Madeleine Byrne, Author at Ambrosia For HeadsAmbrosia For Heads

Roc Marciano’s New Album Is The Latest Indie Uppercut To The Streaming Model

Today (March 9), Roc Marciano's RR2: The Bitter Dose became available on all major streaming platforms. The album released late last month, and was contained to Roc's online store for download sale and physical copy pre-order. As a 20-year Hip-Hop veteran, it was calculated move made by the former Flipmode... Read more

March 9, 2018 Food for Thought

Black Milk’s “True Lies” Tackles Systemic Blindness (Audio)

Black Milk has built a career as a producer/MC creating music marked by an adventurous mix of musical styles and subtle social critique. His latest single "True Lies" from his forthcoming FEVER (February 23) continues this path while moving his work forward in new directions. The former Slum Village sound... Read more

February 16, 2018 Audio

Planet Asia Shows Exactly Why His New Album Is Titled The Golden Buddha (Video Premiere)

Stretching back to its foundations, Hip-Hop has often put the spiritual beliefs of its makers front and center. Whether it is adherence to the basic tenets of Islam, the Five-Percent Nation, Rastafari, Pan-African-inspired mysticism, or Christianity, one of the genre's key aspects is the way MCs seek to merge the... Read more

February 13, 2018 Exclusive, Video

Murs Is Starting A Residency At Duke University (Video)

The long-term partnership between Los Angeles, California MC Murs and producer 9th Wonder is taking a new turn, as the self-described "Captain California" heads to Duke University to start a week-long residency as part of its African and African American Studies program. Finding himself in a college setting is not... Read more

February 6, 2018 News, Video

Phonte Spits An MVP Verse For Domo Genesis’ “Shaq Carried Kobe” (Audio)

Sports analogies in Hip-Hop are nothing new. Such references can be the lifeblood of a musical genre that often likens itself to a "game” and thrives on competition. Phife Dawg, Chuck D, Kool Keith, and Ice Cube are just some of the masters of sports metaphor and simile. Domo Genesis'... Read more

January 23, 2018 Audio

Step Brothers Evidence & Alchemist Reunite To Salute Biz Markie & Fat Albert (Audio)

Paying homage to Biz Markie and "Fat Albert" at once, the Evidence/Alchemist Step Brothers duo makes a welcomed return with "Lay Some Treats On Us,” a new single that's tricky in the best possible way. Biz Markie’s 1989 sophomore album The Biz Never Sleeps contains a track called “Mudd Foot.”... Read more

January 22, 2018 Audio, The Bridge

Planet Asia Recruits AZ For One Of His Biggest & Best Collabos (Audio Premiere)

Two qualities define and distinguish the two-decade-plus career of Fresno, California MC Planet Asia. First, his central role within the independent Hip-Hop scene on the West Coast (he is credited with helping reinvigorate the movement back in the late '90s), and his bold production choices. Planet Asia’s 2017 collaboration with... Read more

January 18, 2018 Audio, Exclusive

Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” Returns In March. Here Is The Latest Trailer (Video)

UPDATE #2: A second trailer to Atlanta Season 2 (aka "Robbin Season") has been released to the public by FX. This one stars Donald Glover. The 30-second music-bedded video shows "Earnest 'Earn' Marks" falling into several different environments, alluding to the season ahead: heavy rotation pic.twitter.com/Rcl9xadwjl — AtlantaFX (@AtlantaFX) January... Read more

January 15, 2018 TV, TV/Film, Video

Your Old Droog & Conway Kick Rhymes That Are Hard Like Cement (Audio)

Brooklyn, New York's Your Old Droog has in the past labeled a lot of his songs as "Outsider Music," not Hip-Hop or Rap. However, his latest single, featuring Conway the Machine, is an exception: he has categorized “Cement 4's” as Metal. Music of this kind is often called “gritty" or... Read more

January 11, 2018 Audio

Lyric Jones Celebrates Solidarity & Getting By In “Got Bills” (Video)

Boston-born, L.A.-based Lyric Jones describes herself as “MC, Vocalist, Drummer,” while also noting that she is the only MC around these days who can play the drums, while she delivers her rhymes. Now this visual for “Got Bills” directed by Jones also shows she is an artist with a strong... Read more

January 9, 2018 Ready Or Not, Video

Pete Rock & J Dilla Birthed A Beat Generation That Shaped The Future (Audio)

Within the space of three months in 2001, two of Hip-Hop’s preeminent producers, J Dilla and Pete Rock were in a kind of competition, and this led to the release of two ground-breaking albums that would shape the sound of the genre for the next decade and beyond. According to... Read more

January 4, 2018 Do Remember

Conway’s New Mixtape Features Royce 5’9, Styles P, Prodigy & More (Audio)

Absent in much talk about the inter-generational divide in Hip-Hop today is the discussion about why so many are drawn to the so-called “mumble rapper” MCs: two reasons might be the overriding emphasis on texture and atmosphere in their music, alongside their relentless focus on the darker side of life.... Read more

December 21, 2017 Audio

Insecure’s Issa Rae Is Set To Produce 2 New, Very Different Shows (Video)

Fresh from the announcement of a Golden Globe nomination for her star-turn in Insecure, Issa Rae is on track to co-executive produce two new shows for HBO. Teaming up with Emmy-winning, ex-Daily Show Travon Free, Him Or Her will tell the story of a bisexual Black man navigating the dating scene and... Read more

December 21, 2017 Lifestyle, TV, TV/Film

JSWISS’ Latest Video Shows His Dedication To Overcome & Be Heard

Up-and-coming New York MC JSWISS is getting all the right kind of attention, and the accolades are sure to continue following the release of this simple, but highly effective visual for “Dedicate.LoveSomethin,” the latest single from his No Music EP. “Dedicate.LoveSomethin” is produced by Brady Watt, a well-known bass player from New... Read more

December 14, 2017 Ready Or Not, Video

Vic Mensa Explains Why The Government Does Not Want The People To Be United (Video)

Twenty-four-year-old Roc Nation artist Vic Mensa was asked what makes someone a threat to the government in his most recent Montreality interview. In reply, Mensa dropped some knowledge about the exact moment governments get nervous. In doing so, he made illustrative links to assassinated Black leaders from history. “Anybody becomes... Read more

December 8, 2017 Video

Kxng Crooked’s New Album Artwork Is Provocative & So Is His Latest Lyricism (Audio)

Spinning off the current political scene this year has been a wave of politically-charged Hip-Hop. Eminem’s BET cypher verse (now known as "The Storm") may have commanded the most attention. But 2017 also saw highly respected, veteran MCs such as Ras Kass, Scarface, Snoop Dogg and others putting out music... Read more

December 8, 2017 Audio

The Secrets To J Dilla’s Production Style Are Revealed In A Fantastic New Video

For anyone wanting to understand why Detroit producer J Dilla is so revered more than one decade after his untimely death, a new video by journalist Estelle Caswell in the Vox "Earworm" series offers the perfect starting-point. This mini-documentary takes a close look at Dilla’s radical re-invention of drums, his... Read more

December 6, 2017 Video

Blu & Exile Take The Meaning Of Soulful Hip-Hop To A New Place (Video)

One of the legends of twentieth-century music relates to the Delta Blues pioneer, Robert Johnson, who died at the age of 27 in 1938. According to the historic tale, the itinerant musician Johnson sold his soul to the devil down at the crossroads of Highway 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to... Read more

December 5, 2017 Ready Or Not, Video

9th Wonder Details Producing Kendrick Lamar’s DUCKWORTH & Reveals Its Original Title (Video)

Working on a Kendrick Lamar record requires a vow of secrecy as demanding as any spy code, 9th Wonder shares in the latest Rap Radar Podcast. With longtime colleague and Roc Nation producer/engineer, Young Guru by his side, 9th speaks on how he made “DUCKWORTH.” the closer for this year's Grammy-nominated... Read more

December 1, 2017 Video

Daniel Caesar Is Another Star In A New Wave Of Complex R&B. Freudian Goes Deep (Video)

To coincide with his Grammy nominations for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album, 22-year-old Canadian underground Soul singer, Daniel Caesar has released the moody visual that accompanies his song, “Freudian.” The Toronto native has had an unbeatable few years, receiving chart success and critical acclaim for his debut album... Read more

November 29, 2017 Video

ScHoolBoy Q Joins TDE’s Next Breakout Star On A New Song. Meet SiR (Audio)

ScHoolboy Q offers super-smooth support to his Top Dawg Entertainment stable-mate on “Something Foreign” the latest single from Inglewood, California singer SiR released today. Late last year, SiR said that he wanted to combine the worlds of Hip-Hop and R&B in a way that was uniquely his own. “Right now, the... Read more

November 29, 2017 Audio

Jay Rock Shows Again Why He’s One Of The Best Guest MCs Of His Generation (Video)

Although he was the first artist on the powerhouse record label that is TDE, Jay Rock's output has been relatively sparse, compared to that of Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and others in the family. Rock has only released one album in the last six years, 2015's stellar 90059. The Watts... Read more

November 28, 2017 Video

DJ Jazzy Jeff’s 1-Hour Holiday Mix Puts Heads In The Spirit…To Move (Audio)

For the last eight years, DJ Jazzy Jeff & MICK have given music Heads one of the treats of the warm months, with their Summertime mixtape series. Now, the Grammy Award-winning DJ/producer has just what the people need for the holiday season. West Philadelphia's star mix-master hits Heads off with... Read more

November 24, 2017 Audio, Mixes

Kidz In The Hall Are Releasing A New Album. Here’s The 1st Video.

Bubbling up as a summery ode to Naledge’s home-town, Chicago, “Dear Eastside” marks the welcome return of the Pop-retro Hip-Hop duo, Kidz In The Hall. Kidz in the Hall signed with Rawkus Records in 2006, releasing the cult-lauded School Was My Hustle on the label. Since their Rawkus tenure, Naledge... Read more

November 17, 2017 Video

JAY-Z Says The Criminal Justice System Stalks Black People

JAY-Z has devoted a lot of his time in the last year to fighting the prison industry. The artist-turned-mogul who rapped on "Justify My Thug" that he'd never been to jail has made it a personal point to advocate for prisoner's rights, as well as provide resources to end recidivism.... Read more

November 17, 2017 Lifestyle, News

CyHi The Prynce Explains Why He Likens JAY-Z To A Modern Day Martin Luther King (Video)

CyHi The Prynce is recognized for his ability to combine the spiritual and political in his rhymes, so it’s no surprise he relates to the world and the people within it through a similar lens. When speaking with Billboard this week, CyHi likened JAY-Z, the man he considers his mentor, to Civil... Read more

November 16, 2017 News, Video

GQ Is Next Up In 9th Wonder’s Jamla Army (Video Premiere)

GQ is the artist 9th Wonder calls his “secret weapon” at Jamla Records. Over the past few years, the Bay area native has released several records (including 2014's Rated Oakland) as part of the label roster that have cemented his reputation as an artist with fine lyricism and a clearly defined... Read more

November 14, 2017 Exclusive, Video

CyHi The Prynce’s Gospel Is Designed To Help All Reach Their Dreams (Audio)

CyHi The Prynce's just-released “God Bless Your Heart" is the latest single from his debut LP, No Dope On Sundays due to drop this Friday (November 17). Along with a preview stream of the Sony release, the Atlanta, Georgia MC recently told NPR, “Even though it's rough in our neighborhoods,... Read more

November 14, 2017 Audio

Twitter Suspends Talib Kweli’s Account Following War Of Words With Texas Lawyer

Social media platform Twitter suspended the account of Talib Kweli this week after it claimed the Black Star and Reflection Eternal MC incited harassment towards a Texas-based lawyer after he posted the attorney’s business address to his more than one million followers online. In an interview with Uproxx, Kweli said... Read more

November 10, 2017 Lifestyle, News

Meek Mill Is Back In Jail Even Though The D.A. & Police Don’t Want Him There (Video)

Today (November 8), Meek Mill turned himself into processing with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He begins a sentence ordered Monday (November 6) of two-to-four years for probation violation. Meanwhile, Meek Mill’s lawyer is upping the ante in his battle of words against the judge overseeing the case. Joe Tacopina,... Read more

November 8, 2017 Exclusive, Last 7, News, Video

Slaine & Termanology Confront Addiction Over Stellar Evidence Production (Video)

Last month, Slaine and Termanology combined forces for a star-studded LP. The artists who rep La Coka Nostra, 1982, and Special Teamz find a unique energy together, coming from a place of realness. With the Evidence-produced beat that keeps everything contained within a cycle of a few notes, Slaine and... Read more

November 2, 2017 Exclusive, Video

Andre 3000 Said Big Boi Was The Best In OutKast. He’s Really 1 Of The Best In The South (Video)

Big Boi’s latest single from his Boomiverse album (Epic Records) is just as the title has it: a southern affair. Bringing together two of Atlanta’s favorite sons, Gucci Mane alongside Big Boi and featuring a prominent sample from the Underground King from the Lone Star state, Pimp C. Big Boi’s... Read more

October 31, 2017 Video

Reuben Vincent Is Jamla’s Teenage Prodigy. He Hits His Target On “BB Guns” (Video)

After signing with 9th Wonder's Jamla Records, Charlotte North Carolina teenager Reuben Vincent released “Chains On Me,” produced by one the most innovative producers around, Khrysis – another member of the Jamla Records family, Soul Council, and The Away Team. “Chains On Me” showed off the 15-year-old’s supreme confidence and precocious... Read more

October 31, 2017 Ready Or Not, Video

Blu & Exile Release A Prequel To Their Below The Heavens Album (Full Stream)

Ten years ago, Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens debut sparked an enthusiastic reaction, with fans and critics immediately claiming it as a classic and last call of the booming Underground Hip-Hop movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Listening now to previously unreleased tracks from the same sessions,... Read more

October 20, 2017 Audio

Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge’s Latest “Yes Lawd” Remix May Be Their Best One (Audio)

There’s such warmth in some music, coming at you like waves. The remix of NxWorries’ “Best One” is one such wave of feel-good energy. Vocalist Anderson .Paak’s usually peppy, highly theatrical style is (almost) subsumed in the Knxledge mix so that it can sometimes be hard to make out the... Read more

October 19, 2017 Audio

Large Professor Supplies Fashawn With A Vintage Beat & He Skates On It (Video)

Decked out in a red t-shirt supporting one of Mobb Deep's favorite spirits and bandana as a sign of respect to the “late, great Prodigy, The H.N.I.C,” Fashawn takes to Flushing, Queens with a local, Large Professor, in this new eponymous visual. One of XXL magazine’s 2010 Freshmen, Fashawn has... Read more

October 19, 2017 Video

South Central’s Quincey White Gives New Meaning To Chasing Hollywood Dreams (Video)

Quincey White is an emerging voice within the Los Angeles scene, and he has a lot to say. His latest video single “HOLLYWOOD” is a “metaphor for success.” It is all about achieving status. White, the MC formerly known as DUBB, dropped his EP, The 7, on Sway Calloway &... Read more

October 19, 2017 Ready Or Not

Large Professor Remixes Masta Ace’s Trip Down Memory Lane (Audio)

Nostalgia and looking back on teenage years is a recurring theme in Hip-Hop, inspiring some of the best work of artists such as Nas and Black Milk and now Masta Ace and Large Professor on this "Extra P Remix" of UK production collective, Son of Sam’s “Come A Long Way.”... Read more

October 18, 2017 Audio

The Smithsonian Will Tell The History Of Hip-Hop In A 120-Song Anthology Led By Chuck D & MC Lyte

“#Make Hip-Hop History” is the slogan for the campaign launched today by The Smithsonian Museum, with the help of Chuck D and MC Lyte, to fund a nine-CD, 300-page anthology devoted to exploring the history of Hip-Hop and Rap music. This would be the third such Smithsonian Folkways anthology focused... Read more

October 17, 2017 News

Kendrick Lamar Details What Saved Him From The Streets Of Compton

Kendrick Lamar credits discovering Malcolm X as a teen and a 100% commitment to his music as the two things that saved him from the streets of Compton, in an interview with Touré for VICE's i-D, published today (October 16). “[Malcolm X’s] ideas rooted my approach to music,” says the... Read more

October 16, 2017 Fresh

DOOM & Westside Gunn Sting With Bars On Alchemist Production (Audio)

Following Eminem's show-stopping, highly-political cypher which aired less than 24 hours ago, one of his latest Shady artists (Westside Gunn) refuses to let the party stop. Everything is muted, quiet like a beautiful, twisted lullaby on “2Stings,” the most recent single from the forthcoming WestsideDOOM (DOOM and Gunn) collaboration, produced... Read more

October 11, 2017 Audio

Ghostface Killah Is Launching His Own Currency To Bring Digital C.R.E.A.M. To The Masses

Throughout his career, Ghostface Killah has rapped about getting the money, these days he is launching a new (crypto) currency, via a new business, Cream Capital. The company name borrows from the Wu-Tang classic, "C.R.E.A.M." (“Cash Rules Everything Around Me”). Only this time, the business name substitutes “crypto” for “cash.”... Read more

October 6, 2017 News

Blu & Exile’s “Below The Heavens” Outtakes Are Better Than Many MCs’ Rap Caviar (Audio)

Ten years ago, Blu & Exile released their expansive slice of California dreaming, Below the Heavens. Now, in a kind of Hip-Hop Star Wars move, the Los Angeles duo is offering up a prequel to the 2007 classic album, called In the Beginning: Before the Heavens. Blu & Exile Share... Read more

October 4, 2017 Audio

M.O.P.’s Fame & Heltah Skeltah’s Rock Join A Band For A Menacing Beastie Boys Cover (Video)

On his landmark album 1999 Black on Both Sides, Mos Def (nka Yasiin Bey) staked the claim for “Rock n Roll” being Black Music. “Elvis Presley ain’t got no soul,” he declared, but Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Albert King and “James Brown like to rock and roll.” To close, Mos shouted... Read more

September 29, 2017 The Bridge, Video

Saukrates & Kardinal Offishall Share Their Views On Being The Original 6 Gods (Audio)

Veteran MC/producer, Saukrates was born in Ottawa, but since 1986, he's claimed Toronto as his home. Saukrates has run alongside some of Hip-Hop’s best-known figures from the U.S since the 1990s. He produced for Nas on God’s Son, has guested on countless Redman records, and was also signed to Def... Read more

September 29, 2017 Audio, Exclusive

DOOM & Westside Gunn Are The Bad Guys Who Win On A Gritty New Collabo (Audio)

Few would expect that DOOM would be taking on the straight role as he does in this vaudevillian Rap High-Art wonder, “Gorilla Monsoon,” produced by Daringer and more than ably set up by the unhinged prevarications of Westside Gunn. “Ayo/Ayo” Westside Gunn repeats in his squeakiest voice ever, alluding to... Read more

September 27, 2017 Audio

Like J. Cole, Dreamville’s J.I.D. Challenges Himself With Adventures In Storytelling (Video)

For an MC who cites sugary-sweet Swedish Electronica merchants Little Dragon and R&B star D’Angelo as influences, alongside Wu-Tang Clan and Lil Uzi Vert, this melodic single from Atlanta’s J.I.D. shouldn’t surprise. But it does. The latest visual from his 2017 Dreamville Records ‘The Never Story,“Hereditary” unmasks the emotional side and... Read more

September 27, 2017 Video

O.C. & Apathy’s New Concept Album Boasts Cold Rhymes & Rugged Beats (Audio)

From Russia with love...of beats and rhymes. Two-and-a-half years after the collaborative album was announced O.C. (D.I.T.C.) and Apathy (Army Of The Pharaohs/Demigodz) release Perestroika. Evident from the first single, which premiered at Ambrosia For Heads, the Brooklyn-to-Connecticut LP plays around with the Soviet/Evil Empire theme. Titles on the record include... Read more

September 25, 2017 Audio

Rapsody Explains Why Overnight Success Is A Myth & Only The Grind Is Real (Video)

During a recent Breakfast Club interview, host Charlamagne Tha God asked Rapsody to explain one of her Laila's Wisdom lyrics: “People enjoy the car more than the drive.” Near the 24:00 mark, Rap’ unpacked the line and spoke about the disconnect some have between aspiring for success and being both patient... Read more

September 25, 2017 Video

Alchemist Dug Samples In Paris Record Stores Then Made An EP With Local MCs (Audio)

Lush, abundant, playful; these three words perfectly describe Paris L.A. Bruxelles the recent project by acclaimed producer (and MC) Alchemist. This project sees him team up with a crew of French-language rappers. DOOM & Alchemist Together Is Two Thumbs Up For Hip-Hop (Audio) Released via Red Bull Music Academy/Konbini Radio, the project... Read more

September 23, 2017 Audio