Bear Witnez doesn't shy away from his checkered past; he once sold marijuana to make ends meet. He's also candid when it comes to the DMV's hip-hop scene—he says its the most talented scene in the world.
So he's pretty confident. While there are plenty of great MCs here, Bear says his combination of raw honesty [...]
In August, Largo native RAtheMC released her energetic Heart Of A Champion album to significant local fanfare.
Not long before dropping the project, the fashionable lyricist inked a deal with the D.C.-based Studio43 imprint, whose roster boasts names like X.O., Gordo Brega, and AB the Producer. (Once upon a time, Wale was a Studio43 MC before signing [...]
Hey kids, don't forget about the Twitter list. If you're not on it, we're probably still waiting for you to say something worthy of it. But you can rest assured that Far Out vs. Hot Dang is totally panoptical: When you finally do get your game tizzight, we'll see it. Unless we're blacked-out for one [...]
This week "H.A.M.", the first single from the highly anticipated Jay-Z and Kanye West collaborative album, Watch The Throne, dropped. Internet insta-reaction was mixed, which is understandable considering expectations were so high. After all, West's recently released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the greatest thing since the advent of air, and the pair have [...]
Kanye West is a man outside his time. With his globe-spanning interruptions, pronouncements, and Twitter dispatches, he can seem like a walking publicity statement, but he actually isn’t well-suited for a world of iPhone apps, hybrid engines, metrosexuality, and cyberlove. In fact, he’s spent much of his career bemoaning modern failures, the ultimately unsatisfying nature [...]
in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.
1. Decoded, by Jay-Z.
I was never a huge Jay-Z fan, but I was also never into Transformers, milk chocolate, G.I. Joe, chocolate ice cream, "E.T.," chocolate sundaes, James Joyce, chocolate donuts, post-Keith Morris Black Flag, Three Muskateers candy bars, the Beach Boys, chocolate fudge, [...]
It's damn near impossible to categorize The Five One's music and ideals. The band, with its self-described Haitian indie-rock flair, blends hip-hop with Caribbean rhythms. The ideals? Well, the Reston quartet personifies itself as colors: The members call themselves, and dress in, Red, Blue, Green, and Gold. (Don't ask their government names, because they won't tell [...]
A former correctional-facility officer who bathes in gangster imagery and rhymes "bitch" with "shit" on his hooks has nearly written the summer's finest album. Too bad Rick Ross is kind of a sleazebag. There's requisite rap hot-dogging and then there's "She had a miscarriage/I couldn't cry though/You and I know she was only my side [...]
About three songs into the performance last night, a fan somehow got onstage—"I don't know where the hell he came from," a Verizon Center staffer said afterward—and rushed Jay-Z, before being unceremoniously thrown off the high stage by a bodyguard (he was shaken up, but fine). If you're looking for photos of that excitement, they're [...]
Good morning (or night), hungover Fat Tuesday-celebrating readers.
*The 30th annual Brit Awards aired last night, garnering awards for Oasis, Jay-Z, Robbie Williams, Florence and the Machine, and Lily Allen. The night's biggest winner was American favorite Lady Gaga who scooped up all three awards she was nominated for: Best International Newcomer, Best International Female, and [...]
