Rap in 2025 was all about experimentation. From the year’s first runaway hit, NBA player-turned-musician Gelo’s single “Tweaker,” to the maximalist ecclesiastics of Playboi Carti’s Music, or even in ...

DMC’s Queens classic to De La Soul’s subversive storytelling, to "Trap Christmas"...rap has always celebrated the holidays on its own terms.

In 2017, hip-hop became the most consumed genre in the US, and it hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. Now that we're just over the halfway mark into the 2020s, hip-hop continues to dominate with ...

We should address the elephant in the room: hip-hop did not have a strong year on the charts. In fact, rap music had its worst showing in years. Back in October, it made headlines when—for the first ...

Hip-hop was created in 1973, and during that decade, it was a genre still in its early stages that was more DJ-centric with focuses on b-boy dances and live performances. However, by the time the ...

It was the best of hip-hop times. It was the worst of hip-hop times. Ha! 2025 was a rollercoaster of rap music’s highs and lows. The duality was so real. I can’t recall a year with such a wide array ...

Every year, we’re told that hip-hop is in crisis. But if you ask us, it feels like there’s too much heat to keep up with. What’s lost on the chart-watchers lamenting rap’s mainstream lull is that the ...

We asked some of our favorite culture creators to give us their best-of lists for 2025; the rest of James Gunn's top 50 alternative rap songs of the year can be found right here. Easily my favorite ...

We’re at the end of yet another year where commentators and fans speculated on the health of the rap world. In October, it was reported that, for the first time in 35 years, there were no rap songs in ...

A couple years ago, the Kennedy Center (before the name change and subsequent performance cancellations) put a spotlight on ...

It was an April day in 1995. Two boys, each 5, were playing tag with a group of kids near C-Town Supermarket in Fair Haven.

Recently, in casual conversations, I’ve been asked for my opinion about the October report that “No Rap Songs Are in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40 for the First Time Since 1990” more so than my ...