Ebro Darden has been appointed the Global Editorial Head of Hip Hop and R&amp;B at Apple Music. According to <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8492003/ebro-darden-apple-music-global-editorial-head-hip-hop-r-and-b">Billboard, </a>his position is effective immediately. 

Darden will be supervising a group of hip-hop and R&amp;B editors conceptualizing editorial strategies for artists, albums and singles released in the United States and overseas. 

The Hot 97 radio personality follows Carl Chery who served as Apple Music’s head of artist curation for hip-hop and R&amp;B until last April when he made the jump to Spotify. 

Darden already hosts a Beats 1 Radio show on Apple Music Monday through Friday, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET and will continue his role on Ebro in the Morning Monday through Friday, 6 a.m.-10 a.m. ET. 

“We’re excited that Ebro is joining us in a full-time capacity," Apple Music's global director of editorial Rachel Newman said. "Having dedicated his life and career to hip-hop, R&amp;B and pop music, he has so much to offer. One of Ebro’s most defining characteristics is that he has great ears for where R&amp;B and hip-hop are transcending and evolving to beyond even the borders of the U.S. 

"He’ll obviously take a leadership position for us not just in hip-hop and R&amp;B but also in the communities where the music is made, which is also exciting and something unique to Ebro.”

Darden explained to Billboard what will be his first order of business. 

"First is making sure that we’re firing on all cylinders in the best way possible, helping consumers find the music that they love and also helping artists connect with consumers in a real way," he said. "Once I learn about what’s needed to achieve that, it will be about looking ahead and figuring out ways to serve the communities where hip-hop and R&amp;B music is made. Black music comes from the community. This is music made by people living real lives and artists speaking on behalf of those real lives.

“If we’re doing our job, we’ll be able to get down at the community level and connect with people to not only help artists service their communities but help those communities thrive. This is a global position as well. So, as we build this out, I’ll be doing the same thing I want to do in America in the U.K., Africa, India, Japan, Brazil and other countries. I’ll be wherever R&amp;B and hip-hop are being consumed and working to create communication amongst communities around the world through Apple Music — making sure that black music is getting recognized and developing the next superstars.”

Darden’s previous roles at Hot 97 includes a four-year term as the station’s music director, which began in 2003. In 2007, he was promoted to program director and stayed in that post until 2014.

Ebro Darden has been appointed the Global Editorial Head of Hip Hop and R&amp;B at Apple Music. According to Billboard, his position is effective immediately. 

Darden will be supervising a group of hip-hop and R&amp;B editors conceptualizing editorial strategies for artists, albums and singles rele...

Ebro Darden Appointed Apple Music's Global Editorial Head Of Hip Hop

Before the holidays took over, illustrious hip-hop producer 9th Wonder gifted his fans with an early Christmas present — a new album titled Zion III. Bursting at the seams with 42 tracks, the mostly instrumental album delivers 9th's  signature jazz-infused production style and a handful of cuts featuring MCs King Draft and Swank. 

The project serves as the follow-up to 2017's Zion II and the 2016 original. He announced the album's impending arrival on December 20 via Instagram and provided a little insight into the cover art, which features a vintage photograph of a young woman. 

“Zion III. The Spirit Of BrightLady,” he wrote. “37 beats. 5 songs introducing @kingdraftmusic &amp; @swank252. MIDNIGHT. Brought to you by the good folks at @jamlarecords #ForTheSisterINeverKnew #EvelynDouthit.”

Zion III is currently available on all digital platforms.

Before the holidays took over, illustrious hip-hop producer 9th Wonder gifted his fans with an early Christmas present — a new album titled Zion III. Bursting at the seams with 42 tracks, the mostly instrumental album delivers 9th's  signature jazz-infused production style and a handful of cuts feat...

9th Wonder Releases "Zion III" Album

In the partnership with LIVE 365 Radio Networks , RAPstation has renamed its flagship station channel 'RAPstation 365' 

RAPSTATION has 9 other station channels that cover the various aspects of HipHop and Rap music. Rapstation 365 is where the prime time Station Channel Block exists . The program block is 8p EST -Midnight every night of the week as well as Hip Hop News and This Day in Hip Hop &amp; Rap History at the top of hours ...

In the partnership with LIVE 365 Radio Networks , RAPstation has renamed its flagship station channel 'RAPstation 365' 

RAPSTATION has 9 other station channels that cover the various aspects of HipHop and Rap music. Rapstation 365 is where the prime time Station Channel Block exists . The program b...

Rapstation Flagship Station Channel now called 'RAPstation 365'

When Kool DJ Red Alert was invited to guest DJ on Kay Slay&rsquo;s Shade 45 show, his son, G MiMs, came along. He wasn&rsquo;t exactly planning on spitting a freestyle, but was aware it was in the realm of possibilities. As fate would have it, the native New Yorker was asked to drop some bars and he killed it.&nbsp;

While being in the shadow of a Hip Hop luminary can come with its own set of complications, it also provides an opportunity to carry on their legacy, something G MiMs takes seriously.&nbsp;After dropping a video for &ldquo;Been G&rdquo; in March, Funkmaster Flex gave him a huge co-sign, saying the song &ldquo;goes hard in New York.&rdquo;&nbsp;

As he continues carving his own lane in Hip Hop culture, the Tommy&nbsp;Boy Records signee&nbsp;took some time to talk about what it&rsquo;s like to be Red Alert&rsquo;s son, his upcoming project&nbsp;The Cost Of Living&nbsp;and his responsibility to the culture.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): It looks like you were put on the spot on the Shade 45 show. Did you expect that?&nbsp;

G MiMs: DJ Kay Slay put me on the spot at his Shade 45 show. He had my pops do an hour set as a guest DJ. I was honored just to be there. The opportunity to rap came to my surprise, but I was aware of the possibility. It was my first time rapping for Kay Slay, face-to-face, so I was excited. Kay Slay provides a big platform for rappers that care about the craft. I enjoyed it.

&nbsp;

Do you feel like you&#39;re always in your father&#39;s shadow?

We could talk for days about my father&#39;s shadow. His shadow is so enormous because of his deep root in Hip Hop. It didn&#39;t bother me as much as my older brother because I was the younger one. My brother was like Lonzo Ball and I was LaMelo. My older brother Big Rob, he was the one on the radio promos, the KRS-One music videos, and the Jungle Brothers album samples. I sat back a learned from being too young for everything, but I always understood the blessing I had.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What is it like being &ldquo;DJ Red Alert&rsquo;s son?&rsquo;&nbsp;

I think it changed the way people received me for who I am. Being his son became my identity to people and I didn&#39;t always want that. To be honest, my Hip Hop connection stems through Red, but Craig Mack [cousin] is also apart of my family tree, as well as the Jungle Brothers [Mike G, cousin]. So Hip Hop was apart of my life &mdash; period. I lived in Red&rsquo;s music library. It was often I encountered someone special to Hip Hop through my pops &mdash; Fat Joe, Chris Lighty, Q-Tip, D Nice, Busta Rhymes, Funk Flex, Angie Martinez, Dougie Fresh, Ralph McDaniels, Uncle Luke, Sway Calloway and DJ Kay Slay. I couldn&#39;t really avoid the influence.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

When did you realize you wanted to rhyme?&nbsp;

I&#39;ve been writing raps since I was in 6th grade. My closest friends &mdash; then Preview, Brandon and Mystro &mdash; inspired me to rap and we had a group called Wave Brothers. But I preferred to hide the rhymes I wrote from my parents because I didn&#39;t want the attention and I didn&#39;t want them to see me cursing. I was worried about not meeting the expectations of being DJ Red Alert&rsquo;s son at just 12 or 13 years old. Although, I wrote rhymes, instead of book reports, for the stories I read in school. Still &mdash; the fear of the attention, I wasn&#39;t ready for.&nbsp; So, I used to try to stay out of his &lsquo;shadow,&rsquo; if you will, by just playing basketball and leaving Hip Hop to him.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Were you involved at all?&nbsp;

I did some acting as an extra in some movies and music videos. However, I used to shy away from those cyphers at lunchtime. Not that I didn&#39;t think I could rap, but everyone used to give me their demos and want me to give it to my pops for them. I just didn&#39;t want that responsibility. At this time, my pops was on the radio twice a day on Hot 97. I couldn&rsquo;t go to school without hearing, &lsquo;Yeeeeeeaaaah&rsquo; or &lsquo;Red Alert.&rsquo; We couldn&#39;t go shopping, we couldn&#39;t walk anywhere within a 10 block radius without stopping for a fan or affiliate 10 times. Eventually, I grew out of the fear and I found pride in continuing the legacy. My cousin, we call him &lsquo;Kat,&rsquo; he really took me in and funded my development. He helped me turn from a rapper to a recording artist. That&#39;s when things really changed for me. In that time, I came to know a lot of the children of Hip Hop and I&#39;ve learned that it&#39;s a special opportunity to carry a piece of what our parents built. I don&#39;t want to piggy back off of my pops &mdash; he and I both feel most artist aren&#39;t as gifted like I am to rap as well as I do anyway. So I embrace it more. I&#39;ve found my purpose or the light within his &lsquo;shadow.&rsquo;

&nbsp;

What do you have going on now? What are you working on?&nbsp;

Lately I&#39;ve been putting out singles like &lsquo;Been G&rsquo; and &lsquo;Look At Me Strange&rsquo; to test the vibe of my fans, but I&#39;m finishing up my project called&nbsp;The Cost Of Living. (#DontForgetTheDollarSign.) I&#39;m excited about it. I&#39;ve been in the studio with producers like the HeatMakerz, BlackTheBeast, Hesamii and ill Wayno. I got some collabs with Fred The Godson, Jaquae, Jay Pres and LBS [Pounds]. I&#39;m waiting for about two more features that I think everyone will enjoy.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What do you think your responsibility is to the culture?&nbsp;

I think my responsibility to the culture is to uplift it. To gain from it. To give back to it. To share it with as many people as I can. I desire to be a gate keeper in the culture, as well as a timeless artist. Hip Hop is like the gospel of the have nots and the storytellers. I used to teach Hip Hop as a class to students 4-8th grade. I used to work for Harlem Children Zone and for the agency. I started this class that educated students through song lyrics. I exposed them to the entire culture of Hip Hop &mdash;&nbsp;more than just rap.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What did you talk about?&nbsp;

We discussed how B-Boy dancing and Afrika Bambaataa [Zulu Nation] turned gangs into crews and lessened the violence in our neighborhoods. I exposed the students to graffiti art and introduced them to the entrepreneurs like Shirt Kings. I took them to the Scratch Academy school for lessons on being a disc jockey. We dove into fashion trends and changes that formed from Hip Hop. That&#39;s what matters to me. Did I do something to bring production to the culture? Am I creating music that last the test of time? That&rsquo;s means everything to me.&nbsp;

When Kool DJ Red Alert was invited to guest DJ on Kay Slay&rsquo;s Shade 45 show, his son, G MiMs, came along. He wasn&rsquo;t exactly planning on spitting a freestyle, but was aware it was in the realm of possibilities. As fate would have it, the native New Yorker was asked to drop some bars and he...

RAPSTATION EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: KOOL DJ RED ALERT'S SON G MIMS

Capone-N-Norega MC N.O.R.E and Miami Hip Hop staple DJ EFN brought their&nbsp;Drink Champs&nbsp;podcast to Revolt TV last year, which was&nbsp;quickly turned into a video series. The show has just been picked up for a second season, which didn&rsquo;t necessarily surprise EFN.&nbsp;

&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a surprise &lsquo;cause the show got its success as a podcast,&rdquo; EFN explains. &ldquo;The visual was secondary to the audio podcast, but we knew we were going to continue doing it in some format. It just happened that we did the trial run with Revolt for six episodes and it worked really well for everybody. We were happy and they renewed it for a full season.&rdquo;

The first episode of season two premiered on Thursday (July 27) and the featured guest was &ldquo;Mama Said Knock You Out&rdquo; rapper LL Cool J, who finally shed some light on some burning questions N.O.R.E. had bottled up for years. The idea is to get each guest as drunk as possible so they&rsquo;ll hopefully start opening up about a bevy of topics.&nbsp;

&ldquo;There&#39;s nothing off premise on our show,&rdquo; N.O.R.E. says. &ldquo;Nothing. We joke on the guests, we joke on past guests &hellip; we just have fun. That&#39;s the basis of the show. If we&#39;re not having fun, we&#39;re doing something wrong.&rdquo;&nbsp;

&ldquo;Really, it just depends on the vibe,&rdquo; EFN adds. &ldquo;In the beginning, the interview starts off straightforward, but as the shots go down, everything starts to spiral in a different direction.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Some pretty outrageous stories can result from the (sometimes) massive consumption of alcohol that goes down on the show, but the hosts don&rsquo;t intentionally try to get anything salacious out of their guests.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Personally, we don&#39;t set out to gossip or do anything, but the mere fact they&#39;re drinking for more than an hour with anybody, that interview is going to deteriorate,&rdquo; N.O.R.E. says. &ldquo;Something is going to come out in that environment that ends up becoming something that goes viral or something on a gossipy level. It&#39;s never our intention. I think that&#39;s what people like about the show, as well. We&rsquo;re not setting out to do &lsquo;gotcha questions,&rsquo; we&rsquo;re just genuinely trying to have a conversation and we&#39;re just getting drunk, and when you get drunk, shit happens.&rdquo;&nbsp;

The&nbsp;Drinks Champs&nbsp;hosts want to drive home that anyone they consider a &ldquo;legend&rdquo; is welcome on the show and it doesn&rsquo;t matter if you drink or not.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Everybody&#39;s welcome whether you&#39;re sober or a drinker or a smoker or if you don&#39;t do nothing,&rdquo; N.O.R.E. says. &ldquo;If you&#39;re a legend, you&#39;re still welcome. It won&rsquo;t change premise of the show or change who we are. We will just drink for them. There are a lot of sober artists out there and just know that you&#39;re welcome.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Drink Champs&nbsp;airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. PST.&nbsp;

By Kyle Eustice for RAPstation.com

Capone-N-Norega MC N.O.R.E and Miami Hip Hop staple DJ EFN brought their&nbsp;Drink Champs&nbsp;podcast to Revolt TV last year, which was&nbsp;quickly turned into a video series. The show has just been picked up for a second season, which didn&rsquo;t necessarily surprise EFN.&nbsp;

&ldquo;It was...

N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN’S "DRINK CHAMPS" VIDEO SERIES RENEWED FOR A SECOND SEASON 

There&rsquo;s a sense Tendai &ldquo;Baba&rdquo; Maraire takes music extremely seriously. As a seasoned musician who routinely tours with revered hip-hop trio Digable Planets, is the leader of the Chimurenga Renaissance project and makes up one-half of Shabazz Palaces, Baba&rsquo;s intense focus as his hands hit the drums is captivating. Along with Ishmael &ldquo;Butterfly&rdquo; Butler, his counterpart in Shabazz Palaces and co-founding MC of Digable Planets, Baba is preparing to release two new Shabazz albums on the same day &mdash;&nbsp;Quazarz: Born On A Gangster Star&nbsp;and&nbsp;Quazarz Vs. The Jealous Machines.&nbsp;Both albums are available on&nbsp;July 14&nbsp;via Sub Pop Records. Until those drop, two lead singles &mdash; &ldquo;Shine A Light&rdquo; and &ldquo;30 Clip Extension&rdquo;&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;are currently available for stream on SoundCloud. Baba took some time to shed some light on the new projects, working with Butterly and how they ended up on the iconic Sub Pop label.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): I was blown away by your percussion skills at the Digable Planets show. How did you initially meet Butterfly?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I was on my way to a reggae club and I ran into him. I asked him if he wanted to do some music and he was like, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t do music.&rsquo; And then our girls at the time were friends, but I didn&rsquo;t know it. His girl was like, &lsquo;Oh no you gotta meet. If you do, it will be dope. It could be a life changing experience for people.&rsquo; We hooked up after that.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Why did he tell you he didn&rsquo;t do music?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I think it was the place he was in. I&rsquo;ve been in the place where you just don&rsquo;t feel like doing it, you know? You don&rsquo;t feel like being bothered by people. Music is like being in a relationship. If you&rsquo;re not successful, your feelings are hurt, so you feel like she turned you down. He was in and out of it, and he was going through some personal stuff he had to handled. I get it because I went through it&nbsp;five years later&nbsp;as far as the personal stuff goes.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What went into the decision to release two albums at the same time?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s just what it is now &mdash; you can do it. I am sure a lot more people would do things differently. The game&rsquo;s changed. We will do things differently. It&rsquo;s just the fact you can and there was enough music to do it.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&ldquo;Shine A Light&rdquo; resonates with me. What kind of mood are you going for with this one?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I don&rsquo;t look at it like mood. Neither one of us do. You have a day, but music still has a job-type of feel to it, so you still gotta go to work, you know what I&rsquo;m saying? You try not to let your emotions &mdash; negative emotions &mdash; draw into the music obviously unless it&rsquo;s to serve a purpose or bring it out. I don&rsquo;t think it was anything about going into a mood. I think that was just a place we were at the time when everything was being created and when he was writing.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

How do you get ready for work?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Oh man. I pretty much never stop working. I don&rsquo;t care if I&rsquo;m at a club, I&rsquo;m listening to what&rsquo;s relevant and what&rsquo;s new. I just went to a spot last night and listened to some karaoke. I had a conversation with this girl and found out she was part of a festival, so I helped her out finding groups for that. From there, I went to see Stacia DJ from THEESatisfaction and learned new songs, and found out Drake was on a song with Fetty Wap, like &lsquo;What the hell is that?&rsquo; I never stop working.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Sounds like me [laughs].&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Driving with my daughter, I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s this Kanye song with Drake?&rsquo; Oh it&rsquo;s on the album?&rsquo; Damn I need to listen to the album again.&rsquo; That just shows what my work ethic is like every minute, every day just trying to keep up with what&rsquo;s going on. I heard the Drake album when it first came out and I don&rsquo;t remember none of those songs. That&rsquo;s just the way my day and life is.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I was texting you while biking earlier like, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s handle some business.&rsquo; Do you keep up on all the current happenings?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

My kids keep me up, especially my daughter. She&rsquo;s hip to what&rsquo;s crackin&rsquo;.

 
How old is she?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

[Shouts out to his daughter] 14, right? She&rsquo;s 15. She keeps me up.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Why is the&nbsp;Quzarz: Born On A Gangster Star&nbsp;described as a &ldquo;monozygotic&rdquo; twin?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Ask Ishmael. That&rsquo;s his department [laughs]. Ask the wise kid.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Did you just get back from tour?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

We got back last week.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Your dad was a big player in Zimbabwean music [Note: Baba is the son of mbira master Dumisani Maraire.] When did you realize you wanted to kind of follow down his path?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I never wanted to be like my dad, you feel what I&rsquo;m staying? It was never my thing, but I always wanted to do music. I was doing it so young that it would be impossible for me to say, &lsquo;This is the moment this happened.&rsquo; The story goes, I was 18 months old, and my mother and father were teaching a class. I got up and started the drumming pattern they were doing while they were talking and that was it. My mother was like, &lsquo;Alright then get on stage.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s how she does it. It&rsquo;s happened with my own kids, nieces and nephews. My son is the same way. He&rsquo;ll crawl in the house. It&rsquo;s on Instagram right now. My wife caught him going up to the drum and drumming along to a cartoon on TV, just dancing. What&rsquo;s the difference between a drum and a stool to a kid? He just got up and did his thing.

&nbsp;

You consider your parents an influence though, right?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I mean, yeah. My mother was way more of an influence than my father, but I learned what my father did. I know my father was bad, he did his thing. I&rsquo;d go to concerts, but he wasn&rsquo;t in my life enough for me to be like, &lsquo;I want to be like him,&rsquo; you see what I&rsquo;m saying? That part of it wasn&rsquo;t there, so I didn&rsquo;t grow up with the &lsquo;I wanna be like somebody.&rsquo; I grew up like if Prince can practice his thing, then I can practice mine [laughs]. If he can be this, I can do that.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

You took cues from artists like that?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Everyone, well, anyone good I should say.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

How did you end up on Sub Pop?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Ah man, that was a stroke of luck. I think in hindsight&hellip;I learned that there&rsquo;s a guy named Bruce. I didn&rsquo;t know he knew anything about my father or my family. He&rsquo;s the founder of Sub Pop. He wasn&rsquo;t there when we got signed, but I&rsquo;ll say I didn&rsquo;t know he knew anything about my father or he was in the vicinity of my father&rsquo;s shows at that time. I can&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s even been spoke about. I don&rsquo;t know if they knew. I just started putting two and two together as I was working on a documentary and was like, &lsquo;Oh these guys were there.&rsquo;

&nbsp;

They knew all along?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I think they did if they put two and two together, yeah. I think the original people knew. One of them definitely knew. He told me he knew all along. Rich Jensen, yeah he knew.&nbsp;

There&rsquo;s a sense Tendai &ldquo;Baba&rdquo; Maraire takes music extremely seriously. As a seasoned musician who routinely tours with revered hip-hop trio Digable Planets, is the leader of the Chimurenga Renaissance project and makes up one-half of Shabazz Palaces, Baba&rsquo;s intense focus as h...

Ebro Darden Appointed Apple Music's Global Editorial Head Of Hip Hop

9th Wonder Releases "Zion III" Album

Rapstation Flagship Station Channel now called 'RAPstation 365'

RAPSTATION EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: KOOL DJ RED ALERT'S SON G MIMS

N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN’S "DRINK CHAMPS" VIDEO SERIES RENEWED FOR A SECOND SEASON

RAPstation Exclusive Interview: Shabazz Palaces

Sight

Sound

Story