Today&rsquo;s a BIG day for a throwback playlist&mdash;see what I did there?&nbsp;No? Well, in case you didn&rsquo;t catch, this day marks twelve years since&nbsp;Ready To Die&nbsp;the historic debut album released by East-Coast rap icon The Notorious B.I.G.&nbsp;(now you see what I did?).

Released under Bad Boy Records, Biggie&rsquo;s premier album featured production by Bad Boy&rsquo;s P. Diddy, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse. What fans received, however, was Biggie&rsquo;s artistic narration of personal experiences pertaining to his&nbsp;notorious&nbsp;persona. Kilian Murphy from&nbsp;Stylus Magazine&nbsp;retrospectively praised the record as &ldquo;sweet, hypocritical, sensitive, violent, depressed and jubilant [which] fittingly describe Big at various points&rdquo;.

Astoundingly, fans and critics alike welcomed the debut with critical acclaim and imminently became a commercial success, swiftly achieving RIAA certified gold, and in 1995, double platinum,&nbsp;and inevitably, quadruple platinum.

The second track, &ldquo;Big Poppa&rdquo;, boasted Grammy Award nomination status for the Best Rap Solo Performance in 1996, and in 2003, the album celebrated induction at the 133rd&nbsp;title on&nbsp;Rolling Stone&rsquo;s list of The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.&nbsp;These are but a few praise points of the many, folks.

Despite the acclaim, however,&nbsp;Ready To Die&nbsp;transcends as a very significant element sparking East Coast Hip-hop against the more commercially-dominant West Coast brand.&nbsp;AllMusic&rsquo;s Steve Huey claimed the record &ldquo;reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age,&rdquo; further commending into current-day status: &ldquo;today it&rsquo;s recognized as one of the greatest hardcore rap albums ever recorded, and that&rsquo;s mostly due to Biggie&rsquo;s skill as a storyteller&rdquo;.

Ready To Die&nbsp;was the only studio album released during Big&rsquo;s lifetime, since the rapper abruptly passed away just a few days before the release of his second album&nbsp;Life After Death.

Despite being short-lived, Biggie orchestrated a tremendously-significant movement within the Hip-hop scene, which many artists and fans still witness today. Like I said, it&#39;s a BIG day for a throwback radio. Relive the beginnings of this movement with the Notorious B.I.G.&rsquo;s&nbsp;Ready To Die.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Today&rsquo;s a BIG day for a throwback playlist&mdash;see what I did there?&nbsp;No? Well, in case you didn&rsquo;t catch, this day marks twelve years since&nbsp;Ready To Die&nbsp;the historic debut album released by East-Coast rap icon The Notorious B.I.G.&nbsp;(now you see what I did?).

Releas...

Today’s Throwback Is B.I.G.

Today marks 20 years since the day Tupac died, but for many fans and followers&mdash;myself included&mdash;it was as if time stood still, as one of Hip-hop&rsquo;s most prominent figures passed away.

And indeed, the day stood still, and several accounts documentaries would attest to that phrase. But to break the familiarity, may we imagine a different notion, for although time stood still, Tupac has not&mdash;and he&rsquo;s continued in shaping the Hip-hop scene we realize today.&nbsp;That is what I wish to relay.

Who could forget his controversial&nbsp;T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E.,&nbsp;which asserted the notorious &ldquo;The Hate U Give Little Infants F*cks Everybody&rdquo;, and the controversies he stirred with other work. That being said, it became inevitable for critics to title him for the content he offered: a thug.

Despite this, many critics and fans have stepped beyond the initial criticism. What was defined by the Oxford Dictionary as &ldquo;a violent person, especially a criminal&rdquo;, Tupac&rsquo;s work reimagined it into &ldquo;a man who triumphs over systematic obstacles&rdquo;. And I believe he strove for the latter, for many artists have partaken in its reinvention.

With modern-day media and such commodities as the internet, you&rsquo;d expect more convenience, and yet Tupac remains the most overwhelming figure in the Hip-hop scene. &nbsp;The work ethic Tupac embodied became and to this day remains a famous mantra as well as a precedent ambition for several, if not most, current artists.

To provide as a brief account on his significant impact,&nbsp;Rolling Stone&nbsp;features a satisfactory claim:

&ldquo;Although he is no longer with us, the myth of 2Pac the thug angel remains. No other artist better illuminates Hip-hop&rsquo;s fault lines between regional pride and mainstream success, and the struggle to transcend and elevate beyond humble origins while honoring the streets that raised you&hellip; His wayward, conflicting expressions of pride, militancy and gangster-ism resonates in a world when black men and women celebrate their heritage and collectively organize against racist America, yet are also cautious to protect themselves from each other&rdquo;.&nbsp;Well said.

So let&rsquo;s go back to &ldquo;the day Hip-hop stood still&rdquo;, and let me just say this:&nbsp;It did.&nbsp;We lost an unmatched force that day, but what we acquired was the legend of a man who fearlessly expressed his distaste at a faulty system and fought for change through his unfiltered content and uncensored lifestyle.

Twenty years ago, today stood still. Twenty years after, the story of Tupac remains and undoubtedly will live on, though the years pass and Hip-hop seeks to continue that which his legend began.

&nbsp;

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

&nbsp;

Today marks 20 years since the day Tupac died, but for many fans and followers&mdash;myself included&mdash;it was as if time stood still, as one of Hip-hop&rsquo;s most prominent figures passed away.

And indeed, the day stood still, and several accounts documentaries would attest to that phrase....

20 Years Into the Legend of Tupac

&nbsp;Everyone needs a rest day--a day when you can just kick your feet up, enjoy the moment, and listen to some good music!

That being said, I have just the right music for your throwback playlist. So why not take this opportunity and relive its memorable release date and just bask an hour or so of good Hip-hop music.

The first is Kanye West&rsquo;s&nbsp;Graduation.&nbsp;This is the third studio album released under Roc-A-Fella Records, and debuted September 11th, 2007. Produced for the most part by Kanye himself, the project features collaborations from Mos Def, Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayme, DJ Premier, and even Coldplay&rsquo;s Chris Martin.

Onto the music, you&rsquo;ll find yourself nodding to a refreshing indie vibe, with a hint of Chicago House into the mix. The album also presented a step away from Kanye&rsquo;s familiar soul-based sound, and into a more dynamic, anthem-esque, and electronic style.

The album scored a good amount of applause, including its debut in the US&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;200&rsquo;s #1, grossing over 957,000 in its first week, and boasted Kanye&rsquo;s second album inducted in the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;200.

Oh, did I mention the album&rsquo;s got some sweet artwork as well? Fans who get a hold of the vinyl are rocking some contemporary Japanese art, crafted by Takashi Murakami, who&rsquo;s been known for his &ldquo;surrealistic visual art [which] is characterized by cartoonish creatures&rdquo;.

Moving down 6 years beforehand, Jay-Z released his sixth studio record,&nbsp;The Blueprint. Same as West, the album released under Roc-A-Fella, with this one featuring contributions from Just Blaze, Bink, Timbaland, Trackmasters, and Eminem, all of which synthesizing soulful beats, which were inspired by Kanye himself.

Many fans and critics would argue this as Jay-Z&rsquo;s most memorable work, which stands right beside his debut album. The album ranked &ldquo;universal acclaim&rdquo; and received praise for containing &ldquo;a unique and balanced blend of soulful samples that had both street credibility and mainstream appeal, thereby garnering praise from all quarters of the Hip-hop community&rdquo;.

There you have it folks&mdash;like I said, I highly recommend checking these out, and adding them to your throwback playlist. Whether you&rsquo;re familiar or unfamiliar, the songs featured by these iconic artists are well-acclaimed toplisters, and definitely songs you must listen to!

&nbsp;

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

&nbsp;Everyone needs a rest day--a day when you can just kick your feet up, enjoy the moment, and listen to some good music!

That being said, I have just the right music for your throwback playlist. So why not take this opportunity and relive its memorable release date and just bask an hour or so...

Throwback Radio: Graduation from Kanye, and Jay-Z's The Blueprint

For many, Hip-hop and rap music is just a mix of raving electronic music, explosive beats, and ever-aggressive rhymes. Stereotypically, that may all be true, but at the core, Hip-hop is all about storytelling, and perhaps stories come nowhere near as heartfelt as today&rsquo;s birthday celebrant&mdash;Bizzy Bone.

Byron Anthony McCane II, born in Columbus, Ohio, played no stranger to a dysfunctional childhood. In several occasions, Bizzy relayed the dark chapters connecting his traumatic childhood, to his wayward adolescence.

At age thirteen, Biz moved back home under the parentage of his older sister. It was during this particular chapter when the young Biz met Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Wish Bone, and Flesh-n-Bone&mdash;eventually leading up to the formation of the iconic rap group, Bone Enterprise.

It was through Bizzy&rsquo;s distinct rapid-fire rhymes and high-pitched harmonies that led N.W.A.&rsquo;s Eazy-E to bestow them with a certain memorable moniker, thus becoming the well-acclaimed Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Although many applaud him for his Bone Thug legacy, Bizzy Bone proved just as daunting as a solo artist. His debut album&nbsp;Heaven&rsquo;z Movie&nbsp;smashed the charts with much critical-acclaim, eventually earning certified platinum. His second record&nbsp;The Gift&nbsp;premiered with similar praise and would peak to the US&nbsp;BillboardIndie albums at #2.

In 2004, Bizzy released&nbsp;Alpha and Omega, which featured a transition in his musical style and lyrical content, which was astonishingly welcomed by fans, and received prominence as Bizzy&rsquo;s best album by far.

The most intriguing, however, is that Bizzy, like may Hip-hop greats, represents more than meets the eye. It isn&rsquo;t just rap and upbeat music fans encounter with Biz, but rather the physical embodiment of life-threatening stories sung above a very defiant and hopeful pitch&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what Hip-hop is at best.

Happy 40th&nbsp;birthday, Bizzy Bone!

&nbsp;

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com&nbsp;

For many, Hip-hop and rap music is just a mix of raving electronic music, explosive beats, and ever-aggressive rhymes. Stereotypically, that may all be true, but at the core, Hip-hop is all about storytelling, and perhaps stories come nowhere near as heartfelt as today&rsquo;s birthday celebrant&mda...

Bone Thug, Bizzy, Turns 40!

Using his Xperience or &ldquo;XP&rdquo; moniker, Seattle-based artist Tyler Andrews is making a name for himself touring the world with Macklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis, while consistingly pushing his solo material. His new album,Chasing Grace, takes &ldquo;a little bit church, a little bit gangsta, and a little bit of conscious [hip-hop],&rdquo; and weaves them into one, cohesive fabric. The first single, &ldquo;Not Today,&rdquo; has received a warm reception from fans and critics alike. As he continues pushing&nbsp;Chasing Grace&nbsp;and performing, he was able to take a few moments to discuss the origin of his name, growing up in the Midwest, and what he&rsquo;s learned from the &ldquo;Thrift Store&rdquo; rapper. Visit&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.xpmusic.rocks&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1473787392830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGRPZBhpa8WiwFadWX7eVVMhUKUlQ" href="http://www.xpmusic.rocks/" target="_blank">www.xpmusic.rocks</a>&nbsp;for more information.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): Where did your stage name come from?

Tyler &ldquo;XP&rdquo; Andrews: Back in the day, when I was trying to find my identity, I wanted a name that was different but meant something to me. I came up with &quot;The Xperience&rdquo; I told the homie and he was like, &quot;I don&#39;t know about the &quot;The&quot; though.&quot; [Laughs] So I looked up the word experience in the dictionary. I was sold. [An experience is the act of living through an event. Anything or everything observed or lived through. Personal participation, knowledge or skill resulting from this.] People started calling me XP for short. There were other obvious cliche reasons like &quot;experience is the best teacher&quot; and what not.

&nbsp;

How did the environment you grew up in shape your musical style?&nbsp;

I grew up in the Midwest&mdash;East Chicago, Gary, Indiana, Hammond, so the environment was pretty messed up. There was a lot of gang violence, drugs, murders&mdash;you name it. We were listening to Grind Family [local group from East Chicago], Twista, Crucial Conflict, Bone Thugs, Sauve House, No Limit. My mother tried to keep me away from all that. She kept me in church, where I eventually became the drummer and sang lead on a couple songs. When I came to the Northwest, I was introduced to Souls of Mischief, Dead Prez, older Wu, Hiero, Atmosphere, Kool Keith, and I was blown away. &ldquo;The Wake Up Show&rdquo; was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. So my style is a mix of all that&mdash;a little bit of gangsta, a little bit of church, and a little bit of what they call conscious.

&nbsp;

What have you learned from touring with Macklemore?&nbsp;

I&#39;ve learned a lot. I&#39;ve learned how to structure a song better overall. I&#39;ve learned rapping fresh is great, but what you do and say in-between songs is just as important. Just working with Mack and Ryan [Lewis] in the studio is a learning experience itself. My ear has gotten sharper. Ive learned to appreciate every single fan you get and be as personable as possible. I&#39;ve learned when crowd surfing not to jump out ass first [laughs]. Also, his hustle and business savvy is on point. There&#39;s a lot of do&#39;s and don&rsquo;ts, so his advice is very important to me.

&nbsp;

How does it feel to have your new material out in the world?&nbsp;

I feel good. I think this is some of my best work yet. This song &quot;Not Today&quot; is really getting good feedback. At the shows, no one had ever heard it before. But by the end, everyone would be singing it. The video is crazy, too. I&#39;m really excited for people to hear the album as a whole. There&#39;s something on there for everybody. It&#39;s a three-part album, so I tried to connect them with a little audio movie. Hope you all like it.

&nbsp;

What are you currently working on?

Right now we are just working on getting&nbsp;Chasing Grace&nbsp;to as many people as possible. I&#39;m ready to get back on the road and tour again. I&#39;ve already started working on a new project, just writing here and there. I also recently did an R&amp;B feature for the homies Oliver Chang &amp; Evan James new project &ldquo;Tides,&quot; so check that out. I&#39;m always working on music so stay tuned. 
 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i19qspVfWxc" width="560"></iframe></center>

&nbsp;

If no one has ever heard your music, how would you describe it to them?&nbsp;

I would describe it as neo-soul, gangsta, gospel, trap, at times emo, jazz, bap, revolutionary minded rap, funk, alternative R&amp;B, and rock, mixed with midwest, down south, east coast, west coast influences with a sprinkle of Motown and Temptations dust, slathered with some Isley Brother and D&#39;angelo sauce with a side of chopping and bars.

&nbsp;

Who are some of your musical heroes?

I have so many, but here&#39;s a few. Marvin Gaye&mdash;his voice control was crazy. Whitney Houston&mdash;I think she was one of the greatest singers of our time. Her vocal skills were insane. Believe it or not, I feel the same about Chris Brown. Back in the day, the church folk called it riffing. That dude is on a whole other level with it. Beyonce, too. But my #1 hero has to be Bilal. His range is alien. He can sing any kind of song from opera to jazz. His style is unlike any other and he&#39;s an amazing writer. I also love Janelle Monae&mdash;she speaks for herself. Andre 3000 is one of my favorite rappers. Pharaoh Monch is&nbsp; 
&ldquo;Thee Rapper.&rdquo; The G.O.A.T. in my opinion. is Pac, of course. I have a lot of heroes.

&nbsp;

What does the music you make mean to you on a personal level?

My music is everything. It&#39;s how I heal. I believe it&#39;s my purpose&mdash;why I am here. I must shed as much light as I can because the world is dark. I must save myself and find a way out, and hopefully help others find a way, too. My songs are my freedom. Through them I speak to God, and God speaks to me and through me. My songs are my salvation, saving me from whatever other bullshit I could be doing to get myself killed or locked up. My songs are me, for you. They are war cries, and cries for help. They are my help. It&#39;s everything to me. Ok, I&#39;m back now.

&nbsp;

Where can people find your music?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.xpmusic.rocks/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1473787392830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG8h7M0sbBp8wh8YpVVUqXWi_bBOw" href="http://www.xpmusic.rocks/" target="_blank">www.xpmusic.rocks</a>

<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.districtlines.com/xperience&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1473787392830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHtE4JE84AaWbf0FY54elbtUeqZjQ" href="http://www.districtlines.com/xperience" target="_blank">www.districtlines.com/xperience</a>

iTunes, Spotify and all other publications

<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.youtube.com/xperiencexp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1473787392830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGG4RUZ47rkIuBJDjNPPqa3CzzDKA" href="http://www.youtube.com/xperiencexp" target="_blank">Www.YouTube.com/xperiencexp</a>

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @Xperiencexp

Snapchat @Xperience

 
&nbsp;

Using his Xperience or &ldquo;XP&rdquo; moniker, Seattle-based artist Tyler Andrews is making a name for himself touring the world with Macklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis, while consistingly pushing his solo material. His new album,Chasing Grace, takes &ldquo;a little bit church, a little bit gangsta, and...

Exclusive Interview (Part II): Xperience (XP) 

Back in 2013, a young rapper by the name of K Roosevelt broke out from the Underground scene with a notable R&amp;B track, titled &ldquo;Do Me Now&rdquo;. After a few collaborations and indie projects, the drummer-turned-singer/rapper seemingly disappeared.

It appeared Roosevelt&rsquo;s hiatus, however, proved good reason; Today, the young artist breaks his silence and presents his debut album&nbsp;Neon Haze.

The album contains three-years&rsquo; worth of production&mdash;and quite frankly, the finished product speaks nothing short of that. Roosevelt&rsquo;s work features a blend of his familiar Rhythm &amp; Blues style crossing over with some sonic garnish. On top of its spacey tracks, Roosevelt has some smooth guitar licks, some Sunday morning keyboard runs, and contagious drum beats&mdash;oh and of course, the magnetic forces of digital sounds.

As to Roosevelt&rsquo;s compositions, the artist&rsquo;s style may strongly be linked to that of The Game, Hit-Boy, Audio Push, and Dom Kennedy; Although Roosevelt attests his influences from them, what listeners encounter is &ldquo;a labyrinth of soul spasms and euphoric melodies that could be classified s post-modern trap for the untrained ear&rdquo;.

What&nbsp;Neon Haze&nbsp;features most significant, however, is its creator&rsquo;s perfectionist personality, and the three-year production period isn&rsquo;t the only evidence.

Prior to his ventures as an R&amp;B singer, Roosevelt originally studied drums at Hollywood&rsquo;s Musicians Institute. School policy had the young drummer take mandatory recording classes, and this is where Roosevelt found his forte. Since then, Roosevelt stuck to recording and inevitably delved into producing tracks of his own.

It&rsquo;s definitely a different sound, but that&rsquo;s the good thing about perfectionists&mdash;always coming out with one-of-a-kind hits. Be sure to check&nbsp;Neon Haze&nbsp;out!

 
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Back in 2013, a young rapper by the name of K Roosevelt broke out from the Underground scene with a notable R&amp;B track, titled &ldquo;Do Me Now&rdquo;. After a few collaborations and indie projects, the drummer-turned-singer/rapper seemingly disappeared.

It appeared Roosevelt&rsquo;s hiatus, h...

Today’s Throwback Is B.I.G.

20 Years Into the Legend of Tupac

Throwback Radio: Graduation from Kanye, and Jay-Z's The Blueprint

Bone Thug, Bizzy, Turns 40!

Exclusive Interview (Part II): Xperience (XP)

Indie R&B Star Releases Much-Awaited Debut Album, Neon Haze

Sight

Sound

Story