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The 10 Best Rap Albums Of 2023

As 2023 comes to its close, it is time to celebrate the best in Hip-Hop music. As is tradition, the Ambrosia For Heads team weighs in on our opinion of the year's best albums. For 2023, we present a tight list of 10—celebrating the best of the best in the Rap genre.... Read more

200 MCs Celebrate DJ Kay Slay On The Ultimate Posse Cut

Last year, Hip-Hop lost DJ Kay Slay. The Harlem legend passed away on April 17, 2022. His 40+ year legacy began with graffiti and evolved into him becoming one of the biggest mixtape DJs in the world. The self-proclaimed "Drama King" ultimately used his tastemaking skills as a record executive... Read more

Black Sheep’s $750 Million Lawsuit May Take Down The Music Business

One of the greatest Hip-Hop super crews is undoubtedly the Native Tongues. The New York City collective, reportedly masterminded by The Jungle Brothers' Baby Bam, would grow to include De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Leaders Of The New School, Black Sheep, Chi-Ali, The Beatnuts,... Read more

Skyzoo Has Released An Entire Album As Snowfall’s Franklin Saint

Skyzoo has been on a tear for the last five years in an already decorated career of elite lyricism and quality album-making. In that time, the Brooklyn, New York veteran MC released In Celebration Of Us, Retropolitan with Pete Rock, and 2021's stunning All The Brilliant Things. 2020 also included two standout EPs within... Read more

The 14 Best Rap Albums Of 2021…What Did We Miss

As 2021 comes to a close, it is appropriate to reflect on a remarkable year for Hip-Hop music and news. Although we did it slightly differently this year, Ambrosia For Heads shares our list of the best Hip-Hop Albums Of 2021. On episode #72 of the What's The Headline podcast—starting at 1:13:00—we list our... Read more

Skyzoo Explains How Phonte Talked Him Out Of Retiring

Earlier this month, Skyzoo released his latest album, All The Brilliant Things. Already named as one of Ambrosia For Heads' best of 2021 so far, the Mello Music Group LP is reportedly three years in the making. In a run that includes the Pete Rock-produced Retropolitan and 2020's standout The... Read more

The 10 Best Rap Albums Of 2021 So Far

As 2021 quickly approaches its midpoint, it is tradition to evaluate the year's best Hip-Hop albums—so far. So on the latest episode of Ambrosia For Heads' What's The Headline podcast, we did just that. As we did in deciding the best albums of 2020, the AFH team uses the platform to publicly discuss the best... Read more

Here Are Our 20 Best Rap Albums Of 2020

We can all agree that 2020 has been something else. But we can also agree music has been a godsend—especially Hip-Hop music. It has been a pivotal year for Ambrosia For Heads, after a decade of dedication to the culture. However—as we like to do about this time, AFH offers our annual list of... Read more

Who Had The Best Rap Album Of 2019 (Battle 9): Skyzoo & Pete Rock vs. Gang Starr

Over the last couple of years, Ambrosia For Heads has asked our readers to help us determine the Best Rap Album for 2017 and 2018, respectively. In looking at the top music of 2019, we believe that instead of letting the Grammy Awards—a committee who does not know anything about... Read more

Who Had The Best Rap Album Of 2019 (Battle 1): Skyzoo & Pete Rock vs. Smif-N-Wessun

Over the last couple of years, Ambrosia For Heads has asked our readers to help us determine the Best Rap Album for 2017 and 2018, respectively. In looking at the top music of 2019, we believe that instead of letting the Grammy Awards—a committee who does not know anything about... Read more

Ambrosia For Heads’ Top 15 Hip-Hop Albums Of 2019 List

It is that season when “best of” lists abound and, in a year that featured some remarkable music from artists across the landscape, 2019 kept Hip-Hop fans on the edge of our seats. There were reunions, surprise collaborations, and show-stopping debut albums. The year also featured innovative label compilations, unexpected... Read more

DZA, Benny & Pete Rock Are Releasing An EP. Here’s The 1st Song & Tracklist (Audio)

Life is too short to listen to bad music. So…let Ambrosia For Heads fight through it for you and only supply you with that great stuff. Despite the reports, Hip-Hop is alive and well and, in many ways, is better than it’s ever been. Not only are we able to... Read more

Skyzoo & Pete Rock Break Down The Making Of Their Brand New Collabo Album (Video)

Heads were gifted an outstanding collaborative album titled Retropolitan last Friday (September 20) by top-tier lyricist Skyzoo and legendary producer/DJ Pete Rock. The 12-track Mello Music Group LP (embedded below) celebrates Hip-Hop culture and the city that birthed it. As Sky' puts it, the project is a love letter that... Read more

Skyzoo Is Gearing Up For 1 Of The Biggest Albums Of His Career & It’s All Good (Video)

Skyzoo is embarking on one of his biggest albums in an already-decorated discography. Next month, S-K-Y and Pete Rock will release Retropolitan (September 20) on Mello Music Group. Both Sky and Rock have done some of their best work with a single collaborator. In addition to legendary work with C.L.... Read more

Skyzoo & Pete Rock Are Making A Collaborative Album

Last week, legendary producer Pete Rock revealed that he plans to release The Return Of The SP1200. Named after the iconic Emu Systems sampler, the compilation project will include beats that Pete says he made between 1990 and 1998, but never used. JayLib/Beat Junkies member J. Rocc will provide scratches... Read more

Which Of These Albums Deserves To Compete For Best Of 2018? You Decide.

Earlier today, Ambrosia For Heads announced our picks for the 15 Best Albums Of 2018. As we did last year, we are having you decide which one of these albums (or any one that we missed) is the album of the year, based on your votes in an NCAA-style tournament... Read more

Apollo Brown & Locksmith’s New EP Combines Lyricism With Personal Reflection (Audio)

Richmond, California native Locksmith has a knack for mixing witty lyrics with a flow that delivers his message with a punch. It serves him well as a battle rapper, but perhaps it's even better when he's constructing a body of music. These attributes are heavily on display in his newest... Read more

Skyzoo & Joell Ortiz Reunite For A Collabo That Is Brooklyn To The Bone (Audio)

ChanHays is a producer from Halifax, Nova Scotia and someone who likes to feature spitters on his high tech, boom-bap instrumentals. At the end of last year, he dropped his debut project, Here, which touted some legendary MCs. Everyone from Ras Kass and Pharoahe Monch to Elzhi, Masta Ace, and... Read more

Turntablist & Producer DJ Devastate Has Passed Away At The Age Of 35

DJ Devastate, a turntablist and producer known for working with several well-known Hip-Hop MCs and DJs, has passed away at the age of 35, per his friend and musical collaborator Matt Diamond. Born Per Ronge, Devastate, passed a day after he returned home to his native Sweeden from a DJ... Read more

Skyzoo & Raheem DeVaughn Hit The Bakery To Slice Some Devil’s Pie (Video)

If you haven't listened to Skyzoo's new album, In Celebration of Us, this first music video may be just the nudge you need. Both his 2017 projects, Peddler Themes and The Easy Truth with Apollo Brown, raised the lyrical bar in a time when it often seems to have been lowered.... Read more

Skyzoo’s New Album May Be The Crown Jewel In His Catalog (Audio)

Brooklyn, New York veteran Skyzoo has self-released In Celebration Of Us. With "Baker's Dozen" (an homage to D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie") making great headway, "Crown Holder" is the perfect follow-up punch. Like the Apollo Brown-produced first single, this track is laced by a past full-LP collaborator. This time it is !llmind (who... Read more

Skyzoo & Raheem DeVaughn Serve D’Angelo’s Devil’s Pie With Their Own Recipe (Audio)

Skyzoo has been in the Rap game for over a decade and a half now. Having worked with 9th Wonder, EPMD, and Spike Lee, the MC has devoted his career to sharpening his skills. The Brooklyn, New Yorker is prepping to drop an album, In Celebration Of Us (February 2) via First... Read more

Skyzoo & !llmind Make Boom Bap With Finesse (Audio)

Skyzoo & !llmind have made some very significant music together. The New York/New Jersey connect made 2010's Live From The Tapedeck collaboration, with a number of works on albums before, and after. Skyzoo’s New Video Plays Out A Childhood Dream Of Performing On Stretch & Bobbito’s Show "Finesse Everything" is... Read more

Skyzoo’s New Video Plays Out A Childhood Dream Of Performing On Stretch & Bobbito’s Show

Last month, Hip-Hop Heads rejoiced to learn that Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito The Barber are returning to radio, thanks to an NPR podcast. The move is the latest in a story that extends nearly 30 years, back to their post on Columbia University's WKCR airwaves. For New Yorkers and surrounding... Read more

Apollo Brown, Skyzoo & Stalley Are On the Grind For An Overdue Payout (Video)

With September's The Easy Truth, Apollo Brown and Skyzoo released one of 2016's standout Hip-Hop offerings, collaborative or otherwise. While the Brooklyn, New York MC and Detroit, Michigan producer have worked together before in the past, the LP is the pairing's largest body of work to date and cracked the... Read more

Skyzoo & Joell Ortiz Look At Some Of The Costs Of A Couple Of Dollars (Video)

Tomorrow (September 30), Apollo Brown and Skyzoo will release their first collaborative album, The Easy Truth. As the Detroit, Michigan producer explained to Ambrosia For Heads this week, the easy truth is what we are all fed, left for us to decipher whether it is truly real or false. One... Read more

Apollo Brown & Skyzoo Paint a Vivid Picture With Help From Westside Gunn & Conway (Audio)

Ten days from now, Apollo Brown and Skyzoo will bestow upon Heads a collaborative album, The Easy Truth. The two are arguably some of the best artists in their crafts, each capable of bringing vivid elements to their music through production and MCing, respectively. Arriving courtesy of Mello Music Group,... Read more

After Years Of Staying True To Himself, Skyzoo Remains Realer Than Most (Video)

Skyzoo is an MC whose music basks in reality. The Brooklyn, New Yorker may flirt with well-executed concepts (such as being Jay Z's enemy's son in a "Friend Or Foe" update) or paying deep respects to Spike Lee, but at his core, S-K-Y raps about his life uncompromisingly. This week,... Read more

Hip-Hop Took The Gold In August. Hear The Best Of The Month (Audio)

August was filled with the Olympics and some of the worst heat of the year, but it also brought some great Hip-Hop. De La Soul released their first album in 12 years, and it debuted at #1 on the Rap chart. Andre 3000 had some choice words for ghostwriters. Nas... Read more

Apollo Brown, Skyzoo & Joell Ortiz Spare More Than a Couple Dollars’ Worth of Inspiration (Audio)

On September 30, Skyzoo and Apollo Brown will be releasing a collaborative album, The Easy Truth. The Brooklyn, New York MC and Detroit, Michigan-based producer dropped its debut single earlier this month in the form of "One In the Same," which features Patty Crash, whose name will be familiar to... Read more

Skyzoo & Apollo Brown Have An Album Coming. Here’s The Striking First Single (Audio)

Apollo Brown has fancied himself the producer-to-see to give lyricists a new sound. Ras Kass stood as the illest Hip-Hop heretic in Blasphemy. Diggin' In The Crates legend O.C. got medals for Trophies. Random Axe's Guilty Simpson rolled big in Dice Game. Next up, Skyzoo will release a full-length project... Read more

Blu & Nottz Raise The Bar and the Volume With Their Titans In The Flesh EP (Audio)

A decade ago, Blu was one of the most exciting MCs in Hip-Hop. By 2007's Below The Heavens album with Exile, the Los Angeles, California MC perfected Everyman themes, with an original delivery. Fans took notice, and at the frontier of the digital age, took a Sound In Color release... Read more

June Was Full Of Great Hip-Hop. Here’s The Best Of The Month In 1 Playlist (Audio)

The month of June was the epitome of quality over quantity, when it came to Hip-Hop. There were fewer noteworthy releases than in any month of the year, so far, but those that penetrated were high-powered. Drake set the month on fire with one of his hardest rhymes in years,... Read more

Skyzoo Brilliantly Exacts “Revenge” On Jay Z On “Friend Or Foe Pt. 3″ (Audio)

Crown Heights Brooklyn MC Skyzoo grew up not far from the Marcy Houses that raised Jay Z. Although the two lyricists are more than a dozen years apart in age, S-K-Y always vocalized just how much S.Carter inspired his art and style. The extended, nasal bars, emphasis on brands and... Read more

Skyzoo Wrecks A Pete Rock Beat With A Dazzling Off The Top Freestyle (Audio)

Skyzoo The Writer has been writing and performing hard-hitting verses for a decade. On albums, it is not uncommon to see the Brooklyn, New Yorker dazzle with bars that are as close to symmetric as they can seemingly get. Flow is at the epicenter of many S-K-Y records, as the... Read more

C.L. Smooth & Skyzoo Have “Perfect Timing” With A Record Store Day Remix (Audio)

Today (April 16) is Record Store Day. One artist whose catalog has long been celebrated on vinyl albums is C.L. Smooth. With partner Pete Rock, throughout the early 1990s (and for a couple 12" singles in the early 2000s), the pair made sought-after Elektra Records wax. Today, the New Rochelle,... Read more

Duck Down Artists Old & New Celebrate By Performing The Hits, For 3 Hours (Video)

How many labels in Hip-Hop can get all of their artists over the last 20 years back together on stage? Duck Down Music (a/k/a Duck Down Records) celebrated its 20th anniversary this month. On B.B. Kings' Manhattan stage, founders Dru Ha and Buckshot Shorty celebrated this massive milestone accomplishment with a... Read more

Listen to the Best Hip-Hop of June 2015 in One Playlist (Audio)

June brought a number of welcomed surprises in Hip-Hop. Method Man announced he would be releasing a new album in August and dropped three new songs. Jay Rock also revealed his new album was coming this Summer, and returned with some of the best music of his career. Chris Rivers... Read more

Skyzoo Discusses His New Album and the Changing Landscape of Brooklyn (Interview)

2015 is a monumental year for Skyzoo. While the journey extends back longer, it has been a decade since much of the Rap consciousness first heard the smooth cadence from the Brooklyn, New York MC. In that span, Sky' has released and appeared on handfuls of acclaimed and charting albums.... Read more

Skyzoo & Westside Gunn Have Luxury & Lyrics To Go (Video)

Just a month removed from his headlining performance at the 11th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, Barrel Brother Skyzoo is bringing Brooklyn and New York City back to life yet again with his latest video, "Luxury." Stark black and white visuals boast simple, yet flashy imagery of Skyzoo and the gutturally... Read more

Skyzoo & Jadakiss Put Their Weight Into an Awesome Lyrical Display (Audio)

Skyzoo's Music For My Friends released a week early. Today (June 17), the Brooklyn, New Yorker let fans have it. For those unaware, Sky's self-released affair is largely based on his BK childhood and friendships. While he chose the microphone, some of Skyler's friends chose more literal hustles. The MC... Read more

Skyzoo & Elzhi Fold Hands & Dissect a Beat Together (Audio)

In the last five years (and truly, going back into the mid-2000s), Skyzoo and Elzhi are two of the most consistent do-it-yourself MCs. Brooklyn, New York—meets—Detroit, Michigan beyond Random Axe, as Sky' and El' freak "Hands Folded Together." The song features that linear, detailed imagery both rappers deliver regularly. The... Read more

Skyzoo’s “Music For My Friends” Documentary Opens Up His Circle (Video)

Now fully independent, Skyzoo's EMPIRE-distributed Music For My Friends arrives in less than two weeks. The June 23 album through his own First Generation Rich (FGR) company includes appearances from Jadakiss, Black Thought, and Bilal, among others. However, beyond just collabos, artwork, or titles, there is some very deep meaning... Read more

Common, Mobb Deep, Freeway & More Set to Perform at The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival

Ambrosia For Heads is proud to announce our media partnership with the 11th annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Kicking off July 8, and running through July 11, this year's series of events drives emphasis to the very spirit of Hip-Hop culture. 2015's gala includes performances by Academy and Grammy award-winning Common,... Read more

Think Suicide Doors Are Rap Lyric Cliche? Skyzoo Unlocks The Freshness (Audio)

Skyzoo Heads know that the Brooklyn, New Yorker lives in two worlds. On one hand, the onetime Jamla/Duck Down Records MC is a product of the underground. Sky' has a grassroots career that was built off of hot 12" singles, circulating his name through mixtapes, and working with a vast... Read more

Blu, Skyzoo & Kool G Rap Get Remixed By Large Professor, Diamond D & More (Album Stream)

Coalmine Records loves a remix. The Brooklyn, New York-based independent label mined their catalog, including joints from Blu, Heltah Skeltah, El Da Sensei, Guilty Simpson, Kool G Rap, Royce Da 5'9", Skillz, and more, and issued up some new remixes. The handiwork on the flips comes from the heralded likes... Read more

Skyzoo & Torae Are The Latest To Rap On DJ Premier’s Bars In The Booth Series (Video)

With previous sessions featuring Jakk Frost, Dres, A.G., and Loaded Lux, Session 7 of DJ Premier's "Bars In The Booth" video series features the Barrel Brothers duo, Skyzoo & Torae. Now a true duo, this pair found success in the late 2000s, working collaboratively with Premier, on 12" singles also... Read more

Termanology, Skyzoo, Torae & REKS Celebrate The Downtime (Video)

Termanology just dropped a new music video for "Get Away," a highlight off of his new album Shut Up And Rap, which was just released last month.  The song features guest appearances from some dope MCs, all of whom released new albums in 2014: Skyzoo & Torae, who released Barrel... Read more

Skyzoo & Torae Hit The Courts To Tell Us Why Their Jerseys Belong In Rafters (Video)

In a digital era, Skyzoo & Torae still believe that Hip-Hop (and all art) should be tangible. Talking about the physical artifacts of their culture (with lots of sports metaphors), "Memorabilia" examines how we honor our stars, which plausibly include these two Brooklynites. Shot in black and white, and featuring... Read more

When Diamond D Releases A New LP, It’s Kind Of A Big Deal. Check The Diam Piece (Album Stream)

This past week, Diamond D released his sixth solo album (fourth studio), The Diam Piece. The Empire-distributed LP from one of the keystones of the Diggin' In The Crates (D.I.T.C) family features Pete Rock, Talib Kweli, The Pharcyde, Tha Alkaholiks, Kurupt, Rapsody, Pharaohe Monch, Fat Joe and Freddie Foxxx, among... Read more