Before Hip-Hop went corporate, it was raw, risky and real. Ralph McDaniels opens up about shootouts, unseen Jay-Z moments, Young Diddy and why Video Music Box survived it all.

What are the best rap music videos of all time? It's a big, daunting question to answer. After all, hip-hop has been around for over 50 years, and during that time, we've seen countless classic music ...

YouTube’s move to stop sharing streaming data for Billboard’s music charts could change how we think about metrics ...

When hip-hop was in its early stages, most people criticized the genre as being a fad. Yet, here we are over 50 years since its inception, and it's one of the most popular genres among fans.

From Clipse to Metro Boomin and Cardi B, the year was full of memorable rap songs that expanded and experimented with the ...

The music video for Worcester-native hip-hop artist Joyner Lucas’ song “Best For Me” has been nominated for a 2024 MTV Video Music Award in the “Video for Good” category. The song, which appears on ...

The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Bossman Dlow, Snoop Dogg, and Will Smith. Seeing this week’s lineup might prompt some confusion about just what decade it is, but ...

Lopez was a major fan of rap music growing up — so much so that she could pinpoint when her fascination with the genre began. “I was in the schoolyard and I remember getting really excited. It was a ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editor Rivéa Ruff reports on the blending of hip-hop and R&B. Since the ...

Fans called the shots in 2025. Discover the top genres and what their choices mean for the future of music in 2026.

The NYPD Special Victims detective whose racy music video of her gyrating and twerking on a stripper pole went viral never told anyone she was a cop — and may have a future in modeling, the director ...