It took about 10 years, but drill music has successfully surpassed regional popularity in Chicago. Flowing on a drill beat can be a challenge for anyone who’s not used to doing it. Sometimes, the ...

The English rapper Slowthai grew up listening to American musicians. “Rappers coming from Memphis, SpaceGhostPurrp, Raider Klan, even Elliott Smith,” says the 26-year-old, born Tyron Frampton, ticking ...

Marked by no-frills rapping and nightmarish production, Chicago drill music traveled around the globe at the speed of the internet throughout the last decade. Eventually, Brooklyn rappers tried on the ...

When Angel Reyes helped a friend record his first rap song using a microphone in a cardboard Timberland shoebox, he was just having fun. “We just were in here playing beats,” he recalled. “Like, it ...

This article has been handpicked from the Okayplayer editorial archives and included in our Hip Hop 50 collection as a noteworthy inclusion to the genre's rich and diverse narrative. The article has ...