Charlie Kaplan

Years ago, who would've predicted that Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky—two Internet-borne yet ostensibly opposite rap stars—would be touring together?

A little background: In 2011, they were the future, representing youth movements as progressive as they were nostalgic. Tyler made waves for reinvigorating the transgressive shock-rap of MCs like ...

They say you can't overestimate the power of a good handshake. If that's the case, my job interview with Waka Flocka Flame was doomed from the start.

I went in for the sort of greeting I'm familiar with -– a clasp that pivots up into a grip and pulls in ...

Quick survey: you're going to the Word Wide Rollers Tour, presented by a group of weed connoisseurs called the Smoker's Club. Among the featured performers is a rapper named Berner and a DJ named TreeJay. The tour poster shows a Smokey the Bear type

Saturday's hottest ticket in New York City was to see a band nobody's heard of. The Reflektors burned through a fan-only presale, and tickets hit the secondary market at prices high as $5,000 — a hefty sum to see any band, much less a band yet to release its first ...

There were two very different hip-hop shows in New York on Saturday: the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and New Era's #WearYourAllegiance show.

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival was attended by rap's growing middle-aged contingent. Fittingly, it took place in Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 5, on the shore of the beautiful, upscale, residential ...

Interviewing Odd Future visionary Tyler, the Creator is a crapshoot. His music has drawn as much praise as it has criticism, and in person he can be as candid as he is surly, as hilarious as he is annoying. ...

"We went to Flea's house and played pool all night and listened to Fela Kuti and it was like, this is good," Thom Yorke told All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in an interview with Atoms For Peace – a super-group that includes the Red Hot ...

Say you fell in love with D'Angelo's Voodoo in 2006 — six years after it was released. The hype over "Untitled (How Does It Feel?)" had long since dissipated, and media inquiries about his status reached an all-time low. The man wasn't exactly keeping the hearth alive — ...