Hip Hop March Selection

V-Don & Estee Nack are undoubtedly two of the main top players on the US underground scene. The first, coming from Harlem, has no equal on the production machines, thanks to an unmistakable stylistic imprint, rough and gloomy, typically New York, which has allowed him to collaborate with the best underground MCs of the scene; the second,hailing from Lynn (Massachusetts), with a unique and exceptional style, flow and voice,  is certainly one of the most brilliant and original lyricists around. Their collaborative album BRAP arrives almost unexpectedly, but is immediately a candidate to be one of the best records of 2023.

The Great Escape by Larry June and The Alchemist is one of the albums we have probably been waiting more in recent years. The Alchemist hasn’t missed a beat for centuries, or maybe he has never really missed one. If by now he hasn’t entered your top 5 producers of all time, perhaps you have smoked too much and you are tripping too much. As always, our favorite Alchemist knows how to shape and transform his own sounds, shaping them according to who is in front of him, without losing their connotations. The symbiosis with the rapper from San Francisco, Larry June, whose praises we have been preaching to you for years, has been perfectly successful. The Californian rapper is still one of our favorite sources of motivation. His rap is a handbook and example of how to enjoy life, managing your finances better, adopting an “organic” lifestyle and staying focused on your goals.

They say the small “38 special” caliber revolvers are still the most reliable, so, equally, is the 38 Spesh rap. Forget useless jargon, if there is someone you can rely on for authentic street rap, for adults, without bulls*it and lies, the right person is this veteran rapper from Rochester (New York) . His latest project, “Gun Smoke” is pure street lyricism at its finest, where things are told as they are and where you can’t go wrong.

CONWAY, as a good leader he is, as Lebron to the Lakers, is trying to build a new team of shooters around him, giving them the exposure they deserve and helping the team raise the overall level to aim for the title. The vice-captain of the Drumwork team is Jae Skeese who is right now launched, thanks to the assists of the Maquina, to carve out, step by step, a role among the all-stars of the lyricists of the current American panorama. Pain Provided Profit is just a taste of the potential of the Drumwork team: 7 tracks where Conway The Machine and Jae Skeese exchange explosive bars, flanked, in some songs, by the rest of the members of the label led by the Machine.

The rapper from Rochester (NY), belonging to DaCloth, has often been featured in the pages of this pages in recent times, thanks to his raw rhymes, clean flow and an instantly recognizable voice. His cold and icy street rap, which is so reminiscent of Mobb Deep’s rap, rarely revealed fragility and personal problems. Along his latest album, Heal In, however Rigz opens up to his fans and listeners by revealing some more intimate episodes of his life, not least the problem with his vocal cords that could have prevented him from continuing to make music. Everything, obviously, without giving up the massive doses of raw and true street rap to which he has accustomed us in the past and which made us go out for Rigz.

The rapper from Charlotte (North-Carolina), Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, returns with a new project produced entirely by Buck Dudley, producer known for his frequent collaborations with Crimeapple. Jah Monte‘s unorthodox style and flow recall the brushstrokes of an abstract painter, who lets himself be guided by his own creativity and originality on the canvases expertly prepared by Buck Dudley. Surely Highly Favored will be a unique and totally different project from everything you’ve heard in this beautiful, musically speaking, March.

This recent wave of neoclassical underground Rap has become a tsunami, engulfing almost all continents. So we offer you this new dirty and rough project as we like it that comes directly from the streets of Caracas, Venezuela. In METAL, Lil Supa a.k.a Marc Ginale, 3M5 & Nichess One shoot raw rhymes like a metralleta, over beats as cold as metal and dusty as the streets of Venezuela.

Years ago we never thought we’d have to say it, but today in Italy we miss like hot cakes the braggadocio Rap, hard and outspoken, properly done, where the bars follow one another and make you exclaim “sheesh”. In Cagliari, Ibo Montecarlo and the Mentispesse have always been our favorite pushers of barre and ignorant rhymes, while the island’s producer, Dj Yodha, provides Ibo with the right raw beats to skewer with his own pattada-sharp rap.