Kathy Iandoli

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop meets Girls to the Front in this essential and long overdue history of hip-hop’s female pioneers and its enduring stars. Available 10/22 via Dey Street Books / Harper Collins.

"Nineteen-ninety-motherfuckin-three, right? What's YOUR new year's resolution, motherfucker?"
— “Hold Down The Fort”
I didn’t fully befriend Prodigy until nearly two decades after the release of Mobb Deep’s debut album Juvenile Hell. By then his demeanor was a stark contrast to his teenage self; he would more head shake than head nod at shit-talking (he thanked prison for that), he wore the “legend” title like a well-fitting hoodie, and his suffering from the SS Type of Sickle Cell Anemia was...

In the final battle scene of the 2002 film 8 Mile, Eminem’s character B-Rabbit goes toe-to-toe with his antagonist Papa Doc, leader of the rival crew dubbed Free World. Instead of slinging insults at the character (played by Anthony Mackie), B-Rabbit's disses are self-inflicted, leaving Papa Doc with no fodder for a rebuttal. Papa Doc stood there dumbfounded, the battle was over, and B-Rabbit was crowned king of the battleground.
It’s unknown if Cardi B had that iconic scene in mind when she ...

Justin Timberlake unveiled a minute-long trailer for his new album, Man of the Woods, that left us all fucking confused. He is pictured brooding among wheat fields and in forests, running with horses, wearing a tassled leather jacket one scene and a flannel in another.

"I'm in my prime. Optimus," Nick Minaj spits on her new single, "Barbie Tingz." The new track premiered last week alongside another song called "Chun Li", arriving on the heels of a considerably candid interview with Apple’s Beats 1 Radio host Zane Lowe. Some felt the one-two punch was poorly planned; rap neophyte Cardi B’s first album Invasion Of Privacy was not even a week old. Hip-hop's new darling had barely a moment to enjoy the fruits of her success before Minaj was uploading cover art...

In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine crowned Eminem the "King of Hip-Hop," a play cousin of rap's coveted G.O.A.T. title, or Greatest Of All Time. Em was in between projects at the time: Relapse and Recovery arrived in succession between 2009 and 2010, and he wouldn't deliver his eighth (and most recent) album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, until 2013. It's a glaring example of how the Detroit-based rapper (born Marshall Bruce Mathers) seems to remain on everyone's minds—even when he's nowhere to be ...

With an onslaught of pop features and a recent Met Gala performance, Migos are becoming harder to escape.
Despite all of the Getty images and iPhone pics splashed across social media, there’s still a Fight Club-esque code when it comes to the Met Gala, where once you enter, nothing of it can be discussed. In recent years, it’s become slightly more transparent, though that clandestine cloak still piques the interest of fame voyeurs gawking from the outside. Hip-hop has slowly inched its way in...

If there is one emotion that everyone can equally feel from watching the Benny Boom-directed Tupac biopic All Eyez On Me, it’s anger. Anger derived from various reasons -- from poor film execution to residual trauma stemming from Pac’s murder and a dearth of facts surrounding both. Any anger here is equally justified.
Over the last four years, we’ve witnessed an uptick in biopics stemming from the lives of hip-hop and R&B stars. The assumption was that the floodgates would have opened around ...

As the clock struck midnight on Aug. 25th, EA Sports unveiled their latest release of Madden ’18 to the public, though hours prior, the gaming company held a countdown celebration at New York City’s Skylight Modern. The “Madden @ Midnight” event included cameos from former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, Friday Night Lights star Scott Porter and The Night Shift’s JR Lemon -- all of whom star in the cinematic Longshot mode of the latest release to the Madden franchise. The soundtrack to the ga...

Is the hip-hop superstar making a statement by not submitting 'More Life' for award consideration?
Last week, as Grammy nomination announcements began pouring in, the buzzworthy news cycle churned out an interesting bit: Drake did not submit More Life for consideration for any Grammy Award this year -- neither as a whole project nor any of its individual songs.
Speculation as to why quickly ran amuck: Maybe Drake felt Kendrick Lamar would dominate, as Kung Fu Kenny is already a low-key front-...