Over the last 17 years, XXL has proudly and confidently worked to predict the next rap stars to take over hip-hop. New artists burst onto the scene daily with the makings of the next J. Cole, Kendrick ...

“Cipher” refers to either a code—a language known only by adepts, impenetrable to outsiders—or the figure zero. “Cypher,” meanwhile, refers to both a code and a circular shape. The difference is that ...

In foundational hip-hop films such as “Juice,” “8 Mile” or “Brown Sugar,” freestyle rap is often depicted in the context of a battle where a rowdy throng gathers around two MCs preparing for verbal ...

It's not often we see cyphers amongst rappers these days, but the veterans are still more than prepared to step up. Black Thought and Method Man stop by Sway in the Morning on Shade 45, where they ...

This can be said about a lot of things, but this might be the worst thing ever made and released in the history of the internet. On Monday, Clemson’s athletic department decided to tune in with the ...

The most important rule of One Hundred, a monthly freestyle rap event organized by local nonprofit Soul Food Cypher, is to show courtesy. Cursing is strongly discouraged—unless it is to prove a larger ...

It’s around 9:00 on a Tuesday evening in East Quad’s Abeng Multicultural Lounge. A few students sit in comfy armchairs listening to hip-hop beats, reciting poems to each other and discussing a mixtape ...