On Halloween-eve 2001, Farewell Fondle ‘Em dropped and signalled the end of an era. Fondle ‘Em, owned and operated by Bobbito Garcia (of Stretch Armstrong Show fame), dropped a series of vinyl-only gems between 1995 and 2001. A lot of artists and labels claim to be underground hip-hop [air quotation],…
This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the classic album Sittin’ On Chrome by Masta Ace Incorporated – a short lived group formed by Masta Ace shortly after the release of his debut album. To help put the album into context historically, this album dropped a year after Crooklyn…
“It’s just a good feeling sitting in the studio with Vincent and Kelvin…” – Trugoy, De La Soul Earlier this month, I received an email from De La Soul [I’m on their mailing list] informing me that they would be putting out their first album in a decade. It’s currently…
The 90’s hip-hop sound had a very specific sound/feel to it. It’s often duplicated, and many artists claim to be “bringing it back”…but it’s not that simple. The music we grew up on was driven less by money and overt commercial intervention. It was motivated by the love of the…
We put songs that we feel strongly about in, essentially, a better position to be heard. Nowadays artists have a sea of options to share their music, including services like Bandcamp and the ever-popular behest that is Soundcloud. Users can upload their songs to a profile, and freely share it…
“Back in the days I use to rock a troop jacket, me and everybody in my cabinet, we was shining, if you had the troop jacket you was grinding…” —E-40 – It’s All Gravity Hip-hop and fashion have been intertwined since the genre’s inception. From it’s “costumey” beginnings, to its adoption…
“This is not a serious academic study. This is an, like, ‘I thought it’d be cool on the Internet [project]…” – Matt Daniels, in a interview with NPR. Meet Matthew Daniels – a New York based designer, data scientist and hip-hop head. Also, he’s possibly the coolest guy ever, and I’m…
“Do what you want kitties! Live your life and don’t let anyone tell you how to live it!” —Laya LaRoche As a preface, I’ll say that the R&B game is quite funny sometimes. Things come in waves, which often leaves us with many artists who sound similar. Sometimes though, you…
