Wireless festival’s backing for Kanye West is all about money. Don’t pretend it’s about the art

The event has signed up Ye, who has a penchant for antisemitic and sexist outbursts, to be its headline act. It’s not even as if his music is any good any more, says Dan Hancox, a freelance writer focusing on music, politics, cities and culture

Jay-Z on refusing to settle sexual assault lawsuit: ‘I can’t do it, I would die’

The rapper discussed his 2024 sexual assault lawsuit and the Kendrick-Drake beef in a new GQ cover story

No Limit: can rap mogul Master P really become an elite basketball coach?

The 55-year-old has is an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans. Now he believes he can take the step up to the top of his sport

Wu-Tang Clan review – still bringing the ruckus even on their farewell tour

This is slicker than their thrillingly chaotic early gigs, but the veteran New York hip-hop crew’s flows remain feral after 30-odd years

US rapper Mystikal pleads guilty to third-degree rape in 2022 arrest

Musician, AKA Michael Tyler, faces up to 20 years after entering plea in state court outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana

New York hip-hop experimentalist Elucid: ‘I like the harmony of the city. Everybody’s got a little solo’

From a pocket of Zen in the Dream House installation, the rapper/producer talks about channelling the city’s perpetual din, whether solo or with Billy Woods as Armand Hammer

Rapper Lil’ Kim to headline both Vivid Sydney and Melbourne’s 2026 Rising festival

Pioneering artist returns to Australia for first time in 15 years, with poet Kae Tempest and Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti also on lineups of winter festivals

Sex with Scorsese, beef with Sondheim … and inventing the moonwalk? The wildest moments in Liza Minnelli’s memoir

From Peter Sellers dressing like a Nazi, to having to manage her mother Judy Garland’s addiction, jaws will drop at Minnelli’s anecdotes

Seven of the best music festivals to visit by train from the UK

From jazz in Rotterdam and hip-hop in Paris to brass bands on the beach in Blackpool, the Guardian’s music editor chooses the best European festivals that can be reached by rail

Brummie rapper Tony Bontana: ‘I have to speak on genocide, the same way I have to speak about my grief’

Fronting punk and ‘grungegaze’ bands while making dozens of rap albums, Bontana is a great British one-off. He explains why he’s working towards a world of peace

Son of rapper Lil Jon drowned after ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms

Body of Nathan Smith, known professionally as DJ Young Slade, was found in pond north of Atlanta in February

‘Rest in power, Power’: Wu-Tang Clan collaborator Oliver ‘Power’ Grant dead at 52

Wu-Tang members pay tribute to Grant with GZA saying ‘His passing is a profound loss’ and Method Man posting ‘I am not okay’

Musician and film-maker Flying Lotus: ‘The whole lo-fi beats thing has become like Starbucks music’

Ahead of a new EP, the creative polymath answers your questions on Thom Yorke, Kendrick Lamar and how a sci-fi epic ate up his whole life

The Streets review – semi-theatrical staging of A Grand Don’t Come for Free resurrects a British classic

Deadpan recital of the era-defining album of downbeat English rap suits the full-album format, presented with a formidable band

Cardi B review – ambitious spectacle and sizzling choreography

Kia Forum, Los AngelesGrammy-winning Bronx rapper electrifies LA with pugnacious lyrics and vivid set pieces on her first arena tour