Nas (Rapper)

Which White Entertainers Have a "Hood Pass" to Say the N-Word?

The late aughts saw a debate in the hip-hop community about the use of the n-word, sparked in part by Nas' plan to name his 2008 album Nigger (he ended up calling it Untitled), as well as Russell Simmons' call for industry self-censorship of the word. In 2007 the city of Detroit even hosted a "symbo ... More >>

Nas & Lauryn Hill - The Wiltern - 11/30/12

Nas & Ms. Lauryn Hill The Wiltern 11/30/12 Better than...a Kelis and Wyclef double billing Nas & Lauryn Hill have a strong incentive to tour recently -- tax problems. Ahead of their double billed show last night at the Wiltern (they play again tonight) fans were hoping that they as well as the IRS ... More >>

Jhene Aiko Wins with the Hand She's Dealt

Singer Jhené Aiko has had more than her share of setbacks and misfortune. When she was in second grade, her family's house in South L.A. burned down. She says that as a preteen no cliques accepted her because of her mixed ethnicity -- she's a blend including Japanese, Native American, Dominican, bl ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, November 30 Nas, Lauryn Hill (also Dec 1) WILTERN On his new album, Nas insists that Life Is Good, even though he's been slammed with a massive tax bill from Uncle Sam and is still coming to terms with a painful divorce from soul-pop diva Kelis. The Brooklyn-born rapper is being sarcastic; ... More >>

Music Picks: Lauryn Hill, Bad Brains, Shuggie Otis

Everybody's a Critic: Readers Respond to Our Food, Movie and Music Critics

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Week: Nov 12-15

Monday, November 12 In The Valley Below BOOTLEG BAR Looking like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman walk-ons, and with an eye-contact connection to rival Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in their good times, Echo Park hubby-and-wife Angela Gail and Jeffrey Jacob patchwork together love-in-ready bluesy ro ... More >>

Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" History: "I Shot The Sheriff" was released in 1973. It's important for a number of reasons, but mostly because it made W ... More >>

Murs and Fashawn On Their Kinship and Their New Album

California-bred rappers Murs and Fashawn have much in common. They're both former graffiti writers, skateboarders and independent-minded rappers who have affinities for collaborating with one specific producer per album. But they're also more than a decade apart in age -- Murs is 34, Fashawn 23. *M ... More >>

Five Quite Good K-hop Albums

See also: *K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on Korean Boy and Girl Groups" *Reviewed: Drunken Tiger at the Jungle Concert In L.A., 12-02-11 This just in: the best South Korean music to get international play is not K-pop. Sorry. Much like J-pop, and their American cousins, y'know, girl bands and bo ... More >>

Five Bizarre Social Networking Sites From Musicians

Remember about a decade ago when every rapper had to have his own clothing line? And then remember about four years ago when every rapper had to have his own social networking site? Surprisingly, it turns out that artists from all across the musical spectrum have been impersonating Mark Zuckerberg f ... More >>

Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is nearly 40, but many still find this slightly-disorienting world of beats, rhymes and oversize personalities a bit daunting. So consider this our hip-hop Cliff's notes; here are the albums you should know about if you don't want to look silly at cocktail parties. We're not saying these a ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Fashawn Wanted to Be Pastor, But His Destiny Was Rapping

In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, a young shepherd, Santiago, attends seminary but longs to travel. He embarks on a quest to find a hidden treasure and ends up meeting an alchemist, who teaches him that the treasure really is the journey itself. Fashawn once lived in a trailer behind a church and w ... More >>

Top 5 Music Documentaries the Academy Should Consider This Year

Tomorrow the Academy will announce the nominees for the 2012 Oscars. Best documentary has always been one of the most controversial categories, from the snubbing of Hoop Dreams to Michael Moore's loudmouth acceptance speeches to Banksy's denial a year ago. In hopes that they get things right this ye ... More >>

Blue Ivy Carter: Top Five Worst Examples of Rap Nepotism

Barely two days after his and Beyonce's baby Blue Ivy Carter was born, Jay-Z put her on a song. "Glory" is a tribute to his new daughter, who closes the track out with a guest feature -- crying. Jay-Z may be starting his kid off young, but nepotism is standard practice among rap superstars. There' ... More >>

The Top Five Hip-Hop Albums Of 2012 So Far

I Self Devine​What a year it's been for rap music! None of us knew what to expect of 2012 way back on January 1, last Sunday, but it has panned out big time. This year's class is an inspired bunch, a crew of rappers who are really pushing things forward. While it's a little early to call this ... More >>

Justin Bua's Paintings Of His Most Influential Rappers

Justin Bua​Justin Bua is a hip-hop painter; you may have seen the print of his painting "The DJ" (see below), at Target, of all places. It's been out for over a decade, and has been selling ridiculous amounts of copies for years. He's done portraits of everyone from Nas to Kool Herc to Quee ... More >>

9/11 Changed Everything For The Music Industry

​By Chaz Kangas September 11th brought irrevocable change to our society, and the music industry was no exception. It was also a very strange time; both rap group The Coup and metal band Dream Theater released album covers with the World Trade Center in flames. Radio DJs across the country, m ... More >>

Compton Rapper Game Returns to an Industry That's Gone Soft

Will his old tricks still work?

Top Five Rapping Basketball Players Phil Jackson Might Actually Like

​Phil Jackson, of all people, recently had some harsh words for "Fix The Knicks," the odd, showtuney-tune penned by New York Knicks owner James Dolan. (You can hear it here.) Dolan needs either "a better lyricist or a better musician," Jackson said. Ouch! Of course, it's hard to disagree with ... More >>

Wanna Hear Tupac Throw Shade From the Grave?

You gotta love Tupac​In a just-released diss track called, "Watch Ya Mouth," Tupac proclaims, "Lemme get my preach on!" And he does, even if the congregation has a few weird members. Shooting verbal bullets at Dr. Dre and Nas, sticking conscious rappers De La Soul (huh?) with the line, "E ... More >>

Top 10 Songs About Presidents (in Honor of Presidents Day)

Remember Clinton and the sax?​ Monarchs, political authority figures, and presidents have been inspiring pissed-off punk rock anthems or passionate, pleased glorification--whether subtle or direct--since human beings could pick up an instrument and pluck or pound out a feeling. And given our ... More >>

Nightranger: Heart-Ons

KCRW Presents Nas and Damien Marley's 'Distant Relatives' Session Tonight

KCRW Presents Nas and Damien Marley's 'Distant Relatives' Session Tonight

Live in L.A. This Weekend: Angels & Airwaves, Miike Snow, Enrique Bunbury, Flight of the Conchords, Nas & Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley

Via Fuel.tvAngels & Airwaves​Say what you will about Angels & Airwaves' radio rock (outer-space emo is the phrase that comes to mind), but Tom DeLonge has a plan. Working around the cash register jingle of inevitable Blink-182 reunions, he's made three increasingly ambitious albums with his n ... More >>

Live in L.A.: Nas & Damian Marley, Shout Out Louds, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Minus the Bear, Everest, Casxio

​"Distant Relatives," the meeting of the musicial minds of Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, has already earned some well-deserved plaudits. Indeed, there's a lot to like on the album (released this week), with the New York City rapper's tightly wound narratives twined with Marley's thick Jama ... More >>

Weiss' 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2008

25. Prafit-"Nice Weather" The nice weather is long gone--the ostensibly immutable Los Angeles sun blotted by kidney colored clouds and cold rain. So Prafit's ode to the sizzle of July feels like an antique postcard documenting endless light, chicken breasts smothered in BBQ sauce, and basement ... More >>

Rock Picks: Aretha Franklin, Lucinda Williams, Deerhunter

Also, Rodriguez, the Monolators, Nas and more

Last Night: Jay-Z Reopens the Palladium

Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek on stage at the Palladium. Click on image to view entire slideshow. Photo by Timothy Norris. The irony of Jay-Z being asked to open the revamped Hollywood Palladium wasn’t lost on the man who calls himself “the black Frank Sinatra.” After all, it was 68 years ago las ... More >>

Hip-Hop's Greatest Al Green Samples

The Reverend, replicated

The Many Moods of Rock the Bells

Hip-hop's been in a lull. Meet the new torchbearers

Pitchfork Festival Day 1-The Airing of Grievances

A Pitchfork seems like the appropriate emblem. After all, it's been a hellish last two days, culminating with this moment right now, my friends already having set off for the festival at the absurdly early crack of noon, abandoning me to pump Fela on my iPod in a Chicago Barnes and Noble, spitting ... More >>

Jay Electronica: Much Better Than His Name Would Suggest

You may not know who Jay Electronica is yet, but I'm willing to bet that you would had he chosen a better name. Jay Electronica does not sound like the one of the most buzzed about rappers of 2008. Jay Electronica sounds like the name of a small-potatoes Milwaukee techno DJ circa 1999 who magicall ... More >>

An Interview With Pete Rock

Pete Rock needs no introduction. His new album NY's Finest drops on Tuesday. While it might not be a classic on the level of a Soul Survivors or Mecca & The Soul Brother, it's a strong record with occasionally great moments. But buyer beware: Jim Jones yells "floooosssssiiiin'" no less than fo ... More >>

The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 Pt. 5 (#5-1)

Even if you are a jewel thief, it is never wise to mess with a man whose name is Sgt. Larvell Jones. 5. Jay-Z ft. Nas-"Success" These two. Thing is, this song shouldn't be this high on my Best Of list. Say these guys hadn't spent a decade trying to fuck each other's baby mama's, Sean Carter an ... More >>

Rock Picks: Detroit Cobras, Gore Gore Girls, MF Doom, Squeeze

For the week of August 9 – 16

Hip-Hop Is Dead

...and other reports that have been greatly exaggerated

Cross Rock

A historical celebration of pop crucifixions, from Morrison to Manson to Madonna

Rock Picks

For the week of November 10�16

Blogs & iPods & Jay-Z & (non-ironic) Metal

The Hipster�s musical year-end predictions and post-game analysis

Rock The Bells!

Summer love-in for underground hip-hop fans

Return of the Prodigal Son

Nas vs. Jay-Z and 50 Cent

Hip-Hop Boo-Hoo

U Don�t Know

Can�t Go to Sleep

Word According to B.I.G.

A Perfect Pop Plan

Myth Master

The fabrication of Ms. Foxy Brown