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What Jay-Z and Glenn Beck Have in Common

Rap and right-wing talk radio are more similar than you might think

(Newser) - After listening to hours of Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin on the radio while driving the Nebraska countryside, a peculiar thought occurred to David Segal: conservative talk-show hosts are surprisingly similar to gangsta rappers, he writes for the New York Times. Consider the parallels:
  • Huge egos. Both groups
...

Rapper Who Posted Murder Lyrics Busted in 4 Killings

'I hate everybody,' says aspiring horrorcore singer 'Syko Sam'

(Newser) - An aspiring California "horrorcore" rapper who posted songs about killing on his MySpace page is being held as a suspect in the murder of four people, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 20, was arrested as he awaited a flight back home from Virginia, where the...

'Midwest Diva' Aims to Be Next Britney

'I think I can take this all the way to Hollywood,' says Web sensation Leslie Hall

(Newser) - She’s a size 16, loves plastic-jewel-encrusted sweaters, lives with her parents, and marries gay couples in her spare time—but Leslie Hall, a white rapper from Iowa, sees herself as a peer of  “Britney, Rihanna, Beyoncé, we’re all doing the same thing,” she tells CNN. Hall...

How 50 Cent Built His Empire
 How 50 Cent Built His Empire 
Sep 17, 2009 11:44 AM CDT

How 50 Cent Built His Empire

Rapper made it to $150 million thanks to business tactics, not musical talent

(Newser) - Believe it or not, it might do you good to take some business advice from shot-nine-times rapper 50 Cent. After all, it was business savvy more than rap music that helped build his $150 million empire. Business Insider takes a look at how he did it:
  • His endorsement with Vitamin
...

Kid Cudi's Debut 'Ridiculously Intriguing'
 Kid Cudi's Debut 
 'Ridiculously 
 Intriguing' 
music review
Sep 15, 2009 1:42 PM CDT

Kid Cudi's Debut 'Ridiculously Intriguing'

Rap's up-and-coming name follows in the footsteps of Kanye West, Andre 3000

(Newser) - The premise of Kanye West protégé Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of the Day is that he’s “not on the same planet as other rappers. The truth is that he’s not in the same genre,” writes Julian Benbow for the Boston ...

Once-Homeless Rapper Wins Prestigious UK Prize

Speech Debelle is first woman to win Mercury in 7 years

(Newser) - Years of living in hostels and on the streets of London proved, at long last, a winning combination for rapper Speech Debelle, who today was awarded Britain’s prestigious Mercury music prize, the Guardian reports. Speech Therapy, the debut album by the 26-year-old (real name Corynne Elliot), represents a “...

Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 Splits Critics
 Jay-Z's  
 Blueprint 3 
 Splits 
 Critics 

MUSIC REVIEW
Sep 8, 2009 6:33 PM CDT

Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 Splits Critics

(Newser) - Jay-Z's new Blueprint 3 seems to have critics divided. Some see flashes of brilliance showing the rap veteran at his best, while others see a mediocre effort that relies too much on celebrity.
  • Jay-Z sounds "hungrier than he has in years on about half the tracks, while sharing time
...

Jay-Z at Work on 'Experimental' Album

Says it will be his most eclectic

(Newser) - Jay-Z's new album, Blueprint 3, doesn't drop until next week, but he's already looking ahead to the next one. The rapper, also known as Shawn Carter, tells MTV he's working on his most eclectic album yet. "It's not gonna be a No. 1 album," he says. "That's...

Jay-Z to Oprah: Drug Dealing Was 'Natural'

Says his generation 'disarmed' the N-word

(Newser) - Becoming a teen drug dealer was “natural” for Jay-Z, and it didn’t scare him a bit, given his environment in the projects, he tells Oprah in her O Magazine. “At some point, you become addicted to the feeling. The uncertainty and adrenaline and danger of that lifestyle,...

Portman Loves 'Dirty Rap'
 Portman Loves 
 'Dirty Rap' 
Aug 28, 2009 10:35 AM CDT

Portman Loves 'Dirty Rap'

The word 'dick' just makes Natalie giggle

(Newser) - Among the confessions Natalie Portman makes to interviewer—and co-star—Jake Gyllenhaal in Interview: She was scared of Smurfs, is obsessed with Carvel ice cream cake, and loves “really, really obscene hip-hop,” she says. “I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes...

Limbaugh: Jay-Z Diss 'Means I Made It'

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh says he’s finally an A-lister, the Huffington Post reports, after being name-checked by Jay-Z in a track leaked recently off the rapper’s forthcoming The Blueprint 3 album. “Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls, it’s 2010 not 1864,” goes the lyric from...

Vixen Author Embraces Her Inner Betty Crocker

And, surprisingly, some would benefit from listening to her

(Newser) - Karrine Steffans has had drama-riddled relationships with famous rappers and celebs such as Mike Tyson and Bill Maher. Her “relationships have been major public train wrecks,” writes Jo Piazza for DoubleX, from allegations of abuse at the hands of Tyson to her suicide attempt following her breakup with...

Drake Rising Fast in Music World

Lil Wayne signs Canadian actor-turned-rapper to big deal

(Newser) - Drake isn’t your typical rapper. Not long ago, the 22-year-old biracial Canadian was playing a parapalegic teen on the Canadian drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. But two well-received mixtapes and some music videos later, he’s signed a monster $2 million deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money label,...

New Generation of UK Rappers Steps Out

Kids are coming out of the woodwork earlier to become Internet sensations

(Newser) - Grime—a musical genre fusing, among other things, hip-hop, electronica, and Caribbean influences—is being rejuvenated and redefined by “youngers,” the new generation of Internet-savvy MCs reaching for the charts, the Independent reports. “The ‘olders’ grew up listening to rap and hip-hop and other artists from...

Hip-Hop's Next Big Thing 'Fine, Fresh, Serious'

Sure, her life wasn't all hard, but don't write her off as a rapper

(Newser) - “Even in a ‘post-race’ world, street sells,” writes Amy Granzin for Pitchfork. That would explain why some looked at Speech Debelle—the once-homeless UK rapper turned Mercury Prize nominee and "hip-hop's next big thing"—and spun “a tiny bit of flash into blinding bling....

'No Homo' Makes Hip-Hop Less Homophobic

(Newser) - Kanye West was one of the first rappers to say, “Yo, stop it” to homophobic hip-hop artists, and his stance on homosexuality “remains the highest-profile rebuke of gay-bashing that hip-hop has seen,” writes Jonah Weiner for Slate. So why did West use the anti-gay hip-hop phrase “...

Gangsta Rap Has Nothing on Filthy Blues of Old

(Newser) - Some complain about the explicit lyrics in rap, but modern MCs have nothing on early-20th-century blues singers. Compared to them, “the members of NWA are levelheaded concerned citizens,” says Cracked. A sampling:
  • "A to Z Blues," Blind Willie McTell, 1956: "I'm gonna cut A, B,
...

In LA, You're Never Too Old to Rap

Seniors learn to love the music in unusual class

(Newser) - A new crop of rappers is emerging in Los Angeles, and they have one thing in common: They’re senior citizens. Hip-hop artist Keith Cross started his unorthodox rap class in 2004 to show seniors “there is positive rap out there; we just have to look for it,”...

New Eminem Song Disses Carey, Cannon

(Newser) - Eminem reboots his beef with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon in a new song, claiming to have slept with Carey and boasting that he has “pictures” of the singer, Access Hollywood reports. “You probably think since it’s been so long, if I had something on you I...

Ghostface on New Album: No 'Slinging Crack' in R&B

Rapper will still be in the game when he's 70, he says

(Newser) - Ghostface Killah is one of today’s most critically acclaimed rappers, and he doesn’t plan on quitting any time soon: “I’ma definitely be old in hip-hop. This is a mental thing. You can write music till you 70,” he tells New York. His new album, Wizard ...

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