RapStation

Today, June 16th, is the birthday of one of hip hop's most influential and talented rappers: 2Pac. Had Pac not been cut down in his prime, he would've turned 45 today.

Tupac Shakur was born on June 16th in East Harlem, New York. The son of two Black Panther members and named after a Peruvian revolutionary, Shakur took to the arts at an early age, expressing himself - and the ideals of black empowerment he had inherited from his parents - through song, poetry and dance. He studied Shakespeare while he learned how to rap. He fought for his ideals and his community by joining the Young Communist League. Shakur and his family would eventually relocate to the West Coast when Tupac was 17. There, Shakur was taken under the wing of poetry teacher and author Leila Steinberg, w

YG's sophmore album, "Still Brazy," wasn't scheduled to premiere until this Friday, but YG has surprised fans by debuting the album a few days early on Apple Music.

The Compton rapper's second album also features guest appearances from Drake, Lil Wayne, AD, and Nipsey Hussle, who joins YG for "Fdt," a diss track targeted at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "Still Brazy" is the first studio album from YG after his RIAA gold certified selling debut, "My Krazy Life."

The album is streaming on Apple Music now, and will be available for purchase and download on other services on

Torii Wolf, a new singer/songwriter backed by producer DJ Premier, is making waves with her debut single, appropriately titled "1st," which has just received an official remix featuring Dilated Peoples.

“I thought it was dope right off the bat,” Dilated Peoples' Evidence said of his collaboration with Premier and Wolf.  “I kept playing it and really peeped what she was talking about; and felt it even more. Of course I was excited that Preem was cutting our voices up.  I think every rapper secretly wishes that will happen to them.”

"Ev and Rakaa sent me 24 bars in total and I split them up into a sixteen and an eight bar set up. They sounded so good from the original it was a no brainer to get them on the Remix,&rdq

Get to Know Your DJs

DJ Zone on the 1s and 2s

While “DJ Zone” may not immediately ring a bell, the names Aesop Rock and Macklemore surely do. Both artists have called upon the Portland-based turntablist to not only tour with them, but also cut it up on their records, including Aesop’s most recent, The Impossible Kid. 

Born in Portland, Oregon, DJ Zone (real name Patrick Lorenz) was raised in a musical household. His grandmother played violin and piano as a little girl and got a scholarship to Julliard School of the Arts, the prestigious New York City music school. She inspired his love of classical music, jazz and ragtime. His mother raised him on ‘60s and ‘70s classic rock, which helped mold his vast knowled

The Long Beach hip hop legend revealed the cover art for his new album on Monday.  The album, titled Cool Aid, features a cartoon Snoop Dogg, in a style that bears a definite resemblance to the artwork on his classic album Doggystyle, selling a Kool Aid-like drink.  Cool Aid will mark Snoop Dogg's first album since last year's Bush, a funk-inspired affair produced by Pharrell.

Apparently, Snoop has been working closely with acclaimed producer Just Blaze for this project, as Just Blaze recently commented in an interview with Billboard that his work for this album, “felt like and updated version of that old Death Row sound, kind of an updated G Funk.”  Snoop Dogg recently went on Jimmy Kimmel to discuss the album, and he offered this explanatio

This past Saturday, Tyler, the Creator held a fashion show in Los Angeles for Golf Wang, his new fashion line.  However, he also used this moment in the limelight to debut a new track of his called “My Ego.”  The song begins with an assortment of ominous, glitchy synth sounds before making way for a boom-bap drum pattern supplemented with a lush string arrangement.  The song tackles some of the controversies that have followed Tyler throughout his career as he raps, “Said some old lines was offensive/I was young, I can't apologize for that shit.”  

Tyler, the Creator has since made it known that the track will never be released or performed again.  The event was attended by several prominent rappers such as YG and Kanye West