Showbiz & AG — Goodfellas

The second LP by Show & AG is produced mostly by Showbiz, along with Lord Finesse, DJ Premier, DJ Roc Raider and Dres. The guests are Lord Finesse, Diamond D, Ghetto Dwellas, Wali World and Method Man.

Godfather Don — Hazardous

Godfather Don released his debut album in 1991 with Select Records. The production is among the best of the year, tight and jazzy-funky, a well-done boom bap that reflects the NY scene of the early nineties, made by Godfather Don, who proves himself capable on the mic, with an excellent smoothness and rapid flow and a delivery that can vary.

KRS-One — Prophets vs. Profits

Return to form for KRS, which after the gospel album releases a self-published mixtape, consisting of thirteen short tracks, about thirty-four minutes. Production is created by KRS-One, Da Beatminerz, Milann Miles, Rick Long, A-Sharp, Pleasure King, Alumni, J-Roc, Mad Lion, Jim Bean, Soul Supreme and Vanguard. There are no guests, the production is competent and basically flex-free, boom bap with a good choice of robust drums and samples. The South Bronx MC sounds more inspired than the previous effort, revitalized by the feud with Nelly (the young man used "#1" as a title of a song, which is a crime in Parker's mind, for some reason), and delivers bars energetically and effectively in this half hour. In Europe it comes out as "Prophets vs. Profits", while in the US it's published by Koch with the title "The Mix Tape" and a revised tracklist, being welcomed with the favors of insiders and becoming one of the first hip-hop mixtapes to hit the Billboard charts. Fans may find several tracks of interest, even if the tape is far from being an essential listen even to know the rap of the 2002 season. 6/10.

Showbiz & AG — Soul Clap EP

The first project released by the duo Showbiz & AG, passed under so many reissues and new formats and today's also known with an eponymous title, the EP's a clear New York effort.

KRS-One and The Temple of Hiphop — Spiritual Minded

Lawrence Parker shocks his core of fans and a year after returning to the circuit, he releases a gospel rap album: is his fifth solo LP and is credited to KRS-One and the Temple of Hiphop, with a title referencing his 1988 debut with Boogie Down Productions. The rapper approaches Christianity, after having heavily discredited it over the years, coming to define it as a "slavemaster religion". The disk is lyrically weak, dominated by a production that sails worthily in the first half, with hard and acceptable rhythms, collapsing in the second part, plagued by bad music and lame hooks. KRS-One produces six tracks, the rest are done by Pastor BB Jay, Bervin Harris, Cookies and Cream, Douglas Jones, G. Simone, Domingo, Terry A., DeeJay Tine-Tim, Chase, Darren Quinlan, and Calvin Tibbs. Guests are T-Bone, BB Jay, Fat Joe, Rah Goddess, Rampage, and Smooth B. Distributed by Koch Records, the product is received in a mixed way by critics and audiences, ending up far in the rap chart, and better among independents and gospel records. Not recommended. 4/10.

Yelawolf & DJ Muggs — Mile Zero

Collaborative tape between rapper Yelawolf and producer DJ Muggs. Consisting of 9 cuts and 36 minutes of listening, the project is based exclusively on the goodness of the soundscape chosen by Muggs and the contribution of guests, including B-Real, Caskey, Del tha Funky Homosapien and DJ Paul. The producer linked to Cypress Hill invents solid rhythms, certainly not his best this year or this month, but they're good: light boom bap composed of accessible minimal drums and melodic samples, some dark, some ethereal, others returning relaxed vibes. On these kinds of beats, the best guests keep the mixtape afloat ("Privacy" is a street lamp in the grayness), while Yelawolf remains your typical generic mc, he doesn't necessarily sound bad most of the time, but neither too good, he doesn't seem to commit, aight, I don't care. Muggs did a job worth listening to here, 6.2/10.

The Alchemist — This Things of Ours EP

Short project by The Alchemist, a producer who's still in shape and riding the last waves of the new mafia undertows: the title doesn't reflect the content of the tape — it's exclusively recalled by a sample of "The Sopranos" — as much as the cover, which is clearly typical of a jazz album.

Bravehearts — Bravehearted 2

Shabby LP to make even more money than before. Wiz leaves the duo and Nashawn takes his place to join Jungle, in a family affair. Nas appears in "I Want It", on the worst beat on the tape, made by LES, a guy from whom you can't expect such a poor level of rhythms. Money Machine makes most of the production, its choices are among the worsts of the year. Jungle is still thug, Nashawn is still thug, this time it doesn't work. The material is excessive, 56 minutes, 15 tracks. The guests are a lot of unknown friends, except for the young Cory Gunz and G-Wiz aka Wiz, the former member of the group. There's no Sony, there's no Columbia, there's no Nas. The record comes out on Ill Will Records and doesn't sell. Never recommended. 1/10.

Snoop Dogg — From tha Streets 2 tha Suites

Snoop Dogg releases an album on 4/20 for the first time. The rhythms are chosen by several of his historical collaborators, such as DJ Battlecat, Rick Rock, Soopafly and Nottz, among others. Guests are Prohoezak, Mozzy, Kokane, Larry June, Big Tray Deee, Goldie Loc, J Black and Devin the Dude. The project is ignored by critics, it's now five years since the experts have forgotten the existence of Snoop Dizzle. Now, even the public turns their backs on him: distributed by the independent Create, the tape doesn't enter any charts, for the first time after 18 studio albums, almost 30 years in the industry. It's one of the few times in which the boy guesses the number of tracks and the amount of time, nevertheless, the material is quite boring, generic and forgettable, it seems made up of discarded tracks from his previous albums: he performs in an uninspired way on a bland (at times, decent) production that mimics a bit of West Coast subgenres, from g-funk to mobb to hyphy. Eastsidaz is back in "Fetty in the Bag", I don't care. Not recommended, 5/10.

KRS-One — The Sneak Attack

Fourth solo studio album by South Bronx rapper KRS-One. The author makes eight rhythms, his brother Kenny Parker is credited as a producer of four songs, Domingo has three, Grand Daddy I.U., Jazzy Jeff of Funky 4+1, B.J. Wheeler, Fredwreck and Mad Lion contribute with a beat each. The album has no guests. KRS finds its own way with conscious, bravado, hip-hop lyrics, played with a decent style and muffled by a selection of minimal and simplistic, weak and uninspired music. Published by Koch Records, it's received in a positive but lukewarm way by critics, carving out its own space in the charts, in particular, the record becomes the last to reach the top 50 among the pop releases, the top 10 as a soloist in the rap chart and the only one to reach the first place, that of independent records. Consisting of an hour of material, nineteen tracks and several skits, the product is decent, even though it was the weakest in its catalog at the time. "HipHop Knowledge" is one of the highlights, Domingo guesses a production on which KRS sounds good. 6/10.

Conway the Machine — La Maquina

For his second project of 2021, the third appetizer of his major debut, Conway returns to his roots with a half-trap mix-tape. He makes an effort of 11 songs and about 41 minutes of listening: after an almost solo first section, 2 Chainz, Ludacris, JID, Shots, Elcamino, Jae Skeese, 7xvethegenius, Westside Gunn and Benny the Butcher arrive. In production, there are JEAN BLEU, JR Swiftz, Bangladesh, Maneesh, Cardiak, Sean Momberger, Don Cannon, Murda Beatz, The Alchemist, Motif Alumni, Cozmo Beats, CuBeatz and Daringer. Supported by the production of some talented guys, The Machine shows his dynamism again, focusing mainly on gangsta, thug and vicious bars.

Yelawolf & DJ Paul — Slumafia

Second collaborative EP between Michael "Yelawolf" Atha (rapper from Gadsden, Alabama) and Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard (producer from Whiteheaven, Tennessee). The effort, the second of four weekly releases in April '21 for Yelawolf, is a follow-up to their previous collaborative '13 EP "Black Fall". DJ Paul produces the tape entirely, which features Badd Wolf, Big Henri, Bray, Gangsta Boo, Seed of 6ix, Caskey and Pretty Shy as guests. In these 32 minutes divided into 8 cuts, DJ Paul carries on the EP with a good southern melodic trap production, while Yelawolf spits bars with a light-hearted style most of the time. The guys who hail from Memphis performed in a great way, overshadow the lead rapper with their super-fast styles in the title track, Yela still believes he's Em and performs an extra verse that does nothing but wear the cut down. Good performance by Caskey in the final choice. 6/10.

Conway — 50 Round Drum [mixtape]

In 2016 is released this 50-track compilation mixtape by Conway the Machine, featuring songs from other projects, freestyles, loosies and features.

Hus Kingpin — The Threesome EP 2: The Art of Sex

Sequel to the EP released the year before, it never hits those levels, either due to cheaper than usual production, and due to a less inspired performance. Macapella, Prynce P, Chin Beats and yes, Buckwild too, are involved in the creation of the rhythms for this twenty-minute tape divided into nine songs. The midtempo drum falls weak and static on the melodic samples, while Hus spits out monothematic bars with a slow and lazy style, with a few really good moments. The beat chosen by Buckwild immediately stands out from the rest, also because it pays homage to Dilla in "Runnin'", while Hus seems to want to do his best impression of Pharcyde, at least for a few moments. The production, already not excellent, drops in the final, rising with the glossy-glittered beat of "Forget Your Past". 6/10.

Memphis Bleek — Coming of Age

Malik Cox grew up in the Marcy Projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York and was next door to Shawn Carter. Carter makes his way with the pseudonym Jay-Z, Cox chooses Memphis Bleek and makes his debut in "Reasonable Doubt" (1996), Jay-Z's first album, appearing on both "Coming of Age" and the bonus track "Can I Live II". Both choices aren't the cream of the album, but that's not enough to stop Bleek's rise, which continues its journey on the circuit through the soundtrack of the movie "Streets Is Watching" (1998) and guesting on Jay-Z's high-profile albums ("Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life", 1998), Foxy Brown ("Chyna Doll", 1999) and Ja Rule ("Venni, Vetti, Vecci", 1999), before releasing his debut album.

Kid Sensation — Rollin' with Number One

"You can't find / They don't do this type of rap anymore", once a man, I think named Johnny, replied to this type of statements with "there must be a reason..." and, in fact, there's a reason. I don't go down to unquestionably low-end judgments like "this rap sucks" or "it's dated like a crazy horse", but it certainly isn't for everyone.

Thug Life — Thug Life, Volume I

Around 1992, 2Pac formed his own rap group with his friend Randy "Stretch" Walker, known through common knowledge of the Digital Underground group and Crips gang member Tyruss "Little Psycho" Himes, later known as Big Syke. These three recorded the song "Thug Life" in 1992, the following year Tupac decided to name his group Thug Life (acronym for "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody") and includes Diron "Macadoshis" Rivers and Walter "Rated R" Burns. The group signs with Interscope Records and later welcomes the addition of 2Pac's stepbrother Maurice "Mopreme" Harding.

Achozen — Achozen

This is more or less what the eponymous debut album of the group Achozen was supposed to be, there's the mastermind of RZA behind this project.

O.C. & A.G. — Oasis

In 2009, DITC rappers Omar "OC" Credle and Andre "AG" Barnes release a collaborative studio album. The last disk from Brooklyn emcee is of four years ago, while for the Bronx rapper is the first solo project in three seasons. The production credits Statik Selektah, E Blaze, Davel "Bo" McKenzie, Lord Finesse, KC and Show. The female singer Mirror Image is the only guest of the tape. DJ Premier is busy with the scratches in "Two for the Money", but he's uncredited.

Tha Mexakinz — Zig Zag

Debut album by the hip-hop duo from Long Beach, California, Tha Mexakinz formed by Rodrigo "Sinful" Navarro and Rudy "I-Man" Archuleta. In 1993 the boys got a contract with Motown Records through its sublabel Mad Sounds, becoming the first Latin artists to sign with Motown. The production is done by Sinful, Mo, Bird and QD-III. The album doesn't credit guests, Mr. Nice Guy, Scrap Dog and Chili & Bean recite a couple of skits.

Lil' Mac — The Lyrical Midget

At around twelve years old, McKinley "Lil Mac" Phipps, Jr. is one of the youngest to debut in hip hop, perhaps the youngest ever to do it. His debut album is entirely produced by 2 Hype Producers and is written by Gregory "D", Mannie Fresh and Lil' Mac, with keyboards played by David Torkanowsky, Willie T and Sally Townes.

Killah Priest & True Master — Divine Intervention

After a string of notable efforts, Killah Priest makes a return to basics by producing a boom bap record with the help of True Master, on a Wu-Tang-flavored tape, his second studio album of 2021. The production of the Wu-Element isn't innovative, but it's quite solid and boasts dynamic, tight, dry, slow, hard, lively, midtempo, crunchy drums, as well as good often melodic samples. The Sunz of Man MC delivers mostly abstract lyrics without stepping out of its comfort zone, recited in a slow, calm, velvety, inspired style, making a good 10-track, 23-minute play tape that retains commendable replay value and settles among the best hip-hop releases of the season. Compact and bright, recommended for fans of the artist. 8/10.

Flee Lord — Gets Greater Later

First effort of the year for New York rapper Flee Lord. Production is handled by Big French, Chup, Mister Castle, JR Swiftz, Pete Rock, Megaladon, VDon, Little Prodigy, IceRocks, GodblessBeatz, Doza the Drum Dealer and DJ Muggs, while guests are FastLife, Eto, Ars, Little Prodigy, Manny Lord, and Griselda, with affiliates Keisha Plum and Elcamino, and members Conway and Benny the Butcher.

KRS-One — Kristyles

Seventh disk released by KRS-One, Tekitha and Peedo are the only guests, while the production is handled by KRS, his brother Kenny Parker, Da Beatminerz, Ghetto Pros, DJ Revolution, Choco, Inebriated Beats, Gato Luna and DJ Tiné Tim. It's the third album of five released with Koch Records and the last one from the early 2000s: the label gets the title wrong ("Kristyles" should be "Kris-style") and releases the album with tracks that the rapper doesn't want to insert. There are therefore different editions in which the tracklist changes profoundly. It's a return to form for KRS after a couple of average efforts, even if it doesn't shine completely. The production sounds minimal as in the rest of his discography, the boom bap has ample room to maneuver in order to support Kris' usual bars, performed with energy and honest flow. There are no real highlights or weaknesses, the record is compact and concrete for an hour: it gets a lukewarm response from the insiders and a decent result in sales, becoming one of his flagship CDs in the following twenty years. 6.5/10.

B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta — Real Brothas

Unique studio album by the Compton duo formed by Arlandis "B.G. Knocc Out" Hilton & Andre "Gangsta Dresta" Wicker, better known as the two protagonists of "Real Muthaphucckin G'z", Eazy-E's lethal dissing towards Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, on his 1993 EP. The production is carried out by Rhythm D, Charlie B, Doctor Jam and Madness 4 Real, combined with live instrumentation provided by Crazy Neck, who plays bass and guitar in some tracks. There are no guests, excluding the performance of the singer LV in "Life's a Puzzle", artist who's most appreciated for another guest appearance on another album by a Compton rapper released the same year.

Achozen — Deuces EP

Achozen is a group formed in Los Angeles, California by RZA (Wu-Tang Clan), Shavo Obadjian (System of a Down), Kinetic 9 aka Beretta 9 (Killarmy) and Reverend William Burke. The group was active from 2005 to 2008, but this EP is released in 2010. Something doesn't add up right away. The beats are often built with live instrumentation performed by Shavo Obadjian and RZA. Guests are Killah Priest (Sunz of Man), Rugged Monk (Black Knights) and Brooklyn Zu, as well as Shukura Holliday and Rayess Bek, Lebanese rapper.

Cappadonna — Black Tarrzann

Studio album number thirteen for Darryl Hill aka Cappadonna: with an impressive comeback, Wu-Tang Clan's Cinderella releases three albums in the span of ten months and establishes himself as the group's most prolific solo rapper, equaling Ghostface Killah, which remains the MC with more overall albums, with twenty discs including collaborative ones. Hill's contribution has been important so far: not from the qualitative point of view, he has in fact the poorest performance among the members of the supergroup and the worst discography of all, but from the point of view of historical heritage. With his two 2020 releases, Cappadonna has managed to continue the tradition of releasing at least one studio album a year by members of the Wu-Tang Clan, something that has been happening ever since the supergroup's founding in 1993. At the end of the first quarter of 2021, Cappadonna returns for yet another declaration that will fall on deaf ears. The guests on the album are Killah Priest, A-F-R-O, Crime Life and Amar Divine, main guest with four appearances.

Cappadonna — The Yin and the Yang

In the early 2000s, the Wu-Tang Clan has half a dozen platinum records, and every single member has pulled out a classic record: the few who don't, they've "36 Chambers". Cappadonna also has his own. It should all go beautifully, however, it doesn't: outside the four walls of the Brooklyn studio, there are so many problems, especially with law side. To complicate everything, the public part of the figure of Michael "Mike" Caruso emerges forcefully, today manager of Cappadonna and part of the inner circle of the Clan, yesterday drug kingpin in the circle of nightclubs, arrested by the DEA and that, to avoid jail, has sold his club friends and partners. In turn, the former friends have miraculously escaped prison and aren't very happy: Caruso goes around protected day and night by his bodyguards and has antagonized everyone, certainly he can never re-enter the discos that he has cleverly closed off. Caruso grew up on Staten Island along with Cappadonna and also promoted several techno artists in the city, this guy understands that music is changing: he convinces the Wu-affiliate to become his manager and, also blessed by the Ghost Face Killer, he enters the inner circle of the Wu-Tang Clan, coming out of nowhere. Only at the beginning of the 2000s, the supergroup discovers that Caruso is a federal informant, just at the same time that the police are investigating the rap group on illicit affairs related to a weapons deal, focusing their attention in particular on the founder of Wu-Tang, The RZA.