Kid Sister, 'Ultraviolet' (Downtown)
House-music shout-outs overshadow rhyme skills.
By Sean Fennessey 11.11.09 7:05 AM
There's been hope for some time that Melisa "Kid Sister" Young could resurrect that ever-struggling subset known as the female rapper. Her relentless bark -- like a crocodile clomping its jaw shut, swallowing tracks whole -- instantly made her a commanding and charming spitfire back in 2006.
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Wale: Mad Decent
He's a humble, smart, sensitive rapper with a clutch of A-list co-signs. But why is Wale so frustrated?
By Sean Fennessey 10.15.09 1:46 PM
Wale is sitting quietly at a table in ESPN Zone, a grotesque Times Square tourist-trap restaurant. Dressed in black jeans and a T-shirt, with his trademark fitted Washington Nationals cap, he nods his head nervously. Servers gawk at the rapper, nearly tipping over plates of soggy Buffalo wings as they pass by, but dejection covers his face. "Look at this, it's on the blogs already," he says.
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Hot New Rapper: Playboy Tre
Streetwise Atlanta MC ditches day job and finds solace in the bottle.
By Sean Fennessey 10.07.09 9:24 AM
A young Jay-Z came up with rhymes in his head in order to impress his friend, the Notorious B.I.G. Atlanta's Playboy Tre learned to do the same thing for a less playful reason: He didn't want to get fired.
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Muse, 'The Resistance' (Warner Bros.)
Brit rockers conduct most ostentatious opus yet.
By Sean Fennessey 09.21.09 3:16 PM
Rain Machine, 'Rain Machine' (Anti-)
In-your-face side project boasts grace and wit.
By Sean Fennessey 09.01.09 2:06 PM
Kyp Malone has always been a grand provocateur, singing, “I wanna love you all the way / I wanna break your back,” on last year’s “Lover’s Day” (from TV on the Radio’s Dear Science). So to hear Malone, with his new solo project, moaning that “it’s no burnt-cork affair” on the six-and-half-minute “Smiling Black Faces” is to hear him at his most comfortable.
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Mayer Hawthorne, 'A Strange Arrangement' (Stones Throw)
Obsessive crooner eerily conjures Motown magic.
By Sean Fennessey 08.31.09 3:02 PM
If honky soul is having an extended moment thanks to Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, and Jamie Lidell, Mayer Hawthorne probably has no clue. Hawthorne (né Andrew Cohen) is trapped in a time-stop circa 1976, and his immaculate debut is replica music, constructed and buffed to a high sheen.
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