Rap

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‘I wanted answers’: the amazing TV homage to Tupac – by the man who got him locked up
Thirty years ago, Tupac Shakur was like a brother to director Allen Hughes – until he was assaulted by him. Ahead of his incredible series on the rapper, Dear Mama, he talks fame, forgiveness and FBI harassment

Ellen E Jones

22, Sep, 2023 @12:00 PM

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Doja Cat: Scarlet review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week
There’s a pugilistic force to the rapper’s lyricism as she takes on her diehard fans’ sense of entitlement, but even amid some experimental production, she starts to repeat herself

Alexis Petridis

22, Sep, 2023 @4:00 AM

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Adidas chief exec: Kanye West ‘didn’t mean what he said’ with antisemitic comments
Bjørn Gulden said West, who praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, wasn’t ‘a bad person – it just came across that way’

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

20, Sep, 2023 @9:56 AM

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Vic Mensa: Victor review – scattershot second album from the rap maverick
A busy six years on from his debut, the US star swings from sacred to profane while celebrating sobriety on an album of hits and misses

Damien Morris

17, Sep, 2023 @2:00 PM

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Diddy: The Love Album: Off the Grid review – rap megastar gets lost amid big-name return
Diddy’s productions remain imaginative across this 24-track album, but he gives us frustratingly little lyricism

Rachel Aroesti

15, Sep, 2023 @7:30 AM

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Outrage as Polish TV talent show contestants use blackface for Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé performances
Singer Kuba Szmajkowski and actor Pola Gonciarz heavily darkened their skin on Your Face Sounds Familiar, with Szmajkowski also wearing cornrows and using the N-word

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

12, Sep, 2023 @9:38 AM

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Genre-exploding vocalist Teezo Touchdown: ‘You’re going to spend the rest of your life with me!’
Naysayers called him a mere ‘fashion rapper’ – so the Texas star dived into his craft and came back with one of the best albums of the year

Ali Shutler

11, Sep, 2023 @2:00 PM

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Gaika: Drift review – the sonic shapeshifter goes analogue
The London MC disrupts expectations on his latest album, ranging from breakbeats and funk-soul to cinematic strings

Kitty Empire

10, Sep, 2023 @8:00 AM

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‘It’s a sickness’: Chuck D on his new graphic novel and the ‘madness’ of US gun culture
The Public Enemy frontman talks about why he returned to his first love of art to create a book about the violence dividing his country

Rob Walker

09, Sep, 2023 @1:03 PM

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Mercury prize 2023: London group Ezra Collective secure first ever jazz win
Band say unexpected win is ‘testimony to good, special people putting time and effort’ into helping young people to play music

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

07, Sep, 2023 @9:31 PM

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Blazin’ Squad look back: ‘We needed chaperones – it wasn’t great for our credibility’
The Chingford rap crew on teen fame, atrocious hair and the power of Love Island

Harriet Gibsone

02, Sep, 2023 @11:00 AM

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Jay-Z’s 20 best tracks – ranked!
Twenty-five years after his biggest-selling album Vol 2… Hard Knock Life, we appraise the work of a rapper who has a good claim to be the greatest ever

Alexis Petridis

31, Aug, 2023 @12:06 PM

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