It is often difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt the review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective on the music here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on You Can Have What You Want by Papercuts.

March saw Purple Rain storm through a three-night Tonight Show residency, U2 took over Letterman, Jimmy Fallon jumped into his Late Night position, Kanye West hit American Idol and SXSW came and went. Along the way these were the the moments that we felt best represented the month of March.

A writer and poet in her own right, Sarar moved to St. Paul in 1997 to attend Macalester College and started competing in poetry slams just last year. Despite her rookie status, she won the right to represent Minneapolis at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit this month.

Mixing b-boy aesthetics with elements of folk, soul, rock and reggae, K-OS is that rare emcee who can actually sing as well as he can rap, and generally splits time between the two…

The shortest month of the year offered some of what might potentially be the biggest stories of the year. But between Kanye’s Storytellers, Lil Wayne dominating the Grammys and U2’s leak trumping every other release of the month, these are the stories that we feel best represent the month that was.

It’s very easy to write about K’naan, to boil down his existence into a few paragraphs about his background, identity and country of origin (Somalia). It’s easy to dwell on the much-discussed line from his first album “If I rhymed about home and got descriptive/I’d make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit.”

Lily Allen is a good example of an artist who succeeds through non-traditional strengths. Rather than relying on a huge, American Idol-style voice, celebrity producers (even Mark Ronson is absent from her new album) or …

Toronto renaissance rapper k-os is set to release his new album Yes! next month. While the new album is good, it might not be the best entry point for new fans who are just now discovering this formidable talent. Here’s a look back at some of rapper/singer/multi-instrumentalist k-os’ best moments.

February has come far too quickly, but before we completely leapfrog the ass-end of January we thought it’d be appropriate to look back on the best of the past month. From indie rock bum-rushing the …

I try to stay away from “reviewing” releases from other local emcees, so think of this as “an announcement with some informal thoughts.” And besides, it’s a FREE release, so we should all know about …

Video preview of Hip Hop Against Homophobia at the Nomad World Pub.

An Interview with Organizers Kyle “Guante” Myhre and Jessica Rosenberg
On January 23, the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis will host Hip Hop Against Homophobia, a concert sponsored by Culture Bully, Twin Cities arts collective/record label …