In the 1970’s there were some phenomenal blaxploitation soundtracks, but the best among them were done by none other than Isaac Hayes. If one was aiming to make a dark and grimy gangster film now, and didn’t turn to El Michel’s Affair you’d be missing out one of the best instrumental groups alive. You probably [cont.]

For the most part, the three members of Dilated Peoples are looked at as equal talents. For the most part, that is. Evidence has his strengths as both a dope producer and clever emcee, while Babu touts his talents as a deejay as well as a beat machine. Rakaa, however, has had to rely solely [cont.]

Philly’s Reef The Lost Cauze has been buzzing in the underground community for some time now. With a reputation built as one of Philadelphia’s best battle emcees, Reef has been on a 10 year journey since his 2001 debut The High Life. Most recently heard on The Unholy Terror with cohorts Army Of The Pharaohs, [cont.]

13 years since Kiam Holley and Victor Santiago, better known as Capone-N-Noreaga, seemingly came out of nowhere. In 1997, the queens duo dropped the street classic; The War Report. In a time when hip-hop was moving from the golden era to the shiny era, the album helped to bring back hardcore, street-hop. Now with their [cont.]

“Muthafucka told me I raped a girl. If I raped a girl … she meant yes when she said no. Ask my bitches, they like a little resistance.” … “She keeps saying no, but never try to stop me.” … “I need a girl with some submissiveness.” With lines like these, Rhymefest seems to be [cont.]

Let’s get one thing straight, Rick Ross is not a great emcee. But like many so-so rappers before him (Wyclef, King Tee, O.D.B.) he has managed to make a great album, despite his shortcomings as a rapper. On paper, Ross is the picture of the rapper we’d love to hate. His resume finds him as [cont.]

M.I.A. exploded onto the hipster music scene in 2005 with the release of her debut LP, Arular, named after her Sir Lankin revolutionary father. The album was an indie classic, filled with bittersweet B-More and dancehall tinged political jams that truly allowed listeners to party for the right to fight. The rest of the world [cont.]

Vinnie Paz, formerly known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram in the early days of Jedi Mind Tricks, could not have picked a more perfect name. Like his namesake, boxing legend Vinnie Paziena, the emcee Vinnie Paz is aggressive, unyeielding and aims for the head with every shot. With almost 14 albums between Jedi Mind Tricks [cont.]

Bay Area producer Amp Live has always been one to think outside the box in terms of his beats, from lacing his Zion I partner Zumbi with the freshest of tracks over the years, to remixing Radiohead to great critical acclaim. Unfortunately, his official solo debut, Murder At The Discotech, does not deliver like many [cont.]

Hartford, CA’s Blacastan is a relic of the old school, one that missed out on participating in hip-hop’s golden age, after being locked up on drug-dealing charges in the 90′s at 16 years old. While inside, he studied underground hip-hop and honed his craft as an emcee, unexposed to the watered down styles of rap [cont.]

Big Boi’s first “real” solo LP, Sir Luscious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, has been a long time coming. Tracks or supposed tracks from the album have been dropping for nearly three years, and they’ve all been excellent. Yet it took moving from Jive to Def Jam for one of the most successful hip [cont.]

The old adage that “one should never judge a book by it’s cover” definitely applies in hip-hop, as we’ve seen countless dope albums with horrible cover art and vice versa. And by now the “Big” prefix in front of any rapper’s name is a cliche, especially after we’ve lost three of the best “Big” emcees [cont.]

If there’s one thing that hip-hop fans appreciate,it’s consistency.In a music landscape where artists continually have to reinvent themselves to stay relevant and therefore – paid – consistency is rare.But in the case of emcee El Da Sensei, fans always know what to expect.Autotune? Nope.Synthesized beats? Nope.How about rhymes about blowing money fast?Nah son.The basic [cont.]

Lil Jon’s Crunk Rock was announced five years ago, to be released on TVT off of the strength of the hit single, “Snap Ya Fingaz”, along with E-40 and Sean P. After a lengthy legal battle with the label, Jon moved over to Universal Republic, taking Crunk Rock with him, in theory, at least. The [cont.]

It’s sad to say, but even in this day and age, some people need to be convinced that “rap music” actually deserves its label. Fortunately, it’s easy to point them to The Roots, as the Philly collective always shows off plenty of musicianship, and point man Black Thought can rhyme with the best of them. [cont.]

As hip-hop has grown from it’s humble beginnings in the late 1970s to the current digital age, and so to has the ability for everyone to become an “artist”. The advent of the internet and digital studio equipment such as Protools have afforded people the ability to not only find music, but to craft it [cont.]

Crooked I signed with Death Row Records in the early 2000’s, at a time when the label and its CEO, Suge Knight, were the most hated entities in the industry. The label operated in pure hater mode as it cock-blocked former artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg by dropping “unreleased material “albums like Death [cont.]

The rap reality series that was The Eminem Show is over. In the apex of his career, Eminem was the most interesting figure in hip-hop, let alone pop culture, as he was a unique success story juxtaposed with a train-wreck of a personal life that was more documented in his music than the tabloids. We [cont.]

You remember the 90s right? The classic east coast rap video images: flaming trashcan, circle of jeeps underneath a train track and it was always nighttime. This was the era MF Grimm came out of the era he was made for. His last album featured classic east coast production along with Wu-Tang samples and angry, [cont.]

Roc Marciano has a long history in this game, as a member of both the Flipmode Squad and the U.N. family, but perhaps his most famous appearance is on Pete Rock’s Petestrumentals album, which dropped in 2001. With Marcberg, he finally gets around to venturing out as a solo artist, but the question remains as [cont.]