The early ’80s were not exactly the best time for love and romance in rap. And with good reason. Most of the rappers, in a genre that was just 10 years old, were male and fresh out of puberty (if not ...

Ask 10 hip-hop fans of different ages what the greatest year in rap music was, and you’ll get 10 different answers. Music consumption is a deeply personal endeavor, shaped by individual taste and ...

To get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day, here are some of The Root’s favorite rap love songs. While hip-hop is often characterized by its bravado and aggression, the genre has also flourished ...

After being spoiled by a monstrous three-peat from Future, a lyrical face-off between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and scintillating releases from Doechii and Tyler, the Creator, the rap world feasted in ...

Hip-hop celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2023, and from its early renegade beginnings to becoming a big fish in the mainstream, many a clever lyric has been turned out by talented rhymers who ...

What does good rapping sound like in 2025? It depends on who you ask. It’s no secret that hip-hop is more splintered than ever, with different pockets and intersections thriving in their own ...

So much rap music comes out all the time, and especially with frequent surprise releases, it can be hard to keep track of it all. So, as a way to help keep up with all of it, here’s a roundup of the 5 ...

We should address the elephant in the room: hip-hop did not have a strong year on the charts. In fact, rap music had its worst showing in years. Back in October, it made headlines when—for the first ...

In a year that had no rap songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40 for the first time since 1990, rap thrived in so many other ways. This list of the 25 best rap albums of 2025 includes grand ...

As the year comes to an end, we are wading deep into list season. Now that we’ve talked about the best albums, songs, debuts, and EPs of 2025, it’s time to get even more granular and pay tribute to a ...