In 1995, Immortal released The Next Chapter, a dope little compilation released in 1995, spotlighting unsigned emcees before it was the cool thing to do. The album introduced acts like Defari and Dilated Peoples, who are now underground success stories, and also brought forth a hungry emcee named, Mykill Miers, on “Soul Searchin’”. Five years later, [cont.]

 The opener, a symphony of strings meshed perfectly as the Intro is a fading instrumental less than a minute long, and by the texture, it’s not at all hard to believe that a hip-hop group oozing music so melodic, was conceived at Berkley’s College of Music in Boston. Although they may have been formed there, [cont.]

 If you were here to experience it, hip-hop in the early to mid ’90s around the Bay Area was nothing less than magical. If New York had its moment in the early ’80s, the Bay followed suit a decade later, blossoming into a vibrant local scene on the strength of the success of the Hieroglyphics clique [cont.]

 The Coup’s Party Music, originally planned to feature a cover image of Boots Riley blowing up the World Trade Center, while Pam The Funkstess waved a composer stick, an image created before the events of September 11. While Boots has stated that the cover was meant to symbolize the destruction of Capitalism – not the [cont.]

Who the fuck is Aes Rock? As he states on “Coma”, the self described “result of Dragonball Z / Speed Racer gene splicing”, is one of the most talked about abstract underground emcees on the rise, graduating from do-it-yourself discs to a deal with El-P’s Def Jux imprint. Aesop Rock is an obvious graduate of the [cont.]

 While packaged and presented as one, All Mixed Up isn’t a mixtape at all, but instead an ever-evolving organism of DJ Spinna’s heavy beats. Collecting twenty-three of Spinna’s most obscure remixes outside of his traditional hip-hop production, this 74 minute mix encompasses his career thus far, and defines him as one of today’s greatest beatsmiths. [cont.]

“One was ehhh, the other was Illmatic / that’s a one hot album every ten year average”. Spoken by Jay-Z on “The Takeover”, these words burned deep under the skin of Nas, most of all because most everyone agrees with them. After Nas dropped his classic debut album some ten years ago, he continually disappointed fans with [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.]

 When the industry blackballs an artist, it’s incredibly hard for that artist to reclaim the place that they once were. Ma$e? Laughable. Public Enemy? Sorely missed. Ice Cube? Forget about it. Hammer? Proper. These rhyming heroes (and zeroes), were each at the top of their game at one point. Each of them owned a piece [cont.]

 Riding the underground notoriety of their indie-classic EP Spontaneity (circa 97) the Houston trio K-Otix (producer The Are and emcees Mic & Damien) held onto the rungs of the industry with a solid foundation strung together by several successful 12″s. Gradually moving out of total independence, the three found a loving home at NYC based Bronx [cont.]

Talk about putting in work!  Over the past few years, Nate Dogg has become hip-hop’s most valuable sixth-man, coming off the bench to lace more pinch-hit singles then Minnie Minoso.  So many in fact, that finding Nate’s ubiquitous smoky alto on a hook has become almost as commonplace as a Neptunes production credit. While Nate has [cont.]

?Quite possibly one of the hardest-working producers in underground hip-hop at the moment, The Five Deez’ Fat Jon has his hands full with so many projects, that he is not only determined to make a name for himself, but to actually make two names for himself. Enter Maurice Galactica  – an instrumental alter-ego of the Ohio [cont.]

After being dissed over ten years ago on a classic hip-hop record by the god of hip-hop (see Boogie Down Productions’s “Still Number One”, circa 1988) with virtually no leg to stand on, one would think that Screwball’s Poet would have hung up his mic for good. One might think that by now, the Screwball crew [cont.]

Let’s face it; every emcee has limitations. And even ones as brilliantly talented as Nas are no exception to the rule. Nas’ weakness was exposed on Nastradamus; a horrid attempt at gaining pop-acceptance, which by there own admission was the last straw for even the most steadfast Nas fan. Though Nastradamus was Nas’ artistic abyss, for [cont.]

 If you know DJ Spinna then you know The Jigmastas, if not, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Before providing beats for the diverse likes of De La Soul to George Michael, Spinna honed his wholly unique production talents with longtime associate Kriminul, the rhyming-half of their duo, The Jigmastas. Their foremost 12″, “Beyond Real” shared [cont.]

 Cappadonna, the closest orbiting Wu-satellite member demoralizes the Wu legions by unleashing his second solo album The Yin & the Yang - a sophomore effort that somehow manages to outdo his debut in terms of sheer awfulness. During the latter part of the 90′s, Wu-Tang Clan was facing an identity crisis of sorts. Cappa’s album dropped [cont.]

 Working as the latest chapter in the Moka Only sideshow, Swollen Members’ imprint helps introduce their Canadian counterpart to the rest of the world with Lime Green. Like other his releases, Moka’s latest is yet another self-produced oddity, drenched in his own personal experiences. For those who haven’t followed Moka’s career with a microscope, Lime Green [cont.]

Digable disappeared, De La Soul is dead, and the members of Tribe Called Quest, A each chose their own instinctive travels. Where does this leave the average fan of cool, jazzy grooves, infused with mellow hip-hop vibes? Sure there are always the Okay Players (Slum Village, The Roots, Mos Def , Common, etc), but when a year like 2001 passes [cont.]

The phenomenon that is Madlib is at times a baffling one. The Lootpack’s introductory 12″, “Psyche Move” could have been any number of wax-plates from the burgeoning independent movement of the late-ish 90′s. While, for all intents and purposes, it was a cool record, the slab didn’t stand far beyond the majority of similar joints [cont.]

While The Alkaholiks return minus a few syllables (please now refer to them as Tha Liks). The trio’s first LP in four-years, X.O. Experience, has a very familiar theme; which J-Ro elegantly reiterates on “Bullyfoot”—”keep it pouring motherfucker till it hurts to swallow.” Though Tash & J-Ro’s frat-boy exuberance still runs rampant, the groupÂ’s return [cont.]