Hip-hop is inherently competitive. Throughout its history competition has played a major role in the development of the genre, so it comes with the territory that fans will pick who they think is the GOAT. But through listening to this age-old argument from friends and people on the internet, I’ve found there is a discrepancy between the definition of the greatest rapper of all time and who is the “best”. Being “the greatest” takes into account more than just rap skill. There’s no rule saying that you can’t be the best if you’re the greatest, but it doesn’t often happen […]

It’s been a rough start to 2020, and everyone knows it. It’s easy to feel hopeless right now, you know, with that nasty germ that’s going around and everything. But there are things to look forward to. There is some fantastic music on the menu for this year. Here’s a short list of the releases that I’m most excited about. Some are confirmed (although no dates yet) and some are speculative, but all are a reason to get excited. Spillage Village It’s been confirmed, Spill Vill’s 4th album is coming in 2020. Spillage Village is a music collective made up […]

Mick Jenkins is one of those artists that I wish I knew about a long time ago. With a godly mic presence paired with silky smooth flows, Mick Jenkins has proved to be a force on the underground hip-hop scene.  From the Southside of Chicago, Mick has an introspective style that blends vulnerability and cockiness with ease. Its obviously impossible to articulate the skill and musical abilities of an artist like Mick with some words on a page, but to give you an idea of what he is capable of I’m going to briefly analyze two of Mick’s tracks; “P’s […]

It’s hard for me to describe how excited I am about Ari Lennox. On the heels of her first LP, Ari is an RnB/Soul craftswoman and is quickly becoming a force in the genre.  The Washington D.C. raised singer wrote her first songs under her Grandma’s porch at the age of 4, began performing at church as a young kid, and released her first mixtape, Five Finger Discount, in 2012. She continued releasing music online, and made her first connection with J. Cole’s Dreamville label in 2015 when she made an appearance on Omen’s “Sweat It Out”. Later on in […]

“Dreamville’s stacked like the warriors”, claimed rapper and Dreamville founder J. Cole back in 2018.  A year prior, Dreamville had signed their most recent artists, JID and EarthGang. The label’s roster was growing, and although Dreamville was a household name, the comparison to the Golden State Warriors seemed a little far-fetched to many in the hip-hop community. Then came Revenge Of The Dreamers III, the third installment of compilation albums put together by Dreamville. The recording sessions in January of 2019 generated a huge buzz on social media, and once the album dropped in July of the same year, the […]

You’re on your 10th commute of the week, scrolling through your music library and just can’t seem to find something to listen to. You decide to head over to the search bar and look for something new, but you have no idea what to look for. You scroll through some playlists that you’d like, but they’re full of stuff that’s already in your library. So what do you do? You settle for something that doesn’t excite you anymore. We’ve all been there. You know that there is a near infinite amount of music at your fingertips, but you can’t seem […]

EarthGang is an upcoming force in the hip-hop world. Made up of rappers, Johnny Venus and WowGr8, the duo from Atlanta has one of the most unique sounds in the game right now. Beaming with creativity, EarthGang really puts heart and soul into their music, and it shows. Besides the out-of-this-world sound and existential lyrics, what really sets EarthGang apart from the rest is how they create musical experiences for their listeners. To them, music isn’t something you throw on in the background while you’re studying or making dinner. It’s something that you feel, and something that you invest yourself […]