In addition to rapping, Castle$ has a background in filmmaking and incorporates Chinese-style music from films into his ...

Despite how they’ve at times been ideologically pitted against one another, country music and hip-hop are often compared as the two forms of pop music that speak most directly to the everyday problems ...

“Rapper’s Delight” will always be considered the song that introduced hip-hop to the masses. The Sugarhill Gang classic with its tongue-twisting opening – “I said a-hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to ...

Some of rap's biggest songs almost ended up in entirely different hands. Producers often shop beats around, but whether due to timing, personal taste, or fate, some artists pass on tracks that later ...

Clean rap songs have become essential for classrooms, family trips, parties, and workplace events where explicit lyrics are not appropriate. They offer the same energetic beats, clever wordplay, and ...

This story is part of our new Hip-Hop: ’73 Till Infinity series, a celebration of the genre’s 50th anniversary. Producers are just as (if not more) important than MCs on a track. As much as fans care ...

When hip-hop was in its infancy decades ago, many people thought the genre would be a fad that wouldn't last longer than a few years. But over time, not only has hip-hop continued to grow, it's become ...

Osmic Menoe was a young kid in South Africa when he first fell in love with hip-hop culture during the late 1980s, at the height of the country’s anti-apartheid movement. But like so many, at first, ...

You could argue that today’s music fans are spoiled beyond previous generations’ wildest imaginations. Back in the Nineties and even the early 2000s, the level of insight audiences had into their ...

SoundCloud rap producers play a major role in shaping the modern underground rap scene, creating beats that help unknown artists gain massive attention online. With tools like FL Studio and auto-tune ...

The best rap beats are nerdy as hell. Every drum placement, every melody, every chopped-up sample sends me down a YouTube rabbit hole trying to piece together the way a producer contorts and dissects ...