(ThyBlackMan.com) While driving home yesterday, I received an urgent phone call from someone seeking confirmation that one of hip-hop’s most successful and revered artists, Heavy D had passed away. She assumed that I would be a reliable source because in addition to being a fan of his classic hits such ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Drake’s sophomore album is really his first album if you consider that Thank Me Later was a rush job. Now that he’s actually put a quality album together, we can finally thank him.. Rap Genius got the exclusive on the Take Care’s lyrics (Drake loves Rap Genius, says it’s ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Dear Chris, I don’t know if anyone has reached out to you, to let you know that as a friend, there are some issues that you are having that you may not readily recognize. Now I know you have plenty of people around you, handlers and all, and as ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Billboard released their weekly charts this past Thursday, and the familiar face of pop superstar Rihanna is back at it again, doing what she has been doing consistently in her career: having a number one song. Her newest single, “We found love” is her ninth number one as a ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) When a then 17 year-old Rihanna scored a hit song with 2005’s “Pon De Replay,” no one could have predicted the course the young singer’s career would take. Upon releasing her first number one single, 2006’s “SOS” from the album A Girl Like Me, she wasn’t regarded as much ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) The stars are aligning for Wale’s sophomore album, Ambition, to be a showcase of the rapper squarely hitting his stride lyrically and pushing his comfort zone sonically after aligning himself with a burgeoning hip-hop force in Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group imprint. Buzz for the release centered on two ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Tupac Amaru Shakur’s music has been dissected by inner city griots as well as ivory tower scholars. In light of all of the material about Tupac that is available, it is easy to believe that there in not much more to say about the rapper whose fierce fire was ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Hip-Hop titans Jay-Z and Kanye West interestingly decided on “No Church in the Wild” as the first track on their long-anticipated album, Watch the Throne. I want to explore this understanding of “the wild” within two critical realms of African American life, Black churches and Hip-Hop culture. It’s not ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) In today’s rap culture, the references of drugs, guns, and the mistreatment of women are prevalent in today’s lyrics and videos. Everyone comments on the lack of direction and substance inside of rap today, with record company executives using an alleged simplistic formula with their artists to sell records ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Listening to the courtroom testimony in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician facing charges in the death of music superstar Michael Jackson, one cannot help but feel sorrowful. It has become apparent that Jackson was addicted to powerful drugs and was so driven to succeed that he ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) For the last 15 years rap has evolved from mafia rap of the mid-late 90’s, rap records for the charts in the early 2000’s, and snap music of the mid 2000’s. In the midst of all of that, Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay Z, had remained a ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but has Beyoncé gone too far? The pop diva is being accused of stealing choreography in the new music video for her single “Countdown” — and the troubling thing is, this isn’t the first time Beyoncé’s been accused of being ...