Pitchfork's kind of a weird outlet right now. They get a lot of hate, and I get some of it, but as far as mainstream venues go they're far more eclectic than most and more willing to shine a light on little-knowns or unknowns. They keep a close eye on the biggest acts but the bulk of their reviews are actually pretty diverse in terms of genre and recognition. If anything, that diversity has become sort of a challenge for them because it has given them a sort of empty identity: like, what's their beat, really? I think this is underscored by the gap that exists between their news coverage and feature stories, on the one hand, and their reviews on the other.

That said, hip hop has never been their strong suit and I feel like their coverage isn't so much bad in itself as it's just really sporadic and uneven. Yeah, they miss a lot, but their reviews this year have included a lot of stuff we do talk about here: Little Simz, Ka, a lot of Griselda projects, Topaz Jones, Wiki, Navy Blue, a few MMG releases, etc. With hip hop, I don't think they really know who they are, let alone what audience they're trying to reach. Whereas with their coverage of, say, jazz and experimental shit, there's more coherence across the reviews (even while retaining some sense of diversity).

Anyhow, I don't have a recommendation for where to go for good hip hop coverage... I haven't found much. I keep an eye on Reddit's hiphopheads subreddit for news and new releases -- even though it skews more popular on the whole (and distinctly younger, lol), there's a steady beat of underground shit that gets shine. I take bits and pieces from different places but there's not a good single source, imo.


-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~