From MPCs to FL Studio sessions, one thing remains consistent across generations of Hip Hop and R&B: The power of the sample. With that said, few eras have been mined more heavily than the 1980s. With ...

The Rink, in Bergenfield, may not be the mean streets of L.A., or a burnt-out block in the Bronx. But here, too, hip-hop happened. "It was just a general rink, a skating rink, but everybody wanted to ...

For rapper Killer Mike, the ’80s was the most impactful decade of sound. Sitting down with SPIN and Bose as part of our Decades of Sound collaboration, Killer Mike shares his thoughts on the eclectic ...

Top ‘80s songs include entries from across the musical spectrum. Throughout 1980s there was a renaissance occurring within music, one which stretched throughout all genres be it pop, rock, country, ...

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At various points in my previous articles, I have at least pointed to the fact that I, having been born in the 2000s, had to learn about hip-hop out of order, at least compared to those who had been ...

Hip-hop's origins are often summed up with the phrase “making something out of nothing,” though it may be more accurate to say hip-hop was makeshift out of necessity. In the socioeconomic context of ...

Since the mid-1980s when hip-hop fully entered the popular culture, filmmakers have been including dope beats and great rhymes in the soundtracks of their movies, creating some of the best soundtracks ...

This year, the world is celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, one of the most significant cultural movements of the 20th century. Although there’s no exact date for the birth of hip-hop — and ...

Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history. n 1990, three years before she asked the world “Who you callin’ a bitch?” on her breakout ...