What's The Headline

Andre 3000's has made the best verse of 2021, and one of the finest of his career, and it may never be officially released. We discuss that, Common's new album, and more on episode 61 of AFH 's What's The Headline : 0:00 Intro 1:09 Drake has the best first week sales of 2021, with Certified Lover Boy 1:40 Which album between Certified Lover Boy and Kanye West’s Donda will better stand the test of...

The battle between Kanye West and Drake has reached a fever pitch, with the release of Drake's Certified Lover Boy less than a week after Kanye's Donda reached DSPs. On this week's episode of Ambrosia For Heads ' What's The Headline , we review Drake's CLB and discuss why he may never have a classic album [Note: this episode was recorded prior to the news of Michael K. Williams' passing.  0:0...

Kendrick Lamar has announced that his next album will be his final one for Top Dawg Entertainment, the label he has been on for his entire career. Although both Kendrick and TDE will have success in the future, it is the end of a magnificent era. On this week's What's The Headline , we provide a celebratory timeline of how TDE became the greatest Rap label of the 2010s.

Blu and Mickey Factz join episode 58 of AFH 's What's The Headline to discuss their new Nottz-produced EP The Narrative , Mickey's battle with Royce 5'9, their 2009 XXL Freshman cover, Below The Heavens and more:   0:00 Intro 1:59 Blu & Mickey Factz have an EP produced by Nottz called The Narrative 2:35 Why Blu and Mickey decided to do a project together 4:40 Mickey Factz’s father was a r...

On the latest episode of AFH's What's The Headline, we review Nas' King's Disease 2 album song by song, and rank it in his catalog: 0:00 Intro 2:05 The Hip-Hop community is still buzzing about The LOX Verzuz Dipset 5:10 Kanye West’s second listening party for DONDA included new music featuring The LOX, Griselda and Jay Electronica 16:30 Nas owned the weekend in Hip-Hop with the release of his King...

On this week's episode of AFH's What's The Headline, we score the supremely entertaining LOX Verzuz Dipset battle and recap all the trash talk, round by round. This was by far the most lively Verzuz yet, and, at times it seemed the trash talking was going too far. In the end, it was New York Hip-Hop at its finest and most ferocious:   0:00 Intro 4:00 Key themes from The LOX verzuz Dipset 7:20...

Episode 55 of AFH's What's The Headline podcast unpacks the evolution of the discord between Lupe Fiasco and Royce 5'9:   0:00 Intro 0:58 Kanye West faked us out again by not releasing his Donda album 1:50 Hip-Hop has its first major beef since 2019 3:46 Is the disagreement between Royce 5’9 and Lupe Fiasco real or staged 7:25 How did Royce and Lupe go from hosting a podcast together to dissi...

After 20 years, the HRSMN—Ras Kass, Canibus, Killah Priest and Kurupt—have released their long-awaited The Last Ride album. Kurupt joins AFH 's What's The Headline to discuss the making of the project, his Death Row Records history, battle rapping and more:   0:00 Intro 1:15 How the HRSMN (Ras Kass, Canibus, Killah Priest and Kurupt) were formed 3:30 What each Horseman represents 5:30 Why Kur...

On episode 53 of AFH 's What's The Headline , we discuss the incredible career of Biz Markie, JAY-Z's lawsuit against Jonathan Mannion, the potential Rap battle between Conway The Machine and Jim Jones, and more: 0:00 Intro 6:34 False reports of Biz Markie’s death were published recently 9:33 The responsibility and care that comes with covering celebrity deaths 15:10 Celebrating the incredible car...

Evidence has released his album Unlearning, Vol. 1 and it's a masterpiece. He explains how he unlearned everything about making music to create some of the best work of his career:  0:00 Intro  1:36 Evidence on deciding to share the process of working through the loss of his son’s mother on Unlearning, Vol. 1 3:06 Evidence discusses unlearning his old ways of making music in order to cre...

Skyzoo joins episode 51 of AFH's What's The Headline to discuss his new album, All The Brilliant Things : 0:00 Intro 3:24 Skyzoo discusses why he moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta 7:10 Skyzoo explains the concepts behind his song “A Tour Of The Neighborhood” from his album All The Brilliant Things 10:20 Skyzoo on growing up in Brooklyn in the '80s and '90s 12:11 Skyzoo on why 1995 was the greatest ye...

On episode 50 of AFH's What's The Headline, we name our 10 best Rap albums of 2021 so far:   0:00 Intro 2:03 We listen to more than 1,000 albums per year to try to highlight the best ones for you 7:48 Should Ambrosia For Heads expand the scope of the music it covers? 10:52 Reviewing what the state of Rap music has been in 2021 so far 14:13 The debate to name the 10 best Rap albums of 2021 so...

De La Soul's music may finally be coming to streaming music platforms. We discuss that, unreleased DMX music and more on episode 49 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline: 0:00 Intro 1:25 There is no catalog of music more important than De La Soul’s missing from streaming services 2:33 Tommy Boy Records, home to De La Soul’s music, was recently purchased by Reservoir 3:20 The executive who sig...

We review DMX's Exodus album song by song on episode 48 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline: 0:00 Intro 2:02 First impressions of DMX’s Exodus album 6:50 Exodus was made before DMX’s passed and is true to his vision 11:24 DMX was preparing to roll out Exodus in a major way before his death 12:11 Swizz Beatz has lots more DMX music but Swizz does not want to release it 15:35 Swizz Beatz and...

On episode 47 of Ambrosia For Head's What's The Headline, we do a comprehensive review of J. Cole's The Off Season album. We discuss: 0:00 Intro 1:08 Breaking down the main themes of J. Cole’s The Off Season album 1:19 Basketball metaphors prevail 2:30 J. Cole has now mastered many different Rap styles 3:40 Cole actually trained to make this album 6:20 The Off Season has several hidden parallels w...

On episode 46 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline, we discuss: 0:00 Intro 2:38 TDE Releases new Isaiah Rashad music, not Kendrick Lamar 7:26 J. Cole is releasing his album The Off-Season on May 14 9:24 The first release from the album is “interlude” 14:34 J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Travis Scott are likely to release albums in 2021 15:40 Were there any MCs bigger than those 4 artists...

On episode #45 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline, we lay out the evidence for why Kendrick Lamar is releasing new music this week, debate Nas and JAY-Z's verses on "Sorry Not Sorry" and more:   0:00 Intro 1:00 TDE’s Top Dawg Posted “The Wait Is OVAH!!!!!!” on social media 2:00 Which artist—Kendrick Lamar, Isaiah Rashad, SZA or someone else—is releasing new music 3:20 The AFH team is...

In episode 44 of Ambrosia For Heads What's The Headline podcast, we discuss the following:   0:00 Intro 0:40 Shock G brought the Funk to Hip-Hop 4:45 Digital Underground crossed over with “The Humpty Dance,” without selling out 6:30 How Digital Underground was connected with N.W.A. and Tupac 8:16 Shock G brought showmanship back to Hip-Hop 11:18 The loss of Tupac and a lack of creative contro...

On episode 43 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline, we discuss:   0:00 ​ Intro 1:48 ​ EPMD, K-Solo, Keith Murray, RZA, DJ Kool, Inspectah Deck and other highlights from the night 6:12 ​ Was this a competition or a joint celebration? 12:20 ​ The times we’ve interacted with Method Man and Redman personally 18:20 ​ We score Method Man Verzuz Redman round by round 1:02:20 ​ The importance o...

On episode 42 of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline podcast, we celebrate the life, legacy and legend of DMX:   0:00 ​ Intro 1:02 ​ The times we met DMX and stood in his presence 14:30 ​ Why DMX wanted to be a fireman when he was growing up 16:05 ​ The life lessons DMX learned from dogs 21:15 ​ DMX’s start in Hip-Hop was as a beatboxer, not a rapper 22:35 ​ DMX toiled for nearly 10 years...

This week's episode of AFH's What's The Headline podcast is part of a continuing series where we examine some of the best years in Hip-Hop. In episode 41, we make the argument for 2000. Note: this was recorded before last week's tragic events with DMX. We are covering this story on ambrosiaforheads.com (link below) and send positive thoughts to him and his family.   0:00 ​ Intro 4:00 ​ The cl...

T. Eric Monroe is one of Hip-Hop's all-time great photographers. In the 90s, he took iconic photos of Tupac, Biggie, Guru, Big Pun, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Puff Daddy, Dr. Dre, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, De La Soul, Big L and so many more. In episode 40 of AFH's What's The Headline, T Dot discusses the following:   0:00 ​ Intro 3:24 ​ On being in the front row at The Source Awards w...

It's been a big week for Hip-Hop. On episode #39 of Ambrosia For Head's What's The Headline, we discuss:   0:00 ​ Intro 0:20 ​ Raekwon vs.  Ghostface Killah Was The Best Hip-Hop Verzuz Yet 4:45 ​ This Was A Real Competition, Not Just For The Culture 5:15 ​ Scoring Raekwon Verzuz Ghostface Killah Round By Round 37:08 ​ The Final Tally & Who Won The Battle 39:30 ​ Raekwon & Ghostfa...

On episode #38 of Ambrosia For Head's "What's The Headline" podcast, we discuss:   0:00 ​ Intro 0:51 ​ Why Did It Take 30 Years For Nas To Win His First Grammy 5:44 ​ Illmatic Got Zero Grammy Nominations 7:50 ​ Was This Grammy For King’s Disease Or For Nas’ Career 10:40 ​ King’s Disease Was Not The Best Rap Album Nominated In 2020 14:30 ​ Hit-Boy Was Able To Do For Nas What Kanye West Could N...

On this week's episode of AFH's What's The Headline podcast, we discuss:   0:00 ​ Intro 1:20 ​ JAY-Z Will Make Much More Money From Ace Of Spades Now With His Sale To LVMH 5:09 ​ JAY-Z Sells TIDAL To Square For $297MM 10:14 ​ The Sale May Allow Artists To Monetize Music Using NFTs 13:20 ​ How NFTs Are Restoring & Raising The Value Of Music 17:20 ​ How Jack Dorsey & JAY’s Cryptocurrenc...