Call it romantic, but God has given MC MC Paul Barman a noble mission in life: To make the dumbest, smartest Hip-Hop ever created. Never mind that he’s white, Jewish, nerdy, a moonlighting cartoonist, and that his  voice sounds like a black comedian’s impersonation of a white guy, his new album Paullelujah, is truly divine.     [cont.]

Large Professor – 1st Class What do we remember most about the legacy of Large Professor?  Is it for being a key component in the crate-digging, sample enriched production style that defined the golden age of hip-hop?  Maybe, it’s how the term “classic” was liberally used to describe everything he touched during the early stages [cont.]

There is a very small percentage of producers who stay away from the norm and set their own style & patterns. The Opus, reigning from Chicago has been crafting its own style, trend and musical ideas for years. Last heard on Rubberoom’s CD, the Opus releases their first album entitled, 0.0.0. – First Contact. This [cont.]

On his last album, Restless, Xzibit reinvented himself, transforming from the disgruntled L.A. emcee with the underground chip on his shoulder, to full-fledged C-Walkin’ Cali G. While in most cases, these types of transformations yield disastrous results and disposable albums (Buckshot, Mic Geronimo, Saafir, Tash Of The Liks to name a few), X is of that rare [cont.]

An odd, alluring ode was “Christina”. The somewhat standout track of sorts from last year’s joint three-man album, The Netherworlds, that being between Anacron, Himself (Of The Netherworlds) and Murs of the Living Legends. That being MURS who did “Christina”, that being, the odd, alluring ode to the beautiful and quite talented actress, Christina Ricci. The song, [cont.]

Stones Throw is a model-consummate recording label (and trust me, I run my own). What once was merely Peanut Butter Wolf’s out-the-house San Francisco operation, shuffling out solid, consistent 12″s of the late Nineties, has honed in on a few highly successful formulas that have proven both musically and conceptually praiseworthy. Upon the entrance of nuevo [cont.]

It would be wrong to say that this album is boring, but on occasion it can be. What What created wonderful beats as Run Run Shaw  behind the decks for the unheralded Natural Resource, she wowed heads in and out of New York City, garnered the ear of The Herbaliser and created equally captivating late-90′s joints with [cont.]

“When we met I left a negative impression / yet another state of metaphosis.” says Mr. Lif on “The Unorthodox”, perhaps referring to the slightly more aimless fantasy battle rhyme style he showed us on Enter The Colossus, as his new EP presents a more focused version of our hero, in the post-September 11th U.S.A. Mr. [cont.]

Coming from the Windy City aka Chi-Town is All Natural, a fresh new group that debuted independently a year or two back, with their first three song 12 inch “50 Years”/”MC Avenger”/”Hip Hop History 101″. These two avengers for the art we call hip-hop seem to be fed up with the current state of hip-hop, [cont.]

After building his name producing a number tracks for run down hip-hop acts such as Das Efx, K-Solo, Channel Live, and Big Daddy Kane, on his various compilation albums - Game Over 1 & 2, and Behind the Doors of the 13th Floor - Domingo returns with The Difference, perhaps his strongest effort yet, showing maturity and growth [cont.]

 One man’s floor is another man’s ceiling, dig? Hip-Hop remains progressive and stagnant almost simultaneously, or is it perhaps progressively stagnant or stagnantly progressive? Which ever end you light it, it’s ultimately going to burn down to something. It could be the essence, the bomb, or it could essentially be a bomb, like weed, follow? [cont.]

Forget the whole Marshall/Slim Shady/Eminem trichotomy, the real identity crisis going on in hip-hop is in the churning thoughts of Oliver Hart, alias Eyedea. He’s a self-hating braggart, an introspective extrovert, a seriously poetic battle rapper, a new-jack producer, at home alone with a pad as he is onstage on HBO. After slaying his competitors on [cont.]

Seemingly the first of its kind, well regarded Dilated Peoples (amongst others) music-video director Jason Goldwach (aside producer Peter Bittenbender) team up with indie-mogul Damian “Domino” Siguenza (Hieroglyphics, of course) to churn out one very interesting film/album package. One side you have a compact disc soundtrack, highlighting exclusives from the likes of Del The Funkee Homosapien, [cont.]

Ever since his 1998 debut, Confessions Of Fire, Cam’ron’s relationship with his former label, Epic, has been sketchy at best. Though both of Cam’s releases on Epic went Gold, his claims of mismanagement are not entirely unfounded, as radio-friendly singles came (“Horse & Carriage”) and went (“What Means The World To You”) without being fully [cont.]

Cormega is one of those rare artists that after dealing with a fair amount of label politics, continued to work his ass off and do whatever it took to get out of his deal with Def Jam, and release a solid debut album, which came in the form of last year’s The Realness. After such a [cont.]

Review 1: There are certain artists (2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., Public Enemy, Jay-Z, N.W.A., among many) that transcend the genre of hip-hop and reach a level of popularity so intense that their every move becomes news fodder. The spotlight that is now firmly attached to Eminem’s back, can also be correlated into the public microscope he now [cont.]

There are very few emcees that can combine a good voice presence and content during their whole career, let alone one album. When Mars Ill (featuring ManChild on the lyrics & DJ Dust on the beats and cuts) first released Raw Material a few years ago – they not only began growing a fan base, but [cont.]

To my knowledge DJ Murge is a producer from Victoria Island in British Columbia, right outside of Vancouver. This is his production compilation set atop a backdrop of some artists you know (especially if you follow the affiliated Battle Axe movements) and some that may not (if outside of the greater BC area you dwell). So all [cont.]

Dedicated crate diggers People Under The Stairs are the exact opposite of the conventional sampling method, going to extreme lengths to unearth rare records to make the tightest beats possible. In contrast, mainstream artists with enough cash to get the rights to the music they to want sample just for the recognition, not for love of [cont.]

Off the strength of the lead single, “Addictive” featuring the legendary Rakim, Truth Hurts was immediately thrust into the limelight of the hip-hop and soul sub-category. The first question lingering about this release is, can Truth Hurts bring enough bad assed singing to make a long player listenable? The second question, can she find a mix [cont.]