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hip hop Articles

First thoughts: Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

Ben Lomax takes a preliminary dip into the mindset and ideas of Kendrick Lamar’s latest project, which may hold the key to as yet unknown depths

Interview: J. Chambers

Madeleine Jones speaks to the up-and-coming rapper about his next EP, the issue of cultural appropriation in hip hop and how social media has changed his relationship with his supporters

Album: A Tribe Called Quest – We Got it From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service

Eighteen years after their last studio album, ATCQ return with tributes to the old and the up-and-coming, writes Will Whiting

Interview: Watsky

Rapper, Watsky, talks to Katie Shepherd about tackling fear in order to reach joy, ahead of a triumphant performance off the back of his latest album

Album: Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

Danny Brown’s latest outing is as chaotic as it is brilliant, writes Cassie Hyde

You on Point Phife? – A Tribute to Malik ‘Phife Dawg’ Taylor

Styles upon styles upon styles is what he had

Album – Kendrick Lamar: Untitled Unmastered

Kendrick Lamar’s surprise release consolidates the scat-like techniques we loved on TPAB, and then some

Album: Kanye West – The Life of Pablo

Kanye West’s much-anticipated and flawed seventh album The Life of Pablo will delight and piss off in equal measure. But it wouldn’t be a Kanye West album if it didn’t piss off somebody

Record reappraisal: J Dilla – Donuts

Ten years ago, J Dilla left behind his nostalgic, life-affirming swansong, the 31-track masterpiece Donuts: a sprawling and inspired distillation of 70s black music that cemented his status as a musical genius

Record Reappraisal: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Rob Paterson reassesses Yeezy’s magnum opus as more than just a great hip-hop album: it’s a hedonistic, prog-rock dream

Feature: The Virtues Of Hip Hop Masters

We spoke to University of Manchester student Louise Middleton, whose research shows that rhyming patterns come as second nature to some of hip hop’s biggest stars

From the Vault: Nas – Illmatic

Matt Gibney takes a trip down memory lane.

Album: A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory (1991)

Sam Flynn remembers classic hip hop album, The Low End Theory, and why it was once termed “the Sgt. Pepper of hip hop”.