Mississippi's finest brings an old school Outkast/Pimp C southern vibe. This came out last May and it's still in the rotation in my car.

Stalley is an up-and-coming artist from Massillon, Ohio. Massillon is a rust belt town in northeast ohio best known for its power house football team and the subsequent documentary made about them called "Go Tigers." Stalley came out with an excellent mixtape called "Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music)" earlier this year. Check it out.

I'm back to the podcast. I've got 2 years of music that's been waiting to get posted, so I'll try to put out a couple songs a day. We'll see how long that lasts. Wiz Khalifa has grown on me. As a Cleveland guy, I'm not the biggest fan of Black and Yellow, but for some who pretty much only raps about weed Wiz is pretty good. His Kush & OJ mixtape is one of the quality rap mixtapes of the past couple years. Here's a single off his debut album "Rolling Papers."

I love these guys' energy. They produce quality music just about every time they come out with a new song or a new mixtape. Can't wait for a studio album from these dudes from Inglewood.

Off of De La and Nike's collaborative effort, "Are You In?" this song is supposed to help you runners out there to get up and get running. I'll keep that in mind when I try to get out there in the next couple of days.

This Stones Throw member put together a mix of a Baron Zen song which I've been listening to ever since I got back for the summer. Definitely check this one out

The men from Brooklynati give their rendition of "I Used To Love H.E.R." part II with Phonte singing the tracks. This ain't a girl song.

Love this hook: I start to think, and then I sink into the paper, like I was ink when I'm writin I'm trapped in between the lines I escape...when I finsh the rhyme

The Crown City Rockers incorporate a strong jazz influence in their music. The blend of this soothing music and MC Raashan Ahmad's unique rapping style make for an easy, laid back sound. I strongly recommend their 2nd LP "Earthtones" (2004).

Dope rhymes, dope production, I don't expect anything less from this hip hop group from Inglewood.

Fresh Daily's "Tomorrow Is Day" is out right now. Check out 2dopeboyz for the free mixtape.

This guy from ATL is TALENTED. Featured as one of the top freshmen in hip hop in 2009, Bobby Ray is creating a lot of buzz with his live concerts and singles with staying power. This song apparently is a promotion for some Reeboks but it samples Bonita Applebaum so I'm OK with that.

This hip hop duo from Long Island reminds me of a throwback group that mixes in modern production and sampling. This track is one of my favorites for the summer and the sampling for Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" is a big reason why.

Y Society = MC Insight from Boston and producer Damu The Fudgemunk from DC. This underground hip hop duo put together one of my favorite albums of 2007. I've been listening to "Travel At Your Own Pace" pretty often. Definitely recommend it to the hip hop heads out there.

This is my theme song for the summer. MURS brings it hard every time. I bet he'd do a great live concert.

This veteran hip hop duo from the Bay Area is coming out with their 6th LP entitled, "The Take Over." I must admit I was not a Zion I fan at all before I listened to this album but Zumbi and AmpLive switched up their style away from the hyphy/thizz music that has dominated the Bay for a while now. What I hear now is a diverse collection of music with smooth, soulful beats and socially conscious lyrics. "The Take Over" will be in stores on 2/17.

Off of their LP in dedication to the '99 Lakers, here's an ode to the second best player in the NBA after taking down the Celtics in Boston last night.

This duo from the Golden State put an EP out called "So True". This track just makes me want to go outside and walk around in the warm weather. Unfortunately it's only like 30 degrees in St. Louis right now but one can dream...

Q-Tip's return to the music scene this year was a special one. Not only was his album, "The Renaissance" well received by his critics, but rumor has it Tip will finally release at one of his two unreleased albums of a few years ago. Kamaal the Abstract. Can't wait.

Recently I came across a more soulful production of J Dilla than I'm used to on a vinyl called "Jay Deelicious: The Delicious Vinyl Years (95-98)". Most of the songs featured on here are remixes of The Pharcyde songs but there are a couple of soul/R&b songs with The Brand New Heavies and N'Dea Davenport. Dilla's music lives on.

This hip hop duo from DC released a remix album of their 2007 LP called "The Re Route," featuring remixes from some of my personal favorite DJs: Spinna, Damu the Fudgemonk, Nicolay, and Mekalek. Flashback to Stardom is my personal favorite but I think I already posted it in a mixtape a while back. Walk in the Park is my second favorite. Damu = the new Pete Rock!

French producer Dela's first LP called "Changes of Atmosphere" finally released worldwide this month. I've been following this guy for about a year ever since he came out with the mixtape, "Atmosphere Airlines Vol. 1", which reached a good amount critical acclaim - at least in underground hip hop. Last month he released a sequel to Atmosphere Airlines and had songs featuring Biggie, Talib Kweli, Supastition, Aloe Black, CL Smooth, J-Live, and more. Blu is one of the upcoming artists out of LA who's put together albums in his groups C.R.A.C. and Johnson&Jonson as well as a solo album in the past year and a half.

So one day I was scrolling through Rolling Stone's top albums of '08 and I came across "Dear Science" by TV on the Radio. I'd heard one of their songs (Wolf Like Me) on a Friday Night Lights episode a little while ago, but other than that I hadn't been exposed to them at all. Well after listening to this album from start to finish, I can see why critics are univerally regarding this album as one of the top ones of the year. I can't put my finger on what type of genre they are...and I think that's a good thing. They're indie, alternative rock, jazz, funk...I could go on forever. Just listen

Coinciding with the release of biopic Notorious in theaters, Astronote put together a mixtape of remixes of Biggie verses on fresh beats and featuring the likes of Puffy, Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, Junior Mafia, and Talib Kweli. The man is long gone, but one can still see the mark Biggie made on hip hop and its culture.

This is a few months old but it's almost a crime that I never dropped the first single off of might Mos' upcoming 4th solo LP called The Ecstatic. There are only a few artists who I anxiously wait around months in advance for their albums to drop. Mos Def is one of those artists. Both this single and his second single, Quiet Dog, can be purchased on iTunes.

It isn't often that you run into a rapper from a foreign land who discusses the pride and perils of his country through music. For those who don't know, Somalia is a northeastern African nation in the midst of a crisis where the president resigned, the government is in disarray, poverty is in abundance, and pirates control some of the country's main imports and exports. You can feel the passion in his voice.

Common and (autotune-less) Kanye with Neptunes production on the same track = instant classic. Even though I already have half the tracks, I CAN'T WAIT for Invincible Summer/Universal Mind Control.

I don't know who Fki is, but he's in the same group as Mickey Factz so he must be good. This song is so catchy and combines a couple of beats I'm really into so this gets an emphatic thumbs up. Watch out for more of the GCFNY crew.

Seeing as this is the first election I voted in and the first time I've been reading the politics section in the NYT daily, I must say Obama has invigorated the youth in this country. Here is a selection from King Coz which features a portion of Obama's acceptance speech from Grant Park.

What club music should be...but alas.

This song has this strange combination of indie singing on a hip hop beat, but I like it. It seems fitting then that Koushik's album "Out My Window" was published by Stones Throw, a record company known for its cutting edge hip hop production (see: Madlib, J Dilla)

Let's take it back to some real hip hop. I wouldn't call this song "feel good" music, but Jay Electronica spits some lyrical prose that I can't pass up. For those of you who don't know about this MC from New Orleans yet, you need to check more of him out.

The producer mastermind behind a lot of well-known sounds, check out 88-Keys' first LP "The Death of Adam"

I thought this guy was a rapper but he can sing too. It doesn't hurt to know some Spanish to appreciate this song. Beautiful music is beautiful music.

Who woulda thought the Presidency would be such a hot topic in hip hop. Obama '08

James Yancey's little brother is coming out with an album on the 4th called Yancey Boys. The album uses Illa J verses over Dilla tracks...not a bad combination if you ask me

Q-Tip is coming with a new album a week from now called The Renaissance. The former A Tribe Called Quest only has one official released solo album but has quite a resume to back him up. I've heard a few songs off the Renaissance already. Looks like this could be one of my favorites of '08 (though Fun DMC is still the undisputed #1).

2008 MTV Breakout hip hop group U-N-I gives a tribute to hip hop pioneer De La Soul with their own rendition of Stakes is high. De La's original was a classic, a 5-star track on my iPod.

I'll admit, I haven't heard a damn song Royce Da 5'9" has put out over the years but this one caught my attention. Doesn't hurt to have Primo produce your song, either.

From their mixtape Red and Purple vol. 1, Proton has a unique blend of hip hop, techno, and various other types of music. I guess you could call it hipster, whatever, enjoy.

Any song with Phonte featured on the song immediately earns iPod status for me. This song is just beautiful to me.

Talib rocked the place last night at WashU for WILD. Anyone who was there can attest to that. Here's a new joint with Talib and French producer Dela. Dela came out with the critically-acclaimed mixtape "Atmosphere Airlines" in 2007 and now has a new album called "Changes of Atmosphere". This production is flawless and really has a good vibe to it. Check out more of Dela at his myspace, see Talib/David Banner/Little Brother in concert if they come to your city, and support good music!

Here's an unreleased track from MC of the Bay Area's Crown City Rockers. This song is smooth "like the hot butter on the popcorn."

Phonte and Nicolay are back at it again, this time with a soulful LP called Leave It All Behind. This album is surely different than The Foreign Exchange's first one (most notably with the lack of rapping), but may be more memorable. Check it out...you won't be disappointed.

The PUTS 6th LP entitled "Fun DMC" is out in stores now! Well, not stores in St. Louis since I went to a FYE, Best Buy, AND Target and couldn't find a copy so I had to pick it up on Amazon. No wonder why we have a hard time getting them to perform here... Nevertheless, enjoy.

Madlib The Beat Konducta recently released WLIB AM King of the Wigflip. No matter what you think of him, Madlib's production style is truly unique. He alternates between several genres of music including jazz, hip hop, electronic, and others which I frankly can't give a label. Here's some R&B production for you.

I came across this song about a week ago after Hayes passed away. I've been listening to it every day since. It's a shame I'm just learning about him as he passed away. Nevertheless, the music lives on..

If the name itself doesn't bring to mind the late producer James Yancey aka J Dilla, then you should know this is his little brother. "We Here" is produced my Dilla himself and is part of an upcoming album called "Yancey Brothers". RIP Dilla

Self explanatory, lol.

I've been listening to this track nonstop for the past two days. In addition of being the original sample of Blackalicious' "Swan Lake", this is just a great song. Enjoy your summer Sundays.

Here's a smooth R&B track from the Brand New Heavies and arguably my favorite MC in the rap game, Phonte of Little Brother. This song will be on my iPod playlist all summer.

Vanilla Thrilla + Timmy T = The Odd Couple. This new group from St. Louis only has a few songs so far, but it's always refreshing to hear rappers talk about something I can actually relate to. Their beats are pretty good too. Check 'em out at Myspace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=377264036

With my second installment of "The Roots Week," here's one of the singles off of The Roots' third album entitled illadelph halflife. Like their second LP, this album was critically acclaimed as one of The Source Magazine's Best 100 Rap Albums of all time. Unlike their first two albums, illadelph highlife sounds much more like a gritty east coast album. Songs like Clones, Concerto of the Desperado, Episodes, and UNIverse at War are good examples of this change in style. But this particular song, "What They Do", is more along the lines of a jazzy influence. With Rafael Saadiq on the hook, the listener can just mellow out to the vibe for the long 6-minute song. The music video is even better because it pokes fun at the cliches in popular rap videos such as showing off expensive cars and girls dancing with little or no clothes on - not that there's anything wrong with that : )