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1997 Pazz & Jop: The Year of No Next Big Thing
Because the 24th or 25th Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll was the biggest-and-bestest ever, it tempted me to come out shilling for our big fat turnout and shiny new machines. Because the winner was in doubt well into the computerized tally, his margin of victory the smallest since…Blood on the Tracks? — no no no, […]
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Community Board Weighs Whether Notorious B.I.G. Was Too Fat and Violent to Have a Street Named After Him
Back in August, we told you about LeRoy McCarthy, the man spearheading a campaign to have Fulton Street between St. James Place and Cambridge Place–the block where Biggie Smalls grew up–renamed in honor of the Brooklyn native. On Tuesday, McCarthy made his case to Brooklyn’s Community Board 2. His presentation included 1,000 handwritten signatures and […]
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The Village Voice’s Top 5 Book Events This Week, May 29-June 4, 2013
101 Classic Cookbooks 92Y Tribeca Wednesday, May 29, 7:30 p.m., $15 Here’s one for the foodies–or really anyone who cherishes the cookbook as more than just a batter-stained instructional manual. Like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for baked goods, 101 Classic Cookbooks (Rizzoli) is the Fales Library anthology of 501 recipes lifted from […]
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PUMP UP THE JAM
Never has there been an era in which you could easily go from wearing flannel and Doc Martens to neon windbreakers. The ’90s were, indeed, a very special time, and the music was just as insane. The ’90s Summer Jams Sing-Along will take us back in time with two hours of music videos from favorites […]
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Jadakiss Makes Menacing Kissy Noises
Jadakiss isn’t normally considered as a candidate for the Rappers You Wanna Be Loved By list. A sneering, venom-spitting leftover from the mid-’90s—when rappers snarled at one another like teenage snakes—the Yonkers native struts the stage with what may be the most sinister larynx in the whole of show business. Even though tristate hip-hop is […]
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Diddy Goes Back to the Basement
Diddy doesn’t need to make an album like Last Train to Paris. OK: Diddy doesn’t need to do anything, but in particular, no one was looking to the guy for an electro-influenced, house-tinged, avant-r&b concept album about heartbreak. “I wasn’t trying to be vulnerable for the sake of shock, or for the sake of people […]
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Brooklyn’s Finest: March 9th is for Biggie, New York’s Notorious Legend
Rapper Canibus said it best: “The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th,” which was 13 years ago today, after Christopher Wallace was killed in L.A. Here’s how he’s being remembered: MTV did a pretty thorough summary of how Biggie’s murder was never solved, asking if it ever will be. The outlook isn’t […]
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BIGGIE UPS
As the Hip Hop Karaoke NYC 4th Annual Tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. should be a place for inspiration, The Village Voice would like to proffer this guidance to its honorable contestants: Close like Starsky and Hutch, stick the clutch. Skip the wine and the candlelight, no Cristal tonight. Live ’til your last day, hittin’ […]
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R.A. the Rugged Man Abides
As the story goes, R.A. the Rugged Man really wanted to get dropped from Jive Records. An employee of the label had sued him for sexual harassment, for one thing; R.A. says they paid her off out of his budget. (Jive had no comment.) So he decided to take matters into his own hands. At […]
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BIG STARS
Twelve years have passed since the murder of the Notorious B.I.G., and his influence continues to resonate in music today. Celebrating the man who has become bigger than himself, the Hip Hop Karaoke 3rd Annual Biggie Tribute marks the first time the competition will be held in Biggie Smalls’s hometown of Brooklyn. Before practicing your […]