Albums like To Pimp a Butterfly and 1999 blend jazz harmonies with sharp lyricism, proving the genre’s deep connection. Hip-hop may keep evolving, but funk and jazz remain its heartbeat, fueling its ...

When Calvin Harris released the first Funk Wav Bounces in 2017, that album felt groundbreaking. By attaching ostensibly hardcore rappers such as Schoolboy Q and Young Thug to glittering, post-disco ...

As it celebrates its 50th birthday, we are mapping hip-hop's story on a local level, with more than a dozen city-specific histories of the music and culture. Click here to see the entire list. If you ...

There is no doubt that George Clinton is the man who helped pave the way for funk artists, serving as the embodiment of funk music. His career, which has stretched over half a century (including his ...

I need to focus on hip-hop and focus on making the music, so that when the activists come to me and they need my voice to create a platform, then I've got enough people listening to me. Not because ...

When SETI X—the San Francisco-based emcee and recipient of the Pharrell Williams-backed J Dilla Music Tech Grant—told me about a small brick-and-mortar he co-owned with Delrokz, a turntablist and ...

As hip-hop evolves through time while sampling its own past, how do new audience members learn its history? Is there a correct way to learn about hip-hop?

City Cat Radio, the weekly radio program of Oakland’s own DJ/Producer/Engineer DJ HENROC, is designed to celebrate plain old good music including Soul, Roots, Reggae, Dancehall, Soca, Afro Beat, Funk, ...

Dive into the texts that capture the genre’s evolution—from street cyphers and style revolutions to political expression and Black culture.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of XXL Magazine featuring our 2015 XXL Freshman Class. Check out everything from our Freshman issue right here. For true hip-hop ...

Unlike its New York origin story, no one can really say exactly when hip-hop hit the West Coast. But when it did, Alonzo Williams was there. Known as the “godfather” of West Coast hip hop, Williams ...