Southern Rap

T.I. at Epic, 4/19/13

T.I. Epic, Minneapolis Friday, April 19, 2013 Some nights you walk into a club wondering if an MC is still relevant. Then you watch a 32-year-old pro blast through more than two dozen songs in a little more than an hour, flaunting a nimble flow and basking comfortably in the familiarity of his hits ... More >>

T.I.

Future

Get Cryphy turns five

The DJ crew that taught local hip-hop heads to love club bangers celebrates half a decade

Jennifer Lawrence and SNL remind us Minnesota radio still lacks hip hop

Saturday Night Live still thinks the state of hip hop radio in the Twin Cities is laughable. Over the weekend, we returned to the fictional studios of B-108 in Shakopee, "Minnesota's home for blazing hip hop," for another early morning joke at our scene's expense. This time, guest The Hunger Games s ... More >>

Yo Gotti

Young Jeezy at Epic, 12/7/12

Young JeezyEpic, MinneapolisFriday, December 7, 2012Like some cruel joke from mother nature, how ironic was that we had our first major snowfall the same night the so-called "Snowman," also known as Young Jeezy, stepped foot into town.Young Jeezy (or just Jeezy) has been one of the South's biggest r ... More >>

Big Boi at Epic, 11/9/12

Big Boiwith Get CryphyEpic, MinneapolisNovember 9, 2012"One more?" the DJ asked. He stood there awkwardly at the corner of the stage, not sure what to do with himself. "Big Boi, one more?"For an uncomfortably long couple minutes Friday night, it looked like Big Boi's DJ hadn't gotten the memo about ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen, the Magnetic Fields, Big Boi, and more

Big Boi

Waka Flocka Flame

Pride in Concert: Kelly Rowland

Chuuwee on Watching the Throne, his Soundset approach

By Mike MaddenRelated:Bambu on the L.A. riots' 20th anniversary, his Soundset debutTraveling from his native Sacramento to take over Shakopee, Chuuwee might be the best bet among this year's Soundset freshmen to blow up by the time May 2013 rolls around. Not long removed from his excellent Wa ... More >>

How Rhymesayers set up the Soundset Festival

Minnesota's biggest annual hip-hop showcase enters its fifth year

Five utterly frustrating songs: Odd Future, Of Montreal & more

​Sometimes a song comes along and you just hate everything about it. Everything is wrong: your sensors are howling, the hair stands up on your neck, and it's some nightmare shit where unless you can somehow get away from or destroy whatever device is causing the awful song to play, your head will ... More >>

Lil' Twist on Adele, his name, and his mentor Lil Wayne

​Minneapolis has a tendency to become so preoccupied with the local backpack rap mainstays that commercial hip-hop oftentimes gets lost in the periphery. Chalk it up to Rhymesayers loyalty or the fact that a majority of big-ticket rap promoters have settled on dismissing Minneapolis as a flyover c ... More >>

50 Cent Lil Wayne Beef: Fiddy rips Weezy for skateboarding, hot pants

​50 Cent attacks Lil Wayne on a new track, "Love, Hate, Love," which also takes a swipe at former G-Unit member Game.Fiddy has long been known for his takedown tracks -- he became famous with "How to Rob," which took on just about every rapper in the game, and famously feuded with Ja Rule.Sure, a ... More >>

She Will: Lil Wayne's new single off Carter IV

Lil Wayne on She Will​Lil Wayne just released "She Will," the fourth pre-release single off the hotly-anticipated Carter IV album, which is set to drop August 29.The song features Drake and may provide a hint of what Weezy's new proper major label album will sound like. So is this good news or bad ... More >>

Sorry 4 the Wait: Lil Wayne's free download mixtape reviewed track-by-track

Sorry 4 the bad album artwork.​Lil Wayne dropped his latest mixtape Wednesday as an apology to fans for the delays to Carter IV, which now won't be seen until the end of August.The album features Weezy freestyling over a number of tracks, including Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," and you can't beat ... More >>

Rihanna

Soundset Series: Big Boi, De La Soul, Slaughterhouse, and Curren$y

Big Boi​Each year, much debate occurs from fans and festival organizers alike about who outside of the Rhymesayers roster is going to play Soundset.  In an attempt to both showcase a wide spectrum of regions and definitions of independent rap, Soundset manages to bring together some surprisin ... More >>

Lil Wayne, Keri Hilson, Far East Movement, Rick Ross and Lloyd coming to Xcel August 9

​It seems like pretty much every pop star on the Top 40 charts is planning to make their way to the Twin Cities this summer to play one of our two arenas, and this new date comprises a handful of high-profile stars: Lil Wayne will steer his tour toward St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center on August 9 wit ... More >>

R. Kelly's top 5 most ridiculous lyrics

​If somehow you're not familiar with R&B superstar R. Kelly, here's the basic rundown: 1) He has one of the most beautiful tenors in all of pop music, and 2) He's a sex addict. Probably. At the very least, Kelly has an unabashed fascination with erotic encounters of the freakiest variety, and ... More >>

Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame at Epic 4/3/11

Photo by Tony Nelson​For most people Sunday evenings tend to be a quiet night to relax but by the looks of 5th Street and 2nd Avenue outside Epic late last night, you'd never know it. Hundreds of hyped rap fans lined both ends of the street around 11 p.m. to hear two of radio rap's current headlin ... More >>

Soundset 2011: Atmosphere, Big Boi, De La Soul, Doomtree, Brother Ali

Big Boi co-headlines Soundset 2011​The Soundset festival revealed its much-anticipated 2011 lineup this morning, and there are a few national surprises amongst the local mainstays: In addition to headliners Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and the full Doomtree crew, this year's fest will feature sets by ... More >>

Owl City and Big Boi collaborate on new record

​We're still sifting through the onslaught of interviews and other coverage that took place over the week of SXSW, but this caught our eyeballs: Apparently Owl City's next record is going to feature some sort of collaboration with OutKast's Big Boi.

Gucci Mane's craziest moments (rapper coming to Epic April 3)

​Atlanta rapper and regular prison guest Gucci Mane is damn near ubiquitous now, releasing a silly number of mixtapes per year and guesting on everything he can fit into his schedule while he's out of jail (at least until the Georgia Corrections Department gets some new studio equipment).  So ... More >>

Girl Talk at First Avenue, 3/8/11

Photo by Erik Hess​ After last night's sold-out Girl Talk show at First Avenue, classrooms across college campuses and cube farms in various office buildings probably feel a bit empty today. During peak time at the show it was clear a good portion of the city's twentysomethings were all dancing ... More >>

Lil Wayne's ode to the Packers, 'Green and Yellow'

​Leading up to the Super Bowl, it's expected (especially for Vikings fans, who seem doomed to never make it back to the big game) that everyone chooses a side to cheer for while we all make our big plans for Sunday. And those truly lucky fans of the teams involved in the Super Bowl typically puff ... More >>

5ingles

Yo Gotti

6 Foot 7 Foot by Lil Wayne: Weezy's back!

Weezy's back!​Recently released from confinement in prison, Lil Wayne this week stunned the hip hop world with the release of  "6 Foot 7 Foot," the first single off the much-anticipated "Carter IV."Anyone who thought Weezy was dropping off needs to check themselves--this is vintage Lil Wayne, ... More >>

The Week That Was: Monday, October 11 through Friday, October 15

​ Last week? Last week was so several days ago. At this point - polishing off that third mug of crap, employer-subsidized coffee, valiantly procrastinating last week's leftover to-do items, beating yourself about the head and face to stay awake - you probably can barely remember what your name is, ... More >>

Lil Wayne's letter from solitary confinement

Weezy speaks from punitive segregation.​In a surprising development, Lil Wayne has just posted a letter to his fans written from solitary confinement.Just last week, Weezy told fans that he was going to be on silence mode for the next several weeks while serving out a sentence to punitive segregat ... More >>

Lil Wayne on Twitter: What's Weezy Trying to Tell Us?

​Live from Rikers, It's Weezy!​Lil Wayne has always been known as a prolific writer, so Twitter's 140-character bursts would seem to be a perfect medium for him, especially in this time of seemingly endless contemplation.We've put together the best Twitter wisdom of Weezy, doing our best to repr ... More >>

Janelle Monae, Matt & Kim, and more

"I Am Not A Human Being": Lil Wayne's Rikers prison album

I Am Not A Human Being by Lil Wayne​On his Facebook page, Lil Wayne just posted the tracklist for "I Am Not A Human Being," the album  that he announced from his incarceration on Rikers Island.We can see from the tracklist that Drake is getting a big push (or perhaps supporting Weezy, conside ... More >>

Gucci Mane

5ingles

Ludacris

Gorilla Zoe

Lil' Flip

Lil Wayne blackface skit roils Bethel University

​Here's a great bad idea for a campus AIDS program fundraiser: Have a student in blackface impersonate Lil Wayne, complete with dreadlocks, gold teeth and baggy pants. Seriously? Evidently that's what happened recently at Bethel University. The students in the skit have apologized, but their ... More >>

Jimmy 2 Times debuts first Cryphy Radio Mix (MP3)

His name is Jimmy (left)​ "Dude, that's a nasty DJ set," a friend messaged me a few minutes ago upon hearing DJ Jimmy 2 Times' first mix for the Cryphy Radio series. He's not kidding -- the 48-minute mix is dripping with testosterone from the jump, smacking you upside the head with baller tracks ... More >>

5ingles: The Songs We Can't Escape

Rick Ross

Busta Rhymes

The Knux

Bun B

Chamillionaire