100 Hip Hop Articles, Essays, & Write-ups

100 Hip Hop Articles, Essays, & Write-ups

In preparation for Sunland #5: a chat about the state and legacy of hip hop from a Northern Nevada perspective, below is a HUGE compilation of recent articles, essays and write-ups that explore the major force that is hip hop, from various social, political, & cultural standpoints. If we’re missing some good ones, post em in the comments and we’ll add!

AWARD SHOWS
Why do the Grammys Suck? (Complex)
The Grammys Biggest Hip Hop Snubs & Errors (Complex)
Hip Hop History at the Academy Awards (XXL Magazine)
The Assimilation of Hip Hop at the Oscars (BET)
Grammys Highlight Fear of Possible White Washed Hip Hop Dystopia (Boston Globe)

PRIVILEGE / CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
Iggy Azalea / Azealia Banks: Hip Hop’s Appropriation Problem (The Guardian)
Iggy Azealia’s Post Racial Mess: America’s Oldest Race Tale Remixed (Salon)
From Miley to Macklemore: The Privilege Spectrum (Hip Hop and Politics)
Can’t Blame Bad Hip Hop on White Artists (Medium)
Cultural Appropriation in Music: Hip Hop and Pop (Complex)
Macklemore and Iggy and the Emergence of White Hip Hop (Seattle Times)
Q Tip gives Iggy Azalea Lessons on Twitter (Vibe)

HIP HOP & FASHION
Hip Hop History Told Through Pants (i-D)
Does Hip Hop’s Obsession with Fashion Mean it’s Losing it’s Connection to the Streets (i-D)
Hip Hop Fashion and Style (NY Times)
20 Ways Hip Hop Style was Different 20 Years Ago (Complex)
Defunct Rapper Clothing Lines (Complex)
25 Best Dressed Crews in Hip Hop History (Complex)
Kanye West Causes Spike in Male Enrollment in Fashion (Complex)
The Birth of Hip Hop Fashion (Wax Poetics)
Jay Z’s and Barney’s: The Shop and Frisk Problem (New Yorker)

RADIO
A Hip Hop Pioneer on Radio Reaches a Crossroads (New York Times)
Hot 97 vs. Power 1051: The Battle of NY Hip Hop Stations (The Guardian)

WOMEN IN HIP HOP
Nicki Minaj’s Feminism Isn’t About Your Comfort Zone (Autostraddle)
Women in Hip Hop (i-D)
What Hip Hop Taught Me About Feminism (Racked)
31 Female Rappers that Changed Hip Hop (Billboard)
Where Did All the Female Rappers Go? (NPR)
Can you be a Feminist and Listen to Misogynist Music? (Bustle)
Solidarity is for Miley Cyrus (Jezebel)
Nicki Minaj Backlash Highlights Hip Hops Hypocrisy (Rolling Out)
MCA’s Feminist Legacy (The Nation)
Is ‘Yeezus’ the Tipping Point for Rap Misogyny? (Spin)
Nicki Minaj and Sexism in Hip Hop (The Artifice)
MC Lite and the State of Sexism in Hip Hop (The Grammys)
Sexism, Hip Hop and Misogyny (NPR)
One Womanist’s Outlook (Huffington Post)
The 50 Best Rap Songs by Women (Complex)
13 Times Hip Hop Taught Men to Respect Women (The Mic)
Director Rips Hip Hop Sexism and Homophobia in New Doc (MTV)

IN COURT
America’s Hip Hop Travesty: How Rap Lyrics are Being Used in Court to Police Black Speech (Salon)
How Jay Z Beat the Music Trolls and Helped Save the Art of Hip Hop Sampling (Qz)
Rap Lyrics on Trial (The Root)
The Prosecution of Rap (CNN)
Poetic (In)justice (USA Today)
Rap Lyrics as Evidence (Vice)
A State Court Says Rap Lyrics Cannot Be Used as Evidence (NPR)
The Court Case that Changed Hip Hop (From Public Enemy to Kanye) Forever (Washington Post)
Why the Rick Ross Case May Change Hip Hop (Esquire)
The 30 Biggest Criminal Trials in Rap History (Complex)
Eminem Lyrics Sited in Supreme Court Case (BET)
Rap lyrics are fiction (Vox)

COLUMNS & COMMENTARY
My Philosophy (from Seattle’s The Stranger)
Hall of Game (Pitchfork)
Ebro in the Morning
The Juice (Billboard)
Top 30 Hip Hop Blogs & Sites
Top 25 Hip Hop Writers on Twitter (Respect Mag)

QUESTLOVE ESSAYS
A series of essays for Vulture Magazine that look at hip-hop’s recent past, think about its distant past, and wonder about the possibility of a future.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

HIP HOP IN THE MAINSTREAM
What Empire Gets Wrong About Hip Hop (Rolling Stone)
Why We Can’t Stop Watching Empire (NY Times)
Talib Kweli on Mainstream Hip Hop, Parenting & Honoring the Old School (NPR)
Russell Simmons is Ready to Bring Rap to Broadway (Rolling Stone)
Russell Simmons Plans Musical on Early Days of Hip Hop (NY Times)
6 Awful Slang Terms that are Way Older than Rap (Cracked)
The 50 Greatest Rap Commercials (Complex)
The 20 Most Embarrassing Sell Outs in Hip Hop History (Hip Hop Site)
How Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys Brought Hip Hop to Suburbia (GOOD Magazine)
Why White Kids Love Hip Hop (NPR)
Nipsey Hussle vs. Complex: A Look at Hip Hop Media in 2013 (Complex)
We Need Her: Missy Elliot at the Super Bowl (NPR)

LGBTQ
We Invented Swag (Pitchfork)
Hip Hop Goes for Gay Marriage (Salon)
15 Queer Female Hip Hop Artists You Should Know (Autostraddle)
Zebra Katz and the Rise of Gay Rappers (The Guardian)
Why 2013 was Hip Hop’s “F—-” Spring (Gawker)
A Timeline of Hip Hop Homophobia (The Advocate)
History of Rappers Not Being Homophobic (Complex)
7 Lies About LGBT Musicians We Need to Stop Telling Immediately (The Mic)
Too Gay For Hip Hop? Le1f takes on Traditionally Homophobic Genre (Daily Beast)
The Making of Macklemore and the Same Love Anthem (Out)
Why “Same Love” Doesn’t Speak for the LGBT Community (Flavorwire)
Race+Hip Hop+LGBT Equality: On Macklemore’s White Straight Privilege (Racialicious)
Gay Rap Becomes a Reality (The Guardian)
11 Rappers that Support LGBT Equality (XXL)
As a Lesbian in Hip Hop, I’m Living Empire (The Advocate)
5 Gay Rappers who are “Better Than Everybody” (Queerty)

THEN & NOW
Is Hip Hop Entering a New Golden Age of Cinema? (The Guardian)
Israeli hip-hop, a political tool for a divided country (The Guardian)
Slick Rick: A Hip Hop Pioneer Still Has Stories to Tell (NY Times)
The A-Z of Hip Hop (i-D)
How Hip Hop Got its Political Voice Back (i-D)
In Defense of Kanye’s Vanity: The Politics of Black Self Love (Buzzfeed)
Why Tupac is Needed More Today Than Ever (Salon)
The Education of Hip Hop (The Atlantic)
90s Rap in the Rearview: An Introduction (AV Club)
50 Greatest New York Hip Hop Artists (Time Out)
Hip Hop’s Socially Conscious Side (LA Times)
40 Biggest Hip Hop Moments in Pop Culture History (Complex)
How Kendrick Lamar Transformed into the “John Coltrane of Hip Hop” (Billboard)
Hip Hop Moves as a Strong Force for Michael Brown (Billboard)
How Hip Hop Reacted to the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision (Complex)
XXL Magazine’s Best Hip Hop Instagrams of the Day
Hip Hop’s Top Tier Goes Silent on Ferguson (Buzzfeed)
10 Reasons Talib Kweli is Going to Ferguson (XXL)
Notes on the Hip Hop Messiah (NY Times)
On Kendrick Lamar and Black Humanity (Pitchfork)