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Even as a millionaire
Beanie Sigel was still standing on the same corners and hanging on the same blocks he did before the fame. While as street as they come, this hasn’t always worked out in his favour. There’s no question that musical authenticity has always been on his side, but unfortunately the wrong side of the law is a side he’s all a bit too familiar with.
Easily one of the most consistent rappers in the game, it’s pretty hard to downplay or negatively discuss any of his work. A hustler turned superstar, he first stepped on to the scene as part of
Jay-Z’s Rocafella roster that would soon set the industry ablaze. Later independently setting up
State Property with
Freeway, Peedi Crakk, Oschino, Sparks and the
Young Gunz, Beans has always had his finger on the pulse.
Now with more pending legal cases than
DMX, he not only publicly fell out with his friend and mentor, Jay-Z, he was also shunted out of a shoe deal by
Dame Dash, which resulted in their friendship expiring also. It’s almost as if the world decided to throw everything at him just to enjoy watching him climb up out of it, because that’s exactly what he does every time.
With that said,
This Time is his farewell album for the moment -
he reports to prison for a two year stint on September 12th due to unpaid taxes. Standing at 11 tracks in length, beats, rhymes and life is what’s on the menu, and boy does it taste good...
Relaunching after some years in the abyss, the acclaimed Okayplayer Records, home to some of the most revered acts in Hip Hop history makes its long awaited return to business. Much like the label's own rise from the ashes, South Carolina rapper Danny Swain - or Danny! - embarks on his comeback of sorts, with his new album released through the OKP label.
The spirited and animated rapper/producer has had more than his fair share of musical obstacles and industry politics to hinder his progression. But after much grafting and co-signs from The Roots' stickman Questlove and the empirical Jay-Z, Swain's Payback LP carries extra momentum upon its release.
Vivian Green loves love. And she’s happy about it. The Philly singer/songwriter, most known for her melancholy hits “
In 2007, West Coast emcee Blu and producer Exile created what many consider to be a new-age classic Hip-Hop album in the form of Below The Heavens. Positioning a then newbie Blu and an already experienced Exile into the underground limelight as a pairing destined for greatness, since that release the two have gone to release solo projects and after years of longing, finally reunite to give fans what they’ve been waiting five years for with their latest installment. 
Flying Lotus’ new LP Until The Quiet Comes is about to hit play the world over. Shaped as a 46 minutes opus of jazz-fusion, this fourth album is so daring and so complete it can only be qualified as a masterpiece. 
The Idea of Beautiful. You could write an entire essay on such an intriguing matter. Snow Hill, North Carolina native Rapsody did write an essay on the topic but did it in the musical form. In her debut LP, Rap decided to take all that she learned from her previous three projects in which she explored different avenues and combine into a rare introspective effort. Rapsody’s ode to cultural assent and narration of her own heartbreak transforms The Idea of Beautiful from complex portrayal to personal abstraction and human-dignifying advancement. 
Whilst the Maybach Music Group ran roughshot over the three months of inconsistent summer weather, the enigmatic powerhouse collective known as G.O.O.D Music was quietly creating a buzz akin to a tropical hurricane. News of the imprint’s joint album Cruel Summer began to surface as the group’s leader, Kanye West, spent this past summer adding lyrical muscle to affiliates Pusha T, Big Sean and 2 Chainz’ cuts [in addition to fleeing from the paparazzi with ‘new’ beau Kim Kardashian]. As we enter the Autumn months, can his collective create an ‘Indian Summer’ of substantial heat? 
A soulful musician and songwriter with a distinctive voice, built with obvious reggae influences in articulation and phrasing, Selah Sue offers her soulful, jazz-infused debut album. The self-titled LP went multi-platinum in her native country Belgium and peaked in the top ten of the Dutch and French albums chart, where she has been elevated as huge star, before embarking on worldwide release. 
Let’s not get it twisted, Slaughterhouse is the squad. Flipmode may have said it but Slaughterhouse are it.
A deadly foursome, consisting of Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Joe Budden and of course Royce Da 5’9, are all names not to be scoffed at as far as lyrical prowess is concerned. Successful entities within their own right, now a collective they are signed to Eminem’s Shady Records imprint, and the time has come for the underground to go overground.