These days, urban music can encompass dance pop, quiet-storm soul, and hardcore hip-hop, from Rihanna to Charlie Wilson, from Jill Scott to Lil Wayne in "How to Love" mode. This would all be confusing, except for one thing: You know an R&B track when you hear it. That's why our Urban Hits station mixes tracks from genre queens Beyoncé and Mary J Blige with adult-contemporary goddess Adele and rap heroine Nicki Minaj. All of them contribute to our current understanding of R&B as less of a fixed genre (or a fixed race) than an aesthetic. It's a style of music with deep roots in soul and an appreciation of pop music's boundless creativity. Most importantly, it retains the ability to speak to a wide international audience. So don't be surprised if you hear Rick Ross' "Aston Martin Music" after Trey Songz "Bottoms Up." This is the sound of R&B in 2011.Listen Now: Urban Hits
It's nearing the end of the year, and there's no shortage of rappers trying to squeeze in an album for holiday shoppers. The big releases this month come from Drake, Wale, Gym Class Heroes and, surprisingly, Mac Miller. December brings The Roots, Common, and Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa. However, there are plenty of lower-profile albums worth a listen, too; so many, in fact, that I couldn't squeeze them in. I compiled a list of them at the end of this roundup.
Every rap season has that one rapper whose mere voice ensures radio airplay and paid downloads. Over the past 12 months, that artist has been 
On the cover of his second album, 
When 
Dwight "
There was once a time when Americans treated the idea of British rappers as a joke. How could the English, with their funny accents and halting rhymes, approach the dexterity and rhythm of quality hip-hop music? Those days ended with the classic 1997 compilation 
This year's major-label rap seems to lack ambition. From potentially groundbreaking Internet stars forced into awkward compromises (J Cole and Big Sean) and classic mixtapes gutted and truncated for retail release (Big K.R.I.T.'s R4 the Prequel) to imitations of past glories (see Jay-Z and Kanye West), the 2011 slate has been underwhelming so far. Perhaps that's why I've spent more time listening to indie rap records — or at least what's nominally considered "indie" — and mixtapes. They may not necessarily be better, but at least they don't have the burden of living up to marketing hype.
The mixtape-to-majors trajectory, and the implicit challenges of converting underground acclaim into a sustainable career, has become part of the modern rap narrative. But it's not the only path. We've all seen how 
A pair of Technics turntable decks will cost you around $800 — maybe cheaper if you can get them used (or if you opt for a lesser brand like Numark). A DJ mixer will set you back another $300. A copy of the Turntablist's Super Duck Breaks costs around $10, and you'll need two copies. But the ability to scratch like 
With the arrival of Alice Cooper's new record, Welcome 2 My Nightmare -- a concept-album sequel to his 1975 classic 
This month's Hip-Hop Roundup brings a mixed bag of goodies, from the underground satires of Das Racist and Serengeti to the well-chronicled stadium rap of Lil Wayne and Jay-Z & Kanye West. There's not much common ground between Ace Hood and Theophilus London — one's a star on the mixtape circuit, while the other gets more name-drops on fashion blogs than rap forums. Hip-hop in 2011 encompasses so many contrasting and conflicting styles that it takes a wide palette to enjoy it all.
We all reacted to the horrible events of September 11, 2001, in our own ways — wherever we were, whatever we were doing, whichever CD or radio station or fizzy pop single we first reached for to help us cope. Here, Rhapsody's editors offer their own musical perspectives, from saber-rattling country to hopeful worship music, from pop-punk bromides to plaintive protest songs, from the momentary tentativeness of comedy to the fieriness of hip-hop to the transcendence of jazz. As Sonny Rollins put it, "Maybe music can help. I don't know, but we have to try something." Here's what we tried. 
In case you were wondering, yes, I was one of those people who would spend months perfecting a mixtape, design a collage of artwork for it, and then shyly hand over the cassette tape to some crush I mooned over in hopes that she would get my special "message." Don't front like you didn't do that, too.
Hyper-talented, mercurial, unpredictable, prolific, hedonistic, and seemingly unstoppable, 
The Video Music Awards are Sunday night! Yes, we know, MTV doesn't play videos much anymore. And chances are 
When 
So first off, welcome to the '90s! Even if it still kind of feels more like the last gasp of the '80s: hair metal is almost over but doesn't know it yet, so it's still all over MTV, with songs about cherry pie (RIP 
Back in the '80s, the world's biggest rock bands gathered together for an annual stadium festival called Monsters of Rock. Though mostly a U.K. phenomenon, an American version featuring Van Halen and Metallica toured the States in 1988. Now, with the release of Jay-Z and Kanye West's 
"Wasn't I a good king?" complains 
Bow down to Deadmau5, oh ye water-logged masses. Pics by Garrett Kamps.
Just sing, man: CeeLo does his Rock God thing. Pics by Garrett Kamps
The year 1983 must have been a crazy time to be a black teenager. 
Click here to listen to 
In an age of male vocalists who either whisper and croon, or modulate their voices with Auto-Tune and other "pitch-correcting" technology, 
Welcome to another edition of 
"Delayed gratification" is the theme of June's rap slate. Big Sean's Finally Famous has arrived long after the Detroit rapper signed to G.O.O.D. Music in 2007. Bad Meets Evil's Hell: The Sequel is a "follow-up" to an abandoned album once planned for the end of the '90s, back when 
One aspect of summer that never fails to surprise is that the year is now nearly half over: we are closer to 2011's year-end critics-poll season than we are to 2010's. You've started drafting your own Top 10 list already, right? No? You haven't? Don't panic: here, Rhapsody's genre editors each pick their five favorite records of the year so far. How many will survive until November? Which ones will be replaced by Lil Wayne, by Beyoncé, by the soundtrack to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? Time will tell, but for now, here are our picks for the year's best, half a year early. 
Do a little dance y'all! (Like this y'all, like that y'all!) Feel the groove! (I feel it, I feel it now!) Make a little love now! (Ooh, aah, ooh ooh, aah!) This party's at the funhouse, we're rocking high-top fades, Cross Colours tees and high-top Jordans, and the sound is the New Jack Swing.
For weeks now, hip-hop has been dominated by 
Odd Future leader 
The dust has yet to settle on the indie-rap renaissance of the late '90s, with critics and fans fiercely divided on which albums constitute classics. One title they agree on is 
Before we begin, please note that this isn't a collection of comedic rap songs, so you won't find any material from some of the genre's greatest humorists, such as 
We must admit that Tuesday is our favorite day of the week here at Rhapsody: that's when new releases come out. Thankfully, the next three months of Tuesdays look absolutely glorious, full of fresh music from ukulele-brandishing rockers, electronic pioneers, strident country hit makers, unabashed pop divas, unrepentant metalheads, CCM luminaries, contenders for Best Rapper Alive honors, soul superstars and, of course, Lady Gaga. Here's the best of what's to come.
A blog post about the lyrical evolution of the 
Let's face it: Aubrey 
For the uninitiated, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a sprawling, three-day musical festival held in California's Inland Empire, not far from the mythical Palm Springs. It's a uniquely Californian event: a blend of hip modern music, green culture and, as scholar Erik Davis would put it, "creative hedonism" — all-night party camping, neon hula hoops, sweaty drum circles, freaky light installations, dreadlocks, etc.
Initially formed in Minneapolis in 1994 as an outlet for cassette-only recordings, Rhymesayers have grown from a modest rap collective to perhaps the biggest indie rap label in the country (albeit distributed by Warner Bros.' Independent Label Group). In some ways, Rhymesayers earned that distinction just by being the last brand name standing because the indie rap scene is a shell of its former turn-of-the-century glory. But its roster of multiracial musical revolutionaries, from albino Muslim Brother Ali to crustcore emcee P.O.S., have loyal audiences, too. In 2008, flagship artist Atmosphere saw their 
What do belching brass lines and thrashing guitar licks have in common? How about jovial Balkan wedding bands and drunken, debauched N.Y.C. punks? Well, actually, quite a lot (and not all of it has to do with Eugene Hutz, Elijah Wood or Borat). 
Talk about "Hands on a Hard Body": for a certain species of auto-shop student, back in 1995, tricked-out rides were raised to the level of an art form. And while all kinds of hip-hop fueled their subwoofers, surely the most potent strain was G-funk, with its slinky leads and suggestive bounce, rolling and purring like an El Dorado.
What is the cost of forgiveness? 
Just as the East Coast hip-hop industry experienced its renaissance in the mid-'90s, so did the South's. The latter wasn't a musical revolution, at least in terms of beats. Southern artists still took their cues from the West Coast and producers like 
Nathaniel Dwayne "
Rap rock hasn't changed much since 
The rap season has begun to heat up with this week's arrival of Raekwon and Lupe Fiasco's new albums. But the previous two months brought a handful of solid fare, too, from Saigon, Joell Ortiz and Slaughterhouse. Check out our Roundup for a sampler of the latest hip-hop discs.
Last year, I 
Rap videos were mad fun in 1988. Remember all the crazy cameos in 
Released in late 1993, 
The world of rap music can be expansive and reductive at once. We tend to talk about the same handful of artists and albums, swapping out names according to their buzz at the moment. But the fact is that hundreds of rap albums get released during a calendar year. Some deserve to get ignored, but many undeservedly fall through the cracks.
Remember the '90s, when production giants like 
So here we are, a few short weeks into 2011, and the new year, baby that it is, is already strutting its stuff and looking rather fabulous. Musically speaking, we're starting the year off with some very hot new singles off some very hotly anticipated upcoming albums by some very big, very bold-faced and, uh, well, very hot names. So we've devoted this edition of single-phile to providing you, dear pop fan, with a little guide to the year (so far) in hot! new! singles!, including our 25-words-or-less summaries and predictions for whether or not the song will last through 2011's middle age.
Last year, Otis "
The rap world will find it hard to top 2010, a year where B.o.B., 
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