XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this moment: Feb. 11, 1997: Legendary Hot 97 radio personality Funkmaster Flex aka Funk Flex took the mixtape game to a new level by making mixtapes a ...

Albums like To Pimp a Butterfly and 1999 blend jazz harmonies with sharp lyricism, proving the genre’s deep connection. Hip-hop may keep evolving, but funk and jazz remain its heartbeat, fueling its ...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, a landmark achievement for Black artists and creatives that have helped develop the most popular genre in the contemporary U.S. While the artists that ...

At the Smithsonian | Updated: August 11, 2023 | Originally Published: August 10, 2022 Arising out of New York’s close-knit Black communities, the genre revolutionized the music industry and gave rise ...

As it celebrates its 50th birthday, we are mapping hip-hop's story on a local level, with more than a dozen city-specific histories of the music and culture. Click here to see the entire list. If you ...