New York City producers Tony Seltzer and A Lau have been friends for 10 years, and estimate the number of songs they’ve made together at close to 1,000.
The strangeness of the lyrics wasn’t just his own; it was that of the world that he made us sense anew. He exposed the disfiguring, shoddy inadequacy of received language by flowing in tandem with things as they are.
Kamasi Washington—saxophonist, composer, and producer—embodies the spirit of this century, a man captivated by the global, yet firmly rooted in the local.
The legendary LA photographer spotlights one of his favourite artists: a rapper with a sound and story that is continuing to represent exactly what it means to be from the West Coast.
“I’m a leader now. As a leader, you’re supposed to inspire people. And praises be to the Most High, I see the impact from the things that I’m doing already.”
Media appearances by Chad Hugo are few and far between, the rare occasion of an interview sporadically punctuating his 25-year career. It’s understandable - when your body of work has shaped the course of popular music for the past two decades, there isn’t much else to add to the conversation.
“I spoke to John over the phone on a snowy February evening. I’d been thinking about recording artists and their experiences over this last year, wondering whether working in a studio had come to feel particularly claustrophobic. But then, Jah Wobble is a man well at home in a recording studio.”
Rap on Trial is about the criminal prosecution of rap music in America. Authors Andrea Dennis and Erik Nielson have identified around five hundred cases in which rap lyrics have led to arrest, trial and often incarceration.
“The whole reason that I’m an R&B artist is because people listen to my shit and think ‘R&B’, so I’m like ‘alright, cool – I’ll take whatever category y’all say that I’m in, as long as I can excel whilst I’m doing it’”
There are very few rappers that can paint as vivid a picture of UK street life as Nathaniel Thompson. The Peckham-raised artist, better known as Giggs, began his career selling mixtapes out the boot of his car, gaining a firm reputation for his haunting delivery, dense, trap-influenced productions and strong South London alliances.