Playlists aren’t just the wave of the future, they’re what’s happening right now. Maybe that’s why hip-hop and playlists go together so well. Hip-hop has always been modern, young, of-the-moment, so it only makes sense that so many artists in hip-hop owe much of their success to playlists — but playlists are also successful because of the artists on them. Continue Reading…

5 hip-hop bops expected to drop on 4/20

Joints won’t be the only thing that will be lit on 4/20, as many hip-hop artists plan to drop new projects.

April 20 typically stands out as a key date for music releases, and with this year’s holiday falling on a Friday — the standard day of the week for new songs and albums to come out — there should be no shortage of fresh tracks. Continue Reading…

Spotify lures away Apple Music’s head of hip-hop programming

The war between Apple Music and Spotify is clearly heating up. Variety has discovered that Spotify recently poached Carl Chery, Apple Music’s Head of Artist Curation for hip-hop and R&B programming. It’s not certain when he’s leaving or what he’ll do next (we’ve asked both Apple and Spotify for comment). However, it could be a big coup — Chery has been influential not just at Apple, but in the music industry at large. Continue Reading…

‘It’s big for hip hop’: Pulitzer jury on Kendrick Lamar album Damn’s historic win

The decision to award rapper Kendrick Lamar the Pulitzer Prize for music represents a historic moment for hip hop and American music, according to two of the music jurors who picked the album Damn as a finalist.

“It’s big for hip hop. I think it’s big for our country. It’s big for music. But it’s big for the Pulitzers, too. Institutions are not stuck in time, either. Institutions can change,” said Farah Griffin, a professor at Columbia University in New York.Continue Reading…