Earlier in the year, a clip of Jeopardy's Alex Trebek reciting lyrics from Biggie, Dr. Dre, The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy provided a minute and change of comic relief. Apparently, the show's producers have a dark sense of humor because they've once again given him a Rap category, forcing... Read more

Whether you're a '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s baby, Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" means something to you. The Electro-Soul groove is a hit in its own right, before becoming the basis of The Notorious B.I.G.'s breakthrough hit almost of the same name. Red Bull Music Academy sat with James Mtume, the... Read more

Last month, Jon Connor launched his #BestInTheWorld campaign paying tribute to another Midwestern MC in a Kanye West-inspired tape. Flint, Michigan's newest Rap hopeful continues the theme, turning his aim on The Notorious B.I.G.'s catalog. Overtop beats made by DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee, and of course Puffy's Hitmen, #ConnorSeason... Read more

Much has been written, speculated, and sadly, testified in the rift between Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records in the mid-to-late 1990s. While Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. were once friends and collaborators, Heads often fail to realize that prior to the 1995 Source Awards, things were not... Read more

It could be easily argued that the 1990s was the ultimate decade for mixtapes. Still on cassettes, New York masters like Kid Capri, Doo Wop, Tony Touch, DJ Clue, Ron G, Silva Surfa, Green Lantern, and a host of others competed with each other for the best exclusives, freestyles, strongest... Read more

DJ J. Period is among the absolute best deejays doing it right now. When he's not providing the sounds for the Brooklyn Nets, the longtime affiliate to Zion I, Black Thought, and Common makes conceptual, fully-produced mixtapes (often released in clever formats like t-shirts, zip drives, etc.) that honor the... Read more

This is a week for the Heads that love to read. Following this week's Kanye West and Steve McQueen conversation in Interview magazine, GQ pulls out the big guns with Mister Cee in a story that's been in the works for almost four months. After the on-air discussion with HOT... Read more

This week on "Jeopardy," Hip-Hop lyrics were a trivia category. The contestants' knowledge may not impress you, but listening to famed host Alex Trebek stiffly rapping lyrics from Biggie, Dr. Dre, The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy is a hilarious way to spend a minute of your time. Is Mary... Read more

A popular argument is that Missy Elliot's one of Hip-Hop's better producers. Sadly, due to co-production (something we've seen with Daz Dillinger, Guru, Mike Dean, and others), she may live in Timbaland's shadow. One person who sees Missy's talent for what it is may be Diddy. Back in '96-'97, Bad... Read more

Yesterday, we linked you to Rolling Stone's conversation with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight. While the published interview focused on Tha Row's second release, Snoop Doggy Dogg's 1993 debut Doggystyle, which just turned 20 years old. The writer of the rare Knight interview, Paul "Gooch" Cantor, self-published the... Read more

1995 was such an interesting year in the life of The Notorious B.I.G. In the year following Ready To Die, Biggie Smalls transitioned from the Bed-Stuy rapper on the stoop kickin' it with DJ Premier, R.A. The Rugged Man, and Organized Konfusion to a mafiaso-dressing MC who wore shades, carried... Read more

Fresh off of renaming a Brooklyn park after the Beastie Boys' MCA, Hip-Hop fans are fighting that good fight to honor another late B.K. icon. Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls) grew up on Fulton Street, between St. James and Cambridge Place in Clinton Hill—you've probably heard... Read more