Fake For Real

It had been predictable: sooner or later, hip-hop would have turned progressive. This happened, indeed, by the late 1990's, as one of the major trends behind the indie rap movement. Only a few, however, represented as well as Mike Ladd did this willingness to anticipate the future, to go beyond rap...

Finally, Oddjobs' end had been a good thing. These rappers from the Midwest have never been as interesting as when they split into two new acts, the fire-raising duo Power Struggle, and Kill the Vultures. The Careless Flame, one of the latter's LPs, confirmed it. After they merged jazz and rap in a...

Jesse Dangerously always deserved more than the nerdcore label he's been associated with. Several releases proved this, already, where the Canadian demonstrated how funny, astute and good a rapper he was. And in 2011, our bearded and bespectacled white MC raised the bar even higher with Humble &...