1996 marked a turning point in hip-hop production. The boom-bap that dominated early ’90s New York started fragmenting into ...

It was the best of hip-hop times. It was the worst of hip-hop times. Ha! 2025 was a rollercoaster of rap music’s highs and lows. The duality was so real. I can’t recall a year with such a wide array ...

On the last episode of All Songs Considered for 2025, NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich takes host Robin Hilton through an exceptional year in guitar music. From Gwenifer Raymond's beautiful and brash ...

There has been a lot of talk about Hip-hop since it dropped from the top of the charts over the past few years. Country music with a pop edge has become the new norm for TikTok trends and the ...

Hip-hop was created in 1973, and during that decade, it was a genre still in its early stages that was more DJ-centric with focuses on b-boy dances and live performances. However, by the time the ...

In 2017, hip-hop became the most consumed genre in the US, and it hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. Now that we're just over the halfway mark into the 2020s, hip-hop continues to dominate with ...

Rap in 2025 was all about experimentation. From the year’s first runaway hit, NBA player-turned-musician Gelo’s single “Tweaker,” to the maximalist ecclesiastics of Playboi Carti’s Music, or even in ...

We don’t always feel cycles; we live through them. Sunsets on this spinning rock we inhabit aren’t the end of days — they’re just signs of another trip around the sun, a reset. Rap is no different; it ...

We asked some of our favorite culture creators to give us their best-of lists for 2025; the rest of James Gunn's top 50 alternative rap songs of the year can be found right here. Easily my favorite ...

We’re at the end of yet another year where commentators and fans speculated on the health of the rap world. In October, it was reported that, for the first time in 35 years, there were no rap songs in ...

Wyclef Jean once explained to me the thinking behind blending pop and hip-hop. He called it “Beauty and the Beast.” It’s similar to the quiet verses and loud choruses that defined alternative rock in ...