At this point there's no word about an official public memorial service for the late great Adam Yauch, the musician and filmmaker who succumbed to cancer at age 47 last week. But we ran into rapper DMC at The Moth Ball last night, and he hears there will be a memorial for Yauch (a.k.a MCA) this week, but the planning is a little complicated because while Yauch's family is Jewish, he was a practicing Buddhist for most of his adult life. more ›

Fans, friends, fellow musicians, and the entire internet has been paying tribute to Beastie Boy Adam "MCA" Yauch since he died of cancer at the age of 47 on Friday. We've spent much of the weekend mourning by keeping Beastie Boys videos and albums on a constant rotation (YouTube mixes really come in handy sometimes). But even all that doesn't give a complete picture of how funny and witty Yauch and the band could be—so below, check out a handful of interviews from throughout the Beastie Boys career, which reveal the bands lucid evolution. more ›

Yesterday, a huge blue box was constructed in Times Square's Duffy Square for a special free musical performance—which turned out to be for Nicki Minaj, who was helping Nokia launch its new Lumia 900. Fans had been waiting hours before Minaj showed up at 7:30 p.m. and she performed for ... 15 minutes. Well, it was free! And it wasn't in the basement of Loehmann's. more ›

Despite beating the linsational Knicks earlier this week, nobody cares too much about the Nets this season. Deron Williams is leaving if they can't land Dwight Howard, and even their owner, billionaire Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, has been too busy focusing on the upcoming Russian presidential election to watch depressing games. But his Nets experience hasn't been a total bust: Prokhorov seems to have picked up some tricks from fellow Nets owner Jay-Z. Below, watch as he goofily raps on Russian television. more ›

Giants fans are turning out to be weirder than we ever could have imagined: some of them shave the Giants logo into their heads, some of them get tattoos of Eli Manning on their asses, and some of them worship garden gnomes. But then there are the fans like the ones in the video below, residents at Cedar Crest Retirement Community who want to show their support for the Giants the way they did back in the 1920s: by lip-syncing to rap songs and wearing backwards Giants caps. more ›

Rapper Talib Kweli did indeed head down to Zuccotti Park last night to show solidarity with and perform songs for Occupy Wall Street protesters. To the delight of weary protesters, Kweli performed a capella version of new song "Distractions" as well as Black Star classic "Thieves In The Night." Below, you can see video of both performances, as well as a call-and-response with the crowd during which Kweli commends protesters: "For the people who are sleeping here, you inspire us. If you are inspired by them, make it grow." more ›

Rapper Talib Kweli tweeted this afternoon, "NYC to #occupywallstreet 8pm tonight. Who's in?" Jamie Kilstein of Citizen Radio confirmed it: "So I will be at #occupywallstreet tonight with one of my heroes @TalibKweli." OWS spokesman Patrick Bruner told us details were stilll being worked out, but "it appears as though he is planning on coming." more ›

We already know that the onslaught of gentrification has swept through Manhattan and pillaged Brooklyn of its soul, from Bed-Stuy to ProCro. But one "funky fresh" rapping Professor is warning that the Bronx may be next. "The Bronx is the last refuge for working-class, immigrant New York. I don't want to walk through the Bronx and see Park Slope," said Professor Mark Naison, who has lived in Park Slope since 1976. more ›

Yesterday, Jay-Z and Kanye West opened a pop-up store on Mulberry Street to celebrate/promote the release of their joint album Watch The Throne. There were CDs to buy, music videos to endlessly re-watch, Maybach's to admire, and a no photo/no video policy that seems to have been ignored by some. Jay-Z (and Swizz Beatz) showed up around 8 p.m., and then around 9 p.m., Beyonce appeared, and a private party busted out inside. Watch her bodyguard-assisted arrival below: more ›

Many people consider Bob Dylan's classic "Subterranean Homesick Blues" one of the major precursors to rap music, an electric fusing of "labyrinthine rhyme schemes, anti-authority philosophy, pop-culture obsessions and street-level turns-of-slang." That connection certainly seems to be important to his grandson, hip hop artist Pablo Dylan: “I mean, really, my grandfather, I consider him the Jay-Z of his time," Pablo Dylan told AllHipHop.com. more ›

Legendary spoken-word musician Gil Scott-Heron died over the weekend at the age of 62. A memorial service has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Riverside Church; there will also be a public viewing from 6-9 p.m. at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home at 81st Street and Madison Avenue. more ›

Musician Gil Scott-Heron, whose politically-charged spoken-word music paved the way for modern rap, died yesterday. The writer of the seminal "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was 62 years old. Listen to a clip below. more ›

Last night the line outside the door of the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street stretched around 5th Avenue all the way to 54th Street, where a group of high-heeled, impatient Europeans tried to bribe a guard into letting them into the MoMA's annual Garden Party, one of their fanciest, shmanciest nights of the year. The well-dressed men and better-dressed women didn't put up with the delays in order to pack into the beautiful Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden just for the open bar: they were there to see Kanye West. more ›

Among the many hilarious, absurd things Donald Trump has said this week, one quote has stood out like a strippers convention at Chuck E. Cheese's: during an interview with Post editor Fred Dicker, he declared proudly, "I have always had a great relationship with the blacks." The Observer had the good sense to ask political guru/gay enthusiast Roger Stone what he could make of the quote; he replied, "Trivia question—how many hit rap songs mention Trump?" It sounded like a challenge to us, so we did some searching, and found at least 36 songs, most of them rap (and one country), which namedrop The Donald. Click through to see some of our favorites from artists such as Lil Wayne, Nas, and...Brad Paisley. more ›

Back in January, the LAPD announced that they were actively pursuing leads into the slaying of Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in a drive-by shooting in LA in 1997. Although we still don't know what any of those new leads might be, the FBI released a 359-page file today (released under the Freedom of Information Act!) consisting of all their info on the case between 1997 and 2005, when it was first closed. And it turns out that everything we thought may be true about the murder may actually really be true! more ›