For those of you who live in New York City, I recently stumbled upon a super dope weekly hip-hop show that I highly recommend checking out. It takes place Monday nights at Sin Sin (The Leopard Lounge), located at 248 E. 5th Street in East Village. This show was recommended by two lovely ladies, Miss Sara and Miss Susan.

Although I was told the show consisted of spoken word performances, which in my mind means poetry, it is actually a weekly freestyle session put on by NYC’s own Spokinn Movement. Around 11 p.m. every Monday night, a live band takes the stage with impressive frontman and lyricist iLLsPoKinN.

iLLsPoKinN possesses a unique gift for true hip-hop flow and lyrics, so much that it took me a couple minutes to realize he was actually freestyling everything off the top of his head. After a couple tracks, the band opened up the mic to any and everyone willing to perform, an act that allowed the crowd to witness around 30 underground MCs rocking the mic. Each possessed some level of skill, and most were above average MCs taking turns rapping about myriad off-the-dome topics. The show was quite entertaining and fun.

But most of all, Monday nights at Sin Sin represent true hip-hop to the extreme. There were no prepared flows, no negative vibes and, most of all, no one left out of the opportunity to grab the mic and show their stuff. Not often do you find a hip-hop show with all those characteristics. If you’re a follower of true hip-hop, or an underground MC looking to get a little live practice on the mic, check it out. You won’t be disappointed.