So you think you can rap? Then prove it! Introducing VIBE Verses – the world’s biggest rap battle ever – sponsored by Cingular, the new AT & T.

It’s free, and it’s so easy to enter. Just:

1- Go to VIBEVerses.com
2- Download free tracks
3- Upload your video rap over one of the tracks

And you could win $10,000, a recording contract, and your own promotional page in an issue of VIBE Magazine. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: May 9, 2007
  Website: Presence Website
  Label: Indie

Presence “Ready Your Ears” Album Review
I ain’t going to lie to you homie … I ain’t as cool as I used to be. Not to these hip-hop kids anyway. Two years ago, when this website was getting no traffic, no love and no props whatsoever, I would show up at underground events and open mic nights begging cats to give me their albums for review. No matter how wack you were, I would introduce myself, try to up my website, and write a review for your album just so you and your crew might start visiting the site. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: May 6, 2007
  Website: Documentary Website
  Director: Michael Wanguhu

“Hip-Hop Colony” Movie Review
Early in this documentary, there was an interview that jumped out at me. The interview was with Kenyan hip-hop star Kama, member of Nairobi’s Mau Mau Camp Records and the world-renowned group Kalamashaka, a group that is said to have helped paved the way for the Kenyan mainstream’s recognition of Swahili hip-hop. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: May 4, 2007
  Website: Dub Sonata Website
  Label: Illest-Rated Ent.

Dub Sonata “On The Arm” Album Review
When I was a kid, I remember hearing people attempt to discredit hip-hop all the time. A lot of musicians would especially diss the music, saying that hip-hop was a borrowed art form because it relied on a DJ who used other people’s records to make the music. Anyone, they would say, could put a couple old records on some turntables and make a hip-hop beat. (more…)

The Undisputed Truth tour featuring Brother Ali, Psalm One, OneBeLo and Toki Wright is now in full effect. I had the chance to see them perform last night at the Knitting Factory in NYC, and the show was off the hook!

Toki Wright did a great job as host, keeping the crowd in the show with his between-act performances and later as hype man for Brother Ali. OneBeLo got the crow started with a combination of new tracks from his highly-anticipated upcoming album and old tracks from the highly-respected “Sonogram” album. Psalm One set the stage perfectly for the head act with a bunch of hard-banging, crowd bumping tunes. And Brother Ali ripped it y’all, featuring songs from “The Undisputed Truth” and “Shadows On the Sun.” (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: May 1, 2007
  Website: Soul Logistics Website
  Label: Independent

Doug Evans presents “Soul Logistics Radio” Album Review
We don’t get a lot of mixtapes these days. And to be completely honest with you, I think I know why. Mixtapes are very difficult to make well. In most situations, you have a bunch of producers handling the bulk of the beatmaking, and like twenty emcees taking turns flowing over the various tracks. This often causes a lack of consistency and continuity within an album because either: (more…)

NYC underground MC Domer has released a video for “Eden Goes Dark,” the first release off of his recently-released album “Work With Me.” Created by Emma McNamara of Skipping Beats Records, the video is completely animated and revolves around the song’s concept of how human beings engage in smoking and other self-destructive behaviors that are leading to our own deaths. Check the video out below: