New York City has never needed champions. Mecca is the sun around which all other scenes & cities spin; nobody has to advocate for Ground Zero. That’s never stopped anyone from crushing themselves under the weight of putting all five…

Wish I knew what the real, secret name of this song was, but I can’t figure it out. Some things are better left mysterious. This is art, after all. 6LACK is often dismissed as an “industry plant,” but the reality…

Summer 2024. I was coasting into a Walmart parking lot a few miles from the Canadian border when I decided that rapper/producer Mike Shabb was a genius. Unambiguously. No qualifiers. That word has been abused mightily in the past decade,…

“If you still sleepin’ on Sleep then you smokin’ crack,” as AJ Suede puts it on the second track. Taste is subjective, but his diagnosis rings true: Sleep Sinatra has built himself a modest empire in the independent rap scene.…

Back around January, I was catching up with an acquaintance in the publishing space and mentioned I was contemplating writing reviews again, purely for fun. “Nobody is running album reviews anymore,” he generously corrected me, “that’s all happening on video…

Only one question matters: if you’re a fan of Da Beatminerz legacy, will this new compilation album disappoint you? The answer is “Fuck no.” Go cop it & enjoy it all summer long. That said, there is much to unpack…

Gangrene has always been One Big Fuck You, in the best sense. Their catalog is studio art from two top-tier producers trying to one-up each other on the beats, but the most ruthlessly violent competition they’re engaged in is against…

Being honest will get you places that bullshit artists will never live to see. I constantly counsel young artists to make their music more personal, more real, instead of doing cover songs & trying to imitate their favorites. In the…

When La Raza finally reclaims the American Southwest, it is likely That Mexican OT will be their first President. Perhaps Generalissimo? Halach Uinic, maybe? Who knows how it will all shake out politically, but this young man is a born…

Rap music is an artform that can only be evaluated in context. To me, Vermont is a small rural state that contains the majority of my memories, people & “lived experience.” To Baldacci, Vermont is a street in Los Angeles…