VMP Magazine

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! 

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.

Peace and love, blessings to all the nerds and dweebs who read Guardian of the Rap, pining for some new drops from folks they’ve never heard. It’s the August edition, and I’m scaling down a bit to let us all breathe: This month, we got three. A little less noise, a little more focused, and a lot more with That Gay Shit. Deadass tho, tell your (** GOOD **) rapper friends to lace my inbox with that fie, it’s been a drought since I made the new Gmail. Archaic discovery format be damned, they cain’t stop me…

Welcome to the reboot debut of the Guardian of the Rap column here at Vinyl Me, Please.

Tl;dr for newcomers: I’ve recently surrendered myself to the floodgates of Blog Hell in an effort to shine VMP’s light upon independent MCs who need a look. I got tired of blurbing about rich niggas every month, and now we here. If all continues to go well, I’ll be shining light on five MCs a month in the spirit of the blogs I read when I was a teen backpacker incessantly clogging my hard drive.

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!

INT. - A CORNER OF THE INTERNET

*Note: Four fire albums dropped right at deadline time. Raincheck me on ’em.

GOTR: Black History Month Edition is presented by Vinyl Me, Please and sponsored by The Ongoing Surveillance State on Black Creativity

And now…

Observations from the Shittiest Black History Month in Recent Memory for Highly Visible Black People

Peace, God. Michael Penn II back with the first installment of Guardian of the Rap in 2019 a.k.a. The Year Climate Change Did the Dash. I spent my 25th birthday holed up with the Wingstop, on the verge of -40 degree weather, Chromecast down. Currently, it’s 37 degrees on the other side of the dial and walkin’ out with the coat open is an underrated delight. Perhaps the Midwest desensitized me more than I’ve assessed, and it’ll likely take the other end of my 20s to flesh that out. Either way, anticipate something else from GOTR this year: the January drop’s a lil light considering how the industry’s essentially asleep, but outside of the takeable major releases that hold my attention, I intend to shift my focus toward highlighting the shit that doesn’t have a budget. I’ll also have quicker, abbreviated takes on whatever noteworthy drops I didn’t have the time to ponder on; basically, rollover minutes because all our time’s limited, dig? It’d be way rawer to put folks on with this lil space I’ve carved in the internet. In time, you’ll see far more names you don’t know; I hope you trust me to dig and lift them up. Shit, I’m a rapper: Where’s our sanctuary?

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week’s album is Drake’s Scorpion.

Guardian of the Rap is our monthly rap column where our staff writer covers all the rap that’s fit to print. This month’s edition covers a single album, one we've been waiting on for seven years: Tha Carter V.

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 Future, the Internet and more.

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 Nicki Minaj's new album, and the best of the underground rap released this month.

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 a whopping 10 releases, from what was maybe the most packed month in the history of rap.