Hip Hop -- Recently Added -- CD  

Soulful hip hop from Cali's Fashawn -- the storytelling sense, and in the way the tunes hit you deeply where it counts -- with appearances by Blu, Exile, Aloe Blacc & others. Exile produced, and he did so excellent, with resonantly soulful and sometimes jazzy sounds, with surprising sounds in ...

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 to ...

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, ...

A look at the guest list of Alchemist's Chemical Warfare album will let you know how far reaching the respect is for Alc's brand of hip hop beatcraft -- featuring a who's who of legends and stars of the underground and mainstream territories -- including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kool G Rap, KRS-One, ...

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 ...

Benchmark 80s electro -- and also part of the blueprint for the sound of west coast hip hop -- the groundbreaking work of Arabian Prince! Perhaps one of the most overlooked innovators of the west coast scene, Arabian Prince played an integral role in shaping the LA hip-hop sound, from the early ...

The long awaited Cuban Linx Pt 2 from Raekwon -- and one of those late model Wu Tang efforts that reminds us of how vital the Wu Tang were in their prime, as well as how sharp the still are when the moons align and the pieces fall into place! OBFCL Pt 2 is indeed one of those rare newer Wu sets ...

Tracks include "They Reminisce Over You (TROY)", "Return Of The Mecca", "Straighten It Out", "Soul Brother #1", "Lots Of Lovin", "Skinz" featuring Grand Puba, "The Basement" featuring Heavy D, Robo-O, Grap & Dida, "Anger ...

Big, booming and funky beats, with rhymes blasted to suit from Kid Millions -- hard hitting, exuberant and all around fast paced hip hop from the Milwaukee scene veteran! It's solid, good time funky hip hop -- impossible not to nod your head your head to, it's a straight up winner from a character ...

Fresh hip hop from the All Natural, Inc team -- and one of the freshest female fronted hip hop albums we've heard in a while -- from Rita J! Rita J's rhymes are at the forefront and are top notch -- spurring the best from guest MCs and producers, which include Stoney Rock aka Black Spade, Kenny ...

A beautifully packaged box set if we've ever seen one -- celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Def Jam hip hop -- each disc featuring a well chosen sampler of classic tracks from a 5 year period of the labels history! It's no easy task programming a set like this, and we could argue for 25 more ...

This is the first full length by underground favorite J-Live. He rhymes like a veteran rapper on this album, although this was actually shelved and in label limbo for some time. Tracks include "Got What It Takes", "Get The Third", "Vampire Hunter J", "Them That's ...

Camp Lo returns for Another Heist -- produced by Ski for the classic Ski Beats vibe! The group moves forward with a bit of the blacksploitation funk vibe, with a raw vibe overall, and solid rhymes from Geechi Suede and Sonny Cheeba. Titles include "Another Heist", "Uptown", ...

Heiro hero Del The Funky Homosapien teams up with Artifacts and Weathermen veteran Tame One to trade rhymes -- with production by Parallel Thought -- a solid set and another winner on the Gold Dust Media label, which is put out a number of classic era reverent records to date! The beats are often ...

Rare breaks from the DITC vaults -- gritty, funky soul beats from the Show vaults! 45 breaks in 54 minutes -- really kind of coming off as a classic era set of scratchy soul beats, and gritty raw funk atmosphere. All untitled. ...

Easygoing, soulful hip hop from Kero One -- a record that's an acknowledged nod to the early believers in his craft, but it's also carrying on the vibes from some of the earlier individualists of the Bay Area indie hip hop scene. This is really nice record -- MC Kero One produces his own stuff, ...

The late 80s debut by Special Ed -- classic midtempo funky hip hop and fresh rhymes that still holds up -- one from the glory days of straight forward, straight up, solid hip hop! It's hard to believe that Special Ed was just in his mid teens when this album was recorded, he's such a remarkably ...

K-Solo's long hard to find first LP for the Hit Squad, with some classic early 90s trunk rattling funky PMD beats -- underneath his relentless rhyme style! Gruff, funk beats and samples underneath booming rhymes. K-Solo's couple of LPs for Atlantic didn't really get their due back in the day, and ...

Parisian beatmaker Dela attracts some of best MCs in underground hip hop for his long awaited US releases Changes Of Atmoshere -- a steady mix of soulful and jazzy beatcraft and headnodding funk boombap -- including Talib Kweli, Elzhi of Slum Village, J-Live and many more! Titles include "I ...

The second Dillanthology -- featuring great remixes and productions Dilla did for a diverse roster of artists -- from bedrock mid school hip hop by De La Soul, Pharcyde and others, to avant club groove gurus Four Tet, Spacek, to the rare 12" mixes and unreleased gems -- an even stronger set ...

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 ...

The legendary debut set from by the third star in the original Native Tongues trinity -- with bonus tracks and a bonus disc with Instrumental Show instrumentals! Straight Out The Jungle predates the first De La and Tribe LPs, and has paves the way for much great stuff that was to come -- you know, ...

Heavy lyrical sword swinging from Killah Priest! Here the Priest keeps it solid and cohesive thanks in no small part to single source production by DJ Woool -- plus a strong, connective set list, with more than a few spiritually resonant, but still sharply worded tracks. Titles include "Swor ...

Solo set from William Cooper of Black Market Militia -- featuring guest appearances by Black Market Millitia fellow Hell Razah -- plus heavyweights Kool G Rap, Killa Priest, Ill Bill, 9th Prince and others! Titles include "The Day Of Light", "In America" feat Killah Priest & ...

Oh No's given carte blanche to the the Now Again and Soul Cal vaults of obscure funk, psychedelic soul and more -- taking on the deep obscurities of those rarity reissuers for a tripped out hip hop funk instrumental set! Here Oh No has put together a record that rivals his underground hip hop ...

Rap classic 45 edits by Peanut Butter Wolf -- a stellar set of benchmark singles by Fearless Four, Just Ice, Marley Marl & MC Shan, Big Daddy Kane & Biz Markie, Mantronix, JVC Force, Boogie Down Productions and more! The Wolf mixes the tunes perfectly, no jumpy edits or too abbreviated ...

Reflectively funky hip hop from London's Funky DL -- an emcee who has been capably dropping fresh hip hop for more than a decade now -- and delivering a solid set for BBE! The Interview features beats and percussion by DL, too -- and it's solid work. He's influenced by some of our favorite hip ...

Producer BK-One teams up with beatmaker Benzilla and underground MCs to craft a killer record for Rhymesayers -- featuring unpredictable psyche, funk, Latin & Brazil steeped sounds! MCs include Brother Ali, Slug, Raekwon, I Self Divine, POS, Blueprint and more -- and how could we not love a ...

Excellent underground hip hop from Paten Loche -- hailing from Jacksonville, FL -- and delivering a winner from Tres Records! Paten Loche is a one man enterprise -- writing, producing, arranging, rhyming, cutting and scratching this whole thing himself except for some background vocals -- and he ...

Blissful beats from Ample Soul soundscape creator Fat Jon -- mostly laidback and lightly percolating, with enexpected bits of instrumentation and atmospherics floating in and out of the sound. Hundred Eight Stars features instrumentals from previously vinyl only singles and other hard to find ...

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 ...

In 1994 when everyone seemed to be turning hardcore, Common Sense wasn't having it. Introspective tales of growing up and living on the South Side that fit perfectly with No I.D.'s mellow production and spiced up with two guest appearances by Y-Not aka Twilight Tone. Classic LP, solid all the way ...

A masterpiece from prime era Tribe Called Quest! Midnight Maurauders was Tribe's third LP, and even though there were no tracks yet credited to the Ummah, this is pretty much the beginning of Tribe's transition to that sound -- with the same mellow, laid back vibe as their best early material, but ...

The 5th album by the Beastie Boys -- and a prime example of a modern classic we didn't appreciate enough the first time time around -- the wholly excellent Hello Nasty! We'll admit we were suffering a little Beasties fatigue by the time Hello Nasty came out in '98, but it sounds nothing short of ...

The firey first full length from Cage -- his unbound debut for Eastern Conference. Tracks include "(Down) The Left Hand Path", "Escape To 88", "Teen Age Death", "Too Much", "Agent Orange", "A Suicidal Failure", "The Right Out", ...

Real hip hop from the Jeanius -- the long rumored, previously leaked, later redone and finally released full length collaboration from Jean Grae and 9th Wonder! Jeanius is just what you want it to be -- a straight no chaser, no BS batch of blueprint funky soul beats from 9th Wonder -- and tough, ...

J Dilla's brother Illa J collaborates with Dilla for the Yancey Boys album -- produced with a batch of Dilla's beats! This album could have gone wrong in a number of ways for a number of reasons -- but truth be told it's a quality record that's actually worth checking out! Most importantly, ...

Funky psychedelic hip hop from Willie Isz -- aka cosmic hip hop beatmaker and Khujo Goodie of the legendary Goodie Mob -- a set that manages to be both hazy and tripped out, but pretty hard hitting, too! It was hard to get around a Stankonia-or-later Outkast or Gnarls Barkley comparison when we ...

Retro, kinda, active definitely -- the return of Masters Of Ceremony and Brand Nubian MC Grand Puba -- a solid set for Babygrande! Grand Puba may be a retro era legend, but he sounds fresh and invigorated in the late 00s, with some laidback and soulful cuts, and more uptempo material -- delivering ...

Essential stuff, a story we've been waiting to get told for some time now! Tommy Boy's spot in the history book doesn't need to be laid out by us or anyone else for that matter, but this double disc set puts the history lesson neatly together in one great little package. You get every imaginable ...

Little Brother transitions to the majors with their soulful underground sound intact -- and deliver an effort that in the best moments improve upon the already classic Listening LP! It looks like this just isn't going to go over with the TRL crowd, despite the Atlantic logo. The soul sample vibe ...

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 ...

A Sugar Hill party in one sweet little package -- 2CDs worth of music that features some of the biggest hits from the Grandmaster Flash generation, plus a few surprising bits from later years too! The package features a whopping 23 tracks in all -- one disc that mostly hovers around the early ...

Tanya Morgan's second proper album -- the duo's Moonlighting was one of the freshest, most soulful and resonant hip hop albums of 2006 in our humble opinions, and Brooklynati is even better! It's tough to describe Tanya Morgan -- the trio of Von Pea, Ilyas and Donwill -- without falling into soul ...

The classic first long player from Marley Marl! Marley Marl's infective, standard bearing studio genius graces all the tracks on this LP -- with performances by Craig G, Roxanne Shante, MC Shan, Master Ace, Big Daddy Kane, and Biz Markie. The set collected singles Marley produced for the above ...

Samurai hip hop funk from the RZA -- in his comfort zone with this second volume of soundtrack work for and inspired by the animated Afro Samurai series and video game! This is the kind of thing you'd think the legendary Wu Tang founder and sonic architect could spin in his sleep, but the truth is ...

What can we say? The Beasties continue their manic trio hip hop style mixed with the live jazz/funk/garage (as in rock, not house) sound and keyboards by Money Mark -- featuring a bunch of their classic material, and underappreciated album cuts. The Beastie could really do no wrong at this point ...

A round two knockout for Gnarls Barkley -- an album we think is better than the landmark St Elsewhere LP -- boisterous pop art & soul from Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo! We were slightly trepid when the Odd Couple was announced, fearing a hasty attempt to rekindle the magic that clearly caught ...

The most diverse tapestry of beatcraft from DJ Vadim to date -- with bits of dancehall and reggae rhythms, moody and percolating beatcraft, and a love of classic soul and boom bap -- with guest MCs and singers to bring it all nicely to funky fruition! It really does to take a producer/beatmaker ...

One of the masterpieces of mid 90s indie hip hop -- the classic Funcrusher Plus from El P & Big Jus -- a record that took an artier, icier and jagged production that would go on the a harbinger for the early Def Jux sound, even though this one was on Rawkus at the time! Includes "Bad ...