A set that goes back to the old school – but the old school of the late 80s/early 90s, not the early days of the South Bronx – in a very cool collection of cuts that bring together hip hop, club, and a bit of mainstream soul – all from a time when musical styles were really percolating together! The track list speaks for itself, and features classics that include "Back To Life" by Soul II Soul, "Too Blind To See It" by Kym Sims, "Big Fun" by Inner City, "My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style" by Dream Warriors, "People Everyday (metamorphosis mix)" by Arrested Development, "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock & CL Smooth, "Where I'm From" by Digable Planets, "Hey Ya" by Outkast, "What U Waitin 4" by Jungle Brothers, "Soul Flower" by Brand New Heavies with Pharcyde, "Push It" by Salt N Pepa, "Can I Kick It" by Tribe Called Quest, "Apparently Nothin (soul river mix)" by Young Disciples, "Always There (David Morales mix)" by Incognito, "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite, and "Feel So Good" by Mase. (Funky Compilations, Hip Hop) LP, Vinyl record album

12 tracks, and 4 skits, with E Double's newer hot sound in the beats, and Keith Murray and the Funk Doctor Spock joining him on the mic, including "Countdown", "Full Cooperation", "Rhymin Wit Biz", "The Game (Freestyle)", "Can You Dig It?", "No Guest List" and "Def Squad Delite". LP, Vinyl record album

12 tracks, and 4 skits, with E Double's newer hot sound in the beats, and Keith Murray and the Funk Doctor Spock joining him on the mic, including "Countdown", "Full Cooperation", "Rhymin Wit Biz", "The Game (Freestyle)", "Can You Dig It?", "No Guest List" and "Def Squad Delite". CD

The classic self-titled debut LP from Run-DMC – one that not only changed hip hop, but much of modern pop and rock forever! There's little we can add to the canon for this record, but the way Run-DMC ushered in a new era in contemporary urban culture, a harder hitting style of rap that managed to bust out of the inner cities and into consciousness of an entire generation, was unforeseen and never to be duplicated to say the least. You can literally call this album revolutionary without sounding heavy handed, it's something very few artists can ever hope to achieve. Amazing! Tracks include "It's Like That", "Sucker MC's", "Rock Box", "Jay's Game", "Hard Times", "30 Days", "Hollis Crew", "Wake Up", and "It's Like That" – and this expanded edition includes the bonus tracks "Rock Box (B-Boy Mix)", "Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse)", "Sucker MCs (Live)" and "Russell & Larry Running At The Mouth". CD

A stunning surprise from Andre 3000 – at least if you only know him as part of Outkast – and a record that finally gives us an audio document of the sounds that Andre has really been involved with in recent years – a beautiful blend of spiritual jazz with mellower currents, aided here by some members of the contemporary LA scene! There's a resonance here with some of the more laidback projects on the International Anthem label, and with the work of Carlos Nino – and no surprise, Nino is on board to deliver great production work throughout, and co-produced the album with Andre too. Andre delivers a lot of work on flute, as hinted at by the cover – and also serves up beautiful sounds on wind controller too – as the set moves between contributions from other artists who include Nate Mercereau on guitars, and Diego Gaeta and Surya Botofasina on keyboards – as well as guest vocals from Mia Doi Todd on two tracks, and shakuhachi from Shabaka Hutchings on one more. Titles include "That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther & Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control", "Ninety Three Til Infinity & Beyonce", "Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens", "Ants To You Gods To Who", and "I Swear I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me". (Jazz, Hip Hop) CD

Good ol' Chicago hip hop from the All Natural camp. Tracks include "Wildstyle" by Iomos Marad, "Talented Tenth" by Mr. Greenweedz & Spotlite, "Paragon" and Flavor" by Daily Plannet, Candy Store" by Bam-Ski The Bigot, "No Doubt" by All Natural, and "Mr. Greenweedz". The second LP is all instrumentals. LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning surprise from Andre 3000 – at least if you only know him as part of Outkast – and a record that finally gives us an audio document of the sounds that Andre has really been involved with in recent years – a beautiful blend of spiritual jazz with mellower currents, aided here by some members of the contemporary LA scene! There's a resonance here with some of the more laidback projects on the International Anthem label, and with the work of Carlos Nino – and no surprise, Nino is on board to deliver great production work throughout, and co-produced the album with Andre too. Andre delivers a lot of work on flute, as hinted at by the cover – and also serves up beautiful sounds on wind controller too – as the set moves between contributions from other artists who include Nate Mercereau on guitars, and Diego Gaeta and Surya Botofasina on keyboards – as well as guest vocals from Mia Doi Todd on two tracks, and shakuhachi from Shabaka Hutchings on one more. Titles include "That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther & Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control", "Ninety Three Til Infinity & Beyonce", "Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens", "Ants To You Gods To Who", and "I Swear I Really Wanted To Make A Rap Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me". (Jazz, Hip Hop) LP, Vinyl record album

Ghostface brings some real hip hop to latter day Def Jam – his best album since Supreme Clientele – and possibly '06 hip hop album of the year! Fishscale features appearances by the Wu Tang Clan & Theodore Unit, Ne-Yo, Megan Ward and others on the mic – but it's the stable of producers that helps make this one of the best above ground hip hop albums we've heard in a long time. MF Doom puts his Metal Fingerz behind the boards for a bunch of tracks, and the legendary Pete Rock handles a few – with additional work by J Dilla, Just Blaze, Lewis Parker and others. Ghost brings a literal lyrical focus to a number of the tracks – but he's still spraying words all over the damn place – and the best tracks are just as thrilling as his surreal word bombs of yore. Tracks include "Shakey Dog", "Kilo" feat Raekwon, the excellent Just Blaze-produced anthem "The Champ", "9 Milli Bros" feat Wu Tang Clan, "Beauty Jackson", "RAGU" feat Raekwon, "Be Easy" feat Trife, "Dogs of War" feat Raekwon & Theodore Unit, "Barbershop" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Ghostface brings some real hip hop to latter day Def Jam – his best album since Supreme Clientele – and possibly '06 hip hop album of the year! Fishscale features appearances by the Wu Tang Clan & Theodore Unit, Ne-Yo, Megan Ward and others on the mic – but it's the stable of producers that helps make this one of the best above ground hip hop albums we've heard in a long time. MF Doom puts his Metal Fingerz behind the boards for a bunch of tracks, and the legendary Pete Rock handles a few – with additional work by J Dilla, Just Blaze, Lewis Parker and others. Ghost brings a literal lyrical focus to a number of the tracks – but he's still spraying words all over the damn place – and the best tracks are just as thrilling as his surreal word bombs of yore. Tracks include "Shakey Dog", "Kilo" feat Raekwon, the excellent Just Blaze-produced anthem "The Champ", "9 Milli Bros" feat Wu Tang Clan, "Beauty Jackson", "RAGU" feat Raekwon, "Be Easy" feat Trife, "Dogs of War" feat Raekwon & Theodore Unit, "Barbershop" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The classic self-titled debut LP from Run-DMC – one that not only changed hip hop, but much of modern pop and rock forever! There's little we can add to the canon for this record, but the way Run-DMC ushered in a new era in contemporary urban culture, a harder hitting style of rap that managed to bust out of the inner cities and into consciousness of an entire generation, was unforeseen and never to be duplicated to say the least. You can literally call this album revolutionary without sounding heavy handed, it's something very few artists can ever hope to achieve. Amazing! Tracks include "It's Like That", "Sucker MC's", "Rock Box", "Jay's Game", "Hard Times", "30 Days", "Hollis Crew", "Wake Up", and "It's Like That". CD

The fantastic third album from Common – the record that really catapulted him on his way to stardom, yet a set that still retains all the best aspects of his early days in Chicago! Part of that quality comes from the superb production of No ID, who gets a bit of local help from Dug Infinite and Twilite Tone – all talents who have that special, sophisticated vibe that was really starting to flow from Chicago out to the rest of the world – and which here is perfect for the well-crafted lyrics from Common! The balance is great – never too hard or heavy, yet also not trying to ape either a west coast quirky or New York native tongues approach. This time around, there's also plenty of guests on board, of the sort that Common would soon be rubbing shoulders with on a regular basis – a lineup that includes The Roots, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Canibus, Black Thought, Lauryn Hill, and De La Soul. Yet throughout, the vibe is Common's and Chicago's – something that's always made us very proud to be from the same scene at the same time. Titles include "1 2 Many", "Reminding Me Of Sef", "Invocation", "Stolen Moments", "My City", "Real Nigga Quotes", and "Retrospect For Life". LP, Vinyl record album

The fantastic third album from Common – the record that really catapulted him on his way to stardom, yet a set that still retains all the best aspects of his early days in Chicago! Part of that quality comes from the superb production of No ID, who gets a bit of local help from Dug Infinite and Twilite Tone – all talents who have that special, sophisticated vibe that was really starting to flow from Chicago out to the rest of the world – and which here is perfect for the well-crafted lyrics from Common! The balance is great – never too hard or heavy, yet also not trying to ape either a west coast quirky or New York native tongues approach. This time around, there's also plenty of guests on board, of the sort that Common would soon be rubbing shoulders with on a regular basis – a lineup that includes The Roots, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Canibus, Black Thought, Lauryn Hill, and De La Soul. Yet throughout, the vibe is Common's and Chicago's – something that's always made us very proud to be from the same scene at the same time. Titles include "1 2 Many", "Reminding Me Of Sef", "Invocation", "Stolen Moments", "My City", "Real Nigga Quotes", and "Retrospect For Life". CD

The fantastic third album from Common – the record that really catapulted him on his way to stardom, yet a set that still retains all the best aspects of his early days in Chicago! Part of that quality comes from the superb production of No ID, who gets a bit of local help from Dug Infinite and Twilite Tone – all talents who have that special, sophisticated vibe that was really starting to flow from Chicago out to the rest of the world – and which here is perfect for the well-crafted lyrics from Common! The balance is great – never too hard or heavy, yet also not trying to ape either a west coast quirky or New York native tongues approach. This time around, there's also plenty of guests on board, of the sort that Common would soon be rubbing shoulders with on a regular basis – a lineup that includes The Roots, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Canibus, Black Thought, Lauryn Hill, and De La Soul. Yet throughout, the vibe is Common's and Chicago's – something that's always made us very proud to be from the same scene at the same time. Titles include "1 2 Many", "Reminding Me Of Sef", "Invocation", "Stolen Moments", "My City", "Real Nigga Quotes", and "Retrospect For Life". LP, Vinyl record album