Sam Davies

2016 was a year of emotional turmoil for a lot of us in the UK and the US, with political shocks like Britain voting to leave the European Union and America electing Donald Trump as president. Since then, many a music writer has waxed philosophical about a surge in the popularity of ambient music, citing listeners’ needs to retreat from the turbulence of the real world. Three days before the Brexit referendum, Huerco S released his second album For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those That Have)....

Naga Munchetty interviews culture writer Sam Davies about the influence of The Matrix on modern society (interview starts at 1 hr 55 min)

It was New Year’s Eve when the news broke. MF DOOM was dead. As it turned out, the London-born, New York-raised, metal-faced microphone master actually passed away in October 2020. But with the announcement not coming until December 31, many hip-hop heads woke up in 2021 with a sinking feeling already nagging away at them as the new year kicked off.

“No one cared who I was until I put on a mask.” The image of a drill rapper is unlike that of any other musician. Since the sound spread from Chicago to London in the 2010s, artists have twisted their identities in increasingly subversive, creative, and practical ways, masking up in videos, creating myths, and refusing to reveal government names to the press...

The dystopian movement known as cyberpunk is bigger than ever. But as the genre's greatest film franchise returns, is truth stranger than fiction, asks Sam Davies.

With inventive production and animated lyrics in Spanish and English giving unique takes on violence and, of course, weed, Cypress Hill's 1991 debut introduced them as a force to be reckoned with. Sam Davies speaks to them about how it all began.

It’s not easy writing about kids’ stuff. “Don’t write about that,” say the grown-ups: “It’s for kids.” Then there’s the kids themselves. What will they think? They’ll probably think it’s cringe. But if you’re looking for the most authentic, zero-fucks-given scene, from any period in history: find out what the kids were into.

Not long ago, London’s inner-city communities were rarely seen on screen. Now they’ve become a hotbed for creativity, providing not only the setting for a new subgenre of film, but also the directors behind them. We interview some of the creative forces driving London’s cinematic renaissance…

His smart storytelling and wry jokes have helped put Midlands rap on the map. Now he wants to demonstrate rap’s power to deliver real-life change

Once upon a time, in an epoch far, far away, Beyoncé released an album without telling anyone. It changed everything...

Even 2Pac got it wrong. “Say my name three times like Candyman, bet I roll on yo’ ass like an avalanche,” he rapped on “Troublesome ’96.” It’s five times; in the 1992 cult horror classic, if you say his name five times while looking in the mirror, the Candyman will appear and make you his next victim. But anyway, it doesn’t matter that Pac messed up the details. What matters is he referenced the film, as many other rappers have done since...

After discovering videos of rapid-fire MCs spitting in Portuguese over baile funk-flavoured beats, London DJ and Butterz co-founder Elijah linked up with Brazilian artists CESRV, Febem and Fleezus to re-release their ‘Brime’ EP, celebrating the unlikely yet thrilling connection between British and Brazilian grime music. DJ Mag speaks to them about how Brazilian grime artists are injecting their own humour, style and politics into the sound

Despite the dominance of US hip-hop and opposition from police and tabloids, the British scene is now a force to be reckoned with

“See me on a TV show, bouncing around like everything’s OK,” says Lady Ice at the end of her 2020 single ‘No More Secrets’. Since she was a teenager she’s been a semi-regular on British television...

Nine essential documentaries, focused on the classic '80s and '90s hip-hop that laid the foundation for rappers to build a world-conquering movement