Heard as far away as France and with eleven million listeners, the “Wake Up Show” is the planet’s most listened to hip-hop radio program. That makes DJ Revolution the globe’s most widely heard hip-hop DJ as he’s skillfully manned the show’s mighty turntables for eight years and counting. HipHopSite talked to Revolution about memorable “Wake [cont.]

A vocal exception to a crew renown for production prowess, Molemen founding member Vakill’s specializes in microphone assault. The Chicago rhymer is still an underground MC, but has been around for over a decade. In fact, Vakill once partnered with veteran rapid rapper Twista and was involved with disintegrated record deals with both a corporate giant [cont.]

Since Little Brother’s been likened to A Tribe Called Quest, comparing their Justus League crew to the legendary Native Tongues is no surprise. However, no current cliques are remotely close to being as forward thinking and melodic as the squad that boasted the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul as members. Despite unreasonable comparisons, Justus League is varied [cont.]

Heaps of hip-hop themed feature and documentary flicks have dropped over the years, but none can touch the authenticity and historical significance of Style Wars. Originally aired on PBS in 1983, the gritty documentary from Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant chronicles the exploits of young NYC graffiti writers whose unbridled desire to tag is captured [cont.]

Royce Da 5’9 isn’t a megastar, at least not yet. Despite a notable, but eroded partnership with Eminem, penning memorable tunes for Dr. Dre and label deals with Tommy Boy, Game, and Columbia, a substantial level of commercial appeal has eluded him. After checking his exhaustive, but incredibly fresh double disc, Build and Destroy, it’s obvious that [cont.]

If Killer Mike were an NBA baller, he’d be a merciless roughneck on the glass, nabbing orange spheres from the sky and throwing elbows aplenty to keep defenders at bay. Handling his tunes in the same relentless fashion, his aggro flows coupled with thrashing, rock inspired production creates a rip-roaring debut. “I’m the monster/I’m your sick [cont.]

The three heads forming The Juggaknots are fam. Literally. The crew includes brothers Breeze Brewin and Buddy Slim, along with their younger sister Heroine (who recorded with the Indelible MC’s project and was always involved in Juggaknots, but too young to be an official member until recently). Now that their formerly out of print debut [cont.]

Rather than opting for battle filled careers, the Triple Threat DJ’s (Shortkut + Apollo + Vinroc)  diversified, wisely recognizing that strictly scratching doesn’t bring career longevity. As one of hip-hop’s most gifted DJ crews, Apollo, Shortkut and Vinroc earned their stripes on the merciless battle circuit, snagging title after title until they stepped aside from vinyl [cont.]

Detroit rhymer Royce Da 5’9′s had a pinball like existence after bouncing around four labels in six years. At one time or another, he’s been with Tommy Boy, Game, Columbia and Koch. At the moment, he’s signed to both Columbia and Koch. “It’s like I got two record deals,” he tells HipHopSite. Koch just dropped [cont.]

Back in ’98, Krumb Snatcha snagged The Source magazine’s hip-hop quotable for his appearance on Gang Starr’s “Make ‘Em Pay.” His memorable verse included these lines: “Somethin’ ain’t right/to be an MC you gotta thug/Or to thug you gotta be an MC/this shit is bugged.” Listening to Krumb Snatcha’s second full length, Respect All Fear None, [cont.]

While The Beatnuts might not be innovators, they’re most definitely originators. Since their 1993 debut EP, this Queens duo thrived on a formula combining snippets of neck snapping breaks with hefty chunks of B-Boy bravado and tales of raucous sexcapades. Thought provoking and touchy feely they ain’t–but heads have been hooked since 1992′s reckless thumper “Reign [cont.]

J-Zone came straight outta college with a surprising 1998 debut. Part of a senior project at a NY institute of higher learning, Music For Tu Madre introduced J-Zone as a superb beat architect with a penchant for grabbing his grandmoms in outrageous poses for album cover art. Grandmoms and the Queens based J-Zone return with [cont.]

 Live from Area 51 from New York’s Masterminds offers up a challenge to the indie rap world: Come correct or don’t come at all. With the recent glut of independent releases suffering too often from underproduction, weak lyricism and even general laziness, this duo’s slammin’ EP avoids rap cliche’ and delivers straight butta with a heaping [cont.]

 Deservedly escaping the trip-hop kiss of death, London duo The Herbaliser churns out another impressive self produced album from the always eclectic Ninja Tune label (Coldcut, Kid Koala). Made up of DJ/producer Ollie Teeba and bassist/producer Jake Wherry, they represent hip-hop from a mix of soul, jazz and electronica. Leading off the cuts featuring guest rhymers, What [cont.]