The first time I heard Chastity Brown’s live show was at the 400 Bar, a bill I was also on. I was only able to catch the last song, but I knew immediately that …

I’m disappointed.
With this album, I was hoping to have one of those “music writer moments” where I boldly go against the grain and chastise all you indie-kid elitists for failing to recognize the brilliance of …

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 …

Culture Bully’s Kyle “El Guante” Myhre sat down with local poet and organizer Thien-bao Thuc Phi, who just facilitated the release of ¿Nation of Immigrants?, a compilation CD “of spoken word and performance poetry by …

I get the feeling that a lot of people still don’t realize that the Twin Cities spoken-word scene is one of the strongest in the country—from our arts programs to our organizations to our slam …

So if press releases and interviews are to be believed, Theater of the Mind is supposed to be a cinematic concept album, a journey through the characters and situations running amok in Ludacris’ boundless imagination, …

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 …

For all the talk about how “hip hop is dead” and “hip hop needs this or that,” and “hip hop kicked my puppy,” it’s really R&B that’s been in a slump for over a decade (I could probably say “three decades,” but I don’t want some crazed Luther fan hunting me down).

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 …

When you crack open an album by a west coast underground hip hop supergroup consisting of Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef (Latyrx) and producer Headnodic (Crown City Rockers), you’d be excused for thinking you know …

A few weeks ago, I sat on a panel dealing with the hip hop community and the 2008 presidential election. I sat next to artists, grassroots organizers and even a representative from the College Republicans …

photo by Jon Behm
From late August through the first week of September, the Twin Cities played host not only to the visiting Republican National Convention delegates, but to a vast array of protesters, musicians, artists …