Kanye West

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By | January 01, 0001

Jay-Z + Kanye West | Watch the Throne

Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella/Roc Nation (2011)
Kanye West has recently espoused the virtues of an album of raps suitable for home listening, as opposed to say club, or car listening.
By MICHAEL C. WALSH | August 17, 2011

Coachella builds a sweaty buzz over three days in the California desert

Tough acts to follow
Coachella builds a sweaty buzz over three days in the California desert
By MICHAEL MAROTTA | April 19, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

artist: Tricia Rose, Brown University’s hip-hop scholar, discusses rap’s creative crisis

Keeping it unreal
Some 40 years in, rap is nothing less than a cultural juggernaut. But it has not lost its power to provoke.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 19, 2011

Eleven discs to listen for early 2011

James Blake, PJ Harvey, Cut Copy lead the way
James Blake, PJ Harvey, Cut Copy lead '11
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | December 29, 2010

Guest lists 2010: Phoenix critics weigh in on the year in music

What consensus?
What consensus?
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | December 21, 2010

2010: The Year In Pop Music

A schizophrenic year of rock and pop
Music may exist to express emotions, dreams, and nightmares, but beyond its loftier aims, it's a means of escape.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | December 21, 2010

Top 10 records of 2010

From button-down brainiacs to primal chic
2010 was full of riches: plenty of terrific albums came down the pike. There are more pop and rock discs I want to make note of, and maybe I'll do so next week if there's room after listing the year's Top 10 jazz titles.
By JIM MACNIE | December 22, 2010

Stocking stuffers

A grab-bag of local music for every taste
So, this does, indeed, come a week after the whole "gifts" issue, but this is traditionally the week for local music suggestions.
By SAM PFEIFLE | December 16, 2010

Kanye West | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Roc-A-Fella Records (2010)
Amid the zapping prog-lift of the vaguely Nietzschean "Power," the lead single from his fifth album and magnum opus, Kanye tosses off the casual self-platitude "Every superhero needs his theme music."
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | November 16, 2010

The Big Hurt: Kanye leaks!

Plus Brit copper busted, Bieber fuming, and Tity Boi the tits
Brit copper busted, Kanye leaking, Bieber fuming, Tity Boi the tits
By DAVID THORPE | November 09, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Transcript: The Phoenix interviews M.I.A.

In September 2004, Diplo still had to explain who M.I.A. was.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | October 06, 2010

Fall National Pop Preview: The golden age

The industry is dead, but the music lives on
Okay, so the album is dead, the music industry is dead, rock is dead, and the Library of Alexandria you have stored on your C drive has killed 150 years of recorded music culture.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 20, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Rachel Griffin's new single, New album from Steve Jones, and more

Sibilance
Portland ex-pat RACHEL GRIFFIN continues to make her way in NYC.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | August 11, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

All in the Fam

The Fameless crew spice up the underground
Halfway through my interview with the Allston-based alt-hop collective Fameless Fam about their upcoming showcase at Wonder Bar this Tuesday, Will from the posse's glitch-minded duo Time Crisis mentions that he went to high school in Pittsburgh with rising rap sensation Wiz Khalifa.
By CHRIS FARAONE | July 02, 2010

Video: The 12 acts you should've seen at Bonnaroo 2010

From the xx to Jay-Z
When I told my bosses here at the Phoenix that I was going to need some time off to attend Bonnaroo for my third year in a row, I expected to hear something along the lines of, "Have fun, don't die, and we'll see you when you get back."
By MICHAEL C. WALSH | June 22, 2010

Meme police

MIT’s ROFLcon, a gathering of the Web’s biggest names, decides what will make you laugh and cry.
I just woke up from some sort of bizarre dream. I was at MIT. There was a weirdo painting nudes of President Obama on a unicorn. Several adults were dressed like domestic animals.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 05, 2010

Asher Roth & DJ Wreckineyez | Seared Foie Gras W/ Quince And Cranberry

School Boy (2010)
Now that Boston boy toy Sam Adams has blown onto hip-hop’s front lines, there’s almost room for original frat rapper Asher Roth to find a respectable position somewhere between the big-indie Atmosphere types and the upper echelon of major-label boom-bap.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 07, 2010

Championship vinyl

Flavorheard, Frank White, and Mister Jason are Fever
You have a better chance of hearing Taylor Swift songs banging out of Kanye’s tinted windows than you do of hearing either of their pop asses on the Good Life speakers during Fever.
By CHRIS FARAONE | March 31, 2010

Must Flee TV?

With his new ‘reality sitcom,’ the artist formerly known as Robbie Roadsteamer tries to stop the Allston hipster brain drain
If Jersey Shore and Last Comic Standing had a threesome with Curb Your Enthusiasm in the men’s room of Great Scott, the bastard issue might look a little something like Quiet Desperation .
By CHRIS FARAONE | March 10, 2010

Gil Scott-Heron | I’m New Here

XL (2010)
It's always easy to forecast others' doom, announces Gil Scott-Heron near the end of his first album since 1994.
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 23, 2010