Hip Hop -- Recently Added  

Anti Pop Consortium is back after a lengthy hiatus -- and it's a blast -- laser cauterized funk beats, squealing synth funk, and innovative rhymes from Beans, Blaize, Hi Priest and Sayyid! The crew is in a unique position for this comeback record, in that they can pick up pretty close to where... read more

Second LP from Nas's rhyming partner, from the days before Jay Z decided to take QB down a notch. Pretty much overlooked but not a bad effort, and nearly as dope as his first album. Includes "I'm Known", "How Ya Livin", "The Payback", "Pieces Of A (Black)... read more

Not one filler track on this strong debut LP from one of the dopest female MC's in a while. And without the soft porn gimmicks MC's too often use to get over. Tracks include "True Honey Buns", "I Confess", "Word Play", "UKNOWHOWWEDU", "3 Tha Hard... read more

Includes Boogie Down Productions' amazing "Essays On BDP-ism" that was never released on another LP or single. Supposedly one of the last songs produced by Scott La Rock that was left off Criminal Minded. With 9 other tracks including Run-DMC "Raising Hell", Kool Moe Dee "... read more

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Late 90s Beasties remixes featuring Prince Paul's take on "Root Down", Ad Rock's remix of "Countdown" and the drum & base remix of "Intergalactic" -- plus "Smoke The Pipe" and"Scratching Battle".... read more

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A platter of Madlib beats -- the first in a series of instrumental hip hop from 'Lib's Beat Konducta (formerly Beat Conductor) moniker! Madlib's production work has always had a filmic groove, and this set collects and assembles the most cinematic of said beats into an (unsurprisingly) incredible... read more

Madlib returns as Beat Konducta for the second volume of his Movie Scenes program -- a straight up aural film festival on wax -- and perhaps the most hotly anticipated sequel since Return Of The King! There's really no going wrong with Movie Scenes. Madlib's beats on both volumes are short, and... read more

Hazy beatcraft steeped in Indian soundtrack style funk, strings and percussion from the indefatigable Madlib -- Volume 3 in the increasingly adventurous and conceptual outings of the Beat Konducta! This time out Madlib, er, Beat Konducta is conducting beats, strings & things from India and/or... read more

The long awaited sides C & D in Madlib's incredible blend of Bombay soundtrack-styled funk, blunted Eastern beats, and all round stunning Middle Eastern accented hip hop instros! This time out Madlib, er, Beat Konducta is conducting beats, strings & things from India and/or otherwise East... read more

A mad funky suite from the Beat Konducta -- Vol 5 in the evolving, unpredictable series of deep, crackling beatcraft -- this one a tribute to Dilla! Dil Cosby Suite is as solid as any of the volumes to date, compellingly funky and in more of Madlib's heady hip hop mode than some of the more... read more

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Rhymes by Blaq Poet, beats by DJ Premier! Titles include ""Gittin", Ain't Nuttin Changed", "What's The Deal", "Legendary Pt 1" feat Nick Javas & NYGz. "Hood Crazy", "Voices", "Hate" feat NORE, "SOS", "Let The... read more

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Previously unreleased material and a few brand new tracks from Rhymesayers mainstay Brother Ali -- including a DVD featuring a live homecoming performance from the Undisputed Truth Tour at First Avenue in Minneapolis, videos and more! Tracks in the 2LP set include "Real As Can Be",... read more

Furious, hard hitting Rhymesayers hip hop from Brother Ali -- possibly the most passionate stuff we've heard from him to date -- starting out with a gospel soul style intro and blasting off from there. There's a lot of funk and soul in the beatcraft, which helps the overall vibe cut deeper. This... read more

The long promised solo debut from Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 -- a pretty solid yet, featuring production by J5 co-hort DJ Numark, plus DJ Babu, Vitamin D, Jake One, Emile and more. Chali's instantly recognizable baritone delivery is as resonant as ever, and the beatcraft is appropriately timeless. ... read more

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Chikaramanga on beats and Big Tone on rhyme! The track has a soul jazzy brass sample accented backdrop, and a beat that's heavy on the bottom and shaking on top -- with fresh rhymes from Big Tone. Tres Records continues to produce top notch, upbeat underground hip hop!... read more

"I rap with the Passion of Christ, Ni**a, cross me!" BE isn't exactly a back-to-basics LP in the vein of his classic work for Relativity -- but it is indeed a return to a focused, genuinely soulful, no BS approach -- and it's a very welcome one at that! It seems like Com was a bit... read more

NuHop? Common newcomers who buy Electric Circus for the single with Mary J Blige are going to be left with some head scratching -- but if you like the spiritual/psychedelic Com that was hinted at on Like Water For Chocolate, this may be the follow up you were waiting for! This is still hip hop --... read more

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Late 90s underground weirdness from Crazy Wisdom Masters, aka the Jungle Brothers and collaborators, heady and tripped out sounds mixed with some more standard funky boom bap, random lyrical fast rap, and splintering, unpredictable beats. Titles include Battle Show", "Ra Ra Kid",... read more

2 of the better tracks from Cut Chemist's Audience's Listening LP -- one an instrumental tapestry of Brazil-influenced moods -- one featuring a duo of underground MCs! "Garden" is built around an Astrud Gilberto sample, but that's just a starting point for some really great production... read more

A great one, if only for the seminal electro cut "Clear" -- laid down by a young Juan Atkins, with a groove that inspired the Detroit Techno scene in a huge way! The original mix is here, and the Troy Pierce mix isn't bad either -- as stark, dark, and simple as the original!... read more

Maybe this one doesn't have as many hits as their first LP, but the production by Muggs still holds up. With "Throw Your Set In The Air", "No Rest For The Wicked" (their dis to Ice Cube), "Killa Hill" (with production by RZA), "Stricktly Hip Hop", and 11... read more

With Redman & Method Man.... read more

The epic second De La Soul album -- a slightly deeper record than the upbeat 3 Feet High And Rising, but to us it's just as irrefutably classic -- and among the best hip hop full lengths ever! The trio is still working with Prince Paul, so despite the cover image and declaration of the end of the... read more

Another hard batch of razor sharp, political street hop from Dead Prez. Tracks include "Paper Paper", "Coming Of Age", "When Mama Cries", "Window To My Soul", "Out In The World", "Red Black & Green", "Afrika", "Hood... read more

Dudley Perkins returns as Declaime -- produced by Madlib, to boot! Heavy bass bouncing, hazy, supremely funky hip hop from Declaime -- make no mistakes, we love us some off kilter funky Dudley Perkins, but we love the smoked out hip hop, too, and we're glad he's keeping it coming.... read more

Some of our favorite tracks off the I Wish My Brother George Was Here LP, including a nice remix from the Stimulated Dummies and the non-LP track "Eye Examination".... read more

The trio of Rapster's Dillanthology comilations to date -- collections featuring the best J Dilla productions for other artists and some of the best of his self productions -- together in a 3CD box set! Filled with crackling and soulful hip hop beatcraft by J Dilla, plus standout tracks from some... read more

A collection of Dilla's finest boom bap, pulsing & thumping productions -- volume 3 in the Dillanthology series -- this one concentrating on Jay Dee/J Dilla credited cuts, plus a couple Jaylib gems. These are largely beats that Dilla saved for himself and his collabos with Madlib, with uests... read more

Rare and unreleased material from the DITC clique and extended family -- including DITC, Show & AG, Diamond D, OC, Ghetto Dwellers, Freddie Foxxx and more. 14 tracks: "Internationally Known" and "Themes, Schemes And Dreams" by DITC, "Put It In Your System" by... read more

A stunner from DJ Mitsu The Beats -- the reigning spacey soul beatmaker of the Japanese scene -- following up the near classic A New Awakening LP and the tight work with is group Gagle with this equally wonderful set featuring a who's who of underground MCs and spacey soul singers! Word To The... read more

A stunner from DJ Mitsu The Beats -- the reigning spacey soul beatmaker of the Japanese scene -- following up the near classic A New Awakening LP and the tight work with his group Gagle with this equally wonderful set! Word To The Wise stays mostly within the spacey hip hop soul sound he's made... read more

Panoramic DJ funk and abstract beatcraft from the one-and-only DJ Spooky -- his first proper full length in about a decade! Spooky was hardly resting all those years, having spoken all over the world and kind of serving as a spokesperson for his craft -- but he returns here with a pretty diverse... read more

Tracks include "It's Funky Enough", "Beautiful But Deadly", "Lend Me An Ear", "Portrait Of A Master Piece", "Let The Bass Go", "No One Can Do It Better", "The D.O.C. & The Doctor", "Mind Blowin", and five more.... read more

Doom follows up the stellar Born Like This LP with a set of collabos -- some unexpected, and others that we find ourselves saying that it's about time these cats hooked up -- with Talib Kweli, Vast Aire, Count Bass D, Masta Killa, Ghostface, Dilla, John Robinson and others. Essentially, Doom is... read more

What can we say? The classic single from Doug E Fresh that introduced the world to Slick Rick and has been sampled and quoted more times than we can count!... read more

Stripped down, hazy, funky hip hop from Dudley Perkins -- rolling in heavy funk beats, spare piano particles, and in a gritty hip hop mode for the most part! It seems to us the Dudley is rhyming more in this solid effort than singing, and he's bringing in more social and spiritual conciousness,... read more

Since the day this single came out, it's been a favorite for MC's to freestyle over -- with just a simple drum line combined with a killer, killer koto sample, a big beat precursor to the Asian string fetish Timbaland and others used a full seven years later! The vocals are at least as dope as the... read more

We had pretty low expectations for this project, but there are actually quite a few cuts on here that live up to the EPMD glory days. Guest appearances by all the old Hit Squad MC's Das Efx, Keith Murray, Redman, and Nocturnal.... read more

The second album of heavy east coast funk and slow rolling rhymes from the brothers from Brentwood. Nice, fat trunk rattling production and Eric and Parrish's trademark back and forth rhymes keep this set fresh,even today. Loaded with classics: "So What Cha Sayin'", "Get the... read more

The second album of heavy east coast funk and slow rolling rhymes from the brothers from Brentwood. Nice, fat trunk rattling production and Eric and Parrish's trademark back and forth rhymes keep this set fresh,even today. Loaded with classics: "So What Cha Sayin'", "Get the... read more

Original pressing of this early Eric B & Rakim 12", with the Cold Cut remix of "Paid in Full" that everyone used to think was so cool because it had Ofra Haza in it.... read more

The second album from Foreign Exchange -- the formerally bi-continental project of North Carolina MC, and nascent soul singer Phonte of Little Brother, and transplanted Dutch producer Nicolay -- who take an even deeper turn into spacey soul on Leave It All Behind! Given that Phonte is singing... read more

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The second solo album from the Blackalicious MC -- produced by Dnaebeats -- and very well, we might add -- with the Gifted one sounding as sharp and dexterous as ever! The sound is flavored by spacey soul, as fine a foil for Gift Of Gab's flow as any record he's done since prime Blackalicious,... read more

The second solo album from the Blackalicious MC -- produced by Dnaebeats -- and very well, we might add -- with the Gifted one sounding as sharp and dexterous as ever! The sound is flavored by spacey soul, as fine a foil for Gift Of Gab's flow as any record he's done since prime Blackalicious,... read more

The follow up to "The Message", and another classic early 80s number from Grandmaster Flash and crew. Once again, the theme is the trials of city life, and once again, they come up with another winning message cut.... read more

Includes the best of the early Heltah Skeltah singles and the rest is still up there with the best the Boot Camp Clique has to offer. With "Lefleur Leflah Eshkoshkha" featuring OGC, "Operation Lockdown", "Clans Posses Crews & Cliques", "Letha Brains Blo"... read more

J Rawls & John Robinson -- underground hip hop mainstays with a love of jazzy beatcraft -- team up for the most jazz concious hip hop project of their careers to date! Mellow, jazzy atmosphere and funk beats steer the sound on this one -- and it may pay tribute to 60s jazz geniuses, and a... read more

Fresh cuts from DJ J Rocc of the World Famous Beat Junkies -- his first (we think) effort for Stones Throw! "Play This (One)" is the kind of record that made DJs like Shadow and Cut Chemist saints of the sampler -- capital F Funky drums all over the track, plus a nice vocal sample from... read more

Jay Dee kicks a hard, furious street bumper -- and fares just as exceptionally well as he does with mellow soul beats. Is there anything he can't do? Jay Dee for president!... read more

Damn! The MASSIVE collaborative album from the dynamic duo of Madlib and J Dilla! Essentially, Madlib handles the production on the even numbers in the set with Dilla on the vocals, and the roles are reversed on the odd numbers. Each producer does his own thing, as only he can do it -- Madlib... read more

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Kenny Dope takes on the Jungle Brothers -- with very funky results! Back in the day, we all thought there was a rock-solid wall between hip hop and house -- except for some mistaken moments on the Chicago scene, where hip hoppers had little outlets for their rhymes. Then along came "I'll... read more

The second post Mantronik set from the frequently slept on 80s rap genius Just-Ice -- featuring production by none other than KRS-One -- with a few righteous and ruthless tracks that stand up with the best from the earlier classic LPs! The rugged and raw KRS backdrop serves Just-Ice's gruff... read more

Kanye West finally dropped the full length in early '04 -- and it's one of the best hip hop albums of the year. Kanye is probably the hottest beats producer of the year, too, having dug through the greatest soul hooks of the past few decades for his samples, and piled on the chunkiest, catchiest,... read more

A tight, timeless take on classic hip hop -- featuring the paired up talents of Kista and 45 Prince -- plus guest appearances by Tableek of Maspyke, Sumkid, DJ Format, PEACE, OCB, DJ Bazil & others! Straight up boombap with funk, soul & jazz beats -- and each name gets a half! 18 tracks... read more

A tight, timeless take on classic hip hop -- featuring the paired up talents of Kista and 45 Prince -- plus guest appearances by Tableek of Maspyke, Sumkid, DJ Format, PEACE, OCB, DJ Bazil & others! Straight up boombap with funk, soul & jazz beats -- and each name gets a half! 16 tracks... read more

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KRS first solo lp, with production by Premier and Kid Capri, has him trying to break out of the formula of the last BDP LP. OK, about half the material is forgettable, but the tracks that hit, more than make up for it. With the hits "Outta Here", "I Can't Wake Up", "Black... read more

Have yourself a very old school Christmas with Kurtis Blow reminding you what Christmas is really all about! Actually, this is just "Rappin' Blow" with a small holiday intro edited onto the front end.... read more

Two of the doper tracks from the "TIME" LP -- two that still have the classic Leaders' sound from the "Future Without..." LP. To our ears, Busta's solo material has still never sounded nicer than these tracks with Charlie Brown and Dinco D. The Large Professor gives "What'... read more

A collection of tracks recorded by Madlib Invazion during the years 1997 to 1999. All cuts are by DJ Romes, and the single features 6 tracks in all -- with performances by Wildchild, Medaphoar, Madlib, and Kazi.... read more

A Stones Throw sci-fi masterpiece -- one that was destined for greatness from conception, but we're still pretty well blown away by the final product! MC Doom and beatmaster Madlib couldn't be better suited for a collaboration. As much as we've dug the best of Doom's material of the last couple... read more

Original pic sleeve version of this one -- super rare! Includes the great b-side "Watch Roger Do His Thing", which is as dope as anything on the Breaking Atoms LP.... read more

Straight up hip hop from MED -- dropping no nonsense rhymes over Madlib's heavy, heady beatcraft! Madlib seems to relish the opportunities to sideline his some of his more abstract tendencies once in a while when producing solid, hard hitting hip hop for cats like Guilty Simpson & MED -- still... read more

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Some first round RZA joints, back when everyone was feeling the Wu, still sounding fresh and menacing today.... read more

Georgia Anne Muldrow's cosmic funky soul keeps rolling on -- bring even more depth to her evolving, unstoppable creative energy with Umsindo! The album is a dedicated Afrocentric social awareness, but she steers clear of strident righteousness in favor of a funky, soulful elemental vibe -- mixing... read more

Split single, not a collaboration.... read more

The first album, with "Life's A Bitch", "One Love" and "It Ain't Hard To Tell" -- what more do we need to say? How about beats by Primo, Pete Rock and Large Professor? Did this one get 5 mics from the Source? Didn't that count for something at the time? At any... read more

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The Neptunes, who did the beats for ODB's "Got My Money" & Mystikal's "Shake Ya A**" before they became the huge producers of the moment drop the first release under their own pseudonymous name. The music and verses are completely different from their big hits (and any hip... read more

Spacey soul soundscapes from Nicolay -- another big step for the unpredictable, but always soulful beatmaker, producer, and artist -- inspired by a consciousness awakening trip to Tokyo on Shibuya -- City Lights Volume 2! When we were first tipped to Nicolay's sounds, it was from a soulful hip hop... read more

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Bassy beats, synth blasts, and splintering bedroom funk atmospherics from James Pants -- a batch of instrumentals for Stones Throw! There's more if a minimalist electro funk style to these cuts than the wildly eclectic sounds on his wildly eclectic Welcome -- but it's certainly recognizable as the... read more

Remastered reissue of Peanut Butter Wolf's debut, originally recorded as tracks for a Hollywood Basic LP with his MC partner Charizma back in the early 90s, and then released in 1994 -- dope instrumental tracks include "Summer's End", "Dopestyle", "Gold Diggin", "S... read more

Dope underground hip hop from People Under The Stairs -- their lucky seventh album -- still working as one of the finest neo classic hip hop crews in the game, and one of our favorite hip hop duos since the blueprint era! Thes One and Double K bring their A-games each time out, and this return... read more

The second album by So Cal's great PUTS. "Crazy Love", "Youth Explosion", "Suite For The Creeper", "Sterns To Western", "Code Check", "Blowin' Wax", "Stoned Youth Truth", "King Kuff", "Stay Home" and the rest.... read more

Like CL Smooth says in Take You There, "It ain't hard to the core, it ain't sex on the beach, just another plateau brothers have to reach ", on the surface there's nothing spectacular about the straightforward style of CL's rhyming or Pete Rock's production, but the combination will still... read more

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Their massive second album, and the one with the mindkillin' tracks that shot Public Enemy from an imposing threat to cultural force! There's little we can add to the pantheon in regard to this album. Just know that it's as essential as any album of the era! "Bring The Noise", "Do... read more

A damn good record by Q-Tip -- his first official album of the new millenium (not counting the unfairly mooted Kamaal The Abstract) -- featuring both spacey keyboard grooves and some Native Tongues style boom bap! Q-Tip really does kind of pick up where he could have left off years ago, and it's a... read more

A damn good record by Q-Tip -- his first official album of the new millenium (not counting the unfairly mooted Kamaal The Abstract) -- featuring both spacey keyboard grooves and some Native Tongues style boom bap! Q-Tip really does kind of pick up where he could have left off years ago, and it's a... read more

Q-Tip's legendary unreleased jazz funk flavored Kamaal The Abstract album -- a wonderful record that should have come out in 2002 (!!!) -- but in yet another tribute to Q-Tip's genius, it sounds just as great all these years later! We remember well, hearing snippets of Kamaal The Abstract on a... read more

Here it is after an arduous, nearly decade long wait -- Rakim's epically long in the making Seventh Seal -- released on his own label after the much discussed departure from Dr Dre! Rakim's authority and gravity on the mic is still second to none, and Seventh Seal's best tracks stark and... read more

Here it is after an arduous, nearly decade long wait -- Rakim's epically long in the making Seventh Seal -- released on his own label after the much discussed departure from Dr Dre! Rakim's authority and gravity on the mic is still second to none, and Seventh Seal's best tracks stark and... read more

Redman's 3rd LP, and he's still not letting up. The funky noble drop his buddah-blessed rhymes on "Whateva Man", "Yesh Yesh Y'All", "Smoke Buddah", and "Rock Da Spot". 17 tracks in all.... read more

Funky and eclectic beatcraft from DJ Regal -- a pretty moody set of funky boombap beats, heady bass lines and moody elements on the outer edges! Regal gets a variety of moods out on these tracks, from dusty soul beat hip hop backdrops, spacey bits of soul jazz keys and other echoey bits, spaced... read more

The Horror of early aughties RJD2 -- when he had really hit his creative stride on Def Jux -- stellar stuff from one of the most exciting underground hip hop figures of the decade. Includes the great single "The Horror" plus a host of b-sides, outtakes, remixes, & exclusives tracks... read more

RJD2's signature style epic hip hop! This time out -- no rappers allowed, which was a good move in our book, considering his production really shines when he doesn't cater to an MC. This effort has got a little bit of fusion flare, with wisps of synths on some tracks and space age ricochet drums... read more

The Roots make kind of a return to their own roots with the Tipping Point -- a loose, funky, hip hop soul opus from the legendary Philly crew! The record's got a much more streamlined and focused ambition than Phrenology or Things Fall Apart -- and it's a brilliant extenuation of their established... read more

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