Tupac Shakur

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Kings of Queens

Why Mobb Deep are still the fittest
When it comes to legendary hip-hop duos, Southerners salute UGK and OutKast, whereas nostalgic heads anoint EPMD, and eclectic contrarians endorse Organized Konfusion.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 26, 2010

Joyride

The Worcester Art Museum shows us ‘Who Shot Rock & Roll’
It is May 1966, in the Prelude Club in Harlem, an Atlantic Records release party.
By GREG COOK | March 24, 2010

25 Hip-Hop acts to see at SXSW 2010

The best boom-bap on tap in Austin
As usual, I've got you covered.
By CHRIS FARAONE | March 12, 2010

2009: The year in jazz

In and out
Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite things from among the people, CDs, and concerts I wrote about in 2009.
By JON GARELICK | December 21, 2009

Mixed media

Ran Blake's Pawnbroker, Sofia Koutsovitis's pan-American roots
Film noir has been a running theme in composer/pianist Ran Blake's work since the beginning of his career — his very first album, The Newest Sound Around (RCA, 1962), with singer Jeanne Lee, began with David Raskin's theme to Otto Preminger's Laura .
By JON GARELICK | November 18, 2009

Interview: Warren G

Smooth hustler
Humble and nonchalant as ever, Warren G is cooler than Miles Davis smoking an Alaskan cucumber.
By CHRIS FARAONE | October 28, 2009

More than guitar

Julian Lage's talent isn't just in his fingers
"I like using songs to change the environment — to get the listener's ear to be a little skewed."
By JON GARELICK | September 08, 2009

Magical mystery tour

Michael Bizon's 'Cypheromantic' at 5 Traverse
Last Friday, I hopped over a guardrail, skirted the manicured lawn of a Providence golf course, scampered into trees, and clutched a rope (conveniently tied to a nearby tree) as I gingerly stepped down a slippery dirt slope toward Michael Bizon's secret art project. The trail stopped at the edge of a cliff of broken-up concrete with a tangle of rusty rebar snaking out.
By GREG COOK | August 25, 2009

You Might Know Dawaun Parker Better Than You Think

By CHRIS FARAONE | May 18, 2009

Buzz band?

The glistening pleasures of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
"The rise to the top is the best part," says Natalie Portman's Shaved Head multi-instrumentalist/vocalist David Price. "That's what Tupac said in the Biggie movie."
By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG | April 13, 2009

Clik tracks

Buckshot and Black Moon get live
Hide your naughty daughters and aspiring MC sons: Brooklyn’s Duck Down is that kingly retrofitted, incomparably propped hip-hop label that all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to fuck with.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 13, 2009

Slideshow: Shepard Fairey, ''Supply and Demand''

At the ICA, February 6 through August 16, 2009
Obey Giant Art
By SHEPARD FAIREY | February 11, 2009

Review: Notorious

Romanticized, but well executed
To its fault and its credit, George Tillman Jr.'s bio-pic offers a life story that fans of late MC extraordinaire Chris Wallace, a/k/a Biggie Smalls, a/k/a the Notorious B.I.G., have known for years.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 13, 2009

2008 Listravaganza Part 2

The lighter side of music in 2008
Everything you wanted to know about the year in music, in tidy lists of 10.
By BOSTON PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | January 05, 2009

Fourth-estate follies!

Remembering the year in media malfeasance
Granted, other years have had flashier media embarrassments (Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass), but that doesn't mean that 2008 lacked for media misdeeds.
By ADAM REILLY | December 24, 2008

Norman Mailer’s ‘White Negro’ gets the treatment

Action speaks!
Long before suburban kids began digging Dr. Dre and Tupac, an earlier generation of young white people venerated the jazz and swing music of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s.
By IAN DONNIS | October 15, 2008

13 shots to the dome

The 10 hours and 29 minutes of LL Cool J’s career
What to do with LL Cool J?
By RICHARD BECK | September 03, 2008

That’ll learn ya

Kabir schools other MCs, little kids
In eighth grade, I decided that school and hip-hop should exist separately.
By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2008

Fight song

Letters to the Boston editor, July 25, 2008
Your total inability to recognize deserving candidates has me . . . amused?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | July 23, 2008

The Big Hurt: Winners and losers

A hip-hop scorecard
Jay-Z's headlining slot at the Glastonbury Festival June 28 has been the stuff of much controversy, with various artists weighing in on his suitability to the event.
By DAVID THORPE | July 07, 2008

A night in Guantánamo

Staying in a replica cell, with no waterboarding included
I’d volunteered to spend the night in the replica cell (which is modeled on the ones at Gitmo) because we’ve all heard stories about unlivable conditions at Gitmo but can’t come close to imagining what it must be like.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 18, 2008