ALEX PENNINGTON - The Spectrum

Slug Christ’s style of rapping is similar to that of Tyler, the Creator and Three 6 Mafia’s tracks, with dark undertones and a unique beat.

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Slug Christ shows Atlanta is more than just trap

By ALEX PENNINGTON | May 7, 2015

Awful Records is a collective of beat makers, rappers and singers who all write and produce their own music. From graphic design to directing, to mixing and mastering their own tracks, Awful Records maintains a do-it-yourself mentality that is seen in their approach to music and heard in the songs they make. Slug Christ is one of the more unconventional members of the collective and his music combines the playful spirituality of Lil B with the dark undertones of Tyler, the Creator and Three 6 Mafia.

The members of Blur reunite to create an album that combines the strengths of each member, specifically of the lead singer’s techno-computerized style he created with the group Gorillaz.

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A Perfect Combination: Blur cements its legacy with The Magic Whip

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 30, 2015

Blur’s first album in 12 years, The Magic Whip, shows the band taking a more sparse and minimalist direction than its late ’90s work. Blur is known for its role in the Britpop scene in the early ’90s alongside bands like Oasis, Placebo and The Spice Girls.

On his newest project Barter 6, Young Thug continues to rely on the elements of his music that made him popular - overarching, catchy melodies and hooks - at the expense of his album’s overall lyricism.

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Young Thug: choosing melodies over mincing words in Barter 6

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 26, 2015

Young Thug's album Barter 6 was released on April 16 after months of controversy from the album’s original title, which was Carter 6. Young Thug, instead of focusing on lyricism, makes the melodies the focal point of his music.

Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching professor in the Department of English, gave a speech focused on Robert Frost’s "A Masque of Reason": Biblical Job in 1945 during the annual Robert Frost Lecture.

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UB’s Poetry Collection: in memory of a poet and a rabbi

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 24, 2015

Victor E. Reichert, a rabbi from Cincinnati, befriended Robert Frost after meeting him at one of the poet’s readings.

Subsoil, an experimental hip-hop group, performed over the weekend at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Buffalo. The group's unique musical style involving rap and live instrumentation led a high-energy performance that kept people on the dance floor all night long.

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Subsoil brings brand of psychedelic hip-hop to Buffalo

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 21, 2015

Subsoil is a genre-bending hip-hop group that fuses the sounds of ska, funk and rock to create an auditory experience unlike any other. The group is known for its high-energy live performances and won “Best Live Act” in 2010 from Rochester’s Insider/Metromix Magazine.

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Tyler, the Creator blows up his legacy with 'Cherry Bomb'

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 19, 2015

It seems just like yesterday when Tyler, the Creator was eating cockroaches on MTV – shocking people with where the direction of hip-hop was going.

Artist Adam McIlwee moves from the pop punk sound of Tigers Jaw to a more experimental, "sad" hip hop sound

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WiccaPhase’s new EP is insightful and unexpected

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 12, 2015

The instruments that accompany his music provide the atmosphere of “sadness,” but Yung Lean’s lyrics and delivery don’t provide much emotion at all.

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Aaron Kunin reads poetry in downtown Buffalo as part of UB's Poetics Plus program

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Apr. 2, 2015

On Wednesday night, Aaron Kunin read selections of his poetry as part of UB’s Poetics Plus program at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Buffalo. Poets in the program are selected through votes by English department students.

Death Grips’ final album 'The Powers that B' continue the band's production of experimental sound for people to listen to and to loudly express their ideas and emotions as a group.

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Ending a legacy: Death Grips’ final album

By ALEX PENNINGTON | Mar. 31, 2015

The experimental hip-hop group Death Grips has just released the second half of their full-length final album, The Powers That B.