7/10 In real life, halfway houses serve as living centers for drug users and the mentally ill who are fresh from prison and other likely institutions. The troubled individuals housed there are monitored in order to properly reintegrate them back with normal society. Joe Budden can most certainly relate to that process.   Since his […]

Once again it’s on. Tale of the Tape is back to give you some direction on the mixtape game as we know it. This week gives us music from some interesting artists who have dropped from the radar from some time.  Heads may remember Roscoe P. Coldchain as the masked up microphone bully accompanying The […]

Back in the day, a cipher was a generally random gathering of cats who let the spirit take them and spontaneously busted out in rhyme.  A cipher could be spit a capella, to a beat box, or, if you were lucky, you had an instrumental in your boom box.   It was generally good natured […]

Hip-Hop and slam dancing are two things the average person would consider antithetical to each other. But for those who’ve been brave enough to attend a concert featuring Brownsville, Brooklyn’s own Mash-Out Posse, fans would tell you not only can slam dancing and Hip-Hop go together, but they blend the perfect street and rock-tinged aesthetic […]

What happens when the hardest working rapper in the game crosses paths with an up and coming West Coast representer straight from Watts?  That question is answered in this new release from Jay Rock Featuring Lil Wayne  on the track “All My Life.” I’ve never heard of Jay Rock before this, but Warner Brothers pulled […]

    Remember when DJ’s got their fair share of the Rap spotlight? DJ’s would often have their own set at shows and more importantly get a solo track to display their craft on their MC’s albums. Now fast forward to the present, most have been reduced to playing the back as b level radio […]

Welcome back to Tale of the Tape, your weekly destination for mixtape analysis. The ratings work like this, Heavy Rotation is superior product, and any Hip-Hop fan should enjoy it. Peep It means that has its moments, but some may just not feel it. One And Done is exactly that, fans should listen one time. […]

After a long layoff, the turbulence in both the Hip-Hop landscape and at his label, 8Mile’s finest returns with a little blast off at Sirus Shade45, where he dropped “I’m Having A Relapse.”  On again off again with Kim, a book by his momma, and a much ballyhooed attempt at rhyming by his brother has […]

Those countless interviews which mention the World Class Wreckin’ Cru as merely a footnote hit home for Alonzo “Lonzo” Williams. He’s read Dre’s biography and he’s heard all the NWA audio clips. According to this founder of the Electro-hop group that gave birth to West Coast Rap, Dr. Dre and others have distorted the story. […]

    As the U.S. Presidential race rounds the corner and enters its final stretch, what better time for one of Rap’s underground favorites to release his long-awaited major label debut. Fresh off this past summer’s Rock The Bells Tour and a hot 9th Wonder helmed mix-tape Sweet Lord, the L.A. native and Living Legends […]

Been mired in mixtapes recently? It’s not difficult; the amount of music coming out can get cumbersome. Every artist from your favorite Hip-Hop superstar to your local MC has music on deck for the masses. That’s why Tale of the Tape is around to give you the knowledge you need to keep your ears to […]

  The Black Mafia Family was not a record label at heart. It was a three hundred million dollar drug cartel. In this ASIS DVD Magazine documentary special, the cocaine-distributing conglomerate is fully exposed from its rise in Detroit to its subsequent fall from its nationwide network.   The forty-minute film serves more as a […]

    Dem Florida Boyz is hyped to be one of the hottest mixtapes out the sun shine state.  Hosted by DJ G Spot, the tape features Rick Ross and a plethora of Florida talent namely Brisco.  With all the competition in Hip-Hop and certain Southern regions feeling that there not being recognized for their […]

    The anticipation of new Madlib releases reaches far beyond the borders of Hip-Hop. With the California native being one of the genre’s most innovative and prolific producers; the eagerness for new material by his fans seems just to be natural.     WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip (BBE) introduces Madlib’s own fictional […]

    Every classic album has a story; a background that illuminates the preparation and sacrifices that are required to create a seminal piece of art. In the case of DJ Semi’s Ready To Die (The O.G. Edition), fans are taken on a journey that clearly shows there were clashing ideologies between B.I.G. and executive […]

    An unknown artist getting co-signed by Hip-Hop’s elite is like a well-known rapper marrying his child’s mother; it rarely ever happens. Massachusetts MC Termanology has managed to do just that via his popular Hood Politics mixtape series.   Upon getting endorsed by DJ Premier, it was a matter of time before the underground […]

  Where has Lloyd Banks been? When G-Unit was on top, Banks was everywhere. The Southside sharpshooter has been a ghost since 2006, appearing a few tracks at a time around G-unit releases.   Each of those verses showed glimpses of Banks in prime form. Thus, his first official mixtape release in two years could […]

    We Global. It’s a lofty statement for any artist to make, but for Miami’s DJ Khaled it is a just one of many. The radio personality has taken himself as well as his state of Florida onto the charts with a force. He has had a hand in the careers of Florida rappers […]

    While on hiatus Harlem Diplomat Juelz Santana caught the entrepreneurial fever which has led him to embark on numerous projects. One of his new ventures is his record label Skull Gang Records named after his new crew Skull Gang. In hopes of introducing the Skull Gang comes the latest mixtape, Skull Gang Takeover […]

After leaving his former recording home over financial woes, BG manned up and showed that there is indeed life after Cash Money. In the process he put together his own New Orleans squad to represent his new movement. Originally consisting of BG, brother Hakim, VL Mike, Snipe and Gar, the crew released We Got This […]