A (Not Especially) Brief History of Best New Artist Eligibility

The Grammys are one of music’s biggest conversation starters, about who is nominated, who isn’t, what the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) got right but more often what they got wrong. So it’s not surprising that the…

Hip Hop Roundup: Unpacking the XXL Freshman List

The XXL Freshman List is an interesting entity for many different reasons, There’s a lot of subplots embedded inside the main narrative of predicting who’s going to experience longevity in the future. Oftentimes, these subplots are much more interesting than…

The Hip Hop Roundup: Polo G Live In the Flesh

Album of the week: Polo G – The G.O.A.T. Part of hip hop’s appeal is the competition aspect; the battles, the boasts, the countless debates about who’s the best in the game. The 21st century (Twitter especially) has become a…

Hip Hop Roundup: Bomethius, Polo G, Jean Deax, and More

Album of the week: Bomethius – Inadiquit https://bomethius.bandcamp.com/album/inadiquit I’m breaking the rules this week to highlight one of my favorite albums anyone has sent me this year. Jonathan Hodges is a multi-instrumentalist from Dallas, Texas who just released a nine-song…

The Hip Hop Roundup: New Tracks from Shootergang Kony, Navy Blue, and more

Since it first came into fruition back in the summer of 2019, the hip hop roundup has done its best to keep up with music’s diversified landscape. My daily exploration through YouTube, Soundcloud and Datpiff, has lead me to oddball…

The Hip Hop Roundup: The Kanye West Saga is Aggravating

I don’t know why I still give this guy attention. Maybe it’s because I root for people to succeed. Maybe it’s because I want more great albums to come out of the G.O.O.D. Music camp (a very talented bunch). Or,…