New music from Slaughterhouse’s House Rules LP, coming this year on Shady Records.

When major labels stopped investing in acts that were built around sampling, those artists went the do-it-yourself route, resulting in the great indie hip-hop boom of roughly 1996-2006. This movement saw smaller artists pressing up their own vinyl and CD’s, and gave birth to this site as well. J-Live was a part of this school, [cont.]

Freddie Gibbs moved away from his hometown of Gary, Indiana, more than 10 years ago. He went to L.A., where he became friends with Madlib, the producer revered for his work in The Lootpack, as a solo artist under the name Quasimoto, for that time Blue Note Records let him do whatever he wanted in [cont.]

Apple is in talks to buy Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics, manufactures of the popular Beats By Dre headphones and devices, according to Financial Times. At a price of $3.2 billion (with a “B”), the deal is expected to be announced next week, however sources say that there are still a few details to iron out, [cont.]

Some new material from Reggie Noble, which may or may not appear on the forthcoming Muddy Waters 2 LP… or mixtape.

Part one of Elliott Wilson’s in-depth interview with Lord 2 Chainz, who recently dropped his downloadable Free Base EP.

From Tech N9ne’s CollabosStrangeulation in stores now.

The Masters of Ceremony EP available on iTunes. This video was a collaboration with the “Substance Over Hype” crew out of LA. Filmed at YouTube Studios in Marina Del Rey. Showcases top of the game bboys and poppers as well as some cirque talent (cyr wheel) and martial arts (tricking) to keep it fresh. Concept [cont.]

Bulk Records is thrilled to reveal the video for “Do You Remember,” from Deltron 3030′s triumphant 2013 return Deltron 3030: Event II. The video features an old man in a futuristic wheelchair-turned-rocketship, spliced with clips of Del rapping as he walks contemplatively down a beach – it’s as bizarre as it is apropos.

Dizzy Wright releases this verse in honor of a young boy that recently lost his life and for the girls that were kidnapped in Nigeria. Produced by DJ Hoppa.

Produced by Tae Beast of Digi+Phonics, mixed by Ali. Silver Edition remix for the Red Bull Editions campaign. Get a free download at remix.redbull.com.

While stopping by the Crisco Kidd Block Party, Sage the Gemini addresses XXL’s “no longevity” comment and reasons as to why he and IAmSu were left of the 2014 Freshman cover. Sage also talks about how the Bay gets no respect, everything he’s accomplished this past year and says he has no plans to support [cont.]

From the album, 9th Wonder Presents: Jamla Is the Squad (Deluxe Edition). Directed by Brian Petchers.

Pharrell solo performs his Miley Cyrus duet on Jimmy Kimmel from the G I R L album. In the second clip, he talks working with Michael Jackson.

Vanderslice writes: “Keeping up with the theme from vintage 80′s films, icons, and now video games, we present to you a piece of culture that greatly influenced Green Steez & myself. River City Ransom was gritty city street shit and who better to provide that soundtrack than the realest rapper alive.. the ONLY gangsta rapper [cont.]

Legendary crunk hip-hop producer, Mr. Collipark, teams with rising Twerk producer Meaux Green for “No Discrimination”, with emcee DPK on the mic.

A study that has been making the rounds on the internet over the last week or so shows that Aesop Rock has the largest vocabulary in hip-hop, at least when paired up against 84 other of the most well known artists in hip-hop history. Coder Matt Daniels created an algorithm to survey the first 35,000 [cont.]

Kev tells us: “I got on the phone with the XXL boss lady Vanessa Statten! With the release of the XXL Freshman Class there were alot of questions I had about some folks who I felt might have got snubbed (Rittz, G-Eazy,IAMSU!, Etc.), and some of the reasoning behind those snubs. Plus of course we [cont.]

Rapper and Soundset Festival insider, Atmosphere’s Slug stopped by Sway in the Morning to promote his new album Southsiders. The Minneapolis rapper performed a couple of his songs “Camera Thief” and “Kanye West.” He went on to explain his involvement with the Soundset Music Festival, which Sway in the Morning will be present at, why [cont.]

Animal Ambition due June 3rd.