Sheldon Pearce

Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's board after sexist and racist comments. But he is, and always has been, an avatar for an exclusionary framework.

Giving rap the future it deserves means smashing the infrastructure as it is. But with the battle lines drawn, we can still take heart in the artists teasing just how much further the culture can go.

The 305's hedonistic reputation is not unearned, but there is artistry in its debauchery, and a young generation reinvesting the rewards of their predecessors' battles against censorship.

Call the melodic, countrified swing that took over early 2000s radio an overnight sensation if you like, but it didn't come from nowhere — just a city many considered to be nowhere.

As it celebrates its 50th birthday, hip-hop is a global phenomenon. But to map the music's true impact, you have to look closer. Here's a guide to rap history, charted across more than a dozen cities.

From one little resort town came some of weirdest, boldest changes to hip-hop's sound. A few hours away, flowery backpack raps and a splash of mambo sauce helped the nation's capital break through.

Faith and religion have been career-long themes for the Run the Jewels rapper — if often in a wary, ambivalent light. But on Michael, his first solo LP in over a decade, something has changed.

The poet's first recording with a band, when the poems do what they do, lends an emphatic new authority to her words, which she delivers with a hypnotist's composure.

The singer and rapper displays the subtle breadth of his music in this Tiny Desk (home) concert.

A longtime hero of the underground rap scene for his worldly, wily lyrics that are erudite and streetwise, billy woods has made his clearest, most engaging album yet with Maps.