Tupac Shakur

Hip-Hop (Group): Meet the 2013 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2013 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is tomorrow! Think of it as St. Louis music's own official holiday, and consider this the season. Throughout May we at RFT Music have been working hard to make our cases for all 130 bands and artists nominated for an RFT Music Award this year in 26 categories ... More >>

Is Killer Mike Is the Best Rapper Alive in 2013?

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis city. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

The Best St. Louis Metal Shows in May

Looking for a good place to see flashy and exciting music played at high volume, have your mind blown by dark and powerful sounds, or just stomp around like a drunken goon with your shirt off? Then a heavy metal concert might be just the place for you. Each month I'll be offering my top picks of the ... More >>

Adrenaline Boost: Favorite Songs for Getting Shit Done

In this week's music feature for the print edition of the Riverfront Times, we address the link between music and adrenaline in the sports world. Chemists and biologists have proven that music and other stimuli can have a major effect on sparking adrenaline, which in turn may boost both athleticism ... More >>

Sorry, But Kanye Is the GOAT

Kanye West is the greatest hip-hop artist of all time. He's made the best albums and changed the game the most, and his music is the most likely to endure. One thing before we get going: This isn't one of those arguments meant to piss people off or "start a conversation." I really mean it. And, co ... More >>

The Six Worst Songs in Movies

Last week, RFT Music editor Kiernan Malestky pointed out many great film and music cohabitations at this year's St. Louis Internationally Film Festival. But not every insertion of music into movies is as seamless as A Late Quartet. Here are the six worst uses of songs in movies. Let us know your pic ... More >>

The Case Against Holograms, Which in Honor of Freddie Mercury Needs to be Made Right Now

A few days after Tupac Shakur came back from New Mexico appeared as a "hologram" during last month's Coachella festival, cynics wondered aloud about the optical illusion becoming a trend. Somebody even put together a humorous "poster" advertising next year's show, which consisted exclusively of eith ... More >>

Hologram Musicians: The Legal Implications

There's no denying that the "hologram" of Tupac Shakur that debuted at Coachella this year is provocative. Some see the visual effect as a celebration of a well-regarded rapper's legacy. Others see the spectacle as a disturbing example of the uncanny valley theory on a particularly grand scale. No ... More >>

Tupac Shakur is Still Alive

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis City. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

Best of Coachella's Final Day

See also: Our complete Coachella coverage By the third day of Coachella's second weekend -- the sixth and final day of this year's festival -- folks had more or less learned to ignore the dust and the heat. Here are our intrepid writers' favorite things about the final hours of the 2012 event.

This Is A Real YouTube Genre: "Riding Turtles With Rap Music"

Here's the great and terrible thing about YouTube: If you have an intensely specific desire to see something, like, say, animals riding very slow turtles with an overdubbed hip hop soundtrack, YouTube's seedy underbelly has probably already turned it into a genre of videos with its own playlist. H ... More >>

Tupac Shakur, Fifteen Years After His Death: Not Just A Thinker, Not Just A Thug

​Fifteen years ago today Tupac Shakur died. In the time since, his legacy has been shaped by a ubiquitous moral contradiction: the man who wrote "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Changes" also wrote "How Do You Want It" and "Hit 'Em Up." As such, Tupac seems to embody the escalating internal conflict of hip- ... More >>

Ten Biggest Musician Death Conspiracies

wikimedia commons​There's always been a sense of glamour in the blur of all that is sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and it doesn't end when the music's done, or even when the rock stars die. Instead, an eerie feeling of mystery and unfinished business surfaces when the demise of a music icon is ... More >>

Highlights From the Second Annual S.L.U.M. Fest

Lena J and Miss Precious. Photos by Kelsey Whipple.​This weekend's S.L.U.M. Fest, now in its second year, was an overload of talent, controlled chaos and more references to swag than a swag-only dictionary. There were also several jokes about Tupac, countless baseball hats and more proof of th ... More >>

Tupac Shakur's 40th Birthday: Lessons in Police/Community Relationships

Happy birthday, Pac.​Today would have been Tupac Shakur's 40th birthday. In the fifteen years since his death, his songs still slap, and his words still reverberate. He remains an enigmatic figure, whose name rings out from street corners to NPR. Proof of that? Yesterday St. Louis Public Radi ... More >>

Social Distortion at the Pageant, 5/4/11: Photos Setlist

Social Distortion. Photo by Jason Stoff​Taking the stage to 2Pac's "California Love," Social Distortion brought its California hustle and flow to The Pageant Wednesday night and treated the packed house of rowdy punks, jocks, skaters and auto mechanics to almost two hours of unadulterated punk ... More >>

Battle Reuben: East Coast vs. West Coast

​Gut Check can think of countless perks of living in a so-called flyover state: no hurricanes, smaller egos and virtually no pressure when confronting the unanswerable question -- 2Pac or Biggie? Here at the crossroads of America, where our most famous rapper was best-known for a singsong cade ... More >>

Living Things Releases a Free Mixtape, Malocchio

Living Things, which still proudly claims St. Louis as its home, yesterday released a new, free mixtape on its website. Called Malocchio, the release is "influenced by the sounds of Afrobeat and psychedelic-era Nigerian dub," according to a release sent out by the band's publicist. The genesis for ... More >>

Gut Check's Week in Tweets

​Don't you know? Gut Check has a Twitter account. You can follow us @gutcheckstl.Here's some of what you missed on the Twitter feed this week: Good NYT article on Australian chef David Thompson opening a Thai restaurant in Bangkok. http://nyti.ms/9RmZ38 Alton Brown calls out Man v. Food http:/ ... More >>

Review: Teena Marie Steals the Show at The St. Louis Super Music Fest at the Chaifetz Arena, Saturday, August 28

​The first-ever St. Louis Super Music Fest (slated to be an annual event) took place last night at the Chaifetz Arena, and fans couldn't wait to get funked up. The majority of the crowd was over 40; however a respectable showing of 20- and 30-somethings came out to watch a lineup of musical l ... More >>

Interview: Hip-Hop Journalist Kim Osorio, Ex-Editor-in-Chief of The Source

(Article by Kristy Wendt)For those yearning for behind-the-scenes fodder on the battles, beefs, and trysts of hip-hop's high profilers, Kimberly Osorio's memoir Straight From the Source will make you feel like you're looking through their hotel room keyholes; you'll get a tantalizing glimpse, and no ... More >>

Biggie, Small: Notorious B.I.G., made B.L.A.N.D.

Anthony Hamilton

8 p.m. Sunday, November 9. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Video: St. Ides Malt Liquor Rap Commercials

Los Angeles Times Borrows a Page from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Retraction Playbook

Lyfestile Leaves Queen of Sheba

Cafe Soul at Lucas School House: A Review of the Open-Mic

The Mexican answers his spiciest question yet.

Week of January 18, 2007

Film Openings

Week of January 4, 2006

Lyfe Jennings

8 p.m. Tuesday, November 21. The Pageant (6161 Delmar Boulevard).

Burning the Yule Log

Our top DVD picks for the week of October 12

Critical Fatwa

The LAPD

Various Artists

The Very Best of Death Row (The Row)

Ol' Dirty Bastard

Osirus (Sure Shot)

Aqua Boogie

A local company is leading kids to water. But can it make them drink?

Letters

Week of October 20, 2004

Die, Jeff Buckley, Die!

It's time to put a bullet through the head of the Jeff Buckley zombie

All Oddz on Me

Think you know who killed 2Pac? Wanna bet?

Wages of Sin

DMX is gonna give it to ya in this stripped-down crime story from Donald Goines

Letters

Week of February 25, 2004

Injustice for All

Miller's crossings

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Week of February 4, 2004

The Gospel According to Tupac

Jesus raised the dead. Tupac raised the roof. What's the dif?

Pointed Criticism

Pointessential 7 is largely disappointing

Mag Hags

What's wrong with the state of music journalism -- and how to fix it

Power Play

Tech N9ne makes a major move that should push him past (Kansas) city limits

Dust and Bones

Dickerson digs up an undead Snoop Dogg and every horror cliché he can find

Foxy Brown

Broken Silence (Island/Def Jam)

Big L

The Big Picture (Rawkus/Flamboyant)