P erhaps you’ve seen the music video for “Whiteboy,” which currently has more than 22 million views on YouTube and made a minor celebrity of a carpenter turned pro wrestler turned rapper named Tom MacDonald. It’s set in a Southern California classroom where the musician, who is white, wears blond …
Read More »The Russian Rapper So Dangerous, Putin Labeled Him a 'Foreign Agent'
Vladimir Putin gave one of Russia’s most controversial rappers a special birthday present this year: designation as a foreign agent. The first musician to ever receive the government branding, rapper FACE spent his 25th birthday elated by the news. “I’m proud of it. It’s the best birthday gift I’ve ever …
Read More »'All I Do Is Think About Words': Wordle's Hip-Hop Appeal
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re living in a Wordle world. Ever since the popular spelling game came through in October 2021 and crushed the buildings, everyone’s suddenly more obsessed with taking over blocks than The Wire kingpin Avon Barksdale. It’s a quick rise that makes particular sense for the …
Read More »New York City Mayor Eric Adams Declares War on Drill Rap
There’s a vibrant, exciting music scene happening in New York City — and newly elected mayor Eric Adams isn’t happy about it. In remarks to members of the press Friday, Adams expressed concerns about drill rap, the musical subgenre that has flourished in his home borough of Brooklyn over the …
Read More »How Detroit Rapper Babyface Ray Already Made One of the Year's Best Rap Albums
A favorite within Michigan’s increasingly dominant rap scene, Babyface Ray made his career with the kind of deadpan raps that are as icy as winter in the Midwest. Like a Blaxploitation character in rap form, the menacing bars he spits arrive with an almost impossible equanimity. “I done seen it …
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