Hip-hop’s most thoughtful MC goes by a new name—Yasiin Bey. But what’s really evolved is his style: a genre-crashing, bohemian mix of influences from Savile Row to Michael Jackson Mos Def may have ...

Now, more than ever, hip-hop seems to be on a divergent path: Half its practitioners are thugging and mugging, while others—led by The Roots and OutKast—opt for the high road by adding actual ...

The last few years have witnessed the transformation of Brooklyn rapper Mos Def from underground icon to overground star, thanks to 1998's "Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star" and "Black on Both ...

A quarter century since Black On Both Sides, Stevie Chick dives deep into a savage display of talent from a young artist ready to take it all on, and reflects on the dispersed promise of what was ...

Chess Records has long been overshadowed by two other legendary black music labels, Motown and Stacks. But it's now getting its time in the spotlight with the new film called "Cadillac Records." The ...