Reviews

On the start of Summer Knights, Joey Bada$$ lets us know he’s the “reigning champ, hailing from Flatbush, Brooklyn...” This grandiose, yet soulful introduction leads you to believe that there will be similarities from his highly regarded project, 2012’s 1999. As it plays through, S...

"We ain’t supposed to never have nothing/We ain’t supposed to never have shit,” Wale raps on his third LP. The MMG rapper speaks about his come up as if he’s still living that experience. You really can’t fault Wale for that. After his Interscope debut A...

In April 2006, before the start of T.I.’s legal troubles, DJ Drama introduced the world to Grand Hustle affiliate Young Dro with Day One. Dro, a wordsmith with a somewhat gargled country drawl, charmed listeners with witty wordplay and unmatched confidence. The ...

J. Cole could have called his sophomore set Confessions Of A Born Sinner. The hour-long offering plays like a recorded rip of a confessional box sit down with Jermaine, who pours out his signature “from-the-heart-shit” throughout the album’s 16-tracks. And while there’...

From the May 1 announcement of Kanye West's sixth studio album Yeezus—via a subtle Tweet from West simply reading "June Eighteen"—fans and critics knew it was going to be a different album, reflecting Kanye's ascension to rap godliness. Without re...

It’s been two years since Mac Miller released his debut album Blue Slide Park. The Pittsburgh rapper first burst on the scene as a teenager with boom-bap aspirations, only to be written off as a tween favorite and the white boy rapper du jour — a far cry from the “Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza” Mac Miller who rocked Lord Finesse’s “Hip 2 Da Game.” That stigma didn’t sit too well with Mac, w... Read Mo

Amid the drama that’s surrounded him in recent years, Prodigy’s music took a turn for the worse, digressing into something that sounded uninspired, and at times bored. After last year’s scattershot—and downright cringe-worthy at times—H.N.I.C. 3, Prodigy looked to r...

Winner of the Houston Press Music Award’s Best Underground Hip Hop award from 2008-2010, Fat Tony’s been steadily building a rep as one of the more unique and talented young MCs out of post Swishahouse H-town. On his newest LP, Smart Ass Black Boy, the 25-year-old teams up with longtime producing partner in crime Tom Cruz. Smart Ass Black Boy ...

After working exclusively with Party Supplies on 2012’s Blue Chips and then Alchemist on Rare Chandeliers, Action Bronson tapped longtime collaborator and NYC whiz kid Harry Fraud for his latest body of work, Saaab Stories. For Bronson, even with the steady brilliance and brash wit that made the aforementioned projects so enjoyable, Fraud’s production matches his laconic delivery in a way that oth

Alley Boy follows a long line of southern real-life storytellers like Scarface, Lil Boosie and Yo Gotti. One of Alley’s favorite activities is calling out rappers whose rapsheets don’t match up with the gangsta personas on wax, like he did on “Your Favorite Rapper” with Pusha T and “I Want In”, which took shots and Jeezy and T.I. On his latest mixtape, War Cry, ...

The name DJ Mustard might not ring a bell to the casual consumer of hip-hop, but they’ve almost certainly heard his trademark drop “Mustard On The Beat Hoe.” Despite only having taken up beats less than four years ago, the DJ turned producer is responsible for several top 40 smashes in recent years, most notably Tyga’s “Rack City” and 2 Chainz’s “I’m Different”.  Recently, he produced and co-wrote

Sir Michael Rocks’ post-Cool Kids career is a work in progress. The Midwest native has released a handful of well-received mixtapes in the last year two years in addition to aligning himself with Curren$y’s Jet Life imprint, though neither have fully materealized in Mikey becoming the solo star he’s likely aiming to become. His anticipated ...