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.]

Let’s rewind back to the first time I met Eminem, (again). You know the story. That day in 1997, I purchased a whole stack of EP’s from the man himself, in a hotel room in Vegas, like some kind of shady drug deal. When he left the room, his manager said to me, “We also [cont.]

 Longtime Lyricist Lounge duo has forever been the topic of conversation in underground circles, since early appearances on A Tribe Called Quest and Black Star albums. Even gracing both Lyricist Lounge compilation albums, as well as MTV’s Lyricist Lounge television show, the question remains as to why we haven’t seen any 12″ singles or full-length releases [cont.]

Rumors of an impending Rasco /Planet Asia collaboration have been floating ever since these two united to flip “Take It Back Home” from Rasco’s stellar debut. While that track gave us the first glimpse of what was too come, Rasco and Asia have been nearly inseparable since, spending the better part of the last year [cont.]

 Calvin Broadus delivers his third and final No Limit album, titled The Last Meal, as it’s the last time anyone is going to eat off his plate. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Snoop try to reinvent himself, by affiliating himself with the No Limit all-stars, with disastrous results. Songs like “Woof” and “Still A [cont.]

 “I am prepared to face many obstacles in my journey” read a message scribed on the back of a then youthful and slender Freddie Foxxx’s ’89 seminal LP, Freddie Foxxx Is Here. Is it possible that he could foresee the path of his renegade-like position for the the next decade and beyond? Bouncing from Boogie [cont.]

 Plucked off the turbulent streets of Philadelphia at the tender age of fifteen, Dice Raw has spent the majority of his youth barnstorming the globe as The Roots’ unofficial member. With his debut, Reclaiming The Dead, Dice makes it clear that his mission centers predominantly on reinstating the old-school aesthetics Y2K hip-hop fans have become [cont.]

Born from the second generation of indy emcees, the Masterminds first caught heads attention with the 1997 single, “I’m Talented”, which boasted a fat Beatminerz backdrop behind. After a string of singles and two EP releases, the trio of Oracle, Kimani, and EPOD  elevate to full-length status with The Underground Railroad. This album represents an evolution of [cont.]