Looking back at the past year or so, it’s kind of strange that Drake had a beef with Common, considering that Drake’s sound is actually closer to Common’s than it is to his Young Money label mates. Wayne is a tried-and-true misogynist with a heavy southern sound, while Nicki is an almost cartoon-like, crossover caricature [cont.]

In 2012, it was hard to avoid 2 Chainz. Dude was everywhere, riding off the success of his T.R.U. Religion mixtape from the year before. He managed to ride that success by churning out a number of club smashes from his Def Jam debut, Based On A T.R.U. Story. To be honest, this critic hated [cont.]

We’ve quickly seen the rise of New York City’s A$AP Mob, a crew led by A$AP Rocky, who’s scored a few high profile guest driven hits with “Fuckin’ Problem” (feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar) and “Wild For The Night” (feat. Skrillex). With another nine members bearing the prefix A$AP before their rap moniker [cont.]

It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since the last Goodie Mob album, and fourteen years since the last Goodie Mob album featuring Cee-Lo Green. In truth, while that album, World Party received a lukewarm response, Cee-Lo would go on to create a successful solo career, while Goodie Mob would release it’s overlooked follow-up, [cont.]

Let’s face it, gospel rap has pretty much always sucked. We’ve seen numerous attempts at this type of thing in the past, from the entire catalog of Kirk Franklin albums to KRS-One’s strange turn with Spiritual Minded, a few years back. We won’t even bring up niche acts like Gospel Gangstaz that have never penetrated [cont.]

Things come along, present themselves, and then in certain cases, resonate directly with the culture. The climate is right, the window of opportunity is open, the right person seizes it, and the perfect storm takes place. Case in point might be something like Star Wars in the 80′s or Arrested Development in the Bush era, [cont.]

In a year that is being recognized as the rise of the “new legends”, which includes many of his peers, the time has come for Big Sean himself to stake his claim among them. Two years after the release of his debut album, to say expectations have increased would be an understatement. Sean’s showing on [cont.]

Flint, Michigan’s Jon Connor has been lyrically destroying instrumentals on the mixtape and blog scenes for the past few years, and has built up a steady buzz because of it. In 2011, Connor delivered his first official album, Salvation, which displayed his talent as an emcee, but fell short on the production side. With Unconscious [cont.]

You’ll notice when Kendrick Lamar dropped his now infamous verse on “Control,” Tyler the Creator was one of the names he called out as his competition. Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler’s supposedly more lyrically potent running mate, was left off the list. Multiple listens to his debut, Doris, confirms that Kendrick has nothing to worry about from [cont.]

Statik Selektah has rapidly risen through the ranks as one of the most solid and consistent producers in the game. Over the past few years alone, he managed to release collaborative albums with each Action Bronson, Freddie Gibbs, Bumpy Knuckles, Freeway, Termanology, and others, all while continuing to release annual solo LP’s. While we’ve seen [cont.]

LA underground legend, Aceyalone, has constantly reinvented himself with each release. His classic debut, All Balls Don’t Bounce found him rhyming over jazz breaks in the early 90′s, while it’s follow-up, A Book Of Human Language took him to the depths of the concept album underground. Later we saw him collaborate with RJD2 for Magnificent [cont.]

Ludacris sits high on stacks of money, thanks to endorsement deals and movie roles, which his illustrious rap career has paved the way for. While Luda’s been out of the game for a minute and admittedly has had a hard time catching a hit single for his upcoming Ludaversal LP, many have been quick to [cont.]

Editor’s Note: Initially we rated this album 2 out of 5. The author’s intended rating was 2.5 out of 5. Our bad. Motown and Hip-Hop have a lot in common. Both are groundbreaking entities that have shifted the landscape of music and introduced us to brilliant artists that enriched our lives beyond their artistic offerings. [cont.]

Florida native Ace Hood got some unwanted publicity recently when his supposedly Rolodex watch fell to pieces during an interview at the BET Awards. Whoops. It was an embarrassing moment for a guy who rubs shoulders with bigwigs like Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne, 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa, and is signed with DJ Khaled and [cont.]

“Prisoner Of Conscious is a record that’s really about where I am now, and what kind of songs I want to make, versus what kind of songs people want me to make…. It’s my job as an artist to continue to challenge myself, and then, challenge my audience,” Talib Kweli told HipHopSite.Com almost two years [cont.]

Last year, El-P broke the mold forged by his legendary Def Jux imprint, by travelling slightly outside of his comfort zone. Rather than working with another one of his like-minded subterranean labelmates, he opted to go for a more street level artist, producing an entire LP for loose-knit Outkast / Purple Ribbon Allstars affiliate, Killer [cont.]

A title like Watch The Throne was basically a millennial take on 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me concept. Both suggest that when these men speak, people drop everything and listen. This was true in 2Pac’s era, and it has most certainly been proven true over the last few weeks for Jay-Z and Kanye West. The [cont.]

In a summer where Hip-Hop has seen it’s fair share of major releases, it’s easy to overlook an album like Wale’s. While he may not of had the same amount of hype going into his latest album as some of his other rap peers, the MMG artist was determined to leave his stamp on the [cont.]

Over the past year or so, Action Bronson has emerged as one of the most unique characters in hip-hop music, with a level of strangeness to him that rivals that of Kool Keith, but with less flash. Action trades the capes and wigs for a more basic tank top, shorts, and viking beard ensemble, although [cont.]

If you read the description of Apollo Brown, Verbal Kent and Red Pill’s Ugly Heroes project on the Mello Music Group website, you know their definition of “an ‘ugly hero’ is the everyday blue collar individual that makes the world go ’round.” And hey, who doesn’t want to honor those guys? With gratuitous celebrity running [cont.]