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Matthew Deapo is a Philadelphia-based arts critic and founding writer for Hip Hop Top 50 (hiphoptop50.blogspot.com) and Kinetoscope Film Journal (www.kinetoscope.org). His essay on Awesome Dré was recently included in Heaven Was Detroit: From Jazz to Hip-Hop & Beyond, and his personal obsessions include popular culture, tall pints of beer, and his beautiful, supportive wife.

Follow Matt hiphoptop50.blogspot.com/

Articles by this author

Article Apr 14 2017

Honoring The Best Hip Hop LP’s: Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded

To call Criminal Minded trendsetting would be a grave understatement. Not only did it bring street crime into the conversation, it merged the bass-heavy tones of Jamaican dub with New York City Hip Hop, made disrespecting your contemporaries a sport and provided a frame of reference for the socially conscious rap to come. Though the […]
Article Apr 9 2017

Honoring The Best Hip Hop LP’s: Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…

Picking up where Enter the Wu-Tang left off, Only Built for Cuban Linx… elaborates on the esoteric universe of the Staten Island collective, particularly their penchant for collaborative narrative. Raekwon and co-host Ghostface Killah are so comprehensive in their phrasing and word choices that they’ve expand on the group’s mythology, injecting their own inventive street slang, colloquialisms and a cineaste’s […]
Article Apr 8 2017

Honoring The Best Hip Hop LP’s: Kanye West – The College Dropout

Kanye West‘s strong suit isn’t his ego or his cultural cache, but his insecurity. The College Dropout compellingly finds him struggling for an identity in post-millennium Hip Hop. He’s both “Benz and backpack,” clinging on to pleasures of the flesh while striving to bring God back to popular music and accurately portray city life. His product is […]
Article Apr 6 2017

Honoring The Best Hip Hop LP’s: Slick Rick – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick

Walking a thin line between classy and crass, ribald English dandy Ricky Walters is at once an exceptionally eloquent lyricist and an egotistical misogynist. Overlooking his more insensitive material will be a strong task for most, but those with a stomach for “blue” lyrics will be compensated for sticking around. Slick Rick’s brilliant vocal harmonies and talent for painting […]