Fake For Real

Originally, by the indie rap heyday, Lexicon had just been one act among many others, not too different from their underground peers. The only remarkable thing with these two guys from Los Angeles, was their proximity with people like Styles of Beyond, and also Subtitle. But then, by 2006, they released a significant EP, Rapstars, with a new kind of rock / rap crossover, in the Beastie Boys tradition.

GUCCI MANE - The BurrPrint: The Movie 3D

Italy's famous writer Umberto Eco stated it clearly in his books: innovation and novelty are recent concepts. They are also overvalued. What people enjoy, at the end of the day, is their complete opposite: it is the recurrence, the repetition, the perpetual return to the same forms. What they like is the infinite variation of one single pattern. It is obvious with movies, where cycles, sequels and reboots are becoming the norm with blockbusters. And it is also visible with rap music, with the continuous release of mixtapes offering to the audience what it already knows, instead of new artistic manifestos. And the rapper who understood this mechanism the best, the one who used it in the most systematic way, is obviously Gucci Mane.

YOUNG M.A - M.A The Mixtape

Until now, Young M.A. hasn't done much. She only released a few songs of her own, and mostly focused on freestyles. It is actually through one of them that her name started buzzing. Built on Nicki Minaj and Lil Herb's "Chiraq", rapped along a few of her RedLyfe PainGang buddies like Rell Markz and LA Danger, and renamed according to her borough, "Brooklyn" was a viral success. Thanks to it, the New-York rapper joined the historical Duck Down Music label – which was somehow logical considering this young woman's brash, virile and intimidating kind of rap.

HIDDEN FORTRESS - All That Is

The guys from Hidden Fortress may not be the most famous rappers on Earth. A few details, however, are providing us with some hints about the kind of hip-hop these guys from Vancouver are into: first, their 2010 album has been released by Hand'Solo Records, a label which may be one of the oldest on the indie rap scene – though not the most productive ever; and also, the featuring of some slightly more famous people, like the extravagant Japanese rapper Kaigen, the beatmaker Planit, a.k.a. The Dirty Sample, and Modulok, from the very dark Red Ants.

GUCCI MANE - Writing On The Wall

What does Gucci Mane do, when leaving his cell? Well, naturally, he delivers a new mixtape. Actually, even when he is imprisoned, he does it, his friends making sure that the numerous songs he recorded before are largely […]

COMPANY FLOW - Little Johnny From The Hospitul

One thing is certain: after their mythical Funcrusher Plus, nothing could challenge the iconic status of Company Flow, in the hip-hop underground. Their next album, though, could have rattled it. Actually, just when the […]

FUTURE - Monster

Those who still have doubts about why modern mixtapes are so great, or who wonder about why rappers give for free what, at the end of the day, are real albums, should consider Future's career. Twice, he's been the herald […]

GLUE - Catch As Catch Can

Eventually, Glue's discography would be short. Apart from a few singles, a tour CD, and an EP, Sunset Lodge, the trio would have delivered two albums only, across its career. Each record, though, was a strong one, and […]

SOSAMANN - Trap'd Out 2

You can't have missed them. The guys from the Sauce Factory, indeed, have been quite present over the last few months. They released several mixtapes, and were praised by locals like Slim Thug, as well as superstars like Drake. They are everywhere, and presented like the next wave in one of rap's biggest strongholds: Houston. The Sauce Twinz (Sauce Walka and Sancho Saucy), Sosamann, 5th Ward JP, Drippy, Rizzo, plus a few others, are coming from different places in the Texan city, but they all belong to the same new generation. They are the heralds of a new movement, a new sound, a new concept – all at once – they call "the sauce".

BUCK 65 - Man Overboard

Buck 65, a.k.a. Stinkin' Rich, a.k.a. DJ Critical, has been at the very center of the Halifax rap scene since the early 90's. With Witchdoc Jorun, he managed to unite the rappers of the capital city of Nova Scotia. With his radio program on CKDU, he helped fashioning his city's approach to hip-hop. With some iconoclastic references, he helped it building its own rap identity, until, with the help of the Anticon label and the single "The Centaur", he extended his fame and network beyond Canada, and became a central character on the international indie scene.

FACTOR - Chandelier

Originally, with his far-from-perfect compilations like Time Invested (2002), Factor seemed to play second fiddle in the Canadian indie rap scene. Sure, he had a big address book, including some key names of California's underground. But the simply looped voice, guitar or piano samples, which characterized his production style, were too formulaic; they sounded too often a bit inoffensive and lazy.

X-ECUTIONERS - X-Pressions

The triumph of rap has not always been beneficial to the DJs. While the MCs were becoming stars, they were pushed progressively to the background. And then, with the recording tools and methods becoming more and more […]

QUASIMOTO - The Unseen

In 1999, Madlib had introduced us to his alter ego, Quasimoto, on Soundpieces: Da Antidote, the underground favorite he had released with his band, Lootpack. One year later, he decided to dedicate a full album to this character, so that he exposes him a bit better and gives more room to his most extreme ideas. This proved to be a success, artistically speaking; the rapper and beatmaker released a strange, atypical and intriguing rap record, as hinted with its unusual cover art.

ILOVEMAKONNEN - I Love Makonnen

RESTIFORM BODIES - Sun Hop Flat

FUTURE - True Story

LEXICON - Rapstars