It’s been 25 years since Organized Konfusion––that’s Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch––released their sophomore record, “Stress: The Extinction Agenda”. Not only is it one of the greatest underground hip-hop records of all time, it’s a crowning achievement of the genre’s richest decade. In celebration, we’re exploring the stories behind every beat and every sample––at least the ones we know about––that make up the classic Queens LP!
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 […]
In Conversation: Are Scammer Raps Up Next?
“Dynamic Duo” by Kasher Quon and Teejayx6 hit YouTube on June 18 and made more than a few ripples for its unique absurdity. We decided to sit Edward and Nigel down to make sense of the 4 minutes of carefully detailed Scammer Raps and “Givenchy” emblazoned braggadocio.
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 […]
Inside the Show: JID & Saba – An Atlanta Homecoming
JID. Saba. Mereba. Deante’ Hitchcock. The date is June 19th, 2019. Welcome to the climactic final stop of JID’s “Catch Me If You Can” tour, performed in front of a sell-out crowd in ATL. Dreamville shirts. Dreamville shirts everywhere. As I stumbled down the stairs and onto the sidewalk in front of Atlanta’s Center Stage […]
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 […]
The Hard Reality of Snippet Culture: A Case Study
The way we consume music is ever-changing, becoming easier and quicker as the days go by. Snippets, despite their small size, have become a vital piece of an artist’s marketing process and one of the most complicated mediums to follow as a fan. This is a look into snippet culture and how it’s both helped […]
