Music Lists

8 Rap Songs that Sample Indie Music

These unexpected crossovers live in our head rent-free.

Dorel Gnatiuc (Unsplash)

Beautiful things can happen when Hip-Hop comes together with other genres.

Be it the jazz fusion that came about with old-school Hip-Hop or the rap-rock crossovers that took over the 2000s, it's nothing new for rappers to borrow elements from artists outside their primary genre. Surprising samples can be found in Hip-Hop since the genre's inception in the '70s and '80s.

Keep ReadingShow less
Culture Feature

This Haunts Me: Drake and Nicki Minaj's Date at 7-Eleven

I often reminisce about the simpler times of 2014, when Dricki was a hot topic.

Drake and Nicki Minaj

Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

Has there ever been unrequited love as grueling as that between Drake and Nicki Minaj?

OK, sure, there definitely has been. But if you, like me, were a teenager in the early 2010s, not only were the two rappers the most important figures in Hip-Hop; their consistent flirting made for the biggest "will they, won't they" plotline of the decade.

Keep ReadingShow less
Music Features

Azealia Banks and the Dangers of the "Angry Black Woman" Trope

After posting cryptic messages on her Instagram story, it's clear that many of Azealia Banks's behaviors were a cry for help.

Azealia Banks Rapper Azealia Banks performs during the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in Indio, Calif

Chris Pizzello/AP/Shutterstock

Content warning: This article contains depictions of suicidal ideation.

Eight years ago, Azealia Banks was positioned to be the next big thing in hip-hop.

The Harlem rapper's debut single, "212," had spread through the Internet like wildfire. Banks was only 20 years old at the time and had just left her record label, XL Recordings, due to creative conflicts. Despite being strapped for cash and admittedly depressed, Banks released "212" as a free download from her website. The unforgettable hip-house track would reinvigorate her tumultuous music career.

Keep ReadingShow less
Music Lists

If You Like "Only You":  Drake's Best Freestyles

With the release of Drake's "Only You (Freestyle), we look back at some of the emcee's best free form work

Drake - When To Say When & Chicago Freestyle

Drake has remained one of the most discussed figures in all of pop culture.

While Thank Me Later was a revolutionary debut in terms of its rap and R&B mesh, It was stiff and rudimentary compared to what we knew was possible from the emcee, especially when compared to the cult following that ensued with So Far Gone. "Thank Me Later was the one and only project that was influenced by...where I was at in my career at the time," Drake said of the project in last year's interview with Rap Radar. "I think I felt a lot of pressure to prove that I knew big famous people...it was definitely the one project that had the least personal touches."

Meanwhile, Take Care and Nothing Was the Same were transcendent records. Both near-flawless executions of the hybrid Drizzy was striving for. "[Nothing Was The Same] is probably my most concise album," the OVO crooner told Rap Radar, "and within that concise offering was a lot of great sh*t."

Keep ReadingShow less
Music Features

On This Day: "Recovery" Was Eminem's Worst Album

A decade later, we reflect on Eminem's biggest global success, which also happened to be his worst album.

In hindsight, 2010 Eminem's journey into the pop landscape was calamitous.

Coming off of a sloppy comeback in 2009, Recovery was meant to serve as a comeback from his comeback. He spent the year spitting ferocious bars for anyone who'd hand him a microphone, determined to reclaim his quirky Slim Shady identity.

Keep ReadingShow less

J Cole at Bonnaroo Music Festival, TN 2022

Photo by L Paul Mann (Shutterstock)

Lots of people are getting their feelings hurt lately.

Keep ReadingShow less