The city of Derby in England is not exactly a hip-hop Mecca, but on Monday night legendary New York emcee, Masta Ace, braved the cold wind and the pouring rain to perform an intimate show to a bunch of dedicated hip-hop heads as part of his Son of Yvonne/Arts Decade tour. I was honoured to sit down with [...]

The Beastie Boys have done huge things for music. There are few bands that could be considered more successful and more diverse than the New York trio who have been lighting up stages since their 1984 debut. The infamous line-up of Adrock, MCA and Mike D has been on musical journeys unlike any other band. [...]

Nasir “Nas” Jones is back. Being the emcee that brought us smashes like “Thief’s Theme,” “Made You Look” and “Hip Hop is Dead,” it is no surprise that his latest track is an absolute banger. Nas has focused his attention back on representing his home – New York City – and on staking his claim [...]

With each track beginning with the sample: “You’re now listening to AraabMuzik,” it’s pretty hard to mistake an AraabMuzik joint. But being able to recognise his production goes way beyond a simple name-check sample. The undisputed MVP of the MPC has taken live-performance beat making to the next level with his incredible technical skill. Whether [...]

For dwellers of the Northern Hemisphere, summer is coming, which means preparing a summer soundtrack is a necessary task. The perfect track to start off with is “Walkin’” by Brainfeeder artist Thundercat. This little gem comes from his Flying Lotus-produced debut album The Golden Age of Apocalypse, and is yet another example of the type of unique and imaginative music Brainfeeder [...]

Drake and Rihanna have collaborated before and they’re at it again, this time on the title track of Drizzy’s sophomore album Take Care. The song has already achieved international success and gone platinum in America, which is unsurprising given its pairing of two of the hottest stars in music right now. The fact that these [...]

It is quite obvious that women are underrepresented in hip hop, and the genre, even today, remains a patriarchal one. It doesn’t help that there is still a great deal of misogyny and machismo in songs and music videos. This doesn’t mean there aren’t any decent female rappers out there though. In fact, the evidence [...]

Since working with Terry Urban on his 2008 mixtape, Goin’ Ape, Ohio-native Stalley has been doing his utmost to establish himself in the ever-competitive world of hip hop. Having toured alongside major hip hop players like Mos Def, Styles P, Jay Electronica and KRS-One, he is now starting to gain recognition as a standout artist [...]

Street style columns are everywhere now. Bloggers like Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist), Yvan Rodic (Facehunter) and Phil Oh (Street Peeper) have worked from the ground up to make huge successes of themselves; they now regularly shoot campaigns for high-end fashion brands and collaborate with international chains. With the advent of camera phones and digital photography, [...]

Jake Gyllenhaal is no stranger to music videos. He has previously made cameo appearances in videos for tracks by Jamie Foxx and Vampire Weekend. Now he’s taken more of a starring role in the epic eight-and-a-half minute video for The Shoes’ song “Time to Dance”. The song itself is a catchy electro-pop number that has [...]

Jurassic 5 DJ and producer, DJ Nu-Mark, has joined forces with legendary emcee Bumpy Knuckles (aka Freddie Foxxx) on his latest offering ‘Dumpin’ ‘Em All’. The track effortlessly balances Nu-Mark’s bouncy production with Knuckles’ aggressive vocal style and there is a definite tinge of that old-skool J5 sound, which was always so appealing. Coming in [...]

Sometimes you hear a song for the first time and are blown away. This happened to me when I first heard “The Black Dog” by the Canadian artist Black Atlass. The haunting Babe Ruth sample and hushed R&B vocals play off beautifully against the looped and layered instrumental backing. It sounds like something that could [...]

It is difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is it that qualifies a song or artist as being hip hop these days. The way in which hip hop has diversified over the past few years has left many people confused as to how to accurately describe the genre. Do you merely need an emcee and [...]

Ever since their inception in 2007, the multiple members of Odd Future, or, to give them their full name, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA), have been on a mission to shake things up. Careering at full throttle into the mainstream music world’s consciousness in 2011 meant they had to crank it up [...]

The neo-soul sensation D’Angelo has been pretty quiet over the last few years. However, he seemed to suddenly re-appear in January and has just completed a number of European tour dates in major cities like London, Paris, Stockholm and Oslo. It seems the music world is starting to get excited about Mr Michael Eugene Archer’s [...]

There can be no denying that France has had its fair share of international music successes. From Gainsbourg and Hallyday, through to Daft Punk, the Ed Banger Records crew and superstar producers like David Guetta and Bob Sinclar, there’s definitely global love for our Gallic friends. French hip hop may be harder to sell abroad [...]

Darkest [Dim] comes from Tokimonsta’s Creature Dreams EP out now on super-label of the moment, Brainfeeder. The track has a wonderful, ethereal quality that really lets the mind wander. Tokimonsta’s simple, looped and layered production works as the perfect backdrop for Gavin Turek’s beautifully soulful vocals, creating a kind of 21st century trip-hop sound (think of a shuffled-up, 1990s Morcheeba). Director Doug Chang has taken [...]

It seems the words of Chic’s 1978 disco classic are still true in 2012. South African hip hop crew Die Antwoord are back, and not only are they the stars of fashion designer Alexander Wang’s spring 2012 campaign, but they’ve also got a new track with a video that’s freakier than ever. I Fink U Freeky, from their new album Ten$ion, is [...]

If you like your beats served with a slice of controversy then look no further than After The Smoke‘s track OIAM (One In A Million). A dispute over the production rights to the song – involving a previously unreleased, leaked track with Yelawolf and collaborators rapping over the original beat – ultimately led to OIAM [...]

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson is no stranger to adaptations. His 2008 film, Let The Right One In (2008), based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel of the same name, was a formidable success both domestically and internationally, even sparking a Hollywood re-make (Let Me In, 2010). His latest effort Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is based on [...]