Email Author Ben Westhoff

Awards

• 2007 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards

  "Ace of Spaides"

• 2006 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published September 14, 2005

  "Rap vs. Rapture"

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2007 Stories by Ben Westhoff

• Weirdest Rapper Alive?

  published December 27, 2007

  With his long dreadlocks, croaking voice, and penchant for zaniness, Lil Wayne is an unpredictable MC. He's also a prolific one,... More >>

• Beanie Sigel

  published December 27, 2007

  Beanie Sigel's rough-and-ready new CD, The Solution, stands in contrast to the latest from his mentor, Jay-Z. American Gangster... More >>

• Wu-Tang Clan

  published December 6, 2007

  Wu-Tang Clan's fifth album, 8 Diagrams, comes at a time of group strife. Ghostface Killah and Raekwon have laid into Wu ringleader and... More >>

• Lance's Gay Odyssey

  published November 29, 2007

  'NSync was so freaking popular around the turn of the millennium that even I — jaded, posturing music critic — bought the... More >>

• Chris Brown

  published November 22, 2007

  Chris Brown has been well-known to the screaming underaged masses for a minute now, but he broke out to a wider audience at this year's MTV... More >>

• Get Hova It!

  published November 15, 2007

  Rap's Grateful Dead? Hova? Young? The number one MC of all time? None of the above. A more appropriate title for Jay-Z... More >>

• Soulja Boy

  published November 15, 2007

  Soulja Boy's entry in the minstrel rap sweepstakes is called Souljaboytellem.com, and it has... More >>

• Little Brother

  published November 8, 2007

  "I came back from NY, nigga lost his deal/Felt sick to the stomach, almost lost his meal," Phonte raps on Getback's first track,... More >>

• Timestable MC

  published October 18, 2007

  Consuelo Robinson is that teacher you always wished you had; kind of like Ryan Gosling without all the crack smoking. As a former math teacher at... More >>

• Chamillionaire

  published October 18, 2007

  When did mainstream rap become more relevant than its underground counterpart? Talib Kweli and El-P released self-congratulatory pap this year... More >>

• will.i.am

  published October 11, 2007

  Derivative, repetitive, insipid, insincere, and pandering, Songs About Girls also has the worst insert booklet in recent memory —... More >>

• From Madvillain to Milli Vanilli

  published September 27, 2007

  On the afternoon of August 15, Allen Scott, co-owner of San Francisco club the Independent, got a call from underground rapper MF Doom's agent.... More >>

• Talib Kweli

  published September 6, 2007

  "Conscious rap" needs to be eliminated from hip-hop's vernacular — or, at the very least, Talib Kweli's name should be stricken from its... More >>

• Anthony Hamilton

  published May 24, 2007

  Things have never been easy for platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated, neo-soul crooner Anthony Hamilton. Before briefly touching superstardom with... More >>