Rap

Crime, punishment ... and MTV Crime, punishment ... and MTV

As blockbuster rapper T.I. heads for prison, his reality series prompts the nagging question: Can you really scare kids straight?
  • Bling, babes, and John Maynard Keynes

    A rap video to explain why fiscal stimulus doesn't work? Bring it on!
  • "Notorious"

    Slain rapper Biggie Smalls was larger-than-life, but this biopic finds a satisfying groove by staying pleasantly unflashy.
  • The entrepreneur

    The swaggering MC every woman wants to bang and every man wants to be.
  • Can Lil Wayne save hip-hop?

    He insists he's "the best rapper alive" -- and many agree. But can his smash-hit new album really redeem a flagging genre?
  • Salon's guide to summer music festivals

    Radiohead! Kanye! My Bloody Valentine! Dylan! Here's what to catch -- and what to skip -- on the festival circuit this summer.
  • Miss Bitch USA

    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.
  • Hip-hop is no longer cooler than me

    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?
  • Crazy for Jay-Z

    The hip-hop icon's inspired new release, "American Gangster," is his best album in years -- and the best rap album of 2007.
  • Exclusive Song of the Day: "Heavy," Oh No

    The greatest cop movie soundtrack that never was.
  • Song of the Day: "You Are Never Alone," Socalled

    Hip-hop, soul and a Jewish cowboy.
  • Three questions for Ronin Ro

    The author of a new biography of Dr. Dre talks about his subject's success.
  • Is rap racist?

    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.
  • Francis Davis takes on Wynton Marsalis

    A smart and timely review of the new Wynton Marsalis album.
  • "Bitches-and-hos" lesbian subculture

    Have some young lesbians taken a cue from mainstream rap on how to treat women?
  • No more whining excuses

    Whatever their motives in firing Don Imus, NBC and CBS did the right thing to uphold decency.
  • "The first time I was back since the storm ... drugs were everywhere"

    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.
  • "Tempe StreetBeat" receives heat

    Cop rocks town through rap.
  • Pass the mike

    Def Jam went from a dorm room to a music empire. Its famous founders are gone -- is the label still good?
  • "And It Don't Stop" edited by Raquel Cepeda

    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.
  • GOP "playa hatas"

    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.
  • "Honey"

    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.
  • "Tupac: Resurrection"

    Yes, the world needs a documentary that somehow makes sense of the charismatic, contradictory pioneer of gangsta rap. This isn't it.
  • Will the real Feminem please stand up

    Is Sarai the music industry's eagerly awaited lady Slim Shady?
  • Funkenstein's monster

    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?
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