• Q-Tip To Teach Jazz, Hip-Hop Course At NYU

    Q-Tip and Ashley Kahn are confirmed to teach at the New York University this fall. The two music experts will educate students about the intersections between jazz and hip-hop.

  • Geraldo Rivera Says Hip-Hop Is 'Destructive Culturally' Before Calling Out Russell Simmons [WATCH]

    Journalist Gerald Rivera recently sat down with HuffPost Live to talk about everything from Brian Williams to hip-hop. His take on the latter resulted in the reporter calling out Russell Simmons and moguls of his caliber for encouraging a culture that separates people from the mainstream and results in the inability to find gainful employment. He took a few other shots at the genre that are sure to receive a response by Simmons in the near future. He said the genre is "destructive culturally."

  • KRS-One Upset With State of Hip-Hop: 'I Can't Make Money in America'

    KRS-One is an American rap legend who often had the distinction of "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper." He never made a huge impact on the charts, but his 1987 debut as part of Boogie Down Productions, "Criminal Minded," is often credited as one of the greatest hip-hop achievements ever. But he is upset with the state of hip-hop in this country, saying, "I can't make money in America."

  • Hip Hop Emojis Latest Project for Graphic Designer Frank Lepkowski [PHOTOS]

    Perhaps 2015 will end up being the Year Of The Emoji, as last year produced a variety of emoji-style art and apps such as the Seinfeld emoji app and the Cam'ron emojis, to name a couple. There are countless staples of our culture that are simply not represented in the land of emojis, everything from a middle finger to tacos, and graphic designer Frank Lepkowski has decided to take it upon himself to throw some rap culture into emoji form.

  • Chuck D Discusses Why Hip-Hop Benefits from and Welcomes Haters

    Chuck D of Public Enemy shared his opinion of haters and the role strict critics play in hip-hop in a recent interview with "Real Hip-Hop."Chuck D's new solo album "The Black in Man," his third solo release, came out in August and the title was inspired by Johnny Cash's identity as "The Man in Black."His earlier two releases are "The Autobiography of Mistachuck" (1996) and 2010's "Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin'." The 2010 release was in a digital-only format, which Chuck D says was ahead of the times by being available online only, in that "it wasn't an understood format" the way it is today.Chuck D spoke in the interview about how Public Enemy's production team, Bomb Squad, was not making music to appeal to the masses or for people's approval."We dared to make records that people would hate. We would twist it until they ended up loving it," he says. "We never really looked to see if anybody would love our s--t. We ain't never make a move for popular things — at least that's the Public Enemy program."Chuck D reflected on the Ice Cube track "The N---a You Love to Hate" that followed in the footsteps of the mantra Public Enemy was creating.

  • Iran to Ban Rap Music? Ministry Sees Hip-Hop as 'Problem'

    A few months ago, we reported that India was finally coming around to hip-hop. While the gigantic country does not host many rappers compared to the United States, it was a place for free expression and growth in the genre. Now, the somewhat-established Iran rap scene is in the news for a completely opposite reason: The country is trying to shut it down."The Jerusalem Post" reports that the Iranian government sees hip-hop as a threat to traditional music and a "problem."From the story:"For now and in the foreseen future, there is no real possibility that the Islamic regime will permit rap music concerts, in spite of a big underground music scene which includes this genre. In recent years, the Iranian regime arrested many Iranian rap band members and denied permission for concerts."All public concerts must be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, while any requests must go through a bureaucratic process that "can take a few months.""This music encourages wild behavior that could have a detrimental effect on society," a spokesman said. "We don't want to have it and we will prevent any unwanted incidents normally associated with such concerts and other events."

  • A-Trak Looks Back on Hip-Hop in 2014 with New Op-Ed

    A-Trak has become associated with the dance music scene over the past few years, but his roots in hip-hop are deep. He started out as a hip-hop DJ, winning the DMC DJ Championships at age 15. He was Kanye West's touring disc jockey in 2004 and has been a frequent collaborator with other DJs and rappers like DJ Craze, Wale and Cam'ron. He recently penned a new editorial on Medium on the state of hip-hop and how he thinks the genre has shifted so rapidly over the past year in new and fascinating ways.The main shift has been the fact that the status quo in hip-hop has been challenged and it is being broken down. He uses "Yeezus" as his primary example, as "it broke formats of song structure and challenged the industry. One year later, the left field seeped out of the margins and into the mainstream."One of the primary ways the genre has shifted directions is a move online and how new types of sounds and artists are able to get a voice."More than ever, rap and tech go hand in hand. 2014 was the year of SoundCloud rap — why hasn't anybody pointed that out?" he said.His best example is Drake, who has found OVO rappers on SoundCloud and releases the bulk of his music through the platform.
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