For their eighth studio LP, Rise Up, Cypress Hill returns from a six year hiatus, after 2004′s Til’ Death Do Us Part. Short one member, DJ Muggs, the longtime producer still appears to produce two of the albums tracks, but this leaves the the listener wondering what direction the group will take next. It has [cont.]

Madlib has come to be known as the ultimate jack-of-all trades. As one of hip-hop’s most prolific and critically acclaimed producers, he’s worked with a multitude of artists and has a style best described as abstract. He’s taken on many personas, ranging from the high-pitched Quasimoto to the virtual Jazz band Yesterday’s New Quintet. Spawned [cont.]

Devin the Dude has to be one of the most honest rapper on the scene. He is not one to rhyme about things that he does not do, he’s just a guy who likes the ladies and his weed, which is reflected in his music. Suite #420 does not stray away from the usual script, [cont.]

Diabolic rose up through the underground circuit in the early 2000′s, winning a number of rap battles with his well thought out, multi-syllabic punch rhymes. Now signed with Immortal Technique’s Viper Records, the little known emcee finally makes his official debut with A Liar and A Thief. The album finds Diabolic teaming a group of [cont.]

Revenue Retrievin: Night Shift is the second piece of E-40’s double album, double release. As explained by E-40 himself, Night Shift is based more around “things that happen at night”. It can loosely be described as a concept album, with the majority of the tracks being more club than street. As with Revenue Retrievin: Day [cont.]

When older hip hop fans first hear “I Used to Love Her (Again)” on the new album from MURS and 9th Wonder, Fornever, it might be a bit of a shock to the system. We’re there already? We’re covering Common? MURS updates the classic slightly to include mentions of things like auto-tune, but never having [cont.]

At this point in his career, E-40 really needs no introduction. With over 20 years in the game, he’s created an original style and flavor all his own. In addition to having the most hilariously named album of all time; The Ball Street Journal, Fonzarelli is famous for classics such as: “Yay Area”, “Sprinkle Me”, [cont.]

Mark Ronson struck gold with Amy Winehouse, by delivering genuine, quality music, usually backed by the production of himself, Salaam Remi, and and the instrumentation of the Dap Kings. This became a new movement in music, which took off heavier in the U.K. than in the U.S., creating a unique fusion of classic funk-soul vibes [cont.]

Super groups. They’re usually formed with the goal of showcasing a collection of solo emcees that aim to be a musical Voltron of sorts. But, success for such groups is usually fleeting, either because the group was never able to take off (The Commission – Biggie, Charlie Baltimore and Jay-Z), because egos got in the [cont.]

After the leak of “Jump Up In The Air”, it seemed as if we were in for a Parliament Funkadelicallly influenced album from Erkyah Badu.  At first, it was unclear why she would remove the song from the album, but further inspection, its indebted more to Sun Ra, the man who inspired George Clinton.  Not [cont.]

Italian duo of Bot and Phra, better known as Crookers, have taken over the electronic music / club scene pretty heavily over the last couple of years. After releasing a few independent EP’s, the Crookers sound began to take off with an over-the-top remix of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”, that demanded club-goers to “shake it” before exploding [cont.]

Biggie’s Life After Death album changed the face of New York rap. The massive double disc collection rewrote all the rules of the city, mainly by outsourcing the production to different houses, expanding upon the sounds and styles associated with the rapper. Songs like “Notorious Thugs” (feat. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony), “Fuckin You Tonight” (feat. R. Kelly) [cont.]

There’s something to be said for persistence. That’s especially true in music, where it’s admirable for an artist to stick to it and keep releasing new material because he loves what he’s doing, even if it never blows up. Inspectah Deck has certainly had his share of heady success back in the heyday of the [cont.]

It’s been kind of a rough few years for Usher Raymond. His last album, 2007′s Here I Stand, while possessing a huge hit single with “In This Club”, only managed to sell 1.2 million copies in the U.S. This was a pale effort in comparison to his previous 2004 LP, Confessions, which hit a whopping [cont.]

Marco Polo has been on a roll in recent years, producing bangers left and right for Masta Ace and Boot Camp Clik, among others. His previous full-length releases Port Authority and 2009’s Double Barrel with Torae were nearly perfect. Both featured incredible production coupled with some of the best emcees in hip-hop. Ruste Juxx has [cont.]

Hailing from Australia, producer M-Phazes can most aptly be described as a known unknown. The name may not be familiar to many, but in the last five years he’s gained steady recognition for his work with artists such as Supastition, Heltah Skeltah and Skyzoo. His debut album, Good Gracious is a welcome coming out party. [cont.]

A while back a friend proposed the question of who had the better catalogue, Curtis Mayfield or Gil-Scott Heron.  If there’s a modern equivalent to that question it might be Raheem DeVaughn (Curtis Mayfield) or Erykah Badu.  The album kicks off with an intro by Dr. Cornell West, who’s also later featured in multiple interludes [cont.]

Consequence has fought an uphill battle since the beginning of his career at 16 years old. First appearing on A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, then becoming a satellite member of the group on Beats, Rhymes, & Life, Cons eventually would score a solo deal with Elektra Records. Although the label ceased operations before the [cont.]

It’s been about 17 years since Big Noyd first arrived on the scene. He gained notoriety on Mobb Deep’s 1995 album: The Infamous from both his memorable cameo in the “Shook One’s Part 2″ video and the classic line from “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)”. With his 8th (yes, 8th) album release; Queens Chronicle, [cont.]

A concept album always seems like a bit of a conceit. That’s especially true in hip hop, where the results of such projects have ranged from incredible (think Masta Ace’s A Long Hot Summer) to average (like, say, T.I. vs. T.I.P.) to forgettable (examples too numerous to list). Bringing Ludacris and Shawnna together for a [cont.]