As blockbuster rapper T.I. heads for prison, his reality series prompts the nagging question: Can you really scare kids straight?
By Baz Dreisinger Mar 31, 2009
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A rap video to explain why fiscal stimulus doesn't work? Bring it on!
By Andrew Leonard
October 15, 2009
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Slain rapper Biggie Smalls was larger-than-life, but this biopic finds a satisfying groove by staying pleasantly unflashy.
By Stephanie Zacharek
January 16, 2009
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The swaggering MC every woman wants to bang and every man wants to be.
November 20, 2008
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He insists he's "the best rapper alive" -- and many agree. But can his smash-hit new album really redeem a flagging genre?
By Jess Harvell
June 19, 2008
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Radiohead! Kanye! My Bloody Valentine! Dylan! Here's what to catch -- and what to skip -- on the festival circuit this summer.
By Judy Berman and Charly Wilder
June 5, 2008
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Want to watch tough female rappers shake their booties in a lesbian bar? VH1's "Miss Rap Supreme" proves no one is immune to reality TV's degradations.
By James Hannaham
May 14, 2008
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It's a sad day when a farm boy from Iowa can say that about a musical genre he once loved. When will the awful dance crazes end?
By Paul Kix
May 12, 2008
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The hip-hop icon's inspired new release, "American Gangster," is his best album in years -- and the best rap album of 2007.
By Bomani Jones
November 6, 2007
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The greatest cop movie soundtrack that never was.
July 2, 2007
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Hip-hop, soul and a Jewish cowboy.
June 13, 2007
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The author of a new biography of Dr. Dre talks about his subject's success.
April 20, 2007
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Michael Eric Dyson, Margo Jefferson, Greg Tate, Joan Morgan and others weigh in on whether hip-hop is to blame for the culture of Imus.
April 18, 2007
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A smart and timely review of the new Wynton Marsalis album.
April 17, 2007
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Have some young lesbians taken a cue from mainstream rap on how to treat women?
By Tracy Clark-Flory
April 16, 2007
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Whatever their motives in firing Don Imus, NBC and CBS did the right thing to uphold decency.
By Joe Conason
April 13, 2007
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With much of New Orleans still uninhabitable, drug dealers are deluging neighborhoods. Violent crime is surging -- and so is anxiety about the city's recovery.
By Bill Sasser
March 6, 2007
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Cop rocks town through rap.
By David Puner
December 5, 2006
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Def Jam went from a dorm room to a music empire. Its famous founders are gone -- is the label still good?
By Mark Hatch-Miller
October 20, 2005
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Does hip-hop journalism live up to the music's most vibrant promise -- or just rehash its crass, Benjamin-istic cliches? A new anthology makes the case for hip-hop writing.
By Peter L'Official
October 13, 2004
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Rush Limbaugh and other angry conservatives mock John Kerry and the Dems for hanging with hip-hop stars. But they're dissing a key (and mostly white) bloc of youth voters.
By Eric Boehlert
April 23, 2004
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This hackneyed hip-hop dance flick boasts some flashes of inspiration -- and a smokin' Missy Elliott. But we're still waiting for the great rap musical.
By Charles Taylor
December 5, 2003
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Yes, the world needs a documentary that somehow makes sense of the charismatic, contradictory pioneer of gangsta rap. This isn't it.
By Stephanie Zacharek
November 14, 2003
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Is Sarai the music industry's eagerly awaited lady Slim Shady?
By Baz Dreisinger
September 20, 2003
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George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic are a hugely groove-alicious influence on contemporary pop culture. But could anything like Clinton's grand artistic vision -- and inclusive politics -- thrive in today's shallow realm of bling?
By Scott Thill
September 18, 2003
Crime, punishment ... and MTV
Bling, babes, and John Maynard Keynes
"Notorious"
The entrepreneur
Can Lil Wayne save hip-hop? 
Salon's guide to summer music festivals 
Miss Bitch USA
Hip-hop is no longer cooler than me
Crazy for Jay-Z
Exclusive Song of the Day: "Heavy," Oh No
Three questions for Ronin Ro
"Bitches-and-hos" lesbian subculture
No more whining excuses
"The first time I was back since the storm ... drugs were everywhere"
"Tempe StreetBeat" receives heat
Pass the mike
"And It Don't Stop" edited by Raquel Cepeda
GOP "playa hatas"
"Honey"
"Tupac: Resurrection"
Will the real Feminem please stand up
Funkenstein's monster
GigaOM Network
War Room