Contributor
50 items by Jonah Weiner
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TM: 103 Hustlerz Ambition | ALBUM REVIEW
Is there a hip-hop artist who cares less about artistry than Young Jeezy? Dazzling wordplay, unpredictable flow, tricky rhyme schemes – these are froofy, frivolous concerns to the Atlanta drug-dealer-turned-MC. "Bitch, I'm legendary/Bitch, I'm a living legend,"...
December 20, 2011 5:05 PM ET -
Odd Future's Frank Ocean Readies Solo Takeover | ARTICLE
Frank Ocean's phone buzzes – it's an automated message urging him to set a voicemail password. He frowns, "Who uses voicemail?" In a few ways, the singer-songwriter is emblematic of his generation: At 23, he prefers texting...
November 2, 2011 12:35 PM ET -
How Jason Segel Went From Apatow Bro to Master of Muppets | ARTICLE
To hear Jason Segel tell it, his house is pretty creepy. "It's filled with puppets," the 31-year-old actor and screenwriter says over dinner at L.A.'s Chateau Marmont. "Literally packed." His puppet jones doesn't stop there: He turned his...
November 1, 2011 2:00 PM ET -
'2 Broke Girls' Star Kat Dennings Wants to 'Bring the Sitcom Back' | ARTICLE
Never mind that, at 25, Kat Dennings has acted in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Thor, that she co-stars on 2 Broke Girls, television's most popular new sitcom, or that her title role opposite Michael...
November 1, 2011 12:25 PM ET -
Weed, Top Chefs and Rick Ross: Drake Ranges Wide on New Album | ARTICLE
"I hate singles," Drake says. It's a funny thing to hear from the rapper behind hits like "Best I Ever Had" and "Find Your Love," but he says he's always felt this way – now more than...
July 22, 2011 10:00 AM ET -
Artist to Watch: Visionary Beatmaker Clams Casino | ARTICLE
Who: Best known for the emotive, hypnotic, hard-hitting beats he's whipped up for Soulja Boy ("All I Need") and Berkeley oddball Lil B ("Motivation"), 24-year-old Clams Casino got his break when he contacted B on MySpace and...
June 16, 2011 12:35 PM ET -
Eye Contact | ALBUM REVIEW
Hard techno stabs, soft-rock piano, polyrhythmic dance-floor clatter, steel-drum solos, New Age-y samples of burbling water: In Gang Gang Dance's search for bliss, all kinds of unlikely musical bedfellows hop into the sack. These New York avant-gardists...
May 10, 2011 12:10 AM ET -
The New Wu-Tang Clan: Odd Future | ARTICLE
"Oh, fuck! we just came this close to killing someone," says Tyler, the Creator, laughing. The L.A. rapper is calling from a car in Austin where the 11-person hip-hop collective he helms, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill...
May 5, 2011 11:28 AM ET -
"Yonkers" | SONG REVIEW
Who says the kids are all right? Over a dark, chorus-free drone, the 19-year-old Angeleno (who heads up blog-beloved rap crew Odd Future) shouts out his therapist and dreams of stabbing "Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus."...
March 11, 2011 9:00 AM ET -
Mondo Amore | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to Listen to Nicole Atkins' "Vulture" and "Cry, Cry, Cry" Nicole Atkins' second album is an exercise in what you might call brunch blues:...
February 8, 2011 12:20 AM ET -
Ashes to Ashes | ALBUM REVIEW
Is there a better salesman working in hip-hop today than Rick Ross? Yes, the Miami MC raps a bunch about moving drugs, but he's best at selling himself: It takes Don Draper-level skills to package a former...
February 1, 2011 12:00 AM ET -
Apollo Kids | ALBUM REVIEW
Ghostface Killah is so charismatic, he can brag about being an old coot and make it sound badass. "New rappers need to skip town/This is East Coast music, Grandpa Ghost is around!" Ghost, now 40, raps. His...
December 21, 2010 12:15 AM ET -
Best Night of My Life | ALBUM REVIEW
If you want depth from Jamie Foxx, go see one of his movies. On his fourth album, Foxx dedicates himself almost entirely to hard-edged party tunes and sexed-up ballads, making for a convincing Casanova on the thundering...
December 21, 2010 12:10 AM ET -
Calling All Hearts | ALBUM REVIEW
Cole is a multiplatinum star who had a hit reality show and recently became a mother. But the Oakland diva's fourth album is by no means a celebration: Cole is a heroine who thrives off tales of...
December 21, 2010 12:05 AM ET -
Love Letter | ALBUM REVIEW
R. Kelly is R&B's reigning king of outrageousness: Whether inspiring listeners to reach for the sky ("I Believe I Can Fly") or the Astroglide ("In the Kitchen"), he can always be counted on to deliver horny double-entendres...
December 14, 2010 11:25 AM ET -
Rihanna Gets 'Loud' With Disc of High-Energy Party Jams | ARTICLE
The sessions for Rihanna's fifth album, the new Loud, kicked off with a frenzy of activity: Earlier this year, Island Def Jam...
December 9, 2010 12:15 PM ET -
Inside Kanye's Surprise VIP-Packed Club Gig | ARTICLE
Tuesday morning, word circulated on the Internet that Kanye West would be...
November 24, 2010 8:55 AM ET -
H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger for More) | ALBUM REVIEW
A few months ago, Kanye West tweeted that Lloyd Banks is "prolly the most underrated MC in the game." Banks, best known as 50 Cent's sideman, is an un-showy virtuoso, rapping in a gruff, sleepy-eyed near-monotone that...
November 22, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
"Roman's Revenge" | SONG REVIEW
It's a match made in battle-rap heaven! On this single from Minaj's upcoming debut, two motormouths – both of whom know their way around a punch line, love goofy voices and suffer from severe cases of multiple...
November 15, 2010 12:20 PM ET -
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager | ALBUM REVIEW
As Drake and Kanye West have demonstrated, there's room in hip-hop for melancholic MCs who upend the self-congratulation that dominates the genre. The problem with Kid Cudi is that, since his hypnotic breakout single, "Day 'N' Nite,"...
November 8, 2010 12:00 AM ET
