Today, rock and rap can be thought of as quite different. When someone begins to describe what kind of music they like, they’ll say, “I like rock, rap…” Hardly ever are they considered siblings, or ...

Nasir Jones is a storyteller. He makes that clear on “Illmatic,” an introspective and poetic album that set the foundation for rap music. With a smooth flow and contemplative lyrics over jazz-heavy ...

Rap began as a group endeavor. It was born in the melting pot that is New York City and was nurtured by friends who formed crews to spit to the tune of their favorite beats. Decades later, that’s no ...

In the early 1990s, as hip-hop mutated and expanded, most ears were focused on the East and West Coasts. After giving birth to the genre two decades earlier, New York entered the ’90s with an emphasis ...