Rap isn’t just entertainment. It’s applied writing. Every strong verse uses voice, structure, evidence, and emotional control ...

C. Vernon Coleman II Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Fall 2025 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and ...

At the halfway point of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors are fighting to escape their mediocre record.

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California, in 1987, and was still a baby when his hometown became synonymous ...

The avant-noise artist Kim Gordon debuted solo music 10 years ago. At that point, she was many decades into an established ...

Music is a game of chemistry. Sometimes, it’s simply a polite handshake. Other times, it is a full-blown cultural explosion.

So he sat on his rhymes, and didn’t try again until he was released in early October, after serving his time for a gun charge ...

Explore 13 standout female rap and R&B collaborations that shaped the genre, from Missy Elliott to SZA. Dive into the sound ...

Here are 15 predictions for rap music in 2026. No, there won’t be a breakout AI star in rap. That said, having lived through ...

Like many of Legxacy's songs, Aggressive sampled a classic UK rap track – in this case Chipmunk's Oopsy Daisy. He frequently ...

Third-person thinking can help us distance ourselves from bleak thoughts. It can help us regulate our emotions into more even ...