In the dozen or so years since El Da Sensei was introduced to the world as one-half of The Artifacts, it seems like the New Jersey hip-hop multi-tasker has received more attention for what he once did than what he is currently doing. Questions about his professional breakup with Tame One and his history [cont.]

     Looking back at the legacy of the Wu, early on it was thought that many members other than Ghostface were the strongest links in the chain. Method Man stole the show from the jump off with his patented theme song on Enter The 36 Chambers; RZA had an endless array of dirty beats; GZA was [cont.]

    For someone so angry, for a rapper so closely associated with long-time outspoken politicos, for an artist wound so tight he calls his friends “comrades,” M1 is a very chill dude. One half of gangsta-but-party-killing duo dead prez, M1 might have used this solo debut to kick up his feet, take a deep breath, [cont.]

    After eight years of hype and only one 12-inch single from the Army Of The Pharaohs (AOTP), as of late, this East Coast super group has been looking more like a concept rather than a reality. But when Babygrande announced this year that they would be putting out AOTP’s long-awaited debut album, all the [cont.]

    Sometimes you wake up and feel the need to hear something positive, something proactive, something progressive. And some days you wake up and just want to slap a bitch! Well, maybe not literally, but there’s a couple of guys that will lyrically project that for you. J-Zone and Celph Titled have been known for [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.]

    Fame can be a bitch. The Pharcyde reached their pinnacle in the 90′s with their classic, The Bizarre Ride II, throwing out ridiculous punchlines, beats, flavor, and bong hits, not afraid to diss your mom in between. One of the emcees hitting you below the belt consistently was Fatlip, poised with his jumbled flows [cont.]

   Chino XL may be the most gifted enigma to grace hip hop. He hasn’t dropped a plethora of material, yet everyone who has some kind of knowledge about hip hop over the past decade knows exactly who he is. To many, he is Eminem before he was Eminem, he was the most gifted and [cont.]

  Throughout the years, there have been many “super-lyricists”. You know, those dudes that get on the mic and put everyone else around them to shame, every time. Whether it was Canibus stealing the spotlight on every guest appearance, Eminem lighting up the booth on the Wake Up Show, Ras Kass delivering concepts too complex [cont.]

  2005 was good to Lightheaded.  Othello dropped a solo album. Ohmega Watts also caight solo fame with aptly-named The Find.  Braille still sounds like Bootie Brown.  Wrong Way follows the same optimistic tones as the trio embarks on another journal of playful, break-friendly hip-hop.    Wrong Way is exuberant and cheerful, seemingly incongruous with [cont.]

Mixtape album, no rating given.      After Rasassination we had to wait 7 years (yes, seven years) to get an album out of the self proclaimed “King of the West Coast.” Now we get 2 albums (or mixtapes if you will) in less than 6 months! Ras Kass came back hard with Institutionalized but apparently [cont.]

   If Mr. Poirier’s Beats As Politics was a wallaby, then Breakupdown is a kangaroo.  Same crazy family, only with 40% more bounce.  The French Canadian wunderkind delivers with his fifth album (but probably only the second you’ve ever seen in the States).  Poirier has been busy making the rounds with style-saavy, big-city types who’ve [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.]

    The year was 1997. The hip-hop scene was being divided into two sub-genres, underground and commercial, while the dance music scene thriving, heavy on the glow-sticks and e-pills. Ninja Tune founders, Matt Black and Jon More, aka Coldcut, released their official debut album, Let Us Play, a cut-and-paste, mostly instrumental odyssey, which arguably laid [cont.]

   Five Deez is a crew that delivers hip hop from a different angle. While retaining the crew concept, Five Deez is powered by Fat Jon’s hybrid of deep house meets jazzy hip hop vibes. With two releases under their belt (the voracious debut KoolMotor and the solid follow up Kinkynasti) Five Deez hit you [cont.]

   The name Sergio Mendes might not be all that familiar to the average hip-hop head, but he’s no stranger to music lovers worldwide. The Brazilian born musician helped popularize the jazzy, bossa-nova sound of samba in the 60′s, and is the highest selling artist of his country. However, while very influential to the scene, [cont.]

    As with any experimental pioneer, Prefuse 73, that blip-hop mad scientist we’ve come to know as the go-to guy for reliable “outro” party background noise, is a recovering burn victim. Last year’s Surrounded by Silence was demolished for its overcrowded and uninspired cameos, and only the most die-hard hipster art crowd could come to [cont.]

    To call Termanology & DC traditionalists is to say Pat Robertson is religious; it doesn’t quite cover it. The Bostonians wax old school so hard on their aptly named debut, Out The Gate, it borders on fetishism. How this devotion registers with a mass audience, or even an increasingly selective indie crowd, depends greatly [cont.]

     The legacies of both Aceyalone and RJD2 have produced a handful of underground classics, whether it be Freestyle Fellowship’s Innercity Griots, Aceyalone’s Book of Human Language, or RJD2′s Dead Ringer, among other releases from each artists’ respective catalogs. So when the announcement was made that the legendary emcee and the coming-of-age producer would be [cont.]

    There are some days when you wake up in the morning and just feel the need to hear rhymes and beats. No belligerent hooks, no complicated string arrangements, no girls singing hooks. Just beats and rhymes. In comes Jihad and D-Styles (also known as Third Sight) with the interestingly titled album Symbionese Liberation Album. [cont.]