Kathy Griffin? The lady from Family Guy? No, the nurse from the "Slim Shady" video.

A heartfelt collection of our favorite music stories of the week, as picked by Voice music writers, including a special Valentine's Day meeting between A$AP Rocky, Danny Brown and ... Kathy Griffin, perhaps best known to the two rappers as the old nurse from Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" video.

Here are your weekly music links:

More »

[Ed. Note: The following post ran on the music blog of the Voice's sister publication Houston Press on Jan. 23. We rerun it here re: relevant to our interests.]

By Nathan Smith

There are a few things you should know about A$AP Rocky. He's a pretty motherfucker. His new album, Long.Live.A$AP, is at the top of the charts. And it might turn out to be the biggest Houston rap album of the year.

Except that it's not really a Houston rap record at all, of course. A$AP Rocky is from Harlem, and as far as I can tell, none of the producers or guest stars on Long.Live.A$AP are from Texas, either. In fact, the closest Lone Star connection on the album might be British singer Florence Welch, whose mother's family lived in Galveston.

See also: A$AP Rocky Lights Up The City

More »

This month buzzier-than-thou rapper A$AP Rocky released his major label debut, Long.Live.A$AP. You may have heard. We've thought long and hard about the album, and want you to have the optimal Rocky listening experience. Among its tracks you'll find several tropes and repetitive aspects. A$AP Rocky is not the most technically-gifted lyricist, and he often repeats both lyrics and cadences. There are also stylistic devices that poke their braided-heads up again and again, similar to such stylizations on the Live.Love.A$AP mixtape (the pitched-down vocals, the double-time flow, the catchphrase-branding of lines like "pretty motherfucker"). These characteristics make the new album perfect for a drinking game. So let's get started.

See also:
- A$AP Rocky Lights Up The City
- Meet the A$AP Mob: Talking To Ant, Ferg, J. Scott, Nast, Twelvy, and Yams

More »

A$AP Rocky

This week marks the release of Harlem MC A$AP Rocky's major label debut Long.Live.A$AP. One of the most anticipated hip-hop releases of the year, the album marks the culmination of three years of some of the most buzzed about and consistent output in rap today. For those of you late to the A$AP Party, we have assembled a crash course recap of all the major A$AP moments you may have missed, bringing you up to speed on why the road hip-hop's taken has been a Rocky one.

See also:
- ASAP Rocky: Chopping, Screwing, And Repping For Harlem
- Meet The A$AP Mob: Talking To Ant, Ferg, J. Scott, Nast, Twelvy, And Yams

More »

The "b word" has been a staple of hip-hop for decades, although there's some linguistic shading as far as its use: women that aren't particularly awesome are called "bitches"; really awesome women are "bad bitches"; respected dignitaries like moms are "ladies" and "females"—unless they're the mother of a foe, in which case they're back to being a a "bitch." (Got it?)

In the last few months, though, a few MCs have begun to question if using such a term is the best way to go about things. Lupe Fiasco's "Bad Bitch" shook up the hip-hop world with its analysis of negative portrayals of women in the black community; this prompted Kanye West to contemplate his own use of the word on Twitter over the weekend.

This fraught relationship is evident in the six songs listed below: We have collaborations between men and women, the grimiest song about stripper sex, and a track from a few MCs that have catalogues full of music praising women in their lives. There is also a Shyne song.

More »

Brook Bobbins

Check out our slideshow from the party.

Fool's Gold Day Off: French Montana, Danny Brown, Brothers Macklovitch, Just Blaze, Flosstradamus, Flatbush Zombies, Nick Catchdubs, Ricky Blaze, Party Supplies, #BEEN #TRILL, Telephoned, and more
City Winery
Monday, September 3

Better than: Rain.

Last year, free shows flooded the city, with each night bringing mostly the same crowd but different publicists; an endless bacchanalia of sights and sounds and RSVP emails. Drink taps flowed like fire hoses; beautiful women instinctively flocked. Heineken served hot dogs and beer ahead of shows by Kanye (in a Brooklyn bank-turned-arena), J. Cole (at the Bowery Ballroom) and Pusha T (at Santos); they also stuck TV on the Radio (atop a downtown billboard. Bacardi had Childish Gambino in Terminal 5 and Ciara at South Street Seaport. Red Bull hosted Dipset, Black Moon, Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep and Slick Rick in their respective boroughs. Jadakiss did an entire set amongst shoppers at the Apple Store in June; a few months later, Nike gave Nas a microphone while Carmelo Anthony holograms seemingly exploded out of the Hudson. 2012, in comparison, has been... quiet, don't-wake-the-baby level quiet.

More »

Hip-hop is at its best when artists collaborate, challenging one another to create their best work, and this week's best hip-hop tracks are highlighted by a collection of odd couples. DJ Khaled, of incessant yelling and inexplicably giving Ace Hood work, managed to put Nas, Scarface and DJ Premier on the same song; meanwhile, Odd Future upstart Domo Genesis linked up with New York producer legend Alchemist.

More »

Rockafor

Snoop Dogg at Catalpa.

PHOTOS: Sunday at Catalpa

Catalpa NYC: Snoop Dogg, Black Keys, Matt & Kim, Matisyahu, A$AP Rocky, Hercules & Love Affair, TV On The Radio, Girl Talk, et al.
Randall's Island
Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29

Better than: Arguing over an iPod's shuffle function.

Music festivals without a historical following or a known brand identity can employ many strategies in their inaugural year, one of which is "Appeal to as many prospective demographics as possible." Catalpa NYC, which debuted this weekend at Randall's Island, decided to combat this problem by throwing together a bunch of popular-ish acts and some quirky attractions—art, fire, a chance to "elope" with a fellow Snoop Dogg fan.

Results were mixed; the lineup succeeded in having a broad appeal, but lacked a coherent musical aesthetic. Many of the non-musical attractions were spoiled by rain on Saturday and, faced with the prospect of surviving on its artists alone, Catalpa became a referendum on its performers' current positions within the musical landscape. Many attendees claimed to like "everything," so Catalpa became a chance to find out what the new "everything" is.

More »

She's no longer an Internet phenomenon, but the moody singer Lana Del Rey has turned into something of an infatuation for rappers, who are more than eager to collaborate and canoodle with her. In honor of her headlining a series of shows at Irving Plaza this week, here's a short list of her notable hip-hop connections.

More »

In honor of today being 4/20—every smoker's favorite day of the year—SOTC has compiled the 25 Best Rap Songs relating to weed. Though some may be more about bud than others, all are guaranteed to make your high all the more enjoyable. Be forewarned, though... this list doesn't have any happy hippy weed music—this is straight thugged-out entertainment. Locate your lighters.

More »