Posted on 04/22/2008

Over a million albums sold on the underground rap circuit, an international fanbase, and critical acclaim that seems to get bigger with every record release - Minneapolis hip hop duo Atmosphere have a lot to be happy about these days. Since their debut with 1997's Overcast!, producer Ant and emcee Slug have traveled the globe and earned the crown as one of the biggest names in independent hip hop with...

Posted on 04/17/2008
So it's Paid Dues third year. This is an event started by a rapper (Murs) and a promotion company on an independent label and was originally billed as an "informal birthday bash/video shoot/indie hip-hop showcase." That first year the location was even changed at the last minute. Contrary to what you may think, Paid Dues is as strong as ever. Cage, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere (Felt really) The Living Legends, and even impromptu appearances by El-P have...

Posted on 04/10/2008
It's the first night of the 2008 South by Southwest Music Conference, and Dizzee Rascal is far from his home in London. He's got a handful of performances scheduled over the next five days, including a spot on the UGK Family/Hot 93 bill and the showcase put together by Def Jux (the label that's distributing his latest release, Maths + English, in the U.S.), two high-profile slots on one of...

Posted on 03/03/2008

Wale is a rapper at a very pivotal and interesting point in his career. Undoubtedly the game's biggest unsigned hype, he's hustling hard. He's signed a production deal with Mark Ronson, got Lil' Wayne to appear on the remix of his song "Nike Boots," and just recorded with his idols The Roots. I had a chance to talk to the man himself for a few minutes and get caught up...

Posted on 12/19/2007
Skimming through Amanda Diva's career highlights is as exhausting a process as trying to describe Gang Starr's discography to a deaf person.  In the seven years since she burst into the poetry scene as a spoken word artist, the poet/singer/rapper has appeared on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam, hosted her own show on Sirius Satellite Radio, been the "face of hip hop" at MTV2 while hosting all of their programming...