Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Busta Rhymes says he is bringing "feel good energy" back to Hip-Hop as he is gearing up to release his new album.

Teaming up with some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop, Busta's new album, Block Busta, is not only executive produced by himself but also Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, and Timbaland.

"I'm super grateful to each and every one of those gentlemen. My brothers," he said "they been a part of my legacy and my career growth... I'm super grateful, super thankful that my brothers decided to make some time and just really be a part of this body of work."

Busta declared that this project is going to "shift the culture." As it should, "that's what it's about, especially during Hip-Hop 50. I mean in general we supposed to do that just continue to add in a significant way to the culture and a productive way."

The 51-year-old rapper reflected on being one along with many OGs in the game of Hip-Hop, "as incredible as a run that we've all had learning as we were going along, we the senseis of this s***," he said before asking "you think stopping anytime soon makes sense?"

The lead single from his new project, "Beach Ball" featuring BIA is out now.

Words by Yasmeen Akbar

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Audacy's V-103 Atlanta caught up with Big Boi, 1/2 of the legendary rap duo, Outkast, to talk about how he believes Atlanta influenced the genre.

As an Atlanta rapper himself, he believes that "Atlanta influenced Hip-Hop by the diversity of the artists here," he said, citing a range of different artists from Atlanta like Killer Mike and T.I. and it's those artists like so many others helps Atlanta "[keep] it fresh and new and it's just always been evolving."

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Audacy's V-103 Atlanta caught up with Big Boi, 1/2 of the legendary rap duo, Outkast, to talk about the song that made him fall in love with Hip-Hop.

It was Run-D.M.C's 1984 "Rock Box," that initially made Big Boi fall in love with Hip-Hop. He recalls riding around with his father in a Camaro, "blasting Run-D.M.C.," he said he'd "never forget it."

Back with another installment of Audacy’s Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Fatman Scoop zoomed in to chat with Mike Street all about his Hip-Hop beginnings in Harlem, opting not to work with Diddy, having no plan B if the music biz didn’t work out, and more.

Scoop started the conversation off with some back story about being one of the well known rappers in Harlem, his connections to Teddy Riley, Rob Base, and Markell Riley, and how he was supposed to release a project under Teddy but it got dropped when Teddy and Gene Griffin broke up.

After that all went down he “went to Puff,” as in Puff Daddy, now known as Diddy. “Puff wanted me to be the first Notorious B.I.G.,” Scoop shared. “He was like keep rapping hard, we gonna put you in a suit and tie and make raps for women — that’s Biggie," he added.

“Something in my heart and soul made me understand even though I was rapping hard, I was dancing and performing like Doug E. Fresh. I wasn’t that guy. And something at the last minute told me not to do it. And I went into the music business and now here I am. I become who I was really supposed to be at the end of the day.”

After working with Teddy Riley, Scoop got “a regular job” at Mount Sinai Hospital. However after continuously getting written up, he ended up going to intern for Diamond D. After putting in the work and “being such a great intern” for a year and a half, Tommy Boy Records found me and that’s when they gave me a job.

Scoop also shared that when it came to his plans, not making it, was simply not an option. “If you’re gonna do something, do it all the way,” he said, of having no plan B. “You’ve got to do this like nothing else is gonna work. There’s no way that you can become successful at anything unless you put your heart, your soul, your time, and your dedication in…. I didn’t even get into women until I was 19, 20 years old, because my whole focus was Hip-Hop.”

As for people on the internet telling him he’s a one-hit wonder, Scoop has a message. “Well, I’m a one-hit wonder that wakes up in Osaka, Japan, and go to sleep in Montana. I’m a one-hit wonder that wakes up in New York and goes to sleep in the South of France… I’ve been blessed to do this, and Hip-Hop has brought me there.”

Also up for discussion was the current state of the genre. “The fact that we have not had a #1 song this year is indicative of how the marketplace feels about the quality of the music,” Scoop said, simply and plainly. “You can call it hate, you can call it whatever, but the numbers and the facts are never gonna tell a lie.”

For all that and more listen to the entire conversation above.

Back with another installment of Audacy’s Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Flo Rida sat down Power96’s DJ Zog to talk Miami Bass & Booty music.

As Zog pointed out, “in New York they had Biggie and the East Coast stuff, on the West Coast they had Tupac… but down in Miami…we had our own version of Hip-Hop… Miami Bass & Booty music.”

“I actually was the hype man for 2 Live Crew,” Flo Rida said of his relation to one of the greats and Miami native rap group, sharing a bit about their influence on him as an artist.

“Just growing up… with what the Dade County Youth Fair used to be, I just remember going out there and watching all the groups perform. And one in particular was 2 Live Crew, that stood out. So for me to be able to go out on the road and perform with Fresh Kid Ice as the hype man, y’know, definitely helped me with where I’m at today.”

"One of the videos in particular that was my favorite was ‘Move Somethin.’ Watching that video man, it definitely… just inspired me and make me wanna, y’know, just as we bringing the energy today, that was the energy back then. That definitely made me wanna invest all my time and my passion into Hop-Hop.”

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by DJ Zog

Switching it on 'em last minute with a brand new list of questions he doesn’t usually get asked instead of the ones he had planned, Mike Street caught up with DJ Kid Capri to talk about everything from the struggle of carrying crates of vinyl back in the day to events and places he wants to perform at in the future, and more.

After expressing how the new era of entertainers would never know the struggles of the old school way of doing things, Kid Capri recalled, “I carried 15 crates around the world man. I was the first dude to own two tour buses… in Hip-Hop. Because of traveling with 15 crates of albums on airplanes, paying for all the weight, paying for all the extra baggage, I just said you know what I’m gonna buy me a bus.”

"When I went to go buy me a bus, they laughed at me, like ‘people don’t buy buses, the album come out they go on tour for three or four months, they send the bus back,’” Not concerned, Kid bought his first bus and eventually another even bigger one.

Learning to embrace the new wave of using Serato instead of vinyl on turntables after a push from DJ Jazzy Jeff, these days Kid Capri is back to traveling on planes for gigs. But, as he explained, the conversion wasn’t easy.

“As many things as I innovated, I like to keep things lookin’ a certain way. And when I had all the records behind me, it just made it look like a big production. Running to get the record, catching it at the last minute, dropping it, you know, it amazes the crowds. So I thought that once we get on the Serato it was gonna take that feeling away from it, but it just got even more crazier… my shows they be nuts.”

While Serato has made its way into Capri’s scope of skills, he has no plans of making the switch to controllers any time in the future.

Speaking of future, when asked if there are any events or places he has yet to but wants to DJ at, Capri didn’t really have anything in mind, and focused his answer more on appreciating the amazing places he’s already been and the incredible crowds he’s been blessed to perform for. “I’m sure there’s lots of places I haven’t been, plenty events I haven’t done. But I’ve done so many it’s kind of hard to like think of it,” Capri expressed. “Because everything that comes out they either call me first to do, or do the last of it, or do the main event of it, and it be in every city, every state.”

He continued, “I’ve been to every state, every island, all through Europe, and to get that kind of love for as long as I have, it’s truly a blessing. Because they got people in they own city that can entertain them, and for them to call me… they don’t have to do that… but that’s what we work for.  As long as you work and you really work hard and you really care about your fans, it’s gonna resonate with them and they always gonna wanna feel that energy… so I’m grateful in that way.”

Listen to it all plus more, including questioning the common list of Top 5 ...

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop. Janelle Monáe talked with Audacy and ATL’s Big Tigger on V-103, sharing a her short list of artists that lead her to fall in love with Hip-Hop, her favorite moment in Hip-Hop history, plus what Hip-Hop means to her.

When asked which one song made her fall in love with Hip-Hop, Janelle found it difficult to pinpoint just one. Revealing,“I have so many artists,” in mind, adding, “I mean we’re in Atlanta too, so OutKast c’mon, 'Elevators' I think, made me be like ‘oooh they’re different’… ATLiens… and it was the video too that also help, and that chorus,” she added, before going on to sing a little bit of it.

“I was a big Lauryn Hill fan too, so I always listened to her whole Miseducation, even The Fugees, the way she was singing and then rap, when she did the Roberta Flack cover ‘Killing Me Softly.’”

"It’s like Hip-Hop is such a spectrum… there’s so many different levels of it. Love Lil Kim… I can rap a lot of Lil Kim stuff,” Janelle admitted, noting she’d have done it if she wasn’t so tired. “Her features are crazy,” she went on to add, “I feel like she changed so much, like she was so free, she’s a free a** motherf***er, like she been on it, and I started to appreciate her even more as I went through my own journey of evolution.”

Janelle continued, “Lil Kim was challenging everybody's thoughts about what it was to be a Black woman, what you could say, what you couldn’t say. She was like — you not gonna put me in a box — categorize me, I defy every label — and that’s what I live by too, so I love her.”

Revealing her favorite moment in Hip-Hop history, Janelle shared that she “loved Ladies Night, I love seeing like all those women together. That was a moment for me… when I was with my friends, with my girlfriends, we would always pick who we were, or we would have it on as we were getting dressed and ready to go hang out and it just solidified a sisterhood in Hip-Hop."

Beyond the music, for Janelle, Hip-Hop “represents freedom, it represents story telling, it represents Blackness… the spectrum of Blackness. We’re not monolithic, we don’t all think the same, eat the same, dress the same. So it just represents an opportunity for us to like continue to teach people about us as a people, our experiences.”

Listen to the entire conversation above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Big Tigger

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Chance The Rapper tapped in with us to reveal who he believes the greatest rapper alive is and why.

It was Lil Wayne's "Hustler Musik" that initially made Chance fall in love with Hip-Hop, "I just remember that music video being one of the first music videos I saw on TV," he said, remembering being captivated by the video, he admitted "'Hustler Musik' when it came out changed my life."

"Wayne to me is still the best rapper alive and he's just like so cold and he has just such a crazy catalog, like an extensive but also extremely eclectic catalog of songs and songwriting."

Words by Yasmeen Akbar

Trailblazing rapper and entrepreneur LL Cool J joined host Shelley Wade at NYC's 94.7 The Block this week to talk about this year's continuing celebration of the birth of Hip-Hop and his own tireless efforts in elevating the culture at large.

LL Cool J gave his stamp of approval -- as well as a few of his Rock The Bells radio mixers -- when New York City's 94.7 The Block first hit the airwaves last year, a blessing he was happy to share because, as he says, "it's all about timeless Hip-Hop culture and lifting it up... and that's what I'm about. The fact that these artists don't have an expiration date and that Hip-Hop culture isn't disposable -- and I love that. I think the goal now has to be to execute at a higher level and have fun doing it."

LL has been putting that gospel into practice for years, his latest endeavor being on hand as fellow rapper and friend Ludacris received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame just weeks ago. "You know, Luda is an extremely talented artist, great songwriter, great performer, and just a good dude," says LL. "I've been following him since he started, and I just wanted to be there for him... I was honored that he asked. To just see a younger brother go to that level and reach those heights. We gotta be there for each other, we gotta support one another."

Looking back to 2016 when he received his own star on the world-famous sidewalk, LL remembers it being "the best feeling in the world, and [it] definitely felt like I was doing something right." Adding how he and a group of friends had posed on a blank Hollywood star when they were just teenagers, "to see that come to fruition was an amazing feeling. The accolades are always wonderful --- creating the art is the real high though," he admits. "The real high is performing, doing the festival, doing the tour, putting out the book, doing the new album... those are the things that really move your spirit. And then to be rewarded with those accolades is a good feeling."

Signing off on The Block's wish to feature Rock The Bells radio mixers Mister Cee and DJ Scratch on the station also came with good feelings all around. "I look at it like this, those guys are hometown New York dudes. I would never want to stand in the way of somebody being able to represent for their hometown and being able to represent for a station in our hometown," says LL. "At the end of the day... I still want to be supportive of hometown stations and what you guys are trying to do because it's dope, and it's Hip-Hop."

"It was a no-brainer for me," he adds. "Everybody might not feel that way, other people may have done it differently, but I think, you know, I play the infinite game, not the finite game. For me, long term, I think hundreds of years from now it's better that they were here than me not letting them be here."

LL's Rock The Bells festival and cruise both return this year, the former heading to Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NY, featuring scheduled performances from Queen Latifah, Ludacris, De La Soul, Method Man & 

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Swizz Beatz sat down with Audacy Hot 93.7’s DJ Buck and Big Regg for an in-depth conversation about all things Hip-Hop, his career, and more.

Swizz touched on finding his calling as a Producer through his time as a DJ and discovering his sound, to working with the likes of DMX in the past and now working with up and comers like Scar Lip, plus a whole lot more.

There’s no denying everybody know a Swizzy beat when it comes on, so what is it exactly that led Swizz to find his distinct sound? “I think that came from, that came from just wanting to be different,” Swizz expressed. “You know, like back then, at that time, you had to have a distinct sound to make it, you know. If you had the same sound as somebody else that was kind of a violation.”

Calling out how different it is from “today where everybody can pull from the same sound and add a name tag.” Swizz asserted, “back then that wouldn't have worked, back then you had to be your own movement, you understand?”

He continued, “like Timbaland, you know what a Timbaland beat — he got the babies crying and all of this or that. Oh, that's a Timbaland beat right there. You know a Pharrell beat, you know, Just Blaze, you know, Kanye, like Dre, like everybody just had their own sound. And so it was important for me to stop sampling and create my own sound. Because when I was sampling, it wasn't giving me my own sound. And then a lot of people was just using the same thing. So when I stopped sampling, that's how you got ‘Ruff Ryder’s Anthem’ and all those songs from that point on, just because it was distinct, it was new, and I was able to just do what I wanted to do, you know? And the drums made the sound even more distinct.” Not to mention “the horns too,” as Regg added.

In keeping with the traditional Audacy Hip-Hop Made questions, Swizz was asked what was the first Hip-Hop song he heard that made him say — "oh, this is different… this is it."

Giving us a list of three for good measure, Swizz noted, “my first Hip-Hop cassette that I purchased when I got my box radio, Ultramagnetic MC’s “Ego Trippin’.”

“That's in my DNA,” Swizz expressed, “those drums, like, that energy. Like I couldn't believe that somebody did something like that. Right? I played that song, I repaired that tape at least 150 times.”

"Number two, and this is in no particular order, I'm just giving you the order that I heard em in, was ‘Eric B. Is President,’” by Eric B. & Rakim. “I remember… it just made you feel fresh," Swizz recalled. “Like, you know… you wanted to make sure you had the righ ...