Killer Mike: Michael review – killer hooks and swaggering, tender introspection
The celebrated Atlanta rapper gets personal on an album concerned with Black masculinity and the women in his life
Ice Cube: ‘Keep your reparations. It’s about access to capital, and we’re being shut out’
As he gears up to tour the UK this year, the rapper and actor answers your questions on racial injustice, what he’d say to Eazy-E, and how he wrote the ultimate diss track
‘Touch mic and shell it!’ How British freestyle rap videos became a global phenomenon
Once demonised, they now notch up viewers by the hundred million worldwide. But can they keep their underground edge? Our writer drops in on one seat-of-the-pants, no-mime shoot
Parklife festival review – northern rave culture clearly in rude health
The in-demand Fred Again eclipses Aitch’s confident homecoming headline set, while the Prodigy chime with Parklife’s rave ethos
Janelle Monáe: The Age of Pleasure review – time to party
The feted singer and actor takes a break from dystopian allegories in favour of wild, smouldering fun
J Hus: Who Told You review – the song of the summer has arrived
With a jazzy guest spot from Drake, this ode to the joy of dancing shows how masterful each MC is at moving with a beat
Post your questions for Ice Cube
Got something to ask the rap legend and acclaimed actor ahead of his UK tour? Send it our way and we’ll put it to him
Red Velvet review – a mesmerisingly perfect K-pop extravaganza
Yeri, Irene, Seulgi and Wendy shapeshift between funky pop confections and hip-hop experimentation in an omnipotent theatrical spectacle
The best albums of 2023 so far
From the unique sonic world of Yaeji to the dark folk music of Lankum, here are our picks of the best LPs from the first half of the year
McKinley Dixon: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? review – literary, urgent rap
This is shorter than the Virginian jazz-rapper’s sprawling breakout LP, but still full to bursting with images and invention
Sunday with Big Narstie: ‘I do lunch like a king, oxtail or stewed beef’
The MC tells Rich Pelley about his Sunday routine, dog walking, showers of love, Bob Marley music kind of loud and prayers before bedtime
Monaleo: Where the Flowers Don’t Die review – whiplash-inducing rapper thrives on sheer force of personality
This unruly young Texan star throws some unexpected and slightly undercooked ballads on to her debut album, making it an uneven ride
Rapper Fetty Wap sentenced to six years in prison for drug trafficking
The 31-year-old Trap Queen rapper had pleaded guilty to a conspiracy drug charge pertaining to cocaine in August 2022
‘It was fun until it wasn’t’: hip-hop A&R Dante Ross on De La Soul, ODB – and punchups with P Diddy
Hailed as the genre’s Forrest Gump for his time with artists from Busta Rhymes to Santana, today Ross contends that streaming, sampling and materialism have changed the genre beyond recognition
Kaytraminé: Kaytraminé review – spry, sparkling rap collaboration
Producer Kaytranada and MC Aminé are joined by Pharrell, Snoop Dogg and more on this set of bouncy club jams