Busta Rhymes

Oakland's DJ Mere on the Local Rap Scene and Becoming a KMEL All-Star DJ

As one of KMEL's all-star DJs and a member of the Oakland Faders crew, Oakland-born-and-raised DJ Mere's ascension to the top is a tale of hustling, street-teaming, and hard work. Starting his career as an intern at a promotions company at the age of 17, he found himself promoting locally for then-u ... More >>

Before Hip-Hop Squares: Eight Links Between Rap Music and TV Game Shows

A game show that people have ever cared about -- even a little bit -- can go down, but it will never truly be out. Know the Dick Clark version of Pyramid that started in the 1970s and continued throughout the decade? No? Well, you've probably encountered the Bill Cullen version (also from the '70s), ... More >>

Watch E-40 as Puppet Pimp in Funny or Die's "Bitches" Video

Just a week after Bay Area emcee E-40 dropped three brand-new albums under the series name The Block Brochure, he now pops up as a pimping puppet named Vladimir Checkabitch in a Funny or Die video called "Bitches." The video depicts the "biggest rap group in the world," the Dummiez, a felted posse ... More >>

Instrumental Hip-Hop Sucks. Ban It Forever.

RJD2​ Instrumental hip-hop should be banned. It's the banal, meandering stepchild of hip-hop. It's a front-runner for the dubious honor of being the world's most snooze-inducing form of music. And, shockingly, there are still producers and fans who insist on validating it like it's anything bu ... More >>

"Distortion 2 Static" Turns off the Mic After 10 Years

Lupe Fiasco: Hip-Hop's Greatest Whiner

It's time for the hallowed halls of hip-hop history to start giving Lupe Fiasco his due respect. Not, you understand, as a purveyor of conscientious rap music bursting with positive-leaning messages; nor for the Chicago-based rapper's ground-breaking work as a foremost collector of limited edition J ... More >>

J Dilla's 10 Greatest Remixes

J Dilla​ Deceased hip-hop producer J Dilla, née Jay Dee, first asserted himself on the rap radar with his group Slum Village. Lauded by luminaries Q-Tip and ?uestlove, the Detroit-based trio of Dilla, T3, and Baatin (also sadly deceased) are held in cult esteem today, and tonight, remaining g ... More >>

Before Kreayshawn: 10 Underrated and/or Forgotten Female MCs

Kreashawn: Oakland's latest female rap sensation.​Last week, around the fifth time someone sent me a link to Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci," I started having a feeling toward the diminutive rapper that was not entirely positive. This discomfort grew a few days later, when she reportedly signed a $ ... More >>

The Top Ten Hip-Hop Drinking Anthems

​Hip-hop's reliance on marijuana as a creative conduit and lifestyle accessory is well documented. But beyond the genre's top tokers, there's also a bubbling batch of rappers who've rhymed about not so much getting a little tipsy as daily dalliances with the dark world of being black-out drunk ... More >>

DJ Prince Aries Talks Bay Area Rap, Loving Too $hort, and Why Busta Rhymes Is a Jerk

Prince Aries​Prince Aries has been a presence in the Bay Area's hip-hop scene for more than a decade now, holding down VJ duties on the Distortion 2 Static show, throwing local rap parties, and now releasing a mixtape that combines exclusive tracks from the Bay's bright new stars like DaVinci ... More >>

Happy Birthday Deejay Jay Dee: Listen to a Full-Length Jazz Cover of 'Donuts'

​Today would have been the 37th birthday of James Yancey, the Detroit producer better known as (a) Jay Dee, (b) J Dilla, and (c) the stylistic architect for an entire generation of hip-hop heads, member of Slum Village, occasional rhymer, maker of tracks for A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes, ... More >>

Friday Night: L.A. Fave Low End Theory Comes to S.F., Gives the City Exactly What it Needs

​Low End Theory S.F., with Daedelus, Baths, Gaslamp Killer and moreJanuary 21, 2011@ 103 Harriet Better than: Suffering through a pack of smelly trustafarians to hear some heavy bass. Let me waste no time getting to the point: Low End Theory SF is everything I've wanted a hip-hop/dubst ... More >>

Rapper DMX Tries to Overcome His Demons and Stage a Comeback

A Night of J Dilla Featuring ISM and the Fan-Tas-Tics at Madrone Art Bar

Hiroshi Okun​A Night of J Dillafeaturing ISM and The Fan-tas-tics @ Madrone Art Bar July 28, 2010 Better than: A night of Steve Milla.James Yancey, a.k.a. Jay Dee, a.k.a. J Dilla, is somewhere between 2Pac and Pimp C in the running for the title of hip-hop's hardest-working dead guy. His death of ... More >>

Good Rappers Who've Made Terrible Actors

The trend of rappers shifting into acting is nothing new, and in theory it makes sense. Both roles focus on emotive storytelling, right? Unfortunately, that transition isn't always a smooth one--a point hammered home repeatedly by the new film Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah and Common. It's 100 ... More >>

Video of the Day: Preview the New J. Dilla Doc

J. Dilla was unquestionably one of the most respected, if not constantly referenced, hip-hop producers of the past decade. Born James Yancey in his hometown of Detroit, Dilla was a prolific, inspired artist dedicated to the craft of classic, sample-based hip-hop, which he made for the likes of De ... More >>

Music Awards: Lazer Sword

Rock the Bells Announces Bay Area Dates

Rock the Bells 2007, San Francisco America's premier (and possibly only major) hip-hop touring festival, Rock the Bells, has announced the date and venue for the 2009 edition: August 9, at the Shoreline Auditorium in Mountain View. While ASD much prefers the parking lot of the stadium where the Gia ... More >>

Asher Roth

Asleep in the Bread Aisle (SchoolBoy/SRC/Universal Motown)

Obama and Hip-hop: Better than "Beef"?

EKAphotography copyright 2007. all rights reservedOur shoulder-brushin', fist-bumpin' POTUS in Oakland, 2007 For a long time, hip hop debates have tended toward the tawdry and tabloidesque--i.e., Is Kanye Gay?; Is Alicia Keys creepin' with Swizz Beats?; Joe Budden vs. Saigon, T.I. vs. Mysonne, Cha ... More >>

Black Stars:

Ghana's Hiplife Generation (Out Here)

The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas Headline Annual Rock the Bells Festival

SF Weekly Letters

Texas spitter Scarface Tells SF Weekly His Top '07 Albums

Last Night: Sage Francis

Trash queens reign at Cinch

Cardinal Sin

DJ Kevvy Kev hosts the longest-running hip hop radio show in the world on Stanford's KZSU -- sans recognition

Award Show Performers

SF Weekly Music Awards

BeatBox

Mu brings the techno stompdown to Rx; Mighty hosts a hip hop jammy-jam block party

Fannypack

See You Next Tuesday

David Banner

MTA2: Baptized in Dirty Water

Summer Events a Go Go!

What to do, all summer long

Straining Day

Narc desperately struggles to prove its grit

Music

Persistent Visions

This season's cinema demands attention

Fila Brazillia

Jump Leads (23 Records)

Wagon Christ

Musipal (Ninja Tune)

Mutha's Day

Samuel L. Jackson is Shaft

Slum Village

Fantastic, Vol. 2
(GoodVibe)

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