The genre’s peak, which I dub hip-hop’s “Renaissance Era,” started 30 years ago. It’s probably impossible to be completely objective when judging art; often, the stuff we love is because of how it ...
On this day, December 1, 1990, this iconic rap single with a stolen bassline peaked at No. 1 on the charts in the United ...
These iconic hip-hop tracks feature melodic pop hooks, in what Wyclef Jean once called a "Beauty and the Beast" approach to ...
Johnson is talking about his years of “dirt hustling,” when he sold stapled and Xeroxed copies of his zine Unsigned and Hella ...
To celebrate the golden anniversary of hip-hop, we rounded up 35 essential hits. These songs were hugely significant for the genre's growth and made an impact on the music industry. Our picks are ...
“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 ...
Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editor Rivéa Ruff reports on the blending of hip-hop and R&B. Since the ...
Dive into the texts that capture the genre’s evolution—from street cyphers and style revolutions to political expression and Black culture.
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