Life is rarely easy and just as often unpleasant. When great art imitates life, great artists recreate the strength of life’s best moments with the pain and confusion of its worst. Some projects go above and beyond surface level thematic connections to tie the very soundscapes of an album to the great never-ending confusion and chaos of existing.
The Rise of J.I.D: From Never Had Shit to Rollie on the Wrist
J.I.D is coming for the top and nothing is out of reach. There’s no ceiling too high for him to shatter when he moves with the precision and drive that he’s shown throughout a long path of obstacles and hardship. We compiled the most in-depth biographical profile of J.I.D in existence to archive his remarkable story forever.
J.I.D: Every Interview He’s Ever Given, Catalogued and Summarized
J.I.D is in a league of his own. Now you can hear the complete story of his journey directly from J.I.D himself. We cataloged and analyzed every published interview he has ever given, covering a timespan of over half a decade of artistry. Podcasts, written interviews, video, radio, all of it is right here for your reference.
Deciphering Kool Keith: The Man Behind Dr. Octagon and Dr. Dooom
Kool Keith, the original “Weirdo Rapper”, is a hard man to decipher. His off-kilter and nebulous lyrics preceded the likes of MF Doom and Canibus. However, Keith is perhaps most known for his Dr. Octagon persona: a character so hilariously sinister in his lack of conscience, his erratic raps about murder and sex became a cult phenomenon.
Dissecting Madlib’s Production on Bandana: Every Sample, Every Beat
It’s been five years since we last heard from MadGibbs, one of hip-hop’s most revered emcee-producer duos. Their triumphant return comes in the form of Bandana, a sophomore record that averts the slump with unbridled excellence. There’s a lot going on in there – let’s take a look at the samples underpinning Madlib and Gibbs’ […]
June Spotlight: MIKE’s Tears of Joy
“Essential & Unheard” is a series that highlights awesome music that probably flew under your radar each month. Learn why MIKE’s “Tears of Joy” made him the first ever artist to be featured twice on Essential & Unheard, and check the playlist for 20 tracks songs that just missed the cut—all by lesser-known artists that […]
Black Mirror’s “Ashley Too”: Inside the Dark Dystopia of the Modern Music Industry
Black Mirror’s latest season blends their typical dystopian brand of science-fiction with the life of Miley Cyrus and the worst side of the music industry. “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too” was one of the most chilling episodes to date, painting a disturbing vignette of artist abuse and commercialization that seems unnervingly possible – because it […]
Behind Doggystyle: The Singles that made a West Coast Classic
As the sun rotates and his game grows bigger, it’s now become easy to forget just how Snoop Dogg became a pop culture legend. It was Doggystyle, his Death Row debut, that catapulted him to the forefront of mid-’90s hip hop. In celebration of a quarter-century of G Funk, we’re breaking down all the samples […]
Inside the Allegory of KIDS SEE GHOSTS: Demons, Ghosts, and Self-Transformation
The supernatural themes of Kids See Ghosts morph throughout the album. Kanye West and Kid Cudi act to reframe the societal perception of mental illness through the personification of their shackles and saviors as ghosts. After a full year of the album, we analyze how these two creatives came together to flip the script on […]
Anatomy of the Funk: G-Funk Deconstructed
G-Funk, one of the most iconic sub-genres in hip-hop history, was a defining chapter in the West Coast’s rise to become the hip-hop powerhouse that we know today. Although G-Funk enjoyed a relatively short-lived golden era, the producers and samples behind the classic West Coast sound remain as influential as ever. Music is never created […]
