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'News & Notes' examines the evolution of the art form with in-depth interviews, roundtable discussions and feature reports.
Spelman College professor William Jelani Cobb and Loyola Marymount University visiting professor Michael Datcher discuss whether the violence in rap simply mirrors a mean-street reality or if it helped create it.
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Rap icon Master P explains why he has decided to change his formerly angry image and release family friendly music.
()Is it free speech or hate speech? The hip-hop series continues with a special roundtable on homophobia in rap music. New York-based writer Staceyann Chin, rapper and satirist Deadlee, and author and educator Mo Beasley weigh in. Note: Some of the language used in this segment may be offensive.
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The Los Angeles record label Stones Throw has been a major force in independent hip-hop for more than a decade. Artists Peanut Butter Wolf and Egon run Stones Throw, and they describe their vision for a label that's known for its eclectic catalog.
()Hip-hop has sometimes been criticized for its portrayal of women, but female MCs also have played a role in the genre, from its beginnings to what it is today. Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and the author of Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, talks with Farai Chideya.
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For more than three decades, Ernie Paniccioli has been photographing many of rap music's most important artists. He's revealing the stories behind some of his best-known photos.
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Hip hop culture has exploded from its New York birthplace into a worldwide art form. Culture critic Jeff Chang discusses rap's growing global appeal.
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We take our hip-hop series for a spin with one of today's hottest DJs, DJ Drama, and explore the art of mixing and the legal ramifications of it.
()We take a look at how radio play makes and breaks hip-hop artists. It's often money — and not talent — that drives the charts.
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Now in its third decade, hip-hop is a multi-million dollar industry. But as rap music swells with corporate contracts and movie deals, how is the average rapper faring financially?
()Producer Dr. Dre is one of the most important and influential figures in rap music, known for popularizing the distinct West Coast rap sound, as author Ronin Ro explains in his new biography.
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Farai Chideya leads a discussion about the women of hip-hop with Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, and rappers Monie Love and MC Lyte.
()What's the difference between a librarian and a hip-hop DJ? The answer is not as much as you think. Both are archivists, preserving and organizing the past, one through books, the other through music.
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Rapper Monie Love is trying to revive a passion for old-school hip-hop through the True School Corporation. She explains how it has been fostering classic hip-hop culture across the country.
()Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture; Aya de Leon, a writer, performer and instructor at the University of California, Berkeley; and hip hop writer kris ex, co-author of 50 Cent's autobiography From Pieces to Weight, talk about gender and rap music.
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