Cardi B review – ambitious spectacle and sizzling choreography
Kia Forum, Los Angeles Grammy-winning Bronx rapper electrifies LA with pugnacious lyrics and vivid set pieces on her first arena tour
J Cole: The Fall Off review – rap legend’s final album is a self-obsessed hip-hop history lesson
(Interscope) Bowing out after six consecutive US No 1 albums, Cole references rap greats and even conjures a convo between Biggie and 2Pac – but the lens rarely strays from himself
Unmasking US rap iconoclast MF Doom’s final years in West Yorkshire
Rapper Lil Jon confirms son is dead after police find body in pond near Atlanta
The Grammys riled Donald Trump – but the big winners were chosen for their music, not politics
Alexis Petridis
January 2026
Groundbreaking director Reginald Hudlin: ‘It’s taken a lot of effort but the reward is always worth it’
How we made
‘Kids referenced it as they asked for condoms’: the makers of cult hip-hop film House Party look back
A Gathering for Gaza: Genesis Owusu, Julia Jacklin and Angie McMahon celebrate art as resistance
10 Chaotic Questions
Urthboy AKA Tim Levinson: ‘My most chaotic gig? There’s a lot where it’s pretty good knowing we didn’t die’
December 2025
Eddie Thornton obituary
Trumpeter who contributed to Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames and later became a member of Aswad
Lily Allen’s live return, Charli xcx’s Wuthering Heights and Simon Rattle’s Janáček: music to listen out for in 2026
Raye, Deftones and Yungblud do UK tours, Jill Scott returns for more neo-soul, and classical world gears up to celebrate György Kurtág at 100
Best music of 2025
‘It contains the greatest song ever about an ice cream truck’: readers’ favourite albums of 2025
‘It’s been called the greatest hip-hop film ever’: how we made cult graffiti classic Wild Style
‘Constant stimulation, dopamine overload’: how EsDeeKid and UK underground rap exploded on a global scale
November 2025
Move over Ebenezer! Ebony Scrooge gets Dickens dancing with a hip-hop Christmas Carol – in pictures
Hip-hop godfathers the Last Poets: ‘In times of great chaos, there’s opportunity’
Donald Glover reveals he had a stroke on Childish Gambino tour in 2024
De La Soul: Cabin in the Sky review – a full-colour celebration of Trugoy the Dove that never feels heavy
‘We’ve got to release the dead hand of the past’: how Ireland created the world’s best alternative music scene
Winter food 2025
Not Mariah again! New music playlists for the Christmas party season
