A fine entry in Atmosphere's Sad Clown Bad series – this one with a laidback, funky sound fleshed out by some piano tinkering and live bass. A worthy EP from Minneapolis's finest – a crew whose low key "soft" releases are tighter than most of the high profile product out there. Titles include "Sunshine", "The Number One", "Rftc", "Mattress" and "Don't Forget". LP, Vinyl record album

Cee-Lo Green gits up and gets out on his own – without the heavy burden of too many guest appearances – and the result may be the best album to come out of the Dirty South in quite a while! Cee-Lo's raspy, cotton-mouthed speak & sing style has always been one of the strongest attributes of the Goodie crew, and it's great to hear it stretched out over a fully-realized LP that is worthy of his unique talents. Sweaty, deeply funky, and a bit similar to the kind of material we used to expect from the Native Tongues at their strongest, but with Cee-Lo's unmistakable Cameo inspired croon out front. Includes "Bad Mutha", "Big Ole Words (Damn), "Closet Freak", "Live (Right Now)", "El Dorado Sunrise", "A Thug's Concern", "One For The Road", "Let Him Sing If He Wants To (Break)", "Suga Baby" featuring Big Gipp and Backbone, "Gettin' Grown", "Bass Head Jazz", "Microhard" featuring Jahalla and Kirland Underwater, "Under The Influence", "(Follow Me)", "Medieval Times (Great Pretender)", "Country Love", "Awful Thing", "Maintenance Man (Break)" "Young Man (Sierra's Song)", and "Well Damn, Lo (Break)". LP, Vinyl record album

The first of 3 LA EPs from Flying Lotus – rich, textural and sublimely soulful tunes from one of the more inventive soundscape makers on the Warp label! LA EP 1 features a couple of the best tracks from the fine Los Angeles LP, plus four worthy non album tracks that meld Asian string accented grooves, layers of crackling beats and synth, spare atmosphere and heavier dynamics when the mood fits. Titles include "Sleepy Dinosaur" and "Roberta Flack" from the album – plus "Rickshaw", "My Chippy" , "Paper Crane Gang" and "Interference". (New Grooves, Hip Hop) LP, Vinyl record album

The never-issued second album from Main Source – and a set that's a very worthy successor to their classic Breaking Atoms! As with that record, the production here is superb – Large Professor at his best, with all the right sort of early 90s jazz influence in the samples, balanced with the group's trademark bite and wit in the lyrics – all at a level that makes for a record that shoulda been a classic back in the day! The set's got a fair bit of interludes, maybe to space out the vocal tracks for the full length release – but given the production, and great ear for found spoken bits, they seem to further the delightful quality of the record, as on an early De La set. Titles include an uncut version of "Looking At The Front Door", an unreleased version of "Fakin The Funk", and the tracks "Hellavision", "How My Man Went Down In The Game", "Time (part 2)", "Raise Up", and "Bootlegging". LP, Vinyl record album

The never-issued second album from Main Source – and a set that's a very worthy successor to their classic Breaking Atoms! As with that record, the production here is superb – Large Professor at his best, with all the right sort of early 90s jazz influence in the samples, balanced with the group's trademark bite and wit in the lyrics – all at a level that makes for a record that shoulda been a classic back in the day! The set's got a fair bit of interludes, maybe to space out the vocal tracks for the full length release – but given the production, and great ear for found spoken bits, they seem to further the delightful quality of the record, as on an early De La set. Titles include an uncut version of "Looking At The Front Door", an unreleased version of "Fakin The Funk", and the tracks "Hellavision", "How My Man Went Down In The Game", "Time (part 2)", "Raise Up", and "Bootlegging". CD features the bonus track "Fakin The Funk (soundtrack version)". CD

Deep, thoughful and soulful hip hop from Mr J Medieros – produced with a lean, thumping vibe by Stro The 89th Key – with singing by Tara Ellis and a number of tracks. Mr J is doing his own thing on his own label, and it's solid, worthy stuff. Titles include "Children", "Last Stars", "My Own", "Holding On", "Apples Apples", "Brutus", "The Balance" and more. CD

Life is good, and so is Nas – and that's an understatement – as he's one of the most vital MCs of the early 90s onward! Life Is Good finds Nas in a somewhat liberated mode, though still rocking an Empire State Building-sized chip on his shoulder – and spitting charismatic vitriol at any target deemed worthy – but he's too smooth and too sharp of a lyricist for it come off as too ill-mannered. Good stuff from a legend. Includes "No Introduction", the standout "Loco-Motive" with Large Professor, "Daughters", "Reach Out" with Mary J Blige, "Back When", "The Don", "Stay", "Bye Baby", "World's An Addiction" with Anthony Hamilton, "Summer On Smash" with Miguel & Swizz Beatz, "A Queen's Story" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A once underappreciated later effort from the mighty Run DMC – with slightly harder hitting beats, and an overall tougher style – and it's ultimately the crew's last solid beginning-to-end LP! A worthy set that includes "Mary, Mary", "Beats To The Rhyme", "Run's House", "They Call Us Run-DMC", "Papa Crazy", the title track and more. LP, Vinyl record album