Method Man may be attached to his hip now, but Redman was holding it down on his own back in 1992, when he debuted with a rhyme scheme calloused enough for the streets and a sense of humor that made hi …

A Tribe Called Quest didn't necessarily invent the fusion of jazz, arty hip-hop, and rhymes-as-poetry, but they certainly personified it in the '90s. "Can I Kick It?" and "Award Tour" are among  …

F. Scott Fitzgerald's contention to the contrary, Paul Simon has engineered a great American second act. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, the native New Yorker penned some of the defining  …

He was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins, premature, soon blind, and destined to become one of music's most visionary artists. He mastered drums, piano, and harmonica by the age of nine, and only four ye …

You know you're dealing with someone who's anything but ordinary when he starts out as a Motown sensation. All of 12 years old when he was signed by the legendary label, Little Stevie Wonder broke out  …

Even in his early days, Prince proved he was no ordinary pop star-in-the-making - for starters, not too many up-and-comers pose for album covers in skimpy black skivvies and a bandana. But while tip-of …

Only someone so supremely sure of his gift could write one of the all-time freakiest odes to the decadent pleasures of a naughty girl ("Darling Nikki"), then turn around and compose a beautifully simpl …

Calling Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare a "rhythm section" is like calling William Shakespeare - no relation - a "scribbler." It doesn't even begin to encompass the ways in which these men have shaped  …

When you've got a rep for rhythm like Sly & Robbie, you spend your time deciding which musical legend not to work with next. After narrowing those decisions down, the deep-grooving duo dropped in on Br …