• David Letterman's Best Hip-Hop Moments: Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, J. Cole and More

    David Letterman has long been known as a lover of rock 'n' roll...all it takes to get the late night host on your side was to behave erratically or energetically onstage, which would almost certainly merit an "oh boy!" It took a little bit more to get the longtime host of the 'The Late Show' fired up for hip-hop however. To honor Letterman as he prepares to host the last night of his 33-year run on CBS (and to avoid conflicting with everyone else's list of the best performances ever on the show), Music Times has gathered up five great hip-hop performances that took place late night over the years, with almost all coming from emcees in Letterman's adopted hometown of New York City, including Run-D.M.C. and The Beastie Boys.
  • The Best Selling Hip-Hop Albums of All Time: Eminem, Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G...Who's No. 1?

    Thirty years ago on this day Run-D.M.C. were rewarded for its high sales, as its self-titled first album became the first hip-hop album in history to earn "Gold" status-which indicates more than 100,000 copies sold-nine months after its release. Hip-hop has come a long way in terms of styles and popularity in those 30 years, so the group's first album is far from the highest sellers in the genre anymore.
  • Beck's 'Midnite Vultures' Turns 15

    Today, Nov. 23, marks the 15th anniversary of Beck's seventh studio album "Midnite Vultures," which abandoned nearly all the singer's folk influences in favor of deliriously psychedelic funk, hip-hop and R&B. It is Beck's most fun album and arguably his best — at least I would argue that, and so would "Vulture" — so to celebrate its anniversary, here are the album's 11 songs ranked, from worst to best.
  • 6 Rappers Who Successfully Followed-Up Great Debuts

    Earlier this week, legendary Queens rapper Nas offered some words of encouragement to Kendrick Lamar, concerning Lamar's impending follow-up to his instant classic debut good kid, m.A.A.d city from 2012. As Nas knows all too well, plenty of rappers have failed to deliver a satisfying follow-up to a widely praised debut album. However, these six rappers and rap groups managed to release albums that were just as good, if not better, than their debuts.
  • 5 Bands Whose Members Never Went Solo

    In previous articles for Music Times, I've written about musicians who went solo pointlessly, as well as successful musicians who never went solo at all. Today, I'm looking into the very rare case of bands whose members have never released a single solo album. It's not nearly as common as you would think.
  • 6 Incredible Songs That Took Lyrics from Other Songs

    There's a very fine line between homage and plagiarism, but these six artists walked that line masterfully when writing the lyrics to these songs. Here are six incredible songs that took lyrics from other songs.
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