The first time Erik Nielson testified in the trial of an aspiring rapper, it was nearly a decade ago in Ventura County. An Ojai Valley teen named Alex Medina had been charged with first-degree murder ...

To quote Public Enemy’s Chuck D, rap is “Black America’s CNN.” Throughout the genre’s history, this claim has been sometimes more and sometimes less true. Right now, it is indisputable — even as rap ...

To Live and Defy in LA is much more than the story of the rise of West coast rap. It’s a sociocultural history of the late ‘70s and ‘80s, examining the social and political dynamics that led to what ...

Over the past few weeks, Americans across the country have joined together in protest against injustice. While the catalyst for this movement was the death of George Floyd after a brutal encounter ...