after a Las ...
Special Feature by Stephen Dalton, NME, August 2000
Y2K has been something of an annus horribilis for Eminem (discounting the ten million album sales, that is). Faced with a lawsuit from his mum, ...
Last Poets, The: The Last Poets: Progenitors of Rap
Retrospective and Interview by David Dalton, Gadfly, September 2000
Perhaps it was the Vietnam War dragging on, nightly television footage of bombed villages, body bags and helicopters dropping flaming glue on Vietnamese farmers or ...
De La Soul: Art Official Intelligence (Mosaic Thump)
Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, September 2000
NO ONE who saw the packed, mostly young, black crowd reveling in the house party atmosphere of De La Soul's last UK gig in 1997 ...
Wyclef Jean: The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (Columbia)
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, September 2000
EVER HAVE A bright idea, a 1000-watt bulb so blazin that it inevitably slides into the collective consciousness of pop culture? Even if the brainstorm ...
Dilated Peoples: 'Hip-Hop Culture Has Suffered. We Want To Reverse That'
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, October 2000
IT'S NOT JUST PUNK AND METAL THAT ARE KICKING OFF STATESIDE — SO IS HIP-HOP AS DILATED PEOPLES TELL US ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Observer, The, October 2000
'RINSE IT OUT for us, mate!' The bag being handed over in the foyer of this small but bustling recording studio is not full of ...
Incredible Bongo Band, The: Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2000
THE AVUNCULAR 56-year-old American sat in a suite in London's Dorchester Hotel doesn't immediately strike you as a rock'n'roll type, but Michael Viner has quite ...
Eminem, Outkast, Wu-Tang Clan: The Way They Are: Eminem and Friends
Review by Cleothus Hardcastle, Rock's Backpages, December 2000
HIP HOP, you don’t stop. Whatever it is that this hybrid of street poetics and processed beats represents for modern culture, it ain’t going away. ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Snoop Dogg: The Workaholik
Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, Revolver, Winter 2000
Snoop finds time for big business, Doggystyle ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2001
FROM THE drivers' seat of his black GMC jeep, Kool G Rap stares intently at the police car. Despite the air conditioning being turned up ...
Nikki Giovanni: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Nikki Giovanni?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2001
IN THE CRAZY, HEADY DAYS of the Black Power era, Nikki Giovanni was one of the few female voices to offset the rampant machismo of ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Can't Go to Sleep
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, L.A. Weekly, January 2001
WHAT THE HELL is going on with hiphop right about now? Rap's most popular, most talented MC â€" at one point in the running to ...
Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, NME, January 2001
They claim to be outsiders but psychedelic southern playas Big Boi and Dre are already two million LPs ahead of the rap competition. ...
Eminem: Love, Hate And The Only Important Pop Star Left
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, February 2001
Eminem: Evening News Arena, Manchester ...
Eminem: The London Arena, Docklands
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2001
FOR A FEW days there, between Internet babies and new genetic codes, Eminem's UK tour made him the leading media talking-point. ...
AUDIO: Outkast's André Benjamin (2001)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 2001
The flamboyant Mr Benjamin on Stankonia, the influence of Brit dance music, meeting Big Boi, early influences and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.8mb, interview length: 34' 43" sound quality: * (phoner)
Black Eyed Peas: Mean Fiddler, London WC2
Live Review by Dele Fadele, NME, April 2001
NOW THAT hip-hop is a global lingua franca, anyone with the slimmest of credentials can lay claim to authenticity. ...
Missy Elliott: Rhymes & Misdemeanours: Missy Elliott Gets Her Freak On
Interview by Amy Linden, Rock's Backpages, April 2001
THE EXPRESSION "It takes a village to raise a child" has quickly morphed from sage African proverb to the "Have A Nice Day" of social ...
Outkast: Partners in Rhyme: OutKast
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, May 2001
One of them is a blonde-wigged, teetotal vegetarian who reads Pushkin. The other breeds pitbulls in his spare time. Together they have been called the ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Chicago Tribune, July 2001
TO UNDERSTAND WHY the Roots are the world's best live-on-stage hip-hop act, you have to look past the front line of rappers and check out ...
N*E*R*D: The Search Is Over: N*E*R*D
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, August 2001
THEIR NAMES MIGHT not be familiar, but you'll know Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo by the sounds they make. As multi-million selling production team the ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Dazed & Confused, August 2001
SAUL WILLIAMS runs his hand through his dreadlocked mane and grins. Fighting off a heavy cold a few hours before his first UK headline show, ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
Trip hop supremo Adrian Thawes returns, restored to health, and helped by guests Cyndi Lauper and Red Hot Chili Peppers ...
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, August 2001
Hot from the States: hip hop meets electronica ...
Missy Elliott: Missy in Action: Missy Elliott
Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, Observer Music Monthly, August 2001
As a child, Missy Elliott sent daily letters and tapes to her heroes Michael and Janet Jackson, asking them to save her from abuse and ...
Pop Quiz: What does the new Top Ten list mean?
Comment by Nick Hornby, New Yorker, August 2001
IN 1973, FOR AN ESSAY published in The New York Review of Books, Gore Vidal read his way through the Times best-seller list in an ...
So Solid Crew: Ghetto Blasters: So Solid Crew
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, November 2001
SHOTS RANG OUT and a man collapsed in a heap near the dance floor. Another lay slumped, bleeding profusely, in a doorway near the toilet. ...
Jay-Z: The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella)
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, December 2001
Sixth album from Brooklyn rap don ...
Spearhead, Michael Franti, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, The: A Q&A With Michael Franti
Interview by Stevie Chick, unpublished, Spring 2001
MICHAEL FRANTI has been one of the most consistently insightful, incisive, and intelligent voices in politicised pop music for almost 15 years now. ...
Roots, The: Forward To The Roots
Interview by Amy Linden, XXL, 2002
FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS the city of Philadelphia has sponsored the Philadelphia College Festival. Held directly across the steps of the Art Museum (home ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2002
BUSTA RHYMES has a heavy cold and a brutal schedule, and he's already running three hours late. ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The True Life Adventures Of Flash
Sleevenotes by Frank Broughton, Bill Brewster, Nuphonic Records, 2002
Chapter 1FLASH ISN’T THE type of guy to start talking about "How it feels...", but that’s just what you want to ask him. How does ...
So Solid Crew: They Don't Know (Independiente/Relentless)****
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, January 2002
Distinctive debut from UKG crew with colourful personal lives ...
Outkast: OutKast: Kicking up a Stank (Arista) *****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2002
Best of dirty South rappers' first three albums interspersed with new material ...
Streets, The: AUDIO: The Streets (2002)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 2002
Mike Skinner talks about finding his voice, making Original Pirate Material, writing, politics, getting high and about life itself.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.2mb; Interview length: 48' 13"; sound quality: ****
Streets, The: UK Rap: The word on The Streets
Interview by Gavin Martin, Independent, The, March 2002
WHEN MIKE SKINNER, aka The Streets, the 22-year-old lyrical king of British rap, discovers I live within the sound of Bow Bells, he's immediately curious. ...
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Source, The, April 2002
THINGS ARE ABOUT to change. Trust. The rap industry may soon find itself caught out there as many hiphop fans seek sounds more suited for ...
Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G.: Gangsta Scrap: Nick Broomfield’s Biggie And Tupac
Film/DVD Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, May 2002
Suge Knight: the new Al Capone? Exposing the truth behind the Rap Wars ...
Biggie and Tupac: directed by Nick Broomfield
Review by James Slack, Rock's Backpages, June 2002
WHATEVER your take on Broomfield and his bumbling public school fecklessness, there's no denying the bloke makes riveting documentaries. Following up the chilling Kurt and ...
Eminem: The Eminem Show (Aftermath)
Review by Peter Murphy, Hot Press, June 2002
WELCOME TO artimitateslife.com, a multi-streamed gush of live webcam feed where we get to see Mr Marshall Mathers as Truman trapped in some Gollywood remake ...
Lauryn Hill: MTV Unplugged 2.0
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Village Voice, July 2002
I can faithfully, honestly say that hiphop is dead. – Q-Tip Hiphop being counterculture, underground culture, that's sorta dead. It's all mainstream. It's just ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, August 2002
From the Fugees to Tom Jones, Haiti's very own Wyclef Jean talks hip hop, crack vs. music, martial arts and Cab Calloway
File format: mp3 File size: 26.4mb Interview length: 28' 50" Sound quality: ****
So Solid Crew, MC Romeo: MC Romeo: Alpha Romeo
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, August 2002
IN THE TOP floor of the London bus that is taking me to interview fast-talking UK garage heartthrob MC Romeo, an effervescent group of black ...
Profile by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, October 2002
They raced from zero to inner-city heroes in one summer, then stalled in scandal. But don't write off So Solid – there's a serious business ...
Profile by Johnny Black, Blender, November 2002
Vital Statistics on Jay-Z's hit ...
Wyclef Jean, Tom Jones: Tom Jones and Wyclef Jean
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Touch, November 2002
SO YOU'RE sitting there, in the London Metropole hotel, chatting to Wyclef Jean about his new LP, Maqsquerade. ...
Busta Rhymes: A Drink With Busta Rhymes
Interview by Dan Gennoe, Esquire, 2003
ESQUIRE: What's your poison? ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, 2003
NOTE: The Black Album was not only Jay-Z's eighth studio album, reportedly it was also meant to be his swansong: a collection of jams meant ...
Retrospective by Greg Wilson, electrofunkroots.co.uk, 2003
THEY SAY THAT lightening doesn't strike twice, but where there's a rule there's always the exception. Case-in-point concerns that maverick maestro of musical mayhem, Mr ...
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Nation, The, January 2003
RUSSELL SIMMONS, known for decades as Rush to his friends, is of average height and build for a man his age (45), with a clean-shaven ...
Roots, The: The Roots: Hip Hop Erudition And Wit
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2003
"I'M ALIVE NOW!" BARKS AHMIR ?uestlove Thompson, drummer and de facto leader of Philadelphia hip hop band The Roots, and music press consumer of impeccable ...
Common: Against The Grain: Common
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Source, The, March 2003
EIGHT DAYS BEFORE Jimi Hendrix's sixtieth birthday, Common sits comfortably in the guitar god's apartment sipping Poland Spring. ...
Comment by Miles Marshall Lewis, L.A. Weekly, March 2003
Jaded Hiphop-Purist Insight #1: You cannot spit in the wind without being hit by 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. ...
Eminem: What's SO F***ing Great About Eminem?
Essay by Andy Gill, Word, The, March 2003
The worst character traits imaginable assembled into violent, cautionary cartoons have produced the charismatic star of the moment, now further immortalised in an acclaimed movie. ...
Streets, The, Ms Dynamite: Letter from London: The Streets and Ms Dynamite
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Times, March 2003
WHEN THE BEATLES flew over from England in the '60s, it seemed the whole of young America gathered at the airport to scream a welcome. ...
Interview by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, April 2003
The influence of the crush grooves produced by Def Jam and American Recordings founder, Rick Rubin, are stronger than ever. ...
Review by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, April 2003
Run DMC inspired a generation to turn hip-hop into a multi-billion dollar industry, says GAVIN MARTIN ...
Profile by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, June 2003
In the hood: Eminem is pulling out all the stops for his European tour ...
LL Cool J: Beacon Theatre, New York
Live Review by Mac Randall, New York Daily News, June 2003
At Beacon, everybody loves Cool James ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, June 2003
HE'S THE LEADING pop icon of his generation, the undisputed Elvis of his era, and for many of the 65,000 fans who attend his concert, ...
Dizzee Rascal: Bringing It All Back Home
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, August 2003
THE FIRST TIME you hear Boy in da Corner, it's a jolt. The debut album of 18-year-old Dizzee Rascal has just been nominated for the ...
Interview by JoE Silva, Remix, August 2003
WE ARE rolling in a ridiculously immaculate Land Rover beneath a calm Atlanta skyline just after sunset. ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, September 2003
JUST HOURS after winning an impressive trio of MOBO awards at the Royal Albert Hall, gangsta rap superstar 50 Cent played his biggest UK show ...
Interview by David Hemingway, unpublished, September 2003
A transcript of an interview that subsequently became an XLR8R feature ...
Review by Kandia Crazy Horse, Village Voice, September 2003
SO THE GRAPEVINE has Hollyweird pondering a film based on late-1970s TV Dixiana The Dukes of Hazzard. The Grandfather Clause prevents me from voting for ...
Grand Wizard Theodore: Yes Yes Y'all and it don't stop, to the beat y'all and it don't stop
Comment by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, October 2003
RBP's very own Mark Pringle got invited to curate the inaugural exhibition – Yes Yes Y'all: hip hop from scratch – at the Hospital in ...
N*E*R*D, Justin Timberlake: Justin Timberlake joins N.E.R.D.: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Josh Rinkoff, Rock's Backpages, November 2003
WHITE, BLACK, Jewish, Muslim. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. They are all here tonight. Where I hear you ask? Babylon? Brent Cross? No. Tonight I ...
Missy Elliott: This is Not a Test
Review by Ben Thompson, Observer, The, November 2003
WAY BACK IN 1997, when Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott launched her debut album Supa Dupa Fly with the touching dedication "To my mom... I would not ...
Black Eyed Peas: Give Peas Peas A Chance
Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, December 2003
HOW THEIR ANTI-WAR SONG AND A FAMOUS FRIEND HELPED BLACK EYED PEAS HIT THE JACKPOT. BY GAVIN MARTIN ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beastie Boys
Interview by Amy Linden, Complex, 2004
IT'S A RAINY MARCH morning in NYC; the Beastie Boys are in the hiz-ouse or rather the photo studio and the topic on the table ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Gangsters: Snoop Dogg and Michael Imperioli
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, Complex, 2004
"What is it about the gangster mythology...that grabs those of us, especially men outside 'the life'? What is about guys like (the late) John Gotti, ...
Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
Review by Ben Thompson, Observer, The, 2004
PRECOCIOUS BOW roughneck Dylan Mills knocked up his first single (scabrous teen pregnancy shocker 'I Luv You') in downtime from his school music class at ...
Outkast: OutKast: Speakboxxx/The Love Below (Arista)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004
THE YIN AND YANG of epicene dandy André 3000 and straight-up, pit-bull-ownin’ Big Boi may yet prove OutKast’s undoing. If so, the duo at least ...
Kelis: Ice Queen Kelis Blows Her Cool
Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, January 2004
KELIS IS BACK WITH A SAUCY ALBUM AND A BAD ATTITUDE ...
Rae & Christian, Aim: Grand Central: Label of Love
Profile by David Hemingway, Record Collector, February 2004
THE UK'S PREMIER soul label, Grand Central, has released music by a hip-hop artiste who cites the Smiths as his greatest influence, a future-funk musician ...
N*E*R*D: Fly or Die (Virgin)****
Review by Ben Thompson, Observer Music Monthly, March 2004
IF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS predecessor – 2001's visionary soft-porn psychedelic soul masterpiece In Search of... – was anything to go by, the release of a new ...
Streets, The: Dead Cert: The Streets
Interview by Ben Thompson, Observer, The, April 2004
'I LOVE THE NAME "The Streets",' muses 24 year-old Mike Skinner - at once the mercurial creative-director, canny CEO and flaky spokesmodel of that thriving ...
Beastie Boys, The: The Beasties and their Boroughs
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Times, May 2004
"HEY, BUCKINGHAM PALACE!" says Mike Diamond in high, pinched New York tones as Beastie Boys' mini-bus swings past the ugly royal pile. "Hence all the ...
Streets, The: The Streets: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, May 2004
THE DEBUT ALBUM by Mike Skinner, a.k.a. The Streets, (Original Pirate Material) was a touching, thoughtful ode to all the aspects of modern Britain its ...
Interview by Dan Gennoe, GQ, July 2004
MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD'S debut album, Quixotic, has been a long time coming. So long in fact, that it's become the stuff of myth, with rumours of ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Chasing The Heron
Report and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, July 2004
"I'M ADDICTED to creating," mutters a grizzled, slightly stoned Gil Scott-Heron. "I use other things from time to time." It's late afternoon on Friday 3rd ...
Profile and Interview by Lulu Le Vay, X-Ray, August 2004
TUESDAY JULY 29th 2003. It has only been three weeks since teen ghetto rapper turned breakneck industry sensation Dizzee Rascal was pulled off his scooter ...
Interview by Ian Watson, Sunday Herald (Scotland), August 2004
WHAT DID YOU do last night? Nice meal? Drink with friends? Sweat your own body weight in a packed nightclub? Well, guess what? 50 Cent ...
Roots, The: The Roots: The Tipping Point (MCA) ***
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, August 2004
Philadelphia freedom: A sixth album of adventurous, organic hip hop from the city of brotherly love. By Stevie Chick ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Complex, Summer 2004
WHEN KANYE WEST'S much anticipated debut The College Dropout hit stores in early February, its blend of inventive production – via a by-now trademark predilection ...
Streets, The: The Streets: The Hardest Way To Make A Living (679) ****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, 2005
MIKE SKINNER'S EXISTENCE has been transformed by success and fortune. It's a fortune accrued by observing, in startlingly prosaic detail, a life of Wetherspoons and ...
M.I.A., Lady Sovereign: M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign: A Far Cry From North-West London
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Sunday Telegraph, January 2005
Two of this year's most eagerly anticipated records come from young women with some striking similarities. Ben Thompson talks to M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign. ...
Profile and Interview by Ken Scrudato, Flaunt, February 2005
NEARLY TWENTY years before 9/11/01 – before New Yorkers and other Americans decided to believe that great tragedy had begun and ended with them – ...
Black Eyed Peas: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, Times, The, February 2005
CAN IT ONLY be 18 months since the Black Eyed Peas were jostling each other for space on the tiny stage of the 400-capacity Jazz ...
Lil' Kim: Big Verdict: Lil' Kim Is Seriously Fucked
Comment by Amy Linden, Village Voice, March 2005
ON MARCH 3, in the midst of her highly publicized trial in Manhattan Federal court, a clearly beleaguered Lil' Kim issued a statement through the ...
Nas: Hip-Hop Violence: Pop Goes The Weasel
Report by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, March 2005
FOR THE RECORD: guns don't go bang but pop, a noise a lot like a jumbo bottle of champagne being opened. As this was a ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Metro, April 2005
IT'S BEEN A long time coming, but finally things are moving for the feisty Fulham-born singer and rapper Estelle. Fast. So fast, in fact, that ...
Dizzee Rascal: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, May 2005
DIZZEE RASCAL saunters on stage sporting the infectious grin of a boy who feels that every day is Christmas. Though he starts with 'Sittin' Here', ...
LL Cool J, Faith Evans: Grant Park, Chicago
Live Review by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, July 2005
NOW WE KNOW why the Ladies Love Cool James: it’s not for his remarkably buff 40-something body (though they do love that); not even for ...
Kanye West: Natural Born Show-off: Kanye West
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, August 2005
PRESS PLAYBACKS tend to be uncomfortable affairs. A record label, eager to unveil its latest prestige release but terrified of a stray copy leaking on ...
Ms Dynamite: Judgement Days Yahoo Music
Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo Music, October 2005
WHEN MS DYNAMITE'S debut album was dismissed by some critics in 2002 as "tiresome finger-wagging", it seemed the erstwhile Niomi McLean-Daley was getting a rough ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, Q, 2006
ANYONE FEARING that the Day-Glo brilliance of 2003's triple Grammy winner, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, might have marked the height of the Atlanta duo's R&B powers ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, 2006
ONE OF the most unexpected meetings in English Parliamentary history took place in late October, when Rhymefest sat down with Conservative Party leader David Cameron. ...
Tom Silverman: No Expense Spared
Interview by Larry Jaffee, MediaPack, May 2006
Tom Silverman, the pioneer rap music label owner of New York-based Tommy Boy Records, is unusual among his label head peers. He's willing to spend ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, July 2006
For Peaches, the famously X-rated rapper, the personal has just got political. Caroline Sullivan hears about her beef with Bush ...
Timbaland: "I'm up here. Everyone else is down there."
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, Guardian, The, August 2006
TIM "TIMBALAND" Mosley, the most in-demand music producer in the world, is tired. But the task of staying awake is made easier because, right now, ...
Ice Cube: Respectability? It Can Wait
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, August 2006
He went from gangsta notoriety to Hollywood stardom. Now Ice Cube has returned to the studio – to show today's rappers where they've gone wrong. ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, September 2006
THE THREE GIRLS on the south London station platform couldn't have been more than 13, and as they waited for the train, they were singing, ...
Roots, The: The Roots: They're A (Funky) American Band
Profile by Jason Gross, Creative Loafing, October 2006
"WHAT KIND OF music do they play?" a Def Jam receptionist innocently asked, when queried about the Roots. Although self-classified as a rap group, the ...
Ghostface Killah: Coronet, London ***
Live Review by Angus Batey, Guardian, The, October 2006
"IF YOU listen to my lyrics, you'll know I'm a soul baby," confesses Dennis Coles midway through a typically eccentric set. "And you've got to ...
Nas: Why The Grammys Have Ditched Rap
Comment by Edward Helmore, Guardian, The, December 2006
RAP MUSIC, and the commotion, fur and bling that often accompanies its biggest stars, will be noticeably absent from the Grammy awards in Los Angeles ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, January 2007
JERRY HELLER may just have the most undeservedly bad rep in the history of hip hop. ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2007
WHAT ARE you playing at? "Not what you think" whispers Infinite Livez, Big Dada's most wayward emissary and co–creator (alongside Swedish electrojazz–duo Stade) of a ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, Observer, The, April 2007
Dizzee Rascal is not proud of everything in his past, he tells Ben Thompson in a remarkably frank interview. But he's more than happy with ...
Dizzee Rascal: 'I Was Just Being Cheeky'
Interview by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial Times, June 2007
TOP OF the world, that's how Dizzee Rascal feels. Early sales of his new album Maths and English indicate a top-10 hit. "It's a couple ...
Retrospective by Will Hermes, Village Voice, July 2007
OH YES, it was wicked cool: getting jacked at machete-point on the subway after a night of clubbing, and at bayonet-point outside of high school. ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, Winter 2007
FROM CINEMATIC outlaws Vito Corleone (The Godfather) and Priest (Super Fly) to real life dons like John Gotti and Nicky Barnes, the mythology of gangsterism ...
50 Cent: Always The Lion In The Room
Interview by Ben Thompson, Financial Times, February 2008
ON MEETING the rapper and business mogul 50 Cent, the first thing you notice is that he's a lot smaller than he looks onstage. In ...
Roots, The: The Roots: It's Like A Jungle Sometimes...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Guardian, The, April 2008
They are a hip-hop purist's dream, constantly touring and constantly praised. But behind the scenes, the Roots have a fight on their hands. Angus Batey ...
Tricky: Return Of The Bristol Rover
Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, June 2008
After exploding on to the trip-hop scene with Massive Attack and as a solo artist, Tricky decamped to America to go through what some see ...
Report by John Doran, Quietus, The, June 2008
Quietus Editor John Doran gets drunk, falls over, destroys phone, makes noise like "broken panther" and has Proustian recall of two run ins with rap ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Venue (Bristol), July 2008
HOME, THE saying goes, is a place you grow up wanting to leave and grow old wanting to return to. The most restless, prolific, exotic, ...
DJ Kool Herc: D.J. Kool Herc: The Holy House of Hip-hop
Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, September 2008
On August 11, 1973, D.J. Kool Herc didn't know he was revolutionizing pop music – he was just trying to keep people dancing. The rec ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash (2009)
Interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages Audio, 2009
Flash talks about his latest album The Bridge, but then takes us back to the Bronx in the mid-'70s, his technical innovations, experiences with Sugar Hill records, and his addiction and the lost years.
File format: mp3; file size: 61.8mb, interview length: 1h 07' 31" sound quality: ****
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash: All Hands On Deck
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, Guardian, The, February 2009
They thought he was mad, they spat him off stage, he hit the drugs... But Grandmaster Flash gave 'DJ' a whole new meaning. Andrew Purcell ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Hip-Hop Connection, April 2009
I GUESS you could say he's been away. But he's never strayed far. ...
The Demise of Vibe and the Future of Criticism
Comment by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, July 2009
THERE'S NO SMALL irony to the fact that the announcement of the folding of Vibe magazine occurred the day after the death of Michael Jackson. ...
Profile by Stephen Dalton, National, The, September 2009
WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA branded rapper Kanye West a "jackass" for his one-man stage invasion at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York last Sunday, ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, September 2009
IN 2001, SHAWN "Jay-Z" Carter released The Blueprint, a critical and commercial smash which set a standard the Brooklyn-born rap mogul has struggled to match ...
Dizzee Rascal: Roundhouse, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, October 2009
"DIZZEE RASCAL for prime minister, yeah?" As if to emphasise that he is more than just an east London grime MC these days, Rascal ended ...
Def Jam at 25: The Yankees of Hip-Hop Labels, Reconsidered
Comment by Amy Linden, Village Voice, October 2009
WHAT IS IT about hip-hop that, inevitably, almost any conversation revolves around dates – around how far back in the day you can claim to ...
Dizzee Rascal: Dizzee Heights or The Year Of The Rascal
Interview by Ian Gittins, Wonderland, November 2009
"I wake up, every day is a daydream/Everything in my life ain't what it seems..."– 'Bonkers', Dizzee Rascal ...
So Solid Crew: 'What We're Doing Is Bigger Than Music'
Interview by Angus Batey, Guardian, The, January 2010
After a dramatic rise and a messy, destructive fall, So Solid are back. This time they intend to keep the tunes – and the money ...
Interview by Ian Gittins, Wonderland, September 2010
THE SINGER ON BALANCING MUSIC, MOTHERHOOD, CLUBBING AND COOKING ...
Last Poets, The: After The Party: Music and the Black Panthers
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, September 2010
ONE DAY LAST DECEMBER, Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets attended a gathering in Chicago to commemorate local Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, October 2010
Still tripping on the ghosts of the past ...
CeeLo Green: The Fearless CeeLo Green
Interview by Amy Linden, Village Voice, November 2010
Will The Lady Killer and 'Fuck You' finally turn him into a solo superstar? ...
Wyclef Jean: "Fans are calling me the new Dylan"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, December 2010
WHAT SCUPPERED Wyclef Jean's bid to be president of Haiti? Well, it wasn't modesty. On the eve of the election result, the rapper talks death ...
Plan B: 'Strickland Banks may be soul, but it's still real life': Plan B
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, December 2010
THE INTERNATIONAL lingua franca of Christmas TV is fromage and France's leading commercial channel, TF1, is no exception. Having arrived in Paris on a lunchtime ...
N*E*R*D, Pharrell Williams: Pharrell Williams: Neptune Rising
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, Winter 2010
PHARRELL Vs THE FASHIONISTAS ...
Eminem: Slim Shady's Rap-Sheet Of Relapse And Recovery
Profile by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, April 2011
Eminem soared from drug-filled poverty to adulation and notoriety, and then collapsed into gilded, narcotic, seclusion. But, after his latest comeback, his biographer Nick Hasted ...
Tinie Tempah, O2 Arena, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, November 2011
I HEARD PEOPLE close to Tinie Tempah talk passionately about how his appeal and personal qualities were part of a Britain that went beyond race, ...
Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday – Roman Reloaded
Review by Kate Allen, idolmag.co.uk, April 2012
TENACIOUS, AMUSING AND, ABOVE ALL, "the best" – make no mistake, with Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Nicki Minaj is here to reaffirm her rap territory ...
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RBP on Spotify: The Very Best of 40-year-old Virgin
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Green Day grilled by Roy Trakin
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Essential Reading: Bud Scoppa's 1971 Byrds classic