Notorious B.I.G.

Mile High Makeout: Leaving the Nest

Delegating Denver #36 of 56: New York

Over the Weekend...Paid Dues Festival @ Fillmore Auditorium

Rap Gets Puffy

Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs fathers a return to hip-hop pop.

2Pac + Outlawz

Still I Rise
(Interscope)

The Notorious B.I.G.
Born Again
(Bad Boy)

Fighting the Power

Rapper Nas steps back into the ring, fists flying.

The Madd Rapper

Tell 'em Why U Madd

(Crazy Cat Catalogue/Columbia)

Mile High Makeout: My head is spinning

Photo: Lucia De Giovanni Last night, I had the honor and privilege of guest deejaying at Matt Fecher's New Music Mondays at the Larimer Lounge, playing music from my collection next to the incandescent DJ Ginger and firestarter DJ Hot to Death. Ginger played a couple of body-rocking sets, including ... More >>

(hed) p.e.'s New World Orphans tops Independent Records' top sellers

(hed) p.e.'s concets in Denver and Colorado Springs last week must've fueled sales of the band's latest album, New World Orphans, which was released January 13, on Suburban Noize Records. Kanye West and Ludacris also made strong showings, as did the Notorious soundtrack, which features cuts by Jay-Z ... More >>

Sneak peek: 3 the Hardway's new album, Set In Stone

Photo: Maria Romero My favorite song at the moment, hip-hop or otherwise, is "Reach for the Stars," by 3 the Hardway. Everything about the track, from the hook -- which is built around a sample of "I Just Wanna Be the One in Your Life," a cover by the Manhattans of a song first recorded by Barry Ma ... More >>

Backwash

A Boulder student cares more about the life of hip-hop than the deaths of Biggie and Tupac.

Neil McIntyre collabs with Kurtis Blow

It was all a dream. I used to read Word Up magazine... Right about now, Neil McIntyre can relate to the sentiments in the opening lines of "Juicy," as Biggie Smalls reflects on the framers/heroes that came before him. McIntyre, we just found out, traded verses with rap legend Kurtis Blow on a brand- ... More >>

Critical Fatwa

It was all a dream. I used to read Word Up magazine... Right about now, Neil McIntyre can relate to the sentiments in the opening lines of "Juicy," as Biggie Smalls reflects on the framers/heroes that came before him. McIntyre, we just found out, traded verses with rap legend Kurtis Blow on a brand- ... More >>

Notorious is B.I.G. made B.L.A.N.D.

It was all a dream. I used to read Word Up magazine... Right about now, Neil McIntyre can relate to the sentiments in the opening lines of "Juicy," as Biggie Smalls reflects on the framers/heroes that came before him. McIntyre, we just found out, traded verses with rap legend Kurtis Blow on a brand- ... More >>

Yule's Tide

Searching for gems in the flood of seasonal discs.

No Kidding Around

Kid rocks, the Colorado Convention Center doesn't.

Get Down With Dave

Chappelle returns with a raucous Block Party.

Critical Fatwa

Diddy

Faith Evans

The First Lady (Capitol)

The Hustler

DJ Clinton Sparks has become a rising star by working harder than anyone else.

Nas

God's Son (Columbia)

Faith Evans

Faithfully (Bad Boy)

Rough in the Diamonds

Hardball doesn't hit a homer, but it's not a total strikeout.

Playlist

Puff Daddy, Leo Kottke, Prince, Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines

Rooting Interest

The Roots make rap for both your hips and your head.

The Closing of the American Ear

We have more musical choices than ever before. So why are so few of us taking advantage of them?

Culture: It's a Good Thing

We have more musical choices than ever before. So why are so few of us taking advantage of them?

Feedback

We have more musical choices than ever before. So why are so few of us taking advantage of them?

SO YOU WANT TO BE WITH THE BAND?

THEN CHECK OUT JODECI, WHOSE MEMBERS WANT TO BE WITH YOU.

THRILLS

THEN CHECK OUT JODECI, WHOSE MEMBERS WANT TO BE WITH YOU.

HIP HOPE

NINE AND DA BUSH BABEES ARE TRYING TO PRODUCE A RAP TO REMEMBER.

Hey, DJ! Q&A with DJ LARGECHILD

Every Friday we spotlight the hottest cats (and kittens) behind the decks in the MHC, grilling them to gain some insight on what it takes, exactly, to get the party rocking, to find out about their most treasured crate digging experiences and what they really think when we stumble up to them half co ... More >>

What are Jay-Z's 99 problems? We know a bitch ain't one.

​ It's well known an this point that Jay-Z (appearing tonight at the Pepsi Center with Sound Tribe Sector 9, Trey Songz and Young Jeezy) has 99 problems, and a bitch, most certainly, ain't one. Curiously, though, until now, no one's really taken a hard look at just what Hova's 99 problems are ... More >>

Elvis's autopsy tools and five more of the grisliest celebrity death souvenirs

​Today is the anniversary of Elvis's death in 1977, and last week, an auction of possibly the most gruesome memorabilia of all time was planned to capitalize on the King's untimely demise. The very same autopsy/embalming tools used to prep the King's final appearance, plus the toe tag identify ... More >>

An economics lesson delivered via awkward white guy rap

​School's back in session! Which means, for at least some of you, that right now you should probably be doing your homework instead of looking at music blogs. But don't worry -- we've got you covered. Today, you can enjoy all the bloggy goodness of Backbeat and get your learn on, thanks to "Fe ... More >>

Chef and Tell, part two: Zengo's Clint Wangsnes

Lori Midson​ Clint Wangsnes Zengo 1610 Little Raven Street 720-904-0965 www.richardsandoval.com/zengodenver This is part two of Lori Midson's interview with Clint Wangsnes, chef of Zengo. Read part one of that Q&A. Rules of conduct in your kitchen: I have high expectations of all of my staf ... More >>

The Anthology of Rap's alleged errors and Adam Bradley's subsequent explaination to Slate.com

​Last month, Yale University Press released The Anthology of Rap, an exhaustive compendium of rap lyrics edited by CU professor Adam Bradley and his colleague Andrew DuBois. Although the book has been praised by some admitted outsiders, it has also been subjected to scrutiny by various hip-h ... More >>

A New Year Underground at Theory Practice

​A NEW YEAR UNDERGROUND With Hence * Eli D * BeeKay * Travis Press * Uriah West * Brick Lee 12.31.10 | Theory Practice The only sign that the Theory Practice gallery, 738 Santa Fe Drive, was hosting an epic New Year's Eve party was the pounding bass audible from the streets as passersby b ... More >>

Tupac biopic finally gets the greenlight. Here's five ideas for who should play him.

​After being held up by years of litigation from Afeni Shakur-Davis, the mother of late rapper Tupac Shakur, the film depicting the rapper's life has finally been given the green light. Literally years in the making, the production company Morgan Creek has been mired in legal wranglings with ' ... More >>

Top 5 songs nodding to Notorious B.I.G

​Ah, Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G. There hasn't been -- and as long as hip-hop is a genre, won't be -- a quiet passing of March 9. Similar to when Buddy Holly took the fateful flight that inspired a nation to observe the day the music died, the day Biggie Smalls was slain is fo ... More >>

Hip-hop's ten most impactful deaths

​Today marks the anniversary of the day that the world lost the greatest rapper of all time. Christopher Wallace's untimely death on March 9, 1997, had a significant impact on the rap game. If Biggie had lived, for instance, his presence would have essentially erased the need for Jay-Z. Unstop ... More >>

Top five best music action figures

​NECA is gearing up to release a topless, Skeletor-esque Iggy Pop action figure onto unsuspecting fans this coming June, a fact that might seem a bit odd for those who aren't familiar with rock stars' long and illustrious history with action figure manufactures. Over time we've seen plenty of ... More >>

Tonight: Too $hort at Casselman's

Often imitated but never duplicated, Too $hort (performing tonight with DJX, Shade Loc G, Hypnautic, King Tef, Johny Rocketz, 20:12, Nominee, Mya Rose, Spoke n Wordz, Playalitical and Felisa Latin Soul at Casselman's) has been making records for almost thirty years, helping to establish Oakland, Ca ... More >>

La Toya says Michael Jackson was murdered: Top five other music myths and conspiracies

​In an interview with CNN yesterday, La Toya Jackson stated rather bluntly that she believed her brother was murdered. "I would never, ever think differently," she said. "Michael told me that they were going to murder him." It's not that outrageous of a claim, but it's also one of those things ... More >>

Tonight: Bone Thugs N Harmony at the Gothic

Forming in the early '90s, Bone Thugs N Harmony (performing tonight with FoodChain, Input and Fresh Breath Committee at the Gothic Theatre) has roots that run deep in rap's history. Mentored by Eazy-E, the Cleveland dudes also collaborated with 2pac and Notorious B.I.G., and picked up a Grammy along ... More >>

Monte Carlo is this week's most ridiculous trailer

​Mo money mo problems, the Notorious B.I.G. posthumously noted back in the late '90s -- and for him, it was certainly true: By the time he said it, he was, after all, dead. Another way of putting that is that money can't buy happiness -- in fact, it probably does the opposite -- and that's pre ... More >>

MTV's top five greatest on-air rap moments

​Oh, MTV. There has been no greater platform for fuckery's finest and the brilliance of unfiltered musician craziness than Music Television's many segments. Whether drunken freestyles, acceptance speech interruptions, or classic moments in live performance, hip-hop rightfully lived and thrived ... More >>

What's the first music you bought with your own money?

Can you guess which member of Team Backbeat bought this record?​Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money? Of course you do! It's like the first person you kissed or the first one who broke your heart -- it's a monumental, life-changing moment in your life that's unforgett ... More >>

A first listen to Spoke In Wordz's Beautiful Dead

​Spoke In Wordz's latest effort, Beautiful Dead, comes at a time when celebrations of the dead are at their highest, split between Halloween and Día de los Muertos. Traditionally, this is the time when the spiritual veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Spoke chose to comme ... More >>

Girl Walk // All Day director Jacob Krupnick on the mash-up of Rick Ross and ballet

Girl Walk // All Day star Anne Marsen​It's like a mash-up of mash-up: The film Girl Walk // All Day takes the manic moods of remix master Girl Talk's 2010 record, All Day, and pairs it with a story of Girl and her city, told through dance. In advance of tomorrow's screening at the Denver Fil ... More >>