"Gov. Rauner, do your job!" the Grammy winner said at a press conference, challenging political inaction and its impact on Chicago's South Side.

Atlanta rapper Future achieves a first in the history of the Billboard 200 chart with his back-to-back No. 1 albums, FUTURE and HNDRXX.

On his radio show, Funkmaster Flex invites a deft lyricist to bring East Coast swagger and counter "mumble" rap's stranglehold.

A battle between beatsmiths Just Blaze and Swizz Beatz and a shot of verbal ether from Remy Ma aimed at Nicki Minaj served as reminders that hip-hop remains a culture unbound by industry rules.

HNDRXX is Future's second major-label release in two weeks. Could flooding the market be the new model for an industry coasting on antiquated release strategies?

The self-titled full-length's announcement could signal a necessary return to building album anticipation the "old-fashioned" way.

The nominees in the Best Rap Album category show how hip-hop has, across multiple platforms from video to streaming audio to crowd-funding, come to own the Internet.

Fortune flexes his influence on the Atlanta hip-hop scene with a plaid-on-plaid kilt ensemble and a surreal video.