Maybe the most ambitious album ever recorded by Blu – a cool collaboration with Nottz that takes the duo's work into even more righteous territory than before – as you might guess from the album's cover and title! The title's reference to the homeland is very well-pointed – as the songs have a thematic unity that links past greatness with contemporary struggles, all delivered with a sense of focus and cohesion that almost makes the whole record feel like a lost nugget from the glory days of the early 90s scene! Guests include G Kidd, Scienze, Ayun Bassa, Black Shakespeare, and many others – on titles that include "Mama", "Marcus Garvey", "Mungu", "Jina Langu", "Kuwakaribisha", "Baba", and "Matunda Marufuku". CD

Maybe the most ambitious album ever recorded by Blu – a cool collaboration with Nottz that takes the duo's work into even more righteous territory than before – as you might guess from the album's cover and title! The title's reference to the homeland is very well-pointed – as the songs have a thematic unity that links past greatness with contemporary struggles, all delivered with a sense of focus and cohesion that almost makes the whole record feel like a lost nugget from the glory days of the early 90s scene! Guests include G Kidd, Scienze, Ayun Bassa, Black Shakespeare, and many others – on titles that include "Mama", "Marcus Garvey", "Mungu", "Jina Langu", "Kuwakaribisha", "Baba", and "Matunda Marufuku". LP, Vinyl record album

A very different record than previous releases from Mansur Brown – as the musician really takes the "mixtape" in the title seriously, and blends plenty of beats and production touches with some jazz instrumentation at the core! That instrumentation is mostly in the background – so that the record is less of a jazz-solo-over-beats affair – and more in that post-jazz approach that so many of Mansur's London contemporaries have unlocked – pushed even father here in the mixtape approach, with a vibe that's hinted at by the hip hop styled image on the cover. Titles include "No Way", "My Luck", "Fever", "Rise", "Me & You", and "Mission". (Jazz, Hip Hop) LP, Vinyl record album

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 – with production by the Neptunes, Jay Dee, ?uestlove and others, but it's definitely a boundary stretcher. The mood runs from Roots style soul bumpers to Hendrix and Eugene McDaniels style feedback heavy freakouts. There's a guest on nearly every track, mostly from the Okayplayer camp and NuSoul titans, including Bilal, Omar, Pharrell Williams, Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab and others. We won't lie to you, we miss the Chicago hip hop Common that kicked insight over raw and soulful productions, but you can't fault the guy for being an artist, and he really has crafted something original here. A great cover – a kind of rainbow drenched cut and paste photo collage of the contributors and inspirations with Com out front, sort of reminding us of Tribe's Midnight Maurauders, and even Sgt. Pepper. Tracks include "Ferris Wheel", "Soul Power", "The Hustle", the first single "Come Close", "New Wave", "Star *69", "Jimi Was A Rock Star" and more. CD

A record that bristles with all the best energy of the London scene in recent years – as Confucius MC provides lyrics over a mix of jazzy elements cooked up by Kwake Bass – not straight jazz at all, but music that mixes drums, piano, bass, and reeds in a mighty nice blend that echoes some of the more experimental reworks in the British jazz generation of late! Some tracks are more instrumental, which makes for a great balance in the recording – and the whole record has a vibe that's very different than any American hip hop projects of this nature. Titles include "Dance In The Dark", "CNS", "Greedy Drum", "Looking For What", "One In Three", "Eyes In The Tower", and "15 Minutes". LP, Vinyl record album

A lasting classic from Digable Planets, and a record that really helped push the bar forward for hip hop at the time – at a level that's still kept this one strong all these many years later! Digable Planets weren't the first group to bring in some influence from jazz to their work – but they definitely found the right balance here, and a way of setting things up that was real and organic, instead of maybe just a nodding reference to the past that always felt a bit out of place. The use of live instrumentation next to samples is also key to the record's sound – common now, but pretty important at the time, especially in a world of declining sample access. The trio of Butterfly, Ladybug, and Doodlebug have a wonderful way of tripping through the lyrics – and titles include "The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug", "Black Ego", "Dog It", "Jettin", "Borough Check", "Highing Fly", "Dial 7", "The Art Of Easing", "KBs Alley", "Graffiti", "Blowing Down", "9th Wonder", and "For Corners". LP, Vinyl record album

This is really some different sh*t. Divine Styler takes abstract to the next level, about as out as you can get and still be hip hop, if this is hip hop – playing a ton of instruments himself, and backed by a live band for the most part, singing and delivering spoken word as often as he's rhyming. We seem to recall something in an interview well after the fact about a lot of mind altering substances being dabbled in around this time. Includes "Am I An Epigram For Life?", "In A World Of U", "Love, Lies And Lifetime's Cries", "Livery", "Grey Matter", "Mystic Sheep Drink Electric Tea", "Width In My Depth", "The Next", "Euphoric Rangers", "Walk Of Exodus", "Aura", and more. CD

A wickedly sharp album from Earl Sweatshirt – a set that comes on strong from the very first notes, then keeps on with a tightness that really makes a nice difference from some of Earl's other albums – an approach that's maybe more compact in terms of the way the songs are laid out, especially compared to sprawling efforts from bigger names – at a level that shows that there's plenty to learn from the left side of the spectrum in hip hop! Production is by Black Noise and The Alchemist, Armand Hammer make a guest appearance on "Tabula Rasa", and other cuts include "Old Friend", "2010", "Sick", "Fire In The Hole", "Titanic", "Vision", "God Laughs", and "Lye". LP, Vinyl record album