They are the best thing to come out of Las Vegas since the $2 all-you-can-eat buffet, showgirls, comped rooms, and, of course, HipHopSite itself. Somewhere off the fabled Strip and the cheesy neon lights that make Vegas glow at night are 2 of hip-hop’s most innovative forces trapped in a city known more for its [cont.]

     ”Live from Oakland, California,” as they state on the opening track, “True,” rap and production duo MC Zion and Amp Live have, respectively, outdone and spitkicked their way above their 2 previous releases, Mind Over Matter and Deep Water Slang, with their third collective release from the Bay Area, True & Livin’. Set against [cont.]

       What is a classic hip-hop record? As the Living Legends phrase it on the “Intro” track to their collective disc Classic, the term “classic” is something that is “generally recognized as excellent or authoritative, defying time, criticism, and fashion.” And with that firmly entrenched in their back pockets, the Legends, comprised of Murs, Sunspot, [cont.]

      “Aaiyo, Copperpot, I don’t know what you got cookin’, but I’m definitely loving what you got on the oven right now,” guest emcee Akbar narrates on the final full track of Chicago producer Copperpot’s debut album Chapter 7. And though this marks some of the final words of Chapter 7, the message comes across [cont.]

Mixtape / Compilation – No Rating Given.            As the wise old saying goes, “There are other fish out there in the sea.”       Chali 2NA (pronounced Tuna), of Jurassic 5 fame, is out to prove that, by name, he may be one of the smaller fish in the sea, but in the crowded fish [cont.]

“Dial the seven digits, call up Bridget, Her man’s a midget, plus she got friends, Yo, I can dig it,” Opio rhymed on the 1993 title track from the Souls of Mischief debut album, ’93 ‘Til Infinity, an album regarded by many as a certified hip-hop classic during an era when much of rap music [cont.]

Mixtape/Compilation Release; No Rating Given       It was producing tandem the Neptunes who first coined the term N.E.R.D., an acronym that stood for “No One Ever Really Dies,” when they released their debut album In Search Of… and their subsequent sophomore album Fly or Die. And in the hip-hop world, the N.E.R.D. acronym has become [cont.]

      Big Noyd, like some of his Queensbridge counterparts Littles, Infamous Mobb, and even Illa Ghee, is a rapper trying to crack into the upper echelon of QB - a starting lineup that currently consists of emcees like Nas, Prodigy, Cormega, Havoc, and even Alchemist to a certain recent extent. Breaking into hip-hop with his mid-90s [cont.]

    As former Antipop Consortium member Beans put the pedal to the metal on “Blind Driver”, “I’m young, black, and ain’t got nothing to lose, Man, I walk a tight-rope wearing two left shoes,” it’s not hard to predict the direction that this album will move in. If Shock City Maverick does not find it’s way to [cont.]

    “It’s funny, I’m mad famous for being unknown!” R.A. the Rugged Man raps alongside Killah Priest and Masta Killa on the Ayatollah-produced “Chains.” “I’m back by unpopular demand,” he continues over the hard guitar riffs of “How Low.” And finally, “I don’t care about the past no more, I don’t want to get rich, trust [cont.]

     For far too many hip-hoppers of the younger generation (myself included), the art of deejaying has been overshadowed by mixtape DJs with names like Clue?, Kay Slay, and Big Mike, leading them to believe that a DJ is just a person with exclusive songs, freestyles, and a voice overtop of a record. Even those DJs [cont.]

      According to Webster’s Dictionary (look hard!), the “Typical Cats (Nickname: T.C.)” are defined as follows: “A group of 4 underground hip-hoppers from Chicago named Qwel, Denizan Kane, Quazaar, and DJ Natural who can best be recognized by their….well, typicality.” Being typical is not usually a bad thing, but at the same time and in [cont.]

      Hip-hop did not vote for George W. Bush this past election - that much is clear enough. But if hip-hop had its way, not only would Dubya not have been elected, he probably would have been on the ballot somewhere at the bottom of the list beneath candidates “Hell No” and “Get The F Out [cont.]

        Attention, ladies and gentle….(ahem)….ghettomen: In this corner stands another in the long line of emcees estranged from their original group only to find their stock dropping rapidly, one solo album at a time. During the mid to late 1990s, Mr. Cheeks was to his Lost Boyz what Peter Pan was to his Lost Boys [cont.]

     Ever opened up a bag of Skittles or potato chips, eaten everything inside of the bag, and then wondered why the bag looked so much more full before you opened it? If you have, then you probably already know the feeling that you will get once Zion I’s “Family Business” mixtape finishes. But like [cont.]

       Pop the Shapeshifters Was Here disc into any computer, let the Real Player program load up and it reads: “Album Title: Shapeshifters - Was Here, Genre: Unusual.” But unusual is having a cheery Monday morning. Unusual is a snowy day in spring. Like a dog with 3 legs or an alien invasion, the Shapeshifters Was [cont.]

      Horse races, the Super Bowl, and life – always bet on the longshot to make the most off a relatively small bet. And in Chicago rapper Longshot, the legendary Molemen crew of Chicago hopes that they have a winning ticket to claim as their own. “I ain’t gonna live up to my name,” Longshot [cont.]

      Assembling 50 of anything is no small task – just look at how long it took for the United States to bring together 50 states (that were already basically connected) or how some football teams struggle to bring together 50 players. But Cyrus tha Great (in tribute to Tony Touch and his two volumes [cont.]

      There is good news and bad news for Robust following the release of his sophomore album, “Potholes In Our Molecules.” The good news is that even Eminem’s early work (see “Infinite”) was sloppy, misguided, poor in sound quality, and, to put it simply, not very good. The bad news is that, well, Robust’s “Potholes” is [cont.]

      An experiment is a test of some new method in order to find new ideas, thoughts, processes, or conclusions. “KutMasta Kurt Presents Dopestyle 1231″ is an evil experiment performed by the duo Dopestyle 1231, consisting of rapper (MC Dopestyle) and producer (Tom C), who cooperate in performing one of the absolutely most bizarre tests [cont.]