Posted on 11/23/2008
Artist. Activist. Mother. Though not necessarily in that order, Ursula Rucker embodies all of those titles with a level of class not seen among most rebels. But she’ll be the first to tell you that juggling all those monikers is a daily grind, yet a welcome yoke she hoists upon her shoulders in order to teach her kids left from right and sleep at night knowing she’s fulfilling her purpose...

Posted on 11/17/2008
Detroit producer and MC Black Milk recently emerged as one of Hip-Hop’s bright young talents. In his short career, Milk has worked alongside Slum Village, Royce the 5’9, Elzhi and talented artists from various regions all while maintaining a core sound. Chopped loops, hard drums and steady rhymes were the typical order of the day with the prodigious producer. With his latest release, Tronic, Black Milk talks with Okayplayer’s D.L....

Posted on 11/13/2008
Last Tuesday, Q-Tip not only released a sigh of relief, but also his second solo album. The Renaissance, an album proclaiming a re-birth of hip-hop, could not have come on a better day. November 4, 2008 will go down in history as a day on which hope triumphed over fear. Sure, this triumph has some interesting parallels in music, but more importantly, it renews our privilege to squander so many...

Posted on 11/10/2008
As the brother of one of the greatest musicians in the hip-hop history, Illa J’s career could potentially go one of two ways. The easiest option would be to follow his brother--the late, great J Dilla, if you didn’t already guess (which maybe you should have)--into producing and use Dilla’s style and established name to build his own resume. The other would be to consciously avoid his brother’s long shadow...