hip hop

I’ll admit it, I don’t have particularly high expectations for Tyga albums. Tyga, the rapper most known for strip club anthem “Rack City,” is pretty much the definition of mediocre and generic pop-rap that straddles the gap between the clubs and the radio. So naturally when I started my first listen through of Tyga’s latest album, the unfortunately titled Hotel California, I was not expecting much. Much to my surprise, as I neared the end of the album, I found myself actually enjoying parts of Hotel California. Read More »

Few musicians are as dedicated to their fans as Hoodie Allen is to his. He responds to every tweet, almost every Facebook post, and hands out free music like candy. His latest mixtape, Crew Cuts, is Hoodie’s fourth free mixtape, and contains eleven classic Hoodie songs that are downloadable from his website. Read More »

Kid Cudi is one of rap’s most enigmatic characters. After making it big off a fantastic mixtape, and a strong debut album, Cudi released the strange followup Man on the Moon II, which featured dark, space-y tracks and nihilistic tones. After that he made a strange, and not very good, garage rock side project WZRD. But finally, the kid named Cudi has returned to rap – mostly. While his new album Indicud is not his strongest effort, it is a worthy addition to the Cudi discography. Read More »

I’m gonna come right out and say it: I enjoy listening to 2 Chainz. And Young Jeezy. And Chief Keef. And Waka. The list could go on, but you know exactly the kind of rap I’m talking about: the loud, sometimes obnoxious, often-trap inspired sort of music that seems ubiquitous at parties, the stuff that many fans of independent or “socially conscious” hip-hop turn their nose up at. It’s the stuff that your parents hate and the bros at your high school bumped in the parking lot, but regardless of its reputation I think it’s great in its own way.

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Formerly known as The Wild, New Zealand’s indie rock hip-hop three piece changed the spelling of their name last year to avoid confusions between their band and all the other rebels out there who name things as ‘wild.’ Their first single, “Revolution,” first released in 2010, will forever remain in constant rotation among my playlists. Read More »

I listen to a lot of rap music. A lot. And as a white middle class suburban kid who goes to an expensive private college, when people learn this fact about me, the first question is always “Wait, why? How can you possibly get anything out of it?”. Racial undertones aside (and that is a matter for a whole other article), the second question is invariably: “Well then who is your favorite rapper?”. My answer has always been Kid Cudi. Read More »

It is funny how much a year or two can change the public perception of an artist. Two years ago J. Cole was the talk of the town. The young rapper/producer mentored by Jay-Z had released some excellent mixtapes, and was gearing up to release his debut album. And when the last rapper/producer co-signed by Jay-Z was a fellow named Kanye West who went on to be just a minor success, Jermaine Cole certainly had a lot to live up to.

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I’ll admit it. I couldn’t quite take Sadistik seriously at first. With a name that sounds like a bad Linkin Park knockoff, and an album cover like something out of mid-2000′s Evanescence, I was skeptical. But once I moved past my skepticism and actually listened to his album Flowers for My Father I was impressed with Sadistik’s emotive style of rapping.

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