VMP Magazine

For hip-hop culture, the turn of the 21st century marked several sudden dips into uncharted waters. A climate still reeling from the untimely losses of 2Pac and Biggie, and the remnants of the so-called East Coast/West Coast war, there were several vacancies in both coasts’ superstar pantheons. 

Freeway — born Leslie Pridgen, the titan from Ice City — is a man of Allah who’ll do it all to make the ends meet. A true technician with a hustler’s spirit, his North Philadelphia upbringing brought him from the lunchroom to the battle circuit to the world stage, marked by a full-throttle mic presence that’s unmistakably gruff and vulnerable, voice dancing between octaves and landing bars like heavyweights do body blows. 

We had staff writer Michael Penn II reflect on Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, which turns 10 today.

Moses Sumney, 26, is only interested in making people feel shit. Frankly, he’s interested in the presence or absence of feelings, and the tensions created by societal norms around which expressions of our feelings are encouraged and silenced throughout time and space. His music is interrogative, soulful, rooted in folk and difficult to define, but feelings and intimacy drive the core. Sumney revels in minimalism; he recorded earlier work on a four-track, focusing heavily on acoustics with choral arrangements centering his otherworldly falsetto into layers upon layers of what sounds like a fallen angel shrieking for help as he falls into an abyss he’s yet to name. It’s the same voice that’s spent the past few years captivating festivals across the country; with a loop pedal and perhaps one other person backing him, Sumney reigns a gentle supreme, facilitating enough exposure of himself and comfort in others to to leave his audiences stunned to silence and moved to tears.

VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring the self-titled EP from hip-house artist Channel Tres. You can buy our edition here.

This month, Vinyl Me, Please Rap & Hip Hop is featuring Nasty, Rico Nasty’s 2018 breakthrough album. You can sign up to receive our exclusive edition of the album right here.

Below, you can read an interview with Rico Nasty. We sent our staff writer, Michael Penn II, to interview her in a studio in Los Angeles in between tour dates and recording sessions. Here she talks football, being herself and how she got the Rico Nasty nom-de-rap.

Back in April 2018, our Essentials members got a special edition of Clipse’s 2002 debut LP, Lord Willin’. And now, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their sophomore album, Hell Hath No Fury is our November Hip-Hop Record of the Month. In case you’re new to Clipse — or an old fan using this excuse to remember the group’s other releases — here’s a primer on the best releases from the Thornton brothers.

Full disclosure: my father bought me a turntable during one of the Christmases I had during high school, when I was right in my purist phase and middle-class enough to ask for expensive shit like a turntable in the first place.

I disclose this because I never used the damn thing and it’s probably still under my childhood bed. Question my credentials if you want, but I know precisely what I’d cop to start my collection when I eventually exit the stage of freelance-broke-boy. Here are the 10 Best Underground Rap Albums you need to own on vinyl.

VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring Free Form Mixtape, the first full-length release from Minneapolis’ Dizzy Fae. You can buy her album right here, and read below for an interview with Dizzy herself.

Public Service Announcement: Effective immediately, Guardian of the Rap will shift its focus towards spotlighting artists who aren’t powered by major industry machines.

Aight, dig this right quick: you know July usually comes with the drought in this rap shit. Well, I clearly didn’t check the forecast of my inbox, cuz the streets were NOT flockin’ to the boy this time around. Early growing pains for a nigga who decided to blog in 2019? I dunno, dog, we could just blame the algorithms again? (Stale, but true.) Anywho… you know some shit I hate? How music’s disposable in the public’s imagination after a week of existing. We not goin’ for that at Guardian of the Rap: here’s a roundup of some underground shit that I know y’all missed on the radar this year. We sell late passes as well as $12 plates in the church parking lot after Sunday Service. Catch up to this fie shit and enjoy your window unit while you got it. One. - MPII

A reminder: If you got that fie, hit guardianoftherap@gmail.com for a chance to make it in next month. Read this post before you send that shit! 

What’s in a hud dreem? Is it the lifelong stride toward superstar status? Is it survival ’til a backyard and two-car garage? Can one ball out ’til the phone’s ringing off the hook? Ask Knxwledge, and he’s already in it: Three years after the Stones Throw release of his most coveted LP, Hud Dreems, he never deviates far from the routine. He doesn’t have time to think, and he’s not focused on the world… it’s these chops and this guap that’s kept him afloat through the noise.

To call him mysterious is both an understatement and a misnomer; he continues to release volumes of tapes, he’s worked with some of the most coveted MCs in the game, and he rarely does press at all. It’s a choice on how to manifest his presence via the work, rather than the dialogue around it. The Knxwledge ethos embodies an attitude of answering only to himself; no interference from anyone who’d compromise the vision that’s given him life and allowed him to thrive from a beat machine. Let him tell it, most of his good fortune has come from that unrelenting self-assurance, matched by a timing neither he, nor we, can control. Otherwise, if it ain’t good health, God, or music… no time for the extra shit. Much like his sounds, he wears minimalism like a crown.

As stated above, Knxwledge doesn’t do interviews, for real. He made the exception for me, a longtime believer in his wizardry. The following transmission happened via e-mail, straight from Knx’s keyboard to us. Enjoy.

Nick Hakim begins the FaceTime basking in the Wednesday gloom atop his building roof in Ridgewood, Queens. I attempt to do the same in Chicago, but soon we both retreat inside for fear of rain and lack of warmth. The loneliness of this global moment is a salient cliché: the thing we’re sick of, and yet the only thing we all talk about. But the pervasive questions of American excess continue to rear their ugly guts in the choices we make, and the choices made for us. As Hakim approaches 30 while dwelling in an infectious hotspot, he relies on the typical arsenal in the war of isolation: calling all the homies, safe visits with his brother, hugging the block with caution. Or, leaving all things on read until he can focus and preserve his energy. He also knows which 24-hour delis are still open, how far away they are, and the cost-risk analysis of how a 20-minute walk for rubbing alcohol may register as the peak of a fool’s errand.

Welcome back to Good Convo, Vinyl Me, Please's interview podcast that puts the content into context.

Guardian of the Rap is our new monthly rap column where our staff writer covers all the rap that’s fit to print. This month’s edition covers Rae Sremmurd, A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Pusha-T and more.

VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring BANBA, the new EP from Chicago rapper Ric Wilson. You can buy our exclusive edition over here.

There is an absurdly vast selection of music movies and documentaries available on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go and on and on and on. But it’s hard to tell which ones are actually worth your 100 minutes. Watch the Tunes will help you pick what music doc is worth your Netflix and Chill time every weekend. This week’s edition covers The Carter, which is streaming (and downloadable!) over on Vimeo.

’Twas a simple recommendation (before recording our ARTHUR episode) that initiated our host into the otherworldly nature of 454. Almost a year later, and the artist born Willie Wilson is poised for a breakthrough by making hyperdriven rap influenced by everything from footwork to early Rvidxr Klvn. His 4 LIFE mixtape served as introduction for many fans and tastemakers, but Wilson’s shy and humble aura glows through the screen from his Bushwick bedroom. For every smile, there’s a shade of the darkness he endured that molded his purpose. In this episode, 454 and Michael detail how place informs his process, the transition from Orlando to NYC and everything that fuels him in chasing the unknown for all to enjoy.

Photo by Braylen Dion

To witness the gifts of serpentwithfeet is to witness an immeasurable gratitude to the legacies before him, and an incomparable style emanating from himself. His voice commands the room, his melodies haunt and delight within seconds, and his star’s rising with every dazzling performance. He’s also an Old Bay advocate and a purveyor of the power of corniness. In this episode, Michael and serpent connect for the second time (first published — Michael lost their first interview to tech errors three years ago). Within, the duo discuss DEACON, the necessity of community and how to balance love and rage.

Let Gangsta Gibbs tell it, most people ain’t know not a damn thing about Gary, Indiana, until Michael Jackson passed away. And sources say, MJ — once he became MJ — ain’t know much about it, neither. Be that as it may, Gibbs knows, and he’ll remind you every chance he gets. So the story goes like this…

Every week we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week, we’re discussing the new EP END OF THE EARTH from rising experimental rapper MAVI.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week’s album is Nightmare Vacation, the new album from Rico Nasty.

Gabriel Garzón-Montano lives to occupy whomever he must be as each moment requires: globetrotter, heartthrob, loner, lover. Now, he’s arming himself with the sounds and stories to become the popstar symbol of his dreams.

VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring Shadow On The Wall, the debut EP album from TATYANA.

Photo by Nwaka Okparaeke

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week’s album is Heaven to a Tortured Mind, the new release from Yves Tumor.

Considering gangsta rap as a social contract, the speakers we elevate are granted conditional entry based on the perceived authenticity of their stories. In the context of U.S. rap music, the process takes root in the ongoing commodification of Black trauma as the lifeblood of entertainment. One’s authenticity is measured by their involvement in illicit activities, proximity to the struggles of poverty, and their abilities to articulate these conditions in a palatable fashion. Time and again, survivors of traumatic conditions parlay artful renditions of their experiences into the soundtrack of the American Dream; to the victor goes the spoils, while the memories remain. The most premium trauma lingers everywhere we fraternize: the car subwoofer, the regular club, the strip club, the schoolyard. These efforts come in many fashions, tempos, and accents. Nevertheless, it’s either real, true, trill… or fake, fugazi, cap. As time elapsed, the boundaries of this spectrum became far more fluid and conditional on their own.

In April, members of Vinyl Me, Please Rap & Hip-Hop will receive the first-ever vinyl edition of Rick Ross’ Teflon Don, the Miami rapper’s breakthrough LP, which is still considered his masterpiece. You can learn why we picked this album below.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week's album is A Written Testimony, the overdue debut LP from Jay Electronica.

The latest guest on our interview series Good Convo is El-P, whose I'll Sleep When You're Dead was Vinyl Me, Please's Rap & Hip-Hop Record of the Month in February.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week’s album is Eternal Atake, the new album from Lil Uzi Vert.

The rockstar lifestyle sometimes looks like five young Wisconsinites, bundled in blankets on an L-shaped couch, and bassist Raina Bock placing her pot of miso soup in rotation to cut the edge off a frostbitten Sunday morning. The soup’s complimented by a little weed, some wool and plenty of weariness on their faces.

In January, member of Vinyl Me, Please Essentials will receive a 10th anniversary edition of Bitte Orca, the landmark 2009 album from Dirty Projectors. Our new edition — the first vinyl reissue of the album — comes on clear vinyl with red and blue blobs, and in an expanded 2-disc edition including live and bonus tracks. You can read our interview with frontman Dave Longstreth about the making of the album here, and read below to learn more about why we picked this album.

In March, members of Vinyl Me, Please Essentials will receive Caroline Rose's Superstar, the brand new fourth LP from Caroline Rose. Coming on hot-pink vinyl and in a tip-on jacket, this is Caroline's strongest album to date, and the latest great album from one of the most beloved artists in Vinyl Me, Please headquarters. We'll have an extensive interview with Caroline running on the album's release date, but read here for more on why we picked this album.

This month, members of Vinyl Me, Please Classics will receive an exclusive 180-gram edition of Patrice Rushen's Straight From the Heart, her pop smash album that would go on to infamy when its biggest songs were sampled by rap producers. This new edition was remastered AAA by Peter Beckmann at Technology Works, and pressed at QRP on 180g black vinyl. Head here to read our new liner notes, and read below for why we picked this album.

In December, members of Vinyl Me, Please Rap & Hip-Hop will receive Raising Hell, the landmark third album from the legendary rap group Run-DMC. Remastered from the original tape and pressed on neon-green vinyl, it can’t be missed. You can read below for why we picked this record, and sign up here.

I’m not a listicle individual, a blurb nerd, NONE OF THAT. In fact, we’re not even ranking these anymore. Why? For what? If it’s fie, it’s fie!

Thirty-three years after the release of Raising Hell, Darryl McDaniels, 55, still speaks with the flair and conviction of the man he was back in Hollis. They’re decades apart, yet never far from home; he’s a King of Rock, a recovering addict, and a tireless advocate for mental wellness and anti-whatever hell the system’s up to tomorrow. He speaks of the past with such an unflinching clarity: He’ll be the first to tell which Run-D.M.C. albums were trash, how many 40s he could throw back, how he walked the brink of suicide, and what hip-hop is and isn’t. We recently caught up with McDaniels for an interview; this is an extremely truncated version of our talk with him: In a couple weeks, our talk with McDaniels will be an episode of Good Convo, our podcast interview series.

In December, members of Vinyl Me, Please Classics will receive Lucille, a 1968 album by B.B. King. The album has been remastered from the original tapes and pressed at QRP on 180g vinyl, with a tip-on jacket. You can read an excerpt from our liner notes here, check out a best-of playlist here, and read below for why we picked this record. Sign up here.

Welp, y’all niggas got me. That blog shit don’t work no more. Streets is done.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week's album is Jesus Is King, the new album from Kanye West.

Born Erica Abi Wright in Dallas, Texas, in February 1971, Erykah Badu gravitated toward the power of performance from her youth. Immersed in a household of theatre and music, inspired by the women who raised her, Badu found solace in singing and dancing through her childhood, eventually picking up the art of rhyme in her teens as she gravitated toward the cypher, hip-hop climbing from the boroughs to the world. She was on the Black b-girl timing, freestyling on the radio and crewing up with her classmates. She changed the Erica to Erykah during her time at Booker T. Washington High School, abandoning what she believed to be a slave name. Badu came later, as inspired by a jazz scat sound she adored.