The first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting that you have one. In order to rid oneself of addiction, one must declare it. My name is Fire Burgess and I am a diehard fan of misogynistic rap music.
For one, the "coming out" dog and pony show that the media puts on now is getting tired. It should not be breaking news in 2013 for anyone to announce their sexuality. I understand how "momentous" and "unprecedented" all of this is, but I do find it exploitative and repetitive as well.
The n-word is overused, misused and socially abused on sites like Facebook and Twitter all the time. And while we act as if Rihanna has done something extraordinarily taboo, I challenge you to check the Instagram accounts and tweets of many other hip-hop artists and friends.
The former "D-O-Double-G" has been very vocal lately about his support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. During an inter...
Grammy Award-winning rapper Eve is making her big comeback on the music scene with Lip Lock, her first new album since 2002's Eve-Olution. She stopped by to chat about working on the new tracks, major collaborations, and what on Earth she's been up to for the past decade!
Hip hop has always been highly diverse, with roots that extend beyond the streets and into the lecture halls, radio stations, and dormitories of college campuses.
Earlier this month, the 5th District Illinois appellate court reversed the conviction of Olutosin Oduwole, an aspiring hip hop artist and Southern Illinois University student who was found guilty of attempting to make a terrorist threat during his 2011 trial.
A lot has been said about the connection between popular culture and gun violence, and while film has been brought up in the conversation, hip-hop mus...
I have always been one to pay attention to lyrics. I have always gushed over a good song, which changes your perspective of your world and of yourself. But this is more than just gushing.
The publicity of rapper Wayne's decidedly vulgar reference to Emmett Till -- whose scandalous murder in Mississippi in 1955 was considered by many as the impetus to the modern civil rights movement -- was, or so I thought, a teachable moment in my sociology classes at a black college.
I'm well aware of the misogyny and homophobia of hip-hop as a whole and the fact that Azealia's male counterparts say similar things on wax and outside the studio, but I'm specifically irritated and baffled by Azealia's ignorance, behavior and theories because she's a black bisexual woman.
In this installment of my series on rap, will be examining the lyrical content: the metaphors, imagery, controversy, story-telling, etc. tells its own story about the genre.
No offense to any of these artists (besides Flo-Rida, I fully mean to offend you), but these songs definitely need to be punished and shown to the gates of Hades, where they will have ample time to think about what they've done.
“Howard Stern Show” producer Gary Dell’Abate unveiled “The Arches Of Hope,” an interactive art installation and social media campaign to rai...
Paying attention to the guilt-redemption, love-hate and God-Devil themes found in Mathers's music is an important part of understanding how the perception of spirituality is active in today's popular culture.
Rapper Azealia Banks has some harsh words for the music that made her famous. In an interview with Hypetrak, Banks called rap "unladylike" and "tacky"...
When sixteen year-old prodigy rapper Earl Sweatshirt became a music sensation amidst his mysterious disappearance from the world in 2010, hip hop gained itself a new icon to replace his presence.
If you were wondering where Nicki Minaj gets her English accent from, you can look no further than Scary Spice and Hermione Granger. Speaking to Th...
Is rap music really a threat to society? Are these lyrics laced with venom? Are they corrupting young minds? In my opinion, rap is actually just as relevant a music genre as rock or reggae.
Who knows what would have become of me had I grown up in an era where my idols, the preeminent examples for success from communities like mine, limited their content to the four or five themes that dominate today's hip hop landscape.
"Oh, this fag can rap?' Yeah, they saying that, they listening." The lyrics are from the Harlem-based MC Mykki Blanco. But the sentiment expressed ...
On my debut album, I displayed a few cringe-worthy slur moments of my own. I tossed it around with the reckless abandon of a young man lacking the empathetic sensitivity that only manifests through life-altering interactions and experiences.
R&B star Frank Ocean's coming out might have shaken up the hip-hop world, but now, Los Angeles-based rapper Murs is hoping to take the conversation on...
Political statements in music are at an all-time low. Artists like Lady Gaga and Robyn's promotion of equal rights is a start, but so much more can be done.
In its revelation of the artistry and humanity that hip hop is at its best, The Art of Rap places rap music in its rightful place: as one of the most powerful art forms in the history of cultural production.
