Certain rap artists inspire equal amounts of hate and support with each new record dropped and freestyle recorded. One such act is the Diplomats, the Harlem-based crew consisting of front men Cam’ron, Juelz Santana, and Jim Jones. While many throw negative comments towards Dipset’s similarly sounding beats and simplistic wordplay, others rush street corners [cont.]

    Capital D is pissed and for good reason. Much of the rhymes he spit with his group All Natural may have been directed towards those giving hip-hop a bad rap, but for the better part of his new solo outing, Insomnia, Cap has even bigger fish to fry. The title of this Chicagoan’s album [cont.]

      The best of both worlds has been redefined.  When Phonte of Little Brother fame was searching Okayplayer.com, he stumbled across a post that simply said to “check out these beats.” Phonte decided to check out the fledgling producer and found something mind-blowing – a producer whose style rivals the likes of his own in house [cont.]

     After a six-year hiatus, Brand Nubian is re-entering the game as a pack of hip-hop elders ready to share their street wisdom and lead the youth in the right direction. Their fifth album, Fire In The Hole, is far from their best work to date, but Sadat X, Lord Jamar, and off again/ on [cont.]

      Eastern Conference Records has a true gem on their hands, as only two words can describe Akinyele’s Music Killz – fashionably late. Comprised of a collection of recordings completed between 1990 and 1994, Akinyele (along with a worthy group of producers ranging from Large Professor to J-Zone) delivers a solid release that, unfortunately, has [cont.]

   The music of Wale Oyejide, a.k.a. Science Fiction, is not what you’d typically expect to find in the hip-hop/rap section of your record store (or at HipHopSite for that matter). You see, this Nigerian-born, now stateside musician sings instead of raps and his production is a lot more than emotive than your typical boom-bap. [cont.]

      Released with much praise yet minimal commercial attention in 1997, the Cincinnati-based crew Mood issued Karma, an avant-garde blend of pure lyricism and multi-layered instrumentals. Alongside DJ Jahson and Donte, Main Flow stood out with his obvious microphone proficiency over crisp production from a ‘pre-Reflection Eternal’ Hi-Tek. Seven years later, Main Flow is finally [cont.]

    DJ Krush has been putting out his dark, edgy beatscapes for quite a few years now, becoming revered amongst the jazz/electronica crowd as a “sound creator” rather than just a DJ or producer. His last album featured The Roots and some almost poppy female vocal numbers, and his beats are hard-hitting rather than artsy. If you [cont.]

     Radioinactive and Antimc are not alternative rap music; they are the alternative-to-alternative rap music. Just their names say enough about them: Radioinactive, not looking for exposure on the radio and completely comfortable with that understanding, and Antimc, the producer of the group, thus the “anti-MC” tag (he also does not always seem as he [cont.]

     The UN could learn you a lil’ somethin’ about paying dues in the rap game. Roc Marcy, the crew’s de facto leader cut his teeth rolling briefly with Busta’s Flipmode crew, went on to be the featured vocalist on Pete Rock’s 2001 release, Petestrumentals, all in the name of getting some shine for him [cont.]

     Although the climate of ‘success’ today is more geared for ex-Terror Squad member, with his simplistic party formula following the direction of “Lean Back,” a cute and cuddly jam, it’s in no way as defining as Triple Seis’ autobiographical debut LP, Time’ll Tell. The Bronx is bleeding a million images when Triple Seis pairs [cont.]

      As longtime purveyors of hip-hop for the Boston scene, 7L & Esoteric still remain one of the most consistent underground crews to emerge from Beantown, following in the footsteps of legends such as Ed O.G and Guru. With their third album, DC2: Bars Of Death, the duo delivers perhaps their most focused album to [cont.]

     What does it say about the hip-hop industry that two of the hottest emcees in the game, one consisting of an emcee (Shyne) currently incarcerated and facing another five-years pending an appeal, and the other a preacher on the comeback trail (Mase)?  While Shyne Po/Jamal Barrow was once more famous for having a vocal [cont.]

     The Athletic Mic League are a sprawling Michigan crew consisting of 7 MCs (14KT, Buff1, Grand Cee, Haircut, Sonny Star, Texture and Vital Signs) backed by production clique the Lab Technicians  (CliffNotes, D.Techtive, Forecast and V-Tech). With this many contributors, there’s a risk that any joint undertaking might result in an incohesive mess (say, [cont.]

    On Chief Kamachi’s long-awaited debut, Cult Status, his hunger to be heard oozes out of his commanding voice. Like the title of this album implies, this Philly-native has garnered quite a following. But this has been achieved through collaborations and by recording only a handful of songs (Remember “Nile Nutrition” featuring the Last Emperor?). [cont.]

       As hip-hop albums themselves have transformed into works of art, the classic instrumental album has been delegated to serving as the easels, pencils, and paints with which emcees work. Instrumentals merely serve their purpose as mixtape material freestyle sessions nowadays with producer playing second fiddle to the man with the mic. That is, unless [cont.]

     Before Young Buck copped his deal and before 50 Cent blew up; Buc Fifty was toiling in the competitive underground fighting to either get heard or die trying.  Now with his second release on Battle Axe records, Buc has been given another chance to scream at the world with a new LP entitled Serve the Devil, Praise [cont.]

     There comes a time in a man’s life when it’s time to hang it up. When he has done all that he can in his profession and has to look at himself in the mirror and say “Damn, am I too old for this?” To many emcees, the answer is “no”, and they continue [cont.]

     This isn’t the first time that either Cage or Tame One were paired up with another emcee to trade mics with (Smut Peddlers, Nighthawks, Artifacts), but surprisingly, this could actually be the most interesting of their respective collaborations yet. Paired together as The Leak Bros, Cage and Tame deliver Waterworld, a fourteen-track opus all [cont.]

      Within his liner notes, Chris Lowe gives a shout-out to “everybody who was here in ’88 thru ’94 – the best era in hip-hop.” Back in 1994, Chris Lowe may well have served as a breath of fresh air, a voice set apart from the gangsta rap of the West and the gritty street [cont.]