Erick Sermon stayed largely quiet in 2014. The EPMD co-founder did play Mass Appeal's Rhythm Roulette, but the Long Island legend largely shunned output this year. In the last two weeks of the year, that suddenly changed with "One Shot." Almost 30 years deep in the game, E-Double offers up... Read more

Masspike Miles is not hip-hop but he did sing the hook on one of my favorite joints by Statik Selektah and Termanology (1982) a little over a year ago. Masspike is about to drop an album, Say Hello to Forever. Here's the video for Infatuated, off that project. The song... Read more

This one is a bit of a contradiction.  The incredible underground releases this year certainly contributed to the musical strength of the year overall, but underground rap is consistently pretty strong.  It's the hits that are more unpredictable.  That's confirmed just by looking at Soundscan sales info.  This year will... Read more