Mixtape Release; No Rating Given      Originally released as a slim-line tour only mix CD, word caught on quickly about De La Soul’s Impossible Mission release, a collection of unreleased tracks from the past 12 years. The CD was given proper treatment by Traffic Distribution, encased in a beautiful digipak for the Japanese audience. So [cont.]

    As the last member of the Wu-Tang Clan to get an album out (yes, U-God actually beat Masta Killa), MK shocked us all with the Nature Sounds release of “No Said Date”, one of the most surprisingly solid post forever Wu-releases (excluding those from Ghost, of course). He looks to strike gold twice with [cont.]

          First, Madlib teamed up with J. Dilla to make Jaylib. Then, Madlib teamed up with the super-villain MF Doom to create Madvillian. Next, Doom took it even a step further with Danger Mouse to form Danger Doom – and now, Madib teams up with Talib to form….uh….Lib-Lib? Nah? Thankfully they abandoned the mash-up names [cont.]

    Boston’s Termanology has been putting it down on the scene for the last couple of years, first discovered in The Source Magazine’s “Unsigned Hype” column. He has now released a total of four Hood Politics mix CD’s. Mixed by Statik Selektah, Term uses these compilations of exclusive material over original beats to show off his [cont.]

   One sad fact of today’s music industry is that when it comes down to record sales, it’s 90% imaging, 10% talent. Just ask the Black Eyed Peas, who struggled to break into the mainstream with their first two solid releases, Behind The Front and Bridging The Gap. It wasn’t until the addition of Fergie (and [cont.]

    Kelis has had her share of ups and downs throughout her career, but nevertheless has managed to stay in the spotlight with each album release. With The Neptunes at her side, she came out the gate with her first LP, Kaleidoscope, and it’s lead single “Caught Out There” solidifying her position as “the first girl [cont.]

    When it comes down to it, there are basically two kinds of people in this world. Republicans or Democrats? PC or Mac? Prince or Michael Jackson? Star Wars or Star Trek? Rakim or KRS-One? With the release of John Legend’s latest, arguments will be fought, wars will be waged, and families will be split [cont.]

     Cinncinati’s Hi-Tek got his big break next to Talib Kweli, when the two debuted together as Reflection Eternal, on Rawkus Records almost a decade ago, with their “Fortified Live” 12inch. With the release of their full-length, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek Are Reflection Eternal (to put it in layman’s terms) the duo reached arguable classic [cont.]

      In 2003, Louis Logic stepped onto the scene with his critically acclaimed debut, Sin-A-Matic. The album introduced the self-proclaimed “drunken dragon” to the world, with his own brand of off-the-wall, sometimes crass rhyme-styles and a penchant for heavily descriptive visual lyrics, hence the title. With his follow-up LP, Misery Loves Comedy, Lou has since [cont.]

        The secret is out. Reviews thus far for DJ Shadow’s The Outsider have not been positive. After dealing with online backlash from a dedicated, albeit confused fanbase, a defensive Shadow issued the following statement on his website: “Repeat Endtroducing over and over again? That was never, ever in the game plan. Fuck that. [cont.]

       Nightmares on Wax is the brainchild of George Evelyn, a producer / musician from Leeds, UK, who cut his teeth during the height of the “trip-hop” or “acid jazz” movement of the 1990′s. While he’s been releasing albums with Warp for the last couple of years, In A Space Out of Sound marks the [cont.]

      Listening to records from artists from the highly versatile Anticon camp, it’s hard to believe that these guys started out making hip-hop. In the case of Dose-One, it seems even stranger that he battled Eminem at Scribble Jam some ten years ago, but then again, the stuff these guys have releases has always been [cont.]

     As someone who grew up on Too $hort’s early albums – from Born To Mack to Shorty The Pimp, you kind of always know what to expect from the Oaktown legend. Of course, this also makes the average attention span of a $hortdog fan last about five albums. By then, you’ve had your share. [cont.]

    These days, being picked as one of Urb Magazine’s “Next 100″ isn’t really the coveted honor it may have once been. Sure, we’ve seen a lot of talented listed among those ranks, but think about all the hundreds of artists listed throughout the years that didn’t make it, or didn’t bring anything new or [cont.]

    It’s hard to believe that Jurassic 5 has been in the game for almost a decade now, since their 12-inch debut on Blunt Records around 1997 or so. The “leaders of the old school” have gone through some changes since their leap into the major leagues, their sound slowly evolving from throwback/backpack to a [cont.]

    Cut Chemist has always shined no matter what project he has been apart of. As a former deejay/producer of Jurassic 5 (together with Nu-Mark), he lent his trademark signature sound to the crew’s first three projects, while also helping jumpstart latin-funk-hip-hop outfit Ozomatli’s first record. He really began to shine as a solo artist [cont.]

    A wise rapper once said, “watch who you let in your crew / cause when them niggas fall off / they gonna bring you down too”. Of course, if anybody ever paid attention to those lyrics, hip-hop would be a totally different animal than it is today. Instead, it sucks, because even the handful [cont.]

    Coming out of the Living Legends crew, Murs could have easily been looked at as just another face in the crowd of seven other emcees, but his knack for show-stealing verses – even in the early Mystik Journeymen days – always somehow set him apart. He caught the ear of El-P, who invited him [cont.]

     In today’s day and age of dwindling quality in major label rap, Dilated Peoples are looked at as the last hope for fans of backpack rap, acting as one of the few true hip-hop groups still recording under contract with a large conglomerate - in this case, Capitol Records. They’ve shown progression in between each [cont.]

     A couple of years back, when the two were just making a name for themselves, Atmosphere’s Slug and Living Legends’ Murs came together to form the group Felt, paying tribute to actress Christina Ricci, with their collaborative debut EP. Back by popular demand, the duo returns with Felt 2: A Tribute To Lisa Bonet, this [cont.]