Who did these guys think they were? They actually had the audacity to make their introduction completely dissing the Black consciousness movement with their debut single, and on top of that, dissing our moms?!?! Two X-Clan-esque characters stood at the beginning of the video preaching, “Yo, we need some brothers to be dropping knowledge”, [cont.]

On his last album, Restless, Xzibit reinvented himself, transforming from the disgruntled L.A. emcee with the underground chip on his shoulder, to full-fledged C-Walkin’ Cali G. While in most cases, these types of transformations yield disastrous results and disposable albums (Buckshot, Mic Geronimo, Saafir, Tash Of The Liks to name a few), X is of that rare [cont.]

After building his name producing a number tracks for run down hip-hop acts such as Das Efx, K-Solo, Channel Live, and Big Daddy Kane, on his various compilation albums - Game Over 1 & 2, and Behind the Doors of the 13th Floor - Domingo returns with The Difference, perhaps his strongest effort yet, showing maturity and growth [cont.]

Rawkus’ re-entry into the rap game (after a brief hiatus during the switch of distribution to MCA), comes in the form of Soundbombing 3, the third in their series of mix CD’s spotlighting their current roster, as well as the hot new shit for the coming months, in true mixtape fashion. This time sharing deejay [cont.]

Described as both “a party at Dan The Automator’s house” in the liner notes, and “a look inside my head”, by Dan himself, Wanna Buy A Monkey is the first mix CD from one of music’s busiest and most well-loved producers, covering everything from raw hip-hop to indy rock, and his own stuff that lands [cont.]

       Conjuring up images of Common holding a mug asking “Can I Borrow A Dollar”, or Eazy E dancing with a piece of cardboard in the “Dre Day” video, the Cunninlynguists debut album Will Rap For Food instead follows a different philosophy – if rappers make “jiggy shit” because they “gotta eat”, then why not rap for [cont.]

 Probably emerging from somewhere within the crew photo inside Mobb Deep’s The Infamous LP, the trio of Ty Nitty, Twin Gambino, Godfather steps up to the plate, in attempts to carry on the legacy of Havoc and Prodigy, as well as the legendary Queensbridge projects. With a number of QB’s finest back them up, not to mention [cont.]

While Nas and Jay-Z battle over who is the king of New York, and Dr. Dre wears his crown over California, has the question ever been asked, who is the ruler of The South? Looking back at history, there’s one man who has kept his place in the game with a classic album under his belt, numerous classic [cont.]

     When the term “Gospel Rap” is mentioned, images of Reverend Run, Ma$e, and Hammer pop into your mind, usually with negative conotations. Why? Most likely because hip-hop is, for the most part, a hardcore music artform born in the streets, which directly contradicts the sound that each of these artists have embraced after their [cont.]

 Brooklyn’s Non-Phixion has been putting it down on the 12-inch vinyl set for a minute now, over the last few years teasing us with a number of classic underground singles, such as “5 Boros”, “I Shot Reagan”, and “Black Helicopters”. Backed by the production of then up-&-coming emcee/producer, Necro, (who happens to be Ill Bill’s brother), [cont.]

Cormega is one of those rare artists that after dealing with a fair amount of label politics, continued to work his ass off and do whatever it took to get out of his deal with Def Jam, and release a solid debut album, which came in the form of last year’s The Realness. After such a [cont.]

 Each of The Demigodz core members had impressed us with a number of classic indy 12″ singles over the last few years, but the name remains unknown. They appeared on the types of songs that the average head might recognize from their local college radio show, but somehow couldn’t put a name to the voice (or [cont.]

 What’s in a name? In the last few years, independent hip-hop has evolved into such a strange animal. It’s made of two groups of artists, 1) a bunch of well-known emcees who at one time had a huge buzz, but are now past their prime, or simply never had a hit, and 2) a bunch [cont.]

 Working as the latest chapter in the Moka Only sideshow, Swollen Members’ imprint helps introduce their Canadian counterpart to the rest of the world with Lime Green. Like other his releases, Moka’s latest is yet another self-produced oddity, drenched in his own personal experiences. For those who haven’t followed Moka’s career with a microscope, Lime Green [cont.]

In 1995, Immortal released The Next Chapter, a dope little compilation released in 1995, spotlighting unsigned emcees before it was the cool thing to do. The album introduced acts like Defari and Dilated Peoples, who are now underground success stories, and also brought forth a hungry emcee named, Mykill Miers, on “Soul Searchin’”. Five years later, [cont.]

Digable disappeared, De La Soul is dead, and the members of Tribe Called Quest, A each chose their own instinctive travels. Where does this leave the average fan of cool, jazzy grooves, infused with mellow hip-hop vibes? Sure there are always the Okay Players (Slum Village, The Roots, Mos Def , Common, etc), but when a year like 2001 passes [cont.]

The first week of 2002′s August was a big one for new releases in indy hip-hop. Not only did DJ Jazzy Jeff come creeping out of the woodwork with the buzz-worthy The Magnificent, but also RJD2 followed up Dead Ringer with the awesome Soul Position EP with partner Blueprint, while Motion Man & Kutmasta Kurt had hopes of Clearing [cont.]

 Working as their second release, following last year’s Nightlife EP, The Outsidaz, a once dirty dozen that spawned the likes of Eminem  and Rah Digga, bring their first full-length project with The Bricks. With most of its members hailing from the same Jersey city that has been immortalized on Redman’s last few albums, The Bricks [cont.]

 Death Row’s latest attempt at hoodwinking their former artists and bamboozling the fans comes in the form of Dogg Pound’s 2002. The title itself is not only an allusion that this album is made up of new millennial material, but also that it is a step ahead of Dr. Dre’s 2001 (of which it is [cont.]

After being dissed over ten years ago on a classic hip-hop record by the god of hip-hop (see Boogie Down Productions’s “Still Number One”, circa 1988) with virtually no leg to stand on, one would think that Screwball’s Poet would have hung up his mic for good. One might think that by now, the Screwball crew [cont.]