Mr. Eon’s incarnation as “Dick Starbuck” (porno detective), on High & Mighty’s debut, may have ushered in the Smut Peddlers (Eon, DJ Mighty Mi, and Cage) regime. However, the trio’s debut, Porn Again, takes hip-hop’s skinz fetish to new extremes, as it is a collection based solely on the indulgence of everything that can be classified [cont.]



J-Zone came straight outta college with a surprising 1998 debut. Part of a senior project at a NY institute of higher learning, Music For Tu Madre introduced J-Zone as a superb beat architect with a penchant for grabbing his grandmoms in outrageous poses for album cover art. Grandmoms and the Queens based J-Zone return with [cont.]

 Delivering his fifth annual release, Jay-Z somewhat deceptively uses this year’s album to spotlight the Roc-A-Fella family, as the title suggests. Nevertheless, while marketed as the latest Jay-Z “solo” project, but more accurately the “posse” album, Jigga is still in the driver’s seat, despite the numerous guest appearances from Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek. It can be [cont.]

Cats overseas seem to have a greater appreciation for what is considered “true hip-hop” than do the yanks on this side of the world. Euro producers Simon Gilbert and Julian Baker, otherwise known as The Creators, bring back the sound of the early 90′s, of which many still consider to be the greatest era of [cont.]

Boston’s Akrobatik jumps into the virtual ring to take on the cyberfreakin’ rappers out there on “Internet MC’s”. Had he dropped this two years ago, he’d be a visionary, as it is now, Akrobatik’s latest is likable in that “isn’t that funny” sort of way but his self-production isn’t half as clever as his lines. “Cats [cont.]

 With an enormously increasing interest for Living Legends’s fare across the board, members of the rather large squad see it fit to branch out. Not too far from the tree of course, but rather in an unanimous flex of their creative muscles. Earlier in the year we saw The Grouch and PSC’s CMA project receive critical acclaim, [cont.]

 It’s hard to believe that rap’s current king, Jay-Z, started off as the sweat-suited partner to 80′s rapper Jaz, who made a little noise with the Fresh Prince-like narrative, “Hawaiian Sofie”, as 2Pac  would have reminded us later. This was some time ago, and you’d think by now he would have hung his mic up; [cont.]

 It seems with each release, the brother known as Common takes another step higher, while the majority of today’s rappers are stuck in a horizontal shift or a downward spiral. As Common says on “Doonit”, they’re either “droppin’ back to back LP’s that sound the same”, or simply molding to the styles of whatever is considered [cont.]

 The Living Legends have remained one of the more tightly knit families in the younger world of Rap, new to this they are not, but involved in one another’s projects most heavily. They lend themselves to a tape slangin’ Wu-Tang Clan, with one or more artists making appearances on someone else’s work at all times. [cont.]

 The effect of Pharcyde’s debut opus, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, still resounds mightily today; elements of that good time brand of hip-hop are traceable to left coast groups like Black Eyed Peas and Jurassic 5. Yet, after Pharcyde’s fun-loving Bizarre Ride, and its complicated follow-up, Labcabincalifornia, the wheels fell off, as the group succumbed to [cont.]

 With the dissipation of the Gang Starr foundation, Jeru The Damaja was left out in the cold by his former compadres, Guru and DJ Premier. The beef was put in the public eye with an underground track from Jeru called “Friends”, which was responded to by Gang Starr on Moment of Truth’s “B.I. Vs. Friendship”. It was once [cont.]

It’s no secret that LL Cool J has had an incredible career, not only producing a number of old school and new school classics, but crossing over into the worlds of television and film. It can be said, at least in the course of his rap career, that he has released some of the greatest songs [cont.]

 Jeru The Damaja once mentioned something about letting his ‘mindspray’, and at that time a lyric from ‘D. Original’ constituted an unloading of rhyme-ammunition few could withstand, wordplay of un-fuckwitable proportions. But today his spray pans out to be nothing more than a mere faucet leak in the vast lyrical diarrhea ocean that is Dose One. [cont.]

 For over a decade Erick Sermon, and his on-again, off-again partner, Parrish Smith, have been lauded, and deservedly so, as one of hip-hop’s most influential duo’s. Yet, for all the success EPMD has tasted as a group, neither has been able too achieve that same level of success as solo artists. However, after the disappointing Double [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.]