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Remembering Hip-hop's Golden Age with Gray & Pipitone's "No Half Steppin'"

Flip back to Hip-hop's glorious Golden Age with Gray and Pipitone's new book, No Half Steppin': An Oral and Pictorial History of New York City Club the Latin Quarter and the Birth of Hip-hop's Golden Era.

No Half Steppin' entails an extensive amount of historical accounts anchored upon the earliest years in Hip-hop. Accounting 212 pages and over 175 colored photographs and images, the text also includes personal narrations from a laundry list of iconic figures, including Special K and Teddy Tedd, KRS-One, MC Shan and Eric B, Daddy O, Fab 5 Freddy, Just-Ice, Positive K, DJ Clark Kent, Chuck D, Sadat X, Prince Paul, Kurtis Blow, Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah, Kool G Rap, and the list goes on.

As written on the text's titl

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Throwback Albums: Snoop, Pac, Jay-Z, and Raw Fus

This day in Hip-hop acknowledges the following iconic albums making their debut on this day, several years back.

 

Live From The Styleetron (1991)

  • Marking the memorable debut of Oakland-based hip-hop supergroup, Raw Fusion, the album showcased an unexpected dive into a more minimal, jazzy sound, as opposed to the previous P-funk sounds witnessed in earlier work. Raw Fusion represented the combined forces of Digital Underground's Money-B and DJ Fuze, ushering their distinct humor-induced lyricism onto the West Coast scene.

 

2Pacalypse Now (1991)

  • Hip-hop legend, Tupac Shakur's debut album also released on this day under Interscope

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Remembering Big Bank Hank of The Sugarhill Gang

This day in Hip-hop recognizes the late, great Henry Lee Jackson, better known as Big Bank Hank of the legendary rap group, The Sugarhill Gang.

Jackson's humble beginnings traces back to his days as music manager working at a certain Bronx nightclub under the employment of Hip-hop icon, Grandmaster Caz and his group The Mighty Force MC's. Years later, Jackson was currently managing for a local group, The Cold Crush Brothers, when he was approached by Sylvia Robinson, upon hearing Jackson rapping. After which, Jackson donned the title, “Big Bank Hank” and the iconic rap trio Sugarhill Gang was formed.

At age twenty-two, Jackson contributed greatly to the group's memorable self-titled album released February, 1980. The record featured the breako

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Throwback Albums: MC Eiht & Ganxta NIP

Two iconic albums debuted on this day in Hip-hop, authored by two prominent figures arguably-considered innovators and revolutionaries with the distinct sounds they imparted. One ushering in grit and steel of West Coast gangsta rap, while the other parading through the dark streets of Horror-core Hip-hop.

 

Last Man Standing (1997)

  • The third studio album from MC Eiht, released under Epic Street records showcased production from Dat Nigga Daz and DJ Muggs, and featured the West Coast rapper's hit-single, “Hit The Floor”, which featured Daz Dillinger who also produced the track. Similar to his previous two albums, MC Eiht ensures a large Compton's Most Wanted collaborative imprint on&n

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Lamar Performs with Maroon 5 at AMA Awards

Kendrick Lamar joins forces with Maroon 5 for the T-mobile finale at the 2016 American Music Awards with a live, collaborative showcase of their hit-single “Don't Wanna Know”, which released just last week and manage a peak spot at #9 off the US Billboard Hot 100.

The event marks Lamar's second occurrence performing at the awards, as well as Maroon 5's fourth AMA performance. Apart from this, Lamar is also a two-time nominee of said award. The event will take place next Sunday, November 20th while airing at 8pm EST on ABC.

The AMA's have also announced a laundry list of performers, such as James Bay, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Green Day, John Legend, Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendes, Twenty One Pilots, The

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Spotlight Artist: Bryce Vine

A wide plethora of innovative sounds and intricate lyricism invades this week's Rap Station Spotlight Artist as the title falls unto Bryce Vine

The LA-based rapper debuted in 2014 with Lazy Fair, and with five singles, the Los Angeles-based rapper sure knows how to make a good lasting impression. As soon as the intro track plays, I highly recommend listeners brace themselves for the vast contagion of feel-good sounds and upbeat tempos that'll have anyone rocking to the beats in no time. From his carefree self-introduction in “Sour Patch Kids” to every flirtatious details inherent in “Take Me Home”, Vine showcases his innovative skills whilst hitting home with good old, West Coast stereophonics.

Contrary to the latter two, t

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