TROY and Fan Ran link up for a joint that’s less a track and more a cipher carved in concrete—an underground testament to Richmond’s hip-hop lineage, equal parts street sermon and boom-bap baptism. The energy is straight off a dubbed Maxell cassette, that golden-era...
We lost one of the nicest guys in the Richmond music scene this weekend. Rapper Joe Threat passed away late Saturday night of unknown causes. In a scene with competition and beef around every corner, Joe was everyone's friend. We've heard from a lot of people around town who are shattered to learn that he's gone. A lot of us here at RVA Mag knew...
Here’s a challenge for any person reading this, a challenge that I struggled with for nearly a week while getting ready to write this piece: name another hip-hop group that can rival the one-two punch of bubblegum harmony and filthy lyrics Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony have been providing for nearly two decades. Go ahead, I’ll wait. You’ve got nothing,...
It is around 3:30PM and we're in South Beach Studios in Miami Beach, Florida, shooting a music video with Pharrell Williams. Alex Germanotta, the DP of the video and I began talks with VA natives Clipse a little while ago. We wanted to shoot a video off of their album Till the Casket Drops, which features Pharrell, and fellow Virginia native...
Even though I’d sworn off going to a hip hop/ rap show ever again, I went to go see Snoop Dogg perform at the National for a few reasons. One, to hang out with an old friend. Two, the tickets were free. Three, I didn’t have anything else to do. But I couldn’t say I was excited about it. Even though I’d sworn off going to a hip hop/ rap show ever...
