The best rap beats are nerdy as hell. Every drum placement, every melody, every chopped-up sample sends me down a YouTube rabbit hole trying to piece together the way a producer contorts and dissects ...

You could argue that today’s music fans are spoiled beyond previous generations’ wildest imaginations. Back in the Nineties and even the early 2000s, the level of insight audiences had into their ...

Hip-hop has always been quick to turn new technology into something creative. The turntable became an instrument. Drum machines helped define entire eras. Sampling gave producers a way to take ...

There was a time when artists representing two of America’s biggest homegrown musical genres wouldn’t get a look in at the Grammys. At this year’s awards, taking place on Feb. 2, hip-hop and house ...