The album may have decreased in monetary significance over the years, but few can deny the calibration it stacks onto an artist’s creative worth. Who can come the most original, pick the best beats, wedge through that sliver of possibility of reinventing the wheel, all of those ideals factor into who’s really running this rap ish. Read the rest of this entry »

Words by Jesse H.

Phife and Q-Tip had it. Big Boi and André 3000 have (had?) it as well. “It” in this case is chemistry, and it’s something that Clifford Smith and Reggie Noble have in excess. The two emcees, better known as Method Man and Redman, already have an established and impressive resume when they work together, a resume that includes a sitcom, a film and 1999’s Blackout!, an album that’s hailed by many as an underground class- well, you know the word.

That said, it’s been 10 years, an eon in the rap world, since the blunt brothers teamed up for the original, and now, they’ve finally returned with their follow up effort: Blackout! 2. Saying Hip-Hop has changed a considerable amount in the past decade is akin to McDonald’s® placing “caution: Hot!” labels on their coffee cups. So can the grizzly vets update their sound appropriately? Read the rest of this entry »

Road trip? BBQ cookout? Going fishing? Loungin’? Whatever the case, Statik Selektah (and Mixunit.com) has got you covered early with his Soundtrack To The Summer 2009. The materials await you. Read the rest of this entry »