Our list of the 20 best hip-hop albums of 2020 includes Megan Thee Stallion, Big Sean, Backxwash, Dizzee Rascal, Busta Rhymes, Aminé, Bambu, Nas, Public Enemy, R.A. the Rugged Man, Benny the Butcher, Eminem, Logic, Homeboy Sandman, Royce da 5’9″, Aesop Rock, clipping., Black Thought, Run the Jewels and…

Public Enemy is one of the most influential and transformational figures in the history of protest music. Chuck D, Flavor Flav and DJ Lord show why once again on their return to Def Jam with What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? What You Gonna Do When…

The year 1988 was a great year. For example, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” came out! And the Taylor Dayne classic “Tell It To My Heart!” Everyone loves both unironically, right? Ok, so not those. But 1988 did give us two of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time in Straight…

Rage Against the Machine broke up on October 18, 2000, just 20 days before George W. Bush won the Presidency. It’s safe to say the nation has slid away from their vision since then. But despite all that’s transpired in the last 17 years, aside from a brief tour in 2007 and…

If you’re like me—and odds are either you are or you aspire to be—you don’t really want to be associated with Valentine’s Day. Some people spend weeks festooning everything in cutesy red hearts and some spend those weeks raging against the mere concept with songs about getting dumped. But not people…

St. Lucia Looking back on my interviews over the past 12 months, the first thing that surprised me was just how busy I stayed: nearly 50 interviews of 10 minutes or longer, about a dozen more than 2015, which had seemed much busier. Interviewing artists is just one part…

Prophets of Rage perform at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 13, 2016. Paige K. Parsons/STAFF. Despite being one of the great rock bands of the ’90s, the original iteration of Rage Against the Machine did not survive beyond a decade, with vocalist Zack de la Rocha departing following…

When Public Enemy’s hip hop icon Chuck D and bandmate DJ Lord joined forces with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk, and Cypress Hill MC B-Real to form the Prophets of Rage, the supergroup had only one goal: To play the…

Photos: Nick Buckmaster Rapper-actor Ice-T brought his Art of Rap tour to San Francisco’s regency Ballroom Sunday night with Public Enemy, Naughty by Nature and other guests. The four-hours-long show featured a little something for all fans of classic hip hop. Naughty by Nature played the part of good-natured…

Chuck D (right) and Public Enemy, courtesy. Hip-hop icons Public Enemy and their cohorts on the Art of Rap tour—mastermind Ice-T, Naughty By Nature, Grandmaster Melle Mell and Scorpio, among others—have found themselves accidentally swirling in controversy this week. While Public Enemy frontman Chuck D and his supergroup Prophets…