Each decade of hip-hop music has had a producer that refused to remain grounded within the bounds of conventional production, abandoning any and all traditional rules of music, and forging their own way ahead. In the 80′s it was the Bomb Squad, who backed Public Enemy’s political agenda with immense sample collages, while in the [cont.]

Fresh after wooing heads with his solo debut, production wunderkind RJD2 teams up with emcee partner Blueprint, blessing us with a 6 song appetizer for their upcoming full-length release 8 Million Stories, due out this fall. For those that don’t know, RJD2 is quickly becoming the underground’s leading producer, after showing and proving the last few [cont.]

 It’s hard to feel sorry for Jay-Z, isn’t it? After all, every time he releases a record, it’s treated like a national holiday. But if you think its easy being the king, you better pump ya brakes! Reason being, as Jigga lamented on “Where’s The Love” — “I got young rappers getting at me, old-timers [cont.]

Back in 1995, D&D Project gave us glimpses of future rap stars and had heads rocking to Walkman classics like “The Good Die Young” by Curt Cazal & N’Tense and a few others that were refined hardcore flows from one of NYC’s most famous studios, so famous they had to put it out again. Many times [cont.]

In the UK, whether it be the Garage, Drum + Bass, Dancehall/Reggae or the Soul scene, British music culture is so rich, vibrant and void of commercial distractions, that those looking for purity will most of the time hold UK artists up in very high esteem. In UK’s hip-hop circles, the outlook shouldn’t be any different [cont.]

Way before Eminem re-opened the doors for melanin-deficient emcees, and back when The Source was still readable, a grimey white gravedigga with toothpicks sticking out of his mouth graced the now irrelevant Sure-Shot Singles section of the magazine for his Necro produced debut single “Agent Orange” (with the incredibly dope “Radiohead” on the flip), which surfaced via Bobbito’s [cont.]

There’s been a lot of talk about Aesop Rock ever since his early internet distributed discs, Music For Earthworms and Appleseed. With the release of Float, courtesy of New York abstract label, Mush, the buzz grew bigger and bigger, constantly selling out of record stores everywhere. Followed by an arguably classic album, Labor Days, everything came [cont.]

By now most of you would have been aware of The Beat Generation series, with already released albums by producers such as Pete Rock (Petestrumentals), Jay Dee (Welcome 2 Detroit), Marley Marl (Re-Entry), Wil.I.Am Of Black Eyed Peas (Lost Change) and others. Up next, DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Philly-bred turntablist and producer that the world has grown to [cont.]

There are a few emcees that are famous for the debuts that they have not released, Large Professor, Cormega, Ali Vegas, Last Emperor to name a few. Yet, that list would not be complete without including New Jeruz’s Pacewon, as his “true” debut, The Pacewon Effect, (an E-Bay favorite) was pushed back numerous times and eventually [cont.]

Working as an appetizer to SV’s upcoming three-course meal Trinity: Past, Present, and Future, the trio that helped put the D on the map delivers “a Sequence mixtape session”, spotlighting several up & coming acts from Detroit’s Dirty District. The main difference people will notice about this disc (besides the fact that’s it’s not actually [cont.]

Rawkus’ re-entry into the rap game (after a brief hiatus during the switch of distribution to MCA), comes in the form of Soundbombing 3, the third in their series of mix CD’s spotlighting their current roster, as well as the hot new shit for the coming months, in true mixtape fashion. This time sharing deejay [cont.]

After releasing two successful singles “The Powers of Nine Ether” and “Metaphysics” on Bobbito’s Fondle Em Records, a European Tour, several side projects, and their debut full length Coming Forth By Day: The Book of the Dead, the Scienz of Life crew returns with their sophomore effort Project: Overground: The Scienz Experiment on Subverse. After first [cont.]

The story of Percy Carey is a disheartening one. Pronounced dead on the scene from the infliction of 8 gunshot wounds to the body, Carey who’d recorded arguably the most memorable verse of his career (that being, KMD’s “What A Niggy Know” remix) only days before the shooting was faced with frighteningly never being able [cont.]

Way before Rakim was rocking a graying beard next to the luscious lips of Truth Hurts, or even before he pioneered the idea of rap and R&B collaborations on Jody Watley’s “Friends” (yes, it was all his fault), there was Paid In Full, the debut album from Eric B. & Rakim, which ushered in a new [cont.]

The game is funny no? Just over a year ago, if you polled any hip-hop head, which member of The Lox that they predicted was ready to make waves as a solo-artist, it’s a good bet most of those voters would have given a ringing endorsement to the group’s most lauded member Jadakiss. However, as [cont.]

All we wanted was an instrumental album. After being thoroughly impressed (yet again) by Dan The Automator’s leap into the alternative-rock genre with last year’s surprise mainstream smash, Gorillaz, (which initially only got hip-hop’s attention thanks to the two Del The Funkee Homosapien tracks), it seemed a bit uncharacteristic of Dan to leave us hanging [cont.]

How do comeback after selling 12-million records and winning a slew of Grammy Awards? Well, if your Lauryn Hill, you take a four-year sabbatical and— get your head right. Not only does Lauryn’s Unplugged endeavor go completely against the grain, it will undoubtedly go down as one of the most emotionally tinged efforts to be [cont.]

Wake Up Show alum, Noggin Nodders founder, and one time partner confused to Kool Keith  (Masters of Illusion), Motion Man looks to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight with his debut solo release, Clearing The Field, blessed by the dynamic Kutmasta Kurt, who delivers wall-to-wall production for the entire project. Motion’s solo effort is [cont.]

Veteran producer/engineer Djinji Brown describes himself as an ‘enthomusicologist’ - vainglorious perhaps, but wholly fitting indeed. As Dinji’s self-production Sirround Sound proves, where there is a drum, there is a beat and where there is a beat, there will be movement. Deep-fried Dub-riddim meets House meets Afro-Cubanism meets a couple hip-hop beats is the formula translated through [cont.]

 Just before Puff Daddy was crowned as the originator of New York’s jiggy sound, there were two voices from the BX that did it before him, (and arguably just as well), but hardly saw the success levels of Sean Combs. Perhaps it was because Camp Lo’s sound was a little more raw than Bad Boy’s overly [cont.]