Thomas Hobbs

"Pusha stands like a titan before triumphantly launching into If You Know You Know, a trap anthem with ticking hi-hats so infectious they have a crowd of British teenagers screaming back niche references about jailed US drug trafficker Big Meech’s penchant for bringing tigers to nightclubs."

"With SKINS, there appears to be a complete lack of awareness that presenting the late XXXTentacion as some kind of angelic mentor to young people only serves to further a damaging narrative where a man’s talent is more important than a woman’s pain."

The 23rd part of my 'London on Screen' series for Time Out and a look at the mansion block from Roman Polanski's feminist masterpiece Repulsion, a building that is eerily frozen in time.

"Sure, Oxnard is not quite as good as his previous efforts and has three or four obvious missteps, but it is still full of greatness and a record capable of doing something that’s vitally important in the bleak to the point of dystopian shit show that is 2018: Oxnard will make you smile."

The 22nd part of my 'London on Screen' series for Time Out and a look at how the Royal Lancaster Hotel has changed since the swinging sixties, a time where it featured in The Italian Job as the scene of an orgy featuring fresh-out-of-jail Michael Caine.

"Even if NOIR feels a little sporadic, it’s filled with potent music — there’s just a sense that this is more a great collection of songs than a great album."

Listening to intelligent dance music producer Qebrus feels a lot like entering another dimension, his music stumbling its way through electronic chaos, leaving the listener unsure over what just happened."

"It would be lazy, offensive even, to label Metro’s production as trap. His beats manage to feel both minimalist and maximalist at the same time, with Metro creating vast compositions out of what feels like fairly traditional rap production techniques."

A Tribe Called Quest legend Q-Tip talks to Thomas Hobbs about his solo masterpiece 'The Renaissance', which has just turned ten, and why he believes young rappers don’t respect their elders in this wide-ranging interview.

"Nothing on the screen comes close to the horror of what is happening in the next seat over, where someone is consuming their fifth Peperami of the night, carefully sliding the brown sausage out of its plastic packaging as though opening a very small and delicate present."

The 21st part of my 'London on Screen' series for Time Out and a look at how Russell Square tube station has changed since it appeared in 1972 horror Death Line, a film about cannibals who live under the station, feasting on the commuters above.

Pianist Jocelyn Pook tells us how director Stanley Kubrick gave the then-relatively unknown composer free reign to soundtrack a film starring Hollywood’s biggest couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

A personal essay on director John Carpenter's 1980 horror, which returns to cinemas this Halloween.

"The youthful crowd at the Koko tonight is a great reflection of a diverse, modern London. Looking around at so many people getting lost in this music, it’s clear jazz has returned to the forefront of culture in a way not seen since Miles Davis was at the peak of his powers. The only difference? Well, this time around it appears that Britain is leading the charge."

Hairdresser Joshua Coombes started cutting homeless people’s hair to help them get back their dignity. Now he’s turning his efforts into a social movement…