Lil Reese is one of many, many teenage Chicago rappers who suddenly finds himself holding a major-label contract, and he secured that position for himself by being the other guy on Chief Keef's…   Read Story »

Last time I was in this space, pickings were slim, thanks to a bit of a mixtape drought in the immediate time period Kitty Pryde's conversation-starting Haha, I'm Sorry and Joey Bada$$'s immaculate…   Read Story »

For those of us who work on the periphery of the music business, SXSW is a whole lot of fun, a great chance to see a whole mess of bands and catch up with friends we haven't seen in a while. It's…   Read Story »

For whatever reason, 2012 has been a big year for the critical reassessment of Lil B, and it's not necessarily because of the music. In February, he was on the cover of Wire, probably the world's…   Read Story »

In early June, Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg incited a media and music industry fracas by using the Summer Jam sidestage as a megaphone for his ideals on rap's purity. “I know there are some chicks…   Read Story »

I don't understand Joey Bada$$. I mean, I understand his music just fine. If you've listened to rap for long enough, you understand it, too. It's the sort of warm, dusty, sun-faded boom-bap that New…   Read Story »

When Clams Casino released his first Instrumentals mixtape just over a year ago, he was living off the rap grid, studying to be a physical therapist at home in New Jersey and putting together…   Read Story »

Here's something funny: Gucci Mane records a goofy-ass song called "Scarface," which is all about his stupid, ridiculous face-tattoo of an ice-cream cone with lightning bolts coming out of it, and…   Read Story »

When the Weeknd and Frank Ocean were getting famous and reaping tons of critical love last year, a small but vocal cabal of R&B-friendly critics carped that the indie rock writers of the world,…   Read Story »

Iron Chef came out a couple of weeks ago, and it hasn't appeared in this column yet because I was initially drawn to a couple of more immediate tapes: DJ Paul's bleary-eyed hardhead marathon For I…   Read Story »