Here's a cool new rock-tinged song from Outasight. It's part singing and part rapping. Check out Let's Go. Click the arrow on the right of the player to download.... Read more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr9U_LKvko0 Also, if you missed it, check out Part 1 of Where It All Began where Stic Man, Murs, Skyzoo, DJ Jazz Jeff, Kendrick Lamar and more talk about who first turned them on to hip-hop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoUtSAtz74... Read more
#5 Tommy Boy Records More than any other hip-hop record label on this countdown, Tommy Boy Records is noteworthy not for impressive stats or significant accomplishments of individual artists, but for the overall breadth and impact of its entire catalog. For more than 20 years, the label released hip-hop records... Read more
Here's a long interview of DJ Premier from HardKnock.TV. He speaks about creating his first classical music track, his relationship with Guru, doing a full album with Nas, collaborating with Slick Rick for the first time and more. Click here to download Need Some Bad by Slick Rick (and produced... Read more
Here's yet another hot new joint from Common's upcoming album, The Dreamer, The Believer. Check out Raw (How You Like It). The album drops on 12/21. Click here to download Raw (How You Like It). Also, here's a 5-minute true freestyle (strictly off the dome) that Common dropped over multiple... Read more
Stalley is back with new music and a new sound. He jumps on a track that sounds like a lot of the music that came out of the classic Black films of the 70s. Check out Stay Charged featuring Apollo the Great. Click here to download.... Read more
Skateboard P laced T.I. with a verse and a tough beat on Hear Ye, Hear Ye. Check out the video. Big Daddy Kane rocked over the same Albert King sample Pharrell used for the horns. Check it out below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIvFp8YLlsw Here's the Albert King original. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bpzxeF_1BzU... Read more
#6 Profile Records Founded in 1981 by Steve Plotnicki and Cory Robbins, Profile Records was the first label to establish hip-hop with the mainstream as an enduring genre. There had been some hit singles, previously, but Profile was the first record label to have a rap album certified gold (500,000+... Read more
Here's a soulful new joint from XV. His producer DJ Tech-Neek flips a Chaka Khan sample quite lovely. Check out Chaka Shao Khan. Also, be sure to catch XV talking about his early musical influences tomorrow night in part 2 of our documentary, Where It All Began (click here for... Read more
Curren$y dropped First Place a few weeks ago. It's his new song with The Jets and the first since they added Sir Michael Rocks to the group. Check out the new video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9xOVw_TVc&feature=player_embedded... Read more
Remember when the word "freestyle" actually meant rhyming off the top? Common does. Check out his true freestyle from a couple of days ago in Hartford. If you're home chilling, you can also check out the movie Freestyle here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epg-cnodvbk&feature=player_embedded... Read more
#7 Ruthless Records Ruthless Records, founded by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Jerry Heller, in 1987 re-defined rap music in several ways. The label was the first to put the West Coast on the map as a force to be respected in hip-hop. Before Ruthless, there were outliers like Ice-T, but... Read more
#8 Cash Money Records As we discussed in our entries about #16 Rap-A-Lot Records and #12 No Limit Records, the South currently runs hip-hop (and has for at least the last 5 years) and Cash Money is by far the most successful hip-hop record label to come out of the... Read more
Here's a tight new video from Stalley. It's for his song Go On, another gem from the Lincoln Way Nights project (which you can download for free here). Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgzDiyFVSo8&feature=player_embedded... Read more
Here's another hot new joint from KRS-One. Just like his last track, Just Like That, it was produced by Mad Lion. KRS' new album is sounding like it's going to be fire. Check out the video for AZTECHNICAL. He breaks down the math behind Mayan culture and the buzz around... Read more
...though he is a big part of it. #8 Roc-A-Fella Records EVERYONE knows that Roc-A-Fella records was the home to Jay-Z. He, along with his partners Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, founded the label back in1996 and Jay-Z repped the label as hard as any artist ever has represented... Read more
Here's some new heat from Crooked I. Check out Diamond in the Back. This may have been the inspiration from the title (if not, it's still a great listen). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcjYUvAsZwM... Read more
The Roots performed with Big K.R.I.T. last night at New York City's Highline Ballroom. Check it out below. Also, click here to check out our playlist of music from The Roots spanning the last 2 decades. You can buy undun here. Make My ft Big K.R.I.T. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Ir05jYMD7Y... Read more
In upcoming installments, you'll hear about other important moments in their journey to hip-hop. In addition to the above personalities, you'll also hear from Big Daddy Kane, Murs, Freddie Gibbs, XV, 9th Wonder, J-Live, Skillz, tabi Bonney, Statik Selektah, Fashawn and Rapsody in parts 2 -5. Stay tuned each week... Read more
Dres from Black Sheep and Jarobi from A Tribe Called Quest team up as EVITAN to put out a strong song about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Check out the video for P.T.I. (Occupy Wall Street). Salute to them for still making great music.... Read more
#10 Aftermath Entertainment In 1996, Dr. Dre was wounded from his departure from Death Row Records. He had virtually given up everything (ownership of his masters, future revenues and equity interest) to extricate himself from the madness that had swallowed up Death Row, not the least of which was the... Read more
Here's a dope track from an artist named yU called Blind. It was produced by Kev Brown so it's got that funk and knock to it. Check it out. Blind by yU... Read more
Big K.R.I.T. is the latest MC to participate in the 5 Fingers of Death series on the Sway in the Morning show on Shade 45. Check out how he flows over 5 beats below. Click here to download. Also, click here to check out Kendrick Lamar's 5 Fingers of Death.... Read more
Here's the latest track from Common's upcoming The Dreamer/The Believer album (in stores on 12/20). Check out The Believer featuring John Legend.... Read more
1982 (Statik Selektah & Termanology) and Reks each had strong albums last year. The two combine on a new 1982 song. Check out Play Your Role. Also, you can catch Statik Selektah and Termanology in our new documentary, Where It All Began, on Tuesday. Click here to see the preview.... Read more
Yo! MTV Raps is making a return for 1 night only tonight at midnight on MTV2, right after the Sucker Free Awards. To commemorate the event, Ed Lover got on the wheels at New York's Hot 97 to do an old school mix of music from the Yo! era (Nice... Read more
The Legendary Roots Crew's new album, undun, drops on 12/6. Although they have been around for nearly 20 years, it still seems very likely their best material is still ahead of them...and that's saying a lot because their past material is DAMN GOOD. In anticipation of the new album, here's... Read more
Terrace Martin dropped his new song with Kendrick Lamar and Wiz Khalifa a couple of months ago. Here's the video. Check out Do It Again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fmkIziXMSmg... Read more
Every journey has a beginning. Ambrosia For Heads' documentary Where It All Began is a look at the journey to hip-hop by many of its current stars, rising stars and reigning legends. For the next several weeks, starting next week, Ambrosia For Heads will show you where the love for... Read more
Long before Clive Calder built Jive Records into the pop music juggernaut that featured Britney Spears, Nsync, The Backstreet Boys, R. Kelly and Justin Timberlake, the label was the home to some of the most important acts in hip-hop. These artists achieved both commercial and critical success and some went... Read more
It's been a minute since Affion Crockett did a hip-hop spoof but he's back...This time he takes on Drake's Headlines and gives the title a whole new meaning. Check out the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DSVh8BNd_ps... Read more
#12 No Limit Records While Rap-A-Lot was the first major label to rise from the South, No Limit Records was the record label that put the "Dirty Dirty" on the MAP. No Limit established the South as a stronghold for hip-hop that many might argue has never been relinquished. Despite... Read more
Here's a video for Shady 2.0's 2.0 Boys. It features footage of Eminem, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Royce Da 5'9" and Yelawolf performing in Detroit (though the soundtrack is the actual recording, not their performance). Check it out below. Also, if you missed their cypher from the 2011... Read more
#13 Cold Chillin' Records Many people say the golden age of hip-hop was in the late 80's and early 90's. If you fall into that category, there's no doubt Cold Chillin' Records featured some of your favorite artists of all time (in any genre). In fact, many would argue that... Read more
Can't wait to hear that new Roots undun album? Say no more. Click here to hear a stream of the full album. Click here to see all 4 videos from the album. ... Read more
New tracks from Madlib featuring dope MCs continue to surface. Recently, his collabo with Freddie Gibbs, Thuggin', dropped. Here's another, with Blu. Check out ez. You may recognize the track as the one Black Star just rocked over on their new song Fix Up (but rumor is Blu's version was... Read more
Here's the latest video from Schoolboy Q. Check out To The Beat (F'd Up) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FRUR5kyK4-s... Read more
...but not because they didn't put out dope music. #14 Uptown Records Uptown Records did not make its mark with rap music, though it was founded by former rapper Andre Harrell (one half of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and was home to some significant rappers. Uptown Records was extremely... Read more
Last week, Common dropped his video for Sweet which was shot in Haiti. He solicited donations to benefit the country, in order to view the video. Here's a documentary showing Common's visit to Haiti which is still greatly suffering the effects of the earthquake that devastated the country nearly 2... Read more
Mary J. Blige, the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, returns with her new album My Life II. Check out the full version of her single, Feel Inside, below featuring verses from Nas.... Read more
The legends came out at the 2011 Soul Train Awards to pay tribute to Heavy D. Big Daddy Kane, Naughty By Nature, Goodie M.O.B. and Kurtis Blow performed some of Mr. Big Stuff's classics. Check out the video. Click here for our Heavy D tribute video playlist.... Read more
#15 Ruffhouse Records Ruffhouse Records is another one of those record labels where few outside the music industry knew the label, but EVERYBODY knew its artists. Ruffhouse was founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo who got his nickname due to his skills at chopping up... Read more
#16 Rap-A-Lot Records Not from Houston but I Rap-A-Lot...Long before Cash Money and long before No Limit, Rap-A-Lot records was the voice of hip-hop in the South. Founded by J Prince in 1986, the label put Houston on the map. That was no small feat given that rap music was... Read more