Almost famous. Almost. Are they almost famous? You might think so being the opener on a current tour of duty with predecessors The Liks. Among 30 shows plus some, a lot of virgin ears and eyes will witness the Legends, in true form no doubt, on stage and undoubtedly on-fire. Gone are The Dereliks, the Eyedle [cont.]

 Arising from the ashes of what was once Company Flow, Mr. Len delivers Pity The Fool, the first of three solo projects from each of the group’s members. Once sharing production duties with El-P in his Co-Flow days, Len uses his debut to test his beats out on other emcees; a close knit family of independent allstars [cont.]

 Make no mistake, with the signing of Bubba Sparxxx, Timbaland wants his Eminem. This won’t be the last time we see a high-profile hip-hop producer employ a white boy to do a black man’s job, after the success of these projects. Thanfully, Timbo decided against getting another whitey of the “wacky” variety, as Bubba is his [cont.]

        On the real, are heads even looking forward to the new album from Kurupt? First and foremost, the single, “It’s Over”, couldn’t be worse, and with an album title as corny as Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey one would think the label would have stepped in and at least have spelled the word “odyssey” correctly. [cont.]

If the beat on “Full Contact” was just better, this might have been a hot collabo – Evidence, Swollen Members, and Chali 2na all pop up, but the simplistic track had me reaching for the FF button even before Chali got his turn on the mic. How did someone manage to sleep on this one? A wasted [cont.]

 If B.I.G.’s Born Again, Big L’s The Big Picture and Big Pun’s Endangered Species proved anything (other then hopefully dissuading any aspiring emcee from donning the “Big” moniker) it’s that posthumous efforts are a risky proposition. Though each of the aforementioned projects had their moments, and offered some rare gems. The majority of the material [cont.]

      Let’s face it, at this point, if you’ve heard one Busta Rhymes album, you’ve heard them all. Another fact to face is that Busta really has never had a blazing album - at least not from start to finish. Sure, his Total Devastation greatest hits package plays like a classic album, but in the four [cont.]

 As a member of the Rawkus seminal 12″ market-explosion (circa ’97-’98), Liquid Fudge (better known to fans as L, yet presented here as El Fudge) a quick witted fireball of an emcee turned more than a few heads with his debut 3-cut slab. With loveable wordplay reminiscent of Kwest The Madd Lad, Fudge proved to be [cont.]



 In 1993, Jam Master Jay protegees, Onyx, temporarily locked down the East Coast’s thug market. Onyx’s grimy debut, Bacdafucup, aided by the energetic “Slam”, and the anthemic “Throw Your Gunz In Da Air” officially ushered in the “bald-head invasion”; the group’s two respective follow-up’s, Shut Em Down, and All We Got Iz Us proved that this [cont.]

 Before there was a Dr. Octagon, a Gorillaz, a Westside Connection, or a Golden State Project, one of hip-hop’s premier supergroups was The Gravediggaz. While outlasting other cheesy “horrorcore” groups of the time, such as Flatlinerz, there was more to the Gravediggaz than just silly scary movie clich? The original point of the group, was [cont.]

 There are a lot of seemingly invisible people responsible for the various degrees of certain artists’ popularity in this here hip-hop game. One of today’s more integral shadow-players would undoubtedly be Dante Ross. His various A&R and production work (at Tommy Boy and Elektra as well as the SD50′s/Stimulated Dummies with partner John Gamble) throughout the [cont.]

This review applies to the original version of Petestrumentals.  Working as the second volume in BBE’s Beat Generation series, the number one Soul Brother brings his slant on the idea, with PeteStrumentals. But unlike it predecessor, Jay Dee’s Welcome To Detroit, Pete Rock’s version focuses strictly on the beats, with minimal participation from emcees. Either [cont.]

Emerging from NY City’s iron galaxy is Cannibal Ox, a duo comprised of Vast Aire and Vordul , who also double as members of the east coast abstract collective, The Atoms Family. Backed up by producer El-P, who helped set off the entire independent hip-hop movement in 1996, as a member of the now defunct [cont.]

 In terms of sheer anticipation, Jada “Mwaah” Kiss ‘ buzz is at an apex. While fellow Lox members, Sheek and Styles, flashed improved flows and lyrics on Lox’s sophomore strike, We Are The Streets, Jadakiss remained the group’s undisputed front man. However, thanks to pinch-hitting on a slew of dazzling collaborations, Jada had simply outgrown the [cont.]

Louis Logic set off his buzz a few years back with the L-Fudge assisted “Planet Rock”, which was followed up with the underground breakthrough “Factotum.” He has kept listeners intrigued through many cameo appearances and lesser promoted 12″‘s. Lou has been all over the place and Debacle In A Bottle is a “non-album” lets people catch up [cont.]

 Self Scientific (Chase Infinite & DJ Khalil) emerged from Cali’s underground scene in 1998 with “Return”, a celebratory ode, which lauded hip-hop’s humbler beginnings— “return to the way we were, before the influx of drugs and money occurred.” The LA based duo’s debut, Self-Science, offers more of that romanticism, as it is an intriguing mixture of [cont.]

The first week of 2002′s August was a big one for new releases in indy hip-hop. Not only did DJ Jazzy Jeff come creeping out of the woodwork with the buzz-worthy The Magnificent, but also RJD2 followed up Dead Ringer with the awesome Soul Position EP with partner Blueprint, while Motion Man & Kutmasta Kurt had hopes of Clearing [cont.]

 When MTV taps you to do an “Unplugged” session – that is, performing for a small group of no more than 100 people – backed by a live band, you know you’ve reached legendary status – just ask LL Cool J, Nirvana, or Eric Clapton. Latest to be inducted into the Viacom hall-of-fame is Jay-Z, [cont.]