Kool Keith and Kut Masta Kurt were instrumental in the creation of indie hip-hop’s big bang during the late 1990′s. Through releases on the Funky Ass Records label (with the innovative use of the 12inch label), such as Sex Style and the Big Willie Smith EP, as well as the Dr. Octagon record for Mo’ [cont.]

Bishop Lamont is Dr. Dre’s latest discovery and newest signee to the Aftermath imprint. However with the label’s track record for signing artists and never releasing an album, the Carson, California based emcee took matters into his own hands, releasing his N***** Noise mixtape earlier in the year. Combing a gangster-ass attitude, but with the [cont.]

A group that calls itself The Away Team sounds like it may have an inferiority complex, a little bit of a chip on its shoulder. With the release of the Team’s second album, Training Day, emcee Sean Boog and producer Khrysis prove they have reason to hold their heads high. Anyone who wants to shoehorn the [cont.]

Who exactly is Amy Winehouse?  Is she the reincarnation of so many Jazz and R&B/Soul legends to whom she is so often compared to like Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, and Lauren Hill?  Or is she nothing more than a product of over sensationalized marketing techniques and tabloid scandals?  With the belated U.S. release of her [cont.]

On the scale of uncreative album names, the eponymous album is at the top. Right below it is what Styles P chose for his third solo release – and first for Koch. Hoping to recapture the gold status of his 2002 debut, A Gangster and a Gentleman, The Ghost attempts to up the ante with [cont.]

Indie hip-hop today is a hard hustle, just ask the folks at Embedded Music. Not to familiar with them? Well, Embedded is a forward-thinking NYC indie imprint, that is run by the guy who runs another forward thinking NYC indie imprint, Definitive Jux. That man would be Jesse “DJ Ese” Ferguson, and while El-P owns [cont.]

Last year, the Bay Area quartet of Young L, Stunna, Uno, and Lil B teamed up to form The Pack, making waves with their breakthrough debut single, “Vans”. Rather than living up to the typical rap stereotypes we’ve seen time and time again, The Pack came off a little bit hipper, rocking skateboard fashions mixed with [cont.]

When a Definitive Jux album drops, it’s always worth checking out.  You might get something amazing like Cannibal Ox’s the Cold Vein or something real solid like Mr. Lif’s Mo’ Mega and sometimes you get something that’s at least decent.  The good thing is that no matter what you know everyone on Def Jux brings their [cont.]

The God Son himself, Mr. Escobar, is back.  Well sorta.  This greatest hits album is long overdue if you ask this critic.  Nas has been putting it down for years making himself one of the undisputed kings of Hip Hop.   There are so many classic gems that have been released over the years.  He has [cont.]

The recent success of Adult Swim’s late night programming has allowed the bad boys of Cartoon Network to expand their influence in the entertainment industry, including a foray into the music biz with the launch of Williams Street Records. Their first project, Dangerdoom, was extremely successful, although it’s concept was almost fail-proof. (Two semi-fictional and [cont.]

It was all good just a year ago. Jay-Z was enjoying beach vacations with Beyonce, while kicking his feet up on the desk as president of Def Jam. Jay had finally made it, enjoying a temporary rap retirement, after he closed the book on his career with The Black Album. But after dropping the arguably [cont.]

Getting a record deal is not the answer to your problems. Just ask Kenna, one of the many thousands of artists that have landed a major label deal, who is struggling to become a household name. You’d think that with the embracing of The Neptunes, who produced Kenna’s first record, New Sacred Cow, in 2002 [cont.]

Big Shug offers an alternative to the mainstream Hip Hop flava of the week.  Being backed by one of HipHop greats, DJ Premier, doesn’t hurt either.  His new album, Street Champ, contains insanely dope production, concept joints, as well as the street gems you would expect.  There is no question that new producer Moss lays [cont.]

The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man is MF Grimm’s follow up to his 2006 triple album epic American Hunger. Since being released from prison after a three year stint, Grimm has been one of the most productive MC’s this decade.  His new album is a full length concept album based on one of the better [cont.]

Approaching its tenth year in existence, the Anticon record label is still showing listeners that a creative paradigm in music production is nothing but an afterthought to its roster of talent. Many of Anticon’s releases float in the purgatory of classification, although they almost always end up in the “hip-hop” section of record stores and [cont.]

Hip-Hop has changed tremendously in the last ten years, and as the major label way of doing business dominates the culture, we see less and less of our favorite lyricists being rewarded for making honest music. Let’s face it – these days, you need a club-banger to get radio or video play, and at the end [cont.]

James Brown may have passed, but the funk will never die. Every couple of years or so, we see funk revivials come to the forefront, whether it was the heavy hip-hop sampling of the genre during the 80′s and 90′s, or Breakestra’s ingeniuous “live mixes” half a decade ago. Most recently, the soul sounds of [cont.]

Every couple of years a group with enormous talent comes on the scene and captures the hearts of hip-hop aficionados.   Then something happens, usually label problems. This is followed by  the creative differences within the group leading to the departure of a member or the destruction of the group as a whole.  Well this time [cont.]

Esoteric is admittingly bored with the current state of hip-hop. The 2007 7L & Esoteric release, A New Dope, was the first to breathe this sentiment; it posed as a sharp departure from the duo’s more traditional hip-hop recordings of previous years. That evolution continues in the fourth-quarter of ’08 for Eso, who steps to [cont.]

It’s been a long time since Tek and Steele, better known as Smif-N-Wessun, crafted a hip hop classic with their debut album, Dah Shinin’. Twelve years to be exact, which is the equivalent of a lifetime or two in the rap game. The passage of all that time is evident on their fourth and latest [cont.]