• Eminem, The Killers and Linkin Park Among Top Played Spotify Songs

    Using data from Spotify, a new publication called Polygraph has visualized the music that has stood the test of time. These streaming music playcounts can give us insight and actual numerical backing to long held debates such as Notorious B.I.G. vs. Tupac Shakur or the validity of Linkin Park as a lasting band in the annals of history as the band's hit song "Numb" comes in at No. 3 on a list of most played songs on Spotify after Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and The Killer's "Mr. Brightside."
  • Killer Mike Calls Rihanna the New Tupac in Run the Jewels' Interview with Banksy

    Run the Jewels were recently selected as one of the acts scheduled to play at Banksy's Dismaland theme park. To anticipate their performance, the Banksy has interviewed the duo made up of Killer Mike and El-P. The elusive street artist asked Mike and El about their opinions on art and different megastar artists, including Kanye West and Rihanna, who Mike calls "the new Tupac," but in "feminist form."
  • Timbaland Posts New Aaliyah Music Announcement on Instagram

    Timbaland worked conclusively with Aaliyah prior to her death during 2001, and therefore has often been associated with guarding her discography, but now the producer has declared that he'll be mastering new material from the performer that has yet to reach the public's ears. The Aaliyah-affiliate made a very loud/excited statement on the subject matter via Instagram this weekend.
  • Jay Z/Nas, Tupac / Notorious B.I.G.: The Best Hip-Hop Diss Tracks Ever

    The hottest story in hip-hop for the last week has been Meek Mill's allegations that Drake uses a ghostwriter, and the Toronto rapper turned up the heat by releasing "Charged Up," a perceived diss track aimed at his accuser. Responses to Drake's release have been fairly positive, at least from fans (Mill himself hasn't responded to the track yet) but Drizzy has a while to go in terms of both attitude and wordplay if he wants to land on the list of the greatest diss tracks ever. Here are five examples, from the Nas/Jay Z beef to the Tupac Shakur/Notorious B.I.G. beef that set a high bar for vitriol.
  • Study: Eminem, Jay Z Have Larger Vocabulary Than Bob Dylan

    Rappers are known to be wordy individuals. In the past, studies have been done on rap lyrics, but now a new study has been released by lyric site Musixmatch about which artists, across all genres, have the largest vocabularies. The study concluded four rappers lead that list -- Eminem, Jay Z, Tupac and Kanye West -- taking the title away from Bob Dylan.
  • 6 Hip-Hop Song Sans Verses for AC: Tupac, Eminem, Kanye West and More

    Has your mother ever commented how much she enjoys the chorus to "See You Again" or "Monster," but that she really wishes Wiz Khalifa and Eminem (respectively) hadn't "ruined" the song with their raps? She's not the first. This week we found out that a revised version of the former song, featuring only Charlie Puth's hook, as well as new melodic verses in place of Khalifa's bars, has been on the rise at Adult Contemporary radio...occasionally known as "Adult Conservative." The only thing less likely to end up on AC than hip-hop is heavy metal, but as rappers frequently find themselves invited to guest on pop singles (such as Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" featuring Kendrick Lamar), labels sometimes edit the "offending" portion out, resulting in a safer, frequently less exciting product.
  • 7 Hip-Hop Guest Spots for George Clinton's 75th Birthday: Snoop, Tupac, More

    Music Times wants to wish George Clinton, the iconic bandleader behind Parliament and Funkadelic, as well as the greatest figures in funk music history. We could spend thousands and thousands of words describing how great his bands were in the studio and live onstage...but that's a theme that's been reworked thousands and thousands of times. One subject that doesn't get as much respect is Clinton's influence on the world of hip-hop. If you don't believe us, just check out how many guest spots he's done for hip-hop tracks over the years, from Snoop Dogg to Tupac to Kendrick Lamar. We chose the biggest names that Clinton has worked with just to demonstrate how far and wide his appreciation in the genre stretches.
  • Tupac Shakur Center Displays Fan Letter from Young Eminem to Rapper's Mother

    If you enjoyed the fan letter that a young Dave Grohl sent to Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye, then have we got one for you: a note sent from a young Eminem to the mother of Tupac Shakur. Granted, the emcee wasn't a child anymore (as was the case with Grohl), but it reportedly comes from a very early point in Eminem's career.
  • Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake and More: 7 Stars Attend Prom with Very Lucky High Schoolers

    Justin Bieber and his crew made a stir over the weekend when they appeared at a high school prom in California to surprise the students in attendance. The result was a student body gone mad, resulting in one of the more memorable proms of all time without the pop star actually delivering a single song, reportedly. At least one attendee can tell her future (and possibly current) boyfriend about how she danced with Bieber at prom. Some musical acts have gone far beyond just crashing a prom however, actually attending a dance as someone's date. Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake: All have made appearances at high school way after attending high school.
Real Time Analytics