“What up with Cormega?/ Did you see him, are y’all together?” – Nas from “One Love”      The lines above from the classic ’94 album Illmatic served as the excellent introductory platform for Mega Montana to step up and get his own in the game. But even the co-signing from an established emcee, and in [cont.]

    By now many know that the Okayplayer name is synonymous with artists such as The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common and many more. With an established following over the years including one of the better hip-hop websites on the net (Okayplayer.com) it is only appropriate that Brother ?uestlove and company launched a record label, giving their [cont.]

     “He isn’t trying to save the world/just Hiphop.” Ask any Hiphop fan where they were the first time they heard the celestial horns from “T.R.O.Y.” floating out of their speakers and your sure too get an immediate and very detailed response.  Yet, when it comes to Pete Rock, “that’s just the top layer”as his [cont.]

   Given the success of Blackalicious, it wouldn’t seem too farfetched for Gift of Gab to expand and see what he could accomplish as a solo artist. Gift of Gab may easily be one of the most underrated lyricists in the past decade. His delivery and breath control may be unmatched in hip-hop today. Understated? [cont.]

 As forerunners of the independent hip-hop movement, Rasco and Planet Asia have both paid their dues over the last decade, however much like many other pioneers of the rap game, have suffered a similar fate – younger fans missing out on their classics, and therefore sleeping on the crew in across the board. Yet with Head [cont.]

     After sending shockwaves throughout the underground with last year’s masterful Shadows On The Sun, Brother Ali returns to defend his champion status on the mic. Expectations for Ali’s work may now be astronomically high, but the Champion EP proves that he’s still standing victorious in the ring of hip-hop with beatsmith Ant sitting in his [cont.]

Compilation/mix cd – no rating given.      Although Jurassic 5 have been a staple of the West Coast scene for over a decade, touring incessantly, and Cut Chemist “rode the fader” into mix collaborations like the acclaimed Brainfreeze, the group’s co-producer, DJ Nu-Mark, has been more of a recluse. He’s obviously been busy though, as this [cont.]

    While contributing his fair share to the collective known as the Visionaries, LMNO (Leave My Name Out) has still managed to pursue his solo career. After delivering the line “Don’t fuck with LMNO, or I’ll send your demo tape to Jerry Heller” on Key Kool & DJ Rhettmatic’s ‘E=MC5″, James Kelly slowly made a name [cont.]

    In the year of the space odyssey, Vast Aire, along with fellow emcee Vordul (Of Cannibal Ox), teamed up as Cannibal Ox  to release The Cold Vein . As the first full-length release on Def Jux, Vast and Vordul were blessed with wall-to-wall production from El-P, which easily made this one of the label’s [cont.]

   “These chicks don’t even know the name of my band….”  Okay, we understand the concept behind D-12 World’s lead-single, “My Band”. And will even admit that the spin and its accompanying video, making light of public perception and throwing the “sidekick” mentality in peoples faces is very clever marketing.  Nevertheless, its certainly a brash move [cont.]

    Afu Ra has been reppin’ his Perverted Monks crew since what seems like his debut on wax, but it’s not until roughly ten years later in 2004 that his crewmates Respect, A-Sun and Ca-See are officially brought out from the shadows. On Afu-Ra Presents: Perverted Monks these four self-proclaimed righteous men let us know that we [cont.]

     With his fourth studio album, Ghostface drops the “Killah” from his name, and delivers arguably one of his best albums to date, or at least a strong contender to knock Supreme Clientele or Ironman off the throne. While Ghost hasn’t had any problems delivering consistent solo albums over the last few years, he did [cont.]

     Anyone who knows the legacy of one of the most influential musicians of our time, the one and only Stevie Wonder, knows that the simple idea of recreating his irreplaceable work is considered blasphemy of the highest degree. But once the name “Madlib” is attached many will breath a little easier, but not much. [cont.]

        It’s always a treat when an artist who has been around for a minute is able to dig into their vault and release some never before heard material for their loyal fans to consume. The Left Coast collective known as the Lootpack has now made some of their older material available with the release [cont.]

      Dilated Peoples have come a long way since their underground breakthrough theme song, ‘Work The Angles’, delivering their third effort (fourth if you count the shelved debut, Imagery, Battle Hymns, Political Poetry), Neighborhood Watch. While this latest LP sticks to the script for the most part, longtime fans may be a little sour over the [cont.]

     While he’s teased us with appetizers such as Ill Bill Is The Future and Howie Made Me Do It, Non-Phixion’s “cult leader”, Ill Bill, steps up and delivers his first full length solo album: What’s Wrong with Bill. Backed by the demented production genius of his brother Necro, who produces the entire album), Bill takes [cont.]

       When the East Coast independent scene was only in its infant stages in ’96, the upfront crew Non-Phixion was right there helping pave the way for a new era of hip-hop. Remember the single “5 Boros” or its b-side “4 W’s”? After years of dealing with botched record deals with everyone from MC Serch’s Serchlite [cont.]

     After coming out of nowhere with his critically acclaimed debut, Unforseen Shadows, and following it up with another critically acclaimed album, Got Lyrics, Illogic disappeared back into the underground abyss from which he came from. While fellow Weightless  partner and producer of his first two LP’s, Blueprint, has become an underground household name, Illogic was [cont.]

      Since the Funcrusher EP dropped in 1996, the hip-hop world has come to expect a certain sound from El-P. It is an abrasive, challenging variety of boom-bap that rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but is also a great conduit for the reality that El kicks in his rhymes. Today, it seems [cont.]

Compilation; no rating given The “Drama King”, DJ Kayslay , reenters the legal retail realm, with The StreetSweeper Vol. 2. His mix CD’s instantly flood the streets with the exclusive and grimy tracks, but his debut release on Epic (now Sony Urban) last year did not seem to live up to the same level or buzz of his [cont.]