“He who walks his own path of greatness will never be ancient” – Lil’B Hip-hop has a bad habit of becoming habitually redundant. I almost liken it to a series of cliques, not unlike the ones you might find in any high-school themed movie. You have your urban-hipsters, backpackers, street…
Coke Boys, which for the sake of a long-winded explanation is a record label founded by French Montana and incarcerated rapper Max B in 2008, have sure seen some extraordinary ups, and heartbreaking lows over the 7 years. I mean, they are an imprint on both Bad Boy Records and…
There have been a mountain of indie artists with songs “produced” by Pete Rock on their mixtapes over the past 15 years – and almost as many had songs produced by Dilla. In the case of Pete Rock, many of the beats tend to all lead back to his monumental…
It’s a weird time in the history of hip-hop. The “next-up” generation of artists has been bred in a different climate. When you ask them about the old school, they mention names like Nelly and Young Joc – ouch! For this reason, many of the more “seasoned” (age wise) tend…
Some artists just keep it real – regardless of social and industry pressures. It can mean the inevitable fall of group’s who fail to play ball, so to speak; however some groups and artists thrive, and are able to remain fiercely independent. A few examples that come to mind are…
*This piece initially ran on February 18th: Brooklyn is a hip-hop, Mecca. Home to the likes of Notorious B.I.G, the borough has birthed some of the most thorough emcees of our time. This week I’m going to focus on one insanely underrated BK bred emcee, Pumpkinhead. Now known professionally –…
Welcome to AAHIPHOP Radio – a pilot initiative here at aboveaveragehiphop.com. We bring you dope monthly mixes, and give our unsigned submissions a chance to get some shine at the same time. We’ll be reserving 4-5 slots a month for some of the hottest unsigned submissions we receive here, as…
Don’t admire thieves… Hey, they don’t admire you – their times limited, hard rocks too. — Slick Rick Sometimes songs perfectly encapsulate a time, place or sentiment. While driving the other day, a song came up my Spotify Shuffle that I hadn’t heard in ages: Hey Young World by Slick…
