Last week, an apparent overdose took the life of yet another beloved celebrity. Mac Miller, a 26-year old white rapper, was found dead in his Los Angeles home Friday. Toxicology reports have not yet been released to the public. Media outlets like the New Yorker and People are calling Miller’s death “tragic,” as if loss isn’t tragic by nature...

It truly is my destiny to be pursuing a journalism major. As a child I was constantly reading — I would follow my mom around the grocery store with a book pressed against my nose. I loved everything about reading, which could have made me an odd kid in the eyes of others my age, but I didn't care...

Hip hop culture loves and needs villains. Sometimes they come to save the day from a lesser MC, as is the case with 50 Cent saving our ears from Ja Rule. Sometimes they have the least favorable opinions, (see Kanye West). Sometimes they’re really only a villain until they reform or die, like Tupac. No matter their backstory, they are villains—most often without a hero to stop them...

I grew up as a preacher’s daughter. I have seen firsthand the ways people can be hurt by religious folk, burned by the place they were supposed to be safe, their faith destroyed. But the newest wave of sexual abuse scandals are rattling dioceses throughout the Catholic Church in ways completely foreign to me...

The young vagabond who introduced us to the dark and sublime emo side of the new-age dirty south rap scene has formulated a new planet in his already expansive solar system, and it’s called “Astroworld.” It makes sense that while some of Travis Scott’s new album contains songs that croon more love letters to his hometown, others operate as agents of festivity, driving the desire to rave and stay up all night. ...

Chance singles review “I was not made for this, this was made for me, and it’s gonna work out,” boasts Chance the Rapper, on one of his newest singles, “Work Out.” The song comes from a package of four separate singles dropped by the Chicago artist July 19. ...