To get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day, here are some of The Root’s favorite rap love songs. While hip-hop is often characterized by its bravado and aggression, the genre has also flourished ...

Rap in 2025 was all about experimentation. From the year’s first runaway hit, NBA player-turned-musician Gelo’s single “Tweaker,” to the maximalist ecclesiastics of Playboi Carti’s Music, or even in ...

From Run-DMC’s Queens classic to De La Soul’s subversive storytelling, to “Trap Christmas”…rap has always celebrated the holidays on its own terms. Christmas in Hip-Hop has never been ...

In 50 years, rap transformed the English language, bringing the Black vernacular’s vibrancy to the world. “Dave, the dope fiend shootin’ dope.” — Slick Rick, “Children’s Story” (1988) “Dopeman, ...

On August 11, 1973, Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Her brother Clive, better known as DJ Kool Herc, was enlisted to DJ, and he used the occasion to ...

Rap and Christmas have been intertwined since the former began. Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'," a rhymed update of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (better known as "‘Twas the Night Before Christmas") ...