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
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, 
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 
Independent hip-hop is no longer split between "backpack" and "street." In 2011, the underground defies categorization, and artists like Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar (both from the Black Hippy crew) or Mellowhype (from Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) balance an unapologetic street ethos with a taste for complex sounds and themes. Even Sole, who helped create the modern indie-rap landscape with early '00s albums like 
The year 1983 must have been a crazy time to be a black teenager. 
Click here to listen to 
Welcome to the final installment of 
Perhaps the best thing about 
Odd Future leader 
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 
A blog post about the lyrical evolution of the 
Let's face it: Aubrey 
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 
Rap videos were mad fun in 1988. Remember all the crazy cameos in 
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.
With 2010 defined by the emcee and his crossover ambitions, from 
There's something in the air these days. Could it be the changing leaves of fall? The excitement of October baseball? No wait, we've got it -- widespread global freakout! With the election around the corner and international markets in the dumps, change is coming whether we're ready or not. Music has always had something to say about times like these, so we figured we'd round up 20 classic political albums in the hopes of stimulating debate. Because it's not like you've got anything else to worry about, right?
The end of summer and beginning of fall could be described as "waiting for 
Here are a few impressions of the latest hip-hop hits.
The mythical emcee is usually an egoist, often claiming credit for constructing a song himself (even though "ghostwriters" and others contribute lyrics more often than the public realizes) and relegating the producer to the background (even though producers not only create the beat, but sometimes the arrangements and even the hooks) and engineers to the liner notes (even though engineers often play a crucial role in the sound and vibe of an album). It's no surprise that, as hip-hop has become big business, classic groups of the '80s and '90s like 
As the fall season rapidly approaches, the Internet and radio stations alike are swelling with new singles by the record labels' biggest priorities. However, summer proved unexpectedly bounteous, yielding platinum albums from Drake and Eminem as well as critically acclaimed hits from the Roots and Drake. Kanye West, Soulja Boy Tell' Em and, uh, New Boyz have much to live up to.
Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, 
You're forgiven for believing that 
"Black music is black music, and it's all good," 
We've reached the midway point of 2010, and all seems right in the hip-hop world. After much worrying, we finally have a legitimate candidate for rap album of the year (
Hip-hop and R&B share a history fraught with musical romance and cultural tension. Though there have been successful marriages — 
It's only been a year and some change since 
"
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