18 Search results for "chicago underground"

    The following post originally appeared on The Nommo Gathering Black Writers Collective, a Chicago-based group of writers. The group was founded by writer/activist Stephanie Gadlin, and includes a host of authors, poets, playwrights and other creatives. The post appears under the original title, “10 Reasons Why You Can’t ‘Stop the Violence’ in Black Chicago.” […]

On its list of “9 Underground Female Rappers You Need to Know About,” you’ll see familiar names like Angel Haze and Awkwafina. But among the list is BYP 100’s very own FM Supreme.

Over the next several weeks I will be writing a series on  The Ballroom Scene. Wikipedia cheapens the culture by diluting the definition, calling it a “subculture of the LGBT community involving staged competitive, drag fashion performances.” The ballroom scene is not only a new black art, but it comes with a lot more baggage […]

By Monika Estrella Negra The majority of the Black punks I have talked to were drawn to (or got lost in) the Punk scene in order to escape the rigidity and heteronormative idealism of traditional Black political organizing. This is not to infer that all Black punks identify with far leftist views, nor does it […]

by Andrew Keahey Jordan Peele is really killing it lately. First, there was the unprecedented success of his horror opus Get Out, for which he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Now, he’s been announced as the showrunner for a new, updated Twilight Zone. His next horror project, Us, will star Winston Duke and […]

Hip Hop has been under fire for its lack of substance, authenticity, and contribution to destructive behavior in the Black community for quite some time. It’s a genre that has a very short bridge between reality and what is televised by record labels. With the lavish life, glorified crimes, and advertised drug usage, is it […]

Rhymes and Reasons interviews Eve Ewing about the Hip Hop songs that changed her life: A Tribe Called Quest’s “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo,” M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” and Serengeti’s “Day by Day.”

Jacinda Bullie – a founding member of Chicago’s influential hip-hop arts and education collective, Kuumba Lynx – talks w/ R&R about the Hip Hop songs that changed her life: “Roxanne’s Revenge,” by Roxanne Shante, the lovers’ anthem “All I Need,” by Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige, and more

Rhymes and Reasons interviews Chicago emcee Vic Spencer about the Hip Hop songs that changed his life: “Bloodshed & War” by Da Youngstas ft. Mobb Deep, “Tonight’s da Night” from Redman and Kane & Abel’s “Black Jesus.”

Rhymes and Reasons interviews minster/rapper Julian “J. Kwest” DeShazier about the Hip Hop songs that changed his life: Outkast’s “13th Floor/Growing Old,” Common and Lauryn Hill’s “Retrospect for Life,” and “Triumph,” by the Wu-tang Clan

For most hip-hop heads (real and self-proclaimed), XXL Magazine is the “Holy Grail” for everything rap related. While I respect the publication’s long history of raw and unadulterated hip-hop journalism, I feel as if the 2013 Freshman list slighted some very talented and promising emcees. Each year, since 2008, XXL has released a “Top 10 […]

Rhymes and Reasons interviews U of I professor Dr. Dave Stovall about the Hip Hop songs that changed his life: Public Enemy’s anthem of resistance “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and Organized Konfusion’s space-age “Releasing Hypnotical Gases.” Check it out at BlackYouthProject.com!