‘They said I didn’t belong here’: rap star Knucks on his uprooted childhood – and why he records bus conductors

For the follow-up to his Mobo-winner Alpha Place, the UK rapper revisited Nigeria, drawing inspiration from bygone days of school bullies and washing his clothes by hand

Dave: The Boy Who Played the Harp review – ​it’s clearer than ever what a stunningly skilled rapper he is

Returning with his first album in four years, the arena-filling UK rapper is still such a smart, sharp lyricist as he explores a series of existential crises

Huey Morgan looks back: ‘My father left when I was seven. Music was a way to derail those feelings of not being good enough’

The musician on dealing with PTSD, his angry TV outburst, and why one radio station refused to play anything by Fun Lovin’ Criminals

Fridayz Live Sydney review – Mariah Carey is impeccable but Pitbull steals the show

Dual headliners capped a R&B festival with fever-dream energy, including self-help sermons and Pitbull cosplayers everywhere you looked

Stormzy elected honorary fellow of Jesus College Cambridge

Musician and philanthropist was nominated in recognition of scholarship programme at the university

Little Simz review – hip-hop visionary radiates joy and Gallagher-level swagger

Switching from full-arena singalongs to horn-blaring funk to sweaty Detroit techno club vibes, the rapper is at the very top of her game

Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group dismissed

Rapper had claimed UMG helped to damage his reputation by distributing Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us

I judged this year’s Welsh music prize – and Don Leisure’s winning album sums up the nation’s eclectic spirit

Desert blues, transcendental electronica and a concept album about a mill powered by music­ – this year’s shortlisted albums were stunningly diverse, none more so than the crate-digging on the triumphant Tyrchu Sain

‘I want to hear harmonica in the strip club!’: the bold ideas and bleak visions of British musician Klein

Drone albums, vampire plays, Charlotte Church duets … the Londoner has an inspiringly odd CV. She explains how the disrupted experience of Black daily life fills her work

Baker Boy on naming his album for his grandmother: ‘She was the reason that I fell in love with hip-hop’

The new music from the Aria-winning Yolngu rapper is his most politically charged yet. ‘I want to show you the anger, the vulnerability,’ he says

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs calls behavior ‘disgusting’ and apologizes ahead of sentencing

Disgraced hip-hop mogul’s comments come after one of prosecution witnesses backed out at last minute

‘I just want to shake my tail feather’: how KeiyaA shut out the noise to make one of the year’s best albums

The pressure of besting her self-released debut – and becoming a public figure – made the US vocalist spiral. Remembering who she was inspired her phenomenal second LP, a comparison-defying odyssey of jazz, pop and club music

Cardi B: Am I the Drama? review – vigorous score-settling and brutally witty put-downs

Seven years after her debut, Cardi B is back with a ferociously enjoyable 70-minute album of eclecticism and enthusiastic annihilation of her enemies

MTV VMAs 2025 winners: Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter triumph at muted award ceremony

Singers took home two trophies each as Mariah Carey won a lifetime achievement award, in a night that largely celebrated female artists

Gorillaz review – after 25 years, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band are still riveting and relevant

Dressed like a vicar, Albarn leads his band – joined by a choir, a string quartet, De La Soul and more – in renewing Demon Days’ downbeat drama