Sometime after Jay-Z wore a Che Guevara T-shirt for his MTV Unplugged performance in 2001, the “urban” clothing store in my local mall—the place where I bought all my Enyce, Sean John, Ecko, and ...

I know it might be difficult to believe, but it’s true: Listening to music does not equate to becoming a fucking genius. This goes against years of pretentious fuckheads using their favorite ...

A typical take on rap is that whatever Paul Wall and Busta Rhymes are pulling, there is a whole body of “conscious” rap, also termed “underground,” “alternative,” “grassroots” or less formally ...

Last week I argued in this space against the idea that the “conscious” brand of rap music offers useful advice of an inspirational or political nature, contrary to a popular notion that such rap has ...

This one’s for the hip-hop aficionados. Brother Ali is one of the sharpest, most distinctive and most eminent voices of 21st century conscious rap. DJ Abilities is a tasteful and skilled ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Rap music has long been a voice for struggle triumph and everyday life, but one Oakland record label is using it to create ...

The term "conscious rapper" is a vague, umbrella term for rappers who don't glorify packing guns, selling drugs, or degrading women. Instead, a conscious rapper is supposed to rap about social issues, ...

If you ignored the Xbox truck and Virgin Mobile booth, the scene at the Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg Saturday looked like a hip-hop period piece circa 1988. Socially conscious messages issued from ...

Ahmer Javaid (left) and Arif Farooq alias Qafilah (right) are among the rappers making up the hip-hop community of Kashmir. Credit: Najmus Saqib Subscribe for ads-free reading They may look like any ...