Lex the Lexicon Artist is an emcee now based in New York, formerly of the Bay Area, who has really hit the ground running since she dropped her debut album, Raging Ego, back in 2018. Since that time, there have been themed projects like a Mob Psycho 100 EP, enough guest spots to fill a compilation, and a sophomore album, Alter Ego, which came out just this past March. Now she’s back with new EP to defy stereotypes, Lex and the City.

Artist Jneiro Jarel has had a long and winding journery. He was born in Brooklyn, and then spent most of his childhood in Houston. In the late ‘90s, he relocated to New York, where his career took off when he was discovered by Hank Shocklee. Over the years, along with his own solo career, he’s collaborated with everyone from Ohmegga Watts to MF DOOM to Mecca:83 to Deborah Jordan. In recent years, Jarel had relocated to Costa Rica and had signed with Far Out Recordings.

Bambu is an emcee from Los Angeles that started putting out music in the mid-‘00s, both as a solo artist and as part of the group Native Guns with Kiwi and DJ Phatrick. He really hit his stride in the 2010s, will albums like Party Worker and Prey For The Devil. Most recently, he had been working on a series of EPs called Exrcising a Demon, with the first two volumes coming out in 2018 and 2019.

Mel.Crozby is a relatively young emcee out of Birmingham, releasing his first EP, The Free Tea E.P. in 2017. His second and most recent release was the EP Diplopia in 2018. Now, for his latest project, he’s teamed up with fellow Bham artist Richard Daniel to make iris. Now up until this point, Richard Daniel has mostly been known as a dual threat, working both as a great emcee and a really talented singer, but now he steps up to the plate as a producer as well.

Just this past September, we got the debut EP from the new Birmingham duo known as Boom Bap Babies. Consisting of longtime friends and collaborators Shaun Judah and Rynea Soul, they finally decided to officially become a group for real, and their debut was a delight. Now they’ve come right back with a little something to lift your soul during these heavy times, We’ll Fly EP. Like the name implies and their first EP confirmed, this is a group that came up on that classic ‘90s boom bap, and this is them getting to their roots and doing their best version of it.

Swamp Thing is the Toronto group consisting of Timbuktu, Chokeules, and Savilion. They announced their presence in 2011, when they released their first EP, Grindhouse. Every year since, they’ve released an album on Halloween, often dealing with themes of horror and science fiction. This year, they’ve teamed up with producer Ollie Teeba of The Herbaliser and Soundschi to release their latest album, Salty Gator. Back in 2013, The Herbaliser went on tour in France with Teenburger, the duo consisting of Timbuktu and Ghettosocks.

It was only this past March when The Midnight Hour’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge released the first compilation of their new imprint, Jazz Is Dead. This compilation set the tone for what JID was going to be, and who would be hearing from. The idea, of course, was that Muhammad and Younge wanted to provide a space for older jazz musicians to come in and record an album of all new material, with their assistance and promotion.

Marc Jensen is a producer from Saskatoon that formerly worked under the name Marjen since 2012, releasing projects such as drmn and Dirge, just to name a couple. Now he’s ready to start a new chapter under a new name with a three-song EP, Prem. Prem is short and sweet, but it does a good job of introducing you to what Jensen is about as a producer. Overall, this is more about tone and atmosphere more than anything else, and he’s creating a dark and moody, droning listening experience with this EP.

Serengeti is an emcee from Chicago that has been releasing music since the early ‘00s, best known for his series of albums exploring the fictional character Kenny Dennis, and for working as one-half of the duo Cavanaugh alongside Open Mike Eagle. Greg Saunier is the drummer and founding member of Deerhoof, an art-rock group from San Francisco that got started in the mid-‘90s. Now the two have joined forces as one of the most unlikely duos of 2020 to release the album With Greg From Deerhoof.

Hit King Cobra is a new duo from Cincinnati consisting of emcee KyleDavid and producer Homage CVG. They had previously worked together, with KyleDavid making guest appearances on Homage CVG’s albums Gamma and Cincinnati Royals, but now they are officially stepping out as a duo with their full-length album, Milking the Clock. Despite all the sports references between the name of the group, the title of the album, and the cover art, you don’t need to worry – this isn’t some sort of novelty sports-themed hip hop.