Hip-Hop and Rap

Drake's Take Care Is a Conflicted, Compelling Statement

Waka Flocka Flame @ Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion

The Wiley One and Planet X Salute MCA of The Beastie Boys With "Intergalactic" Cover

It still feels hard to believe. Friday's news about the passing of MCA (Adam Yauch) of The Beastie Boys shocked nearly everyone, forcing us to confront mortality and look back on the group's lasting legacy. "At first, I didn't want to believe it, then came shock and, lastly, my heart sank down into ... More >>

Best of Coachella Weekend Two: Sunday, April 22

See also: Our complete Coachella coverage By the third day of Coachella's second weekend -- the sixth and final day of this year's festival -- folks had more or less learned to ignore the dust and the heat. Here are our intrepid writers' favorite things about the final hours of the 2012 event.

Tech N9ne Discusses The Clubhouse Shooting, The Doors, and Machine Gun Kelly

Aaron Dontez Yates, better known to the world as Tech N9ne, is not a big fan of the typical. "How many black dudes do you see painting their faces and coming out with bishop robes on the stage?" he asks me, speaking from his tour bus "somewhere in New Mexico." He's taken a strange, twisted path ev ... More >>

Ten Awesome Mixtapes To Download Right Now (NSFW)

In this week's print edition we profile rapper Childish Gambino. Of course, if you don't recognize the name you might better know him as Troy Barnes on NBC's Thursday night comedy Community. Childish Gambino is just one of many up-and-coming talents who are breaking the hip-hop mold, and a big part ... More >>

Childish Gambino Breaks the Hip-Hop Mold

The Knux @ 910 Live

Shooting After Tyga Concert in Nebraska Last Night Causes Cancellation of Rapper's Upcoming Scottsdale Show

​Hip-hop artist Tyga, who was set to perform in the Valley this weekend, was involved in an altercation last night after a concert in Omaha, Nebraska, that resulted in a shootout.In addition to injuring two of his posse members, the incident has caused the cancellation of Tyga's appearance on Frid ... More >>

Asher Roth Is Bro Rap Incarnate, but Don't Hold It Against Him

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

CANCELED: Mobb Deep @ Clubhouse Music Venue

Mobb Deep and Dean's List Shows at Clubhouse Music Venue Canceled in Wake of Recent Shooting

​The gang-related shooting outside of the Clubhouse in Tempe last Friday continues to make waves in the local music scene as venue management has announced the cancellations of this weekend's performances by NYC hip-hop duo Mobb Deep and Boston rap trio The Dean's List.California-based hip-hop pro ... More >>

Arizona Porn Star Ball feat. Kool Keith at 910 Live, 3/4/2012

​The second night of the two-day Arizona Porn Star Ball on Sunday evening had all the makings of a pimp hip-hop show: Strippers, half-naked freaks, adult film starlets, loads of talent, and a performance by one of the best rappers in the country in Kool Keith. All it needed was a huge audience in ... More >>

Rapper One Be Lo Has a Way With Letters

Hip-Hop Hybridist Moe'Z Art Isn't Short on Ambition.

Rick Ross Is Rap's Opulent King

Ash Avenue Comics Staff on Galapagos, Faces, and Drainbow

Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please email music@new ... More >>

Most Outrageously Offensive Outfits of 2011

Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun's 2011 Review. We've been counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. This installment takes a look at 2011's most outrageously offensive musical outfits. Enjoy! We're not particularly renowned for our sense of style ... More >>

Five Major Musicians Who Left Us in 2011

​Each year, we regretfully feel obligated to make this list. Musicians that touch our hearts and change our lives come and go. Some of these musicians had long, fruitful careers, while others seemed like they were just getting started. Gil Scott-Heron Poet-musician Gil Scott-Heron left a lasti ... More >>

Holiday Gifts for Your Hip-Hop Cousin

​Alright, slacker. There's no more denying it: the holidays are here, and you need to get on that shopping list. Luckily, Up on the Sun has caught gift guide-fever, and over the course of this week we'll be offering you suggestions for the entire family. Yo yo yiggity yo, son. Christmas is u ... More >>

Tucson MC Savant Doesn't Create Standard Hip-Hop

Pusha T @ Clubhouse Music Venue

AraabMuzik @ Bar Smith

Das Racist Are Just Joking (But They're Not Joking)

DMX: Going Old School on New Album?

​There's a glimmer of hope that Up On The Sun's DMX Rap Sheet will finally be put on the back burner as the hip-hop artist returns to the music world, determined, reportedly sober, and with new management headed up by Jason Fowler of J Mike Management & Entertainment, based in Mesa. And it' ... More >>

Happy Birthday Snoop! See You at the Fair Tonight.

​Today, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., better known to the world as Snoop Dogg, turns 40. He's scheduled to share his birthday in Phoenix, performing at the Arizona State Fair tonight. Both of these things say a lot about how rap has changed since Snoop's debut record, Doggstyle, hit record store ... More >>

Yelawolf

This Has Been a Good Week For Black Star Fans

​It's been a really great week for Black Star fans -- and I'm one of them. Black Star, the 1998 collaboration between Mos Def and Talib Kweli is one of my favorite hip-hop albums. The duo performed "Fix Up," produced by the nearly always awesome Madlib, on The Colbert Report, on Wednesday, October ... More >>

Tech N9ne @ Marquee Theatre

Murs @ The Clubhouse Music Venue

Black One on Sampling Artists, Kanye West, and Why Phoenix's Hip-Hop Scene Reigns Over Tucson's

​Expat RecordsJason Ikner is Black One​I had never met a rapper who claims to like Adele, the Black Keys, and dubstep. That is, until I spoke to local hip-hop artist Jaron Ikner, commonly known as Black One. Black One draws from different sections of the record store than your average backp ... More >>

Nappy Roots @ Red Owl

Gucci Mane @ Celebrity Theatre

Lil Wayne: Rap's Most Dependable Weirdo Coming to US Airways Center

​Perma-stoned New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne has been hip-hop's eccentric golden boy for five years now. On the heels of his magnificent breakthrough album Tha Carter II, Wayne went apeshit, releasing mixtape after groundbreaking mixtape. Some of them, like 2006's Dedication 2 and Lil Weezyana, ... More >>

Lil Wayne

Numbers: Phoenix Hip-Hoppers Explain "Attack of the Robots"

​Numbers is an Arizona hip-hop duo, comprised of producer Izzy and rapper I.P.. The duo's recent EP, Nerds Getting Paper: Attack of the Robots, released in May, indeed finds the group "getting paper," but the "nerds" part seems a bit self-deprecating. The album features guest spots from Mr. Mirand ... More >>

Beats, Rhymes, & Life: Michael Rapaport Observes a Tribe Called Quest Vibe and Checks Out the Scenario

Five Songs Sampled by A Tribe Called Quest to Celebrate Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

​Michael Rapaport. Not to be a dick, but when we think of the C-list star, shit films and even crappier television are the first things that pop into mind. However, after watching Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, our opinion has totally shifted -- Michael Rapaport is a ... More >>

Happy Birthday, MTV: 30 Videos to Celebrate 30 Years

I want my MTV back​Music Television turns 30 today, but the network doesn't look a day over 16 and Pregnant. Well before MTV started exploiting the incredibly difficult lives of irresponsible teens expecting a first child and balancing high school algebra, the Viacom-network played music vid ... More >>

E-40 @ The Venue Scottsdale

Yo Gotti @ Celebrity Theatre

Money Power Respect Entertainment Pushes Local Hip-Hop on a Large Scale

Cahleb Branch, head of Money Power Respect, works at his desk.​How much does it cost to book GZA from Wu-Tang Clan? Or Lil Jon? Or Nicki Minaj?Cahleb Branch knows, because his company, Valley-based Money Power Respect Entertainment, books international shows for them, among a slew of other well-kn ... More >>

Tyga @ The Venue Scottsdale

Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music Label Signs Deal With Def Jam

​Kanye West's label G.O.O.D. Music has signed a "longterm worldwide label agreement" with Island Def Jam, according to MTV News.G.O.O.D. Music is now officially a subsidiary of Def Jam. Many future G.O.O.D. Music releases will see release under Def Jam's name, including Big Sean's F ... More >>

Rapper Wiz Khalifa's at the Forefront of Rap's Internet Democracy

The Highly Influential (and Mostly Unknown) Hip-Hop Past of She Wants Revenge

Scott DudelsonJustin Warfield​On hip-hop supergroup The Roots' 2002 album, Phrenology, there's a track called "WAOK (Ay) Roll Call," wherein the band gives shout-outs to 230 of their favorite and most influential music artists, including Grandmaster Flash and Common. At the very end of this illus ... More >>

The Top Ten Lamest, Most Overplayed Hip Hop Songs from the Late 90's

Can't stop, won't stop​​Inspiration comes from many different places, the radio being one of them. While carousing around town in my hooptie the other day, the Notorious B.I.G./Puff Daddy/Mase 1997 classic "Mo Money, Mo Problems" came on over my speakers, much to my odd delight. After I was done ... More >>

DJ Solarize Passes Away at 26

Leon Botha, who is often associated with Die Antwoord, has passed away from complications with progeria, according to Stereogum.Botha is also known as DJ Solarize. He's known for being a prominent visual artist in Cape Town, South Africa, as well. He appeared in South African hip-hop duo Die Antwoor ... More >>

T-Pain Parts Ways With Auto-Tune, Does the World a Favor

​The world is now a better place thanks to T-Pain. He recently declared that he has sworn off using auto-tune, according to Prefix.He better keep his promise! If he doesn't, Jay-Z will have something to say about it. Along with his new vow to do away with auto-tune came the unfortunate introductio ... More >>