Pop Fiction&nbsp;is a Rap Station exclusive segment, catering to the latest news bits and updates in pop culture. Hosted by Josh and Toreno, the show fashions an absolute kick-back vibe with all its &ldquo;hey, did you hear about this&rdquo; quirks, loose antics, and humor all around, making Pop Fiction a refreshing addition to learn what&#39;s new in pop culture.

This week&#39;s episode&nbsp;kicks off with no other than J. Cole, who just dropped his latest album&nbsp;4 Your&nbsp;Eyez Only,&nbsp;pinpointing the single &quot;False Prophets&quot;, which the two mention as Cole&#39;s hard-hitting jest lashed straight to rap mogul, Kanye West--who by the way, seems to be facing some issues of his own at the moment.

But speaking of hard-hitting, it seems younger rappers and every emcee with the &ldquo;lil&rdquo; moniker aren&#39;t the only ones getting hard hits this week, at least according to Josh and Toreno, who bring up the recent Punch-a-Kangaroo video that went viral over social media--hey, I did say everything pop culture right?

Oh, and for all those who love shopping or Amazon or both, this week&#39;s episode is the one for you...

Wrapping things up, the show mentions two new movies coming up, starting with the new&nbsp;Transformers: The Last Knight&nbsp;trailer, as well as the latest installment to the Star Wars universe,&nbsp;Rogue One&mdash;which by the way hits theaters on Friday, December 16th.

Be sure to catch the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rapstation.com/show/1204/pop-fiction">latest episode</a>&nbsp;of Rap Station&#39;s newest segment, Pop Fiction. 
 
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Pop Fiction&nbsp;is a Rap Station exclusive segment, catering to the latest news bits and updates in pop culture. Hosted by Josh and Toreno, the show fashions an absolute kick-back vibe with all its &ldquo;hey, did you hear about this&rdquo; quirks, loose antics, and humor all around, making Pop Fic...

Pop Fiction: J Cole, Kangaroos, Rogue One and more...

Master P announced No Limit Records&#39; latest recruit: None other than sixteen-year-old Houston artist, Marqus Clae.

The announcement was made via Instagram where the veteran rapper posted a video alongside Clae, who then sampled some edgy lines with no trace of hesitation whatsoever. As pertaining to the young emcee&#39;s style, Master P mentioned, &ldquo;He&#39;s gonna be as great as Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole if he keeps working hard.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I&#39;ve never seen a kid with so much talent. He&#39;s a great addition to have. Another superstar to the label,&rdquo;&nbsp;added the No Limit Record boss.

Signing under the new label which houses artists such as Ace B, Moe Roy, Lambo, King Roy, J-Slugg, Nano, and Blaqnmild, Clae&#39;s addition falls nothing short of adding more fire into an already volatile coalition, or according to Master P, &ldquo;The squad is that much stronger.&rdquo;

The Houston emcee is currently working on his highly-anticipated debut album&nbsp;The Ghetto Poet, which is scheduled to drop in the near future. Meanwhile, Clae gave us a glimpse of what&#39;s coming with his latest single, &ldquo;South Texas&rdquo;, which just dropped today via Youtube.

And if I may add, Master P&#39;s description becomes vivid and tangible with Clae&#39;s latest single, so be sure to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEFokixtGhQ" target="_blank">check out &ldquo;South Texas&rdquo;</a>, a glimpse of what Marqus Clae is stirring up.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

&nbsp;

Master P announced No Limit Records&#39; latest recruit: None other than sixteen-year-old Houston artist, Marqus Clae.

The announcement was made via Instagram where the veteran rapper posted a video alongside Clae, who then sampled some edgy lines with no trace of hesitation whatsoever. As pertai...

No Limit Records Signs Young Houston Emcee, Marqus Clae

It&#39;s been a phenomenal year in terms of album releases, and among its most anticipated, sits A Tribe Called Quest&#39;s final album,&nbsp;We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service.

The idea of the veteran rap group departing the scene with a last album had been teased early in the year, only to be confirmed by tribe member Q-Tip months after, all of course leading up to the record finally being released in November complete with a very sentimental performance during a special episode of&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;Night Live.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 1, however, Q-Tip hinted that the tribe would continue making more music, &ldquo;In 2015, we were celebrating the 25th&nbsp;anniversary of our first album (People&#39;s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm).&nbsp;The&nbsp;Tonight&nbsp;Show&nbsp;and Jimmy Fallon asked us to perform and so we did.&rdquo;

He continues, &ldquo;We had performed, did a couple of things up to that point so we were always cool but something about that night when were on stage, it was another level of energy.&rdquo; The ATCQ frontman continued on sharing how the group felt refreshed, replenished, and overall rejuvenated after rallying alongside each other once again on stage.

Alongside this, Q-Tip also shared he still had a lot of music and ideas still laying on the shelves despite releasing their &ldquo;final&rdquo; album&mdash;this only added more to their thirst to stir up more tunes. The last ingredient, as the tribe leader stressed, was the profound bond between each member, which had always been their primary initiative backing their music.

As the interview neared it&#39;s close, Q-Tip couldn&#39;t help but mention that the recent album was perhaps meant to both instill closure for the group regarding Phife Dawg&#39;s untimely passing, while still furthering the legacy he established&mdash;all of which were orchestrated fluently during the SNL performance.

Nevertheless, the hints can only so say so much, that is of course if you didn&#39;t catch Q-Tip&#39;s last remarks, &ldquo;Stay tuned for any other incarnation. We don&#39;t intend on stopping because that was Phife&#39;s M.O.&rdquo;

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

It&#39;s been a phenomenal year in terms of album releases, and among its most anticipated, sits A Tribe Called Quest&#39;s final album,&nbsp;We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service.

The idea of the veteran rap group departing the scene with a last album had been teased early in the year,...

Q-Tip Hints at Future A Tribe Called Quest Music

This day in hip-hop throws back to a certain Wu-Tang Clan album on the day it struck platinum status, certified by the RIAA&mdash;merely two months following its initial debut.

Released under Loud Records on the 21st&nbsp;of November, 2000, the Wu-Tang Clan&#39;s third album,&nbsp;The W, featured guest appearances from Isaac Hayes, Redman, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, and Junior Reid&mdash;signifying an impressive arsenal of artists rallying alongside the supersonic rap group.

Following a three-year gap since their previous album,&nbsp;Wu-Tang Forever, their third record,&nbsp;The W&nbsp;embodied a memorable comeback for the original crew with several members already releasing solo projects of their own. But that&#39;s where it gets interesting: the album donned an edgy, grit and steel vibe, discarding the familiar Wu-Tang shoeshine sounds dominant during their golden days.

That being said, the clan simply shunned the concept of innovation, which in turn took to magnifying each clan member&#39;s strength and cranking them up to ridiculously unwarranted feats, such as RZA&#39;s supercharged string beats, and magnum opus production from GZA&mdash;not to mention each emcee tossing around rhymes as if they were engaged in a game of hot potato.

It&#39;s antics like these that led to a myriad of accolades and positive remarks, such a very memorable quote from Dave Heaton of&nbsp;PopMatters,&nbsp;&ldquo;The Wu-Tang Clan of today is not the same as the Clan of 1993. And for this, we are blessed. Every Wu-Tang Clan member is growing as an MC as the years go by. Put them all together again now, after they&#39;ve each done their own things separately, and you get an entirely new dynamic, a mix of the dark and the bright.&rdquo;

The album debuted at number five on&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;200, as well as number one on the Top R&amp;B/Hip Hop Albums, selling over 300,000 copies in its first week, which only skyrocketed to over one million two months after.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

This day in hip-hop throws back to a certain Wu-Tang Clan album on the day it struck platinum status, certified by the RIAA&mdash;merely two months following its initial debut.

Released under Loud Records on the 21st&nbsp;of November, 2000, the Wu-Tang Clan&#39;s third album,&nbsp;The W, featured...

Throwback: Wu-Tang's “The W” Gets Certified Platinum

Desiigner is only a few weeks away from wrapping up a phenomenal year, and that includes striking gold on his &ldquo;Timmy Turner&rdquo; single, as well as a Grammy Award nomination for his breakout-hit, &ldquo;Panda&rdquo;.

Marking one year since it&#39;s initial release in just two days, &ldquo;Panda&rdquo; singlehandedly skyrocketed the nineteen-year-old Brooklyn emcee onto instant fame, landing him #1 on the US&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;100 as well as garnering RIAA certified quadruple-platinum.

On top of that, Def Jam Recordings announced yesterday (Dec 12) that said single was nominated for a Grammy Award, competing under the Best Rap Performance category, competing against heavyweight starts such as Fat Joe &amp; Remy Ma, ScHoolboy Q and Kanye West, OVO boss Drake, and fellow young artist, Chance The Rapper&mdash;who by the way has also been celebrating a stellar year of his own.

While fans and critics alike trade off bouts of criticism, pinpointing the young emcee&#39;s stark resemblance to that of veteran rapper Future, and somehow earning a nomination before him, Desiigner only expressed thanks and promised more during a short interview with&nbsp;XXL.

&ldquo;Panda&#39; going No. 1 is a blessing,&rdquo; said the emcee, &ldquo;I knew it was going to get there, now it&#39;s time to put down more music and deliver for the fans, just give them more. I don&#39;t make music for the time. I make music for the century so I knew it was going to go.&rdquo;

Nevertheless, 2016 was indeed a breakout year for the young rapper from Brooklyn, and at ony nineteen-years of age, only time can perceive what else he has in store.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Desiigner is only a few weeks away from wrapping up a phenomenal year, and that includes striking gold on his &ldquo;Timmy Turner&rdquo; single, as well as a Grammy Award nomination for his breakout-hit, &ldquo;Panda&rdquo;.

Marking one year since it&#39;s initial release in just two days, &ldquo...

Wrapping Up A Phenomenal Year for Young MC, Desiigner

Esteemed by Public Enemy&#39;s Chuck D as one of the best interview conductors in hip-hop, Tim Einenkel recently sat down with Smif-N-Wessun&#39;s General Steele, inquiring particularly about the emcee&#39;s thoughts regarding the recent Trump election and modern-day Hip-hop.

In regard to the new president, Tim asked the veteran rapper if he perceived hip-hop (music and culture) would look different under the newly-elected administration, to which Steele responded:

&ldquo;I do. I think so. I think that right now, people are crazy. The fact that we have a kind of crazy president, it reflects where America is at as a people right now. People are confused and probably a little bit afraid...&rdquo;

Steele transitions from stating his political viewpoints to his opinion on social issues broadcasted through mainstream media, ultimately building his response to his stance regarding the current state of hip-hop.

&ldquo;Like, what&#39;s next? Nobody really knows. You have rich people, you have super talented people that are losing their minds. You have death. We&#39;re watching people get killed on television. To see that, you had to get Faces of Death 1, 2, and 3, you know what I mean? But now we&#39;re watching the play by play. We&#39;re watching riots, like every year it&#39;s a different riot because some black kid got killed by police or some nonsense about a lady getting kidnapped and trying to figure out I the husband had something to do with it...

We&#39;re watching reality TV right in front of us, we don&#39;t know what to believe anymore. You have to sit back and retreat back to where your family core is at; Spend time with your families. I think Hip Hop is going there...&nbsp;People say &#39;bring Hip Hop back. Bring Hip Hop back.&#39; Hip Hop didn&#39;t go anywhere, it just changed and evolved and mutated to this big fluffy monster...&rdquo;

Along the subject lines of &ldquo;bringing Hip-hop back,&rdquo; Steele mentioned specific artists and albums, including A Tribe Called Quest and Common&#39;s latest releases, as well as his own forthcoming album&nbsp;Building Bridges, following up with some final thoughts,

&ldquo;It&#39;s about the feeling. When you play that first song, how does it make you feel... and you&#39;re like &#39;Wow, and you know these guys just lost Phife.&#39; So how did they get the energy to do this? I think it&#39;s from Phife. You have to lose.&nbsp;You have to lose America to love it. You have to go if I really love it, I&#39;m not going to cling to what I think it needs to be, I&#39;m just going to be what if needs to be...

That&#39;s going back to the source; spending time with your family. This is almost like music therapy. It was not on purpose but it&#39;s something that we need and we need something, our body gravitates to it. After unlearning, after dealing with the fact that you&#39;ve been desensitized and shook it up, hopefully you have snap out of it and start evolving.&rdquo;

Interview by Tim Einenkel, article written by Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Esteemed by Public Enemy&#39;s Chuck D as one of the best interview conductors in hip-hop, Tim Einenkel recently sat down with Smif-N-Wessun&#39;s General Steele, inquiring particularly about the emcee&#39;s thoughts regarding the recent Trump election and modern-day Hip-hop.

In regard to the new...

Pop Fiction: J Cole, Kangaroos, Rogue One and more...

No Limit Records Signs Young Houston Emcee, Marqus Clae

Q-Tip Hints at Future A Tribe Called Quest Music

Throwback: Wu-Tang's “The W” Gets Certified Platinum

Wrapping Up A Phenomenal Year for Young MC, Desiigner

General Steele Interview: Thoughts on New President and Modern Hip-hop

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