Drake to take break from music to focus on his health
Rap star follows new album with news of indeterminate sabbatical due to suffering stomach problems ‘for years’
Nines: Crop Circle 3 review – possible swansong for a UK rap great
On purportedly his last album, the London artist bows out with an eclectic mix of styles from reggae and trap to R&B and gospel, his gruff, easy flow sounding enticingly liberated
Resistance rappers: the Pahnji Gang raging against the machine in Pakistan
Two siblings are building a following among the young people of Sindh province disillusioned with the straitened status quo
Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetic Test Strips review – an exceptional record
With contributions from Segal, Shabaka Hutchings and more, rappers Billy Woods and Elucid bleakly fizz on an album that deserves your full attention
Tupac Shakur: after 27 years, an arrest in unsolved murder of hip-hop legend
Decades-long inquiry into the 1996 killing aided by gang leader admitting he was in the shooter’s car and provided the gun
‘I’m a better musician than I ever was a drug dealer’: rapper Potter Payper on leaving prison behind
The UK’s hottest hip-hop star missed the launch of his debut album when he returned to jail for the 15th time. There’s more to him than his troubled past
One of last living witnesses and ex-gang leader indicted in Tupac Shakur murder
Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, a former Los Angeles drug dealer, was indicted Friday for one count of murder with a deadly weapon
‘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
Doja Cat: Scarlet review – globe-conquering star comes out swinging at the stans
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
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’
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
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
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
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
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