Released on the same day as Kanye West’s Yeezus and J. Cole’s Born Sinner, Mac Miller’s second studio album, Watching Movies With The Sound Off seems like almost an afterthought. But instead, it acts more like a balm. While Kanye and Cole’s releases have a darker, hopeless feel, Mac Miller comes off almost enlightened. Listen [cont.]

Over the past year, we’ve seen a series of strange episodes from Kanye West, which have included performing dressed in a mask and straight-jacket, and embarking on long, screaming rants during said performances. This, coupled with his very public pregnancy with girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, has almost escalated him to Michael Jackson levels of interest to [cont.]

Late on Born Sinner, J. Cole issues one of the most unnecessary apologies in hip-hop history. On “Let Nas Down,” he goes into great detail about how in his desperation to come up with a single for his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, he disappointed his idol: “Dion called me when it dropped, [cont.]

It was a sad day in the year of the group’s 20th anniversary, that we saw Mobb Deep suddenly break-up, after Havoc publicly blasted Prodigy via Twitter, followed by a leaked audio recording of Hav spitting more vitriol towards P. While rumors of the group’s demise date back almost a decade, they have always kept [cont.]

All relatively recent missteps aside, LL Cool J is one of the most celebrated names in hip-hop, with almost three decades in the game and a dozen albums under his belt. He’s on the short list when it comes to longevity and successfully parleying rap prowess and personality into a multi-platform career. Authentic, his thirteenth [cont.]

Despite only having two albums to his credit, R.A. The Rugged Man is a legend in every sense of the word. Hardly over-exposed, Rugged Man’s past antics have included getting dropped from his label in the 90′s (as Crustified Dibbs) due to “violent & disgusting behavior”, submitting a song to Jive called “Every Record Label [cont.]

Papoose is both a victim and a victor of the American dream and the endless pursuit of happiness. He was signed to Jive Records back in 2006, but entered what he and Kay Slay referred to as “A&R hell”, leading to endless delays of his debut album, The Nacirema Dream (that’s “America” spelled backwards, for [cont.]

French Montana is neither from France or Montana, but instead is an American emcee whom was born in Morroco, so maybe a more appropriate name would be Rocco Americana, but that’s neither here nor there. What you do need to know about French Montana, is that 1) he came up in the mixtape game, working [cont.]

While the 90′s are often referred to as hip-hop’s golden era, the dark, sample heavy beats that dominated New York rap at the time is a sound long lost. While artists like Joey Bada$$ and Action Bronson have successfully sprinkled that sound into today’s style, a lesser popular crew called The Doppelgangaz have embraced the [cont.]

Producer Blockhead is best known for his series of instrumental albums released on Ninja Tune, as well as beats for several of Aesop Rock’s critically acclaimed Def Jux LP’s. Illogic is sort of a best kept secret emcee from Ohio, who regularly keeps the company of fellow forward thinking artists like Blueprint, Slug, and Abstract [cont.]

With his last release, WZRD, Kid Cudi got experimental by teaming with producer Dot Da Genius and releasing what was his take on a rock album. While the reviews were mixed (we liked it, others didn’t), this would give us a glimpse into where he’d take his music next. On his new album, Indicud, the [cont.]

Ghostface Killah has never explained why he wore the mask. In the early days of the Wu, the most mysterious member of the Clan was Tony Starks, who shrouded his face in early videos and promo pics, creating a mystique for himself greater than that of his peers. While we were just getting know all [cont.]

There is a lingering affection among hip-hop heads for the grimy New York sound that was prominent in the 1990s. Today there’s something almost comforting about those rugged beats and rhymes, especially in contrast to today’s rinky dink production and de-emphasis on lyricism. Styles P, formerly of the Lox with Jadakiss and Sheek Louch, is [cont.]

It’s no coincidence that Major Lazer’s Free The Universe and Snoop Dogg’s Lion’s Major Lazer produced reggae record, Reincarnated, are being released within a week of one another. At the helm of both of these projects is Diplo, the forward thinking, genre-defying producer who moonlights as one of the country’s top paid DJ’s, while making [cont.]

Tyga is having one of those rare bursts of creativity in music. It’s reminiscent of Kanye when he put out My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy concurrently with the GOOD Fridays sessions, or Bruce Springsteen’s wealth of material that came out of the Darkness on the Edge Town recordings. Well, okay, maybe Careless World, the Well [cont.]

The work of collective Odd Future has a love-it-or-hate-it relationship with its audience. While Tyler has received his fair share of criticism and attention for his profane shock and horror lyrics and homophobia, the Odd Future sound isn’t really intended for anyone seeking an intelligent or even coherent thought. It’s most likely for high school [cont.]

Our favorite workhorse, Alchemist, has no shortage of completed projects in the vaults, ready to have the trigger pulled on them at any time. The latest is Durag Dynasty, a group effort produced entirely by him, spearheaded by Planet Asia, alongside Tristate and Killer Ben. 360 Waves is the album, a rugged and raw record [cont.]

“I would talk about my dick, but man that shit would be a long story!” boasts Lil Wayne on his tenth (!) studio album, I Am Not A Human Being 2, the sequel to the 2010 fluke LP released in place of Tha Carter IV, during Wayne’s stay at Riker’s Island. The original was a [cont.]

Ill Bill has been putting it down on wax for almost two decades now, first making noise as a part of Non-Phixion, which was birthed officially in 1994. He survived the fall of the indie hip-hop movement by carving out his own niche for himself, and over the years has musically branched out from his [cont.]

As long as they’ve been putting it down in the game, it’s hard to believe there’s never been a Demigodz full-length LP before. We did see a little heard EP back in 2002, courtesy of Ill Boogie Records, which would lay the foundations for this very album. Ten years later, Apathy, Celph Titled, Esoteric, Ryu, [cont.]