Thomas Hobbs

"Cochise’s baby-pitched raps trade the nihilism and excess of his rap peers for self-empowerment and niche Manga references. Rapping over euphoric trap instrumentals that mix the raw with the sugary sweet, the Florida rapper’s infectious merriment makes his demand of “N***a, better turn me up!” on “Tell Em” impossible to ignore."

The UK rapper digs deep for his second album to produce spoken-word therapy that taps into a generation wondering how things have got so bad.

Faux songs created from original vocals by star artists are becoming more popular (and more convincing), leading to murky questions of morality and legality.

Thomas Hobbs unpacks the songs the Godfather of pop-punk has created through his decades-spanning career.

Nick Broomfield rakes over the coals of the Biggie vs 2Pac saga but doesn’t find anything particularly new, writes Thomas Hobbs.

"Much like the conveyor belt line of remasters, books, special edition boxsets, biopics, and documentaries commissioned around formative rock music released between 1965 and 1975, record label execs are hip to the fact that for anyone between the ages of 20-40 right now, 1990s rappers are seen as the new Beatles, Doors, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, and that the subsequent demand for product around those kind of legacy artists rarely recedes."

Learning how to relax when you live inside a tiny box room with extortionate rent (and a likely mould problem) in a sprawling urban metropolis can be difficult, but Dublin rapper Kojaque’s hazy, nocturnal confessionals succeed in helping the city’s lost feel found. Thomas Hobbs met him.

Billy Wilder’s 1951 noir has obvious parallels with our current era of fake news and alternative facts.

The wide-ranging and often prophetic writings of The Doors’ frontman are celebrated in a new anthology. Thomas Hobbs spoke to those that knew Jim Morrison best about why he was really a poet, not a rock star.

His portraits of his Paris neighbourhood summed up its residents’ anger. Now his subversive installations straddle borders, float on boats and envelop favelas. We speak to the elusive artist.

As video games become ever more hyper-realistic, a new breed of "virtual photographers" is capturing special moments of beauty and emotion within them. Thomas Hobbs reports.

In the latest installment of Behind The Beat, Thomas Hobbs spoke with Cool and Dre about the enduring legacy of 50 Cent and The Game's nostalgic classic 'Hate It or Love It'.

After being released from prison last November, the LA-based artist has been busy working on multiple projects and is now gearing up to take his pioneering brand of West Coast rap to even bigger audiences.

"A TiaCorine song is an immersive experience: a kaleidoscope of luminous colors, larger-than-life anime characters, weed smog, hilarious sex metaphors (“Italian n****, eat my pussy like cannoli”), and psychedelic trap drums that make you feel like your pupils are dilating."

For this month’s First Look Friday, we talk with regal stoner rapper Lord Apex about being a student of American hip-hop, staying independent, and how rapping is similar to having sex.