Artist: RhymefestTitle: Blue CollarRating: 4 StarsReviewed by: Max Herman As much as the masses love to cheer on a hustler turned rapper, Chicago native Rhymefest is living proof that you can make it big in the game even if the only thing you’ve sold on the corner is your music. ‘Fest spent years working random […]

Artist: KhiaTitle: GangstressRating: 2 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Sidik Fofana Sex is too raw for metaphors. At least according to Khia, whose 2002’s “My Neck, My Back”, branded her oral sex’s chief advocate. True, the song’s bass had clubgoers chanting “that one durr is a hit”, but by the time their alcoholic slur corrected itself, the […]

Artist: Various ArtistsTitle: SMACK: The Album Vol. 1Rating: 2 1/2 StarsReviewed by: John Burnett The S.M.A.C.K (Streets, Music, Arts, Culture & Knowledge) series is renowned for providing viewers with street journalism in its grittiest form. S.M.A.C.K. The Album Volume 1 CD/DVD continues the trend of past S.M.A.C.K. DVDs with a compilation of their signature street […]

Artist: Purple CityTitle: The Purple AlbumRating: 2 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Bill Zimmerman Just like their Dipset brethren, Purple City stays on their grind. Since dropping 2005’s Road to the Riches: The Best of the Purple City Mixtapes, Un Kasa, Shiest Bub and Agallah kept releasing a stream of mixtapes and a collaboration album with French […]

Artist: A-AlikesTitle: I Eat You EatRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Abran Maldonado Chuck D sets the tone for the album on it’s opening lines: “You cannot talk above the people/You can’t talk to the people/You gotta talk with the people.” A-Alikes’ K and Ness have achieved a great feat with their debut album, I Eat […]

Artist: ShawnnaTitle: Block MusicRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Eb Haynes Shawnna’s second studio album Block Music (Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam) paints a befitting mural for the street wise, former member of the disbanded girl group Infamous Syndicate. Gritty tracks such as the “Gettin’ Some Remix” which features Hip-Hop royalty, Too Short, Lil Wayne, Ludacris and […]

Artist: Louis Logic & J.J. BrownTitle: Misery Loves ComedyRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Dr. Zero It is rare for an album to be balanced. Most of the time, an artist will focus heavily on one element and neglect the other. For example, stellar sounds are sabotaged by bland lyricism. Or, top-notch verses are foiled uninspired […]

Artist: Video Game ReviewTitle: Table Tennis (Video Game)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Bill Heinzelman When Rockstar Games (of Grand Theft Auto fame) announced plans to produce an X-Box 360 exclusive title, fans jumped for joy. Then they found out the game was based on ping pong, ahem, table tennis. While Forrest Gump is the “sports” […]

Artist: Whoo Kid/Lloyd BanksTitle: Mo’ Money In The Bank Part 4 (Mixtape)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Jamiyl “J Boogie” Samuels Lloyd Banks is still hungry for more. Having the release of his anticipated sophomore album The Rotten Apple delayed, Banks has kept busy by setting the table for his summer release with installments of his […]

Artist: Kyra D. GauntTitle: The Games Black Girls Play: Learning The Ropes From Double Dutch To Hip-Hop (Book)Rating: 4 StarsReviewed by: Nadiyah R. Bradshaw “Oh, Mary Mack Mack Mack, Aall dressed in black black black, With silver buttons buttons buttons, All down her back back back, She asked her mother mother mother, For fifty cents […]

Artist: DVD ReviewTitle: Legend Of The Wu-Tang: The Videos (DVD)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Jason Newman Compiling all of Wu-Tang Clan’s videos on one DVD, Legend of the Wu-Tang: The Videos (Loud/RCA/Legacy) is an illuminating study in frustration. Arranged chronologically and covering every group release, what starts out as excitement over a new sound-sh*t, an […]

Artist: DVD ReviewTitle: Reality Check: Junior M.A.F.I.A. vs. Lil’ Kim (DVD)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Alejandro Mojado Ever since their “split”, one of the biggest Hip-Hop beefs has been going on between Junior M.A.F.I.A. and Lil’ Kim. This is related to perjury charges filed against Kim after her testimony in the now infamous 2001 Hot […]

Artist: DVD reviewTitle: Black and Blue: Legends of the Hip Hop Cop (DVD)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Sidik Fofana The premise of the movie Minority Report is that we would one day live in a world where we can predict crimes before they happen. If done by enhanced psychic photographs, this movement is simply revolutionary, […]

Artist: DJ Drama/Young DroTitle: Day One (Mixtape)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Alejandro Mojado DJ Drama and Grand Hustle are back at it again with another scorching mixtape. This time Young Dro is up to bat for the Atlanta based team with a better batting average than the Braves. For this outing, Drama and the self […]

Artist: Da MuzicianzTitle: Da MuzicianzRating: 3 StarsReviewed by: AJ Fresh Embracing “Snap” and “Crunk” is the hardest thing to bear for hardheaded “true Hip-Hop” fans venturing out of East Coast rap confines. However, the latest release from Da Muzicianz, Da Muzicianz (TVT Records), is a commendable effort that might help smooth the transition for Hip-Hop […]

Artist: Jay-ZTitle: Reasonable Doubt (Concert Review)Rating: 4 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Jason Newman “Is this Brooklyn’s house tonight?” As Funkmaster Flex warmed up the crowd before Jay-Z’s concert-come-tribute last night (Sunday, June 25, 2006) celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his classic debut Reasonable Doubt, it’s safe to assume Radio City Music Hall had never heard the […]

Artist: DJ Drama/Lil WayneTitle: Dedication 2 (Mixtape)Rating: 4 StarsReviewed by: Eb Haynes “I’m from a town where/everybody drowned and/Everybody died/But baby I’m still prayin’ wit ya/Everybody cryin but/Ain’t nobody tryin/There’s no doubt on my mind/that it was, Georgia…Bush!” Led by a passionate and highly ambitious Lil Wayne, “Georgia…Bush”, is by no means a typical anthem […]

Artist: Movie ReviewTitle: Waist Deep (Film)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Edwardo Jackson It’s summertime: the weather’s getting hotter, the skirts are getting shorter. So are attention spans and standards. If you’ve been waiting for a film that embraces all those big screen excesses that the summer months afford; time to wade in and get Waist […]

Artist: DVD ReviewTitle: The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (DVD)Rating: 5 StarsReviewed by: Sidik Fofana There once was an ocean of racism, from which we still feel the ripples. The ripples are such events as rappers getting banned from whole countries because they refuse to ride coach, and directors of expensive champagne companies making […]

Artist: Clinton Sparks/Busta RhymesTitle: New Crack City (Mixtape)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: The Closer New Crack City introduces the Aftermath-powered Busta Rhymes to the streets. Gone are the hyperkinetic hijinx associated with Busta in the past. Instead there is a grittier, darker, more conventional music; a stark contrast from his earlier New World Order apocalyptic […]