I’ll just let Thomas Traum describe this work, aptly titled Boats*Cars*Dollars*Girls*Helicopters*Jewellery*Skylines: “[This is] a typology of rap videos and an attempt to construct the most generic Rap and R&B video out of many. Musical genres are always heavily codified and rap seems to be one of the most extreme ones, each video has similar if […]

We’re kinda fans of North Carolina-bred J. Cole here at LIAS, mostly cos when he’s clever he shines with the brightness of guys like Lupe. Sure they’re not all bangers, but Cole’s got a penchant for wordplay and narrative that shows a promise missing in the present day landscape of hip hop. In the first […]

UPDATE: Dan Black’s album ((un)) drops today, available from iTunes or Amazon for $8. Moreover, today he also released his video for “Symphonies” with Kid Cudi, so we’re re-posting his Q&A from a couple weeks back along with the new video… After years of languishing around in London cover bands, Dan Black dumped the slackers […]

I’ve bought plenty of albums and singles for no other reason than the cover art caught my eye. It doesn’t always pay off sonically, but I do love the medium. If you too appreciate it, actually are a freak about it, Art Vinyl is probably already on your radar. They’re the folks behind those Play […]

As my friend, Alexi Lawless, who sent this to us said, “Maybe you dont love the folks in the remix — but its a fuckin well done song.” Amen! For commercial dance music, it doesn’t get any better than this. Culled from available Youtube interviews (Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Drake, & Lil Wayne), Boston […]

Using kid’s television theme songs, games, nursery rhymes, playground chants and, yes, actual children’s choruses has been a staple in hip-hop for almost as long as the genre has existed. Whether it’s Method Man proclaiming he’s “rubber” and “whatever you say rubs off me sticks to you” on “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin to F**k Wit”, […]

So we’ve been receiving a bunch of free music lately and a lot of it is just too good to keep to ourselves. Besides, it’s Monday so we all need a couple good reasons to get our weeks rolling. Yes, this list is hip-hop heavy, but ever since watching The Wackness I’ve been hitting my […]

I bemoan the recent blowup of M.I.A.  The other day the Madman was walking home and passed two 12 year-old girls bouncing around singing “Paper Planes”, making up their own lyrics (something about “checking on veins”), and I shook my head ruefully. Then, last night whilst drinking a Captain n’ Coke at a Hollywood douche […]