Innovation is no longer a prerequisite for success in a hip-hop galaxy built on marketing formulas, video budgets, gangster posing and conspicuous consumption of name-brand luxuries. But it was alive ...

On May 12, 1998, the Hip Hop world was shaken by the arrival of It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, the raw and unfiltered debut album from Yonkers emcee DMX. Released via Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Def Jam ...

1998: Gruff, brash and hard-hitting, New York rapper DMX made his major label debut with his 1998 album, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, on May 19. The album took two years to put together and was released ...

Friday nights at the bSide are marked by DJs Why B and Kid Cut Up's innovative mixes. "I have no problem playing commercial music," says Cut Up, but both adhere to the idea that hip-hop is "more about ...