Music Features

Drake and Makonnen celebrate during the former's 2014 birthday party at Dave & Buster's in Times Square, New York.

'Thugs don't dance'

In 2016, a rift between hitmakers showed the limits of rap's tolerance for rule-breakers. As Mark Anthony Neal explains, "authentic" Black masculinity has always been a moving target in hip-hop.
From the outside, The Source in the 1990s was the gold standard in hip-hop. But from the inside, Kim Osorio discovered it was something more grimy: an entrenched boys' club that normalized sexism.

'Is this what it had to be?'

In 2005, Kim Osorio sued The Source for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work environment, retaliation, defamation. Responses to the case reinforced hip-hop's culture of silence.