Music
Dee-1: I Hope They Hear Me Vol. 2 (Independent)
A lot has changed in the year since Dee-1 released his last mixtape I Hope They Hear Me Vol. 1. He’s become one of the hottest underground acts and his track “Jay, 50 and Weezy” has gone viral, becoming one of the most talked-about songs in hip-hop.
The Roots of Music: Working on a Dream
On April 30, 1803, James Madison and Robert R. Livingston representing the United States and Francois Barbe-Marbois, a finance minister from France, convened upon the Spanish-built Cabildo. Their mission: to […]
Harn Solo, Journey to the Sky (Independent)
Hip-hop’s fascination with outer space has been well documented to the point where rapper aliens have become a worn-out trope. MCs really have to go the extra creative mile to […]
Cheeky Blakk: Queen Be Hustlin’
Any local may be surprised to learn that New Orleans is a more openly sexualized city than its continental counterparts. While not nearly as over the top as the oft […]
BackTalk: Mannie Fresh, Still Fly
In the late ’90s, with a young, criminally underrated crew hell-bent on partying its way out of the projects, unheralded Uptown label Cash Money Records had the hip-hop charts in […]
Dee-1, The Focus Tape (Independent)
Want a testimony as to how Dee-1 has managed to be so successful? Despite his meteoric rise over the last couple of years and nonstop hustle, he’s getting better. Expectations […]
Matt Miller, Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans
The bounce music misnomer has been around for decades: DJs with little access to live instruments just shouted obscenities over simple beats to which women can shake their asses. Dismissive […]
DJ Jubilee’s Get Ready, Ready: Get Ready for the Dancefloor
Here’s an abridged history of Congo Square for those unfamiliar: The area in the heart of New Orleans was a market and gathering place where slaves received Sundays off and […]
Dee-1: Good Clean Living
The third season premiere of Snoop Dogg’s web series GGN opens with the West Coast rapper—as a character named Nemo Hoes—smoking weed, bantering with pimp Archbishop Don Juan about if […]
Lyrikill, More Heart More Sole (Elevated Minds Records)
Tennis shoes and hip-hop have been indelibly linked over the past 25 years. There isn’t a single rap album that doesn’t reference at least one pair of kicks as a […]
