At the end of GZA/Genius’s “Duel Of The Iron Mic” from 1995′s seminal classic, Liquid Swords, a vocal sample states “At the height of their fame and glory, they turned on one another / Each struggling in vain for ultimate supremacy / In the passion and depth of their struggle / The very art, [cont.]

     It’s amazing that during the Neptunes’ upward swing that Kelis wasn’t caught up in the moment and thrust into the spotlight. After “Caught Out There” climbed frantically up the charts and her debut album Kaleidoscope became arguably the Neptunes best work, the I-Hate-U-So-Much-Right-Now-Girl suddenly disappeared. Labels had no idea what to do with her follow-up [cont.]

Now And Then is a near-complete condensing of The Rhyme Inspector Percee-P’s entire 12-year career into an hour-long listen. Percee P was like one of those college hoop stars who had it ALL: solid skills, a good stat line, and a solid team to back him up – but just like Sam Bowie and Harold [cont.]

    It used to be, back in the day, that mix-tapes were nothing more than cassette compilations of choice cuts from your own record collection, designed to make up for the lack of a full album worth of bangers. Heads would just comb through records and throw all the best stuff on to one tape to [cont.]

Alicia Keys has had such a meteoric rise to the top in such a short time that many may question how long will the 21 year old be able to burn her music into the memories of many. Forget the 10 million records sold from Songs in A Minor, forget her cleaning up at every single [cont.]

  On Vol. 2: A Hard Knock Life, Jay-Z gave Memphis Bleek the ultimate hook-up for any upstart emcee.  Not only was Bleek given a solo-platform on the LP’s intro, “Hand It Down”, but did so over a DJ Premier track.  From that moment on, it was evident that Bleek was being hand-picked to stabilize the Roc’s [cont.]

     If you stay up in the wee hours of the night, or still have energy to be awake after you get back from the club, on BET’s slate of raunchy, nocturnal music videos, you’ll know that Mighty Casey is the sole controller of this time slot. With his “White Girls” video in constant rotation in the [cont.]

   While there is little argument that Mobb Deep is past its prime, there still remains a core fanbase built upon the classic Infamous Mobb Deep LP, which extended in both directions - backwards to Juvenile Hell and forwards all the way up to Infamous Allegiance. And while they aren’t as popular as they once were, [cont.]

     Earlier this year, you may have had heard the faded buzz on Kool G Rap’s ex-Rawkus  release, Giancana Story, once highly anticipated back in 2001. Transfer from the No. 7 train to the F, we’re heading to Queens as Kool G Rap gathers his new kinship, 5 Family Click. Made up of an assembly [cont.]

    Just when you thought it was safe to stop checking for independent hip-hop, a lone voice from the ghetto cries out, demanding you to listen. That voice is none other than Immortal Technique, who doubles as a member of NYC’s Stronghold camp (alongside C-Rayz Walz, Poison Pen, etc), and perhaps the most popular name [cont.]

     If there is one thing you can habitually count on in hip-hop, it’s crew love. Once a member explodes onto the solo scene, it’s almost a right of passage for that artist to put his crew on and let them shine as well.  Think back.  Minus a few exceptions, almost every emcee that has [cont.]

      Necro has made a name for himself as the godfather of sickness. He is an independent impresario and a purveyor of fine smut. A pioneer of what can only be termed as “extreme music,” he has been churning out anthems of gore and violence for over five years now, combining his ill production skills with [cont.]

     One of the more baffling titles in recent history is Timbaland And Magoo’s Under Construction Part 2. First off, didn’t Missy Elliott release part 1? If so, why the hell has Timbaland put out a part two to what he never released as a part one? Perhaps to make consumers assume that it is the [cont.]

    When the No More Prisons compilation was released in 2000, Raptivism took an unprecedented stand against the American prison system with plenty of politically charged boom-bap. Participants like the Last Emperor and Dead Prez let us know exactly why imprisonment is detrimental. They also let it be known how living on the outside isn’t much [cont.]

    “Breaks” can mean a lot of things. You had a tough break at work, you had a hard break with your mate, you like to sample drum breaks from old records, you’re a fan of Kurtis Blow’s “TheBreaks”. Jermaine Sanders of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to some extent uses all those semi-definitions in this, his first [cont.]

     Before Enter the Colossus, Emergency Rations, or his first full length album I Phantom, Boston emcee Mr. Lif was just a hungry talent who devoured beats in an attempt to make a name for himself. Over the next few years with his distinct nasal flow, Lif has drawn a tremendous following. A following consisting [cont.]

     It’s always the good ones that have to die. Recorded between 1991 and 1993, San Jose emcee Charizma teamed up with then unknown producer Peanut Butter Wolf and recorded an album together. Signed to Hollywood Basic, the two caught a little buzz over promo singles “Red Light Green Light” and “Jack The Mack”. However before [cont.]

     As the Unspoken Heard – otherwise known as Asheru and Blue Black – have gained iconic indie hip-hop stature, the reputation of their early work has become a hot subject among record collectors and rap nerds.  With catchy rhymes and creative samples to boot, their official LP debut, Some Come, was met with a [cont.]

    Royce Da 5’9 is the perfect of example of what record labels can do to an incredible artist. With Royce’s street buzz climbing to an inaudible roar after his work with former compadre Eminem and noteworthy efforts with producers such as DJ Premier, Jay Dee, and Alchemist, Royce seemed as if he was destined for glory. But [cont.]

     Project Blowed swirls with so many influences and inspirations that honing in on a concise definition is almost impossible. Even if you live in L.A. it might be a challenge to grasp the amount of artists and individuals associated with one another in the crew at whole – one thing that will certainly remain [cont.]