rap

Shaquille O’Neal retired from the NBA 13 years ago, but he’s never lost his competitive spirit. When he’s asked about becoming the second player in NBA history to have three retired jerseys, he asks, “Who’s first?” When he speaks about coming back to the hip-hop music scene, he commands: “I have to make sure they say, ‘Shaq is the best rapper/athlete ever.’” His competitive nature is also the reason why he’s returning with his wild and epic pre-Super Bowl party Shaq’s Fun House, which is in its…

For Issa Rae, music has always been an extra cast member on the call sheet. The nine-time Emmy nominee has used music as a storytelling tool, extending the voices of her complex and comedic characters — from the groundbreaking series Insecure and to her current adventure Rap Sh!t to the web series that launched her career, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. “Music elevates the storytelling of everything. I write to music, you can have a scene that plays out great but music will add that…

Prada, a gimmicky but effective dance remix of D-Block Europe’s Ferrari Horses, has bounced around the Top 10 since last summer. It’s a show of the south London duo’s confidence in their status as the most successful UK rap group ever (nine Top 20 albums or mixtapes and 28 Top 40 singles in just five years) that Prada is neither copied nor included on Rolling Stone. Instead, tracks such as Eagle, Lady in Hermes and I Need It Now reassert their predilection for spare, almost soporific numbness, with more gleaming melodies…

The Sims franchise has consistently been one of the most progressive in games. The first entry in the series, The Sims, was among the first video games to ever present same-sex relationships--particularly in a way in which players would play an active role within them. In recent years, The Sims 4 has repeatedly made headlines for its free updates which have included robust gender customization, a greater variety of skin tones, and most recently, the ability to give your sims fully customizable pronouns.…

Looking ahead at what's shaping up to be a major year in hip-hop With the new year comes a fresh calendar of new releases. After a somewhat quiet 2023, some of rap’s biggest names and hottest upcoming talent are poised to drop in 2024. Listeners who lamented last year’s paltry offering of blockbuster rap albums will be comforted to know that this year is already shaping up to be a major one. Artists like Playboi Carti, who appears to be shaking off the mysterious lore in favor…

Legendary mixtape platform DatPiff has uploaded the entirety of its over 366,420-project catalog to the internet archive. Last March, the service which calls itself “The Authority In Mixtapes” experienced a server crash that put their canonical library of free music in peril. A month later, the site relaunched with a page announcing plans for “evolving beyond our website and app” to “continue to make the library accessible!” And now, almost a year later, their 50 TB cache of mixtapes and free albums from the likes of…

Racking up 5bn global streams and selling out Alexandra Palace twice, Lewisham duo D-Block Europe’s formula has been wildly successful: a catchy combination of saccharine Auto-Tune effects, x-rated bars, melancholic trap beats and woozy hooks about drug dealing. Yet on their third studio album, Young Adz and Dirtbike LB’s formula reaches its limitations.D-Block Europe Rolling Stone album artwork.Outside starts promisingly, with a striking spoken-word intro about staving off suicidal thoughts. But it quickly descends into…

Image: HasbroTen years ago, Hasbro announced something akin to a disturbance in the Force—and Star Wars toy fans’ wallets: The Black Series, a brand new line that would bump the iconic heroes and villains of the galaxy far, far away up to 6" scale for the first time (and away from the 3.75" scale Star Wars changed the game with).Since then, countless characters from movies, games, comics, streaming shows, and more have made their way onto our desks and shelves—classic heroes like Han, Luke, and Leia; all-new ones still…

Ariana DeBose has opened up about a health scare she suffered before performing her rap at the Baftas earlier this year.The Oscar-winning actor, 32, spoke about the viral moment as she appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show on Christmas Eve.During February's ceremony, DeBose performed a rendition of the Eurythmics hit “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” and namechecked female stars in the audience in a rap."I kind of was but I'm a theatre kid, the show must go on," she told Ross."I didn't have the heart to back out. I'd…

Stephen Colbert bravely allowed Nicki Minaj to change her song lyrics to be about him during an appearance on The Late Show in 2018 and he’s now the subject of a new tune. During an interview on the late-night show, Minaj offered Colbert a new opportunity to battle rap her. In the clip, Colbert queried Minaj about her new album, Pink Friday 2, and its setting Gag City. After asking her if there were any songs she left on the table, host started pounding his desk. “Did you learn how to make a beat?” Minaj asked.…