New York City’s history of producing seminal hip-hop artists is an illustrious one. It would be remiss of us to not call N.O.R.E., né Victor Santiago Jr., an indispensable component of that. A product of the school-to-prison pipeline, N.O.R.E. would rise to prominence as one half of the East Coast mafioso duo Capone-N-Noreaga in an era during which hip-hop was at a commercial tipping point. [speedbumplink...

Some rappers are skillful about rapping about the dangers of the underworld. And that's cool. But some of these MCs lie. And they're good at telling lies. But it's an up close and personal experience when listeners actually believe rappers who offer personal tales of the unforgiving corners. Enter Chicago native G Herbo, a honest-to-god lyricist who is refreshingly non-cliché. [speedbumplink prefix="READ:"...

Mariah Carey has always been a fan of hip-hop. Since stepping out of her comfort zone and teaming up with the late Ol' Dirty Bastard for her 1995 Daydream hit, "Fantasy", the singer-songwriter has faithfully shown love to the genre that has influenced the American pop culture we see today.