While 2004 saw Lil Jon emerge as the King of Crunk and Kanye West make soul-sampling his signature sound, Necro has gained a reputation under the radar as the monarch of horrorcore rap. Arguably hip-hop’s hardest-working producer, he laced every cut from the artists on his Psycho Logical Records imprint: Sabac’s Sabacalypse, Goretex’s The Art [cont.]

Reissue; No Rating Given.      With what has become a cult following for a group like Atmosphere, comes an inquisition of previous works. For the past half decade or so Slug and Ant have reveled in the stew of fans who simply adore Slug’s self reflective wordplay amongst producer Ant’s evolving backdrops. But many of [cont.]

     There’s only one man who can “officially” state that he has gotten the upper hand on Eminem lyrically. The man’s name is JUICE, who will forever be entangled with the name Eminem until the day he rests eternally. But as his name resounds thoroughly amongst the walls of every hip hop head, JUICE would [cont.]

      Much like Seattle’s grunge rock scene fell apart after the death of Kurt Cobain, one could draw the conclusion that the west-coast rap scene died with Tupac Shakur. And while today, Pac is looked at as a martyr, a legend, and even a god-like figure in hip-hop’s mythos, there was more to the west [cont.]

     Building on the sturdy foundation he laid with his first two thoughtful albums, Squints and The Fifth Sun, Offwhyte returns with his new mini-album, Bow To Sceptor–an extremely brief collection of well-written tracks, saturated with gloomy backdrops from a variety of producers. Not that Offwhyte was ever the quintessential cheery MC, but you could [cont.]

    As former Antipop Consortium member Beans put the pedal to the metal on “Blind Driver”, “I’m young, black, and ain’t got nothing to lose, Man, I walk a tight-rope wearing two left shoes,” it’s not hard to predict the direction that this album will move in. If Shock City Maverick does not find it’s way to [cont.]

Mixtape release, no rating given.      Debuting in the late 90′s indy boom as a member of the now defunct MhZ, Copywrite shared mic time with fellow emcees Camu Tao and Jakki The Motomouth, each blessed by then unknown producer RJD2. But while MhZ’s experimental styles never really caught on, each of its members saw [cont.]

     On his new album, Saul Williams (Nuyorican Soul Slam Poetry champion, writer of “Said The Shotgun To The Head”, spoken word artist, political activist, singer, MC) has really stripped things back. In a time when even Mos Def hides behind make-up and a pseudonym, seemingly grown bored with being an MC, this self-titled record [cont.]

      Many of the longstanding problems with hip-hop music can be summed up into wise old adage which says “rappers want to be hustlers; hustlers want to be rappers”. Granted, there are a few out there who are good at both (Jay-Z, for instance), but when it all comes down to it, most are really [cont.]

      Much like Seattle’s grunge rock scene fell apart after the death of Kurt Cobain, one could draw the conclusion that the west-coast rap scene died with Tupac Shakur. And while today, Pac is looked at as a martyr, a legend, and even a god-like figure in hip-hop’s mythos, there was more to the west [cont.]

 He began his career in the early 90′s with a strong political agenda, making his debut in the rap world as Tragedy The Inteligent Hoodlum. But a man who once wanted to arrest the president, has reinvented himself, changed with the times, and resurfaced as Tragedy Khadafi, a give-a-fuck-less thug, who puts his lifetime in [cont.]

      While Snoop has never been able to top his classic debut release, Doggystyle, he still has managed to thrust himself into the public eye off the strength of that LP. Transforming himself from feared gangsta rapper to pop icon, Snoop is a household name, appearing in everything from AOL commercials to the big screen [cont.]

    “It’s funny, I’m mad famous for being unknown!” R.A. the Rugged Man raps alongside Killah Priest and Masta Killa on the Ayatollah-produced “Chains.” “I’m back by unpopular demand,” he continues over the hard guitar riffs of “How Low.” And finally, “I don’t care about the past no more, I don’t want to get rich, trust [cont.]

    Where did the funk go? Did it die when Prince lost his edge (supposedly)? Did it just get phased out with disco? 2004 witnessed a small resurrection of funk. Whether it be the rebirth of the iconic Rick James or Andre 3000′s foray into the spaced out vibes of his critically acclaimed, The Love [cont.]

 The last two years have been crucial to the career of MF Doom, who transformed himself from forgotten KMD leftover into perhaps the most popular underground emcee of the moment. In 2004 alone, he released the certified classic “Madvillain” collaborative LP with producer Madlib, as well as Viktor Vaughn 2, the official follow-up to last [cont.]

     The origin of the “mash-up” can be traced back to Run DMC and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”, which wasn’t even a true mash-up, so to speak. Sure, this was the first time that rock and rap met face-to-face, but this was more of a “remix” of Aerosmith’s original track, with added vocals from Joseph [cont.]

     The Red Light District of Amsterdam is a modern day Sodom and Gomorra; it’s a sanctuary for lose morals, smoke shops and window shopping that completely differs from the kind men typically beg out of partaking in with their significant others.  Though Ludacris’ fourth LP celebrates the excess readily available in The Red Light [cont.]

     For far too many hip-hoppers of the younger generation (myself included), the art of deejaying has been overshadowed by mixtape DJs with names like Clue?, Kay Slay, and Big Mike, leading them to believe that a DJ is just a person with exclusive songs, freestyles, and a voice overtop of a record. Even those DJs [cont.]