Hip Hop — Recently Added

The classic debut LP from the combined members of the legendary Hieroglyphics collective! For as long as individual members and like Del Tha Funky Homosapien and affiliated groups like Souls Of Mischief had been dominating discussions about Bay Area hip hop, you had to wonder how they'd rein it all ... LP, Vinyl record album

The Beasties' masterpiece – and one of the original nightmares for sampling opponents everywhere – the cut & paste hip hop classic Paul's Boutique! The Dust Brothers unapologetic way of weaving very famous samples with soul, funk and film score obscurities would steal the show if ... LP, Vinyl record album

What can we say? The Beasties rise to an even higher level with their manic trio hip hop style mixed with the live jazz/funk/garage rock sounds and keyboards by Money Mark – featuring a bunch of their classic hits and underappreciated album cuts alike. They could really do no wrong at this ... LP, Vinyl record album

Untitled Unmastered, though masterful material from Kendrick Lamar – another great stride in his astonishing mid teens creative win streak– a low key and low stakes release compared to the huge platform for To Pimp A Butterfly, but damn, it sure does resonate with a similar haze of ... LP, Vinyl record album

The much-hailed major league debut of Kendrick Lamar! Includes "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe", "The Art Of Peer Pressure", "Money Trees" with Jay Rock, "Poetic Justice" with Drake, "m.A.A.d City" with MC Eiht, "Singing About Me, I'm Dying Of ... LP, Vinyl record album

Kiefer bringing the funky hip hop instrumentals and keyboard jazz realms together as brilliantly as ever! What stands out so strongly here as how well it works as both hip hop and jazz – with thick bass-lined headnodding beatcraft, to standout piano and analog synth solos, he shows a deft ... LP, Vinyl record album

Black Milk has been one of the more soul reverent voices and producers in independent hip hop for quite while in the run up to DiVE (billed as an EP, but a generously lengthy one to say the least, with 11 tracks in all) – and really takes a head first dive even further into hip hop soul here! ... CD

The huge creative leap forward for Outkast – and one of the greatest hip hop albums ever! The duo laid some incredible groundwork with the debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, but this one is really their first (and stunningly, not their last) masterpiece. Timeless and soulful outer space ... LP, Vinyl record album

An appropriately titled effort from indie rap veterans Eyedea & Abilities – with their trademark battle ready, ferocious rap and hard hitting beats and production that leans on moody, fuzzed out rock breaks, but this is hop hop all the way, transcending period rap rock on all fronts. ... LP, Vinyl record album

A sprawling double album from DJ Shadow – still defying expectations and avoiding nostalgia decades into his career – covering a lot territory production wise, with a diverse roster of guests to suit! As much as his early work is heralded for its timelessness, Shadow in later years has ... LP, Vinyl record album

20th anniversary edition of Nas's masterpiece Illmatic – which will probably stand forever as one of the greatest hip hop full lengths of its time – maybe even for all time. Nas has had some creative ups-and-downs over the years, but nothing can take away the impact of this damn near ... LP, Vinyl record album

Mid 90s classic Fugees tracks get the remix treatment on Bootleg Versions – with worthy alternate mixes of some of the highpoints from their back-to-back milestones The Score and Blunted On Reality – seriously among the greatest successive album efforts in late 20th century popular ... LP, Vinyl record album

The second album, and even if it's not as dope as as the mythical Illmatic, but how could anyone hope to live up to those expectations? The Trakmasters come up with some nice beats, chided for being a bit on the commercial side by critics at the time, but they've aged a lot better than most street ... LP, Vinyl record album

Chef Raekwon cooks up one of finest hip hop albums in history – a standout moment in the Wu Tang canon and the 90s in general! Given Ghostface's presence throughout, the prime RZA production and other top shelf guests, you could almost call this one a Wu Tang Clan album, if not for Raekwon's ... LP, Vinyl record album

While the other standouts of mid 90s class like Nas, Jay Z and AZ drifted towards the mainstream street rap, Mobb Deep avoided that trend in this tight follow-up to their legendary Infamous debut! Their subject matter may not have evolved or expanded too much, but their strong production is top ... LP, Vinyl record album

The first and only volume from Tupac's Thug Life group – with Big Syke, Macadoshis, Mopreme, The Rated R guest appearances by YNV & Nate Dogg – raw street rap with an uncommonly soulful backdrop for the time! Thug Life came out in the midst of the early 90s gangsta rap media ... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the finest early efforts from Premier and Guru – they're second LP – and it's not only one of Gang Starr's greatest, it's one of the greatest hip hop albums of the era, period. Guru's mic presence is as sharply on point as ever here, and the Primo production is also at peak ... LP, Vinyl record album

The Beasties' peak-era, retro-style instrumentals LP! Even at their weakest vocal moments, we've always dug the Beastie Boys' firm commitment to funky instrumental backing – their albums are filled with lots of nice interludes, instrumentals, and backing grooves – but they often seemed ... LP, Vinyl record album

Nas's debut LP masterpiece Illmatic – which will probably stand forever as one of the greatest hip hop full lengths of its time – maybe even for all time. Nas has had some creative ups-and-downs over the years, but nothing can take away the impact of this damn near perfect slice of ... LP, Vinyl record album

The debut full length from Pete Rock & CL Smooth – and a bonafide hip hop classic if there ever was one – one of the best ever! Pete Rock's trademark mix of heavy soul, jazz & funk beatcraft pretty much set the bar to a level that's been impossible to top ever sense. On top of ... CD

The full length debut of Madlib as the Rock Konducta is a doozy – and 'Lib sounds as distinctly mad as ever – utilizing prog and psych samples, along with his usual bottomless reserve of funky building blocks, to craft one of his finest hip hop instrumentals sets in quite a while! The ... CD

A pretty great follow up to the previous hits package Retrospective – this one with many of the Tribe's OTHER hits, plus 2 previously unreleased nuggets! Alternate mixes, out of print soundtrack and 12-inch cuts, plus album tracks that weren't ingrained into the mainstream consciousness ... CD

Ill Bill's big, heavy and maniacally fun Black Metal – following the Non-Phixion era and bringing out La Coka Nostra – with appearances by Jeru The Damaja, Q-Unique, Sick Jacken and more. Includes "Black Metal", "Ten Wheel Drive", "Come One, Come All", ... LP, Vinyl record album

An early classic solo jam from Fat Jon – one of our favorite underground hip hop beat wizards in the immediate post millennium – and a more than ample effort that still sounds great today! Combining his Dyslexic and Stasis EPs, it features a trademark batch Fat Jon's chilled out hip hop ... LP, Vinyl record album

A hell of a comeback for Tribe Called Quest – maybe one of the best musical comebacks ever, and a fantastic reminder of why we loved the group so much in the first place! 18 years have passed since we last heard from the trio (now, sadly, a duo) – and that time only seems to have ... LP, Vinyl record album

A hefty collection of work from the legendary B Boy Records – maybe not the first indie in the world of hip hop labels, but a key imprint for heralding in a new generation of the music! B Boy is best known as the initial home of Boogie Down Productions – but in their short history, ... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Nas's sorta comeback record from the dawn of the millennium– a strong one at the time that still stands strong today! Stillmatic was a welcome change of pace after some not so great work in the later 90 – with the return-to-form rally cry "One Mic" setting the pace – ... LP, Vinyl record album

The late 00s REBIRTH of One Be Lo, aka One Man Army – with production by Texture, K Kruz, Memo of Chicago's mighty Molemen, Beanone, Vitamin D and 14KT. Tracks include "Rebirth", "Born N Raised", "Smash", "Headlines", "War", "House ... LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful tribute to A Tribe Called Quest – in case you can't tell from the title – served up through a variety of instrumental musings by Medline that almost feel as if they were scraps from the production room of Q-Tip back in the day! The music is awash in jazzy elements, and ... LP, Vinyl record album