Music Reviews

Doodlebug Feat. D.O.R: Futuristic Sci-Fi

by Daniella Kohavy November 5, 2011 Music Reviews

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It takes courage and passion to release a solo project long after breaking the mold of a genre. Cee Knowledge aka Doodlebug, along with his fellow members of the now extinct Digable Planets, were credited for bringing true Hip Hop fans the ever-popular album Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space). And eighteen years [...]

Wale: Ambition

by Alex Edelstein November 4, 2011 Music Reviews

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For a while now, rapper Wale has been a bit all over the map with his releases. The recently minted Maybach Music Group signee busted through a seemingly limited D.C. Hip Hop scene with a series of intelligently crafted, culturally relevant mixtapes, leading to an Interscope endorsement for his full-length debut, Attention Deficit, in 2009. [...]

Torae: For The Record

by Jeff Leon November 2, 2011 Music Reviews

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How are you gonna leave your mark? How are you gonna let them know you’re alive? That question, from the introduction, set the tone for Torae’s debut For The Record. Since emerging on the scene half a decade ago, the Brooklyn emcee has put in serious work landing collaborations with people such as Skyzoo, Marco [...]

Phonte: Charity Starts At Home

by Uptown Bobby October 28, 2011 Music Reviews

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In Hip Hop, groups with three or more members are often given expiration dates before the first album even drops. The public is constantly comparing each member to the other and suggesting who should go solo. Eventually, they break up and that ‘’favorite’’ artist does indeed go solo. It didn’t take a psychic to see [...]

The Away Team: Scars & Stripes

by Alex Edelstein October 26, 2011 Music Reviews

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North Carolina natives Sean Boog and Khrysis have made a name for themselves both as members of the esteemed Justus League, as well as through their work together as The Away Team. With emcee Sean Boog’s raspy, underdog driven vocals paired with Khrysis’ varied but always hard-hitting production, the duo garnered acclaim for their debut [...]

Exile: 4TRK Mind

by Alex Edelstein October 25, 2011 Music Reviews

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Veteran producer/rapper Exile has had his share of noteworthy collaborations. Among his more heralded works are the underground favorites, Below the Heavens and Boy Meets World, on which he teamed up with rappers Blu and Fashawn, respectively, producing each work in their entirety. From these well-regarded collaborative projects, as well as his recent solo albums, [...]

DJ Drama: Third Power

by Andy Bustard October 24, 2011 Music Reviews

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With his third studio album and the first outside the famed Gangsta Grillz series, Third Power marks a transition into new Hip Hop trends for DJ Drama’s compilation roundup. Having dropped the title of the aforementioned series, cutting ties with Grand Hustle and Atlantic Records (distribution comes from E1/Aphilliates/Powerhouse Productions) and reducing the album length [...]

Statik Selektah: Population Control

by Michael Kaminsky October 23, 2011 Music Reviews

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You don’t get much busier than Statik Selektah. Since his last solo/compilation release, 100 Proof (The Hangover), Statik has released albums with Termanology, Freeway, Freddie Gibbs and Bumpy Knuckles. Two weeks following the release of Population Control, he’ll also be releasing Well Done, the highly anticipated Action Bronson collab. He also has a weekly gig [...]

People Under The Stairs: Highlighter

by Alex Edelstein October 18, 2011 Music Reviews

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Mainstays of the West Coast underground circuit since their emergence in 1997, People Under The Stairs are a testament to hard work and consistent performance. Despite the nearly infinite amount of talent turnover in the Hip Hop industry over the past 15 years, Thes One and Double K have been holding it down for Los [...]

Murs & Ski Beatz: Love & Rockets Vol. 1 (The Transformation)

by Michael Kaminsky October 17, 2011 Music Reviews

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Murs has been a solid presence in Hip Hop for over 15 years participating in its ongoing metamorphosis. He’s released albums with Living Legends, records on the now defunct Def Jux, three Felt albums with Slug on Rhymesayers, a one-album stint with Warner Bros, four 9th Wonder collabs (with a fifth announced) and now the [...]

Evidence: Cats & Dogs

by Michael Kaminsky October 13, 2011 Music Reviews

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Going solo is never easy — for the group or the solo artist. But in 2007, after eight years and five albums with the venerable Los Angeles based Dilated Peoples, Evidence released his first solo album, The Weatherman LP. Now three years since Decon put out The Layover EP, another statement from the Venice Beach [...]

9th Wonder: The Wonder Years

by Michael Kaminsky October 7, 2011 Music Reviews

In 2003, Jay-Z worked on what we thought was his hip hop farewell, The Black Album, with a group of his favorite young, up-and-coming producers (Just Blaze, The Neptunes and Kanye West) he’d been surrounding himself with since The Dynasty. But one more unknown at the time was making his first major appearance on The [...]

One Be Lo: L.A.B.O.R.

by Alex Edelstein October 6, 2011 Music Reviews

For those unfamiliar with Pontiac, Michigan native One Be Lo, he might be best described as something of a hip hop enigma. As a convicted felon turned social activist, Islam convert and recent resident of Egypt, Lo has hardly lived the typical life of an acclaimed artist. Between his work as a youth activist, emcee, [...]

J-Live: S.P.T.A. (Said Person of That Ability)

by Daniella Kohavy October 3, 2011 Music Reviews

In the past 15 years, J-Live’s amorous dedication to hip hop has not been an easy romance. Dare I bring up The Best Part, J-Live’s celebrated first album, which suffered from not seeing the light of day for over five years. After being shifted around among labels and facing rumors of leaking his own album [...]

Cymarshall Law & Mr. Joeker: Hip Hop In The Soul 2

by Michael Kaminsky October 2, 2011 Music Reviews

On 2008’s Hip Hop In The Soul, Cymar Simmons, better known to the hip hop world as Cymarshall Law, laid out his ‘hip hop mission statement,’ to listeners: “I’m doin’ this to represent the regular man, the regular woman—the 9-to-5 workers. My dudes in college. My dudes on the block. I’m doin’ this for anybody [...]

Terminal 3 Presents: The Academy

by Alex Edelstein September 30, 2011 Music Reviews

We’ve seen all-star compilation albums before. We’ve recently seen Kanye put together a hall-of-fame line-up of producers, emcees and singers to craft a musically diverse album highlighting the strengths of each artist. With Terminal 3’s The Academy, we are moving into complicated territory with respect to collaborative efforts. With fifty five emcees involved, the album [...]

DTMD: Makin’ Dollas

by Michael Kaminsky September 28, 2011 Music Reviews

EPMD (Eric & Parrish Making Dollars) were known for their funk-heavy East Coast hip hop. The latest artists to pay homage to the influential 90’s New York duo, DTMD (Dunc & Toine Makin Dollas) of Prince George County, Maryland, show their reverence of the name. Their sound recalls the late 90’s/early 2000’s Detroit—The ‘Age’ of [...]

Das Racist: Relax

by Michael Kaminsky September 23, 2011 Music Reviews

Das Racist, the Diplo co-signed, hipster-loved goofballs of underground hip hop — or as Despot describes them on the Danny Brown-featured track “Power” – “The hooligans whose tunes is too loony for the loony bin” — are back with Relax, an album full of laugh tracks, wack tracks and dancing ditties like “Happy Rappy” and “Booty in the [...]

The Weeknd: Thursday

by Michael Kaminsky September 18, 2011 Music Reviews

KN readers around the world, I come bearing good news. R&B now has a promising future thanks in part to the once relatively unknown Toronto trio The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye = the voice, Doc McKinney & Illangelo = the producers). Back with his hypnotically jaw dropping falsetto is 21-year-old Abel Tesfaye—the goods. Tesfaye comes out [...]

Blu: Jesus LP

by Morgan September 16, 2011 Music Reviews

Released discreetly under the moniker “B,” Jesus is not the go-to album for those looking to gain a familiarity or understanding of the multi-talented artist that is Blu. Jesus is youthful and creative, random at times, but progressive; a Lo-fi sample consumed playground of the sound and ideas that radiate and inspire the introspective Los [...]

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